#for context all the people in this world are animated by life magic and having a kid basically means clipping off some of your own

[fumifooms]

Rin, smiling, and nagging

Rinsha Fana’s character is summarized in a couple facts thrown here and there. Because she worries for him, she follows Kabru to help his cause and protect him, and to nag him. She’s a grumpy angry tsundere, but it seems not only rooted in her attitude but on a deep rooted physical level, to the point where any intense emotion she feels will make her frown and scowl even if it’s genuine joy. Her childhood was half spent ostracized in the tallman community her family lived in and half with the elves, where she’s said to have been treated like an animal.

We don’t know how she was raised exactly or who it even was, but knowing she was "treated like an animal" by the elves taking care of her…

Elves are shown to have a highly hierarchical society, not only with their concern with status such as nobility and the purity of bloodlines but also reflected by its social culture imo. They have high society and etiquette, upmost devotion to the queen, very role-oriented, like cogs in a machine, and as such, it’s a bit skewed since most of what we see of the elves is in a military context with military people but they seem to value having emotions under lock and key to be efficient and not bring dishonor, Flamela is an interesting character on this. Don’t be a bother and do your job until you’re called on, fulfill your role, everything else is extra at best inconvenient at worst.

Personally I do think the canaries kept Rin, it’d make sense that whichever canaries got stuck with the job at the headquarters would be barebones with her and treat her like an ‘impounded article’, they couldn’t find another place for her and this way they can get her report on the events whenever she can speak again in however many years, and this way it makes sense that she could keep in touch with Kabru too. They’re used to prisoners, not kids. Being raised in a military context rather than at some orphanage would shape her further.

All of this to say…

She’d already seen the world’s harshness to those who don’t conform in her hometown, but with the elves? Her disdain for those who had formal education at a magic school?

Wouldn’t she become very concerned with proving she is not an animal, proving that she’s smart and skilled in her own right on her own merit, even without schooling. And to do this she nitpicks and nitpicks, because even being pristine isn’t enough to be respected, but at least it’s not giving others reasons to disrespect and dehumanize her. Learning to school her emotions, to scowl as a defense mechanism because anything else makes her vulnerable, because they don’t care about her as a person with feelings, because showing other expressions was dangerous or punished in some way: because it was fit in or don’t fit in and that’s the difference between having your house burnt down and being tolerated, between getting her food or having her questions answered and being yelled at to shut up… Because all her life she’s been surviving in hostile social environments and at the mercy of others, but unlike Kabru she doesn’t become a people pleaser but becomes very self-reliant and wary of socializing.

So she nitpicks and nitpicks and nags, because she’s worried. Because flaws are dangerous. So she has a hard time smiling and laughing, because it’s dangerous to allow yourself to feel safe in being authentic.

It would be nice…

Is my red, red enough? I'm waiting for your teeth at my throat. It’s only good manners. -Stephanie Valente 

[felassan]

July 22nd DA:TV Game Informer article (their last DA:TV coverage article) on Everything we Know about Bellara - cliff notes:

Bellara is Dalish elf (played by Jee Young Han as we know). There might be more to her than meets the eye

"Now, with two of [the elven] gods on the loose, magic has poured back into the world in a big way"

CC is expansive

Bellara is the first companion we will recruit (Neve and Harding join automatically it seems)

She is a mage, a Veil Jumper (who she represents), quirky, energetic, effervescent, optimistic, bubbly, academic, a tinkerer, an explorer of ancient elven ruins

John Epler wrote her and led her development, and collective team effort from lots of departments brought her to life

The BW team really love her

Gary McKay quote: "I love Bellara, I think she's fantastic. I see people that I know in her and so that's how she really resonates with me. I love the whole tinkerer aspect to her. It was a collective to bring that character to life. It was everything from the writers, to the editors, the animators, to character modelers, to the texturing, to how we light her. I'm really proud of that character."

She is a good choice in combat for both support and elemental combos. She starts out as a support character, but can be built in other ways

She attacks with a bow at range using electrically-charged arrows. She can also cast time-slow and healing spells (she can be built to heal Rook autonomously). She does this by channeling magical energy into her gauntlet

As such she leans into electrical damage

Damage type matters a lot in the strategy and tactics of combat

She can unleash a devastating vortex to pull enemies into an electrical storm (an AOE spell)

She can debuff enemies with the shocked affliction, which makes them take passive damage

Corinne Busche quote: "Oh my goodness, she is amazing. [The Veil Jumpers] investigate the ancient ruins of Arlathan. Everything about her character as a mage leans into that, but she also challenges the kind of archetypal idea of a mage."

The Veil Jumpers journey through Arlathan where the ancient empire used to exist and left a lot of artifacts and magical technology behind when it disappeared

Bellara represents this yearning to find the truth of who the elves were after they lost their magic, immortality and a lot of their history

"they still left a lot of their artifacts and a lot of their, for lack of a better term, magical technology behind"

John Epler quote: "A lot of what they know of their past is based on myth, it's based on rumor. Bellara is a knowledge seeker. She wants to find out what's true, what's not; she wants to find the pieces of who the elves used to be and really understand what their story was, where they came from, as well as figure out where they're going next, and find a future for the elves. And within the context of The Veilguard, she joins the team, first of all, to help stop the gods because Bellara feels at least partially responsible since they are elven gods, but also to maybe find a little bit more of who they used to be. Because again, you're dealing with these elves that were around millennia ago that have now reemerged into the world, and who better to teach her who the elves used to be than them."

Magic's place in the world in DA:TV differs from prior games. In Tevinter and other spaces in DA:TV it's much more present by definition and the lore (though the devs wanted to make sure magic didn't violate previously-established lore rules)

Solas is a "determined and tragic character" who "tends to wallow". [nb, these are quotes from the article]. in contrast, Bellara has seen a lot of tragedy in her backstory (we will see this as we get into her arc), but instead of wallowing, she has forced herself to push past it. "She looks at her regrets, and she tells herself, 'I don't want to feel regret'

John: "Whereas again, Solas tends to wallow in his to a large degree. And it allows us to create a very big differentiation. Part of it is also because Solas is an ancient elf, whereas Bellara is a Dalish elf, but she just sees a problem and wants to solve it. She feels a tremendous amount of responsibility to her people [...] to the Dalish, and to the Veil Jumpers, and that drives her forward. That said, she does have her moments where she has doubt, she has moments where she has a more grim outlook, and there are moments where you realize that some of her sunny, optimistic outlook is kind of a mask that she puts on to hide the fact that she's hurting, she's in pain. But in general, she doesn't see any benefit to wallowing in those regrets."

[source]

[earthnashes]

Hello there! If I may ask about your oc Sakura, how did you go about conceptualizing her? Was there any characters or media that inspired her design? How did her character change to what it is now? Apologies for this many questions, feel free to choose just one when you have time; love your work!

Hello! You may indeed ask about my baby! 🥹

So for context, Feathers and Flowers' birthing concept was about a girl summoning a demon because she was lonely but too shy to make her own friends, so she concludes summoning a demon would somehow be easier. In that iteration of the story, Sakura was meant to be a side character; a friend to the main characters that acted as the ultimate foil to basically everyone around her. She combated Kaela's crippling anxiety by being confident and overwhelmingly outgoing, contrasted Evangeline's bossy, bitchy attitude with being kind and friendly, and be the opposite of Mal's stoic, silent character with being expressive and chatty. I also needed a character that could conveniently know enough about niche media to reasonably be able to help Kaela summon her demon in the first place, so I ended up making her a huge geek: she loved anime, video games, and had knowledge on obscure things... including occult summonings xD

So I worked off that idea to form her appearance. Again her core direction was to be a foil to all of the main cast: Kaela was short and soft. Evangeline was tall and thin. Mal was tal and hard. I wanted Sakura to be the biggest character, so she originally started started out compact and wide. Her face was what I started with: I wanted her to look somewhat like an anime character, and her inspiration was based off of the older episodes of Dragonball, Pokemon, Tenchi Muyo, Ranma, Inuyasha. I basically wanted her to have Goku vibes (his wide dark eyes, his big smile, his open and easy personality) but with Inuyasha's hairstyle (she originally had long hair).

But then the story changed; it wasn't about a demon being summoned in a silly slice-of-life story but a Spirit getting lost in a magical modern era, still very much slice of life.

That ultimately shifted Sakura's design into something more athletic; football specifically. I wanted her to keep her dorky traits but pair it with the popular star athlete trope, so she became leaner, taller, and more "top heavy". She also became more oblivious; she remained sweet and friendly and outgoing, but in turn she didn't understand when someone liked her. In fact she was later canonized to be asexual originally didn't have romance planned for her character.

