#as questionable as the dragon purification was

[unironicallytes]

Thoughts on the Wrath of Sithis*, Where It Comes From, and Why Mathieu Bellamont Did Not Receive One (Now Purified!**)

*For the purpose of this discussion, "Wrath" is used to refer specifically to the actual enemy specter/wraith encountered in ESO and Oblivion.

**ifykyk, a lot of this is copy-paste from an old post we no longer speak of nor circulate because it got toxic real quick and we never actually got to discuss the topic itself.

Imo, Sithis does not send the Wrath - it is instead conjured by the Black Hand themselves.

In this idea, the Hand disguises their conjured Wrath as Sithis himself enacting unholy retribution against a Tenet-Breaker - this lends credence to their authority in a way that also absolves them of responsibility for what happens to a member. Sithis works in mysterious ways, my brother! This could also explain the following:

Lucien straight up pardons the HoK for the Purification. That is apparently within his authority to do, yet breaking the Tenets is always said to be a surefire way to invoke the Wrath. You break Tenet Five like 8 whole times within a day, but Lucien has the power to just wave it off for you and carry on business-as-usual. There is something decidedly "mortal institution of laws" about that rather than sacred retribution.

Greywyn lasted for years in hiding without getting auto-Wrathed as punishment for leading an entire coup. A mortal assassin found him and doled out a punishment, not a Wrath of Sithis. This could be because the Hand was unaware he still lived, whereas if the Wrath was Sithis-sent, that dude would've been deleted pretty quick.

No one in the Skyrim DBh is ever sent a Wrath for breaking Tenet One, perhaps because there is no Hand at this time. Cicero is the only one who attempts to punish Astrid for what I presume was breaking a Tenet (large presumption, as we are never outright told). You could argue Astrid got her karmic comeuppance, and perhaps the Wrath was her crispy death, but that can also be explained by her simple hubris. But, like I said, for the purpose of this discussion, we're referring specifically to the physical Wrath here!

(Another new, additional thought) When you finally kill Mathieu at the end of the Oblivion DBh questline, there is no Wrath to come and claim him as in the case of the Black Dragon confrontation. No specter comes to aid you (save for Mother, who's only there to go "lol. lmao even.") This is also potentially because, as in Case #3, there's no longer a Hand to even conjure the Wrath - the only ones left are you and Arquen.

(New, additional thought) The ESO DBh and its traitor, the Black Dragon. The Wrath does appear later to take her ... but notably, it only appears once you have informed your Matron - and subsequently your Hand - who the traitor is and where she is hiding. You have now given the Listener the true identity of the traitor. When they send you and Green-Venom-Tongue to take her out, perhaps they quietly summon a Wrath too - not only as a back-up, but as reaffirmation of its existence to those who witness it.

Venom also remarked the following during your vision of the First Purification: "In the old stories, the Wrath of Sithis appeared to carry away the souls of traitors. If that's true, I wonder why purification was even necessary?"

So then, if it's the Black Hand sending the Wrath, and the Black Hand does not know Mathieu's identity, they cannot send him a Wrath throughout the entire questline. This would be extremely bothersome to them, because his continued activities undermine that faith-leverage they have. If a lower ranking member of the Family finds out that there's a traitor, but that traitor hasn't been punched in the face by a Wrath yet, then that lends itself to the same question we're asking here and the same questions Green-Venom-Tongue started asking. It lends itself to a member going "wait, so an all-knowing death god isn't enforcing these Tenets? so ... as long as no one in the organization finds out, I can break them." And I think Mathieu figured out that this was exactly the case.

Now then, encouragement of participation is always implied on tumblr dot com, but I'm saying it outright due to the history lol - please feel free to add on with your own thoughts! Even if you disagree and have a different idea! The only thing required for participation is respect.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

On the matter of the Miraculous as not just a magic tool but a jewel where “a magic being fuses with you and you become one”, what is your take on the powers the Miraculous give and how it plays into the whole abstract concept idea the kwamis personify? I’m a bit curious.

I know this may seem like an odd question, but really looking into the idea of “a human being is chosen by a mystic secret society because THEY in particular are the one who best embodies and upholds this concept at the forefront of their lives” as the basis of your magic system, it becomes apparent that Miraculous has a really barebones and literal approach to the idea.

One concept, one power (if you ignore the main heroine and villain lol) and it’s the most literal expression of the idea possible. Well, it is until it isn’t. I’m looking at you, ROOSTER. Dragon, you’re on thin ice because you’re technically able to spin the idea of your power being a play on the phrase “perfect storm” but I know that’s just wishful thinking on my part.

I understand why they chose to do it the way they did for their target audience (aka children). But I also find that using ABSTRACT concepts in the most literal and straight forward way possible is also a MASSIVE wasted opportunity from both a lore perspective and a storytelling one.

What about more symbolic or metaphorical means of showing those concepts and how they can play and be used in our everyday, mundane lives? What about using those concepts to help showcase their “moral lesson of the week” and letting it act as the lesson kids takes away from the episode because the show was made for kids?

Like for example, Marinette sees two friends get into an argument and are no longer on speaking terms. After hearing both of their stories however, she comes to learn that the argument stemmed from good but mishandled and misunderstood intention. From her desire to help those friends make up and reveal that good intention, she can use the power of Creation to create a magic bond between the two friends and connect their hearts to help them communicate more honestly and freely. Despite being a superpower, it acts as a lesson to show the need for mediation skills and promotes honest communication in friendships.

Another could be Adrien finding someone that is plagued with doubt and fear over wanting to do something they truly want to do but are too afraid to go through with it. Paralyzed by this fear, they choose to turn away from something they truly want to do and make themselves miserable due to it. Chat Noir then could use the power of Destruction to quash that fear holding them back and empower them, but also act as a lesson in the importance of encouraging others and the need for strong support networks in your life.

I absolutely love the idea of using those abstract concepts the kwamis embody to help guide the choices the Miraculous holders make and not only be used to showcase and promote growth in themselves but in others and the world itself. I think by leaning heavily into this idea, it could tremendously expand on the importance and gravity of the power of the kwami, the bond a Miraculous holder shares with their kwami, and just what wielding that Miraculous entails.

I know you’ve talked about how you feel as if the Black Cat should have the ability to purify and not the Ladybug because purification is the act of destroying or removing taint or corruption, so this ask is very much built off of this idea and I want to know how far you would willingly push this idea of what it means to wield the power of Creation, Destruction, Illusion, Transmission, and so forth.

Sorry for kinda the long ask, but I wanted to try and explain my question in the most easy to understand way possible lol.

I think I get what you're asking and it's an interesting idea. The first show I thought of after reading this was Winx club because that franchise does a lot of things with abstract concepts like belief and harmony leading to magic powers, but the concept is far from unique to Winx. A lot of magical girl shows lean into more abstract ways of granting magical powers because magical girl shows tend to lean hard on the whole Power of Friendship thing and friendship is an abstract concept, so it makes sense to pair it with other abstract things.

