#does Lovecraft even have blood?

[doctor--malpractice]

Ok but like now that i think about it what would happen if dazai touches bram? ._. Would he just die? Would he lose his vampire Features?

[vahvah]

Every time I think about how Tobirama created some of his jutsu, it makes me… well, let's just say it FUCKS me.

Okay, okay, I know a lot of people have probably talked about this and written about it, but let's think about it again. The point here is not even that in the world of "Naruto" the existence of the soul and life after death is objectively known, and most likely before Tobirama created Edo Tensei (and this, of course, explains why the characters so easily treat them as their own, and to the death of others). It’s not even that Tobirama, knowing this, decided to not care about the will of dead people and once again return them to the “impure world”, where they must fight according to his will - and for this he needed their DNA. And not even that LIVING human bodies were used as vessels (yes, there were no White Zetsu then).

But. Jutsu have been created over the years. It took Minato four years to complete the rasengan, but it’s just a ball of chakra, it’s not even a ready-made jutsu, because Minato couldn’t and didn’t have time to add elemental release to it. How long did it take Tobirama to summon souls from the afterlife? Did he immediately realize that someone else's life would be required in exchange? He probably should have known that the Shinigami wouldn't allow something like that to be done for free. But even taking this into account… how many prisoners of war, criminals and some other people whom the state does not feel too sorry for did Tobirama kill? He couldn't have developed Edo Tensei just as a theory, otherwise how would it have been known that the original Edo Tensei was much weaker than Orochimaru's more advanced form?

So yes, he probably experimented for a long time. Secret from Hashirama, MOST LIKELY. Thinking about this, I imagine something like Lovecraft's "Herbert West", where the dude spent years plundering the graves and corpses of recently deceased people, injecting them with various solutions until he succeeded (of course, in the process he created several indescribable monsters that became cause of his death).

And Tobirama dealt with all this, hell, he even came up with such an idea, NOT being a maniacal psychopathic nihilist like Orochimaru… Dude is really cold-blooded.

[theluckywizard]

Horror Literature Prompt List

I spent some time pulling crunchy quotes from respected horror authors (and a bonus philosopher) to ignite our twisted little minds this spooky season. Please enjoy! Made for @dadrunkwriting

“He couldn't get a grip on his sudden fear: it slipped through the safety bars of his mind and threaded—wormed—into the shadowy pockets where nightmares grew.” ― Nick Cutter, The Troop

"Pick a sin we can both live with, is what I ask." ― Joe Hill, Horns

“There is something at work in my soul, which I do not understand.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

“Do you think she can see us, talking to one another now? Do you think the dead come back and watch the living?” ― Daphne Du Maurier, Rebecca

“If you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

“Am I walking away from something I should be running away from?” — Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

“The air out here was ghostly, craving something of her. Something she would never let herself give.” ― Alma Katsu, The Deep

“Passion has little to do with euphoria and everything to do with patience. It is not about feeling good. It is about endurance. Like patience, passion comes from the same Latin root: pati. It does not mean to flow with exuberance. It means to suffer.” ― Mark Z. Danielewski, House of Leaves

“Everybody is a book of blood; wherever we’re open, we’re red.” ― Clive Barker, Books of Blood

“What looked like morning was the beginning of an endless night.” ― William Peter Blatty, The Exorcist

“There hasn’t been a time that we weren’t dying slow. The world just learned how to make it happen faster. While we weren’t looking,” ― Kristi DeMeester

Madness is when all your nightmares have come true and you just don’t care anymore. - Simon R. Greene, For Heaven’s Eyes Only

“Stare at the dark too long and you will eventually see what isn’t there.” ― Cameron Jace, Snow White Sorrow

“The words thumped deep and low, rhythmically, like a little drum in a wooden box, beaten by unseen hands in a black room that opened doors onto another place you could not see the end of.” ― Adam Nevill, No One Gets Out Alive

“But they are only the faces of the dead. Coming into detail as we hurtle toward them. They see us, too. Fingers scratching at the ice’s rough underside, desperate to be the first to pull us down.” ― Andrew Pyper, The Damned

"Do not call up any that you cannot put down." ― H.P. Lovecraft, The case of Charles Dexter Ward

“There were always stories; people had to talk. Even if they were dying. Maybe the tongue was the last to go.” ― Kathe Koja, Bad Brains

“The light in the gallery changed subtly and he whirled and saw someone approaching him from between the exhibit cases. The individual moved with alarming speed, bent low to the floor, but straightening as he or she drew nearer. Unfolding…” ― Laird Barron, The Croning

“I think it’s good to be afraid. It means that I’m alive.” ― Paul Tremblay, A Head Full of Ghosts

“The cool breeze that ruffled her hair felt like something more than wind.” ― Bentley Little, The Influence

[mifhortunach]

Horror Short Films You Can Watch For Free - Right Now!

Just a 'small' post collecting some less well known horror short films that you can find mostly on youtube & vimeo! All worth a look!

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SUNGAZER 9min, 2020 (You'll have to log in to vimeo to watch this one!) "A short, wordless horror film about the terrors lurking just beyond the veil of reality." - Or, a man waits, and performs a ritual. Wicked atmospheric, manages to really paint a world despite the run-time. Looks great as well. [TW: flashing lights, body horror, harsh noise]

The Color Out of Space 5min, 2017 "A meteorite, strange vegetation, a colour: an experimental take on H.P. Lovecraft's spiral into madness, shot with a vintage camera on truly unique LomoChrome 16mm film." <- All accurate! Eerie little film.