Fastforward to now: the story of F&F has changed again. While the core remains mostly the same (found family), it ironically shifted into something much closer to one of the earlier concepts of the story; something more serious and not slice of life, something that focuses more on the good and bad of a world instead of being predominantly lighthearted. So with that change the characters had to get a tune-up to their characterizations. Sakura received the biggest change, I think.

Her core remains true: she's relentlessly kind, expressive, a dork. But I decided to make that her biggest strength and her biggest flaw, as well as making her loving personality be conflicted by how the world views her by changing her appearance. That's how we get current Sakura: she's kind, she's loving, she wants to help others. But people think she's a threat, a ticking timebomb, because of what she is. So her once open smile is now more manufactured, a wall to protect herself, a farce to try and make herself look less like a threat. She's now a pushover; she can't establish her boundaries without it being misinterpreted as being aggressive, so her coping mechanism is to grin and bear it. She can't get visiblt upset or angry, so she has to fight for calm to have even the smallest chance of being listened to. She's "nice" because it's all she's allowed to be.

Hence her appearance change! She is now the largest character in the main roster, the physically strongest. Her smile is now "tainted" by sabre teeth she can't hide, her size contradicts her gentle nature.

It's late for me so I'm sure I forgot a few things but that's what I got for now! If you're interested I could show older concept work of Sakura to illustrate how she looked then vs how she looks now too. But ye! Thank you so much for asking about my character! 🥹🙏

[dark-lord-of-awesomeness]

its me! from the "you made me sad do it again" ask! and i wanted to actually ask a thing now

from the same context of dead shapeshifter stanley, what would ford's reaction be? asking for bed time scenarios reasons /hj

First off, denial. He doesn't know this stranger, and there's no way Stan's dead, and they don't even have a body!

This would lead him to try and find Stan through magical means, then get angry when everything comes back with the 'he's dead' response. Then he'd probably stumble upon the truth, that his brother was a shapeshifter, and now he's dead. All those childhood games had been real, and the bad guys finally got his brother.

This is where it gets a bit tricky. He's got all of Stan's things and money, so he's gonna fall into a depressive slump, just going through boxes of clothes and knick knacks, trying to figure out the kind of person Stan was and trying not to have a break down. Then it could go two ways

Classic FrankenStan, where Ford hunts down his brothers body, drags it back to Gravity Falls, and tries to bring him back to life. I don't see it ending well for him, because Stan's not human, didn't leave a ghost, and has been dead for a while, so this would just lead to him having a break down.If he did succeed, Stan would be so traumatized from dying and then being brought back to life, kind of a mess for a while and not able to sustain any kind of stable form for at least a month. At some point his base kid form would be revealed, and hed get stuck like that, clinging to Ford and trying to accept the fact his brother just defied God or something. After a year or so he'd finally manage to shift again. He'd definitely contact Maurice, whod show up like an avenging angel and grill Ford on whatever it was he did to their precious special spawn, then hover over them for almost a month, because necromancy is tricky and could have side effects on shapeshifters and no other reason! (Ford def catches them hovering over Stan's sleeping form, watching him breathe several times. Then joins him. If at any point they wake Stan up, he will scream)

The other would be the stages of grief, then just. Moving on with his life. Bill would still happen, but maybe with the added bonus if 'oh I can totally bring your bro back', adding to the desperation of finishing the portal, and making the betrayal so much worse. Shifty would also go down even better here, because he knows already that shapeshifters aren't animals or evil, just people.

Eventually the Bill situation would get resolved, and Stan would still be dead, but at least he has his son, and all of Stan's things. It'd probably go similar to better world Ford, where he fixes the portal and becomes famous. He'd probably try to find more shapeshifters who knew Stan and try and ask them things about him to figure out what he'd been like as an adult. Have his own little Stan shrine in his house, full of all their photos and things, where he goes and pretends Stan's there, and talks to him.

I can see him creating a shapeshifter help center, for those that want to leave their more dangerous lifestyles or for young shapeshifters to get support. (He can't get revenge on all the people who wronged his brother after all. For some reason, they're all already dead)

[mostly-magical-polls]

You are not a magical girl. A magical girl is given magic powers by a supernatural entity, often accompanied by being given a magical object and having a transformation physically. You practice standard Tiktokified witchcraft ripped out of its' cultural context and original sources wherein things are thrown together and assumed to work for a magical purpose with no knowledge of why they would, what culture came up with the idea, or what the old pagan community thinks about it. There's no deity or supernatural entity who gave you magical powers. You got your "magic" via watching some Tiktoks and scrolling through tumblr.

That is not the same thing as being a magical girl. It's just paganism, watered down as hard as possible in order to avoid thinking, reflecting or doing the reading. There is no such thing as an IRL magical girl. You call yourself that because you lack confidence in your paganism and need to self-soothe by calling it something you think sounds cool. You call yourself that because you're so over-invested in a genre of fiction that you need to pretend everything you do somehow pertains to this genre of fiction.

Magical girls are not real. Anime isn't reality. You are not a magical girl. You are a flesh and blood, real, living human being. Your therapist knows you're too far gone to be saved when it comes to this, so they're too polite to tell you this outright. But it needs to be said: no, you're not an IRL magical girl. You're someone who has to use terms like that to hype yourself up to get through the day out of a need for validation, instead of finding validation and confidence in your actual strengths and accomplishments the way a mentally healthy person does.

"I don't see how this is different from people who say they talk to God" this is a lie. A person who prays to God doesn't go, "This makes me the exact same as a fictional character from a genre of anime I like!" They go, "This makes me a follower of [insert religion here]." No Hindu says that prayer makes them like Goku and no Muslim says that prayer makes them a Gundam pilot IRL.

I know reality is scary. But you're not helping yourself by denying it. You're only going to make it worse when shit hits the fan and you have to deal with the realization that no amount of, "I'm a magical girl!" is going to soothe over the pain you're feeling. This is not a good or healthy coping mechanism. This is a coping mechanism that encourages you to think of anime and reality as more or less the same thing. That means that when real life hits, it hits you much, much harder than it does someone whose paganism is based in a reality-centric approach. A Wiccan or an Asatru person wouldn't have that awful moment where it hits that no, they're not like Sailor Moon IRL and they're not Madoka Kaname but real. Their spiritual paths involve addressing their real life problems, reflecting on them, doing magic and standing firm in their beliefs. There is no need to tell themselves they're functionally an IRL Precure. They have confidence and pride in who they are, not in what kind of anime character they would like to be.

I used to hide from reality too, when my anxiety disorder was untreated. It didn't help. It didn't fix anything. Entertainment will not be your salvation. You won't learn how to deal with the real world by pretending that you're just like an anime character. You are something much better than an anime character - a real person. There's nothing wrong with that. Embrace it.

You are not a magical girl. And that's a good thing.

imagine hoppin in my inbox just to say all this. fuck off im literally just having fun.

[hopeymchope]

The utter brilliance of Castlevania: Nocturne S1 (and the fucking pox of right-wing YouTubers)

I just rewatched Castelvania: Nocturne's first season, and it's so fucking excellent. Upon first viewing, I already thought it was probably the second-best season of animated Castlevania, but now? I think it's probably the best one.

The character relationships offer so much drama and emotion. The dialogue is both clever/witty AND moving. The directing of the action sequences has always been top-tier on this show, but the vocal performances make them even more engaging and involving. The way they've infused historical context into the story is absolutely brilliant.

Some of the weird story decisions RE: Dracula at the end of the first series' fourth season (not unsatisfying decisions, mind you, but still just... bizarre, if you're adapting this franchise) really stuck the writers in a weird position as far as how to move forward. I could think of maybe three solid possibilities: one which would undermine the ending of S4 completely, one which would require a HUGE leap forward into the modern day, and the third? Is basically what they did.

Bringing in Erzebet Bathory, the primary antagonist of Castlevania: Bloodlines, was certainly a valid approach for how to deal with the Dracula situation. Applying her to the Rondo of Blood/Symphony of the Night era is surprising, but not terribly so; it's not like her historical counterpart didn't already exist. I have some qualms with HOW they did this (why is she Russian now instead of Hungarian.... ?), but there's no denying that she serves as an effective antagonist.

Look at that; that's literally Maria's design in "Nocturne" right there.

As a fan of the games, this is obviously a different world but still an extremely familiar one. Seasons 3 and 4 of the first series felt like we were drifting farther and farther away from our roots in the games, but Nocturne brings us closer to that inspiration again. Richter and Maria look like they stepped right out of the PSP's "Dracula X Chronicles," with their costumes nearly identical... though of course, Richter eventually adds and embraces the headband from his original "Rondo" design. Maria is just a handful of years older than she is in Rondo/Dracula X Chronicles, allowing her to be far less of the out-of-place childish cartoon character that she comes off as in Rondo (or Castlevania Judgment, for that matter). I realize that was the POINT of her character in Rondo — to feel like she invaded from a totally different series — but the writers do a great job bringing her in line with the tone and characters of the animated series and overall franchise in Nocturne. The characters' powers and abilities are very much based in the games; we even get an (incredibly rousing!) rendition of "Divine Bloodlines" when Richter pulls off a "Grand Cross"-style magical attack for the first time in his life. It's exhilarating. And that's even without me getting into how Richter uses his triple-knife throw, or how we get the lore of the woefully underrated "Harmony of Dissonance" rolled into this show when a certain character makes a surprise appearance (to my immense delight).

