#and learning the culture. it's important.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Fictional Culture

Fictional culture - an essential piece of worldbuilding in certain genres of fiction—particularly in science fiction and fantasy.

Storytellers develop fictional cultures in a variety of mediums, including film, television, short stories, novels, and video games.

A fictional culture is defined by the customs, languages, values, and symbols of an imaginary world.

How to Create a Fictional Culture

Although there are nearly endless possibilities, consider some of these general writing tips for creating a fictional culture.

Pull inspiration from the real world. Pay attention to the cultural behaviors within your society. Broaden your own cultural perspective by researching the ideas and values of different cultures throughout history. Use real-life cultural examples to inform your fictional world, but be wary of repurposing existing cultures or perpetuating stereotypes.

Build off your main character. Develop the setting of your story based on how it serves the character development of your protagonist. Build a culture that highlights or contradicts your main character’s goals, needs, and fears.

Develop a belief system. Consider the core values, social norms, and taboos of your fictional culture. A central belief system can guide how you create rituals, symbols, and artifacts within your story.

Create a social structure. Develop how the family structures and social hierarchies work within your fictional culture. Decide where your main character falls within the social structure. Monetary systems can change your social structure depending on whether you use a bartering economy or something more complex.

Construct a technological system. Determine how advanced the technology is in your fictional culture. The technology of your story will impact the entertainment, communication, and modes of transportation within your fictional world.

Write a brief history. Expand your culture by writing a brief mythology of your fictional society. Avoid overwriting, and keep your history contained to important information that can impact your story.

Examples of Fictional Cultures

To learn more about how fictional cultures work in fiction, explore the following examples.

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (1954): Tolkien created a wide variety of fictional cultures to inhabit Middle-earth. Each culture has its own language, value system, and history.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932): In his dystopian novel, Aldous Huxley developed a complex and technologically advanced culture with distinct social classes.

Dune by Frank Herbert (1965): Dune is an influential sci-fi novel with several detailed fictional cultures. One of them is the Fremen culture, which revolves around ancient superstitions and a rare commodity known as the Spice Melange.

The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin (2015): In this award-winning novel, Jemisin created a complex social structure with many "use-castes” that all have a place on an earthquake-ridden planet with one supercontinent.

Source ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[tiredandoptimistic]

What I think works so well about Clary and Isabelle's friendship is that they're very similar people, but they present themselves just differently enough to appear alien to each other. Both of them were the only girls in a group of boys (Isabelle was raised more or less isolated with Alec and Jace, while Clary doesn't seem to have any friends other than Simon and to a lesser extent his band), and they responded to this in very different ways. Isabelle basically committed herself to her role of "the girl" and always performs extreme femininity, while Clary attempts to sink into the background as "one of the guys." Both of these behaviors can be seen as rebellions against their culture. Isabelle comes from the very misogynist world of Shadowhunters, where women are respected as warriors but expected to act in a masculine way in order to earn that respect. She rejects this, and proves her place as a brilliant fighter while maintaining her fun and glossy feminine traits (compare her with Jessamine Lovelace, who was seen as silly and frivolous for her feminine interests). Clary on the other hand is a child of the nineties growing up in NYC. As a teenage girl in the early 2000s, she would have been surrounded by "not like other girls" philosophy, and hyperfemininity would be both pushed on her and demonized in popular culture. Because of all the pressure placed on gender roles and her lack of connection with other girls her age, it's no surprise that Clary would develop a certain bitterness towards people who perform gender in a way she won't.

With all of that out of the way, we get two teenage girls who have no fucking clue how to handle each other. They're both jealous of how the other one fits in with the guys in a way they can't. Obviously any friend group is made up of friendships which fit together in unique ways, but Clary and Isabelle both see themselves as The Girl, and thus are worried that the other one will make them redundant (Clary gets along with Jace, so will he still need Isabelle? Isabelle and Simon are getting along, will this take away Clary's place as Simon's most important person?) Of course this isn't something that will actually ruin their friendships, but Clary and Isabelle don't know that. Instead they need to learn how to engage with each other, and I enjoy that TMI actually shows them having those conversations. They're trying, but it doesn't all happen at once. Clary still has bitter thoughts about Isabelle's femininity, and she also looks down on other girls like Maia.

Speaking of Maia, there's a really good moment in COA where Clary starts grumbling to herself about how unfair it is that a werewolf can be pretty, and that Maia should be gross and hairy. She then catches herself, and literally thinks "this is exactly why I don't have any female friends," showing that thanks to Isabelle she's learning to recognize her internalized misogyny. She can hang out with other pretty girls, and it doesn't decrease her value as a person.

It's just so nice seeing a character whose internalized misogyny is actively acknowledged by the narrative and treated as a flaw she must overcome. So many female protagonists in the early 2000s (and other decades) had the hyper-femme "best friend" who they hated, but even though that's how Clary sees Izzy at first, she's able to look past it and see the ways they click together. The two of them don't become besties immediately, but they're at least able to get past that first layer of hostility.

[hailruth]

Do you have any book recommendations for secular Jews? I feel really disconnected from my culture/racial identity/other Jews, but I’m not religious beyond cherishing the practices of our tradition, if that makes sense.

hmm.. i personally think that there can be no difference drawn between the culture, ethnicity, and religion of judaism. so, i don't see how a book about jewish culture could be written without reference to religion. i haven't read or encountered such books. but as a deeply religious person i haven't sought them out, so maybe others who see this can give suggestions. however, i'll try and provide some that might be what you're looking for (also quite a few of these are available on the internet archive)! i will be posting a more extensive reading list later on, so keep an eye out for that if you'd like. books marked with an asterisk are endorsed by the rabbinical council of america.

if you are completely disconnected, i can recommend these introductory books:

TORAH!!! (half-joking)

To Be a Jew: A Guide to Jewish Observance In Contemporary Life* by Rabbi Hayim Donin (my top recommendation)

Jewish Literacy: The Most Important Things to Know About the Jewish Religion, Its People, and Its History by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin (also crazy good)

Essential Judaism: A Complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs & Rituals by George Robinson (like 600 pages and textbook-like but this means that there are very thick sections on what could be described as the secular stuff)

Living a Jewish Life by Anita Diamant ("descriptive rather than prescriptive," quite liberal and a light read)

here's some stuff on specific religious subjects that may help you simply learn, whether or not you engage with the practices:

Waters of Eden: The Mystery of the Mikveh* by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan (a mikveh should be built before a synagogue in a community which has neither, so i think jews should learn about them even if they will never use one)