I personally wouldn't go this abstract route for Miraculous simply because it's such a massive deviation from canon and - when I'm coming up with ideas on here or writing fanfic - I do try to be as canon loyal as I can so that my stuff feels like an adaptation of canon and not a whole new show. Adaptation is an art, not a science, so there are no hard rules here, but my general approach is to try to make a bunch of little tweaks instead of big, massive shifts like you proposed. Those tweaks add up to massive shifts, but it's more of a gradual over time thing than a glaring, right from the start change. Or, at least, that's what I hope I'm doing!

That doesn't make your idea bad! Far from it. It would be a way to fix the wonky lore around the Kwamis because you are absolutely right to say that the powers they grant are often far too rigid for how abstract some of the associated concepts are. Perfection being a play on a perfect storm is one of the worst offenders in my book because sure it's fun and all, but when you try to match it with the very clear powers granted from concepts like Destruction it's feels weird and off. It's almost as if the writers are mixing a soft magic system with a hard magic system.

In case you don't know those terms, here's a real quick primer:

Soft magic systems are systems where the magic isn't clearly defined. They work best in stories where the specifics of how and why the magic works don't matter. Think Cinderella, where it doesn't really matter why the fairy godmother can do what she does because the magic is just an excuse to get Cinderella to the ball.

Hard magic systems are systems where the magic is clearly defined and basically works like a science. These types of systems work best in stories where the main characters are actively wielding magic and the way they wield that magic matters because it's how the writers establish narrative stakes. This is what Miraculous is theoretically doing with things like its five minute timers and single use powers. The problem is that the writers often ignore their established rules for the sake of plot and that's a terrible way to tell a story. It leads to all kinds of nonsense like the aforementioned mismatch between the kwamis and their associated Forces.

The way that I'd fix the Kwami issue is to just change what Force each Kwami is tied to. Abstract concepts are out, hard concepts are in and really always were because Creation and Destruction may have a broad range, but they work as hard concepts. I'd then do some relatively minor tweaks to the powers that each kwami grants in order to make everything align. (My peacock and dragon are arguably pretty different from canon, but generally speaking, my tweaks are more along the lines of the purification example you brought up in your ask).

But that's all about trying to fix canon and canon is a broken mess, so I don't blame you if you say, "Nah, I'd rather explore this fun idea I had to drastically overhaul the magic system and the way akuma fights work." And yes, this magic system change would also require making some pretty big changes to how fights work since akumas aren't well suited to the idea in their current form. You'd want to move away from the breaking the item path that canon favors and make it so that every akuma fight ended in a person rejecting their akuma. Which canon does do, but it's weird and I don't like it. When we first saw it, it was a big deal special event, but since then they've cheapened it by having way too many people be able to do it, so having it be the standard path instead of this overused deviation would be a good way to fix that. It would also allow for an easier lesson of the day if that's your kind of thing.

There's one other thing this could fix: the character bloat. You may have actually brought up one of the only ways to make a team of 18 heroes work. If we have each hero be chosen for their unique tie to an abstract force, then you can get some really niche problems that only they can solve. I'm not sure how well the abstract forces chosen by canon work for that idea, but the general concept is the core of plenty of successful properties.

I already mentioned Winx, but the 2010 version of My Little Pony also played with this idea by having each of the six main heroes be tied to an abstract concept (generosity, honesty, laughter, kindness, loyalty, magic). If you did something like that where the core team had broadly applicable powers while the side heroes had really niche ones, then I think the temp heroes could have actually been something great! Right now, most of their powers are too broadly applicable to the point where it's weird that they're not called on more and it would be nice to see that fixed. (Luka should be at every fight and you cannot change my mind on this. It's ridiculous that Marinette somehow magically knows which fights will have them fail and is able to always call him in at the right time, but that's a rant for another day.)

In summary, I like this idea and would watch a show with it/read a fic with it, but I think it's too deviant from canon to fall into the "fix-it" category. Feel free to (kindly) chime in if you disagree!

[moon--mama]

Some more ideas I have now that I’m done reading Iron Flame:

**Andarna is the seventh breed of dragon, which means Violet’s second signet might be something that no one has seen in 600+ years. What if it’s something like “purification” and she’s able to heal venin? Sort of like healing or mending, but purifying instead.

**I expect that Xaden will attempt to tamp down the reality that the earth magic is tempting like a drug. With the issues he and Violet already have in being honest, it’s going to be a wild ride that will probably lead to a breakup at some point. This series has had far too much spice and fluff to go on another three books without some turmoil. Of course, that’s not what I want to see happen, but there aren’t any rainbows without rain.

**in a breakup scenario, or even an Evil Xaden scenario, Violet knows the ultimate secret that could utterly wreck Xaden’s life. If she let it slip that he was hiding his mind reading signet, literally no one would trust him again. His leadership would absolutely be called into question. She’s not amazing at keeping secrets, so it’s only a matter of time.

**General Sorrengail’s communication before the final chapter states “we have tried every method we know of, as you requested. There is no cure. There is only control.” It’s from a random Nolon Colbersy. This leads to several thoughts. First, why was Lilith trying to cure something? Who or what was she trying to cure? Could be a venin, could have been papa sorrengail, could be herself, or could even possibly be Violet. Second, is Colbersy alive? Third, “we know of” suggests that perhaps there’s information they don’t know—in a society that has been happily deleting and omitting information for centuries, it’s likely there’s some more info out there.

**the shared dreaming about the Sage: What if the Sage was going after both Violet and Xaden on purpose, since together they’re a crazy weapon? Since they both kept having the same nightmare, and Violet kept thinking about how real it was because it kept changing subtly, it seems like a powerful venin might be able to project themselves into a dream. The dragon crew knows very little about mind powers, since they kill off most intinsics. Maybe the Gryphon riders have some answers—but if they aren’t talking to each other about their recurring identical nightmares, it’s unlikely that they will talk to other people.

**knowing Xaden can read minds makes this series suddenly more hilarious. Think about all the times Violet thought something cringey and then Xaden responded. She has thought to herself over and over “oh? I must have accidentally said that out loud.” I was even getting annoyed that it kept happening until the big secret came out, and now it’s just funny to think about.

**another sad thought about the mind reading—Xaden and Cat were betrothed. Xaden developed new powers what, three years ago? It’s hinted that he used to be in a relationship with Cat, like an actual relationship, even though he’s now completely over her and plays it down to Violet. What if there was a sudden moment when he went to see her and he was able to read her mind for the first time? That would have put a quick end to any relationship. Poor guy was probably pretty shaken up to realize that he could now pre-scan his ladies to find out why they were interested. If they were betrothed, it’s also likely that he spent a lot of time at her uncle’s house as a little kid, so there’s probably some Riorson family memories tied up in his relationship with Cat too.

