#Venice underwater

[blood-orange-juice]

it's complicated! we have seaweed perfumes too but people often try to make them palatable, which sort of ruins the idea

Fragrantica gives you this list (with varying degrees of fishiness)

the most well-known is Heeley's Sel Marine

the most seaweedy is Orto Parisi Megamare, it's delightfully vile, rotting seaweed juxtaposed with sweet amber notes and a tiny bit of ozone, smells exceptionally lovely on people with warmer skin, especially men

I also want to cautiously recommend Ayala Moriel Orcas, I haven't personally smelled that one but I trust the notes and Ayala's skill. it seems more like a sea view from a forest trail but the seaweed note is there

there's Profumum Roma Acqua di Sale which I haven't tried yet, but I expect it to be a very linear myrtle+fresh air+seaweed scent

Hermessence Epice Marine deserves a honorary mention. it's not exactly seaweed, more like a fancy restaurant at the seaside, more citrus and toasted cumin but there were oysters somewhere around and it has that lovely seaweed dirtiness

Another one not seaweedy but wonderfully messed up is Laboratorio Olfattivo Salina. it has sea and sand and pines and blooming myrtle but also it's... sterile. like a lab and I mean it in the most badass way. absolutely shines in freezing weather and on cold spring days, not that fun in summer

Jo Malone Wood Sage and Sea Salt also has some seaweed but it's mostly salt and driftwood on the majority of people

I'm beginning to suspect that those eggheads in the fragrance labs have never even seen the ocean, much less given it a good sniff or two.

[omegamannn]

The Omega Library 10/10

Viviz/Gfriend SinB -Ruined -Best Buddies Eunha -Merry Christmas Umji -Getting what I want -Picturesque Undressed -Raffle winner -Betrayed -Jealousy -Old friends come back -Memories of a dream -The goddess' challenge -Persuading the innocent -Tiebreaker Sowon -Behind The Scenes

Weeekly Zoa -Friday outing -Love in an elevator XG Jurin -Bad Idea Soloists Eunbi -Serendipity -Waterbombed -Untitled breeding smut -Mommy has needs -The neighbors' kink feat. Sohee -Another gym buddy -My semi-idol life pt. 1 -Castle of a thousand spiders -Home -Mildly unfair -MILF in the class -Midnight feat. Jihyo & Karina -Trouvaille -Overlord feat. Hyewon -Matchmaker -Out of bounds -Glitched Desires -Eunbi's Dinner -The royal chest -Film shooting -Skyline feat. Hyewon -Tentacle game! -Forever Diamonds -Underwater -Empress -Like a moth to a flame -Deal with the devil IU -Photographer pt. 1 -Photographer pt. 2 -Interlude: Above the sky -Untitled foursome feat. Tzuyu & Irene -Concerto pt. 1 -Interlude: Venice Somi -Untitled Blackmail feat. Karina -Snowball effect -Snowball continues rolling -Culmination -Beautiful Colleague -Interlude: Lonely -Senior Year Isn’t the Only Thing That’s Hard feat. Nancy -Temptation -Quiet -Lights and cameras -XOXO Jini -Untitled -Career's dead end Yena -Wicked Lover Taeyeon -Drive T Too many idols to list 😳 -Just testing -Maknae Royale -Unlikely Love -King of Oshiri -Surviving NNN -Crossing the river -Dreamday

[entomjinx]

ONE PIECE CHAPTER 1113 SPOILERS!!!

It's tagged, it's in bold, if you didn't see it that's on you, but I'm sorry. (I'm also a little sick so sorry for how this starts to turn a little insane at the end.)

The reveal makes perfect sense. I've seen a few people struggle to figure out where it came from, so I'm gonna explain why it makes perfect sense and then pop off with some silly theory.

The first hint at the fact that the One Piece world is sinking exists all the way back in Long Ring Long Island.

That seems like an odd place to start, but it's the first time we're shown how drastic the tides of the ocean in the One Piece world can change. It's enough to separate entire parts of an island, causing it to appear as separate islands, once every year.

This implies that the tides change drastically over the course of much longer periods than it does in the real world.

After that, we get to Water Seven and discover that it's sinking, and that the Aqua Laguna is getting worse every year. We also know that it's caused by the water receding at Long Ring Long island. We're also outright told that they want to make the city float to stop the sinking problem.

We also, much later, see just how high Wano is in altitude.

Knowing that the Redline is so tall that it cannot be passed by any ship, cannot be broken through, and that Mariejois is sat right on top of it only adds to why it makes sense.

The world isn't "sinking," those some islands technically are(Water Seven, modeled after Venice), the tides are going to rise exponentially, and fast.

The force of the water would instantly drown most people, and those who survived would be those who could get to higher altitude islands, the sky islands, Fishman Island, or the Redline.

And because I know someone will try to point this out: land bound plant life can temporarily survive underwater, so Ohara's 5000 year old library tree would be fine for a a bit while submerged. There's lots of places with high tides who's plant life is just fine. (This also could explain why they'd be so willing to throw the books into the water. Not only was it to save them from the fire, but many of them had likely been submerged for long periods of time before. They knew the books would be find in the end because they had record of it. And well, it's mentioned in the chapter that Vegapunk means to finish what Ohara started.)

This would also explain how thorough the government was able to be with wiping out information from the void century. If only a few places can survive, then few things that tell the truth will survive, and even fewer people.

Do I think I'm 100% correct about any of this? Or course not, it's Oda. It's One Piece. Things are pretty much never predicted with 100% accuracy. But that's my thoughts on why it makes sense. Now we get into theory:

I have several points to make, so I'm going to write out the shortest ones first.

-This would, completely unironically, explain some of the centuries long racism campaign against fishman. They have no reason to fear the high tides. They will survive no matter what happens on the surface, and that scares the humans who cannot.

-I think that the extreme tide is a part of why the bridge is being built in Tequila Wolf. I believe the bridges purposes is to connect all the highest points of the world so there's no need for ships to carry them. This way, the Celestial Dragons will still have access to more slaves, produce, and anything they can't get within Mariejois on their own during the time period when everyone drowns.

-and now we get to the big one:

I think that the reason the 20 kings and their people destroyed the ancient kingdom is because the ancient kingdom had a way to survive the high tide while keeping the maximum number of people safe in the process, and while being able to save many more people. They refused to ask for help, and were instead afraid of the power the ancient kingdom held, so they sought to destroy it.

I think that the ancient "weapons" were instead a means of survival, and the reason they were hidden is because the 20 kings would have used them as weapons instead. We don't know much about the ancient kingdom, so much of this is speculation.

I think Pluton was a large enough ship that it could carry the entire kingdom. We've already seen some massive ships in One Piece, and Iceburg intends to turn the entirety of Water Seven into a ship, so the idea of an island sized ship isn't all that odd.

If you continue to think about it, why did none of the Beast Pirates manage to find Pluton while searching for the poneglyph in Wano? I have two theories for this based on the fact that we're told Wano would have to open it's borders in order to get Pluton. If the walls would need to be torn down, then we can continue to assume that Pluton is massive.

