#XVIth century

[grandboute]

Palais Granvelle - Besançon

[vintage-ukraine]

The XVIth century St.Basil`s Church in Volodymyr, Volyn Region by Tetyana Trehubova, 1970

[fab-bladesmith]

Claidheamh dà làimh dhubh

A Black Claymore, in the West Highland style, second half of the XVIth century.

Inspired by a variety of surviving examples, this one shows the classic features of the type, with quadrifoils at the end of the downturned quillions of strong rhombic section, fileworked central langets, hollow pommel and top finial. The swelling on the grip is inspired by the sword kept at the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow and is leather over wood - most grips visible in such swords nowadays are modern replacements.

Fittings are mild steel, oil-blacked.

The engraved blade is spring steel, made after the various examples of German productions.

See Tony Willis, "the Scottish Two-Handed Sword", Bulletin of the American Society of Arms Collectors 120, pp. 35-69.

Overall length is 1405 mm, blade is 1020 mm long and 45 mm wide, and shy of 5.4 mm thick at its base.

Cross span is 145 mm.

Weight is 1809 grams, point of balance 17 cm from the cross.

Again, sharing from here will only share this picture, so if you want to share the intire set of photos, do it from my Dr Fabrice Cognot, Phd, Bladesmith Page

Thanks

[friendswithclay]

“Wall Tile Mosaic of Enamelled Earthenware, Persian art XVIth century”

[salsedinepicta]

Some kind of "everything is the same but fashion is more XV-XVIth century inspired" AU - part 1/?

(a few elements are based on Landsknecht armors/clothing, because they were mercenaries too, you know? But I've been kind and made the palette less... Everything. You're welcome, Fenris.)

[opalspring]

Kotoko's justice and her motivations theory

While Kotoko is still pretty mysterious, there are some parts in Milgram that could hint at her inner workings and why she does the things she does. Here mostly content from her mvs will be discussed. Be careful as this theory discusses sensitive topics.

CW: discussion of kidnapping and SA

The wolf imagery and its possible multiple meanings

Before Deep Cover came out, one theory regarding the wolves in Harrow is that they represented Kotoko’s allies in her actions. 

Now that it’s out, it seems more likely Kotoko was acting entirely alone for her actions (so more of a lone wolf image rather than hunting with a pack).

Kotoko has strong ties with both regular wolves and also werewolves, with distinct symbolism for each.

Jacques Roulet was the name of a French man who was accused of being a werewolf in the late XVIth century (source: https://www.historydefined.net/the-french-werewolf-panic/).

The wolf imagery seems to be associated with Kotoko’s sense of justice and her preference for working alone, unlike the werewolf imagery that represents her excesses of violence (imo). This is seen mostly in Harrow, featuring wolves and an overall positive view of Kotoko, then in DC which has her more questionable sides and the whole werewolf image.

Still, I feel like there’s more to the wolves regarding Kotoko’s case.

This article  (https://www.psychologies.com/Therapies/Psychanalyse/Dictionnaire-des-reves/Loup) talks about some of the symbolisms of wolves, including violence, aggressivity, etc. This is psychoanalysis so take it with a grain of salt though.

One passage that struck me in particular was this one:

“Most of the time, in dreams, the wolf is a representation of a masculine sexual predator. Like in fairy tales, the wolf is an amateur of fresh meat (Little Red riding hood). Its presence in dreams can signify that the dreamer was exposed to disturbing sexual behaviors, abusive or pedophilic.” (translation)

This is what I think could be the hidden symbolism of the wolf in Kotoko’s mvs: maybe she was sexually abused as a child and developed her vigilante persona/obsession with punishing criminals as a coping mechanism to her trauma.

This part of Kotoko’s past might be hinted at with the flashbacks she gets at two points in Harrow, as she could be the little girl with the pink shirt we see (though this is still just a theory).

I feel like she’d need a very strong reason to go the lengths she goes for her hunt of criminals, unlike someone like Fuuta who also hates injustice, but takes much “lazier” actions for his beliefs for example.