Regarding the original four seasons... "I'm going to eat your soul, shit it out and and use it to smother your fucking girlfriend" was not the kind of dialogue I expected to hear from DEATH, of all people.

There are times in the original four-season run when it feels like it's trying a little too hard to be edgy and grimdark—times when the excessive gore and the insane use of profanity feels like it's screaming "I AM AN ADULT ANIMATED SERIES" in a way that's undermining its best qualities. But Castlevania: Nocturne is too confident to fall into such traps. The gore is there, the profanity is present, but it's only in service of exciting action, consistent characterization, and powerful storytelling; no lingering still shots of blood-spattered cribs for shock value are necessary. It's just a smash from start to finish, and after each episode, I find myself pondering the implications of certain lines and stories — thinking about the goddamn philosophical underpinnings of this animated show based on video games.

Nocturne is a prime example of how and why we're in a golden age of video game adaptions right now. This thing is BEGGING for a deep dive into its world, its lore, and its characters' worldviews. It's the kind of thing that would make for killer YouTube essays exploring all of its facets, because there is just SO MUCH here.

So when I go onto YouTube, and I only find one video that even says "It's not that bad" amidst a goddamned SEA of "This show's writing is shit and this series is fucking woke trash"??? That's when I know WE HAVE FAILED AS A FUCKING SPECIES.

These fucking right-wing YouTube dudebros are ruining our ability to think logically, they are MURDERING our media literacy. They are an absolute cancer. The fact that we don't have strong counterpoints out there against them is a crime; the right-wing grifters have totally conquered the algorithm.

I wish I had the skill or knowledge or even TIME to make videos of my own.

Fucking ugh.

[creature-wizard]

Magical Correspondences 101

So I figured I should put all of my stuff on correspondences in one place for convenience's sake, since having them spread in a bunch of short posts isn't really helpful if I need to link them. Anyway, for those of you getting into magical correspondences, here's what I've got!

So, what are correspondences?

A lot of modern witchcraft operates on the belief that things like stones, plants, colors, and so on have certain metaphysical properties. Why do they have these properties? There are multiple explanations. Sometimes the properties are supposed to be innate. Sometimes they supposedly exist because the object in question is a symbol for something else. You'll find that many spells combine these two ideas, such as using an herb because of its inherent properties it's believed to have, then also using a flower because it's a symbol of a deity.

(Will it hurt anything to mix these concepts? Personally, I don't think so. Spiritual beliefs and metaphysical models are often messy, and occasionally contradict each other. I've never really seen it hurt anything.)

If you search around, you can easily find charts that describe various properties associated with various things. People sometimes assume that these properties were handed down to us from authorities who were so in tune with magic or the divine that they were basically infallible, and newbie witches just have no hope of figuring things out for themselves.

Fortunately, that's not really true!

Some correspondences are informed by nature. Others are social constructs.

You might see correspondence lists say that gold is associated with wealth, that apples are associated with love, and pink is associated with femininity. These are all social constructs that have nothing to do with the natural qualities of these things.

Other correspondences are informed by nature, however. Green is associated with life because healthy leaves are typically green. Hot peppers are associated with pain and torment because capsaicin produces a burning sensation.

(This isn't to say that social construct correspondences are all inherently bad, or even lesser. But it's good to be mindful of the differences, because it makes it easier to figure out what you can change and mess around with, and how!)

Even when correspondences are informed by nature, they can still be subjective.

The world is full of vastly different ecosystems, climates, and geological structures. Different regions have their own plants and animals. And even within your own region, you'll find that nature lends to many different correspondences for the same thing. Hot peppers might be orange or red, but so are many sweet fruits. Water can nurture life, or it can drown it.

Some people who acknowledge this will say that it's all about intent, but I personally believe it's a bit more about context. Just look at at the infamous children's hospital with the red path on the floor, and how the it creates an unnerving atmosphere despite whatever "positive connotations" red can have. I think if you're trying to figure out what to put in your spell, thinking contextually can help you make appropriate decisions.

In any case, I do think it's important to lean toward correspondences that have meaning to you. What some ancient guy who lived and died on the other side of the planet thought doesn't override your lived reality and your cultural experiences.

If you want to really learn correspondences, observe the world around you!

Correspondence lists can be good references, but they don't really help you develop a proper understanding. To do this, pay attention to plants, stones, colors, shapes, etc. and ask yourself:

Where do they turn up naturally?

How do they behave? What do they do?

Where and how do people use them, and what are they associated with in these contexts?

Where are things often grouped with other things? What is the significance of these groupings?

(If you keep a Book of Shadows or other magical journal, I recommend writing down your findings!)

So yeah, that's the basics on magical correspondences. They can look a little intimidating at first, but they're actually a lot more simple and straightforward than you might realize.

Happy witchin'!

[sepublic]

The Rapture, the Day of Unity, and Happily Ever After

I wouldn’t be surprised if the upper echelons of the coven regime weren’t concerned with being sustainable, because they were privy before the public was to the Day of Unity, which was itself essentially one big rapture where everyone goes to a perfect utopia! They don’t have to worry about the world they’ve left behind, they just need to last long enough to make it to this endpoint, like Belos talking about how he only needs to ‘live long enough to see this through’.

So it must’ve been quite a shock, realizing that’s not it; There’s nothing for all their hard work. They have to go back to their lives as normal, but knowing it’s eternal in the sense of worrying about living life until it naturally ends for them, and making society run ahead of them for the next to pick up. Now people have to do their jobs in creating an actual functioning society instead of loftily dreaming of a fantasy, which is of course topical to the show’s themes about being beholden to the world and people around you as you make dreams practical.

I can see a comparison between the apathy that came from the Day of Unity and how a lot of rich, powerful folk —especially the ones running fossil fuel companies— don’t care about destroying the Earth and its environment, because they’ll be dead before it gets bad enough that the devastation reaches them in their cushy little suites. On the Day of Unity, Emira’s frustrations over her mother only caring about money feel in a similar vein, it all hearkens back to the same problem with these CEOs where their personal, material enjoyment is the only priority.

And this makes me think of the rapture comparison too; It comes from the Evangelicals, who are the descendants of the Puritans. I can see the writers playing with how Marx called religion the opiate of the masses; The idea that Christianity was often exploited by the upper class against the lower class to justify their suffering. The idea was that if you were poor, you didn’t need to worry about improving your material world because as long as you remained pious and faithful, you’d eventually inherit a heavenly afterlife.

Thus, working-class Christians were made complacent, believing their mortal suffering was just temporary and even a test for their ascension. Whether you think they actually got a heavenly afterlife is an entirely separate real-life theological discussion, but the point was that it was an excuse by those in power to avoid being held accountable in making the living world actually tolerable for everyone else, and everyone else would not hold them to that standard because they thought it didn’t matter anyway.

So I can see the Day of Unity functioning exactly like that, in fact I’m pretty sure it just did onscreen because we see wild witches such as the Demon Hunters accept the coven bindings because for whatever losses they suffer, eventually the Titan will make it all worth it right? And this framing of the Titan as an abstract God who will take you to an abstract universe is interesting; We know tangibly that other worlds exist of course, but in the context of the show, the utopia bit is a lie.

And if we apply it to real life, much how the show calls out IRL witch hunters (and its fictional one, because TOH’s fictional witches warranted nothing for their existence) as insincere… I do remember a college lecture in things like Animism or cosmocentric belief systems; They saw the ‘spirits’ as not existing on a separate plane, but our own. There was no afterlife or heaven, it was all in this world, people live on when they die and break down and are consumed by other beings, that sort of thing.

The practices of wild magic and the worship of the Titan seem to follow in a similar vein to these and Animism; The Titan is sacred and her body has its own life reborn as the environment, but she’s also undeniably dead, as pointed out by a Deadwardian witch. Eda stresses learning from the natural environment around you for magic, their ‘god’ is a mortal being and also their tangible world. The magic comes via glyphs in nature, as well as the magic in everything that witches get their own magic from. There IS something resembling an afterlife in-universe but we never get to see it, the beliefs of wild magic seem to be at odds with Belos’ Christian colonialism, and again its promise of a rapture and a separate, abstract God and utopia.

