#bc now the storys cohesion

[angelsaxis]

"why get mad at authors and writers for not giving you what you want? Just write a fanfiction" why get mad at someone you commissioned not drawing and delivering the art they promised when you can just draw your own art?

[vigilskeep]

some decisions from veilguard are actually only emotionally hitting me days afterwards

[hpandthegobletofsass]

have been gripped by the concept of history of magic teacher!regulus the past 12 or so hours, might fuck around and put aside the two other hp fics i've been working on in favor of writing a little one shot of my headcanons related to this

[akkivee]

KR!!!!!!!!!!!!! NELKE!!!!!!!!!!! WHOMST TF EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LET ME IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LET ME IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ford-ye-fiji]

don’t get me wrong I love ghibli movies but what on earth is happening in tales of earthsea????

[kaikamahine]

Now that I have a desktop instead of a mid-2000s laptop that would take 20min to load every map, even a fast travel (not an exaggeration,) I decided now was a great time to ...... completely redo all of my Inquisitors from scratch.

on one hand. fuck that prologue demon. fuck the entirety of the exalted plains. "sEe ReASoN, lYseTTe." PLEASE WILL THE BEARS JUST LEAVE ME ALONE.

on the other!!! not to get goopy on 9yr old computer graphics, but have you PLAYED DA:I on ultra mesh settings?? OH MY GOD.

it's SO DIFFERENT when you're not on super low resolution and don't take 20min to change maps!!!! is this how y'all were living THE WHOLE TIME????

mods 😎

From top to bottom we have:

Jem, my child-soldier templar

Persefene, my widowed Avvar Adaar

Chenelo, Edgelord™

Maia, my Kirkwall throatcutter turned mom

Emmory, the hearthkeeper

Aodhán, the agoraphobe

and Steven

NOT pictured, because they're perfect the way they are and I felt no need to tinker with them: Dain Cadash, the least qualified person here, and Esperantha Lavellan, the unfortunate heterosexual.

[doyouknowthemossinman]

and here's how my favorite white boy fails to handle college! (he's fine, just kind of sad <3)

[queen-scribbles]

Running full bore into my normal MEBB problem: hit the minimum word count but scrambling to finish the story by the deadline and things WILL be getting cut.

[fangirld]

i should go to sleep

Helping a friend sort out feelings and the anger over issues in the D&D group and the reason why like one person left a while ago and the other person running a different game cancelled his game for a bit, and the group is falling apart, and we resolved some of the reasons at the end of 2 sessions ago but last session he hadn't gone and i gave a oh work excuse for him bc like... he kind of ghosted on all of us. Just no explanation to anyone.

And just like... I get his anger and it is justified. But also not talking to anyone involved or the person who set it off isn't good either. Like he got a message about not dampening thenkood after a good session, which it was. But also it was important to bring up the issues when everyone involved was there? like sorry bringing it up after a session was inconvenient but like... life isn't convenient?

It's not a good idea to let resentment and anger grow in silence??

Like ngl I'm all for avoiding difficult issues and emotions but also it's not healthy and not saying anything at all either way is not good. Either the resentment grows or hopefully things can change.

anyway that convo lasted until like 2 hours ago and i was sleepy then but I'm so awake now and filled with my own anxiety even tho I have things to do later. it's 3:30am and that is ridiculous.

it's my issue but also like... i swear if the one guy hadn't left a kind of dismissive message after the first discussion about not dampening the mood they would've probably at least discussed the issue before now. idek if they're going to doscuss it soon but it's been a month at this point.

🫠 Like I knew it hadn't ended well that discussion but it did need to be discussed and that was infact the best time bc we're all avoidant of issues until it becomes a real problem

[galpalaven]

I can see people think I’m being too harsh but as a writer with a degree in this shit they did not have to write that game the way they did. They did not have to do any of that. They could have written differently within the constraints they’ve laid out and made a much better and more cohesive story. They made their bed and now they have to lie in it and put up with the valid critique people have of the writing decisions they made. Taking critique is a major part of writing. They are all adults who have worked in this industry before. They should be able to look at criticism and understand where it’s coming from and take it as not a personal attack bc not all of it is.

I’m also a professional in an adjacent industry. They’re big boys and girls and people. If they can’t handle the criticism they should find somewhere else to work.