**I don’t think it’s possible that Tairn’s previous rider is alive. The dragons have that telepathic link that hurts when it’s severed. Turning venin evidently doesn’t sever dragon links, since Sgaeyl seems to be freezing Xaden out (he still has signet powers, the GPS link to Violet, etc) However, I do think it’s possible that the venin general is still alive. Xaden kept watching for his body in the river and never saw it.

**is the venin magic just a gigantic glaring plot hole? Because you can’t tell me that every single infantry person wouldn’t “reach for power” if it was there and it meant saving the lives of their friends or living through a battle.

**we never actually saw what happened when Xaden “turned” venin. There might be more that was said or done. His POV cut off when he woke up from his memory/nightmare. Do we count the dream as a memory?

**At one point, Lilith said to Violet “when you become a mother” and not “if.” I wonder if this will take an “oh no we left all the contraceptive tinctures in Basgaith” turn at some point. Are Venin still people? Can they have children? Does that make the children part Venin? Maybe we will find out.

Okay that’s all for now but I’m sure more ideas will occur to me.

[blueteller]

Cale's Ancient Power's abilities and hidden aspects – The List

It occurred to me that for all the list I've made before, I never actually wrote one which described the Ancient Powers in detail. Since there's quite a bunch of them, I decided to make one – with a couple of yet-to-be-explored aspects noted. (There are more APs in TCF of course, and maybe I'll cover them some other time. But these are the main 7, and they're the ones which come up the most in the story.)

0. Ancient Power name Main power; Sub powers

Vitality of the Heart Physical damage recovery; Slowed aging, keeping plate in balance

Dominating Aura Fake aura of dominance; Dragon Fear immunity, aura of protection

Indestructible Shield Strong, portable shield; Chlorokinesis, dead mana absorption

Sound of Wind Aerokinesis, flight; Treasure detection, potential echolocation*

Fire of Destruction Pyrokinesis, lightining bolts; Dead mana purification, jiangshi restoration

Super Rock Geokinesis; Body protection, danger detection**

Sky Eating Water Hydrokinesis, spears; Ability to extinguish all fires, potential terraformation***

*"Potential echolocation" is due to the fact that the Thief told Cale how when she was alive, she didn't need to see, as "all she needed was the wind". Considering her occupation as a thief who never got caught until the very end - and I assume it took a LOT of effort to catch her, with the Ancient White Star's forces after her for stealing that life-restoring jar; an alleged "divine item"… She MUST have had some way to navigate in order to do all that stuff. It's not difficult to imagine that she had similar senses to Toph from Avatar the Last Airbender, except with wind. The elementals likely helped her too, but I'm pretty confident that if Cale ever lost his sight for some reason, he'd still be able to see with this Ancient Power. He just doesn't need to, so it was never brought up.

**"Danger detection" is kind of debatable, but it ties well with the lore. It might just be Super Rock teasing Cale will all those "Are You Trying To Sacrifice Yourself" questions, wanting him to use his power. But it happened a couple of times when Cale WASN'T expecting actual danger to happen. Almost as in, the Super Rock was detecting danger for him. It could be just that the Super Rock was having general "intuition" going on and was trying to proactively protect Cale. But I think it's very likely it's a legit aspect of the Ancient Power, because Earth is canonically the element closest to Death. As in, Earth is where all the bones are, where the blood soaks in, made out of dead material, et cetera. So Super Rock sensing Potential Death Ahead seems very spot on, even if it's never confirmed directly in canon. (Considering how the Indestructible Shield was revealed to be a plant controlling power later on in the story, I think it's extremely likely all Ancient Powers can have even more hidden aspects like that.)

***"Potential terraformation" is the one most in the "theory" zone of them all. The legends about the North, the unnamed God (the current most likely one to be responsible is the God of War) who chose a Saint, and the Water of Judgement/Sky Eating Water, were the least explored of them all in canon. But it was said that this particular God gave the North a rivel, and greedy humans turned it into a lake to hoard it all to themselves. In punishment, the God made that lake dry out and promise to make the river flow again, once the North receives punishment for their transgression. In general, it's unclear whether the one who created that river was the God, or the Water of Judgement… however, I think it's safe to assume it was the latter. It would make sense why they coveted both the river and the Water of Judgement, then, and why the other Ancient Power owners helped her escape to the Eastern Continent. To sum it up: I think the Sky Eating Water made that river, and that counts as terraforming. She didn't just summon water to make it, she permanently changed the landscape with it, and it would have continued to flow if the God in question didn't erase it as punishment to greedy humans. In other words, the Sky Eating water has the power to create long-term changes to the environment, same as the Sound of Wind, which reacted the whirlpools.

[the-mononoke-facade]

Random thought I had trying to go to sleep at four in the morning

I wonder if Genkei and Oyou are meant to bring to mind Izanagi and Izanami from the Shinto creation myth and then kind of flip the whole thing on its head? (here's a source on the story in question)

Izanagi and Izanami were siblings and spouses tasked with developing the earth beyond an endless ocean and gave birth to the islands of Japan, and Genkei and Oyou are siblings who supposedly want to be joined as husband and wife but can't be, and Genkei's holding onto this and his own guilt and regret gives rise to the Sea of Ayakashi instead

Izanami died giving birth to the kami of fire Kagutsuchi and was sent to what roughly equates to the underworld. Izanagi went to go rescue her only to change his mind and treat her as an evil entity once he found out she's already turned into a decaying corpse. Genkei was meant to be a human sacrifice to calm the tumultuous seas of the Dragon's Triangle, but his terror at the prospect and his unwillingness to give up his "bright future" for the sake of his village has Oyou taking on the role of sacrifice in his place, thus being consigned to the underworld. Genkei then has half a century to swear up and down to himself that her vengeful spirit is the root of the evil of the Sea of Ayakashi and not his own remorse and anxiety (Oyou wasn't actually consigned to the underworld or anything of the sort, she was at peace with her role and ready to face the Pure Lands, though in a way she's still dragged into that darker place posthumously because of Genkei and his truth being the only one remaining). He doesn't consider his sister's salvation until after he sold her out and gave up on her, only for her to not need it to begin with

Izanagi sealed Izanami in the underworld with a giant boulder, the hollow boat was sealed with an entry point that otherwise wouldn't budge, and it was expected that Oyou was going to be waiting there with a vengeance by the time they finally manage to get it open, just for it to be empty (and it was the vessel that would have supposedly sent her to the underworld)

Izanami is portrayed as the somewhat tragic villain of the myth, to the point that Izanagi has to go through a purification ritual after having encountered Izanami like that, even though it was Izanagi's not being able to accept Izanami's death that made this an issue in the first place. Genkei tries to cast Oyou in the same role to deflect having to face the reality of what he did, keeping himself caught in this trap between self-flagellation over his unresolved guilt and self-soothing that he's doing all this fretting to try to atone for it, also creating this situation because he can't accept his role in her death and can't just let her pass peacefully like she was prepared to do

I also wonder if it's relevant to contrast Genkei's role as a prominent Buddhist priest with this foundational Shinto myth, but then the discussion of the blurry divide of Buddhism and Shintoism isn't really one I'm equipped to handle with the nuance it deserves, so I'll just leave it as a mention for now

Anyway, just something that occurred to me as maybe having something to it

[ranticore]

As a HUGE heraldry enthusiast, I’m wondering is there any system for heraldry in the Mez setting?

