#ask arcana magnus

[askarcanamagnus]

Arcana Magnus: for our first post, we thought we'd get some help from the Earth we post on! Transformers media in your world is to sell toys after all (aside from people wanting to tell a story) and we thought some the customs in this photo would help set the tone even though talking via toys won't usually happen (and well, the unofficial Ask Vector Prime 2 has done digibashes paired with prose storytelling, so not new ground really). Please feel free to send us asks, even for things canon hasn't answered! :3

We're talking about canon here besides touching on those two. Here's the alt text/dialogue so people can read it this way, its a bit lengthy because of the amount of dialogue:

Alt text: A photo of transforming toys on a windowsill, with a trans flag for the background flooring, and a dark blue / purple night-time cardboard backdrop of a scifi city of cybertronian inspiration. The figures are engaged in combat and talking:

Titan Returns Arcee has her pistols out and is firing one into Siege Ion Storm's chest point blank, which has a blast effect there representing the impact, with a KABLAM orange-pink sound description above. TR Arcee is looking at Legends Arcee and saying: "So, you used to have a human body and then because you wanted to be a transformer from seeing the toys you became one? That’s so cool. I’m both a gal from Cybertron and binary bonded with a human who’s a dear friend of mine at this point- and our writing has now and my design is inspired from our trans iterations."

Ion Storm: "GAH- yeah your toy is cool as hell, it’s nice that things came full circle and car TTRPG Arcee can use her car hood as a shield.

Legends Arcee meanwhile stands on top of a collapsing Beast Hunters Shockwave, cutting his cannon in twain with a sword while stabbing Shockwave through his mono-optic face with her other sword: "Indeed! And yeah, my writing isn’t too great and I’m sexualized in a way that isn’t very tasteful or about me having agency in that regard, but as a concept me becoming a bot is fantastic, it’s a sentiment that resonates with the nonhuman community particularly human-bodied robot folk. Hopefully I’ll get better writing in a new iteration someday…"

Her attacks have similarly pink-orange sound effects of CLANG and CRUNCH.

Shockwave: Urk- I would hope for more logic…  bleh

Behind her, Studio Series 86 Arcee is kneeling, with her pistol on her thigh, and Generations Selects Galvatron's fusion cannon held over her shoulder, firing it with blast effects into staggered Kingdom Cyclonus's shoulder and a SKWOMP sound effect: "Funny that we’re talking about this, besides my binary bond with Daniel, I did have a synthoid human body briefly, though I didn’t sign up for that. I think I wore overalls pretty well and certainly have a better understanding from my binary bond that was voluntary."

Nearby, a T30 Arcee painted in trans and lesbian flag patterns and guns on her backstacks has beheaded a falling T30 Jhiaxus with her sword. Jhiaxus's neck socket has a blast effect exploding upwards like pressured blood/fuel. T30 Arcee is looking at an Arcee customized from Legacy Elita-1 to resemble IDW1 Arcee, and T30 Arcee's speech bubble says: "Hmm, I mean, Transformers has always danced around that with the ‘transformers are humans in robot bodies with alien context’ concept in terms of writing- the toy design two of you are retooled from, me minus my custom pride flag paint job, though, definitely hits that sexualization thing. My concept design was going to be the basis for IDW1 Arcee over there in 4th reformat with a surgery that she was happy with as part of her gender journey, but the comics were so ahead from schedule that there wasn’t much of me to go on. Thankfully the artist wanted to keep in line with the comic aesthetic, so she looks different."

The IDW1 Arcee custom, erstwhile, who has cut into Jhiaxus's wing with her flaming orange blade with a pink and cyan FWOOSH sound and a fiery blast effect on top of her blade, is glancing at Legacy Arcee, and saying: "Yeah, that loops back around to the basis of Titan Returns Arcee, although I’m not sure that’s why she’s a Blurr retool. I mean, I feel like a Legacy Elita retool to Arcee with swords is fairly obvious route to go and it seems there are other people who think that, given the robust look I have from 2014-2018 (and that’s not even counting how other Arcee iterations drawn in Transformers vs. GIJOE, or IDW2, or Transformers vs. Terminator). I dunno, there’s something to be said for how root designs that look ‘overly human’ can work, my second reformat is in that category and outside of one cover with Galvatron that hasn’t aged well it’s not really focused on, which I think is interesting in retrospect even though it wasn’t intentional for a trans narrative. But yeah it is funny to see you on covers sometimes given the difference."

Legacy Arcee, who unlike her pink car bot companions, is a blue motorcycle, is in point blank contact with an unlicensed toy based on Airachnid (APC Night Countess), while Arcee's forearm blades are out, and she has 3D print blasters pointed at Airachnid's chest and head, taking a headshot with a blast effect over Airachnid's face, and Arcee is saying: "It’s still absurd to me that the only appearance of my Legacy form in canon media outside of toy stuff is me in a leotard or a swimsuit. Clothing is cool and all but am I hiding, and if it’s for fun why aren’t any of the guys doing the same thing too? I’m more partial to the fact that most of the time we are all basically walking around nude save for a few of us, and those who do wear clothes don’t do so on a basis of being a gal. I would much rather take being curvy with metal boobs while living sweetly and ferociously."

Airachnid: "You- guess fanfic and art will do…"

End Alt text.

[pluralsword]

legit agree with this so much, you understand! part of why we commissioned this art is because we love the transfem read of Daniel(le) Witwicky, and part of what made us feel like this was worth doing was because we read a fanfic set after Season 4 Rebirth that explored how Daniel and Arcee's experiences would grow from each other as part of the binary bond, this comes up in Chapter 2 of that story. ty for sharing this light here, if you want to read some of our own take on this you can check out Day of Multiflame or Trusting Transformations, we haven't done a story about Danielle as her own bot to scale but we do count transforming into the exosuit's rover mode (not that we've written this yet either) which is part of why we asked for her to be done as illustrated below. the arcana magnus blog mentioned in the post we've had a few asks for does detail a specifically sunbow narrative for her compared with original continuity-inspired stuff, entry detailed below:

as you can see when you click on the link, the art is by the awesome @reverintherevery !

finished g1 cartoon. daniel witwicky should be the first human to transition to specifically a robot's interpretation of human womanhood (matching with arcee)

[shitty-tmagp-aus]

au where the archivist is secretly just really lonely and wants to be friends with her victims but every time she talks to them they die

I swear I've read a book with this concept but I can't for the life of me remember anything about it

[the-butterbun]

Hello. I’m glad you like my descriptions for your TMA Tarot.

They are very basic for cards. Mostly just enough to get a message.

But given each Tarot deck is personal to the images they use, I might eventually have time to really go into depth of cards meaning. I have 5 decks myself, and though messages can be the same, the way they are presented are different depending on the cards images.

(Example being my Arcana Deck’s star is very big into hope and courage. As the person who represents it is these things. But my Vampire Deck’s Star is more about the determination and desire of hope than the feeling of it.)

So for your deck I’d be going into more about how the Star and The Dark go hand in hand. Your deck would talk more about the facing of darkness rather than the hope the Star invokes. And would give more messages to the reader that, say reversed, means they are in despair.

So say they got Strength and The Star reversed, the reading would indicate they are in despair and fear, the darkness is about to consume them, and Strength would tell them to face the Dark with calmness and resolve. Invoking in a way two beings, to face the fear of The Dark you must embrace the strength of The Hunt.

I hope this gives you an idea of why I adore Tarot Deck’s that are stylized to certain fandoms. Because though the meaning of the cards are roughly the same, the way they are presented and told to the reader is very different depending on the art and/or fandom they are based in.

Sorry for this info dump, I wish you well with your exams and your project. Dont feel any pressure to continue it, doing 72 cards with 22 of them being heavy stylized as Major Arcane is not easy. (Not to mention the 16 Court Cards.)

((Dude!! The Court Cards could easily be the 14 fears with the Magnus Institute and its Underground being the last two))

Ah, sorry getting carried away with this ‘ask’. Again good luck and hope everything goes well!

I absolutely love your descriptions for the tma tarot cards I drew!

I don't have a lot of practice with more flowery/metaphorical language. Seeing your proposals for the card meanings really sparked up my drive for this project once again. I can go in depth about my reasonings and analysis but poetic prose is a whole other ball park.

The fact that I don't actually have a lot of experience with tarot is also certainly a factor. at the beginning I had trouble matching characters with their cards since all decks are different but that is also the beaty of tarot I learned!

Here's the whole list of the Major Arcana matches so far (keep in mind these might still change, some of theses matches I am more attached to than others)! I paired up all these cards a few months ago so atm am a bit fuzzy on my exact thought process but I made it a point to give each fear AT LEAST one card of the Major Arcana (including the extinction). I have not done the Courts as of yet and probably won't for a while.