My House Walk-through: 12min, 2016

Short, sweet, and unnerving!! The person who made this has done a tonne of other (more classical) 'internet horror' shorts, but this is a really wonderful & understated piece. Visually it feels very PT inspired, but its even more about atmosphere and repetition. Worth checking out the making of as well, pretty much the whole thing was done practically!! [TW: unsanitary conditions, blood]

Possibly in Michigan 12min, 1983

Cecilia Condit mostly does weird, dreamy short films. They have a kind of cake with a worm inside feeling, if you get me; things are rotting inside. This one is a cannibal musical! [TW: cannibalism, unreality, insects, murder, animal death]

The Black Tower 23min, 1987

More unsettling than scary. A man finds himself followed by a mysterious building. I really love how this one gets built up visually. The most like a tma episode out of all of these, or something out of Blue Jam. You can read more stuff about it here! [TW: unreality, talk of mental institutions, disordered eating]

Heck 29min, 2020 If you've seen any of these, I think it'll probably be this one. Its the short that originally inspired Skinamarink. I personally kind of prefer this. Digitally gritty and mean. [TW: Same warnings as skinamarink for the most part, there's a kid in danger, a little body horror].

Juliet in Paris 18min, 1967

Juliet moves to Paris for college, is lonely, and keeps losing blood. Kind of a vampire thing? But also not a vampire thing. Vibes and vignette heavy.

[TW: blood, animal death, self harm]

Dawn of an Evil Millennium 20min, 1988 (in 3 parts!)

A palette cleanser! Getting a honourary nomination through me hearing about it on a found footage podcast (lol). A trailer for an 18hr movie that doesn't exist; staring demons, 'olds mobiles', space-travel and cops. Deeply 80s, kind of ooey-gooey, pretty fun! [TW: some vomiting, a lot of fake blood gets splashed about]

Thanks for reading!

[starlightshadowsworld]

I think the only other character with the ability to negate and or regenerate from wounds like Atsushi does is Lovecraft.

Given how until Steinbeck had the dumbest slip up in history and revealed his weakness. Chuuya even using corruption couldn’t take him down as he regenerated from every wound he got.

And Atsushi recovers from fatal wounds in like every other fight he’s in.

Which for these two to have this in common is interesting. Given how Lovecraft isn’t actually an ability he’s just like this. And Atsushi is the antithesis, the opposite of all special abilities.

I’m aware the vampires can also do it but they need to drink their own blood to do so. It’s something they have to consciously do and it’s not anyway near as instantaneous or automatic as it is for Atsushi and Lovecraft.

So I don’t see it as the same.

[ghostflowerdreams]

Audio Drama Recommendations, Pt. II

For part one, click here. I went on another audio drama binge and I found some that were pretty fun to listen to. I usually tend to go after the ones that are completed because the longer the wait, the more likely I will forget the details, but this time I just went for anything that caught my attention. This also isn’t in any particular order.

The Magnus Archives – is a horror fiction anthology podcast written by Jonathan Sims, directed by Alexander J. Newall, and distributed by Rusty Quill.

The new Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, Jonathan Sims, attempts to bring a seemingly neglected collection of people’s testimonials of their encounters with the supernatural up to date, converting them to audio and supplementing them with follow-up work from his small but dedicated team. [COMPLETED]

It has five seasons, each 40 episodes long, as well as additional content such as Q&As, non-canon fan-submitted statements and one-off episodes that tie in with Rusty Quill's other podcasts.

It does start out slow and maybe at some point you’ll be wondering where is this going and what does some of these episodes have to do with the overall story, but it does all eventually connect. Your patience will pay off because once the build-up is done it picks up and things get really interesting!

Unwell – is a horror podcast starring Clarisa Cherie Rios and produced by Hartlife NFP.

The story follows Lillian Harper who has returned home to Mt. Absalom, Ohio to care for her estranged mother Dorothy after an injury. Living in the town's boarding house which has been run by her family for generations, she discovers conspiracies, ghosts, and a new family in the house's strange assortment of residents. [ONGOING]

This audio drama has five seasons which runs for 12 episodes. It currently has 54 episodes in total and each one is about 20-30 minutes long. New episodes are released fortnightly (biweekly) on Wednesdays. They take a mid-season break between episodes 6 and 7.

Bridgewater – is a supernatural thriller audio drama produced by Grim & Mild and by iHeartRadio, created by Aaron Mahnke and written/directed by Lauren Shippen.

Folklore professor Jeremy Bradshaw is pulled into the mysterious 1980 disappearance of his police officer father, Thomas, by new evidence that threatens to upend decades of certainty. Along the way, he’s helped by some unlikely partners who challenge everything he believes in, and ultimately tries to answer the question: can the past actually be rewritten?

Together with his father’s former partner, retired Detective Anne Becker, Jeremy must chase the clues that will tell him whether his father really did fall victim to a Satanic cult in the Bridgewater Triangle—or something much more dark and unexplainable. [ONGOING]

It has two seasons, the first consist of 10 episodes and the second has 12 episodes. Each one runs about 20-30 minutes long. Season three was put on hold when there was news of a possible television series. However, that fell through and by then everyone was working on other projects. So a season three, well, that’s pretty much up in the air.

It stars Misha Collins (Supernatural), Melissa Ponzio (Teen Wolf), Nathan Fillion (Firefly, The Rookie), Karan Soni (Deadpool), Kristin Bauer (True Blood), Hilarie Burton Morgan (The Walking Dead, One Tree Hill), Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Jonathan Joss (The Magnificent Seven, Parks and Rec) and Lori Alan (Spongebob Squarepants, Family Guy).

