#effigy vessel

[arthistoryanimalia]

Thomas Pitts I (British, fl. c.1744-1793)

Stirrup cup in the form of a fox's head, 1771

Silver w/ gilt remnants, 6 x 8 x 14 cm (2 3/8 x 3 1/8 x 5 1/2 in.)

Inscription: “Success to the Tettcots Hunt and to the death of the Next”

on display at Harvard Art Museums

additional views via https://harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/339949?position=339949

[theancientwayoflife]

~ Eagle effigy vessel.

Date: ca. A.D. 1450

Period: Late Postclassic

Place of origin: Eastern Nahua

Medium: Ceramic with polychrome slip

[artifacts-archive]

Tripod Effigy Vessel

Tlatilco, Mexico, 1200-900 BC (Early Pre-Classic)

[19catsncounting]

Something no one would like: John lives in the Jessifer fic and he's sorting himself out in parallel to the devil.

[sex--gaming]

obsessed with this guy i found at the DIA. his name is either Jaguar Effigy Bottle or Spouted Vessel and i love him

[history-today]

Jaguar Effigy Figurine (Middle Formative period approx. 800 BCE). Olmec vessel.

dailyhistoryposts: Jaguar Effigy Figurine (Middle Formative period, approx. 800 BCE). Olmec vessel.

[memories-of-ancients]

Reclining feline effigy vessel, Moche culture, Peru, 100-800 AD

from The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

[moon-buggg]

I couldn't get this idea out of my head until I got Something out, so! deity au!

Basically it's a generic fantasy world with a large pantheon of gods that are more representations of concepts. YN is a minor trickster spirit who's convinced some towns people they are actually a god and is in for a Big surprise when two big name gods decide to check in on their temple where YN has been hanging out. More info under the cut and designs for YN and Sun and Moons other form coming soon!

Also send me asks about this au I desperately want to talk about it more lol

Sun and Moon are twin deities that are worshipped together. Some scholars argue they are two sides of the same being, though this is incorrect. There are many differences in how the mortals see gods (and magic in general) and how they actually are.

It is commonplace for temples to create a sort of doll for their gods to hopefully possess and interact with followers. Larger temples have more complex vessels while really small ones might only have straw effigies. It's really the thought that counts, especially since gods do not often possess these vessels, prefering to work through dreams and visions and stuff like that. Still, to not have a vessel is seen as a huge slight

Magic is very much A Thing, but its not something ordinary people often interact with. Very few mortals will ever directly interact with magic. Magic is a thing of gods, not men. (More greek myth than DND is basically the vibe)

YN is a trickster spirit with illusion powers. They were caught shapeshifting by a human man and when he assumed they were a god they shrugged and said 'sure lets see where this goes.' When people started giving them offerings they thought it was a sweet deal and stuck around to milk it for as long as they could.

they started sleeping in a tree behind a temple, which is how they caught they attention of two gods. YN did NOT expect it when the famously reclusive Sun and Moon decided to actually possess their vessel to 'check in' on their temple and the town.

Sun and Moon know YN is not a god. YN knows they know they're not a god. No one is addressing it. It's one big game of chicken to see who breaks character first.

[toto-the-cactus]

Ayo! Finished this damn thing. Hope this is still good. Tell me who we should go find next <333

Tagging some people that have been waiting for this update:

@danart501 @ilikemytittieswithwarmmilk

Summary: As a perpetual, you have been by the Emperor's side for most of your immortality. There's no name for what strange dynamic you both share, but you do trust him and your loyalty eventually pays off over millennia once he fulfills an old promise he made during your first ever encounter.

Pairing: Emperor of Mankind x Perpetual!Reader (Female)

CW: None

Part 1 - Part 2 - ?

The Mother (2)

The pregnancy had been a success and the development was nothing short of fast and strenuous. You should have expected Him to mold your body in a manner that would serve Him better for his wishes and plans to be fulfilled.

His Great Crusade needed to be accomplished and you suddenly became part of the means to that end.

What a dreadful fate. To be nothing but his petri dish.