Point is; There is no universe after this, or at least that’s not how wild witches treat it. The focus is on the here and now and making this world last, and making it last for the future generations that will take your place. And this defiance of a rapture in favor of life always going on makes me think of how Dana hates the term Happily Ever After, for the implications of everything just being over and that’s it. That’s the end. All the problems are solved now, there is no story left to tell.

I can’t say this was intentional on a conscious level or otherwise, but I do have to draw a connection between this and how TOH’s ending was in response to this critique; Life keeps going on, the protagonists have to keep fixing the Boiling Isles, and then keep it going even if it IS fixed. They just undid coven bindings and King found his first glyph. The Archivists are still out there. The protagonists don’t get an eternal unambiguous happy ending where there’s nothing left to do, they don’t get a ‘heavenly afterlife’ as one could call it, and that’s good!

From a meta standpoint, you can see how it encourages fans to write more stories, to be inspired to keep it going, and it’s another way Dana made the shortening work in the show’s favor. Dana said back in 2020 that she encourages fans to build off of things, as she did as a kid with her own shows, she also wanted it to be that deep growing up! So both in-universe and IRL, TOH isn’t meant to be over, there is no absolute ending because fandom lives on.

Hell, Dana even professed interest in a prequel following Eda’s childhood; She’s since become pessimistic about the possibility, more than likely on account of her cutting ties with Disney and executives’ disinterest. But the point still stands; Life keeps going, IRL. The lives of the characters keep going, in-universe and IRL through fandom.

I also wonder if you could discuss Lumity under this lens; I’m making exceptions for queer romances, especially in children’s media, because they often have to deal with censorship pushing them to the last minute. But when it comes to romance in general, romance involving the main character largely consists of Will They/Won’t They, with the climax having the romance achieved. But because of the Thrill of the Chase, a lot of writers don’t want to explore how characters actually navigate a relationship, hence why it’s drawn out and saved for the ending; The romance has been nearly tied up as a Happily Ever After, there’s no more story to tell. So when they get a continuation, they’ll often undo progress.

Lumity avoids this; Lumity has them get together at the halfway point of the series, and then actually explores their dynamic as a couple together, without creating misunderstandings or breakups or anything. We see how they work as a couple, how they get to enjoy each other as a couple. So them getting together isn’t the ending climax, it’s just another stage in their continuing dynamic. There is no Happily Ever After; There’s problems for them to face together that do sometimes strain their relationship, but they still work on it together; Dana was adamant on showing these things instead of settling for them asking each other out and letting the rest be an implication.

And I think that’s so much more healthy to show kids than just idealizing the Thrill of the Chase and its climax, without appreciating the mundanity of just being together. Because kids grow into adults and don’t really expect or care to pursue a romance past that point, and I wonder if this is part of the culture behind cheating, of still reaching for something unattainable because media doesn’t normalize already having things when it comes to romance. Nor does it care for tackling things together as a couple most of the time.

Dana was raised Catholic, which is separate from Puritanism, but she did have to deal with Evangelicals growing up, as they raged about innocuous things like Pokemon; And Pokemon was her Good Witch Azura, a last gift from her father before he died in a car crash. It’s something Dana still enjoys and she’s done crossover art for it and TOH.

So I can see the coincidence/connection in Dana critiquing Evangelicals’ rapture ideology and how the end of everything is used to placate people instead of worrying about what needs to be eternally maintained, and like. Her feeling similarly with stories and even romances where it ends definitively and perfectly. Because fandom keeps going and she’s a part of it too.

The world keeps going, there is no endpoint to history IRL or in the show; People have to adjust going back to the banality of continuing to live and worry about running society in the long-term, rather than expecting it to not matter because they were going to be raptured anyway. And you know what, this could be good, it means it lasts forever as we see Luz and co. embrace it, happy to enjoy their lives, actually getting to be in a relationship; But life is fragile as we see with the Titan, so we gotta work to keep it going, so that even when we get our definitive end, the people after get their time.

[silverwolf1249]

No beta we die like...

Ok, I went through all of my bookmarks that mentioned "no beta", here's a list of the highlights(took out all of the no beta we die like *character(s) name* because the list got too long):

General/multi-fandom:

"no beta we die like mne" enough people mistyped that it became a tag lmao

subsequently people also tagged "no beta we grammar fail like mne" and "no beta we tpypo like mne"

"proof read/beta read" + "no regrets we live and die like my betas"

"no beta we die like...lmao y'all know who" + "no beta I'd rather fucking die" on the same fic series

"no beta we die like I did without ao3" i'm guessing this is when ao3 crashed for a hot sec or was under maintenance lol

"no beta we died like *character name*'s childhood" (ted lasso(jamie), bnha(todoroki), etc.)

"no beta we die like my will to follow any canon"

"no beta we die like my inability to stick to deadlines"

"no beta we die like my will to be a consistent writer"

"no beta we die like my potential"

"no beta we die like my mental state" man we all need therapy lol

variations of "no beta we die of sleep deprivation/die like my sleep schedule" etc.

"no beta we die like my faith in humanity" hilariously on a bakudeku social media crack fic

"no beta we die like my ap calc grade" I failed calc 2 in college, I relate

"no beta we die like i did this week because of exams" mood

"no beta we die like starving college students"

"no beta we die like dehydrated worms" creative and unexpected, j'adore

"no beta we die like things" ominous and vague, bravo

"no beta we die like *gunshot*" rip author

"no beta we die like my d&d character" may you roll 20s with your next one

"no beta we die like my rich husband" this was on a pjo fic and I have no idea what they mean lol

DC/Batman:

"no beta we die like the writers that made bruce an abusive piece of shit will when im done with them" mood, I'll provide the alibi

"no beta we die like dick did when jason told him his hairline was receding"

"no beta we die like bruce did last night" batman fic where he flatlined and got resuscitated in the fic oof

"no beta we die like bruces rep as a tough boi" brucie wayne my beloved

Marvel/Avengers:

"no beta we die by hotdogs" no idea what this means, i assume it might require context from the fic. I also bookmarked said fic back in like 2017, so I have no idea what it's about anymore

Hazbin Hotel:

"no beta we die like Lucifer's happiness" take that depression! oh wait... ):

"no beta we die like Niffty's sanity(if it ever existed in the first place)"

"It has been beta'ed so we don't have to die like Adam"

Miraculous Ladybug:

"no beta we die like gabriel's fashion sense" so true bestie, bro wore white on white on white and thought he ate. condom looking mf

Bleach:

"no beta we die like Ichigo's sense of security"

"no beta we (don't) die like our Lord and Savior Turtlehara"

"no beta we die like Aizen which is to say we only live to suffer" as he should

Boku no Hero Academia:

"no beta we die like the (wo)men kirishima wants us to be" heck yeah we do!

Haikyuu:

"no beta we die like NO ONE because people don't die in volleyball" and thank god for that

Case Closed/Magic Kaito:

"no beta we die like side characters" for those unaware, case closed is a mystery anime and usually at least one side character dies an episode. There are over 1000 episodes...

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint:

"no beta we die like [redacted]" an I oop

"no beta we die like these two fucking idiots" it's orv, you can prob guess which 2 lol

Trash of the Count's Family:

"no beta we die like Cale's slacker life" with how self sacrificial the guy is he stood no chance lol

Merlin:

"no beta we die like Albion in Season 5"

multiple variations of "no beta we die like literally every character in merlin like wtf bbc" RIP

Genshin:

"no beta we die like ascending to world level 6 with under leveled characters" felt this one in my soul

If you managed to read all the way here, let me know what your fav no beta I die like phrases are!

[mdhwrites]

May I ask your opinion about Camila as a mother? To me, she is a great mom with good writing. My only gripe is in the first ep when she's okay with Luz discarding her Azura book in the trashcan. It's Manny's gift for Luz.

This one is... Complicated. And I think we're gonna disagree hard on it just by what you consider your one gripe to be.

What is a parent's duty? This is a very, very important question to ask with this. Because, you know, as a friend, Camila is amazing. She's endlessly patient, endlessly kind, I call her a saint because she is just perfect. She has no flaws by the end of the show and scolds herself for the literal ONE TIME she ever tries to reign Luz in.

Reminder: In the first episode, Luz brings wild animals and fireworks to school without permission or without any regard to safety. She inadvertently assaulted MULTIPLE PEOPLE with those snakes because we see more than just the principle being attacked by them. We also know this isn't a first time thing because of the SPIDER SWARM. If I had been in the classroom with Luz for the spider swarm, I would have had a straight up panic attack because I, like many others, have arachnophobia.

A parent's core job, only below keeping their child alive, is to prepare them for the world. To make sure they understand right from wrong, that they understand how society works and how to handle it, how to be themselves while not hurting others, etc. like that. I'm not saying that they must make their children conform but, you know, people still have to be a part of society. To know when their freedoms come against others. Because, sure, you can release spiders into a classroom but when half the parents of the students in that class want you expelled, that is entirely in their right because you did not consider, for a second, anyone other than yourself.

