#alatyr stone

[merymoonbeam]

I know this is a long post okay...but I found something so I have to add it.

It is about the alatyr part of the theory. In that part I talked about how the alatyr stone might have been the inspo for the stone on top of ramiel and here is what I found:

as you know illyria is actually a place in real life and according to legend the alatyr stone is in illyria.

so...ramiel is the sacred place of illyrians in acotar and it has a stone on top of it and alatyr the stone found in illyria according to legends is inspo for it.

okay that's it.

The Wild Hunt-Fionn-First Gods

Disclaimer: I'm not saying I'm right about all of this. Just theorizing here.

This is gonna be long post so buckle up...

Because this is a long post I’m gonna write what I’m gonna talk about in this post. Also not every myth points to one thing and not every thing we have in the books are inspired just one thing. To me it looks like sarah used different myths from different countries and connected them all together.

The Wild Hunt myths and how sarah might use them for plot for the next books and crossover

First gods are still running free in the world

Narben is actually a spear not a sword? Or fourth dread trove is a spear?

Fionn is not dead but sleeping?

Fionn is(was) the leader of wild hunt and betrayed the Daglan.

Let’s start....

The Wild Hunt

It is described like this in mythology

The Wild Hunt is a folklore motif that occurs in the folklore of various northern European cultures. Wild Hunts typically involve a chase led by a mythological figure escorted by a ghostly or supernatural group of hunters engaged in pursuit. The leader of the hunt is often a named figure associated with Odin in Germanic legends, but may variously be a historical or legendary figure like Theodoric the Great, the Danish king Valdemar Atterdag, the Welsh psychopomp Gwyn ap Nudd, biblical figures such as Herod, Cain, Gabriel, or the Devil, or an unidentified lost soul or spirit either male or female. The hunters are generally the souls of the dead or ghostly dogs, sometimes fairies, valkyries, or elves.

and this is from Acosf

“The Daglan delighted in terrorizing the Fae and humans under their control. The Wild Hunt was a way to keep all of us in line. They’d gather a host of their fiercest, most merciless warriors and grant them free rein to kill as they pleased. The Daglan possessed mighty, monstrous beasts—hounds, they called them, though they didn’t look like the hounds we know—that they used to run prey to ground before they tortured and killed them. It’s a terrible history, and much of it might be elaborated myths.” (Acosf)

I think the reason we got Valkyries plot in Acosf sarah is going to connect to wild hunt. But the whole Wild Hunt plot is not only about that.

In Acosf we met Lanthys. He is one of the First gods. (thank to @lesolehabitantdelalune for showing me this quote because without her I wouldn't catch this.)

Cassian took a bite of food. A good sign that this, at least, was acceptable territory. “When you lived in the human world, you had legends of the dread beasts and faeries who would slaughter you if they ever breached the wall, didn’t you? Things that slithered through open windows to drink the blood of children? Things that were so wicked, so cruel there was no hope against their evil?” The hair on her neck rose. “Yes.” Those stories had always unnerved and petrified her. “They were based on truth. Based on ancient, near-primordial beings who existed here before the High Fae split into courts, before the High Lords. Some call them the First Gods. They were beings with almost no physical form, but a keen, vicious intelligence. Humans and Fae alike were their prey. Most were hunted and driven into hiding or imprisonment ages ago. But some remained, lurking in forgotten corners of the land.” He swallowed another mouthful. “When I was nearing three hundred years old, one of them appeared again, crawling out of the roots of a mountain. Before he went into the Prison and confinement weakened him, Lanthys could turn into wind and rip the air from your lungs, or turn into rain and drown you on dry land; he could peel your skin from your body with a few movements. He never revealed his true form, but when I faced him, he chose to appear as swirling mist. He fathered a race of faeries that still plague us, who thrived under Amarantha’s reign—the Bogge. But the Bogge are lesser, mere shadows compared to Lanthys. If there is such a thing as evil incarnate, it is him. He has no mercy, no sense of right or wrong. There is him, and there is everyone else, and we are all his prey. His methods of killing are creative and slow. He feasts on fear and pain as much as the flesh itself.”(acosf)

So we learn quiet a few things from this quote.

Lantys is a first god.

First gods were near-primordial beings who existed before the High Fae split into courts, before the high lords.

They were beings with almost no physical form, but a keen, vicious intelligence.

But some First gods remained, lurking in forgotten corners of the land.”

These are all important.

Later we find that Lanthys was a part of the Wild Hunt.

“Oh, I do not think so,” Lanthys seethed. “I rode in the Wild Hunt before you were even a scrap of existence, witch from Oorid. I summoned the hounds and the world cowered at their baying. I galloped at the head of the Hunt, and Fae and beast bowed before us.”(acosf)

Before we dive more into to the Wild Hunt I wanna show this.

The description of the First Gods (with almost no physical form, lurking in forgotten corners of the land.”)reminded me of something. I think this is a scene as a fandom we find not important but I think it might be one of the biggest hints?

that scene happens in Acofas. In Mor's chapter.

But Mor scented nothing, saw nothing. The tendril of power she speared toward the woods revealed only the usual birds and small beasts. A hart drinking from a hole in an iced-over stream. Nothing, except—.There, between a snarl of thorns. A patch of darkness. It did not move, did not seem to do anything but linger. And watch. Familiar and yet foreign. Something in her power whispered not to touch it, not to go near it. Even from this distance. Mor obeyed. But she still watched that darkness in the thorns, as if a shadow had fallen asleep amongst them. Not like Azriel’s shadows, twining and whispering. Something different. Something that stared back, watching her in turn. Best left undisturbed. Especially with the promise of a crackling fire and glass of wine at home. “Let’s take the short route back,” she murmured to Ellia, patting her neck. The horse needed no further encouragement before launching into a gallop, turning them from the woods and its shadowy watcher. Over and between the hills they rode, until the woods were hidden in the mists behind them. What else might she see, witness, in lands where none in the Night Court had ventured for millennia?(acosf)

She sees a shadows... and what we know about the first gods? with almost no physical form.

She was in the lands where none in the Night Courth had ventured for Millennia... what we know about the first gods? lurking in forgotten corners of the land.

Did she saw a First God? Are there more like it? Why mor was the one to see it? I will talk about mor more later in the post but a little hint... it is interesting that The Morrigan is called ""great queen" or "phantom queen" in myths.

Okay back to Wild Hunt.

In Wikipedia it shows that in different countries the leader of the wild hunt is different.

I'm gonna talk about two of them in this post.

Brittany: Arthur

Ireland: Fionn mac Cumhaill and the Fianna; Manannán—also known as The Fairy Cavalcade.

Brittany:Arthur

We are starting with Brittany:Arthur. (I added the wiki page if you want to read about more because I can't talk about everything.

I think Sarah used this legend as a part of Gwydion-TT-Narben.

Arthur was the King. I think the most popular myth about this is Excalibur and Sword in the stone(some stories say they were one and the same)

Excalibur is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. It was associated with the Arthurian legend very early on. Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone are not the same weapon, though in some modern incarnations they are either the same or at least share their name.

Now let's look at Gwydion.

“Some strains of the mythology claim that one of the Fae heroes who rose up to overthrow them was Fionn, who was given the great sword Gwydion by the High Priestess Oleanna, who had dipped it into the Cauldron itself. Fionn and Gwydion overthrew the Daglan. A millennium of peace followed, and the lands were divided into rough territories that were the precursors to the courts—but at the end of those thousand years, they were at each other’s throats, on the brink of war.” His face tightened. “Fionn unified them and set himself above them as High King. The first and only High King this land has ever had.”(acosf)

From Hosab we know that Gwydion is actually Starsword.

It was its twin. The Starsword began to hum within its sheath, glittering white light leaking from where leather met the dark hilt. The dagger—.The male dropped the dagger to the plush carpet. All of them retreated as it flared with dark light, as if in answer. Alpha and Omega. “Gwydion,” the dark-haired female whispered, indicating the Starsword.(hosab)

Other things we know about Gwydion(Starsword)

That your son, not you, retrieved the Starsword from the Cave of Princes in Avallen’s dark heart. That your son, not you, stood among the long-dead Starborn Princes asleep in their sarcophagi and was deemed worthy to pull the sword from its sheath. How many times did you try to draw the sword when you were young? How much research did you do in this very study to find ways to wield it without being chosen? (Hoeab)

like Arthur, Ruhn was the one to pull it out.

But we know that the sword actualy belongs to female heir of Theia.

“Theia was dead by that point,” Aidas said flatly. “Pelias slew her.” He nodded to the Starsword in Ruhn’s hand. “And stole her blade when he’d finished.” He snarled. “That sword belongs to Theia’s female heir. Not the male offspring who corrupted her line.”

@offtorivendell talks about this in this post if you wanna read it. Theia's secret legacy

so how this connects to Truth-Teller and Narben?

Arthur had two other weapons.

A dagger and a spear.

Other weapons have been associated with Arthur. Welsh tradition also knew of a dagger named Carnwennan and a spear named Rhongomyniad that belonged to him. Carnwennan ("little white-hilt") first appears in Culhwch and Olwen, where Arthur uses it to slice the witch Orddu in half. Rhongomyniad ("spear" + "striker, slayer") is also mentioned in Culhwch, although only in passing; it appears as simply Ron ("spear") in Geoffrey's Historia. Geoffrey also names Arthur's shield as Pridwen; in Culhwch, however, Prydwen ("fair face") is the name of Arthur's ship while his shield is named Wynebgwrthucher ("face of evening").

We know that Truth-teller and Gwydion(Starsword) are twins. Alpha and Omega. (I made a post about this. You can find it here Alphan&Omega)

Now... Narben. We know little about Narben.

