#but that one is like motherhood and stuff and i worship her to get the comfort of a divine mother | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

baroquespiral · 1 year ago

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hello. i saw a video featuring aella then saw your twitter through it. i immediately stopped watching the video as i do not agree with many of their takes, but i would like to understand them without watching a video about kinks through the lens of the political compass. could you possibly explain what gender maximalizing is, what a gynocratic traditionalist is, and what the sphere you operate in is called? Thank you. (there was an article when i looked it up but im not going on medium)

wait what video with Aella am I in lol. anyway most of the things in my Twitter bio are at least partly a bit, do not represent any kind of relevant external movement or phenomenon, and you are not going to find explained anywhere else anyway so. "gender optimizationist" is a kind of contrarian response to the formerly popular position of "gender nihilism", a framework that tried to decentre the discourse of innate identity in justifying/accounting for gender fluidity, transition etc. by basically adopting the maximally deflationist position that gender is entirely an ideological construct covering material oppressive systems but letting people identify & do whatever they want with it is truer to the premise of its abolition than restricting specific behaviours and identities as actually existing "gender". I actually do find this useful to bring up when TERFs claim stuff like "trans people believe in innate gendered souls or what role you fit determines your gender" etc. but still think it concedes too much so my own position of "gender optimization" is like, gender is real at least insofar as something we consciously construct, people's identities aren't less objective than their historical origins and we can and should continue the project of shaping and rebuilding it until we make it something that can accommodate the maximum of everyone possible (and leave exits for people who don't want it)

"gynocratic traditionalism" is not entirely compatible with this and while I didn't take either completely seriously I used to struggle with this more before I got into Thelema and clarified my spirituality & ontology in a lot of ways. for completely personal poetic/psychosexual reasons I was simultaneously inclined to read gender as actually real in a metaphysical/spiritual sense, albeit one that doesn't map to biology or patriarchal gender roles and mostly derives from reading The White Goddess by Robert Graves way too young. almost nobody remembers it now but that book was part of the broader "matriarchal antiquity" trend, a huge influence on Wicca and the New Ageier side of second wave feminism, and argues that the original religious/magickal tradition was the essentially henotheistic worship of a Great Goddess of life, death and nature, who was self-sufficient but produced for her own pleasure a secondary male god who dies and resurrects with the agricultural cycle. human gender is then a reflection of this higher metaphysical order, with woman as the superior term in the hierarchy, and the "warrior" dimensions of masculinity being descended from a form of sacrificial kingship ritually representing the life-death cycle of the Goddess' lover. I'd basically argue the "gender optimizationist" position relative to left queer theory but this relative to right-wing mythopoeic traditionalist accounts of gender, which as an intensely capital-R Romantic personality I did at least get the appeal of and offered it as a "feminist" alternative to. people like RFH have kinda picked up the baton of that now although I have some obvious issues with her framings. I used "gynocratic" instead of matriarchal bc one of the interesting things about Graves' version of this hypothesis is it doesn't actually focus on motherhood and reproduction as much as the wombyn TERF stuff; for instance instead of the more famous Wiccan "maiden/mother/crone" formulation for the Goddess' three aspects he uses "maiden/nymph/crone", implying that the default adulthood stage wasn't necessarily settling down and popping out babies but a freewheeling sexuality where reproduction was an individual choice supported by the community, controlled by abortifacents etc. should probably clarify that, after quite a bit of going back and forth on it and my Twitter presence was designed to be plausibly deniable in either direction, I am pretty much a low-Kinsey bisexual cis guy who socialized into predominantly queer, especially trans spaces mostly just due to neurodivergence and general nonconformity. a lot of my weird gender politics is subtly in dialogue with MonetizeYourCat-era Tumblr stuff (imo the more honest version of today's mainstream heteropessimism) about whether it's even possible or ethical to exist as that you didn't mention them but just to have on record re: the other stuff in the bio, "presuppositional leftist" applies the idea of presuppositional apologetics to my left commitments in the sense that they're not premised on any descriptive claim about reality but rather presuppositions of why politics would even matter to me in the first place, and "Canadian materialist" is a joke on Canadian idealism. my Substack bio is more up to date with where I'm at now but I like keeping the Twitter one around bc every now and then someone has a really funny reaction to it I don't really have a "sphere I operate in" so much as I float around the edges of different subcultures, study them and make friends with people I find interesting. currently I feel like I'm kind of in tpot, kind of in the "irony left" and kind of in parapolitics/esoteric "schizoposting". and also trying to carve out a niche in the online subcultural arts scene: my major passion project rn is my indie press and in particular our serial fiction journal (new issue coming out this month!) featuring two of my novels

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nightshadedawn · 2 months ago

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Nethia World Building

So a long while back, I said I'd share some of my world building for the campaign I was running for my nieces and friends. I built it on the basis of the same world, but used different world building for each group, due to the age difference.

For example, there was a prophecy I made for the kids' campaign where there was a group of predestined children who would be incredibly powerful, and they were born with innate powers. There was also a sort of sidelined search quest for dragon artefacts. They were named such because stylistically they all had dragon motifs. As the kids were getting older, I added in that there was a cavate to the prophecy, a part that had not been initially shared with them. While they got great powers as a boon, it was also a curse in that the more they used this power, the more a monster would unlock. (The scene where I first introduced this monster form was fantastic, I managed to put players against each other without them knowing, and the kids loved it-hated it in the moment, but loved it afterwards)

The older group got to experience the full force of religion. One of the temples to the Star Dancer doubled as a brothel. One of my players grew up in said temple and used the knowledge gained from that all the time. Because I'm not a parent and their parents did not want me trying to sway the kids in one direction or another, especially because all of my siblings are religious in one sense or another, I didn't focus on the gods of my world with the kids. The previously mentioned player was not a cleric (omg, that would be so fun though, cleric from the whore house temple... moving on) but I did have a cleric in the other party, one who worshiped the Sun Warrior. Believers in the gods are inherently at odds in this world, so it was an interesting dynamic at first. I was also more comfortable delving into more horror themes with the adults. The kids liked scary stuff, but I was scared of going too far when we first started playing. Now I'd probably jump right in.

That's all sort of background to this, with a sprinkling of lore that I wasn't sure would ever warrant their own posts. But moving on to the gods, because I do think they're some of the most fun parts of the stories.

There are three gods that are worshiped in Nethia. The Sun Warrior, the Moon Weaver, and the Star Dancer. Each god has four places of worship, with an angel residing there to ensure that it all runs smoothly.

The Sun Warrior

The Sun Warrior is the goddess of knowledge, war, and family, though is most often credited as "motherhood." She is considered the lead god of the pantheon of Nethia. She appears as a dark skinned woman, very warm brown, with golden eyes made of fire, and long hair, all the way down to the ankles, that is just very large, almost halo like, sort of red and orange with a golden glow. In some pieces of art she wears heavy armor and wields a sword with a sun emblazoned on it, in others she's portrayed with scholar robes and a book with the same symbol. In her most reviled statues and portraits, she wears the armor but has the book, as well as a pen. "The pen is mightier than the sword." Her symbol is the sun in front of a sword, in its most simplistic style it appears as a circle with a small line sticking out of the top and bottom. The Sun Warrior's places of worship are called sanctuaries. And they are: The Sanctuary of Knowledge: As well as a place of worship it acts as a university for higher learning and a library. The angel in charge of this place is called Marisol. All schools around Nethia have roots of having started by the Sanctuary of Knowledge. The Sanctuary of War: It is mostly a place of worship, but most soldiers or warriors of any faith will go to this sanctuary at least once before a large battle. It has a full armory of holy weapons. The angel who looks after it is called Solaris. The Sanctuary of Healing: As well as a place of worship, it acts a hospital. At its location is the best of healers who can heal nearly any wound, though by Sun Warrior faith, they do not return the dead to life, especially if one fell honorably in battle. Every hospital across Nethia has roots of being started in this sanctuary, though they may not always heed to the "no bringing the dead back to life." The angel who looks after this sanctuary is Tesni. The Sanctuary of Truth: A rather different sort of place. No one speaks a word, for if you speak a lie within the walls of the sanctuary, even a little white lie, then awful, unspeakable things happen to you. The angel that looks over this sanctuary if Noa.

The Moon Weaver

The Moon Weaver is considered the god of time, tricksters, and art. In an official capacity, he is the god of all things that are considered curiosities. He is the patron god of the underworld, and by that I mean rouges, crime lords, and insomniacs. He is viewed as a sort of father figure. He appears as a very tall, very pale skinned man, with straight black hair reaching his knees to his shoulders. It's said he cuts it ever full moon, only for it to grow exponentially by the full moon. He wears a blindfold over his eyes, and carries with him a silver lute. In art, he's typically seen waring long, baggy robes, with many bracelets depicting a different phase of the moon. In portraits he's usually at a loom, but in statues he's posed with the lute. The loom and the lute both share the symbol of a crescent moon with an eye within it. The Moon Weaver's symbol is a left crescent moon with a lidded eye, like it was caught mid blink. In its most simplistic form, it is a half circle with a line straight through it. The Moon Weaver's places of worship are called temples, and they are: The Temple of Youth: It acts as an orphanage and place of worship. Other orphanages lend credence to this temple. The angel to watch over the temple is Purnama. The Temple of Ice: A temple high up in the mountains and focuses on protecting Nethia from monsters from outside the kingdom, or so it is said. It is often referred to as the "dark side of the moon" due to how little people know about it. People are free to visit, but the land is treacherous and the mountains are filled with monsters, so few ever do. The angel in charge of this temple Aiday. The Temple of Curiosities: Full of inventions, freaks of nature, artists, story tellers, performers. All sorts gather here. It has a large stage that all are free to use, and is so sought after that there is never the same act on the stage twice. The angel in charge of this temple is Nima. The Temple of Time: A temple small and closed off on purpose. The secrets guarded here are matters not to be trifled with. From this temple comes prophets, the current prophet is Keep Genven. It is rumored that if you can get into the temple, then you can change the course of time. Collect spells to turn back time in battle, go into the future, change history, even watches that stop time. But those are just rumors, and things not explicitly known. The angel in charge of this temple is called Hilal.

The Star Dancer

If there is a villain of the pantheon, than that is the Star Dancer. They are the deity of duality, opposites, and parallels. They are the deity of everything and nothing, their power as expansive and endless as the stars in the sky. The Star Dancer does not just have one form. They can appear looking like anyone, at any time. Their most common forms are a child, a lean young man, and a frail old woman. The only way to recognize the Star Dancer would be to meet their eye, where you would only see the great, star filled expanse of space, endless and devouring. In art they are almost solely depicted as a shadowy figure, often speckled with stars. There are very few statues made of them, but those that are do not have faces. Most are fully robed with a hood up to conceal all specific features that could attributed to a person. The symbol of the Star Dancer is a five point star, each point filled in with a different color, a dark and light version of both, surrounded by a sheer ribbon. In its most simplistic form, the symbol is a drawn star (with the connecting points, not the talented drawn stars with no lines in the middle) surrounded in a 3/4th circle. As intimidating as the Star Dancer may seem, once the followers of the faith were greatly respected. However, the duality of the faith is a breeding ground for cults. And there is a very prominent cult called the Chaos Order that worships a cruel, demented version of the Star Dancer, and does horrible things in the Star Dancer's name. They were once thought to have been eradicated, but no are slowly beginning to trickle back. They work under the motto "There is peace in chaos." The Star Dancer's places of worship are called havens. They are: The Haven of the Redeemed and the Damned: They take in criminals, those that seek them out and those that don't. Some may face punishment, some may be helped to ease back into society. It is all about what you do, how you approach it, and what crimes you committed. Official law enforcement can place people in the haven's custody, but they cannot remove anyone, so it has been known to harbor known fugitives. The angel in charge of the haven is Realtin Vega. The Haven of Love and Hate: The brothel previously mentioned. However, it also teaches a lot of sex ed, and healthy relationships with everyone in your life. Partners, parents, siblings, friends, children. Love and hate are parallels, the opposite to both is indifference. The angel in charge of this haven is Citlali Shibab. The Haven of Order and Chaos: A lot of laws look to the teachings of the "order" part of this haven. However, the main purpose of this temple is to contain the Star Dancer's "darkside", ie, their chaos. The burden of this falls on the high chancellor, taking the force of chaos into themself to contain it. The current chancellor, Chancellor NIt, has gone mad from the length of time she'd been burdened with the Star Dancer's chaos. The angel that watches over both her and the haven is Izar Sitara. The Haven of Change and Constants: A place that encourages you to take that next step in life, the journeys one goes through, but also gives support for when one is settled into a life they choose and are comfortable with. If you are uncertain on which path is best, that's what most of the acolytes are there to help with, to talk to you and help you figure out what you need to do that's best for you. It's a place where marriages often take place, one might go to discuss gender or sexual identity, all those good things. The angel that looks after this place is called Tarak Dancia.