The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning* & The Jewish Way in Love and Marriage* by Rabbi Maurice Lamm

Shabbos: Tasting Eternity* by Rabbi Daniel Travis

i think folklore is super important for more jews to learn about as it often reflects the collective psychology of what we were going through at the time. it's why i think it should be read/understood alongside general jewish history. i'll probably devote a separate post to info on folklore later. food and diaspora all mixed in here too:

People Love Dead Jews by Dara Horn

A History of Judaism by Martin Goodman

The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words by Simon Schama

The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York by Claudia Roden

Divination, Magic, and Healing: The Book of Jewish Folklore by Rabbi Ronald Isaacs

Miriam's Tambourine: Jewish Folktales from Around the World by Howard Schwartz

okay, i think i've given a good outline. i mostly read religious-specific books so my strictly historical/food-centered recs are sparse, i apologize. it's also been forever since i've read many of these so they may have issues i don't fully remember. check on the replies/reblogs for any info about that or general corrections. i hope these helped! if i misinterpreted your ask, you can always come back to my inbox.

[witchofthesouls]

There are many iterations of MegOp I can believe in... but not TFP.

Feels homoerotic or queer? Sure. A lot of tension? Definitely. A yearning or upon the cusp of something? I'm fucking dying right on that edge.

But TFP Megatron and Orion Pax couldn't even understand each other's histories and motivations, let alone have a hard conversation on their own philosophies, back up plans, and direction for society besides the pretty stuff. Y'all really think they fucked? Even if it's angled as 'hate sex' or casual, they fucking misread each other all the damn time, even if they vibed on the same level, which is so painful to watch. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them tried to subtly hit on the other in their own caste-derived/in-group's specific doublespeak... just for the other guy, who's an outsider, to understandingly not pick it up, but all their associated caste buddies did.

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if that's why Ratchet and Soundwave have several tons worth of beef with each other's respective friend/war leader. Besides destroying life and civilization as they knew it.

The thing is to remember, Megatron is very much a social butterfly in a way. He genuinely likes people. He likes interaction. He has the flair and disposition for it. His inherent sense for the dramatics just enhances it. But the most important thing, Megatron was literally reared within the structure of the city-states. He intimately knows the social equations for his caste, has a lot of support in terms of emotional via friends, allies, and mecha with similar grievances, and is deft enough to wade through the avenues that are available to him and he takes them with both fists (gladiatorial clades into the political arena). Violence (and emotions) is a language that's easily available to him.

Orion Pax, on the other hand, is more careful. He has to be. This guy literally came from the boonies of Nowhere and got snatched up by a really powerful figure within Iacon inside the very heart of its machinations. People were beyond rage at that treatment. Orion isn't stupid but he's playing really dangerous games with colleagues that despise his very presence and multiple frameworks that literally eat people alive to keep a very brutal status quo. Then accounting Alpha Trion's own status as an Ancient Prime with the very relic with the power to foretell future events across the multiverse... it doesn't paint a kind picture on reasons why the hidden Prime plucked up Orion. The repression and stonewall tactics that Orion, and later Optimus, use really make sense with this in mind. The Iacon Archives are a keystone of the higher castes. Orion had to moderate his entire self around those people that would absolutely snitch if they caught a whiff of 'insubordination' or 'illegal' activities' or 'strangely sympathetic to those undeserving' along with the weird little side quests with Alpha Trion. Orion had to learn really fast how to bend before breaking, especially if he can only rely on himself in a perilous environment.

All I'm saying that these two spoke Neocybex, but absolutely missed all the cultural context of each other's backgrounds that would have easily explained the 'whys, whats, wheres, whens, and hows' of their decisions and behaviors. They legitimately did see something really amazing in each other, but never actually dug deeper thinking that the other mech would immediately understand their motivations and that's what so fucking infuriatingly tragic on why they felt so betrayed by one another.

[elven-child]

Don't let polish authorities protect Netanyahu

Quick context:

a petition you can sign to let them know you object:

Petition text in English:

Poland, December 2024

Open letter: an appeal for equal standards in the application of international law, addressed to the Prime Minister, the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Poland, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Justice

We, for whom the memory of the Holocaust is an ethical challenge, contained in the slogan "never again - for anyone, anywhere", we, who for a year have been watching with horror the massacre committed by Israel on Palestinian women and men in the Gaza Strip, attacks on residents of the West Bank, the bombing of civilians in Lebanon, we, who follow reports of inhumane torture in Israeli prisons, the killing of Palestinian journalists, healthcare workers and the UN, and Israel's blocking of humanitarian aid sent to Gaza, we, who for over a year have been watching with horror and anger the first-ever live coverage of genocide, the perpetrators of which publicly boast about their intentions and actions, we accept with hope the arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Galant issued by the International Criminal Court. As human rights organizations have been emphasizing for years, bringing perpetrators of human rights violations to justice is one of the most important tools for restoring justice. The international community is responsible for ensuring that perpetrators learn that they are not above the law.

Therefore, we call on the government of Poland, a state that signed the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court, to unequivocally declare that it will comply with the decision of the ICC and join the prosecution of those suspected of committing war crimes indicated by it. This is required by basic solidarity with the Palestinians. This is required by basic respect for human life, every life. This is what we expect from the Polish government, we citizens and residents of Poland, showing solidarity and compassion for those suffering.

At the same time, we want to emphasize that we consider identifying criticism of the criminal policies of the state of Israel with anti-Semitism to be absurd and immoral, as well as dangerous to the Jewish culture and tradition that many of us hold dear. We do not agree to reducing this culture and tradition to the policies of one state, repeatedly condemned by international organizations, human rights organizations and part of Israeli society. This would mean the squandering of Jewish heritage, about which Marek Edelman, the leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and a doctor in Poland after the war, used to say that being a Jew means being on the side of the beaten and wronged. We also refuse to listen to the arguments of those who try to convince us that the power occupying, displacing and dispossessing Palestinians is a weaker party than the occupied population of the West Bank and those imprisoned and besieged in Gaza for almost two decades. We call on Israel to immediately ceasefire and hold those guilty of massacres and war crimes accountable. We call on the Polish government to comply with the ICC ruling.

We assure Palestinian sisters and brothers of our solidarity and express our dreams of freedom and peace for Palestine, freedom and peace for the whole world!

