#go shintai

[reubenyeoart]

Fanart - Go Shintai of Life's Origin

After a month, I release Ko-Fi exclusive work for public viewing! (With some modifications, understandably.)

To read more about the process, go here (available with a one-time tip or a subscription)!

[mtg-cards-hourly]

Go-Shintai of Boundless Vigor

It seeks those with untamed spirits and offers wild strength.

Artist: Johannes Voss TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

[whatsthatmagiccard]

As far as I can tell, there are only nineteen ways to win in 20 Ways to Win.

(Also counting mill, commander damage, and normal damage)

[reuxben]

Here’s our MTGinktober for “Nomadic,” starring Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim and Go-Shintai of Hidden Cruelty! It's easy to be a wandering cultist when your shrine can travel with you..

Click this post’s Source link for this piece’s Making-Of.

More MTGinktober here.

Daily art updates on Instagram, Twitter, and Bluesky.

Reuxben

[brewerssupplies]

Here's a monk subclass I've been throwing around in my head for a while, definitely took some inspiration from the MtG cards for the names of the shrines and their themes. Hope you enjoy!

[PDF]

[dravidious]

Actually I lied, you're not just incredible. You're incredible and awesome and cool and amazing and

Fun Fact: The "what's a virgin" bit in RTR was inspired by this tumblr post

[judesmoonbeauty]

Jude Jazza’s 2nd Birthday: “The Cursed Moon Within His Merciless Arms” Chapter 1

MDNI. This is a fan translation. 100% accuracy cannot be guaranteed. Please expect grammatical errors and lack of nuance. Cybird owns everything. Re-blogs are appreciated, but please do not repost or claim my translations as your own. Thank you for your support! ☾⋆

In these crazy days, it’s impossible to remember everything that occurs.

A week ago, a month ago, a year ago….I don’t think there are many who remember exactly what they were doing.

….But, everyone should be able to remember a piece of something that stood out to them.

Just as the moon waxes and wanes, so its’ brilliant face gradually changes.

If I could choose which part of each day I’d want to illuminate and etch it into my mind…..I’d illuminate it’s happiness.

That feeling becomes even stronger on the birthday of someone precious to me.

Kate: Mngh….

When I woke up in bed that morning, I saw Jude sleeping next to me, and I couldn’t help but melt.

I’d heard that he’d be busy at Raven company last night, and might be unable to come home….

I’m so happy he came back during the night and slept next to me.

(Today’s Jude’s birthday)

(I wanted to say “Happy Birthday” before anyone else, so I’m glad you came back.)

Jude: …..

Jude breathed peacefully in his sleep and showed no signs of waking.

(….He seems exhausted, I’ll let him sleep a bit longer.)

Careful not to make any noise, I started to sneak out of bed.

Despite that, Jude pulled me back from my waist and locked me in arms.

Kate: Jude….?

Jude: Cold.

Even with that limited explanation, it’s clear that he’s holding me back….

Kate: Do you want me to keep you warm?

Kate: Or maybe it’s just an excuse to cling to me?

I was so happy that Jude wanted me that I ended up teasing him without meaning to.

Kate: ….Oof!

Immediately, his arms squeezed me so tightly that my joints creaked, and I let out a groan.

身体が軋み “Shintai ga kishimi” = body creaks, changed to joints creaked

Jude: Must be half asleep for sayin’ such thin’s aintcha?

Kate: Ugh, that hurts…..! I just woke up, so please overlook my groggy comment….!

When I slapped Jude’s constricting arms as a sign of surrender, they finally loosened.

Jude: Woke up early this mornin’ hearin’ yer stupid comment.

Kate: …..It’s invigorating to wake up to the sound of your beloved’s voice. Good morning.

Kate: Oh, and Happy Birthday!

Jude: ….Yeah, thanks.

Jude replied disinterestedly as he sat up.

Kate: By the way, are you free today?

Even though I told him ahead of time that I wanted to spend his birthday together,

Jude has to pencil things into his schedule, so I asked him again.

Jude: Gotta business meetin.’ But….another employee can handle it.

Jude: I can take off work ‘n spend time with ya.

Jude: On the other hand -

Jude grabbed chin and pierced me with his provocative amethyst eyes.

Jude: — Can ya satisfy me ‘nough for the whole day, princess?

Kate: ….That’s what I plan to do!

After a light breakfast at a restaurant, we headed into town.

On his first birthday since becoming Jude’s girlfriend, my heart brimmed with excitement and my steps felt light.

However, the happy feeling was brief…..

Tanned Man: Where’d he go?! Jude Jazza!