Ooh good question!! I'll be real I know less about heraldry than I should, however I'd say the language used to describe a coat of arms is probably the same as irl, but the animals themselves have different significances, as many of them are 1. fantasy animals which have no irl reflections (hive serpents come to mind but also dragons themselves), or 2. associated with holy beasts to the point of being almost synonymous with them. by which i mean you can't depict a leopard without people going ah that's saint pantera (gets very awkward when pantera's reputation flips from good to evil)

So in general the Mezian theocracy is as stated completely ruled by this very weird branch of the catholic church, so symbolgy for a coat of arms tends to be extremely religious (common motifs are censers to symbolise purification, altars for obedience, crowns of thorns, blood pouring from stigmata wounds, stuff like that). Each sect within the church has its own coat of arms which usually visually references either their production capabilities in the fight to collect dragonsblood (i.e these guys make engines, those guys produce technical drawings, these guys make the barrels to put the blood in etc) or the holy beast they house and maintain at their stables if they're blessed enough to have one.

Alchemy is openly practised in the theocracy though it is subject to some degree of secrecy where the actual formulas are concerned so the alchemists (those with the Saturn job titles) depict their work euphemistically - usually with a green lion devouring the sun, representing the transmutation of gold using aqua regia. this design long pre-dates saint leun's operation.

You'll notice the holy beasts themselves have their own coats of arms on their reference sheets. leun's is self explanatory but pantera's is a field of argent with a hand holding a sword on one side and a blue checkerboard pattern on the other (im sure someone can translate that into the proper language). Meanwhile the coat of arms of the knight who operates pantera is this same design flanked on either side by leopards rampant. Design philosophies change over time and pantera is old enough to pre-date the absolute dominance of the church over holy beast operation, and pantera's coat of arms is the same as the town in which he was built (now destroyed). so it was kind of grandfathered in.

at the height of the empire, holy beasts were painted with the coats of arms of basically anybody who'd contributed to them in some way, like sponsorship logos, but that has fallen out of practice.

[tumblingxelian]

a Question about you 12 kwamis au

If the others kwamis existed how would you write it?

That's rather tricky to answer cos for several of them I actually took their powers and fused them with another Kwami.

Tiger has her own powers & those of the monkey, Turtle got Bulls, the pigs got translated to Fox, even the rabbits could be said to have blended with Sass given I usually give them a subtle prophetic ability.

If we just go with the one's left over...

Rooster - Sublimation & Phasing, is the easiest to work with as it is the transition of a substance directly from the solid to the gas state. In this regard, its basically a form of transforming Miraculous, letting one become immaterial, an elemental or chemical gas, that kind of thing. It also still works with the red bird associations ala phoenixes without much work.

Canid - Hunt & Harvest, I think would need a revamp into something more akin to Hunt. IE, its the embodiment of tracking, hunting, capturing, the act of pursuit and retrieval alive or dead. Fetch is a way it can manifest, ensuring their prey is never out of reach, but it can also be used to locate and track down things without having touched them first, & so on. Tis goes beyond mere hunting dogs and into how ants have cultivated livestock and even slave ants.

Lamb - Genesis & Preservation is the power of giving and extending life, it is of the (Caveasphaera), IE, Animal era and holds the power to breath life into something or to heal. In essence, it is the "Breath of life" and healing hands, it cannot whisk life up out of nowhere, but more can create the perfect conditions for new life, imbue something with life, or heal something. The specifics are a little ill defined right now but I think this works.

Amusingly this means Lamb could be the second Miraculous Gabriel has, the one that they used to conceive Adrien but due to being broken that didn't pan out. (Makes notes) Damn, I may actually keep this revised list, Roosters now the weakest one but still has room to work even with my revized Renlings...

Here it is regardless:

Creation (Planck) Ladybug - Creation & Purification Cat - Destruction & Mutation Snake - Ouroboros & Time

Elemental (Matter) Rooster - Sublimation & Phasing Tiger - Combustion & Chaos Dragon - Storm & Power

Life (Abiogenesis) Peacock - Evocation & Transmutation Mouse - Multiplication & Duplication Turtle - Protection & Resilience

Animal (Caveasphaera) Lamb - Genesis & Preservation Horse - Action & Migration Canid - Hunt & Harvest

People (Conceptual) Bee - Order & Subjugation Fox - Mirage & Materialization Butterfly - Emotion & Transmission

Revised Bee, this is mostly just leaning on the concept of subjugation more. IE, Pollen represents people and thinking creatures idea of order more than she does elemental the stabilizing of neurons and atoms. Venom is simply the most straightforward example, utterly stilling a persons body. But at more advanced levels, the user can infuse their power into objects and guide them or compel people, so long as they use subjugation.

Notes:

Genesis was a problem because its basically just Lucky Charm with more control but less magic. Genesis means the origin point of a something, the beginning or creation, which doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room for reinterpretation or expansion. In some ways it'd fit with the theme I gave to mouse. Still, I like these other two so lets play.

I had the idea briefly to make Genesis a sort of scrying mechanic, seeing into the past and future (Vaguely), or to get meta with it and have it be among the fox and butterfly as to do with stories, giving one's words power. However, elements I have toyed with for the Bee can already fit into some of that so I was... Iffy.

Then I looked into lamb associations and themes and found out the Egyptian Deity known for incepting life was a lamb headed deity, and the creator of 'essence'. I leaned on that when reaching for preservation.

[lee-hakhyun]

as promised!

kdj sits in the lobby of a hotel casino, waiting while christina provides refreshments and assures him that anna will come soon. honestly, lhh had expected kdj to make a scene. this is how dkos operates. and as sponsorships rain down, he knows that this world rewards scenes like these. but... when martinez had asked for a name, and kdj said 'cheon inho', martinez's reaction was odd. his expression changed, and he left shortly after. which is weird. there's no way his name would have spread to las vegas? there's plently of more famous koreans than cheon inho.

people begin bringing in the 4th grade dragon's parts, and eventually selena kim starts talking with kdj. it's still a little messy, and selena mentions that she only recently moved from the washington dome. when kdj asks about the situation in the washington dome, selena's expression is dark. did something happen..? lhh asks kdj if the las vegas dome is usually open. more domes are opened or extra incarnations are summoned in based on population, so the dome itself isn't a problem, but the restriction on movement between countries was lifted, which isn't normal.

originally, the domes are only released after the 10th scenario, but something about the united states' 7th scenario was so hard that the bureau judged that the american incarnations alone couldn't beat it, and mercenaries from other countries had to be brought in... apparently, yjh and his party are in the washington dome.

after kdj asks about yjh's whereabouts, selena is curious and asks if he's close with yjh. his response?

"we were companions separated by life and death."

