#house of kwilu

[roehenstart]

King Alvaro I of Congo by Pierre Duflos,

Álvaro Nímia Luqueni Amvemba was born around 1530, the son of Dona Isabel Nímia Luqueni, the second daughter of Afonso I of the Congo to an unknown man. His mother later married Henrique I of the Congo, who became king in 1566. Alvaro managed the kingdom as regent of the Congo during periods when Henrique I was away from the capital. The king died in battle in 1567 and Álvaro I was sworn in as the new king, the first king of the Coulo dynasty, named after the village of Coulo outside the capital: São Salvador do Congo.

[cma-african-art]

Mother-and-Child Figure, late 1800s-early 1900s, Cleveland Museum of Art: African Art

Wearing an elaborate lobed headdress and a beaded waistbelt, and having filed teeth and red-powdered skin, this maternity figure seems to have once carried an ax and a cup, wooden imitations of the two most important chiefly attributes. Perhaps together with a male counterpart, it was secretly kept inside the ritual house, serving as a guardian of the chief’s treasure. Its style places it in the westernmost corner of Pendeland, between the Lutshima and Kwilu rivers. Size: Overall: 53.4 x 13.1 x 14.6 cm (21 x 5 3/16 x 5 3/4 in.) Medium: wood, metal, beads

https://clevelandart.org/art/1931.426

[dismalzelenka]

20 Questions

@buttsonthebeach tagged me in the getting to know you meme, but since I did that one recently I took the liberty of breaking the rules and finding another tag meme to answer instead. >:Dc

1. One thing you would change in your personality?

The constant undercurrent of social anxiety that renders me completely unable to speak coherently at the worst possible moments. I would love to have steady employment, social anxiety. Please stop cockblocking my job status. :^)

2. What is your DA rare pair?

MARIAN HAWKE AND RALEIGH SAMSON

GO RAID MY AO3, MY KIRKWALL TRASH HEAPS ARE WAITING

Sweetest Downfall

Arms Around the Past

3. A song that made you cry?

Passage by Vienna Teng. I've never had a song get me completely unglued on the last six words before this.

4. The best movie ever?

Love, Actually.

Fight me.

5. Food you will never eat?

C I L A N T R O >:(

6. Your celebrity crush?

Felicia Day. Mark of the Assassin DESTROYED me. 😅

7. Your favorite DA location and why?

Vigil's Keep. Because like. You're the head dumpster fire, in charge of recruiting more dumpster fires, and also you're apparently running an Arling that you never asked for and you have to deal with all these shitty nobles all the time but YOUR DUMPSTER FIRES are all right there beside you and you have the best papa dumpster fire ever who kicks nobles out of your dumpster fire house when you're tired of partying and basically it's this tiny fucked up little family and you all stumble down to breakfast in the morning in various states of hung over except for that one dwarf guy who's probably still drunk, you eat your eggs and toast in cranky silence, and then you go be big goddamn heroes.

....I really loved Awakening ok. Fite me.

8. You’re a night or a morning person?

I'm like a "night but the part of night where it's technically morning right up til morning" kind of person.

9. You have any tattoos?

Yus.

Nobody sigil from Kingdom Hearts wrapped in a treble clef between my shoulder blades.

A design of Helios on my left upper arm with "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken" underneath it because House Martell prideeee.

The Arabic word for "cat" on my left forearm, drawn to look like a cat.

I'm saving up for a griffon tattoo and maybe a stylized one of "can I get you a ladder so you can get off my back?" :3

10. How many languages you speak?

Fluent in English. Can understand Korean fairly well, but can't speak it quite as easily. Basic fluency in Italian. I can read it much better that I can speak it.

11. Where would you most like to visit?

The mountains in South Korea. I was born there and I've only ever been back to Seoul and a village on the outskirts where my grandparents lived. I want to spend like a week or so out there under the stars. ❤️

12. What’s the best book you’ve read?

The Poisonwood Bible.

So I was forced to read this in high school. And I went to a Baptist high school, so of course when I saw this summary of it I immediately went "oh fuck no."

"The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, is a bestselling novel about a missionary family, the Prices, who in 1959 move from the U.S. state of Georgia to the village of Kilanga in the Belgian Congo, close to the Kwilu River."

Like. I was FULLY prepared to grit my teeth and spark notes another goddamn glorified colonialism story.

