#falling toward apotheosis

[greysectorpod]

Ivanova for most of the Shadow War

[thethirdromana]

Falling Toward Apotheosis!

In Babylon 5 as in life, it's always a bad sign when the first thing you see is the TV news broadcast.

It would be nice to see some general fallout from the Vorlon betrayal, though - residents of Babylon 5 trying to get at New Kosh, maybe?

More Babylon 5/DS9 parallels with the station commander who had weird contact with ancient aliens and now a bunch of people are treating him like the Messiah, and he doesn't know how to feel about it.

Garibaldi, maybe people are suspicious of you because this couldn't be more suspicious if someone had tattooed the word "suspicious" on your forehead while you went missing?

Londo discreetly talking out his handkerchief when faced with the Shadow Cabinet... eurch.

"Hey, Garibaldi, go take on the guy who could kill you with a snap of his fingers". OK, I think Garibaldi actually has the right to be cranky about that one.

I feel kind of bad about how satisfied I felt about them taking New Kosh down.

So on Sheridan's 20-year life expectancy, don't they still have a funky tool in Medlab that can extend someone's life? Could Franklin bring that out of storage?

I have to admit that I was hoping Sheridan would do the whole down on one knee, romantic proposal there.

Poor, poor G'Kar.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Plot Structures

A Quick Reference to 5 Plot Structures

8-STAGE PLOT STRUCTURE (Nigel Watts)

Stasis: once upon a time

Trigger: something out of the ordinary happens

Quest: causing the protagonist to seek something

Surprise: but things don’t go as expected

Critical Choice: forcing the protagonist to make a difficult decision

Climax: which has consequences

Reversal: the result of which is a change in status

Resolution: and they all lived happily ever after (or didn’t).

HOW TO TELL A STORY (Peter Rubie)

Once upon a time, something happened to someone,

and he decided that he would pursue a goal.

So he devised a plan of action,

and even though there were forces trying to stop him,

he moved forward because there was a lot at stake.

And just as things seemed as bad as they could get,

he learned an important lesson,

and when offered the prize he had sought so strenuously,

he had to decide whether or not to take it,

and in making that decision he satisfied a need

that had been created by something in his past.

MONOMYTH / THE HERO'S JOURNEY (Joseph Campbell)

Separation

The Call to Adventure

The Refusal of the Call

Supernatural Aid

The Crossing of the First Threshold

Belly of the Whale

Initiation

The Road of Trials

Meeting with the Goddess

Woman as Temptress

Atonement with the Father

Apotheosis

The Ultimate Boon

Return

Refusal of the Return

The Magic Flight

Rescue From Without

The Crossing of the Return Threshold

Master of Two Worlds

Freedom to Live

22-STEP STRUCTURE (John Truby)

Self-revelation, need and desire - combination of steps 20, 3 & 5

Ghost and story world - the hero’s counterdesire

Weakness and need* - the hero’s flaws are keeping them from having the life they desire

Inciting event - outside event that spurs the hero to action

Desire* - the hero’s story goal

Ally or allies - the hero gains an ally

Opponent and/or mystery* - an opponent or mystery that keeps the hero from reaching their goal

Fake-ally opponent - a shapeshifter or false friend

First revelation and decision: changed desire and motive - a revelation causes the hero to make a decision that results in a change in direction

Plan* - the hero’s plan to overcome their opponent and reach their goal

Opponent’s plan main counterattack - the opponent’s plan to overcome their opponent and reach their goal

Drive - increasingly desperate (and possibly immoral) series of actions the hero takes to defeat the opponent and reach the goal

Attack by ally - an ally confronts the hero about their increasing desperation and immorality

Apparent defeat - lowest point when the hero believes they’ve lost; for fall arcs, this may be an “Apparent victory” instead

Second revelation & decision: obsessive drive, changed desire and motive - the hero receives a new piece of information that allows them to continue towards their goal

Audience revelation - the audience learns a vital piece of information that’s kept from the hero

Third revelation and decision - the hero learns something about the opponent that will help them win

Gate, gauntlet, visit to death - pressure on the hero grows and they’re forced to face difficult trials

Battle* - a final (violent) conflict that determines who wins

Self-revelation* - the hero learns who they truly are

Moral decision - a decision that proves what the hero has learnt in the self-revelation

New equilibrium* - the need and desire have been fulfilled and the world goes back to normal, though the hero has changed

Stars (*) mark the minimum 7 steps that, according to Truby, are essential to every story.

ONE PAGE NOVEL (Eva Deverell)

Brainstorm 3...

...names:

...wants/goals/needs:

...locations:

...objects:

...obstacles:

...things lost/sacrificed:

...occupations:

...things on your mind:

Plotting Order

Resolution

Stasis

Shift

Trigger

Quest

Power

Bolt

Defeat

Story Order

Stasis: character isn’t living to their full potential - opposite state to Resolution.

Trigger: an internal or external impulse (or both) forces the character to take the first step towards their Resolution state.

Quest: character enters the new world of adventure, meets mentors or allies and makes a (bad) plan to solve the problem the Trigger created.

Bolt: (bad) Quest plan inevitably goes wrong.

Shift: character makes the paradigm shift necessary for them to inhabit their Resolution state.

Defeat: character makes the ultimate sacrifice.

Power: character finds a hidden power within themselves that allows them to seize the prize.

Resolution: character is living up to their full potential in their Resolution state.

NOTES

Choose a plot structure that works best for you.

Deviate from it as needed. It is a guide after all.

Some writers and editors advice you stick with a plot structure you have chosen:

Don’t look for an alternative as soon as you start to become frustrated with your first choice. You’ll only end up wasting time.

As with everything else, there is no single perfect choice.

And it may be the case that different projects need different methods.

Keep experimenting. Keep writing. Keep improving.

Source ⚜ More: Writing Notes & References

[swingingthehatchetnow]

You know what I find really interesting about Nerdy Prudes versus the other Hatchetfield shows?

In TGWDLM and BF, the events were set in motion by the lords in black. Wiggly and Uncle Wiley unleashed the doll unto the world, causing chaos and calamity. Pokey sent the meteor (? Is that what happened? bc that was Pokey's whole shtick) that caused the Apotheosis.