And so, Horus was born. His little form being held against your chest like the precious treasure that he was, making the sorrow of not having the rest of your children there too be momentarily forgotten by his awaited arrival, cooing and grunting in delight at the warmness of your encompassing heartbeat once he settled at your bosom.

A memory you cherished to the end of time while it had burned itself on your soul to leave a lasting mark. You had cried in joy, hunched over yourself to blanket your newborn with your whole begin and feel him real, psychical, between your arms.

His accelerated growth didn’t deter you enough from enjoying any time with your baby boy, from supporting him during his unforgiving training to reading with each other's company at the main library of the Imperial Palace. All for the sake of letting him be loved by you.

It was a matter that (while not ideal) didn't interest the Emperor much, for his plans were already taking proper form and the ‘gift’ of not taking away your son from you was enough of a blessing that didn’t need to be addressed again.

Even if that notion tasted like ash on your mouth.

Your little boy wasn’t so little anymore and that sometimes worried you, as you knew very well the kind of expectations the Emperor held for Horus; the true born Primarch, a warrior to serve under his Father’s light as a tool despite his own Mother’s unyielding love. You couldn’t help but feel like this was a prelude of some sort of omen.

Most of the days eventually became grey on its core, for your son was now in charge of his Legion, the Luna Wolves, marking his very first start as an official Primarch under the service of his Father… laying you to the sides like you have always been when regarding the Emperor.

Did Horus know how much it hurt his distance? How much it hurt to witness his crave for the approval of a man made god… when you simply wished to read a book of old literature in his company?

You hated being made again this tragic effigy of the woman with the eyes of a dying lamb. You felt forgotten… a ghost from these golden walls.

But the eventual call of Erda served to stray you away from such gloom thoughts. Her psyker powers a breach through your mind’s wall but clear enough for a single sentence to make your heart take a leap out close to your throat.

“I found one of them”

You couldn’t have been faster in your life to get a lunar cruiser ready to reach the needed destination; not even willingly to explain yourself when the Emperor saw you boarding the vessel. But as always, He went and proved to still be an enigma to you thanks to his ever unnatural actions.

“Go along with her… and make sure to protect her and obey her during the travel only” his command was absolute when he addressed four of his Custodes, their impassive disposition only showing the barest of emotion when fulfilling their Emperor’s orders like a gospel, but the specifics of his directive weren’t lost to you: to obey you just this single time. Nothing more, nothing less.

Of course, you weren't ungrateful to his gesture and thanked him deeply for it with a kiss to the palm of his armored hand when he caressed your cheek, but He quickly dismissed the matter. He knew what you were about to do and it wasn't like he Himself hadn’t been picking any possible clues to find the other Primarchs out there that you two wholeheartedly believed to still be alive.

Sometimes you wondered if the Emperor had managed to have a tiny, small part of instinctual fatherhood to be awakened within him after all the time he had spent with Horus. It was a nice thought. A hopeful one, but you knew better than to get your expectations up.

Once settled inside the cruiser, the coordinates were introduced to start the travel to retrieve one of your children.

Erda’s voice still echoing inside your mind when she told you the planet that you needed to search for: Nuceria.

-°-

The sight had been painful.

The worst nightmare a mother could ever expect.

Your arrival had been anything but discret at the revolting planet of Nuceria, having been informed of the life that the elites carried at the expense of the blood and flesh of slaves forced to fight for any resemblance of survival by their supposed masters. The irony wasn’t lost on you, but millenia of serving the Emperor had made you receptive to his ideals and methods. Justifying your own purpose by standing on his side could derive a vulnerability that you weren’t ready to confront. You needed to believe in the Emperor even if he took too far the phrase “Any means justify the end”.

After all, immortality has only made it easier for your troubling love to persevere longer in your stubborn heart and for fickle human lives to become an afterthought. You were well aware that you weren’t any better than Him in the ever present inhumanity you carried. 

When your child had looked at your direction, imposing form towering over your smaller frame and covered in so many slashes and blood, your heart had seized in a painful knot. Those scars were injuries you hadn’t been able to sooth with compassion. You had failed your son and that was something you’ll never forgive yourself.