(the original tl of this line isn't the best, it's more like "we are companions have been through life and death separately", but the big thing is the change from present to past tense. kim dokja...)

selena takes kdj on a tour of the hotel. i've talked about it already here

now, about those plants. looking at the yanaspleta being grown there, the soil it's growing on isn't from earth. it's soil from the 5th scenario, when other worlds invaded the earth. which is odd... the soil should have disappeared after the 5th scenario was cleared. so why is that dirt still there? kdj looks at the 4th grade monster's organs, and starts talking.

it's weird. this '4th grade earth dragon' isn't cost effective to buy. the material is hard to process, and its sharpness is inferior. it's much better to buy the bones of a '5th grade fire dragon', even if it's technically lesser. but anna would have known that. so, knowingly buying this, there should have been a reason. kim dokja picks up some powder that fell during the processing the of the monster parts. and sprinkles it on the otherworldly soil, as it purifies. everyone in the hall stops then, and some incarnations reach for their weapons.

kdj's eyes are cold. he still considers selena kim a good person, and tells her so. if she answers his questions, nothing will happen here. anna's not here, is she? selena confirms it, and apologizes. where's anna right now? and... did they really clear the 5th scenario normally?

right then, there's noise from the hotel's entrance. constellations from asgard enter the channel. a portal opens, and as they move to the portal, anna croft arrives, her left arm bleeding. as selena prepares a tourniquet, anna asks if selena bought the dragon parts. selena affirms, but anna shakes her head. and says it's too late. that the operation was a failure. lee hakhyun organizes everything in his head. the 4th grade species with its purification properties, the washington dome, the scenario, and... his companions. why did anna croft return alone? it couldn't be..?

and lee hakhyun wasn't the only one to piece it together.

"Anna Croft." Anna Croft's expression hardened the moment she heard that voice. Her neck stiff, she slowly turned this way. "You... how are you here?" "Where is Yoo Joonghyuk right now?" So far, the 'Demon King of Salvation' that I knew felt more like a jobless neighborhood hyung than a constellation. A hyung who doesn't like boring things and never takes anything seriously, who's busy teasing someone whenever he has time. Right now, that hyung, "I'm asking. What happened to Yoo Joonghyuk." was genuinely angry.

[meeeeeeese]

So something that's always kinda perplexed me the question of just how sentient the branded are. Now dragon minions having a wide range of mental activity is nothing new, but they're usually within the same ballpark of each other. So for example all the risen can at least sputter out a few words and all the destroyers are equally mindless.

But the branded?

Well most branded seem as mindless as the destroyers, crystalline horrors that do naught but attack anyone foolish enough to wander into their line of sight. But there are a few notable exceptions that seem to suggest at least some branded are capable of free thought and even full on speech!

The most obvious example would be Glint, pre-purification, but she was a dragon champion and Kralk's daughter so her being an exception makes sense. But there are more examples! And these, near as I can tell, don't have any excuse for being as talkative as they are.

This rando charr in the iron marches has a whole damn speech during his event

Hierarch Chikere (remember him?) starts shit talking the commander the instant he comes back from his branding.

And Josso Essher seems as invested in protecting Augury Rock as he is in serving Kralkatorrik.

And there are even more examples out there. Some of them would make sense for being more powerful minions, but look me in the eyes and tell me Chikere was powerful enough to be capable of speech once he got branded.

I dunno what allows a branded to talk but my best guess is some intersection of pre-branding force of personality and the random chance of which parts of their body get crystallized.

[karol-chan-art]

I saw some people I follow do this "What if" thing where their OCs/fankids are in @cuppajj 's Beast Ancients AU and I decided to join in the fun!

I think I'm gonna just do my fankids who are related to the ancients though because HAHA I have WAYYY too many-

Vanilla Roguefort Cookie

Status- Deceased

She and her siblings were in the Vanilla Kingdom when Saint Vanilla happened, unfortunately she couldn't run fast enough to escape from being "purified"..

Langsat Dragon Cookie

Status- Deceased

After Vanilla Roguefort's "purification", he decided to confront Saint Vanilla alone to buy some time for his remaining sibling to escape. He sadly didn't make it out alive and in the end was "purified" aswell..

Pure Passionfruit Cookie

Status- Alive

If watching their younger sister be "purified" wasn't enough, their own older brother sacrificed himself for them to escape, now they're all alone and wandering Earthbread to look for a safe place to take refuge.

Red Pear Dragon Cookie

Status- Alive

Since Red Pear is quite easily influenced, they never questioned why the Red Dragon, Pitaya, had been shackled and studied underneath the castle. They just believe whatever is happening will be over soon and does everything Dragonberry tells them to without a single question or hesitation.

Acerola Dragon Cookie

Status- Alive

Unlike his younger sibling, he's not as easily influenced, but still does everything Dragonberry tells him to. He often sneaks to the castle underground to talk to Pitaya whenever there aren't many cookies around, he firmly believes he won't be caught anytime soon.

Tarte Choco Cookie

Status- Deceased

She was peacefully asleep when the entire kingdom started freezing, she was unnaware and froze without even having time to wake up..

Zuccotto Cookie

Status- Deceased

He tried to rebel against Celestial Cheese, which in the end resulted in him being turned into a golden statue right in front of his younger sisters as an example to them..

Golden Pearl Cookie

Status- Alive

Seeing her older brother being turned into gold, she made sure to give all her devotion. She never once made a mistake or went against Celestial Cheese since then, living in fear of being turned into gold if she did.

Charcoal Cheese Cookie

Status- Alive

She visits her brother daily, never missing a single day. The day her brother was turned into a golden statue was extremely traumatizing for her, she rarely talks, eats, or sleeps.

Night Sky Petunia Cookie

Status- Alive

Very loyal to Midnight Lily, never once even questioned her leadership, though she misses her old self very much.

Moonflower Cookie

Status- Alive

She misses Midnight Lily's old self as much as her sister does, yet she faithfully stands at her side due to fearing whatever would she do if she stepped out of it. She has no clue what the Beast of Sovereignty can do..

[likealittleheartbeat]

If you walk down the spiral staircase and into the belly of the Dragonbone Catacombs, among the scrolls with no particular emphatic marking you’ll find an entry, faintly inked perhaps and wavering, but in Firelord Zuko’s hand. “Likely every man finds his own definition of love,” he wrote those many years ago, “the figure whose shade of kindness protected you through the sweltering summer’s of your suffering, the woman whose forbearance absolved your errors, even the enemy whose hatred drowned your pride. What spirits have swarmed me to have known those all? 

Yet, I once had a monk who with as much might cursed me. The sages bar certain chambers from being entered. That may be so, still, this young man pulled back the curtain, unlatched the frames, and said, if not a visit, look in. Only now can I bring myself—and barely—to the strokes which mark how then I longed at once to set that whole abode up in flames because, though I fathomed it not in the moment, I intimated lying at ease within its lowly décor. 

