#ch: gaius.

[manawarding]

Sometimes I think I'm funny

[imogenwescott]

gaius 'funniest mf in choices' augustine moodboard

[unsettlingcreature]

old screenshots of gaius :3

[druidgroves]

after callidora arrives to skyhold mother giselle just sighs. she warned gaius about what the presence of a tevinter mage could do to the inquisition & he somehow gets another one. fantastic.

[whispersofwords]

Out of Character.

Name/Alias: Amy

Timezone: PST

Age: 28

Pronouns: She/Her

Activity Level: 6.5/10

Anything else?: <3

In Character.

Character Name: Valentina Gaius

Skeleton Name: The World

Birthdate/Age: Month / Day / Year (age) October, 28th. 1900, died 1931 (31)

Character Gender and Pronouns: She/Her

Species: Spirit/Wraith

Bloodline, Pack, Coven, or Affiliation: Former Narcissus witch

Occupation: Cocktail Waitress at Fates

Face-claim: Jenna Coleman

Trigger Warnings: Self-mutilation, childbirth, blood, death, self-harm, alcohol, animal organs

History.

Often when people speak of Valentina Gaius in hushed voices, when they questioned how un-inhibited and wild she had became -- it was often said that Valentina was born underneath a dark sign, that the skies were painted purple as the sun began to set and a cold wind moved through the trees outside the windows. Beasts howled in the night and a cry signaled that she was alive, her mother passed away quietly on the bed after such a laborious birth, even in the womb Valentina demanded a lot. She was born at the turn of the nineteenth century, invention flowed around them and city scrappers towered around them. As she grew in age, she fell in with the culture that surrounded girls her age, at least the flappers that she choose to keep as company.

Valentina was born into money but she liked the idealistic life of working at a café, being able to keep her own money and spending it as she pleased in gin joints and wearing down the heels in her shoes from dancing all night. It was during such a night that she sat at a clothed table in the back, a songstress was singing out of a microphone on stage and she drank her gin martini that she began a conversation that would turn her life on its head -- they began to speak of notions such as magic and she began to learn of certain schools, Alteration, Illusion and a certain dark wanting spoke within her when she learnt of Destruction.

The young witch wanted to harness the power of the skies, to bring into creation that which wasn’t before and the spirit world called to her -- divination and talks of beyond the veil were beginning to emerge and Valentina followed the call of the occult with grace and girlish eagerness to consume what the world had to offer. She found her place among the witches of Narcissus who sought similar like pursuits, who weren’t restricted in the ideals of wonder and magic, dabbling in slit palms and giggling over gravesites as they called the dead from their resting place. She passed the Narcissus initiation with ease, having practiced calling demons and making them submit to her control for simply a good ol’time many Saturday nights.

Valentina was a restless one and constantly wished to learn and grow in the darker craft that took more sacrifice to achieve, so it was with secret that she tried to achieve Godhood. A private ritual that she planned to conduct in the private chambers of the Narcissus house, it was long before they joined the senate but they still lived together in coven. She had gathered the ash, the incense, animal organs, a representative of each element, lit the candle at each side of the pentagram and offered her soul to the skies for immortality and incredible power. Darkness curled around her bedroom floor before plunging into her chest and acting as the ritual she had set up, a miscalculation as she sealed her own death.

The now created Wrath was not finished with her conquest for the Narcissus coven and so Valentina stood believing that the ritual had been successful, for she had many new gifts and still remained within the walls of her coven. Years passed and her understanding of her death will flicker in and out of lucid states, she continues to look after her Narcissus witches and enjoys the power that she can inhibit within the estate with slamming doors and dream-weaving. She will continue to haunt the Narcissus as she is a needed part of the coven and as generations continue to seek refuge in the coven, she will be there to take care of them.

Personality.

Curious, protective, stubborn

Impulsive, materialistic, self-seeking 

Extras.

luv ya

[theriverbeyond]

Just finished ch 23 in my Nona reread and i think Ianthe dismissing Blood Of Eden as "terrorists" is especially jarring because of the evolution of how BOE is presented in the text

like first in GtN, Gideon never mentions who or what she could be fighting if she had succeeded in her dreams of joining the Cohort. she wants to be part of the "invasion force on whatever", and her fantasies of violence are exclusively oriented around perceived personal freedom and making Harrow feel bad

And then in HtN, Blood of Eden is finally named as the Empire's enemy, but they're very specifically never called "terrorists". they're "insurgents" per both John and Judith, which not only has a wholly different definition (revolutionaries!) it's also an interesting intentional choice on the part of the *writing*. It would make in-universe character sense for Cohort Captain Judith Deuteros to call BOE "terrorists" in the personal notes she takes while prisoner, and it would make in-universe character sense for Emperor John Gaius to call them "terrorists" when he is explaining to Harrow that they are The Enemy. and i feel like it is narratively important that Blood of Eden is very intentionally *not* presented to us the readers with the kind of aggressive dehumanization/dismissal connotation combination that the word terrorist has.

and then like, obviously, the first BOE character we meet is a hot MILF with a gun. and sure she's trying to kill God, but Augustine and Mercymorn also try to kill God like 3 pages after we (properly) meet Wake so it's not like killing God is presented as a negative thing.