Theory one is that Pluton is is hidden within the mountain itself, and that the mountain was man-made to hide the ship. Not only would the walls need to come down, but the mountain itself would have to be destroyed. They would also need a way to survive the high tide without it, so creating a mountain that is high enough in altitude to keep them safe would have been a necessity. I think this is the more believable of the two theories.

Theory Two is that Pluton is Wano. The entire island is the ship, and many of Wano's people descended from the people of the ancient kingdom or those they rescued. This one is much less likely, but it's still a possibility in my mind.

We know that Poseidon was the former mermaid princess, and that the current one is Shirahoshi. She can control the sea kings. Why would this be important? Because if everywhere floods, then the sea kings, who are already very large creatures, suddenly have an influx of room to move, food to eat, and places to lay eggs. It would cause a population spike. *However,* that would cause an ecological disaster within the food chain. The sudden influx of sea kings would be desperate for any food they can get their hands on, and many would likely die of starvation. This means they need some way to repel them from the large ship.

We don't know anything about Uranus yet, so I've nothing for you.

Another thing we know about the ancient kingdom is that they seemed to be friendly with everyone, or at least it's implied via how many friends Joy Boy made.

Fishman: Along with the bonus of having Poseidon, the fishman also have access to the tree resin from Sabaody. Should the ship(Puton) or the ancient kingdom ever need to submerge in order to keep people safe or to have a temporary air bubble, They'd be safe.

Lunarians: The people who originally lived on top of the redline. Sinee the redline is high enough to not sink, it would have made sense for them to be trade partners.

Skypians and Shandians: Another race with wings. if the tides really got too high, then they could join them in the sky sea for a time. They could also trade with them.

Minks: Zunesha was a friend of Joyboy's. We don't know much else about that situation, but it's likely that Zunesha is plenty tall enough to keep the minks from drowning, and they could have traded often as well. Maybe Zunesha was even able to do something similar to the giants.

The Giants: This feels like the most important one to me, and not just because of recent chapters. Obviously the giants think very highly of Nika/Joyboy, but it's also very likely that Elbaf is tall enough to survive the high tide, and if not, the the giants themselves are. If you look at what's known about current giants, some of them are tall enough to walk along the sea floor, and the ancient giants were so large that it's said they pulled and moved continents.

Why is that bit important? Because a ship the size of an entire island would likely need a lot more than sails buoyancy to move quickly. The ancient kingdom was pulled by the giants. They moved to different areas to rescue people and to trade so that life continued while the tide was at it's highest point.

Another random thing that supports this is the giant's vehement hatred towards Charlotte Linlin. She has Totto Land, which is supposed to be a place where all races live in harmony, but it would be a mockery of what the ancient kingdom was like, and for giants, who live about 300 years, that's only a few generations back. They would still have stories about the ancient kingdom and remember the truth.

Again, I don't think anything I predict will ever be 100% accurate, but I hope you enjoyed my rambling nonetheless.

[bitesonmyneck]

Pentecost - Andrew Wyeth, 1989. Tempera on panel.

“This painting is almost entirely different from all my other temperas, being almost a ‘pretty’ subject matter. I think it is beautiful, and I can’t always say that about my paintings. I felt the spirit of something when I did it, and I believe I managed to communicate that spirit. You see, at that time—it is, of course, Maine, on Allen Island, one of my wife’s two islands—a young girl was washed out to sea in a storm. They couldn’t save her. In time the body floated by off Penaquid Point. I was thinking about that girl’s body floating there underwater, and the nets became her spirit. It’s a grisly story, but knowing the depth of my feeling kind of saves this picture. Those nets are like fog. I tried doing them with a brush but couldn’t get that cold blue, almost silver, cast, and so I went to the pencil and put them in after I had on the tempera. But it’s that story of the girl that prevents it from having been painted, say, in Venice. Know what I mean?”

from Autobiography by Andrew Wyeth

[teecupangel]

Just saw the Mermaid!Desmond post and it reminded me that i have been playing around with the idea that Desmond gets transported to the past as a mermaid(he prefers the term 'merman' thank you!). With my obsession with EziDes(i'm shameless XD), i imagined 2 scenarios:

1) Ezio meets Desmond in Venice and though at first Desmond is shy and hides away, Ezios persistence and charm wins him over. Desmond has the ability to launch some sticky "vines" from his hands to drag people into the water(based on what the mermaids in Pirates of the Caribbean can do), so he helps Ezio with assassinations from the canal. We could even have some drama where the Templars catch Desmond in a tank on land and when Ezio comes to save him, the tank breaks and at first Desmond is suffocating, then he is in immense pain while his body transforms into a humans. So good news: he can walk on land and even "sleep" with Ezio without risking drowning him(No Ezio, we are not trying it again!). Bad news: it hurts like a motherfucker to transform and it takes a hot minute. At least he can see Monteriggioni now!

2) The classic "Desmond takes Older!Ezio and himself to the past to save Ezio's family" but Desmond is turned into a mermaid(merman!) and is stuck in the disgusting river that runs through Florence. They get transported a day before the execution(Ezio just needs that scar, i love that connection too much XD), so they get a plan to bust out the Auditore family during the night and use a boat to get far enough away from the city before switching to a wagon. Giovanni is confused to what his son is doing("Why didn't you deliver the papers to Uberto, Ezio?"), but decideds to trust his son. During the trip, a guard almost raises the alarm but before he can, something whips out of water and drags the man in. Everyone but Ezio is shocked and when they get to the wagon, they see a small tub with water in the back. Before they can ask about it, they see Ezio lift something from the river before turning around and revealing a mermaid(MERMAN!) in his arms. Ezio is not leaving Desmond behind, no matter how difficult transporting him is(in this version i'd have Desmond need to learn how to shift forms, so for a while he has to be transported in a tiny ass tub if he was to follow Ezio around). The ride back is pretty awkard 'cause it turns out only Ezio can hear Desmonds voice(he speaks mentally, so even underwater he can talk to Ezio and the connection can reach pretty far).

.

We can also use Altaïr and the funny scenario of him being afraid of water, but still has a mermaid(for the LAST TIME: I'M A MERMAN!) boyfriend. XD Though Desmond would be very helpful for the guy that hides on the boat.

Maybe the treasure in Solomons temple started glowing after the entrance collapsed, distracting the templars enough for a hurt Malik and bruised Kadar to grab it and flee? And on the ride back to Masyaf, during an attempt to cross a river to lose the Templars on their trail, the treasure falls into the water, causing an explosion of light. Kadar was blinded by it, but Malik escaped the worst of it and swears he saw a large dark shape swimming away from the orb before he went to grab it. When he returns to Masyaf, with a dead arm and a mostly blind brother, he still blames Altaïr for everything that went wrong, but knows it could have been so much worse.