[protectorcraft]

mutual liked the gripe post which reminded me to write it. okay hi im pyxis and im gonna talk about a trope the isat community falls back on a lot in writing that bugs me okay thanks

this is gonna be long and probably annoying so im putting it under a cut. open at ur own risk. heavy spoiler warning thanks.

okay. how do i start this. a thing ive seen in quite a few fics and theories, and its that the islanders are directly- and purposefully- responsible for their own disappearance. usually i see it framed as "the islanders made themselves disappear/attempted to wish away knowledge of wishcraft because it was dangerous" and like. hm! i dont think so.

take this with a grain of salt as ur local cracker but considering the framing of the island's disappearance- abrupt, sudden, disastrous- something everyone was talking about- the disappearance definitely falls more in line with the metaphor of some sort of disaster or, as is a significant theme in the game, colonialism/imperialism and the subjugation of cultures.

this was- 100%- not the islander's faults, and blaming them completely misses the point of the matter.

while people can say wishcraft is dangerous- and really, it is, there's no getting around it- it also seems like it was an important piece of the Island's culture and based off the few islanders we meet, probably used fairly regularly in day to day life. siffrin, for example, literally uses it on the regular without even realizing it. the knowledge of how to do it properly is probably pretty ingrained into the average Islander's brain. to them, it's just a fact of life! i mean, literally all the scriptures we see on wishcraft (and astronomy) ingame are written in the Islander language. they were The Experts on this stuff. (not to mention that this proves the knowledge was in the general public's grasp, even if it required knowledge of their language to learn about)

so it just doesnt make sense that they'd wish something so important to them away like that- sure there was probably discourse amongst them about the dangers of these practices, but they would know enough to know attempt something as risky as, say, wishing away all knowledge of their country or any one big thing. not to mention wishcraft is weird- technically speaking, siffrin's wish probably wouldve had a lot less effect if all the energy of the failed wishes hadnt culminated into their successful one.

and before you bring up how op the kings wish is- remember that a good 75% of the game is exposing all the ways the other characters foil siffrin, including the king. the king, who supposedly made a wish to freeze vaugarde- but did he?

a lot of the king's dialogue, when he isnt gushing about vaugarde and how much he loves it, is about his grief surrounding the loss of his own country. when given the chance, he'll grasp at any opportunity to remember anything about it, even if its putting trust in the hands of a stranger who is literally here to kill him for help. its pretty clear to anyone with a brain that he's not being ingenuine about this.

and, see, siffrin's true wish was masked over by their other wish. its one of the game's big red herrings. yadda yadda yadda how do we know that the king's true wish was really the "preserve" vaugarde, huh?

"where are you going with this we've gotten wildly off track" no we havent! get fucked! i think the kings true wish was the remember his country- and, yknow, there's probably a fair few islanders remaining. probably yearning to grasp even a fragment of their lost culture, hoping and dreaming and wishing for answers. not unlike the king, perhaps? perhaps a culmination of half baked wishes being fueled by one, fully formed wish?

yeah, you get where im going with this.

so perhaps wishcraft isnt quite as strong as we assume it is? that the soul intent of one person isn't necessarily going to give you godlike power in most cases- mind we're not quite grasping the full scope due to loops. Whole Situation. but that's not why we're here.

if the Islanders had enough faith in the rest of the world to provide them with their wishcraft knowledge- then i doubt they wouldve wished themselves or their knowledge away. nobody would do that.

and if the rest of the world did, indeed, have access to that knowledge, then there's a fair chance some other group could be responsible. a group who doesnt even recall their own responsibility because it's been wiped from their memories.

like, idk.... a more on the nose version how colonizer countries bury their own history of misdeeds from the general populace?

idk man. idk. just feels weird to me that so many people seem to have immediately gone towards the Cultural Suicide route for some reason. you have to be willing to acknowledge that the isat universe is definitely not the perfect, pristine world you think it is. and maybe folks just need to be willing to acknowledge the actual brutality the metaphor is alluding to.

after all, an entire island- all of its peoples and cultures- disappeared.

[prototyp013]

The important thing to remember is that all languages work like that. When i was teaching English, i always told my students not to translate word by word because it just never works. This one time, one of my students handed her writing assignment to me and I started reading and nothing made sense. I had to take a dictionary and search for the first translation of each word used, to find out what she was trying to say. That's why it is good to search and learn new words, but the only way to actually learn the language is to listen to the natives and read books by native speakers to see and absorb the proper structure of the language. Because word by word never works. Well, maybe it does for languages that are very closely related like Norwegian and Swedish for example, but even there, there are sentences that you just say differently because it just sounds weird even though the words are so similar. Moral of the story, learn languages from the context of culture, people. Not from dictionaries.

some thoughts. joku ajatukset.

yksi idea tuo englannin kieli-puhumassa ihmiset kuka ovat oppiminen suomen kieli tarvita saamiseen poistaa olla tuo sinä voida ottaa englannin kieli lause, kirjoittaa jokainen sana sisäll�� suomen kieli ja soittaa se päivä! käänsitte! milloin sinä ovat oppiminen uusi kieli, sinä pitäisi havainnoida sinun oma puhe; mikä on sanonta? mikä tekee tämä "is" piste johonkin? mitä tekee "coming" sisällä "I'm coming" ilkeä?

one idea that English-speaking people who are learning Finnish need to get rid of is that you can take an English sentence, write each word in Finnish and call it a day! translated! when you are learning a new language, you should observe your own speech; what is an idiom? what does this "is" point to? what does "coming" in "I'm coming" mean?

And for those who cannot speak Finnish yet, I have translated the English text word for word, making it nonsense in Finnish. Yes I know Finnish.

[spiribia]

Wicked is like if there was a penguin born to a flock of penguins to whom singing is of great cultural import yet this penguin has no song in its heart at all prompting the other penguins to speculate it has no soul and then one day its roommate penguin tells it to show up to the young adult penguin mingle because it’ll be styling and she does and everyone is there to sing and laughs with incredulity at the lone penguin that begins to tap dance in solitude on the ice floor and then the roommate penguin feels guilty and joins her and tap dances too and there’s a giant orca whale named Grimmerie who is supposedly under the leash of the sage powerful elder penguin of the flock and one day she is summoned forth to him and it is discovered our title penguin has the unique ability to communicate with Grimmerie using tapping on the ice above to send messages in a forgotten language but is horrified to learn that the elder penguin has tricked her into getting Grimmerie to devour innocents and the sage penguin is like I can teach you to sing isn’t that what you want and the Elphaba penguin I mean the protagonist penguin is like I will never sing I WILL NEVER SING and then the

[shokveyv]

sari did not "choose" anything. you wrote her to choose sentinel, wrote her to be 25, and claimed that "making people uncomfortable is okay in writing." but then also try to claim that this is Japanese culture.

okay, well not all of your followers are Japanese and they don't have to be okay with seeing sari, an 8 year old upgraded to teenager, as said by her dad, now suddenly with a grown up alien robot.