In my opinion, wolves for Kotoko represent both her determination to hunt criminals, and werewolves her childhood trauma and her tendencies for violence depending on the scene/situation.

The wolf (both childhood trauma reminder and a representation of her violence here imo) haunting Kotoko. She also became the aggressor she hates so much like a lot of people pointed out, though in her case it's physical violence.

Kotoko doesn’t understand why she’s still not satisfied after dealing with all the criminals on her list and beating up the guilty prisoners. It could be because her trauma is still occupying her thoughts.

Many people have theorized that the girl with a pink shirt in Harrow could be Kotoko as a child. I completely agree with this, and it could be that Kotoko beat up Takao (the child kidnapper) to the point he died, because the orange dress girl’s situation reminded her so much of her past that she lost all control and killed him in the emotion (unlike the guy in the alley who she just beat up (iirc)).

Kotoko’s flashbacks while killing Takao (the car incident seems to have had an effect on her too).

A detail that’s a little strange is how the man in Kotoko’s flashback looks exactly the same as Takao (he’s even in the same outfit). It’s strange because Deep Cover confirms he’s 24 at the time Kotoko kills him, so he couldn’t be an adult if he was the one who hurt Kotoko as a child. Maybe she sees him as a stand-in for the person who traumatized her in the past?

As a side note, I think both the girl in a dress and the one in a pink shirt are Kotoko in the flashback. Maybe she changed clothes if she was kept captive for multiple days, and the floorboards look identical in both frames.

Some lyrics from Harrow that could refer to Kotoko’s past are these ones imo:

-I’ll teach you the pain you caused

→ as in the pain she suffered herself, hence why she feels like she has to punish criminals

- Becoming light-headed again, it all becomes crazy

The normalcy sought for, Fading away, Everytime death comes

The soul moves forward

and

Newly born “HARROW” “HARROW”

It’s ok to dislike, right?

Losing it, losing it, What should I hope for

Goodnight “HARROW” “HARROW”

Laugh and I can get to like myself

→ this could highlight how Kotoko constantly has something on her mind which makes her day to day life difficult (and that punishing criminals helps with it somewhat)

Kotoko’s self-hatred

If the theory about Kotoko’s childhood trauma is true, I feel like it could explain her general aggressiveness and dissatisfaction with life. Some lines in her mvs hint at her disliking herself too (“Feeding on food so I don’t burn out” etc).

“The feeling of being "cut-off" from peers and "emotional numbness" are both results of CSA and highly inhibit proper social functioning.” (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_sexual_abuse) 

(Since wikipedia isn’t always super reliable and I’m not an expert on the subject feel free to correct me if this is incorrect.)

Of course there are other explanations for this kind of behavior, but this info could potentially explain some things about Kotoko. 

One thing is how Kotoko keeps her distance from the other prisoners in Milgram and isn’t really close with anybody, not even Kazui for example, who has the same hobby as her (training).

Other prisoners try to get to know her in timeline conversations , but she always stays placid and cuts the conversation short.

Mahiru: Hey, Kotoko-chan. There’s something that’s really been bugging me, so do you mind if I ask?

……how do you style yourself so well? Have you always dressed like that? But it also looks like something you’d wear for training. Do you play sport? Ah, or maybe some kind of martial arts?

Kotoko: ……you really are carefree. Everyone in here is a “murderer” right?

Is this really the time to be asking questions like that? 

(tl by Rochisama)

Mikoto: Hey, hey, Koto-chan.

I’ve been thinking this ever since I first heard your name, but...

Don’t you think the names “Mikoto” and “Kotoko” kinda sound like siblings? 

Kotoko: No. 

Mikoto: Don’t say that!

Let’s get along well from here on as the Koto-Koto combo! 

Kotoko: I’m not doing that. 

(tl by Rochisama)

She could also just have an aloof personality by nature, but still wanted to point this out.

During Deep Cover, I feel like Kotoko’s diss on the other prisoners is mostly meant to show  her own self-hatred rather than her dislike of the other prisoners (though this is definitely true as well).