And then I read the damn thing.

And y'all this book is FUCKED UP. That missionary family? It's told from the POV of all of the daughters as they watch their father get more and more fanatical and abusive, as they struggle with culture shock, NONE of them wanted to be here, the majority of them slowly start to lose their faith and abandon their religion.

One of the girls is very clearly neurodivergent, but she's not really written as a character you're supposed to feel sorry for, and she's a total badass.

It has its problematic elements, but I think the fact that it's now seared indelibly into my brain is because I was 100% expecting a fucked up pro missionary story and ended up finding a story of the shit that happens to everyone else in the periphery of said pro missionary stories.

Was incredibly surprised to have read this in my AP Lit class at a Baptist high school, but goddamn, it shook me.

13. Who is your favourite BioWare character?

A N D E R S

Anders is my boy. I will ride or die for Anders. Anders was right. Fuck the Chantry. F I T E M E.

Bonus: fine Dwarven crafts, direct from Orzammar

14. Who’s your least preferred BioWare character?

Going to stick to Dragon Age because I'm too tired to rummage through my brain for other fandoms. And there's so many people I hate in Mass Effect. Hah.

Anyway. Livius Erimond kind of grinded my gears a lot, so much so that in my first mage playthrough I pissed off a ton of people and made him Tranquil. Like. My entire inner circle disapproved, it was fucking amazing. I'll never be able to make myself do it again because I felt so dirty after that I literally had to pause the game and take a shower, but man. Erimond is really good at pressing buttons.

15. What’s your favourite game?

Dragon Age Inquisition and Mass Effect 3. And Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark. Valen Shadowbreath was my first bioware love.

16. What’s your spirit animal patronus?

According to Pottermore it's a dragonfly but I'm pretty sure it's actually a cat.

Going with patronus instead of spirit animal because I've been asked to avoid appropriating that term as someone who is not of Native ancestry, and so I shall. Respect indigenous cultures. ✌️❤️

17. Cake or ice cream?

Fine Dwarven cakes, direct from Orzammar. Preferably almond or Chantilly. :D

18. Dogs or cats?

🐈 Kitties 🐈

19. What was your favourite DA romance?

3 Way Tie (although this could change since I haven't done all of them myself.)

Anders - because his whole arc is just so FUCK THE CHANTRY and he's such a Good Person who is Struggling and at the end of the day he's a soft feathery boy who loves you and cares about making people not hurt anymore and also is into some wild shit in bed and also loves cats. Let's be mentally ill cuddly softs together, Anders, I will give you my everything always, my soft feathery mage boy. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Leliana - soft but stabby song princess becomes the pope and her devoted girlfriend wife swoons quietly through all of it.

Cullen - weirdly enough, I did not expect to enjoy this romance as much as I did. I kind of hated him in the first two games, like when I ran into him in 2 I still hadn't forgiven him for the "KILL ALL THE MAGES" outburst and was just like. "Ugh it's this motherfucker." And then I saw him again in Inquisition and was like WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHITHEAD DOING HERE? HE'S FIRED. FIRE HIM, CASSANDRA.

But then Cassandra never reciprocated my affections, Blackwall yelled at me on the battlements about propriety and we're at war so I dumped him, and then Vivienne turned me down and I was like FINE FUCK ALL Y'ALL I'M GONNA SMOOCH CULLEN OUT OF SPITE.

And then he's all like. "I went through some shit. I said some really fucked up stuff. Also I'm trying to get clean and it's literally killing me but I don't want anything to do with that old life anymore." And the chess scene, and then me getting really personally enraged at all the Orlesians copping nonconsensual feels at Halamshiral and then I woke up one day and was like wow OK this dude's alright, he's even kind of cute, I guess I can-

"marry me?" "OKAY YES."

*shrug* I'm weak.

20. Do you prefer sunshine or are you a winter person?

Sunshine in winter, ideally, but if I have to choose between one or the other, winter.

Anyway. I broke rules, oops. Gonna tag @sasshole-for-rent @suzumicchi @joufancyhuh @laraslandlockedblues @becauseanders @inner-muse @ladymdc @agentkatie @kawakaeguri @a-shakespearean-in-paris @ekoorb03 @lyrium-lovesong @5ftgarden

[xnewgroove]

Hey guys! I’m Lexi, a twenty year old college student and future Hardee’s manager, and I’ll be playing Emperor Maximilian Octavius Sigismund and Crown Tsarina Katarina Vasiliyevich ( who is located at @xblccdycrown ). Hit the read more to learn more about the Emperor of Italy/Luxembourg!  