The Lovecraft Investigations -- is a mystery thriller/horror fiction podcast written and directed by Julian Simpson, based on several works of H.P. Lovecraft. It’s produced by Sweet Talk Productions for BBC Radio 4. It concluded with three seasons and each episode is about 25-30 minutes long. There might be a fourth season in the works, but even if there isn’t the series is considered to be finished.

The first season starts off with an investigation into the disappearance of a young man, Charles Dexter Ward from a locked room in an asylum. [COMPLETED]

It stars Barnaby Kay (Shakespeare in Love), Jana Carpenter (Doctor Who), Nicola Walker (MI-5, Unforgotten), Mark Bazeley (The Queen, The Bourne Ultimatum), Phoebe Fox (Eye in the Sky, The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death), Steven Mackintosh (Rang De Basanti, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), Samuel Barnett (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, Penny Dreadful), Alun Armstrong (Sleepy Hollow, The Mummy Returns), Adam Godley (The Great, The Umbrella Academy), and so on.

Midnight Burger – is a monthly sci-fi audio drama about a diner at the end – and somehow the beginning – of the universe.

When Gloria took a waitressing job at Midnight Burger outside of Phoenix, she didn’t realize she was now an employee of a time-traveling, dimension-spanning diner. Every day Midnight Burger appears somewhere new in the cosmos along with its staff: a galactic drifter, a rogue theoretical physicist, a sentient old-timey radio, and some guy named Caspar.

No one knows who built Midnight Burger or how it works, but when it appears there's always someone around who could really use a cup of coffee. Come by any time, we open at six. [ONGOING]

The audio drama currently has three seasons and each episodes averages about 30 minutes to an hour or so.

Rex Rivetter: Private Eye – is a 1950s-style noir detective audio drama written by Greg McAfee, directed by Rhiannon McAfee, and produced in San Diego, CA by Downstairs Entertainment with editing and sound design by Steve Murdock. The Rex Rivetter theme “Nightmare” by the Artie Shaw Orchestra is used with permission of Music Sales Corp.

The year is 1955. Tinsel town. The land of make-believe. It's a time of growth in American prosperity. Especially in Los Angeles. Here, dreams are bought and sold.

But there's a seedier side to the City of Angels, the shadows where pimps and narcotics pushers live, where organized crime stands just around every corner with one hand out, and the other wrapped around a roscoe. It's a city full of fancy dames and slick cons, where bookies know the vig, so you better, too.

Some folks call it noir or pulp fiction. But for a private eye named Rex Rivetter, it's home. [ONGOING]

It has four seasons and each one runs about 20-30 minutes long. Due to the pandemic, it is still unknown if season five will ever come out and so far there hasn’t been any news about it either.

Mansfield Mysteries – is a satirical, cozy murder whodunit written by Amy Henson, directed by Nicholas Hoyt and produced by The QuaranTeam.

It follows the inquisitive, martini-loving socialite Dorinda Mansfield and is set in quiet, affluent Berkshire Bay. So far it only has one season, which contains nine hilarious episodes, each three-chapter story finds Dorinda wrapped up in a new murder. With the help of her devoted daughter, Stacey—as well as the occasional frenemy—Dorinda digs for clues, navigates Berkshire Bay’s elite social circles, and sifts through years’ worth of grudges and motives. In this company town, no one can be trusted, and everyone has something to hide.

Whether at the Labor Day Extravaganza, the Halloween Tennis Club Open, or secret karaoke night, Dorinda sets out to find the real killer before they get away with murder… Just as soon as she orders her martini! [COMPLETED]

If you’re looking for a bite-sized audio drama, this might be for you. It has three seasons (or chapters) and each one only takes three episodes to complete its tales, which is fun, amusing and will keep you entertained while you’re working on something or resting your eyes.

The Call of the Void – is an indie science fiction mystery audio drama created and written by Josie Eli Herman and Michael Alan Herman. It’s produced by Acorn Arts & Entertainment. It contains three seasons of 28 episodes and each one is about 25-30 minutes long with a cast of about 35 actors.

In the bustling streets of New Orleans, a tour guide and a palm-reading outcast team up to unravel the mystery behind cases of sudden insanity besetting the city. [COMPLETED]

Wolf 359 – is a science fiction audio drama created by Gabriel Urbina and produced by Gabriel Urbina and Zach Valenti under Kinda Evil Genius Productions. It consists of four seasons with 61 episodes in total and each one is about 25-40 minutes long.

It is set on board the U.S.S. Hephaestus space station orbiting the star Wolf 359 on a deep space survey mission. The dysfunctional crew deals with daily life-or-death emergencies, while searching for signs of alien life and discovering there might be more to their mission than they thought. [COMPLETED]

[parrotwatcher]

What movie genres do some of the ROs like and dislike?

The One Chosen:

Ædmund: Likes: Feel good family movies. Dislikes: Anything that seems overly cruel.

Helena: Likes: Adventure fantasy or sci fi movies. Dislikes: Disaster movies.

Teri: Likes: Romance, especially if it’s very awkward. Dislikes: Anything with too many fight scenes.

Charlie: Likes: Martial arts movies. (He also likes ballet and dance, but won’t admit it.) Dislikes: Political drama.

Xiulan: Likes: Superhero movies. Dislikes: Anything she considers boring (so pretty much anything without fight scenes or jokes).

Max: Likes: Horror movies. Dislikes: Comedies (horror comedies are okay, though).

Dahlia: Likes: Classic movies are her favourites, but she’ll watch anything. She’s even made it a life goal to watch all of the Wikipedia list of worst movies of all time. She claims to have found something to like in every movie she’s ever seen.

Kevin: Likes: Animated movies about animals. Dislikes: Any movie in which an animal is hurt.

