#and procreate! but in the opposite order.

[sixeye-sketch]

[trashcanlore]

My Chemical Marriage

The chemical wedding is an allegory used in alchemical writings to refer to the union of opposites, particularly a union that produces a new and improved product, the Rebis. 

One popular version of the allegorical wedding takes place between the Red King, the active principle (sulfur) that shapes the material and passive principle of the White Queen (mercury). However, this allegory can refer to the union of sun and moon, silver and gold, or even body and spirit. 

The Rebis refers to the end product of the magnum opus, and is typically depicted as a hermaphrodite.

The child of the chemical marriage is sometimes called the philosopher’s child and fun fact, is associated with the myth of Orion and his three fathers (Jupiter, Mercury, and Neptune). The myth is very different but I can’t help but think of the Simurgh. 

Though the chemical marriage allegory is very much referring to marriage and procreation, etc, in the context of Genshin, it’s used more to refer to a union of opposites, or a collaboration between two types of being, which will be elaborated on later. Of the four examples I will be going through, only two of these relationships have any kind of (canon) romantic associations attached to them. Basically what i’m trying to say is that this is definitely not about ships please don’t eat me.

It’s a well established trend in the history of Teyvat that there have been many god-king-like beings associated with gold or the sun, who had some kind of relationship with a knowledgeable and moon-associated woman, who then dies tragically during the god-king’s quest to Change The World. 

And now, in thematic order, I present the doomed pairings: 

Imunlaukr and the princess of Sal Vindagnyr

Imunlaukr is an outlander, destined to wield the Snow Tombed Starsilver sword to “shatter ice and snow.” The wiki cites a stanza where this name is used as a kenning for a sword. Imunlaukr tried to save Sal Vind from the catastrophic ice and snow caused by the Skyfrost Nail hitting an Irminsul tree, but he failed. Sal Vind had a princess who was also the daughter of the priestess of Vindagnyr, and was “born beneath this white tree” (Frostbearer). She is described as being “bright as the moonlight,” and had the gift of prophecy, painting her visions as frescos on the walls of the city - you can see them in the room where you find the Starsilver sword.  

Guizhong and Zhongli

According to the Stone Tablet Compilations: Vol. I, Rex Lapis descended to Liyue. This isn’t the same descending as Descenders, and it has been argued that a better translation would be ‘demoted,’ but this has similarities to the way Deshret and Remus are described as founding their kingdoms. Rex Lapis is also called Deus Auri, the Golden God, and in the Dialogue of the Desert Sages description, it says that “transformation into gold and Mora is the sole province of Deus Auri.” Guizhong’s moon connection is on the weaker end, but she is strongly associated with glaze lilies, a flower that only blooms at night, like the Nilotpala, or Lunar, lotuses. She gave Zhongli a stone dumbbell, the Memory of Dust, which contains her “wisdom.” Zhongli is still unable to unlock it, and before Guizhong’s death, she told him to forget about its contents.  On a more superficial note, Zhongli and Guizhong have a color scheme that will also be part of the pattern discussed here- black and gold and blue and white.

Remus and Sybilla

Sybilla was the former “envoy that protected the silver tree,” but she had lost her “mind and form.” However, she still retained her gift of prophecy, and told Remus about his destiny to found Remuria (and its inevitable downfall). Sybila’s loss of her physical form and mind is reminiscent of the Aranara stories about how Seelies were cursed to lose their body and intelligence if they fell in love with a human.

After making an arrangement with Remus, the silver tree that Sybilla was protecting transformed into a golden ship, which according to The History of the Decline and Fall of Remuria , was called Fortuna, and with it, Remus “descended” onto Meropis.  Together with Sybilla, Remus created Phobos, the Great/Golden Symphony. Phobos is the name of one of the moons of Mars, the red planet. Combined with the Primordial Sea-derived ichor, it would allow his people to shed their physical forms and transcend their prophesied doom. Sybilla even sacrificed her life to make the symphony possible, but she wasn’t completely dead in the end, and her lack of “persona” led to the Symphony going awry. 

And MOST IMPORTANTLY, the Golden Troupe of Remuria used a magical technique Rene called the “seal of chymical marriage,” and which I think was used to seal the Primordial Sea. Rene would later attempt to reverse its power to Evangelion-ify the people of Fontaine.

We don’t know what Remus or Sybilla actually looked like, but the color scheme of both the Remuria based artifact sets are white/blue/gold and black/blue/gold. 

Decarabian and Amos

Decarabian was the god-king and founder of Mondstadt approximately 2600 years ago. He created a wind barrier to protect his people from the storms outside (and from Andrius), and in an effort to keep his people safe, micromanaged their lives, even banning certain kinds of music that could incite rebellion (Song of Broken Pines). Interestingly, his goal to protect his people is described as a ‘dream’ multiple times in item descriptions.  The Scattered Piece of Decarabian's Dream: He tried so hard to make his dream come true, and so the fragments of that dream are still mighty.

Fragment of Decarabian’s Epic: If it were not for the song of freedom that shattered the city in an instant, Decarabian's dream would have gone on forever.  I wonder if this is meant to be another incidence of the literal power of music, like Remus’s symphony, or the Source Song.  |Decarabian had a human lover named Amos, although from her perspective, he did not understand her or her mortal love, or even the (lack of) devotion of his people. This reminds me of Scylla telling Remus that as a Usurper, he is cursed to love humanity. But maybe not understand them, which would be both of these god-kings’ downfalls.  Though Amos was human, she also seems to have had prophetic dreams: "I dreamt of ocean waves and sand, of lush forests and land." "I dreamt of boars playing in berry bushes, of a towering spire." These words she spoke to the God King in a soft tone, but they were left unheard. (Amos’ Bow) Eventually, she would join the rebellion against him, and attempt to assassinate him. Amos also fits into the blue and white color scheme, and has a feather ornament similar to Lumine in her hair: 

And we come to the piece de resistance. The ultimate example. One of the weirdest things in genshin lore (in a good way). I present:

Whatever TF is Going on With Deshret and the Goddess of Flowers

In The Lay of Al-Ahmar, Deshret is described as a “son of the sky,” with abilities that earned him the reverence of the tribes in the desert. One of his titles, Al-Ahmar, is Arabic for “the red one.” Deshret dreamed of creating a utopia for humans, and the final manifestation of that dream was the (failed) Golden Slumber, where like Remus, he attempted to separate his mind from his body. God-kings and their hiveminds…. Deshret received assistance in the form of access to forbidden knowledge from the Goddess of Flowers, also known as Nabu Malikata. The title Nabu refers to the Babylonian god of wisdom, who is associated with the planet Mercury in Babylonian astronomy. The title ‘Nabu’ has the same linguistic root as the Arabic ‘nabiyy’ (نبي) and Hebrew ‘navi’ (נביא), meaning prophet.  According to Arama, the Goddess of Flowers was a survivor of the Seelie race. After her exile, she wandered the desert, where her blood turned into streams of water that allowed gardens of water lilies to grow, which in turn birthed the Jinn. Additionally, wherever she stepped, purple flowers called Padisarahs, described as “bearing semblance to the moon,” bloomed (Flower of Paradise Lost). Together with Deshret, she founded Ay-Khanoum, meaning "[City of the] Moon Maiden.”  In addition to being known as “the red one,” Deshret is also known as the “Lord of Sand.” Combined with the Goddess of Flowers association with both water and mercury, I consider their respective titles to be a reference to Ibn Umayl’s Silvery Water and Starry Earth, a 10th century alchemical text. The ‘silvery water’ refers to mercury, or quicksilver, and the ‘starry earth’ is sulfur. This text is also referenced in the refinement materials for Dialogue of the Desert Sages, where this time the mercury-looking material is called “exalted earth.” The mercury-sulfur theory of metals was popular in medieval Islamic alchemy, and it refers to the idea that all metals are formed in the earth out of a combination of these two elements.   Like Sybilla, it’s implied the Goddess of Flowers sacrificed her life to help Deshret fulfill his goals.  Secret Keeper’s Magic Bottle: "I shall fashion you a bridge to allow you to slake your deepest wants. But you must fear not the crystalline sapphire nail..." "I will deliver you unto higher knowledge. But as I have warned, you are fated to lose much in this exchange..." "Nevertheless, hide my lesson in your heart. Remember the punishment that once was inflicted on the fallen envoys of heaven." "Know this: if there is to be hope in this world, it will be found kindling within mortals most ordinary." Wreathed in darkness, she guided her dearest friend toward the path to understanding all there was to know about the skies and the abyss. Using her body as a conduit and offering the oasis in trade, she let the dazzling radiance consume her to see his deepest desires be made manifest… It’s not clear exactly when she died, as other sources of in-game info attribute her death to the “malice of the burning sun and yellow sand,” as well as imply her death was part of a larger plan she had (Oasis Garden weapon mats). That being said, the Flower of Paradise Lost description states that after she performed this exchange, she was never seen again. As for the color scheme mentioned earlier, we don’t know what Deshret or the Goddess of Flowers looked like. Our only hints as to their human forms are the Gilded Dreams TCG card/artifact design, and a throwaway line in the Sumeru Archon Quest where Nilou says her stage costume is inspired by legends about how the Goddess of Flowers dressed.