“Amarantha destroyed one,” Amren said. Cassian started. “I never heard that.” Amren amended, “Rumor claimed she dumped one into the sea. It would not come to Amarantha’s hand, nor the hands of any of her commanders, and rather than let the King of Hybern attain it, she disposed of it.” Azriel asked, “Which sword?” “Narben.” (Acosf)

"Narben was even older than Gwydion,” Rhys said. “Where the hell was it?” (Acosf)

Narben’s powers had not been the holy, savior’s light of Gwydion, but ones far darker. (Acosf)

Rhys studied her blade. “Narben is a death-sword. It’s lost, possibly destroyed, but stories say it can slay even monsters like Lanthys.” (Acosf)

These are all the things we know. It is a little bit sketchy that Sarah had given us so little information about it.

Also it looks like she is using Arthur's weapons as an inspo for Gwydion and Truth-teller...which one is missing? A spear. So that makes me question if Narben is not a sword but a spear? Or the Fourth dread trove is a spear? 👀

now...we are done with Brittany:arthur as the leader of the wild hunt. this other part is more in depth with the where I think the story is going.

second leader of the wild hunt we are going to talk about :

Ireland: Fionn mac Cumhaill and the Fianna

Ireland: Fionn mac Cumhaill and the Fianna; Manannán—also known as The Fairy Cavalcade.

Fionn mac Cumhaill , often anglicized Finn McCool or MacCool, is a hero in Irish mythology, as well as in later Scottish and Manx folklore. He is leader of the Fianna bands of young roving hunter-warriors, as well as being a seer and poet.

He was a seer...So is Elain. 👀👀

He is often depicted hunting with his hounds Bran and Sceólang("raven" and "survivor”), and fighting with his spear and sword. 

in this it is mentioned that he hunts with his hounds. and has a spear? another spear mentioning. Narben is a spear? Or the Fourth dread trove we haven’t found yet is a spear?

From what lanthys said there were hounds in Wild Hunt in Acotar.

“Oh, I do not think so,” Lanthys seethed. “I rode in the Wild Hunt before you were even a scrap of existence, witch from Oorid. I summoned the hounds and the world cowered at their baying. I galloped at the head of the Hunt, and Fae and beast bowed before us.”(acosf)

and nesta says that the hounds Lanthys showed her in the vision looked like the beasts from Court Of Nightmares.

Nesta could see the portrait Lanthys wove into the air around them. She saw herself on a black throne, a matching crown in her unbound hair. Enormous onyx beasts—scaled, like those she’d seen on the Hewn City’s pillars—lay at the foot of the dais. (Acosf)

and these are a few description of the hounds on the Hewn City's pillars.

Great, scaled black beasts were carved into those gates, all coiled together in a nest of claws and fangs, sleeping and fighting, some locked in an endless cycle of devouring each other. Between them flowed vines of jasmine and moonflowers. I could have sworn the beasts seemed to writhe in the silvery glow of the bobbing faelights throughout the mountain-city. The Gates of Eternity—that’s what I’d call the painting that flickered in my mind. (Acomaf)

We at last came to a throne room of polished ebony. More of the serpents from the front gates were carved here—this time, wrapped around the countless columns supporting the onyx ceiling. It was so high up that gloom hid its finer details, but I knew more had been carved there, too. Great beasts to monitor the manipulations and scheming within this room. The throne itself had been fashioned out of a few of them, a head snaking around either side of the back—as if they watched over the High Lord’s shoulder. (Acomaf)

and we have the prophecy from acomaf

Life and death and rebirth Sun and moon and dark Rot and bloom and bones Hello, sweet thing. Hello, lady of night, princess of decay. Hello, fanged beast and trembling fawn. Love me, touch me, sing me. (Acomaf)

continuing with Fionn...

Fionn in the myth literally has the same name as the high king we learned about in acosf.

Rhys’s eyes flicked to Ataraxia, then to Cassian. “Some strains of the mythology claim that one of the Fae heroes who rose up to overthrow them was Fionn, who was given the great sword Gwydion by the High Priestess Oleanna, who had dipped it into the Cauldron itself. Fionn and Gwydion overthrew the Daglan. A millennium of peace followed, and the lands were divided into rough territories that were the precursors to the courts—but at the end of those thousand years, they were at each other’s throats, on the brink of war.” His face tightened. “Fionn unified them and set himself above them as High King. The first and only High King this land has ever had.” (Acosf)

Is it a coincidence that Fionn is the leader of Wild Hunt in myths and we have Fionn in Acosf who rose up to Overthrow the Daglan?

Was the Fionn, from acotar, the leader of the Wild Hunt in acotar?

Rigelus mentions that the fearsome warriors they built were traitors. They joined the Fae and overthrow his siblings.

“Can’t you?” The cold voice slithered through the intercom. “You are Starborn, and have the Horn bound to your body and power. Your ancestors wielded the Horn and another Fae object that allowed them to enter this world. Stolen, of course, from their original masters—our people. Our people, who built fearsome warriors in that world to be their army. All of them prototypes for the angels in this one. And all of them traitors to their creators, joining the Fae to overthrow my brothers and sisters a thousand years before we arrived on Midgard. They slew my siblings.” (Hosab)

“The Daglan delighted in terrorizing the Fae and humans under their control. The Wild Hunt was a way to keep all of us in line. They’d gather a host of their fiercest, most merciless warriors and grant them free rein to kill as they pleased. The Daglan possessed mighty, monstrous beasts—hounds, they called them, though they didn’t look like the hounds we know—that they used to run prey to ground before they tortured and killed them. It’s a terrible history, and much of it might be elaborated myths.”(acosf)

Rhys’s eyes flicked to Ataraxia, then to Cassian. “Some strains of the mythology claim that one of the Fae heroes who rose up to overthrow them was Fionn, who was given the great sword Gwydion by the High Priestess Oleanna, who had dipped it into the Cauldron itself. Fionn and Gwydion overthrew the Daglan. (Acosf)

moving onto myth again. I will be doing a little bit paraphrasing.

In the myth Fionn is the son of Cumhall mac Trénmhoir. Cumhall was the leader of Fianna. The Fianna were a band of warriors also known as a military order composed mainly of the members of two rival clans, "Clan Bascna" (to which Finn and Cumall belonged) and "Clan Morna" (where Goll mac Morna belonged), the Fenians were supposed to be devoted to the service of the High King and to the repelling of foreign invaders. After the fall of Cumall, Goll mac Morna replaced him as the leader of the Fianna, holding the position for 10 years.One feat of Fionn performed at 10 years of age according to the Acallam na Senórach was to slay Áillen, the fire-breathing man of the Tuatha Dé Danann, who had come to wreak destruction on the Irish capital of Tara every year on the festival of Samhain for the past 23 years, lulling the city's men to sleep with his music then burning down the city and its treasures. When the King of Ireland asked what men would guard Tara against Áillen's invasion, Fionn volunteered. Fionn obtained a special spear (the "Birga") from Fiacha mac Congha ("son of Conga"), which warded against the sleep-inducing music of Áillen's "dulcimer" when it was unsheathed and the bare steel blade was touched against the forehead or some other part of the body. This Fiacha used to be one of Cumall's men, but was now serving the high-king.After Fionn defeated Áillen and saved Tara, his heritage was recognised and he was given command of the Fianna: Goll stepped aside, and became a loyal follower of Fionn, although a dispute later broke out between the clans over the pig of Slanga.

Keep Tuatha Dé Danann in mind because I'm gonna use later on--soon.

There is a mention of High King. We know that Fionn was the first and the last high king acotar world saw.

Moving onto Fionn’s death from the myth.

According to the most popular account of Fionn's death, he is not dead at all, rather, he sleeps in a cave, surrounded by the Fianna. One day he will awake and defend Ireland in the hour of her greatest need. In one account, it is said that he will arise when the Dord Fiann, the hunting horn of the Fianna, is sounded three times, and he will be as strong and as well as he ever was.

He is not dead but sleeping. He will wake up when the horn is sounded three times. And you know who just arrived at Acotar with the horn tattooed to her back? BRYCE. Is this all crossover is about. To wake up Fionn from his sleep? This is how the crossover is going to affect the Acotar world? Is Fionn good or bad?

“Can’t you?” The cold voice slithered through the intercom. “You are Starborn, and have the Horn bound to your body and power. Your ancestors wielded the Horn and another Fae object that allowed them to enter this world. Stolen, of course, from their original masters—our people.

Rigelus says that the horn was stolen from his people. The Daglan. And the wild hunt was their way to terrorize the fae. And if fionn betrayed them and rose againts them...he might have stolen the horn from them?

In the myth Fionn was the leader of Fianna.

Fianna were small warrior-hunter bands in Gaelic Ireland during the Iron Age and early Middle Ages. A fian was made up of freeborn young males, often aristocrats, "who had left fosterage but had not yet inherited the property needed to settle down as full landowning members of the túath". For most of the year they lived in the wild, hunting, raiding other communities and lands, training, and fighting as mercenaries. Scholars believe the fian was a rite of passage into manhood, and have linked fianna with similar young warrior bands in other early European cultures

Fian was a Rite of passage into manhood? does that sound familiar? hello...Blood rite.

“What’s the Blood Rite?” “What it sounds like.” He rubbed his neck. “When an Illyrian warrior comes into his full power, usually in his twenties, he has to go through the Blood Rite before he can qualify as a full warrior and adult.

It seems like sarah took inspo from here.

And you know which mountain is sacred for Illyrians...RAMIEL.

and you know how ramiel was described.

Ramiel. The sacred mountain. The heart of not only Illyria, but the entirety of the Night Court.

Cassian soared toward it, unable to resist Ramiel’s ancient summons. Different—the mountain was so different from the barren, terrible presence of the lone peak in the center of Prythian. Ramiel had always felt alive, somehow. Awake and watchful.