Well, there it is. I hope that was interesting. I may (probably) write more world building things, but this was what I wanted to write about tonight. I hope you found it interesting, and goodnight.

#writing #d&d #dnd homebrew #dnd #d&d homebrew

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harbingrs · 3 months ago

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Oh the point was meant to be: that's exactly what my mother is like. that's what her deal is.

she's explicitly confirmed to me that I didn't give her enough validation as a literal newborn infant. and she's been punishing me ever since for that. like I'm sorry that becoming a mother didn't feel the way you wanted it to. I'm sorry that popping out a baby didn't immediately fill the void in your soul. you were still the same person but with a baby. sorry. but you get that I didn't, like.... do that, yeah? they didn't give me a clear job description when I exited the womb.

it's some kind of something that my whole life I didn't know what I'd /done/. like your mom just hates you and you don't know why. idk why she wasn't like that with her other two kids but maybe she had more realistic expectations after the first one. or they just did a better job. I think it was actually worse 'cause they had to make up for my failure.

like.... it's definitely true that my two younger siblings were (and are) more Needy. and that's what she wanted. she'd tell everyone who'd listen about how Independent I was with little lighthearted stories that I didn't realise the significance of until later. I knew it wasn't a compliment coming from her but I didn't understand how much and how deeply she resented it.

but i didn't understand that as a kid. I didn't understand what she hated me for or what I was doing wrong. so it ended up being easier to actually do things wrong so at least I'd feel more like I deserved it. so she could hate me for reasons I understood.

and the fucked up thing is that I'll never know whether it started with her or me. as far back as I can rememeber I was independent and fearless and didn't need anything from anyone. the thought of turning to a parent (or anyone at all) for comfort and safety and solace never would've crossed my mind.

on my second day of school ever I said 'it's okay mom I know where my class is and i can walk there on my own'. i know now how much that affected her because she still tells that story, how I've 'always been so independent' and thats gotta be one of many moments she's never forgiven me for.

but i never would've thought of it beyond what's practical. I don't need someone to walk me to my classroom if I know where it is. why would I want my mom with me? why would I feel safer when she's with me? I'm safer when I'm alone. even if i felt scared I have nothing to gain from turning to her and that's /if/ I felt scared because I don't think I can even feel that.

and it's like. what the fuck happened to me. the earliest I can remember I was already like that. was I born that way and it made her hate me and punish me? or did she just punish me because she didn't feel the way she wanted to feel as a mother?

because it's like i didn't bond with her the way I should and I don't know if it was my fault. like later in my childhood they were doing 'reactive attachment disorder' stuff but also i was never told about any of that and I wasn't properly diagnosed with it, probably on one criteria - that I hadnt experienced abuse or trauma so it 'didnt make sense'. if a doctor had tried to suggest i seemed traumatised i know she would never take me to that doctor again. I know she shopped around to find the ones who would say I was a Bad Kid. and would treat me like it

but i don't know what happened. if she had impossible selfish expectations of how motherhood was meant to feel. she created a human for herself, to give her love and validation and worship. and most of all to need her and be grateful.

I don't know if she had some kind of postpartum depression. or just had a warped idea of what motherhood would be like and what kind of validation a literal baby can give. or if there was never anything wrong with me and this is all in her warped perception. or if it's somewhere in between.

i don't know if i really 'rejected her as an infant' or not. I didn't want to be held or comforted enough. it wasn't what she wanted. I know i was born super early in a way that was like... medically fragile so I wasn't even a typical baby. maybe it hurt me to be held and touched like she wanted. maybe I just didn't like it.

I don't know how much was her reacting to a way I inherently was and have always been, and and how much was her punishing me and I changed to survive. whether I always rejected love and comfort from her or whether I didn't seek it because it wasn't safe.

I hate that I'll never know the truth. but she confirmed she's always held it against me. she's confirmed that despite being an 'empath' she doesn't empathise with me specifically. I never understood why she always insisted I'm evil/demonic/don't have emotions but it's because she feels nothing for me. and if she's an empath then the problem is me.

like... the changeling child myth hits a little too close to home because that's how I was always treated. like an evil demon that's taken the place of her child to hurt and punish her. except unfortunately she knows that I am her real biological child but somehow - spiritually - I was born bad and came into this world to hurt and punish her for no reasons other than that I am evil and cruel at heart. and I didn't remember these things being said to me until literally right now.

#posts #its a did activated night so like. who the hell is this #child abuse cw #trauma #psych abuse cw #therapy abuse cw #parental abuse cw

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kinetic-elaboration · 8 months ago

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July 13: Longlegs

Heeeey it's late.

Went out to see Longlegs with B, then had a late dinner, and went back to my place to chat and he left at something like 1:20 in the morning. Which I do feel bad about. Good talk though. I was trying to talk through things rather than around them for once as part of my quest to be a more communicative, open, and also curious person, and I think I was quasi-successful.

Anyway, the movie was.... good, I think? I liked it well enough while watching but I don't think it will leave that much of an impression on me. I was really into it in the beginning; I think the intro was very effective and the early scenes established an unsettling feel that I was very into because Deeply Unsettling is one of the brands of horror I like. The colors, the framing of the scenes, and the abrupt cuts were all definite contributors to that and the extreme abruptness of the early scenes made me think I might be getting into some psychological horror stuff, perhaps.

But the thing is... it didn't have much of a variety in tone. It was just the same level of tension fairly consistently throughout the whole thing, with occasional higher tension. It didn't have any humor or even character moments with maybe two exceptions. I had a hard time identifying with the stakes and so on, or anything outside of the visual interest of it.

I will say that that visual interest was significant; I thought it was quite beautiful and very much to my taste. There was a lot of a certain shade of dark blue that triggered something in me like a very old memory, in a pleasant way. I liked all the PNW-type scenery, the big sky, the long roads, the stark houses and tree branches. There were several scenes, especially early on, that effectively built tension through empty space--what could be about to move into that space? etc. It didn't have much for me in terms of big scares but there were several scenes I'd call deeply unnerving to the point of being scary: the intruder in Lee's house comes to mind, also visiting the farm during the thunderstorm. I thought the flash-memory while looking at the photographs was really, really well done and decidedly scary. And I liked how long it took to fully reveal Longlegs' face and the subtle ways they kept his face secret. Like oh I can almost see it, I can almost see it; I want to see, it I'm drawn to it; it's uncertain like old memory.

Like a lot of horror, it did falter for me when it started giving explanations and fully developing its story, or trying to. For me it was almost there, but not quite. Close but no cigar. Some aspects to me did not make sense (why continue killing after Longlegs' death?, for example, especially after making a big deal of 'freeing' Lee. Did the mother actually 'forget' or no?). Some threads seemed to be started but not concluded: like, the beginning made such a big deal of how the fathers are the instruments of violence, and yet Lee has no father and it's really the relationship with her mother/the concept of motherhood that's at issue ultimately. So is this like a misdirect? Feels like an opportunity to say something beyond just 'look what mothers will do for their daughters' was missed.

I think there was a slightly different turn that could have been made into the Satanism thing that would have made it better. When Lee says she never said her prayers because they scared her, I was mad convinced that the mom was a Satanist, and like... I wasn't wrong but I don't think I was fully right either; I don't think what I thought was happening was what was happening. The Devil is scary if you do it right but I just got the sense that the movie was very cursory in its thoughts on Devil worship, maybe a half-step up from just the general aesthetic of it. I would have rather the mom be a legitimate Satanist, and this be something Lee knows so that the twist is for the audience only, and cut everything about her coercion, that's weak sauce.

The dolls... I have mixed feelings on. On the one hand, they're very creepy, for sure. And magic rituals involving dolls is not a concept made up for this movie. But. I think they went maybe too literal with it? I don't know. It's not as good as it could be is my general feeling but horror almost always gets worse with explanations.

However, I do think Nic Cage has a super good time making this and I'm happy for him about that.

#the year 2024 #2024: fandom thoughts #2024: movies #longlegs spoilers

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all-pacas · 3 years ago

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hzd guidebook: the nora

so i reference the “horizon zero dawn guidebook” fairly often, but i’ve never seen scans or rips of it online — it’s a game walkthrough (and a very good one!), but in the back there’s a 40 page section written by the game’s narrative team and containing an interview with them, that covers a lot of in depth character stuff and, more importantly, lots of lore and background information about the society of the Nora and Carja. (the oseram and banuk get a single page each)

a lot of the detail isn’t spelled out or put in the game, but it’s all amazing worldbuilding stuff, it’s my favorite thing, the nora section alone is like 3k of just stuff, and i’m not even sure this walkthrough/guide is in print anymore!

so rather than describing it i was thinking about taking pictures of it all and putting it on my tumblr, but i know that would be an accessibility issue, and not just because i bet my crappy phone pics would be badly lit at best…

so i just transcribed it all instead 🙃

There are very, very mild spoilers up through the Proving, and also a single… meta spoiler, I guess, for laying out exactly where the Nora live. This is revealed in the game here and there but never really spelled out, so ymmv I guess.

Horizon Zero Dawn: Collector’s Edition Guide Future Press

All text in this section is written by the game’s narrative team — John Gonzalez, Ben McCaw and Ben Schroder.

THE NORA

The Nora are a reclusive hunter-gatherer tribe whose culture combines a fierce warrior-hunter ethic with avid religious worship of nature, motherhood, and child-rearing. All-Mother, their Goddess, is embodied by a mountain, and they believe that guarding its environs is their sacred duty. A matriarchal society, the Nora are led by female elders called Matriarchs. Hunter-warriors called ��braves,” predominantly but not exclusively male, expertly hunt many machine species and guard tribal lands from hostile outsiders. No other tribe in Horizon matches the Nora’s skill in archery or exceeds their ability to track quarry.

SOCIETAL ORGANIZATION

The Nora is (sic) a matriarchy, governed by female elders called Matriarchs and High Matriarchs. Every grandmother with at least two living generations of progeny is a Matriarch, and serves the tribe as wise women, healers, arbitrators of disputes, and sources of religious authority. But even this cadre has an elite: the High Matriarchs, great-grandmothers with three or more living generations of progeny. It is the High Matriarchs who decide matters of tribal law and adjudicate the gravest disputes. The High Matriarchs are the Nora’s ruling council; the Matriarchs, their ministers.

A Matriarch serves the tribe until death or infirmary, unless misfortune should cause the death of an entire generation of her progeny, tragically disqualifying her or demoting her from High Matriarch to regular Matriarch. (As it is rare for a Nora to produce more than two children, and they live in a dangerous environment, the ranks of the Matriarchy tend to be somewhat dynamic.) Matriarchs have the authority to settle most disputes in their home settlements. The Nora do not have an intricately codified system of laws, so judgement of lesser disputes and transgressions tends to be made on an ad hoc basis, guided by the rich body of folk stories and traditions that govern their way of life. Major transgressions, on the other hand, are clearly defined by the tribe’s taboos, the violation of which provokes outrage, shunning, or even being expelled from tribal land.

Nora culture is generally communal. Hunters share their kills, and gatherers their harvest, with the entire settlement. Most Nora live in communal lodges as well. That said, structural divisions and practical causes do give rise to subtler forms of social stratification. Matriarchs live in well-appointed lodges or, in small villages, single-family structures, and are exempt from the work of gathering berries and plants. Pregnant women and nursing mothers are also exempt from this labor. Some individuals boost their social status by sporting superior weapons, clothing, or other equipment, either because they are skilled craftpersons or have received these items as gifts. And in circumstances of hardship (such as intense winter storms), a village’s Matriarchs may apportion scarce food according to the perceived value of individuals, with able-bodied women and hunters (who can procure additional food), and children receiving preferential rations.