Neurotic Looking Man: We have him cornered, he shouldn’t have gone far. You lot hurry up and find him!

Neurotic Looking Man: Don’t think you’ll get away…..I’ll kill you!

Although it was his precious birthday, we were hiding in the shadows of an alley.

Kate: ….Jude, who are they?

Jude: Buncha marine insurance guys runnin’ a shady business.

Jude: Even if an accident occurs, they’re known for not payin’ out, claimin’ it ain’t covered.

Jude: It was interferin’ with business ‘n an eyesore, so last month I dug up information ‘n sank ‘em.

Kate: And so that’s why they’ve got it out for you….

Kate: ….We could more or less escape. That house over there belongs to an older woman I was close to as postwoman.

I pointed to a house with a red roof on the other side of the wall.

Kate: I think if I ask, we can enter the back door and exit the front door onto the main street without be detected.

Jude: Then enterin’ the main road, we can blend into the crowd ‘n make a getaway.

Jude: ….What? Seems like ya wanna say somethin’ else.

(Naturally, Jude knows what I’m thinking.)

Kate: Even if we do get away, your enemies will likely target you again Jude….

Kate: The other option is to meet them head on.

I pulled up my skirt that I bought to wear specifically for Jude’s birthday.

A small gun was strapped to my thigh in it’s holster.

Kate: Don’t you think they should be held responsible for ruining your birthday?

Jude: Ha…such a dangerous woman.

Kate: The person I fell in love with is dangerous.

At my retort, Jude’s lips curled with amusement.

Jude: ….Oh yeah. Well then, whatcha gonna show me?

[Story Master List] [Chapter 2] Dividers: @.natimiles

Tags list: @sh0jun @theimaginativelyreticent @sapphire-323 @velisle @nateko @greatwitchsongsinger @cosmowgyrall. @lunaaka @injudescoat @aeyumicore @complexivelovely

[markrosewater]

Can the rule care about the number of types a card or a permanent has?

- "The Royal Scions" would have 1 card type(Planeswalker), and 2 planeswalker subtypes(Rowan and Will)

- "Go-Shintai of Ancient Wars" would have 1 supertype(Legendary), 2 card types(Enchantment and Creature), 1 enchantment subtype(Shrine), and 0 creature subtypes

Yes.

[jullbnt]

@aikoiya The post was getting too long so I’m replying here, hope that’s okay! If anyone is looking for the beginning of this discussion, it's here.

Your extended pantheon is amazing! I just knew that Gàlondo would end up being Demise haha. I'd say I prefer not to associate Demise with any race in particular (and the Gerudo already have quite a heavy burden with Ganondorf), but otherwise I like that backstory you came up with. So what's Hylia's role in your version then if he’s the guardian of the Triforce? I'm curious ^^

I'd say my reasoning isn't so much "I hate this" but rather "this doesn't make sense/contradicts something else" or "previous games did this better". I also want to show that it's still possible to create stories without ignoring everything that was established previously because to me this idea that the timeline is too restrictive doesn't stand. In fact I tend to believe being a bit restricted and working inside a frame can trigger more creativity (after all they did wild stuff like flooding Hyrule before and it fits perfectly in the timeline). I also would prefer to see the existing lore extended or clarified instead of them adding new confusing stuff and leaving it extremely vague.

Oh I LOVE your Outset Timeline!! Though the ending is indeed very bittersweet. It always makes me so happy when someone else points out the inconsistencies in Skyward Sword's story. That's exactly my reasoning for my fourth timeline, it exists because of Ghirahim and Link's victory over Demise in the distant past. Though you are right, adding a timeline split while keeping the Master Sword in the official timeline requires some gymnastics! At the moment I'm going with a lazy theory about the Sealed Temple being the future Temple of Time, so the Temple's magic somehow allows the Master Sword to exist in both timelines (I said it was lazy haha). Impa’s bracelet is another story though. In my timeline the Goddess Sword is also left untouched in Skyloft because Skyward Sword doesn't happen, which could be useful in case someone accidentally broke the actual Master Sword 😁 It's very intriguing to me that Sky left the sword in the past when he had no reason to (and it shouldn't even be possible since it's in the exact same spot as Zelda's crystal). It's probably just a mistake on Nintendo's part but I like to think there could be something else there, and that Fi had a reason to stay in the past.