Lovecraft Academy (using period-accurate movies):

Veera: Is just fascinated by the idea of moving pictures, and has watched as many as he can.

Fothy: Conversely, Fothy’s just not really a fan of movies at all. He’ll watch them with his friends, but he’d never choose to see a movie. (He does appreciate Tarzan movies, though…)

Robin: Adventure movies. His favourite is the 1922 Robin Hood (not just because of the shared name, but that doesn’t hurt).

Will: Comedies. He’s a big fan of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.

Jasper: Doesn’t really like the movies, but is a fan of cartoon shorts, especially Felix the Cat.

Bignell: Another fan of adventure movies, but he’s more into Westerns specifically.

Unearth your Gays:

Toby: Likes movies set in and around the sea; dislikes zombie movies.

Seth: Likes sexy movies; dislikes anything too sincere.

Aiden: Likes harmless family movies; dislikes anything with blood.

Lan: Likes movies involving cats; dislikes movies in which cats are in peril.

Totem Force:

Kay: Likes romance and action movies, as long as they're not too clichéd. Dislikes mean-spirited and bigoted stuff, but has no real disliked genre.

Sammy: Likes movies with at least a decade's-worth of backstory and lore he can explain to anyone present; dislikes anything with contradictions and retcons.

Anara: Likes movies with high-quality special effects; dislikes movies with inaccurate science (although given how much she clearly likes complaining about them, maybe she actually likes them, too...)

Chi: Likes underdog stories; dislikes anything too chichéd.

Phil: Likes martial arts movies (or anything with good fight scenes); dislikes romance movies.

Ryu: He'll claim the same as Phil, but he actually really likes sappy, over-the-top family movies, and dislikes anything involving dead family members.

Akira: Likes almost anything exciting; dislikes anything that reminds them too much of Ryu.

Lani: Likes cute cartoons, especially those with a lot of pink; dislikes violent movies (now, real-life violence, on the other hand...)

Mirabelle: Seems to have no preferred genres; her likes and dislikes are seemingly entirely random.

[fareehaandspaniards]

Gremia as a core concept (of all things)

So, I've been seeing mentions for a long time that the name Gremia can be found quite often in cut content. We have: Altar of Gremia

as well as Tomb of Gremia and Chapel of Gremia. As well as Gremia's Blood Hunter Set.

Let me just put a link on the website - Here

Also, the Madman's set was called the Gremia Set. As was Forgotten Madman, which has internal name Madman of Gremia.

So where do we stand with this? Gremia in the early concepts of the game was either a land or a Great One, or maybe both. But that it was the Great One is confirmed by the Tomb and Chapel locations. Gremia existed in the lore of the game before Oedon took its place.

Based on the fact that Gremia's altar is a female, I can also assume that the deity it was associated with was female?

Bonus justification for this is the roots of the name Gremia. As @fantomette22 pointed out, the name Gremia is most likely a variation of “Jeremiah”, which is a strong reference to King Jeremiah from DS3, which in turn is a reference to Old Monk from Demon's Souls, which in turn is a reference to LOVECRAFT. Uh-huh. “The King in Yellow.”

Jeremiah is a prophet, his name literally translates as “the Lord will exalt” or “the Exalted One” (And also “may the Lord exalt”, “the height of God”). But he is also a “weeping prophet” and also “Blessed Theodoret even calls him ‘the mother of Jerusalem’ for his truly maternal love,” suggesting that the Great One who bore the name Jeremiah (Gremiah) may well have been female.

Where is our wonderful, popular and universally loved NPC located? In the Chalice of Izs, on the call for Ebrietas! And you can also find Ebrietas in Yharnam by going up through the Chapel of Oedon (Gremia). There feels a kind of connection, as if one comes from the other. It really does feel like that!!!

Also what do we know about Ebrietas? She is a mourner. And when a player finds her, she is crying over something outwardly resembling Rom (but with a couple of differences). And the prophet Jeremiah comes to mind again, weeping and mourning. Perhaps the Great One Gremia looked the same way Rom looks, for Gremia is “exalted” like Rom.

There is a parallell between Gremia and Ebrietas, and since Gremia may be a female deity, we can assume that Gremia is the mother (/father??? both???) of Ebrietas!

It's worth noting that out of all the NPCs with default faces, Gremia is the one with that face that can be seen and considered unlike Annalise, Eileen. So I can safely say that this face is his. And it just so happens to be the one that is taken as the “default” face.

So we have a regular NPC, the Tomb Proscpector in the Chalice of Izs, who bears the name of the Great One, summons to Ebrietas, and serves as the basis for all other faces when creating a character. (aaand has uniiique baaatle style)

Bottom line: Gremia is Sky and mother of Ebrietas. Sky and Cosmos are one! And his face is supposed to be worn by the hunter of Yharnam. That is, the hunter is the reincarnation of the lost Great One, an echo of whom wanders in the Chalice of Izs (or once did). It turns out that Gremia is reborn time after time to end the Nightmares of Yharnam 😎

[shybreadgarden]

So I’ve had this theory about the cycle and Falke for a while and I haven’t gotten to discuss it much so, tumblr.

Here be spoilers.

Many of you have probably encountered THIS Reddit thread “Regarding Falke,” but there’s a comment at the bottom that I found really interesting. It starts a little out of touch, but then they suggest that Ariane could be using her bioresonance to connect to Falke, using Falke as a kind of amplifier. She’s searching for Eslter, telling Elster to wake up, and using Falke to do it.

This could account for Falke’s appearance in relation to Ariane, but also her blurring of Elster’s memories with her own as she connects with Elster after Elster. I liked that idea a lot, but I’ve been building on it in my head. What if something more mundane and sinister is going on at the same time? What if Ariane is using Falke as an amplifier, and since Falke is connected to so many Replikas, that’s accounting for the illness and the fact that Elster keeps getting woken and called to Ariane.