As of 4.7, we also have the Flower of Paradise Lost TCG card, which may depicted the Goddess of Flowers. The color scheme is purple and white, but the woman in the art is wearing a dress that looks similar to Guizhongs (delulu). The crown on this card has little wings, which are reminiscent of the winged helmet Mercury is sometimes depicted as wearing. 

The defining feature of the chemical marriage is that the metaphorical union produces something greater than the sum of its parts. Sybilla and the Goddess of Flower’s sacrifices allowed the fulfillment of plans that were intended to create new worlds, something I would consider greater than the combination of god and Seelie minds. Another common thread in these transactions is wisdom, or lack thereof, with both Goddess of Flowers and Guizhong offering wisdom, and Sybilla saying that she no longer has hers - although that didn’t stop her from becoming part of Phobos. This theme of wisdom also has alchemical significance, since the philosopher’s stone is the lapis philosophorum; the 'stone of wisdom'. I’ve written a theory about the philosopher’s stone and Descenders and alchemy, including the chemical wedding motif, in the Narzissekreuz Ordo questions: you can check it out here. Two points that I want to carry over to this theory is that a) there is evidence to suggest that the philosopher’s stone and a Descender are the same in Teyvat and b) the ability to successfully change Fortuna (fate) is directly linked with Descender status.  I’m not saying that Deshret and Remus were trying to become Descenders, but there are clear thematic parallels with their goals, and Rene’s goals. Additionally, these four examples are not the only time a union resulted in world changing consequences. Records of Jueyun recounts the story of the traveler from afar and the seelie: At a far-flung moment in the distant past, the ancestor of the seelie met a traveler from afar, with whom they swore an oath of union witnessed by the three sisters of the Lunar Palace. Just thirty days later, a sudden disaster struck. The seelie and their lover fled into exile as the world collapsed around them, fleeing until the terrible calamity caught up with and seized them. Their cruel punishment was to be separated from each other for eternity and to have their memories wiped without a trace. The book goes on to directly connect this union with the curse of the Seelies that Arama mentions: The graceful but heartbroken seelie and the sisters grew more sullen and withdrawn with each passing day, to the point where their wondrous forms withered away, leaving fragments of their former selves scattered in the mountains and ruins, where they turned into tiny little life forms. They had forgotten so much, lost so much, and been stripped of their voices and wisdom, yet they continued to sing the same songs of grief. Because of this, still harboring a shred of the deep love they once had for their long-lost lover, they will act as guides to travelers who stop in the mountain mist, seeking to retrace their memories of an ancient story in long-abandoned ruins, disused makeup cabinets, and now-undecipherable poetry. Moonlight Bamboo forest has another version of the story, where the three moon sisters loved the “stars of daybreak,” and after some kind of cataclysmic event, only one (dead) moon remained in the sky. Mitternacht’s Waltz also described a sword shattering one of the moons: Two of the three bright moons that caused the perfumed sea of the primordial universe to shine and stirred up the beasts of the Arianrhod Realm were shredded by a sword that tore the horizon asunder, left in smithereens too small even for the mystical sight of the Prinzessin. Ever since the Narzissenkreuz quests, I am very suspicious of all swords mentioned in lore.  If we put all these themes and narratives together, another possible metaphorical union emerges:

Since the dawn of Genshin lore, there have been various theories regarding the duality in the designs of the twins, with some also suggesting that they are two separate halves of one being. However, I’d like to propose the opposite: if the twins follow the path of their fellow black/gold and blue/white predecessors, then it seems likely a fusion that is also a sacrifice is in the future for our protagonist.  There are other similarities between the twins and the god-king/seelie pairs. The twins have sun and moon symbolism on their clothes, constellations, and swords: Aether’s has a star (sun) shaped hilt  and Lumine’s a moon. The Traveler is frequently described as being ‘golden’ (ex. Golden Nara), and Liloupar says that they remind her of Deshret.   The Traveler is already a Descender, but they definitely don’t seem to have the strength or knowledge to exercise their world-equivalent Will yet - and maybe their sibling who has been spending time in the Abyss and has learned the “truth of this world” can help. In that case, the knowledge of the Abyss-aligned twin would fulfill the role of the Seelie knowledge in this pair, helping the Traveler complete their power-up. But what about Paimon, the emergency food? She's the dove, representing the spirit and- [is dragged offstage]. 

P.S. I didn’t know where to fit this in, but I think Before Sun and Moon is also referring to a chemical wedding. Sun -> sulfur and gold, Moon -> mercury and silver. The title could be an incomplete phrase, and actually be something like “Before Sun and Moon joined.”

[storm-angel989]

Outside The Office Part Thirty

“Hey, princess. You have to wake up now.” 

The  sound of Vox’s voice and the feeling of his hand startled me awake. I sat up quickly, the blanket falling from where my head had been tucked in. Gone was the warm, protective darkness of Valentino’s wings. Instead, the blankets were wrapped tightly- mimicking his hold on me. My head ached, and I wondered how he had managed to get me into bed without waking me up.

“Where’s Val?” I asked as I looked around the room. 

“Valentino went to go handle something, and he left me in charge of making sure you, my dear, eat dinner and don’t sleep for too long. We’re going out tonight! Drugs should be well out of your system by now, so up you go!” He said in a sing-song voice. “Com’on now!”

I groaned and flopped back down under the covers. “My head hurts.”

“Shocking,” he said sarcastically. “Here, drink this,” he untwisted the cap and handed me a bottle of sweet sixteen. “All of it, in your tummy. Then I’m checking your vitals, and then you can get up.”

I scowled at him. “I would say you act like my Dad, but that would be an insult to you.” 

“Aw, love you too princess. Now drink up.” He replied as he pressed the back of his hand to my head. “All of it.”

I took a sip. And then another. Instantly, the headache began to fade. 

 “You will actually make a great Dad one day, you know.” I said between sips. 

He rolled his eyes. “No. Vel and I don’t want kids, but I’ll make a hell of an Uncle whenever you and Val decide the time is right.”

I paused and lowered the bottle. Kids? I hadn’t thought that far ahead.  “Can that even happen? Can I get pregnant?” I asked. 

Vox shrugged and pulled his hand away. “Do you still get your period in hell?”

I felt myself flush. “I mean, yeah. On time, every month. Just like in heaven.”

“Then there you have it- yes. You and Valentino can have kids. It’s just a matter of trying, I would think.” He paused. “Not that I’m rushing or encouraging it, but you brought it up.”

I felt a shiver run down me. Valentino had to have had sex with thousands of demons in his line of work. Was Vox implying something? 

