#depending on your view

[spinning-angel]

He’s a 10 but he shares his body with an alien symbiote who likes to eat people

[murderoushagthesequel]

if y'all couldn't tell, i'm home now and i'm making it everyone's problem <3

[son-of-thalassa]

hate being all by myself with no one to help me cum a third, maybe fourth time. i get sleepy and oversensitive after two, wouldn't it just be soooo nice to have someone to keep touching me when i can't anymore? to keep going until i can muster nothing other than breathy gasps and the occasional broken whimper, sheets soaked from so many orgasms

[pratchettquotes]

The fighting was over in Ephebe. It hadn't lasted long, especially when the slaves joined in. There were too many narrow streets, too many ambushes and, above all, too much terrible determination. It's generally held that free men will always triumph over slaves, but perhaps it all depends on your point of view.

Besides, the Ephebian garrison commander had declared somewhat nervously that slavery would henceforth be abolished, which infuriated the slaves. What would be the point of saving up to become free if you couldn't own slaves afterwards? Besides, how'd they eat?

The Omnians couldn't understand, and uncertain people fight badly.

Terry Pratchett, Small Gods

[wavesechoes]

john silver and james flint, black sails 4x10 / odysseus and eurylochus, epic:the thunder saga

[superkitten-poison]

to me velvette doesnt lie about *being bisexual* for attention but she lies about being bisexual *for attention*. like admitting to being attracted to women would make her a dyke and manly and f/f relationships dont even count bc her internalized misogyny goes so crazy she subconsicounsly does not see women as full people and needs men to validate her own personhood, and since men hold most of the power, surrounding herself with men is in fact a means to power. so one way she feels she Can have sexual contact with women is through excuses: it's for attention, for convenience, as a power play. but never because of her own desires and it can never mean anything. can you imagine? two women in a loving relationship. who would want to see that?

[kradogsrats]

Okay, so here's what I'm thinking. Here's some relevant chunks from Patience and Ripples:

The stars/great/first elves are strongly characterized as having godlike power and authority over the world that includes Xadia. Humans are not meant to have primal magic, the power is undeserved, and the stars punish them for it. They look in a mirror and see themselves as divine, and this is right and proper.

The stars/great/first elves built something that Aaravos intends to destroy, largely out of spite.

Nowhere in either of these stories are other elves mentioned at all. In Patience, the first humans are described, and the world is characterized as their world.

I feel that this is all leaning heavily toward "the stars/great/first elves created or brought primal magic to Xadia." Because let's look at something else: the Border.

The Border is not a naturally-occurring feature, in that we are told that the Archdragons split the continent of Xadia in two and banished humans to the west. A thousand years later, that half of the continent is not entirely devoid of magic—there are still naturally-occurring magical creatures in basically every biome—it is thoroughly, distinctly less inherently magical than the east of Xadia. In Xadia, the dirt is magic. The dirt. You can pick up a fucking handful of the ground, and it is inherently magical.

The west was not always like that! The Moon Nexus is in the now-magicless territory, indicating that the area was settled by elves. (I would bet, however, that the Moon Nexus is and was the furthest west nexus out of the six.) I've speculated before that a thousand years of dark magic use completely depleted the inherent primal magic of the west, but actually that doesn't make a ton of sense from a logical standpoint—I mean, the sun and moon aren't going anywhere, and neither is the sky. The magical dirt of Xadia presumably doesn't stop like six inches down from the surface or something, the Earth primal permeates throughout the actual earth, presumably.

Now, I do think dark magic use still contributed to the state of the west, but here's why: the actual true source of all this magic, established by the stars/great/first elves, is tied to something in the east, and the division of the Border severed it from the west. After being cut off that way, ambient primal magic slowly drained out of that half of the continent—accelerated by being consumed for dark magic. (The source or conduit for all primal magic being focused somewhere in the east also makes sense from the standpoint of "why are all the primal nexuses clustered in one half of the continent, that's really weird.")

Let's also consider: in the west, at least, we have entire species and biomes populated by species that are not connected to a primal source. There are normal horses, normal deer, normal cats and dogs. And there are humans, also not inherently connected to primal magic. We also have an entire other ancient and forgotten system of magic, that does not rely on the primal sources! Why, unless the primal sources are not native to the world?