But then on top of that, there is the “dig holes secretly are digged where the earth’s pores ought to suffice” line, which is from lovecraft. That points to an eldritch horror, and is one of the most direct connections besides the red eye. But the digging is what gets me. It’s literally a mine. And they’re digging, ostensibly for resources, but maybe they woke something up they didn’t understand. Something that could connect to Falke as well. Then when Falke became an amplifier and the cycle of Elster started, the Eldritch Something made the cycle even stronger, and it in turn grew stronger, “Learning to walk that ought to crawl.”

And now you say, wait, but it can’t be literal because they’re in the Penrose program, so they would be way far away from Leng by the time they crash. And I say, yeah, but we know Ariane modified the length of the cycles on the ship, so there’s no real way to tell how far they travelled in realation to where they are. And there’s more than one Penrose in the program. Some of them would have found other worlds. Some of those worlds would have been good for settlement. Some of them would have been good for resources. And a mine needs to be run by A Falke and AN Adler not THE. So what if they’re at Serpinsky, but A Sperpinsky, on a moon or planet that isn’t Leng. And this one was different, because it had something on it the republic didn’t expect. As the republic pushes out, becoming an empire, they face consequences.

There are some other things that come up for me. One is how Ariane stays alive. She’s been in a clearly broken Cryopod, for an untold amount of time, possibly decades or centuries if we look at the quantity of dead Elsters. In red liquid. Blood? Or is the eldritch horror keeping her alive to strengthen itself?

If Ariane is killed, as in the Promise ending, how does the cycle continue? Unless there IS an outside force.

*

One more Falke thing. In the thread, there are posters who say that Falke shows up in the lines of Arianes and Elsters in the false ending, and turns her head when called. I watched it, and I couldn’t see her in Elster’s. But I could see someone who could be her in Ariane’s. If it’s true, it would have really interesting implications.

[louthingg]

PLEASE TELL ME ABOUT CTHULU i dont actually know anything about it outside of what i have absorbed from cultural osmosis which probably isnt that accurate

OK !!!!!!!!

the cthulhu is the main focus of the extensive cosmic universe ( the cthulhu mythos ) created by the famous author howard phillp lovecraft. the cosmic universe is comprised mainly of short stories and poems that hp lovecraft ( and other authors who contributed to the mythos—most notably august derleth ).

cthulhu is the high priest of the great old ones, a group of gigantic creatures that came, eons and eons ago, from the cosmic infinity that is outer space to rule the earth. their race is comprised of many many members, each with its own purpose. there are many unknown great old ones, but among the ones we do know are names like yuggoth, hastur, yog-sosoth, bastan and bokurg.

( NOTE: the great old ones are generally separated from the lesser races of alien species such as the mi-go, night gaunts and cthonians. although powerful and terrifying they are not necessarily gods )

when the stars are right they can plunge through space and time and from world to world. when the stars are not right, they cease to exist. they have form, although it’s not quite flesh and blood. it’s more shape of some kind that allows them to be perceived by humans and other earthly creatures.

obviously, each has their own ability, though many of the specifics are unknown. the cthulhu is most well known for his enormous size, devout cults and ability to turn any human who gazed upon his form for too long to insanity.

that last one is the case for humans who experience the presence of all cosmic entities—even if they’re not direct interaction with the great old ones. in “the whisperer in darkness,” akeley slowly lost his mind from too much exposure to the mi-go. in “the colour out of space,” the residents of the valley went insane because of the presence of that comet. the thing that makes the cthulhu mythos horror is exactly that. it proves to us several things:

our brains, although wonderful and complex, are simply not meant to handle certain concepts. no matter how hard one tries, they cannot fully wrap their head around the idea of infinity.

humans fear the unknown. we fear it desperately—almost irrationally. and our scientific discoveries are almost an effort to counteract that fear. sure we’re naturally curious but we’re also animals and animals live in a world of fear.

we love to worship. we love to believe that there’s something greater out there ( and maybe there is ) because it makes us feel less scared about the future. like how some will say “god has a plan” and maybe he does but what if it’s not a good one ?

now, the great old ones sleep in their stone cities all around the world. the locations of most are unknown. we do know that cthulhu sleeps in r’lyeh, the largest and most lavish of their cities, and that although he is dead, he dreams.

in fact, in the story “call of the cthulhu,” which supposedly takes place in the 20s, a group of sailors hunted down r’lyeh to try and find the cthulhu. they found him alright, and every single member of that crew came home either dead or mad.

so yeah. that’s the cthulhu. i could yap about a lot of other things and specific stories but that’s about it !!!!!

[chuuya4040]

PART 2 - continuation with dazais pov! enjoy <33

part 1 is here.

Longing is within human nature.

It is within our genetic makeup as human beings, to want things we simply cannot have. To desire, to crave for something that is unattainable, with yearning pulling the arteries and veins of your heart to make it beat and scream: /I want him, I want him to be so irrevocably mine that no one will ever take him away from me./

Too bad Dazai was the one to let him go first.

Dazai does not regret his choices of leaving a place that did nothing but fester the darkness within his own sorry excuse for a heart, until his own veins were bathed with blood he no longer recognised. Although, he can’t help but feel his blood stained hands aching to feel a familiar body wrapped around his again.

A heart he does not have, yet those moments when he was around a familiar redhead, all fiery and blue painting his world, something that resembled a heartbeat roared in his chest till he thought he was going to die.