Braves hunt for food, escort gathering parties, and patrol tribal lands, driving off or killing trespassers. Gatherers forage for nuts, berries, edible roots, and usable plants, and also practice “forest gardening” to intensify food and fiber output. The Nora hunt deer, rats, raccoons, rabbits, foxes, badgers, and birds. Meat from these animals supplement the food found by gatherers; Nora garments mainly consist of their fur and feathers, and are accented with robot parts, such as synthetic fibers and plasteel components.

GENDER ROLES

The Nora generally consider women to be more intellectually and physically flexible than men: less impulsive, less rash, and better suited for planning for the long-term happiness of individuals and the tribe. These qualities are seen as stemming from their defining role in the creation of new life.

The Nora’s religious beliefs hold motherhood as sacred. Indeed, the creation of new life is seen as divine (approaching the power of All-Mother, the Nora deity). The decision to become a mother is not taken lightly, and some women never do so, perhaps focusing entirely on serving the tribe as a brave. The Nora believe in equilibrium with nature. Having more than two children strains resources and is discouraged. To become a grandmother is considered a great honor, and a great-grandmother a greater honor still. Conceptually speaking, Matriarchs are “super-mothers,” serving the tribe not just as grandmothers but as symbolic mothers to entire settlements.

KINSHIP

Nora trace descent matrilineally, and derive social status from the mother’s prestige. For example, the children and grandchild of a Matriarch have higher social status, and the progeny of a High Matriarch, even more. This status plays out in informal ways, shaping whose opinion receives weight, who is given mate-blessings, etc.

Nora do not “marry.” Adults are free to carry on romantic and sexual relationships with other adults as they choose (even across gender lines), with the crucial stipulation that having children is forbidden unless sanctioned by the Matriarchs with a “Mate Blessing.” Women propose Male Blessings to men when they want to have children. A child is seen as an inviolable compact between the two mates, with clear responsibilities that bind the parents together so long as the child lives. A Matriarch must sanction this union. Nora mothers have full parental rights over their children. They can dissolve a Mate Blessing at any time and keep the children.

While women are perceived as being superior caregivers, they are not solely responsible for child care. Men are expected to watch over and foster children, teaching them stories, playing games, and providing discipline to a more or less equal degree. Nora women enjoy a degree of leisure time equal to Nora males. A man is expected to continue his parental duties even if his Mate Blessing has been dissolved.

MATERIAL CULTURE

Nora settlements are peppered throughout what was once the Rockies, always in easily-defended natural locations. While the tribe’s “capital” village, Mother’s Heart, numbers around 150 inhabitants, most settlements are small hamlets of 5-10 structures with 20-50 individuals living together.

Watchtowers guard the approaches to Nora villages, and provide observation posts for hunters tracking herd movements and watching for trespassers at a distance. The Nora also keep supplies in hunters’ shacks and blinds throughout their territory, allowing hunting parties to spend nights in shelter away from the village. Most Nora share shelter in wooden lodges. Nora who distinguish themselves may be allowed to live in single-family dwellings for a time, or even to build their own.

Nora rely on natural geographic features such as steep slopes. rocky outcroppings, gorges, and swift rivers to protect their villages from robot intrusion. They respect the boundaries of robot spawning sites, and do not interfere with the protector bots who guard these sites. Historically, the Nora regarded all robots as children of All-Mother, and hunted them with great respect. This practice continues, though with increasing confusion due to the robots’s heightened aggression during the last 19 years.

The Nora subsist on meat from animals, and gathered berries, nuts, and plants. The ideal Nora economy would be communal, promoting sharing and gifts that strengthen relationship ties and bonds of obligation. But in reality, currency introduced by the Sun Carja has proven too useful to dispense with.

Nora hunters wear garments derived from robots, usually synthetic fibers and plasteel components. They decorate these garments with animal fur and bird feathers. They are masters at working with wood, beading, sewing fur, and weaving plant fibers. They use substances harvested from robots as paints, using them to decorate their skin and to create crude representational displays of robots and hunting practices not entirely dissimilar to cave paintings.

The Nora have little capacity to work metal. They can break up robot components and reuse them, sometimes by cutting or hammering components into different shapes. They make extensive use of robot components for other purposes as well, using cords and cables to lash together timber or to fashion belts and slings, etc.

Nora songs express gratitude for the bounteous gifts of their creator, esteem for the live-giving services of motherhood, and admiration for prowess in hunting and fighting.

MILITARY CULTURE

Nora train from an early age to use a bow and are dead-eye shots. They are also adept with spears and knives. Their expertise in stalking robot prey make them deadly ambushers on their home terrain.

The Nora are extraordinarily skilled and inventive at using robot components to increase the killing power of their weapons and defensive value of their armor. For example, many hunters rig power cells to their spears and use arrows with sharpened plasteel heads. Braves tinker with and craft weapons before every hunt.

RELIGIOUS CULTURE

Nora religion centers around motherhood, birth, nature, and a mythical relationship between their deity All-Mother and the main forms of life in the world: Humans, plants, animals, and robots, which they refer to as machines. Key tenets follow:

Nora religion is informal rather than institutional. Living nature, personified in All-Mother, is all around them and available to all. The idea of going inside a building to worship is alien to them. They regard their daily behavior in accordance with nature, in balance with nature, as a kind of prayer. It is their sacred duty to tend to and respect existing life, and to foster and give birth to new life.

The Nora believe that all life forms — not just humans, but “Metal Children” (their term for ancient robots), animals, and plants — were born into this world from the birth channel of All-Mother, a landmark they worship as the physical body of their god.

According to Nora myth, the Children of Metal grew to desire supremacy over other forms of life. They rebelled, building cities to challenge All-Mother’s soaring height. Then they tried to kill All-Mother’s other children — humans and animals. In a climatic battle of this rebellion, the leader of the Children of Metal — a “Metal Devil,” tried to destroy All-Mother.

All-Mother killed the Metal Devil, leveled the cities, and cast a curse on the Metal Children.

The Nora notion of the afterlife is to live on in the memory of others, All-Mother most of all. Nothing is forgotten. The greater and better their deeds in life, the more they will stand out in All-Mother’s omniscient recollection, and the more these deeds will be described in Nora story and song. True Nora want to be spoken of and remembered in positive terms; conversely, to be cursed is a terrible scar that lingers beyond death.

The Nora view the lands around All-Mother as sacred and holy. Other places are tainted and corrupted, either because their inhabitants turned away from All-Mother (the lands of other tribes) or because they were hives of rebellious Metal Children (ancient ruins). Nora who venture into tainted lands without the proper blessing become corrupted. Trespassers who cross into Nora territory without blessing rituals to ward off their corruption, defile it. These taboos are a crucial feature of Nora culture.

MORALS AND ETHICS

The Nora deem it a paramount responsibility not to take more from the land (from All-Mother) than they deserve, and so strictly regulate their population. They also believe that they are the guardians of this sacred land, the First People, and (are) the “true children” of All-Mother.

Nora place a high value on communalism. Food is shared, as is shelter (most of the time). There is little notion of privacy among the tribe. A good Nora is one who works hard to foster and improve the life of the tribe and children in particular, or to protect them. Self-promoting behavior, such as bragging, is disapproved of, and selfish behavior such as food-hoarding a major offense. This doesn’t mean that the Nora don’t compete for meritorious distinction; they do. But the individuals who “win” are expected not to brag about it and to share any benefits of their winnings or status.

Nora Matriarchs dispense justice on a case-by-case basis, using folklore as a guide and always attempting to craft a punishment that fits the crime. There is no written code of laws. In general, Matriarchs prefer punishments that have a productive outcome, preferably involving reparations or rehabilitation. For the worst crimes, sentences may include death or permanent banishment, in which case the offender would be branded as a reminder of their outcast status. For theft, the offender would be expected to repay the vicim through money, goods, or service. If a hunter were to kill another in a fight or dispute, he or she might be sentences to serve the victim’s family, in effect replacing the child or parent who was lost.

Some crimes, like breaking taboos, are punished by shunning, which differs from banishment in that 1) it is temporary and 2) it is within Nora lands. Terms for shunning might last anywhere from 6 months to 10 years.

Seekers are Nora granted immunity from the taboos against exploring ancient ruins or leaving Nora land. Only a Matriarch may confer the blessing of this status. In practice, it is only granted when there is a compelling reason to send a Nora into a ruin (to clear out bandits, for example) or to a distant land as an envoy.

CEREMONIAL CULTURE

Nora ceremonies recognize the seasons and also major cycles of robot behavior (the spawning of herds, their departure and return). Childbirth is heavily ritualized, as are hunts, with blessing rituals and strict codes of proper behavior. Not surprisingly, birthdays are a major occasion. The focus of the celebration, however, is not the person who has lived another year, but the mother who gave birth to the person. Children are thus expected on their birthdays to give gifts to their mothers and spend the entire day with them. If the mother is no longer living, the child spends the entire day at the mother’s grave site.

The most significant ritual, held every year, is “the Proving,” in which youth compete to be recognized as adult Nora. To pass the test is moderately challenging, but to win the contest is very difficult indeed. Every year, the Proving’s winner is given a special audience with the Matriarchs and is allowed to make a special request, such as an immediate mate-blessing or a bow crafted by a master bowyer. So long as the winner’s request is reasonable, the Matriarchs will grant it.

INTERCULTURAL RELATIONS

The Nora generally avoid contact with other tribes. They abhor trespassers and will use force, often deadly force, to drive hostile intruders and stubborn poachers from their lands.

In the two decades before the Derangement, the Nora opened their borders a bit and established limited trade with the Carja and Oseram tribes. Commerce was conducted through trading posts established at their borders, places where they could mingle with outsiders without giving them free access to the Nora interior. This period of relative openness ended with the reign of the Mad Sun-King Jiran, who raided their lands and took slaves for human sacrifice.

When the game begins, the Nora are just beginning to take tentative steps to reconnect to the outside world. Trading posts have been re-established at the Carja border. The Matriarchs have even let a small number of Carja dignitaries attend the Proving.

MISC

The center of Nora territory is referred to as “The Embrace.” It is a heavily defended area that contains the tribe’s main landmarks and settlements:

All-Mother, the mountain which the Nora regard as the physical embodiment of their god, who died to kill the evil Metal King half buried on its slopes,

The birth channel of All-Mother, a steel-ribbed tunnel that leads to the womb of the mountain. Only Matriarchs may pass the threshold of the tunnel. Within lies a large chamber that the Matriarchs regard as a sacred place, and use for monthly gatherings. At one end of the chamber stands a sealed, impenetrable vault door.

Mother’s Heart, the tribe’s main village.

Several villages throughout the Rockies, including Mother’s Crown and Mother’s Cradle.

Watch towers, usually near villages.

Hunters’s lodges and blinds throughout Nora lands.

#i'll do the carja some other time #hey sageandginger ya wanted to know more about the nora????#hzd meta

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alarawriting · 4 years ago

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Writeober 13 - Rose

The first of her old group that Sandy ran into was Aliyah, looking every bit as gorgeous as she used to back when they were all in high school. “Sandy!” Aliyah hugged her. “Girlfriend, you look fantastic!”

“You liar,” Sandy said affectionately. She was forty pounds heavier than she’d been in high school, and the stress of motherhood and scrambling to make ends meet had taken its toll on her face, and she knew it. But that was Aliyah for you. The most beautiful girl in the entire school, and she always had a kind word or an encouragement for everyone else she met. Aliyah was older now, but no less beautiful – possibly moreso, in fact, because she’d grown into confidence and power. Her skin was darker than Sandy’s, but perfect and smooth, while Sandy’s brown face had never entirely grown out of its teenage habit of developing pimples, nor of showing blemishes where the pimples used to be. And her clothes, of course, were fashionable and fit her like they were tailored, whereas the dress Sandy was wearing came off the rack at Target and fit like a gunnysack.

None of that mattered. Sandy had worshiped Aliyah as a kid, had wanted to be her… up until the revelations of their senior year, when she’d learned the price Aliyah had paid for money and beauty. They’d been in touch periodically ever since; neither of them had much time to meet in person, but Aliyah desperately needed a confidante she could call and talk to, or email with, who didn’t care about her money or fame, and Sandy felt honored to be that friend.