It’s perfectly normal for someone to dislike some people, or a specific kind of people (like how she mentions disliking Mikoto because he’s loud). However, Kotoko goes well over all that and goes on a rant about each prisoner and their supposed faults in her eyes. In my opinion, it’s very strange that Kotoko dislikes All the other prisoners without exception, and to that degree.

Like said earlier, I think Kotoko’s obsession with justice and punishing “evildoers”, including people like Yuno, is not so much her caring about justice but a way for her to cope with her childhood trauma (Fuuta and his justice-seeking is also similar imo, though in his case my theory is that he was bullied in the past).

We see her beat up multiple people throughout Milgram, but so far her only confirmed victim is Takao. With the emphasis on her flashbacks when thinking about him in Harrow, Kotoko could have killed him instead of beating him up like said above, as his crimes were directly linked to her past experiences, and she couldn’t bring herself to stop before killing him.

I think Kotoko doesn’t really care about the other prisoners cases’ specifics in the end, she might be just searching for an excuse to prove to herself that she’s one of the “strong ones” who protect the weak, like she mentions to Es in her second vd and in a distorted line in one of the trailers:

“From the beginning I've never asked for your understanding! My actions, one by one, are bringing earth closer to peace. Useless Weaklings should just shut up and let me protect them!" (tl by milgram_en)

As in, she’s trying to prove all that to herself most and foremost.

Why does Kotoko look so restless here? Of course she’s happy to rescue the girl, but why is she sweating so hard and grabbing the girl by the collar? In my opinion, this could be because she’s still shaken up from Takao’s killing (in the sense that she just killed the equivalent of the person who hurt her as a child, if we go with that theory). Maybe Kotoko sees herself in the orange dress girl, and she wishes someone had been there to save her too when it happened to her in the past. 

It could be why she instinctively pushes the girl away (?) when she hugs her (though later in the mv we see they get along).

Another detail in Deep Cover that’s pretty interesting is the last line in the lyrics:

“They’re still here, still here, it grates me”

From the previous lines it’s implied she’s talking about the other prisoners, more specifically the innocent ones in T1. So they get on her nerves because they were incorrectly judged and couldn’t be punished by her (imo).

The Japanese line however is a lot more vague:

“ほら残ってさ　残ってさ　鬱雑いね”

The line means the same thing, except the subject isn’t made clear. So a literal translation could be like “X is still here, X is still here, it grates me”

The English translations are official so maybe I’m overthinking this, but maybe Kotoko could be talking about her thoughts here? This is a reach, but “X” might refer to flashbacks of her childhood trauma, especially if we go along with the theory that the wolf at the end of DC= Kotoko’s trauma personified. This is just speculation though.

I feel like the subject in the last line being the wolf/Kotoko’s trauma could explain why she looks so distressed here, despite just having finished insulting the prisoners. 

Plus, the next frame shows Kotoko’s chess piece being covered in blood/marked guilty like the other prisoners’. Imo this shows both Kotoko’s realization that she went too far with her “justice”, and that even after enacting it, she’s still not satisfied (because the real cause of her justice-seeking could be her trauma).

[transgenderer]

The French used Roman numerals when indicating centuries in text (ie XVIth century) and this seems to me very...how you say...le retarded

[zarya-zaryanitsa]

Hi! I hope you're well! I recently came across the term guślarz in the context of Slavic pre-christian practices and I was wondering if you know of any information/sources that discuss them? Thank you!

Honestly I do not know any sources that discuss guślarze specifically but I can convey to you what little I am aware of regarding the use of this word.

So firstly, guślarz is a Polish word. Similar words no doubt exist in other Slavic languages but I am only focusing on the role of this term in Polish language because that’s what I know.