Most nights surrounded with bottles of sake in his quiet and lonely apartment, the detective dreams of hues of red and blue; the flurry of colors brightening his sky until he thought he might explode from it all. He wakes remembering a smile so bright, of hands so gentle and tender accompanied with harsh words with a soft tone.

In those 4 years spent in hiding, Dazai felt as though none of it was real. That he had simply dreamt of nights full of tangled bodies, with mornings spent in arms that made him feel more alive than any drug could ever.

Although he took what he could, even if it meant opening up the show curtains and layering on his true feelings with masks he longer recognized, with makeup and costumes he loathed to wear all to spend time with Chuuya, then Dazai would do anything. /Anything/ to feel the familiar warmth that he has been craving for 4 years swimming in his bloodstream, to feel high when he watches the deep hue of red take over the sky as the world crumbles around them.

/Anything./

“He’s my partner,” Dazai had simply told Atsushi one day before the Lovecraft fight. “He’s my annoying chib-sized dog that cannot think for himself. I can’t think of anything worse than seeing that tacky hat again.”

Atsushi had fidgeted on his seat, when he reluctantly asked “it’s been years since you last saw him.. Aren’t you worried he’ll betray you because you’re on opposite sides now?”

The detective softly chuckled, “oh, don't you know, Atsushi-kun? A dog always answers to their master, no matter how many years they’ve been apart for.”

Dazai supposes he was talking about himself in this instance. He sat with his imaginary tail wagging behind him, swaying swiftly with excitement awaiting to see the only man that could ever beacon his call.

It felt like flying, when they had finally stood side by side once again; it felt like his defective heart had finally pumped again after years when he saw the beautiful destruction of his partner and corruption.

It was a drug he couldn’t get enough of, and it was in the form of Nakahara Chuuya.

Seeing Chuuya in that port mafia bar where they used to go as teenagers and watching his (ex) partner laugh and smile softly among others, made the aching in his heart unbearable. His veins itched to feel the familiar high, to be so wrapped around in the redhead’s world that he saw him and him only.

The pinching of his heart directed him to follow the executive into the alleyway; the hole in his chest that has been growing for 4 years pushed him to hold onto the redhead; the roaring of his heart convinced him to press his lips to the familiar slope of his shoulder.

“I missed you,” he whispers against his jaw.

You make me feel so alive, he wants to scream from the top of his lungs, I had to leave, I’m so sorry, but please come back to me, Chuuya.

How did he ever let this feeling go? The feeling of someone so powerful that could tear him into shreds in seconds, that deserved someone so much better than him, that loved him like it was as easy as breathing air?

Bandaged hands dig into the amble waist, he imagines his nails breaking through the flesh until he’s bathing in his lover's blood until no one could tell them apart. He imagines peeling back the flesh, delicately opening his ribcage and making a home near his heart.

“Osamu,” Chuuya pleads, a leather glove holding whatever is left of his heart in his hand.

Tears prick in his eyes, his heart roaring in his chest hearing a name that he hasn’t heard in years coming from the man he is so irrevocably obsessed with. Say it again, he begs in his mind, say it again and tell me that I can be yours again. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry–

He watches the way azure eyes stare at him, with so much agony and sorrow that all Dazai wants to do is jump through his iris and swim within his mind, if only it meant he could always be with him. To die by those blue eyes would be an honor.

Seeing that weak smile accompanied with “congratulations on leaving. You did what you had to, trust me, out of everyone I fucking get that,” made the ghost of a heart in Dazai’s chest ache with agony, the hollowness in his chest spread into his limbs until they hung on by a single tendon ready to be cut off with gloved hands.

He wishes he had taken those gloved hands that night and whisked him away into the light. Though it would’ve been difficult, and the brightness of it all would’ve burned and scarred their very skin, they would’ve done it /together./ They would have figured out how to be gentle, tender and kind in a world that had only ever rejected them as children, learned how to bathe in the light rather than keen away in fear.

It would’ve been beautiful. It would’ve been magical.

The night that Dazai Osamu fled the mafia, he had only taken the clothes off of his own back and a leather choker.

If Dazai Osamu, one half of soukoku, and dubbed as the Demon Prodigy, fell asleep in those years in hiding clutching a familiar leather choker with tear stains on his pillow and his black heart spilling across the sheets; that was only for him and his four walls to know.

It was bound to happen, Dazai muses over as he watches the flurry of red and black disappear out of the alleyway.

/Everything worth wanting, is lost the moment I obtain it./

It had happened when he so foolishly believed he had found his own little safe corner in the mafia with Odasaku and Ango.He had so foolishly prayed that whatever gods that observed him from above would at least give him the decency to keep Chuuya in his life.

/You will,/ his heart roared, /you will get him back./ Dazai vows that he will do whatever it takes to get his partner, his one and only, back into his life.

And in the end, his heart will finally beat on its own, beating in all its glory and it will be beautiful.

[sagesariadnd]

You know a detail I really love when it comes to spellcasting in D&D and tv/movies?

When the magic has its own signature or style based on who's casting it.

The Legend of Vox Machina is a great example of this, because pretty much every school of magic - and sometimes even the individual characters - have a distinct visual or technique. Delilah's necromancy is a prime example; it's all in shades of black and purple with jagged lines, it sounds like the screams of the damned, and it pulls from life essence, either from blood sacrifices or even just the jutting veins in Delilah's arms as she's casting, as if it's pulling the energy straight out of her body. Scanlan's magic is all flashy and transparent purple, radiant magic such as Pike or Kash's is gold and glowing. Keyleth I noticed does a motion of pulling energy out of the gem in her staff for a lot of spells, and I also noticed a lot of her spells make her cry out as she's exuding force, which feels very correct for druidic magic because it feels almost primal or instinctual.