But in Nerdy Prudes, the events of the story were set in motion by Steph cheating on the quiz. Or by Pete agreeing to help Steph cheat. This could very much have been a timeline/universe where everything went right. Sure, 'right' means nerds still getting picked on, and Pete and Steph probably wouldn't've ended up together, but Max, Ruth, Richie and everyone else would still be alive. The LiB wouldn't have had to be summoned, and Grace would've never gotten her hands on the book.

What caused me to think about this is the scene with Paul and Emma. That scene happens on what would've been the day of the Apotheosis, evidenced by Pete being there, waiting for his hot choccy and Paul and Emma finally taking steps towards a relationship. Pete is now wearing a sweater instead of the suspenders he wears in TGWDLM because of his conversation with Steph. Paul is joining the neighborhood watch because of the increase in killings.

This means that Pete and Steph doomed their universe. And I think its interesting that this musical shows that, because its not just the LiB that have sway over if everything falls to shit

Pete and Steph: Disaster Couple Extraordinaire

[monstersdownthepath]

Homebrew Horror: Galroscul, Nascent Lord of Gluttony and Cannibalism

(Art done by the incredible @crankyteapot!)

First mentioned here, Galroscul is a fierce and powerful fiend who once coveted the throne of King of Demons, wishing to feed from Lamashtu's flesh to achieve his apotheosis... but before Lamashtu even registered his existence as a threat, he was beset by the combined forces of both Zura and Xoveron, who saw him as a challenger to their dominions over consumptive destruction and rampant gluttony. He was powerful, but not so much so that he could overcome such a fierce and coordinated assault from two Demon Lords and their armies, and yet his opponents could not simply kill him or he would rejuvenate and attack them while they were weakened, leaving them all back at square one... so they imprisoned him instead.

On a far-off world under the lock and key of a cadre of hedonistic Zurans and Urgathoans, Galroscul is imprisoned in a great and terrible machine that draws from his demonic power, infusing cuts of meat with fiendishly addictive energy that assures a steady trickle of profits for the meatmongers as customers become unable to stop themselves from buying more. This also serves the purpose of providing tantalizing food for the man-eating demons and undead among their ranks, and all the while the would-be Demon King is slowly being driven insane by the pain of the machine sapping his power and the pain of his empty stomach seeing countless tons of meat pass him by while he has no mouth to eat them.

And yet, wracked with pain and hunger, Galroscul is far more clever than he appears to be, and his fierce desperation will drive him to enact a plan no sane being would ever consider. Able to still wield sparks of his demonic magic even while imprisoned, Galroscul will slowly but surely do the unthinkable, cutting pieces away from his body and shearing his own divine power out of himself bit by bit. Every piece of meat and drop of blood that he cuts away falls onto the procession of meat below, contaminating them with a far more potent form of demonic corruption that his captors intended. Soon after he begins this process, demonic tieflings bearing the features of fiendish boars will start popping up all over the planet as new, bizarre religious groups begin to form around demagogues bearing traces of the Demon Lord's might, contacted in their dreams by the Hunger Sealed in Steel and guided towards the effort to free him.

The statblock below does not represent Galroscul as he was or as he is; in the current time, he is still imprisoned on a far-off world in the torturous meat machine. Despite his imprisonment, his influence still grows in strange parts of the cosmos from both the lingering cultists he possessed when he was vying for the throne of Demon King, and where covert deliveries of demon-tainted meat are served, whether it be the prison world he is held on or another world that his cultists have managed to smuggle products to. As the years tick excruciatingly by, he will cut enough away from himself to slip the machine's shackles and put out a rallying call to all his corrupted sycophants and wicked "children" at once. The factory in which he is held will be destroyed in a single night, after which Galroscul will rampage across this distant world's surface for a hundred days, devouring everything he comes across in both gluttonous fury and rapturous joy at his freedom. For now, though, he simply dreams of the times to come.

Thus, these stats represents Galroscul shortly after his freedom. He is greatly withered both physically and mentally, but this is merely in comparison to his previous power at CR 29, and he still maintains a grip on vast portions of of his old might. As the picture above alludes to, he still has pieces of the imprisoning machine fused to his body. These are now welded to his very essence, and regenerate from damage just as his flesh and bone, serving as eternal reminders of his failure... and reminders to never let it happen again.

Galroscul, the Hunger Sealed in Steel CR 24 Chaotic Evil Huge Outsider (Chaotic, Demon, Evil, Extraplanar) Init: +8; Senses: Darkvision 120ft, Detect Good, Detect Law, True Seeing, scent (60ft); Perception +35 Aura: Frightful Presence (120ft, DC 29), Unholy Aura (DC 24)

------ Defense ------

AC 40, touch 20, flat-footed 32 (+4 deflection, +8 Dex, +20 natural armor, -2 size) HP 515 (27d10+351); Regeneration 15 (Good) Fort +32 Ref +20 Will +24 Defensive abilities Ferocity, Hog Wild; DR 15/Cold iron and Good; Immune Charm and compulsion effects, death effects, disease, Electricity, poison; Resist Acid 30, Cold 30, Fire 30; SR 34

------ Offense ------

Speed 80ft, burrow 30ft, climb 80ft Melee Bite +45 (2d6+19/19-20 plus grab), 2 claws +37 (1d8+7 plus grab), gore +44 (2d6+19/19-20 plus Dispelling Gore), sting +37 (1d8+7) Space 15ft; Reach 15ft Special Attacks Dispelling Gore, Down in One, Fast Swallow, Gruesome Gullet, Merciless Assault, Overhead Flip (DC 37), Swallow Whole (6d8+22 bludgeoning and piercing plus 5d6 energy plus Consume Essence (DC 29), 30 AC, 51 HP), Spell-like Abilities (CL 20th; Concentration +26)