About the DLC items the thing is that most sets are found in the Depths in random Zonai chests if I remember correctly, or in the coliseums, and there was no explanation as to how they got there. In Misko's little shrines we find the Fierce Deity set and the LA set, but also the barbarian armor, the shock-resistant outfit and the climbing gear. I can understand building shrines for the Fierce Deity or LA Link following what you said, but then for three random armor sets? Not to mention that Link already owned them in BotW, so making us look for them a second time was kind of a joke. I like this shintai/yorishiro idea, but I think it would work a lot better if there were only a few items to collect and not… the outfits of all the Links ever INCLUDING WILD'S (how!!). It feels really meaningless and more like a catalogue for you to choose from so you can look like your favorite Link (which is a bit insulting to Wild, you can just replace him at this point and go as far as changing his hair or even his entire appearance with the LA set). I also didn't really believe they were the actual items from past games, it made no sense (the same way Link wouldn't actually wear a red Nintendo Switch t-shirt or something from Xenoblade). It just really felt like fanservice.

The dictionary thing might help, but I think the story should be explicit enough on its own and I don't really want to study Buddhism/Shintoism in depth so that I can play Zelda games and understand what's happening haha. I mean of course it's fine if knowing a bit about it adds new context and all, but if you can't understand things like malice vs. gloom without it then I think it's a bit of a problem. Speaking of Fujibayashi I feel like this wasn't really an issue before he was in charge.

Yes the French translation for Demise is very misleading, that's another problem: depending on your language things are sometimes interpreted very differently.

I really like the English names for the three dragons, I think they're so much better than what we got in French. Nedrac, Ordrac and Rhordrac, really?? At first I didn't even understand the link with the Goddesses, and then the last two sound way too similar. Btw I remember from my very basic Japanese courses that it's common in Japanese to create new words by mixing a few syllables of other words together. For example "rimokon" means remote controller (remo + con), or there's the well known Pokemon = pocket monsters. So naturally we end up with stuff like Ordinn + dragon etc.

I thought as well about the dragons going by names given to them by mortals instead of their true names. The thing is, I don't really want to create new names because I'm already changing so many things and my timeline stuff can be a bit complicated, so I need to keep at least a few things familiar. And I really like Dinraal, Farosh and Naydra :D

I agree about Farore being more associated to wind and plants than thunder (I mean she's kind of Link's patron goddess and he has nothing to do with thunder). What's even more confusing in BotW/TotK is that the Gerudo are now also related to thunder for some reason, but they're definitely more Din than Farore in my mind.

Maybe I should give you some context about my dragons haha. The beginning of my story is quite similar to TotK, though I still made some changes. Ganondorf completely destroys the Master Sword, Link looses his arm (except here Rauru isn't there to replace it), and Zelda still travels through time (but not because of a Secret Stone since I got rid of everything Zonai). She arrives in ancient Hyrule one century after Sky killed Demise (because this is set in my alternate timeline), and she's stuck there so she needs to find a way back home. Before that she learns a lot about SS, the Triforce, the timeline split and Hyrule's past. After meeting various characters and most importantly Sonia (who's still a priestess, the Sage of Time and her ancestor), Zelda learns that this era has two Master Swords: the one left by Sky in the Sealed Temple, and the Goddess Sword that is still somewhere above the clouds. She understands then that she needs to retrieve the Goddess Sword in Skyloft and forge a second Master Sword in order to help her Link in the future, and to do so she needs the three Sacred Flames. Where are the flames? The dragons "swallowed" them since they weren't needed anymore after Sky left his own Master Sword, which turned them into the giant immortal dragons we see in BotW/TotK. So that's Zelda's quest: find a way to go to Skyloft and then get the dragons to lend her their power. Along the way she'll also meet the ancient Sages, who can help her return to her own time by using the Triforce (but of course this won't work because of Ganondorf, and Link will have to fight him in the present and bring her back himself).

I'm trying to make this both a story I could adapt in comic form and something that could work as a game. The idea is that Zelda's memories would be playable sequences with places to explore, fights and maybe even mini-dungeons and bosses. And of course there's an entire story for Link as well. At the moment I'm trying to come up with interesting arcs and quests for each race/Sage, both in the past and the present.

Anyway, that's why I'm so focused on the dragons. Zelda (and Link) will need their help and they will talk this time. And since they will remember being apointed by Hylia and they're supposed to absorb their respective sacred flames, I need things to make sense. This is also a timeline without climate change in Lanayru (here it's the same province as in BotW with the addition of Mount Lanayru and a good part of central Hyrule), so the thunder dragon has no business being up there. That's why the swap would make sense.