You're free to draw what you want and write what you want. and if you post it publicly, people are allowed to have their public say. that first anon explained it perfectly and I have no idea how you could not understand what they meant when they said "if you knew someone since they were a baby or toddler, and then decided to date them the moment they were of age [18 in the states] , that is predatory, as in creepy, as in WRONG, you are predatory, as in creepy, as in WRONG.

no one in the States would or should find the idea of GROOMING as part of someone's culture. it doesn't matter if sentinel did or didn't remember sari.

again, draw what you want, but dont compare people being uncomfortable with your choice in taboo art as being like your mother. her issues with you are their own and your viewer's discomfort is NOT on the same level.

i really liked your art, but if this is how you will be when being told this sort of stuff makes people uneasy, then block and block and block. it is your account after all. and don't try to guilt trip people, that doesn't do anything but make your victim card expire. you're an adult drawing weird stuff. if you wanna own it, own it. don't pull the "I've been gone for 5 years, almost hurt myself and my mom gave me a hard time." its not fair you went through that but only bringing it up again NOW makes you look like you're farming for sympathy cause you drew an aged up version of sari dating a full grown mech.

She chose to based on the character development she was given. A writer understands this. Writing is uncomfortable. Otherwise why would you be question sari but not Tailgate, a literal child, being married to Cyclonus? You not question JRO? This is an edit: I have learned it is not a literal Child, he is only mind of a child behaviour.

Please curb your racism.

Sentinel didn't decide to date Sari moment she is 18. He did not know it was Sari and did not know his age. Why do you extrapolate "he waits knowingly until she is 18 to date"? that is you being malicious intentionally. She wasn't groomed. He didn't have contact with her at all xD You're being intentionally malicious and misleading! If you wish to debate you must have sensible argument not fake ones to lie to the audience. What are you talking about taboo mother????

If you cannot understand that sometimes there is writing that makes you unhappy and it's okay to be unhappy without the harassment of source, you are not mature enough to be reading my content, not mature enough to be on the internet. Grow up and stop being so racist and intentionally misleading!

Post-edit: Translator Alice here. She means that Sentinel has not seen Sari since last he saw her in the series. Sentinel doesn't recognize Sari as Sari when he sees her ala Cybertronian bibliotecaria. He never had a romantic interest in her as a child and was not waiting for her to become "of age" to date her. 20 years old is an important coming-of-age in Japan, so Sari being 18 at this point would have no significance to her dating-wise, unlike in America, where the age of 18 is significant. Nowhere did she say that he was waiting for her to become legal. That is something that was insinuated by the viewers.

[cryptidafter]

Late to the party but I wanted to share my

Top 5 GLs of 2024! (only counting shows that I watched in 2024 and that finished airing in 2024)

Affair The Series

Nobody is doing obsession like Wan and Pleng! It’s about the drama, the chemistry, the possessiveness. This show gave me everything I’ve been craving for a GL to deliver on and then some. It’s wild to me that this is the first series Lookmhee and Sonya have done together because they’re both phenomenal. These two have had me in a chokehold ever since and I am desperately begging for a new LMSY show as soon as possible!

2. The Loyal Pin

I could go on and on about how much I adored this show. It was a sleeper hit for me and I’m glad I ended up continuing it. The beginning is a bit slow but once things pick up, it’s a great story. Freen and Becky are fantastic together, they really play off of each other well. Becky had some standout moments (that fabric monologue was !!!!). The costuming and detailed set design choices really bring this show to life and I’m not even a huge fan of period dramas. Despite a few questionable story choices, I think TLP delivered on what was promised. Also shoutout to @hallowpen for their write-ups each episode. I definitely learned a lot about Thai culture and customs thanks to them which helped enhance my viewing experience.

3. The Secret Of Us

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention TSOU. This was the first GL series I watched and I haven’t looked back since. It’s cute and a bit melodramatic but in the best way. I wrote two whole fics for this show while it was airing which is proof enough of how invested I was lol. Nothing will ever be quite as unhinged as Earn eating a banana to trigger an allergic reaction just so she can get admitted to the hospital her ex-girlfriend works at. Girl was DEDICATED and I love her for that lol.

4. Blank The Series

Nobody let me know that there was an age gap GL floating around (and that the age gap was the least wild part about the dynamics in this show lol) but better late than never! I’m shocked by how fast I powered through this show but I was hooked. This is another series that fully delivered on the drama with a healthy dose of heat which I appreciated. A fun and wild ride from start to finish!

5. Reverse 4 You

I will always be a sucker for time shenanigans so I was very excited for this one. I do wish it could’ve gotten a few extra episodes to really flesh out the plot towards the end but I appreciate the show for what it is. I enjoyed the relationship between Jattawa and her little sister and that it was equally as, if not more, important than the romance. A few scenes did genuinely shock me in a good way (this was before I discovered that the “someone gets hit by a car” trope was a staple of GLs lol). We have yet to get an actual butch character in a GL but I’m happy we at least got a bit of futch action going with Four (everyone say thank you Christine Gulasatree lol)

[kat2107]

If you are looking for ways to help, the r/ukraine subreddit has a list of charities they have vetted themselves.

They focus on small, on the ground initiatives, that are run by Ukrainians or are directly partnered with them.

There is also engin, a program that partners Ukrainians with English speakers to help improve their language skills.

Even more important though, no matter where in the world you are:

DO NOT LET UKRAINE BE FORGOTTEN!

Contact your representatives, the press, retweet, post, like, talk about Ukraine.

The war, yes, but also learn and tell people about Ukraine's amazing and rich culture and history.

r/ukraine has a series of daily posts about anything and everything Ukrainian, from Cucuteni Trypillia Culture to recipes.

speaking of food, Ievgen Klopotenkto did an AMA where he posted some of his favorite recipes.

And if you don't know the guy, check out his youtube channel, just tobe amused by his antics (and learn about Ukrainian cuisine.