Constant--Air Walk, Detect Good, Detect Law, Greater Magic Fang (bite, gore), Unholy Aura (DC 24) At-Will-- Dragon's Breath (any option) (DC 20), Greater Dispel Magic, Greater Teleport (self plus 50lbs only), Hunger for Flesh (DC 20), Slow (DC 19) Telekinesis (DC 21) 3/day--Bountiful Banquet, Dimensional Anchor, Hungry Pit (DC 21), Mass Reduce Person (DC 20) 1/day--Delectable Flesh (DC 22), Dimensional Lock, Freedom of Movement, Time Stop

------ Statistics ------

Str 39 Dex 26 Con 37 Int 22 Wis 20 Cha 23 Base Atk: +27; CMB +43 (+4 grapple); CMD 61 (+4 vs grapple)

Feats Cleave, Cleaving Finish, Combat Reflexes (B), Consume Essence, Dazzling Display, Dramatic Slam, Great Cleave, Greater Grapple, Improved Grapple (B), Improved Unarmed Strike (B), Intimidating Prowess, Multiattack, Overhead Flip, Power Attack, Savage Leap, Savage Slam, Weapon Focus (Bite)

Skills Bluff +29, Climb +42, Diplomacy +26, Disable Device +28, Escape Artist +38, Intimidate +50, Knowledge (Arcana) +16, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) +16, Knowledge (Engineering) +20, Knowledge (Nature) +16, Knowledge (Planes) +19, Knowledge (Religion) +16, Linguistics +12, Perception +35, Profession (Chef) +23, Sense Motive +28, Spellcraft +16, Survival +25, Swim +23, Use Magic Device +29

Languages Abyssal, Aklo, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Giant, Goblin, Gnoll, Necril, Orcish, Polyglot, Terran, Undercommon; Telepathy 300ft

SQ Nascent Demon Lord traits

------ Ecology ------ Environment Any Organization Unique Treasure Triple ------

Combat: From afar, Galroscul will buffet his foes with Slow and Dragon's Breath to soften them up, Hunger for Flesh and Delectable Flesh, to disrupt their ability to cooperate, and will set up Hungry Pits for future maneuvers. Against Outsiders or creatures whom he has seen use teleportation magic, he focuses his Dimensional Anchor and Lock to prevent them from fleeing. Against humanoids, he will prioritize Mass Reduce Person to shrink them down, allowing him to swiftly devour them with Down in One. After a very short setup, he rushes into combat and focuses his gore attacks on enemies with numerous magic effects on them to rip them asunder. Once in melee, he is not an especially complex creature: He seeks to devour as many enemies as he can at once, utilizing Great Cleave, Cleaving Finish, and Down in One to do so. Against meals that refuse to go down easily, he will utilize his Savage Slam feat line to pulverize his target (or hurl them into Hungry Pits) while Dramatic Slam allows him to continue terrorizing the rest of their allies.

Morale: Galroscul's morale is a fickle thing. His loss of power leaves him vulnerable to death, something he fears immensely while his cult is fractured and weak, but he gets lost in the thrill of combat and the taste of blood to the point he often does not realize how hurt he has become until he reaches a specific hitpoint threshold which forces him to go Hog Wild. Once Hog Wild, his frenzied state sees him acting like a desperate predator alternating wildly between fight and flight depending on how often his attacks connect with their intended targets and how many of his enemies are still standing. Because Hog Wild prevents him from teleporting away, he will fight to the death if he cannot instantly spot an escape route.

------ Special Abilities ------

Dispelling Gore (Su/Sp): The runes carved across Galroscul's tusks grants his bite and gore incredible power while having a ruinous effect on all other magic. Each time he strikes a creature with his gore attack, that creature is affected by a targeted Dispel Magic. If he confirms a critical hit with his gore, the creature is affected by a targeted Greater Dispel Magic instead.

Down In One (Ex): Galroscul's jaws can briefly unhinge to quickly snap down morsels before they can even react. Once per round when reducing a creature of any size to 0 HP with his bite attack OR when confirming a critical hit against a Small or smaller creature or object with his bite attack, he may immediately swallow that creature whole without needing to make any grapple checks.

Gruesome Gullet (Ex): While his crushing and gnawing innards are usually enough to kill most foes, Galroscul has numerous stomachs he can move meals into, each capable of digesting a wide variety of material. Creatures swallowed by Galroscul take an additional 5d8 points of Acid, Cold, Fire, or Electricity each round, chosen by him; he can divide the damage types as he desires between each swallowed creature by shunting each of them into different stomachs as a free action once per round. His multitude of stomachs allow him to continue swallowing victims even after some have previously cut their way out, and their reinforced tissues benefit from his full natural AC bonus, rather than half.

Hog Wild (Ex): Galroscul has been defeated once before, and refuses to ever lose again for fear of going through the same tortures. If he begins his turn below 150 HP, as a free action he enters a frenzied state in which he cannot use any of his spell-like abilities, but he gains the Dual Initiative extraordinary ability, with his second turn immediately added to the current initiative order. When he goes Hog Wild, all creatures within 300ft must immediately save against his Frightful Presence with a -4 penalty to the saving throw, even if they had succeeded the save previously that day. While going Hog Wild, Galroscul is immune to the staggered, fatigued, and exhausted conditions, and cannot be put to sleep through any means. He remains Hog Wild for 1 minute or until the current combat ends, whichever comes first, and cannot go Hog Wild again until 24 hours pass.

Merciless Assault (Ex): Once per round, if a creature within Galroscul's reach is knocked prone or becomes shaken, frightened, or panicked, he may make an attack of opportunity against that creature. In addition, when damaging a creature with his Savage Slam feat, the damage dealt is instead equal to the natural attack he established the initial grapple with.

Nascent Demon Lord Traits: Galroscul has lost enough of his power to have been reduced to a Nascent Lord instead of a full one, and as such he has the following traits:

Immunity to charm and compulsion effects, death effects, Electricity, and poison.

Resistance to Acid 30, Cold 30, and Fire 30.

Summon (Sp): Once per day, Galroscul can summon any demon or combination of demons whose total combined CR is 20 or lower. This ability always works, and is equivalent to a 9th-level spell.

Telepathy 300 feet.