So going into NtN, I feel like the general impression of BOE is revolutionaries who hate the Empire and hot ladies with guns. which as far as impressions go is like, pretty positive, and that impression is only emphasized in the first 300 or so pages of the book. You have more hot women, you have more hot women with guns. There are factions of BOE that hate Our Protagonists more than the ones we meet, and there's infighting and hostages and burning suspected-necros in the park, but the BOE members we meet are explicitly sympathetic to the characters that we the audience care about, so the "scarier" parts of BOE are in many ways de-emphasized to the reader. We're *also* given an up-close-and-personal view of how bad it is for the people living under the Nine Houses' rule/resettlement via Hot Sauce and the gang, which further solidifies BOE as *at least* bordering on (if not outright!) "someone to root for", even for resistant readers.

and then Ianthe shows up and calls them terrorists and it feels a bit like a slap to the face. It serves to emphasize and perhaps consolidate what has been building for the series, which is essencially that the protagonists of the previous books are on the wrong side. Necromancy is on the wrong side. the Empire is doing bad fucking things and they are calling the revolutionaries who resist them "terrorists" as a way to delegitamize their resistance and dissuade support, something that no longer works on the *reader* because of the way Tamsyn Muir has hansel-and-gretled the fuck out of that story arc. send post.

[lynnlyrae]

The lost name

I think Vanitas’s real name could be Deucalion. 

In this text I’ll cover my reasons for choosing this name, its connection to the story of Noah and the myth of Pandora and how would it correlate with the relationship of Vanitas and Noé. 

Posting this as an actual answer to @scar-eyejolteon14 as promised here. 

The lore of Deucalion 

It all started when I was wondering what kind of name I could give Vani if I were to draw him as a Chasseur (ordinary human, who’ve never met Luna and never inherited their name). I began with the most obvious thing: checking Vani’s wiki page for existing details and references. I went with his zodiak sign, Aquarius, as the staring point, because stars and celestial bodies are recurring theme in VnC and well why not?.. 

The next obvious place to go is wiki page for Aquarius. Here we come across a fun thing: Babylonian star catalogues. They contained lists of stars, constellations, and planets. 

I found the first picture on a somewhat strange website, but whatever. This is a fragment of a circular star calendar, which belonged to the library of King Ashurbanipal (668-627 BC) in Nineveh. The second picture is a star list, found in Uruk (320-150 BC). It had information on all constellations such as names, number of stars, their distance, etc. Just so we understand that astronomy was a big deal there. 

And yes, the capital of Babylonia was Babel — that one city with the tower (The Book of Genesis, Genesis 11) which is referenced in VnC. 

(Ch. 21) 

What did Babylonian astronomers think of Aquarius? Well, they associated this constellation with the Ea. “The Great One” is his title. He’s also known as Enki, god of magic, fertility, creation, etc., who was originally a water god (and his temple name E-apsu means “house of the watery deep", idk I think it sounds really cool). The water theme is not random: Aquarius was also associated with floods. Water was sacred, but also deadly: floods were source of destruction. 

Later, a Latin author Gaius Julius Hyginus quoted an Alexandrian historian Hegesianax that Deucalion is to be identified with Aquarius, "because during his reign such quantities of water poured from the sky that the great Flood resulted." Again, we see the idea of destructive flood. But where does Deucalion bring us? To Noah. Or Noé, if you will. 

(Ch. 1) 

Deucalion and Noah 

Both Deucalion and Noah are central figures of the classical flood myth, which exists in various cultures. While these two are probably among the most popular figures, there are other examples, including Utnapishtim, who was warned by the god Ea (who also created humans among other things) about the flood and instructs him to build a boat and save his family and animals. The stories of Deucalion and Noah follow the same pattern with some minor variations. But Deucalion is the one who is associated with Aquarius, the constellation that symbolizes the coming of the flood and all its terrors, while Noah/Noé is associated with salvation of human race and all living things. 

Deluge, 1864, by Aivazovsky. This painting depicts a beginning of a biblical story about the near-end of human race. It’s pretty much the same in other versions of the story. 

Deucalion and Pandora 

What’s interesting, Deucalion’s myth is directly related to Pandora’s myth. Deucalion is usually described as the son of Prometheus, while Deucalion’s wife Pyrrha was the daughter of Pandora. And Pandora’s myth is among the core themes of “Pandora hearts”. If we consider the possibility of VnC and PH’s universes being connected, the idea of Deucalion being Vani’s true name would also make sense… For example, this theory covers the topic.  

Left – Noah gives Thanks for Deliverance, 1901, by Domenico Morelli. Here we see Noah from the Old Testament, with his family, as they give thanks for their safe deliverance back to land after surviving the flood. A double rainbow signifies God’s presence.

Right – Deucalion and Pyrrha, 1636–1637, by Rubens. This painting shows a scene from the story of Deucalion and Pyrrha as told by Ovid in Metamorphoses. After surviving the disaster, they had to throw stones over their shoulders, each of which became a new human being.

Even if worlds of Pandora Hearts and Vanitas no Carte don’t exist in the same universe, there clearly is thematical relation between the two stories, one being about hope and another about despair. What’s even more interesting, there was actually a whole discourse about what’s hidden in Pandora’s jar: is it true hope or is it actually an illusion of salvation which hurts even more than actual despair? The translation of the word elpis, the spirit of hope in the jar, is actually neutral in its meaning. It’s simply “hope���, not inherently “good” or “bad”, which leaves a lot of space for interpretation in media. 

Vanitas and Noé

Volume 3 cover implies that Vanitas will be marked by an Archiviste. It’s unknown whether this Archiviste would ne Noé or Machina or even some other. I hope it’s gonna be Noé, because it would break a specific border between them and it will definitely be very dramatic, but Machina might do it for the sake of obtaining information, which is her main thing. Anyway, regardless of who does this, when and why, I believe that this moment is probably the real possibility for revealing the true name of Vanitas. 