0 - the fool - Micheal Shelly

1 - the magician - Anabelle Cain

2 - the high priestess - Melanie King/Helen Richardson (I'm still split on this one)

3 - the empress - Gertrude Robinson

4 - the emperor - Jonah Magnus/Elias Bouchard

5 - the hierophant - Raymond Fielding

6 - the lovers - Agnes Montague and Jack Barnabas

7 - the chariot - Julia Montauk and Trevor Herbert

8 - strength - Daisy Tonner and Badura Hussain

9 - the hermit - Martin Blackwood

10 - wheel of fortune - Georgie Barker and Oliver Banks

11 - Justice - Peter Lukas

12 - the hanged man - Jonathan Sims

13 - death - Gerry Keay

14 - temperance - Jared Hopworth

15 - the devil - Nikola Orsinov

16 - the tower - Micheal Crew

17 - the star - Manuela Dominguez

18 - the moon - Gary Boylen

19 - the sun - Jane Prentis

20 - judgement - Hazekiah Wakely

21 - the world - Simon fairchild

I have my in depth notes on these somewhere in my journal so if anyone's interested I can go in depth on each card, why I chose who I chose as well as alternative candidates :)

PS.: Actually I should probably check out the Courts before I finalize these matches. who knows maybe I'll find better ones and push off some of the Eye servants over there I mean I love them dearly but also this deck is VERY heavily Eye stacked. the 'one card per fear minimum rule' definitely stays regardless

PSS.: (god I can't even even fit them all in the tags, my pookies...)

[corvidmellow]

moved cause i genuinely hated thinking about my main LMAOO

anyways

welcome to my blog!!

here is where i post art i’ve made and reblog art i like!

i’m a traditional artist who usually uses alcohol markers for my colour work

…undertale and oc hell, sorry not sorry. the special interest is strong and underfell sans has had a vice grip on me since 2016

asks are open! feel free to bug me about my little shit characters or request a sketch

more under the cut

here's some stuff about me :D

favorite colour? cyan!

favorite genre of movie? horror!

favorite genre of music? ...quite literally everything. my liked songs is a minefield. rn i really like rage rap and swing though!

favorite song?

favorite musical artists? will wood, hozier, jhariah, do not resurrect, BABY GRAVY, pierce the veil, melancolia, deftones, kendrick lamar, tyler, the creator, nothing but thieves, etc.

favorite literature? oscar wilde my beloved (i left his book at home don't ask me trivia blease i just love him), biology, thrillers, societal commentary

fandoms? undertale (obviously), UTMV (obviously), homestuck, deltarune, the magnus archives/protocol (no spoilers pls), the arcana, marble hornets, creepypasta… sorry.

favorite aus? underfell!!!! though i am also very fond of understate, echotale, and sunnemona’s dreamtale!

gender and sexuality? am trans and some flavor of asexual idk. but i'm also the asexual who's posting pure filth on ao3 and will not shut up about being attracted to underfell sans and nightmare

my aus and fics, currently! (corvid_mellow on ao3)

-UnderHeist (unpublished)

-Veneraverse (unpublished)

-Death and Despair Multiverse (unpublished)

-FINAL GIRL (18+)

-Finis Via

-being so normal series (on hiatus)

-Should I Stay or Should I Go (on hiatus)

-The Cat and the Canary (under major reconstruction and hiatus LMAO)

-a surprise tool that will help us later (i need to finish my breakdown and analysis so i can start on my rewrite)

i consider myself to be somewhat ship neutral!

that being said, i don’t go through and block people for ships and stuff, and the less i think about it the better, BUT!! i am incredibly uncomfortable with incest and a lot of comships! whether that be fontcest, dreammare, frans, etc. sanscest is fine (id fuck an alternate version of myself, but never my siblings), but please don’t bring any of that onto my posts 🫶

also dni if you're any kind of queerphobic, racist, fatphobic, ableist, hateful in general, OR support the harassment of people over silly internet things. you really won’t like me anyways lmfao. i will be mostly avoiding fighting with people on this blog, so i'll just block you if i catch your ass being hateful in here. i do not tolerate the hate of those who have done nothing to deserve it.

#'s!

i tag my art with “steel arts”

reblogs are “steel bebloggin”

asks and text posts are “steel blogs” and/or “steel says stuff”

me being absolutely down bad (usually underfell sans) is “steel simpery”

my writing tag is “steel be writin”

the (hopefully) occasional drama is tagged with “interfandom drama oops”

aaaaaand my ocs are tagged with “[character name] posting”

i try to tag everything i reblog with important tags, and i don’t do politics here!!

love y’all :)

divider by @kodaswrld !!

[askarcanamagnus]

Arcana Magnus: hi yes this is the art we're using for our ask-blog indeed! Please feel free to ask us things-

Danielle Witwicky: we look so pretty and dashing, such a good likeness. I love you-

Arcana Magnus: love you too darling *hug*

Danielle Witwicky: So, some of you may be wondering about our story... I'll tell a little bit about two of me (this is not canon information although much of this first paragraph is): the emotional and sweet gunslinging kid you might know from the Sunbow cartoon telling of the tale as Daniel (I don't mind people using that name for me I just also use Danielle both make me happy and are ones I associate with my galness) was seriously injured in 2007 CE when I (there will be some continuity slips in the gestalt that's why I'm using I here) was seriously injured helping Arcee fight Snapdragon. What with the opportunity to use headmaster technology thanks to the Nebulan resistance, Arcee volunteered to have her systems be used as life support for me- her head reconfigured to be able to transform into an exosuit for me, so we had a binary bond, working closely together, building on the sweet mentoring trust she had already given me previously, and proving quite the effective duo in combat.

With everything we went through risking body and mind to help save the world, and still sharing our bond after as we helped rebuild Nebulos and looked after the future of Earth and Cybertron... by the time 2008 rolled around, I was fifteen, and had a sort of hybrid education with some formal actual Earth schooling while the rest was Cybertronian education, and well, informally, learning from Arcee every day of my life thereafter.

Her prowess, her sweetness, the power she wielded from who she had made herself, her attentive outspoken demeanor that situated us as the right hand of Optimus Prime and set part of my life on the path of a warrior sage, all amazed me, all things I wanted in the way she did it that I had not known I had longed for. When we first met the other Solus Shield resistance fighters besides Chromia, that is, Elita One, Moonracer, Firestar, and the adorable couple Greenlight and Lancer whom Arcee was enamored with, I realized that... I wanted to be a gal, or knew myself as one from then on. Cybertron's history of ever transforming gender was one I found deep comfort in, and so, though it wasn't so easy back in 2008 (and in the 2023 CE we are posting this there are still many barriers including transmedicalizations), I started hormone replacement therapy, something that Arcee, to her amusement, experienced through her connection to me and my body. Her happiness for me is a joy that I cherish deeply, and it is a loop, for at this point, she is me, and I am her.

The two in the picture above though- somewhat different situation. That Danielle is a cyborg, for one. She er, wanted more of the metal framework in terms of bodily experience. Arcee, if you want to-

"Zoomy" Arcana Magnus: I do, I'll tell the rest. I grew up on a Cybertron where, though we had some conflicts from time to time, aesthetics of self and community was deeply celebrated as everyday and remarkable. Our first word for something like what many of you know as gender was sparktion, that is, of the spark, sparklike, since we saw it as something one tries to figure out from the soul and contextualize from lived experience and creativity, but can't ever fully know. For me- that meant eventually realizing I wanted a different frame than that I shared with my dear brother and fellow Autobot Galvatron, wanting to still ahve a robust shape but have more of a slope and curve, to have two lovely back stacks with wheels- to feel a graceful rush to my movements and thoughts and life realized through reshaping my body. My words for this sparktion to me are zoomdare. There are some parallels and overlaps with galness- but it is not the same.

I designed and forged the parts I would add to my body by hand. I couldn't do the surgery myself, but my grandmentors Solus Prime and Amalgamous did, and apart from sensory side effects (that for me only lasted a few weeks) not unlike what humans can experience from HRT or surgery, I was deeply glad with my form, and it gave me so much happiness that helped me find balance in life apart from studying wisdom and practicing it and having a community and health resources to turn to. There are other parts of the story to tell- but, regarding Danielle... I was about 200 years old when we made contact with humanity in the early history of transformer originated society. Human bodied folk were in their 2800s CE, and had made new homes on other star systems, like Gliese Exiom, where I met Danielle in her fifties, a mechatronic engineer who had long studied the history of gals and gender expansive folk at war, peace, and revolution, and read quite a bit of fiction in that regard but hadn't really found an answer to their gender stuff and had left that be. As part of a diplomatic bonding program, they and I both volunteered to binary bond-

it was initially dysphoric, for me. Her gender stuff, though rapidly exploding with epiphany and euphoria from contact with me, was not something I was used to, the way she thought about things and all the implications and history gender carried good and bad. It was too much. I could see why she with contact with my mind realized xenogender stuff in relation to my zoomdareness. She felt lonely in that too, even though patriarchy and empire had been dead for her species for the last two centuries.

