#heavenly-curse

[dirtgrubber]

finally!

too many cute scenes to choose from @morningstarwrites

[jaxlightstairs]

Some people say "I love you." Magnus Bane says "Loving you made me believe in eternity"

Art from the graphic novel by Cassandra Jean

[green28go]

“Stop telling me to let you go,” said Alec. “I will never listen. I want to be with you. I never wanted anything more in my life. If you fall, I want to fall with you.”

Alec in The Red Scrolls Of Magic

Alec looked stricken. “We’ll die together,” he said. “Let me stay at least, with you.” “You have to go back. You have to go back to the world.” “I don’t want the world. I want you,” Alec said, and Magnus closed his eyes, as if the words almost hurt.

Alec in The City of Heavenly Fire

Before Shinyun could act, though, Alec was moving. He was reaching out, and he was wrapping his hand around the blade of the Svefnthorn, and he was grimacing with effort and resolve, and he was thrusting the Svefnthorn into his own chest, piercing his own heart. From where he knelt, Magnus could see the thorn run all the way through him, emerge through his back, and remain there. Alec’s eyes were still open, still wide, still staring right at Magnus.

Alec in The Lost Book Of The White

Bonus:

“Magnus Bane was one of the first great tragedies,” said Livvy as if she were reciting an old story everyone knew. “Bane realized he was turning into a demon. He begged his boyfriend, Alexander Lightwood, to kill him. Alec did, and then turned the sword on himself. Their bodies were found together in the ruins of New York.”

Alec in Thule (Queen of Air and Darkness)

These parallels are truly heartbreaking.

[getetteroo]

Some indulgent redesigns of Strahds wives.

[thelaithlyworm]

Daomu Biji Watcher’s Guide, May 2024

A few new entries have been popping up lately, and I’m always hopeful new fans will stumble into the pits and never leave so I thought I’d paste up a rough map.

(Obviously the best watching order, like the best reading order of Discworld or the Aubrey-Maturin books, is ‘whatever first comes to your hand’ but for the people who don’t like that…)

tl;dr:

Daomu Biji is a series about tomb raiding. Think Indiana Jones or Lara Croft but much, much longer. The protagonist Wu Xie is deeply in love with BFF1 Zhang Qiling, a hundred-year-old cryptid, and BFF2 Wang Pangzi, who was stolen in a raid from another book series. It’s comic, tragic, horrific, zany, prone to musings on life, love, desire, attachment, and has many, many piss jokes. (‘Journey to the West but modern’ is maybe the other comparison I’d make.)

Notes:

– This guide is not talking about “quality”. All of the adaptations have their own strengths and weaknesses and tone can vary a great deal, which is to say, if one of them doesn’t suit you it’s likely something else will.

– Wacky endings, and plot threads that disappear unfinished and get picked up a long time later, are as inherent to the franchise as the piss jokes.

– It’s common for the dramas to introduce characters and subplots a lot earlier than the books do. Sometimes we’ll see a character introduced ‘for the first time’ on multiple occasions and strangely familiar scenes. I’ll try to point out the biggest continuity clashes as I go.

The Soft Entry:

There are a few movies that are entertaining as standalones but will introduce various characters and background. I would recommend:

Escape from the Monstrous Snake + Mystery/Grave of the Abyss – two monster movies featuring Hei Xiazi, a supporting character. He’s a pragmatical mercenary who’s going blind in kind of a weird way, and goofy as hell when he isn’t tiptoeing over a vast abyss of existential dread. So many fun action scenes.

Time Raiders (2015) – so there are some textual clues that late in his career Wu Xie wrote this story as a memory-jogger for an amnesiac friend. The plot is a freewheeling wild ride which doesn’t directly match any book plot but introduces some major characters and how they relate to each other. It’s colourful and fast-moving. Enjoy, enjoy.

Conjuring Curse and Misty Creed are… theoretically set late in the series even if the actors look about twelve. Both work as stand-alone adventures, though Misty Creed is maybe a little deep in the lore. Again, colourful and fast-moving.

The Chronological Order

You could honestly start with most of these – they tend to come with a ‘what has gone before’ at the start or a newbie character that things get explained to. The only one I wouldn’t start with is Heavenly Palace in the Clouds, which is lovely but also the second half of a set and things won’t make sense if you haven’t seen Lost Tomb 2 first.