Altaïr is sent to find the traitor(the same as cannon), but afterwards is sent to the river Malik experienced the light explosion, to search for whatever came from the treasure. Altaïr curses Malik for his clumsiness, to lose the treasure in the river! If it hadn't been glowing it would have been lost. So Altaïr is in a very bad mood when he reaches the river to start his search. He is forced to spend days following it to the ocean, but when he reaches it, he sees something gold, glittering underneath the waves. Before he can try to even figure out how to get closer without having to get near the water, it moves upwards, revealing a strange creature. A half man, half fish spirit that looks like him, just staring at him from the water. They stay there, staring at each other before the spirit swims back under the water, dissapearing before Altaïr can even utter a sound of suprise. No matter how hard he searches the coast, the spirit does not show itself. Altaïr is once again forced to return to his master with another failure.

.

Phew, okay, this took almost an hour to write(i'm a pretty slow typer). XD Words just came pouring out during the Altaïr section. Lol

Additions to the ask from @thedragonqueen1998

Follow up on my Mermaid!Desmond ask:

I completely forgot to add in a description for Desmonds mermaid design. XD I'm a fan of the more spikier designs, so he'd have sharp fins on the side of his tail, a large one on his back, razor sharp claws and webbing on his hands and his ears would be fins. His teeth would be large and sharp and his jaw could almost shoot out like a goblin sharks one. It also opens wise enough that he can bite someones head off. His colouring would be a shiny gold that would dampen the more tired he becomes and the shine would fade if he is sick. So if he spends alot of time in the Venice canals his colours would fade quickly to Ezio's panic. XD He's fine, he just has the mermaid version of the flu.

Additions by teecup:

Desmond being a mermaid during Renaissance Italy would be so fun. Of course, Leonardo would have to paint him, maybe even call him the ‘Siren’ of Greek folklore, going as far as painting what looks like a lot like Templars as the people the supposed Siren drowns.

Centuries later, people would debate if Leonardo Da Vinci’s ‘Siren’ is androgynous or is actually male. Shaun has been part of that debate far too much.

Desmond probably has the habit of lifting his tail then smacking it down, making water splash all around the tank, an instinctive move that mimics humans saying their feet when they’re dangling.

There was actually an ask about what kind of merfolk design would each Assassin have but I can’t find it (as usual).

One of my suggestion for Desmond though is a tail similar to an angler fish like this:

Not exactly like this but a combination of this and your idea of sharp fins. They seem to glow but it’s more noticeable when using Eagle Vision.

Also… the water underneath Monteriggioni is a good place for Desmond to stay as well (although Ezio would be everything to renovate Monteriggioni to have a pond large enough for Desmond, it will become his priority even if they don’t profit from it XD).

If you want an alternative meeting, Ezio could meet Desmond in the underground waters of Monteriggioni while he was exploring Monteriggioni.

.

For the AltDes version, I’m just kinda imagining Altaïr would be too stubborn to return to Masyaf until he was certain what he just saw. He had already failed, he can’t afford to fail again.

Both because of his pride and because he had lost faith in Al Mualim and the Brotherhood too much that he actually believes that they would execute him if he failed again.

So he’s just camping there, staring at the waters.

Every time he feels like someone is staring back, the feeling would be gone by the time he turns around.

He had read about many mystical beings that live in the waters and Altaïr had started to write about what he can observe, even going as far as drawing what he could remember of what he saw.

If anyone was to see it, it would look like the ramblings of a man imagining something that doesn’t exist.

Or perhaps they would believe it.

Many people do believe in such rot.

Altaïr did not.

Not until he saw the spirit.

And now…

Altaïr was simply too stubborn to retreat.

He would capture the spirit and drag it back to Masyaf if it’s the last thing he does.

[bengiyo]

Marahuyo Project Eps 7 & 8 (Finale) Stray Thoughts

Last time, the kids struggled to pick a name for their LGBTQIA+ organization while discussing their strategy before the school board. They eventually decided to focus on connecting their hopes for the island's future with its past, and set about researching. Archie gave Venice some files from the church, Lorie looked through files her dad had, and Ino suggested interviewing people after providing equipment. We learned that Archie is struggling with the path to holy orders (manifested in his neck scratching), Ino said aloud that he was gay and kissed King, and Lili is probably intersex. Each of our our kids is holding confidence about this. Lili read Marco for filth, read him for blood, but unfortunately we left at Marco outing her.

Episode 7: Aswang

You know King isn't the violent type, because some of my people would have curb stomped his ass by now.

Oh, Ino. I understand.

Okay, Lili's story is so sad and lonely. I'm glad she told Lili before this.

Oof, Lorie was not ready for the friends to lovers kiss.

That was difficult, but King is right. He shouldn't ask Ino to come out, but it doesn't stop him from getting hurt.

King's grandmother is great. It's making me sad that Ino has no one else to talk to after that.

Wow, Marco is really doubling down on being an asshole.

I appreciate this show now disguising the kinds of casual homophobia you run into.

It's hard to recognize when you need to give someone you love space when you want to help.

I do like the idea of them reclaiming the balagtasan as a way to present their ideas to the island.

I knew it was Ino who graffitied the mural.

Gay people really will turn their relationship problems into a public spectacle.

This poetry is beautiful.

Oh, Ino, I'm proud of you.

My boy is bleeding!! Marco, it's on sight!!

Man, what a concise breakdown of how it feels to know your truth and have your caregivers try to stifle that in you for the sake of appearances.

Episode 8: Babaylan

Ino and King opening up old wounds.

Yes, King, tell your mom. Shame is learned at home. A kid can face the world if they're safe at home.

I love King so much for not sugarcoating how bad public scorn can get.

Swimming at night is very dangerous, but I'm always happy to receive an underwater kiss BECAUSE IT STILL BELONGS TO THE GAYS.

Oh good. Lorie and Lili are finally talking.

See, this is the thing about doing queer media versus making QL sometimes. Apologizing for loving someone is such a queer experience. Your love isn't something that you should be ashamed of, and you shouldn't have to apologize for caring a lot about someone.

This feels like the right place for these two as friends to possibly more.

Oh shit Lili got me when she held back tears at getting best friends.

It really is exhausting how hard authority works constantly to police and enforce heteronormativity. There are so few of us. Why is it always this constant bullshit?

Oof, I actually like this choice to have Archie vote to impeach Ino, become the new president, and then immediately return to the site where they honored Christina to cry about it. Venice understands that taking care of other queers is a long term project. At least Archie said her name.

Many of my beloved elders have passed. I wish I could talk to them sometimes. Especially Barry.

I love that Venice is eating in almost every scene.

Hey! They finally picked a name!

I love how homophobes talk about history, and then storm out when confronted with uncomfortable truths.

Crying over these outfits. They're so right. Formal acceptance by the status quo doesn't erase our existence, or the bonds between us. We will make space for ourselves and those like us.

Oh, Archie. I understand you, too. I hope you find peace with yourself and others.

I love Sue Prado, but does the mom really deserve to be here? I'll accept them trying to extend grace to struggling parents since Grandma has been with them the whole time.

This march works though. Before it was only three of them. Now look at them.

A post credits scene! Wait, I love the idea of Juvy and Jose going to visit them!