[daisyswift3]

Oh my god so this is what the cardigan music video was depicting. This whole time she’s been writing abt her future plans. These songs and music videos were only supposed to make sense in retrospect after the fact but we’re getting a sneak peak. Messages 7-8 describe her leaving the safety of her cabin and her rubies behind (kaylor public separation) to save her lover after someone threatens to expose them and being tossed out on waves (evermore/DBATC/august/Peter losing Wendy). Message 9 is abt the folkmore era when she starts heavily using allegories and metaphors to describe the past, present, and future. She has repeatedly said in her speeches before betty that this is the motif of folklore: A Victorian woman/ghost who wanders the woods collecting feathers, holding a candle, and writing poetry w/ a quill pen on parchment. Taylor’s made it clear SHE’S the ghost (or apparition, 6th message) telling us her story through metaphors and quite literally through folklore—like sending a message in a bottle after being shipwrecked (gold rush). Message 10 is abt her wandering through the folklorian woods and finally finding a way out. She steps into the daylight, shatters her glass closet, and her lover is waiting on the other side (exile/end of willow mv). Message 11 takes place after midnight. She has finally returned home to her cabin where she’s reunited w her lover, her cardigan (new year’s day/end of betty, cardigan, and evermore). “Candle wax and polaroids on the hardwood floor. You and me forevermore.” This is the final chapter of the story.

Is this what her film is going to be abt??

🎃 Imagine this. It is 3 am and Halloween is over. Costumes have been taken off and packed away in boxes, perhaps to be taken out again next year if they haven't been outgrown. Empty candy bowls sit on entryway tables. Toilet paper hangs strung across wilted lawns and barren tree branches. Sheep have removed their wolf’s clothing with relief. Masqueraders with masks removed, mermaids who have traded tails for sweatpants. A woman walks down the center of an empty suburban street, shaking from the cold. She peers around with wilde, curious eyes as if she's seeing the world for the first time. She is drenched in salt water, as if she had just crawled from the ocean. She wears an odd combination of tattered clothing - remnants of a fantastical gown and a comfortable sweatshirt - that doesn't quite make sense. There is something very odd about her. Nevertheless, she simply walks down the street. Finally, she reaches a house that looks like all the others. But it is not like the others. Because it is hers. There are figures in the window, anxiously awaiting her return home. With a warm smile cracking the shell-shocked exterior of her face, she ascends the porch stairs. There is a Jack-O-Lantern perched by the front door. There is a tealight candle at its center, the dancing glow casting shadows from deep within the carved, jagged-toothed smile. And as she watches, the flame🕯️ finally🕯️flickers🌬️OUT 🎃

[can-i-use-wisky-please]

As someone who became absolutely obsessed with parkciv and felt inclined to explore Evbo's other content, I feel like it needs to be properly mentioned just how crazy his storytelling skills are.

Getting into Parkciv you'd think its just the most cliche Youtube bait trash for like Gen Alpha but then you watch a clip of it and it's really addicting but not in a brain-rotting way, instead it's more of like a getting-into-a-series way. So what I mean about this is that the story is all cohesive and perfectly simple while the execution is perfectly adapted to the media used which is Minecraft RP cut into shorts.

Staring with Parkciv's story specifically, I think that the premise is so perfectly simple and authetic to the style of a Minecraft Youtuber. I mean when you think about the 3 things players can get good at in Minecraft its obviously gonna be: pvp, parkour, or builds. Anything else I feel is just like a subset of those 3. Conceptualizing a series based on parkour and a what-if style of plot is such a clean formula for a hit MC series. Now for autheticity, I have to get into what I realized about Evbo as a content creator. Bcause as I was like getting into his channel, I noticed that he kind of just sticks to what he's more familiar with about Minecraft, and Youtube, and all that. It's very pure. His style of content reminds me of the golden days of Minecraft and personally, very refreshing. Now because of this, he can turn like ridiculous premises into incredible stories that just unfold so naturally while having enough passion to back up these stories and provide layers to them.

Now that I mentioned the natural progression of his stories I have to say that his execution definitley help these ridiculous plots to not become so over saturated. Just for context, I watched a video analysis on Techno's style of content and how he became so viral from it and one of the reasons is due to his like chill tone and demeanor and I think Evbo has like this perfect balance of chillness and Youtuber-content-creator attitude. I mean he's narrating the entirety of Parkciv, he can't be irritating to the audience so he puts on this content creator "accent" but excludes the over the top scream and jokes and has this straight forward, natural script with naturally timed, genuinley funny jokes. All his decisions to the story of Parkciv is so intentional and made with the utmost respect to the story. What I mean by this is his decisions are for the sake of the story, nothing is done to like farm clout, or audiences, or anything else like that.

