#cultural amalgam

[panicinthestudio]

Bottle with Peony Scroll, mid-14th century

Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), China

Porcelain painted with cobalt blue under a transparent glaze (Jingdezhen ware)

H. 17 1/2 in. (44.5 cm)

The structured surface of this bottle ultimately derives from the Islamic cultures of West Asia. The designs painted on the surface of the bottle also illustrate the complicated ties between China and other regions in the fourteenth century: the patterns on the neck parallel the cloud-collar designs often found in textiles and clothing in China and the Islamic world; the scrolling peonies that decorate the center of the bottle derive from longstanding Chinese traditions; and the stylized lotus petals on the base allude to imagery found in Indo-Himalayan art. Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

[panicinthestudio]

From the turn of the seventeenth century until about 1725, the Saxon court at Dresden flourished as a center for the production of fanciful decorative objects in which goldsmiths’ work was combined with such varied and exotic materials as jade, rhinoceros horn, and emeralds. Each of these materials—like the ostrich eggs, coral, and coconut shells popular in the previous century— symbolized contact with a remote part of the world; when mounted in gold or silver, they became trophies of European trade and expansion.

Such is the context of this teapot. The ribbed body and cover are of Indian rock crystal, and part of the finial on the lid probably is also Indian. Chased with flowering vines distinctly Eastern in character, the disk of the finial originally served as a platform for two small creatures of which only one, a turtle, has survived. The other mounts are German, and clearly reflect the influence of the Dresden court goldsmith Johann Melchior Dinglinger (1664–1731). The dragon spout emerging from a grotesque mask is almost identical to one carved in sardonyx on an elaborate cup (in the Green Vault, Dresden) made by Dinglinger before 1709 (Erna von Watzdorf, Johann Melchior Dinglinger, Berlin, 1962, vol. I, fig. 236). Lizards and serpents entwine the spout and handle of a gold coffeepot, of 1697–1701, by Dinglinger, also in Dresden (von Watzdorf, op. cit., fig. 136). Despite the similarities, the German mounts on this teapot are not attributable to Dinglinger and were very likely made outside Dresden. Dinglinger’s work is notable for its richness of detail. The relative plainness of these mounts, the technical simplicity of the bands of stamped bead-and-reel ornament, and the unadorned foot ring bespeak the artistry of a craftsman familiar with court fashion and able to translate it into a spirited and engaging style of his own.

Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Gold and rock crystal teapot. The crystal was made in the Mughal Empire (India) and the gold mounts are from Dresden, Germany, circa 1700.

from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

[melrosing]

tullys 🐟!

[zivazivc]

For those of you wondering about Les's mysterious younger sibling. It's Hed, he's the little brother.

They share a mom who was a rock troll. Les's dad is funk, and Hed's dad is rock, but he lived in Vibe City since very young so he's also basically mixed genre like his bro.

In the second pic he's singing/rapping Tastes Just Like Chicken by Scatterbrain. I feel like this is the kind of music he would make when younger.

and bonus: meet the nominees for the worst parents award

[panicinthestudio]

Monumental Bodhisattva Head, 5th century

Pakistan (ancient region of Gandhara)

Stucco

H. 19 3/4 in. (50.2 cm); W. 10 in. (25.4 cm); D. 10 in. (25.4 cm)

This head comes from a sculpture that would have been more than twelve feet tall and likely stood along the perimeter of a Buddhist sacred area enclosing a stupa. By the fourth and fifth centuries monumental imagery became increasingly popular in Gandhara and was almost exclusively restricted to images of the Buddha. The bodhisattva’s turban and jewelry might indicate that he is a rare image of Shakyamuni prior to enlightenment. Alternatively, the bodhisattva may have attended the Buddha as part of a massive triad.

Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

[panicinthestudio]

Indra, 15th century AD

Nepal

Gilt copper with semiprecious stones

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Statue of a goddess from Indra, Nepal, 15th century AD

[leavethebagelalone]

can i offer you a n8v miku in these trying times

palette: x

[serpentface]

Do psychotropic drugs and/or ritual play a role in any of the blightseed cultures? A pretty broad question, lol

Yeah that’s a very broad question, the answer is about as much as it tends to play roles in real history. Alcohol is pretty ubiquitous (outside of cultures that abstain from intoxicants) and used for a variety of purposes, opioids are commonly used in some parts for pain relief or recreational purposes, stimulants (usually in mild, natural forms) are used to provide extra energy, and hallucinogens are most commonly used as part of a larger religious framework (rather than for recreational purposes). Any more elaborate answer kinda has to be case by case in a certain culture or part of the setting.