“Who all’s here?” Sandy asked.

“I’ve seen Gwen and Tulsi—”

“Gwen?”

“Harriet used to call her Gun, remember? Red Sky.”

“Oh, that’s right. Glad she made it. What about Susan?”

“I think she’s coming,” Aliyah said. “She was on the planning committee with me. But I haven’t seen her yet. And I haven’t seen Harriet.”

“I’m going to circulate around a while, see if I can find any of them,” Sandy said.

“You should try the fondue fountain, it is to die for,” Aliyah said.

Sandy laughed. “Some of us poor mortal girls have to watch our weight.”

“Oh, don’t even. You’ve had two kids, you’ve got a mortgage to pay, your job has you sit at a desk all day – you are in fantastic shape for someone who’s done everything you have and works as hard as you do. You deserve a chocolate strawberry or two.”

“Thanks,” Sandy said, “maybe I will.”

“I mean it, Sandy. You see me looking like this, but looking like this is my job. I have personal trainers, I have nutritionists, I’ve got a whole gym in my house. And what do I do? I’m an actress. I like to think I bring joy to people’s lives, but I don’t have any children, and you fight health insurance companies to make sure your doctors get paid and your patients don’t get screwed, and that is so important in this day and age. You’ve made two humans and you work your ass off to give them good lives and raise them up right. You are the one of us who’s still a hero, Sandy, I’m just the one who was lucky enough to have rich parents.”

“I remember you telling me about your parents, Ali. I don’t think you were lucky.”

Aliyah smiled wistfully. “Yeah, no, you’re right about that part of it. I just don’t want you being down on yourself because you gained weight, girl. Nobody gets out of high school without getting bigger. It’s natural. The only reason people think thin is beautiful is the beauty industry trying to sell them garbage.”

“Didn’t you do a makeup commercial a few years ago?”

Aliyah laughed. “I did! Beauty products are garbage, but as long as women are going to buy them, I want them to see glamorous black women wearing product that makes our skin look spectacular. You know?”

“I do,” Sandy said. “I – oh. Is that Red Sky with that little girl on her shoulders?”

Aliyah turned and looked. “That’s her. Why don’t you go talk to her? I’m going to look for Susan.”

“Good luck,” Sandy said, and went over to greet her former comrade.

Red Sky – Gwen, who almost never went by that – was tall. Sandy remembered her being tall, but wow, she must have kept growing out of high school. Her red hair was still cut short, military-style, but she was wearing a dress, which had to be the first time Sandy had ever seen her in one. The dress showed off her biceps, which had been amazing back then and still were, and she had a small girl around five or six, pale-skinned with curly black hair, riding her piggyback style. She waved cheerily at Sandy as soon as she saw her. “Hey there! Sandy! How’s it going?”

“Pretty good, pretty good,” Sandy said. “That your little girl?”

“She sure is! Ginny, say hi to my friend Sandy.”

“Hi!” Ginny waved. “Are you friends with both my mommies?”

“I don’t know who your other mommy is,” Sandy said.

“Sure you do,” Gwen said. “It’s Harriet.”

That stopped Sandy dead for a moment. “Harriet. As in Black Rose.”

“Yup.”

“As in the girl you said you totally hated.” She was censoring that for Ginny’s sake; there had generally been a few f-bombs thrown into that statement when Gwen had made it, back then.

“Sure did.”

“As in the girl who bullied you all through elementary, middle, and high school.”

“To be fair, I gave as good as I got.”

“The one you said you wanted to join the army to get away from. That Harriet.”

“Yup, that’s the one.” Gwen laughed. “Turns out we didn’t really hate each other after all. She was just the most repressed lesbian ever and I was… well, I wasn’t repressed, but all the stuff I did to annoy her because I thought I hated her, turns out there was another reason for that.”

“Wow.” Sandy shook her head. “Amazing.”

“I have Mommy Harriet’s genes,” Ginny said, which seemed to Sandy like a very strange topic of conversation for a six year old to bring up. “But I grew in Mommy Gunnie’s tummy.”

“You know about genes?”

“She’s Harriet’s kid,” Gwen said. “Of course she knows about genes. Don’t you, cookie?”

“Genes are why we are what we are,” Ginny said. “We get them from mommies and daddies. My daddy doesn’t live with us but he was very smart and so Mommy Harriet picked him for his genes so I could be smart and he said yes.”

“Paul,” Gwen said before Sandy could ask.

“Oh. Makes sense.” Paul hadn’t been a member of their group, but he’d known about them, and he’d been close friends with Tulsi and Harriet, and he’d helped them out on numerous occasions. While Harriet had been bizarrely obsessed with human biology, and Tulsi had been an all-around genius who was just good at every academic subject ever, Paul had had a penchant for engineering and computers.

“You know if Susan’s here?” Gwen asked.

“Aliyah thinks she’s probably around here somewhere. She was on the planning committee. Is Harriet here?”

“She said she was gonna be—” The door to the school gym opened, and a short, pale woman with black curly hair, wearing an open black coat, a black velvet dress, black nylons, and a necklace made of bits of polished white something that Sandy would bet were animal bones, stalked in. “—late,” Gwen finished. “Hey! Harriet!”

Harriet did not look up, or at anyone in the room. She just power-walked over to Gwen, head partially down but eyes pointed straight ahead and glowering. “Green Vine,” she said to Sandy. “Everyone’s here. Gather them up and meet me in the old senior lounge.”

“What’s going on?” Gwen asked.

“They’re back, Gun.” Now Harriet looked up, meeting her wife’s eyes high above her own. “I’m not here as Harriet Nonasky. I’m here as Black Rose. The Guardians need to gather again.”

“Fuck!” Gwen said. “Harriet… we’ve got Ginny here! We can’t go anywhere without finding her a sitter!”

“What about Daddy Paul?” Ginny suggested.

“And I’ve got kids back home,” Sandy said. “They’ve got a sitter, and they’ve got their dad when he gets home later tonight, but neither the sitter nor my husband are expecting me to… what? What are we even doing? I can’t fit in my Green Vine costume anymore! I don’t think any of us could!”

“Harriet can,” Gwen said. “I’ve seen her wear the Black Rose costume at home. She still fits in it.”

“Forget costumes,” Harriet said. “I got Paul for Ginny, and he said he’d find help for Sandy’s and Susan’s kids. Where’s Susan?”

“No one’s seen her yet,” Gwen said.

Harriet closed her eyes. She’d ladled on a good bit of black eyeshadow on top of her black mascara, and thick white foundation everywhere else, so when she closed her eyes they looked almost like shadowy holes in her face. “We need to find her. Now. Because they might have gotten her.”

“I’ll tell Aliyah,” Sandy said. “And whoever finds Tulsi first, let her know.” She took a deep breath. “I’ve got a minivan now, so… if y’all want me to, I can be the driver again.”

“That might be the way things go,” Harriet said. “Gun, give me Ginny. Paul’s out in the parking lot waiting for her.”

“I – all right.” She set her daughter down on the floor. “You gonna be good for Daddy Paul?”

“Uh-huh. Are you gonna go be superheroes, Mommy Gunnie?”

“We sure might,” Gwen said. “Harriet, tell him thanks for me.”

“Right,” Harriet said. “Ginny, come on.”

“Is this really happening?” Sandy asked rhetorically, shaking her head. She turned around and searched the room for Aliyah. Or Tulsi. Or Susan. Especially Susan. She saw Aliyah, and she saw Tulsi… but no sign of White Fox.

“Red Sky, Blue Sea’s over by the girls’ locker room. You go talk to her. I’ll tell Golden Sun.” Blue Sea was Tulsi, and Golden Sun was Aliyah.

“I thought we killed those bastards extra dead,” Gwen said. “Goddamn.”

“Me too.”

Gwen shrugged. “Oh well. I gotta say, I won’t cry if I’ve gotta killinate them some more. Let’s find the others and then meet up with Harriet, and hopefully she’ll actually tell us what the hell is going on.”

“You’re optimistic. She never did before,” Sandy said.

“I’m married to her. She’s mellowed out. Some. Trust me.”

#writeober 2020 #alara's october 2020 prompt fics #magical girls #are now grownup magical women #any resemblance between some of these characters #and the characters of the locked tomb series #is entirely intentional

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missbecky · 5 years ago

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Okay, time for another long post about a cool weird thing that happened with my cards last night. I still don't know how I feel about deities, I don't know that I'll ever worship one, as that's just not me to worship. But I have felt as though there was an entity, goddess, force, something trying to reach me. Any time I've tried to glean information on who it was, I kept getting a door slammed in my face. I kept getting messages that I wasn't ready. And I was totally fine with that.

I'm unemployed right now, I'm a single mom, and I live with my disabled mother to help take care of her. With COVID-19, we don't take chances as my mom is in the high risk category. What that all means is that I've had way too much time on my hands. So I've been like a sponge, soaking up all the knowledge I can when it comes to witchcraft. Not being ready wasn't that big of a deal, because it just meant I got to do more research and keep putting off stuff I didn't really want to do.

Yesterday, I did my daily card draw, and the message was suddenly way different. Change has always been in the messages, but also the stopping in order to be ready for the changes. Yesterday morning I drew the the star, the chariot, and the hanged man reversed. I took that as a go for it.

Later that day I was prowling all the research servers, and the went to Google something about deities, and found an article/blog post someone had written about wishing people would stop using a very specific tarot spread for deity identification. Naturally, I decide to do that very spread. It was a five card spread, I wrote down what I wanted to know, and started shuffling. I shuffled for what felt like forever, and then when I laid the cards out, without thinking, I laid out 7. At first I was going to put the last two back, but decided to leave them. And the cards were all over the place. But I looked at it, and thought, "whoa, whoever this is, is not messing around.

So this is what I laid out.

Before I get into breaking down what these cards meant and how each one directly correlates to one specific deity, I want to point out where my head was at going into this.

I basically really actually got started with everything like 2 weeks ago. I'm basically still a newborn, right? Anyway, as soon as I start researching, I keep getting drawn to Deities. That's weird because I'm an agnostic and basically have no interest in higher powers. If they're there cool, if not cool. I have always believed that if there is some kind of being that could mold and shape the world, then my puny human brain can't comprehend them anyway, and it's really none of my concern. So, it's been really strange that this repeatedly keeps sticking out for me. I get the distinct impression that whatever energy is reaching out to me is female, a tie to the moon, the feeling of 3 was there, I knew it had to be associated with motherhood, and just a general overall feel of the empowerment of women. Naturally, I just kind of assumed Hecate, but that never actually felt correct to me.

So the 3 of cups being the first card just kind of reinforced the sense of 3 to me, and the whole sisterhood aspects of women empowering women. I wrote down 3, sisterhood, and good times. In the spread that was supposed to be 5 cards (and I did 7), the first card was supposed to sum up who the deity was.

I love my tarot deck for the strength card the most, I think. Strength is a mama bear. Again, this confirms my feeling of being tied to motherhood. The second card was supposed to represent the deities weakness. I wrote mama bear, power, and overly protective.

The third card was the chariot, and according to the spread this was their strength, their power. I wrote down action, strength, determination, will-power.

Then I get to the 4th card, the lovers. This is supposed to be what they rule. This one had me scratching my head. Now the author said this one will be harder to figure out, because the deities could even try to be snarky with this. I didn't even know what to do with this card, but like it made sense later. As I was going through each card individually, however, I came up with nothing, and in turn wrote nothing.

Card 5 was to be their symbol or association, and I had drawn 7 card. Anyway, I began analyzing the reversed hierophant, and the reversed 2 of cups. By that point I'm feeling personally attacked. And then the King of swords felt like a slap in the face. Words like logical, smart, level headed came up, which is honestly the person I've always prided myself on being. What was that person doing trying to contact a deity? I basically had to stop and ask myself wtf I was doing.

Like all shadow work, I decided to go browse the internet to distract myself from having to think about it too much. So I start googling triple Goddess and love, even though the lovers definitely didn't feel right, I'm like what the hell? Why not? Hecate and Diana come up, well that's not right. So I decide to take away the triple deciding I could just be way off base with the whole 3 thing. So I Google goddess of female empowerment and found a list of badass goddesses, and Artemis stuck out to me. But I'm like, no, that can't be right. This peace loving hippie couldn't possibly identify with the goddess of the hunt (which was the extent of my knowledge about Artemis). I then Google goddess of sisterhood, envisioning a woman running with a girl gang fucking shit up. What the fuck do you know, but that is Artemis.