TLDR; just a long way of saying Evbo is a great story teller and I hope he keeps up this passion for making genuine MC stories and does not become problematic.

P.s. idk why PVPciv is getting so much hate bcs its so enjoyable and I kind of like how it's the antithesis to Parkciv.

[schrodingersachillesheel]

The MCU didn't need to use time travel and their decision to do so directly led to their downfall

If they hadn't done that time skip they could've used that time to slowly rebuild the team and set up for a huge collaboration that solves the issue phase 4 started. (that issue being the fact that it no longer feels like one cohesive mcu)

"but what about the infinity stones?" "how are they going to undo the snap??"

the fuckin power of friendshi- LET ME EXPLAIN

if the time between the snap and endgame was spent introducing the characters and storylines we now have in phase 5, you can correlate many of them to the abilities of infinity stones.

Wanda (reality) and Loki (time) are obvious ones but it doesn't stop there;

with a little work space (America Chavez), mind (Professor X), power (Starlord/Peter Quill), and soul (Jean Grey/Phoenix), can be slowly established. then, endgame can be the realization of these connections.

this would clear up the common misconception that infinity stones are this all-powerful, vague, items w abilities beyond anything else in the galaxy because if masters in each ability working together could very easily have the same result as wielding all six infinity stones then, it's a whole lot easier to continue the steady rise in stakes without ppl saying stuff like "wow so all those heroes died for nothing" when they watch the first episode of Loki.

the reason thanos needed to collect all infinity stones was bc he, alone, would be a master in all forms of power in the universe.

you can still retire original characters in this storyline, as well as explore a much wider universe. everything could still work and you wouldn't have been accidentally concluding your story.

**the actual heroes are totally subject to change i was just looking for examples that are already members of the mcu

[project-sekai-facts]

do u think prsk writing is good?

it's inconsistent. sometimes it's pretty good, sometimes it's not so good. this is something i would like to go way more indepth on but i don't think i'll have the time for a while, but i'll outline a few things here.

honestly early events are much stronger than some more recent ones. partially this is preference on my part due to preferring more character driven stuff which most early events were, but also in general the writing was much higher quality.

most year one events had a very strong sense of flow between them that has been lost over time. while events usually revolved around one character's issues, they would introduce aspects of the other characters and their issues which would be focused on later. if you read wonder halloween you'll notice there's foreshadowing for emu's arc across smile of dreamer and wonder magical showtime. this is partially because of the fact the events were so early on. we weren't as familiar with the characters as we are now and we were also new to the plots. you can also see how much more cohesive stories were back then as well because of there being way more mixed events marked as key story, like twilight parade and sakura for ln and picnic for n25. while most events still pick up from where the previous left off the sense of flow for most units just isn't felt as strongly as it was going through, say, l/n arc 1.

it also in some ways feels like the writers had a much stronger vision for early events than they do now, though distribution meta may come into play a bit. first arcs were the ones planned from the getgo. this is what they had already planned ahead for by launch. pretty much everything past year 1 was written after the game launched. we know they have a clear end, and it's evident they also had a clear start. we're currently filling in the middle and some events really feel like there's a slight lack of vision for the middle. vbs is a good aversion what with rad weekend having happened (aside from arata and souma's arcs lmfao), but other units and characters feel shafted.

to add to that last point as well as distribution meta. tsukasa5 is arguably one of the hardest hit. what seems to have happened is that they needed a second wxs event to focus on daigo's troupe, and tsukasa is the character who is most fitting for that troupe's speciality. unfortunately in order to come up with the actual plot, they had to retcon elements of tsukasa's character. tsukasa5 overall is probably one of the worst written of the recent events. it's really rough and doesn't make sense in some parts. it truly just exists bc they needed a wxs event with daigo and a wxs event in that slot.

kanade is another character who got hit hard. while she had the white day event in 2024, she was heavily shafted in terms of n25's story due to the focus being on mizuki and ena for half the year. mafuyu and ena's events were also very focused on them as individuals, leading to kanade getting like no character development for a year.

for non-2024 examples the 2nd arc enders were a mixed bag. step by step is very clearly a shoe-in because they needed to pad for time. retie functions perfectly well as an arc ender and reads like one in a few places, especially near the end. while minori had some good moments in this event it honestly feels like a mixed event. hell look at the banner card. shizuku and airi are also only in this event for a few lines of dialogue it's really rough.