Why is my life considered more important than a Ukrainian life? Why am I considered more important than the people I meet in Ukraine, who — even in the darkest times — still often extend such kindness and hospitality that you can't help but fall in love with this country? This isn’t just an opinion; it’s a fact beyond these borders, simply because I am not Ukrainian.

Nights ago, I met with a friend. As we sat in a cafe on Kyiv’s Khreshchatyk Street, the air raid sirens went off. It was hard not to think back to a conversation we had the week before: “If we were killed by the same missile, my death would be news, but yours would only be a statistic.”

“British man killed in Russian missile strike.”

“British man killed in Kyiv named.”

Under both headlines, those around me, killed alongside me, would be nothing but a number in a footnote, if mentioned at all.

In late-November, when the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine issued a warning about a possible major Russian aerial attack, it made sure to “encourage U.S. citizens to remain vigilant. No mention of the millions of Ukrainians who wouldn’t think twice about helping someone else, no matter the circumstances.

Indeed, last week when I was arriving in Zaporizhzhia — just as the country was being attacked by over 200 missiles and drones — it was a Ukrainian friend, hiding in a shelter in Kyiv, who told me to call them immediately if I needed help.

When I speak to people back in the U.K., they tell me they’ve seen the news over the past couple of weeks and urge me to leave. They seem shocked when I say that, no matter what happens, I won’t just run away but will stay by those I care about here.

Often, they can’t understand why I would care about the friends I have in Ukraine, or why I’d be friends with them at all. Or there’s a sense that they believe I should value my Ukrainian friends less than those from elsewhere. It becomes hard to explain that, in many cases, the opposite is true.

It would be easy to dismiss this perception as merely a result of war and death being part of everyday life in Ukraine — though that justification is morally wrong. But it’s more than that.

While the past three years have made a difference, it’s undeniable that many in the West still have an unconscious ignorance toward Ukraine, especially its history. Few know that Kyiv thrived long before Moscow was even a muddy village, and fewer still agree that the war began long before Feb. 24, 2022. Perhaps this is what has led to the current situation, where the safety of the West and the lives of those living there are seen as more important than those of Ukrainians.

As I write this, air alerts across Ukraine continue. Hours ago, I heard a loud explosion not far from where I am, and reports indicate further explosions in Kyiv and across the country. Millions are starting the day without power or heat in below-freezing temperatures. Major cities cannot operate their transport infrastructure, and houses, schools, hospitals, and more have been damaged, with countless lives torn apart. Children are traumatized once again.

Meanwhile, less than 80 kilometers (50 miles) over the border in Poland, NATO forces in Rzeszow stand ready to protect Polish skies if any missile crosses the border. They have all the military equipment and resources to prevent further strikes in a country where NATO leaders have pledged to stand by and support, no matter what. But rather than acting, we see cowardice and an ongoing fear of provoking the provokers, agitating the agitators, and escalating a conflict against an aggressor who considers no price too high to achieve its imperialistic and genocidal ambitions.

And why? Because in the West, Ukrainian lives are not as important as our own.

If they were, political anger would not be raging over the decision to allow Ukraine to strike back with Western missiles, and that decision wouldn’t have taken nearly 1,000 days to make.

If they were, there would be no question about future support, and the gains made by Ukrainian forces two years ago would not have been lost.

It’s easy to dismiss this as a war between Russia and Ukraine, rather than a war between Russia and freedom, even in the face of mounting evidence of Russian attacks and interference in the West. But it takes either arrogance or blind ignorance to deny that it is the Ukrainian people who are doing and sacrificing the most — not just for their own lives and freedoms, but also to protect those in the West who still live with the luxury of choosing to look the other way.

When I speak to people in the West about Ukraine and the people I know here, they often ask, “I support the Ukrainian people, but what should we actually do?” The answer is simple: everything we can, but let's start by giving their lives the same value as our own.

[lillytalons]

ADOLIN & MAYA

Apparently I have a ton to say about Adolin and Maya from Wind and Truth.

Spoilers Ahead!! 

Maya getting the deadeyes is like the greatest payoff of finding out about them existing all over Shadesmar and specifically the lost deadeyes on the bottom of the ocean who I had assumed had to have the eternal tragedy of being ‘dead’ and lost forever. The spren coming back to more real life with the reversal of the broken oath to Ba Ado Mishram is just so great. I should remember, there’s pretty much always payoff with Sanderson, even if it takes a while. 

Also the suit up moment had me jumping and celebrating it was just so beyond good. 

Honestly, Adolin potentially living forever without his leg is a cool concept, like the shardplates adjusting for him showing that past radiants didn’t have all their limbs was great but not it also sets Adolin apart again because so many of the radiants would be able to heal themselves, not all obviously but most. I’m excited to explore it in the future.

He got his plate through inheritance and who knows exactly which dead spren it’s made of, but I’d like to think fate was involved. The Plate starting to respond to him like Maya originally did was just beyond amazing. We haven’t seen a lot of differences in living plate yet since we have a small sample size, but so far we know that wind spren can move to others at a drop, and creation spren seem to have a lot more flexibility with form (though that could just be because Shallan thought to ask for it), but the chances that his plates are from the pair with cultivation spren isn’t great. Honestly with the movement and permission, so far I’d say wind Spren but maybe we’ll get that answer eventually. 

Maya being a soldier is just incredible, like she doesn’t seem to remember or mention healing or anything, but she knows war, and is the perfect match for Adolin. Having someone to talk to about everything and someone who really understands the kind of sacrifices he needs to make without a fight has got to be a major benefit for both of them. Most of the Spren now are learning everything from scratch, are very young comparatively, and have to slowly grow memories and the like. But Maya, while silent and relearning how to talk and interact, doesn’t have to be taught about complex ideas. Which is good since she’s basically thrown from talking again to one of the most important battlefields in Roshar’s history. There wasn’t time for ethics/people lessons like Syl and Kaladin had time for. 

Maya is so interesting because we mostly know new spren who have never been bonded and it seems like spren have been staying away from learning about fighting as a whole, their own cultures’ way to avoid the atrocities of the radiants. But the deadeyes have a lot of possible wisdom and such to offer, now that they can talk again. Plus, depending on how old Maya is, she could have been bonded to several soldiers, killed during recreances and bonded to a new one, if she was a solider she would have bonded again, so she understands death. As one of the shards found in an obvious place and protected and passed down, she could have been hooked to important radiants that were in the middle of the fighting. 

And I’m sure there are plenty of cultivation spren like Wyndle that don’t like fighting, wouldn’t have bonded to radiants if at all possible. So spren like Maya would have picked up the slack to keep fighting.

