#for whom the alchemist exists

[dreamatia-stories]

So in my free time, I've been assigning the Jobs from Alchemist Code to the Dreamatia crew, despite Square Enix's attempts to ruin my day specifically.

After assembling the document, I realized that the cast contains an incredibly disproportionate amount of Bards, even AFTER cutting some back.

The worst part is this still isn't all of them; I still have yet to design the entire cast in Recolor.

[noxtivagus]

yoko shimomura i love her style so much

[sassy-pistachy]

Arbor Philosophorum Perfecta

The Philosopher's Tree. Diana's Tree. Considered a precursor to the Philosopher's Stone.

In TMAGP 19, we learn Isaac Newton perfected the work of Wilhem Homberg (another chemist and alchemist) to produce the perfect Philosopher's Tree.

"Diana’s Tree was considered a precursor to the Philosopher's Stone and resembled coral in regards to its structure. It is a dendritic amalgam of crystallized silver, obtained from mercury in a solution of silver nitrate; so-called by the alchemists, among whom "Diana" stood for silver. The arborescence of this amalgam, which even included fruit-like forms on its branches, led pre-modern chemical philosophers to theorize the existence of life in the kingdom of minerals"

If the Philosopher's Stone is trying to transmute non-precious metals into Gold, the Philosopher's tree is transmuting things into Silver.

As Newton reaches for a "fruit" from the free, he cites the Genesis “de ligno autem scientiae boni et mali ne comedas in quocumque enim die comederis ex eo morte morieris”. God says to Adam, "but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die"

Any Alchemy nerds here getting any conclusions? Our pal Newton here definitely did something more than creating silver crystals inside a flask. He's playing God. He's playing with life. Transmutating supposedly lifeless minerals into... something straight out of Edward Elric's worst nightmares.

[talonabraxas]

Sun Talon Abraxas

Let us adore the supremacy of that divine sun who illuminates all, from whom all proceed, to whom all must return, whom we invoke to direct our understandings aright in our progress towards his holy seat. -The Gayatri

Where is the birthplace of the radiant sun that the Greeks rose to meet at dawn with a kiss upon their upraised hands? From whence came Helios, son of Hyperion "The High Going" and Euryphaëssa "The Far Shining"? What is the source of the light that shines from Loka Chakshuh, the Vedic "Eye of the World"?

The Egyptians symbolized the birth of the sun through descriptions of the infant sun-god Horus, who arose from within the petals of a sacred blue lotus floating upon an endless sea. This sun was the "Eye of Ra," the "good eye of heaven" as the Samoyeds say. The idea of the eye of god was and is very widespread in the world. The fact that many people have conceived of the sun as both a youthful hero and an aged father merely suggests the cyclic rebirth of the orb's penetrating gaze.

Loka Chakshuh or Surya is depicted in the Vedas as the Godhead. of Supreme Truth and Knowledge, the Lord of Light. His two functions are luminous vision and luminous creation, suggesting that the vision of Truth and Knowledge is followed by the creation of Light. The medieval alchemists spoke of the sol niger, the black or invisible sun which they related to prime matter and the unconscious. The visible sun is at the nadir, out of which depths it must ascend toward its zenith, the invisible apex that oversees the creation of light.

"Chaos ceases at the effulgence of the Ray of Primordial Light helped on by the Word of the Central Sun." During the active periods of being, this central, invisible source gives rise to a stream of ceaseless energy whose vibrating currents become more active at each descending rung of the sevenfold ladder of being. The equinoxes and various other cyclic phases and periods of the visible solar course are only symbols of the singular truth which remains hidden. The activity of this energy, increasingly involuting into gross matter, can be seen as a demonstration of numerical patterns which are arcane hieroglyphs containing the keys that yield an ever greater abstract knowledge of solar reality. The Secret Doctrine describes the Central Sun as an unseen point in sidereal space which constantly attracts our solar system. It is the Centre of Rest to which all motion is ultimately referable. It is the "reservoir within which divine radiance, already differentiated at the beginning of every creation, is focused." This focal point is everywhere and yet – like the logos – it is somewhere. As the earth is attracted to the sun in our solar system (though obviously the centripetal forces in the system are counterbalanced by the centrifugal), so our sun is a servant to a more remote centre around which it revolves. One may imagine increasingly expanded systems ultimately resolving themselves within a solar centre which encompasses all but which exists on an inconceivably homogeneous plane of matter. One may analogically imagine all systems resolving themselves into an essential, primordial point in endless space. In our cogitations, we are wise to remember the admonition that not even the Dhyan Chohans can penetrate the mysteries of the boundaries separating the milliards of solar systems from the Central Invisible Sun.

In The Book of Dzyan the Central Sun is portrayed as causing the mysterious force called Fohat to collect primordial matter into globules and impel them to converge together as aggregates. This recommencement of spiralling motion, brought on by the heat of the Great Breath, creates the conditions necessary for the birth of the first 'primitive family,' the differentiation of matter into elements and sub-elements or what Occultism calls "temporary appearances." Such heterogeneous and temporary appearances are the prototypes of the visible suns and systems of planets as well as all the various combinations of life that they sustain. The principle activating and extending this process is the centrifugal energy of the universe – Lucifer, Lux, the light made visible in our solar system. It conveys the radiant energy flowing from the Central Sun which thus called into being and electrified the visible sun and earth and created the tension responsible for the revolution of the latter around the former. The activating principle of the earth can be traced through the physical sun to an energy that rises on a less mundane plane of existence.

In this vast and multifarious universe, there are grades of solar bodies which are like 'organs' acting in the whole process of creation in conjunction with electrical channels that convey their collective influence to the earth. The Fiery Breath which resides beyond manifested nature emanates the Central Spiritual Sun, parent of electricity, the fire of life and the manifested universe. Through seven planes of being, like the many-storied universe envisioned by Siberian people, the suns beget sons which become solar centres of life energy at progressively more concretized levels. The Dhyan Chohans, the Seven Divine Sons of the One Light, are luminous suns existing in an incorporeal condition like divine parents of subsequent septenate life. These Holy Ones embody the emerging primal elements in their most pristine essence and harmonious balance. Like rays from a virginal fire, they give of their essence, instilling divine intelligence into the progeny of their sovereign lineage.

It was the descendants of these Lords of Light who took on increasingly material garb and eventually walked upon the earth among men of many races and conditions. These great Heroes, like the rising sun, always came from the East. As Divine Races among men, they gave out sacred teachings and provided the foundations for the development of all the great civilizations that have existed in human history. These were the Solar Races around whom religious cults developed in every inhabited part of the world. These cults reached great heights in India, Egypt, Africa and the Americas, including the complex form which developed in Peru. There the Ynca, the first children of the sun, were placed by their Father in Lake Titicaca, one of the highest lakes in the world. From this solar brother and sister issued a lineage of royal descendants who were all known as children of the sun and called ynca. They ruled as Divine Kings and through elaborate ritual maintained a living link between the Sun as Godhead and the people of the mountainsides. In India the Surya Vansa or 'race of the sun' laid down its dynasty in Ayodhya. The Rig Veda speaks of them as solar kings. Later these kings became deified and their worship was the earliest anthropomorphization of the great primeval faith which considered the sun as Master of Life and Death. From this early and inspired devotion eventually arose ancestor worship which, wherever it exists in the world, is usually associated with a cult of the sun. As the sun is eternally reborn, so men are inspired to seek the source of their own rebirth and immortality. In allegorical fashion they achieve a sort of lineal immortality by keeping alive the psychic link with ancestors who are reborn again in the children of devout worshippers.

The sun is sometimes symbolically described as the 'heart' and 'brain' of the solar system. From it sensations radiate into "every nerve center of the great body." But it is only a "window cut into the real Solar Presence" which reflects the interior work. From within there is a circulation of vital fluid that passes through our solar system like the circulation of blood within an organism. The sun contracts and expands like the human heart, its systolic and diastolic phases marking the eleven-year sun-spot cycles which are intimately connected with solar eruptions affecting the earth and other planets. Each year the solar 'blood' passes through its 'auricles' and 'ventricles' before washing out the lungs' and passing into the 'veins' and 'arteries' of the system to complete the eleven-year cycle.