First things first, unless he’s in an official compacity, Maximilian doesn’t go by his first name because he feels it is unnecessarily long. He goes by Max, plain and simple.  

Max as an individual is very compassionate and ambitious person, as well as self-sacrificing, and stubborn. He does his best to keep a refined appearance, but despite himself sometimes his true colors come out to play.

He took the throne at nineteen when his parents unexpectedly passed away, leaving him to inherit the throne. The first few years were rough, and he relied heavily on his advisors, but he has finally come into his own eight years later and likes to think that he’s doing his family proud.

As a ruler, he’s more focused on securing and improving his nation rather than war and international politics. He’s a firm believer in the concept that you must take care of your own first, then focus on the rest.

He’s betrothed to Zoya of House of Kwilu, though it definitely is not a love match. In fact, she’s tried to kill him ( not that he knows that). The marriage was a political move made by his parents on his behalf, hoping to bring more money, power, and hopefully heirs into the royal family.

Right now, he’s none too pleased being forced away from his home in order to deal with the death of the king. So, he’s slightly bitter, but he’s just trying to get through until the killer is found. 

And that’s all I have right now! Feel free to hit me up for plots!

[harrelltut]

♀ My HIGHLY Artistic Yaka Ancestors [YA = BAYAKA] of Kwango + Kwilu River Indian Bloodlines… Already knew about My HIGHLY Elaborate Mental of PREHISTORIC Congo Afrikkan [MA] American Ancestries from Inner Earth’s Golden Black Byzantium City Ancestors [CA] that Spiritually + Celestially Align [CA] UP… ABOVE Compton California [CA]… now Hermetically Study Me [ME = U.S. Michael Harrell = TUT = JAH] ‘cause I BEE 2 MOST HIGH [MH = JAH] UP… 2 BEE just a mere human… I BEE Extra Telepathic [E.T.] ♀

[farcornersstudios]

Lukeni Kwilu: the Celestial Magus

Lukeni Kwilu was born in 1612 as a member of the royal House of Kwilu of the Kingdom of Kongo, an African kingdom located in west central Africa that occupied what is now, in whole or part, Angola, Cabinda, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Gabon. He was the son of the Duke of Mbamba, but his House did not have control of the throne.

Growing up, Lukeni enjoyed all the pleasures that children of royal families indulge themselves into, and he was somewhat shielded from the tensions brewing around him and his family. In 1622, the Kongo-Portuguese War took place, and the Kingdom of Kongo succeeded in driving back the Portuguese, but the newly elected king refused to push the army into the Portuguese territory and destroy whatever remained of their settlements. This allowed for factionalism and the return of the House of Kwilu to the throne. In 1632, Lukeni’s cousin, Alvaro IV was placed on the throne by Lukeni’s father but was only eleven years old. Trusted advisors began to manipulate the young king, and so Lukeni’s father marched on the capital to protect him.

While the Duke of Mbamba was away assisting his nephew, Lukeni was left behind and was lured away from the safety of home by a childhood friend. He was attacked by members of the royal House of Kimpanzu. Limestone dust was blown in his eyes, so that his attackers could find little resistance, permanently damaging his eyes. He was chained and dragged to the Portuguese settlements where hundreds of slaves were being gathered for shipment across the Atlantic Ocean. With Lukeni out of the way, the Duke of Mbamba would become distracted and the House of Kwilu would lose strength. Although the Duke was successful in restoring his nephew, Alvaro IV to the throne, Alvaro V of the House of Kimpanzu managed to poison him and ascend the throne. The House of Kimpanzu’s plans were eventually thwarted and Alvaro V was eventually killed himself and the House of Kinlaza, led by Alvaro VI in 1636, took over. With the loss of Lukeni and the eventual death of the Duke, the House of Kwilu never regained the power it had since its inception in 1567.