“Wait, does Valentino already have…”

Vox let out a laugh and cut me off. “Fuck no. God, that would be awful. No, princess, he would have to want them in order to have them. That’s why you two can fuck all you want and not have a single worry. Part of the perk of being the Overlord of Lust. Until he decides, really decides he wants to procreate, he won’t physically be able to.”

I took another sip of my drink as I considered his words. “I would need a big diamond on my finger before kids are even a thought. And a wedding. Do people, demons, get married in hell?”

“Sure do,” Vox said. He sat down next to me and took my wrist in his hand. “Demon weddings are a good time, might I add.” 

I squirmed ever so slightly as he took my pulse, but tried to exhale and stay calm. “Don’t you have my vitals synched from my watch to your phone?”

“Sure do. I like to check the accuracy though. Make sure the data is correct,” he replied as he clipped a pulse oximeter to my finger. “Why are you so fidgety?”

“I don’t particularly like medical stuff being done to me,” I replied honestly. “I mean, it's one thing to play around with it, or like, when Valentino and I are in bed, but it's another thing when it's serious.”

“And why is that? Did something happen when you were with the angels? Cause I don’t have any record of any major surgeries or traumatic events or things like that?” Vox asked as he leaned back, waiting for my answer. 

I shrugged. “I got held down alot when I was little. I didn’t like shots, and it didn’t take much for me to be pushed down and forced to stay still. I mean, it was for my own benefit of course, but…”

“There are better ways,” Vox finished for me. He shook his head, looking absolutely disgusted. “Fuckin angels.” 

I let his comment go. “It’s weird though, because, I mean, when my head is on Valentino’s body, I feel the opposite. Safe. Secure. And I don’t mind him taking my pulse when he’s not looking to…do something medical with the information, if that makes sense?”

“It does- and I appreciate you sharing that with me. I’ll bear it in mind.” He squeezed my shoulder gently with his other hand. “Our goal is to keep you safe, so you’ll never fully escape getting checked over, but at least we’ll make sure you consent. Can you agree to that?”

I nodded. 

“And on your other note, I think listening to the heartbeat of someone you love is much, much different than being held down and medicine painfully forced into your body.” He released my wrist and reached into his bag.  “But speaking of heartbeats, I do need to listen to yours. You good with that?” Vox asked as he pulled a stethoscope out of his backpack.

I nodded and sat up, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. “Thanks for asking. I am. I trust you. You didn’t tattle on me.”

“No, you tattled on yourself. And I’m glad you did. Stop talking for a second, let me listen.” Vox said as he pressed the disk to my chest. “Good, now deep breath in. And out. 

I stayed still and tried to relax. His touch was light. Gentle. Finally, he pulled back and draped the scope around his neck. 

“Heart sounds good. Lungs do too. Let me check your blood pressure and you’ll be all good. You need to keep drinking.” His voice softened ever so slightly. “Which arm did Val put the IV in? I’ll use the other arm.” 

I offered him the opposite arm and he wrapped the cuff around. I felt the nerves begin to settle. 

“So, why do you know how to take vitals? I mean, I sort of get Valentino but, why you?” I asked. 

He paused and looked at me. “Data accuracy. If something I create reads a number, I want to make sure it's right. And I don’t trust anyone other than myself, so I learned basic skills. Vitals I mean. I technically could take blood or put an IV in but if given the choice between a nurse or me, pick the nurse. For your own benefit. Now shush for like one minute.”

I waited patiently until he deflated the cuff. He seemed satisfied and tucked everything back into his bag. I took the last drink from the bottle of sweet sixteen and set the empty bottle on the nightstand. Silence from Vox as he typed furiously on his phone. 

“Am I okay?” I asked after a few moments of quiet.

He looked unconcerned. “Mhm, yep. You’re fine. Vel’s going to be late, which means it's you and me, kid.” He stood up and swung his bag over his shoulder. “Look, why don’t you go shower and get yourself comfortable for the night? I’ll get to work on dinner. Vel will join us eventually, but I think eating here before we go out will be a nice change of pace. And fits with what you’re trying to do a bit better. Agreed?”

He saw me hesitate. 

“Oh no. You don’t get to tell me you’re not a fan of my cooking after all this. Come on, you can help.” He took me by the hand and pulled me to my feet. “Go shower, get yourself comfortable and meet me in the kitchen in twenty minutes. I’ll get the prepwork all done.” 

I watched as he strolled out of the room and closed the door behind him. Vox really did mean what he said- eating at home, supporting my choices. I took a quick shower and wrapped myself in my comfiest pajamas  before walking into the kitchen to join him.  

“You’re brave, cooking with Vox isn’t my idea of a good time.” Velvette said as I walked into the living room. “And come see me once he gets everything in the oven. I’ll do your hair while we wait.” 

“Hey! Come on over kid!” Vox said cheerfully as I stepped into the kitchen.

I popped myself up into the usual place on the counter. “Whatcha making?”

“Something yummy. Here, try this.” He stirred something in a pot and offered me the spoon. 

Again I hesitated but let him put the spoon in my mouth. Warmness, an spicy and sweet. It was delicious. 

“Damn, Vox- what is that?” I asked.

He beamed. “You like? It’s the sauce for the pasta. We’re having one of my personal favorites for dinner tonight, along with chicken and spinach meatballs and a big tossed salad. A few carbs, good protein, all the things your body is going to need to get back on track.” He stuck the spoon back in the pot and stirred.

“What can I do to help?” I asked as he moved fluidly around the kitchen. 

“You can sit there and talk to me. Information, kid. I want to know more about what they fed you, I want to know about how your day to day routine went. And I really want to know if you’ve ever heard the name Alastor.” His voice caught on the name. “And any information you have on him.”

I tried to think back. Vox had mentioned his name before and at the time, it hadn’t meant much to me. I was more wrapped up in the moment to pay much attention to the cause of his rage baking. But now that he mentioned it, the name was familiar. 

“Alastor. I know the name, I just don’t remember why.” I said finally. 

“So walk me through your day, maybe it will trigger something,” he answered eagerly. “Start with waking up. What did you day look like?”

My day? Depended on the age.

As soon as I was old enough to talk, my day started at four. Memories of my father in the kitchen, making sure I ate what he cooked. Days spent either in his office, or in the arms of one of his many “brothers”- my Uncles. If I wasn’t being taught a skill or concept, I was by their side.  I was on base constantly, a shadow to the soldiers. I learned how to eat, speak, breath, control, be controlled, clean, and act like one by process of diffusion. I knew nothing else. 

It wasn’t until I was old enough to dress myself that things began to change. Dad became stricter, and my focus shifted from tagging along to participating. Memories of one of my most favorite “Uncles” running alongside me, slowing his pace to mine. My father yelling at me to speed up. Training drills with my wings out, falling to the ground after a hard hit. Whining wasn’t tolerated. I learned how to take the beating and get back up as if nothing happened. 

That wasn’t to say I wasn’t taken care of in a sense. Nor was it all bad. My father wasn’t always completely harsh. But when we were on base, which was most of the time, his job was to train and lead. And that was his focus. Making strong soldiers. 

Vox was quiet as I talked him through the details.

“Did he ever offer you comfort? Was he ever kind?” He asked after a few moments of silence.

I shrugged. “I mean, sure. When I was little I would climb into his bed and cry out nightmares. Or he would put bandaids on boo boos. But it wasn’t exactly his strong point- some of the others had daughters and he was more than happy to let them handle the softer points.” 

Vox shook his head in disgust as he put a pan into the oven. “Kids deserve love. No wonder you have such a…”

“Fucked up idea of things? And Dad loved me, Vox. It was just a different kind of love.” 

“I don’t know if I would call that love, kid,” he answered. 

“Vox has a point, mi amore.” Valentino’s voice entered the room.

I turned my head and looked as Valentino walked into the kitchen. He kissed the top of my head. “Sorry I couldn’t be there when you woke up love.” 

I shrugged. “No big deal.”

“Can we get back to the whole kid who grew up without love thing, because that’s fucked up,” Velvette said as she joined us. She pulled herself up next to me.