On a side note, it would also be kinda interesting if Noé gets to know Vani’s true name, but it will still be hidden from us, the readers. There’s is also a possibility that Vani’s true name will not be revealed even in this situation. His goal is to erase everything related to the Vampire of the Blue Moon, and I guess that would mean erasing everything about himself too. But in Ch1 he promises to stay here even after he is gone, so it might imply that at least someone will get to remember him — perhaps as Xxxx the human, not Vanitas, kin of the Blue Moon. Which might mean going against Luna’s request… 

(Ch. 50) 

And, well, Xxxx could de Deucalion. Just think about it: wouldn’t it be cool if both Vani and Noé were given names with similar symbolism behind it and later both assume the moniker of Vanitas?

Plus the whole “loop” thing, like “memory loop” theory and “time loop theory” (here and here) again adds to the idea of connection between them. The loop where ends and beginnings melt into each other, like Ouroboros eating its own tail. The loop between Vanitas and Noé, where they will have to understand pointlessness and hopefulness of life – and what does in mean to save and be saved. 

The ultimate hope of survival becomes fleeting dream for all caught in this loop. But every dream is destined to end, as pointed by Saint Germain. And what will happen, when Vanitas and Noé will have to wake up from the dream of their own? What will prevail - death and futility of life or salvation and rebirth? 

(Ch. 55) 

[barbwritesstuff]

Forgive the jumble as I'm coming out of a migraine but I had just enough consciousness to make my bed into a blanket fort and dim my screen and play in the dark and I had SO much fun with Ch 10 - and it's not even done! Also I picked the "make me your enemy" line just because it sounded the least lord-y and then I was in a hurry to replay so I didn't hang out with anyone and saw Gaius instead and it just clicked that OH. Oh I'm not just being petty. Oh I picked the most direct callout possible. I'm not picking a fight with the establishment. I'm picking a fight with HIM. Oh I'm calling down the hurricane. Whoopsy.

I hope you feel better soon.

I don't know if this helps at all... but:

He likes it when people want to kill him. I only hope you know what you're getting into.

[chaos-has-theories]

Resurrection Beasts add to their corpus anything they’ve done a good solid murder to. They eat planets; they suck up the thanergy, then add bits of the planet to themselves, getting bigger and meaner each time. Your average revenant doesn’t kill human beings and stick them on its outside—for which I’m devoutly thankful. (...) Unlike normal revenants, RBs have developed external actors, and those are the things that will attack the Mithraeum. We’ve nicknamed this the hive, and inside the hive are the Heralds. They’ll look like independent creatures, but really they’re just extensions of it. Spider, web. Hand, finger. (HtN, ch. 16)

Filing that whole lesson into the segment of my brain labeled "Does is John Gaius Resurrection Beast??"

[choicesficwriterscreations]

CFWC F/AotW - Mar 24 - 30, 2024

✒️ = Fanfic | 📱= Text Fics/Edits | 🎨 = Fanart Ⓜ️ = Mature Content 18+ | 🔥 = Explicit/NSFW 18+ 🏳️‍🌈 = LGBTQIA

AMERICAS MOST ELIGIBLE

Bianca Sandoval x MC Fanart 🎨by @lilyoffandoms

BLADES OF LIGHT AND SHADOW

Birth ✒️| Tyril Starfury x F!human!MC - @petalouda85

Blades MC Fanart 🎨🏳️‍🌈 by @oh-so-youre-a-nerd

I Trusted You 🎨| Aerin Valleros x F!human!MC - @erixadraws

Tyril Starfury x F!human!MC Fanart 🎨 by @lilyoffandoms for @petalouda85

BLOODBOUND

Be An Amazing Mother ✒️| Adrian Raines x MC - @stanathanxoox

Gaius Augustine Fanart 🎨by @gaiuskamilah

Kamilah Sayeed Fanart 🎨 by @gaiuskamilah

CRIMES OF PASSION

Gridlocked ✒️| m!Trystan Thorne x F!MC - @inlocusmads

Hidden Romance ✒️| m!Trystan Thorne x F!MC - @storyofmychoices

Home ✒️| m!Trystan Thorne x F!MC - @thosehallowedhalls

Lofi Beats To Supress Your Anxiety To ✒️| m!Trystan Thorne x F!MC - @inlocusmads

So Was it Honestly the Best? ✒️🏳️‍🌈| m!Trystan Thorne x MC - @choices-ceri

IMMORTAL DESIRES

Incident in the Ghostland (Chapter 8) ✒️Ⓜ️| Cassius Harlow x Gabe Adalhard - @dreamscapingsblog

IT LIVES ANTHOLOGY

Andy Kang Fanart 🎨 by @artbyalz

Noah Marshall Fanart 🎨by @payroo

Noah Marshall x MC Fanart 🎨🏳️‍🌈by @payroo

NIGHTBOUND

Peacock Princess ✒️| Nik Ryder x F!MC - @ladylamrian

OPEN HEART

Complete Open Heart F/AotW List

THE PRINCESS SWAP

Main Characters Fanart 🎨by @lilyoffandoms

RED CARPET DIARIES

Thomas Hunt x F!OC Fanart 🎨by @/artbyainna (IG) (C: @storyofmychoices)

THE ROYAL ROMANCE

The DeFacto Queen (Series) ✒️Ⓜ️| Liam Rys x MC, Drake Walker x MC - @angelasscribbles Chapter 5: Come Together