Final Verdict: 9.5, Finally Some Good Fucking Food. I am just so relieved to have another show from JP Habac. It's clear he and his friends have such strong ideas about where queer people fit in our society today, and I love that his work is never about defeating homophobia and is instead about connecting others to queer joy. Despite how this show stirred up all sorts of old hurts in me, I feel so much love for these characters, and I'm so thankful that I can point to a show with a wide spectrum of queer experiences delivered in such a beautiful package. It's so rare to see a show treat the closet seriously, and I will be thinking about this show forever, alongside JP's previous work: Gaya sa Pelikula (aka Like in the Movies).

[dezertvideogames]

My Metro headcanons and why...

CW: Major Spoilers for All Metro Games

Artyom is terrified of deep water

Despite being able to swim a little bit in 2033 and Last Light, the man is terrified of water in Exodus. He thrashes and latches onto anything around him in a panic.

It seems to be common knowledge to those around him as when his train cart falls into the lake at the forests in Exodus, Alyosha tries to calm him down. Artyom panics anyway though. You can even hear him scream underwater.

He developed this fear after his little boat ride to Venice

Artyom is selectively mute

Despite not talking the majority of regular gameplay, Artyom is an expressive character through is body language and actions. He's not completely silent, especially when it comes to reading his journals out loud, but he remains silent in moments where most wouldn't.

It's obvious that he does talk from people's dialogue interactions with him, but from there we don't get any words in. He also talks during the load up screen cutscenes. It wouldn't be his first disability, and likely won't be his last. He is already hearing impaired in one ear after all.

Pavel is afraid of spiders

Right before Artyom and Pavel cross above ground to the red line's main station, the two are forced to travel through some very infested tunnels. Pavel not only freaks out at each attack in these tunnels, but he also begs Artyom to stay close to him.

Like many characters in the metro Pavel pleads for Artyom to save him at the slightest moment of danger. When the doors are locked due to power being cut off, he doesn't even try to help, sending Artyom further into the spider den. He asks more than nervous the entire level.

We get moral points for staying close to him in the beginning, and moral points to fending off all the spiders on the elevator with just our light. I guess it's a moral thing to help someone get over their fear.

[6-and-7]

Final Scores for Classic vs. New Who

Classic: 81 New: 71 Tie: 5

Additional breakdowns below the cut

By Doctor:

1 vs. 9: 10 1: 4 9: 5 Tie: 1

1 vs. 10: 19 1: 7 10: 12

2 vs. 10: 17 2: 8 10: 9

2 vs. 11: 4 2: 3 11: 1

3 vs. 11: 24 3: 13 11: 11

4 vs. 11: 11 4: 8 11: 2 Tie: 1

4 vs. 12: 30 4: 12 12: 17 Tie: 1

5 vs. 12: 5 5: 3 12: 2 Tie:

5 vs. 13: 15 5: 12 13: 3 Tie: 0

6 vs. 13: 8 6: 4 13: 3 Tie: 1

7 vs. 14: 3 7: 0 14: 3 Tie: 0

7 vs. 15: 9 7: 6 15: 2 Tie: 1

4 vs. Shalka: 1 4: 1 Shalka: 0 Tie: 0

Cushing vs. 8: 1 Cushing: 0 8: 1 Tie: 0

Individual Stories

An Unearthly Child vs. Rose The Daleks vs. The End of the World The Edge of Destruction vs. The Unquiet Dead Marco Polo vs. Aliens of London/World War Three The Keys of Marinus vs. Dalek The Aztecs vs. The Long Game The Sensorites vs. Father's Day The Reign of Terror vs. The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances Planet of Giants vs. Boom Town The Dalek Invasion of Earth vs. Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways The Rescue vs. The Christmas Invasion The Romans vs. New Earth The Web Planet vs. Tooth and Claw

The Crusade vs. School Reunion The Space Museum vs. The Girl in the Fireplace The Chase vs. Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel The Time Meddler vs. The Idiot's Lantern Galaxy 4 vs. The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit Mission to the Unknown vs. Love & Monsters The Myth Makers vs. Fear Her The Daleks' Master Plan vs. Army of Ghosts / Doomsday The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve vs. The Runaway Bride The Ark vs. Smith and Jones The Celestial Toymaker vs. The Shakespeare Code The Gunfighters vs. Gridlock The Savages vs. Daleks in Manhattan / Evolution of the Daleks

The War Machines vs. The Lazarus Experiment The Smugglers vs. 42 The Tenth Planet vs. Human Nature / The Family of Blood The Power of the Daleks vs. Blink The Highlanders vs. Utopia / The Sound of Drums / Last of the Time Lords The Underwater Menace vs. Voyage of the Damned The Moonbase vs. Partners in Crime The Macra Terror vs. The Fires of Pompeii The Faceless Ones vs. Planet of the Ood The Evil of the Daleks vs. The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky The Tomb of the Cybermen vs. The Doctor's Daughter The Abominable Snowmen vs. The Unicorn and the Wasp The Ice Warriors vs. Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead

The Enemy of the World vs. Midnight The Web of Fear vs. Turn Left Fury from the Deep vs. The Stolen Earth / Journey's End The Wheel in Space vs. The Next Doctor The Dominators vs. Planet of the Dead The Mind Robber vs. The Waters of Mars The Invasion vs. The End of Time The Krotons vs. The Eleventh Hour The Seeds of Death vs. The Beast Below The Space Pirates vs. Victory of the Daleks The War Games vs. The Time of Angels / Flesh and Stone Spearhead from Space vs. The Vampires of Venice Doctor Who and the Silurians vs. Amy's Choice

The Ambassadors of Death vs. The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood Inferno vs. Vincent and the Doctor Terror of the Autons vs. The Lodger The Mind of Evil vs. The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang The Claws of Axos vs. A Christmas Carol Colony in Space vs. The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon The Dæmons vs. The Curse of the Black Spot Day of the Daleks vs. The Doctor's Wife The Curse of Peladon vs. The Rebel Flesh / The Almost People The Sea Devils vs. A Good Man Goes to War The Mutants vs. Let's Kill Hitler The Time Monster vs. Night Terrors The Three Doctors vs. The Girl Who Waited

Carnival of Monsters vs. The God Complex Frontier in Space vs. Closing Time Planet of the Daleks vs. The Wedding of River Song The Green Death vs. The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe The Time Warrior vs. Asylum of the Daleks Invasion of the Dinosaurs vs. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship Death to the Daleks vs. A Town Called Mercy The Monster of Peladon vs. The Power of Three Planet of the Spiders vs. The Angels Take Manhattan Robot vs. The Snowmen The Ark in Space vs. The Bells of Saint John The Sontaran Experiment vs. The Rings of Akhaten Genesis of the Daleks vs. Cold War

Revenge of the Cybermen vs. Hide Terror of the Zygons vs. Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS Planet of Evil vs. The Crimson Horror Pyramids of Mars vs. Nightmare in Silver The Android Invasion vs. The Name of the Doctor The Brain of Morbius vs. The Day of the Doctor The Seeds of Doom vs. The Time of the Doctor The Masque of Mandragora vs. Deep Breath The Hand of Fear vs. Into the Dalek The Deadly Assassin vs. Robot of Sherwood The Face of Evil vs. Listen The Robots of Death vs. Time Heist The Talons of Weng-Chiang vs. The Caretaker