I frowned. This conversation was quickly becoming incredibly uncomfortable. “It was love,” I protested. “Just a different kind of love.”

“Mmm, no, it wasn’t. But you’ll learn the difference, one way or another, eventually,” Valentino replied. 

He seemed to sense my unease because he immediately turned to Vox and changed the subject.

“What are you making, anyway? It smells good.” He gave Velvette a meaningful look and she jumped down from the counter.

“Hey, reader, let’s get you dressed for the night, its going to be a blast! Come on, I have the perfect outfit in mind!”

Grateful for the escape, I followed her down to her room.

[gemsofgreece]

Hello!

This is a genuine question tangentially related to the response you posted:

Do you think the characteristic of the God of the dead in Greek myth as someone comparatively more positive of a person (as close as a God gets to being one, at least) is something based in cultural/historical/archeological/mythological evidence or the absence of it? As in, when you view him through a more positive lens, do you base your opinion on any particular local idea of him, or on the lack of "negative" myths about him?

I know there are certain parts of the general cluster of info on him that point towards his positive traits (some epithets, seemingly positive take on H/P in Lokri area, and so on), but what do you think is the main reason for him to be viewed positively? What is your reason?

I do agree with you, by the way, that there's a lot of weird... hypocrisy in how people now treat different Greek Deities. So, my question is more to ponder with you on the topic, don't consider it a nuanced attack or anything. Thank you in advance!

Hello! This is a great question.

I do have a reasoning and it is based on the general information we have about him rather than the lack thereof.

First of all, Ancient Greeks generally did not like Hades and avoided mentioning him but this was not because of some presumed cruelty or flaw of his character. They simply thought of him superstitiously and feared that too much engaging with the worship or even thinking about Hades would bring - what else - death upon them. (This superstition is huge even nowdays - don't mention / analyze something bad or unfortunate or it will come to you). This avoidance and the fear are perhaps the reasons why there are relatively fewer myths about him compared to some other gods.

However, it seems they were also aware of this avoidance and in the back of their minds they were concerned that it would anger the god and have the opposite result (bring them death out of spite / vengeance). I believe this is why they also developed positive traits about him (the most important being that he was also the god of wealth - Pluton). The fact that this name and domain of divine authority was attributed to him a little later in time supports the hypothesis that they were trying actively to make his worship more palatable in order to appease him.

But I think there's another reason why Hades had generally positive traits and this is that... he was the God of the Underworld!!! OK, hear me out! Unlike the major Olympians, Hades was the only one who was not ruling over living beings. The other gods domineered life and all of the nature with its elements. They domineered over things that underwent changes constantly, sometimes unexpected or violent. So their personalities reflected that constant change and this unpredictability - be it in nature, in the sky and the sea, in the animals and humans themselves and the livings they led. On the contrary, Hades ruled over the dead, the unchanging eternity, the ultimate silence. It didn't make sense for him to be a noisy, lively or volatile god because this is not what death is. I bet this is also the reason why he was the only one who was viewed as mostly monogamous and interested in longterm romantic relationships - he was not a god who contributed to creation and procreation, he was associated to the exact opposite. It would be jarring for the dead to have a god that constantly has sex and has babies and births life. I believe the few partners given to Hades and his few children (three and three respectively) were likely even serving some necessary concepts Greeks had to attach to some symbolism (i.e Persephone and nature), otherwise Hades might as well be portrayed as celibate. Him ruling over the eternity of death made him stable, consistent, more sensible, generally quiet and calm and capable of more profound, undying emotions.

Hades was also responsible and decent. There are some insinuations in the myths and their variations I think that he wasn’t all that happy for being assigned to be a ruler of the underworld. He accepted his fate with dignity however, even though he was the oldest brother, out of respect for his younger brother Zeus saving all of them from Cronos and perhaps out of wisdom for deciding it’s not worth it to argue it out with super strong Poseidon for the seas. After that, he ruled the Underworld with dignity, total responsibility and great care. I think this might be some symbolism associated with the solemnity, decency and sacredness people treat their dead.

Furthermore, he was viewed as just. This also makes sense because upon observation Greeks could guess that Death is just. It comes to all, lucky, unfortunate, rich, poor, privileged and loved or marginalized. No one ever escaped or returned from death. Death was fair and absolute. Surely the Greeks would also like to imagine the Underworld as fair and equal towards all the souls of the dead [with a special treatment for extreme wrongdoers - Tartarus, rarely for normal human beings - and rare glorious legendary heroes - Elysian fields - and then all the average souls together in Hades (the place)]. Hades (the god) also employed three srict but good judges to determine how a soul was to be treated in the afterlife, based on how they had fared once alive. Despite being generally good and fair, he was stern and cold because how could the god of the dead be joyous or overly expressive and animated? And he was adamant at keeping the souls to his realm, greatly guarded, because who ever came back from the dead?

So this is why I think Hades was viewed as quiet, consistent, just and reliable. Because this is what death is - reliably it will come to us all and we will all receive the same treatment.

And now, sorry, but I have to do this:

[s-b-party]

Imbibitor Lunae & Bailu of the Path of Permanence

****Spoilers for Imbibitor Lunae companion quest****

The title might not make sense now but trust me I’ll explain lol

To sum up Imbibitor Lunae’s companion quest, it looks more into Dan Heng’s past life as Dan Feng

As we see the internal conflict amongst the Vidyadhara, we also take a close look at the relationship between Dan Heng & Bailu as two high elders (past & present)

There are 2 main sides who want different things when it comes to the high elder: those who want Bailu to stay as the high elder & those who want to change the high elder

The main reason for those in support of Bailu is that she herself was chosen by Dan Feng previously, so it is a case, as Jing Yuan states, of legitimacy

Those in opposition of Bailu do not acknowledge her bc they believe she is weak

And of course a majority of the vidyadhara we see (aside from Bailu) does not want Dan Heng back anywhere amongst them bc of what Dan Feng did

To clear up some possible confusion, there are 2 crimes at this point that Dan Feng may have committed, one is in regard to Blade’s backstory & the other involves the transmutation arcanum; the one that seems to be more relevant in this companion quest is the 2nd one

NOTE: In my original thread on Twitter, my phrasing was poor so it sounded like it was all facts but it's still essentially theories/implications at this point so I apologize for my bad phrasing over there if that's what you saw first, remember to take with a grain of salt

*For context of the 1st crime, it's implied that Dan Feng granted immortality to someone of the short-lived species which turned out to be Yingxing aka Blade; it is known that immortality is taboo on the Xianzhou so it would not be surprising if Dan Feng got punished for helping someone become immortal, leading to his molting rebirth & eventual exile as punishment*

*Arcanum comes from Latin meaning secret, could also be referring to a cure/medicine at times, transmutation refers to the process of changing one material into another (they need to have similar properties in order to be transmutated i.e. one metal to another metal, etc.)*

When we look at the dialogue of some of the characters, we can see some who mention a “draconic abomination”; we don’t know for certain who this is referring to, some would suggest Bailu because of the word “draconic” but what doesn’t click immediately is that they seem to talk about this abomination as if it was violent which doesn’t seem to fit Bailu’s temperament; now we aren’t completely sure of everything that happened back then so perhaps this could imply that Dan Feng tried to alter the transmutation arcanum multiple times & got different results aka there were experiments; Bailu’s last character story explains that something likely went wrong w/ the transmutation arcanum which stunted her growth so it would seem that Bailu’s (re)birth wasn’t typical (she also hasn’t seen any dreams of dragon ancestors); idk if I would go so far as to call her an abomination so it might be someone else

The changes made to the transmutation arcanum were to help the Vidyadhara escape the constant cycles of rebirth & to give them a way to procreate normally; it seemed that Dan Feng somehow managed to find a solution to that & this was his 2nd crime (because he was playing god by creating life)

Now the reason why I mention all of this is because it can be tied into what the existence of Long the Permanence could mean and I think that IL & Bailu could be considered as those who embody (not follow) the Path of Permanence (I know they are the Paths of Destruction & Abundance respectfully but hear me out 😂)

HYV recently released the video regarding Long & it brought up an overall interesting question: what is the meaning behind the existence of permanence?