Felt alive somehow? Is it because Fionn is sleeping in there? With Fianna?

Ramiel rose higher still, a shard of stone piercing the gray sky. Beautiful and lonely. Eternal and ageless. No wonder that first ruler of the Night Court had made this his insignia. Along with the three stars that only appeared for a brief window each year, framing the uppermost peak of Ramiel like a crown. It was during that window when the Rite occurred. Which had come first: the insignia or the Rite, Cassian didn’t know. Had never really cared to find out. (Acofas)

The thing Cassian says about the insignia is really interesting. Which one came first? The rite? or the insignia?

We know that the courts took place after the fall of Fionn in Acotar.

Rhys’s eyes flicked to Ataraxia, then to Cassian. “Some strains of the mythology claim that one of the Fae heroes who rose up to overthrow them was Fionn, who was given the great sword Gwydion by the High Priestess Oleanna, who had dipped it into the Cauldron itself. Fionn and Gwydion overthrew the Daglan. A millennium of peace followed, and the lands were divided into rough territories that were the precursors to the courts—but at the end of those thousand years, they were at each other’s throats, on the brink of war.” His face tightened. “Fionn unified them and set himself above them as High King. The first and only High King this land has ever had.” Nesta could have sworn the last words were spoken with a sharp look toward Cassian. But Cassian only winked at Rhys. “What happened to the High King?” Feyre asked. Rhys ran a hand over a page of the book. “Fionn was betrayed by his queen, who had been leader of her own territory, and by his dearest friend, who was his general. They killed him, taking some of his bloodline’s most powerful and precious weapons, and then out of the chaos that followed, the seven High Lords rose, and the courts have been in place ever since.”

My theory is that...THE SECOND DAUGHTER was the first ruler of night court.

Did she come back to Acotar and was the first ruler of the Night court? @silverlinedeyes talks about in "The Illyrians—A (Crack) Theory" how illyrians might be demons from hel and the second daughter came back to the acotar with them.

in Hosab we learn that Theia was the queen who betrayed Fionn and she crossed to Crescent city. She had two daughters as far as we know. Helena and the second daughter. What we know about the second daughter is that...she vanished into the night. With Hosab we know that Ruhn and Rhys looks similar...maybe because they came from the same lineage? Ruhn is descendant of Pelias and Helena. So if the second daughter came back to acotar and was the first ruler...that makes ruhn and rhys a distant relative? so that explains why they look the same.

Aidas laughed coldly. “Your celebrated Prince Pelias, the so-called first Starborn Prince, was an impostor. Theia’s other daughter got away—vanished into the night. I never learned of her fate. (Hosab)

The winged, dark-haired male who stepped in behind her … Bryce gasped. “Ruhn?” The male blinked. His eyes were the same shade of violet blue as Ruhn’s. His short hair the same gleaming black. This male’s skin was browner, but the face, the posture … It was her brother’s. His ears were pointed, too, though he also possessed those leathery wings like the two other males.(Hosab)

so there is that.

Which had come first: the insignia or the Rite, Cassian didn’t know. Had never really cared to find out.

Back to Ramiel. Ramiel has a stone on top of it. A sacred stone.

Cassian snorted, but his words were serious. “There’s a sacred stone atop it. Touch the stone first, and you win. It will transport you out immediately.

Before we dive into the stone. We have to talk about Tuatha Dé Danann. I mentioned when I was talking about Fionn.(Also danann...Ruhn Danaan. Hello.) (@offtorivendell talked about Tuatha Dé Danann in her dusk court post so if you wanna read it I will add here.)

The Tuath(a) Dé Danann , meaning "the folk of the goddess Danu"), also known by the earlier name Tuath Dé ("tribe of the gods"),are a supernatural race in Irish mythology. Many of them are thought to represent deities of pre-Christian Gaelic Ireland.

In Irish mythology, *Danu is the reconstructed mother goddess of the Tuatha dé Danann (Old Irish: "The peoples of the goddess Danu"). Though primarily seen as an ancestral figure, some Victorian sources also associate her with the land.

so they are a folk of the goddess Danu. and she is a mother goddess...interesting. We have the Mother in acotar 👀🤭

the members of Tuath(a) Dé Danann.

Prominent members of the Tuath Dé include The Dagda ("the great god"); The Morrígan ("the great queen" or "phantom queen");  Lugh;  Nuada;  Aengus;  Brigid; Manannán; Dian Cecht the healer; and Goibniu the smith, one of the Trí Dé Dána ("three gods of craft").[5] Several of the Tuath Dé are cognate with ancient Celtic deities: Lugh with Lugus, Brigit with Brigantia, Nuada with Nodons, and Ogma with Ogmios.

The Dagda...sounds familiar—The Daglan.

“The Fae were not the first masters of this world. According to our oldest legends, most now forgotten, we were created by beings who were near-gods—and monsters. The Daglan. They ruled for millennia, and enslaved us and the humans. They were petty and cruel and drank the magic of the land like wine.”

and mor. I talked above how Mor was the one seeing one of the "first gods" so it is connected to that.

Other things I think are important about Tuatha Dé Danann.

The Tuatha Dé Danann are described as a supernatural race, much like idealized humans, who are immune from aging and sickness, and who have powers of magic. The powers most often attributed to the Tuath Dé are control over the weather and the elements, and the ability to shapeshift themselves and other things. They are also said to control the fertility of the land; the tale De Gabáil in t-Sída says the first Gaels had to establish friendship with the Tuath Dé before they could raise crops and herds.

Weather and Elemental magic? Sounds familiar. Rhys talks about how the high fae once more elemental.

“Once, the High Fae were more elemental, more given to reading the stars and crafting masterpieces of art and jewelry and weaponry. Their gifts were rawer, more connected to nature, and they could imbue objects with that power.” (Acosf)

and shapeshifting. Rigelus talks about how the Fae from bryce's world could shapeshift.

“Not your kind of Fae, of course—your breed dwelled in a lovely, verdant land, rich with magic. If it’s of any interest to you, your Starborn bloodline specifically hailed from a small isle a few miles from the mainland. And while the mainland had all manner of climes, the isle existed in beautiful, near-permanent twilight. But only a select few in the entirety of your world could shift from their humanoid forms to animal ones."

They are also connected with fertility of the land.

Prison island.HELLO

According to legend, the pegasuses had come from the island the Prison sat upon—had once fed in fair meadows that had long given way to moss and mist. Perhaps that was part of the decline: their homeland had vanished, and whatever had sustained them there was no longer.

So Pegasus were originally from Prison island but whatever had sustained them there was no longer? So... Prison island is dusk court and they were the ones sustaining the fertility of the land but when they vanished they took the magic with them because there was no more Fae to sustain it?

and this is about where Tuath(a) Dé Danann lives.

They live in the Otherworld, which is described as either a parallel world or a heavenly land beyond the sea or under the earth's surface. Many of them are associated with specific places in the landscape, especially the sídh mounds; the ancient burial mounds and passage tombs which are entrances to Otherworld realms.The Tuath Dé can hide themselves with a féth fíada ('magic mist') and appear to humans only when they wish to.

and these are a few description of Prison island.

I stared up at the sharp grassy slope of the small mountain, shivering at the veils of mist that wafted past. Behind us, the land swept away to brutal cliffs and a violent pewter sea. Ahead, nothing but a wide, flat-topped mountain of gray stone and moss. (Acomaf)

Velaris had been brisk, sunny. This place, wherever it was, was freezing, deserted, barren. Only rock and grass and mist and sea. (Acomaf)

also it is interesting that Avallen in CC is also an island and they have the power to use shadows and mist...

But rumor claimed Ruhn’s magic was more like those of his kin who ruled the sacred Fae isle of Avallen across the sea: power to summon shadows or mist that could not only veil the physical world, but the mind as well. Perhaps even telepathy. (Hoeab)

Another reason his father resented him: beyond his Starborn gifts, the bulk of his magic skewed toward his mother’s kin—the Fae who ruled Avallen, the mist-shrouded isle in the north. The sacred heart of Faedom. (Hoeab)

And bryce notes when she comes to Velaris that they wear clothes like they do in Avallen.

The petite, dark-haired female with angular eyes like Fury’s drew up short. Her red-painted mouth dropped open, no doubt at the blood all over Bryce’s face and body. This female was … Fae. Clad in beautiful, yet thoroughly old-fashioned clothes. Like the stuff they wore on Avallen.

so sarah seem to take one thing from the myths and use it in several parts and try to connect them in some way—we will see how they all connect together in the books 👀.

and we lastly have the part I will connect to Ramiel... the four treasures of the Tuath(a) Dé Danann. (Also four threasures... four dread trove. It is not connected to them but it is funny lmao)

Dagda's Cauldron

The Spear of Lugh

Claíomh Solais (The Sword of Light)

Lia Fáil (The Stone of Fal)

Side note: @offtorivendell is going to make a full post about all of these four treasures and she is going to dive more into lugh’s spear being narben and gwydion being the sword of light. So keep your eyes on that 👀🤭 I will tag it when she posts it. Here is the post

Cauldron..I MEAN. It literally explains itself.

The spear of Lugh:

No battle was ever sustained against it, or against the man who held it.

This is one of the other reasons why I think Narben or fourth dread trove might be a spear not a sword.

Remember what Amren said about narben:

“I don’t know, but she found it, and when it would not bend to her, she destroyed it. As she did all good things.” It was as much as Amren would say about that terrible time. “It was perhaps in our favor. Had the King of Hybern possessed Narben, I fear we would have lost the war.”