After that Google search, I decide I clearly don't know enough about Artemis, and had recently downloaded some Greek mythology books, have never had the slightest interest in Greek mythology, but I saved them in my Google drive just in case. After finding out a bit about Artemis from Google, I turned to the digital books I had.

It was crazy how each of the cards began actually tying into the mythology of Artemis. She traveled with like a gang of nymphs, which I'm sure there was some sisterhood there. She helped her mother deliver her twin brother, and became like the patron God of childbirth. She defended babies and Young girls. She only ever wanted to belong to herself and so she requested everlasting virginity. From what I read she was very protective, straight up murdered rapists, and she was strong to a fault, which made sense why the strength card was listed as weakness. Apollo challenged her to hit a target way out in the ocean that she couldn't see, telling her she couldn't do it, she did it to prove she could and there was no better sharpshooter than her. The target was Orion, the only person she ever loved. So the reversed two of cards made sense. The reversed hierophant made sense because she was not traditional, she went against the grain. Her story is far from ordinary, even by mythological standards. She was a straight up badass that lived life on her terms and no one else's. There's nothing more rebellious than a woman with such control of her own life and destiny. And of course the chariot would be her strength identification, she was nothing but action oriented. The lovers could be interpreted several ways, but I take it as a woman who loves herself so fiercely she had no need for any other kind. But also when I think of love, I don't think of romantic love, I think of the bond i share with my daughter. She fiercely loved her brother, and maybe because she helped with his birth it connected her to him similar to that of a mother and child? That of course speculation. But the lovers card could also be a jab at her eternal virginity. And the King of swords sounded exactly like Artemis.

So I'm convinced this spread is talking about Artemis, but I can't shake the aspect of 3. Can't let that one go. Don't know why. So I'm looking through the l The Greek Myths by Robert Graves, and in it he speculated that Artemis was in fact a triad/triple Goddess!!!

Needless to say, I lost my fucking shit after reading that one. I was right in what I felt about what traits I felt the energy having, and the fucking spread related with every gd card.

Oh, and apparently Artemis chose to spend most of her time in the mountains. One of my favorite thing in all of the things is the mountains of Colorado, second only to my daughter, and I even identify as connected with earth elements the most because of my love for mountains. Makes me wonder how long Artemis has been trying to get my attention 😉

Anyway, I don't know what this all means to me personally yet. I've been ridiculously drained today, it's already 11 pm, and I only just now felt like I had enough energy and focus to write this out. So haven't had much time to sit with everything I experienced and felt last night.

However, it was very exciting! And I had to share my experience!

#witchcraft #witch community #tarot #witchblr #magick #Artemis #deity #deity work

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godsought · 4 years ago

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We know Godseeker loves Ghost, but what about the other vessels? (Hollow Broken and Greenpath?)

-- anonymous prayed.

;; I’m still assuming this is for the momseeker au !!!! now, given that the canon vessels - aside ghost - are infected or otherwise dead, I’m assuming a scenario where they’re---- well, not somehow - or otherwise just in a better position than canon! do bear with me here, I’m making up stuff as I go along !!

;; SO !!!!!! given that the hollow knight / pure vessel is considered a god ( broken vessel / lost kin TOO assuming they weren’t necessarily deemed one because they were infected ), they would catch godseeker’s adoration & attention first & foremost. if they’re not swarmed by her because they harbor the radiance in their mind, hollow is especially latched onto for their power ( given how high they rank in the pantheons for it ) & for the fact they were THE chosen vessel to train by the pale king’s side. godseeker would admire their techniques & abilities from afar, offering her worship how she may until that suddenly turns into ‘ hey I got some mcdefenderss for us, sit & take a break would u like some squib nuggets ‘

;; distant worship shifts slightly when she ( or they ) takes a chance & offers to get a bit more personal with them & then whoops !!! her kid now

;; SIMILAR would occur with broken vessel if they were in similar shoes to the hollow knight, sans infection ---- if not, they fall in the same boat with ghost & the greenpath vessel. at first, they’d be dismissed; another commoner out to pillage or otherwise make a nuisance of themselves, but the more they show their faces around her, godseeker feels some kind of connection - IF ONLY that her attitude shifts seeing them a lot more. she wouldn’t take as much interest in them as hollow if she can’t sense any power off of them, but she would find herself intrigued by their constant visitation & bugging of her. what could they want? --from there, it’s a slow burn from ‘ you’re a pest ‘ to ‘ you’re lucky I tolerate you ‘ to ‘ you can stay, but you must behave ‘ & finally to ‘ if anything happened to you I’d kill everyone in this room ‘

;; with a touch of ‘ if you get hurt I will laugh in your face ‘ before kissing them better

;; && if they start showing potential like canon ghost did post-4th pantheon, then she’s especially intrigued; perhaps they’re not Gods ( yet ) but she senses something in them!

;; at that point, it’s a downhill development of godseeker beginning to care less about how powerful all these vessels are & just caring for them as her own little babies as motherhood takes hold. now granted, she’s not the BEST mother -- she’s very unorthodox & bittersweet, gradually straying from her cold take on existence as a whole to allow care into her life as she becomes softer with these little vessels she’s grown so attached to, & she really does try to balance her own things & loving them the best she can.

;; but yeah !!!! I apologize because - concerning the vessels, there’s not a whole lot to work with ( given their lot(s) in life ), but I hope this makes sense & answers your question ( WHICH WAS A DAMN GOOD QUESTION I LOVE YOU ) !

;; ( forgive the inconsistencies in the picture, this was drawn before the ask was written up ! )

#anonymous #ART ; be this some strange way of drawing thyself closer to the Gods ?#OOC ; zote for God of Gods 2020.#INBOX ; are thee a messenger of the Gods ? - or something stranger ?#ABOUT ; Our mysteries will be preserved.#;; SORRY THIS IS LATE it took some time to think of how to phrase this !#;; BUT THIS WAS A GREAT ASK !!! THANK U !!!!!

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laughing-with-god · 5 years ago

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Exo as Yandere (based on Venus and Mars signs)

(I personally think that astrology reveals a lot about a person and I think it’s interesting to look into an idols’ chart to predict how they could be. As a writer, I tend to keep a person’s chart in mind when creating their character but in no way am I saying that they are like this. We don’t know Exo’s precise birth-times and this is a fictional scenario. Please no bitching in my inbox. Please enjoy and share your thoughts~)

Kim Minseok

{Venus in Aquarius}

He was probably a friend to you in the beginning but somehow worked his way into much, much more.

Aquarius has a reputation for being aloof or detached but they’re very good at analyzing and manipulating. His yandere is almost never detected bc he’s so good at hiding it.

Venus is what we are attracted to. So with his Venus in Aquarius we know he tends to like people who are unconvententional or unique for some reason.

Your race, your hair, your style ect… chances are it’s very different from the societal norm he’s used to.

Probably has a thing for foriengers

Big Age gaps too, doesn’t mind if you’re a baby to him or a milf but he will almost always end up with one or the other.

At first he wouldn’t realize that he was obsessed with you.

He would just tell himself that you’re a very interesting person and it’s normal for him to want to know more about you.

But eventually he’ll come to terms with it when he finds himself stalking and or emotionally manipulating you.

I think hes very big on stalking tbh. the reason why I think this is because his moon is in pisces and they tend to grow overly-attached to people. Mix that with his venus and mars in aquarius and you get someone who has an intense need to be near you and ALSO has the stealth and smarts to follow you around whilst being undetected.

The Lightbulb would go off when he’s crouched behind a bush to watch you or something and he’ll be like “......damn, I’m in too deep.”

Knows that stalking can be very inconvenient and risky so eventually it’ll bleed into him bugging your phone, car, watch ect.

Just to keep tabs on your locations. he’s become accoustemed to your usual spots so if he sees you at an unfamiliar address then he’ll physically track you down.

Really good at tugging on your heart-strings. His moon in Pisces tells me that he knows how to play with emotions and his aquarius side uses that to his advantage.

but he’s very subtle and you could never call it out if you wanted to bc he’s just so good.

“Well, it’s just after all I’ve done for you I thought maybe....”

“I just want what’s best for you. Would you rather have someone who has the worst intentions?”

“God knows what would’ve happen to you if I wasn’t there for you.”

{Mars in Aquarius}

I’m not saying freaky sex but, uh.....freaky sex

it’s hard to nail down the kinks of a mars in aquarius bc they could be into ANYTHING.

All we know is that they are attracted to the taboo and unconventenal so the kinks are almost always weird and unsuspecting.

Boy could be into feet for all we know.....

Anyways, as for the yandere side of him....Minseok doesn’t get mad bc he knows that tantrums are unproductive and can raise red flags

He gets clever.

he knows that the minute you pick up on his obsession with you, it’s over. therefore he always has Plans A through Z prepared

Most mars in aquarius don’t get jealous but I think Minseok is an eception given he has some pisces in him.

he feels so deeply for you.

Yes, I think he can and will kill those that get too close to his beloved.

But he would never be to obvious about it.

A friend starts flirting with you and crosses some boundaries? No worries, Minseok is patient enough to wait for the perfect time to strike.

could be next week, month or year but he’s ready all the same

he’s a fan of making it look as if his victims died in freak accidents

Like a guy will be fixing a car and minseok will just walk over and release the thing that keeps the car up so the guy gets crushed.

Or accidently tampering with some brakes...

Or stealing someone’s carbon monoxide detector so poisonous gas can slowly seep into their home.....

Maybe switching up some medications to cause some accidental overdoses

Creative deaths that he enjoys planning and can almost never be traced back to anyone bc they don’t even look like murders.

Punishments?

Minseok doesn’t like getting his hands dirty much less putting them on you.

But he does enjoy playing mind games.

he likes making you dependent on him so whenever you act up, he’ll just remove his support system so you can see exactly how much you need him.

You’ll never even suspect his yandere, and that’s just how he wants it.

Kim Junmyeon

{Venus in Cancer}

Junmyeon has the ‘boy next door’ vibe and he wants nothing more than to find the ‘girl next door’

Whenever he sees a girl/boy that looks just perfect to bring home to his family, he simply melts and falls in love

Attracted to slightly younger or same age partners.

Likes smooth and lighter skin, BOOB man, long dark hair, shorter than him, curvier bodies.

All the things listed above make him drool

Also he’s someone who prefers traditional Korean partners (sorry but some people have a preference for partners with the same cultural background)

Cancer is the sign of motherhood and that’s exactly what he’s looking for- the future mother of his kids.

So his yandere side probably developed when your relationship steadily grew serious.

the more time he spends with you, the more he gets delusional about how your life will be with him.

You catch him calling himself your husband like three months into dating him.

because in his mind you guys are already like an old married couple.

Probably went ahead and introduced himself to your parents before you even got the chance to. You wouldn’t notice until your mom mentions how sweet Junmyeon was when he took her out last week and you’re like “....what the fuck? I hadn’t even brought him home yet.”

Junmyeon is a textbook over-thinker and the epitome of an A type personality.

He has everything planned out about your future.

the wedding venue, the house you guys will settle in, how many kids you’ll have. He has it all down to a tee

Very Overprotective of you.

has an obsession with being your white knight so he’s always jumping at every chance to protect or save you.

Even if these so-called ‘threats’ aren’t really threats....

He’s too gentlemanly to get violent with someone.

But he is very good at being passive-aggressive and pulling people aside to have friendly ‘chats’

And if those ‘chats’ don’t work then he’ll just have to pay someone to get his message across.

has a burner phone for his hired hitmen

very into gender roled. idk how to explain it but he wants to be the ‘man’ and get all the doors for you, pay for everything, take the initiave during sex or affection. He’s not sexist so much as he enjoys old style romance.