Horror of Fang Rock vs. Kill the Moon The Invisible Enemy vs. Mummy on the Orient Express Image of the Fendahl vs. Flatline The Sun Makers vs. In the Forest of the Night Underworld vs. Dark Water/Death In Heaven The Invasion of Time vs. Last Christmas The Ribos Operation vs. The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar The Pirate Planet vs. Under the Lake/Before the Flood The Stones of Blood vs. The Girl Who Died The Androids of Tara vs. The Woman Who Lived The Power of Kroll vs. The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion The Armageddon Factor vs. Sleep No More Destiny of the Daleks vs. Face the Raven

City of Death vs. Heaven Sent The Creature from the Pit vs. Hell Bent Nightmare of Eden vs. The Husbands of River Song The Horns of Nimon vs. The Return of Doctor Mysterio The Leisure Hive vs. The Pilot Meglos vs. Smile Full Circle vs. Thin Ice State of Decay vs. Knock Knock Warriors' Gate vs. Oxygen The Keeper of Traken vs. Extremis Logopolis vs. The Pyramid at the End of the World Castrovalva vs. The Lie of the Land Four to Doomsday vs. Empress of Mars

Kinda vs. The Eaters of Light The Visitation vs. World Enough and Time / The Doctor Falls Black Orchid vs. Twice Upon a Time Earthshock vs. The Woman Who Fell to Earth Time-Flight vs. The Ghost Monument Arc of Infinity vs. Rosa Snakedance vs. Arachnids in the UK Mawdryn Undead vs. The Tsuranga Conundrum Terminus vs. Demons of the Punjab Enlightenment vs. Kerblam! The King's Demons vs. The Witchfinders The Five Doctors vs. It Takes You Away Warriors of the Deep vs. The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos

The Awakening vs. Resolution Frontios vs. Spyfall Resurrection of the Daleks vs. Orphan 55 Planet of Fire vs. Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror The Caves of Androzani vs. Fugitive of the Judoon The Twin Dilemma vs. Praxeus Attack of the Cybermen vs. Can You Hear Me? Vengeance on Varos vs. The Haunting of Villa Diodati / The Ascension of the Cybermen / The Timeless Children The Mark of the Rani vs. Revolution of the Daleks The Two Doctors vs. Flux Timelash vs. Eve of the Daleks Revelation of the Daleks vs. Legend of the Sea Devils Trial of a Time Lord vs. The Power of the Doctor

Time and the Rani vs. The Star Beast Paradise Towers vs. Wild Blue Yonder Delta and the Bannermen vs. The Giggle Dragonfire vs. The Church on Ruby Road Remembrance of the Daleks vs. Space Babies The Happiness Patrol vs. The Devil's Chord Silver Nemesis vs. Boom! The Greatest Show in the Galaxy vs. 73 Yards Battlefield vs. Dot and Bubble Ghost Light vs. Rogue The Curse of Fenric vs. The Legend of Ruby Sunday/Empire of Death Survival vs. Joy to the World Dr. Who and the Daleks vs. Doctor Who the TV Movie Shada vs. Scream of the Shalka

[blueiscoool]

Roman Gem Engraved with Mythological Figure Discovered in Italy

During excavations at Lio Piccolo (Cavallino-Treporti), conducted by Ca’ Foscari University, a precious agate stone carved with a mythological figure was found in the flooded site from the Roman period.

Researchers found the ancient piece of jewelry during an excavation dive in Lio Piccolo, a village just north of Venice city.

The cut agate gem is engraved with a mythological figure and is considered an unusual artifact, particularly in an underwater environment. The high quality of the jewelry suggests that wealthy Romans visited the area.

Professor Carlo Beltrame, who led the excavation alongside Dr. Elisa Costa, said in a statement that it was a rare find, especially in an underwater environment.

“In a lagoon environment it is a rather rare find, to date we have news of two other precious gems found in Torcello and at Barena del Vigno,” Beltrame said.

Lio Piccolo used to be, and remains, a thriving fishing area. The underwater excavations have helped archeologists to understand the history of the area.

A structure with a brick base and oak walls from the first and second centuries CE sits 11 feet below the water’s surface. Initially, researchers thought it was used for oyster conservation and farming, but it was later determined to be a holding tank for oysters prior to consumption.

“Alongside this system there is a brick paving laid on poles, many fragments of valuable frescoes and some fragments of black and white mosaic which, in the 1980s, prompted the discoverer of this site, the amateur archaeologist Ernesto Canal, to interpret it as a prestigious villa,” Beltrame said. “The basin and the floor plans offer a precious marker, because they are well dated, for the study of the variations of the sea and of the local subsidence.”

Lio Piccolo is less than 10 miles northeast of Venice.

By Leman Altuntaş.

[pabsterthelobster]

The "Ascended" Spidersonas

For the third volume of Spider-Verse comics that came out in 2019, the concept of the "Spidersona" that was popularized by the release of the animated film Into the Spider-Verse was acknowledged by way of integrating three different Spidersonas each issue into the comic multiverse through short character profiles at the end of each issue. The former half of these 18 characters would even show up in the final issue of the run in person, with Sun-Spider getting some particularly special treatment afterwards.

Spidersona hero names are bolded and real names (if avaliable) are in parentheses.

Issue 1

Spider-Requiem (Polymnia Swan) of Earth-98117: Created by Cotton Valent from Thailand, Ms. Swan, named after the Greek Muse of Dance, hides her scarred face with her mask and uses her webs to control handmade puppets in combat.

Spinster of Earth-93191: Made by Antonio Demico of France with a design inspired by both the French Revolution and the original Madame Web, the Spinster can generate webs from her prehensile hair which she can then use to spy on conversation like a

V of Earth-43890: As written by V-0-3 from Poland, V is a robotic Spider who lives in Kyoto in the year 2177 who fights crime both physically and digitally, being able to connect herself to the internet to stop cybercrimes.

Issue 2

Spidair of Earth-91202: As written by Dice Shimi of France, Spidair was bitten by a spider from a space laborabtory and possesses thick skin that protects him from extreme temperature immunity as well as the ability to glow brightly to blind enemies.

Sea-Spider of Earth-19192: Being able to breathe underwater and wielding a hook and grappling pistols, the sona provided by the UK's James Gifford is a Spanish nobleman who sails the seas aboard his ship the Aracne.

Spider-Sting of Earth-38418: As explained by Tori Apiradee, Spider-Sting's powers are more acidic in nature, with webs that can erode concrete and bricks.

Issue 3

Sun-Spider (Charlotte "Charlie" Webber) of Earth-20023: Considered the breakout hit of these sonas, Dayna Broder's Sun-Spider has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which makes her hyper-flexible at the cost of needing to use crutches and a wheelchair for stability. She has received her own dedicated story in Edge of the Spider-Verse as well as a vocal cameo in Across the Spider-Verse.