The only mercy you could offer was to take him away from this wretched place.

Just when you were ready to take a step towards him, you saw his eyes harden and his posture change in defense with squared up shoulders. A warning if you decided to go against him and the thorn inside your chest only bled even more.

The Custodes that had escorted you as per their orders maintained a cold and terrifying disposition, deterring any of the guards surrounding you and your son’s tribe to take a last step. The commotion at the fighting pit had been great but you cared little for these people and their sick sense of entertainment. Fighting was an art of the honorable and the strong; to be used in epic battles to build history and civilizations. Using it as a careless trick was absolutely insulting.

It was beyond you to do this. Against any of the natural ingrained fighting instinct that had saved you for years, but the desperation of a mother overrode any of that to mere dust and motivated you to do the one thing you wished to believe will make your son realize who you were.

“I’ve been dreaming of finding you… for so long. I’m here now, my son”

And you saw it behind his hardened eyes, and you rejoiced in the recesses of your mind. There was a semblance of recognition shining through his stare at the timbre of your voice.

A far away lullaby that accompanied him in his lowest moments.

An step became two, then three and so on until you found yourself right at your child’s side after a few strides, hand gently touching his roughed one until the grip over his twin axe became slack, allowing you to take a better hold in an attempt to convey all the encapsulated emotions that stormed within your soul.

Grief, sadness, frustration, longing, relief… love.

You’ve been waiting for so long.

No one moved beyond you, tugging his huge arm towards you while softly telling him “It’s time to go home”, but those words instead of making him relax in your presence, had the opposite as his stance became once again defensive. At least this time he genuinely looked conflicted on the matter, glancing back at the other slaves that simply stayed behind as mere spectators of the whole encounter, unable to properly react when not just a few moments ago they were ready to lose their lives in the pits.

Ah, you understood.

“I can’t… not without my people…” he seemed to want add more into that sentence, his eyes straying just a little towards a man that looked to be quite tall by mortal standards, covered in too many scars that told stories of his battles in this wretched place but carrying himself with enough dignity to be respected.

This is where you must make a decision that will carry quite the weight. You knew that there was space enough to carry the slaves, not comfortably, but it could be arranged to be a thigh fit. You knew He wouldn’t even have hesitated at the idea of just forcibly taking your son and leaving all these humans to die with their fate already chosen. The Emperor had no time to dwell in the aspects of mercy and compassion, you could acknowledge that very well and that had been the main reason he had kept you long enough around. To remind him about the nostalgia of the humanity he once possessed. He couldn’t provide the proper love Horus and these children dreamed of… so you would carry that responsibility and dry your heart to make sure your precious sons knew they were loved no matter what.

Your loyalty will always belong to the Emperor, just as much as your body, soul and mind… but you didn’t belong to yourself too anymore… the pittance of individuality you were sure to hold crumbled into dust once you had wished to be the mother of these children and that was something you would proudly carry.

And so, your decision was made.

“Custodes!” you call them, their attention fully on you now and waiting for your command. The grasp over your son’s hand became tighter in an attempt to reassure him once you felt him go tense at your stern tone. He had probably expected the worst and that notion only made something vile twist inside your stomach. “We will be taking the slaves with us too”

There was a beat of uncertainty and you could already guess that this choice would not be well received by the Emperor… but that was something you were willingly to bear over your shoulders like many times you have done in the past.

Things will work out. You can only trust blind hope, but that is enough for now.

You stretch your arm towards his face with some effort, for he is still taller than you, but he lets his head tilt towards you to help a bit and gives you the chance to offer a sweet caress over his cheek. You can feel the rough texture of his messy shave, of the scars, and your heart throbs painfully when you think about all the hardships he had to face.

You couldn’t assure him a better life away from battle, but you could at least give him the solace of a greater future along for his people.

“I’m here now… and I will not abandon you… ever” there had been an edge of something feral in your tone. The side you rarely showed but a reminder of why you had been beside the Emperor this long.

You hoped Horus would be open at the idea of some siblings.

Just messing around with this idea, don't get ya hopes up pls.

Love ya, fellas!