Capitulo 3: Adios New York ✒️| Liam Rys x F!MC - @belencha77

Capitulo 4: Bienvenidos a Cordonia ✒️| Liam Rys x F!MC - @belencha77

Capitulo 5: Noche Especial✒️| Liam Rys x F!MC - @belencha77

Once Upon a Time, Book 1. Ch. 1 (Part 7) ✒️| Liam Rys, Drake Walker, etc. - @fadingreveries

WAKE THE DEAD

Close Call ✒️| Troy Hassan x F!MC - @dutifullynuttywitch

CROSSOVER FICS

Bloodbound/Open Heart

Immortal Desires / Open Heart

The Meeting ✒️| Original Characters - @ezekielbhandarivalleros

Immortal Desires/Murder at Homecoming

Murder at Homecoming: Harlow Part 4 ✒️| Cassius Harlow x MaH F!MC - @korgbelmont

Murder at Homecoming: Harlow Part 5 ✒️| Cassius Harlow x MaH F!MC - @korgbelmont

Murder at Homecoming: Harlow Part 6 - Finale ✒️| Cassius Harlow x MaH F!MC - @korgbelmont

[pondermoniums]

I'd Know You Anywhere - Time Travel / Aged Up!Arthur - ch. 8!

• • • Preview • • •

Gaius opened his mouth to summon Merlin back down to their chambers, but then wilted at the state of him. Arthur both apologized and consoled, “He can stay here. It’s my fault anyway. I work him hard enough as one individual, I can’t imagine how exhausted he must be with two of us.”

“That’s good of you, sire, but if anyone sees him leaving your room at an inappropriate hour… The staff is hardly unfamiliar with romantic intrigue, but I daresay Merlin’s liaisons are so infrequent, he would be the talk of the castle.”

Arthur laughed, “You can’t be insinuating Merlin’s a shy dove?”

“No, of course not, but his room is well removed from the thoroughfares of the staff.”

Arthur’s smile dropped. “You mean he does have—did have—does…” Arthur exhaled like he had finished walking uphill. “I much prefer this as a past tense situation.”

[unsettlingcreature]

assorted gores

[druidgroves]

gaius has a red hart mount that he named alas bc it loosely means “dirt” in elven

[the-babygirl-polls]

Babygirl Polls Lineup: Week Seven

Hello everyone, thank you for your patience throughout Week Six. Now then, here's the lineup for Week Seven. Thank you to everyone who submitted their babygirls for this week!

Enver Gortash (Baldur's Gate 3)

Portgas D. Ace (One Piece)

Uta (One Piece)

Kusou Saiki (The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.)

Kurumi Saiki (The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.)

Kim (Kinnporsche: The Series)

Big (Kinnporsche: The Series)

Porsche (Kinnporsche: The Series)

John Ward (FAITH: The Unholy Trinity)

Eugene Finch (Drawtectives)

Stephen Stills (Scott Pilgrim Takes Off)

Mayoi Ayase (Ensemble Stars)

Jean Valjean (Les Miserables)

Gilgamesh (Fate series)

Remthalas (Dragonfable)

Scaramouche/Wanderer (Genshin Impact)

Luke Skywalker (Star Wars)

Fitz Kreiner (Eighth Doctor Adventures (Doctor Who))

The Nightmare (Slay the Princess)

The Narrator (Slay the Princess)

Karkat Vantas (Homestuck)

Umataro Tenma (Urasawa x Tezuka's PLUTO)

Zhao Yunlan (Guardian (2018))

Zhu Jiu (Guardian (2018))

Jiminy Cricket (Pinocchio (1940))

Illidan Stormrage (World of Warcraft)

Flynn Fairwind (World of Warcraft)

Thor (Teenagers from Outer Space (1959))

König (Call of Duty)

The Hollow Knight/Pure Vessel (Hollow Knight)

The Slayer (Slay the Princess)

Alec Hardy (Broadchurch)

Booster Gold (DC)

Captain James T. Kirk (Star Trek)

Fox Mulder (X-Files)

Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto (The Bear)

Lammio (The Unknown Soldier)

Gaius van Baelsar (Final Fantasy XIV)

Jasper Finley (Heart Fragment)

Childe (Genshin Impact)

Lord Death (Soul Eater)

Ryuki (Pokemon)

Lewis (Royal Scandal)

Randy Jade (Dialtown)

Geronimo Stilton (Geronimo Stilton series)

Johnny Truant (House of Leaves)

Clark Kent/Superman (DC Comics/Animation)

Keiji (Your Turn To Die)

Captain Grimothy Grime (Amphibia)

Dogday (Poppy Playtime Ch. 3: Deep Sleep)

[katakaluptastrophy]

So what does religion actually look like in the Nine Houses?

Fantasy space Catholicism is hardly unusual in this genre, but a) Tamsyn Muir puts so much thought into this stuff, and b) this particular variety of fantasy space Catholicism was, we later discover, deliberately constructed to be like that by people with at least some familiarity with actual Catholicism. So I think it's fun to explore.

What do the Houses actually believe? We know that the other eight have slightly more in common in their religious practice, compared to the Ninth, but I suspect that Jod-ism is going to look very different on, say, the Second and the Eighth...

The language used to talk about religion in the Houses is very Catholic. I like to imagine that Jod spent some of his depressed girl nuclear winter highlighting sections of Catholicism for Dummies. But given that he was a probably fairly nerdy boy in the 90s he was probably at least aware of Warhammer, and has probably read Dune at some point in the last myriad.

I'm sticking mostly to GTN here, with some HTN. People in NTN seem to be a bit busy to talk theology, though I'm sure I've missed something. There are a few bits that are particularly good for thinking about the House religion: the letter from the Emperor read to the muster at Drearburh, pretty much every time Silas Octakiseron opens his mouth, the first gathering at Canaan House with Teacher, and the Sermon on Necromancers and Cavaliers at the end of GTN.