At this, Camila is an abject failure by the end of the show. She actually starts really good though. Now, throwing away Manny's gift is... Yeah, that's real questionable but also Azura being from him feels like a complete retcon, especially since Luz doesn't actually hold that series that close to her. She is a pretty flighty fan and in S2, Amity does WAY more for being excited about Azura than Luz does which, you know, is kind of odd if this memento of her father means that much to her. No, in the context of S1, it's the right move. Luz has crossed the line where she is treating reality like fantasy. She thinks she can just do this stuff and it'll be fine because her perception is at best flawed. So yes, Luz needs to wake up. She needs a chance to get a reality check and Camila doesn't even ask for a huge one. She will be happy if Luz makes friends because in order to make friends, you have to meet them halfway, start showing real compassion, empathy, etc. like that, traits Luz is tragically devoid of early on. It's a good goal for not pressuring Luz too hard.

And then Luz goes to a magical world where she gets to live out the life of an isekai protagonist who by the end of the series is willing to condemn an entire world to death just because she's afraid of making another mistake and having to pay for the consequences of it. To say that's missing the point is a bit of an understatement. And I cannot emphasize this enough. She decides on her own, because she feels bad for having made a decision on her own that went poorly, to avoid all consequences for that decision and just stay home with her loving mom while leaving her friends ostensibly to go die because she admits herself that the Collector is terrifyingly powerful. That is not martyrdom, that's self pity with the veneer of sacrifice. It is still not an empathetic worldview that cares about others, reinforced in For the Future where she goes "I'm going to check and make sure King and Eda are okay and then I'm going home." She talks a much bigger game to Boscha but to her mom who knows the truth? It's to check on the people SHE cares about and then leave. All of them. The whole world doesn't matter to her. That's fucked up.

And THAT is the version of Luz that Camila APOLOGIZES to. And for what? Sending her to camp which was her just trying to get Luz to properly connect with reality ONCE. Because again, otherwise Camila has endless patience. She never brings up the promise after all, she doesn't question taking in these kids or the weird lizard girl who's been impersonating her daughter, Camila defends Luz's creativity at every step, etc. etc. She is Luz's biggest defender in the series... And still apologizes for the one time she criticizes her. The one time she arguably does her job as a mom.

That to me makes her a bad mom. Arguably, even worse than Odalia. Odalia is a WAY worse person, but as a mom? I've made blogs about the fact that the fandom projects a lot onto her, incorrectly so, and that by the standards of her own society, she is mostly just trying to protect Amity and help her succeed. Oh, what terrible goals! Yes, she's too controlling and applies too much pressure BUT AT LEAST SHE'S TRYING. And if it feels like I talk a lot more about Luz in this blog than Camila... Well, it's a parent. Their job is to raise children. So we have to look at the child as a part of the evaluation.

And Luz? Luz needed a parent, not the two friends she got out of Eda and Camila. But apparently a parent is not what anyone wants. See you next tale.

======+++++======

I do want to add that I don't know where to put the fact that Camila is a single mom here because it's very complicated. It's good on her that she has the income to let Luz have expensive hobbies, do what she wants, have a house to live in, be there for all of Luz's events, meetings, etc. like that. She replicates what two parents give pretty much all the other kids in the show so well that it feels more like an oversight than anything else. Also, yes, it's good that Camila keeps Luz happy and healthy but that doesn't really change the fact that she is failing to raise Luz despite having all this time and resources to facilitate keeping Luz happy. However, I've seen the problem with that as a kid's parent would just let them watch tv and play video games with them and left it up to the kid's grandma to treat them how to read and write. Guess what activity made the kid happy versus what activity helped the kid grow as a person. And yes, that parent WAS a single mom and I judged them harshly then too.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[iamnmbr3]

"Riddle thought he was special" he was????

I KNOW!! That bit is just absolutely wild. Until Dumbledore walked through is door, Tom Riddle was the only magical person he knew. He lived surrounded by Muggles. He was the only person in his whole miserable little world who could talks to animals and affect the world around him with just his mind. THE KID CAN DO MAGIC! That's pretty much the definition of being special! Also the first thing he actually says is "I knew I was different." Which again. He IS.

He's not like any of the people around him. Which is isolating and confusing. But also validating. A source of strength and pride for someone who has nothing and lives a violent difficult frightening existence. Someone who is hated and feared by the people around him. And remember, no matter hw unusual his control over his powers at such a young age was, at one point his acts of magic would have been as random and uncontrolled as any other wizard child's. Which means he probably got blamed for a lot of accidental magic that he had no idea how to control.

Also the way he's all 'I knew it' is really telling in the context of him thinking that Dumbledore is there to forcibly institutionalize him. Not only does it tell us about the kind of fear he's been living with. But also it suggests that perhaps a small part of him wasn't sure. Somewhere a tiny part of him fears that maybe he really is mad.

And what child hasn't dreamed of being special. Of growing up to do great things or discovering some secret hidden ability. And every child deserves to feel special sometimes. Children shouldn't be taught to be arrogant or self centered. But being made to feel special and valued and loved is an important part of a normal and happy childhood. And it's something that Tom has been totally denied. Tom, who has so little and is so alone and disliked, deserves to feel validated and special for once in his life.

And anyway. He literally is. He IS different. He IS special. He can use magic. And not just that. Even by wizard standards he is exceptionally gifted. Those are just objective facts, not arrogance. And it is the height of hypocrisy for Dumbledore, who frequently makes reference to his own genius and talent, to act as though Tom's words in unguarded moment of emotion are somehow evil or worthy of punishment.

Tom is reaching out, being unguarded with an adult for the first time in that conversation - perhaps ever. And what does Dumbledore do? He makes him feel small and powerless. He uses punishments and threats. He teaches Tom once more the lesson that his life has so often hammered into him that the world is divided between those with power and those without, that that there is no mercy, no kindness, no goodness with no string attached - only power and those too weak to seek it. What kind of a lesson is that? This was his opportunity to show Tom something else. How much might have been different if anyone else, anyone capable of basic kindness and compassion, anyone capable of putting their ego aside and treating a hurt child as a child, had walked in the door that day instead?

[valrayne-faeu]

Glossary (last updated 21/2/25)

Faeu- a portmanteau of "fae" and "AU" ValRayne- the creators of the AU

𓈒⟡₊⋆∘˚⊹ ࿔ People ࿔⊹˚∘⋆₊⟡𓈒

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ Fae- functionally immortal magical beings that inhabit the fae realms. Humans can become fae by being trapped in the fae realms through a trick/deal or by staying within the fae realms for a year and a day, after which they will no longer be able to leave until they have completed their transformation. Humans that are trapped may request the Trials from a monarch, 3 tests that, if passed, grant them their freedom. Fae age at a human pace up until maturity, where the aging process slows to such a degree that they are functionally immortal. Born-fae are considered young adults into their 300s and more ‘middle age’ adults in their 800s. The aging process is kind of exponential, where they age slower and slower as they get older. Fae can have incredibly diverse features; horns, antlers, insect wings, bird wings, animal features, multiple limbs, etc. Not all fae have wings or appear entirely humanoid.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖Monarch/King/Queen- the highest ranking fae in a court. The current Kings are Dream of the Summer Court, and Nightmare of the Winter Court. Their mother, Nimh, was the Queen of the Seasonal Court.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ Courtier- fae that work in politics, close with the court's monarch.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ Inner court- the close inner circle of a monarch-- usually the highest ranking fae under the monarch or their close associates.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ Aspect- a fae that was born/created to be or has become the personification of a concept. Aspects are fae that went through complicated, life-altering, incredibly influential experiences that were entirely concentrated around a singular concept of some kind. It changes them fundamentally as a person, concentrating their magic on that concept until they are tied to it intrinsically and it is as much a part of them as they are a part of it. It is an unconscious deal with a wild magic that is outside of even the fae's control. The fae becomes that thing personified. Aspects are incredibly powerful and exceedingly rare, and it’s a very notable event for one to be created. Notable Aspects are Dream (Positivity), Nightmare (Negativity), Error (Chaos), and Ink (Inspiration).

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁

𓈒⟡₊⋆∘˚⊹ ࿔ Places ࿔⊹˚∘⋆₊⟡𓈒

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ Mortal realm- the human world. Separated from the fae realms by the veil. Accessible by fairy circles, certain trails, hidden doors, etc.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ Fae realm- the world of the fae. As expansive as the human world, with its own continents, ecosystems, and laws of reality. Filled with magic, beasts of legend, and seemingly incomprehensible rules, it is a wild place of wonder and danger in equal measure.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ Court- two definitions depending on context.

an organised group of fae that live in harmony with a certain form of magic (Summer, Winter, Sky, etc). Basically another word for 'country'. Examples: The Summer Court, The Winter Court. Refers to the group of fae as a whole.

the governing body of a group of fae-- usually overseen by a monarch. It includes higher ranking fae, courtiers, that assist the monarch in maintaining peace, trade, and infrastructure. Refers specifically to the political fae (monarch and courtiers).

