#Virtue Clan

[halenhusky309]

Kind of amazing how much JC did so much self-inflicted damage to his own sect, not only by doing the amoral thing by abandoning the Wen Remnants, his debt to them, and not standing by WWX, but also the most unpragmatic thing by:

- Abandoning the guy who is: a genius inventor, an army by himself, the reason so many new people came into the sect, and overall a ridiculously good asset to the sect.

- Losing the opportunity cost of getting one of the best doctors/physicians in the land.

And all he has to do was show a modicum of backbone (standing by WWX and Wen Remnants) and political acumen (literally tell the truth of the situation and frame it in a somewhat palatable manner).

Lol, when you listed out the benefit of Jiang Cheng having some backbone and simply committing to just 25% of his clan's motto, his clan would have been even more powerful than Jins clan and he could have shut the yapping and shit-talking from other clan leaders, as those coward would rather become sheeples to someone who was richer and more powerful. But nah, Jiang Cheng volunteered to be Jin Guangshan's bitch when no one threatened him or anything. The only they did was throwing some snide comments, bringing up his daddy's issue and pitching WWX against him and he chose folded like wet blanket... Now, he loses two geniuses that would strengthen his clan tenfold while also make him look like a real honorable clan leader. Too bad being fake and shallow "good" clan leader is easy for him

[yuridovewing]

no seriously wtf was up with that in moth flights vision. clear sky denies his kid medical help and lets him die slowly and painfully over his pride. and the other clans’s reaction is not “holy shit this guy is a monster” but “awww hes so sad :((( wtf WINDSTAR“ and moth flight is personally like “for being the saddest and goodest boy ever who did nothing wrong, please take my infant son as a replacement for the one you killed <3” like hes a cup of sugar

[smvillainsweek]

Day 6 - Virtue/Sin

We are Day 6 and today's themes are Virtue and/or Sin!

If you would like a reminder of the rules for the event feel free to check back our guidelines!

Don't forget to post your works with the tag @smvillainsweek and use the hashtag #smvillainsweek24 to make sure we can find and reblog them!

You can add your AO3 works to our designated category for the event here. We also have a Deviantart category for the event where you can add your work! ^^

[ukexpointl]

Stewart of Gal Lowav Virescit Vulanere Virtus Clan Badge

The Stewart of Gal Lowav Virescit Vulanere Virtus Clan Badge is an emblem of honor and heritage, rich in symbolism and tradition. Crafted with meticulous detail, it embodies the noble lineage and valorous spirit of the Stewart clan.

At its heart lies the rampant lion, a powerful symbol of strength, courage, and majesty, representing the clan's proud heritage and unwavering resolve. With its fierce countenance and regal bearing, the lion commands respect and admiration, reflecting the noble character of the Stewart lineage.

Encircling the lion are intricate Celtic knotwork patterns, intricately woven symbols of eternity and interconnectedness. These timeless designs speak to the enduring bond of kinship and the unbreakable ties that bind the clan together through the ages.

Adorning the badge are elements reminiscent of the Scottish highlands, such as thistles and heather, paying homage to the rugged beauty of the clan's ancestral lands. These natural motifs serve as reminders of resilience and perseverance, qualities that have defined the Stewart clan throughout its storied history.

Above the lion, a heraldic crest proudly displays the motto "Virescit Vulnere Virtus," Latin for "Courage grows strong at a wound," underscoring the clan's indomitable spirit and steadfast determination in the face of adversity.

The Stewart of Gal Lowav Clan Badge is not merely a symbol; it is a testament to the enduring legacy of a proud and noble lineage, a reminder of the virtues and values that have guided the clan through generations past and will continue to inspire future generations for centuries to come.

[redbean-nom]

behold the clan fett legacy

the Fett enthusiast’s, as a community, needs to talk about Cassus Fett more.

One of my favorite, favorite characters. The Fett’s fall from grace is something that needs to be studied because Cassus was putting in the WORK.

What I wanna talk about most is how he actively worked for individualism within Mandalorian culture, the way he’d be so proud of his successors (not you Jango). He’d have so much pride in the clones.

Cassus Fett is one of those characters that actually sends chills down my spine, reading anything that has to do with him makes me feel like I’m reading a out a deity. He gives off lots of Jaster energy but you can see the genes carried very far. You can tell that Jango and Boba are descendants of him, the creator even made it a point to say that Jango and Boba were the only ones who truly matched Cassus’ skill.

Not only that but he did more for the culture than a lot of Mandalore’s own leaders. He settled them down and practically established them on Mandalore, making them no longer a nomadic tribe. He also took part in conquering planets, he was advisor to two great Mand’alor’s (Mandalore the Indomitable and Mandalore The Ultimate) He’s just— very important and so extremely interesting when you consider all the Fett lore, where they came from and where they ended up.

He’s supposed to be a character that strikes a lot of emotions into people with just his name;

Exhibit A :

[r--kt]

Do you like Kakashi's dogs? Let's talk about why there are eight of them.

another example of naruto's ✨cultural code✨

contents | the eight dog warriors chronicles · legacy · eight confucian virtues. also look at the cuties love them sm

Naruto Vol. 10 CH 90

[ one dog is wonderful, I'm saying as the owner of a sweet little york terrier. two dogs are good, they won't be bored together. three dogs? yeah, cool! how are you going to walk them though? four? yes... look, maybe we have to draw the line h- wha- EIGHT? Excuse Me!? ]

surely, it's worth starting with the fact that eight is a lucky number in Japanese culture — everybody watched Hachi. of course, this is not the only cultural detail where the eight is mentioned. I want to pay special attention to a thing that I didn't know about until I googled it, and this is clearly what Kishimoto was doing homage to with Kakashi's eight ninken.

The Eight Dog Warriors Chronicles

Better known as Nansō Satomi Hakkenden. and it's not just some kind of book, it's a novel, consisting of 106 booklets written by Kyokutei Bakin in XIX century. Hakkenden is considered the largest novel in the history of Japanese Literature. this is one of the main representatives of the gesaku genre, which includes works of a frivolous, joking, silly nature. further I will emphasize a few more times how damn popular this work is and how often it is reflected in culture.

here are some illustrations for these books

now let's talk about the plot. It's weird, but it's weird at samurai-dogs-story level so stay here.

In brief, the story tells about the commander Satomi Yoshizane, whose native lands were attacked by the army of a man, whose forces surpassed those of Satomi, and the samurai in despair swore to a dog named Yatsufusa that the dog would get his beloved daughter Fuse as a wife if he chewed that man's throat. surprisingly, the dog not only understood the owner, but also fulfilled his wish! after that the commander refused to keep the promise. however, Fuse, true to her word of honor, went with Yatsufusa to the mountains and became his wife. upon learning that his daughter was pregnant, Satomi, in a rage, sent a samurai to kill Yatsufusa and bring Fuse home. she stood up for the dog anyways and died with him. at that moment, eight pearls with hieroglyphs that denoted the foundations of Confucian virtue burst out of her womb. (...cheers for mythology, I guess)

Soon, eight dog warriors who were Fuse's spiritual children were born in different parts of Awa province. after going through hardships, they got together and became vassals of the Satomi clan, then won the battle, and soon reached peace.

some more illustrations made by Utagawa Kuniyoshi. from left to right: Inukawa Sōsuke (the dog warrior), Inumura Daikaku (the dog warrior), Princess Fuse (their mother).

the novel mainly tells about each individual warrior dog and his shenanigans in a funny adventurous way. huge fame has led to excerpts from Hakkenden being staged at the Kabuki Theater and mentioned in the anime and manga, such as Inuyasha, Dragon Ball, as it turned out, Naruto and so on. there's also a lot of films and video games.

The eight virtues

these are loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, love, honesty, justice, harmony, and peace.

they relate more to Chinese culture, but basically Hakkenden was inspired by it too. since I did not read the whole novel, I would still like to mention at least the values on which it is based, and which were embedded in the symbolism of this story. It's quite interesting to apply this to Kakashi's dogs. gives them more weight and depth.