oyf is incredibly rushed and tries to wrap up way too many loose ends from lutf. it feels like this arc was cut short, and you can really feel it in arc 3 when all the loose ends that still existed after oyf get their proper conclusion. side characters barring kotaro excluded, tatsuya and gurney flap had the shittest resolutions ever (tatsuya is also. barely a character lol). kohane had some good moments here, but other than that it was a really weak event.

same can be said for ohe they really needed more time and it's painfully obvious considering how much foreshadowing they did with rui only for... him to get one chapter in an emu event. there's some other things that really make this feel like it was meant to be rui or be two events one rui one emu, like the travelling troupe show. remember when rui wrote that show about his life and wxs rewrote it to show him he had a place with them. clpl doesn't. obviously it's always been important to all of them but it's significance to rui specifically has always been highlighted for obvious reasons. hell it was even mentioned in wxs first live like a couple weeks before this event dropped. while again this has good emu moments and good wxs moments it's painfully obvious at points that this was either a rui focus at one point or they combined two events. i wonder if part of the reason for that is because they realised that rui graduates at the end of the next arc so "wxs disbandment arc 2" (tentative name) will probably be more centered around him, especially with asahi's return looming over the story, and they didn't wanna make it seem like they did the same character arc with him twice.

sayonara persona and starry song are fine.

clpl really fucked themselves over with wles and the event schedule lol.

another issue with the writing from a technical standpoint is that recent events have really obnoxious exposition. listen i know we all make fun of people who only read chapter 1 and 8 of an event but did you know that actually works. you can sometimes even just read chapter 8. there's this need to constantly remind the player of stuff that happened earlier on in the event, sometimes in gratuitous detail, and i can understand why this might be necessary for the really long events like lutf or curtain call, but most events since 3rd anni have been under 1hr 30, in most cases just over an hour. the player can retain significant events that happened in the previous chapter. we don't need it constantly explained and it can actually make the audience less engaged if you constantly treat them like they don't understand what's going on. even for a game aimed at the tween/teen demographic you don't need to handhold them through the story. while yes younger audiences won't have the same literacy as an adult you should also trust that they can follow the basic story and read into basic subtext (honestly prsk is usually fine with subtext this is just an example).

"outline a few things" my ass this is pretty much everything i wanted to say. i do games writing next year and i think we cover VNs so maybe i can provide more insight then if the blog isn't dead.

(obligatory i'm not saying you can't like the events i outlined here i'm just saying that from an objective standpoint they're not the best. doesn't mean you can't find enjoyment in them. like whatever you want i'm not here to dictate your opinions)

[splinterclan]

Elkpaw seems close to Burnpaw. If possible, can we know the relationship of each of Cedar's kits to their other siblings?

I think they're all relatively close? They're probably honestly just now getting to the point where they're old enough for personalities to start really meshing/clashing and everything's a little rough bc of goings on. Burnpaw has always looked out for Elkpaw since Elk is kind of weak-willed and Burn is mature though so I'd say they are close, but they also love their sisters equally too :>

Not really!! I decided to make that drawing about 2 hours before i posted it so it was pretty rushed and I mostly just threw kitties wherever they'd fit jsjs I did consciously put Cedar in a neutral place between Snom and Elk tho but that was the only specific placement (aside from Moor and Whorl getting to be lovey in the middle)

I do think it's a sucky situation - in a perfect world Bess would've just joined the clan and everything would have been fine. I was definitely worried when I was thinking about it how people would react since ik she was well liked before all this, but I always had in mind that she would be a sort of problematic figure. I think maybe I should've focused harder on the fact she abandoned her young kits to the clan in the first place to make this conflict feel more natural but that's just the side effect of writing a story as you go xD

I mean sometimes I write the script for these pages as I draw them so it's never going to be perfectly cohesive! And I always have in my head what's coming next so i can never really think of the story as a reader would fff

[antiquitiesandlabyrinths]

. . .Osiris

Osiris (Great and Beautiful is He) is the God of the Underworld; its King and Pharaoh ruling over the Duat. He is pictured here on the far left, His skin green and His body in mummiform. This is commonly how He is depicted; as a green-skinned, mummified man.