Since it’s Easter, and since it’s you can’t read the Locked Tomb series without stumbling over resurrection-this and resurrection-that, let’s start there…

Resurrection and death

This is obviously the big, fundamental concept of House religion. Absolutely central to their understanding of both where they came from and where they’re going.

The Sermon on Necromancers and Cavaliers says "we live under the thanergetic light of Dominicus, are born, grow, and die in his thanergetic Houses; the Resurrection made us so." Dominicus [the sun] and the Resurrection are both synonymous with the Emperor. Indeed, “the resurrection” is one of the Emperor’s titles. He also has titles like "the first reborn", much like Jesus is described as "the firstborn from the dead" (Colossians 1:18). All the versions of the resurrection that we hear are pretty circumspect on quite how everyone came to die and whether the emperor is understood to have also died and resurrected himself. We have to assume there is a more detailed 'theological' version of this story, but it's just not something we encounter.

According to House belief, the dead “wait for our Lord’s touch on the day of a second Resurrection.” (HTN Ch 45) and “lie waiting for the rivers to rise on the day they wake to their King” (GTN ch 1).

Historically, there seems to have been more of a diversity of views on what happened in the River. But “it has been thousands of years since anybody bothered to believe in the River beyond…” (HTN Ch 45) and I'm sure it won't be at all relevant in Alecto…

God

Unlike a Christian conception of God as a creator who has always existed, John Gaius is god of the Nine Houses in a rather different way.

The House prayer says “He is Emperor and he became God: he is God, and he became Emperor." (GTN ch 8) And the Sermon on Necromancers and Cavaliers says:

"Our necromantic characteristics make us more like the Emperor. As he was once man, and became God, and was God and became man, so were we dead and became alive; so were we alive and became dead. The necromancer and the cavalier are no different. They are one flesh. And yet that is only one understanding of the mystery that characterises us as a society."

This comparison of the necro/cav relationship and that between the Emperor and the Houses also comes up again in the “contract of tenderness made on the day of the Resurrection” that the Emperor invokes in his letter to the Ninth.

That letter also, fascinatingly, suggests that part of this contract of tenderness is to “honour [the House’s] love for the Creator”. Does this refer to the Emperor as creator for the houses? Or does their belief system have a separate creation mythos that we’re not party to?

In HTN, when explaining why she thinks the Emperor has fundamentally misunderstood death , Abigail says “he never claimed omnipotence” (ch 45). And Teacher, praying aloud in front of the lyctoral candidates, prays “let nothing happen that you did not anticipate”, suggesting he’s not believed to be omniscient either.

But as becomes clear from how others talk about him, the actual outworking of religious thought has made John something rather closer to the omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent Christian god…although he certainly hasn’t gone to any lengths to correct such misconceptions.

Prayer

This seems particularly clear when you look at how prayer functions in the Houses. Crux tells the hysterical Glaurica to "leave and pray for guidance" (ch 3), suggesting that some belief exists that things can be received supernaturally through prayer from Jod.

But prayer is also more complicated. While the Locked Tomb prayer seems to request divine action to keep the tomb shut, at the end it also prays for “the needs of the Emperor All-Giving, the Undying King”, much as one might add a prayer for the intentions of the Pope to a Catholic prayer.

Yet, prayer is very clearly also made to the Emperor, as Teacher enjoins them to “pray to the lord of that which was destroyed, remembering the abundance of his pity, his power, and his love." (ch 8) That prayer, which seems to occupy a conceptual space similar to the Lord’s prayer in Christianity, suggests that there is some effect in a place or person being entrusted to him, even beyond death.

The Ninth, at least, seem to follow a sort of Liturgy of the Hours, with set prayers at set times of day, and Silas’ traditional Ottavian necromancer’s fast may also relate to prayer practices.

But quite what the Houses think prayer achieves isn’t clear.

Blessing

Similarly unclear is blessing, which in Christianity usually means dedicating things for divine service or calling divine favour upon them.

In his letter (GTN ch 1), the Emperor makes several references to his ability to bless. He wishes the Ninth “blessings upon its tombs, its peaceful dead, and its manifold mysteries”, and describes his lyctors as “the most blessed and beloved of the King Undying”. In reference to what might happen to those who do not become lyctors, he says “...and if the Necorlord Highest blesses but does not take, they shall return home in full honour, with trump and timbrel”.

Blessing functioning in this way would seem to imply some kind of sense of divine omnipotence in their belief system, and one that the Emperor, or whoever drafts his correspondence, isn’t inclined to disabuse.

And we can't talk about blessing without touching on relics… The Nine Houses have an attitude to human remains that make Capuchin bone chapels look like Scandi minimalism. The catacombs of the Ninth are full of relics, and in HTN Harrow Nova steals the "sacred relic" that is the Chain of Samael (Ch 40).

But aside from Abigail Pent in Harrow's river bubble suggesting that personal relics might be used in ghost summoning (HTN ch 10), there's very little suggestion that these relics *do* anything. In Catholicism, relics are a locus of divine blessing - there are relics inside of a church's altar, and relics might be used for healing or protection. I suppose in a necromantic world, all dead body parts *do something*, but it's not clear whether there's a sense that "relic" means anything specific in a religious sense in this way.