For Preceptor Taoran, he states “Only by comprehending & aligning with the way of the world can one’s path lead to everlasting existence. Countless new creations emerge when one dragon meets its end among the morning stars. For the Vidyadhara, this is the true meaning of the Permanence.” (2:16 in video)

Now obviously not every Vidyadhara is going to agree w/ this but it does bring up what the 2 sides in the quest truly seek; there is an irony to the reasoning behind both sides’ views against Bailu & Dan Feng/Heng respectively

In Bailu’s case, she is seen as “weak & useless” & the high elder should be someone strong and yet she has healing capabilities that make her extraordinary even among the Vidyadhara; Dan Feng was known to be a warrior but then he committed sins which involved tampering of life & immortality for which he was punished

Both are resented for something they lack or something bad they did but they are revered for the traits they do have

Bailu is revered for her healing abilities but resented for her lack of strength, Dan Feng was revered for being a strong warrior but resented for messing w/ life

I’d like to suggest that the quest presents Bailu & Imbibitor Lunae as 2 halves of a whole which make up the Path of Permanence, life (Bailu of abundance) & death (Imbibitor Lunae of destruction)

As Taoran stated, life is full of changes and those who understand the world & its laws can reach everlasting existence; life is full of cycles of life & death which Bailu & IL symbolize

Even more interesting is how well Bailu & IL get along with each other despite their differences & how others view them; they are a great duo to depict balance

At the end Bailu wonders why Dan Feng chose her as his successor & even though Dan Feng committed some crimes, part of me thinks that him choosing her makes sense if we look at it symbolically (after destruction comes life & it’ll repeat), it all comes back to life & death which is needed for balance & it’s this balance that makes up Permanence

So what about the other Vidyadhara? What they want is one or the other, representing imbalance which would contradict a bit of what Taoran stated was the meaning of the Permanence

Now this isn’t to say that Dan Feng was right about doing what he did or that they should get rid of Bailu, what I want to emphasize is that the Vidyadhara’s internal conflict beautifully depicts the question of what Long’s revelation about Permanence signifies for them

There isn’t truly one single correct answer; if we refer back to “Exodus of the Five Dragons” Penman Oppenheimer gives 3 possible answers that could answer that big question

The thing is not everybody is going to have the same answer

Some might agree w/ either of those that Oppenheimer suggested, others might have different answers, but that is just how life is

We often say that nothing lasts forever which is true but I think that some of the things that do last forever are life’s beauty & its complexities

[scarlet666tears]

@an0bserver

Here I did some of the work for you.. I made a post earlier yesterday regarding the psychological similarities of the abuse of children both by Christians and how the LGBT are doing it particularly the T part.

I never really have a problem with LGB because there are some cases where science prove that even in nature not all animals or attracted to the opposite sex. Just most of them because if they didn't they wouldn't procreate and there wouldn't be any creatures to begin with.

Anyway, the issue I have is pushing this trans agenda on children and if you was to compare both the video link above with Seth Andrews talking about specifically what tools Christian used in order to take advantage of children while they're mentally unable to think for themselves..

You're doing the exact same thing now in schools video games in Hollywood. Watch the side by side then come back to me and tell me how I'm wrong..

You can't do that then you're not worth even having a reasonable debate with. I'm not doing this out of anger or frustration toward humans I kind of feel some weirdo sympathy for them. The ideology that I can't stand that's what's causing the damage.

[cherienymphe]

Nah I agree. I've never quite gotten that because for argument's sake even if you do change your mind down the road, there's literally no way to know that. If someone told me they didn't want children I wouldn't even question that because you know yourself better than I do 😭 idk why so many people think every woman needs to have children anyway. I could honestly go on a whole tangent about motherhood and such but alas

Lmao I mean if you want to go on that tangent I’m listening…

This is probably going to be long but-

Motherhood is a very serious role that is so often downplayed it makes me sick. As far along as we've come with technology, childbirth is still very incredibly dangerous. Plenty of women still die from complications of childbirth. Death aside, childbirth and pregnancy still has a lot of possible side effects on the body that I feel the average woman doesn't even know about. Those reasons alone are enough to understand why some women don't want to have children.

Now into my more radical opinions...

I'm very much pro abortion. Not even just pro abortion but I'm very much pro death. I genuinely feel like women are co creators with God or the universe or whatever you want to believe in and our ability to create life is hand in hand with our ability to create death. I do not think every bloodline deserves to continue on and I wish women in general were just more picky with who they procreate with. It's why I'm so pro choice because a lot of these men don't deserve children. They don't deserve to have any parts of themselves passed down. In just about every other species in the animal kingdom the males have to prove themselves to the females in order to be picked and those that don't make the cut will have to deal with their particular bloodline dying off. Idk why we don't do that as a whole but it's annoying af. Everybody thinks everybody is entitled to a child and they're not.

Children are a privilege, not a right, and the problem is that too many people believe the opposite. No one is entitled to children. They're people, not property and accessories and pets that you decide you want just because it's what's expected or because you're lonely. You're raising a person who will hopefully grow up to contribute something positive to this world. What they contribute to society all depends on you as a parent and some people 100% should not have that role idc. It's literally the foundation of what the world will be like decades on depending on how you raise your children and what's instilled in them. You shouldn't just want anyone taking on that role and you especially shouldn't want people becoming parents who don't even want to be parents.

[nahalism]

Hey. You mentioned once, in one of your answers that you would be lying if you didn’t mention that you think a relationship between a female and a male has a certain special energy about it and i wonder if you’d mind to elaborate on that a bit? I want to follow up on your thinking

love to you, only love

hey angel. sorry it took me so long to reply to this but honestly i was scared to touch on the topic out of the fear that what id say would get misconstrued/become ammo for damaging arguments. i think before i answer i have to put the nature of the response i gave in context. the individual whose question i was replying to was basically asking me if i thought there was a basis for homosexuality being a mental illness/defect, rather than a valid form of relationship/interaction, due to the fact that humans are wired to procreate and preserve life, thus not doing so = being defective.

as someone queer, whos been raised in an african & catholic household, ive had my fair share of grappling with my own sexuality. my point was less about hetero relationships having a 'special' energy, and more to do with fleshing out my own struggles with my sexuality, how i came to grips with it, and as a consequence how i now think about relationships and the role that sexuality / romantic union plays in the role of our larger human purpose.

now this is super reductive because it uses gender and prescribed societal roles to explain a situation where honestly, i dont think gender matters. imo people are just people, and love is just love. but for the sake of presenting the point i was trying to make metaphorically : lets say a man is represented by a line, a woman is represented by a circle, & a non binary person is represented by a square. a man (line) and woman (circle) come together and create a triangle (the symbol for the conjoining of two opposites and creation of a child). in creating this triangle they may have created something two circles cant create, two lines cant create or two squares/a square and *insert either* can or cant create. that capacity for creation is specific and unique particularly in its ability to draw in and anchor life into this world. spiritually speaking, the conjoining of those forces creates a specific energetic blueprint, that cant be replicated, and that has great value. it literally opens a portal that creates life and anchors it on earth. when i say it cant be replicated what i mean is — e.g, when i was with my ex it broke my heart that id never be able to carry a child that was genetically both hers and mine. —NEVERTHELESS! children are not the only things that human beings birth!!! whilst a line and circle can create a triangle, two lines together can create a cross! two circles create a toroidal field! two squares a rectangle or even (diagonally placed) a star! each has a spiritual signature/blueprint, and thus its own value and ability to create something unique.