Son of Nut, the Sky Goddess, and Geb, the Earth God, Osiris was the first King of Egypt in accordance with Kemetic mythology, although there are stories that recount Geb, His father, being King before Him. There are a great deal of myths and stories that surround and involve Osiris, and I suppose it is important to at least skim over them before discussing hard facts about Him, as it gives some reference as to who He is and what the culture surrounding Him is like.

Osiris Myth

After the world was created, the Demiurge (who changes according to myth, and can be Neith, Ra, Amun, Ptah, or others) produces children; in the most popular form of this creation story, it is usually Ra who births the first Gods. They are Shu and Tefnut, Air and Moisture. Shu and Tefnut then form a union and birth two children of Their own: Nut and Geb, Sky and Earth. Nut and Geb were very much in love and refused to separate from each other, which, of course, caused a problem, because if the sky and the earth are eternally in contact, there is no space for anything to live and walk upon the earth. Ra made it so Nut and Geb were forever separated, by having Shu, air, stand atop Geb and hold Nut up as the sky. But Nut was already pregnant. When Ra discovered this, He was enraged, and forbade Nut from ever giving birth on any day of the year.

Nut cried to Djehuty (Thoth), and Thoth devised a plan. He went to Khonsu, God of the Moon, and set up a gamble, saying that every round of the game Senet Khonsu lost, He would have to give Nut some of His moonlight. Khonsu ended up losing so many times that Nut had enough moonlight for five days––five days that weren't in the calendar. This allowed Her to give birth on those five days, and on each day She had a different child; Ausir (Osiris), Wr-Heru (Horus the Elder), Sutekh (Set, Seth), Auset (Isis), and Nebet-Het (Nephthys). Nut and Geb were still forever separated by atmosphere (Shu), but the five Gods were birthed, and Osiris, as the eldest son, became King of the Living World.

As a side note, all Gods do have ancient Egyptian names which are different from Their Greek and now modern names. For convenience's sake, and to avoid confusion, I will use the names They are most known by; Their Greek/modern names. And as another side note, there are a lot of variations on this story. I will be piecing together a lot of different ideas but I will be leaving some things out for the sake of cohesion.

When Osiris came to Egypt, He found the people there to be chaotic and lawless. As King, He instituted laws and spread ma'at, which is truth, justice, harmony, and order. Egypt flourished under His rule and the people were incredibly happy, as all were equal, and with the fertility of the God-King, the crops were always bountiful and food was plenty. He brought not only law and prosperity, but also the right way to worship, and the teachings of agriculture.

Set, God of chaos, confusion, the desert, and of foreigners, and the youngest brother of the Ennead, grew to be quite jealous of His older brother. There are many variations and the most popular variation of this story comes from the end of the New Kingdom (1550-1070 BC), where Set fashions a fabulous coffin in the perfect measurements of Osiris, throws a party, and tells the party-goers that whomever the coffin fits may have the coffin as a gift. When Osiris fits perfectly, Set quickly shuts and bolts the coffin and throws it in the Nile (this version of the myth gives an origin to the idea that people who drowned in the Nile were holy). His coffin drifts downstream and into the Mediterranean, where it washes ashore in Phoenicia, in Byblos. The coffin wedges itself into a growing tamarisk tree, a tree which envelops the coffin. Eventually the tree is cut down and used as a pillar in the palace in Byblos.

Isis, Osiris' wife and sister, searched far and wide for Her husband, and did eventually find Herself in Byblos. The story is quite long and complicated, but in the end She convinced the King to give Her the pillar, and when she returned to Egypt, She hid Osiris in a swampy area of the Nile delta, and bade Her sister, Nephthys, to watch over Him while She went in search of healing herbs. But Seth heard that Osiris was back, and so after interrogating His sister-wife, Nephthys, He found Osiris, cut His body into pieces, and threw them into the Nile.

Isis was horrified at what transpired in Her absence, but She immediately set to work on finding the many pieces of Her husband with the help of Her sister, Nephthys. They managed to find every piece of His body except His phallus, which had been eaten by an oxyrhyncus fish, a fish that was thus forbidden to eat.

With the pieces of Osiris reassembled, and the healing powers of Isis in full power, Osiris was brought back to life, but incomplete. Isis assumed the form of a kite, and from above drew out the seed of Osiris, impregnating Herself with Their child: Horus the Younger. But Osiris, still incomplete, could not properly rule over the land of the living any longer.