Also notably absent from this heavily Catholicism inspired belief system is any sacramental system. There's no sense that there are any unifying rituals or practices that are seen as vehicles of divine power, as in the seven sacraments of Catholicism (baptism, confirmation, penance, eucharist, marriage, ordination, anointing of the sick). In HTN, Jod refers to his answer to the Houses about the missing cavaliers by saying: “The Cavaliers...have joined their Lyctors...It’s not really a lie. It’s simply a flattening of an awesome … and sacramental … truth.” (ch 2). That suggests that "sacramental" is a term that would make sense to someone in the Houses, but it's not clear how.

Salvation

Salvation is only specifically referred to once in Gideon the Ninth, in the House poem at the start of Gideon the Ninth, where it is made the key defining feature of the Eighth: “Eight for salvation no matter the cost”.

The Christian concept of 'salvation' refers to the idea that through faith in Jesus, humans can be saved from sin. In the Bible, Jesus gives a list of things people must be prepared to part with (up to and including their own lives) in order to do this. He asks: “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost” (Luke 14:28). I’m sure that the question of counting the cost of a tower, in relation to the stoma-traversing Eighth House, whose necromancer is so far unaccounted for, won’t be at all relevant in Alecto…

Salvation, in a Christian sense, relates to one’s ultimate destination: Heaven or Hell. And also the idea that once Christ returns, who will be resurrected and live in the re-made world with him. This may be sounding familiar...

In a respect, the inhabitants of the Houses are already ‘saved’ - within their own understanding, they have died and been resurrected, and are living in the remade world with God.

When Abigail Pent begins to discuss her ‘heretical’ theories (another concept there…) about the River, her husband corrects her with what is clearly meant to be the ‘correct’ theological understanding: that the dead in the River are those “who wait for our Lord’s touch on the day of a second Resurrection.” (HTN Ch 45). So the eschatology of House religion looks forward to a second resurrection. Perhaps, then, ‘salvation’ relates to whether one can be included in this second resurrection?

When Abigail continues her explanation in spite of Magnus, she says the dead in the River

“attempt to cross…to get to what lies beyond; who throng in their great and endless multitude, mad, directionless; or worse, have been trapped at the bottom, about which I know very little but fear all I know. Jeanmary and Isaac, who already endured so much, and never did anything wrong, other than the time they tried to pierce each other’s tongues, should have traveled lightly through those waters.” (HTN ch 45).

Moral behaviour thus seems to have an impact on how one traverses the river. But Abigail describes her own theories here as “heretical”.

Harrow says “It has been thousands of years since anybody bothered to believe in the River beyond,” (HTN Ch 45) so it has been a belief within House religion, even if not one that is current or sanctioned. Is it just the idea of crossing that’s heretical, rather than the idea of moral behaviour affecting one’s position in the River? Augustine, on the stoma (the “mouth to Hell”) at the bottom of the River, says to Mercymorn: “your whole damned house sucks at it like a grotesque teat-” (HTN 36). So within canonical belief, we certainly have the idea of a Hell, and of levels of the River. Perhaps the Eighth - and more broadly the other Houses - concept of salvation involves staying in the River and out of the stoma, awaiting the second resurrection.

Sin and transgression

Almost all of the specific articulations of the concept of ‘sin’ come from the mouth of Silas Octakiseron. And while it’s clear that this is something he cares about very specifically in his capacity as Master Templar of the Eighth, it’s something he regularly brings up in conversation with members of other Houses. While there are disputes about whether a specific thing is a sin, or whether the sinfulness of a given issue is relevant to the situation, it’s clear that he’s not speaking totally incomprehensibly to them - they all share a common sense of ‘sin’ and what that means in theological terms.

In Christian terms, sin is a transgression against divine law. In the religion of the Houses, there are clearly a number of concepts that are considered in some way sinful. There are repeated references to acts of necromantic transgression: when it’s discovered that ‘Dulcinea’ has been puppeting the body of Protesilaus, Silas describes it as “a necromantic act of transgression” (GTN Ch. ) which incurs a “penalty”. There seems to be some kind of codification of such transgressions and their penalties, as Judith Deuteros refers to “meting out the justice of the Tome” as “the Eighth House’s prerogative”. (GTN Ch. ) This is the only reference we get to the mysterious ‘Tome’ (besides the fact that the Eighth are its ‘keepers���). It’s not clear whether this is a bible of sorts, a catechism, a collection of laws and sayings, or something else entirely.

In the same scene, ‘Dulcinea’ talks about how the emperor “never bothered to speak out against beguiling corpsehood, but he did say that siphoning was the most dangerous thing any House had ever thought up, and ought only to be done with the siphoner in cuffs.” (GTN Ch ). So the Emperor condemning something doesn’t specifically make it an act of transgression, and likewise it seems that something the Emperor has otherwise never commented on might be considered an act of transgression according to the Tome, even though later both beguiling corpses and soul siphoning are described as “unholy” (ch 30).

Silas specifically describes defiling a body as “a sin” (GTN ch 33), and later reassures Colum that ��there’s no sin” in taking the Ninth’s key by violence, and reassures him that "if a wasted oath pains you, I will lead you in atonement later" (GTN ch 27), suggesting that not only are there codified sins, there is also some kind of formal confessional structure (or at least, there is on the Eighth).