Garden-Spider (Petunia Parker) of Earth-71925: After being shrunken down in size, Petunia tends to her garden, swinging from the flowers like they were skyscrapers to fight against villainous insects like the Aphid. Her creator is Alyssa Ragni of the US.

White Widow (Venice Doadi) of Earth-23233: Carly Henson describes this sona as coming from a future timeline, possessing the ability to secrete toxins from her bare skin, which she coats both her webs and clawed fingers with.

[high-fantasy-sw]

Also!

When the clones go out to war on land, does their cavalry have any particular animal upon which they ride, or is it still mostly machinery?

What do the Kaminoans look like? The Weequayans? The Rodians? The Twi'leks? I take it they're all turned into humans, so -

Oh! Are those life-forms that can survive underwater like Kit Fisto now mer-creatures or selkie-like creatures? What of Plo Koon requiring a special mask - does that change as well?

And our beloved droids? Are they inanimate objects given life via magic or manufactured as normal?

Echo! How does he survive?

And the inhibitor chips - how are they translated here? Are they - gasp - are the rings-

The part-human beings like Pantorans and Mirialans, are they the same?

Okay, I think that's all for now, and I seem to have given you enough to handle, so until the next nagging doubt!

I RETURN. LORE PART 2 BE UPON YE

@whyoneartheven @majorproblems77 @anime-obsessed I am tagging you here too because I know you'll want to see this too. By the way I've been working on answering this for like. The past three weeks so I hope you all enjoy :D

Mounted Cavalry

Horses do actually exist here. Like you correctly guessed (somewhere, I think it's in the next ask I'm due to answer), the AU has a healthy mix of established Star Wars lore, other mythos sprinkled in, and real-world additions; horses happen to be one of those. However, in very sandy, snowy, or otherwise difficult terrain, other creatures (tauntauns, banthas, varactyls, et cetera) are used; these are mostly the same as their canon counterparts, just with a bit of a fantasy flourish to help them fit in better with the rest of the AU. There are also, in addition to sea-worthy warships, smaller, more agile vessels that can be transported into inland bodies of water for combat (especially on watery islands such as Naboo, which has a network of canals rather than streets, like Venice) and semi-mechanized transportation like chariots and carriages. (These examples are less military than the others but I felt the need to add them anyway, for the sake of completeness.)

Kaminoans

I'm going to be super honest here. The Kaminoans are one of the few peoples I barely changed. They seemed delightfully odd as they are, so most of the changes there are to their history. They have always been renowned for their advanced knowledge of alchemy, but for many centuries they were thought little more than a myth; legend has it that, in the infancy of the Old Republic, they dared to use their great knowledge to attempt to create life, and for their hubris their entire island was sunken into the sea. What is not known by the vast majority of the peoples of the Galactic Archipelago is that these legends are actually true, and rather than dying out, the Kaminoans began a new and hidden life under the waves (having used enchantments to place a protective barrier around what remains of their island and thus allow them to survive)- a life in which they perfected their craft, and passed this forbidden knowledge down through the generations, until they were discovered and called upon to create the Clone Army. (This is only marginally related, but one essential thing to learn about the world of HFSW is the difference between alchemy and magic proper; I am still working on fully explaining it, especially as it relates to the Clones, but the post you need to read can be found here.)

Alien Cultures (i lumped them all into one answer)

Weequayans: Weequayans are, yes, a human culture. This is what I did for the vast majority of near-human races, which has been amazing because I love cultural worldbuilding. I need to do a bit more deep-digging on them first but I am very excited to get into their culture and write about it :D

Rodians: I am going to be completely honest with you. I have not been able to figure out what to do with Rodians yet. And I assure you, I have been thinking about it. If you have any suggestions please let me know.

Twi'leks: Twi'leks are a human culture, and what's distinguishing about them is their lekku headwraps. I haven't had the chance to go into it yet fully (and eventually I'm going to have an entire post dedicated to this), but essentially these are extraordinarily long strips of fabric, intricately hand-detailed, and tied about the head to give the appearance of the canonical lekku. They are often fastened with ornate pins or headbands or the like, and underneath, the hair is done up in elaborate braids.

Aquatic Races: So funny story, actually, this was one of the first questions I actually got an ask about. In short, you are correct; they're all merfolk of some kind, although the specific species do actually have variations (I'll link you to this post here for a more comprehensive overview; it contains some other worldbuilding things, the droid part of which is no longer canon to the AU. everything else is though). The Selkie idea though is NOT something I'd ever considered and I don't know WHY because it's super cool and I'm stealing it. Specifically for Nautolans, since we see Kit walking around and stuff in the Temple. I just haven't… decided what that item or thing would be yet though.

Kel Dor: Plo does still wear his helmet, but it's more of a cultural honor thing than a "he literally needs it to live" situation. Kel Dor helmets are passed down through the generations and serve as a tie to the past. (I haven't… written in detail about Kel Dor yet but trust me when I do I will be tagging you in that post. Actually I'm tagging you in all future posts. There is no escape muahahaha)

Near-Human Races: Yes, Mirialans and Pantorans and other near-human races are pretty much the same, obviously with new cultural traditions and stuff to make sense of their uniqueness. For example, Pantorans wear elaborate blue-and-gold body paint as a mark of status (because. they're blue), and it all has to be done by hand to actually count. Again, I haven't done a ton of exploring this yet, but again, I promise I'm getting to it and you are getting tagged.

Droids

OHOHOHOHO DROIDS. Okay so. We're gonna start at the beginning.

Most protocol droids are actually just regular people who have joined an elite corps of butlery (literally there's like. an academy they go to on some islet just off of coruscant), usually the children of less-fortunate families who want to try getting ahead in the world. They wear an elaborate and entirely ornamental suit of armor to denote their station, and any noble worth their wig has at least one protocol butler.

Threepio is slightly different from other Protocol droids. Hundreds of years before Anakin Skywalker was born, a Republic knight named Sir Anthony Threepio was stationed on the island of Tatooine with his platoon to deal with a band of pirates that had been terrorizing the surrounding waters. In a stroke of misfortune, he was killed- not by the pirates themselves, but in a freak accident- and became a ghost, obsessed with the fact that his death was preventable and completely neurotic as a result. Centuries later, he meets and befriends young Anakin down at the Mos Espa docks, and Anakin starts collecting armor out of the dumpster to give him a physical way to interact with the world again. In gratitude, Threepio settles down with the Skywalkers and attempts to assist them with their household, something they can't often attend to due to them being slaves.

Astromechs are subterranean creatures, master craftsmen, shipbuilders, and navigators, who are not well-adapted to sunlight and thus build themselves little self-contained cells so that they can travel to the surface and ply their trades safely. (It seems a bit contrived but you know what. I made it up.) They communicate through a series of tweets and bird-like vocalizations, though they understand Basic perfectly.