The textures of friendship with which I would have absconded in another life! Rippling folds of mulberry silk would seem rough if one’s fingers slipped between the creases to compare. From his lips slipped questions of past lives and history that I was too coward to swallow, but all these years like mountain snow spring-thawed they wetted my wisdom and sourced the peace of our nations. With him, exile became purification, pain pleasure. The dreams and the incarnation of what we might have consummated together are too near to distinguish: I chased him and his bison until I transformed into him or maybe he entered my soul; all the hues of reality blend. 

On my vessel, when last I saw him, in my quarters he discovered my dual sabers. From the wardrobe, the chobi oil was obtained, and with it I instructed and he practiced the care of my swords. These were, as much as bending, the lessons and ministrations we shared. Into the ether they faded, as so many things: flame, smoke, air, life. His, too. That he should die is no less a tragedy than that he survived, and in the accumulating decades I wanted for his sagacity. 

What I meant when I began, with this wobbly calligraphy of a king who’s closer to the ringed fate of dragons than the fates of worldly days, was to note a hope that these poor characters might reveal the perfect warmth of sunlight in autumn the warmth that winter obscures from memory and no words or hearth alone can in it muster. It is only the sudden smiling disbelief, when, on stepping out the door, one’s skin shines in miraculous spring as the cherry blossom’s shift in drifts on the ground. 

Friendship—call it that for what else dare I write?—alights briefly, mounts you delicately and with color, breathes a blessing, then must listen to its call: the wind.” Check the back of the vellum, but that’s all there is. You would then put away the scroll and the black characters, not policies, nor certificates of progress, nor did they spell out some great personal tragedy. It was merely an old emperor’s sentiment. With such a meager offering, you can walk clockwise up and out of the underground archive with no reason to turn around.

[whyyouacknsocraycray]

Wolf is slowly turning into an Old Dragon of the Tree:

**Spoilers for all Sekiro endings**

Ok, so this theory is based on that white patch on the right side of Wolf's face. For a while, I wondered if the Old Dragons were former Divine Heirs like Lord Takeru (because of the flutes) but now I wonder if that first dragon is actually Lady Tomoe. Most of this is speculation, but there is some evidence:

The color of the skin by Wolf's eye is a similar color to the dragons.

Emma focuses on it immediately, theorizing it to be either something that appears on oathbounds or a symptom, making me think that Lady Tomoe had something similar but more progressed.

The Divine Child also notices his eye and calls it a curse, potentially because Wolf is now cursed to become one of the dragons.

The dragons appear to be defending the Divine Dragon, like they would have done for their Divine Heirs.

It's quite possible Kuro knows this, which is another reason why he wants Immortal Severance.

Now onto the speculation:

If Lord Kuro is not a future Old Dragon himself, then who is he? This might be a stretch, but I think he might be, quite literally, part of the dragon. The ripped off left arm, to be precise. Whatever damage occurred to the Dragon when it arrived in Japan, that caused the Divine Heirs and Rejuvenating Waters to appear. Kuro being the dragon would explain why Kuro's immortality is better than the Waters.

This is also why Lord Kuro almost seems wise beyond his years. It's not clear how old he is (I know little about children but I've seen fans consider between eleven and fourteen), but he seems to have some understanding of the implications of his immortality even as he asks questions about it.

Lord Takeru's final words about "returning to the Divine Realm" were not about traveling to Fountainhead, rather is death where he'd merge with the Divine Dragon again.

Due to Kuro needing to be in a cradle for the Return ending, he may not be able to travel away from Ashina at all.

The reason the Old Dragons, the Palace Nobles, and Lord Takeru play the flute is because the Dragon enjoys the music. Lord Takeru was potentially drawn to the instrument (I'm not imagining Kuro and/or Wolf learning the flute, not at all haha).

Finally, what this means for the endings:

Immortal Severance: the piece of the Dragon that is Kuro is killed completely. No more Divine Heirs will be born, but it is possible the Rejuvenating Waters will still flow in Ashina because the Dragon is rooted there.

Purification: Wolf turns Kuro into a human by taking on the dragon's power himself. When he dies, he becomes part of the Dragon, hence why his body disappears into sakura petals. However, with Purification, a new Divine Heir will be born, since only Kuro was affected by the ritual.

Return: this one hurts to think about because I want that tea house ending, but I think it's possible that returning the Divine Heirs power to its homeland would cause Kuro to merge with the Dragon and become whole again. The leaking of its power into the land would stop, but Kuro would essentially become the Divine Dragon. I hate even writing this because I feel like it would destroy Wolf to not get Kuro back, but perhaps he'd be satisfied with knowing Kuro was in his proper place.

[lesbian-lorkhan]

Silence, my brother

TES Summerfest 2023 | Day 4 Mortal/Sanctuary Summary: The Night Mother calls upon Kovan, again and again.

It’s 580 of the Second Era.

Redoran Kovan is 25.

He is sitting on the table by the corner, face obscured by a hat and the shadows. A Tribunal forsaken bar in the worst part of a small town far enough from Ald’ruhn that nobody would recognize him.

Still, discretion was best when dealing with unpleasant matters.

Through the door comes a scrawny looking dunmer, about the same age as Kovan, wearing old looking clothes. A middleman for sure, someone who nobody would miss if things went wrong and the necessity to erase any traces of the job came to be. He seemed hungry. Or anxious. Either way Kovan ordered a meat pie for the two of them, for at least it would give the man something else to occupy his mind enough so he would stop looking around and making them look suspicious. Along he asked for a sujamma shot with scrib-jelly, a pleasure he often liked to indulge. 

Once the man’s stomach had been filled and his mind calmed, he took from his pocket a crumpled piece of paper and handed it to Kovan. Had Redoran Kovan been older, he would have hesitated. He would have questioned the need for such a level of precaution.

He didn’t know who the Telvanni he was doing this for was. No name or face attached. Just kill the Redoran Councilor as asked, and Kovan would be rewarded with help getting a higher position on the House hierarchy. 

Had Redoran Kovan been older and wiser, he would have hesitated at the idea that a faceless and nameless House Telvanni member was hiring his services through a middleman, who knew nothing about the job, whose only purpose was to deliver to him a note with further instructions to murder a Redoran Councilor.

But it was 580 of the Second Era. Kovan was 25 and foolish.

He read the note, drank his shot, and left the bar to do as told.

It’s 582 of the Second Era.

Kovan is 27.

His hand bears the mark of an exile, and he can’t step foot in Morrowind ever again for fear that a Morag Tong spear will pierce his throat in broad daylight. He is hungry, and tired, and sleeping on the streets of Anvil. The Three Banner War is raging on, but he could not care less. 

He has no money, he can’t find food, he is on his breaking point when he decides to break into a noble’s house. 

It goes wrong, as it often does. As it did back in Vvanderfell. So he finds himself standing over a body, blood in his hands, a knife on the noble’s chest. The guards don’t see as he flees the scene. They never suspect anything. 

It’s 582 of the Second Era

Initiate Kovan is 27.