Through a telescope, the appearance of the physical sun is that of a disk with sharply defined edges, its brightest area being at its centre. During a solar eclipse, the corona may be seen to radiate out from this edge like a luminous halo, its shape varying with the phases of the sun-spot cycle. Spectroscopic findings reveal that sun-spots are merely indicators of activity going on within the sun. Like tubes, they penetrate through the convection zones toward the central zone. Here atomic radiations, which are largely reabsorbed due to tremendous gravitational pressures, counterbalance the centripetal force by a steady radiation pressure. One could say that the work of the centre is 'pushing out,' which is significantly reflected in the Sanskrit word Surya, whose root su means 'to press out' and is compounded in the term asu meaning 'to breathe.'

During solar storms great streams of highly ionized particles spiral in colossal arcs out from the sun's surface. These predominantly hydrogenate particles rush through space and impinge upon the earth's atmosphere, vastly affecting its climate, stirring up its atmosphere and affecting rates of change and growth around the globe. These currents run along the 'nerves' described in occult doctrine and recharge the system, breaking down and refining material with their fiery sharpness. The hidden 'heart' of the sun expands with this ionized 'blood' and washes clean the lungs' of space within the solar system. With electrifying power it fills the 'veins' and 'arteries,' revitalizing all aggregates of life within its system. Despite their enormous effect upon the earth, these 'storms' are really minor aspects of the sun's own colossal cyclic scale. Given the amazingly balanced reserve of energy that the sun continually maintains, it is, relative to this larger perspective, almost calm and unchanging, as the poets and mathematicians say. At the solar centre, mass is extremely concentrated and, due to enormously high temperatures, only the most 'elemental' forms of matter could exist there. Chemical modification occurs as energy is convected out towards the surface of the sun where conversion to light energy takes place. The 'heat' in the dense solar centre is quite different from that which is produced by the radiating rays at its surface where the density of matter is less than that of air. This central heat, which continually maintains itself, involves a concentration of matter that suggests activities of incalculable power, controlled by an arcane principle of complete equilibrium at a primal level. To put it in terms of the solar 'heart' and 'brain,' the massive and thunderous beating of that 'organ' is contained by an autonomic system, as it were, which reflects the dictates of a highly synthesized and anterior light. This is directly analogous with the function of the pineal gland within the human brain which synthesizes light and regulates the performance of all the bodily rhythms. It is also the basis, intuitively or cognitively, of the frequent reference made by classical writers to man as a sun.

The Puranas tell how the Devas asked the Rishis to bring the Sun into Satya Loka. The Sun-God warned them that if he left his place the world would be destroyed. One of the Rishis offered to put his 'red cloth' in the place of the Sun's disk and thus originated the visible shell of the sun. In fact, the sun is thickly surrounded by a red shell of matter, and it is only during a solar eclipse that we can gain the "indisputable evidence" of the real sun. This 'robe' of the sun, as the ancients called it, is made up of all the chemical elements to be found on earth and on every other planet but they exist in a more 'developed' state of matter, and our globe must necessarily become far more 'refined' before its elements could match the condition of those within that chromosphere. The whole magnificent process, involving the replacement of our earthly molecules with the 'giant atoms' from the Infinitude 'above,' is a grand symbol of what takes place microcosmically along the Guruparampara chain between teacher and disciple. Like the magnetic sun, the teacher attracts the chela, but the very centrifugal force of his luminous power forces the disciple to discover his own orbit, that he may eventually become a source of light himself. And just as the 'storms' upon the sun's surface seem to almost overwhelm the humble planet, so the forces surrounding the Guru must be slowly approached and assimilated by the disciple. An infinite process of exchange and refinement must take place.

We are advised that in order to acquire an understanding of the refined condition of the solar photosphere and chromosphere we must possess a knowledge of the sixth state of matter. In man this would correlate with the lighting up of buddhi. To achieve this one must work backward from the kama rupic vehicle to the awakening of manas which, The Secret Doctrine states, is endowed by the "spirit of our Visible Sun." In wedding manas to buddhi, man approaches the "Equatorial Sun" at the third level of manifestation. Beyond this radiates the "Polar Sun" which gives to man the spark of Atman from the Central Spiritual Sun. In pursuing upward along this vital channel within his being, man gradually realizes the Kshetrajna within, "The Soul's Spiritual Sun."

At all levels the sun is the most perfect symbol for this divine process. It not only points to the source of all process itself but commands the central position of omniscience in the universe. As the Vedas teach, all the gods attain to vastness by following Surya. Being exalted, He sees all and therefore knows all and, as one who takes in the whole world at a glance, He was invoked by the ancient Greeks in taking oaths. Not only does He make clear the path of goodness and purity to those who seek to walk in it, but He is pure Himself. As Kepler understood, He is physically at the spatial centre of the solar system and is symbolically representative of abstract Oneness. He is Sol, Solar, the absolute 'Good' overbrooding Plato's Divided Line. Like the seed of the arcane ancestor, the sun never dies but is always reborn. The transformation of a mere one percent of its mass from hydrogen to helium supplies enough energy to insure radiation and life-breath for at least a billion years. The extinction of our sun lies so far in the future that countless stages of refinement shall have affected all life within the entire solar system, producing forms and levels of consciousness few men have dreamed of on this earth. "Before the hour of the 'Solar Pralaya' strikes on the Watchtower of Eternity, all the other worlds of our system will be gliding in their spectral shells along the silent paths of Infinite Space." All the compassionate and stormy exchanges between spirit and matter that will have produced the perfected harvest of this solar system will be completed and their refined essence will have moved on to other arenas of universal evolution.

The Tarot relates the sun to purification and tribulation, "the sole purpose of which is to render transparent the opaque crust of the senses so that they may perceive the higher truths." Man, in his efforts to purify himself, unites himself by degrees to his prototype in heaven. As he does, he is drawn higher and higher, into successive rays, each of which supersedes the one lower, causing it to break away, until he is at last drawn into the highest beam of the Parent-Sun. It is taught that upon the death of one who has attained moksha, the soul goes from the heart of the body to the crown of the head, traversing the sushumna nerve. Thence it goes to the region of Surya Mandala along the solar rays and, entering into the Sun, is released into Paramapadha, the realm of the essence of the body of Ishwara. Tat tvam asi – THAT THOU ART. Surya Gayatri Mantra: “Om Bhaskaray Vidmahe Martanday Dheemahi Tanah Surya Prachodayat”

[throwaway-yandere]

Duke Diluc & The NPC

(Yandere Otome Isekai Diluc x Reader Visual Novel Demo)

Game Link (should work on mobile now!!!!)

Before playing the game, I suggest reading I Got Reincarnated As A Server NPC In An Otome Game But A Capture Target Won’t Leave Me Alone first to get an idea on what's going on. Danke~ <3

Currently the game ends on the prologue so it's just a very short demo :D

Game Description:

Greetings, I am Diluc Ragnvindr.

Welcome to Southern Gaciea. Unlike the North, East, and the West, the South is a tourist spot for outsiders. It's a closed off country, so outlanders will need to submit their documents to the department of domestic affairs.

Perhaps you do not remember, but you've encountered many interesting individuals upon your arrival such as…

Sir Dainsleif, the famous Western knight turned retainer for both Prince Lumine and her missing brother, Prince Aether;

Lord Kamisato, the Eastern noble who controls Gaciean trade with just a flick of a wrist;

Chief Albedo, the Head of Domestic Affairs and Chief Alchemist from unknown origins;

Justice Ajax, the unreasonable Northern politician whom I often argue with;

…And, of course, Duke Ragnvindr, the Southern Head of Military Affairs. That would be me.

It's a shame you no longer remember much of our time together, (Y/n). I assure you, I can make you feel at home in this universe. But— you're not planning to leave South Gaciea soon, are you? ♥

Credits:

Genshin Impact belongs to Hoyoverse, of course.

OST from Cafe Enchante (Welcome to the Mysterious Cafe, My Beloved Enchante, Coffee To Wake You Up)

And of course, the weird sprites are made by yours truly, Ansytea/Throwaway-Yandere hehe

--------------------

04/21/23: this prologue only existed because we had like a two day holiday in my uni lmao.