Battle Droids are necromanced skeletons. How the Trade Federation first got their hands on the undead during the Naboo Crisis is a question no one really knows the answer to, but by the time the Clone Wars break out the majority of Necromancy is being done by Count Dooku (secretly- to the public at least; the Jedi and at least Padme know all about it), General Grievous (the outward face of the undead army, and himself an undead lich warlord), and the Necro Union (the in-world equivalent of the Techno Union, they claim to the public that Necromancy isn't inherently evil and that the undead can have many benefits for society; in reality, they're more interested in supplying Dooku and Grievous with enough skeletal soldiers to keep their pockets comfortably lined, whether or not their means of obtaining said soldiers are ethical). In the beginning, most of the Clankers are reanimated from very very old skeletons- this is preferable, at least from the commanding standpoint, because they're so old that they have no recollection of who they were in life, and thus make perfect, mindless soldiers. However, their age also makes them more brittle, and in the early days of the war it's very easy for the Jedi and the Clone soldiers to plow through battalion after battalion of skeletons in a few hours. But as the war drags on, and the old skeletons are depleted, rumors begin to circulate that the Separatists are using fresher dead to stock their new armies. There are even whispers that some of the new soldiers might even be sourced from the corpses of fallen Clones. Whether or not this information is true or just baseless fearmongering is never fully revealed. However, this is a perfect segue into our next topic:

Echo, Post-Citadel

Echo shouldn't have survived the Citadel explosion. In fact, the Necro Union agents who found his body thought he hadn't. It wasn't until halfway though the ritual that they realized he was still alive. Their shock quickly turned to delight, however, when they realized they now had an unlimited source of Republic military strategy at their fingertips. Now, Echo's only half-necromanced. He's still alive, really; the only parts that had to be reanimated were his right arm, his lower legs, and his spine. And, in order that the Separatists could actually use the information he possessed, that arm of his? Is specially enchanted to give him access to necrotic abilities. After he's rescued… he has a lot of feelings about this. It's not just that something was taken from him, it's that he was turned into the very thing he'd spent literally his whole life training to fight. At least, in his mind. And the fact that he still sometimes has to use his necrotic powers to help his brothers (specifically thinking of Anaxes and various times in TBB here) REALLY twists his insides. Someday I'll write something more about this.

Oh, one more thing.

The Inhibitor Chips

evil_palpatine_cackle.mp3

[gaymer-hag-stan]

Happy 28th anniversary to Tomb Raider!

On the 25th of October, twenty eight years ago, the original Tomb Raider game was released and the world was introduced to the most successful woman to ever hit video games.

A British archaeologist and adventurer, Lara Croft became one of the most recognizable and influential characters in video game history. The original game was groundbreaking for its 3D graphics, which allowed players to explore vast, open environments, and for its mix of platforming, puzzle-solving, and combat. Players guided Lara as she explored ancient tombs, solved environmental puzzles, and battled both wildlife and human enemies in search of lost artifacts. The original game’s success led to a series of sequels, each expanding on the formula with new locations, enemies, and mechanics, though they largely followed the same structure of action-adventure gameplay.

Between 1997 and 2003, the series saw regular releases, with Core Design developing five mainline games. Tomb Raider II took the series to more varied locations, like Venice and Tibet, introducing new mechanics like vehicles. Tomb Raider III brought an expanded move set for Lara and more non-linear level design, while Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation focused heavily on Egyptian mythology, with a more dramatic story where Lara was presumed dead at the end. Tomb Raider: Chronicles followed, acting as a collection of flashback stories told by Lara's friends, after her supposed death. However, by this time, the series was beginning to show signs of fatigue, with critics citing repetitive gameplay and a lack of innovation.

In 2003, Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness was released as the sixth main entry and represented a major shift for the series. This game had a darker tone, with more complex storytelling, focusing on murder mystery and conspiracies involving ancient powers. It also introduced RPG-like elements, where players could upgrade Lara's abilities. Unfortunately, the game was plagued by development issues, rushed production, and clunky controls, leading to a poor reception from both critics and fans. This was a low point for the series, and Core Design was eventually removed from the franchise.

After the failure of The Angel of Darkness, development of the series was handed over to Crystal Dynamics, a different studio, which soft rebooted the series with Tomb Raider: Legend in 2006. This introduced a new perspective for Lara Croft and the series as a whole. The gameplay was more fluid, with modernized controls, better graphics, and a more cinematic approach to storytelling. Legend was well-received, breathing new life into the franchise. This success was followed by Tomb Raider: Anniversary in 2007, a remake of the original game, which reimagined the classic experience using modern technology and the gameplay mechanics introduced in Legend.

In 2008, Tomb Raider: Underworld was released as a direct sequel to Legend, continuing the story and building on the gameplay mechanics of its predecessors. This game featured more expansive environments, underwater exploration, and advanced platforming mechanics, while also concluding the trilogy that began with Legend. However, despite these improvements, the series was beginning to face stiff competition from other action-adventure games like Uncharted, and it became clear that Tomb Raider needed another significant overhaul to stay relevant.

This overhaul came in 2013, when Crystal Dynamics fully rebooted the franchise with Tomb Raider, a reimagining of Lara Croft’s origin story. The 2013 game was a gritty, survival-focused adventure that depicted a young, inexperienced Lara as she became the hardened explorer fans knew from the earlier games. The reboot was heavily inspired by modern action-adventure games, incorporating a more emotional and character-driven narrative, with Lara growing from a scared young woman into a resourceful survivor. The game featured more realistic graphics, fluid combat, and an open-world design that emphasized exploration and crafting. The reboot was a huge success, both commercially and critically, and is credited with revitalizing the series for a new generation.

Following the success of the 2013 reboot, Crystal Dynamics released Rise of the Tomb Raider in 2015. This game expanded on the survival mechanics, exploration, and storytelling of the reboot, placing more emphasis on open-world exploration and crafting. Lara’s character development was deepened, as she now had to confront the legacy of her father’s obsession with immortality and lost secrets. Rise of the Tomb Raider was also praised for its stunning environments, ranging from the frozen wilderness of Siberia to ancient ruins hidden deep in forests.

In 2018, Shadow of the Tomb Raider was released as the final entry in the rebooted trilogy, developed by Eidos Montreal. This game explored darker themes, as Lara grappled with the consequences of her actions and faced the moral ambiguities of her quest for ancient relics. Set primarily in Central and South America, the game’s environments were rich with detail, and the puzzles were more intricate than in previous entries. While Shadow of the Tomb Raider was generally well-received, some critics noted that it didn’t innovate as much as its predecessors, though it still provided a satisfying conclusion to Lara’s character arc.

Beyond the mainline games, the Tomb Raider series has expanded into other media, including two film adaptations starring Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft, released in 2001 and 2003. These films helped solidify Lara’s status as a pop culture icon, though they were met with mixed critical reception. A more recent film adaptation, released in 2018 and starring Alicia Vikander, was based on the 2013 game and attempted to reboot the film series with a more grounded take on the character. There have also been comic book series, novels, and animated series that expand on Lara Croft’s adventures.

Throughout its long history, the Tomb Raider series has been known for its evolution in gameplay, its combination of exploration, puzzle-solving, and combat, and its focus on a strong, iconic female protagonist. The series has had its highs and lows, but it has remained a major force in the action-adventure genre, consistently influencing the direction of video games and maintaining a lasting legacy in popular culture.