You would have to be a fool to not pick up on his overzealousness of you. So on a small scale you are aware that there is a yandere side to him, but he’s so kind that you just rationalize it as him being clingy and over-romantic

{Mars in Cancer}

Overall, Junmyeon is vanilla in bed but very sensual.

the type to hold your hand and whisper praises in your ear while it’s going down.

mars in cancer leads me to suspect one weird kink; impregnation. he’s just really into the idea of you having his kids. I don’t know if he’s even aware of it but he does get turned on by the idea of breeding and he’ll catch himself feeling a certain way when you guys don’t use a condom.

He’s also attracted to the supple parts of a woman. Like the boobs, softer tummy and the fleshy thighs/butt

wouldn’t mind a slightly chubby s/o for these reasons.

junmyeon doesn’t really get angry unless your safety or future with him is tampered with.

Like while other yanderes would flip out at other people looking at their beloved, Junmyeon doesn’t care bc ofc he’s aware that you’re very attractive and he can’t control all the wandering stares.

However if someone were to tell you that they don’t think you and Junmyeon were a good fit and perhaps you should look elsewhere...

heads will roll...

How dare someone try to jeoprodize all he had planned by getting into your head?! Don't they know that you and Suho are the perfect couple?

Addicted to spoiling you bc his mars in cancer makes it so that he enjoys providing for his loved ones

He’s very big on couple outfits bc it’s another way of rubbing everyones’ face in how happy you two are.

Doesn’t punish you bc he worships you and it’ll ruin the image of marital bliss if he put his hands on you

Instead he convinces himself that it’s someone else who got into your head and is making you act up

“Darling, I know that someone filled your pretty head with useless garbage. Why don’t you just tell me who it is and I can have a talk with them.”

He likes having your friends over for dinner and stuff bc he loves the idea of you and him being the ‘mom and dad’ of the group.

ALWAYS offering relationship advice to his single friends like, “Well when stuff like that happens what me and Y/n do is....”

His moon is in gemini and I think he is totally capable of living two different lives. if he plays his card right, you’ll never find out about how sinister your ‘perfect’ hubby actually is

In general, he is a soft and clingy yandere who you would think is harmless. But those shady contacts in his burner phone tell a different story.

Yixing

{Venus in Virgo}

Lay adores innocence in a partner.

Virgo is the ‘virgin’ so he’s attracted to the image of purity because of this.

turn ons: younger partners, shorter and petite statures, big watery eyes, feminine clothing and manners, high pitched voices

He is also slightly obsessed with the idea of living in a fairy tale romance with you.

Most likely fell in love with you at first sight

Not the type to slowly develop a friendship with you into a relationship.

No, he makes his intentions known right off the bat.

he will be with you.

Virgo is very analytical and he’s constantly planning ahead and reading way too much into your words/actions.

Sweeps you off your feet everytime he takes you out. even if he’s just taking you out to dinner he’ll bring along a thoughtful gift to ensure you never forget how serious he is about you.

probably has a secret notebook that he has to take notes about you.

“she mentioned that her laptop has been acting slow lately. I should write down to get her a new one.”

“her face cringed when I mentioned cats. I should document that for later until I know exactly what that means.”

Yixing is like a rentlesless student whose dedicated to studying you.

he probably has a stash for momentos of you.

has pictures saved from your old social media accounts from like years before he even knew you.

he’s not a violent or obvious yandere bc his virgo side has already calculated the risks if he ever slipped up and he’d go crazy if he lost you.

Therefore he’s gotten really good at hiding how infatuated he truly is with you.

Doesn’t mean that there aren’t little slip ups

Sometimes you’ll be telling him something and he’ll say something that he shouldn’t know.

You: “So when I was studying at-” “(Blank) university, right?” “Yeah....wait how did you know that?”

When that happens he always just tries to play it off as if you already told him that information but you never recall these conversations.

But he always changes the topic before you could prod any further.

{Mars in Libra}

In the bed he’ll be whatever you want him to be.

You’re a dom? He’ll be your sub. you’re a sub? he’ll be your dom.

Your kinks are his now too.

Libras are people pleasers and your sex life is basically just him worshiping and serving you.

he also never looses his temper with you, or anyone for that matter.

Libras are clever and charming and not known for being very emotional, so he has all of his yandere in control.

He rather work the people around you and plant a seed in your head if you ever suspect anything.

“Y/n, if I truly was crazy then how come all your family and friends love me?”

“baby, it’s all in your head. Do I really look like the type of guy to do all those things that you’re accusing me of?”

“Fine leave me. But just know taht you’ll never find someone as good as me. and your friends agree witht that too.”

He won’t kill other people but he will blackmail.

He’s very good at getting information so if someone is getting a little too close to you he’ll just dig up some dirt and confront them with it.

If that doesn’t dork he’ll just try to change your prespective of said person by casually bringing up how ‘foul’ they are.

Doesn’t punish you bc he’s not your father. As obsessed as he is with you, he still considers you both equals in the relationship.

Soft yandere for you.

Having placements in libra and virgo make it so that he’ll do anything to make you happy.

Just say the word and he’s on it.

Some yanderes try to force their signifact other into being the ‘perfect lover’ but Yixing is different.

He’ll change the very foundation of who he is just to make you happy.

Byun Baekhyun

{Venus in Taurus}

Enjoys older partners, prefers sexy over cute bc he’s attracted to mature people

Lives for curves.

Like Suho, he also enjoys the more supple parts of the female body. Boobs, softer tummy, fleshy thighs and bigger butts.

very sensual bc Taurus is about feeling physical pleasures so he’s constantly holding you or touching you ins ome way, shape or form.

Weird but since Taurus needs to feel to truly get close to someone, the more skinship he has with you the more yandere he becomes.

very possessive bc Taurus tends to view loved ones in terms of personal posessions.

You belong to him and he will have the biggest hissy fit if someone else is touching you

Your dates are more homely bc Baekhyun is a homebody and he wants to enjoy you in a place free of distractions.

Also in-home dates mean more cuddling for him.

I cannot stress enough how important physical affection is to him.

He needs it to live.

Clingiest yandere.

Because he’s so possessive I def see him trying to control what you wear and who you talkt to

But he’s very sly about it and tries to put in a perspective that makes him look like a thoughtful boyfriend.

“Don’t take this the wrong way but theres tons of cat callers in the city and I don’t want anyone making you uncomfortable. Would you mind putting a sweater over that?”

“It’s just that friends are supposed to be supportive and if they’re not being supportive of your relationship...then maybe they’re not good friends?”

He’s not that delusional about you until you’re taken away from him.

Like let’s say you take a trip (without him) early in the relationship

During the days you’re gone he’ll go I n s a n e

When he’s not blowing up your phone, he’s crying like crazy and working himself into paranoia frenzies about what could be happening to you.

When you finally get back into his arms, he’s not leaving your side for days

Touch starved for you 24/7

He gets really grumpy when he’s not near you, so people think he’s a jerk if they meet him when he’s experiencing withdrawls.

But if your by his side then he’s the sweetest angel ever.

He’ s not good at manipulating so he doesn’t even bother trying. he’ll be very straight up about all his yandere behavior bc he honestly sees nothing worng with it.

Like how the hell could he love you too much? To him that sounds like bullshit.

{Mars in Aries}

very rough and fast in bed.

Sex with him is either all night long or 15 minutes. There is no in-between. (His Taurus makes it so he loves long drawn out sex with lots of touching and praise, but his aries makes it so that he often gets horny and needs to get it out really soon. thus, you also get quickies.)

mars in aries is a very interesting placement. Mars is the planet of war and aries is a warrior sign. Which means Baekhyun is one of the more brutal yanderes.

I dare say Baekhyun enjoys pain during sex. probably both giving and receiving.

His anger issues are really bad.

likes getting his hands dirty when getting rid of people.

His trademark is beating his victims for hours on endbefore finally killing them.

Their bodies are always very hard to identify bc they’re always beaten so bad to a point of being unreconginazable.

I don’t see him hurting you though. He’s too in love to put his hands on you. The only scenario is if you try to leave him, he might physically drag you back and rough house you a little bit.

There’s two baekhyuns; the soft and clingy one that needs to be held by you in order to be happy

OR the explosive Baekhyun that thinks someone is trying to keep him away from you.

Weird but I think he likes bruises and marks .

Whether it be from you during sex or one of his victims who fought back, he likes them all the same bc he has a slight fascination with violence.

He also adores leaving marks on you too, if you let him ofc.

His venus in tarus means he’s ultra jelous and possessive and his aries gives him the fire-power to fight back.

With you, he’s in heaven. And if someone tires to ruin that, he’ll raise hell.

Kim Jongdae

{Venus in Libra}

Likes girly partners.

Docile, passive manners, pastel colors, feminine style

Doesn’t have an age preference. he appreciates aspects of younger and older partners so it’s really up in the air.

he is a very sociable and charming person so he falls for people who are also charismatic.

You have to be able to hold his attention.

he likes witty partners too, someone who can have quick comebacks and understand his sarcastic humor.

One of the chilliest yanderes tbh.

He’s not controlling or overly jealous. he’s more focused on getting you to like him.

You can make an off-hand comment about how you think guys in sweaters are really cute.

he’ll go out and buy 50 and make sure to wear one whenever you’re around.

Even if it’s summer and he’s sweating like crazy, he’ll still endure it if it means being closer to your ideal type.

Since you’re so captivating to him he can’t help but desperately try to get you to like him.

It’s very important to him because you’re by far the most enchanting person he’s ever met and the thought of you not having a positive outlook of him fills him with dread.

So his yandere side is based around how desperate he is to get you to feel the same about him as he does you.

he’s a slave for you tbh.

he’s on your beck and call, he’d be so honored that you’d ask him to do anything for you

His friends and family may notice major behavior changes in him ever since he met you.

He will immediately shed his own style to match yours.

And he’ll start hanging out at all your usual spots.

he’ll act like it’s a coincidence that he keeps running into you but in all honesty he’s practically staking out these places in hopes of seeing you there.

As a boyfriend he’s extremely attentive and caring.

One of those guys who knows you better than you know yourelf.

he’ll come by with chocolates, an electric blanket and pain medicine and you’re like”...what’s this?” and he’ll just say “You’re period is coming soon, I wanted you to be prepared.”

When he’s with you he looses contact with the outside world.

Like it’s totally normal for him not to talk to his friends for weeks on end bc he’s so wrapped up in you.

{Mars in Cancer}

Vanila in bed but is probably a little subby.

Praise. I think he’s vocal in bed, his libra and cancer makes me think he’s very soft so I suspect lots of sweet nothings .

Wants a family with you, it’s the great end-game.

Also big on providing for you bc he want a traditional family and that includes him working to support them.

very protective of you.

I don’t think he’s violent but he does loose his cool if he thinks someone is putting you in a dangerous situation or making you uncomfortable.

has a ‘damsel in distress’ complex with you and is always rushing to ‘save’ you

Your home is very sacred to him. cancers are very touchy about their homes bc it’s their safe place so he’s not a fan of people just coming and going through your shared space.

he doesn’t get angry at you.

rather he self pitties and places the blame on him whenever things get tense between you two.

“you’re absolutely right Y/n. I’m so sorry. I don’t know why you put up with me.”

“I know you deserve better but please just tolerate me for a little longer. I swear I’ll work harder to become more deserving of you.”

Really good with twisting peoples words to get his desired affect.

Like Suho, he also tells himself that other people have gotten in your head if you ever try to leave him. Delusional bc once he gets with you, he thinks you two are the perfect couple.

Probably will try to isolate you at some pint.

he will cut off some people from your life if he doesn’t approve.

But he will do it by making them look bad and changing your perspective on them.

“I saw your friend (name) doing some weird things lately.”

“I know your close with them but I don’t know how I feel about them....”

“I don’t like the influence they have on you.”

Overall, he is a very dedicated but tame yandere.

He will move mountains for you if you just let him.

Park Chanyeol

{Venus in Capricorn}

attracted to taller partners with duskier complexions and slender faces.

Also tends to lean more towards older partners bc he likes mature people who have their ‘shit together’, so to speak.

likes career woman/men, he likes professionalism in a significant other

Chanyeol will follow the normal ‘courting’ process because he respects traditions.

Wont kiss you until the thid date, won’t have sex with you until you guys have been dating for weeks, follows all the rules of how a guy should treat a lady. (even if you’re a guy, he’ll still try to be the ‘man’ of the relationship)

He doesn’t like trendy or revealing clothes on a partner, he likes more conservative styles.