Galroscul's natural weapons, as well as any weapon he wields, are treated as Chaotic, Epic, and Evil for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Galroscul can grant spells to his worshipers, which requires no actions on his part. He grants access to the domains of Animal, Chaos, Destruction, and Evil, with the subdomains Fur, Demon, Rage, and Cannibalism. His favored 'weapon' is bite attacks.

[multi-fandomdisaster]

when do the survivors realize paul is still going to be taken over? how does everyone react?

Yo, thanks for the ask!

Naturally, it's Emma who first figures out that Paul's progressively getting worse, as she's the one who's spending the most time with him. At first it's small things, from out of place, admittedly mildly theatrical body language, to the occasional slightly musical-sounding verbal response, to him periodically hacking up a lung and coughing up blue shit, to him being unthinkingly drawn towards music whenever someone plays it, etc. For the most part, these are all written off as small goofy quirks that aren't too big of a deal, but then one day he has a temporary 180 mental shift and starts rambling on and on about how great the hive is and how they should all just give into apotheosis, and suddenly Emma is VERY AWARE of the fact that he's definitely getting worse.

At first, she hides it, both because why spread panic and also because she herself doesn't want to believe it. Plus, Paul keeps insisting that he's alright, so he's probably fine, right?

It's the first time he has one of these 180 mental shifts in front of everyone else that rumor starts to spread that maybe Paul isn't as safe to be around as everyone had been led to believe. As you can expect, tensions slowly rise from there.

I'm thinking it's roughly a year and a half later when they lose Paul entirely (although I'm terrible at setting dates in stone so this is subject to change). He's been getting a lot worse and has been falling more and more in line with the hive ideals and behaviors, but one day, he's just straight up GONE. The worst and most terrifying part is that nobody notices he's been gone until a few months later. It's only after more and more of the camp starts to portray more hive-like behaviors as Paul's been deliberately spreading the apotheosis that everyone realizes that they're fucked.

[quarkasgod]

L.t. is out of his mind. Pov Ghost.

I'd give all of my blood to you just to watch how it leaves your body. Just like that I can feel how alive you are. While your heart is beating, pumping blood through your veins, slowly pushing it from your wounds, I'd kill anyone who'd appear nearby. I have no mercy for them, no selflessness for anybody else.

While your heart is beating, you are invariably near my gunsight. Our enemies fall before they manage to notice you. Yes, bandage yourself, keep your blood inside, for me, because it's mine, for the last drop.

Somebody's gonna say I don't trust you and he will be so far from truth. There is only one certainty in me - my eyes on you. I dedicate every dead body to you, let you guide my movements while you shift to a better position.

We are military, our bodies should belong to the state, to something higher. No, not us. We are different. My whole body belongs to you, and yours to me.

Yes, pick your weapon up. Kickback. Hurts, I know. Resist it. Withstand for me, for us. We are getting out of here alive, I can see it in your eyes. Petty three hundred meters are not able to obscure your gaze. You look into me, knowing my soul lives for you. When you look like that, it feels like you have me at gunpoint. Like my life and death are in your hands entirely.

With your face, you manifest emotions to the world that I can't dare. You express all our feelings, reflecting both of us. I see with what desperate gratitude, rage and desire you direct your gaze at me, unmistakably identifying my position. I'm completely compromised, but it's already over. Short talk on the radio, what nonsense: yes, captain, all clear, meeting at extraction point in 20, yes, out.

I walk, and then run towards you. A few more seconds, two, one. And finally, I am all in your hands. Lead me, fearless warrior. Right here, surrounded by death that we both caused today, right now, we know what we want.

You inside of me, under my skin, running through my bloodstream, boosting my heart and warming my freezing hands after cold metal. Me inside of you, deep in your skull, behind your eyes, merging with your shadow, covering you, absorbing your every impatient sound.

Our sharing heat blooms on the battlefield like a flower. This is our apotheosis of war. You are my sun and I am your shadow. Endlessly.

Song for some atmosphere

[shiyorin]

#Fulgrim x Reader

#I don't know what else to say but it's just Fulgrim and the way he appreciates your beauty.

#TW: Foot fetish :v

"Hold still." Fulgrim murmured, his voice reverberating with the faintest undercurrent of reverent focus.

You didn't pay his gentle admonition any heed. You lounged indolently upon the sleekly curved divan, hair disheveled and spilling. One shapely leg kicked out at an indolent angle, sole flexing as though to dislodge the embroidered confection of ribbons and organza puddling about your ankles.

Pursing his lips, the Phoenician found himself reaching out to steady that recalcitrant limb, chiding his guest. "My dearest, you must remain composed if I'm to properly attire you."

Your eyes slitted open at that, glinting with indolent amusement. "Must I?" You reply, somehow infusing even those two simple words with silken intimations. "And why should I?"

Had it been anyone addressing him in that tone, Fulgrim might have dismissed them from his presence then and there. But not you. No, toward you he could only sigh with a mixture of exasperation and sublime fascination, conflicting psycho-sculpted vectors tugging him in myriad directions at once.

"Because this night's very important," he explained for what felt like the hundredth time that hour. And for perhaps the hundredth time as well, Fulgrim found his gaze drifting downward over the perfection of your form. From the artful tumble of shimmering tresses to the exquisite hollow of throat and collarbones, all the way down to the ... full swell of...

"You need not demean yourself so, my lord."

Your low, throaty voice rippled as the primarch of the Emperor's Children knelt before your form. Still, you made no move to halt his ministrations or avert your shapely limbs from his attentions.

"Nonsense," the Phoenician throwing you a smile that could disarm worlds. "It is no indignity to bask in sublime beauty and assist in rendering it transcendent."

A delicate smile at that polished retort. "I had expected you of all the primarchs to disdain such... posturing."

If your words landed true, Fulgrim gave no indication. He continued deftly clasping the delicate chains braided from liquid shadow composite to your mirrsilk bodysuit. Each glinting loop spilled outward like baroque silvered vines from the highly articulated armor plates protecting your ankles.

"Posturing?" The primarch arched one perfect, sculpted eyebrow in an aristocratic moue of surprise. "My dear, assisting you in accentuating your exquisite conformation is art of the highest caliber."