— the central and most important point i was trying to make being: not everyone has the same desires, the same role to play, or the same purpose. we're not here to learn/enact the same lessons. nor are we here to teach the same lessons to others as the next person can teach. so whilst one person may find value in exploring the path of creating a triangle, there is equal value that can come from creating a star. love, tolerance, empathy, compassion, peace, joy, harmony. these are also things human beings can give birth to and cultivate. without those qualities, what kind of world would those children be born into? if there is a god (the notion original anon was grappling with) i can imagine it would find value in challenging us to be more tolerant and more loving. not simply for the sake of making mini extensions of ourselves, as beautiful as that must be, but in order for us to love and truly see the nature of all things in creation around us. how can someone be loving of the earth & whats in it or tolerant of the difference they find once they explore it, when they cant expand their mind to conceive of a man loving another man.

do you get where im going with this? idk. i hope it makes sense. its 5:32am -_- lol. gonna sleep. love u too <3

[lunarruled]

Learning {Louise & Kyleigh} She imagined this was all a bit of a shock for the other woman. Lycanthropy on this planet was not the norm but rather the exception. Fascinating. Her features soften as the waitress asks after meal orders. “Just another moment, if you don’t mind,” Louise told the other and in an instant she was (comparatively) alone again with Kyleigh. “I do, yes,” Louise explained, delight clear in her eyes and voice. Children were important. “They turned twelve on the first of March. Emma and William. Emma is, goodness, 35 minutes older! That was certainly a story. Here…” and then, taking out her phone and finding the appropriate image, she showed the mechanic ‘proof’. It was a bathroom selfie, with her shirt pulled up to show her full-term and twin-filled pregnant belly. There is obvious pride in the eyes of both the woman in the picture and the woman sitting opposite Kyleigh. From here, Louise could tell she’d opened up an entire can of worms. “I take it you have a lot of questions, Kyleigh. Go on. Ask away!”

Barely registering the fact that the waitress had come up to ask them for their order, Kyleigh gave her the briefest of smiles before returning to their conversation. It was just so rare for her to meet another lycan that she simply wasn't herself. A more excited version that wanted to know every single thing about the other woman, if she felt okay with sharing that was.

Her eyes were probably the size of the small plates on their table as she listened to Louise talk about her children. From everything she had learned about mixed breed beings such as herself there was no chance of procreation, but she knew with full lycans they were able and often had multiples at once. So twins were probably normal to Louise and her people. Leaning forward a bit more to see the picture on Louise's phone, Kyleigh couldn't help but giggle at how round and big the other woman's stomach had been! "They certainly made use of all the space in there they could! What cute names though!" She said as she sat back in her seat, wondering if she would ever get to hear the story that was behind their birth. Clearly she couldn't have gone to a human hospital right? The staff would know instantly that something wasn't right, or had she been able to get through that without giving away what she was?

"Yeah, I mean how could I not? I've only known one other wolf my entire life, so meeting you is like winning the lottery! Are there more like you? I mean there has to be if you have kids. How did you decide to find me of all people? Did your wolf sense mine?" Kyleigh prayed that was the reason since she didn't want to have to run from trouble again.

@shexsmother

[royaltrashkin]

Reading articles these days be like "do you really need art? No! Get off your ass and work 16 hr shifts for $10/hr! We got AI to paint shit now, stop having hobbies!" and "It's actually problematic to enjoy Disney/YA Novels/movies/tv shows/music, only childish pieces of shit continue to enjoy things, the true way to be a good person is to be a miserable cog in the worker drone machine and work yourself to exhaustion in order to barely make ends meet" and "free time is a sign of weakness! Working for meagre pay and struggling to survive is moxie! Needing a liveable wage is a sign of weakness!" and "Back to School Supplies are in! Buy that AK-47 for half off if you bring us your school's blueprints! Get kids in the factories again to make up for the worker shortage!" and "Unless you have missionary sex with your opposite gender spouse specifically to procreate, you are a grooming rapist sonofabitch BIRTH MORE WORKER DRONES" and all the pandemic did was convince people that doing anything except increase profit margins for billionaire corporations is wrong and if you don't toe the line we will kill you with a gun and force people to birth more worker drones, like I literally see some of y'all posting articles saying "enjoying life is childish and problematic :/ go work you lazy cunts" while clapping along like indeed, indeed we should feel guilt for writing a poem and drawing a dog when AI can do that and watching a movie and playing a video game that made us smile when we could've been sidehustling and we slept for eight hours instead of four and that's just four hours less of making pennies you right I'm the problem yay capitalism

[fierykitten2]

The ship meme with the Proto Beasts and Neo Swords (there’s something funny about Bolt repeatedly breaking the scales (the PDA thing was intentionally off the scale btw)). Their genders are listed as “none” because I took “genderless”/“gender unknown” too seriously. I left the clothes part blank because they haven’t been seen wearing clothes yet (bc none of them are in UNITE) but I think Wake, Leaves, Fire and Boulder would be on the Borrows Clothes side and Bolt and Crown would be on the Lends Clothes side (here’s me not believing in “opposites attract”). Wake strikes me as the kind of Pokémon that couldn’t cook while Fire and Bolt would probably try (even though they can’t read the recipes) only to accidentally char it immediately with their powers. I think Boulder has a surprisingly wide skill set (that said it’s a Psychic-type robot, I’d be amazed if it couldn’t do a large amount of the things it can do) and could definitely cook really well. I also believe that Leaves and Boulder would just order takeaways most of the time though. Speaking of Leaves and Boulder, I’m sure they’d both steal a car. I also think Fire would steal a car, despite not being able to drive (which is probably why I put it slightly further away from the “can’t drive lol” part). Also Wake and Leaves are supposed to be listed as just as extroverted as each other (I think if either of them was more extroverted it would be Leaves) it’s just I accidentally put Leaves slightly further away from the end. Also bold (accidentally wrote bolt lol) of you to assume Bolt would intentionally be overprotective of Crown (yeah I know I probably should’ve put it up the other end but it doesn’t strike me as being “chill”). You may notice that Bolt and Crown are the only ones who don’t have any Xs in exactly the same place, that’s because I headcanon that while they’re both the fun-hating (well, less fun-hating in Crown’s case and more mundane-loving) grandfather figures (gender neutral), they’ve got characteristics that actually distinguish themselves from each other (eg Bolt’s sleep schedule and Crown’s preference for taking charge despite the mutual agreement that Leaves is the leader of the Neo Swords). Honestly, how much my headcanons distinguish the Neo Swords to their Proto Beast counterparts seems to depend on how much I prefer the Neo Sword - I vastly prefer Crown to Bolt so the two of them are quite different to each other and take the “grandfather figure” (gender neutral) in different directions, I prefer Leaves to Wake but they’re my top two favourite Pokémon so they’re pretty similar but have some notable differences and I love Fire and Boulder equally so they’re virtually the same Pokémon just from different time periods and with different types (with the result of Boulder being smarter than Fire)

The “also” on the explanation for Crown’s experience (strangely for me) wasn’t adding on to the “bc Psychic” part, it was just phrased that way because I did Bolt’s explanation first

Feel free to ignore the colours getting deeper for the text as you go down, that’s just something Procreate does when you type stuff

link to the template:

[satanicallypanicky]

am i the only one lowkey bothered by how much explicit sexual content comes up when you research satan/satanism on tumblr? i understand that satan stands for sexual liberation, and im not saying people are not allowed to be horny on main or that they should censor themselves (sexual content has the right to exist in online spaces after all), but it sometimes feels borderline fetishizing. like it's made by people who are not actual believers and have more of a surface level understanding of satan and think satanism is about having orgies under the full moon (good for anyone who does btw, not trying to shame). it's even made me feel like im not a ''true'' theistic satanist because im asexual which is such bullshit

YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE.

The sheer quantity of Fetish Satanist blogs on here far far outnumbers the Theistic Satanists. I think, honestly, that those folks have maybe not quite deconstructed their Christianity very well yet and are still in (perhaps permanently stuck in) what I call the "do the opposite" phase. You know, when you realize the worldview you were brought up in is maybe not entirely true so you rebel with everything you've got?