Claíomh Solais (The Sword of Light):

The Sword of Light or Claidheamh Soluisis a trope object that appears in a number of Irish and Scottish Gaelic folktales. The "Quest for sword of light" formula is catalogued as motif H1337.

The sword may be rendered in English as the "Sword of Light", or "Shining Sword".

HELLO GWYDION/STARSWORD.

Narben’s powers had not been the holy, savior’s light of Gwydion, but ones far darker.(acosf)

The Starsword sang with light, her power flowing into it. Activating it. And nothing had ever felt so right, so easy, as plunging the blade into the bony chest of the wounded Reaper. It arced, bellowing, black blood spurting from its withered lips. (Hosab)

Also Sword of light is described as this.

No one ever escaped from it once it was drawn from its sheath, and no one could resist it. The sword is also described in the Tain legend as "Nuadu's Cainnel"—a glowing bright torch.

You know what that reminds me of.

With shaking fingers, she put it back into its sheath. Dimmed its light. But the Starsword still sang, and Bryce had no idea what to make of it. Of the blade that had slain that which was unkillable. (Hosab)

Lia Fáil (The Stone of Fal):

This is where it gets interesting for Ramiel.

The Lia Fáil; meaning "Stone of Destiny" or "Speaking Stone" to account for its oracular legend) is a stone at the Inauguration Mound (Irish: an Forrad) on the Hill of Tara in County Meath, Ireland, which served as the coronation stone for the High Kings of Ireland.

Coronation stone for the High Kings. Fionn was a high king. 👀

Ramiel has a stone on top of it.

Cassian snorted, but his words were serious. “There’s a sacred stone atop it. Touch the stone first, and you win. It will transport you out immediately. (Acosf)

and it is a living stone. that sang to him.

But when he’d touched the onyx monolith, when he’d felt that ancient force sing into his blood in the heartbeat before it had whisked him back to the safety of Devlon’s camp … It had been worth it. To feel that. With a solemn bow of his head toward Ramiel and the living stone atop it, Cassian caught another swift wind and soared southward.(acofas)

so Lia fail is speaking stone and Cassian felt the sacred stone on top of ramiel sing into his blood and describes it as the living stone.

In myths it is said that the Lia Fail has powers.

The Lia Fáil was thought to be magical: when the rightful High King of Ireland put his feet on it, the stone was said to roar in joy. The stone is also credited with the power to rejuvenate the king and also to endow him with a long reign.

Does this sound familiar? It is like the gates in Crescent City. They took power when people made a wish and this way Bryce was like a gate because her powers comes from the gate.

“Your power came from the Gate—with a shit-ton of firstlight mixed in. So your magic—beyond the light, I mean— needs to be powered up. It relies on firstlight, or any other form of energy it can get. You’re literally a Gate: you can take in power and offer it. But it seems the similarity ends there. The Gates can store power indefinitely, while yours clearly peters out after a while.”(Hosab)

So what if the stone is keeping Fionn alive in Ramiel? what if it's feeding him? Or is the stone on top of ramiel is a daglan creation and under ramiel they have their feeding point like in hosab?

Also Lia fail is connected with Fianna. As I mentioned they were the warriors that served Fionn.

It is from this stone the Tuatha Dé Danann metonymically named Ireland Inis Fáil (inis meaning island), and from this Fál became an ancient name for Ireland. Fál in Old Irish means several things like hedge, enclosure or king, ruler. In this respect, therefore, Lia Fáil came to mean 'Stone of Ireland'. Inisfail appears as a synonym for Erin in some Irish romantic and nationalist poetry in English in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; Aubrey Thomas de Vere's 1863 poem Inisfail is an example. The term Fianna Fáil ("the Fianna, warriors, or army of Ireland"; sometimes rendered "the soldiers of destiny") has been used as a sobriquet for the Irish Volunteers; on the cap badge of the Irish Army; in the opening line of the Irish-language version of Amhrán na bhFiann, the Irish national anthem; and as the name of the Fianna Fáil political party, one of the main parties in Ireland.

this is from what I added to fianna. > Scholars believe the fian was a rite of passage into manhood, and have linked fianna with similar young warrior bands in other early European cultures

In blood rite they try to touch the stone on top of Ramiel. In Fianna they have fian which is a rite to passage into manhood. Fianna is connected with Lia Fais(speaking stone) and Ramiel has a stone on top of it that sings.

So I think that's all. Thanks for reading.

[fayromance]

Ever since Lada had that (prophetic?) dream about Vereya leading her to Volot to follow him to the mysterious stone in the forest, I've been obsessed with this imagery 🪨👀

Obviously we'll get to see the Stone again later on. And it might even turn out to be crucial to the plot of the story (also, I wish could understand what it's saying 🥲)

For now, it's clear that there's definitely some mystical connection between Lada, Volot and the Stone of Alatyr. I can't wait to learn more in the following episodes! 🔗🧵

My commission from:

[chyertsar]

♔. synopsis : koschei is part of a pantheon of primordial beings who currently reside in a supernatural realm mirroring old rus' and modern russia ( known as the chyerti realm ) primarily set during world war ii, there's a much older war reaching its pinnacle ; one between two brothers : koschei, the tsar of life and viy, the tsar of death. based on the deathless book universe. leaning heavily on slavic folklore and the allegorical concepts of a paradise lost and war as a hell on earth. . . . affiliated with godwitch & rosetem

♔. koschei will do just about anything to turn the odds of the war in his favor, so plenty of room for kidnappings or crossovers into other worlds & pantheons here.

♔. as an in between realm of sorts, the chyerti realm is very easy to stumble upon by accident -- especially during life/death situations

♔. his hoard is full of stolen relics, magical weapons, tomes, and artifacts from all corners of the world, which might be necessary to obtain for your muses' own goals

♔. the man knows how to throw a buffet, but much like the fae, it's not wise to eat or drink in his country as he has various means of inducing forgetfulness to those who do. many members of his retinue were transplants from other realms who over time do not remember living anywhere else, nor a time before the war.

♔. note the default is for threads to take place either during or before wwii. koschei (in his current incarnation) does not survive past that point in human history

in the beginning, there were seven tsars and tsaritsas each responsible for the respective domains of water, salt, night, the length of an hour, birds, life and death. as the tsar of life, koschei inherited the divine knowledge of the alatyr stone and through it he was able to learn and wield life sustaining magic which he used to create all the plants, trees, crops, animals, and daemon creatures ( known as the chyerti ) that resided in his domain ( buyan, the country of life ).

working in tandem with the other tsars and tsaritsas, he also used the power of the stone to give life to other beings they molded for their own countries, such as the birds, the fish, and the first people of rus'. their tsardoms knew balance and peace for a great time, but the brothers viy and koschei, though inseparable as children, had been fated to duties and domains so contrary to one another that it was only a matter of time before tensions boiled over.

the tsar of death had eternal claim to koschei's creations and came to collect them as was necessary to curb excess and maintain nature's order. watching his crops wither in the frost and the beasts he nurtured grow sickly and lame was a terrible thing, but koschei could live with the loss. it was just as necessary to see the grass and the fruits consumed by the animals so that they could grow strong; and the animals had to be consumed by the chyerti and people in turn. death seemed sensible and unavoidable then.

but soon some animals became too dear to koschei; some chyerti became like children in the ways they regarded him; some people became his neighbors, his friends, his lovers -- each holding a unique place that could not be filled again. death now seemed cruel and intolerable. to have so short a time with his countrymen while viy could enjoy the rest of eternity with them in his ghostly realm was an insult to injury, but truthfully viy didn't care for the company.

he was a kind and receptive host, but the only guests viy really desired to receive were the other tsars and tsaritsas, his brother most of all. for them viy was willing to wait, content in the knowledge that the day would inevitably come. knowing this, koschei sought not only a means to end his grief, but to bring it unto the one he blamed it on. he took the one thing viy coveted the most -- his death -- and hid it somewhere he could never find.

the war was officially waged viy marched out of his country with his limitless supply of undead soldiers to force koschei to correct this violation. koschei refused to relent and used every advantage in his arsenal to keep viy's army just shy of victory, even if it meant leveraging the help of the other tsars and tsaritsas to do so. he also took all manner of chyerti and strangers into his druzhina ( his court and military retinue ) and trained them in the art of war and sorcery.

however, out of the natural order, most of koschei's magical creations became horrors and over the lives of his own countrymen, he grew to favor the things death normally didn't care to touch -- gold and precious stones, soft furs, books that could offer him more knowledge of the arcane arts and legendary instruments of power. above all these, the tsar of life hoarded his death, vowing to sooner see the world drown in blood than to ever set foot in his brother's country. by wwii, viy became happy to oblige him.

♔. in this verse, koschei is a primordial god modeled after both dazhbog and yarilo from slavic mythos. initially, the tsar of life was regarded as a benevolent deity in both the chyerti and mortal realms, whose borders were originally less defined.

♔. there used to be a village called yaichka in the outskirts of buyan, and although the tsar had a palace by the sea, yaichka was the place he preferred to call home. he lived happily as a farmer there, in a humble house neighboring other mortals and chyerti. they called him ivan or "the giver" back then.

♔. the village mysteriously ceased to exist after his falling out with viy. the tsar returned to his palace, which eventually became a black kremlin made of tissue and bone called the chernosvyat.

♔. the start of the war happened around the 11th century, when koschei's tales and contact with societies outside of buyan became rampant. he'd often pillage the realms to stockpile their magical weaponry and collect just about anything that caught his interest.

♔. in this time he became referred to as koschei the deathless, "the eater", or "the devil" by the mortals, while the chyerti who still followed him were considered his demons. both were thus wholly unwelcome in the mortal realm, forcing them to operate unseen or keep to the chyerti realm exclusively. by the 20th century, koschei himself has no interest in the mortal realm ; most of its magic is gone and his battles against viy are all focused within buyan.