The word guślarz is derived from gusła meaning magical rituals of some sort. Guślarz is a man who practices magic, performs rituals, a folk healer, a sorcerer. His feminine counterpart is guślarka (historically this one was used much less often but still can be found). The word gusła took the meaning of „magical rituals” and „fortune telling” in XVth century - so pretty late. My sources on this are two Polish philologists, linguists and slavists Franciszek Sławski (as relayed to us by Krzysztof Bilica and PWN dictionary of Polish language) and Andrzej Bańkowski (as relayed to us by Monika Grotek). Word guślarz is first found in Polish language in XVIIth century, evolving from earlier words gusłarz and guślnik dating back to XVIth and XVth century.

I will try my best to translate what Monika Grotek has to say on the subject of guślarz in her article Etymologia polskich nazw postaci ludzkich rodzaju żeńskiego i męskiego parających się magią (Etymology of Polish names for people, male and female, who practice magic):

However, the authors of etymological dictionaries argue about the origin and original meaning of the word gusła. Bańkowski conservatively recognizes the difficulty in unambiguously determining the etymology of, in his opinion, the Polish relic word †guslo, which was probably in the form †gud-slo and meant 'ways to ward off evil powers', and derived from the verb gud-i-ti, which in Old Russian meant as much as 'to blame, to condemn' and is related to the synonymous common Slavic †gad-i-ti 'to make disgusting, to disgust' (hence, e.g. the word gad) and the later †gyd-i-ti derived from it, 'to repulse' (hence hydzić and ohyda). Thus, a sorcerer is likely a man dealing with protection against disgusting and socially condemned evil powers, expelling hideous demons or counteracting charms. On the other hand, Wiesław Boryś notes that the word gusła may come from *gud-slo or *gǫd-slo (plural *gudsla or *gǫdsla), in which we can find the name of an activity with the suffix *- slo originating from the Proto-Slavic *gǫsti, *gǫdǫ 'to play a stringed instrument' (hence e.g. the instrument gusle), or from the variant †gusti, †gudǫ (with the old alternation *u/*ǫ), which is also indicated by the Bulgarian gùsla/gъsla, meaning 'stringed instrument, gusle'. Therefore, the original meaning of the word guslo is 'playing a stringed instrument', 'playing gusle' - and music, with its ability to induce a state of trance could be used in magical ceremonies performed by a sorcerer who, thanks to music and through music, was able to make contact with the supernatural world like a shaman in the native cultures of the peoples of Africa or America.

Here you have two sound theories on the role and conception of guślarz.

The modern associations of the word guślarz in Polish language originate from much later times - the Romanticism and Dziady (eng. Forefathers Eve) a XIXth century poetic drama written by Adam Mickiewicz. The drama describes in it’s second part a folk ritual known as dziady, typically a feast commemorating the ancestors. In the drama however guślarz accompanied by a crowd of villagers summons ghosts of people who for some reason cannot enter heaven and tries to help them access it.

Funnily enough originally the character conducting the ceremony was a priest. Mickiewicz changed it to guślarz at a later stage of his work. The later version also includes a line about how the priest forbade people from conducting the ritual. It is speculated that the character of guślarz was added specifically to include more magical and folkloric motifs that Romanticism was all about.

This is where we get the dominant view of guślarz as a man who works with the souls of the dead, this is also quite literally where we get guślarz as seen in The Witcher 3 (Pellar), since quests connected to him are heavily inspired by the drama Dziady and some of his incantations draw directly from its text.

In modern Polish the words gusła and guślarz are slightly archaic and have a pejorative undertone, with gusła being used as something synonymous with „superstitions”.

When it comes to pre-Christian Slavic traditions you might have more luck researching words such as zhrets (pl. żerca) or volkhv (pl. wołchw) which I believe are a bit better explored than guślarz.

Best of luck!