Lost Tomb 1 – a highly digestible 10-12 episode version of the Seven Star Lu Palace arc, ie. Baby’s First Adventure. Introduces A-Ning, Xie Yuchen, and Huo Xiuxiu early and a couple of og characters for Wu Xie to talk to instead of monologuing to himself. The restaurant scene at the end was raided from a later arc and you’ll see it again in Ultimate Note. A book character, Da Kui, was cut which is a small problem because how he died is a minor plot point discussed in Lost Tomb 2. 

Lost Tomb 2 – covers Raging Sea, Hidden Sands (underwater tomb) and Qinling God-Tree (weird bronze tree in the mountains) plus a whole lotta side stories and original content exploring the world and foreshadowing later plots. Mooostly in continuity with Lost Tomb 1 (see Da Kui above) and made as a set with Heavenly Palace in the Clouds – they share resources and a lot of actors, and some threads begun here are finished in Heavenly Palace.

Heavenly Palace in the Clouds – covers the Mt Changbai arc, a journey up a mountain to find a very old, very grand tomb. This was made so close to Lost Tomb 2 that LT2 borrows shots from Heavenly Palace and not the other way around, which is fascinating because it pointedly contradicts the last five episodes of LT2. It also brings forward some plotlines originally from the Tamutuo and Zhang Family Old Pavilion arcs (San-shu’s past in the underwater tomb, and the Huo Family videotapes) dragging some characters on-screen and forcing them to talk about their feelings, which they would clearly rather die than do. Given those plot-tweaks and the early, deliberate continuity clash, I’m tempted to call this a Canon Parallel Universe. Got some interestingly chewy character dynamics and luverly, luverly set design.

Mystic Nine – This is a prequel about Zhang Qishan – Fo-ye – and his peers, but later dramas expect us to know who Fo-ye was so I’m sticking it here. Kinda… picaresque? Lots of action scenes and Republican-era flavour and various factions jostling for power – kinda feels like an old-school wuxia story, only set in the 1930s with all that glorious Republican-era styling. Has some unfortunate cut scenes – the details of how Fo-ye recovered at his family’s house don’t make a lot of sense in the aired version, and there are a couple of missing fights in the penultimate episode. Shrug. Still a lot of fun. Comes with four side movies about supporting characters.

Ultimate Note – Covers the Tamutuo arc (a trip through the jungle) and two-thirds of the Zhang Family Old Pavilion arc (investigating Zhang Qiling’s past is like kicking a hornet’s nest). Very, very flirty and has some zippy-zip action choreography. Politely ignores Lost Tomb 1–Heavenly Palace continuity (Xie Yuchen is, once more, introduced for the first time, now with a romantically coded friendship arc) and brings in a lot of cameos from Mystic Nine and Sand Sea, which it was filmed after. Kinda tiptoes around parts of the book plot, which I suspect would be hard for anyone to film, re: Fo-ye’s actions in the 1960s. Fair warning, this ends on a cliffhanger. This is also where the Xinyue Restaurant scene appears again – two cakes!

Tibetan Sea Flower – If Tibetan Sea Flower ever airs, it will go here.

Sand Sea – Based on the Sand Sea novel. After Tibetan Sea Flower, Wu Xie goes into a bit of a decline and makes that the world’s problem. We the audience, plus Li Cu and Liang Wan, EDIT: a lovely doctor, are pretty much dropped in media res into a number of ancient conspiracies and complicated plots coming to a head in the manner of a boil. It’s weird; it’s messy; it’s mad fun. Like Mystic Nine, has a lot of factions jostling for power and colourful jianghu characters. We will, once more, see the Xinyue Restaurant scene. Also has some side movies.

Time Raiders – The textual hints that suggest Wu Xie wrote this, suggest he wrote it around Sand Sea-era, when his life was a bit complicated. I’m putting it after Sand Sea because I believe it caps a conversation that, ah, doesn’t quite make it into the drama. But notionally this is where it should go. Ah…. at one point, someone tells a story about an ancient ruler, King Mu of Zhou, who sought immortality from the Queen of the West in Tamutuo. The longer book conversation suggests that a) King Mu of Zhou engineered a “trap” for someone like Wu Xie to fall into in the future, and b) that Iron Mask Scholar, a villain from Lost Tomb 1, was an alias that King Mu of Zhou used in the Warring States Era. Which makes some of Iron Mask Scholar’s appearances in Time Raiders… interesting.