[theropodtheroblogs]

Fic Snippet - Megatronus Prime/Megatron

I'm so obsessed and I need you to be too, so here's a snippet for something in the works, a multichapter Megatronus Prime/Megatron fic, working title 'Solid as Sand, Real as Dreams'.

“You seem to have forgotten just from whom you have taken, little mech.” Megatronus hums, voice drifting along the strands of light and sand as they dance through the air. They begin to spread across him, patchwork at first as they form his towering body and fill in missing detail, and all the while Megatron crumbles until he can be lessened no further. “Your first cog stolen, destroyed by a traitor who’s death was much deserved and savoured.” Purple plating shifts into place, slowly solidifying as silken words drip from the forming mask. “Your second a gift freely given, tossed aside when a greater prize came within reach. I wonder what Alchemist would have made of such arrogance.” Black servos twist into existence, trailing through sands like fingers dipped into liquid energon. “And now your third, already stolen once before, taken as a war prize.” The gilding settles into place on scratched purple plating, war scarred and glorious as divinity towers over the cogless miner helpless before him. “And yet again we come to your great weakness. With your grasping hands and your arrogance, you forgot to ask; where does your power come from?”

[quitealotofsodapop]

Of course, the little Prince never forgot the Elder, even as history did. One of the first things he teaches his cubs (and MK once he unlocks his monkey form in aus where he isnt Wukongs biological cub/TMKATI) is how the elderly storyteller had cared for him on behalf of his birth mother, whom had sacrificed her life to make the egg from which he had been born, and how it had been he who had first inspired Wukong to set out on the path he had done so.

Of course, since he had been staying with the rest of the Noodle Gang due to his home kinda... getting split in two... that means they had the unfortunate matter of eavedroppers when Wukong told MK this

prev.

The Elder was quite old at the time, but he was a beloved babysitter - a true Shí bǎomǔ if there ever was one. And he tried his best to care for the newborn Prince the best he could. His four students, the Stalwart little cubs Ma, Ba, Beng, and Liu, acted as the cub's siblings and playmates, and often brought him to their parents for help in feeding him. Although the Prince was never truly adopted by a member in the troop, he was rarely lacking affection or food from his playmates' parents- many of whom had newborns of their own.

The Baboon and Gibbon had been joys to encounter. The Elder and the wandering pair hooted happily and shared stories for days on end. The sadly could not stay - they had a universe to see afterall - and they departed with the knowledge that there was still more of Them out there beyond the seas and stars.

When a strange Six Eared cub seemingly fell from Heaven, the Elder had been the only adult not terrified of his arrival. He remembered that there were others of his kind out in the stars, just not how many. He along with the Stalwarts and the growing Prince, helped the odd cub learn How to Monkey after a lifetime raised as a Celestial. Macaque didn't forget this elder's kindness when he left Aolai to find a purpose in the stars he'd originated from. He just wished that he had been there to ask more question about what and who they are in the cosmos.

I feel like one of the first things Wukong does as a "true" King of his people is to make a shrine to the Elder of the community that raised him, and helped raise so many of them into wise monkeys. Although his knowledge on Stone Monkeys as a species in a scientific sense was lacking (The Elder had been a storyteller not an alchemist), Wukong makes sure that it is known that Stone Monkeys existed on Aolai, and that he was one of them.

When the Burning occured, many of the shrines had been destroyed, and many of the older monkeys who knew the Elder perished.

By the time of the modern day, only Sun Wukong, The Six Eared Macaque, and the Four Stalwarts that learned from the Elder directly even know he existed.

Wukong hopes to change that.

In the TMKATI au a conversation will certainly occur between Wukong and Macaque over their skills as parents - how can they raise a child of their own if their upbringings were so unusual? Wukong being raised as a child of the monkey community vs Macaque being raised in near (unintentional) isolation with Chang'e. The adults of the noodle gang certainly overhear this conversation, though they do not bring it up directly. Pigsy would start a tangent about being an only child and how he has hundreds of cousins out in the countryside in Gao Village, and how he always felt a little alien amongst them. If only to put Macaque's particular worries to rest.

When MK of any universe begins to ask the Big Questions, Wukong makes sure to pass on the stories of the Elder and of the community of monkey demons that populated Aolai. How the Monkey King was not made in a vacuum. And neither was MK.

[gear-project]

I saw the A.B.A. gameplay video. I never played the old games since I started GG with SIGN, but that Jealous Rage, you have an idea on what is wrong with Flament? He looks sickly and disorientated and I am not sure if A.B.A. has done this before. Also, it looks like A.B.A. is more 'confident' and 'nonchalant' in her fighting stance compared to the older games, although she seems more aggressive and vicious in her attacks.

It's a tad early to speculate what is going on, but I suspect that Flament was exposed to the INSIDE OF THE GATE.

The story goes that the Inside of the Gate is embodied by "everything" that Homunculi do not possess that Humans "have".

"Jealousy" is one simple way to put it, but it is basically every aspect of what exists in terms of absolute opposition.

Greed, Pride, Gluttony, Lust, Wrath, Sloth, Vanity, and also Despondency.

It's a little complicated to explain what I mean but...

With every "talent" that Humans have, there exists something that "lacks" that talent. Every skill, every blessing, every idea, every presence. Becomes a Burden, a Curse, a Vexation, an Obsession, and so on...

Getting caught up in the "darkness" (the thing that changed the Original Sage in to Happy Chaos), basically.

What makes us unique and special... the things we value... are all taken inside this gate in "equivalent exchange" (if we hope to gain something more than what we already have in our greed and hubris).

The Gate itself is similar to the Idea of "that which seeks to surpass humanity".

In simple terms it's similar to desire, once again using the word "jealousy" here in a vague way.

But just like how I-No was born from the world's desire for a better future... it was that "desire" that also broke the world (namely the Backyard).

Homunculi are, give or take, something of a "connection" between this world and the world beyond the Gate... similar to Boundary Contact Mediums like BlazBlue had.

As for Flament Nagel himself... he was originally a battle axe in the shape of a Key... after countless battles and engorging himself on bloodshed and conflict, he transformed in to the "goat face" with horns we saw in Accent Core.

However, this shape is formless... almost liquid-like. Similar in fact to Eddie and his formless body as a Shadow Organism.

Likely getting swept up in the Currents of the World beyond the gate has dismembered parts of Flament Nagel beyond recognition... though he still somehow "remembers" what he looked like (only just barely).

Probably A.B.A. is part of the reason he can still "revert" back in to his Key Form (an attachment to this world perhaps).

(Side note: Hoenheim is the Label on the tassel, which is a reference to the Alchemist whom created A.B.A.)

[junseotual]

welcome, 2024 !! some messages are longer in the written version below.

as always, i wanted to thank my friends for, well, keeping me alive lol but seriously i say this every single year but you really. made my year. and i'm very grateful for that.

in particular, i'd like to thank my most beloved tuals (twtuals for the most part), thank you for dealing with me on a daily basis, i bet it's not easy !!

// in alphabetical order of the contact names!

[ashie] ; @geumibear

my ribbit !!! we haven’t spoken much this year, but your presence was always, ALWAYS very appreciated!! i’m also very much enjoying the crush saga … in my humble opinion he wants u SO bad ashie. so bad. also, belated congratulations for getting into your chem degree, my whittle alchemist (<- ik that’s not what u are but that’s cute so u hab to accept it sorry) i hope that you always always always remember that i love you very much even when we don’t really talk!! may 2024 bring u crush and uni successes <3 can’t wait to keep up w your adventures this upcoming year as well!!!! lob u

[biebear] ; @marklyluvr

dear bylan p baller! sorry, my BELOVED BIEBEAR <33 we were already pretty good friends (i like to think) but i feel like we’ve gotten much much closer these past few months!! (or is it just me. who knows) . either way i’m really glad for that <3 because idk if u know this (u better. this is a threat.) but i love you a LOT. sorry for making u deal with me recently kjdfksbdk but thank you for hearing me out (and giving me courage also) <3 also thank you for always playing along w me when i say dumb stuff ure so cute i lob u… thank you for always being so nice to me and for being my most beloved villaintual my ohseungtual so important to me what wld i do without u… please be careful on the road!! ure still a whittle biebear so people should let u do whatever u want when ure driving but i have a feeling that they won’t :( i hope that the upcoming year treats you better than this one, i love you!! my cutieful bieloved!! ps. kissie for lillie

[bnuuy / my gabi] ; @yangsminho

my biloved <3 i already said this recently but. i really missed you an awful lot.. an so i’m SO very glad that we’ve been talking a bit more these days <3 u falling for nicho (and subsequently fuma. and) was one of the best things to happen to me this year fr . i kiss u btw . sorry for being so needy and annoying sowwy for targeting u so often when it happens its bc i love u i can’t promise i’ll be less annoying next year hope u understand… also, sure, i only know your internet persona BUT i do love you a whole lot and. this is something i’ve said before but. your internet persona is still a part of You. and i would love you no matter how and where and when i met you, i promise. thank you for being my friend, and i hope we can continue that throughout the upcoming year <3 can’t wait to hunt down nichofuu at the korean clubs w u mwah!!