[astra-ravana]

Working With Poppets

In witchcraft and folk magick, a poppet is a doll that represents a person and is used to cast spells on them or to help them through magick. Poppets can be made from a variety of materials, including carved root, grain, corn shafts, fruit, branches, paper, wax, potato, clay, but typically, they are made from cloth. Poppets are often filled with herbs, crystals, or other magical items to make spells more powerful. The idea is that any actions performed on the poppet will be transferred to the person it represents. These dolls can be used to hurt or heal.  Poppets have been used in occult practices since ancient times, and were the only type of object presented as evidence in court during the Salem Witch Trials. Servitors can also be tied to these effigies and spirits can use them as vessels.

Fasioning A Cloth Doll

Cut two human shapes out of fabric and sew them together, leaving space to add items. The components inside the doll depends on intent. For example, a prosperity doll may contain coins, paper money, good luck charms, etc. and be stuffed with money herbs like patchouli, basil, and bayleaf.

Reuse

You can reuse poppets to save on materials. When reusing a doll keep its new intent in line with its previous purpose. For example, keep a hex doll specified for hexes, just change the taglock and filling then re-sew.

Targets

To target an individual with your poppet, use a personal taglock or name paper of that person. Its important that this item is a clear image/representation of the person. Include multiple components linked to your target if possible, DNA is recommended here. (hair, blood, nails, etc.) You may also make the poppets appearance look like your target.

Here is my post on taglocks, if you need some inspiration.

Baneful Poppets

Seeking to do harm and/or cause illness using a poppet is considered hexworking and is a form of sympathetic magick. Always start with a taglock and make the poppet look as much like the target person as possible. Herbs used will suit the intent of the working. Baneful herbs are ideal in this case and can be sewn into the doll as stuffing. To target a specific body part/chakra simply use pins, needles, and/or thorns to inpale the poppet in the chosen area. Gather up all your anger and ill-will for that person, then push the pin firmly into the poppet. You can also wrap it up in string, rope, etc. to bind your target. Keep it somewhere safe and secure and hold the doll often to imbue it with your malice.

[door]

A Dramatic Salinar Bat Effigy Vessel Peru, Early Horizon - Early Intermediate Period, circa 200 BC - 100 AD

[arthistoryanimalia]

Quechua jar representing a bull, c. 1935-1945

Pucará, Peru

Pottery, clay slip, glaze, paint

33.00 x 11.50 x 27.50 cm

Smithsonian NMAI 20/8146

Records on similar pieces in the collection note they demonstrate how Inca llama ritual iconography was transferred onto the Spanish bull.

[theancientwayoflife]

~ Effigy vessel of Xipe Tótec.

Date: A.D. 400 to 700

Place of origin: Border area between Guerrero and Michoacan, Mexico

• From the source: This unique vessel was found as part of an offering inside a grave located in La Luz, an ancient settlement located on the banks of the Balsas River in Michoacán. In addition to the vessel, the offering that accompanied the deceased consisted of nine obsidian blades and six shell beads.

[utilitycaster]

I agree with the sentiment that it will be more helpful for Laudna's survival and ability to find a life outside Delilah if she develops a sense of worth that isn’t tied to being powerful or special; but I think it’s important to keep in mind that she is special. She was explicitly chosen by Delilah as a vessel for her inborn sorcery powers (stated in episode 37), and indeed part of why she went to the fateful dinner in the first place was because she and her family thought it might help develop her magical talents. Delilah is a massive weight upon her and her story, but in terms of mechanics, 10 of Laudna’s 13 levels are in sorcerer. She is someone who was born with a rare ability and who primarily wields that - most of her spells, half her cantrips, her dogs, her darkvision and her Darkness spell are all from something she has presumably with or without Delilah. Her death is in part because she's a young woman with dark hair who could be made to look vaguely like Vex from afar, but there is a reason Delilah chose her and not, for example, the woman who was the Keyleth or Vax effigy.

[scribeofmorpheus]

Qunari Origins and the Forgotten Ones[?]

I'm making a rough-thoughts-about-Qunari-dogma-and-origins post because I must store the thoughts somewhere before I can dissect them further but...