So, for a while, she kept her stuff from me in our mental link and cyborg patching when they was inside my head, and I stayed an open door. But, eventually, I came to know galness another way that was euphoric to me- Earth vehicles. I took up another reformat from combining the designs of two such sport and muscle cars- and now we share freely with each other.

I helped her raise a family with the Nebulan jixurque (an aesthetic we'll have to tell you about sometime) Llyra, and the two helped me, Aileron, Lancer, Greenlight, Anode, and Lug to raise Gauge and Sideswipe II. We have fought Neofunctionists, Unicronists, and Decepticons, and took part in the aesthetic Autobot Revolution. We do our own things separately sometimes but it's rare now. I don't know what I would do if I lost her the way I've lost Hardhead and Sideswipe and Kup-

"Prof" Arcee: hey, you okay? If you need to talk, I'm always here, you know I know how loss feels, how I felt when I thought Anode and Lug were dead, when I thought I was alone.

"Zoomy" Arcana Magnus: I'll be okay, thank you though. Maybe we should talk, because the thought scares me.

Danielle is- one of the dearest people in my life. I don't know how to say, to phrase, the kind of love I feel for her. It is a deep kinship but even that is an understatement.

Also yes she's a sword sapphic/lesbian apart from sharing my mutuality but I think that was fairly obvious

Danielle Witwicky: harhar, what gave it away, emulating you?

Arcees: Hahahahaha!

Greenlight: why are y'all so cute

Aileron: why are you

Greenlight: did you just no u me

Aileron: *smooch*

Greenlight: I guess that's more of a yes and

Arcees: talk about cute...

Aileron: hehe y'all are next

Commission for @pluralsword !

It was an absolute delight to draw their version of Danielle and Arcee! Check out their RP blog!

I still have commissions open! My patreon, Ko-fi if you are interested in seeing how this art work was made, or want a high res version of this drawing!

[sillylittlecourtjester]

SILLY JESTER INTRO POST!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi!!! I'm DJ, the silly little jester. I'm pansexual, trans and demiboy, and I go by he/they/it :3

This is just a silly little blog, no gimmicks or anything. I'm fine with any asks from pretty much anyone, but I'M A MINOR. So no nsfw stuff.

Basic dni list, no homophobes, racists, sexists, transphobes, or anything like that.

I might occasionally post art, or answer any asks that I'm given :33 (MULTIFANDOM AND MULTISHIPPER :33)

Fandoms that I'm in!!!

- TF2

- School Bus Graveyard

- Stardew Valley

- Camp Here and There!!

- The Arcana

- Red Dead Redemption (1/2)

- Mouthwashing

- The Magnus Archives

[wooyoungisbaby]

@baldyeosang tagged me to pick my top 5 fave characters of all time and make a poll with them. im nERVOUS these are my babies!!! yes even griffith dont @ me i have terrible taste in blorbos (´◡`)

Choosing was HARD!! i have many blorbos i love so much, and i've been in untold amounts of fandoms. i had to limit myself to one blorbo per franchise, or this would have been just five black butler characters, no joke.

@ @loyle-trash @sillyspero @sxcret-garden @halavibe @hongjoongsgoat

@vesvosmozhno @wisteria-daydreamer @ubernoona @sourkimchi @haahka

@hwakakeri @xpi-x-elx @coffee-addict-kitten @beenbaanbuun :) no pressure though ofc

Btw no one asked but here's my unedited list (in no particular order) which does Nothing to disprove my being a giant weeb

ciel, grell, madam red, sebastian, snake, violet, undertaker, alois (black butler) magnus bane (shadowhunters) kira (bleach) usopp, rocinante, luffy, law (one piece) buffy (btvs) essek, jester, caleb (critical role) bertholt, levi (snk) grunkle stan (gravity falls) tom lucitor (svtfoe) lance, shiro (vld) lucio (the arcana) griffith (berserk)

[azacat-alias-lost]

Hi there! I'm Alias/Azalea. Some places I also go by Virgil. My pronouns are she/they, and I am an ace lesbian. Welcome to my blog!

Here I post art and fic for my many, many fandoms, as well as shitposts and reblogs of things I like. They will be listed below. Hopefully you enjoy Magnus Archives art, as you will see much of Alias (Vast OC)

Speaking of which, this is also a roleplay account for Alias! This blog is so nonspecific lmao. You're free to send me both personal or art asks, as well as roleplay asks for Character!Alias

I am a minor and also asexual so, respectfully, don't try any shit

I will roleplay if you ask!

My Main Fandoms:

The Magnus Archives/Protocol

Cult of the Lamb

Welcome to Nightvale

Team Fortress 2 (Lmfao I've never played it)

Minecraft

Stray

Used to like MHA, not as into it anymore

Arcane (NO SPOILERS PLS)

The Arcana: A Mystic Romance

Dungeons and Dragons

Camp Here and There

Sanders Sides

Night in the Woods

I have a list of horror podcasts to listen to oml

Harry Potter? Kinda? (FUCK JK R*WLING ALL MY HOMIES HATE HER)

Ask me about indie nintendo switch games i probably play it

Anyway! I hope you like my blog! Love yall

[pluralsword]

hehe ty so much!!! we'll work on it when we can :3 and yeah we do love that ship a lot

thought you'd like to know since you wanted to chat with people that we have a 10 minute stopmotion that we need to finish special effects for that we may or may not release that among other things featured Animated Arcee/Gen Selects Nightbird with both being martial arts teachers on Pre-War Cybertron during a time when Nova Prime was ruling and he drafted the two for an invasion of Velocitron, and Arcee eventually started a military revolt after Kup was killed in combat, the two played a crucial part in supporting the revolution against Nova and witnessed Energon Arcee (who we have as a sort of leader of Velocitron) become a bearer of the Autobot Enigma of Combination and thus a Prime. Nightbird/Arcee do have some adorable embracing moments and Nightbird is a very capable combatant who alongside Animated Arcee help teach the main character (an idw stylized Arcee mostly before her first surgery from Solus Prime, we use a galvatron custom in trans colors for this, her sibling Galvatron also plays a major role in the story) about martial arts stuff, meditation, and transformation (more in the gender-aesthetic/philosophical sense), we were more less gunning for older Arcee/Nightbird as a t4t ship

(we also kind of shared this to motivate ourselves to finish the special effects and the very special way we do dialogue for it that we don't want to spoil, this was done back in late 2022/early 2023 before legacy nova prime released)

"Arcee/Nightbird as a t4t ship" is so swag.

this is awesome. good luck on finishing your short film! I'm excited to watch it! take your time though, dont overburden yourself!

[the-churroguy]

Omg! It’s here! The first chapter?!?!

So one thing I’m going to say. If you aren’t aware of who the Night Lords in 40k are: the worst. They are literally the worst. They should not be admired or looked up. They are assholes. In the worst way imaginable. Why am I writing shitty fanfic about them? Don’t ask question! Anyway, I do NOT ship the main male and female leads. They are NOT a wholesome couple. They aren’t even an item, I realize that won’t stop some of you, but please be warned that these two monsters are NOT NICE TO EACH OTHER.

Kerreck fiddled with the edge of his blood-stained lightning claws as he glanced through the red tinted goggles of his helmet. His eyes flicked left a hair's breadth as he took in the sight in front of him. Just barely visible above the egress zone of this accursed world were three more battle barges.

The first and most pronounced was ‘The Nexum Arcana’, an ancient warship hailing from the sons of Magnus; captained by Azariah, a skilled sorcerer, seconded by none save Ahriman himself. Across from it was ‘The Miasmic’, which was heralded by a war-band of plague marines being led by a powerful terminator captain simply named Locust. He supposedly took the name from one of his ‘grandfathers’ own never-born after slaying it in battle. Lastly, and most dreadful in Kerrek’s opinion, was ‘The Warmaster’s Requiem’ a battle barge belonging to Black Legion. It had been renamed by its captain, Talos Infernus, a Master of Possessions. The ship was renamed to pay tribute to their former primarch, the Luprechal.