Not to mention, well no one really has stormlight right now, but the potential lessons the unoathed could teach to new and current radiants are huge! Yes the radiants are figuring out a lot and in some ways benefit from not actually having an instruction manual to limit their thinking, but gentle nudges if they’re missing important and useful ways to use lashings will be helpful. Until the heralds come back, or they find more records in Urithiru, the un-oathed are all they have (especially with the Stormfather and his habit of giving visions gone. Lucky Dalinar wrote it down before dying I guess)

Back to the discussion of fate, Adolin’s sword being a cultivation spren just makes sense. He’s barely connected to Honor and Odium, not bowing to the passions and disliking oaths more and more (Dalinar could have learned a bit from him), which means if he’s connected to any of the three shards, it’s Cultivation. And he does have the history of slowly but doggedly cultivating friendships, relationships, building people’s skills, heck even talking to his blade before every battle is much more a cultivation trait than anything else. Despite some of his impulsivity, he’s got an awful lot of patience that most of the characters don’t.

The potential powers for edgedancers are healing and friction. He almost was using friction during many of his fights, especially during his last fight, leaning into the movement of his peg and basically using moments of friction and movement like edgedancers do. He has a history of perfect footwork and movement in his duels. Even leaping and moving across the dome in an insane show of momentum proves my point. 

Then with the healing, he has more respect and understanding of both normal healers and mind healing than most. Beyond that, he’s a good tactician and all, but more and more he hates fighting, doesn’t even really want the duels, he feels very Eowyn coded, can and will fight to the end, but wants to be a healer and focus on growing things (maybe metaphorically). He heals Yawagawn emotionally by seeing he needed a friend and again building him and his skills up.

He remembers those that have been forgotten, whether a lonely boy emperor, a bridgeboy or a young girl who wants to fight, he treated his blade and plate as sentient years before it was even considered that they could be, before anyone knew anything about them, he was ensuring that they wouldn’t be lost forever, which also ties into listening to those who have been ignored. He wants people to be able to make their own decisions and not be beholden to others, whether through class lines or oaths, and it’s so good. He follows the soul of edgedancers and radiants without being beholden to oaths and Honor because he’s seen a lot of things can go wrong with that. And he was right! Beyond never abandoning Maya (which I loved him for) he’s now really free of the issue of Retribution.

And he helped save the only human kingdom to stay free of Odium! He’s just the best.

[deramin2]

What if releasing Predathos is like releasing wolves back into Yellowstone?

We have all these culturally received stories about wolves being these terrifying monsters who kill anyone who enters the woods and they eat children and kill livestock and pets. So the only way to protect the human world is to exterminate them. so that's what white people did in Europe and North America.

But it turns out that seriously messed up the ecosystem. The deer and elk population "flourished" and then became out of control, destroying the rivers and eating all the food and killing off themselves and everything else. The beavers can't thrive so they don't build dams that the fish and other creatures were using to survive. All that "protection" actually leads to a horrendous amount of harm. Which ultimately extends to the human world as well.

Until environmental conservationists fought to re-release this predator back into the wild. They have to fight against all these negative attitudes and fear mongering. How dare they threaten everything we've built by reintroducing monsters into the world after we worked so hard to banish them? Don't these silly environmental activists understand how bad this will be? How it will ruin everything? They act like they speak for the people and the animals but all bringing back the wolves could possibly do is cause harm. The status quo must be protected. And don't listen to those ranchers who say they would be willing to live with wolves again and protect themselves in other ways. They don't speak for the ranchers because "most" ranchers disagree! It's sabotage all the way done by villains who won't even understand what villains they're being!

But the environmentalists won in the end. A negligible amount of livestock have been killed. Meanwhile the environment flourished. The species the wolves eat became healthier and better controlled. The beavers came back. The rivers became healthier. The fish had safe waters again for better spawning which helped the bears. The aspens and the willows were no longer over-browsed and they bounced back. The ravens had carcasses to eat. Even the beetles did better. Conservation struggles that had been hard fought but intractable for a hundred years started making huge progress.

People knew that wolves were important, that predation was necessary for nature to thrive. But even the best studied people didn't predict just how important the wolves were. Everything was struggling to live because we decided to "protect" it from the "monsters" that hunted them. Unleashing the creatures that were so hungry turned out to be one of the single most important environmental wins. A lesson that's being taken all over the world to bring back other ecosystems we damaged. The things people were so afraid of largely didn't happen. And since we understand the wolves and their behavior more now, humans are safer around them, too. We're learning to cultivate respect instead of fear.

So maybe releasing Predathos and letting them eat or chase off the gods would destroy Exandria as we know it. Maybe Bell's Hells are flirting with danger trying to take them in and control them and it will all end in disaster. Maybe history will remember them as villains. It's unclear if the damage to Molaesmyr was fully due to Ludinus Da'leth's reckless experimental magic or contact with Predathos.

But it's just as likely that unleashing Predathos would be like releasing the wolves back into Yellowstone. The gods killing off the Primordials that were native to Exandria before the gods came could represent the suppression of ecosystems by outsiders who thought they knew better than nature. Who believed they could create something that was better. But in the process have actually been damaging the world. Maybe the world would actually thrive if the gods had a predator to control them when nothing else has.

We don't know. The point is that we don't know. It's a hell of a lot more interesting story to find out than to maintain a status quo that wiped out 2/3rd of life on Exandria and is threatening to do it again. Matt has made it perfectly clear multiple times that this is the end of an age in Exandria. The center cannot hold anymore. As Ashton pointed out, Ludinus only ever thought about how to end things. He never considered what might come next. But something will. Maybe the beavers and the willows will come back when the elk are kept in check.

[afinestoutlove]

things i love about heartstopper 41/?

Charlie and Tao's friendship is so great (I mean all of these friendships are, I'll get to the others, don't worry!). It can be so hard to have friendships with straight guys when you're queer, because (heteronormative) masculinity is a prison. But Tao Xu says "fuck your heteronormativity I do what I want".

"People might think you gave me the hickey if you keep this up." "So? Might help to deflect the rumours." ('Heat')

And yeah, Tao's a disaster and Charlie's a mess, and they both fail to communicate, and self-sabotage, and fuck things up, but they love each other through all of it. And, another thing that's so hard for men to do (especially straight men), they tell each other how much they love each other. They always show each other. There's never any (real) doubt.

No matter what happens, these two beautiful disasters are here for each other and I just love their friendship so much you guys.