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ Kingdom- another way to refer to a fae court as a whole.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ Border- the divide between kingdoms, courts, realms, etc. The border between courts features a gradient between them; there is a threshold at which point crossing means you are in another court, but the landscape on either side of said threshold is a gradual change between the different regions. For example; the border between Autumn and Summer has a gradual shift of autumnal leaves on trees that becomes more prominent the closer you get to Autumn. The sun will also appear to set as you get closer to the border, until you are fully in Autumn and it is in full twilight. Travelling from Autumn to Summer will be the opposite (the trees will become more green and fuller, and the sun will appear to rise). Because of the gradual shift and the true threshold between courts being only obvious to the trained eye, it is risky to travel along the border for fear of accidentally crossing it without the proper protections.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ Faewilds- also known as The Wilds, Wildes, Faewildes, any other variation. All areas in the fae realms but outside of a fae court. Dominated by complex, wild magics and dangerous beasts and terrain. Nearly inhospitable, only the fae that dare to learn the complex and shifting rules of the wilds and beasts can survive without losing themselves. Most fae in the Wilds are hermits, outcasts, or those that prefer the ever-shifting rules of the wild lands and beasts to the consistency of the court laws. I cannot overstate enough, dear reader, just how difficult it is to live in the wilds. It is unknowable and ever-changing and incredibly volatile.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ Summer Court- the court ruled by Dream. The fae within this court are in tune with Summer or Spring magic. It is primarily a sunny, warm region with vast stretches of forest, plains, desert, and other warm biomes. Approximately the size of the human country of France, with a capital city containing approximately 20-25k fae. Approximately 1/3 of this territory is a province known as the Spring Court.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ Spring Court- a more temperate region of dawn, sprouting plants, and enchanting valleys. It is ruled by Dream and technically a sub-court.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ Winter Court- the court ruled by Nightmare. The fae within this court are in tune with Winter or Autumn magic. It is a vast, seemingly dark and desolate region of mountains, glaciers, frozen rivers, and snowy forests. Approximately 1/3 of this territory is a province known as the Autumn Court.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ Autumn Court- a somewhat warmer area cast in twilight, consisting of rolling hills, oak forests, and falling leaves.

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁

𓈒⟡₊⋆∘˚⊹ ࿔ Things ࿔⊹˚∘⋆₊⟡𓈒

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ The veil- a barrier of magic that separates the human realm and fae realm. It is not literally a wall so much as a layer over everything, concentrated in some places and weaker in other. It is what prevents humans that are trapped from leaving, and in turn contains the magic of the fae realms within the fae realms. It is present in most places within the human realm, masking fae creatures and making them appear mundane, but can be weak in certain locations (transitional places and times such as doorways, a crossroads, or the edge of a biome; where natural elements meet each other like waterfalls; or long forgotten places etc)

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ The Trials- three tests administered by a court's monarch to a human per request. The tests are determined by the monarch, and must be possible to win.

Nightmare's first 2 tests are of wit-- convoluted riddles, games of strategy against his courtiers, and the like. Should the human win them he will become their opponent in something they cannot possibly win. For example-- a game of strength or speed; wrestle him to the ground; land a blow on him; outrun him to the border with the human realm. No human has ever defeated the Winter King's trials.

Dream, conversely, is much more fair with his trials. He prefers games of three. For example-- win three rounds in a game; shoot three arrows in the target; catch three birds of a kind.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ Rules- the fae realms have rules that impact their reality, much like the human realm's laws of physics.

Language is binding-- tricks/wordplay and deals/agreements have very real effects on reality.

Fae cannot lie. As language is binding, fae cannot speak falsehoods. They are capable of dancing around the truth or evading it, but they cannot outright deny something they know to to be true. Fae that attempt to lie will get violently ill.

Humans that have been tricked or stayed too long within the realms will be unable to leave until they have become full fae.

The Trials, when requested, must be administered promptly. A human that succeeds in the Trials is free to leave. Should they get tricked again, or once again overstay, they will have to request the Trials once more.

Fae cannot enter another court without the monarch of said court's permission. Fae that attempt to trespass will experience a sickness associated with the conflicting magic. Broad permissions can be put into place for an open border, though it is up to the monarchs' discretion.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ Beasts- the creatures that live within the fae realm. Gryphons, dragons, unicorns, kelpies, brownies, and pixies are all examples of the beasts you can find within the realm. Many are as intelligent as smart animals, just as many are as intelligent as any fae or human. Intelligent fae beasts are capable of trickery and deals, just as regular fae are.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ Magic- the mana flowing throughout the fae realm. There are many different categories of magic, only usable by those with an affinity for their specific types. Magic within the courts is tamed and centred on a particular kind (Summer/Winter/etc), though there is always an undercurrent of the wilder more varied magic associated with whatever region you're in (forest, desert, ocean). Magic outside the courts, in the Faewilds, is nigh uncontrollable and deeply interwoven together. It is difficult to separate the different kinds, and only the strongest or most knowledgeable fae can utilise them. Magic in the wilds needs to be befriended and worked alongside with-- it cannot be forced into submission or commanded.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ Trick/Deal- all fae are capable of creating magically binding deals, or manipulating language such that it affects reality. Asking "Can I have your name" and receiving a name in response, for example, will warp reality such that the asker will now literally possess the answerer's name as their own. In similar fashion, making a deal with a fae ("I will exchange my hair colour for yours" for example) will affect reality, no matter how complex or unusual. Fae can obtain concepts, senses, body parts, skills/talents, knowledge, and identities all in this manner.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ Fairy circle- a ring of mushrooms found in the human realms. Stepping inside may transport you to the fae realm.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ True name- names hold immense power in the fae realm. As language dictates reality and vice versa, a fae or human's true name can hold power over them. Telling someone your true name can be incredibly dangerous; with your true name, someone can control you or take from you whatever they wish. True names are also exchanged as an ultimate sign of trust between married fae, or between friends of the highest caliber.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ Nickname- a name humans and fae go by that is not their true name. It is a mask used to protect their true name from those that would use it to control them. Most fae have many nicknames or alternate names that they go by specifically for this purpose. Humans that enter the fae realms are highly recommended to choose a nickname or second name to avoid having their name stolen or worse.

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁

[itsclydebitches]

There's something I find pretty messed up about Little's part of the story. Penny is dead. The story puts focus on this and how it's effecting Ruby and is why Little's death is what breaks Ruby. The volume ends though with Little coming back so it's a happy end, right? Except Penny is still dead and never coming back. And they are going back to a world where people die when they are killed. It's like "Forget about your dead friend cause we got one where your actions don't have consequences."

Yeah, that's an issue with the Ascension arc as a whole. As discussed previously, we're already starting from a place of confusing messages because the world can't decide what Ascension exactly is. Some beings lose all their memories and (arguably as a result) their sense of self. Some just seem to get cool upgrades. Some change in such monumental ways they probably can't go back to their old life even if they wanted to (can Somewhat ever live with the other mice again now that they're like fifty times their size?). And some, Like Ruby, undergo no changes at all except a convenient and ambiguous ~emotional clarity~

So Ascension is a catch-all "Anything could happen" situation where all options, no matter how shady they appear to the audience, are eventually presented as #good by the show... except I'm 100% sure they only come across that way BECAUSE they happen to side characters we're not invested in/are leaving behind. Would people honestly have been happy if Ruby:

Completely forgot who she was (King)

Got some crazy physical upgrade that would fundamentally change the power dynamics of the show/other her in Remnant/imply that she's a faunus to strangers if she got some animal trait (the Caterpillar/Somewhat)

Came away with a new "purpose" and decided she didn't want to be a Huntress anymore (the Paper Pleasers)

There's a reason Ruby did not change except to inexplicably regain her confidence because the show and on some level recognizes that these options are indeed an awful kind of "death," something that would be bad to do to your main character (baring a monumental shift in the show). When we talk about the importance of growth (in real life and in fiction) we're referencing a context in which a person changes slowly over time, adapting to each change in a natural way, all of it a combination of environmental factors and personal agency. To just have some magical tree instantly change you without consent, making you "better" by its own, undefined parameters... that's not wonderful, that's horrifying! But as you say, even if we overlook all that and come at Ascension from a direction the story wants, accepting and praising such an aspect of this world... Team RWBY doesn't live in that world. What did they learn from this then? Yay for people who live in alternate realities because they get to become "better" rather than dying? Good for them, but our friends are still dead and our lives are still on the line.