No need to apologise! I appreciate your perspective and that you're interested enough to share your own ideas! :D

I agree on Zelda's magic being her own and what you said makes sense! Love the part about her only thinking about how she's a failure (though I guess it's only natural if she's been trying for 10 years without result). I don't know if she would have had the same reaction had she witnessed her father's death though. AoC isn't canon but Zelda doesn't unlock her power when Rhoam "dies" in front of her and Link forces her to run. The memory where's she's crying in Link's arms in BotW also shows that she knows everyone is dead, it's even possible that she saw some of it happen (maybe in the same way as AoC for Rhoam, or they saw what happened to the Divine Beasts from afar). I guess they must also have seen some terrible things on the roads, so she could have unlocked her power trying to save her people. But it only happened when Link was about to die.

Haha yes, I'm probably one of the most obsessed Zelink shipper there is and even I can't stand that power of love trope. It really has no place in a LoZ game. In my headcanon Zelda wouldn't access her power only because of her love for Link, though it definitely helps, but rather because the Hero dying is kind of an emergency situation and would trigger her divine magic even if the necessary conditions were not met. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone but me though 😆

Yeah I'm okay with the women of the royal family having some sort of power though not as powerful as Zelda. I think some part of it could also be attributed to their Sage of Time abilities. And the gift of prophecy being inherited from Sky is such a cute idea!!

I don't know about Terrako, I only remember that Zelda built it when she was just a child?

I'd send you an ask to rant about TotK but I'm not sure about the character limit and I fear it would just turn into a second wall of text haha! Here are some thoughts:

– I could live with new lore that contradicts older games, if only things made sense and were sufficiently fleshed out. Then I could just enjoy the story and accept that this is a different continuity. But here everything is so vague and sometimes even confusing. Like if we're going to meet the Zonai and make them such central figures in Hyrule's history, then I want to know more about them and learn about their culture. What's the point if we're only going to see two of them and have no clue about how they created all that technology, mined the Depth, lived with the Hylians, and then disappeared? Same for ancient Hyrule: if the different tribes were at war, I want to see it, and I want to learn more about them. Ganondorf also had so much potential for an interesting backstory. What kind of king is he? How did the Gerudo feel about him becoming the Demon King? What about the Gerudo Sage? And so on. It feels like this could be so much more.

– Other things I would love to see explained: where is the Master Sword in ancient Hyrule and why does no one seem to know anything about it or the Hero? How does it travel through time to reach Zelda? What about Rauru and Sonia's descendants? Also what was the point of the fake Zelda, and why did Ganondorf stay in his bathtub the entire game instead of rehydrating himself right away and getting stuff done? There's also everything I said about the secret stones the other day, but I know you don't see it as a problem ^^ (Also I just rewatched the memories and I had completely forgotten what Rauru tells Zelda in front of Sonia's grave: "Remember, that was a future where you never appeared in this world". So does this mean this is a new timeline that kind of retcons BotW? If not then where did all the Sheikah tech go and how were the shrines replaced by the Zonai ones? I really need an explanation for all of that!!)

– The game also barely mentions what happened in BotW, except for the history class about the Calamity in Hateno, the statues in Zora's Domain, and the memorials left by Zelda to honor the dead. I wanted to see Hyrule starting to rebuild and to get some sort of follow-up on the story. Did Link regain all his memories? Was Zelda planning to take the throne? Does she have some sort of trauma after her century-long battle against Ganon at Hyrule Castle? Why does she react to Ganondorf's name, but doesn't link him to Calamity Ganon? Why did the Sheikah tech that was so central in BotW disappear, especially the Divine Beasts? I care about this world and its characters, I want it to feel like a real place and to see it evolve. But then stuff like this really reminds you that this is just a video game world, and that Nintendo doesn't really seem to care. And if things can be retconned any moment even in a direct sequel, then… why should I feel invested?

– There was a real waste of potential with the Light Dragon and Zelda just transforming back thanks to Rauru and Sonia (btw couldn't they have helped if they could appear anytime and still had that kind of power?). I find it so disappointing that Link doesn't have to do anything to help Zelda, it almost happens by accident. Mineru also said it was irreversible, but in the end it's no big deal (they shouldn't establish something and then ignore it like that). If only Link had to use the Triforce or something. I didn't want Zelda to stay a dragon but sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't have been a better ending.

– It also really doesn't help that Link feels so disconnected from the main story. In BotW he was also experimenting the story through flashbacks but at least they were his own memories and they fleshed out his relationship with Zelda and the other Champions. Here Zelda is the one experimenting the best part of the story, and to make it worse you can find the memories in any order and get badly spoiled. It could have been so cool if Link also time traveled at some point and could explore ancient Hyrule (and they could have done something crazy like Link and Zelda being the ones to seal Ganondorf in the past, which would lead to his transformation into Calamity Ganon). Link is also so expressionless (except when cooking and all) that I find it hard to care when he doesn't seem to. Imagine how different Zelda sealing herself would feel in Skyward Sword if Sky didn't act so distraught. In the same way TotK would hit a lot harder if Link did stuff like falling to his knees after seeing Zelda's last memory.