It is also interesting to note that the reason why Fuse gave birth to dogs was also that her father was cursed earlier in the story in a way that his descendants would become depraved like dogs. in Japanese culture, dogs embody the duality of character: the same mentioned filth and depravity, and devotion and bravery. so as samurai. but this is a different conversation, more related to Kakashi and his dog poetry.

Did you get here? Here's an additional discovery for you✨

Pakkun's name (パックン) is derived from the Japanese onomatopoeia “pakupaku” (パクパク) which reflects the sound of munching.

Kakashi, that's very sweet of you.

thank you for reading this to the end ♡

[crispyjenkins]

*white-knuckled and grinding teeth* do not start a time travel fic where obi-wan lands near the beginning of his mandalore mission. do not think about him landing mid-battle with a death watch patrol he struggled with by virtue of being sixteen and run ragged, do not think about him freezing mid-attack and being flooded with future memories and satine freaking out and the death watch commando gets a few hits in but then obi-wan unfreezes and fucking obliterates the commandos. do not think about how disturbed satine is, how obi-wan can suddenly move in his stollen death watch armour like he was born in it, how he looks down at his saber like an old friend he no longer gets along with, how he barely looks at satine when he says they’re going back to mandalore to keldabe. crispy im serious dont think about him single-handedly raiding death watch's main holdout in the keldabe ruins and stealing all the info pre vizsla had about galidraan and using it to track down jango and forcing/convincing him to come back to mandalore to end the clan wars crispy im serious you don’t have time to write this stop thinking ab

[nevertheless-moving]

Considering the amount of emotional and moral nuance he managed to muster up immediately post Guanyin temple (despite having a terrible week and zero good role models) AND considering his front row seat to the dissection of Jiang Wanyin and Wei Wuxian’s downfall, I think that in a time travel fix-it, Jin Ling would actually be pretty successful at brute forcing yunmeng family therapy.

I mean he'd probably cry, but even that would be good! Because 1) modeling negative male emotions beside anger, and 2) Oh shit that’s shije’s kid we made Shije’s son cry, fuck, fuck! Bam! Instant high ground! Also he has the most authority of any second gen character by virtue of the fact that he could pull “DO YOU WANT MY MOM TO DIE??? BECAUSE YOU TWO ACTING LIKE MORONS IS WHAT GOT MY MOM KILLED! NOW SIT DOWN AND SPIT OUT ALL YOUR FUCKING SECRETS OR MY MOM WILL DIE AND I’LL BREAK YOUR LEGS!!” It would work! Tell me it wouldn't work!

Not to mention once he gets a few sect leader years under his belt, he might be the best person to manage a fix-it, in general. He's got perspective. He's got political training. Others might get too caught up on the specifics of the Wen remnants or the Ying Tiger Tally or Vengeance against One Person or Another — Jin Ling is critiquing the basic structure of how Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng are living their lives and he's getting away with it.

He would even be good at dealing with Jin Guangyao, the slipperiest motherfucker in the timeline. Jin Ling's got as good a handle as anyone on his motivations, and he has sincere (if messy) affection for him, which would hit Guangyao right in his weak spot. Depending on your headcanons it may or may not be in vain, but he's got a real chance of getting the man to set some more modest and less destructive life goals.

Similarly, I think he'd do a pretty decent job at a harsh-but-fair critique of Xichen's neutrality and Mingue's rigidity and Huissang's delibrate uselessness, though getting them to listen would be more of a crapshoot.

All of this makes it especially funny how badly he would handle Wangxian.

For context: Wei Ying and Hunguang-jun are not just the gayest people Jin Ling has ever met, they are the gayest people he's ever HEARD of.

He wouldn't want to bring it up. He wouldn't mean to. He doesn't want to talk about it. But when he inevitably calls Wei Ying a slur only to be met with genuine bafflement? Jin Ling would completely lose his shit.

Because I don't think Wei Ying is going to get offended, or defensive, or have a response that his nephew could coherently mock. Wei Wuxian thinks 'hey these time traveling guys are actually pretty funny!' Him and Whom? Not even a serious topic of contention. You got me for a second, haha.

Jin Ling would break. Wei Ying eventually says something the effect of "I'm straight? Obviously?" and Jin Ling would nod once, start screaming, then climb across the table to strangle him.

It's — look. How do you fucking explain that all of the worst moments of your life were, in someway or another, characterized by Wei Wuxian and Lan Wanjii being FLAMBOYANTLY into one another.

The man who saved his life also killed his father and Jin Ling stabs him but it feels awful and — ok Lan Wanjii is cradling Wei Wuxian tenderly. Ok they're just going to go. They're leaving like that. Hunguang Jun was — is — was the Yiling Patriarch's widow, so that's another layer to add onto everything else. Hunguang-Jun is visibly expressing emotions with his face and voice and Jin Ling is going to go throw up now

Jin Ling's kidnapped at the burial mounds and everyone’s lost their spiritual energy and all his friends and family are going to die and — those two are smiling at eachother. They're telling inside jokes. They're holding hands.

Jin disciples (his own clans disciples) just shot at him and and Xiao-shushu really is what people sa— WEI YING SHOUTS ABOUT WANTING TO FUCK LAN WANJII

THEY ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF BEING KIDNAPPED AND HE DOES THIS

Jujiu is bleeding from the stomach and crying he's bleeding and crying his jujiu is doing that and Xiao-shushu caused it and his whole life is a lie and Hunguang Jun and the Yiling Patriarch are visibly groping in a corner.

And then they never stop groping again. Forever.

So yeah, I'm quite confident that if Jin Ling had to be even peripherally involved with coaching Wei Wuxian through a bisexual awakening and homoerotic courtship, he would explode. He would black out with rage. He'd make an honest and embarrassingly unsuccessful attempt at killing Lan Zhan. He would walk into a lotus pond and stay there until he drowned. He'd start heavy drinking. He'd punch a random passerby in the dick.

In conclusion, Need More Jin Ling Time Travel Fics

[belit0]

How about Uchiha men with S/O big chest but she is a tall and athletic woman, which makes her very attractive to the male population

My first request in what feels like years. Bear with me while I get back on track, lol.

Indra

Indra observes the woman with a mixture of intrigue and detachment. It is not part of his character to prove anything to others, but a curious gleam appears in his eye as he meets (Y/N). His eyes, sharp and analytical, take in her tall, athletic figure with discernment born of his legacy. For Indra, strength and skill are qualities of great respect, and he perceives in her more than physical attractiveness; she is a reflection of his own ideals. Perhaps she is the right person, the one with whom to nurture a legacy worthy of calling his own. However, he is careful not to let his admiration be misinterpreted. Indra's gaze is intense but distant, appreciating her as the embodiment of power and elegance rather than just her looks. He wonders if such a woman could understand the weight of his expectations and if her strength could match the burdens of his mission. Would she be able to keep up with his agenda?

Madara

Madara's interest in her is immediate and intense. Known for his commanding presence and boundless ambition, he sees her as a formidable ally-or a potential adversary. Should (y/n) refuse his advances, or suddenly reject him out of hand, mutual hostility would be born immediately. Her tall, muscular, eye-catching figure is secondary to him; what really captures his attention is her power and poise. Madara's calculating mind evaluates her as a force to be reckoned with, someone who could stand beside him as an equal. Of course, the additional beauty the girl brings with her is pleasing to the eye, and he must be reminded on several occasions that staring at someone can be interpreted as a weak gesture coming from the clan leader. This attraction is not purely physical; it is a recognition of the power she exudes, which resonates with his aspirations and unwavering resolve.