[founding matthewer / my iri] ; @seokmatthewz

MY IRI WHOM I LOVE my forest witch my cherry fox (og) my shrimptual my elf chef… and most importantly recently my zebitual ofc ofc ofc. founding matthewer. i love you. btw. if u even care. i think this year was a big one for miliri!! got ur twt n subsequently ur discord i feel like i won at life. i guess im also thankful to zebi for existing so i can annoy u more… or i guess ure the one terrorising me most of the time but. as u know. i don’t mind. (also &t i’m so glad u had no other survival show to watch im so glad u decided to subject urself to &audition i love the consequences of that so bad u domt understand) i’m really really glad that we’ve been talking arguably? more this year!! i hope you’re willing to deal with me next year as well!! also excited for the 2024 miliri jesus birthday cafe run, of course!!!!! kdfkjsdnjkd ps. may 2024 bring u all the shrimp of the world. right to ur door. and say miss blue that i love her. and ur honorary catdog also &lt;3

[léksie] ; @possession1981

my léksie whom i love <3 congratulations on your graduation hehe!! things are…….the way they are recently so i feel like we haven’t kept in contact as much as i wish we did this year but i’m glad that you’re still… here, yknow!! i love you very, very, very much and you deserve nothing but all the love in the world!!! 2023 was tough, i know, and i hope that 2024 treats you so so much better… if it doesn’t ill kill the universe actually. i’ll also be crossing my fingers for a potential miléks meetup (<- literally have not discussed this w u seriously but idc i’ll be scheming)(just between lovers marathon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! when!!!!!!!!!!!) thank you for being such an amazing friend and role model, i really, really care about you and love you a lot. 

[loml / my brina] ; @aquablues

MY BRINA LOVE OF MY LIFE MY SUNSHINE MY RAINBOW MY LITTLE TULIP MY BRILOVED MY LITTLE STAR WHO IS SO IMPORTANT TO ME …. MY WORLD …. MY BABRI (baby bri) WHOM I LOVE SOSOOSOSOSOSOSOSOOSOSOSOSOSO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this year was a big one for you and i’m so, so, so, so, so, so proud of you always always always!!! i’m SO glad to see that your college life has been treating you well so far i’m genuinely SO happy that you’re having a good time like u dont get it i’m literally tearing up as im writing this?? anyways thank you so much for keeping me (and the rest of us) updated on your uni adventures i really appreciate it!! and as u know i would have been devastated if u just contact w me like i wld be so sad if u ever do that at least give me like a two weeks notice ok thank u… please remember that i love you i adore you i cherish you my brina!!! so much!! i hope you can continue to enjoy your uni experience in 2024 as well (without the annoying u-know-who this time). ps. i still have a jo to send u someday i just think i prob shldnt send it to ur home address considering ur parents??

[megmeg] ; @lunetual

my megmeg my beloved <33 thank you for helping me this year despite being so busie <3 even if we dont really get to talk i’m really really happy to have you in my life!! and thank you for making efforts to keep in touch despite being so busie i love u… i hope we can continue to be friends in the upcoming year hehe <3 ps. give kissies to apollo from me!!

[mr. meoweks] ; @awek-s

dear mr pawminister sir. i hope you’re doing well in this very busy season,, kjsfnksjdnfkksn hello my meoweks whom i meow (love) so so so meowch!! i thiiiiiink we might have gotten a bit closer this year and i’m very happy about that!! ik this year was definitely not easy for you so i hope that 2024 can be a much better year BUT! congratulations (yet again) on getting into ur phd program im sosoosososososososo proud of you genuinely SO proud!!!! i knew you could do it but STILL!! cant wait to be promoting ur anthology entry in the streets <3 also omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg……………… meowmeow (aweks millie) meetup i CANT WAIT head in hands im so excited u domt get it meoweks.. also i think its SO cute that u have little bunbuns now wtf tell them that i love them wtf wtf wtf they’re so cute i love them. ps. do tell me if u want me to send u the cappuccino or if u want to wait until u come over!!

[my danderion / my eri] ; @xiaojuun

my beloved eri… what can i say that i havent said yet at the beginning of the month lmao this is the hard part abt u being a december baby it’s like i don’t wanna keep repeating myself but it’s literally only been like 3 weeks. but it’s been. Very busie weeks also. it’s slightly sad to have u so busy (from a selfish standpoint bc … my ewi … i miss my ewi …) but i’m also genuinely very happy for you!! you get to do what you wanted to do where u wanted to!! AND ur not living alone!! u won big time i think!!! im also very very grateful that you’re making efforts to still keep me updated even when you’re so busy, i appreciate it a lot, really :< i love you (you already know this). and. as i said before. i am Very glad to have not a friend Like you, but You As my friend. also i hope u know that i’m taking my wittle pengeri (tuxedo sam) so so many places! in very important 2023 events i am also SO happy (and still so giddy. i am insane. and i love u.) that i got to meet you irl <33 one of my best memories of the year! thank u for being such a cute n nice guide i lob u… i hope 2024 treats you well and that we can !! continue!! to be good friends!! i love you lots <3 i really do. ps. give flo and vika a kithie from me if u can!! and sarabi too, the next time u see her <3 pps. i allowed myself to show my grandma meri christmas pics and she said ure pretty. shes right. btw if u care.

[my ina] ; @flops

MY INA WHOM I LOVE!!! i feel like every year my wishes of getting closer to u get realised !! and u have no idea how happy it makes me!! im also so so happy that u joined us over on twt im so so so glad im so glad u hab no idea im SO happy i can annoy u so much more now thank u so much… (also sorry). thank you for putting up with me and all the annoying things i send u .. its a love language (and for sending me my leo)!! i love you to bits… and yet again, i hope we can get even closer in the upcoming year <3 ps. milina meetup when

[my violet / my vyvy] ; @souladies

MY VYNAIGRETTE!!!!!!!! MY VYONCÉ!!!!!!!!!!! my violet my vyvy my viavy my vyvyney whom i love so so much my little mouse my fluffy cat my beloved fennec fox <3 i feel like we’ve gotten SO insanely closer these past few months?!?! first of all thank you so much for being my beloved dramamate <3 thank you for being okay with me live messaging u my reactions to wifty and piggy king, thank you for agreeing to (re)watch hidden love with me, thank you SO much for experiencing fiys with me, thank you (and paula) so much for welcoming me for that one insane extraordinary you episode, and thank you (and ro!) for watching the killy votey & kidnapping day with me as well!! thank you so much for always making time for me :< i really appreciate it. and more recently, thank you for being my line friend hehe <3 i really love talking to u a LOT !! idk if u can tell . thank you sm for dealing with me skjdnfksdnk i genuinely thought u were going to stop talking to me after that one piggy episode . anyways i hope that 2024 treats you well and that we can continue talking and being friends <3 also i’m very excited for the next vyllie drama, whatever it may be!! ps. tell paquito that i lob him

[pauby] ; @ghiblin

MY PAUBY!!!!!!!!! my capy <3 i lob u so much thank u for always being so cute and so nice to me!!! and thank you for allowing me into the pauney extraordinary you watch that time and for welcoming me so nicely i kithie u … i hope that 2024 treats you vewy nicely (or else!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and that we can continue to be friends <3 ps. tell ur kitty that i said hello pps. pauby to be honest i wld let u :O eat me . honestly