During the first leg of the trip across the Atlantic, Lukeni, grief stricken, was visited by Nafari, the Celestial Magus and a Trustee of the Realm of Zion. She rescued him from bondage, granted him the ability to see “all things that are hidden in the darkness”, and made him into one of the Celestial Magi. Lukeni chose to draw his power from the Shadow Realm, and now being aware of the end of his family’s dynasty, he retreated to the Shadow Realm and has lived there ever since.

As a Celestial Magus, Lukeni ages incredibly slow, but time also stands still in the several realms, so Lukeni has essentially not aged over the centuries. From within the Shadow Realm, Lukeni has also been able to see anything in any place he wishes. During the Iraq War, a young US Marine by the name of Dennis Washington was pinned down by enemy fire after rescuing fellow Marines. Since becoming a Magus, Lukeni had refused to interfere in the lives of those on Earth, and his anger from being betrayed by his own people still lingered. However, he felt great sympathy for Dennis and knew that without help, he would die. Lukeni pulled Dennis into the Shadow Realm and imbued him with the ability to move in and out of the realm whenever he wanted, as well as the ability to see at night. He taught Dennis the secrets of the Shadow Realm, and how not to fall victim to its trappings. Dennis Washington would eventually become Revenant, a member of the Delta Squadron. Today, Lukeni still stays within the Shadow Realm, coming out sparingly, and continues to look in on Dennis from time-to-time.

[cma-african-art]

Mother-and-Child Figure, late 1800s-early 1900s, Cleveland Museum of Art: African Art

Wearing an elaborate lobed headdress and a beaded waistbelt, and having filed teeth and red-powdered skin, this maternity figure seems to have once carried an ax and a cup, wooden imitations of the two most important chiefly attributes. Perhaps together with a male counterpart, it was secretly kept inside the ritual house, serving as a guardian of the chief’s treasure. Its style places it in the westernmost corner of Pendeland, between the Lutshima and Kwilu rivers. Size: Overall: 53.4 x 13.1 x 14.6 cm (21 x 5 3/16 x 5 3/4 in.) Medium: wood, metal, beads

https://clevelandart.org/art/1931.426

[cma-african-art]

Mother-and-Child Figure, late 1800s-early 1900s, Cleveland Museum of Art: African Art

Wearing an elaborate lobed headdress and a beaded waistbelt, and having filed teeth and red-powdered skin, this maternity figure seems to have once carried an ax and a cup, wooden imitations of the two most important chiefly attributes. Perhaps together with a male counterpart, it was secretly kept inside the ritual house, serving as a guardian of the chief’s treasure. Its style places it in the westernmost corner of Pendeland, between the Lutshima and Kwilu rivers. Size: Overall: 53.4 x 13.1 x 14.6 cm (21 x 5 3/16 x 5 3/4 in.) Medium: wood, metal, beads

https://clevelandart.org/art/1931.426

[cma-african-art]

Mother-and-Child Figure, late 1800s-early 1900s, Cleveland Museum of Art: African Art

Wearing an elaborate lobed headdress and a beaded waistbelt, and having filed teeth and red-powdered skin, this maternity figure seems to have once carried an ax and a cup, wooden imitations of the two most important chiefly attributes. Perhaps together with a male counterpart, it was secretly kept inside the ritual house, serving as a guardian of the chief’s treasure. Its style places it in the westernmost corner of Pendeland, between the Lutshima and Kwilu rivers. Size: Overall: 53.4 x 13.1 x 14.6 cm (21 x 5 3/16 x 5 3/4 in.) Medium: wood, metal, beads

https://clevelandart.org/art/1931.426

[cma-african-art]

Mother-and-Child Figure, late 1800s-early 1900s, Cleveland Museum of Art: African Art

Wearing an elaborate lobed headdress and a beaded waistbelt, and having filed teeth and red-powdered skin, this maternity figure seems to have once carried an ax and a cup, wooden imitations of the two most important chiefly attributes. Perhaps together with a male counterpart, it was secretly kept inside the ritual house, serving as a guardian of the chief’s treasure. Its style places it in the westernmost corner of Pendeland, between the Lutshima and Kwilu rivers. Size: Overall: 53.4 x 13.1 x 14.6 cm (21 x 5 3/16 x 5 3/4 in.) Medium: wood, metal, beads

https://clevelandart.org/art/1931.426

[cma-african-art]

Mother-and-Child Figure, late 1800s-early 1900s, Cleveland Museum of Art: African Art