I'm very interested in the phrasing of this codex entry in DA2 (especially after the confirmations/revelations of the ancient elves' origins in dav):

[Not really] spoilers [but lore speculations] below!

note: this is definitely me putting too much emphasis on the extent of foreshadowing a series can be accredited with, and absolutely stretches the written intention too far for what could possibly be considered "traditional analysis". There's every chance this codex is written this way stylistically, but alas, I want to work on something constructive and interesting in the dragon age lore to find that joy again!

Qunari view themselves as a part of a "whole"--similar to how dwarves are part of a larger whole as well (the Titans). You could accredit this reading to being one of a "pack" mentality. Or how dragons can often "conjure/call" their wyverns/dragonlings to come to their aid or follow an instruction.

They also have a spirit outside of their "body"--their military. So, like the ancient elves that built themselves from lyrium they are a duality of solid with spiritual essence "hidden" from the face of southern Thedas.

We know the Qunari came from across the Boeric Ocean, Par Vollen is not their native homeland. There's lore about them having horns because of dragon blood (supposedly mages back in the day trying to make more powerful warriors)--this leads way to my thought process of the Qunari being bound to a genesis that is, essentially: military experiment (the way Tevinter breeds Altus mages, they would endeavour to make a race of unmatched conquering power).

However, that's too reductive and too cheap (i feel) an explanation for how that origin could also explain their dogmatic religion and their culture's "iron-grip" on expressions of individuality outside the Qun. There's too much precision in their structure to simply bind it under the tagline of: "we're like this to tame the dragon blood and keep the fires in check--lest they consume us like they do the talvaashoth or the deserters".

So now I'm thinking, there must have been a trigger that forced their society to rely so heavily on the dogmatic rigidity of the Qun--a set way of being, of having a role and understanding of where you stand in the larger scheme of things. Which had me wondering about what the Forgotten Ones did that was so bad that the Evanuris themselves took time off the Titan War to war with them! (presumably, the timeline is insane--and the Evanuris war lasted at LEAST 1000 years according to Solas).

So here's my very flimsy, very-not-at-all possible interpretation. Anaris and the Forgotten Ones could have done many things to brand them "worst of the worst" but only one idea seems to track with the possible theme of a "perfect vessel" that is strewn across their stories:

Formless One's first appearance as a dragon, one they feel is limited and not a true representation of their essence--and the haunting narrative of seeking a true body

Anaris, obviously, everything with his arc linked in Bellara's story, wearing a mask, and then turning to dramatic goop on the floor.

Gaxkang (arcane horror demon) having "Unbound" in their name, if we consider spirits in bodily vessels "bound", this could be a "refutation" kind of title. Like if John Snow's title was John the Wise (in jest).

Imshael, he can shift "between the forms of fear, rage and pride demons" [and in the concept art Imshael had a female persona, so I do think having an 'identity'/'prime body' is intertwined in his/hers/their ethos too].

all except maybe Xebenkeck have a loose thread to this "perfect vessel" tapestry my brain is weaving--but she was first, I think, and she is also a desire demon, whom Qunari share a resemblance with horns-wise [Mythal too, but that's more because of "dragon" effigies in her statues and headpiece]. Xeb is possibly their most 'shallow' entry to the Forgotten One's lore--or equally the most cohesive, since desires are changing, and make of people malleable subjects--deals with the ability to mould or cause chaos.

Loose note: Xenon the Antiquarian, I know it's probably the "X" of it all, and they're probably named after the gas "Xenon", but their wanting of "immortality" and then the collection of rare and powerful tomes/trinkets, being tricked by Yavana or another Witch of the Wilds to be a withered, frail thing in a husk? He's definitely related to the Executors--at least! And they're most likely the lingering influence of the Forgotten Ones (possibly).