The guards did not witness his act, but Sithis did.

He wielded the blade in the name of the Dread Father, as the Night Mother demanded.

And as the war and the Daedric Crisis spilled blood all over Tamriel, so did he. A promising assassin, that he was. The contracts kept coming, the streets were painted crimson.

In the Sanctuary he found his family. A new one to fill the hole left by his exile. He helped Hildegard with her lycanthropy. Drank with Kor and Cimbar. Trained with Tanek. Heard Mirabelle and Green-Venom-Tongue’s stories. 

Until Cimbar was dead on a torture table.

Until Mirabelle was killed by the Black Dragon

Until Green-Venom-Tongue succumbed to his wounds.

He was young, and foolish, and none the wiser.

He couldn’t believe his eyes as he watched the memories. As Lyra betrayed the Dark Brotherhood to become the Black Dragon. Kovan understood the pain of losing his family, but the Dread Father ordered the purification, and Sithis’ word was law. 

They survived. His hands were stained with Lyra’s blood, but what remained of his family was alive. 

Until the Daedric Crisis finally caught up to him, and with a dagger to the chest, Kovan found himself in Coldharbour.

It’s 433 of the Third Era.

Kovan thinks he is about 800 years old.

He isn’t sure.

Time passes differently in Oblivion.

The first days out of Coldharbour are the hardest. His skin is still returning to its normal dunmer gray. Instead of dead, soulless gray. Eyes are still sunken, but now they are red again, though a bit dull. His hair never went back to being black.

He looks old. He feels old.

Martin understands him. Martin sees him. He can never tell Martin of what he has done through his life, but Martin is aware enough to sympathize with his dark past.

Mehunes Dagon looms over the horizon, haunting every second of their days. Kovan won’t be a hero, but he can help. 

In Martin’s arms, Kovan finds his redemption.

In his embrace, he finds peace.

In his quest, he finds purpose.

On his death, Kovan’s world crumbles.

The portals are gone. Dagon has been defeated. The statue of a dragon stands in the temple.

Five days later, they find him again. 

They track him, disturb his sleep, give him the same blade he wielded before.

In the Dark Brotherhood, Kovan finds purpose again.

In the Blade of Woe, he finds the extension of his very being.

In the Sanctuary, he once more finds family.

In the words of the Night Mother, he finds solace.

It’s 434 of the Third Era

Silencer Kovan no longer cares about how old he is.

The blood of his family drenches his clothes. Their bodies lay cold on the floor. Dead. Every single one.

The Black Hand is no more. Their lives taken by him.

Lucien hangs from the ceiling of Applewatch.

The whispers of the Night Mother echo inside his head. She knew. She recognized him. She called for his soul to work by her side once more.

With negligence and deceit, she recalled the only living person who saw what Lyra went through. She allowed a rat to infiltrate the Brotherhood. She allowed for Kovan’s hand to wield the blade that wiped most of the Brotherhood off the map of Cyrodiil.

It was all planned, of course. 

Everything went as she wanted.

Kovan screamed into the void that was the night sky. The tears ran down his face, his throat hurt, his voice stopped. 

With disgust, he held the Blade of Woe in the same hand he used to kill.

With hate, he threw the blade into the sea.

It’s 201 of the Fourth Era.

Sheogorath walks through the forest that surrounds Falkreath. The mist is dense, the air is heavy.

He approaches the door, runs a scarred hand over the skull that decorates the door.

The whisper is clear inside his mind.

What is the music of life ?

“Silence, my brother.” The Daedric Prince answers.

[kasaneteto]

HAPPY FULL MOON!!!!!! it was last night but im posting about it today. at least i'm TRYING TO (the first time i tried it posted my unfinished draft instead! awesome!) i decided that i want to post more about my witchcraft stuff because i like to share ^_^

this virgo full moon i refreshed my money bowl! it may not look disheveled to you but.......i can tell. my good fortune altar needed to be cleaned like. 3 moon cycles ago.

this is the before pic so read the process & see the after below 👇

once i move the money bowl and other altar items the mess reveals itself.......this was probably pixie. i start by removing everything and cleaning it the way you would any surface, spray w all-purpose and wipe. then i replace the bigger stuff and cleanse the space with dragon's blood, a very good purification herb

once im done with that i remove all of the crystals & talismans from the money bowl and run them through the dragon's blood smoke to cleanse them as well. then i dump the herbs that are in the bowl and physically clean everything. here's what we've once it's all deconstructed:

everything circled in pink is a crystal, orange are talismans, and purple are manifestation elements. the money is pretty self-explanatory but the little folded up papers are notes on which i've written things i wish to manifest in my life. some of them are goals to work towards while others are just energies/things im trying to attract. talismans are as follows: rabbit and 4leaf clover charm (again self-explanatory), copper pieces (money made of copper), small pine cone (very powerful good fortune talisman, i have several pine cones on this altar), and a very hard to see ladybug charm (ladybugs are my personal good luck symbol :3)

so! now that everything is clean it's time to put the money bowl back together, and to do that we gotta start with the base

starting with three/four scoops of rice (a great neutral energy to carry the others) i first add a palmfull of spearmint for money & good fortune. with each herb i add, i first hold it in my hands and draw out the energy im asking for, thereby infusing it with my intention. before mixing the rice & mint together, i first spray it with some money mist (chamomile + cinnamon + mint boiled in water) and some luck-drawing oil (chamomile + mint + rosemary + some other shit idr tbh) to make it all stick together. then i put the chamomile in on top, for money & protection. lastly i add the bayleaf which is great for holding intention and manifesting a goal, which in this case is just for the bowl to do it's job!

once im here i just put all the crystals/talismans/manifestation elements back in so that they look nice! the big crystal in the center is orange calcite (GREAT for manifesting your dreams) and the ones along the top from right to left are amazonite, aventurine, agate, and good ol quartz. the coins are mostly foreign currency (some even out of print! i have a deutschmark :PPPP) but some of them are just random shit like chuck e cheese tokens. i have a cinemark arcade token from before covid killed the tokens in cinemark arcades lol

anyways that's pretty much it! once it's all reconstructed i just put it back where it belongs and burn some frankincense to fill up the newly cleansed space with lucky energy :) thanks for reading this all the way to the end! if you have questions feel free to shoot me an ask i love to talk about this stuff :) :) :) this wasn't the only thing i did for the full moon last night but that spell requires a dormancy period so you can expect a post about that in like 2 weeks

[archesa]

have pre-relationship 6 and 7, general 8 and 9, and love 1 from the ship asks for…whoever you most feel like sharing about right now, i am having trouble choosing apxnskfn :) @kerra-and-company

Thank you so much 🥰 i tried to write a bit of the answers whenever I had a moment and here is 😁 hope you'll enjoy!

Ship questions

Pre-relationship 6 - If you had told one of them that the other would be their soulmate, what would they think?