– I also think that the hands/cooperation theme the devs talked about in interviews is a bit weak and cliché (with characters reminding Link and Rauru that they don't have to do things alone and that they're stronger together, stuff like that). First I don't find it very interesting compared to what games such as OoT, MM or Wind Waker did, and then Link being able to fight Ganondorf alone from the start kind of throws it out the window (and Rauru also ends up sealing Ganondorf on his own). The Sages are not even with Link outside of the dungeons, they just create creepy copies of themselves (and I found them so annoying I never activated them, except for Tulin when flying). But yeah sure they shake hands and vow to help Link. I still think him being accompanied by the Champion's spirits in BotW worked a lot better, and their powers were also more useful. I guess seeing everyone working together to rebuild Hyrule would have made that theme more meaningful. The thing I really liked about this though was Link finally catching Zelda in the end after failing at the beginning of the game, that was a really beautiful scene.

– Also I said it above but I don’t want everything to be explained by Buddhism/Shintoism parallels, especially if the game just expects you to get it without providing context. Let Hyrule be it’s own thing.

So I know this isn't only about lore, but these are the main reasons why I'm not very interested in TotK. To sum up I'd say that the game lacks some kind of depth and has a lot of wasted potential, and it also makes it clear that it's pointless to care about continuity. BotW Hyrule was interesting and I think a lot of things could have been done about existing races instead of adding a new one but not bothering to do much with it. Just bringing Ganondorf back in this version of Hyrule and see how the Gerudo react to him could be so interesting!! Some concepts were also excellent but didn't really go anywhere, like the Depths and the Sky Islands.

Honestly I haven't thought about all these side quests and minor characters yet, I'm still trying to sort things out with the main story ^^ But I don't think I'll touch the ones you mentioned, they were fine. I liked the thing with the Eighth Heroine as well, I've seen a lot of people complaining about it but it's one of the only things in the game I actually found interesting. I just can't unsee the parallel with Link and the Seven Sages (of course).

What I'll be doing for sure is making some of the quests and events more serious, I'm kind of aiming for a darker tone. Most of the quests are quite fun (especially the "potential princess sightings" ones), but I feel like this game really lacks some sense of danger and urgency. For example couldn't the people in Hateno have more pressing problems than making cheese or choosing between Cece and Reede? Or was it really a good idea to make lighthearted little quests about misanderstandings with Zelda when her disappearance should be driving Link mad? (I should have included that in my little rant above haha)

I'd also love to make the pirates in Lurelin something more interesting than just a bunch of Bokoblins, but I'm not there yet. And rebuilding the exact same village was kind of meh.

About the Gerudo questioning their traditions, I'm actually planning for my Ganondorf to be a lot more active and go to Gerudo Town in order to meet his people (I want him to care about them, so he wouldn't attack them the same way he targets the others). I don't have all the details yet but I'm pretty sure there will be a conflict between Riju's supporters and other Gerudo who believe he's their rightful ruler (at first they wouldn't know he's actually that one king who turned into Calamity Ganon). So that's another tradition for them to question.

The consequences of Ganondorf being the only Gerudo male are something I've been wondering about as well. Add to that the fact that he's raised to be king because he's male (and maybe even kind of worshiped by his people) and you get something that can turn nasty real quick. Though I also wonder if Gerudo aren't different from Hylians. You said you hc that the Gerudo are only women because they were cursed so it makes sense that you would view it this way, but on my part I believe that's just how they were created. For that reason I think this is natural for them, so it's possible that it doesn't cause exactly the same problems it would for us or for Hylians.

About Demise, yes of course Ganondorf is more than just Demise's hatred. But in this game it doesn't seem to matter, he kind of turns into a second Demise as soon as he gets his secret stone and his motivations instantly go from conquering/ruling to destroying everything and everyone. They could have done something a lot more nuanced or at least shown a more gradual transition, with him being more and more consumed by his hatred and loosing control for example. I don't know, anything that would look less like a comically caricatural villain riding a demon unicorn.