A person he can take home to his family.

Also has a preference for Korean partners (although I don’t think it’s a make or break factor like it is for Suho)

Very possessive of you.

Like Baekhyun, he also tends to view you as a personal possession more than an actual person with free will.

He knows what’s best for you and he’ll keep reminding you.

Wants you dependent on him so you can see how great he is at taking care of you.

Weird, but he will try to bribe you with money. Financial security is very important to Capricorns and chances are hes richer than you so you’ll catch him bringing up how wealthy he is.

“I can support both you and me, no problem.”

“If you just moved in with me you wouldn’t even have to worry about bills anymore.”

When you’re with him he’ll make sure you don’t have to pay for anything.

Although he is attracted to ambitous partners, his need to provide for you and his mars in cancer makes it so that he’ll eventually want you to quit your job.

Needs your only priority to be him.

(well, until you have kids but that’s not till later.)

Capricorn likes control so he’ll love dictating things for you.

Caps are also very patient so he’ll wait as long as it takes to slowly bleed his way into controlling every aspect of your life.

It’s a gradual process. At first he’ll mention small things to you, but give it some time and he’ll be in charge of those things in a few months.

“My phone is dead and I need to text someone. Can I use yours for a second?”

(Three months later) “Give me your phone. I want to see all your contacts.”

Sometimes he’s more like a father than boyfriend bc he’s just so protective and is always shielding you from things he deems unsafe for you.

{Mars in Cancer}

Suprisingly gentle in bed but still a dom.

Daddy

LiStEn, Capricorn makes him want to be an authority figure to you while cancer makes him soft and gentle. Mix that up and what do you get? A soft Daddy dom

Okay, that’s my ted-talk.

He wants a cute little housewife/househusband.

((I know what you’re thinking; “but chinkbihh, didn’t you just say that he like a career partner?” Well my little grasshopper, his fantasy is to take an ambitous person (since that’s what he’s attracted to) and make them into a little housewife/househusband))

Wants to have that experience of coming home from a long day of work to see you with dinner ready and the house all clean.

You getting dolled up for him and just for him makes him feel things.

If it was up to him, you’d never leave the house.

Really needs you to get along with his family, it’s really important to him that you do.

If you don’t, he’ll make you.

His cap makes it so that he has harsh rules for you to follow but his cancer makes it so that he never really punishes you if those rules are broken.

9 times out of 10 he settles for a strong lecture.

But, I do see occasional spankings if he gets really worked up.

Kids are just a given with him, he wan’ts a family and his fantasy is incomplete without them.

will be very yander about his kids too.

Extremely protective of them.

He wants you and him to look like the best married couple, the type that your kids will look up to and want for themselves one day.

Pampers you all the time, esp when you’re pregnant.

also a fan of couple clothes and maybe even a discreet couple tattoo.

Overall he’s a yandere who has a very specific picture perfect image he wants. And you’re just there to play your part.

Do Kyungsoo

{Venus in Pisces}

Won’t settle for anything other than the perfect partner of his dreams.

enjoys smaller partners, petite statures, a sucker for big watery eyes and impish or upturned noses, also more of a boob man than an ass man.

I don’t think he has an age preference but he does like a quiet wisdom in someone.

Not maturity per say because frankly I see him enjoying a slightly childish partner, but some people hold a quiet air about them that just tells you they’re an old soul. He’s very drawn to those people.

To be honest with you, you probably didn’t know him at all.

He’s a secret admirer (stalker) that you’d never even notice.

God only knows where he found you. it could be from the bus, the café you go to, a neighbor, a friend of a friend of a friend. It’s a mystery.

But boy when he saw you, did something just click.

Prone to dellusion

heres why; Pisces is all about dreams, fantasy and escapism. because of this Kyungsoo is someone who is really in love with love. His yandere side just amplifies that. He believes that him catching sight of you (on a whim in public) is destiny or love at first sight, he thinks all his stalking and love letters are just parts of a romantic courting process, deems you two soulmates before you have even said a word to him.

Because pisces is ruled by Neptune ( a planet that often blurs the lines between reality and fantasy) Kyungsoo is borderline mentally unstable because he genuinely elievs all of his daydreams and can’t decipher a reality in which you two aren’t together.

Sends you a gift like everyday.

It’s always an oddly convenient gift too. like if you accidenetly ruined a shirt one day, you’ll wake up the next morning to an exact replica of that shirt sitting on your doorstep.

While part of you is sorta thankful, another part of you is terrified because this must mean that your stalker is someone who knows even the most microscopic details about you.

he also sends you love letters everyday.

these aren’t just little ‘I love you’ notes either.

No.

They’re multi-paged letters filled top to bottom with utter poetry about a deep infatuation with you.

as if the dedication isn’t surprising enough, the details inside the writing is wild and makes you insanely paranoid.

Once you begin to realize that you’re under someones’ microscope, you begin to take percation by closing windows, buying locks, changing up your routine and investing in some self defense.

He just finds this cute and will mention it in his letters

“While I do wish for you to say

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scrumptiousalpacadeer · 5 years ago

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Paul Thomas Anderson’s THE MASTER and what it may teach us about mind-control vs freedom Post-Covid

So last night I watched The Master. It was a most pleasing way to spend a Saturday evening; alone, with two cats draped on the sofa and windowsill respectively, and it rounded off a pretty pedestrian Saturday mostly spent mowing and raking the lawn and scattering grass seed whilst *Boo finished reading Jacqueline Wilson’s Rose Rivers whilst occasionally appearing at the back door to yell; ‘mama, you’re driving me nuts with your gardening!’ Somehow I’d been looking forward to scattering my grass seed all week - the promise of moist new green growth on our dusty brown patches. Thing is - and there is a lesson in here somewhere - the grass seed box said it covered 10m square - I guess I got a bit carried away and basically I ran out after one corner. So one corner of my lawn will look like Eden, and the rest will continue to look like some deserted Sicilian scrubland... That’s life, baby, I guess.

So anyway, The Master....dear God. There are many ways I could go with this...Firstly undiluted, scope, wonder, singular sensitivity, impossible mastery, extreme importance and sheer exalting, agonising beauty of Paul Thomas Anderson’s films is the subject of another post. (I’m still on a high from the explosive visceral experience of watching Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood and that was, what, 5 years ago? 10 years ago?) Then The Master came out in 2012 and P.T.A. raised his game even more.

I could, and will another time, talk about the astonishing gift Joaquin Phoenix afforded the world with his embodiment of his character, Freddie Quell. (I say ‘embodiment’; ‘performance’ always strikes me as an incorrect way of describing an actors full immersion in an imagined character’s inner life.) To my mind, Freddie is one of the most affecting, heart-breaking, occasionally funny and downright truthful portrayals of a ‘broken’ man; an exiled, psychologically damaged, wild and lonely spirit who roams the world, desperate for love and acceptance, clearly one of the great ‘un-belonging’ of the post-war world in America. In one the open scenes he simulates fucking an over-sized figure of woman carved in sand on a hot beach, for the amusement of his army pals. In the final scene of the film, after his long long incredible journey , we see him caressing this sand woman again, resting his next to a large sandy breast. Oh poor dear Freddy Quell; my tears ran with him last night; knowing myself in this second viewing of the film, to be so like him. Perhaps one day I will be able to shake Joaquin Phoenix’s hand and say ‘thankyou so much for Freddie.....’ I often feel like that with actors work that resonates through the bones.

I could also talk about how Philip Seymour Hoffman was possibly the greatest screen actor of his time, and how crazy it was that the world didn’t seem to mourn his tragic early death. Was it perhaps because he died of an accidental heroine overdose? - and this, well, didn’t sit very well with Hollywood. His embodiment here of Lancaster Dodd, charismatic leader of philosophical cult movement The Cause, is breath-taking. But then all his performances were breath-taking. I had a dream about him once (whole other post entitled CELEBRITY DREAMS coming your way); we were kind of friends even though I knew he was dead and his face kept appearing on billboards all over London. If, when; I meet him in the spirit world, I’d like to shake his hand and thank him for Lancaster Dodd and Brandt in The Big Lebowski, and Truman Capote, and also for providing me with one of the most pivotal theatre experiences of my life. August 2001, Edinburgh Festival, I witnessed his production of Jesus Hopped The A Train at The Gilded Balloon; this was running gold theatre. Within half a second of the play ending the entire full house erupted to it’s feet like we’d all been tasered from the floor. Thank you Philip...you gave me faith then that theatre is important; that art comes from dark places and revives...

I could talk about the astonishing crashing score composed by Radiohead’s guitarist Jonny Greenwood.

I could also talk about Amy Adam’s terrifying portrayal of Lancaster’s icy wife Peggy and her utterly brilliant final put-down to Freddie: “you either do this for a billion years, or not at all...” (she’s referencing Freddie’s abandonment of the cult she’s set up with her husband, but this line, I feel, could apply to motherhood...….)

* * * * * * * * * *

It usually takes me two viewings for a films deeper meaning to seep in, and last night I was struck by what I see as the heart of the film. The core of the film is relationship between Freddie Quell and Lancaster Dodd; it’s an uncompromising study of male vulnerability and the cosmic search for ‘a father figure’... On a bigger scale, its about how those in positions of assumed power and influence ( Dodd) rely on the adoration and worship of those whom society deem ‘worthless’ (Quell). It’s about the fragility and corruption of a society whereby a man promises freedom and empowerment to his followers (Dodd devises a system of ‘processing’ whereby he takes initiates back to past traumas through a curious mixture of interrogation and hypnosis and ‘cures’ them; he posits that his vision can cure leukaemia and will bring about world peace) and how those ‘disadvantaged’, the great ‘unloved’ can be absorbed into such an attractive lifestyle. In one painful scene, Freddie is taken to a party at a mansion, filled with monied people and luxurious things. Freddie is dressed smartly for the occasion; but is sweating with nerves and orders a scotch at the earliest opportunity, before hiding away in a side room and stealing an ornament. It took me back to my own exile, when, at the age of 17 I landed at Brentwood Boys School in Essex, and cut off from my parents, shattered from my sister’s suicide and a lifetime of confusion, I nonetheless attended many a glorious party; a perfect size 10 and top of the class, I knew how to say all the right things. But, like Freddie, I knew I didn’t and wouldn’t ever fit it. Like him, I would often sneak off to the side rooms, get off my head drunk to hide my shame and hopeless, and cause some fight..

In the end, despite himself, Freddie starts to see through Lancaster’s bullshit and returns to his life on the road. Though The Cause had given him a home, suits and ties, friendship, respect and a certain ‘standing’ that he could only have dreamed of, as he confesses to Peggy at the end, before returning to his own brand of personal lonely freedom; ‘it’s just not how I look’.

* * * * * * *

“Don’t you know, They’re talking about a revolution it sounds like a whisper Don’t you know you’d better run run run run run run run run.....” Tracey Chapman

Talkin’ About A Revolution

What I find heartening and deeply exciting about these early post-Covid times, as the first chinks of sunlight pour in through windows that have separated us from friends, lovers, fellow man for so long, is that people are choosing freedom. In small ways, perhaps, but I get the overall sense that for many people, fear has had its day. As my dear friend said over tea the other day; ‘people are thinking fuck this, fuck it, we wanna fuck’....well, exactly.

It was this dear friend I met up with in her wood a few weeks ago; we hugged each other day, and it was such a joyous relief to see her I told her that if I got the virus and killed me, oh fuck it, it would be worth it, just to sit next to her by a river on a sunny day...

I’ve had two other conversations lately to support my little theory; a particularly cheerful friend of mine turned up with her daughter unannounced on my doorstep couple of weeks back - they had a bag of clothes; would Boo like them? Initially we did the ‘2 m’ thing, paying homage to THE RULES as dictated by the blessed government of this land; I hovered on the threshold of my kitchen - she stood outside by the flower-pots. Then I broke the rules; ‘look, do you wanna come in?’ - That was it. The ice was broken - and she stood, blond, beaming and glorious with her big sunglasses on, in my little kitchen - along with her daughter and mine, and I could literally have feasted forever on the sheer joyous fleshiness of having three other living homo sapiens near me. That sunny day in early June, two women in a small village in Sussex chose freedom. ‘I’ve just had enough of all this virus stuff’ she said ‘I’m even dreaming about it! I’ve just had enough’.