[princess roro] ; @sunghanbin

MY SUNSHINE MY MODEL MY PRINCESS MY BEROVED RORO!!!!!!!!!!! <33 big year for milro i wld say but also i feel like every year is… <3 thank u (and vyvy) for watching killy votey and the kidnapping day with me <3 thank you for being the girl with the prettiest smile ever <3 also just the most beautiful girl ever. i know things have been rough lately and i’m very sorry about that… i hope 2024 can bring you and your family good news! that aside, thank you for being my friend and talking to me and bickering with me and getting me into bonedo and for showing me so much love and for trusting me!! what i’m trying to say is!! i love you!! a lot!! my beroved!! and i hope you are willing to deal with me for another year <3

[puppie !!] ;

MY PUPPIE MY VENVEN MY VEN PARA whom i love. thank you for STILL being friends with me i feel like its been so long…. i don’t really know if you realize this but you’re a extremely important friend to me. genuinely. i think my life would be a lot more miserable without you. thank you for dealing with me despite everything.. amd thamk u for the kitty videos always!! i kissie u <3 i love you <3 i hope that you always remember that and that you Never ever doubt it. may 2024 treat u nicely!!!!!!!!!!! and i hope we can be friends for even longer <3 ps. pls tell my children (phantom max sassa . i feel like im forgetting someone if i am im sorry i am on my knees repenting) that i love them!!

additionally, thank you to my other mutuals that have spent this year with me!! my miha (@jaebeomtual) and lili (@ninqz) who have been so sweet ; my sarah (@wabisaba), my rosie (@kimjiwoong), my beluluved (@fushigojos), my sofsof (@yeofi), luna (@yunwooz), and my dee (@ryudaeng), who have been with me for a While now and stuck with me despite us not interacting much this year ; rachie (@gnanii) and mary (@dongkwan) whose contribution to the eri project i'm very grateful for (and they're amazing just in general as well but) ; as well as vivi (@moonsua) who's a beloved twtual &lt;3

and a special thanks to paquito and lavender ; phantom, sassa and max ; miss blue and iri's woof ; paula's cat ; eri's woofs whose names i forgot i am so sorry... & bestinez and sarabi, bestie j & ellis and florence and vika ; apollo ; lillie ; gabi's many many many animals ; grimm ; sammy and ashy ; brina's friend group. for being around my beloveds and for all the stories (amd cute pictures) involving them !!

as well as jinsung coming back bc this is my post and i can be insane <3 as a treat <3

credits!! [icons] // [ash pfp] // [bie pfp] // [gabi pfp] // [iri pfp] // [aléks pfp] // [brina pfp] // [meg pfp] // [aweks pfp] // [eri pfp] // [ina pfp] // [vy pfp] // [paula pfp] // [ro pfp] // [ven pfp]

[aboutzatanna]

Fulcanelli: The Lost Zatara Relative, Could He Be Zachary's Father?

So when I was going through Zatanna's team ups with the many Dr Fate's of the DCU, I stumbled upon a character who probably ought to be a bigger deal than he currently is.

The character debuted in Fate #10 when Zatanna teamed up with the Jared Stevens incarnation of Dr Fate or Fate as he called himself.

The issue was written by Steve Grant and Len Kaminski* with art by Anthony Willams and it takes place sometime after the death of Zatara.

*Kaminski recently had an accident that left him wheelchair with his care completely draining his finances. Consider donating to his GoFundMe and following his FB page for updates.

-

The story begins with Jared on the run after being framed for a plane explosion and finds himself hiding out at one of Zatanna's shows.

Zatanna is trying to get back her groove after being away from the stage show life for a while. Given the number of issues from that time that picks up shortly after Zatara's death, I should probably compile them all into one post.

As is often the case, Zatanna's show is interrupted by the arrival of cult who attempt to kill her and her fans.

She runs into Jared Stevens which also leads to a fight between her and one of the cult members named Strega:

You might have seen some of these scans posted elsewhere. As Zatanna mentions in the comic itself, she may be out of practice but she was never out of the game:

Zee recognizes the cult members and teleports herself and Fate to someone whom she claims is knowledgeable about them:

Though she introduces Fulcanelli as a friend of her father's here, we will soon learn there is more to it than that. But first:

The cult leaders hold Zatanna's fans hostage until she and her allies intervene and the fight leads to this:

Culminating in:

Yes, she calls him uncle while he calls her niece. So he wasn't just a friend of her father's. He was family.

(Pretty cool of her to give her fans a do-over show)

Sadly, Fulcanelli is never seen again. But Strega shows up just fine as part of the Conclave in Book of Fate #6, the other ongoing that Jared led. So hey, I guess that means that they are both no longer statues ? If you don't know, the Conclave is a group of both good and bad magical beings that interestingly enough, Zatanna was in charge of. I really need to read all of Jared Stevens appearances and the Underworld Unleashed cross over to get the full picture on this.

But lets get back to Evan Fulcanelli, named after the French alchemist Fulcanelli , whom we are introduced to as Zatara's friend but later revealed to be her uncle.

Her uncle who isn't flamboyant showman like his brother, someone who dabbled in alchemy instead of backwards magic and who knew the secrets of transmutation that made him the target of a cult thus forced to keep his existence a secret. Someone who didn't like magic and viewed it as the road to ones end.

Now, what if he was Zachary's father?

It would explain so many things. The biggest being why Zachary can't affect organic beings; his power is rooted in alchemy and why he never mentions his parents (because his father had to stay in hiding or is still a gold statue). It also opens up potential sources of conflict with Zachary wanting to follow in his uncle and cousin's footsteps but Fulcanelli not wanting him to go down that path.

I'm sure Len Kraminski and other writers didn't intend for Zachary's father to be Fulcanelli; Fate #10 came out in 1996, Kingdom Come came out in 1996 and Zachary Zatara wouldn't debut until 2006. Yet somehow it all fits. If there ever was a canonical character who just works as Zachary's father, Fulcanelli is the best bet.

Its sad that this is yet another Zatanna loose end but hopefully more people are aware of this character now. No, I'm not expecting DC to read a Tumblr blog and make additions to their canon but I figured this would be of interest to those of you who like writing fanfics and head canons.

As far as team ups go, this issue was a solid one. Zatanna wasn't treated as a damsel, the writer wasn't quick to take her out so the main hero can shine, in fact he does the opposite and gives her her own villain to fight, plus Zatanna and Jared work well together as a team.

As for Jared, he is one of those characters whom you find yourself reflexively rejecting because on the surface he is so emblematic of the 90's excess but so far, from what I have read of his two ongoings, they're both surprisingly descent.

And the writer even avoided the urge to have Zee pine for Jared. They end up sharing a meal, not a date:

[torgawl]

can we talk about sukuna and rika and why the king and queen of curses having a dispute is also narratively fitting? if sukuna is an heian era sorcerer with an antipathy and disregard of human emotions and the weak's will to live, blind to love and unable to comprehend the value of relationships with others then rika, as his counterpart, works especially well. rika is just a kid, or was just a kid. an innocent young girl who ended up dying tragically and saw herself transform into a vengeful spirit after being cursed by love. not only does she represent the weak (remember when sukuna's slaughter of women and children was implied?), she represents love itself. with her feelings lingering after death, she clinged onto her existence with the sole wish of protecting yuuta. it counteracts so well with sukuna's selfish will to kill time before his final breathe, which he admitted to be his will and motivation.

before i move on to my next idea, which let me preface by saying that it might be a little out there and dives into theory territory, i'm going to contextualise it with some information on the symbolism of "king and queen" that might help understand why this thought may make - at least some - sense.

in alchemy the king usually appears in conjunction with the queen, representing the sun-and-moon duality. in accordance with the theory of sulfur and mercury, which together, after alchemist purification, form the philosopher’s stone (also called the elixir of life, associated with rejuvenation and immortality), usually represented by the crowned hermetic androgyne (the union of the complementary male and female, achieving perfection or completion in the human state). according to jung, the king and queen also signify the spiritual conjunction that takes place when the process of individuation is complete, with the harmonious union of the unconscious and consciousness. jungian psychology has subjected the alchemistic tradition to extensive analysis and views the king less as an image of paternal authority and more as an archetype of higher insight and wisdom.