Izuna

Surprise and lust. His warm and open attitude contrasts with his brother's more reserved nature, leaving him in evidence as the womanizer he is from the very first moment he appears on the scene. Izuna perceives her attitude and confident presence as a breath of fresh air, but nothing deeper than that. She's not his type, nothing he'd generally go for, but a change of scenery is always nice. He doesn't intend anything serious, considering her as one more conquest of his vast collection. What better than a challenge to remind oneself of the virtues of being alive and handsome? In any case, he finds the combination of power and beauty a bit intimidating, appreciative of how her looks are matched by an undeniable confidence. Izuna is not entirely thrilled to have someone equal to or stronger than him by his side, a matter of compromised egos, but the harmonious blend of grace and strength (y/n) possesses captures him. Irresistible, for now.

Obito

This Uchiha's initial reaction is one of awe and a hint of melancholy. The woman's imposing figure and aerial prowess remind him of a world he once hoped to protect, a world where those qualities were celebrated. For him, her presence is both a source of inspiration and a painful reminder of the life he has lost. Despite his internal struggles, he is drawn to her resilience and strength, traits that resonate deeply with his own journey. Obito aches for her not only for her appearance but for the way she seems to embody an ethos of resilience and charm, qualities he wishes he could continue to embrace. Either way, (y/n) represents light at the end of a too-dark path, someone to cling to to heal and restore a broken soul. Her stability engenders trust and he soon falls into a great emotional dependence on her.

Shisui

Shisui perceives (y/n) with a combination of amusement and subtle admiration. His eyes slowly wander from the curves in of her breasts to her hips, roaming her body centimeter by centimeter with stealthy eyes, a gaze too indecipherable, preventing anyone from interpreting his ulterior motives. Lightning speed itself. He is used to being chased by people he is not interested in, mainly because none of them can keep up with him. Shisui doesn't want someone by his side to constantly protect, he wants a challenge, someone who brings fun to the table and can contribute to his day-to-day life. A person who will challenge his skills and not regard him as a god, an equal. Finally, someone who can match him, providing dynamic workouts more fun than usual. His interest is tempered with genuine esteem for her personality, recognizing that her physical attributes are matched by a compelling inner strength. Shisui admires her ability to attract attention while maintaining an air of humility and pride.

Itachi

Itachi's perception of her is marked by his usual depth and complexity. Her towering, lithe, athletic figure and imposing presence are observed with a sense of silent respect. To Itachi, her physical attributes are important, but secondary to the fortitude of character she displays. (y/n)’s a force to reckon with, someone to be valued and not underestimated. He monitors her acutely, appreciating how she performs with a poised blend of stamina and flare. Every movement is calculated to perfection, and those are the details that make him realize she knows what she's doing. Itachi's admiration is measured, recognizing her attractiveness while remaining focused on the substance of her personality. In her, he sees a reflection of the balance he seeks in his own life, a combination of outward strength and inner fortitude. He would never approach her with offensive or lustful intentions, too polite to inconvenience a lady of such high caliber.

[coldxperience]

Lan Sect's known rules !

▷MDZS Home Page

We are all aware of the famous wall of rules at the Gusu Lan Sect, which Wei Wuxian has a hard time following.

Well, according to the MDZS novel, there were 3,000 rules when they were students, and 4,000 rules 13 years later after Wei Wuxian was resurrected.

I managed to compile 180 rules and divided them into categories.

Sources:

The official printed novel The drama (Youtube) The anime/donghua (Youtube)

Interpretation:

There might be translation mishaps from Chinese to English. One thing could be interpreted in various ways depending on context. (note: neither Chinese nor English are not my native languages.)

THE RULES:

▷ Rules on appropriate behavior: (39 rules)

Lan clan disciples must follow the principles of the Lan

Do not work after 9 pm

Do not rise after 5 am / Do not wake up at 8 am

Do not go out at night

Those who come at night should not be allowed in until 7 AM

Do not be late

Do not enter Cloud Recesses without permission

No one is permitted to attend the lectures without an invitation

Do not enter the back hills without permission

Do not fight without permission (alternate: fighting without permission is prohibited)

Do not create damages

Do not take life within Cloud Recesses (alternate: do not kill within the premises)

Do not stand incorrectly (have a proper posture)

Do not sit improperly (sitting improperly is prohibited)

Do not make noise (causing noise is prohibited)

Do not hurry rashly (do not act impulsively; running is prohibited)

Do not move arbitrarily

Do not smile for no reason (do not smile foolishly, do not laugh for no reason)

Sneering for no reason is prohibited

Do not drink alcohol (alcohol is prohibited)

Do not consume meat

Killing livestock within the area is prohibited

Do not be difficult with food (do not be picky about food)

Do not eat more than three bowls

Do not talk during mealtimes

Pets are not permitted

Change clothes after a shower

Wear a headband to discipline yourself

Do not touch others’ headbands without permission

A headband is not to be used for any other purpose

Only a spouse or child may touch the headband

Do not bribe a law enforcer

Do not use a concealed weapon

Do not hide an edged tool

Do not wear any jangling objects like beads

Do not wear more than three accessories around your waist

Do not alter clothes secretly

Never hurt insects or plants

Do not borrow money

▷ Rules related to personal virtues: (63 rules)

Love and respect yourself

Behave yourself

Be respectful (be courteous)

Be modest Arrogance is prohibited

Hide your wisdom

Do not show off your skills

Be humble

Do not be supercilious

Be amicable and united

Be strict with yourself

Have a strong will and anything can be achieved

Diligence is the root

Morality is the priority

Harmony is the value

Be ethical

Uphold the value of justice

Be just

Shoulder the weight of morality

Perform acts of chivalry

Have courage and knowledge

Have courtesy and integrity

Do not be ill-mannered

Have affection and gratefulness

Be compassionate

Be generous

Frugality is a moral

Give more, take less

Do not expect rewards after giving

Do not be miserly

Do not regret offering

Accumulate virtue and merits

Make sure to act virtuously

Be grateful

Be grateful when praised

Stop bad habits

Destroy the five poisons (desire, anger, ignorance, pride, & jealousy)

Do not indulge in pleasure

Do not be promiscuous

Do not indulge in debauchery

Do not wallow in luxury and pleasure (do not live extravagantly/in luxury)

Be peaceful when insulted

Do not succumb to rage

Speak meagrely, for too many words only bring harm

Do not be haughty and complacent

Do not be of two minds

Do not exult in excess (do not be excessively/too happy)

Do not grieve in excess (do not be excessively/too sad)

Do not covet the property of others

Do not steal

Do not be greedy

Be careful with your words

Do not use coarse language

Do not tell lies

Do not take your own words lightly

Do not sow discord

Do not use flowery writing (do not write about love and sex; do not use frivolous language; or do not spread empty lines)

Do not say one thing and mean another (do not break promises; do not go back on your word)

Do not boast about your own strengths

Believe sincerely

Do not be suspicious

Do not be wasteful

Do not break faith and abandon the right

Do not be unreasonable

▷ Rules for training, studying, and learning: (8 rules)

Learning comes first

Train your body and your mind

Maintain your own discipline

Organise work properly

Do not neglect your studies

Do not give up on learning

Do not lose your life goal

Nurture aspirations

▷ Rules for interacting with others: (48 rules)

Love all beings

Embrace the entirety of the world

Honor good people

Appreciate the good people

Good people will be esteemed, blessed by nature, and followed by good fortune

Respect the filial ones

Be fair, and they will follow you

Be trustworthy, and they will believe you

Be mighty, and they will die for you

Be loyal

Earn trust

Win friendships with kindness

See friends as neighbors

Steer away from bad men

Correct others by correcting yourself

Do not fear the strong

Do not ignore others and be undisciplined 

Help the lonely

Take pity on the desolate

Do not despise poverty

Do not bully the weak (bullying is prohibited)

Do not mix public and private interests

Help the underprivileged

Care for the weak

Lend a hand to those in need

Rescue those in danger

Do not take advantage of your position or connections to oppress others

Do not build wealth by using others, for this wealth won’t last

Do not curry favor (flatter)