Zarya

[teejaystumbles]

(Jdhxgsklgj Senpai is it okay to come scream about this in your inbox ?? You're literally the only other 1489 Dreamling connoisseur I know 👉👈) I just encountered the concept of Adelphopoiia, which originated in ancient Roman culture and went on through the Middles Ages until the XVIth century, and is a ceremony binding two men in a spiritual relationship that was recognised and performed by the church, and aspects of the ceremony were very similar to a wedding like a blessing at the altar of the 'couple', and a banquet afterwards in celebration ; and now I'm losing my mind over the possibility for 1489 Hob to be in a recognised relationship with his stranger ????? (However him and 1489 Dream might reach a point where that'd be a possibility, is a DETAIL)(also yes that would work for 1389 Dreamling and possibly even 1589 Dreamling but 1489 HOB MY UNDERAPPRECIATED BABYGIRL AM I RIGHT ?? 🥺🥺🥺)

Oh that's interesting!! I read up on it, and the only sad thing is, since it's basically meant to make people "blood brothers/sisters" in meaning (even if maybe it was a way for queer folk to get around the not being able to marry obstacle), Dream would NEVER agree to it at this point in time. He doesn't see Hob as his equal, and Hob would never dare suggest something like this so early into their relationship. So finding that point, that reason for them both to agree to this? I don't have an idea yet...

maybe a thing of necessity, because Hob gets into trouble, getting called out for having a male lover because he gets drunk and stumbles too close to Dream, and he just...blurts out "no no, this is my sworn brother!!" and Dream's eyebrows rise as high as his hairline but he refrains from you-dare-ing Hob for as long as they need to get out of there and then... is actually interested in what Hob was even referring to, which leads to him explaining the concept and... idk?

But I'll gladly thow this out to my mutuals who love historical things like this!

Thank you!

[rainbowsome]

Because it was him, because it was me

Historical queers are a niche interest of mine, you know them, the “roommates, besties, colleagues, intellectual partners” and so on. Which is why I present to you this roughly translated extract from De l’amitié by french XVIth century author Montaigne, about his very intense friendship with fellow writer Etienne de La Boétie who had tragically died by this point:

“As it occurs, what we commonly call friends and friendships are nothing but acquaintances and familiarities, born out of an occasion or of convenience, by which our souls communicate. The friendship I am speaking of is such that [our souls] tangle up and blend together, in an amalgamation so profound they lose and never find the seams which once binded them together. Were I urged to say why I loved him, I feel it could not be formulated in any other way than by answering “Because it was him, because it was me”.

There is a rather fatal force which I could not explain that mediated this union. We were looking for the other before we ever saw each other, [and this fatal force] gave to our affection more efforts than the reason of relationships would ever require, [...] we embraced by our names. And by our first meeting we found ourselves so taken, so acknowledged, so obliged by the other; that from then on nothing could be closer to one of us than the other.

[...] It wasn’t a special consideration, nor two, nor three, nor a thousand: it was a quintessence of this amalgamation which, having taken all of my will, led me to get absorbed and lost in his; which, having taken all of his will, led him to get absorbed and lost in mine, with such a hunger, such a strength. When I speak of loss, in truth, [I mean that] we didn’t keep calling anything a property of our own, nothing that was his, nothing that was mine.”

[kavardakmaria]

So, this is that big post about my Faust/M&M/Fight Club/Hannibal universe I mentioned. I still hesitate on what I should call it (Faustverse? Devil club?)

Brainworms include:

1) My interpretation of Woland

2) Fight Club M&M AU

3) My interpretation of the master

4) Hannibal crossover

Woland is a character from a novel by Michail Bulgakov called “The master and Margarita”. He is heavily implied to be Goethe’s Mephistopheles and the novel itself is inspired by “Faust”. So these two books are on the same timeline (according to my headcannons).

My interpretation of Woland/Mephistopheles is that he is not a fallen angel, but is instead a part of Primordial Chaos from which God and his order were born. He disconnected from the main body some time ago and now exists in the material world as a force of entropy. He is neither good nor evil, but he is categorized as a demon because of his constant need to ensue chaos. He is not a part of Hell’s hierarchy and has a friendly relationship with God, because I don’t like when these type of characters lose their autonomy.

When he existed in the Primordial Chaos he was subjected to constantly changing powerful emotions and other extreme experiences and got used to them (iPad kid moment). So now, trapped in the more calm and organized environment, he is constantly bored and tries to replicate those experiences to feel something. He can feel all human emotions, but they are so mild for him, that he views them more like an annoying distraction, than actual feelings.