If RWBY wanted this arc they not only needed to reeeeeally clean up what Ascension is/how it works, but decide on the message they're trying to impart. Because what we got, on a literal level, is Ruby being depressed enough to choose ending (that version of) her life, instead being rewarded for that choice by a pantheon she's kinda fighting against (in a way that both skips her development and ignores every other implied rule of Ascension), and is returning to a world where none of this matters because death is a Permanent Thing That She's Going to Be Seeing a Whole Lot More of Soon.

Penny is dead. Many other allies are dead. Weiss' Kingdom is gone. Salem is set to exterminate the rest of Remnant, and instead of dealing with any of that Volume 9 gave Team RWBY a (literal) fantasy world where everything is just fine, actually. Wouldn't it be cool if no one actually died and whenever it seems like they did they'd just come back as an upgraded version of themselves? Yeah! Too bad that's not the reality they're heading back to.

Honestly, the way to clean up all of Volume 9 for me is to slap a "It was just a dream" disclaimer on it. Volume 10 we learn that Ruby had a crazy, contradictory fever dream post-battle in which the biggest trauma she's ever faced is magically fixed by her subconscious? Yeah, that tracks. More than taking Volume 9 at face value.

[dice-sociation]

AP Review: Reckless Attack - Main Campaign

Listen Here: https://www.recklessattack.com/episodes/

Quick info:

Audio Quality: High Quality and Edited, Effects, Music. Vibes: Lord of the Rings, Ghibli, Never Ending Story, Avatar the Last Airbender, Frogs Extras: Discord and Patreon rewards. System: 5e DnD Average Episode time: 1 hour Uploads 1 Episode per week. Campaign/ Show Length: Long Term Campaign Platforms: Podcast, Audio Only. Accessibility: Content Warnings Language available: English Diversity: AAPI/BIPOC Number of Episodes Review is based on: 100 (This is my first review so I decided to start with a Podcast I’m already caught up on) ** If you want the TLDR, scroll to the bottom of the post **

Why Reckless Attack?

I honestly believe that part of the draw of listening to people play a TTRPG is not just the story telling but an assurance that adults can somehow actually and consistently come together, in person, to pull off a full long term game. Reckless Attack is one such podcast. They are a small indie podcast with excellent audio quality and editing. 

But, why should you listen to another high fantasy podcast? Well, have you ever wanted to see what a post-apocalyptic High Fantasy world would look like? The deeper you delve into Reckless Attack, the deeper the lore gets, and we have barely scratched the surface a hundred episodes in. You’ll join the players as they explore a world recovering from an apocalyptic event, ripe with magic and unstable artifacts, an undead army, and frogs.

Starting The Pod

Right out the gate, the listeners are greeted by a Lord of the Rings style opening monologue, giving relevant history and context to the kind of place the characters live in. I personally get the feeling a lot of the world was established in a previous game or between the DM and players prior to the start of this campaign. If, as a listener, it feels like you're missing something, don't worry; you'll get a lot more context down the road, especially once the players make it to the city of Agmar (Episode 15). The first 15 episodes are a nice slow build up. 

Conveniently, the first recap episode covers Episode 1-14! (Though I really enjoyed the first 14 episodes, I know not everyone has the amount of listening time I have). If you are so inclined to start from the first episode, you'll get nicely eased into the characters and their relationships with one another before a lot of the bigger world building really starts to soar.

(My one caveat is that I listen to this podcast at 1.3-1.4 speed since the players and Nathan speak with a good amount of pauses, and that can be a little too slow for me.)

About the Team

Nathan, the DM for the main campaign, paints some amazing pictures of his homebrew world. He has a real talent for creating larger than life NPCs and Big Baddies for his players to interact with. They all have clear motivations, flaws, and personalities that truly rounds out the overall story. When it comes to plot, Nathan kept me on my toes with plot twists that would literally snap me out of whatever multitasking I was doing. And I must recognize how often Nathan opens the floor for the players to build parts of the story and describe longer stretches of downtime. Those moments are like the equivalent of cinematic montages to represent the passing of time.

The players, Sophie, Steve, David, and Jonathan, deliver wonderful descriptions and leave plenty of space for each other to speak, balanced with just the right amount of crosstalk. Each character has a very unique voice which is helpful for listeners (especially because David and Jonathan are twins and have similar voices).

Sophie plays Valeska Carter, the Human * Cleric. "Valeska is a young woman in search of answers. Like, compulsively."* I quickly fell in love with Val, an exhausted nerd who can never have enough notes and organization. If you're the kind of person who is always rescuing animals, you will love her too. 

Steve plays Selv Asterlin, the Dragonborn Monk. "Selv’s years at his town’s icy mountain monastery has trained not just his body, but also his mind and emotions. The large dragonborn seeks to be a peacemaker in conflicts, exuding strength, calm and serenity while straying away from violence and lethal force when possible."* But don't be fooled, Selv is often one for the occasional good prank, and I always appreciate Steve's references even when the rest of the group don't understand them. (I got you Steve) 

David plays Kascorin "Kass" Brightmane, the Dwarven Warlock. "Tomorrow (Kass leaves) this city for the Golden Tree adventuring guild, and in leaving this city, (He leaves his) friends, (his) family, and (his) comfortable life behind."* Kass is very grounded, serious, and focused, until he runs into tasty dried meats. Kass has all the charm of a warlock and the grit of a soldier. 

Jonathan plays Checkers, the Gung Druid, with his trusty pals Mango and Junior. "Joining the Golden Tree adventuring guild on a dare, Checkers and his frog pal Mango are here to prove that it’s better to find your own path than to follow someone else’s. After all, where’s the fun in looking before you leap?"* Checkers is a lot like the characters I personally play. Someone who doesn't stand around for too much planning and prefers to "leap" into action. In my very humble opinion, every group needs an instigator. 

I have also come to really admire the level of trust and respect the group has for one another. They handle both wonderful whimsical beats as well as solemn moments with great care (Episode 108 was magnificent.)

*Quoted from the official Reckless Attack website. You can find this and more at their website www.recklessattack.com. (Be aware, reading the available character sheets may contain spoilers)

About the World

Ryxia is built on a world where long ago, the Gods walked among mortals, but one day they left. As if in consequence, magic in this world seems to ebb and flow, and monsters roam the wilds. Until, the "second of Ryxia’s twin suns disappeared from the sky, the Ultragiants appeared, and the Pentarchy’s great capital city of Narhasur was turned into a smoldering crater." *

You can think of the Ultra Giants as the Titans of this world, being elemental and colossal. These Ultra Giants terrorized mortals until one day, the mortals managed to kill one " wielding their city’s Object of Focus… The object was destroyed, as was much of the army. But strangely, within days, the Ultragiants no longer stalked Ryxia."*

As the mortals re-emerged, they started to rebuild despite the incredible amount of monsters who now roam the lands. 

*Quoted from the official Reckless Attack website. You can find this and more at their website www.recklessattack.com. (Be aware, reading the available character sheets may contain spoilers)

Extras

Aside from the main campaign Nathan has his own series called Reckless A-Talk. This series Nathan or others on the team interview incredible people from all over the TTRPG space. Nathan's style of interviewing is mostly allowing his guest to speak more than he does, followed by the wonderful lightning round questions. I highly recommend listening to these (as a little treat) if you are interested in learning other perspectives and other aspects of the industry. 

Bonus one shots are another part of Reckless Attack, allowing the players to take the reigns.  They serve as fun filler for when you just can't wait for the next episode to drop. 

And if that's still not enough content for you, you can always subscribe to their Patreon for even more content, including the very relaxed Reckless A-Snack.

TLDR

High Fantasy world rebuilding the world after mortals were nearly wiped out.

Listeners will get a good feel of the world within the first 14 episodes. (IMO, the pacing starts to pick up after Episode 14)

Here are "Tale Til Now," recap episodes for those who want to catch up faster. (Episodes 1-14, 14-42, 42-66, 67-84)

Non Player Characters are larger than life, with clear motives and personalities.

The Dungeon Master and Players share a lot of world building and you can feel the love and trust they have for each other.

Recommended listening at 1.3x-1.5x speed if you are one of those people (you know who you are).

Find more details about the world and characters at www.recklessattack.com.

Lots of extra content for those who just need more, including; interviews, one-shots run by the players, and patreon bonus content. https://www.patreon.com/recklessattack/home

Do you have ideas or suggestions? Please feel free to comment!

Special thanks to Artax of Who's Taking Watch for helping with editing!

No Context Spoilers:

[tubadorashifts]

——————————————————————————

⤷ Questions I have for my Hogwarts DR/Hogwarts shifters (part 2)

I didn’t think there would be this much questions in this part but I literally couldn’t stop thinking about different things I’m curious about. Reuploaded this because I had all my visibility settings on and couldn’t figure out why none of my posts were showing up anywhere LMFAO

⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

What are the classes that weren’t mentioned much/at all in the books and movies like? Classes like muggle studies, arithmancy, alchemy, ancient runes etc

What different after school clubs are there? (Is there a duelling club or an art club etc.)