Also about Demise's curse, I always thought it sounded more like a warning than an actual curse, and I remember reading somewhere that this was the intention in the original Japanese text. In French Demise even says something like "you must never forget, history will repeat itself" instead of "I will rise again", and he and speaks of the curse of the demon tribe (implying that it existed before). Even in English it doesn't sound like Demise himself is casting a curse: "Those like you… Those who share the blood of the Goddess and the spirit of the Hero… They are eternally bound to this curse". He doesn't say "I curse you" or "I bound you to this curse". I feel like this makes a difference (the curse already exists). This is why I interpret it as him basically saying that evil will not die with him and that Link and Zelda/the Hylians as a whole will always have to fight the demon tribe, but not necessarily his reincarnation. So I don't even believe that Demise himself is influencing Ganondorf in any way.

About the Zonai Zelda explains she studied them at the beginning of TotK and recognizes what's depicted on the murals, so it seems strange that sky beings could get mixed with a tribe of barbarians living in the woods. But yeah history getting lost and mixed is the only explanation for this.

Oh you're completely right about the Mogma, I got the same vibe from them! And a Mogma mafia sounds hilarious ^^ I love the Rocktato, Link would definitely eat something like that 😆

I need to take some time to read through your master list, it all looks very promising!

[probablybadrpgideas]

Exalted but you just make charms up off the top of your head whenever you use them.

What, you're gonna go down every interminable charm tree in every source book to check if Moon Shattering Dream Shintai or All-Truth-Warping Path Of Stars are real or not ? Ha, good luck fucker.

[whencyclopedia]

Ninigi

Ninigi-no-Mikoto, or simply Ninigi, is the grandson of the supreme Shinto deity Amaterasu, the sun goddess. He is the son of Ama-no-Oshiho-mimi and, descending to earth as the first just ruler, he brought with him gifts from Amaterasu as symbols of his authority which remain part of the Japanese imperial regalia today. Ninigi became the great-grandfather of Japan's first emperor, the semi-legendary Emperor Jimmu, and so established a divine link between all subsequent emperors and the gods.

Ninigi Descends from the Heavens

In Japanese mythology, the sun goddess Amaterasu Omikami asked her son Ama-no-Oshiho-mimi to descend from the heavens to rule the world of the mortals. Twice refusing this honour after seeing the general chaos that prevailed in the world, Ama-no-Oshiho-mimi nominated his son Ninigi-no-Mikoto (full name: Ame-Nigishi-Kuninigishi-Amatsu-hiko-no-ninigi-no-mikoto) to go in his place. To this Amaterasu finally agreed, and she gave Ningi three gifts to help him on his way. These were the Yasakani, a fabulous jewel (or pearls or magatama beads), source of the ancient quarrel between Amaterasu and her brother Susanoo, the storm god; the Yata, the mirror which had been made by the gods and successfully used to tempt Amaterasu out of the cave which she hid in following some typical bad behaviour from Susanoo; and Kusanagi, the great sword Susanoo had plucked from a monster's tail. These would become the three emblems of Ninigi's power (sanshu no jingi), and they became the imperial regalia of his descendants, the emperors of Japan, starting with his great-grandson Emperor Jimmu (r. 660-585 BCE). Thus, all subsequent emperors were able to claim a direct descent from the gods and so legitimise their authority to rule Japan.

The celebrated 7th-century CE poet Kakinomoto Hitomaro composed this poem on Ninigi's descent to govern humanity:

At the beginning of heaven and earth

The eight hundred, the thousand myriads of gods

Assembled in high council

On the shining beach of the Heavenly River,

Consigned the Government of the Heavens

Unto the Goddess Hirume , the Heaven-

Illuminating One,

And the government for all time,

As long as heaven and earth endured,

Of the Rice-abounding Land of Reed Plains

Unto her divine offspring,

Who, parting the eightfold clouds of the sky,

Made his godly descent upon the earth.

Manyoshi (Keene, 104-105)

Amaterasu also gave Ninigi some specific instructions regarding the Yata mirror: "Consider this mirror as thou wast wont to consider my soul, and honour it as myself" (Hackin, 395). Eventually, the mirror would indeed become an object of worship or shintai and end up in the Ise Grand Shrine in the Mie Prefecture, dedicated to Amaterasu and still today Japan's most important Shinto shrine.

Ninigi, carrying his three precious goods, and accompanied by three gods (including Ame-no-uzume, the dawn goddess, and Sarutahiko-no-kami, the god of crossroads) and five chiefs, landed on earth at the top of Mt. Takachiho, in the south of Kyushu. From there, after first building himself a palace, he went to the temple of Kasasa in Satsuma province where the five chiefs set about laying down the principles of the Shinto religion, creating a priesthood and organising the building of temples. The chiefs would pacify the land and establish the clans which would dominate Japanese government for centuries to come such as the Fujiwara clan. In this capacity, the five became the ancestral deities of these clans, the ujigami.

Continue reading...