Reunion: Sound of Providence – sometimes known as Reboot. Having peaked in badassery in Sand Sea, Wu Xie has to consider what his life is going to be now, and also, he would like to track down a missing family member. So this was tweaked to make it more accessible to new viewers (so some parts of the back-story are not mentioned or conflated for simplicity) and that mostly works but I did find watching this first and then picking up the earlier dramas a bit of a mindscrew. Zhu Yilong is, however, a powerful draw and the rest of the cast sparkles. Probably best to think of Season 1 as two short seasons jammed together, which is to say, once the Warehouse 11 arc starts there are a number of characters who won’t reappear until Season 2. It’s a fun arc even so. Season 2 ends with a badass action scene and then a big party, which I think is a great way to end a story.

Escape from the Monstrous Snake, Mystery/Grave of the Abyss, Conjuring Curse, Misty Creed – these are all theoretically set around or after Reboot-era, though they can certainly be watched as stand-alones.

[space-atrium]

What if Shen jiu was actually a celestial the whole time and when he died in pidw he returned to the heavenly realm. 👀

[bambamboozlesart]

some genderbent MDZS and TGCF

(Read below for context.)

Im running a JJK tabletop game where my players are teachers at jujutsu high. i wanted to make a lot of npc student characters that I wouldnt have to think too hard to roleplay and I took some inspiration from MDZS and TGCF. I took a lot more characters but these are the main couples. All my picks for students were male characters so some of them got genderbent. i also took some liberties making them more distinct from one another

cuz u know. its anime.

[dailykugisaki]

Day sixty-three | id in alt

A puppet and a witch.

[rpwickit]

I know this implies to every Manga Readers Vs. Anime Watchers situation ever. But I felt compelled to make this.

[eepy-bells]

Eldritch horror Angel Gojo AU is going on in my head so I'm gonna throw it here.

So the setting is kind of like Solo leveling's but instead of monsters there are curses. There aren't stuff like dungeons though. Curses sells for good prices on the market. The higher the grade of the curse the more value it has(basic stuff).....

There are rare curses coz they are either a minority, extinct or a myth.

Angels are a myth since no one has seen them in years and suddenly one day Geto(a Grade 4 sorcerer according to his ID but is a Special Grade) was going back home from getting groceries, on a quiet evening, randomly finds a severely injured angel, all battered and bruised, some wings torn, on the roadside of his tiny neighborhood and he just picks him up and takes him home. [He doesn't know he's taking home an angel coz whatever Gojo looked like on the roadside definitely didn't look like an angel or any other depiction of angel Geto knows about.]

Still have more brain worms but I don't know how to put it into words....I'm eventually gonna draw this AU though.

[peppermint-whiskers]

Here's the next chapter! Updates might slow down due to the storm knocking my damn power out-

[iniziare]

"I made a deal that allowed me to retain what life I had left in me. I may be sane, but one thing is certain — my mind is already at its limit…" (source: Clouds Leave no Trace)

Jingliu's deal. This entire post that I will attempt to keep shorter (as I inevitably want to set this more into stone, since I'm fairly certain on this little personal theory) will be rather incoherent, so please forgive me. I simply insist on putting these thoughts out into the great beyond. But first, let me state some things that we know to be facts (or close to it) about the condition of mara, as (sadly) these two topics go hand in hand, and it's needed for me to touch on the topic of what I believe her deal to be rooted in.