♔. while many have tried and failed to locate koschei's death and kill him, you can assume marya morevna of rus' was the only person who managed to at least keep him imprisoned for a time until someone else accidentally let him loose. however, unless i'm writing with a marya, assume her incarnation is not currently in the picture. i want to leave room for other dynamics to get a go at being his foil too <33

[mrmorsh]

Chaotic swap

Keeper Lien-Da is the last of the remaining echidnas, at the moment is the Keeper of the Master of the Emerald. Her physical strength and clan war skills make her a very dangerous opponent. She easily breaks stones with her bare hands as well as robots. She is also able to easily capture the flow of chaos energy. She doesn't really like communication and mostly stays away from some conflicts. She can be very cunning , but she knows when to bend over and ask for someone else 's help . despite her harsh behavior, she is also capable of positive feelings. She respects strength, is very patriotic — considers her people the greatest. Her main rival and enemy is u.l.f Rouge, with whom she has various conflicts. Perhaps only Agent Shadow is able to calm them down. Few people know, but apparently the last echidna has very warm feelings for Shadow, and they are not friendly at all. Her probably only friend is the mysterious spirit Sticks —who is paranoid, it was from her that Lien-da adopted her distrust and total closeness. Echidna probably only behaves openly to some individuals, although sometimes she is rude and very unrestrained.

The ghost of the Sticks is an ancient spirit that lives in the Alatyr region with the master emerald. She knows a lot about the secrets as well as the history of the lost Echidna civilization. Her character remains the same as that of the canonical Sticks

E.G.G-123—The most dangerous and intelligent of the E-series robots, is the creation of Dr. Vanilla, which as a result got out of control. Initially, E. G. G -123 was created as a guard for Rouge, which was in stasis at one of Vanilla's bases. However, the rapidly developing intelligence of the robot rebelled against Vanilla, wanting power as well as revenge for being locked up for three years underground. In his arsenal there is :Rockets, miniguns, flamethrowers, plasma and laser weapons. In addition, the robot is very smart, which allows it to create its own weapons, which often works against its owner due to mortality. E. G. G -123 likes to gloat and joke during the battle, praising his fighting qualities as well as his mind. Often underestimates his enemies, because of too much confidence in his abilities. The robot likes to compete with those personalities whose powers are not inferior to his own. Likes to arrange friendly duels with Rouge, considers her a worthy opponent. Despite his latent desire to take over the world, E-123 himself wants Agent Shadow and Rouge to share the board with him.

Prince Knuckles is the ruler and prince of the Sol dimension. Echidna possesses great physical strength and is also able to control fire. His behavior remains the same as that of the Canonical Brass Knuckles.

[valarinventures]

@jaspvid-week day 3: shapes

What is this intricate shape you did?"

"An alatyr, a stone of great magic. I learned to make alatyrs from a vast eastern country."

[a-koschyei]

VER. THE RED SORCERER WILL WAKE THE SLEEPER & SILENCE THE BELLS

♔. synopsis : canon adjacent, mixing in elements of deathless and taking this verse as koschei's alt. tsar of life origin story. rewriting some details & emphasizing the undercurrent of the plot to reveal koschei faked his death in book 2 and was the mastermind behind the events of the series. he usurps medved, and becomes the new summer-demon towards the end of book 3. most plots can take place after the series, when he's on the brink of waging a war to take over medieval rus' and the other chyerti realms, particularly morozko's.

in the 11th cent. during the reign of vladimir the great, yuri, a polovtsian khan who plundered and traversed the entirety of the great steppes with his nomadic warriors, sacked a village near serbia and took a country girl as his wife. the girl's name was danika, and she belonged to a balkan line of witches & sorcerers who worshipped the giver, dazbog (the chyert of summer and tsar of life).

some time later, after confirming she had the ability to see the unseen chyerti, dazbog gave her his jewel, the alatyr stone. he promised to protect her so long as she wore it and did not let him fade from memory. when the time came, she was to pass it down to the youngest of her three sons. she only had two at the time.

that year, yuri led an unsuccessful attack against prince mstislav, son of vladamir. yuri was killed in combat, but danika and her sons were spared, though taken as slaves, under the condition that they assimilate and convert to christianity. danika converted, for the sake of her children and the unborn one she carried, but hid dazbog's jewel, wove him into her prayers and never forgot about the chyerti.

♔. the polovtsy / polovytsians. turkic nomadic warriors (aka the cumans). the name comes from the old slavic word for "blonde" "pale yellow" due to the color of their hair and/or their cream colored akhal-teke horses, known for their speed and golden metallic sheen. by the events of the book (14th cent.) the polovtsy fled from the mongol invasion of rus' to different countries, but many also joined the golden horde and became generally referred to as tartars, along w other turkic groups. (koschei's fairytale is based on a famous polovtsian, khan konchek) ♔. dazbog / medved. a slavic solar deity who resided in buyan but also the underworld. in the summer, he was a man in his prime, accompanied by wolves. in winter, he was a one-eyed old man who wore a bear skin during his hibernation in death's realm. canon doesn't say this explicitly, but medved is lame daba, aka dazbog after his demonization, which christianization (and koschei) caused. very few know him by his old name & nature. ♔. alatyr stone. in this verse, it's a red-gold jewel connected to dazbog's power and a gateway to buyan. it's his equivalent to the sapphire morozko passed to vasya. in book 2, it's the stone koschei uses as a decoy death.

i. three roads, three sons: koschei was born and raised in tmutarakan as a slave, serving first as a groom, then a farmhand, and when he came of age, he and his brothers were dragged into a war between princes for vladamir's throne. koschei's mother gave him dazbog's jewel hoping it would protect him, and it did, but during the winter march, his brothers were taken by the frost. in the spring when the war was in full bloom, koschei's contact with dazbog became more direct and frequent. he often carried him away from the brink of death in the battlefield in the spirit of a wolf to buyan, where he'd heal him, feed him, and teach him the art of war and magic.

eventually, dazbog aided koschei in deserting the war. during this time, he traveled the principalities around kiev freely, but the past, the threat of death and imprisonment, and the growing disdain for witches and sorcerers chased him out of every place he hoped to settle. he went to baba yaga's midnight country where he formed a romance with tamara and earned the favor of the golden mare and firebird, zornitsa, the fastest horse of yaga's flock. with her, koschei was able to outrun any threat or foe, and was carried to farther lands, away from kiev and the church bells.

♔. the golden mare / firebird : diverting from the book, koschei's mare is named zornitsa, the morning star, and she's the same in every verse. koschei wins her favor on his own, as he was a worthy rider at the start. later, he loses favor and that's when tamara & the golden bridle ( without spikes !! ) come into play.

ii. the wolf, the firebird, & the horse with a golden mane: he ended up in the newly founded village of moscow when it was still pagan, and was set on making his home there. ivan yurovich was the name he used to avoid recognition (given his growing reputation in kiev), and upon his arrival the lord offered him riches, land, and a seat at his table if he sold him his golden mare. koschei accepted, but used sorcery to transmute a wolf into the likeness of zornitsa, then asked her to hide in the wood in her firebird form.

the lord's sister, yelena tomislavna, had the gift of sight too. she caught on to the ruse, but kept koschei's secret. in time the two fell deeply for one another, but koschei was not a preferred match. he contrived a plan to have the lord spot the firebird during a hunt, and as he suspected, the lord promised yelena's hand to anyone who'd manage to catch it for him. koschei rose to the occassion, again presenting a wolf who simply forgot it was not a firebird, and the wedding was set.

♔. ivan yurovich : his birthname in this verse (see this post to dive into the rabbit hole). after his brothers' deaths, their nickname for him (due to his lankiness) continued to be his preferred name. he goes by koschei yurovich through his pre-immortal travels, then later koschei bessmertny. kasyan lutovich is the current alias. after his identity reveal he goes back to being referred to as koschei bessmertny. it's a name he's proud of, so if you ever call him ivan, it's on sight !!

iii. the midwinter feast : during their engagement celebration, morozko was an honorary guest, as it was his midwinter holiday too. he took great interest in yelena and had her tend to him the entire night, much to koschei's agitation and moscow's speculation. when the frost demon left, a panicked idea took root among the folk that yelena could not marry. she would need to be morozko's tribute for maslenitsa, the sunfeast, or else they'd face a late summer and risk another deadly famine. to escape the hysteria, koschei and yelena fled to a secret place tucked between realms in the midday road which koschei called yaichka for it's golden wheat fields that looked like a sea of yolk.

it was in that field, while koschei was stealing food from buyan, that the noon wraith, sent by dazbog, lured a lounging yelena into a trance and danced her into midnight and then back into moscow. when koschei found out, he and zornitsa raced through the midday road from buyan to moscow, but a devotee of dazbog could only find the middays of spring and summer. what felt like hours of riding were actually weeks. he arrived on winter's last sunset, through the red flash of the last day of the sunfeast, but the people of moscow had already strangled yelena in the snow and tossed her body into the sacrificial fire.

koschei begged morozko and dazbog to undo what the people had done, using the water of life and the water of death, but the twins refused to intervene with fate. herein laid the trappings of a secret war, where koschei set his heart towards revenge against the people of rus' and the twins who'd wronged him. for the moment, they were none the wiser. dazbog took koschei into buyan and continued to mentor him until he eventually used the knowledge to formulate a spell that would have him take dazbog's power and remove himself from death's reach so that he could confidently enact his revenge on the frost demon and people of rus'.