Harrow describes her parents’ actions to ensure her conception as “a necromantic sin that we ought to be catapulted into the heart of Dominicus for.” (GTN ch 31) This rhetorical concept of destruction in space recurs - perhaps suggesting this is a trope within their religious culture - when Silas says “may I be burnt one atom at a time in the most silent hole in the most lightless part of space, Lord-Kindly Prince, should I ever contemplate betraying the compact you appointed between him, and you, and me." (GTN ch 34)

And of course, it transpires that lyctorhood is an ‘indelible sin’ that brings down cosmic vengeance in HTN… (ch 2)

Penitence

But if we only see the concept of sin through an Eighth House lens, then penitence seems to be the preserve of the Ninth: “The Ninth had historically filled its halls with penitents from other houses, mystics and pilgrims…” (GTN ch. 1). Harrow covers up the fact that she is puppetting her dead parents by giving them supposed “penitents’ vows”, including “fasting…daily contemplation…seclusion” (ch. 1), and ‘Dulcinea’ describes Gideon’s supposed vow of silence as “doing penance" (GTN ch 10).

In Catholicism, the “sacrament of penance” is another name for confession, although technically this encompasses both absolution (the taking away of the sin) and penance (making amends for the sin). Generally, this would be absolution in the confessional by a priest followed by a prescribed act of penance. In the modern era, this is typically a prayer or meditation (the stereotypical “say 5 Hail Marys”), but historically these could be a lot gnarlier.

The use of penance in a Ninth House context could also refer to a more general sense of reparation for generalised sin. Perhaps as a prophylactic against the waking of what sleeps in the Tomb. But the historic flow of penitents (as distinct from pilgrims) from other Houses suggests some formalised structure of absolution and penance functioning within the religion of the Houses, or at least some sense of seeking restitution for transgressions, although perhaps this is only taken up by the particularly enthusiastic or devout.

Heresy

The understanding of the concept of heresy in the Nine Houses seems to be broadly similar to that of the Catholic church: wilfully adhering to an error in the faith or teaching of the church.

Silas behaves more as an inquisitor than a templar when, after Ianthe’s ascension to Lyctor, he says:

"I brand you heretic…I sentence you to death. As your cavalier is no more, you must stand in for him: make your peace with your House and your Emperor…I will cleanse everything here…to stop the Houses from finding out how we have debased ourselves" (GTN ch 34).

While the others clearly feel Silas is overreacting, their issue does not appear to be with the idea that such things might be heretical, nor that the Eighth might enact ecclesiastical justice for that.

What’s not clear to me is quite what Silas thinks has happened here: does he see the lyctor trials as like the Biblical story of Abraham and Isaac - that the Emperor would want them to love him to the point that they would be willing to kill their cavalier, but not actually to do so? Or does he have some kind of mental separation here between what Ianthe has done and who has asked them to do it? Ironically, though, he is in many respects right about the inherent sinfulness of the lyctoral process, as we discover in HTN…

The Ninth is described as “the House of Heretical Secrets” in chapter one, and the concept of heresy recurs for Harrow and the Ninth. Harrow describes her opening of the tomb as a heresy for which her parents died (HTN ch 37), and when Abigail explains her theories about the River to Harrow, she tells Magnus not to shush her because Harrow “knows something of heresy” (HTN ch 45). Mercymorn describes Gideon as, among other things, a “heresy” when they meet on the Mithraeum (ch 46).

Scripture and authority

So the religion of the Nine Houses clearly has some defined concepts that are generally recognised. But how? Who defines these concepts, how are they taught and reinforced?

There’s the elusive references to the Tome, but as noted above, there’s no indication of what kind of text this might be and how it might be used, beyond the idea that it relates to a concept of Justice, possibly related to sin and absolution, for which the Eighth take responsibility.

Quotes from the Hebrew Bible and the gospels and letters of the Christian New Testament appear several times, in ways that don’t seem entirely like they’re just intended as a wink to the reader.

Most notably, Gideon’s words to Harrow, shortly after their lyctoral ascension - her last words to her before beginning to be absorbed:

"The land that shall receive thee dying, in the same will I die: and there will I be buried. The Lord do so and so to me, and add more also, if aught but death part me and thee." (GTN ch 37)

This is from the Book of Ruth. Specifically, Ruth 1:17 from the Douay-Rhiems Catholic Bible. Gideon isn’t particularly religious, but she knows this passage off by heart. So how does a non particularly observant teenager in the grimdark of the far future end up quoting the book of Ruth word perfect?

Is this from ‘the Tome’ - is it a book of scripture which incorporates elements of what we would recognise as the Bible? Is this from something more specific to the Ninth (perhaps, as I've seen others suggest, wedding vows)? The Lyctors clearly have access to pre-resurrection texts (with Augustine and Mercy even naming their jizz heist from the Iliad), so it’s not unreasonable to believe that Anastasia might have incorporated this text in some way, even if she did not fully understand its context. And most people, even not particularly religious ones, can probably quote a few lines from culturally significant texts like wedding vows.

The Emperor’s letter also includes several amalgamations of Bible verses. These are more likely to be niche references for the reader, perhaps intended to give a suitably religious tone to the letter, but the way they are deployed could also suggest that they are textual references intended to be grasped by the readers of the letter. For example: "There is no dutiful gift so perfect, nor so lovely in his eyes", referring to the ascension of new lyctors, feels like a biblical reference, but isn’t. However, it draws on two quotes: “Lovely in his eyes” is from the Song of Solomon, and the phrasing calls to mind James 1:17’s “every good and perfect gift is from above”. Though taking verses about God giving to man and making them about man giving to God is a nudge for the reader, the quote itself could be from some scriptural source within the story (though this perhaps assumes the Tome is a sort of Orange Catholic Bible, as in Dune…).