This is why He is the ruler of the dead––He was once the king of the living, was killed, and was resurrected, and this is what every ancient Egyptian expected and hoped would happen to them: that they would die and be resurrected. In tombs and mortuary temples you will always see Pharaohs associating themselves with Osiris.

But this long myth I have just told you is not the only version of the story, and in my opinion, it is definitely the longest version of the story. Back in the Old Kingdom and Middle Kingdom there were several different versions; for example, Set's motive is different, ranging from revenge for Osiris kicking him, to revenge for Nephthys (Seth's sister-wife) sleeping with Osiris (which eventually births Anubis). Some texts claim that Seth took on the form of a wild animal, such as a crocodile or a hippopotamus, and killed Osiris that way. In others, Osiris is drowned. In some, the steps surrounding the coffin are skipped, and Osiris is simply cut up, and His pieces scattered around Egypt; a version which explains the many cult centers of Osiris claiming to be a place where Osiris is buried. Osiris' resurrection is also often helped along by other Gods such as Thoth (God of wisdom) and Anubis (God of embalming). In some versions, Set is killed for His actions. In most He is simply defeated and driven from the land, as chaos is necessary for balance and harmony, and thus cannot be killed. And the story that I have told is from the Late Period, recorded by Plutarch, and does not really go along with many Egyptian accounts, which often find Osiris' penis intact.

So that is the Osiris myth with all of its' intricacies and changing rhythms over the course of 4,000 years of Egyptian history. It embodies a huge amount of cultural practices and religious ideas within ancient Egypt, including the idea of truth, harmony, and justice, as well as resurrection, the afterlife, healing, and the workings of the cosmos. I've decided to leave out the later parts involving Osiris' son, Horus, and His fight with Set, for now because this does not directly involve Osiris, and that is our topic for this post.

Tradition, History, and Culture

Worship of Osiris dates back to the Old Kingdom, but the idea of Osiris is likely older than this. Before Osiris was actually Khentiamenti, an agricultural God centered in Abydos, a city which would later become the cult center of Osiris. Khentiamenti means 'Foremost of the Westerners', a title for the ruler of the dead, as the dead resided in the west, where the sun set each day. But Osiris Himself is not found mentioned in any texts or carvings until the 5th Dynasty, where He is depicted as a man wearing a divine wig. Later on He would take on the form we know Him best in––wrapped in a white mummy shroud, wearing an atef crown with ostrich plumes on the sides.

The mummy shroud He is depicted in forever associates Him with death and with the essential story behind Him, which is why I found it so important to start off with the Osiris Myth. This myth is also why He consumed and took the place of Khentiamenti; the name Khentiamenti, Foremost of the Westerners, instead became a title for Osiris as the King of the blessed dead. Another common epithet/name of Osiris is Wennefer (Omnophris), meaning 'The Beautiful One', 'The Beneficent One', and more archaically, 'One Whose Body Did Not Decay'. Among these names He was also called 'The Lord of Love', 'The King of Living', and 'The Eternal Lord'. From the Early Dynastic Period up until the end of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, when Rome conquered Egypt, Osiris was one of the most highly worshipped and revered Gods of Egypt.

Osiris was associated with the Nile river, with its' renewal and life-giving abilities, as one of Osiris' domains and powers was fertility, as well as rebirth. Another of His duties, evidence of which originates in the New Kingdom, was to act as judge of the dead; being King, He sat on the tribunal with the 42 Judges in the famous Weighing of the Heart ceremony. In this ceremony, which took place in the afterlife, the deceased would have to stand before the court and place their soul up for judgement. If it weighed lighter than the feather of Ma'at, representing all justice, truth, and harmony, then the heart acted well in life and would be allowed eternal happiness in the Field of Reeds. If not, the heart, and thus the person, would be consumed by Ammit and committed to nothingness. So Osiris would sit in on this tribunal and judge who entered His kingdom, as it was His domain. In this role, and in His role as King of the Living, as well, He was the embodiment of harmony, law, and justice.