What are the canon hp characters like in your dr? Is there anything about them that you didn’t expect?

Follow up question, are there any canon characters that you don’t get along with?

If you’re shifting to the marauders era, how was the marauders map made?

What’s your favourite memory from your dr?

Are house elf’s really as scary looking as some shifters say they are?

Are there such things as wizard movies/tv shows or other things along those lines?

Are there any famous people in history that were actually wizards/witches?

What are you learning about currently in your classes at Hogwarts?

How are spells invented? Can they be invented or are they just discovered? (If that makes sense)

How are magical portraits made?

Is there any magical equivalent to things like phones, computers, google etc.

Are there any other ways of getting to Hogwarts or is there just the Hogwarts express?

What does a day in your life look like at Hogwarts?

What season at Hogwarts is the comfiest/your favourite?

Is there anything about Hogwarts that you’ve changed?

If you’ve played Hogwarts Legacy, is there anything about it that is similar to your dr?

What’s the funniest thing that’s happened in your dr?

Is there anything about the plot that’s changed because of you? For example, did you expose scabbers as Peter Pettigrew or did you script that you know nothing about the plot?

How does it feel to experience magic firsthand?

How do students from different houses interact? Is there still a house rivalry in your dr?

What are Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade like?

What was it like when you first shifted? Where were you when you first shifted?

What advice would you give to Hogwarts shifters?

What’s your favourite location in the Wizarding World outside of Hogwarts?

Have you made any changes to your script after shifting?

What’s the hardest part about staying in the Wizarding world for an extended period?

What’s the most magical or surreal moment you’ve experienced at Hogwarts?

What are some out of context quotes from your dr?

Does the Wizarding world have magical creature zoos? Are wizards also aware of muggle animals? (This sounds like such a dumb question but I’m really curious)

How do time turners work?

How do Hogwarts students handle their periods at school?

What year did you shift to? And did you age everyone up or make it a university dr?

Are there any house parties in your dr? And if there are how often are they held? Which houses host the best party and, if you want, share a memory from a party you’ve been too

Have you scripted in the Yule ball or any masquerade balls into your dr? What were they like?

If you’re an animagus, what is it like? Was the process hard?

What’s Hagrid up to in your dr? (Bit of a random question but I love Hagrid 🙁)

What’s your favourite shop in Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley and why?

What’s the worst thing about Hogwarts?

What’s the funniest assumption you’ve heard about muggles in your dr?

If you’re shifting to the marauders era, what’s your favourite prank the marauders have done?

If you’ve ever done any of the classes on Hogwartsishere.com, are any of them similar to your dr?

What are some things you do to motivate yourself when shifting to your Hogwarts dr?

Do you have any favourite Wizarding bands in your dr?

Do you have any pets in your dr?

How does it feel to look at pensieve memories?

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

——————————————————————————

[rowan-ashtree]

Keeper of Earth

this is a gift for @riseandfallofsecunit because they drew my OCs (look at them!!!), written about someone in my OC world getting some Elemental magic (explanation of magic system here. i think that's all the context you need)

1.1k words, no CWs (let me know if i missed anything!)

this is my first time posting something set in this world - I'd love to post more if people are interested :)

🌱⚡🌊🔥☀️🌑 | 🌑☀️🔥🌊⚡🌱

You've been guarding the Vessel of Earth for a number of years now.

It's not as cool as you'd originally thought.

Not the Vessel. That thing — a circlet of vines that bloom with gemstones rather than flowers — is extremely cool.

Guarding it is what's boring.

Oh, you know it's an important job. You take the responsibility very seriously. You just thought it'd be more… exciting?

Nevertheless, you do what the Keepers’ Guild asked of you: check on the Vessel and update its History each day, stay mostly isolated, move around often, and grow a garden wherever you live.

The garden doesn't need to be anything special, they'd told you. Just something that shows the Element that you care. So you plant whatever's in season, wherever you happen to be. Currently, it's tomatoes and bell peppers, plus various herbs and flowers.

You're kneeling in the garden now, gently untangling weeds from the soil to be transplanted away from your vegetables. One annoying thing about keeping the core of all nature magic in your toolshed: it feeds all life. It doesn't make growing a garden any less work.

The small toolshed sits nearby to the garden. You've gotten better at not glancing at it every three seconds just to make sure it's still locked, though you learned quickly that the vines growing on the walls and roof need to be checked on and pruned frequently, or else they'll slowly dismantle the shed in their hunt for the magic they can sense within.

It also attracts animals, which you'd been warned about, but not prepared for emotionally. One day, you'd walked outside to see a large wildcat napping by the shed, and you'd made a strangled gasp-scream that had woken the cat. It had stirred, looked at you, then gone back to sleep.

Okay, so it was kind of a cool job.

(Still not very exciting, though. Not in the ways you'd hoped.)

You gather your tools and the small bundle of uprooted plants, and move to the second garden plot, the one where you put the weeds. Many of them are hardy enough that you just sprinkle them across the ground. A few of them, you take the time to re-plant.

Very early on, you learned that the Element of Earth doesn't appreciate needless death. It encourages the natural cycle of things, of life, death, decay, and rebirth, but the weeds in your garden have as much right to live as the vegetables you plant. So you simply relocate them, to show the Element that you care. (And so they don't strangle your basil.)

Standing up again, you wipe your hands on your pants — you gave up on keeping them free of dirt stains a long time ago — and move towards the shed to put away your tools.

When you unlock and open the door, the gentle multicolored glow of the Vessel’s gemstones spills out. You block as much of it as you can with your body and quickly shut the door behind you, even though you know there's no one around. Call it paranoia, but old habits die hard.

As you hang up your tools (yes, the shed houses incredibly powerful magic, but it's still a toolshed), you notice that the light seems greener than usual. You look closer at the Vessel. It hangs on a nail like a celebratory wreath, about the size of a woven flower crown. One of the smaller precious stones, the one that's usually colorless and crystalline, is now a deep, bright green.

Carefully (always carefully, though the Vessel has never harmed you), you reach up to touch the green stone — but before you do, it falls off the vine and into your palm.

You flinch and gasp and close your fist around it. In all the years you've guarded the Vessel, through all the places you've lived, this has never happened before.

You open your hand slowly. The bright green glow is pulsing now. Starting to panic, you think back to what the Guild told you — was there anything about the stones falling out? Have you been doing something wrong this whole time? Oh, stars and smoke, did you somehow manage to break the Vessel?

Trembling, you reach with your free hand to touch the other gemstones, even going so far as to gingerly wiggle one like you would a loose tooth, but they all seem as secure as they've ever been. You try to remember the History, if any previous guardian recorded something similar to this.

You're staring into the gemstone, flashing greener and brighter and faster, when you realize you're spiraling. You close your eyes and take a deep breath, then another, letting out the tension in your body with each exhale. Freaking out won't help anything, as you're well aware, so you try to let go of the panic, then open your eyes to try again.

The gem’s light still pulses on your palm, but you realize something — it's pulsing to the beat of your heart.

Huh.

Well, it is nature magic, and you're definitely part of nature. Is it trying to tell you something?

You take several more deep breaths, feeling your heartbeat slow, and watching as the gem's flashes slow to match.

Panic fades, replaced by curiosity. You try to project that feeling out, unsure of what to do but ready to receive what the Element wants to give.

As soon as that thought crosses your mind, the gem glows brighter, and brighter, still matching your heartbeat — then disappears.

You have a split second to be confused — until you feel something blooming in your heart, your limbs, your mind. For a moment, you're acutely aware of the world around you: the fungi in the shed, the vines surrounding it, the beetles under the grass and the bedrock far below. Most of all, the Vessel, still glowing softly, now missing a gemstone. You've always known the whole world is alive (how could it not be?), but it's more than that. It's gloriously bright, it's overflowing with energy. With all this life around you, it's no wonder the Vessel glows.

Slowly, gently, the awareness fades, but you still feel awash with the beautiful warmth of your Element.

… your Element?

You open your eyes (you aren't sure when you closed them). The dim toolshed looks the same, but you feel different. You look at the Vessel again — note the missing gem, the mild glow, the hardy vines. You reach up, touch the empty socket, and realization blossoms.

The Vessel of Earth has gifted you magic.

It's not your Element, really. It doesn't belong to you (nor does it belong to anyone), but you are a part of it, now.

You realize you're leaning against the wall for support. There's a new, tiny crystal already growing in the Vessel's empty spot. You look down at yourself. You look no different from before, but inside…

Well. Your wish for more excitement seems to have come true.