♔. the chains of the winter king : this feast was the memory vasya found morozko imprisoned in, and the man she saw was koschei ("ivan"). as tamara's sister later explains, kasyan's face is not koschei's real face which is why she did not immediately recognize him. so this is the first glimpse we get of him in the series. i'm establishing that koschei, working through medved, was responsible for the creation of this prison memory, but it was just that. a magical simulation on loop. no historical events could be changed by meddling.

iv. the golden bridle: zornitsa urged koschei against his plan, but he needed her speed to catch dazbog's chariot in his journey towards death's country, when he was most vulernable. he created a golden bridle that would bind zornitsa's will to his own. then he seduced tamara once more, and tricked her into placing the bridle on zornitsa. with the bridle on, koschei seized his opportunity and struck his fatal spell on dazbog just before he could reach morozko's country. but the spell was complex and too slippery for a human mind. they both tumbled into rus', and when koschei finally came to, he found himself immortal and alone, but not entirely successful.

v. lame daba : killing a dual natured god in one blow was impossible. in the fall, dazbog split in two: his primary form (the summer wolf) was killed and absorbed by koschei; but the winter bearskin of his hibernating form still remained, and koschei's spell had inadvertently reanimated the husk in the effort to make himself deathless. koschei's life force was removed from his body, but was stored in medved, the eater, whose mind and memory became a mangled and rotted version of dazbog's, tainted by koschei's essence and vision of him. medved then represented a mockery of life fueled by it's hardships and became the tsar of the upyr, the insatiable undead.

medved had no true recollection of his previous life and neither did anyone else. koschei then realized that to kill and usurp a god meant to erase them from memory, and when medved began to wreak havoc on rus', morozko imprisoned his brother with a murky recollection of the time before they were at odds. likewise, the world had an obscured recollection of koschei and who he was before -- but the witch women of midnight and the crossroad demons who had witnessed what he'd done remembered. they did not have the means to intervene, but yaga did cast out her daughter tamara, and shut all the roads of the chyerti realms to her and koschei so they could never come back.

vi. the tower of bones. now unable to reach buyan and the sleeping bear to retrieve his death and finish what he started, koschei set up camp in a place he called, bashnya kostei, the tower of bones. he offered tamara a place at his side, but she refused and left him. thus began the campaigns against the people of kievan rus' that inspired the tales of koschei the deathless. eventually, he took to keeping a lower profile, used sorcery and glamors to hide his rotting appearance, recruited the surrounding chyerti to do his bidding, and conjured scrying spells to keep morozko blind to his machinations and whereabouts.

vii. the bear & the nightingale. in dreams, koschei could sense any perturbances with medved given their inconvenient entanglement. after years of nothing, he saw a young girl with familiar green eyes and the gift of sight approach the bear at his clearing. if koschei could not get to buyan, he figured the sacrifice of a witch could summon medved into rus'. so he riled the bear awake in secret and planted the idea in his subconscious. the bear was successful, through the death of a different witch, but when he was foiled and bound again by the sacrifice of a father. koschei moved on to the back up plan: a counterspell to yaga's banishment using the alatyr stone, the red flash of the last winter sunset on maslenitsa, and the power charge of a witch from her bloodline.

book 2 & book 3. from here, we set up the events of book 2. koschei's core motive is a power grab, particularly for buyan and the chyerti. not knowing where vasya ran off to, he took on the alias of kasyan lutovich to infiltrate moscow and investigate vasya's remaining family there, hoping to find another witch/sorcerer with the sight who could charge and destroy the stone, thus "killing him" but really his body disintegrated and reappeared in the water of life in buyan, where he began to gather his own chyerti forces and used medved as a puppet & distraction in book 3 to buy himself time.

taking over moscow & destroying the bells was supposed to be an added treat that went a little haywire (understatement), but was not the primary goal. this was getting medved bound again at the right time while koschei was in buyan, getting his death back, hiding it somewhere else unknown, and merging with what remained of dazbog's power so he could become the new tsar of life. when vasya returns to the clearing seeking medved's aid, she finds his bearskin limp and koschei standing in his place. further notes & divergences can be discussed and/or will be posted as hcs.

[ivaldisonsforge]

Alatyr ring (Slavic ring) Alatir, the Mythical Stone, whose history can be traced to the far depths of distant centuries, is frequently seen on Ukrainian embroideries, along with a host of ancient images. This eight-pointed star is one of the oldest known symbols, that depicts the folding and unfolding Universe.

This sign is reflected in countless legends and tales, of the Mythical Stone, the dawn-stone on which the power of the Gods rests and from which it is restored. The sign of the Alatir is like a Divine Eye, from which shines the Light Supreme, God’s good fortune to all the seen and unseen world. Through the Alatir, the Gods communicate with mortals. Into the Alatir is engraved the wisdom of the Universe, and its sacred symbols state Universal Laws. An image of the harmony of the universe, Alatir also displays the intersection of power lines, to form a holy place, a place of power, ideal for a pagan temple.

[roskindesign]

TOP 3 Legends About Amber

TOP 3 Legends About Amber

Avicenna also wrote about the healing properties of amber.

In ancient times, it was believed that there was no disease that could not be cured with amber. It is also popularly known as the "sunstone". The succinic acid found in it and other types of amber increases the bioactive elements in a person in an effective and natural way.

Here are some legends related to this wonderful creation of nature:

Legend 1:

Phaethon in ancient Greek mythology was the son of Helios (Phoebus, an epithet later given to Apollo) and the oceanid Clymene. Phaethon boasted to his friends that he was the son of the sun god. However, they refused to believe him and Phaeton went to his father, who promised him everything he asked for. Phaethon asked to drive his father's golden chariot for a day. Helios tried to dissuade him, but to no avail - Phaethon was adamant. When the day came and he drove the chariot, he panicked and lost control of the white horses he was driving. The chariot caught fire, the earth caught fire. Africa has become a desert. The waters and rivers boiled. Earth would have perished if not for Zeus. He forced himself to strike the horses, the chariot, and the Phaeton with lightning. The white horses ran away - only the Erinyes could find them and bring them back. His mother, Klimena, searched for his ashes on the ground for a long time. Finally she reached the banks of the Eridanus River. Phaethon's sisters - the Heliads - wept on her shore inconsolably. Finally, Zeus got tired of their tears and turned them into fir trees. Then everything on earth began to return to the old way. Only the desert and the Milky Way remain as reminders of the recklessness of Helios and his son.

But even now transformed into trees, the sisters continued to cry. Their tears fell and turned into resin from which amber was later formed. Years later, the sea still spills their amber tears on its shores...

Legend 2:

Norse legend represents amber in the form of tears of the goddess of love and fertility Freya, who mourns her missing husband.

Legend 3:

The legends of Vedic Russia describe amber in a different way - as joy, as a great gift that all people of the world can use for healing. In Russia, the Alatyr stone had a sacred meaning. The stone possessed great magical power as it was a scaled-down copy of the universe. The Alatyr-stone was revered as the father of all stones. This is proven by the "Deep Book" (modern "Pigeon Book") - this is a Slavic spiritual verse that tells about the origin and integrity of the world.

Legends or not, amber still enjoys great attention to this day, did you know that a stone must be at least 1 million years old to be classified as amber? If you want to own a piece of jewelry made of amber, you can check here - kehlibareno.com

[atomiccupcakepatrol]

Incantation of a Beauty - A prayer to a new moon

I rise with a blessing, cross myself before stepping out,To the open field, where dreams are about.By evening’s light, in the vast expanse,I find a path and take a chance.I walk with grace, no stone to trip,Forgiven by mother, blessed by father’s grip. From my kin, I part and stray,To the white-burning Alatyr stone, I make my way.Held by earth and washed by dew,Dried by dawn, so pure and…

[spacecadetspe]

On this day last year...

Dec. 9, 2022

I'm at that point where I have little-to-no desire to help anyone.  It's not as if I'm being actively cruel, but at this moment, with three broken chakras, I'm just peachy doing nothing but recuperating.

As it turns out, the ridiculous rigamarole I went through with Heliopolis, Solomon, and Ornias broke my lower three chakras, and I had to have metaphysical surgery to correct them.  I'm sure I'll be doing some form of physical therapy in the near future, as well... just as soon as I can take it.

I didn't join Ra and Osiris on the royal barque the last several nights because of my condition; that being "unhinged and in pain."  Instead, Njorun noticed, read the situation, and stepped in to help, disguised as me.  She didn't realize I had the means with which to trap Apep, and instead used Seidr soul magic to bind Apep to Aset's soul.  Neither of which Ra was happy about.

So he barged into my room, screeching like the falcon he is, and started yelling about how I was doing the exact same thing Isis had done to him in eons past.  Thankfully I was able to keep my cool and calm him down, and fill him in on what actually happened.

We all know by now that Apep is a part of Ra, and as such possesses part of his true Name.  Anyone who has control over Apep by extension has control over Ra.  He didn't seem so angry when I proposed this solution, so I realize he was just triggered, and I was able to calm him down.  I'd never used him or led him astray, and I don't intend to.  I have more than enough power to do everything that needs doing, so acquiring an army of demons wasn't anywhere on my list.

I reminded Ra that he could trust me, and I'd proven it many times.  And as long as he was second-guessing me, it only made our relationship more difficult.  He still doesn't like how Njorun handled the situation, but it's nothing that can't be swiftly corrected, and I sided with Njorun in the argument.  She did what had to be done, and she supported everyone, no matter how any of the parties felt about it.

In the end, I sent Aset's soul back to her body and trapped Apep in the ring, and sent Ra on with his astral guide, Hehu.  All's well that ends well.

My stints have had to be changed several times; they are supporting my chakras and allowing them to flow properly until I can travel to Surtr again.  He won't be pleased that Ornias broke me that badly.