with that in mind, i think it's easy to understand where i'm headed but i want to add something else. remember jjk 0? geto's plan at the time was to obtain rika so he could use her power and move forward with his plan to annihilate all no-sorcerers. he believed her to be the key to achieve his goal and was willing to risk his own life for it. furthermore, the story is highly based on buddhist concepts and one of the core aspects of jujutsu kaisen is the cycles of suffering the characters are subjected to. in buddhism the goal is to become free of the samsara (continuous cycle of life, death and rebirth), eliminate suffering and achieve nirvana (enlightment). this ties withe the name of the series as kaisen is comprised of the kanji 'kai', meaning cycle, and 'sen', meaning battle, which combined with jujutsu (which means magic/sorcery but contains the word curse) describe the story as an endless battle of curses. and in a sense, the story also repeats itself, between generations and storyline-wise with the events circling back to how it all began. yuuta managed to land a fatal strike on geto once again, but now rika is pointed to be in a direct confrontation with sukuna as the queen of curses. now that i went through all the context needed to understand this, is it possible rika is once again in danger of being taken away? the idea of achieving a state of perfection with the unity between king and queen is quite intriguing. sukuna finally addressing yuuji as a worthy rival because of his unshakable resolve and unbreakable soul, is almost directly implying yuuji to be the one with whom sukuna has his last battle. an ultimate power-up (or the equivalent to), would be veyy cathartic before a final fight where yuuji would have the opportunity to finally go all out and have his well awaited and deserved protagonism (in my eyes, at least).

[cresvalkyrie]

So I've finished all the story quests in Arcane Odyssey, and with that I've re-drafted up Ailyn's lore as well as how she met the crew. Potential spoilers for the Ravenna arc, you have been warned if you haven't finished it yet. Putting it down in a readmore just to be safe

I'll start with the lore behind Ailyn's family first. She's descended from Athena, via Erichthonios - a mortal whom the goddess adopted as her own child and personally tutored in the art of war after she had stumbled upon him half-buried in the earth as a newborn. Under her tutelage and blessings, Erichthonios would later become a legendary warrior-mage during the age of the magic wars, back when Ancient Greece was at its peak. And out of gratitude for Athena, he and his descendants became devout worshipers of the virgin goddess.

Adding on to that, Erichthonios himself was a direct if distant descendant of Zeus. It was through their descent from Zeus that the family line acquired a fraction of the god's powers in the form of Lightning magic, something that would manifest in almost every member born into this bloodline, although it also resulted in a peculiar quirk where they would exhibit two magical affinities: the primary one being Lightning, and the other their natural magical affinity influenced by their inherent natures.

For centuries, Erichthonios and his descendants were a powerful noble family, holding immense influence over the War Seas... but one day the noble house mysteriously collapsed, leaving not a single trace of their existence in the wake of their disappearance and were eventually forgotten to time. However, there are survivors who bear this lineage and had scattered to the winds to preserve their lives; Ailyn's specific bloodline ended up fleeing to a tiny remote island village (so small that it could not be found on maps) that would later be subjugated under the reign of the Ravenna Realm and become one of its many colonies.

Currently her family is no more than peasants, although they still possess an ancient artifacts - one dating back to when the family was once powerful and influential - which served as the family heirlooms. It was a set of bronze spear and shield, said to be gifts bestowed upon their ancestor Erichthonios by Athena in the age of the magic wars. Now it was of no use to the peasant family, its descendants having forgotten its true value, but they were still faintly aware of its importance and kept it within the family for generations.

Now back to Ailyn. She is born on 3rd February 1836 as the eldest of three children, on a remote island village under Ravenna. Her family were quite poor, making ends meet through fishing and offering their services as weavers and alchemists. Even as a child, Ailyn longed to see the outside world, having grown restless from the predictable village life. Something her parents would eventually notice.

Thus on her sixteenth birthday, her parents passed down the family heirlooms to her and their blessing for her to leave the island to walk her own path. And ecstatic, Ailyn immediately left the village by hitching a ride on a passing merchant ship, heading first to Ravenna where she later enlisted into the Bronze Legion.

She served in the Bronze Legion for two years, quickly rising up the ranks and eventually becoming a Legionnaire thanks to her diligence and competence. However, that all came to an end one day when she received a command to siege a suspected rebel base and lay waste to it. At first, she didn't think much of it, having heard it was some remote island... only to realise in horror that it was her home village that the royal family had ordered her to destroy without mercy. And by then, it was too late for her to save anyone...

Disgusted and horrified by what she had done, she deserted the Bronze Legion and attempted to flee Ravenna, only to be caught and detained as someone who she thought as a friend tipped the Bronze Legion off about her plans to desert as they were jealous of her for being able to climb up the ranks so quickly. Ailyn was originally to be sentenced to the Eternal Mines if it weren't for a high lord of the Order taking an interest in her after sensing a peculiar magic in her. Intrigued, they had her be shipped off to serve as the Order's newest experiment subject instead, believing her to be useful in fulfilling the Order's goals.

It was there that she met the rest of the experiments crew (i.e Raju, Acelia, Ambrosia and Reiko). However, at that point, she was still badly in shock from the drastic turn of events that had occurred not too long ago, and was almost unresponsive to anyone whenever they attempted to talk to her beyond simple nonverbal communication. Ailyn spent around a year in the Order's clutches as an experiment subject before escaping with the crew, but she parted ways with them shortly after they woke up on Dawn Island to track down the whereabouts of the family heirlooms she had lost after the Legion had confiscated them upon her detainment.

During ch1 and ch2, Ailyn became a mercenary and bounty hunter separate from the main crew, desperately searching for the heirlooms but to no avail. She was just about to call it quits when she unexpectedly ran into Raju at a tavern in Cirrus, who offered her a place in her crew after hearing that Ailyn had nowhere else to go. Seeing that she had no other choice, she accepted, even if she felt that Raju's kind offer was wasted on her... and the rest is history.

I still haven't figured out how Ailyn plays into the overall storyline with the crew, but if you guys see this I'd like to hear your thoughts on Ailyn!

[aurorawest]

Reading update

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers - 3.75/5 stars

I hate myself a little bit for using this word to describe this book, but it's a meditation on modern (western) culture, the drumbeat of living a purposeful life, and, imo, the millennial condition.

It also, separately from that, made me think of the song 'New Constellations' by Ryn Weaver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13EX7qGdUGI

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles - 5/5 stars

This book features Gareth Inglis, a member of the gentry whose father shipped him off to his uncle when his mother died. Gareth never saw or heard from his father (who remarried and had another child) again, and no one knew he existed because his father was a piece of human garbage. Which meant I couldn't stop thinking about my former father-in-law, who had two sons from his first marriage whom he, as far as I could tell, never had any contact with after remarrying and having another child. Life imitates art?

Anyway, it's KJ Charles, so you pretty much can't go wrong. I saw someone refer to this as enemies-to-lovers and realized my toxic trait is railing against people who want to apply enemies-to-lovers to everything. Spoiler alert, this is not enemies-to-lovers. But it is lovely, and includes Gareth and Joss Doomsday (a smuggler) bonding over beetles.

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by SA Chakraborty - 4.5/5 stars

It was no Daevabad Trilogy, but then again, I remember finishing City of Brass and being like, yeah, it was fine, I'll probably pick up the sequel at some point. It wasn't until Kingdom of Copper that I grew to really love the series, so I'm hoping the same happens with this. This book was a lot of fun, and the fact that all the characters were middle-aged was pretty delightful. I'm definitely excited to see where this series goes.

The Long Run by James Acker - 5/5 stars

Excellent YA book about two lonely jocks in New Jersey.