Mara-struck. Based on information I can find in the wiki and the game records thus far tells me that the condition of mara can be equated to a slow descent into madness that is characterized by an inevitable craving for bloodshed and violence. This is something unavoidable, all long-lived species will fall victim to it, unless they die before they reach the age where it will set it (for instance, though Foxians live a long time, they seem to rarely live long enough for it to touch them). It seems to be tied to negative emotions which include hatred, depression, and trauma, which also means that people who are exposed to these emotions will fall victim to it faster (ie.: soldiers). Now since emotions are tied to lived experience, this means that they are inherently tied to memories. This is really further confirmed by Blade's unique situation. We are aware that he falls into the madness of mara repeatedly, and he only 'comes back from it' because Kafka actively erases his memories (as we learned in her SQ), which permits him to regain a semblance of lucidity; take her away, and he will be on an eternal rampage. Now, I've been scouring things for hours, but from what I can tell, once you fall to mara, or 'succumb' to its madness, there is no return to lucidity anymore. It's not a temporary state, but a permanent one. As for what it is like to be 'struck with mara' during its madness, we have a specific record of this from a heliobus by the name of Dawnyng (x):

"While inside the mara-struck body, I felt a vitality that is close to madness. How can I explain it to you - just like beasts are to humans, the mara-struck acts according to intuition and prioritizes their own survival over morals and ethics. But the difference between a mara-struck body's madness and that of a beast is even greater than the difference between a beast and a human… It's a more primitive form of life, a vitality that discards even the concept of corporeal existence."

It is a madness that starts in equivalence to a bull seeing red, and yet there is an extra detail to it that makes it infinitely worse, and that is the lack of recognition. And we know this through Jingliu herself. I direct you to the timestamp of 1:35 in the short called 'A Flash'. You see a flashback of Jing Yuan witnessing a mara-struck soldier, and his reaction of shock to a specific realization that overwhelms him:

Jing Yuan: Master... He doesn't recognize us. Jingliu: So it is with the mara-struck.

And when the scene resumes after an absolutely heart-breaking scene of Jingliu (I'm fine), you see Jingliu attacking Jing Yuan as if she has not a single concept of who she is fighting, even if he was one of the people she was most familiar with. The memory and the recognition of him is entirely gone, and not just that, she attacks him with the utmost intensity and brutality, she's akin to a rabid animal. That's what this short is supposed to tell us, it shows us just how how agonizing and utterly serious the condition of mara actually is. Any way, all of this to once more iterate (and to lead into my next and main point) what those who have fallen to mara once are like, and cannot come back from. Now, if anyone knows of any information that counters my presumption (based on too many hours of research, so I don't 'assume' this lightly) of it being permanent, please don't hesitate, but otherwise, I will stick to what the game seems to so far pretty much (to me) confirm at this point. Now, this leads into my next point for Jingliu.

We know that Jingliu had succumbed/fallen to the mara by the time Jing Yuan was sent to defeat her. The flashback where she's seen to have lost her mind seems to even indicate that it may have been prior to that. But by the time of their fight, it could be said it's irrefutable that she seems to no longer be herself, she appears to be fully stricken by the madness of the illness. Now if we can make the rational assumption that one cannot come back from this madness and that once it claims you, there is no more true moment of lucidity to follow, then the deal of which Jingliu speaks could not have been something that she sought out. Moreover in present-day, she notes that the only reason that she has any semblance of lucidity is because of her deal. Now, this would tell me that something or someone sought her out with an offer of one, rather than the other way around. Not just that, but I have a bit of a wonder when I watch the ending of 'A Flash', when the Lightning Lord's strike is about to hit her, and I see Jingliu's eyes that seem to, for a moment, possibly regain a sense of normalcy (but this is difficult to tell, as I find the 'red eyes' of madness to appear as a glow, rather than an actual coloring of the eyes; and the bright light of the Lightning Lord would render it invisible in the frame in question). What also colors me a little curious, is the fact that she doesn't move, and to me, that is because what she's witnessing is an extension of the power of Lan, an Aeon whose power rivals that of the Abundance (which is likely tied to the origins of the mara, as it first surfaced during the arrival of immortality and the illness strikes when one reaches an age that the mind can no longer keep up with). The reason I bring this up, and this is where I'm really getting rather incoherent, is that Jing Yuan was sent to defeat her, and even used the power given to him by Lan to do so, and yet she lived. Could he have spared her? Possibly, but why? You see how resigned he appears to be at the realization that she no longer is who he knew her to be— no, what I think is that she didn't indirectly die by Lan's hand, because Lan is the one who spared her, and who then offered her the deal that she ultimately took. Let me make an incoherent little list as to reasons why I think this to be the case:

We know that in the game thus far, that there is no cure for mara or the mara-struck. Blade retains his lucidity through Kafka (and what 'spirit whisper' is, is another topic entirely, I can only do one muse at a time), but there is no other case of lucidity in the mara-struck once they falter. And since mara seems tied to the Abundance, it is easy to note for me to assume that only one who could undo it to be Yaoshi themselves, which means that other Aeons should logically be able influence it in one way or another (though never in equal measure). Not directly so, but offer something of light measure to counter its effects Nothing will ever control a creation such as its creator after all, but one of equal status could do something of lesser influence (such as succeed in rendering the mara unable to fully grasp you, but leave you to deal with all of the illness' other effects as no one but Yaoshi can fully stop it).

To follow up on the previous point, Lan is actively noted in the loading screen tip as: They roam endlessly between worlds to eradicate the abominations created by the Aeon of Abundance. So... would they not benefit most from attempting to counter the effects within an individual?

"But Sae, why Jingliu?" To which I ask, why not Jingliu? Not only is she responsible for having killed and/or jailed enemies that no one else seemed to be able to counter (source: Jingliu's 4th character story), but there is none who seems to hold a stronger hatred towards the Abundance . If there is to be a war between Aeons, do you not assemble and call your most formidable soldiers to your side to fight for you? The Sword Champion who is said to be a once in a millennia phenomenon, why let her perish?

... Right, so this ended up being ridiculously long, nor do I have a proper conclusion as like I said, these are thoughts, incoherent as they are. But I do not see any other option as to what this deal could be— there is nothing else in existence that can counter the mara, there is no cure, everyone from Bailu to researchers say this same thing. And yet Jingliu's case is also vastly different from Blade's, who relies exclusively on Kafka's ability. Not only that, but we also need to keep in mind how old Jingliu has got to be. We know the sedition of Imbititor Lunae was roughly seven-hundred years ago, which means that Jing Yuan, Jingliu and Blade are all at least that, now beyond that, we're aware that Jing Yuan is older than Blade (as Blade was mortal before the events following Baiheng's death), and Jingliu has some years on Jing Yuan as long-lived species. On top of that, she has a voiceline that speaks of the age that the long-lived species can reach, which goes as follows:

"…When the people of the Xianzhou live to be more than a thousand years old, each day is like carrying the weight of a mountain through an interminable maze." (source: Clouds Leave No Trace)

The mention of 'more than a thousand years old' would correlate with assumptions of her age when we keep in mind that Jing Yuan would likely have to be around 800-900 if we keep in mind that one doesn't reach adulthood in a meager 50 years of those. But any way, that could indicate Jingliu to sit potentially well over a thousand, the mara has got to be excruciating. At that point, I don't see how the deal would be with anything less than an Aeon, and who would show any interest, unless one who would benefit from growing an army that is as impeccable as you can make it? And after all, she was, and I would not for a single second doubt that she would have remained so outside of her madness (based on her strict code of honor in terms of her oath), loyal to Lan and their Hunt, just as the rest of the Cloud Knights of the Xianzhou Luofu are. I just don't see another option.

[tcfactory]

imagining a semi comedic bit of qqq being all "the leader is an ex slave, the strategist is an ex slave, are there any other ex slaves we should know about??" sqh admits he was an urchin. mqf was too. wqw is from a dishonored military family. there isnt a name for lords of the alcohol peak or the monk peak but sorry girl, only you and lqg are from 'respectable' breeding.

You joke, but for another fic I toyed with the idea of Mu-shidi being pretty quiet about his family because they were a clan of really evil cultivators up until like a few generations back. Like, "grandpa Fang worked really hard to turn his life around and dedicate himself to medicine and healing, but we are still not mentioning him in righteous circles because they would put the whole family to the sword for the shit he did when young" levels of evil. And now I really like the idea of the dishonored military family for WQW, I might hold onto that if you don't mind.

The lord of the beast peak is a wild foundling. The lord of the monk peak started cultivating late because he became a monk to leave behind a life of crime. Sorry QQQ, but you really are in the extreme minority here.