And a quick bonus thought prompted by a (joking) reply to yesterday's post...

Someone commented "Charlie's cheating on Nick nooo" and yeah I get that it was a funny. BUT it prompted an important addition to this post. It's really common for people to view the kind of friendship Charlie and Tao have as a kind of threat to their romantic partnership, but Charlie dgaf (and neither does Nick because he's a good person and trusts both Charlie and Tao). Not only that, but Nick values Charlie's friendship with Tao, and likes Tao because of it. This is so wonderful to see, so much healthier than what we usually get.

Our culture is so fucking weird about romantic relationships, placing them on a pedestal above others, but a really important part of Charlie and Tao's story is learning to balance their romantic relationships and their friendships - and to make space for each other's needs as well (Tao's jealousy in S1 isn't expressed in the most constructive way...). They both learn not to neglect their friends - including each other - and also to communicate around those issues more. I love seeing this and, like so much in the Osemanverse, I wish we had more of it in the world.

[museincarnate]

Tater's rubbing at one of her cheeks would be noticed by her Saiyan friends, as they were not far behind her, or rather beside her, to notice the act; causing them to softly chuckle, as her response to the Chief in front of them caused him to hum in acknowledgement. It seemed as though he was grateful that his culture's celebration was easing the Little Rabbit's nervousness, in light of why she was on his planet to begin with. Of course, he knew that their investigation was important, and taking the time to relax wasn't something they could afford all that much, but stopping for a meal, and learning about the culture were both things that their bodies and the investigation respectively needed.

Once gazes were met, between the tribespeople and Tater, if she was attentive enough to notice their reactions when she smiled at each of them, they would all smile back; the subtle nuances of a genuine smile easily noticeable on each face, as if they weren't simply returning the expression out of necessity or politeness. To them, the Lagomorph woman was rather small, as the women of Paragu's sect of Saiyans were tall, and muscular, though not as much as Hakkona, if a comparison were to be made. Still, it was as if she was an equal to the people of the tribe.

Once Paragu and Tater had procured their respective shares of food, ranging from fruits and vegetables to various meats, the Hero of Hope and Torno would do the same; managing to get some rice for themselves as well. Despite the massive tribe that was meant to be fed, it seemed as though the food was bountiful enough to feed everyone twice over, and that would be proven when everyone got their helping of the food for the feast; plenty more left in plain view.

Everyone was free to indulge in their meal, as Paragu did so almost immediately; the rest of the tribe following shortly after, though some subtle glances towards Tater indicated that everyone was curious as to how she'd find the taste of everything to be, to her particular Earthly norm. Being seated so close to Paragu and Kapeti, however, allowed the latter to offer some insight to the Little Rabbit. "I've heard that in some Earth religions, that it's customary to thank one's chosen deity before a meal is consumed. Our culture does the opposite, and speak of our gratitude after we partake."

Torno and Shuen would nod in hopeful agreement with Tater's vocalization of wanting to experience the traditions of their original home, as they, too, seemed to understand that such a thing wasn't going to be in their immediate future; their current investigation still feeling as though it was the start of something worse yet to come. Still, they'd already reassured Tater that peace would come again, and the two Saiyans were men of their word, always.

When Paragu had returned to the trio, the Little Rabbit's more courageous, natural manner of speaking seemed to give him pause for just a moment, while his otherwise casual nature still came with expectations for his title to be respected; an almost proud chortle quietly escaping him, as an air of confidence was noticeable in Tater. He couldn't help but quietly admire the Lagomorph's growing courage, as he passed subtle glances to Torno and Shuen, who were equally surprised by her newfound demeanor.

Tater's hopes of being respectful enough would be rewarded by that constant smile that the Tribal Chief wore, when the Earth Representative addressed him so formally; the expectations of doing so at such a consistent level not as high for her, as they were for other Saiyans. And yet... There she was, taking to the task like she was a natural. The Paradox Saiyan and the Mighty Saiyan certainly had a wonderful friend, that Paragu would likely welcome to visit again, if the chance ever came.

"Of course, I wouldn't want to keep the tribe waiting, or delay a pleasant feast for you three, either." Turning to lead the Little Rabbit, Hero of Hope, and the Royal Commander to where the tribespeople waited for their ruler to join them, a passing comment would be made by Paragu as they went. "I must say, Tater, you carry a level of confidence that I hadn't seen at the council, when you first met us." Clearly, however, he meant it as a compliment; chuckling shortly after he finished speaking, just as they were coming into view of the tribe.

Just as when the trio had previously disembarked from their ship, many members of the tribe glanced at Tater, Torno and Shuen with curiosity, as the Lagomorph was the one that received the majority of the gazes. Though, ill intent was absent from each, as a sort of welcoming expression was etched on each face, including Paragu's advisor, who was the only one standing; waiting for the Chief to take his spot in the arrangement.

"With our Tribal Chief's presence at his position for the feast, to celebrate this bountiful harvest and hunt, we may begin partaking. As is customary, the Chief will gather his helping first, followed by our guests. Please welcome them as if they were part of our tribe." A calm, collected voice escaped Kapeti, as he reminded the tribespeople of their culture's traditions; allowing Paragu to get his food thereafter. Once it was Tater and her friends' turns to get food, however, she'd likely get a chance to take stock of what kind of foods existed on Paragu's planet.

[azureblooet]

Ok bitches its fucking time:

LAMB HEADCANNON TIME:

(I separated these into rough catagories cause I have a lot for them and some require me to explain my lore headcannons)

==

General stuff:

Enby obviously (they/them)

Very much a people person

i mean they do run a cult so yeah

Didn't ever do the cannibalism thing (i mean mechanically it doesn't really do anything helpful)

Still needs to eat, but feeds more on the actual devotion rather than normal food.

Like the crown isn’t just bottomless power it still needs to eat devotion

This makes more sense with context of the magic system i have for my headcanons

though giving their body actual fuel to keep itself running means they don't have to sustain it with magic so they still eat

Actually snacks a lot due to both previous food insecurity and to keep their energy up

Also the leader having food preferences is like a point of connection for the cult (more info in the cult section)

They do a little happy single clap thing, like sort of resembling prayer but still fiddles with stuff

Cult:

Tries to make their followers pretty self-sufficient due to their absense during crusades, so they have actual leaders they’ve appointed, they also do sermons while The Lamb is gone.