Ornias, for his part, has been unusually friendly.  He gave Njorun a piece of Alatyr stone, which I know next to nothing about, and laughed at her being flabbergasted.  Njorun says I shouldn't trust him, and I can't say I do, but understanding demons in general is something that will probably just come with time.

I've built a rapport with the few demons that I've encountered, and the general sentiment is that I'm a just mistress.  So I'm hoping that trend continues; this is likely to be an interesting journey.

[antonyad3]

The history of Russian ornaments (LO1)

In Ancient Russia, it had a ritual and magical significance and often served as an 'amulet.' The semantics of the patterns combined the people's understanding, who lived at that time, of nature and life in general. There are 4 types of ornaments: geometric, plant ornament, zoomorphic (images of animals), and anthropomorphic (depictions of body parts). Ornaments are usually formed in a symmetrical way, where one side of the pattern mirrors the other.

Alatyr is one of the main Russian and Slavic symbols. It is a symbol of the infinite universe, the duality of the world, and its balance. It is a source of life, composed of male and female principles.

The World Tree of Life was believed to grow on the Alatyr Stone, and the gods rested under its branches. Therefore, people sought to protect their kin and themselves beneath the branches of the Tree of Life with the help of heavenly beings.

Various swastikas are also a fairly popular motif in Russian and Slavic crafts.

[soramystic]

God Quest – the Alatyr

He can see it, now.

Ahead iorik Dazhbog trudges on, silent and stoic as one would expect of Buyan’s god-king. He keeps an unforgiving pace and Yobi needs almost his entire attention on the ground in front of him. From what little he can see of the surroundings though, they are climbing a natural marvel. The ancient glacier they walk on has, through some miracle, been subject to the plate tectonics below, creating a mountain range almost entirely made of ice and permafrost.

Nothing lives here, nothing grows here. The iorik has abandoned his giant bear at the foot of this mountain and handed Yobi a set of provisions. If they were fast, he’d said, they’d make it up the mountain before sunset. Yobi had neither thought nor wanted to ask how the iorik was intending to spend the night – their kit didn’t include tents of any sort.

But now he has his goal in sight, and he understands the lack of tents once they land on a ledge and iorik Dazhbog leads him down a tunnel system hewn out of the ice. They are not quite near the top, but something tells Yobi their climb will be substantially easier now.

Iorik Dazhbog rummages around his own duffle bag and produces two items, one of which he hands to Yobi without a word. Only when the iorik fastens it over his eyes does Yobi understand what it is for, and it answers another of his questions – he’s seen it, now. The bright, burning form of the Alatyr shining from the top of this mountain. Its light scatters throughout the cave system, dulled now by the dense ice but sure to grow in intensity once they approach.

They climb the ice-hewn steps. Normally a neck-breaker and a half, up here the air is so thin the ice cannot produce its slippery layer, instead attempting to adhere to their footwear as they walk.

“The sun buried within the mountain.”

Yobi starts as the iorik speaks. The god-king has stopped, forcing the young hero to do the same. “The father of all stones”, he continues. “The navel of the world, from which the World Tree springs. Through its gifts, we are able to live here. Without the Alatyr, Buyan would not exist. My city of Ledenets would not exist. I would not exist.”

A beat of silence, and Yobi wonders if the iorik will say more. It seems as if he wants to. But then the god-king turns and continues their climb. His words echo in Yobi’s mind. The Alatyr. The miracle stone. The wish-granter. Only the Alatyr has what Yobi wants. What he needs.

Even with their eye-covers, the light of the Alatyr is almost painful. The lenses have turned it down to a biting blue, and Yobi is sure if he took them off, the white light would blind him instantly. Part of him is curious if iorik Dazhbog invented these lenses himself or if they existed before him, and if so, then who had made them? But he pushes the question away; if this goes as planned, he will have all the time in the world to find the answer.

They have reached some form of central chamber. Yobi is surprised by how bare it is – only two statues, one of an eagle, one of a snake. They stand almost directly under a shaft going directly up and- Yobi averts his eyes, squinting to get the spots out. Turns out they call it ‘the sun within the mountain’ for a reason.

The statues are larger than life, only slightly taller than Yobi, and he can’t shake the feeling of those amber eyes locking upon him as he comes up the stairs.

“The Alatyr”, iorik Dazhbog says. “You have a wish to ask of it.”

It is barely a question, but Yobi nods in affirmation anyway. Something has started, and he has little intent to step out of line.

“’Tis admirable, truly”, the iorik says, as he starts to pace between the statues. “Back when I was your age, I had little vision of the future. ‘Twas naught but fog and shadow to me. I had ideas, sure. Many ideas. Grand ideas.” He halts. “Great ideas.”

“Sadly I was a boy, and many of those ideas now lay dead and dark by the wayside. But one survived.” He looks directly at Yobi now, golden eyes burning with an intensity Yobi can sense even through the heavily tinted glasses.

“I wished, with all of my heart, to protect my country. To save my country. To see it to prosperity and beyond. The gifts of the Alatyr could serve us so much better if only I was allowed to implement my vision. That idea is what continued to burn within me. It consumed me. ‘Twas all I wanted, all I needed. ‘Grant me that one wish, and I would be complete’ was my thought.”

He turns, glances at Yobi from an eye corner. “You think me arrogant, surely”, he notes. Yobi keeps his face mostly neutral. True, the iorik did sound like a man suffering from delusions of grandeur. But that was only if one failed to consider the land below. What should have been a frozen wasteland was a thriving country of many cultures. Despite the cold and darkness, there was light and joy. Prosperity and beyond.

Had the iorik failed, he would indeed have been an arrogant man. Now, however, surrounded by his many successes, he simply turned out to have been correct in his assumptions.

And that’s what I want, Yobi thinks.

Despite his best efforts, iorik Dazhbog apparently clearly sees the disagreement on Yobi’s face because he smiles. “You are like me”, he says. “Very much. I can tell. You too have a goal greater than yourself. Something you need.”

“If I can have my wish granted by the Alatyr”, Yobi says. “I will have fulfilled my duty.” I will be complete.

“And what, boy, is that duty?”

“Save my people.”

The iorik scoffs – but there is humor in it, as if Yobi has given him the answer he wants. “I will ask you now, boy”, he says. “Is that wish worth it?”

He had been pacing again as he spoke, now coming to a stop directly below the Alatyr. Silent guardians Gagana and Garafena flank him, amber eyes burning as fiercely as their king’s. Arms held loosely behind his back, the god-king radiates power.

“I had to think, when I came here”, he says, his usual softer, gentler voice now deep as the raw magic of the Alatyr flows through him. “And now you have to think. To consider. To weigh your wish against your life.”

“If you make this wish, it will become the totality of your existence. You will not change. You will not age. You will not die. The pain and the suffering, the laughter and joy, all that what ultimately makes it worth it, it will be never-ending. As long as you wish to have your wish granted, this will be your life.”

Iorik Dazhbog holds out his hands, and something materializes. Something black and shriveled, yet nonetheless the size of a fist. Yet nonetheless beating with relentless fervor.

“Not until you take your own heart into your hands once again and crush it to dust, will you end. Unless you extinguish your own flame, you will continue to burn. Consumed by the one desire. The one desire that was worth it all.”

The iorik parts his hands and the object vanishes as he once again brings his hands behind his back in one fluid motion. “Boy”, he says, his tone once again gentle like fresh snow. “You must find a determination within you. One that will carry you across the ages. You must not hesitate. You must not doubt. And above all, you must be true. The Alatyr will grant you the means to grant your own desire. You set the fire, it fans the flame.”

“Will you let it consume you?”

Fire…

Yobi doesn’t answer, at least not right away. Wasn’t it ironic? He’d come all this way in hopes of taking down Katla, the fire god. He’d left his parents, Thule, and now even Lionel to find the one thing that could oppose the Lord of the Volcano.

Because it had started to solidify, the idea, when he’d been first accosted by Angeline, when he’d met Mareritt again – that this wasn’t fair. Lionel, Mareritt, Angeline, himself, they were all just pieces on a board Katla could play with- could sacrifice just to preserve himself. Just so the day where he’d meet the Howling Blizzard could be postponed indefinitely.

‘So disgustingly selfish’, Nazo’s words return unbidden and Yobi has to give it to the Sky King, it was an apt description of the former Primordial.

It had started to solidify then, that if Katla was so dead-set on surviving as long as he could, trampling on the lives of others in his selfishness, lying to all no matter the cost, then Yobi would be the opposite. Selfless. Ensuring the end to come. Truthful. A dead man walking.

It now solidifies. A rock-hard ball of pitch-black desire. A lump of coal for Yobi to toss into the burning light of the Alatyr.

If only I could tell everyone the truth about Katla. If only I could outlast him so he can’t twist the story again. If I can become untouchable, I can keep Angeline safe. I can keep the entirety of Thule safe. I can keep the Wind Weaver safe.

I can keep Mareritt safe.

Had Yobi been allowed to grow up a normal boy, learn the trade of farming from his father, the skill of weaving and knitting from his mother, and perhaps one day seek out education for himself, a life-partner, a future, this choice might have been harder.

But Yobi is the Hero of the Surface, and his duty is to thwart evil no matter where it may rise – be it up in the sky or down in the caldera.

Yobi takes a step forward, and the statues move. They close in on him as he advances until they surround both him and the iorik.

His hard green eyes find the iorik’s burning golden ones – ones he will likely possess himself, after this. “I will be the master of my own fire”, he says. “My wish, my desire, they serve me. I will not serve them.”

For a moment iorik Dazhbog’s face is as if carved from ice as well. Then it splits into a wide grin.

“Gagana.”

“Garafena.”

The god-king steps back as the living statues twist and coil around themselves, a mass of stone feathers and scales now fully encircling Yobi, amber eyes occasionally flashing amidst the dark.