Furthermore, as I noted earlier, Patience refers to "their world" when talking about humans, and while this definitely indicates a separation of the stars that are the subject of the story from the world of Xadia, it's also an interesting turn of phrase to use—especially when, as I also noted, there is no mention of other elves.

What I'm saying is: what if humans and non-magical creatures are the native species of Xadia and this world, and the entire construct of primal magic, elves, dragons, and everything was artificially cultivated and introduced?

Here's where we can also get a little woo-woo pinboard-with-red-string crazy. Check out the two biggest tears in the map of Xadia:

They extend the Border beyond the edge of the continent... suspiciously well. Like, that furthest south part of the Border itself did not have to zigzag that way.

And it really makes me wonder which side of that map line the Starscraper is on, given that the Starscraper is very much set up to be a figurative and possibly also literal bridge to the heavens, or whatever realm the power we call the stars inhabits. It's probably not the channel that pumps magic into Xadia, but it wouldn't be completely insane if it was.

[frascospecimen]

Joke thats been plaguing me for almost a month

[emeraldmew]

Change/transmutation and Stagnation are kind of looking like forces separate from the fears.

currently seeing the Fears (and Desires as their counterpoint) as one force collectively that is in turn a part of another grouping of forces alongside Change/Stagnation.

[amphibifish]

sometimes 3am tumblr is staring at your screen for like 3 minutes deciding whether or not you should call norse god heimdallr a slut

[ash-tree-eyes]

Been paging through my copy of the Iliad, and the annotations I made in here last year are hilarious

This is how you’re meant to read the classics, right?

[thebloodredraven]

The "why are people criticizing romance tarot readers, I don't want to do shadow work readings" shit I saw on here a few months ago did a lot to my psyche, mostly make me realize I should not be consuming that content as much as I have been over the past few years.

I also learned that anyone who has a problem with doing shadow work or self reflection readings but obsesses over romance are probably suffering with limerence like me and that snapped me tf awake

Edit: also what the FUCK do you mean "if this pile just sounds like it's describing yourself, that just means your person is mirroring you!!" NO???? THAT MEANS YOU NEED TO FOCUS ON YOURSELF BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE WHY ARE WE SAYING THIS TO IMPRESSIONABLE PEOPLE

[y-rhywbeth2]

...in light of yesterday's mention of Illithid and sexual reproduction: Yes, we have printed words in an official sourcebook that says Torilian illithid absolutely do sexually reproduce.

With humanoids.

"Half-illithid are the progeny of mind flayers and various other creatures. Most often, such progeny are formed through magical tampering with the reproductive process of the host creature, rather than through direct mating." - Underdark

"Most often."

"Most often."

Is there a humanoid kink in mind flayer society? Is it frowned upon? I feel like that's the kind of thing that's frowned upon amongst the glorious master squids.

So generally they're playing geneticist and/or artificially inseminating people, but you still might want to look into protection if you're a mind flayer or banging one. I will bet money that the Emperor does not pay child support.

The children look like regular members of their non-illithid parent's species. But they have tentacles, eat brains, and have psychic powers.

[spaciebabie]

you're like a celebrity to me. Is that weird? I put you on the same pedestal that actors and CEOs and stuff other people are put on. Am I normal? Am I normal, Spacie? I hope I'm not

AHAHAHAHHA??? im flattered! i dont think its weird per say, but i am definitely NOT famous. dont put me on that pedestal brah im literally like. just some guy shitting around on tumblr.com/dashboard

[nzoth-the-corruptor]

[thedryswan]

"Dr Gaat, if we look at the time-line, there was a period of some several weeks between the last... Altercation between my client and International Rescue and her arrest. Could you tell us what happened in those intervening weeks?"

"I was treating Ms Rossall for depression."

"Depression? Why?"

"She was concerned that her actions had been misconstrued. That her efforts to help were being twisted and deliberately misinterpreted to fit a false narrative."

"And that narrative would be?"

"That she was the enemy."

"Whereas my client was innocently attempting to simply protect biodiversity, natural resources from chemical leaks and faulty Hydromethane platforms, sinkholes, potential nuclear disaster caused by independent operatives acting without permission or oversight?"

"Indeed"