Kerreck and his brothers’ war party were not here willingly, at least most of them were not. Their captain had lost sight of their fathers last wish, the Night Haunter’s dying command, and had chosen the path of ‘apotheosis’. This was no doubt spurred on by talks with either the Rubric or the Black Legionnaire, perhaps even both. He grumbled as he stared out of the viewport, still gently gliding his gauntleted hand over his lightning claws, “Hmmmph, demon-hood. As if it is to be some sort of honor.” If he had his helmet removed, he would have spit at the notion of ascension. He understood the ruinous powers of the dark gods, and the ‘gifts’ they could provide; but all, save perhaps Khorne, would trick their subordinates and cripple them or curse them for nothing more than entertainment. No, Kerrick wanted NOTHING to do with them.

“Perhaps…” a young female called up to him, followed by the sound of a whetstone grinding against metal, “The good captain and his guard are simply seeking to honor your father in this way?” There was a scratchy chuckle from her throat as soft pink eyes stared up at the Night Lord. “What better way to sow terror, fear and bloodshed across the materium than by becoming the monster of your own story?”

The female was in rudimentary armor, scraped together from plates of former guard members and scrap they had lying around in the dark belly of the barge. It was dingy, barely offering protection, but it was light, and quiet, allowing her to slip in and out of the shadows with ease. It stood in stark contrast with Kerreck’s own warplate. His armor was ancient, fierce and covered in a leathery, blood-soaked cowl of his favorite prey he had hunted. The Night Lord turned his head to face her; sneering beneath his face plate. This girl, barely on board their ship for a quarter of a century, had nerves of adamantine to address him so casually, even more so to assume his thoughts. But she wasn’t wrong, a monster is the only thing Kerreck could call his captain, Envrol Skavak. He had served the Night Haunter faithfully throughout the heresy, and had carried out their fathers will for three different crusades, but now… greed and power had poisoned his soul. His vision had become jaded by thoughts and spirits of the warp as he steered not only himself, but his entire company down this forsaken path.

“Have you completed your tasks, Sahar?” Kerreck inspected the ax blade in her hands. It was nearly as large as she was, and undoubtedly heavier, but she was able to maneuver the weapon with relative ease as she twirled it in her hands, the black of the handle nearly blending in perfectly with the ebony color of her matted hair.

A cruel smile curled around her lips as she offered Kerreck his weapon, bowing her head to hide her eyes, “Of course, lord. This one was tempted to test its edge against some of the slaves below deck. But she stopped at the thought of using her master's arms without his permission.”

“So there is still some wisdom in that malicious head of yours after all.” Kerreck scoffed and took the device. “That is good. I’d hate to kill you, girl. You’re the only human aboard this vessel who can truly appreciate a blade's purpose. I’d hate to have to train up another one of you.”

The girl giggled slightly, “This one shall do her best not to inconvenience her lord.” She straightened herself back out and brushed her hair out of her face, “Besides, she prefers the quiet blades, engines give away positions.” She rested her hand against the pommel of one of her machetes. “Have we been summoned yet?”

Kerreck tisked as he turned his faceplate to stare at her. His eyes peered into her soul as he reprimanded her, “Know your place, Sahar. You are my ward because I ALLOW it. But you are NOT part of this war band, you are NOT a Night Lord.”

Sahar’s expression dropped slightly. She knew she would never be an astartes, no matter how hard she trained herself, bruised herself, bled herself. She would never be at their rank. She bowed her head low, “Forgive this one's forwardness.”

Kerreck paused as perhaps a small tinge of regret lifted to the forefront of his mind, but he quickly shoved it back down. No time for sentimental weakness. “You are correct, however; the captain HAS called me up. You will accompany me, and we will see what fresh hell he has planned for the company. No doubt the makings of another crusade.”

Sahar leaned to the side as she looked up to Kerreck with curious eyes, as if she had forgotten that she had just been scolded by a Night Lord, “Perhaps the four of them wish to marshal favor with the war master?”

“Abaddon is beyond any of us.” Kerreck grumbled, “And the fact that you know his name is very… disturbing…”

Sahar giggled to herself as she followed alongside Kerreck, “This Lord talks in his sleep. Dreams of malice leak bits of information. She does her best to maintain knowledge for the sake of her lord.”

“Keep it to yourself, for both of our sakes.” Kerreck looked down to her, “Many of my brothers would relish the chance at us. And while you would never be able to stop them, you can certainly do your best to remain unnoticeable to them.” Kerreck turned to make his way towards the bridge.

—————————————————————

Sahar had never seen so many astartes assembled in one place; and there were so many different colors. The ones in gold trim seemed to strike her the most. She had never known metals could be so brightly polished. And they were shining. It almost hurt her eyes to stare at them for more than a few seconds. Hues of purple and blue danced around them. The warp ebbed into the cracks in the war plate and danced across the surfaces of their heraldry.

She caught her master's left hand shift slightly. Glancing up she saw his helmet slightly tilted towards her, a subtle sign that let her know she was staring. She took a half step back and pulled the dingy blue hood of her makeshift shawl over her head, wanting to remain as unseen as possible. She smiled a bit as she stepped back though. Other slaves aboard this ship were terrified of their masters, and rightfully so. The eighth legion was the most bloodthirsty of the corpse gods creations, perhaps even more so than the World Eaters. The twelfth legion shed the most blood physically, but they did so with ‘honor’ and ‘pride’, all to appease some god that would only cast them aside. Just as the corpse god had done to his sons. It was a pointless cycle to her. She and her master did not kill for honor, they did not do so to bask in the gifts of some heathen deity. They killed… simply because they could, and they were GOOD at it.

The girl snapped back to reality as she listened to the meeting. The captains were all arguing over the war plan. Another thing Saharr and her master hated about these joint efforts with the cousin legions. Planning and logistics and rituals and… Sahar had to hold back a groan as she stared out of the viewport. She was getting anxious, ‘and if SHE is anxious…’ she looked up to her lord; ‘HE was bordering on insanity.’

———————————————————————

Kerreck was certain that if his teeth had not been filed down and reinforced from his geneseed, they would have been ground to dust by now. His eyes darted between Locust and Azariah:

The terminator stepped forward, “Speak carefully sorcerer. My armor may not bear the shine of yours. But the powers of the grandfather, as well as the endurance of my own strength will see that I am alive LONG after you and your brothers are reduced to dust…” he looked Azariah up and down, “… again…” Venom dripped off of that last jab as Locust reminded the Thousand Sons captain of their legions greatest failure and subsequent curse.

The sorcerer responded quickly as his staff tapped the ground as roaring blue fire erupted from his hand, “Mind your tongue, you walking pile of refuse.” Azariah hissed, “Your foul bodies may be immortal, but a snap of my fingers will see that entire ship ripped apart in the darkest realms of the warp as demons feast upon your putrid souls.”

The terminator’s autocannon began to cycle on his right arm. But ultimately, it was Talos who had the final words, “Brothers, please.” He reached out and touched both of their chests, “We already have so few allies. We can scarce afford to lose what little we have in the materium. Besides, you forget we are ALL guests to our host, Skavak.”

A Night Lord captain, draped in leathery capes and skull-embossed armor plating, slowly crept from the shadows as he stared at each of them. “He is correct, you two. You stand in MY ship, surrounded by MY honor guard.”

Locust huffed, “Some guard, you merely keep a handful of Talons aboard this bridge.”

“Those are the ones you are ALLOWED to see. Do not forget my filthy friend, the Raven kin are not the ONLY ones who can hide in shadows. Now then, this debate.”

Talos bowed lightly, “Yes, noble lord. We are ready for the next step. Perhaps an explanation?”

Skavak nodded and looked at the plague marine. “I will not deny the power you hold, ancient one. But your grandfather's gifts will not serve me or my company as we haunt the galaxy.” He motioned towards the Miasmic. “However, they WILL serve as an invaluable shield against whatever Imperial reinforcements arrive at the mention of this planet's downfall. My gift to you is that. Whoever you wish to capture and claim during the fight for your purposes will go unchallenged by the rest of us.”

Locust went to protest, but he could see it in Talos’ stance that there would be no further negotiations of his cause beyond this, “Very well. But heed my warning, Envrol. The Great Changer is not as… merciful… to failure as Nergul.”

“Do you believe any amongst the eighth legion are prospects for mercy?” Skavak raised an eyebrow.

“I have said what all I will say.” Locust turned to leave, a noxious cloud following behind him like an opaque cloak.

The rancidness of his armor made Sahar gag as she had to bite her tongue and hold her breath just to keep herself from vomiting across the decks. Once he had departed, she turned her hidden gaze back to the Black Legionnaire.

“And for the three of us?” Azariah asked, “What shall be our goals here?”