Fulgrim paused in trailing his masterful fingertips along the lush, flawless contours of your calf muscle. For a fleeting moment, his noble visage flickered barely perceptible acknowledgment that you had scored a glancing blow with your provocations. Just as quickly, however, that momentary pique faded beneath the Phoenician's typical aura of unshakable poise.

"I don't merely endeavor to enhance your sublime beauty out of empty ritual." he clarified, steadily working the umbrahyde ribbons further up your leg. "Rather, I seek to elevate it to the masterwork it deserves."

The primarch shook his head minutely, allowing several perfectly-coiffed strands of silken platinum to fall charmingly across his brow. He hadn't summoned his entire coterie of beautifiers and augmenated ordators for this affair, only his most trusted serfs. Adorning true, living art required focus and reverence beyond what most anyone could muster.

Pick up the ankle-length indigo striders with the same reverence as handling sanctified gene-wrought. Chemos worked every rivet and nanosynthesized composite fiber with their most skillful arts. Even on the field of apotheosis, no detail was too insignificant nor craftsmanship not elevated into a breathtaking masterpiece.

But compared to the transcendent fleshwork that would soon grace these accoutrements, their beauty paled into vapid obscurity. 

Slowly, reverently, with each appreciative caress and brush of finely wrought material over sacrosanct dermis, he felt himself descending into a blissful rapture few mortals had ever experienced.

Through of his eyes, details of imperfection normally invisible to visual spectra alone burned in blinding clarity through his primogenoid senses. Not the slightest defect escaped his adoring scrutiny as your sculpted perfection unveiled itself in achingly slow ceremony.

First the ankles, those deceptively delicate articulation nodes sutured by intricate hyper-density musculature. How he lavished upon them, worshiping every curve while his psyche greedily drank in their elegant sublimity. Then the calves, wherein bulged and beauty beyond mere human comprehension. Fulgrim's hands roamed across each subtly undulating contour and veinridge.

Next came the magnificence of your thighs, a masterwork of helice and kinesis that stole both breath and soul with its supreme proportions. Such gracious lines and mesmerizing flexion, profiles carved by a billion recursive movements and honed into perfect design.

These were the idealized aesthetics for which any crudely-conceived "masterpieces" could only ever remain a pale imitation. Your body constituted a living canvas of sacred and perfection resonating at the exalted wavelengths of universal beauty....

"You're staring again."

Your voice sliced through the contemplative silence like a razor-edged sibilance. Fulgrim blinked, only just realizing his thought.

"Apologies." the noble primarch offered with an elegant dip of his perfect features. "You'll have to forgive an artist's momentary rapture when confronted with such a breathtaking subject."

Then, with a courtly flourish utterly at odds with his preceding transformation, the Lord of the Third raised your fingers to his full, sensuous lips. Jeweled irises of amethyst glowed with inner luminescence as he pressed a kiss to your silk glove.

"Come." he urged. "They await an introduction..."

[atamascolily]

The mirror crack'd from side to side; 'The curse is come upon me,' cried The Lady of Shalott. --Alfred Lord Tennyson

One thing that I appreciate about the ending of Rebellion is how reality literally splinters when Homura grabs Madokami's hands. It's such a visceral and compelling way to illustrate what is happening as everything that we took as "real" falls apart. This isn't quite what people mean by "breaking the fourth wall," but it's a similar effect, as it draws attention to an invisible barrier that we in the audience didn't even realize was there until it was broken. And of course it mirrors--pun 100% intended--the shattering of Homura's own soul gem moments earlier because any distinction between them no longer exists.

We often talk about a "mirrorverse" (thanks, Star Trek!) as a parallel universe where everything is reversed/inverted, but isn't that exactly what Homura has created here--a mirror universe?

And with the mirror come reflections. Lots of them. Everything is doubled, again and again.

It culminates with the tearing apart of Madoka from the Law of Cycles, complete with the sound of breaking glass.

What I hadn't quite realized before I watched this scene in slow motion is that as the glass continues to crack, it ends up forming a shape very similar to Homura's own soul gem--both have simultaneously broken and re-formed. (Note that even with all the "cracks", a series of nested diamonds--Homura's signature visual motif--are visible within it.) Only then do the "curses" come out and envelop everything...

...which leads to this fascinating series of everyone and their reflections being swallowed up.

I'm not quite sure how to interpret what happens next, but there's actually two parts: a crystalline structure that comes first, followed by the "curses" themselves.

Both end up covering the universe--but the "curses" end up forming a shield-like design while the mirror fragments/crystals remain in place.

Then, of course, Homura shatters her soul gem in her mouth, and it re-forms into Dark Orb (omg, I cannot write that with a straight face), which is basically the same thing that we already witnessed with a different set of symbols. At this point, the cracked glass imagery disappears, having fulfilled its purpose: the universe might be different now, a mirror version of what it once was, but it's no longer broken because it has been remade.

Breaking soul gems/glass is a major visual theme in Rebellion--Homura shatters her own soul gem with a bullet (doesn't take, because it was never real to begin with) and she and Madoka shattered the soul-gem shaped glass "bell jar" the Incubators have put her in--and here it reaches its apotheosis along with Homura, in a compact and striking sequence. On first watch, this scene feels like it comes out of nowhere, but on reflection (sorry not sorry), it's clear the entire movie was building towards this moment from the beginning.

I initially didn't read too much into the first key visual for Walpurgis no Kaiten because I assumed it was a placeholder from footage already on hand because they hadn't actually made the movie yet, but looking at it again in light of this discussion makes me reconsider my stance. This is not to say that I think this particular image will necessarily appear in the movie, but it does tie into the themes established in Rebellion of broken reality symbolized by a cracked mirror, and of Devil Homura reaching out to Madoka (hands again!) but being unable to connect because of a barrier between them, one that Homura no longer can control. However, my guess is that Walpurgis no Kaiten will express these same themes with unique and different imagery rather than completely re-hashing that of Rebellion.

That said, we're clearly not done with this theme entirely, because the second key visual has Homura facing off against a mirror version (mirrorverse?) of herself.