Woland doesn’t consider himself as a whole identity, but he looks and acts like one because he contrasts the environment opposite to his nature. So, technically, he wasn’t born so he isn’t afraid of death (he’ll disappear in a billion years or so)

In his free time he likes to find sad philosophers who are unsatisfied with their lives and manipulate them into something more entertaining. But it is pretty hard to find educated and ambitious people who are not attached to anybody and are willing to leave their previous lives behind (Faust was the last one and he got to heaven, so now he’s sitting there in a constant state of euphoria, lost his ambition and pride, essentially becoming a shell of himself)

Woland thought that having a couple legions of hell to help with his chaotic shenanigans would be good for his professional development, so in the beginning of the XVIth century he makes a deal with Lucifer to be in charge of hell for a couple of centuries and Lucifer agreed because he was drunk.

Elements of Fight Club in my M&M AU:

Margarita is not a part of the main plot. I have plans for her storyline, which would be pretty similar to the original with her becoming a witch, but with different motivations and more character development.

Woland interacts with the master without his servants. I have a 9000 word fanfic written in russian about their first encounter.

Here’s the link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57835000/chapters/147206677

For those who don’t speak russian here’s a short summary. It is important, because most of my M&M fanart depicting the master is based on the Fight Club AU, rather than on the actual events (boring straight romance with him being a depressed self insert without any depth).

In a nutshell the master is an apathetic historian/archivist whose whole life is based on his work in the Moscow Planetarium, which isn’t enjoyable anymore, but the rest of the world is even more undesirable. He exists in a sort of coma, feeling nothing, reading and writing instinctively with professionalism but without any interest.

Then he meets Woland, gets in an existential crisis, gets fired, attempts to jump off a bridge, gets interrupted by Woland, attacks him in resentment and they fight. Master experiences true anger for the first time. They end up lying on the ground, covered in dust and blood, laughing at each other. Later they agree to meet again and to repeat the fight. Sergei Berdyaev (the master) rejects his name and Woland suggests that he could go by the name Steingut (a kind of clay, the symbol of an ongoing rebirth).

After that Steingut wins a lot of money in a lottery (very very coincidentally totally not demonic help), so he stops worrying about working and just waits for Woland’s return, admiring his bruises and blood stains on his clothes.

But Woland doesn’t appear for weeks. Steingut's body is almost recovered and he is starting to forget the memories connected to those injuries, which deeply terrifies him. He feels incomplete, feels like he is going insane sitting in a room alone with nobody to talk to and nothing to do.

He decides to write down the events that shaped him, but realizes that he is unworthy of mentioning someone of that significance directly. By doing that he would defile the truth and its importance with his subjective judgment. So he switches up the names and writes about the director of Variety theater and his administrator fighting because of a misunderstanding, later organizing “The Fighting citizens club” together.

Only after he finishes writing, he hears a whisper in his ear asking him what he wanted to achieve with this story. “I wanted to survive” the master finishes his rebirth exhausted and sleep deprived. Woland treats him to dinner. As a reward Woland offers the master to make a wish. He wishes for Woland to visit him more often. They make plans to plant a copy of the master’s book on the table of the real administrator of Variety theater to see what would happen.

So, let’s talk about the master (Sergei Berdyaev -> Steingut -> the master):

After the rebirth the master’s main goal is to survive. But his meaning of “surviving” was warped into “constantly moving and changing”, so in that sense being around Woland is the perfect way to survive. But if Woland decides to spend time with someone, they need to be intelligent and entertaining. Because of that the master is always scared of not being enough, so he has to constantly educate himself to come up with interesting ways to ensue chaos. This time Woland stumbled not on a sad philosopher, but on an intelligent animal desperately trying to adapt.

He doesn’t strive for much, but he is willing to go to great lengths to achieve his survival.