"Most of his appeal was based on his embodiment of the cosmic harmony. The rising Nile was his insignia, and the moon’s constant state of renewal symbolized his bestowal of eternal happiness in the lands beyond the grave. In this capacity he also became the model of human endeavors and virtues..." (The Complete Gods And Goddesses Of Ancient Egypt, p.307)

As I mentioned earlier, Abydos became His cult center, as it was the cult center of the God who came before Him, whose traits He subsumed. It became a very popular burial site, as legends would say that Abydos was where Osiris was truly buried, and the people wanted to be buried as close as possible to Osiris. At one point they believed an ancient tomb there––which was actually the tomb of an Early Dynastic King––to be the tomb of Osiris, which they much revered, and left so many offerings in clay pots that Arabs would later call the site 'Umm el Qa'ab'; Mother of Pots. But this was not the only burial site of Osiris; since many variations of the myth include Set chopping up and dismembering Osiris into many parts, ranging from 14 to 42 different parts. These parts were scattered across Egypt, so many cities and nomes could claim that they had a part of Osiris buried in their domain. For example, far in the south, the island of Bigah claimed to be the burial site of Osiris' left leg, and thus the source for the yearly Nile inundation.

Going back to the Osiris Myth, after Osiris died and became the ruler of the dead, His son took His place as King of the Living: the falcon God, Horus (Heru the Younger). After the brief bout of chaos brought about under Set's rule, Horus took over (after much deliberation from the Gods) and order was restored. Because of this story, Pharaohs would not only associate themselves with Osiris in death, but with Horus in life. Each Pharaoh, as they came to the throne, would become the living embodiment of Horus on earth, the son of Osiris. In this way, Isis was also the mother of every Pharaoh, and their protector. And, to added extent, each Pharaoh would have a personal name, and then a Horus name granted to them when they ascended to the throne.

"It is for this reason that Osiris is so often depicted as a mummified pharaoh; because pharaohs were mummified to resemble Osiris. The image of the great mummified god preceeded the practice of preparing the royal body to look like Osiris... The king's appearance as modeled after Osiris' extended throughout his reign; the famous flail and shepherd's staff, synonymous with Egyptian pharaohs, were first Osiris' symbols as the flail represented the fertility of his land while the crook symbolized the authority of his rule." (Osiris, World History Encyclopedia, Joshua J. Mark)

Osiris can also be represented by a number of physical symbols, such as the crook and flail that He carries in almost all representations of His earthly form. The crook, which is the striped hook He carries, represents power/authority, and is a symbol of the Pharaoh. The flail, which is the instrument in His other hand, represents the fertility of the Nile, and as an extension, the fertility of Osiris Himself. But the crook and flail, though both seen typically as symbols of Pharaonic power, are actually the tools of a shepherd. There is reasonable evidence, thusly, to suggest that the physical origins of the idea of Osiris may not be that of a great King, but of a ruler of a shepherd tribe in the Nile Delta, whose rule was so beneficent that it led to him being worshipped as a God. For Egyptologists, this theory comes from His association with Andjety, a predynastic God-King worshipped in the Delta who also bore the crook and flail as His symbols. This, however, has not and likely cannot be fully proven. But the postulation is still interesting nonetheless!

Osiris' ba soul had its' own culture of worship, a practice of soul-worship that is prevalent in the cults of several other Gods, such as Hathor (HwtHer). In this form, Osiris was known as Banebdjedet, meaning 'The Ba of the Lord of the Djed,' which in English terms means 'The Soul of the Lord of the Pillar of Continuity', as ba means soul, and djed is the symbol for a pillar, which represented the backbone of Osiris. Interestingly, the name Banebdjedet is feminine, as the letter t denotes a feminine word or name in ancient Egyptian; although there are also variations on this name that exclude the t in favour of the alternative, Banebdjed. Banebdjedet, Osiris' ba soul, was worshipped mainly in Mendes, a city in Lower Egypt, in the Delta.

This leads to an interesting point concerning the androgyny of Osiris, a subject I found while researching for this post. Osiris' fertility comes from His castration and then being healed by the mother Goddess, Isis. Not only that, but both men and women identified themselves with Osiris in death. Then the name for His ba personified as another God is feminine, although representations of Banebdjedet are overwhelmingly male. Before anyone attacks me, I am not claiming that Osiris is a genderless God or King––just that He has some traits of androgyny, which I find interesting and love to study in ancient cultures, and I thought it would be good to mention for anyone else similarly interested.

Worship, Festivals, and Cult Activities

When it comes to the practices surrounding Osiris' cult, we actually know a good deal of information regarding the activities of worshippers and priests. Osiris' cult and worship was so widespread and lasted long enough that it could be recorded by the earliest Greek historians, and remained carved in temple walls for thousands of years. Among the most well-known cultic tradition is the Osiris Bed.