Do not go tuft-hunting

Do not be a social climber

Do not form a clique and exclude others

Do not insult people

Do not use bad words to hurt others

Do not tease others

Do not praise yourself and slander others

Do not jump to an unfounded conclusion (do not make assumptions about others; do not judge others quickly)

Do not judge people behind their backs (do not speak ill of others; speaking behind other people’s backs is prohibited)

Speak not about other people’s weaknesses

Be easy on others

Be sad for other people’s sufferings

Rejoice in other people’s blessings

Regard other people’s gains and losses as your own

Do not hold grudges

Have wins and losses

If others win over you, do not envy

If others lose to you, do not look down

Do not take apprentices excessively, nor pass ordinary people

▷ Rules for respecting those in authority: (11 rules)

Respect the elderly

Do not disrespect the elder

Do not disregard the younger

Do not forget the grace of the forefathers

Be loyal, filial, friendly, and dutiful

Be a filial child

Do not argue with your family, for it doesn’t matter who wins

Honor the teachers and respect the elders

If your senior is standing, you may not sit until they have done so

Teachers have extensive knowledge and are examples of moral integrity

Disturbing female cultivators is prohibited

▷ Rules on cultivation, good and evil: (11 rules)

Concentrate on cultivating

To suppress and eliminate ghosts and monsters, liberate them

Stay on the righteous path

Take the straight path (follow the righteous way)

Reject the crooked road (do not take the crooked ways)

Eliminate evil and establish a just law

Do not associate with evil

Do not befriend the evil

Do not fall to evil

Resist evil

Promote good

▷ Bonus rule:

Wei Wuxian isn't allowed. (Do not get near Wei Ying)

▷MDZS Home Page

[completed ; 10/07/2024]

★ ⁺. ໒꒰ྀི｡- ˕ -｡꒱ྀི১ ૮꒰˶ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ˶꒱ა ˖⁺‧₊˚

[whitejays-galaxy]

Designing the entire disaster lineage as cats🐱(Reupload)

I accidentally made some design errors, so I had to redo them... To make up for my mistake, there's a small surprise in the end ^^

The disaster lineage:

This is their actual size chart

My favorite trio:

Dooky and Quiggs becuz they deserve more love:

Ref sheets:

Horizonstar/step(Yoda): 

Name Meaning:

"Horizon" carried the meaning of him being the leader of his clan, a beacon of light in the distance, "Step" meant he was always one step ahead of his clanmates, thus using his knowledge and power to help his cats.

Frostshard(Dooku): 

Name Meaning:

I chose "Frost" because of his cold, collected, haughty demeanor, and "Shard", his presence being able to hurt others, like when you touch a broken shard of glass. It also represents his sharpness.

Sagepelt(Qui-Gon-Jinn):

Name Meaning:

"Sage" symbolizes his wisdom of the living Force, spiritual sanctity, vice, and virtue, which some knights thought he was delusional, while others respected his high moral standards.

If you look at a sage plant, the leaves are fuzzy, and they often grow in large swishing bushels, hence the suffix "Pelt"

Hazeldusk(Obi-Wan-Kenobi):

Pls ignore his traumatized face

Anyway

Name Meaning:

I chose "Hazel" because of his pelt color and warm/comforting personality. "Dusk" has a deeper meaning; Hazel trains Skyfire, who turns to the dark side and brings Dawnclan's legacy to an end; therefore, Hazel teaches the one who brought the "Dusk" of Dawnclan's era.

Skyfire(Anakin Skywalker): 

Name Meaning:

I chose "Sky" because of his godlike abilities, for in many countries and religions, the sky was where the gods lived, "Fire" because of him being ferocious yet warm/loving like a small bit of flame in a hearth. It also foreshadows how he would fall, consumed into flames.

Tawnyrain(Ahsoka-Tano):

Name Meaning:

I chose "Tawny" because of her pelt color, and "Rain", symbolizes her abandoning the teachings of Dawnclan when she goes into exile, like the rain washing over dust and grime, the corruption of Dawnclan ways, coated over her innocence and pure heart. 

Long yap incoming...

<Lore>

<Dawnclan/ The Jedi Order>

Dawnclan was created over a thousand years ago by four Force-sensitive cats: Sunspirit(Cala Brin), Tigerblaze(Rajivari), Valorsoul(Garon Jard), and Eclipseshadow(Ters Sendon). 

"True justice cannot be driven by emotion. We knights can set our passions aside, and seek the truth without fear or favor." - Sunspirit

"When Dawnclan's order began, I saw we must be dedicated to peace. To calm our emotions, and end war across the galaxy. If we fought, it should only be in self-defense. That is the founding principle of civilization." - Valorsoul

"So much is fleeting. But I remain. And I remain the cat I was." - Tigerblaze

"I am Eclipseshadow, keeper of the histories. A founder, and chronicler, of Dawnclan." - Eclipseshadow

<About Dawnclan>

-They walk the dreams of their ancestors in Starclan, a clan created by the light side of the Force.

-A Force-Sensitive kit is taken to the temple at a very young age, training in the basic forms of dueling.

-Padawans(apprentices) train for approximately two years with their assigned Master, the names usually ending with a 'Paw'(a universal suffix meaning apprentice or student)

-Knights must at least have trained an apprentice before they can be selected for the Dawnclan Council, a group of the most talented cats.

-A Dawnclan knight is forbidden to take a mate or have kits.

<The Dawnclan Code>

There is no Emotion, there is Peace

There is no Ignorance, there is Knowledge

There is no Passion, there is Serenity

There is no Chaos, there is Harmony

There is no Death, there is the Force

<Darkhaven/ The Sith Order>

It is hard to know the birth of Darkhaven, yet one thing is for sure, evil has lurked since no beginning nor end.

The official name of these dark warriors was created by Hellfire, a soulless she-cat whom many say was the embodiment of evil itself.

The Fate Wars, the first great war in the Galaxy, led to the victory of the knights of Dawnclan, who built their main camp on the ruins of Darkhaven.

After the events of the Fate Wars, two more happened during the history of the Galaxy: 

The first was the Cold War: in which former Darkhavener Corvidheart(Darth Revan) challenged the Emperor Vortexvoid(Emperor Vitalle) to reclaim balance on both sides.

The second was the Grey Wars: Darkhaven leader Stormcutter(Darth Malgus) brought the Dawnclan order to its knees and took over for a long time. This caused a rebellion act against the Darkhaven Empire by normal citizens, and as a result, the Republic was born - an invisible group that consisted of various clans and tribes to discuss peace and to help each other in crisis.

Many years passed after the Grey Wars, and one by one, the warriors of Darkhaven were hunted down by the knights of Dawnclan.

Nightshade(Darth Bane), the last known leader of Darkhaven, and the maker of the Rule of Two, swore revenge. They will always lurk in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to strike. 

Her apprentice Plagueshadow(Darth Plagueis) continued her work in silence, training the dreaded Lightningstrike(Darth Sidious), who would create the most feared and powerful Darkhavener of all time: Lord Deadsoul(Darth Vader)

<About Darkhaveners>

When a Dawnclan knight falls to the Dark side, their features grow haughty and sharp because of the Dark Forest water.

Only Darkhaveners have orange eyes.

They usually have red crystals on their foreheads but in rare circumstances, purple or black could be seen also.

They communicate with the Dark Forest, an everlasting place of the Dark side of the Force, with murky water and wizened trees.

They have the Rule of Two, only allowing a Master and an Apprentice to live.

<The Darkhaven Code>

Peace is a lie, there is only Passion

Through Passion, I gain Strength

Through Strength, I gain Power

Through Power, I gain Victory

Through Victory, My Chains Are Broken

The Force shall set me Free

About Kyberclaws:

They glow red hot at the tip when unsheathed at battle mode. But they can't use them for long, or the heat would kill them(Yoda/Horizonstar has a record of using them for a full thirty minutes)

They are functioned by the Kyber Crystals on their foreheads and could cut through anything except Beskar Wood( a tree known for its silvery wood and toughness, used by the Mandalorian cats)

A Dawnclan cat develops this ability once they are 6 moons old, as their bodies mature enough to withstand the claw tip's deadly heat.