Wearing an elaborate lobed headdress and a beaded waistbelt, and having filed teeth and red-powdered skin, this maternity figure seems to have once carried an ax and a cup, wooden imitations of the two most important chiefly attributes. Perhaps together with a male counterpart, it was secretly kept inside the ritual house, serving as a guardian of the chief’s treasure. Its style places it in the westernmost corner of Pendeland, between the Lutshima and Kwilu rivers. Size: Overall: 53.4 x 13.1 x 14.6 cm (21 x 5 3/16 x 5 3/4 in.) Medium: wood, metal, beads

https://clevelandart.org/art/1931.426

[cma-african-art]

Mother-and-Child Figure, late 1800s-early 1900s, Cleveland Museum of Art: African Art

Wearing an elaborate lobed headdress and a beaded waistbelt, and having filed teeth and red-powdered skin, this maternity figure seems to have once carried an ax and a cup, wooden imitations of the two most important chiefly attributes. Perhaps together with a male counterpart, it was secretly kept inside the ritual house, serving as a guardian of the chief’s treasure. Its style places it in the westernmost corner of Pendeland, between the Lutshima and Kwilu rivers. Size: Overall: 53.4 x 13.1 x 14.6 cm (21 x 5 3/16 x 5 3/4 in.) Medium: wood, metal, beads

https://clevelandart.org/art/1931.426

[cma-african-art]

Mother-and-Child Figure, late 1800s-early 1900s, Cleveland Museum of Art: African Art

Wearing an elaborate lobed headdress and a beaded waistbelt, and having filed teeth and red-powdered skin, this maternity figure seems to have once carried an ax and a cup, wooden imitations of the two most important chiefly attributes. Perhaps together with a male counterpart, it was secretly kept inside the ritual house, serving as a guardian of the chief’s treasure. Its style places it in the westernmost corner of Pendeland, between the Lutshima and Kwilu rivers. Size: Overall: 53.4 x 13.1 x 14.6 cm (21 x 5 3/16 x 5 3/4 in.) Medium: wood, metal, beads

https://clevelandart.org/art/1931.426

[cma-african-art]

Mother-and-Child Figure, late 1800s-early 1900s, Cleveland Museum of Art: African Art

Wearing an elaborate lobed headdress and a beaded waistbelt, and having filed teeth and red-powdered skin, this maternity figure seems to have once carried an ax and a cup, wooden imitations of the two most important chiefly attributes. Perhaps together with a male counterpart, it was secretly kept inside the ritual house, serving as a guardian of the chief’s treasure. Its style places it in the westernmost corner of Pendeland, between the Lutshima and Kwilu rivers. Size: Overall: 53.4 x 13.1 x 14.6 cm (21 x 5 3/16 x 5 3/4 in.) Medium: wood, metal, beads

https://clevelandart.org/art/1931.426

[cma-african-art]

Mother-and-Child Figure, late 1800s-early 1900s, Cleveland Museum of Art: African Art

Wearing an elaborate lobed headdress and a beaded waistbelt, and having filed teeth and red-powdered skin, this maternity figure seems to have once carried an ax and a cup, wooden imitations of the two most important chiefly attributes. Perhaps together with a male counterpart, it was secretly kept inside the ritual house, serving as a guardian of the chief’s treasure. Its style places it in the westernmost corner of Pendeland, between the Lutshima and Kwilu rivers. Size: Overall: 53.4 x 13.1 x 14.6 cm (21 x 5 3/16 x 5 3/4 in.) Medium: wood, metal, beads

https://clevelandart.org/art/1931.426

[cma-african-art]

Mother-and-Child Figure, late 1800s-early 1900s, Cleveland Museum of Art: African Art

Wearing an elaborate lobed headdress and a beaded waistbelt, and having filed teeth and red-powdered skin, this maternity figure seems to have once carried an ax and a cup, wooden imitations of the two most important chiefly attributes. Perhaps together with a male counterpart, it was secretly kept inside the ritual house, serving as a guardian of the chief’s treasure. Its style places it in the westernmost corner of Pendeland, between the Lutshima and Kwilu rivers. Size: Overall: 53.4 x 13.1 x 14.6 cm (21 x 5 3/16 x 5 3/4 in.) Medium: wood, metal, beads

https://clevelandart.org/art/1931.426