[reubenyeoart]

Still working on this piece; noodling on the background at the moment! For the full WIP:

[transitranger327]

Magic the Gathering has so much good art, I want to know who your favorite artist is. Whether you actively collect them, seek out their versions of cards with lots of variants, or are on the top of your list to sign your cards.

There’s a lot of artists I couldn’t put in a poll, but I tried to have a mix of older and newer artists. Reblog with your faves!

[prettycottonmouthlamia]

So for those of you who don't follow Magic news and want to hear about something funny, I have a story to tell for you. The biggest format in Magic (for better or for worse) is Commander, a predominantly casual 100 card Highlander format that is played in pods of 4. There is also a Commander Rules Committee, who governs what the rules of Commander are as well as the Commander banlist. Importantly, the Commander banlist is designed for a casual focus in mind, and also in general is pretty bad and no one really likes it. There's a whole different post about cards like Stasis and Armageddon which are considered _soft_ banned through community consensus but not hard banned through the banlist.

Recently, they announced the bannings of four cards from the format: Jeweled Lotus, Dockside Extortionist, Mana Crypt, and Nadu, Winged Wisdom. Nadu is not the discussion point of today, but rather the first three cards, cards which are often under the group of cards called "Fast Mana". Fast Mana generally refers to cards that are extremely cheap to play and give you more mana than you put into them to play. It includes the above cards but also includes cards like Sol Ring, Lotus Petal, and Mox Opal/Diamond. Fast mana is one of the hallmarks of high-powered casual Commander pods, as well as cEDH, the competitively focused niche unofficial format of Commander. Dockside Extortionist also had the additional factor of causing a number of easy to do infinite loops involving a ton of different cards to make infinite mana.

These cards were always questionable, but have become more and more powerful recently as more and more powerful Commanders have come out in the 4-6 mana slot. The ability to drop a Commander such as Winota or Go-Shintai of Life's Origin on early turns can very easily result in snowball wins where it becomes impossible for the other players at the table to react in time. This reasoning for banning them is reasonable but not exactly bulletproof either, since Jeweled Lotus is generally better for Commanders who are only one or two colors.

Much more importantly to our story though, these cards were pricy. They were seen by many as staples of the format, especially if you wanted your Commander deck to be as strong as possible. Jeweled Lotus and Dockside Extortionist frequently were in the $80-$100 range as cards, while Mana Crypt was at its cheapest somewhere around $150-180. A chase version of these cards could go for $300-500. Pricy! While these cards were seen by many as staples, they also created this weird pay to win atmosphere, where these cards were super expensive but extremely powerful. Proxying, where you use an obviously fake card as a representation of a game piece, isn't universally accepted among Magic players either, often by the same very cranky people as we're going to be talking about. It is much more common in the cEDH community where deck prices tend to be in the tens of thousands of dollars.

So, what happened about the bannings that made people so upset? Well, the prices of these cards crashed. It is worth noting why. Mana Crypt is only legal in two formats: Vintage, where it is restricted to one copy, and Commander. Commander ends up being the primary home for the card, because Vintage is SO overwhelmingly expensive and proxy hostile that tons of people are priced out of the format in paper (it is significantly cheaper on Magic Online). Dockside Extortionist is playable in Legacy, Vintage, and Commander, but was only good in Commander, since in 60 cards 1v1 formats its hard for Dockside to generate enough mana to go infinite or make big swings in mana. Jeweled Lotus was basically only playable in Commander, since it doesn't serve a particularly useful function when you don't have a commander. It could see very fringe play in Legacy but it is probably not worth it.

So the removal of these cards from their primary spheres of play have caused the prices of these cards to utterly crash, their value now only kept up by their general scarcity. Dockside Extortionist is currently going for about $25, Jeweled Lotus for about $45, and Mana Crypt for about $90. They're still valuable cards, but their value no longer has promise of going to the moon anymore. They will simply be reasonable expensive and probably never reasonably appreciate in value again. This has made a bunch of people who had no intentions of ever selling their speculative card pieces very angry. Several of these very angry people have decided to hurl accusations that the Commander RC was insider trading, making the frankly hilarious assumption that Magic the Gathering cards are in some way equivalent to stocks. Many people have made the claim they will quit the game over this, but in the kind of way where it's pretty obvious they won't actually do that and will just take the cards out of their decks and keep showing up at their LGS.