Anyways, there's a reason I block those blogs on site and that reason is because it is beyond fetishistic, as I say that as a person who is actually really fucking kinky and is actually super into that stuff sometimes. They are expressing a profoundly shallow understanding of Satan and of kink and of rebellion against the prevailing morals of the society they have grown up in, and I prefer to keep them off of my blog. When I (rarely) (actually, very rarely) do produce original content, I don't want it to show up on a blog next to some dude smoking PCP overlaid with a red filter and "HAIL SATAN" in some stupid spooky font, because that is not representative of my theistic Satanism.

Satan does stand for sexual liberation,of course, but not JUST sexual liberation. And sexual liberation is more than just having unprotected orgies and masturbating in nun costumes or dudes fisting each other (though those are certainly included). Sexual liberation is also the FREEDOM to NOT HAVE SEX if you don't want it. It's liberation from the dominant culture values of sex, which are Christian and thus are "you need to be having sex within a marriage in order to procreate". Satan says fuck that! Don't have any sex at all if you aren't into it! Have all the sex you can consensually find if you want!

But don't forget to learn things that Christians or the Christian god would rather have kept from you. Don't forget to rebel against authoritarianism and oppression. Don't forget to embody all of the other things that Satan stands for in your Theistic Satanism.

[thecrazyworldbuilder]

Sundum.

So there's this world, Sundum.

Here's the run-through:

Everything began with the Will - a power alongside Destiny that willed the world into existence. At first it was but a realm of forests and beasts. There were born the first gods, nature spirits of the Forest, Beasts, and Sea.

Through Will, Destiny was shaped - the coming of gods was all predicted and written to be. First came the Elven gods, eleven in count. They were of Summer (Sovë), Autumn (Suksu), Winter (Tylve), Spring (Kavyt), Fire (Tole), Water (Nasta), Air (Veëmy), Earth (Myy), Yin (Vylestos), Yang (Pemanti) and Balance (Syldi).

Settling in the northern regions of the continent, they evenly ruled the lands. Through their unity, the elves were created, and every god played their part in the first Creation.

Elves were unable to procreate, as they inherited their gods' immortality and endless youth. They were able to create new elves, though, through a ritual held between two elves of opposite sexes and a priest, symbolizing Yin, Yang, and Balance, at the central location of their sacred grounds - the Lake of Creation. They had an afterlife they departed to, which must be deserved. Elves, despite their immortality, didn't fear death for their souls were unshattering and immortal, and when judged by their gods, could be let into the elven Heaven within the skies above the elven mountains, or to be buried beneath them in the worse case.

The Will soon gave way to the Human gods, Negeuz and Nenganfa, the First Father and First Mother, who procreated the First Son, Nernte, and First Daughter, Neneid.

Negeuz ordered his son to kill the elven god of summer, for it he knew north would be too powerful against his family. Himself, he stole the elven Grace from their god of Yin and implanted it in himself and sharing it with his family. Thus began the line of demigods who had the Grace in them, humans with an ever-young face and way more powerful magic than anyone else's.

With the elven god of Summer dead, the North became a cold place, only kept alive by the goddess of Spring who had to marry the god of Fire as his second wife (after Earth) to keep the elven kin safe and alive. (The entire elven nation generally takes inspiration from Finland, as the elves' land is volcanic and cold in nature.)

Each elven god had a Grace, and Yin having none now turned a very twisted situation: The Good, male, light aspect of their pantheon became corrupted and weakened. An option was so all gods shared their Grace with him, weakening the entire pantheon by one eleventh of their general power. This indeed became the case, but this decision took a long time to take.

The Dwarven god - Rungunok - became the First King, ruling over the dwarven kin. After some time though, his existence threatened Negeuz, and he was killed by the human god, making Negeuz the First Emperor.

Negeuz was one patriarchal son of a bitch so his son, with huge daddy issues, slayed him, taking the whole Grace to himself, and ruling as the Second Emperor. Dwarves were long gone and living as nomads, waiting for their god to reincarnate, "wake up", so his Will would build the dwarven kingdom again.

Nenganfa - the mother of the First Son and Daughter and Negeuz's wife, withered from mourning her husband, despite not being treated well by him. She was sealed with him in the First Tomb, which was once the dwarven king's hall.

The wild gods of the Forest, Beasts and Sea were not influenced by the Great Will for they were not in its plan. All three spread chaos, trying to take what was theirs. From the will of the Wild Gods, lycanthropy, ailourothropy (same as werewolves but instead were-sabertooths), minotaurs, satyrs, mermaids, dryads and many other beast folk were born to protect the forests, seas, rivers, lakes and peaks from humans.

Nernte, showing himself to be a faulty leader, let his father's empire shatter, and his blood children were so numerous the throne was to be disputed for centuries.

Neneid at the time took interest in witchcraft, and her children - Riegam and Exeheid (son and daughter) continued her legacy. She gave up all her Grace to them, a part of her living in both.

Riegam built the Bibleoteca - a great library city where the magic of the Words was studied. Mages learnt there, as the demigod's human apprentices mastered many arts and discovered many truths in the ways of physics, anatomy, and astronomy. He was the First Mage.

Exeheid, on the other hand, spent her time in the wild, running with the beasts and soon understanding the will of the Wild Gods. She became the First Witch, giving humans a way into the wilderness and creating reincarnation for their souls, as before all humans' souls dissolved to become a genius loci, depending on the Determination (measurement of Will) of each given human.

Exeheid's reincarnation provided them way to become Forestfolk/Beastfolk (synonyms), and connect to the primal parts of their souls.

Elves at the time, being created by their gods and themselves, started allied cults to their gods, studying the Elements (Water, Earth, Fire and Air) and thus Alchemy, practicing Craft through the Seasons and discussing Philosophy in the temples of Yin, Yang, and Balance.

Inevitably, Half-elves were born through artificial birth due to the incompatibility of their parents' natures. On the side note, the way Dwarves reproduced was unknown, but some mages speculated it is through Mystery.

Due to corruption and aging, Nernte became withered and lost his Grace, instead turning to other ways of keeping himself alive. Some mages, willing to win themselves a spot in the halls of the demigod, went on to help him. His Grace was lost, but they gave him Determination. Immortal and withered, he sits on his bone throne, eyes filled with fire, defying death.

Soon, unexpected, Dwarves somehow outwilled the Great Will itself, becoming free of its plan, and becoming incredibly secretive to a point of becoming myth. Their Mystery allowed them to master both Birth and Creation, as soon, from their dungeons, monsters began to spread. Chimera and other monstrous creatures sent havoc all across the continent.

As turns out, Dwarves weren't the only ones to have Mystery. Gods from outside the continent were also spreading their influence via the same magic.

So was Tog, a god from the south. Brother to Desh, they had no one to rule over, but to them came many. Tog promised afterlife, Desh - immortality. Beastfolk, humans, elves, and primarily half-elves came to both into the desert sands of the south, where there was no Winter.

Tog and Desh were dual, and very well-allied at that. Tog ruled the monsoons and Desh had the droughts. Tog's influence turned his followers into Angels upon death, and Desh shaped his followers into immortal, fiery Demons. But so it happened that some of them inevitably went astray. Two particular ones were demigods of Nernte's blood, Lefeut the Archdemon and Lenge the Archangel.

Their demigod blood and Grace gave them great determination as they returned to the middle lands of the continent to spread their influence. Lefeut did not associate with Desh, for which he was cursed, and Lenge was but a devoted servant of Tog, spreading his faith as a way for the people of the shattered human empire.

The rulership of Nernte was disputed for many critics called him Lich (in which they were right), as his servants indeed practiced necromancy. This didn't give him support of the people, so the shattered empire was now but a great lot of kingdoms. Eventually, the human pantheon ended up having nine figures in it: the First Father and Emperor, the First Mother, the First Son and Second/Undying Emperor, the First Daughter, the First Witch, the First Mage, the Archangel, the Archdemon, and lastly the Great Will.

Dwarves at the time had a plan on using their Science (part of their mystery, steampunk/clockpunk) to create a body for Rungunok to inhabit and rule as an Eternal First King.