“Tzeentch and Khorne…” Talos smiled, stealing a quick glance to Sahar as if he could almost read her thoughts. “The two brothers have always been in an ebb and flow for the champion of the great game. The blood god detests all things arcane, while the Great Changer is disgusted by Khorne’s… straightforward… tactics.”

Envrol growled, “And yet, you claim they will both accept me as their champion? This doesn’t make sense to my mind.”

“You are a CAPTAIN of the Night Lords.” Talos raised his voice, but not in derision or condescension, but rather as a sort of praise, “A true son of Kurze, the Night Haunter. Your armies wade through torrents of blood and death. The War god hates spellcasting, but apotheosis is something he is no stranger to. And your deeds here will cement your claim. As for the Keeper of Knowledge…” Talon turned to face Azariah.

The rubric nodded and took a half step forward, “Tzeentch is above all else, curious. He craves knowledge, and the idea of a merging demon prince between him and his brother may anger him, but his curiosity will win over. It can be done.”

Sahar caught something just there, as the sorcerer spoke. A slight pause, a fraction of a second in looking back to the Night Lord Captain. He was lying. A scheme was brewing between the two arcane masters. Skavak might very well achieve apotheosis, but he would no longer be the one pulling the strings.

“Very well.” Envrol nodded, “Nine days. We will lay waste to this world for nine days. Eight monuments are to be erected as we take the hive sectors to venerate the blood god, around each monument we will inscribe the whispers of Tzeentch. The blood will appease the one, while the knowledge claimed by this world slakes the other.” Envrol looked to Kerreck, “Prepare your brothers. When shadow falls across the planet. You will strike.”

———————————————————————

[askarcanamagnus]

Lady Arcana Magnus, and the collective that she's associated with therein, which forms of aesthetic variation do you personally find the most appealing or fascinating? Furthermore, which kind of ideal expression do you advise to a queer demimale who has been feeling some feminine aesthetic alignment for some time now, and would thus like to dress or style themselves accordingly? I was told once that I had a certain feminine quality about myself, though back to the core of the question, I suppose I'd love to learn more about your aesthetic experiences in order to learn more about my own potential.

Additionally, in terms of the outer multiverse that you may be aware of, have you ever encountered any variations of Shockwave that were trans, where perhaps learning about themselves and their own internalized biases led them to realize that their present external expression didn't align with what was truly themselves? I suppose I think it would be interesting if a Shockwave was able to better apply her potential in the service of aesthetic liberation :3

 The query:

Lady Arcana Magnus, and the collective that she's associated with therein, which forms of aesthetic variation do you personally find the most appealing or fascinating? Furthermore, which kind of ideal expression do you advise to a queer demimale who has been feeling some feminine aesthetic alignment for some time now, and would thus like to dress or style themselves accordingly? I was told once that I had a certain feminine quality about myself, though back to the core of the question, I suppose I'd love to learn more about your aesthetic experiences in order to learn more about my own potential.

Additionally, in terms of the outer multiverse that you may be aware of, have you ever encountered any variations of Shockwave that were trans, where perhaps learning about themselves and their own internalized biases led them to realize that their present external expression didn't align with what was truly themselves? I suppose I think it would be interesting if a Shockwave was able to better apply her potential in the service of aesthetic liberation :3

“Zoomy” Arcana Magnus: Dear Expansive Quester,

I am deeply honored, we all are, that you reached out to us about this. We will answer in three parts, first, regarding the various aesthetics we enjoy for ourselves and in others. Second, giving you tools to navigate your own iteration and desires on your journey for euphoria. As it sounds dress is a part of this, we will advise in that regard overlaid with our own experiences whether binary bond or otherwise, and some questions to consider. We are more than happy for this to be a blog conversation if you wish! 

Lastly, we will tell you about some the Shockwaves across variation we’ve met, for we do know some. I myself was close with an Autobot Shockwave, they was an instrumental strategic advisor on Nautica’s command staff in the Great War, and a proud single mentor to the stoic fun-loving Wrecker and Torchbearer errant in love with Windblade, Strongarm. We do know some she pronoun Shockwaves though. <3

On my part, as you may know, I am a trans torquey zoomdare and a gal, the latter from contact with humanity and my trans gal binary bond partner. For those unfamiliar with compound noun aesthetic assemblage terms originating from bots like us under the umbrella systems of sparktion (Cybertronian origin), hearth (Camien origin), voyage (Velocitronian origin),  sedneemet (Eukarisian origin) etc. terminology, some of which we first introduced to this world back in early 2022, we will define in brief in this regard:

Cybertron -sparktion - literal meaning: sparklike assemblage, assemblage of sparks, the seeing of trying to understand one's aesthetic singularity as getting to know one's spark.

Caminus – hearth - an aesthetic understanding from the fire of the person and community, of passion, of forging, of dedication, and the universe.

Velocitron – voyage - the love of the journey itself taken very deeply, considered more important than a long resting point of conclusions.

Eukaris - sedneemet - rock affinity based, specifically the intergenerational formation and changing of shape and composure from many different sources.

In regards to specific aesthetics to me zoomdare reflects a sense of a graceful rush in body and mind, it is somewhat comparable to the sensory re-acquaintance euphoria human bodied people experience particularly from doing hormone replacement therapy for aesthetic reasons, however it is also comparable to the reknowing of oneself and the world in other senses, whether meditation, dance, martial arts, whatever one feels at home and in tempo with, what makes one happy. That is more the zoom side typically, however these definitions are self ascribed, not prescriptive. People such as myself speak to the entwining with the other end of the dare portion reflecting an intrepidness in existing and building on that, and also to carry on and care for ourselves and one another, to protect, create, and deescalate all we can.

As such, for people like me, there is also a bodily component- while a zoomdare can be any shape, say a telescope or microscope bot in the zoom and/or daring of their magnification, or a building bot one with their surroundings and denizens- for many of us it is the altmode shape to soar or flit about or charge or outmaneuver or race or flow that affirms us- for me, being a robust high speed car with some torque and reflecting that in my bot mode shape and my fields of study makes me very happy. Windblade, Anode, Velocity, Aileron, Hot Shot, Trans-Mutate and many more also know themselves with their frames in a similar manner. As a mutualist in attraction, that is to more similar aesthetic assemblages while still reveling in symbiosis of our differences- I find that attractive, and there is a tank Shockwave who fits that profile for me, but we won't talk about her until the end of this post (my understanding is that the feeling is mutual, but we've decided not to act on it. sometimes attraction is just that).

But the truth is most bots of my world feel some affinity to zooming and daring, just as I do to holding, wooshing, booming, clawing, flapping, chords, spinning, flares, seeking, forging, the torque, blazing, plunging, the absences thereof, the whys, the hows, the whens, and where’s and on and on. We do after all have hundreds of thousands of years to have built up an assemblage viewpoint, to know ourselves as compounds of so much. In this way. My realizations of myself created a new kinship with my symbiotic launch tank-alt torquey wooshhow twin sibling Galvatron, for he could see and embrace through me what taking on mutualistic trans zoomdareness would have been like for him. 

Regarding torque- it's a way of referring to the rapid build-up and force of momentum of persona and/or euphoria of such in the frame and the ensuing results in contact with the world. It is somewhat comparable to your term “butch” from lesbian and sapphic terminology as one butch lesbian Spacewarp realized dating torquedare Perihelion, however as you can tell from the fact symbiotist Galvatron uses it the term torque, like the rest of our aesthetics, are not mere analogs for gender. They are our own parallel and vastly differing iteration that has some amusing overlaps. Some examples of primarily torque folks include Elita One, Pyra Magna, and Optimus Prime (all torqwhy), Road Rage (torqdare), Cliffjumper, Arr-Cee (a motorcycle bot I am close to), and Catapult (zoomtorqdares), whereason the holding or being held and knowing when to let go ranges from as small as Lug (holddare), to Titans like Lodestar (zoomholddare).

There will always be aesthetic contextualization and iteration, there has been as long as there has been life to experience of it, so at the very least as long as there has been sapient life- and in that sense, will always be around no matter how hard people try to erase it, and even should all life perish, we carry on in love’s memory forevermore beyond the question of physics or gods. 

“Prof” Arcee: while my world and that of Arcees you are familiar with use gender, the situation is similar. Our genders are linked to one another, and inform and are informed by alt mode and relation to it. I am a mutualist trans alt modus iterexper gal, so I am polygender in that way, and even in how harsh and tragic my world’s history was, we did still have many beautiful understandings, and though I would not know the word zoomdare until I was very old, we were building towards that framework, for example I did know I liked some torque to me, and this was actually a point of grief since Jhiaxus’s transmedicalist reformat of me in his rigid ideal of a woman and not what I wanted for gender affirmation as a gal, did not take that into account or more accurately ignored it. I would take millions of years to be brave enough to take on robustness again within the shapes I actually wanted. 