“Before you is one with burning desire. Before you is one with one sole wish. See if you find him true.”

“See if his heart is to your satisfaction.”

[chyertsar]

re. the zoryas & koschei's deathless mythos

since valente has koschei loosely modeled after dazhbog, i do want to play around a bit with where the zoryas would come into play in his deathless mythos too. in other verses i have his mother named danica after zorya utrennyaya ( the morning star ) who opened the gates of buyan for the sun to set out on its journey, but she was also regarded as "dawn the red maiden" or "mother zarya" -- the higher power that practitioners of zagovory would invoke.

in that same vein, i want to say that viy and koschei's mother was a personification of primordial light who was likely responsible for the creation of the alatyr stone and whose domain and magic koschei inherited; their father may have been a personification of primordial darkness, similar to rod ( the god of fate, ancestors and family continuity ) and whose domain viy inherited.

as for zorya vechernyaya ( the evening star ), this is where i'm inclined to draw from the myth of the zoryas being daughters of dazhbog and say that koschei had a daughter in his pre-deathless era... and her death may actually have been the last straw which started the war in this verse. this may be a hot take, but the more i think about it, the more i feel it's what makes the most sense for the book canon !! a major element of the book is the use of folklore and myths to muddy history and truth; the yaichka chapter is a glimpse of koschei's soul ( both his joy and his grief ), but it's also the closest we get to understanding his true pre-deathless history as well as what his cause of death and (cause of deathlessness) looked like.

while marya is shielded from the war inside the egg, koschei's history is repeated in a dreamlike manner that's still elusive of the truth, but when she gives birth to a daughter who grows up to adulthood almost instantly and koschei says his daughter is his death whom he loves abjectly, i can't help but think of the evening star, who opened buyan's gates to receive her father after a full day's journey. in a way, if the sun's journey symbolizes life's cycles, then the evening star, the daughter who receives him at the end of that journey, really does symbolize his death as well as his continuity. now if you take those concepts and symbols, consider what the disruption of that story would have looked like in reality, i think the true history of his mythos for this verse was probably not that he started the war over the death of a mortal lover, but that he started it after the death of a child.

every parent expects their children to be the ones who bury them, but consider it's 1100 AD in rural rus' where that isn't always guaranteed. consider that as an immortal being he's certainly witnessed multiple lovers and creations die over the centuries, but imagine the blow of losing a favored child ( and likely a chosen heir ) far too young. imagine the injustice felt by a farmer coming home after a day's work and no longer seeing his little girl eagerly waiting for him at the door. the cruelty and injustice of a father having to bury a child when it should be the other way around. that's the unpredictability of fate and harsh reality of life, but that's also 1000% the kind of grief and perceived affront that would have pushed koschei over the edge.

it's no coincidence then that his revenge is to put viy through a similar grief by making sure his seat at his brother's house remains perpetually empty. nor is it a coincidence that koschei is childless and infertile after becoming deathless, or that he rules as a cold patriarch, insisting his subjects refer to him as papa koschei; that he keeps his death inside a black egg ; that within that egg is a soul realm modeled after the paradisal nest he created for his family, the story he refuses to repeat, the daughter that he loves but never wishes to address or think about.

consider also !!! how the insignia of viy's army men is a silver star. viy's objective is to have koschei feel and face his grief by force so as to finally break beneath it and welcome death. it's probably an intentional choice then to brand the dead with something that would remind koschei of his evening star to strike that chord with him, and it's probably no wonder then, why koschei often chooses someone else to serve as his general in the frontlines and only enters the fray himself when he feels the war is going badly and there's no other choice but to interfere.

[axl-ul]

Happy WBW! 🥰 Which lands in your world are the most dangerous for people to visit and why?

Hello, dear! Thanks for the ask <33

I'd say it's mainly these: (excluding any domains which are directly under the control of gods/deities for obvious reasons - so no various parts of Heaven or Underworld etc. and also no Blackworld since the last one exists beyond the physical sphere)

Bujan (read: Buyan) - it's where Koščej the Deathless has his soul hidden. The place is an island and many boats where destroyed by dangerous and terrible sea monsters which guide the waters. Apart from them, there's also a giant snake and a bird which guard the island itself since the All-stone (Alatyr/the White Stone) is said to be buried there, too, though Koščej would say he's never seen them before during his stay at the island.

Mount Huaguo (at its peak/prime days) - it is a mountain located at yet another island, this time, however, beyond the wild oceans and seas in the Far East. It's inhabited by mainly by the monkey demons under the command of their leader the Monkey King. Before his rebellion against the Daoist deities he was known to be quite friendly but only to allies. Any invader with hostile intentions (and also humans themselves, since the demons used to feed on them from time to time) were often met with a fate horrible than death.

Black Forest of Baba Yaga - a location under the control of a powerful witch Baba Yaga herself. Similarly to the previously mentioned Monkey King (though he nowadays avoid any sort of meat consumation and is also much less violent), Baba Yaga eats humans and guards her mysterious hut on a chicken foot. Besides using her own powers and resources, Baba Yaga also “employs“ the Three Riders - the White Rider (checks the forest in the morning, rides a white Navian horse), the Red Rider (goes around the noon, rides the red Navian horse with a golden mane) and the Black Rider (checks in the evening, rides a black Navian horse)

BONUS since this place is speculated whether it truly exists or not within the universe: Piaskograd/City of Sands/Lathar - a city which is able to built itself from the sands in the middle of a desert, yet nobody seems to inhabit the place. The place is said to manifest itself to the stranded people and whoever enters is devoured and becomes one with the nomadic place unable to ever leave.

[yazthebookish]

Disclaimer:

This is a bookish blog where I mostly post about SJM books (that's how it started at least)—but you will find other bookish content including fan art. I also reblog other random things since this is tumblr and chaos is welcomed.

If you're interested in reading some of my SJM-related theory and meta posts, then check out the below.

[MASTERLIST]

You'll find links to almost all of my ACOTAR posts including theories and analysis. A good portion of them are focused on Azriel, Gwynriel and ACOTAR. This will make your lives and my life easier, sometimes I'm tired of repeating the same point or answering the same questions so where you'll hopefully find them all!

Writing all these theories and analysis posts were a joy to me. I love writing and I love analyzing the text and making my own theories. Happy reading 🤍

(List to be updated. Tumblr doesn't let me add more links for each post and I want to add new/recent theory posts)

Book guides:

• Preparing for House of Flame and Shadow

• House of Earth and Blood (book 1) Guide - no major spoilers

• Maasverse Lore and History Summary

• ACOTAR, TOG, CC Parallel Timelines

Posts:

Lore and History: ACOTAR + TOG + CC

The Song of the Soul: Mating Bonds and Music (Feysand, Rowaelin, Elucien, Nessian, Gwynriel)

ACOTAR fanfic collection (Gwynriel, Elucien, Feysand, Nessian, Azris, etc)

Endgame couples characteristics

Gwyn and Azriel parallel other mates

SJM: Once you get to the end of ACOSF, you'll know who the next book is about "ending analysis"

Emerie: where she was, where is now

The Illyrian conflict being set up in ACOSF

Theory: The Truth About Clotho

The Island of Buyan and the healing stone "Alatyr" (connection to ACOTAR universe)

Theories on Koschei

Elain of Spring and Sunlight

Wings and Embers (Nessian POV) and Azriel's POV chapter: a comparison

A thing of secret, lovely beauty

Illyrian-Ramiel-The Blood Rite

Gwyn is a Lightsinger: passing a theory as a fact

Warning cost of the Mask imprinted on Helion's bloodline ala Lucien

Azriel and the Illyrians (important part of his journey)

Eris Vanserra theory

Azriel's chapter was structured around Azriel's interactions with four characters

Gwyn's arc being set up in ACOSF

Azriel's shadows analysis

Azriel's shadows are important to him

Gwyn's healing journey is not over

Elain's vision in ACOWAR might foreshadow the plot of the next two books

Gwyn's possible connection to the Autumn Court

Analysis of Azriel's POV

CLOTHO: the spinner of life/fate (Gwynriel)

The shadows singing back to the mating bond (Azriel bonus chapter)

Lucien and Elain's storylines are connected

Theory: Black stone in TOD and ACOSF (HOSAB spoilers)

Crescent City:

HOEAB Reread Theories

Queen Theia and High King Fionn

The Horn is the 4th Trove

HOSAB spoilers: matings bonds

HOSAB Theory pt. 1

HOSAB Theory pt. 2

Character Deep Dive: Hunt Athalar

Clips from SJM lives:

November 2020 live: Will Azriel get his own book in the future?

May live (Shadows, Azriel singing, Lucien healing)

With JLA: Each of the upcoming books beyond that will feature one couple getting together

On Azriel: He's a freak (in the most loving and holy shit it's hot kind of way)

Gwyn is a child

SJM on Azriel's chapter: the crumbs have all been scattered

[bestiarium]

The Gagana [Russian folklore]

Russian folklore speaks of a mystical creature called the Gagana. It resembles a large bird, but with a beak made of solid iron and talons of copper. Legend has it that this creature lives on the mythical island of Buyan, along with an unknown number of other mystical beings (among them is Garafena, the guardian serpent). Buyan is also the home of the solar goddesses (the Zoryas) and features in a lot of folklore tales from Russia and surrounding regions. This enigmatic island is where the Alatyr can be found: a magical stone with healing properties, it is supposedly ‘the navel of the world’.

At any rate, the Gagana is supposedly the oldest and largest of all birds in the world, which would give it a wingspan of at least a little over 3.63 meters, which is the wingspan of the wandering albatross. Should you ever find a magical island in Russian waters, be sure to make some pictures of the giant birds there!

(image source: Zhosa on Deviantart)