Then last week a friend came over with her three glorious girl children and told me how her youngest, a endlessly sweet six yr old, had ‘hidden behind a tree with her friend so that they could have a hug’. Lets think about that for a moment; six years olds hiding behind trees to have a hug. Its pretty damn sad. And weird. This friend had been on full on paranoid lockdown due to one of the children’s potential serious health issues - but she’d reached breaking point. ‘I’ve had enough’ she said. And that day her girls and my daughter raced up and down the stairs and around the garden in glorious flagrance of any state prescribed social distancing rules.

* * * * * * * * * * *

In the end, Freddie breaks free from his master’s and The Cause’s control and continues - we assume - his lonely drift around the world. In their final agonising meeting, Lancaster reveals the smashed ungenerous ego of a despot thwarted by his adoring lover: ‘if I meet you in a future life I will show you no mercy, you will be my sworn enemy’. Freddie, emaciated, tearful and ever desperate to belong, asks Lancaster to reveal to him how and where they’d met in a previous life... He knows it’s bullshit, in the way I knew my father was incapable of loving me, but when you’ve got a Krakatoa sized hole in your heart, you just can’t stop hoping somehow...pledging allegiance to a resplendent asshole is somehow better than our greatest fear; the abyss of loneliness and isolation. Lets face it; freedom is pretty terrifying after such a long stretch of captivity.

That’s the thing in these Covid times; we always have a choice. We have a choice now, whether to be continue to be afraid or whether to choose freedom. Whether to cut loose and go racing into the desert on a motorbike back to his first love, like Freddie does, following his own destiny, not succumbing to control forces that on the surface entice him into a richer more glamorous life.

And I’m not talking about being an complete idiot and denying there’s a serious virus still on the loose, or hugging scared people in the street to prove a point, and I’m not denying that many people are extremely vulnerable - I’m talking about something entirely different; that deep inner decision that calls in all of us - whether to choose the uncharted waters of freedom, or rest in an all-too familiar fear zone.

To conclude, my dear friend Matilda sent me this book ‘Big Magic - Creative Living By Fear’ by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love (I’ve just watched the film its rather good I think...) Anyway, there’s this great chapter called Fear Is Boring which rang through me, growing up as I did drenched in the anxiety of a Munchausen Syndrome-by-proxy mother (WHOLE other post...) - but here’s what she says about the time, age fifteen, she ‘wised up’ to fear and chose another way:

“I noticed that my fear never changed, never delighted, never offered a surprise twist or an unexpected ending. My fear was a song with only one note - only one word, actually - and that word was “STOP!”

Dear reader, I’m shitting myself with the best of them, but I’ve had enough of fear. I’m not stopping. I’m going. What do you say?..... xxxx

Big love from Christine

#paul thomas anderson #joaquin phoenix #philip seymour hoffman #elizabeth gilbert #fear #freedom #post covid freedom #exile #post traumatic growth #jonny greenwood #cult #male ego #filmmkrs #film art #grass seed #social distancing #social isolation #amy adams #american films

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illegiblewords · 5 years ago

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Recent Shadowbringers story has me speculating a bit on Convocation of the Fourteen relative to mythology and I think I got stuff.

Heads up this spoils like crazy.

IIRC it got confirmed that the Convocation members got Greek names, although I don’t remember if they were all named for the pantheon or not.

But since Hades gets referred to using abilities known as Titanomachy in particular I’m gonna lean hard toward YES.

Who is which god though? What’s even happening? I have a few ideas and in order to explore ‘em a bit will list the names and details that strike me as particularly important. A point of note though, Hades is not an Olympian within mythology. One of the original gods born of Rhea and Cronos yes, but he literally drew the short stick that said “congrats you get to live alone among the dead have fun”.

Zeus: Youngest of six siblings born to Rhea and Cronos. Drew lots with Poseidon and Hades, wound up getting dominion over the sky as king of the gods. Had loads and loads of sex. Strongly affiliated with lightning.

Hera: Hands down has the title of pissiest of the gods, which is fuckin’ saying something. This is like 98% because she’s the goddess of marriage, childbirth, women, family, and fidelity while being married to Zeus the fuckhead. Youngest daughter of the six siblings born to Rhea and Cronos. Associated with the peacock. Commonly transformed her husband’s lovers into animals and IIRC had some ties to storms but I might be misremembering. Also notable for having given birth to Ares with Zeus legitimately (who no one likes except Aphrodite) and Hephaestus alone. She threw Hephaestus down the side of a mountain because he came out ugly iirc.

Poseidon: God of the seas, water, storms, earthquakes, and horses. Middle son of the six siblings born to Rhea and Cronos, when he drew straws with Zeus and Hades he got dominion over the oceans.

Demeter: Goddess of the harvest, fertility, motherhood, agriculture, nature, and the seasons. Middle daughter of the six siblings born to Rhea and Cronos. Hades abducted and married her daughter Persephone and she got next level pissed about it, made the world cold and barren (winter) until Persephone was returned.

Athena: Born from Zeus and Metis, confirmed more powerful than Zeus. Metis had a prophecy where any child she bore would be more powerful than the father, so of course Zeus had to stick his dick in that. Later became filled with regret and fear when it turned out Metis was pregnant, turned her into a fly and ate her. Fast forward a bit and Metis gives birth to Athena inside of Zeus, and Athena explodes fully formed and adult complete with armor out of Zeus’ head. Athena has some duality with Ares as they’re both war gods and both technically born from Zeus. Athena is goddess of wisdom, handicraft (like weaving), and strategic warfare. Virgin goddess.

Apollo: God of the sun/light and the arts, also certain kinds of performance including music, poetry, philosophy. Notable in that his golden arrows were not nearly so painful as the silver ones favored by Artemis. Twins with Artemis. Also majorly known for being associated with both plague and healing as well as prophecy. Prophecy comes up in particular through the Oracle of Delphi. Notably the reason to Dionysus’ madness in some philosophy.

Artemis: Goddess of the hunt, twins with Apollo, uses silver arrows that hurt like a motherfucker compared to the golden ones her brother favors. A virgin goddess associated with the moon, wilderness, childbirth, protection, and plague. Worth noting she could be super super pissy and did in fact turn a man into a deer to be mauled to death and eaten by his own hounds because he accidentally caught her bathing.

Ares: God of war as in slaughter and bloodlust, also of violence and “manly virtues” as in his dick r big. Has weird sibling energy with Athena because they represent dramatically different aspects of war. Only loved by Aphrodite, literally no one else likes him.

Aphrodite: Goddess of love and beauty and fucking, top tier manipulator, also affiliated with pleasure, passion, fertility, and desire. Married to Hephaestus but not at all happy about it, has a pretty open affair with Ares. Sometimes she’s a daughter of Zeus but usually she was born from the universe’s castrated dick being thrown into the ocean and making a ton of sea foam which became her.

Hephaestus: Smith of the gods, master craftsman and god of the forge. Also associated with invention, fire, and volcanos. Didn’t really cheat on Aphrodite despite her cheating on him hard. Was rejected by his mother Hera for being too ugly and was literally crippled by her.

Hermes: Messenger of the gods, a trickster, god of travelers and athletes, guide to the dead, has fucking WILD cults dedicated to him to this day including fucktons of alchemists and just Hermeticism as a whole. In other words also the god of new age and magicK. Not magic, emphasis on the k because that’s what the modern magicians in their funny hats do when they’re feeling edgy.

Hestia: Eldest of six siblings born to Rhea and Cronos. Goddess of the hearth, being fire and the home. Has probably the least amount of drama out of all the gods ever, and while that isn’t necessarily saying a lot she seriously had no drama. Possibly relinquished her seat among the Olympians to Dionysus in some stories. Was notably a virgin and had a major following of priestesses in Rome consisting of the Vestal Virgins.

Dionysus: If there is a god of chaos and insanity besides Eris it is him. God of drunks and performance and opulence/excess/parties, notably has a philosophical contrast with Apollo as the madness to his reason. Top hedonist. Has a group of violently crazy women who worship him called the Bacchantes. Do not understate violently crazy bit they have torn people to shred with their bare hands.

Hades: We know this is Emet-Selch already and have more lore on how he visualizes souls/the Lifestream (interesting term given rivers of the dead in Greek myth, though not exclusive concept to Greek myth)/the Underworld. Eldest son of the six siblings born to Rhea and Cronos, though he is younger than Hestia.

Another point of note--there are, classically, TWELVE Olympian gods and then Hades. Why then one extra and how suspicious is that with our Convocation of 14?

Normally, like I mentioned Hestia is an original member who essentially gives her seat up for Dionysus. But she’s also a much quieter goddess within mythological stories, so while she could be included it’s also possible that another god or goddess is being used to reach fourteen.

First, I’m gonna go on a limb here and say I think Lahabrea is either Apollo or Ares, but leaning heavily toward Apollo. The orator thing fits, his role within being crazy good/productive in creating concepts makes some sense (I mentioned possibly Ares because he has an affinity for certain weapons too which makes me squint), and with how much the Ascians have referenced things being foretold or prophesized at least one of them is required to have ties with that ability. Additionally, Apollo being tied to plague when there the Terminus event going on and people are speculating that creation magics had something to do with the cause has me unbelievably suspicious.

I am also going to say that I think it’s possible Elidibus is Hermes. Emissary-->Messenger as well as having a pattern of being a trickster or liar makes a lot of sense. Also interesting in that one of his other functions is as psychopomp, or escort of the dead. I wouldn’t be shocked if he was the one responsible for raising new sundered Ascians.

I also think that if Lahabrea is Apollo, Igeyorhm might really be Artemis for that twin thing + their Ascian Prime misadventure. The impulsivity makes a bit of sense for her too, as does the fact that she fucked up the entire thirteenth shard while being tied to plague. If I thought Lahabrea was Hermes I’d have pitched Igeyorhm as Aphrodite purely because it’s myth canon they made a hermaphroditic child together one time, but I don’t think that makes as much sense.

I don’t think the game is putting as much emphasis on the three kings setup for Ascians with Zeus/Poseidon/Hades because Lahabrea and Elidibus don’t really fit into the roles of Zeus or Poseidon either of them. FFXIV associates lightning with judgment in a cool way but it gets stressed really hard that Elidibus is just supposed to be an Emissary and Lahabrea has other gods he fits with better. I honestly think the ones who remained unsundered just happened to be the ones who got missed rather than that particular trio.

On WoL, there are plenty of fans having fun speculating that WoL is Persephone in the name of shipping lol. It’s maaaaaaaaybe possible because she’s goddess of spring, renewal, rebirth, nature, and the underworld. And she also goes back and forth between spending time with Hades and spending time with her mother. So that whole MIA thing might work.

Halmarut being all about plants I’ll bet 100% is Demeter. No one else makes sense.

Nabriales if he does use lightning like I remember might be Zeus, which explains his attempted sleaziness a bit and his inferiority complex being one of the sundered. But I’m a bit doubtful because he seems like he has too big of an ego to have potentially been in charge of Amaurot at any point ever. His personality and eagerness to fight remind me more of Ares. Also no one likes him lol. Dionysus strikes me as most likely overall because it would explain him being pissed at being under Lahabrea as well as his whole attitude.

Mitron is Poseidon. Cannot be anyone else, he is all about oceans and fishes. Strongest case for Elidibus and Lahabrea not being tied to the other two kings--Mitron literally cannot be anyone but Poseidon.

Who is WoL though?

Currently my big guesses are Dionysus if Nabriales isn’t (as a foil to Lahabrea-Apollo), Zeus (mightiest of the gods, lightning of judgment and huge badass), Persephone (the creation and underworld thing is neat and who even knows), maaaaaaaaaaybe Hestia because of the primordial light/fire bit, being oldest, and just not being about the drama.

I know basically nothing about Altima besides her being there but would be more inclined to figure her for Athena than any other goddess purely because SE seems to be going with matching gender stuff and with a name like Altima I’m doubtful about other goddesses fitting better. Hera is the only one beside Athena who could maybe own that.

If anyone else has knowledge/notes on Ascians and can chime in on what seems fitting feel free!

#ascians #shadowbringers #final fantasy xiv #final fantasy 14 #ffxiv

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