Feel the Fire by Annabeth Albert - 3.75/5 stars

His Accidental Cowboy by AM Arthur - 4/5 stars

Brida by Paul Coelho - 1/5 stars

One of the reviews for this book on Storygraph says it 'aged like milk' and I can't put it better than that. This is a soul mate AU where souls undergo cell division, essentially, and your soul mate is from your same base soul from before the soul split in half. Okay, great. Oh but wait, the soul always divides into male and female. And your soul mate is always someone of the opposite sex, even though that doesn't make sense because as souls divide again and again, that means there are a lot of people out there who came from the same original soul as you. Also, witchcraft? Also also, even though the book is called Brida and is ostensibly about the title character, her whole journey was really just to serve the unnamed male character, the Magus. This isn't implicit either, it's completely explicit. At the end it's like, 'sometimes young women come along to show men the way' (I'm paraphrasing but...not much).

This went straight to my give away pile, and I hated it so much that the rest of my Coelho books joined it (except The Alchemist).

Enlightened by Joanna Chambers - 5/5 stars

Or, For The Love Of God Please Give David Lauriston And Murdo Balfour A Break, And Preferably A Happy Ending.

They got one, btw.

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amélie Wen Zhao - DNF

Honestly, the Mad Libs YA title should have warned me off of this one, but I always give my Illumicrate books a try. Cartoonish villains and protagonists I find myself liking less the more we get to know them. The prose is quite good but not enough to make up for the character deficiencies.

Solomon's Crown by Natasha Siegel - 5/5 stars

Blurbed by no less than Tamora Pierce (Song of the Lioness supremacy!), Rainbow Rowell, Freya Marske, and CS Pacat. Did I go into this book with insanely high expectations? Yes. Did it mostly meet them? Yes! If you're a Captive Prince fan, this one's for you.

Siegel tells us up front, before the book even starts, that it's a romance and not historically accurate. So don't go into this expecting a historically accurate love story between King Richard of England and King Philip of France. It is, however, a gorgeous romance. The world-building is top notch. Even if it's not totally accurate to the High Middle Ages, it feels accurate, if that makes sense? Siegel really captures the feeling of being in a different world. Lush writing, amazing sexual/romantic tension, lovely sad boys. Highly, highly recommend.

Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots by Cat Sebastian - 4.75/5 stars

I docked .25 stars because it bugged me that they didn't move in together at the end. Idk, just felt too 'look, I'm subverting romance conventions!' Still good, obviously.

Like Real People Do by EL Massey - 4/5 stars

A very wholesome and low stakes hockey romance. I found myself often thinking that the interactions of the men on the hockey teams seemed unrealistic, but it was charming and sweet enough that I didn't care.

The book reads like fanfiction, which is because it was fanfiction—but it's in a mostly good way, not a bad way (*cough* All The Way Happy *cough*). Apparently the original version was Check, Please! fanfiction, which I am vaguely familiar with as a thing that exists. Apparently it's a web comic? Anyway, I enjoyed the book enough to pick up the sequel.

[gorbalsvampire]

Hiya, nice to meetcha. Anyway… I was a little curious since mentioned something about your treatment of the Tremere and was curious about that little detail. How exactly are the Usurpers treated in this little corner of the internet?

Short version: they're not mages and they never were: they're alchemists. They stumbled into vampirism by accident and decided to take over.

The context is...

Well, first up I find the Tremere/Tzimisce/Salubri metaplot very overcooked. It's top level Antediluvian find-the-lady that has no relevance to playable characters, just impact. It's superhero comic plotting, nerdism run wild. I have a fundamental distaste for how the official materials present those three clans in particular and I'll take any excuse to knock them down a peg or two.

But also: I'm tidy minded, and I've been a development editor for RPGs, and as such... I loathe Thaumaturgy. I see a power set that works nothing like any of the others (instead of 1-10 linear progression it's a series of 1-5 scaling options, instead of stat+skill like everything else in the game it runs off Willpower) and a) I want to know why and b) I think that needs a rework, because for some reason you, the developer, decided to break your own rules at publication point.

b) is easy. You, the developer, didn't need to do that. Kill your darlings, especially in game text where your darling is adding brain wrinkles to the whole process of play.

a) is fascinating. There is some industry scuttlebutt that I can't verify, and it goes like this:

Before Vampire, the same-ish team worked on Ars Magicka. (RPG where you play Hermetic wizards and their associates caught up in complex inter-House politics spanning a fantastic version of early thirteenth century Europe. It has a neat verb-noun spellcasting system, and the cool then-innovation of people running multiple characters so they can switch out to suit the needs of the scene or story. It's a good game. None of this is Ars Magicka's fault.)

When Vampire came along, someone on the team, someone without whom the new game would be dead on release, folded his arms and said he wouldn't work on it if he couldn't port in his Ars Magicka character, effectively holding Vampire development hostage. Thus House Tremere became Clan Tremere, and the wizard spells received a whatever-he's-happy-with implementation, and we have all had to put up with decades of "there's a Path for that" largely because someone had a mantrum back in 1990.

As I say, can't prove it, and it would be outright libel for me to name names, but it certainly feels true based on how the Tremere were implemented into both system and setting.

Anyway, Bloodlines did it right - here's a series of wizard spell powers that all riff on the theme of blood in some way, and that exist in the same mechanical framework and structure as every other Discipline - and I'm glad V5 took its design cues from there.

I'm fine with Rituals existing for that toolbox aspect, I just think the game loses something when you have someone literally playing by different rules to throw around fireballs and lightning bolts and do teleports, for no good reason other than internal company politics from thirty plus years ago.

[talonabraxas]

“An alchemist is one who turns everything into love.”

Venus & Mars 'Cosmic Lovers' Talon Abraxas

Venus and Mars

Venus and Mars are the planets closest to the earth; they refer to what is most personal and primordial in the make-up and the behavior of a human being, to the most intimate factors in the life of an individual.

Venus moves inside of the earth's orbit, Mars outside of it; and this fact alone tells what meaning they have in astrology. Indeed the basic meanings attributed to each of the planets in our solar system is neither a matter of chance nor the result of millennial observations by astrologers and empirical tests; these meanings are deduced essentially from the place the planets occupy in the solar system and in relation to the earth.

Thus, because Mars is the first planet outside the earth's orbit, it represents fundamentally outgoing activity and the organic and psychological instrumentalities which make such an activity possible (for instance, at the physical level, a man's muscles, his adrenal glands releasing quick energy for action).

In contrast to Mars, Venus — the first planet inside the earth's orbit — refers to man's ability to bring into the field of his consciousness and inner life the results of his experiences, and thus to pass a feeling judgment — pleasurable or painful, elating or depressing, good or bad — upon these experiences which Mars made possible.

The symbolic characters traditionally used to represent Mars and Venus can best be understood if we relate them to the one for our planet, Earth. In many medieval paintings we find God (or even the emperor, as a divine ruler), holding in his hand a globe surmounted by a cross. This is the earth, as the home of Man, whom God created in His image and likeness.

According to a persistent and widespread occult tradition, the planet Venus is the spiritual twin of the earth. It was from Venus that some eleven millions years ago a host of spiritual beings came upon our planet to give to animal-like human beings the divine "seed" of self-conscious intelligence and moral responsibility. The Greek myth of Prometheus is an abridged version of the same event.

It is also said that wheat, perhaps corn and bees (and probably ants also, as everything has its shadow aspect) were brought along in some manner from Venus. Even the Hebrew Bible has its version of this "descent" upon the earth of quasi-divine beings when it speaks (Genesis 5) of the coming of the Sons of God who took as wives the daughters of men.

Whether this be fact or myth (but what is the source of myth?) the astrological (and astronomical) sign for the earth is that of Venus inverted — and we should remember the old saying that "the Devil is God inverted." Here on earth the — cross dominates the circle or globe; on Venus it is the circle which stands over the cross. What does this mean?

When one looks through a small telescope or gunsight often a cross made of two fine threads (the web spun by the black widow spider-makes the best) helps us to focus our observations or aim This most ancient symbol, the even-armed cross, is not only a Christian image — its meaning reaches into the very depth of existence, and especially of human existence, for man is that being in whom all powers and faculties can reach a clear and sharp focus. The value of our modern science and its rigorous type of logical thinking is that it is a discipline of thought which makes possible the most precise focusing of our attention — our discrimination and, in general, our mental faculties.