[Imshael's letter in the Fade; datv]

From the wiki on Xebenkeck (sidenote: girl how do you pronounce your name? is it like Xoloitzcuintle?! is it Ch-eben-kek? or is it a mandrin X like SH-eben-kek?):

"“The first of the magus cast themselves deep in the Fade in search of answers and power, always power. They found the forbidden ones—Xebenkeck, Imshael, Gaxkang the Unbound, and The Formless One. Many conversations were had and much of the fabric of the world revealed. And thus the magic of blood was born.” ―unknown mage[1]"

the dao codex entry makes it sound like the Forbidden/Forgotten Ones discovered blood magic, but I don't think that's right, considering ancient elves used blood magic neutrally (it's only seen as an 'evil' art in modern thedas--because of the side-effect of having mages be oppressed and locked away in religious tower blocks). I think they possibly taught modern humans/elves/mages about blood magic again, and modern humans were to blame for it being used mostly in a negative/desperate light.

Now binding a spirit is usually what turns them into a demon. It corrupts their purpose and is also a great theft of autonomy from the spirit's side. Dragons are ancient, possibly the oldest "physical flesh" form besides Titans. Considering the ancient elves were losing the war with the titans because they were possibly few in number and not nearly as strong physically, I'm inclined to believe that maybe the Forbidden One's became twisted into the versions we know today because they committed great sacrilege against the Elvhen, the dragons and the Titans in one big gesture: creating the qunari as a form of making the ultimate form.

In my head, I can see them as researchers, which leads well to them toying with humans mainly out of interest to see the results unfold: to orchestrate chaos (this will play in the rigid qun structure later).

To make the ultimate form, they'd need spirits, lyrium and dragon's blood--and I'm willing to bet none of the participants in this "research" were entirely willing.

And then what if red lyrium is like a cyst from these experiments? Dragon's blood from the experiments that tainted the Titans somehow, gave them that "fire"; that "rage"; that "inflammation"? Which could also explain how Imshael knew how to cure red lyrium poisoning.

So they forcibly pull other spirits out of the Fade (maybe luring them out with the "unbound" of them, or with desire?--or the illusion of choice or fear or rage), binding them to a lyrium body instilled or infused with dragon's blood (maybe creating red lyrium as we know it) and then forging the qunari (but they were possibly defective? possibly hunted down by "mythal/another dragon effigy-linked woman" that made them flee their home the first time?).

So if the Forbidden Ones represent chaos, it makes sense that the surviving twisted spirits left confused in their new bodies would crave structure, and why their minds would build a dogma that leashed their chaotic structures with enforced rigidity, and it would also explain the Qun's inbuilt fear of "unchecked" power; of magic and the Fade.

As Solas said "Chaos breeds a desire for simplicity." Or something like that.

Also the firebreathing, heightened sense of smell, but also Bull's odd reaction to the Fade in Trespasser (we know he sees it differently than both elves and humans--but it's discordant, confused, almost like how trauma warps/frames understanding).

Very on the nose also: Taash. From Ataashi. A Little Dragon from Dragons. That's all for now folks.

TLDR: Forgotten Ones possibly wanted to make an "ultimate weapon form" for themselves by using unwilling spirits (mind and soul) to fill the lyrium flesh (to make arms, legs, ears...) but the blood is sourced from dragons (fire).

[priestly-prince]

Putting together 2 of my own established theories to get a secret 3rd theory.

Ok so, we know about the FAITH stick dolls and about how, in their original forms, they represent the missing kids. (A note mentions 4 dolls for 4 missing kids). We know John and Lisa are the surviving kids, and in a couple instances are implied to also be connected to the dolls.

The first and most obvious depiction is in John's vision when we see two of the stick dolls with maggots in, then we see young John and Lisa stood in their place. Also the filenames of these 2 scenes are "effigies", an effigy being a crude representation of a person. (But, can also mean a depiction of a saint or god, curiously enough.)

The second instance is this picture.

That's Snake Meadow Hill church. And we see 4 small crosses (the missing children), and 2 stick dolls, John and Lisa.

Part 2 of this theory is the "husk" thing. John and Lisa are husks. Husks are empty shells. The implication of this is that John and Lisa do not have souls, or that they were damaged in some way. This was likely done to make them easier to possess and become vessels.

SO the secret 3rd theory, which in itself is very short but needed the context.....

The 2 "effigy" stick dolls are phylacteries, and actually contain John and Lisa's souls.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.