(in light of this discussion of cracked glass re-forming, that salamander head on the phone starts to make a lot more sense)

Furthermore, the trailer heavily features inverted/backwards writing, which also ties into Tarot symbolism and the concept of "reversed" cards--again emphasizing mirrors and mirror images. If Rebellion had echoes of Alice in Wonderland, it sure seems like Walpurgis no Kaiten is going for Through the Looking-Glass!

All the mirror/double imagery in Walpurgis no Kaiten didn't come out of nowhere--like so much of the movie, it appears to have been subtly foreshadowed in Rebellion, and is almost certainly a direct consequence of Homura's actions in this particular scene. All actions have consequences, and we'll find out what they are in the next movie.

tl;dr: It's all done with mirrors. :)

[tagedeszorns]

Really liking the new Eidolon novel so far (50% read-live-review)!

Obviously - spoilers for "Eidolon - The Auric Hammer"!

Collins retcons quite a few things about the Lord Commander Primus - so Eidolon now joins ranks with Sanguinius' hair colour, Fulgrim's eyes or Lucius' first death.

In that case: Our beloved screamy guy is no longer a chemosian noble, but terran. And even joins the ranks of the famous 200! (muffled angry Fabius-noises in the background)

At first I had quite a few problems with it. As I had considerable difficulty engaging with the book in general, as it starts in a very cookie cutter way - the Third Legion gets its all too familiar glaze brushed over it (you know, like, "depravity" ...) and I had a few nasty flashbacks to the less talented writers who have had their way with Fulgrim's sons in the past.

But gradually Collins shakes off this stuffy mantle and finds a language of his own. Which, to my immense delight, reminds me a lot of Josh Reynolds! He's not quite ready to give the characters the degree of autonomy and depth that makes Reynolds' protagonists so interesting down to the last supporting role, but he's making great strides towards the dry melancholy and sarcastic tragedy that have made the Fabius books and the Fulgrim Primarch novel such a distinctive pleasure to read.

And honestly - he had me with this amusing nod to Tennyson!

‘Some weakling brother who yearned to follow the primarch, I imagine. There are countless of them. Lotus-eating fools who would have followed Julius into yet deeper madnesses. No use at all, unless you required someone to run at the enemy screaming of their own apotheosis. You were meat, once. Now you are just a figment.’

Marc Collins. Eidolon: The Auric Hammer

That's why I'm now embarking on the second half of the novel with renewed enthusiasm. In the constant hope that my favourite Astartes might now once again have an author who loves them as much as I do and who can do justice to their tragic grandeur.

"Courage!" he said, and pointed toward the land, "This mounting wave will roll us shoreward soon." In the afternoon they came unto a land In which it seemed always afternoon. All round the coast the languid air did swoon, Breathing like one that hath a weary dream. Full-faced above the valley stood the moon; And like a downward smoke, the slender stream Along the cliff to fall and pause and fall did seem.

[doomed-era]

For the chapter title thing, I'm curious about Apotheosis! Tbh had never heard of that word before reading that chapter, so thank you for expanding my vocabulary haha

Oh yeah! It's a very fun word, and not commonly used (for good reason; people don't ascend to divinity just every day)

This is the chapter where Link tries to stab Zelda. So, the reason for naming the chapter "Apotheosis" is twofold, based on two common uses of the word. In Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey (haha hero. HAHA), the apotheosis is the peak of the action, where the protagonist comes to a realization that changes everything. Then, of course, there's the standard definition, a person ascending to godhood or being revered as a god. Both uses of the word are ironic, in this chapter's case. The fic isn't following the structure of "the monomyth" at all, though it is where the protagonist makes an important realization, and there is no ascension-- rather, there is the opposite, as Link is forced to see Zelda for the human being that she is, and has his own apparent "godhood" taken from him. It ties into some of his primary flaws: his inability to see anything but "the big picture," his obsession with his own "purpose," and his refusal to see himself as a person.

Okay I am not going to go into a full breakdown of Link's mental state in this chapter I PROMISE but I really do have a lot to say about it and just. the chapter. Mostly about the Ganon battle and the thing right after. So uhh more under the cut. (Mental illness/suicide mention as well)

Still, he could not let it live, for the good of the kingdom and its people. But what good did the kingdom do? He had never seen it, and though its ruins were everywhere, the people he knew were happy without its dominion. They admired the vessel, they adored her, even, but what did she provide them with? ...Above all else, Hylia and her kin wanted control. If the power of the gods could be replicated, then what was a god? The technology was blasphemy: a challenge to an ancient order engraved on their souls, so it was discarded, left to rot...

This is actually one of the few paragraphs where I sort of (?) agree with my own protagonist. Uh...surprise, I guess? There are a few key things to see here, namely that he's noting the negative impact of both Ganon and the Royal Family, the two other members of the "cycle." He fails, of course, to see his own contribution to their destruction. Link may be under Hylia's control, and he is a victim of abuse, but he is still responsible for his own actions (which is a major theme of GBoH!!! victims are rarely perfect people and it doesn't make them less of a victim!! victims can hurt people and become the people who hurt them cycles of violence etc etc etc frothing at the mo)

His head burned. This monster had taken everything away from him. It would never land another blow on anyone he knew, in this life or the next. Maybe there wouldn't be a need for another life. What if he could stop it for good? Link pulled himself up and jammed his sword into the eye on Ganon's shoulder, twice for good measure. The voices shouted orders, praise, goading him towards the finish. They clanged and clanged and clanged, the frantic cacophony blurring together until it became nothing but nonsense. Today this would end. The cosmic gears would crack, then shatter, and finally everything would be at peace.

He's doing the thing again, but he's MUCH more clear about his intentions here. Guy wants to end the cycle. He's aware that Hylia and her vessel will probably put up a fight, but he doesn't care anymore. He's The Hero(tm), and he's going to finally put an end to all this suffering because He's Important and He's the Only One That Can, Probably. But yeah he kind of wants to die. Ish. Link's never really been suicidal, but at this point he's very apathetic about death. It's why he lets himself fall later in the chapter; he just...doesn't care anymore. There's also his thought that if he dies he'll just reincarnate and have to go through this all over again which has prevented him from being too doom and gloom in the past about it.