I'll just take this as an opportunity to talk about the one established sect that pretty much REVOLVES around psychoactive use. This is the Scholarly Order of the Root, which is a sort of mystery religion + elite community of scholars who currently occupy the Ur-Tree and its forest in the far southern Lowlands (southeast of Imperial Wardin, on the same land mass).

The Ur-Tree is the obligatory Huge Fucking Fantasy Tree (and its surrounding forest). It’s a mass of vegetation about a mile tall and almost as old as Plant Life Itself, its upper branches are primeval plants, which become more modern the nearer they get to the ground (and each 'level' holds tiny ecosystems, some containing descendants of LONG-extinct arthropods/other small animals). Its lowest branches and the surrounding forest are contemporary plant life, and all is connected and protected by an incomparably MASSIVE fungal mycelium network (which is itself a living god).

A lot of the Scholars' more secretive practices revolve around experimentation with substance use with the goal of expanding the Mind and transcending the body to fully connect to the Dreamlands, and they have a supply chain of traders and mercenaries called Rootrunners who traffic substances into the Lowlands. Most of their psychoactive use is in a very intentional capacity and not just like, for fun, but a LOT of them are just straight up addicted to cocaine (in the form of alchemically refined bruljenum, which is used for practical purposes of its stimulant effect during long hours of work).

All known psychoactives are desirable for experimentation (particularly hallucinogens), with each having properties that either allow expansion of the Mind, transcendence of the body, or outright divine communion. Their effects are logged in great detail and interpreted to form the basis of the Scholars' understanding of the natural world and reality itself.

The most important substance is Ur-Root, which is root matter from subterranean levels of the Ur-Tree that have both their own intrinsic psychoactive substances and a very, very high concentration of living god mycelium. The tree root contains DMT and the mycelium has its own wholly unique effects (being an actual living god). They alchemically refine it into a purer, more potent form, and use it to expand beyond the body and directly commune with the Giants, a group of entities they have identified as the only true gods.

An Ur-Root trip starts off with minor visual distortion, which turns into shifting fractals that slowly obscure the vision. Eventually the senses are entirely taken over by a 'tunnel' of rapidly shifting fractals and geometries. In a complete trip, the experiencer gets a sense that they have been pushed through a membrane and entered another realm, finding themselves in a distinct experiential Space.

At this point they may encounter entities which communicate to them in a language impossible to describe but wholly understood. These beings are understood to be the Giants, or at least aspects of the Giants that mortals are capable of comprehending (they often take familiar tutelary forms of the Mantis or the Snake, or appear resembling the same type of sophont that the experiencer is, all composed of ever-shifting geometries). The experiencer often feels a sense of unconditional and endless love from these beings, though the Giants may be more hostile and may appear in the form of the Trickster (usually a cultural figure regarded as malicious, be it an animal or otherwise) in a bad trip.

(^Up until this point, this has mostly just been a DMT 'breakthrough' experience ft. 'machine elves' and the like).

They are then removed from this space and returned to something that feels like the real world, but is nearly unrecognizable. They have a sense of rapidly moving through time, and will usually see 'the spires' towards the beginning, which just so happen to look like this:

(source + some context via Implication- the spires are exactly what this art is depicting)

The experiencer continues to move across an unfathomable amount of time, occasionally 'seeing' other such flashes of unfamiliar landscapes and creatures, and yet also being devoid of all their senses, the 'seeing' is pure, unfiltered experience. There is a sense of interconnectedness with all life, and that one has become the forest (or even Life) itself. The sense of time is wildly distorted, the trip lasts only about 5 minutes but feels like an eternity and is understood as literal hundreds of millions of years.

The experiencer has usually lost any remaining sense of Self and individual consciousness during this phase (in which case this time distortion is usually a neutral or even peaceful experience), but some retain a fraction of their identity, and find themselves trapped and conscious while experiencing what feels like eternity (which can be LIFE-CHANGINGLY distressing, even after the fact).

(^This latter part of the trip is the effects of the Ur-Tree fungus).

The trip ends with a sense of rushing through the ground and back up into one's body, at which point they will abruptly return to their senses and consciousness. The details are then immediately retrieved via interview and recorded in immense detail. The whole experience is understood as having been full comprehension of the Dreamlands, communion with the Giants, and then a tour through the act of creation.

This is done as part of the initiatory practice into the inner mystery-religion of the scholars, and as needed for study by high scholar-priests. It is not taken lightly, both as it is absolute communion with the gods and reality, and in that it can be a very, very difficult experience. People who have gone through this often walk away with a permanently shifted perspective, often in a positive and/or comforting way- a sense of interconnectedness with all life, a peace with the concept of death, seeing less of a point in individual ego and the concept of Self, and comfort in the sense of divine love they (may have) experienced. This heavily influences the philosophy of the Scholars and has had effects by proxy in the religious worldviews of the region.