This indeed is the function of earth life and of incarnated man — to be precise, accurate and sharply discriminative in conditions in which an either-or judgment (an intellectual-rational or a moral yes-or-no judgment) is imperative. But man can go too far — and perhaps has gone too far — along this road leading to the sharpest possible focusing of his mind and energies, and our modern scientific civilization, based on the "specialist," may yet prove how disastrous this "too far" can be.

Venus, on other hand, refers to a realm of existence in which a whole view of life dominates the opposite earth trend toward the sharply focused analysis of a multitude of details. The circle is a symbol of wholeness, of infinite possibility. The Venus symbol tells us that in that Venus realm "with God everything is possible," because the consciousness of the whole is ever present.

The Divine is also ever present. Yet it is present in close association with the "human" (i.e. the cross). It is a consciousness of wholeness emerging from the many crosses of existence. You start with the cross, the crisis, the tragedy, then you rise to the total vision, the conscious fulfillment or plenitude of being.

On earth man starts from an unconscious fullness, of which the Garden of Eden is the Biblical symbol, then he has to emerge from this Edenic childlike unconsciousness in which he passively reflects the Divine Image — and the emergence occurs through crises, through conflicts, through "sin" (the "negative way" which leads man to light out of sheer horror in the realm of darkness).

About the 6th century B.C. humanity experienced a rebirth in mind. A new mind began to operate, whether in the Asia of the Buddha or the Europe of Pythagoras and the Greek classical era. This was an -emergence from a more naive, earthbound consciousness of life energies and sex power. It led to the Cross on Gethsemane and to European rationalism. It is only now that the Venusian type of mind is beginning really to operate in humanity — the sense of the whole, intuitive thinking, and the emergence of a global society.

In the astrological gylph for the planet Mars there is also a circle and — if the figure is correctly drawn — an arrow pointing up to outer space at a 45-degree angle above the horizontal. The 45-degree angle is very significant in that it marks a direction of maximum intensity in electromagnetic fields. The circle here represents the biopsychic field of man's personality, and when internal pressure builds up to an explosive point it is released in a "Martian" outgoing. What we have therefore in the Mars symbol is a picture of simple, spontaneous release of energy.

One can relate it to the symbol for Sagittarius, but in this hieroglyph we see a release which stems not from a circle but actually from a cross, whose vertical arm has been bent by a dynamic urge to expansion. It is probable that the direction of the arrow is not at a 45 degree angle to the horizontal, but rather at a 60 degree angle — which would make it coincide with the direction represented by the cusps of the Third and Ninth Houses of a birth-chart And the sign Sagittarius has much to do with the Ninth House of the horoscope.

The Planets and their Symbols by Dane Rudhyar:

[artsy-hobbitses]

You mentioned the rest of the 13 have conduits, so who are they and how does Alpha Trion feel about it?

Seeing he can technically talk to his old friends again

- Onyx Prime anon

Good to hear from you again Onyx Anon!

It’s a bittersweet reunion for Trion, who has carried the guilt/burden of being the only one who lived all these years, and he sees it as a gift that he gets to fight alongside them, in a way, one last time… and that he can actually properly say goodbye after it.

Understandably he’s NOT HAPPY with Megatronus when he finds out what actually transpired, but he will help his former friend try to make things right.

SPOILERS ABOUND BELOW because a lot of these folks affect the end of the war and are bookends to some narratives. Don’t read if you wanna stay spoiler-fee!

Note that while they do share their gifts with their champions/conduits, it’s only for that battle and most of it vanishes after the shards of the Matrix are properly destroyed and they can finally rest in peace.

They are:

🗡️Prima => Optimus Prime🗡️

Leader of the Thirteen and Warrior of light and virtue who has a black-and-white outlook of the world, which is tempered when she chooses to link herself with Optimus Prime during the final days of the War. She augments his strength in his battle against Unicron. Makes her peace with Megatronus during this period (the two did not have a good relationship and her mistrust for him made it easier for Maximo to influence him)

🏥Alchemist => Ratchet🏥

Having mastered alchemy but refusing to have her abilities utilized as a weapon, she shares her knowledge about it with healer Ratchet instead, trusting him to use it to save lives. Is the reason many major characters live as she combines her alchemical knowledge with his medical knowledge and helps him heal otherwise mortal injuries (as in the case with Starscream and the Seekers) and transmute crucial supplies (medicine, etc.).

⏳Vector => Prowl⏳

MCU Eye of Agamotto effect. Can rewind time to see all past events in a given area with with great risk and effort, change small aspects of it. Instrumental in understanding what truly happened on Antilla and the creation of Unicron. Vector chooses Prowl, as Prowl has the discipline, a penchant for order and balance and a mind for strategy which is crucial to avoid abuse of these abilities. (Prowl also ends up being able to see the face of his Handler he had forgotten due to mnemosurgery using this ability, with Vector’s blessing)

👹Megatronus=> Megatron👹 (yes, they BOTH get redemption arcs)

The Judas of the group, Megatronus’ background is similar to that of the King Of The Dead from LOTR in that he is ‘cursed’ when he betrays his friends under the whispering of Liege Maximo, but in return is betrayed by Liege himself. With his soul trapped in the Matrix alongside the others and constantly reminded of his treachery, Megatronus believed he found a kindred spirit in Megatron and Megatron’s seeming lust for the Matrix’s power as a means to an end for his agenda, but when Megatron (via time travel) willingly gives up the Matrix to save Prime’s life, Megatronus sees that his treachery does not have to define his entire existence (and had not, up to that point), and he joins forces with Megatron to in an attempt to make things right.

⚒️Solus => Windblade⚒️

Master forger, she chooses Windblade, who was very much like her in her youth, as her champion and gives Windblade the ability understand the inner workings of any machinery to forge anything that comes with a blueprint faster than the best blacksmith on the planet. Instrumental in forging the Talisman.

🤝Micronus => Soundwave 🤝

The conscience and moral centre of the original Primes, he has the ability to ‘boost’ the strengths and gifts of his friends and chooses Soundwave as his champion, due to their love for their unit, of whom they are the heart and centre of, and their fierce dedication to a better world for their friends. Through Micronus, Soundwave and their team become mentally linked and have their strengths augmented to new heights.

🔬Quintus => Perceptor🔬

Master scientist meets Chief scientist Perceptor, who he naturally chooses as his champion. He reintroduces idealism and imagination to Perceptor, who has become pragmatic and cynical throughout the war. Instrumental to the conceptualization of the Talisman.

🧬Nexus => Skids/Trailbreaker🧬

Having studied forced evolution of mankind during the Quintesson wars and hypothesizing on their future mutability, Nexus becomes deeply fascinated by Outliers and chooses to split himself between Skids and Trailbreaker to partially experience these abilities for himself and augment them. Instrumental in greatly expanding Trailbreaker’s psioplasmic shield abilities (to cover hundreds of miles) and enhancing Skids’ ability to ‘learn’ new skills to outright acquiring (for a short while) new skills via touch, including Outlier powers. This in turn saves cities from destruction as well as millions of lives when Unicron attacks as both Institute brothers (with Skids adopting Trailbreaker’s shield ability) join forces as an integral part of Earth’s defense brigade.

🎭Amalgamous => Jazz🎭

A gentle, good-natured, easy-going prankster-shapeshifter, he finds a kindred spirit in Jazz who once wore the identity of someone else (to hide from authorities) and several more over his time as the Autobots’ saboteur and infiltration expert. Gives Jazz the ability to shapeshift to infiltrate Zeta Prime’s stronghold and aid in Prime/Megatron’s battle with Unicron.

🦉Onyx => Drift🦉

Deeply spiritual and connected to the Other realm, Onyx finds a kindred spirit in Drift, who he chooses as his champion, giving Drift, among others, the Psychopomp ability to connect with and ‘guide’ souls to the other side. Integral in the fight against Zeta when Drift amasses an otherworldly army by going back to the section of Belfast that HotRod blew up years ago (to destroy Sentinel’s forces and stop their assault on the city) and makes contact with the restless souls of thousands of Sentinel’s men there, promising to help them move on if they helped battle oppression instead of upholding it. (They agree, after it’s clear that not only is he immune to their haunting, but he can now directly affect/fight them in their realm).