Link saw the vessel's hand around his wrist. It was shaking. He blinked, and their eyes met, gold on green. He had never seen her face before. Her features were soft, but her nose was slightly pointed– a gentler version of the king's nose, and with the same pride he had in his facial features, stifled though it was. Black ooze stuck to her cheek, and traveled down her right side, where it sagged on the tips of her fingers.

Zelda :^) I wanted to mention she had Rhoam's nose (even though she doesn't in canon, I know) because it adds an extra level of humanization to her in Link's mind. There is a slight layer of me griping at Nintendo for making Zelda too much of a pretty princess damsel after her arc in BOTW and also just trying wayyy too hard to make her cute and conventionally attractive in general but we'll save that rant for another time. you have all of these interestingly designed npcs (yes even girls) but the main characters stick out like plastic surgery'd sore thumbs. god.

After I chose you. I told you that you had a purpose, to encourage you, and you twisted it, because in the end you were nothing but a murderous little wretch. Well, I'll tell you the truth. The spirit of the hero left you long ago. The only reason that sword accepted you was that I willed it to. Touch it again, and you will feel its righteous fury. 

Last Hylia lines as of now YAY!! Anyway this wasn't planned until pretty late in the writing process and I think it's pretty fun. It also mirrors some abusive religious institutions and how they will say you were a faker all along if you leave :)

Okay that's probably enough I know I love to yap!!! But thank you for bearing with me if you read this far lmao I enjoy putting a lot of thought into this kind of thing

[alan-in-the-outernet]

Confined (In Your Infinity)

———————————————————————————-

Sometimes, Alan can feel it.

Light and War.

He feels.. something other than his humanity lingering just beneath his skin, threatening to break out.

Sometimes he looks towards the stars and feels like he can touch them, —gathering the stars beneath His wings, feeling the Light gathering around Him—

It’s.. getting harder to focus on the (feeble) world around him, in the day, he looks towards the sky and sees —the worlds beyond, the stars and nebula and quasars and felt they were apart of Him—

The stars and light keep surrounding His vision..

Noogai doesn’t get it.

Whenever they speak, He doesn’t understand, of course He doesn’t, He doesn’t understand the feeling of being in a mortal (weak) body, feeling pure Light and power pooling into your soul, attempting to burst free.

No— He considers this normal, how He has always felt, He feels it all, after all.

The— voices whispering in His mind, prayers and pleas and cries and wishes and hopes covering His thoughts—

No, Noogai doesn’t understand mortality, He is a God, Alan is(n’t).

It’s feels strange to speak, when he expects to hear— beautiful bells, the voice of Light and warmth and power— and simply hears a (grating) normal voice.

He doesn’t expect to feel his fingers and not— energy pooling around Him, the Universe bowing before Him in reverence—

It scares him. The Light is power, and he knows if he treads to close, he will be swallowed inside.

When he grabs for the light switch, and not —pure magic bubbling in His hand, light flowing through his fingertips and eyes—

When he gets attacked and knows—exactly how to kill a man, how to command a battalion of soldiers with ease—..

It’s.. tiring.

Sometimes he wishes to fall into it, and become it, Light and War.. It would be so easy.

Maybe He should.

———————————————————————————-

Ough... this is so... just... amazing. Probably how it would honestly be... either in later canon apotheosis, or in... well. Evil Noogai, with Him trying to reach out to Alan, in a sense... wanting to truly, fully, be one...

Terrifying... ough..

[jonsnowunemploymentera]

The similarities between Julius Caesar’s assassination and the Ides of Marsh are well documented in fandom. It’s also generally agreed that the fall of the Night’s Watch will mirror the fall of the Roman Republic, which was quite ironically brought on by Caesar’s death. But I never see it acknowledged that Julius Caesar, some time after the establishment of Octavian’s Augustus’ rule, became deified (meaning that he was worshipped as a god or to put it bluntly, Julius Caesar ascended to godhood).

What does this have to do with Jon Snow? Well, apotheosis (1, 2) is one of the most important stages that comes towards the end of a hero’s journey. Here, the hero reaches some higher level of understanding or personhood, and this allows them to complete the hardest trials still to come in their journey. We see mental changes, but these could also be accompanied by physical changes. A good example of this in high fantasy is Gandalf’s death and return as Gandalf the White. In other myths and stories, we can point to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In ASOIAF, we have mini versions of this with Bran Stark and Jojen Reed, two children who experience life or death situations but came back with heightened magical power (Bran especially).

Jon Snow is currently at his “journey to the underworld”/“belly of the whale” moment, where he is to (presumably) face his greatest trials. Apotheosis usually comes after this stage (and is often preceded by other stages such as the “meeting of the goddess” and “atonement with the father”, both of which could very well appear in Jon’s journey as he learns of his true identity and purpose).

But what would apotheosis mean for Jon? That’s the key question. He is sure to experience profound mental changes and trauma, but these are sure to be accompanied by great magical changes that manifest physically. In the same way that Bran came out of his coma and started his journey as the last greenseer (well, once Bloodraven kicks the bucket), Jon is sure to come out of his death experience a far more powerful being. The thing is that Jon needs to change into the hero Westeros needs and the magical act of dying and coming back to life should play a role in that.

However, it won’t all be fine and dandy for him. GRRM has criticized Gandalf’s return where he seemingly came back to life better than ever with no great effects. In the same way that Jon is literally experiencing a descent into the underworld (a step that is sometimes figurative for many modern heroes), we can also ascertain that he will experience a very literal ascension into godhood (or the closest thing we have to that in ASOIAF). But magic always comes with a price. And whatever sort of “god” Jon turns into post-resurrection, he won’t be a very pretty one.

[floral-moon-light]

Ok, so I have seen bits and pieces of the different routes for Slay the Princess (no I have not played the game, and no, I don't mind spoiling routes to myself, it will not break my experience), and one thing I'm honestly surprised about is how little the "kill yourself" thing seems to be used. As I have been able to pull from different sources, there are only 2 major times it is used; the first is when you would be forced to sit in the cabin after the princess is dead, the second being to kill the ghost princess. Note, I do not consider the death on the damsel route because technically it is not the player choosing to kill themselves. And i don't know if the apotheosis route self kill can be considered because she is influencing you to end yourself.