Details of this experience are closely guarded, and initiates are given absolutely no prior knowledge and expectations for their trip. This is seen as a necessity- their naivety will allow for a true, unfiltered experience, and can be used to gauge whether they should or should not be accepted. Those that have a distinctly bad trip upon initiation may be assumed to have been 'rejected' by the giants and thus denied full priesthood, though this largely depends on How they interpret their distressing trip- those who identify this as a test and harsh lesson in a journey to enlightenment may be accepted (as this is how fully initiated scholar-priests interpret and handle their bad trips).

This inner priesthood is only a small fraction of the Scholarly Order, and its greater function is as a hub of education and repository of knowledge, and Scholar-trained doctors can provide some of the best medical care available in the setting ('best medical care in this setting' only means so much but it's pretty solid, relatively speaking). Only a chosen few Scholars ever get to commune with the Ur-Root, and most of the divine secrets revealed in the process are kept hidden (though they indirectly influence the politics and worldview of the entire order).

[cologona]

I won't say that the Al Ghuls should be anything other than Chinese and Arab in canon because they have a whole history with Orientalism and Islamophobia and representation matters etc, but man a south asian background would make so much more sense for Ra's philosophy.

The understanding of animals as being just as sentient as humans, the noblesse-oblige justification for his actions, his apparent attachment to the Himalayas... Like. He should be Pakistani, or mixed Tibetan-Afghani.

Also Talia would look so killer in a Kurti.

[panicinthestudio]

Peahen and hibiscus, mid-14th century

Bian Lu, (Uighur, d. 1356)

Yuan dynasty, China

Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk

Dimensions: Image: 66 7/8 x 40 1/4 in. (169.9 x 102.2 cm)

Overall with mounting: 103 x 41 1/4 in. (261.6 x 104.8 cm)

Overall with knobs: 103 x 45 7/8 in. (261.6 x 116.5 cm)

This monumental flower-and-bird composition shows the Uighur Bian Lu working in the highly polished tradition of the Song Imperial Painting Academy. Only the calligraphic character of the drawing, particularly noticeable in the rhythmic outlines of the leaves, betrays its fourteenth-century date. The meticulously detailed plumage of the peacock, the gritty texture of the rock, and the delicately shaded leaves and blossoms are a tour de force of representational illusionism. The bird's pose, dramatically balanced on one leg as it prepares to take another step, may refer to a famous anecdote about the Song emperor Huizong, who chided his court painters for failing to observe that when climbing, the peacock always takes the first step with its left leg. Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

[faun-the-hound]

Phoenix Drop is like, a default medieval village, especially in the beginning. Like,

Small, simple houses lining dirt roads, smack dab in the middle of f-all nowhere. Makes me wonder how Zane actually found the place when this-

-is what the road looks like outside the wall. it's a forest, a dense, dark forest, almost completely isolating Phoenix Drop on its little peninsula.

The forest is beautiful, too. Full of wildflowers and little pockets of shining golden sunlight that streams through the branches. And within the wall are open fields, many used for farming, but Kiki makes a special place for the bees and hummingbirds, keeping pastures of sweet heather and gorse for them to live in. When Brian was a kid, he'd frolic in the flower fields for hours at a time, hiding when Molly would call him in, and she'd run with him through the blossoms, pretending to chase him down while they both laughed, tiring themselves out before Dale came looking as well.

I imagine Levin, Malachi, Kyle and Alexis would all make games in the flower fields as well. Hiding amongst the bright plants, collecting the blossoms, making crowns and chains out of clippings, gifts for their parents.

This is the most accurate (not accurate, really, but close) to what I imagine Phoenix Drop being. Small, simple, surrounded by trees and hills on the coast. There's a secret passage between two hills that leads out onto the beach the docks are eventually built on, and a river that flows from an underground spring, that forms a shallow, but wide gully between the village and wall, where the children play in the summer. Kyle collects cool rocks from the river.

[jupiter--dream]

Gotta speak my truth and since my blorbo is literally me fr then they deserve the same nationality

Literally incomprehensible to 99% of y'all but. Anyways DFJHBGSDFJHB

[castleofthade]

i like shenkuu conceptually (misty mountain country with cool boats) but oh my god. shenkuu and MI shaking hands with For The Love Of It All Please Fix The Stereotypes

[fortunaestalta]

[witchofthesouls]

Hi there! I wanted to ask about the Rudis ask, if you could comment more about the TFP-Soundwave option? All your fic ideas are lovely! Have a nice day :) !!

When it comes down to it, I just really want to delve down into the mythos that the Aligned universe gave us.