For Galaëd it would have been laughter, followed by frozen horror then utter disbelief. When they first met at Southsun, Galaëd was very determined to despise Canach for the rest of their days (I wonder how that went...😏) so to learn that they were destined to each other would have been quite distressing, actually!

For Canach, it would have felt... very strange! On one hand perhaps like a relief, because it gave a whole new meaning to his Dream... but at the same time, knowing Canach, he would have fought the very idea of being destined to someone with every fiber of his being!

Anwen did not believe in the concept of soulmates at all so being confronted with the knowledge that someone was destined to her as she was destined to them would have been strange. But learning Trahearne was to be her soulmate, that would not have scared her at all. She would argue she did not fall in love at first sight and it's true, she grew in love with him over the course of the campaign of Orr but from their first days together, after Claw Island, she felt a very strong connection, so seeing him in such a light – as her soulmate – would perhaps have given her clarity sooner 😅

For Trahearne it might have been... too much, too soon. He was already overwhelmed by his wyld-hunt so having more destiny piled upon this might have completely spiralled him into near panic... after a while he could have warmed up to the idea, especially after spending some time with Anwen, but romance could only have bloomed between them after the purification of Orr.

Pre-relationship 7 - What would their lives be like if they had never met?

Already answered here for Trammander.

Galaëd would have endeavoured to become a perfect second in command to Rorschach, and thrown himself wholeheartedly in his duty – both to the Pact and to Dragon's Watch. His light-hearted, jesting nature was already there so it would remain, but he might have kept something more knightly about himself, shifted closer to a knight errand merryman — lawful good rather than chaotic good – than he eventually became. Basically, he would have become what he endeavours to be after Rorschach's... disappearance in Jahai.

General 8 - Who gets jealous easier?

Galaëd, Galaëd, sweet Galaëd gets bitterly jealous 😅

Anwen can get jealous too, but she mainly was before they actually became a couple. And the poor girl didn't even realise what the burning pain in her chest was until loooong afterwards! But yeah... she got a lil jealous of Sayeh and the bond she shared with Trahearne, for instance 😅 Didn't really reflect in any animosity towards her, though, it was more of a pinch to the heart than anything. That being said, and regardless of the absolute trust she has in their couple, should anyone show any... misplaced interest in Trahearne, she'd gladly remind them of who she is and her history with defenestration.

As for Trahearne, let's say the obsession and threatening flirting of Joko will very much motivate him to destroy the Lich for good (but that is more protectiveness than jealousy, right?)

General 9 - Who whispers inappropriate things in the other’s ear?

Canach is a tease so he definitely tried getting Galaëd all flustered at the worst time... only for the birch to retaliate tenfold 😆 Galaëd knows exactly what to say to get Canach thorns to stand on end!

Trahearne has the high ground to do so 😁

Love 1 - Who said “I love you” first?

I realise I never actually wrote their first 'I love you'... I mean... we got a clear confession from Anwen... but Trahearne could argue he confessed first (although it seemed too subtly 😅) as early as during the campaign of Orr!

As for 'I love you's I think it would come, just without thinking, sometime after their return to Divinity's Reach, one of the first nights they spend in the manor. They would cuddle to sleep and one of them would say it in the same breath as a 'sweet dreams, dearheart'.

For Galaëd and Canach... their first 'I love you' is in the heat of the moment (not that kind of moment 😏). Either in the thrill of victory – I had half a mind of Galaëd bursting with pride and joy when Canach first sets his bramble walls in Kourna, or after he just blows the damn gate 😆 – or perhaps during an argument because Galaëd said something along the lines of "I love you, mate" to Rorschach and Canach gets jealous because those are three words he's never told him. It's never occurred to either of them to voice it, the bond, the intimacy they share is beyond words, and Canach feels both jealous and frustrated at himself for being jealous at all! (Galaëd might consider using this as leverage to have Canach say it first 😅)

[raayllum]

Hello!

I did have a question, but first I just want to thank you for everything you write. You've made me love TDP even more, and I always look forward to reading your analytical posts. They are very enlightening, and really change the way I look at the show.

Some time ago, you mentioned a theory of which Callum would attempt to connect to the sun primal in attempt of purification, but would instead connect to the moon primal. I am wondering what led you to this conclusion, more so why you think he would make any attempt to connect to any other primals.

Thank you!! :3

I don't necessarily think it'll be canon, but it is a fun arc to think about, largely for two reasons (thematic as always)

1) We know from S3 that the Purification ceremony with the Great Orb / Sun primal of Lux Aurea could purify dark magic. For someone like Viren, we're led to believe the process would've ultimately killed him. For someone like Callum, though, if they were able to do the process with some other form of Sun energy, perhaps it would be enough to get rid of the dark magic leftover (and by extension, rid his body of Aaravos' ability to possess it). Thus Callum having an incentive to look into the Sun arcanum in the first place

2) "Moon reflects sun, as death reflects life." Life is set as oppositional to Moon/death in show upon first meeting the assassins even if, with Moon being tethered to the idea/concept/death magic more than any other primal we've seen, and only coming in second to dark magic (which is often treated in show as literal death: "I smell death" - Sol Regem in 3x01, other associations/scenes/lines).

However, as see in show, death is not always a negative thing (even if it's usually a tragedy) nor is life (Viren's resurrection) always a positive thing. Additionally, while Sun could work in this way - it's associated with Truth, in series, similar to how seeing past illusions is important in moon magic, the purification aspect, etc - there's a lot more evidence right now to suggest that if/when Callum does connect to another arcanum, Moon will be next.

As for connecting, I don't know if Callum would make as concentrated or purposeful attempt to another arcanum as he did in S2, but I kind of love the idea of him stumbling into another one, so to speak.

As for why I think Callum will connect to more arcanums, or have access to more magic in general: Callum's status as a human primal mage is already important to his character arc, but narratively, it has to extend beyond that to impact his entire world. Which is to say: Callum's existence, or even his knowledge, has to be spread to other humans in Xadia, and they have to connect to arcanums, too, or nothing will change on a fundamental magical level for their world at large.

Most of the conflict in the show started because humans didn't have magic. There's implications that there were some primal human mages, or humans with primal stones, but not enough. Then they invented / Aaravos gave them dark magic to fill the void. Humans got exiled. Mage wars happened. 1000 years of cold war back and forth conflict with Xadia happened. Elves, dragons, and humans all believe that humans can't do any other magic than dark magic.

Callum proves that wrong, but substantial change will not come solely from sky magic or from just one individual. He has to be able to spread it to other humans, who have a lot of human primal mages running around (and why would they all connect to the same arcanum?) Additionally, Aaravos is such a threat because he's an Archmage and knows every different type of magic. So we need someone(s) on our side to learn more magics, be able to teach more magics, proof that humans can learn more magics, etc. And if we're going to have more humans connecting to primal sources, we still need a way to show Callum being distinct and/or Special (bc he's a Protagonist after all) which would lend itself well to his curious nature (he asked Lujanne a lot about moon magic in S2 after all) and to him learning more than one arcanum in the end