Notably is praised for being a “god who knows mortal fear and hunger”

Generally has the message of “yo the bishops suck and we all got screwed over by the gods, I’m a god who is also a mortal so I’m different”

Before The Lamb dethroned Narinder him also being screwed over by the gods was a big part of his thing in the theology

Narinder thought this was stupid back at the gateway but the people actually liking The Lamb instead of fearing them makes their devotion a lot stronger

It also FEELS better for The Lamb who has felt a LOT of fear for the gods to be critical of the gods

This also means The Lamb getting sick or something isn’t a big sign of weakness and is more of a “I’m in this with you” type thing.

Nari’s whole “god of death” thing was him being like “the inevitable end of all” and everyone being his in the end whereas The Lamb is more of a “transience is an inevitable part of the world and that makes our lives beautiful” kind of thing

Like the whole “may mortal strife drive us to grow and reach new heights” “take solace as our death unites us all”

This is partially influenced by the beliefs the lambs had with the philosophy of “everything is connected” but also makes people less afraid of death so y’know

The cult’s beliefs and culture is heavily influenced by the lambs for festivals and decoration and iconography (talk a bit more about that in the lambs’s section)

Called “The Lamb” or just “Lamb” by people closer to them but is normally referred to as “Leader”

The Lamb couldn't read at first and had to have followers teach them

Thankfully one of the first followers was a nice librarian lady who is highkey their mom/grandma. Brought her back a few times before getting her gold skulls

She’s a deer, she sort of has fannon shamura vibes? Like that high insight and ability to read people’s emotions

She also highkey parents Narinder too but he’d never admit that

Kinda like dst Wickerbottom? (If you know you know)

Im working on the name, but she’s “Selene” in my notes

Regardless, The Lamb learned to read from her, and teaching literacy is basically her job at the cult

cause of the whole cults thing someone being illiterate is actually pretty common so it's not just kids getting lessons.

The cult grows a lot of cotton cause of The Lamb

Both as a symbol and because of clothes fabric and yarn being important objects of worship

The Lamb is difficult to *scare* but pretty easy to startle as long as you’re quiet.

The lambs/sheep:

Note: I don’t capitalize the word lamb when it isn’t a name for The Lamb

The lambs lived a bit outside of bishops’ real territory so they largely had their own culture and religion

They believed in “strings of fate” and a sort of “everything is tied together and part of a bigger thing”

Yeah like wool and fabric.

Theres more to it than that but that's a factor

Wool yarn and clothes were a big export for them but they were working with other plant fibers too so all types of string were everywhere.

Because of how much string and fabric they’d end up having and how good the textile trade was they had the resources to have a lot of festivals. Be it for seasons, shearing times obvi, cool space/astronomy stuff, whatever.

They didn't really have a church per-say but they had little shrines for like paying respects to nature and the “strings” of fate which tie everyone together.

Complicated braided lanyard type things are sort of “holy” symbols.

Sort of like a rosary?

they didn't have a reigning crown and had just an actual normal-ass town for the most part

Regardless the spiritual and religious stuff was more to justify making things and having festivals.

They’d tie different colored strings and little banners to stuff for festivals and stuff

Dangly bits and tiny puffy ornaments galore.

They did some magic, but it wasn’t much of a priority, it normally was things like little woven charms, protection spells, and maybe the odd glowy ribbon or fireproof coat.

Like they had some thaumaturges and witch doctors to deal with curses and magic injuries but they didn’t have a big faction of magic users

Reguardless! All of this matters because The Lamb makes little fabric dolls and swears about threads and ties and junk.

“ties above!” “ohhhh my fucking strings give me patience…” “oh thank ties”

(i mean in-world the words they’re using for ties/threads/strings is probably in another language, but I’m a monolingual dumbass so whatever)

Though the lambs had less gendered shit which in a world with actual hecking magic goes without saying ig, but their un-gendered parent word is “baba” because duh

(Ill be so fr I didn’t even realize the sheep pun until I had written over 2,000 words but it is very amusing nonetheless)

They had marriage earrings and horn jewelry instead of rings

Not all that important but rings are boring

But yeah the lambs had less ridged gender roles and stuff so The Lamb being enby wasn’t like a big thing or anything

Something about how all genders tie back to the same net of fate or something

Unlike basically every other version of The Lamb I’ve seen, The Lamb remembers a LOT about their home town and their traditions.

They are different than The Land of The Old Faith though so there’s a lot of different cultural values.

Like the lambs ate a lot less meat than The Old Faith people

(Sidebar: do we have a shorter name for this fucking place cause oh my god it’s a mouthful)

Particularly I bring this up cause The Lamb is VERY much not on the cannibalism wagon.

The lambs also had actual methods of water purification and bathing to like keep their wool clean, since they would use it for crafting

Because of that, the lambs were culturally pretty germaphobic and had a reputation for being way too focused on cleanliness

I mean cats are also in that boat but still

The fact that The Lamb knew how water purification works and being more sanitary was also a big part of the cult actually surviving.

I want to imagine that while The Lamb knew about and wanted soap they had no idea how to make it and spent a long ass time trying to figure it out.

They got someone in the cult who knew eventually but it was a whole ordeal

Like someone pulled up and talked about making a bathhouse and The Lamb was like “YES. YES. YES. YES. YE—”

Magic:

Their magic is strong due to the crown supplying a lot of raw power, but their actual form in using magic is sort of sloppy

(To be fair, most gods are like that but The Lamb is exceptionally bad)

Despite the how casually it's portrayed, reading minds is kind of hard and doesn't work on some people

As in: people think differently so unless someone has a really pronounced inner monologue they can’t really read the person’s mind easily.

Like what are you gonna read if the person doesn't think in words?

Feel the vibes learn the vague concept language? You can’t be staring at this mf for that long!

You can indeed be too neurodivergent to mind-read.

Also a few people in the cult can tell when The Lamb is reading minds and most of them responded pretty negatively to it so The Lamb tries not to read minds too often

(yknow cause like consent and privacy and all that?)

(one of those people promptly pulled a knife on them because I mean- its kinda violating for someone to poke around in your head) (The Lamb didn't kill them cause that’s like a fair response but it did scare the shit out of them)

The Lamb is really bad at detecting auras and concealing their own.

Most gods don’t really conceal themselves because their bombastic presence is like part of the gig

Most people can low-key feel auras subconsciously anyways so The Lamb isn’t incapable of it, but they aren’t good at it.

(As to how people feel auras; It’s sort of like how you can low-key feel vibrations even when you can’t hear but since you can normally hear you don’t consciously notice it?)