Why is the "slay yourself" function not used more? Your actions relating to the princess affect how she acts with you in further routs, so killing yourself without killing her should do the same. After all, this is a love story right? And love stories don't just consider how you act to your partner, but also to yourself. So, a quiet that kills themselves instead of the princess should cause a reaction for the princess. Maybe a "first princess" like the stranger who reacts to the knife in fear, but not for herself, but relating to you. It could lead to more "caring" routs, like a doctor esk route where the princess is trying to figure out what is wrong with you, or a rout where the princess becomes indifferent towards you and offeres a clean seperation after the both of you leave the cabin where you don't have to be together after because it is clear you are not compatible.

Another piece of this could relate to the Nightmare and the moment of clarity, where the "moment of clarity" causes a change where instead of the voices disappearing, the long quiet feels like they are resting and have slotted themselves into themselves, and they say they look battered and bruised, but not yet dead. And in the next route after the Nightmare they can ask the question "do you remember?" whitch can bring more voices out instead of just the hero, because past relationships can color how people view their next relationship, make them see danger where there isn't, make them scared of love or fall harder, make them hurt themselves in an atempt to please their current spouce or be more indiferent in the relationship.

I know part of each route is supposed to be forgetting all that happened in the last route, but that can't fully be the case, after all, you aren't allowed to repeat routes, so you at the least have to know you've done something like that route before, maybe something like remembering something you did in the past but not remembering it clearly. Like foggly remembering your past relationships.

And with these new routs it can lead to a new ending thing where the long quiet isn't scared for the little people out there but is scared of how the princess would treat them once the both of you get out, after all, you have both hurt eachother , and despite being change it doesn't seem like she will ever stop hurting you if you make one mistake. So maybe quiet can yell something like "and how do i know you won't just kill me once we are out! You and your parts have proven time and time again that you only care for your freedom! You don't care how you get it! You don't care i was forced to act the way i did because of the stupid man who tore us in two! You only cared about getting parts for yourself to make yourself whole without giving me an actual chance to understand myself in this!" after all, the long quiet never got to look at what was going on in a rout, they had to keep making decisions in the moment, no time to let them cool off, no time to think rationaly, look at the outcomes that could happen.

And maybe from it, the mound realizes that while she is whole, you are still fractured and broken. So, as a god, she offered for her to reset the construct, so perhaps next time you can put your own pieces back together.

It's just a thought. Have fun with it.

[littlestpersimmon]

Gnawing on my arm so hard it falls off.. thinking again.. about how Marika splits herself apart, with her destruction of the elden ring, and how Radagon worked towards its preservation, it's repair, his resistance toward change; and thinking about Miquella mirrors this- he amputates every part of him that was in the way of his apotheosis, he becomes St. Trina the way Marika was also Radagon, and St. Trina is herself the way Radagon is himself- they were in opposition to their other half, opposition to another, new age, at the expense of themselves, his mother's sapling, under the shadow of the erdtree.

[thedragonagelesbian]

Let's go most devastating first. The World for Cyrus

how dare you....

Rook Tarot Ask Game

The World: What does happily-ever-after look like for Rook? Is it attainable, or just wishful thinking?

For a lot of the game, Cyrus' happily-ever-after is for everything to Stop long enough for him to build a home with Varric. I think before the ritual went to shit, they always talked about getting a place in D'Meta's Crossing so Cyrus could still be close to Arlathan Forest & Clan Morlyn, with Varric as his very content stay-at-home husband/writer/village bard/local gossip (BioWare keeps putting him in places that Aren't Taverns when he was so clearly meant to sit around a fire with a flagon of beer & a pipe telling tall tales to passerbys & "resting his eyes" from time to time). Even after seeing the terrible devastation wrought there by Ghilan'nain, Cyrus keeps holding on to that fantasy of returning there, burning the blight away, rebuilding the town in a way he never got to with Kirkwall, and getting to live happily ever after with Varric.

And then. Um. All that vanishes in the aftermath of the Blood of Arlathan/the psychic strain of having both Solas & Elgarn'nan in his head.

Cyrus doesn't have a happily-ever-after in mind after that. His sense of self is still so bound up in having another person within whom to find a purpose, and no matter how much the world tried to tear him apart, he always had that in Varric, even at his absolute lowest. Without him...? All he can bear to do is keep moving forward, one step at a time, without knowing what he's moving toward. He just knows that if he stops he'll lose himself and the whole world too.

For a short time, of course, Cyrus has another person and another purpose in Lace, but she falls at Tearstone Island, and Cyrus just has to keep going, and then by some miracle the day is won and the world is saved and he still has no idea what to do afterward.

And quite frankly I'm not sure how his story wraps up from there either. There are a bunch of different directions I could see things going, among the most salient are:

(a) by a miracle of the Stone, Lace actually survived Tearstone Island and became something a little more lyrium wraith/kal-brytol-ish; the two of them reunite, take some time to themselves to cope with everything that's happened, and eventually relocate to ferelden

(b) restless & desperate for direction & unable to settle back into normalcy, cyrus willingly returns to the fade on his own to seek out the fragmented remains of the rest of the evanuris in the black city (at that point, being just sylaise and a reamalgamation of falon'din and dirthamen, abstracted spirits once more). this route would include the potential for cyrus to stay in/assimilate into the fade himself, much like lavellan in the solavellan ending, releasing himself from that pesky weight of being a person with a body in a kind of apotheosis that would've been terrifying to any other iteration of the character but seems peaceful to this one

(c) cyrus disappears suddenly and dramatically after the final fight and doesn't appear again until several years later in the repatriated & recovering dales with merrill. he spends those liminal years wandering from place to place, visiting friends, helping here and there, extending a hand to any who would ask something of him, but mostly learning how to live & be alone. he isn't in the end, of course, he still always has the kirkwall crew and the veilguard, and he finds a new community in the dales, but he needed to take that time to himself to mourn & rebuild his sense of self outside of crisis. seeing thedas recover from this apocalypse gives him hope that he'll recover from it too.