Likewise, “...and if the Necorlord Highest blesses but does not take, they shall return home in full honour, with trump and timbrel” (ch 1). Particularly well-informed readers (or those of us with google…) might grasp that ‘trump and timbrel’ is a reference to Ivanhoe, where a hymn is transcribed called “When Israel, of the Lord Beloved”, where it’s in reference to the ‘timbrels and dances’ of Exodus 15:20. A ‘timbrel’ is a sort of tambourine. It features frequently in the psalms in descriptions of praising God (interestingly here, again, a reversal between god and man from the original scriptural context), but the sound of a ‘trump’ only appears in the New Testament, in - rather fittingly - relation to the apocalypse.

So much for texts. What about other sources of authority? The Nine Houses seem to be full of prelates and religious, from the priesthood of Canaan House and the Templars of the White Glass on the Eighth (who Harrow obliquely refers to as “priests” in chapter 6), to the reverend family, sisters, nun-adepts, anchorites, solitaires, priests, defunct military friars, cenobites, and vestals of the Locked Tomb. (Roman vestals were walled up alive if they broke their vows, which feels interesting in light of the bonus skeleton in the tomb in Nona…).

The Canaan House priests are described as wearing vestments, and Teacher specifically describes himself as ‘standing in the stead of the merciful God Above Death’, much like the Catholic concept of a priest in persona Christi (acting as Jesus in specific sacramental situations). Canaan House as “a holy temple” (Silas, GTN ch 33), to which they have made a “pilgrimage” (Cohort Intelligence Files) and Drearburh is outfitted with a chapel described using the architectural terminology of a Christian church. That all of this language is used in passing, suggesting a degree of familiarity.

The early chapters of Gideon the Ninth show a rather intense structure of regular worship on the Ninth, but we know that the Ninth is not typical. Still, everyone’s ready familiarity with the concepts of priests and temples and shared prayers suggests that there is some kind of organised religion on the other Houses. Abigail describes having a mawkish religious picture of the Emperor on the wall of her childhood bedroom, suggesting a degree of day to day religious practice even amongst the more reserved Fifth (HTN ch 43).

But it's impossible to tell what day to day religious practice might look like in Houses other than the Ninth.

Well, that ended up rather longer than I intended. If you're still here, well done and commiserations on being the same very specific type of nerd as me.

[felixravinstills]

For the Send Me a Character meme, Coriolanus Snow please.

Ask Game Thanks, anon! I'm keeping this mostly to Snow in tbosas, because I really need to re-read the OG trilogy. (also I fell asleep writing this last night for me, and my laptop died and I had to start over, so that's why I had to take a break for a bit from answering these)

My first impression

He is the villain. (no judgment) Read this as "he's just a guy filling his role in the narrative" type comment. I was like nine when I first read THG… I wasn't having the deepest thoughts. I did like him as a character though! But there were no deeper thoughts than "he's a good villain!"

My impression now

He's so interesting! Like I don't talk about him that much but I feel like there's so much to talk about! I really love hearing my mutuals talk about him! There's so much there!

Favorite thing about that character

The way that he is shown to be capable of empathy and has every reason to not accept/support the Capitol, but he does! He does! What a tragedy! You could have put the pieces together and realized that this system is broken and will only ever harm you, and he decides to try and control it instead.

Least favorite thing

I think some people on Discord brought it up recently (el, was it el?), but his plastic surgery being kind of used to accentuate his villainy felt like a bad stereotype.

Favorite line/scene

How awful, Coriolanus thought. To have you be the first person in the world a baby sees. (Ch. 16)

Genuinely, so funny, and the rest of that scene… well, it's my favorite interaction.

Favorite interaction that character has with another

Continuing on from the scene above! Just Volumnia sharing her worldview with him! While she's stitching him up! (He's her creature :) ) She also is sharing this "we are all inherently violent" worldview with him right after he killed Bobbin… she's like offering him an emotional out. An kind of escape from guilt (whether she know it or not). Absolution. It's okay/normal you killed someone, Coriolanus! It's human nature <- according to Volumnia's worldview.

A character that I wish that character would interact with more

Making eye contact with my url and pfp… Felix… Please, Coriolanus. For me. Prove me right. Prove my weird "I'm who you should be" jealousy (on both sides) correct.

Another character from another fandom that reminds me of that character

John Gaius from The Locked Tomb! I've made the comparison before, and I won't get too into it lest I insert more TLT spoilers onto my blog.

A headcanon about that character

He does have a soft spot for the people he grew up with! Especially Clemensia and Festus! I also, however, don't think that it would save them if they become too much of a threat in his eyes, but he'd be more willing to ignore the possibility of them becoming a threat for longer than others.

(i also think that he probably kills a good chunk of his classmates, but not all of them. I think some people died more normal death, maybe a rebel attempt at an attack, maybe other Capitolite's climbing the ladder. I think he kills enough of them that some of the others suspect, and the growing horror of that person who was some sort of friend to you in the past. mwah! that's enough for me!)

A song that reminds of that character

A Mark On You by the Mountain Goats. Guys, you reached the depths of my ability to think up songs. idk if I can articulate why with this one. It's not the style for sure. But the lyrics. There's something there for me.

An unpopular opinion about that character

This isn't really an unpopular opinion, but every time I see one of those posts going around about how you shouldn't thirst over young Snow, I always think "honestly, I'm really shocked that there wasn't this level of thirst for older Snow." But also I like hanging out at the geriatric ward of Panem so maybe I'm biased.

Also again, not really an unpopular opinion where I hang out but maybe out in the world, it is idk. I don't think he's a lady's man or anything like that. I don't think he's like sleeping around even when he gains confidence after becoming financially secure. (but I respect everyone's different interpretations!)

Favorite picture

I mean... of course, it's from one of my favorite scenes!

But also I love Snow laughing at his execution <3