About crystals on foreheads:

The Crystals are the main source of the Kyberclaw's power, and when forcefully taken, it would cripple the owner for eternity(like a bird without wings)

When a Dawnclan cat dies, the Crystals turn a dead-looking grey, devoid of all power.

About Droids in the Au:

They are animals that are neither living nor dead(such as rats, foxes, shrews, badgers...etc)

Their commander controls them with the Smoke Crystals(used like comlinks)

About Starships in the Au: 

They are huge birds of prey tamed by the cats.

Alright... the surprise... I'm actually astonished you scrolled all the way down here.

Cuddle Pile!!!

This is one of my oldest Aus that I'm working on; it's a mix of my two favorite fandoms: StarWars and Warriors(cats)

Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this👍

[donovaneagle2098]

A Complete Encyclopedia of the Lore of Every Witcher School

This is a project I've been working on for a long time. The Witcher Schools in general have lore spread across 3 or 4 different sources, so it's very easy to find inaccurate details about each school due to a person only going off of one source without even knowing of the others. Hell, I've been guilty of this in the past. So I've gone out of my way to find every source available for the various Witcher Schools and compile it into one master post, mostly pulling from the standalone Gwent game, and the Witcher TRPG, as well as an email conversation I've had with the TRPG's writer, Cody Pondsmith. Without further ado, let's start out with the original school, the Order of Witchers.

Witcher schools are like the Clans of Skellige, subtly different, but largely united by their common ground, and that common ground is the Order of Witchers.

The Order of Witchers began as an experiment by the rogue mages Alzur and his mentor Cosimo Malaspina. They "recruited" tests subjects from orphanages, buying them from neglectful parents, or outright kidnapping street kids.

From Cosimo's Gwent Card:

"Children keep asking him for gifts. He doesn’t know why, but it really helps with finding subjects for his experiments."

The main goal of this project was to create an order of knights artificially mutated and imbued with extreme levels of magic to protect people from a world where, at the time, monsters were often literally around every corner.

The mutation experiments were grueling, and most early candidates died horribly, the girls especially, as the mutagenic compounds the mages were working with at the time were better suited for a boys physiology, and they quickly stopped trying to find a mixture that worked well with women, instead refining the more successful candidate pool to meet deadlines. Even with these refinements, however, the Witchers couldn't actually generate much in the way of magical power, at least not nearly as much as those funding the project had hoped for.

These early candidates were encouraged to stick to political neutrality, were told of their duty to protect the common people, and their sword instructor tried to encourage them to take on knightly virtues to live their lives by, though only a few candidates actually bought fully into these particular knightly ideals.

The school developed a training regimen that all later Witcher schools would put their own small twists on. They perfected the whirling sword style, practiced on the Pendulum and Gauntlet training courses. They learned the Witcher Sign magic, created by Cosimo. They were taught hunting and monster lore from experts hired from across the world, and master alchemists crafted the famous Witcher potions.

Ultimately, funding from this school would be pulled due to the Witcher candidates lack of truly powerful magic ability, and the order would start to fracture. Witchers dissatisfied with their lot in life after being forcibly mutated, and railing against the Order's enforced ideals began getting combatative with other Witchers over petty contracts. At this time, contracts were so plentiful that there was no real need to fight over them, but these dissident Witchers did so anyway out of a desire for autonomy and to be free of the Order's code, which they saw as having no practical purpose to prepare new Witchers for the road ahead, and hypocritical as it was forced on them by the mages who never cared for the Witcher's lives. This culminated in one such outspoken Witcher, Arnaghad, attacking another Witcher who poached a contract from him.

After being forced into the painful life of a Witcher, Arnaghad loathed anyone who imposed their will upon him, the Order and it's codes especially. He led an attack on the Order proper, aided by fellow Witchers who respected his defiance towards authority. Once they were beaten back, these dissidents fled to the Amell mountain range to start the next Witcher school, the School of the Bear.

The School of the Bear is one of the most misunderstood schools of them all, owing to the first major lore drop about them being largely in-universe rumors and conjecture surrounding the school, and as such I may need to go more in depth. The two major misconceptions stemming from this is the rumor about their armor, which claims that they don't bother dodging like the other Witchers and instead take blows head on (generally a bad idea, according to Geralt in the books), and the rumor about them attacking most Witchers they meet.

I contacted Cody Pondsmith, who wrote a great deal of this lore, and he mentioned that Bears do often threaten or even fight other Witchers, but in a very Skellige way, only to ward off the other Witcher from contracts they want. The Bears just want to live lives where they aren't commanded by others, and were trained especially brutally, and so will fight for what contracts they want. However they will NEVER kill another Witcher, just draw first blood (outside of duels to decide who runs the school, which occasionally turn deadly. It's unknown if Arnaghad has ever lost these duels) and if that other Witcher stands up to the Bear, they'll let them have the contract and if they meet up and work together enough even maybe become a lifelong friend.

To quote Cody himself: "I like to think of the Witcher Order as a big family in which the Bear School is the blunt, no-nonsense brother. He can be prickly and a bit of a bully sometimes but he takes his job seriously and he can be a good drinking buddy if you get to know him. Not the friendliest of people but far from evil. If you stand up to him and show him you're not afraid of him, he'll respect you."

The other rumor is also an exaggeration. The Witcher TRPG mentions that the Bear armor was designed with flexibility in mind, and while they trained to take on weaker blows with their armor and "mastery of the Quen sign", they also trained how to move quickly in their armor if they needed to dodge a fatal blow. The Bears also still trained on the gauntlet and pendulum like the other schools. Cody Pondsmith also confirmed that the Bears are just as agile as the other Witchers.

The Bears' core philosophy is almost very Lambert like, viewing Witcher's work not as a duty, or knightly virtue, but as difficult, brutal work. The only reason they stick to this work is to do a job where no one else commands them and they're left in peace. They focus only on the practical aspects of their profession, and as such discourage their students from working together in training, since Witchers work alone. As Arnaghad said, "We pass through life alone, better get used to it!" As a result, Bears are very isolated, preferring their own company to that of other Witchers, and were encouraged to value their autonomy and self care above all else. The Bears' approach to teaching was embodied as "let them better themselves through practical, dangerous trials. Survival of the fittest", embodied by final trial, that involved climbing to the top of Mt. Gorgon and back, and any who died from the cold were left "as a sobering reminder of the dangers of their trade". This resulted in the students of the school seeing things in a very callous, survival of the fittest way. Be as strong as you can, and let the perils of Witcher training and life pick off those who can't keep up. As a result, the Bears were by far the smallest Witcher school.

Despite this, the TRPG has a list of random early training events Witchers from all schools can have, and Bears could sometimes make friends amongst their fellow witchers in training just like members of every other school.

Once the new Bear students left their keep of Haern Caduch, most wouldn't return to winter there, unlike the other schools. They developed a reputation as being terrible to fight, and for being firebrands, often speaking very bluntly and quick to anger no matter who they spoke to, authority included. One such Witcher, named Gerd, was asked by a Duchess to help kill her father. He insulted her so badly he got a warrant for his death placed on him, though all the peasants he met spoke rather highly of him. As a result, Bears found it easiest to make friends amongst the similarly minded Dwarves and Gnomes of the Amell mountains, and people of the Skellige Isles. According to Cody Pondsmith, this is the main reason the Bears stayed together as a group at all. They valued autonomy above all else and so long as they functioned as a Witcher school, they were left alone and no rulers would try and command them. They also largely take their ideals of free will and apply it to others, never seeking to rule over others. They simply wish to live their lives free.