Regarding your question- I would encourage you to reflect from yourself and the world around you. What kind of gals or femme-spectrum folks do you look up to or aspire to be like? What clothing makes you happy? That will help answer your question. While clothing is not really my thing…

“Arcblade” Danielle Witwicky: if its not tough color schemed armor that allows maneuverability, I like a-skirts and dresses, because I can move easily in them, more easily than pants (not that I’ve worn pants for along time, hard to do as an exosuit cyborg), and I tend towards a stately appearance if I am bothering with clothes. Anything can be feminine if you want it to be, it's just a question of what resonates with you.

“Zoomy” Arcana Magnus: regarding Shockwaves, yes, we know of some who are trans, and some who even though they are not had their own epiphanic cycles entangled with the journeys of other people. The Shockwave I know from my life uses they/them, a zoomdare, is aconjunxic and asensual, and struggles with emotions. They however were raised in a loving community of my world’s Golden Age, that showed them to observe and understand that there is wisdom and reason for a society of mutual aid, consensus, care, and solidarity, and while they may struggle with being compassionate and loving emotionally, the concepts themselves make sense to them, and they know that we love them. There is one entity in the universe they do love dearly, can hug close most easily- their mentee, the brave and sweet gamer Torchbearer errant Strongarm, who they raised on Caminus in the late Golden Age, since they foresaw that world would play such a particular role in the aesthetic Autobot Revolution. Shockwave was a scientist of astronomy, physics, and engineering, but they also intently studied civilian and military strategy, and would go on to serve as one of the strategic command advisors to stratelect Nautica, who advised and coformed much of the strategic planning with Supreme Commander Optimus Prime on behalf of our pluralistic democratic government at the galactic level of the war. It was Shockwave who was the chief architect of the system by system, sector by sector randomized strategem algorithm offensive late in the war that made us unpredictable in our offensive late in the war against the remaining Decepticon sectors, before Nautica led the  command of a unified consolidation of special forces interdiction, fleet-scale peaceful penetration, and wave based planetary deployment with direct tactical ground support and in tandem with Decepticon defectors. 

It was my personal honor as a Prime and as elected Director of the Anchor special forces and thus one of the joint chiefs to present Shockwave with the Medal of Cosmic Survival, for their algorithm that they monitored and edited with real-time sapient input until conventional command resumed to have so thoroughly mitigated civilian casualties and maintained as primary priority the safeguarding of them above all else in a chaotic situation where we retreated from some regions and made full frontal assaults in others.

I won’t lie. Even with our pacifist military (which we in the brass knew was an oxymoron and were always looking for the day when we could build peace instead of fight to survive) considerations of not engaging in strategic bombing or bombardment of any targets that was not confirmed to be solely a conventional military base or holding with a confirmed lack of civilian presence in or close enough to be collateral, that even with maintaining only use of tactical direct support otherwise and de-escalatory doctrine always looking to find grounds for mutual reparation, restitution, restoration, and reconciliation, people were caught in the crossfire throughout the war even on the infantry scale. Even when the killing usually reached only the target in mind that itself is still a sadness and atrocity. It weighs on my conscience, on all of us. We cried a lot about it, and it’s the whole damn reason Anode and Lug made a plea to both sides to stop because of the sheer amount of trans people, and people generally, who had died on both sides over 500,000 years of war. But that’s a story for another time. Suffice it to say that at least we did not try to declare our cause just, to excuse what we did, and that even though it was the Decepticons who had seceded and tried to coup us with their stratocracy that eventually became neo-Functionist genocidal reactionary totalitarianism and as such eventually had a civil war with those who didn’t agree, that we did not annex them, that we helped to reconstruct democracy with them when all was said and done, and that we repaid all we could for the hurt we caused, just as they did for us. 

Shockwave helped with that. They, like me, gave up their rank, helped to rebuild damaged polities by hand, to ensure the traumatized received care, to step in the way of conflict and not return violence in turn, like the peaceful intercessions of old in cycles of violence during the Golden Age. To risk their life as someone working for the dream with their integrated cannon deactivated and stuffed with cyberflowers, working with their one arm, and hauling supplies on their treads. They told me they were happy when, years afterwards, they were instead tugging youngsters along on field trips to the observatory. 

"Prof" Arcee: I could talk about the Shockwave of my world

It is my understanding that some Shockwaves do know themselves as trans gals. One such example is a Shockwave from the Tyran Cluster who found her way onto Axiom Nexus after a Spacebridge accident while helping AllSpark bearer Multivalia Prime (Chromia) take down the Fallen in order to save the new forged population of Cybertron from being forced into an army and dying. But because of her pushing for offworlder equality simply because it made more sense than the extractive jus sanguinis  hierarchy, she was pushed by bruisers affiliated with the Freelance Police Legion into the Heap, where she joined up with the Unified Anarchists League in trying to make the best of scarce resources through caring for one another and finding joy in resistance- it was in learning to dance and the way of the sword that she realized herself as a gal, and as the bots of her universe could do, simply changed her shape to reflect what that personally meant for her. She rationalized having armored skirt halves like Anode’s that in this case form part of Shockwave’s tank armor because the skirts have pockets, but she did later admit that the moment to moment life and emotive expression her t4t partner Anode had through them is why she took them on for herself. After the post-Shroud revolution that brought a new consensus of equality to Axiom Nexus, I met her via a Multiverse Drive ship that ‘Backpack” Arcee was on, and we shared stories with each other. Shockwave seemed very happy.

[anarchivalsystem]

Some of us feel like answering questions, possibly with art, so... feel free to send asks?

Series we have fictives from who are interested:

(As well as non-fictives who are interested; see Misc.)

The Magnus Archives

Martin

Lonely!Martin (AU, also vetting questions for our Little, Callum Brodie)

Tim

Michael Shelley

Mike Crew

Gerry

Annabelle Cane

Five Nights at Freddy's

Toy Bonnie

Foxy

Glamrock Freddy (also vetting questions for our Little, Cassie)

Glamrock Bonnie

Eclipse

Milgram

Mikoto

Shidou

Fuuta

Haruka

Kotoko

The Hollows (book series)

Rachel Morgan

Ivy Tamwood

Algaliarept (begrudgingly)

Pokèmon

Raihan (also vetting questions for our Little Allister & Middle Bede)

Leon (also vetting questions for our Middle Gloria)

Rika

Grusha

Arven

Penny (begrudgingly)

Helluva Boss/Hazbin Hotel

Blitz & Stolas

Moxxie & Millie

Fizz

Tex

Alastor

Misc.

November (Darker than Black)

Faith (Buffy)

Lonely!November (TMA/Darker than Black AU)

Beast Boy (Teen Titans)

Robin (Teen Titans)

Poison Ivy (Harley Quinn Animated Series)

Bear (non-fictive, werewolf)

Queenies (non-fictive, hive of miniscule dragons)

Selka (non-fictive, Middle, selkie girl)

The Arcana

Asra

Nadia

Portia

Muriel

[honeii-puff]

07.|blood runs thicker than water (but both feel the same when your eyes are closed)| WHUMPTOBER 2024

Magic with a cost| Regret (ALT PROMPT) -Isabella Ward, narrated by Jonathan Sims Title from The Water is Fine by Chloe Ament Word Count: 1.48k

Statement of Isabella Ward, regarding an incident with a package given to her at her storefront in Cambridge. Original statement received May 20th, 2016, but written September 12th, 2006, reportedly having gotten lost in the mail. Audio recording by Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

I don’t know why I’m writing this to you lot. I really don’t. I understand that mailed statements are quite… irregular, to say the least. But when I first visited the Institute, I was still too shaken to be able to write anything down. The woman at the front desk told me they could make an exception, and that I could mail it to them when I was ready. So that’s what I’m doing now.

I should probably start at the beginning. I work at a crystal shop, you see, with my sister. I’m a firm believer in the healing properties of crystals and performing readings with tarot cards, all of that. Most think that it’s bogus, but I believe in it. 

At least, I did. Now I know better, and that much more powerful entities exist and pull the strings this and that way, using us as pawns in some sick, twisted game for their entertainment.

It all started last month, about mid August. As well as selling crystals, my sister and I receive donations of magical objects. Charged crystal wands, crystal balls, old tarot decks, that sort of thing.

Well, that weekend, a strange man walked into the shop. We do get a lot of strange customers, from hippies well versed in tarot and crystal usage to hyper-religious missionaries trying to convert us from “the devil”. There is no devil in what we do, but just… a natural assistance to those who need it.