It is very funny to make fun of these people, and to be quite frank, we should. This example is a pretty good one in how collectors and financial speculators are pretty much poison to card games as a whole. Most of the people complaining did not have actual money that they lost. They never intended to cash out their gains at any point. It's all theoretical money, practically monopoly bucks. They had, in reality where we all live, spent $80 on a game piece. They made a purchase, they did not make an investment. I spent $60 a piece on a playset of Infinite Impermanence to prepare for a tournament that was cancelled due to the LGS being incompetent. We all make these Ls in our time as card game players.

I will never make profit on my Flames of Destruction Secret Rare Infinite Impermanences. Ever. Konami has reprinted Infinite Impermanence several times in the interests of making the game more accessible to players. This is the key thing. Bannings and reprints are market forces if you're being a particular kind of twit like anything else. You should not just expect that your pricy pieces of cardboard are untouchable. Bannings and reprintings are often done for the interests in making a format more accessible to other players. I do think that the bannings in Commander do that on some level, because Commander is not just played in pre-negotiated pods. Having a non-game because someone opened a fast mana piece and sped ahead of the entire table sucks, strictly speaking. Your cards will lose secondary value, because the primary goal of the Commander RC, and to be quite frank, Wizards of the Coast as a whole, is to make sure the game is accessible to the most players possible. Reprints and bannings are tools for that function, and frankly, I think Wizards has been using them wrong for over two decades at this point. They've ceded a lot of ground to collectors and financial investors, and it has resulted in entire formats that are basically unplayable to the average person. Modern is now very frequently a $900-$1200 format. Legacy decks run at price tags of several thousand dollars, and Vintage decks can run from $20,000-60,000 dollars. All because the price of Black Lotus must keep going up, and there are many, many cards in Magic where this is the case. These people are, to be blunt, parasites who can and will suck a game dry. If this offends you, please do some soul searching. The thing that keeps a game alive is its players, not your tens of thousands of dollars of cardboard game pieces sitting in a cabinet never to be sold or played with again.

The only people who have a reasonable claim to being upset are cEDH players, as these pieces were a part of the meta and their loss will be felt. Frankly, I don't think cEDH should be governed by a Rules Committee that on its face does not make decisions in the interests of cEDH. cEDH is still fringe compared to the casual Commander pool, and they should not be governing policy for players who do not play the same format as them. Likewise, the RC should not be governing them either. This would be a good incentive as any to finally make the split imo.

oh and trust me im tagging this bitch lmao

(Also, the allusions to NFT language in this post are intentional! These are basically one step removed from NFTs.)

[reuxben]

Here’s our MTGinktober for “Sparkle,” starring Anikthea, Hand of Erebos and Go-Shintai of Lost Wisdom! You're really under no obligation to solve these riddle-culous conundrums--just walk away!

Click this post’s Source link for this piece’s Making-Of.

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Reuxben

[yoga-onion]

Legends and myths about trees

Shinboku (lit. tree of God) – Sacred trees where gods dwell in Japanese prehistoric Shintoism

A sacred tree (shinboku) is a tree or forest worshipped as a shintai - a physical object of worship at or near a Shinto shrine, worshipped as a repository in which spirits and deities reside, or where they descend. They are often distinctly visible due to the shimenawa (lit. 'enclosing rope') wrapped around them. Types of sacred trees include evergreen cedar, pine and cleyera japonica (sakaki) that is regarded as a representative sacred tree and is often used in Shinto rituals.

In ancient Shinto, the Himorogi (lit. "divine fence") was considered to be a place where the gods dwelled, or a boundary between the everlasting world and the present world, and was feared and respected. In order to prevent people, things in this world, gods in this world, and things that bring misfortune and evil to this world from easily coming and going, shimenawa were hung as walls, making it a forbidden place.

Generally, the term refers to trees that are regarded as divine or sacred, as well as the guardian forests that surround them and that are not supposed to be cut down.

木にまつわる伝説・神話

神木 (しんぼく) 〜 日本の古神道における神の宿る樹木

神木 (しんぼく)とは、神社や祭壇の近くに祀られている木や森のことで、霊や神さまが宿る場所、神さまが降臨する所とされていた。注連縄が巻かれているため、はっきりと見えることが多い。神木の種類としては、常緑樹の杉や松、榊 (さかき) などがある。 この中でも榊は代表的な神木とされ、神事にも多く使われている。

古神道において神籬 (ひもろぎ) は、神の宿る場所としての神域、または常世 (とこよ) と現世 (うつしよ) の境界考えられ、恐れ敬った。また、現世の人々やもの、常世に存在する神々や現世に災いや不幸をもたらすものが、容易に出入りできないように、結界として注連縄をはり、禁足地とした。

一般的に、神体としての木や神聖視される木、その周りを囲む鎮守の森や、伐採をしないとされる木を指す。