The master is terrified of Woland just as much as he dreads Woland’s absence. He is very careful with his words around him, which Woland is annoyed by. To get rid of the master’s cowardice Woland angers him. Then the master becomes petty and forgets that he is speaking with someone so powerful and dangerous, which in turn leads to more meaningful and truthful interactions.

Fun fact: the master is unaware that his main goal is to survive. He thinks he is constantly moving and changing because he is looking for a purpose (because it is a more normal thing to do). There would be a separate fic about him realizing that through extreme chaos exposure. He goes through literal torture willingly just to prove Woland wrong (with Woland still being right in the end).

Woland plans to destroy the master’s desire for purpose, leaving with just a strong desire to live while believing that there is nothing worth living for.

And then get him into heaven. Like, if heaven is all about unchanging bliss, than the master who technically fought the Devil and lived without that much sin could get there and be immune to this pleasant hipnosis. He could be the only one awake and cause all sorts of trouble (even unwillingly).

The master isn’t aware of this scheme and doesn’t even want to go to heaven because of his incompatibility with peace and absence of change.

Hannibal crossover stuff:

Use of technology is not crucial to the plot of Hannibal so 1930s AU is pretty reasonable. It happens after the end of the series, everyone is alive and well, just in hiding. Hannibal would try to kill the master for ruining an opera performance as part of their own show with Woland, but he doesn’t know about Woland’s existence yet.

Another fun fact: Hannibal canonically admires Mephistopheles and despises Faust.

So Hannibal stalks the master and attacks him in his living room, the master fights back with Woland sitting behind the dining table unnoticed. He telepathically warns the master about surprise attacks but doesn’t intervene because he knows that the master likes the adrenaline.

When both opponents are tired and can’t fight anymore he stands up and politely apologizes for the inconvenience they caused in the opera, inviting Hannibal and Will for dinner.

All of them meet each other soon enough. Hannibal can’t stop fangirling over Woland (Meph) and both the master and Will are jealous. The master and Will bond over their attachment to their literal and metaphorical devil and the stress involved in caring so much about him. The master still dislikes Hannibal for trying to kill him over a prank, but Hannibal noticed enough similarities with Will to change his mind. Woland is intrigued with all of them equally, planning to turn their relationship into endless entertainment.

I hope you enjoyed reading this abomination! I’ll post my Woland/ the master fanart soon. Feel free to leave your opinions and suggestions in the comments!

[abuddyforeveryseason]

This is the Buddy for March 10th. There's a lot of smoke there. At first I was toying with making the image even taller, like ten times the size, so that most of it was covered in smoke, but decided to go with this one. A real coin toss, really.

On an unrelated point, I heard about Akira Toriyama's death yesterday. Pretty sad, considering he was still comparatively young (68) and active. I was a huge Chrono Trigger fan when I was young, and I've played that game through the end several times. Best RPG of its generation.

I also liked Dragon Ball, although not as much, and that love kind of diminshed with age. Still, I've got a lot of nostalgia for the Z era sagas, with Freeza and Cell. And I read the manga, the early years with kid Goku were pretty interesting, too.

Unfortunately, after the Boo saga the franchise kind of went off-rails. Wasn't into the anime-only GT series, not to mention the games or the disastrous movie. The Super series wasn't as bad, but still doesn't compare to the original.

Still, I have real fond memories of the story. It's an interesting and unique story - or at least it would be if it wasn't so incredibly popular it became ingrained into everyone's mind and imitated to such an extent. I'm reading Osamu Tezuka's Boku no Son Goku, which was also inspired by Journey to the West, and this time I can say Tezuka's work wasn't the superior adaptation. Of course, you have to consider the context...

It's hard to explain a lot about Dragon Ball, especially to people who aren't fans. It started out as a comedic parody of a XVIth century novel, but then it turned into a martial arts story, and then it became serious? And the main character grew up, dozens of minor characters piled up in the background... and all of that before the twist that started the story I'm familiar with - Goku's an alien?