One of the original Witchers to side with Arnaghad, Ivar Evil-Eye, had extra mutations done to him by the Order of Witchers during his trial, allowing him to see into other worlds. In these visions he saw the Wild Hunt rampaging across them, conquering them. Ivar became obsessed with stopping them, and tried to kill Arnaghad to take command and lead the Bear school against the Hunt. This failed, so he and his supporters left to form the Viper School.

The Witchers of the Viper school, based in Gorthur Gvaed, were said to be the most secretive, taking contracts as both assassins and witchers. They at first dedicated themselves finding a way to stop the Wild Hunt, amassing a massive library on the subject. Fighting with an unpredictable, ambushed based variant of the Witcher fighting style, Viper Witchers employed poisons, brewed by skilled Viper alchemists, on both their swords, and a dagger in their offhand, their biggest deviation from typical Witcher combat techniques.

Vipers, for an unknown reason, eventually forgot their purpose. In his time, Letho of Gullet could only guess at why the school had been founded. Instead, they became famous for their skill at political killings, dealing with the nobility of the southern countries before Nilfgaard had even become a large-scale power.

Viper students had a different type of trial, after more grueling than typical training. Instead of any physical task like the other schools, the Viper students were given a pet at their induction to the school. And to graduate, they simply had to hunt it down and kill it, showing their lack of mercy.

While most of those who supported Ivar followed him to the Viper school, one group broke off and west east, across the Korath desert, to Zerikania, founding the School of the Manticore.

The School of the Manticore was founded by the Witcher Iwan, from the School of the Bear, following Ivar's assassination attempt on Arnaghad. They got work in the Korath desert as caravan guards, earning the attention of the Zerrikanian Queen after a deadly battle with a manticore. The Queen sponsored the Witchers of the Manticore, making them the only school to be officially backed by any government. They were experts on potions and anti-toxins, a necessity of dealing with the poisonous creatures of the Korath desert.

A unique adaptation to the monsters of the desert also had Manticore Witchers employ shields into the whirling combat of their Witcher training. Given their extra support, the Manticores held two keeps, Behelt Nar and Bailsuf Alsarea, on opposite sides of the desert, so that they might better patrol and guard those within it.

The Manticore is the final school to come from the schism Arnaghad had led. The other voices of dissent against the ideals of the Order would soon hear of these new schools and decide to break off as well to form the School of the Cat.

The School of the Cat was founded out of a response to the hatred and distrust Witchers received. They desired to be seen in a better, more respectful light. Ironically, they would end up doing the opposite. The Cat School stole away with several of the mutagens needed to make more Witchers and headed to Ebbing, and Stygga Citadel, where they would begin to experiment on human-elf children in an attempt to perfect the mutations. Its possible that the mages at this time furthered experiments on making women Witchers, but this is not confirmed yet.

Attempting to make a name for themselves, the Cats hired themselves out as spies, assassins, and mercenaries, genuinely earning them some respect from common folk for killing bandits.

In their attempts to perfect the mutations and further dull the emotions of their Witchers, the Cat school experimented harshly on a group of children that resulted in the opposite, giving these Witchers hightened emotional responses instead. These students, cast aside and left for dead, fled into the arms of a group of elves, who agreed to support them if this branch of the Cat School supported the elves' fight for freedom.

This branch, led by Gezras of Leyda, attached itself to the Dyn Marv caravan and traveled the continent, lending their services mostly to those nonhumans who could pay, while the main Cats at Stygga ended up getting assaulted by angry royals incited by their political maneuvering. This left the Dyn Marv branch as the only functional element of the School of the Cat. These Cats would train students' agility in a light, fast Elven take on Witcher fighting style, and would train their balance by making students walk a tightrope, starting low to the ground at first, but getting higher and higher each attempt.

The Cat school's breaking of Witcher neutrality and reputation for bloodlust earned Witchers such a bad name that those in the Order who most cherished their old swordmaster's knightly virtues would leave to form the School of the Griffin.

The School of the Griffin, led by Erland of Larvik, wished to truly achieve the dream of the original Order, and Gryphon, the Order's sword instructor. They traveled north to Kaer y Saren, an old fortress the Order once used, and cleansed it of the spirits of those who died in the first Witcher mutations. From there, they began a Witcher school focused on respectability and honor, believing in their knightly duties. And it worked, somewhat. The Griffins were sometimes advisors to nobility, and seen as honorable, but the prejudice against Witchers would never leave, and most would never see a Griffin Witcher as anything more than a monster playing at being a knight.

These Witchers tried their best to cushion their students against the pain of their lives on the Witcher's path, and were more brotherly than the other schools, though their knightly virtues and brotherhood were oftentimes cold comfort to Griffin students.

From the Witcher TRPG Sourcebook:

"Witcher I knew couldn’t really remember much ‘bout his past. Heh, too young to really form a lotta memories when they took him to Kaer Y Seren. Told me that the memory he did have made the mutations easier. Poor bastard clung to a memory of his pa takin’ him on a horse for a ride in the fields. Don’t know why he chose that one. Probably the only normal memory he had."

The Griffins amassed a huge library of magical knowledge, though they could only push sign magic so far, and the books were likely wasted being in a Witcher library. The library held several incredibly famous tomes on magic within, and was the envy of full mages across the Northern Realms. Despite all their efforts, they never could achieve their goal of bringing about the Order of Witcher's vision. The Griffins even had their own breaches of Witcher tradition in pursuit of their knightly heroics. An often said mantra of the Griffin school in Gwent is "To slay dragons! Tis our knightly duty!" despite dragons being largely innocent, intelligent beings who mostly wish to be left in peace.

Code Pondsmith had this to say about the Griffins:

"The Griffins stuck to the knightly traditions that the original witcher order tried to uphold. As a result it's safe to say that the Griffin school taught that monsters were the enemy of mankind and must be defeated. I don't think they would all be blindly overzealous but they wouldn't have any qualms about slaying sapient monsters if they believed it was for the good of mankind. Similarly, it's likely that they would side with humans in any conflict between monsters and humans. In a way, the Griffins' knightly virtues made them easier to manipulate than the other witcher schools. They were bound to protect humanity and thus were more likely to be convinced to hunt a monster if a local noble or alderman claimed it would be for the good of the people. This is the case with the dragons. The kingdoms and jewelers guilds of the North convinced the Griffin School that dragons were a blight upon humanity and the Griffins started slaying dragons regardless of whether all of the dragons they slew deserved it. Additionally, the knightly values might make Griffin school witchers more likely to take pity on desperate humans and work for free."

Those few Witchers remaining in the Order by now traveled to northern Kaedwyn, and started a school based on their tempered, traditionalist, and realistic view on the Order's goals. They based themselves in Kaer Morhen and dubbed themselves the School of the Wolf.

The School of the Wolf is the most famous Witcher school, known for their professionalism and efficiency. They don't kill humans like the Viper or Cat. Aren't bold or brash like the Bear, or put Knightly virtues above Witcher ideals like the Griffin. I mean, anyone reading far this knows who the Wolf Witchers are, so I'm not going to get into to much detail. They're Geralt's school. Ciri's school. While the Griffins school wasted it's energy on trying to be what Witchers were supposed to be, the Wolf set its goals on being the best they realistically could be.

They took a balanced approached to Witcher life and as such trained Witchers who were the best adjusted out of the schools, with neither the Bear's harshness nor the Griffin's egocentrism. They perfected the Witcher's style of combat, refining their swordsmanship into an incredibly graceful dance. Combined with their professional attitude and teachings that allowed Wolf Witchers to adapt very well to most situations thrown at them, Wolf Witchers were lauded all across the Continent.

With all Schools formed, the Golden Age of Witchers began, at first with the Bears and Griffins making peace. From Erland of Larvik's Journal (The TRPG's monster manual):

"Surprisingly enough the fracturing of the witcher order had lead to a more effective organization for us witchers. Spread across the Continent and each making more witchers independently, it was no longer the task of 60 or 70 witchers to patrol the entire Continent from Nilfgaard to Kovir. Each school patrolled their own path and when a Gryphon met with a Bear each knew they had their territory and any infighting wouldn’t be worth the bloodshed. We managed to broker peace and live as somewhat estranged brothers rather than bitter enemies"

Witchers at this time were seen largely as heroes, with their detractors' voices largely simmering underneath. With Witchers around to kill monsters, people felt safe and so ignored any misgivings they might have.