This man was a different kind of strange. He looked to be in his early 20’s, with dark brown skin, buzzed hair, and piercing yellow eyes. He had a generally stoic face, like someone who had been through the military, that kind of lot, but he just felt… off. I can’t describe it. Maybe it’s because we don’t get many military folks in this area, or maybe it was his eyes. I don’t know. I don’t want to know.

He came in holding this small, black box. It looked to be made of a sort of smooth plastic, with a crudely drawn eye on the lid in white chalk, having six eyelashes pointing out in all directions. I still have the box. Couldn’t bring myself to burn it along with what was inside. I’ll send it with this letter, I think.

I asked him what the box was, and he just stared blankly at me, before speaking in a thick, Scottish accent. He said “True magic comes with a cost. The future is hardly as good as we think it to be.”

I asked him to elaborate, but the man said nothing, and just walked out the door, leaving the box on the counter. It had a sort of… dark energy to it. I could feel it thrumming in my bones, yet couldn’t help but be drawn to it.

I opened the box. Of course I opened the bloody box. I should have left it. I should have burned it before it killed my sister.

Inside the box, was a worn deck of tarot cards, unlike any I’ve ever seen before. The cards were dusted in gold, and the drawings of the major and minor arcana were etched into the surface in an inky black. I could feel the engravings of the outlines like it was a stamp. They felt heavier than tarot cards were supposed to be, the entire deck together weighing similar to a cement brick.

They had a strange… allure to them that I just couldn’t ignore. The words of the stranger had intrigued me, and so had this deck. I had to use it.

I wish I didn’t.

The first reading I did with the deck was for my friend Lucy Barne. She gets regular readings from me. I knew she didn’t believe in it, but she knew I did, and had always found the topic intriguing.

While I was doing the reading, a strange feeling overcame me. Words flowing through my head and out my mouth, as if I were a host for something unspeakable. 

I told her that her future was limited, that she’d be crushed under the weight of a grey 2002 Ford Thunderbird, going too fast for her to avoid.

Lucy had laughed, thinking that I was joking with her. 

I don’t blame her. Readings don’t happen that way. It was more specific than any reading I had ever performed in my seven years of doing them. But I knew it wasn’t any reading of mine.

I put the cards away, and the thrumming that the cards sent through me had vanished, as if it was never there. We laughed it off, though it was unnerving, and she was off.

Just as she had started walking down the crosswalk, a grey car, going way faster than it should have been, rammed straight into her.

A grey 2002 Ford Thunderbird.

I should have stopped using the deck after that. But something compelled me to keep going, to keep using the deck as if it was some sort of drug that I couldn’t escape from. One by one, my clients dropped like flies. 

Mountain climbing incident.

Food poisoning.

Stabbed to death in an alley.

One right after the other. No matter how bad the outcome was, I just couldn’t stop using it. The feeling of the cards in my hands as my clients pulled their dastardly fate had a sense of thrill that I had never felt before, something exciting. I think I had convinced myself that what was happening wasn’t my fault. That it would happen anyways, and I was just the messenger.

That was before my sister Molly had asked for a reading.

She was about to get married to her fiancee, Phillip, and was feeling nervous about the wedding. So she turned to me for the reading.

I should have just used the normal cards. They were right there, I could have just grabbed them. But I grabbed the box and used the deck from the black box.

She had pulled her first card. Major Arcana 13. Death. Usually signifies an end to something. A relationship, a job, something important. They don’t call it a major arcana for nothing.

This did nothing for Molly’s anxiety, so I suggested she pull another card to figure out what it was supposed to end.

Her fingers only brushed the deck before she started to scream. 

The skin of her fingertips was shriveling like a prune, spreading across her hand and up her arm, before stretching tight against the muscles under her skin. They bulged and squirmed under her skin as the grey spread up to the rest of her body like a wildfire, causing her to start spasaming uncontrollably, knocking the deck out of my hand and onto the floor.

Within moments, she had stopped, slumping down in the chair. I knew she was dead. I scrambled for my phone and called 999, desperate to get someone to help. 

Once the call had ended, I picked up the cards that had fallen, and one of them had landed face up.

Major Arcana 15. The Devil.

I burned the cards after that. It’s the proper way to get rid of a tarot deck, but even if it wasn’t, I couldn’t bear to pass that cursed deck onto someone else.

I closed the shop soon after Molly’s funeral. No amount of smudging could remove the gut-wrenching feeling I had every time I stepped foot in it. It’s been vacant since, word spreading about my sister making future tenants weary. I still worry that man is going to come back and give me something even more horrible than the deck, something truly from the devil.

End statement.

There wasn’t too much to research on this case to prove its authenticity. Sasha looked through records of crystal shops in the Cambridge area that closed around that time, and came up with The Ward Sisters: Tarot Readings and Crystals. The shop closed September 1st, 2006, after the death of one of the owners, Molly Ward. The coroners report a drug overdose as the cause of death, though noted the grey skin of the corpse as irregular. Martin contacted Isabella for a follow-up, but she didn’t bother to give a response. 

The letter did come with the black box mentioned in the statement, with an eye that had six eyelashes pointing in different directions drawn in white chalk on the top of the lid.

The man she described doesn’t match anyone to our knowledge, no matter how much Tim kept searching, so for now, this statement will be put to rest.

End Recording.

[oneglass-zinfandel]

My Masterlist

Last updated: 17.12.2023 (day.month.year)

Games:

Call of duty

Ghost/Simon Riley

König

Horangi

Soap

Price

Gaz

Ships i will do:

Soap x Ghost

Horangi x König

Movies:

Scream:

Billy Loomis

Stu Macher

I won't do any ships but i will do Polyamory or you dating both of them

(I apologize for the following)

DSMP:

C!Sapnap

C!Wilbur

C!Dream

Lmanbur, Pogtopia arc, Ghostbur, Revivebur, Simpbur

Tommyinnit / C!Tommy (platonic)

Quackity / C!Quackity

Karl Jacobs / C!Karl

Philza / C!Philza (platonic)

Ranboo / C!Ranboo (platonic)

Tubbo / C!Tubbo (platonic)

Technoblade / C!Technoblade (platonic)

I won't do any ships only x reader

If it says "(platonic)" i feel uncomfortable writing anything to do with kissing or romantic and especially NSFW, but handholding or small sighs on love are fine

Otome games:

Obey me:

Lucifer

Mammon

Leviathan

Satan

Asmodeous

Beelzebub

Beelphie

Diavolo

Simeon

Solomon

Ships i will do:

Asmodeous x Solomon

Diavolo x Lucifer

Twisted Wonderland

Ace Trappola

Deuce Spade

Tray clover

Cater Diamond

Leona Kingscholar

Jack Howel

Ruggi Bucchi

Kalim Al-Asim

Jamil Viper

Idia Shroud

Malleus Draconia

Cruel

Ships i will do:

Ace x Deuce

Tray x Cater

Malleus x Leona

Kalim x Jamil

You can request other characters as well i would just prefer doing these,the ships i dont care just make it legal

Arcana:

Nadia

Asra

Julian

Muriel

I wont do any ships only x reader

Nu: Carnival:

Eiden

Aster

Morvay

Yakumo

Edmond

Olivine

Quincy

Kuya

Garu

Blade

Dante

I won't do any ships only x reader

Dating simulators/Visual Novels:

Error143

14 days with you

John Doe

Jester

Homegrown Pet

Blooming Panic

Please don't hate Christmas

GAVRIL

Your Boyfriend (+ Teenage Peter)

YOU and HIM

My dear Hatchet Man

Broken colors

Glass Mind

Duality

Video games:

Stardew Valley:

Sebastian

Sam

Magnus

Elliott

Penny

Leah

Halley

I wont do any ships just x reader

Genshin Impact:

Kaeya

Lisa

Diluc

Razor

Venti

Albedo

Rosaria

Xiao

Aether

Lumine

Beidou

Tartaglia

Zhongli

Hu Tao

Xinyan

Yelan

Kazuha

Thoma

Ayato

Arataki Itto

Gorou

Heizou

Tighnari

Cyno

Alhaitham

Kaveh

Baizhu

Dottore

Pantalone

Scaramouche/Wanderer

Eremites

Lyney

Ayato

Ships i will do:

Lisa x Jean

Razor x Bennett

Xiao x Aether

Diluc x Tartaglia

Diluc x Venti

Venti x Zhongli

Gotovu x Kazuha

Beidou x Ningguang

Xingqiu x Chongyun

Tartaglia x Zhongli

Kazuha x Scaramouche

Kazuha x Heizou

Kazuha x Heizou x Scaramouche

Reiden Shogun x Yae Miko

Thoma x Ayato

Arataki Itto x Gorou

Tighnari x Cyno

Alhaitham x Kaveh

Scaramouche x Tartaglia

Dottore x Pantalone

Capitano x Tartaglia

Dottore x Tartaglia

Pantalone x Dottore x Capitano x Tartaglia

You can request other characters as well i would just prefer doing these,the ships i dont care just make it legal, also gay cuz i legit CANT

Other:

Creepypasta:

BEN Drowned/Ben drowned

Jeff The Killer

Ticci Toby

Eyeless Jack

Jane the Killer

Slenderman

Masky

Hoodie

Jason the toymaker

The Puppeteer

Bloody painter

Homicidal Liu

Jane the killer

Splendorman (angst to comfort)

I wont do any ships just x reader

V-tubers:

Mysta

Luca

Shu

Ike

Vox

Shoto

ships i will do:

Vox x Shoto

Mysta x Shoto

Luxiem x Shoto

Vox x Ike

Anime:

Bungou stray drogs:

Atsushi

Dazai

Ranpo

Kunikida

Tanizaki

Yosano

Fukuzawa

Akutagawa

Chuuya

Tachihara

Gin

Oda

Ango

Poe

Fyodor

Nikolai

Sigma

Tetcho Suehiro

Ships i will write:

Dazai x Chuuya

Dazai x Kunikida

Dazai x Atsushi (only platonic)

Dazai x Akutagawa (only angst)

Dazai x Chuuya

Oda x Ango

Poe x Ranpo

If you have any characters i didnt mention or ships you would like to see you can still ask but i would prefer these<3

My hero academia:

Midoriya

Bakugou

Kirishima

Mina

Denki

Todoroki

Momo

Tamaki

Midnight

Hawks

Shigaraki

Dabi

Toga

Twice

Mr. Compress

Ships i will do:

Kirishima x Bakugo

Toga x Twice (platonic)

Blue lock:

Isagi

Nagi

Bachira

Chigiri

Niko

Kunigami

Aryu

Sae Itoshi

Ships i will do:

Nagi x Reo

Bachira x Isagi

Chigiri x Kunigami

Mob psycho 100:

Reigen Arataka

Ships i will do:

Serizawa x Reigen

Chainsaw man:

Denji

Power

Aki

Angel Devil

Yoshida (maybe)

Ships i will do:

Aki x Angel Devil

Please dont ask for Denji x Makima or Makima in general,that stuff is just gross and i dont want to write for Makima,i said i dont like any minors x adults

TDLOSK:

Saiki Kusuou

Kaidou Shun

Toritsuka (maybe)

Aren

Ships i will do:

Aren x Kaidou

Danganronpa:

Nagito

Soda

Gundham

Ships i will write:

Soda x Gundham

Im sorry i didnt really watch the show or play the games but just some gameplay with these three characters.

Buddy Daddies:

Kokhi Uchiyama

Kazuki Kurusu

Rei Suwa

I wont do any ships just x reader

SK8 The Infinity:

Reki

Langa

Joe

Cherry

Miya

Ships i will write:

Reki x Langa

Joe x Cherry

Hunter x Hunter:

Gon

Killua

Kurapika

Leorio

Feitan

Chrollo

Shizuki

Kite

Meruem

Ships i will write:

Gon x Killua (platonic)

Kurapika x Leorio

Moriarty the Patriot:

Sherlock Holmes

William James Moriarty

Louis James Moriarty

Albert James Moriarty

Sebastian Moran

James Bond

Ships i will write:

Sherlock x William

Jujutsu Kaisen:

Gojo

Geto

Yuuji

Megumi

Toge

Choso

Sukuna

Ships i will write:

Gojo x Geto

Yuuji x Megumi

Death Note:

Misa

L

Light

Mello

I wont do any ships just x reader

[lycanlovingvampyre]

MAG 183 Relisten

Activity on my first listen: cutting the jasmine in my garden.

Wanna say right at the start of this episode, I loooove the soundscaping in this one! Especially the sounds during the dialogue scenes.

MARTIN:"Oh, bugger off!" JON: "Everything alright?" Ha, Jon's tone xD Like "Heh, I know what you're going to say".

JON: "It’s a building. A tower, in a sense." MARTIN: "Oh yeah? And what sense might that be?" JON: [Faintly ominous] "The Tarot sense." I thought the Ivory sense, but okay?

MARTIN: "Really?" JON: "What? No. Sorry, it… felt like a good line." MARTIN: "No, no, it was. I just… I dunno, I… you did the look and… It’s fine, sorry." Okay, Martin finally seems to get one of Jon's jokes, but I don't, can someone explain this to me? XD Like The Tower of the Major Arcana? What's up with "the look"? Anything specific or just Jon being a theater kid?

MARTIN: "What, what’s the deal, though? Parts of it almost look like –" JON: "The Institute." MARTIN: "Yeah." JON: "Yes. It makes sense. After all, it was built on the ruins of what Robert Smirke constructed." Also, like... The Magnus Institute was an academic institution. And this domain is about academia as far as I remember...?

HELEN: "I was so looking forward to catching up after that whole Basira and Daisy thing, but then pfft! You both disappear. I’d be very keen to know how you managed that little trick." MARTIN: "Why, it caught us by surprise too. I mean, w-we actually ended –" JON: [Firmly] "We found somewhere to rest. That’s all." MARTIN: "Oh, yeah. Ah. Yes." Hm, makes sense that Martin would tell her. With Helen per se he didn't really have any bad experiences yet (He did with Michael, but Helen is definitely different and that can draw a mental line, not seeing that it's actually still the same being). Jon on the other hand, oohohoho... He knows not to trust her.

JON: "She made her choice." HELEN: "With your assistance." JON: "It was still her choice." Ahhh, the choice and free will theme again!

JON: "Martin, I’d prefer we talk about this alone." HELEN: "Oh, I bet you would. You were probably just going to bypass it entirely, weren’t you? I can’t believe you would deny him the choice to see his own domain." MARTIN: "My… my wha– John, my what?" It's not Jon's fault they're being stalked by gaslight gatekeep girlboss all the time so she can show up and sprinkle some of her manipulation all over them, so they would start to argue. Good thing Jon and Martin are better than that. And technically, Martin should already have a strong suspicion he has a domain, they talked about it in MAG 167. Jon said they all have a domain and when Martin asked about his, Jon wanted to check in, if he really wants to know about it and Martin immediately declines. Being in denial of something or intentionally looking away doesn’t mean that that thing isn’t real.

Hm... This really took it out of Martin though. Normally he wants to talk things through, but now he rather has a moment to quietly think about it...

"The one who sits in the central chamber cannot remember his name. But he knows that people called him ‘doctor’. He made sure of that. To ignore it would have been the greatest disrespect and he will not be disrespected." Lol, is that poor soul Austrian? (There are sooo many memes about this here in Austria! They usually are titled "Tell me you're Austrian without telling me you're Austrian" and then it's someone with insanely many titles or absolutely stupid things with titles. For example doorbells on the outside of an apartment complex. There are no names, they are simply titled (ha) "Top 1" or "Top 2" and so forth. And then there is one with a small sticker in front of it so it reads " Dr. Top 5" xDD)

"This… wasn’t right. The first of the doors would lead him… Maybe that wasn’t the first of the doors. But it, it was, it was the first door. But that would mean… No, he, he was right, he was certain, he had factored in all the timings. This didn’t make sense." This has strong "My code isn't working... I have no idea why - My code is working... I have no idea why" vibes XD

That statement doesn't do much to me. Then again, I'm not an academic. My sister who has a PhD however says she totally feels this one.

JON: "Well, you’re a watcher, Martin. You worked for the Institute, you read statements. The Eye is… fond of you." This is super interesting. Cause this means, not every watcher out there is evil or a bad person like Jude, or Simon... So for the post-change-world this would be super interesting. (Oliver also seems chill to me, that's why I like him so much.)

MARTIN: "But I’m not an avatar." JON: [Heated] "Avatar isn’t a thing, Martin! It’s not– It’s just a word. A word used by… fools like Smirke to try and sort everything into neat little boxes, to reduce the messy spray of human fear into a checklist: Human, avatar, monster, victim." Love that we get this conversation, about how the world works, in a domain where this was the theme.

JON: "If you’re sure." MARTIN: "… I’m sure I love you." [FOOTSTEPS] JON: "I love you too." [FABRIC RUSTLES] Those two <3 (Ha! Better luck next time, Helen!!)

@a-mag-a-day