Honor Among Thieves did this a bit, too, specifically thinking of the final encounter with Sophina, when she and Simon have the Bigby's Hand fight. They're obviously both casting Bigby's Hand, but Simon's is made of stone from the pebbles and cobblestones on the ground, while Sophina's is red and fleshy, much like her undead nature.

My Friday night character Sheyleigh, as a Way of Shadow monk, has access to a handful of spells using ki, which is how I ended up going down a rabbit hole of thinking of ki as just another way of channeling magic. I thought of spellcasting through that lens as Sheyleigh, and describe pretty much all of her spellcasting through a series of tai chi moves, like she's gathering her ki into one place to make the magic happen. And when she multiclassed into a trickery cleric of the Traveler (I'll get into that story when I make a proper post about her), I also considered his style and how their aesthetics mix - when she first started going down the path of multiclassing, I described her attempting to channel her ki into a Guiding Bolt, and the way I described it was intentionally inspired by Dragonball Z's Kamehameha and the various bending techniques in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Honestly, ATLA is a good reference for a lot of abilities when it comes to monks, and not just if you're playing Way of the Four Elements.

This is honestly one of the reasons why I love playing bards so much; music is so diverse and evokes so many moods, that there really are endless options for how that manifests into music. My bardlock Ameila, for example, used to have a hurdy-gurdy which her patron was sealed in, and I used the music of hurdy-gurdy player Andrey Vinogradov for the sort of musical palette of the character. There's a very dark, ominous sound to it, that I felt represented the darkness of her patron and an element of Ameila being a bit afraid of her own powers, with heavy inspiration from HP Lovecraft's __The Music of Erich Zann__. Conversely, my folk hero bard-rogue Glerble the Goblin is very boisterous and flashy, and his spells and inspiration come from epic ballads and over-the-top one-liners. I've had ideas kicking around for a tiefling bard who creates music exclusively through prestidigitation and minor illusion to put on synthesized music and light shows like a magical EDM performer, I've considered a bard-monk who fights using a bass flute as a quarterstaff or kashakas as nunchaku...honestly I could be here forever talking about all the different ways I've considered bardic magic.

I don't know if I had anywhere in particular to go with this. Just saying that it's really fun and cool to consider how magic may look and feel different from school of magic to school of magic, and from character to character. If you haven't tried roleplaying out your spellcasting components, try it sometime! 10/10 would recommend!

[machinesonix]

Hello Tumblr, it's been a while. Once again I find the specters of literary analysis haunting my blood screaming for release, and you are my favorite void in which to scream. Today we're taking a departure from Dune to talk about some thoughts regarding the horror genre and why I think It really knocks it out of the park.

Famous racist H.P. Lovecraft in his essay Supernatural horror in fiction asserts that the earliest human emotion is fear and the oldest fear is that of the unknown.

I largely agree with what Lovecraft is getting at here that the unknown is the key to eliciting a feeling of fear, even if the primacy of an emotion having to do with age feels weird. Please, Tumblr, understand that I do not share his opinions regarding the Chinese, but the guy was among the first to pick apart the horror genre to find out what made it tick.

Lovecraft's expression of fear of the unknown is decidedly dated, even aside from the bigotry. His writing is famously full of 'Dear reader I dare not describe what I beheld' sort of stuff. It's even more diminished in the public eye by the fact anyone with internet access has a very clear image of Cthulhu as being like a squid dragon as depicted in the sculptures in its eponymous story despite once they actually find the thing and run a boat into it it's like some geometry violating cloud thing.

The thing I do appreciate about Lovecraft is that he's never actually under any compunction to explain anything. Polaris starts with the line 'I am a scholar of the Pnakotic Manuscripts' and that's all we really get. There's an economy of words here in letting us know the narrator is an academic and the subject of his studies is something with an unholy assembly of consonants suggesting it is very strange. In Call of Cthulhu everything we know about the cult and its intentions is communicated by the phenomenally unreliable character of Cesar, who shines a light on the global scale of the operation, fleshing out the worldbuilding while only leaving us with more questions.

Now I'm not breaking any new ground by singing the praises of Stephen King. Dude's far from perfect, and his idiosyncratic style makes all sorts of people just bounce right off, but I think It is probably the best example in the public eye of this 'fear of the unknown' thing in practice. See, for King 'nightmare' is not just a word you use to describe a scary situation. In a nightmare, you feel like there's some hidden logic to the world you can't quite understand. There's a terrible sense of foreboding that preceeds the terror because our brains are familiar with that script. Even if something isn't implicitly awful, there is a pervasive wrongness that our subconscious latches onto.

So lemme just take a second to underline the fact that a clown in a sewer is really fucking bizarre. Like yeah, we're 40 years out from the Tim Curry movie and it's ingrained into the public concious, but please do your best to imagine your response to a sewer clown in an Itless universe. It is important to dispell the whole 'Oh yeah, that old chestnut, the sewer clown' to establish how totally surreal this famous scene actually is.

The thing I think is the real masterstroke is the line 'We all float down here. You'll float too!' Nowhere in the book do we have any inclination of what the fuck that means. There is a threat implicit to it; whatever future Pennywise has planned is not gonna be good, but it's not like there's anything implicitly wrong with floating. The story prominently involves a toy boat, several sinister balloons, a semi-aquatic clown monster, and moments of disconnectedness from reality. If you're a ginormous nerd, you'll know that in the Stephen King Multiverse, the nightmare that manifests as Pennywise is trapped between realities, 'floating' in a gloaming space. There are many floating things, but there's no real explanation. Rather than being point blank 'The thing is impossible' like Lovecraft does, we're given a box of puzzle pieces that seem like they make a complete picture and the slowly dawning realization none of them actually fit together.