Witchers, no matter the school, aren't too dissimilar from each other, and so the Cintinent at large formed an overall opinion of the Witchers based on the traits they all shared. From the TRPG:

"In the heyday of witchers there were many many seperate schools, which all mutated new witchers and taught them the neccesary skills to hunt monsters and lift curses. While it’s generally agreed that there is a core set of skills required to a be a witcher, each school taught its students differently and focused on different aspects of witcher training. Thus, witchers from different schools often act differently and go about their jobs in similar but varied ways."

During this period, the Schools all would produce hundreds of Witchers (though at any given time, most schools had about 20 Witchers running the school, a handful of novices undergoing the trials, and around 30-50 Witchers on the path hunting monsters. This fluctuated from school to school. The Bear's brutal training resulted in the lowest number of Witchers amongst the schools, while the Wolves' prolific status and high success rates meant they took in more candidates and had more Witchers than the other schools), and each was their own person, With their own preferences and personality, despite the schools themselves having reputations for Witchers with only a few certain traits. For instance, the Bear Witcher Ivo of Belhaven fought like a Viper or Cat Witcher, but in personality was a perfect fit for the Bear School with how standoffish he could be. The schools kept to their own territory at first, but as time went on and contracts got ever more rare, these already thin lines fell apart and the schools stopped caring much about territories.

They also all customized their gear in different ways, usually keeping their gear in similar fashion to their school's, as its what they trained in an were used to. For example, Bear Witcher Junod of Belhaven wore what appears to be a set of Wolf School armor he had modified to fit Bear Witcher style.

Witchers also at this time experimented with signs. The Griffins obviously focused on making them more powerful, and the Bears pushed Quen to a level beyond any other school. But the most interesting case is that of Warrit, a blind Viper Witcher who used the lesser known Suppire sign as a form of echolocation.

The Golden age lasted for around 150-200 years or so, ending around 1160 when the monster populations had been hunted down enough that people's main concern stopped being the monsters, and became the Witchers themselves.

The Griffin School, refusing to share the knowledge of its library, was destroyed by jealous mages. A group of peasants and mages attacked the Wolves' keep out of nowhere. The Bears failed to destroy a powerful cabal of vampires and, when peasants rioted and came for their keep, chose to disband rather than engage in needless slaughter. The Cat's keep of Stygga is destroyed, but the Dyn Marv chapter may still be alive and well. The Manticore School failed to protect an important prince from a fire elemental, and so lost their funding and closed. The Viper refused to support the Nilfgaardian usurper and were destroyed.

If you've made it this far, holy shit, thank you! I hope you have a great day!

[mxtxfanatic]

He Who Can Be Taught! (or a Meta on Jin Ling and His Shishu)

Wei Wuxian and Jin Ling don't start off the story with the best relationship. Jin Ling has been taught all his life that Wei Wuxian intentionally murdered both of us parents, and added to the fact that the boy has picked up the worst traits between his father and maternal uncle, it would have been understandable for the relationship to fail. However, the more time Jin Ling spent with his shishu, the more he comes to care about the man he was raised to hate, going from this:

The young master was none other than Jin Ling. Crossing his arms, the boy said coldly, “Kick you? Anyone who dares utter the name “Wei Wuxian” around me should kneel before me in gratitude if I don’t kill them! And here you were shrieking and hollering it here in the middle of the street. Are you looking to die?!” Wei Wuxian hadn’t expected Jin Ling to turn up here, much less that Jin Ling would be as arrogant and dictatorial as this. What’s wrong with this child? How did he become so vicious and short- tempered? He’s stubborn and arrogant, and thinks everyone is beneath him. Excellent job picking up his uncle’s and his father’s flaws—but he hasn’t acquired half a speck of his mother’s virtues. If I don’t rough him up a bit, he’ll pay for it big time sooner or later. Seeing that Jin Ling didn’t seem done venting his anger and had closed in a couple of paces on the fallen man, Wei Wuxian interrupted. “Jin Ling!”

—Chapt. 20: Sunshine II, fanyiyi

Jin Ling spoke again. “My uncle grew up with him, and my grandfather saw him as his own child. My grandmother didn’t mistreat him either, but him? Because of him, Lotus Pier got turned into those Wen clan scum’s evil lair. Because of him, the Yunmeng Jiang Clan was decimated and scattered to the wind. Because of him, my grandmother and grandfather died together, and now my uncle is the only one left! He only has himself to blame for his inevitable death. In the end, all of the winds and waves he stirred up left him with a dismembered, mutilated corpse! What’s there to be unclear about, exactly? What could he possibly be let off the hook for?!”

—Chapt. 43: Beauty I, fanyiyi

...to actively trying to seek the other man out after discovering that maybe what he'd been told all his life wasn't as clear-cut as he'd been taught:

Little did he know that after he, Lan WangJi, and Wen Ning had left the Lotus Pier, Jin Ling had sneakily went to look for him. Realizing that Wei WuXian had disappeared, Jin Ling had ran to his uncle—who for some unknown reason was madly grabbing everyone he saw, asking them to unsheathe some shabby, old sword—and thrown a huge tantrum at him. Pointing at his uncle’s nose, Jin Ling had blamed him for Wei WuXian’s running away, and had gotten slapped by Jiang Cheng so hard that he’d fallen to the ground. Deciding to do what he had been planning to do in the first place, Jin Ling had gone off on his own to trace after Wei WuXian’s whereabouts with Fairy, without a care for consequences. ... Instead of answering, Jin GuangYao shot back another question. “A-Ling, what are you doing all the way over here?” Jin Ling shot a glance at Wei WuXian and hesitated in answering.

—Chapt. 99: A Hatred for Life Part 2, boat-full-of-lotus-pods

Hearing that both Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi had disappeared, Jin Ling hurried outside and nearly tripped himself by the tall doorstep of the Guanyin temple’s main gate. Despite his haste, the two were already nowhere to be seen. Fairy happily circled around him with her tongue out. Standing by a tree, rigid and sky-high within the Guanyin temple’s grounds, was Jiang Cheng, who looked over at Jin Ling and spoke coldly, “Clean your face.” Giving his eyes and face a few forceful wipe, Jin Ling dashed over and asked, “Where are they?”

—Chapt. 110: Concealment Part 4, boat-full-of-lotus-pods

...to even being able to nighthunt together, have a serious conversation, be teased, and be told that Wei Wuxian is proud of him and his growth (despite Jin Ling's embarrassment at the displays of affection) without Jin Ling lashing out in violence:

Jin Ling was still on guard. Seeing that Wei WuXian really didn’t seem like he was going to do anything else, Jin Ling finally managed to stay seated. When one of the waitresses saw that the chaos here finally ended, she came to add more water with a smile on her face. Wei WuXian took up the cup and took a sip, before he suddenly called, “A-Ling.” Jin Ling had on a haughty tone, “What?” Wei WuXian, however, only grinned, “This time, you seem to have grown up quite a bit.” Jin Ling stopped. Wei WuXian felt his own chin, “Right now, you appear to be, hm, a lot more reliable. I’m really happy, but I’m also a bit... How should I say it? Honestly, how much of an idiot you used to be was quite adorable as well.” Jin Ling, again, found it hard to stay seated. Out of the blue, Wei WuXian reached out and gave his shoulders a tight hug, ruffling his hair, “But no matter what, I’m more than happy that I get to see you little brat again, haha!” Ignoring the mess that his hair was in, Jin Ling hopped up from the bench and rushed outside. Wei WuXian dragged him back with another strike, “Where are you going?” Even Jin Ling’s neck had reddened. He spoke in a rough voice, “I’m going to check out the White Room!”