Toriyama's art made the story a lot more pleasant, too. The design of vehicles, aliens, monsters and robots was top notch, and what made me enjoy the story much more than the fight scenes and associated cliches. Another interesting thing was Toriyama's use of twists which led the stories into a different direction when compared to other shonen manga, which often adhered religiously to the build-up to stronger enemies in sucession.

But that's also where the story issues lie. The first is the bloated cast of characters being humiliated so Goku could steal the spotlight. The biggest victim there is Yamcha, but, really, everyone who was beaten by Goku then turned good was kind of cannon fodder. That started as a twist, too - so this evil guy Goku had so much trouble with got beaten so easily by the new villain? Damn. And since new villains kept being introduced, each one being so much stronger than the last, it was hard to make sense of how strong the characters were (and any realism was already out the window thanks to all the plot devices keeping the characters alive and strong enough to fight).

It's funny by the end of the story - or even, by the end of the kid Goku era already - the dragon balls were also relegated to the background. I don't like a lot of the cliches of the series, the plot devices used to make characters stronger with no interesting consequences, the convoluted use of elements of past stories, annoying character behaviors... but, still, you have to respect a guy who managed to start out with such a weird little comedy with its goofy looking vehicles and talking dinosaurs, and turn it into a behemoth so popular, people can have such strong feelings about it.

RIP, Akira Toriyama.

[reno-matagot]

I finally asked for my silkworm cocoons at museum collections service, my dudes!

My collegues: ''Oh, why do you need it?''

My soul: "These are offerings for Athena, may be Circé and probably to try magical things or spirit communication, and a perfect symbol of the land''

My real answer: ''I love nature curios!''

No seriously, this exhibition about silk workers in Lyon at the beginning of the century is a blessing.

My city, beside of the Lion ( which is not an original symbol of Lyon ('' Lugh-On'') was famous for silk work at Renaissance, under impulse of Napoléon, and also for the roses culture. we even have a suspended garden at work, based on vegetal symbolism of the XVIth, that's why I would love work with roses and offer it more often.

The origin of the name Lugdunum is not very clear. Some says it means Hill of Lugh, gaulish god of light and crafts, or Hill of the Light, but romans thought it meant ''Hill of the crows'' cause they saw crows when they founded the city.

And this hill, we call today Fourvière was probably the temple of the Juno-Jupiter-Mercury triad (i'm not sure) archeologists believed for a long time it was a sanctuaire for Cybele, but others disagree! Today, it's still connected to light, la Basilique de Fourvière, consecrated to Mary the Virgin. She was prayed for healing the plague, and Lyonnais celebrate it 8th december by lightning candles everywhere with Big light shows in the street.

Oh and I haven't even spoken of the legends ..we have a beautiful Park, Parc de la Tête d'or (''golden head'' of a legendary statue of Christ hidden in the Park), we have a dragon in the river, the Mâchecroute, and an Island with legends about the SangGraal & lavandières de la nuit, female ghosts washing the clothes of the dead in the river.

We have a White Lady, la Dame Blanche de la Croix Rousse. Lyon is also the city of Spiritisme and a true base of Freemasonry since the XVIIth.

We also have the famous Johan of Arc room for mediumship, and i can't continue it would be too long. (Nostradamus, devil worship, werewolves, heretical sects, cérémonial Magic, tempestari, catacombs and incredible tunnels, chapel of Saint-Expedite...)

Cool, isnt it?

( OH FUCK WAIT I DIDNT REALIZED...Loa Ghede Spider behind, must be pretty happy, Hello you! 😯 🕸️🕷️)

[fab-bladesmith]

A Horseman's Hammer, late XVIth century.

Greatly inspired by the beautiful 29.158.674 of the @metmuseum, in the Saxon style of the second half of the XVIth century.

High carbon steel beak welded to a mild steel head. Etched and gilded decorations, and brass wire wrap.

It is 512 mm long, for 1012 grams. Point of balance is 108 mm from the handguard. Head is 145 mm wide.

[friendswithclay]

“So-Called Damascus Pottery, XVIth century” c.1933