I don't know if I'm going to finish that other fic (the working title is 'Cursed Panacea' and it has very 'a world w/ unchecked papapa curses and flowers would really suck for the people actually living in it' ft. 'MQF has succubus ancestry and he fucking hates it' vibes) but here are some of the Mu-family relevant parts of the WIP. Warning for a lot of implied rape:

The story goes like this: the founding ancestor of the Mu family was an evil demonic cultivator, one that made it all the way to Body Unity with the power of her wicked arts, draining the cultivation of others to bolster her own. At that stage, however, she could no longer progress just by draining cultivation from others, so she started to consume powerful demons - one of which was a succubus matriarch that left her with a new, carnal craving. It drove her to distraction and when she won a clash against one of her long standing rivals, she could bear it no longer: she forced herself on the man there and then, in the wreckage of their fight. She discovered that dual cultivation could not only sate her new craving, it could bolster her cultivation far beyond her previous method of consumption, especially since her victim could last her a while before they perished from her ceaseless plundering of their qi. That is the origin of the wretched practice called human cauldrons. That is the origin of the Mu clan.

(...)

The tale goes like this: one day, a feared and loathed Mu-clan cultivator falls in love with his rival, a master of gu poisons just as feared as him, poisonous even to the touch. He stole a kiss during one of their many fights and has obsessed over him ever since, even during the three decades it took him to recover from the poison. Three hundred cauldrons are his to do with as he wishes, but he can only think of that toxic, deadly kiss. He starts courting the master of poisons and to his surprise his court is reciprocated. His beloved feeds him bits of his poisonous qi to slowly acclimate him to his deadly touch and he takes it all eagerly, even when each dose leaves him hovering on the edge of death for years at a time. They are as happy as such wicked men could ever be. However, one day someone finds a poison strong enough to affect even his beloved, a nameless toxin without a cure that is killing him before the Mu cultivator’s very eyes. In a last ditch effort, he prays to the heavens and swears that he would walk the righteous path until the end of his life if his beloved can be saved. With that solemn oath a thought comes to him and he uses his cauldron technique to take just the poison, just the wretched, harmful qi from his beloved. In his body, without the thousands of toxins to feed on, the poison is subdued and no longer deadly. They live, both of them, and they both thank the heavens for that miraculous strike of inspiration. They disappear after that. No more master of poisons, no more wretched keeper of cauldrons. Three centuries later the Mu clan is founded anew, by an eccentric master of medicines who is said to be able to concoct a pill for any ill and his fragile husband, a doctor so wondrously skilled they say he can cure everything except death. Their names are Mu Fang and Ran Hao. They are Mu Qingfang’s great grandfathers.

[bookofmormonmemes]

God: Hm. I don’t like that tower they’re building down there. We should do something about it. Anyone have ideas?

The premortal spirit of J. R. R. Tolkien:

I actually forgot how obsessed I am with the idea of us as spirit children taking part in God's work from both mortal and non-mortal planes. Hey everybody think about a hyperfeixation/special interest/regular interest you care about. Yeah, you like that thing a lot? You make stuff about it and related it to it now? Hey have you ever considered that maybe you helped Mom and Dad invent it?

Hey Jonald, you like making languages? Yeah, you always have. Hey you, reading this post, you like knitting or crocheting? How about cooking? You probably helped teach our prehistoric ancestors weaving and breadmaking. Like drawing? Rocks? Pretty colors? Probably helped design the mountains and the meadows and the desert flowers. Like chaos and destruction? Volcanos. Australia. What's your favorite historical story? You were probably helping there too. Maybe Heavenly Mother let you press the explosion button for Vesuvius. Maybe you gave a revolutionary soldier the internal pep talk needed to power them through the battle. Maybe you baked the amazing biscuits that my great-great-grandmother fed her starving children while crossing the country with the early Saints.

I am now incorporating into my faith both the content of this ask and the belief that I personally was the spirit who prompted that cat who was supposed to catch vermin on the titanic to jump ship before it left so she could safely give birth to her kittens

[clockworkbee]

Friendly reminder that in Clockwork Princess, Tessa said,

And Jem told her,

But then years later, they got the chance of another beginning,

—After The Bridge

and (even though their wedding was set in a magical dream) they had the “perfect wedding”

—comic strip scene from ‘City of Heavenly Fire’

and not just perfect (or close to it) for them, but for everyone who was there, especially my dear, dear Blackthorns <3

—In Dreams Begin (The Lost Book of The White)