[catcas22]

I can't remember if I asked this already. The dragons in the Lands Between; they seem to adapt to whatever region they are in, whether voluntarily or not. Ekzykes. Borealis. Smarag. So the question is, was there a/could there ever be a Mohgwyn blood/bleed dragon, or do dragons find Mohg repugnant 🤔 or is it a matter of, he's in the ground and they don't go there. I suppose a frenzy dragon would also apply to this question.

Thanks for the ask! I'm actually not entirely sure that dragons are super-adaptors.

From the description of Borealis's Mist:

The ice dragons were once lords of the mountaintops long ago, until they were defeated by the Fire Giants and chased from the peak.

It would appear that ice dragons predate the standard-variety feral dragons. If the ice dragons were chased down from the mountaintops, thus spreading across the continent and becoming the ancestors of modern feral dragons, it would appear that they've lost functionality rather than gained it. This makes adaptational sense -- ice-based abilities may not have been advantageous in their new environment, causing the trait to gradually die off.

From the description of Ekzyke's Decay:

Ekzykes, Dragon Communion Revenger, did not forget his hatred even as he succumbed to the scarlet rot.

Ekzykes appears to have contracted the Scarlet Rot, in the same manner that basically everything else in Caelid has. So again, not necessarily a case of draconic super-adaptability.

From the description of Smarag's Glintstone Breath:

Smarag was a devourer of sorcerers, and over time, his body became corrupted by their glintstones.

This seems like a much clearer case of dragons becoming what they eat. However...

From the Crystal Bud description:

A young plant, crystalized before it could mature.

Glintstone Firefly description:

Alas, now that its tail is glintstone, it can no longer beguile potential mates.

It seems that glintstone can affect other creatures, not just dragons. See also crystal snails, glintstone miners, and Lusat and Azure. I don't think glintstone is just a rock -- I think it's a slow-moving alien invasion, something akin to H.P. Lovecraft's "color out of space." It seems to slowly mutate anything it comes in contact with, not just dragons.

So I don't necessarily believe that dragons are super-adaptors.

But I do think that feral dragons are at least partially sapient. From the description of Adula's Moonblade:

Adula, a devourer of sorcerers, was bested by Ranni and subsequently swore a knightly oath to her Dark Moon.

The ability to swear a knightly oath implies a degree of sapience, as does the ability to learn sorcery (which does not appear to be inherent to dragons, even other glintstone dragons like Smarag).

So I believe that a feral dragon could, for instance, learn bloodflame incantations, or fall to despair and accept the Flame of Frenzy. So a bleed dragon or a frenzy dragon would still be entirely possible!

[thehours2002]

some thoughts on the final season of true blood and the series finale

i am a hoyt hater and jessica should not have ended up with him

i like the idea of sookie ending up with a non-supe but the fact that her choice is motivated by bill's desire for sookie to have this perfect heteronormative nuclear family is so awful and reactionary. she should've just ended up with a normal guy bc all the supes she dated were possessive freaks. this show tries to draw parallels between gay people and vampires a million times over but this is how it ends for sookie and bill? ugh

tara dying off screen was just pathetic. and not only does she die off screen, we don't even get to see pam react to her death in real time. pam and tara could have been a fascinating exploration of queer interracial relationships (a la lovecraft country) but the show is not smart enough for that. (like, how do they navigate the intersection of tara's blackness with her position as pam's progeny, which forces her into subservience to a white woman socialized in the south during reconstruction???) i will continue to think about them... they were the most interesting couple in the whole series

even though i have problems with season 7, mostly because of tara's departure, i liked it much more than i did season 4-6 which i thought were just plain goofy. season 5 i especially hated. i do not care about the book of lilith lol

eric and pam had the best ending

vampire keith was drinking new blood in the end so i just know arlene got to have sex with her vampire boyfriend <3

sam was maybe one of the most fucked over characters in terms of writing. i found him completely inconsistent over the series. especially when they gave him anger issues out of nowhere? and there was just no effort put into developing his relationship with jurnee smollett

[personshapedsplder]

Absolutely fighting tooth and nail to pin down a fun john design. So all the lovecraft gods are just aliens, turns out, just super powerful aliens. So he's a physical, alien creature. So that's something to go off of. But he's also a king, he wears a person-shaped mask and a cloak. Those are all pretty human concepts, the concept of royalty, the concept of clothing and masks shaped like human faces. So he must be sort of human-shaped, human-adjacent. Unless he got those things from the people he was trying to terrorize? So that puts me back to square one?

So then back to his body. All bodies have developed the way they did for specific natural purposes, right, like fish have mouths shaped in specific ways to catch specific food. Whatever body he'd have would make sense for his environment. And his environment is space? Carcosa? But also he's blood related to CTHULU. So uh? Do lovecraft gods have family resemblances? Ik people often do tentacles, but I've found them kind of trite lately and would like to pick something fresh. But I have no fresh ideas.

I know i want him to be kind of big and broad, bc a voice like that has got to come from someone kind of imposing and big. You gotta have a lot of room in your chest to have a voice that deep right? So he's big. Nailed down 1 thing. I want him scary, ofc, but still ultimately familiar. Its hard to combine those 2 elements. I think I picture him very humanoid, but that feels less creative, like he should have a scarier look right? It feels self indulgent to just draw a sexy man and call it quits. Not that I don't enjoy all the versions of him as a sexy man, bc oh boy do I, but I want to push myself and let him be kind of Alien. But then here I am back at square 1 bc what does alien even MEAN!!!