TFP in general seems to pull a lot of influence from Ancient Greek and Roman culture and mythos as well as pulling from Judeo-Christian roots.

I mean, there's so much going on, and yet... It feels undersold or fallen wayside. Even though it's all right there!

The War kicked off exponentially when the High Council named Orion Pax as the next Prime

The Autobots on Earth fell apart without Optimus

Questions about the role of the Matrix of Leadership: Is Orion Pax and Optimus Prime completely separate entities?

The Primal Artifacts and their immense power (and Megatron's willingness to desecrate a Prime's corpse)

Smokescreen getting worked up when Ratchet question Optimus' decision to destroy the only thing that could revive their homeworld

Fucking Unicron sleeping in Earth's core

And this is just the top of my head.

So being a Prime isn't just a leadership position, but has some deeply religious/mythical divine status akin to a mortal God-king.

And the sheer fact that Megatron managed to oppose an actual Prime chosen by the damn Matrix itself, just shows how much of a force of personality and charisma the guy is as well as how much faith he inspired in his own people.

There is so much more that could have been done, especially since people are biting for more lore on Decepticon culture. Like FUUUUUUUU-

There seems to be a fandom take that Decepticons are either atheists or deeply reject religion as opposed to the very pious Autobots. That doesn't seem to work in the Aligned universe.

There should be sects and cults surrounding the Thirteen Primes, especially with the theme of the triads and duos: Prima and Megatronus. Megatronus and Solus. Liege Maximo, Megatronus, and Solus. Prima, Alpha Trion, and Alchemist Prime. (Like where's the rest of the myths and parables? )

Shoot, secret ones!

So hear me out, what if Megatron was the rallying call for the Decepticons because the Fallen was considered the patron of the oppressed? He was the Prime of Chaos, the closest to the Unicron by Primus' own hand, the Undefeated.

It was said that he and Solus were lovers, so is it too much of a step that they were the First Conjunx?

I am the one within all of you, little brother.

From Prima to Thirteen. From those forged within Solus and those that rise from below. In the deep Wilds touched by none and the very spark of our fledgling civilization.

Amalgamous may share the claim to Nature with his beastly shapes, but I am the Shadow to the Light, the unfettered Instinct without Rationality, the Unmaker upon our Creator, the Beast of Madness that dwells within everyone and everything. 

Even you, quicksilver and trickster, cannot deny my Domain. Not even Prima, the Eldest of us all, can deny my power.

-- excerpt of a WIP where Megatronus Prime answers Liege Maximo's questions on his wanderings and leeway to everywhere

Megatron walking away from the High Council would cement his position among his people -the downtrodden, the lower castes, the lost and forlorn -the "Uncrowned Prime." He had purposely invoked the Fallen's name since he needed the ferocious strength to force change in society. Megatronus is the only Prime to remain victorious against all foes; his siblings didn't force him to yield, Megatronus Prime willingly laid down his arms and exiled himself.

It would explain the fanatical devotion and outpour of support against Optimus, the chosen official Prime, especially with the religious angle of Prima slighting Megatronus once more should the Matrix be explicitly connected to the first Prime. And then there's the fact that Prima was a founding father of Cybertronian civilization, so there's the slant of "rebel and tear down the established regime!"

The very name of the Decepticons could have been a hail to Megatronus' companionship with Amalgamous and Liege Maximo, both Primes were mainly tricksters. (In the gladiatorial clades, they were often invoked for victory.)

TFP Soundwave isn't just the Decepticon, he's Megatron's Decepticon. Whatever Megatron wants, he does. Soundwave put down Airachnid when she tried to set the Nemesis off Earth.

I've seen takes where Soundwave is deeply in love with Megatron or the ghost of the old Megatron, and that's why he stayed even when there's nothing left but dust. I've seen a take where Megatron sets fire to Cybertron as a "love song" in a style to mimic how Megatronus and Solus changed Cybertron.

I have yet to see a deeply faithful/religious Soundwave seeing Megatron as a Sign from his chosen God/Prime to hold the match, prep the gas, and start a firestorm. He essentially used his rudis as kindling upon the altar of Megatronus Prime; Wilds and Passion and Madness Incarnated. (And seeing the Decepticons take back cities and planet, Dark Energon zombies, and Megatron's multiple resurrections from the dead or near death, Soundwave's fucking deep in devotion.)

[panicinthestudio]

Graceful gestures and terrifying guardians — Tang Tomb figures, November 7, 2021

Polychrome figures (sancai), 618–907 C.E. (Tang dynasty), white clay, lead oxide flux and glazes colored with copper, iron, manganese, and cobalt; fired at 800 degrees Celsius (Shanghai Museum) A conversation between Dr. Kristen Loring Brennan and Dr. Beth Harris. Smarthistory