...

Wei WuXian knew what he was thinking even without looking at him. He patted his head and smiled, “Put up a good show, if you happen to come across the opportunity.” Jin Ling complained, “Don’t touch my head. You can’t touch a man’s head, don’t you know?”

—Chapt. 123: Iron Hook Extra, exr

Needless to say, the transformation of Jin Ling and Wei Wuxian's relationship from would-be "enemies" to a proper shishu-shizhi relationship that Jiang Yanli would have been proud of is just another notch in the list of reasons why Wei Wuxian's resurrection was a net positive in the cultivation world.

[otagen]

while ventrue aren't my favourite clan by far, i still find them extremely interesting, but i've noticed that a lot of vtm fans just don't like them, whether it's because they're "boring", they're "bootlickers", or just in general they just see them as nobles or CEOs. and i think that's definitely a common stereotype what with most vtm ventrue characters being princes or barons... but as with ANY clan, i think there's always more to them and if you're able to look past these stereotypes/common clan traits, you can find something interesting.

lacroix, vannevar, and the protagonist from the "walk among us" novella are all ceos/nobles/princes who easily fall under the stereotypical definition of ventrue. and yeah you have anarch ventrue like victor temple and fuego, and those are definitely more unique takes by virtue of being anarchs.

but something the first three all have in common, i think, is desperation. these are characters from a clan that has a reputation on getting what they want. but something important is that in vtm, there is always a bigger fish. there is always someone more powerful than you. and so when these characters dont get what they want, if lacroix doesnt get his sarcophagus and if vannevar is losing his respect and his mind and if you're a ventrue who was once so confident in your abilities and youre LOSING... i just really like seeing these "noble" kindred start feeling desperate, and acting out in their desperation. which feeds into their beast and turns them into a scared animal.

idk. i just think when people say "this clan is boring" it's more of a tell of their own ability to think outside the preset traits and personality a clan suggests.

also, as a person of colour im just tired of seeing everyone's take of "i dont like [clan] because its boring". when like. there are clans that are literally a racial stereotype.

[yuesya]

 “I wonder what she sees in you?”

Yuzuki says nothing, keeping his head lowered deferentially and his eyes cast downwards upon the ground. In front of him, there is nothing but the sound of slow footfalls as the elder paces in silence. Measured, and thoughtful.

“Well? Have you nothing to say for yourself?”

“This one does not understand what the venerable elder is asking,” Yuzuki responds politely.

“Ha!” Gojo Motozane scoffs. His feet come to a stop directly in front of him. “Don’t be obtuse, boy. You’re a clever one, aren’t you? Of all her potential suitors, Shiki chose you. Weak, and ill… tell me, what pretty words did you utter to win the heart of the Gojo Clan’s flower?”

Motozane-sama’s words are severe, cutting. It is a rather uncharacteristic tone for the most respected elder of the Gojo Clan to take, but under the current circumstances, it’s… understandable.

Gojo Shiki. The princess of the Gojo Clan, their most powerful sorcerer -the best card that the Gojo Clan had against the Fujiwaras. Who was blessed with a powerful cursed technique, on top of possessing cursed eyes. There was no doubt that the clan wished for her to find a good match when it came to marriage, for her children to inherit the same potential–

But instead, she chose Yuzuki.

She chose… him.

Weak, sickly Yuzuki. Who was only alive by virtue of pity, and yet…

…

He knows that… he knows that he’s not worthy of her. Elder Motozane is not the first to express this attitude towards Yuzuki, and he will not be the last. The most powerful sorcerer of the Gojo Clan, marrying a sickly man like him…

It still feels like a dream, sometimes. That the clan’s beloved lady chose him, chose Gojo Yuzuki out of all her suitors.

It’s… only natural, that others are discontent over her decision. Yet none would challenge her, not after the example that she’d made of the last person to do so, so it falls to Yuzuki to bear the brunt of the clan’s displeasure.

… Lady Shiki is not one for politics or mind games. She is far too busy with her work as a sorcerer to be tied down by such trivial matters, and Yuzuki does not wish to trouble her–

So…

So, it’s fine. It’s fine. Yuzuki is braced for his clan’s displeasure; he’d known that this was inevitable, ever since he made the decision to take his beloved lady’s hand.

He knows that he’s not a good match for her. But, much like any sorcerer–

Above all, Yuzuki is selfish.

(Selfish, and foolishly, hopelessly in love.)

[trippingontheescalator]

I've got some headcanons about Vulcan evolution and ancient Vulcan civilizations, and what better way to share them than on here?

So, despite their cat-like tendencies, I think that Vulcans originally lived similar to elephants in segregated, nomadic herds. Like these are cave Vulcans, Australopithecus Vulcans. The women and children lived in one herd, and the adult men were either solitary or in two pairs. The two groups typically only met up during Pon Farr, which coincided with the rainy season. They did not originally form bonds with each other, but women were more receptive to breeding with men who were mentally compatible. Vulcan men evolved to be highly, highly aggressive during this time because like this is their only shot to pass on their genetics in seven years. Because of how harsh the planet is, they might die before the next Pon Farr comes, so they've got to learn how to knock the competition the fuck out. The Vulcans with the highest level of hormones were the most aggressive, and therefore the most likely to pass on their genes, but this was a double-edged sword: it made them more likely to die if the Pon Farr was not fulfilled. The majority of women do not experience Pon Farr, but it isn't necessarily uncommon -- about 10-15% of the female population -- to undergo Pon Farr on some level as well due to naturally elevated hormones.

A thousand years later, women discover agriculture. The women became more settled and create villages, culture, writing, government, etc. The different herds become clans, each headed by a matriarch, and come together under one village. This is when they start bonding children at a young age. Adult males are still not allowed to integrate within the all-female clans. Bonding and the kahs-wan used to be intricately linked. Once a matriarch bonded a boy to a girl, he underwent the kahs-wan: a ritual banishment. He was now considered an adult and was banished from the village. The bond he now had ensured that at the next Pon Farr, he would be naturally drawn to his bondmate, seeking her out from wherever he was in the desert like a homing signal. Now the kahs-wan is like a hardcore camping trip that all genders undergo to prove their maturity.

Of course, not all Vulcan males would return to the village to seek out their mate. Some, instead of remaining solitary, paired up with another man. Vulcan men began creating their own culture and writing, parallel to that of the women, placing particular emphasis on the t'hy'la bond they shared with their chosen other. Women had a similar bond with other women; they had a wife and then a mate who would show up once every seven years.

Well, eventually the men were like "this is bullshit, I'm tired of living in the desert, let me into your village dammit." Now men and women start having real marriages with each other, though men -- who are entering a world that women created and are beholden to women by virtue of needing to mate or they'll die -- occupy a lesser social position. Because they are now settled and have access to steady food and water, Pon Farr is no longer tied to the cyclical rainy season. It's still seven years, but when it starts is now dependent on the Vulcan's biology. Some civilizations have women retaining their wives as their primary spouse and keeping a harem of men. Other civilizations start adopting a one woman-one man system of marriage to ensure that everyone has a mate, though still giving women a powerful loophole in the koon-ut-kal-if-fee. A few civilizations retain vestiges of the old way of life; men remain part of their mother's household and likewise their bonded wife stays with her mother's household, and they only meet during Pon Farr, with the father never meeting his biological children and instead helping his sisters raise his nieces and nephews. Eventually the one woman-one man system of marriage became the most dominant.

Eventually men get equal rights and Surak comes along and is like "logic is better than violence" etc etc etc. There are still matriarchs and the koon-ut-kal-if-fee and the vestiges of the kahs-wan, but sexism is illogical. Though Vulcans are not perfect logic machines, and there are some women who are still a little bit sexist towards men. A man arguing with a man or a woman arguing with a woman might say something like "Your logic is not sound" but if a woman wanted to put down a man during an argument, she might say "Is it your Time?" which is the height of rudeness. Like asking a human if she's on her period.