The Osiris Bed is rather well documented, as it was an object placed in tombs. It was not a bed for the deceased to lie in, but instead a box made of wood or clay, moulded into the shape of Osiris, in which the fertile Nile soil was placed and seeds were planted. These boxes were then wrapped in white mummy linens, and the seeds sprouted through, representing the resurrection and fertility of Osiris, and the crops that grew each year in cycles. One of the most famous of these beds was found in King Djer's tomb, a King from the Early Dynastic Period; the 2nd King ever of the unified Egypt. Coincidentally (or, perhaps, not so coincidentally) King Djer's tomb was the tomb which pilgrims believed to be Osiris' burial site.

While the Osiris Bed is far from the only practice and tradition of the Osiris cult, it does show the rich cultural practices and symbolism present in His worship. Let's look at some other examples of the practices of Osiris' cult.

Similar to the Osiris bed were Osiris gardens, which were essentially the same concept; fertile soil was planted inside a vessel shaped into the form of Osiris, and seeds were settled within to grow. These beds were tended to during festivals instead of being buried in a tomb.

There were a great many festivals, and each of them quite popular according to their time period, dedicated to the story and symbolism of Osiris. Some festivals started with recounting the mournings of Isis and Nephthys, Osiris' sister-wife and sister, in the form of a drama acted out in a call-and-response format. Another drama acted out for the glory of Osiris was more in the form of an actual fight that anyone could participate in; it was modelled after The Contendings of Horus and Set, which I briefly mentioned as a long and drawn-out argument between Horus and Set over who deserved Osiris' vacant throne after He had died. On this occasion, people would battle out and reenact the events of the story until the side of Horus finally won and victory was achieved. Afterwards, the celebrations commenced in honoring the restoration of order, and the gold-encased shAwyt-nTr (the Holy Statue) of Osiris would be taken out and lavished with offerings. Osiris, in the form of this statue, would be paraded throughout the city of Abydos before being placed in a shrine outside, where He could participate fully in the festivities, and be admired by the commoners who would usually never behold the face of Osiris. This emergence of Osiris from the dark temple's inner sanctuary to the light of the city resembled and represented His resurrection from death into life again. Although this particular festival was celebrated mainly in Osiris cult center of Abydos, it was also celebrated in other cities such as Bubastis in the Delta, Busiris, Memphis, and Thebes, in Upper Egypt.

The Mysteries of Osiris was a series of plays performed annually, and in dramatic, passionate form. It was one of the most popular observances of worshippers, and it told the story that I first told to you––of Osiris' life, His death at the hands of His brother, His resurrection at the hands of His sister-wife, and His ascension into the role we now know Him for. The roles in this reenactments were often taken up by high-ranking officials, and afterwards, the Contendings of Horus and Set would take place, which I just mentioned. These plays would take place over several days.

One festival was called The Fall of the Nile. During this time, the waters of the Nile would recede, and the worshippers of Osiris would go into mourning. One of Osiris' representation on earth was the Nile, and the Nile represented His fertility and life.

Another festival was celebrated on the 19th day of Pakhons, one of the months in the Egyptian calendar, which is roughly equivalent to May in our Gregorian calendar. On this day, the followers of Osiris would go to the river with shrines containing vessels of gold and metal, and would pour water into the Nile, exclaiming, "Osiris is found!" Mud and spices were mixed and moulded into the shape of Osiris, as well, to celebrate His return. Another festival similar to this one was called The Night of the Tear, and took place during modern-day June.

The last festival pertaining to Osiris that I will mention is the Djed pillar festival, held in modern-day January. The Pharaonic court and family would participate, raising djed pillars to welcome Osiris and the harvests that coincided with His return.

One last and interesting tradition that may seem familiar to Christians, at least in a small way, was the baking of bread in the shape of Osiris; bread as the flesh of the God, a sort of predecessor of communion wafers. But in reality the traditions of the Osiris cakes are completely different, and there were several different ways of going about it, depending on which nome you were from. In Dendera, wheat-paste models were made in the shape of each of the 16 dismembered parts of Osirs, and each model was sent out to the town where each respective part of Osiris was found by Isis. In Mendes, figures of Osiris were made of wheat and paste. On the day of the murder, they were placed in a trough, followed by water being added each day for several days. Afterwards, this mixture was kneaded into a dough, put into a mold of Osiris, and buried on the temple grounds.

Conclusion

This has been a somewhat brief glimpse into the cult, history, and traditions surrounding the Great God, The Beautiful Lord Osiris. If I can clarify anything please let me know and I will do my best!