[countesslisathemonsterfucker]

Medieval view on sex positions. And very serious thoughts about what that means for Dracula :P

"According to the church, any sexual positions other than what is now termed the "missionary position" (with the man lying on top of the woman) could not be condoned and were considered "unnatural." There were fears of reversing the natural order of male and female sexuality by having the female on top, in the superior or active role normally reserved for men. Intercourse a tergo, or from the rear, implied a similar threat; it was considered "beastly," and thus it confused the boundaries between human and animal behavior (Brundage, "Sex and Canon Law," 40)"

"Anal and oral sexual practices were also considered unacceptable to Church authorities, but for a slightly different reason. These were seen as acts against nature, not because they interfered with standard male and female roles during intercourse, but because neither could possibly lead to procreation, which was considered the primary - and according to many purists the only - purpose of sexual interactions. Anal and oral intercourse were simply a means for sexual gratification, which the majority of canonists and theologians viewed as sinful in itself."

"Despite the fact that general opinion on the acceptability of non-standard positions remained static during most of the Middle Ages, some more progressive theologians and canonists began to question these ideas. Albertus Magnus, for example, named five sexual positions and ranked then in order of most to least "natural" as follows: missionary, side-by-side, seated, standing and a tergo. Although he considered the first to be the only completely "natural" position, he deemed the others "morally questionable but not mortally sinful" (Brundage, 452)"

Mathias/Dracula on his quest to to curse God and commit as much blasphemy as possible would obviously do the opposite of what the Church claimed.

So his preference must be: non- procreation (anal, oral, etc), behind, standing, seated, side-by-side, missionary.

Even if you assume Mathias was the straightest straight of all straights, he so would have sex with men just so he can say fuck you to God. He would prefer men to spite God.

And Church says a man's proper position is to be a top? Well clearly it's rebelling against God to be a bottom. Bottom!Dracula is canon.

Now, could I assume Mathias originally was a strict follower of Church doctrine (to make the change between Pre-Elisabetha's death Mathias and Dracula bigger)? Sure, but what with his deep knowledge of alchemy that some consider heresy (and by some, I assume Rinaldo meant the Church), I doubt he wasn't selective when to be a Proper Christian™. And it's not like it's uncommon to act even if you feels it's wrong... He would just being in the Crusades as a reason to deserve commit some small sins, as a treat!

...Though it absurdly funny to imagine Mathias saying or thinking "I was even so devoted to avoid sinful sex, and yet God takes Elisabetha away from me! I will commit to a unlife of sinful sex" Almost want Pre-Vampire!Mathias to only had Church-approved (for lack of better term) sex. Almost.

Alucard only exists because at some point Dracula and Lisa wanted a child. No accidental pregnancy here. Unless Lisa somehow drastically changed his view on the hating God bit.

On a creepy and controlling note:

Dracula not liking Isaac and Hector, because they're his and should only fuck him? Nah, he wouldn't just let them bang each other, nay, he encourage them so they commit as much sins as possible. Which is also disturbing. He watched too (directly or magically), I'm sure.

[deathlessathanasia]

„Demosthenes' remarks in this same speech indicate better than anything both the desire to establish a clear demarcation, or even a positive opposition, between the legitimate wife and the concubine, and at the same time the impossibility of so doing. Demosthenes declares: "The state of marriage consists in procreating children …” and he goes on to 'say, "We have courtesans for pleasure, concubines for one's day to-day needs and wives in order to have legitimate children by them and as the faithful guardians of the household goods."

It is a purely rhetorical distinction that has no meaning in terms of the existing institutions. Courtesans for pleasure - it is easy enough to see what Demosthenes means. Legitimate wives for the procreation of children - that is equally clear. But what about the pallake? How is one to understand this therapeia tou somatos that she is supposed to fulfill? In the Gorgias, Plato uses this expression to refer to gymnastics and medicine. This cannot be what Demosthenes means by it, and one gets the feeling that, in default of any valid definition of the concubine, he has chosen this formula precisely because it has no precise meaning. Furthermore, in his Against Aristocrates, he cites a law of Solon or Dracon' declaring that one has the right to kill a man caught in one's own house, "in flagrante delicto with one's wife (damar), mother, sister, daughter or with the pallake that one has taken for the purpose of procreating free children." The text of this law has been the subject of many commentaries. We will note three points from it. First, the pallake is put on the same level as the damar and all the other closely related women over whom the head of the family has full authority in his own oikos. Second, the pallake lives ,in one's house for the purpose of paidopoieisthai (having children), which was used just now to define the status of marriage. It is true that these children are not gnesioi, but neither are they defined as nothoi; they are referred to as eleutheroi, free. There is every reason to believe that, under Solon, unlike in the fifth century, children born from a marriage without engue, from a union which we would today describe as unofficial, had a status which did not radically exclude them from the anchisteia, or inheritance, or from the right to take part in the religious and political life of the city.”

- Myth and Society in Ancient Greece by Jean-Pierre Vernant

[viralzone]

ROCAILLE28 : REJECT. RINSE. REPEAT.

ROCAILLE28 is a hypothetical roguelike about countercultural communities and capitalism's brutal cycling and exploitation of human bodies.

originally created for a uni project but i want to continue it :3

The surface is populated by discarded androids dropped down by the ROCOCO, an aristocratic society of individuals atop a massive tower in the wasteland. the surface is divided into two major factions: SIMULACRA & SIMULATION.

SIMULACRA are communal and have a culture based around raving and open sex, celebrating their painful lives in opposition to the DISEASE that prevents them from dying naturally and degrades their bodies more and more through each forced rebirth until they become fully possessed. As their bodies are extensively modded and high maintenance, their experiences of sex and intimacy are much more expansive and not constrained to the idea of penetrative sex and the act of procreation as “true” intimacy.

SIMULATION, by contrast, is growing in influence as they promise “reform” and more “sophisticated” models of living that emulate the ROCOCO atop the tower. They denounce the lifestyles of the SIMULACRA as debased, equating them as the reason they are cursed with the DISEASE. In order to reach the ideal of ROCOCO living they go to extreme lengths to obscure their own infections and modify their bodies not as a form of self-expression, but towards the goal of complete cultural hegemony within their faction and the SIMULACRA as well.

WHAT IS DISEASE? A strange illness that infects android bodies and prevents them from dying in a conventional manner, contorting their bodies and adopting any number of strange properties throughout its growth until the individual is fully possessed and becomes a mere husk. The process of infection is extremely painful and a lifelong affliction. If the afflicted dies at any point before the DISEASE fully possesses them they are forcibly resuscitated, quickening the pace of its growth in exchange.

MODEL 28 : FEVER Fever is a combat model discarded to the surface after the experimental procedures used to create him failed according to the ROCOCO's expectations: procedures that have accelerated the rate of DISEASE growth in his body and left him thirsty for revenge.

MODEL 89 : ANTIGEN A happy-go-lucky nurse by day, tattoo artist by night who's the life of the party. Unapologetically horny and charming, many frequent his shop with vague injuries just to talk to it before one thing leads to another… inevitably turning into sex.

The rest of the main cast with whom Fever can associate with on their commune before venturing into the Tower.

GAMEPLAY The Tower gameplay functions as you would imagine any other action-roguelike would, with the main thing setting it apart being the delicate balance of SP - Sanitation Points - and DISEASE. The former influences the rate of growth of the latter - the latter increases Fever's power at the risk of permadeath at 100%. A game over from depleted HP does not cause permadeath but just boots the player back to the surface; a viable strategy to preserve your progress should the DISEASE rising become too risky to keep playing.

Mockup UI screenshots.

The commune has three functions: Bonding with NPCS for scenes that can influence story progression, preparing for the treks up the Tower with limited upgrades - the SIMULACRA do not have an economy and merely provide what each android needs to have their basic needs met and "Commune Calibration", a town builder mode where you can help develop the town for yet more unlocked story progression options, opening up another ending as well as providing Fever with more facilities to engage with.

and that's all from me! i want to keep developing the project so keep an eye out!

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PATREON