With the Netflix series just out, the remasters of the last three CORE games on the horizon and the possibility of the LAU Trilogy following as well as a brand new game being currently in development, the future is looking bright for the series.

Over 100 million copies of the games have been sold worldwide.

[gemsofgreece]

Hello, could you tell us about Kalymnos and the history of weaving in Greece?

Hi! They are both broad topics, however I will do my best to summarize the most important and interesting information about them.

KALYMNOS

Kálymnos is an island which belongs in the Dodecanese, the southeasternmost islands of Greece. It is 26th in the list of the 50 largest Greek islands. It is the third most populous island of the Dodecanese.

Kalymnos was first inhabited by Carians and Phoenicians. By 1100 BC the island was inhabited by Dorian Greeks. Kalymnos participated in the Trojan War and Homer mentions it with the name Kalydnae. In the late Archaic period, Kalymnos was a democracy. For a time, it was captured by the Persians. When liberated again, Kalymnos remained an ally of Athens, however it did not meddle much with the Peloponnesian war. Like all the other regions of Greece, it fell under Roman rule and was a part of the Byzantine Empire in the middle ages. In the 13th and 14th centuries it came under the control of Venice and the Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (Ιωαννίτες Ιππότες - Ioannites Ippotes in Greek) AKA the crusaders, just like most of the Dodecanese islands. The knights expanded and reinforced the original Byzantine fortress of the island which was there since the 10th century.

The ruins of the castle above the main town (Chora) of the island.

The Ottoman Turks attacked the island for about 80 years until they conquered it in 1522. Kalymnos was relatively privileged in the Ottoman Empire - islands were always more privileged compared to mainland Greek regions. In 1881, the Ottoman General Census found that the island had an overwhelming Greek majority (9,482 Greeks out of 9,716 overall population). In 1912, Italy conquered the island during the Italo-Turkish war and kept it until 1947, when, in the form of reparations after the Axis Occupation, Italy ceded the Dodecanese islands to Greece. The Dodecanese were the last region to get united with the Modern Greek state.

Kalymnos has a diverse, arid landscape. It is hilly and very rugged, while its coastline is very indented, forming numerous cliffs, caves and coves. This is why Kalymnos is an internationally popular rock climbing destination with more than 3,000 climbing routes. Kalymnos also has a small archipelagos of its own.

Kalymnos' economy is not based on agriculture, but rather tourism, traditional head scarf painting production and, most notably, sponge diving, which is the best known tradition of the island. Greece is the biggest exporter of natural sponges in the world, largely thanks to Kalymnian spongedivers and the island's seabed. Traditional sponge diving is extremely dangerous and potentially fatal and involves wearing a very heavy suit and holding your breath underwater for extended periods of time.

Artwork depicting the life of a Kalymnian spongediver © Francesco Zizola / NOOR

A folk song sang by Kalymnian sailors and divers has become popular around the world after French singer Dalida made a cover of it with romantic lyrics in 1970. The actual song however was sung by the ship's crew and it was meant to rouse a reaction from the spongediver so that if he struggled underwater, he would have the will to fight and manage to come to the water's surface. For example, the song makes references to the little joys of life, food, a comfortable sleep in a warm bed, sex, making a family, it mentions women (who could be real islanders the spongedivers were interested in), it mentions taking the City back (AKA Constantinople!), it mentions turning against the privileged lords of the island, it "threatens" the spongediver with unfairness ("you lads, I will give violets to you all, I will give two to each, but hey I am giving none to Yoryis (the spongediver)!"), it criticizes the spongediver's unresponsiveness (not pulling the rope) and implies his sister is with the crew, so anything that could potentially make a young man's blood flow and rouse a reaction from him and help him rise to the surface. I link the song below, performed by an actual crew from the island.

After the 60s a lot of Kalymnians emigrated to the USA and Australia, where they were usually employed in hard jobs, like constructing and painting bridges, used as they were in the demanding job of their island.

WEAVING IN GREECE

Weaving is a big, broad topic, especially because it was a well attested practice in Greece even in the Homeric Age. Therefore, and because the post is already long, I found some links that are very helpful and detailed and way more informative than whatever I would write here!

In this link here, there is a pdf about Byzantine weaving and textiles.

[wrongcaitlyn]

Angsty Nico in Venice but he’s halfway underwater bc he’s short and the city is sinking

i'm sorry the sentence "he’s halfway underwater bc he’s short and the city is sinking" HAS ME CACKLINGGJSDKFJ

angsty nico in venice tho?? 100%. absolutely. i feel sort of bad for writing angst on the first update of pride month... but like it must be done!!

[yoshifan456]

So apparently there are a dozen or so extra tracks on the DR soundtrack that weren't (fully) in the movie but were suites or possibilities for the music to go there, and it's all published on Lorne Balfe's Youtube page (which he has and it's amazing).It's very fun to listen to.

Some themes and ideas are very clearly also in the rest of the movie ('The truth is vanishing' is basically an expanded and even better edition of 'Get Out Now' and I am not complaining because 'Get Out Now' is one of my favourite tracks on this soundtrack), but there is also some fun playfullness around too (I really liked the cute flutes at the end of 'Ink and Keys' for instance). I really like 'War is Coming' as a sort of mourning song for Ilsa, starting very quiet and slow and very slowly and seemlessly regaining speed, power and depth, as if Ethan has come to a halt by Ilsa's death and slowly is searching to refind the resolve to keep fighting through all the battles that he wins and when everything quiets again there is this single hollow note, the single lonely MI-theme as if to say Ethan is really, really feeling quite alone without Ilsa by his side and mourning her after the adrenaline has died down. Really loving the female choir in 'Xm18 Dunes'. Fallout's score had a powerful full choir for it's main theme and this track feels more ethereal and floating because of the women's voices. I like the attempt here and am slightly sad they didn't went further into this direction with DR's music.

And 'Ethan's Fate' was very pretty and kinda climactic/working towards something emotional. It also gave us a theme that sounded familiar and returns in 'Xm22 Hunt' so is maybe Ethan's theme, but I don't know if it has been used before (it goes like teeeedududuuuu and starting a little higher for the second teeeedududuuuu). Some parts of it leading upto the big climactic moment (which actually has ruffling drums) were familiar to some parts in Venice in the movie, so could this have been the music if they had gone through with an romantic subplot between Ethan and Grace (or possibly Ilsa)? Anyway, since it's romantic themed (in my ears it least, and the track called 'passion's embrace' is almost fully this theme), could we hear parts of this in FR with possibly Marie-flashbacks or the underwater ghostly kiss-thing?

[generalb]

What if Gotham became a canal city, like Venice? Still keeping the cityscape of course. It would be interesting to see the evolution of gothams high and low society to this. Certain villains like Croc would definitely be stronger/more prominent than most other land based characters of Batman’s usuals. Batman would have to make a water suit, with feedback from aquaman perhaps. Jetboots like Batman Beyond that can work underwater, fins to help those tight turns.