#imago storm

[stellastra-scribbles]

(May 16, 2022) - First concept doodle of Battlespire apprentice, Velesandriel. She exhibits certified knife cat™ energy, which if you've ever played Battlespire, that's just how the dialogue options are lol

(May-July 2022) - Some doodles based on some in-game dialogue.

[bforblitz]

finally got off my ass and wrote a battlespire fanfic

[sparrowlucero]

would life as a larrow suck? like if you could choose to be isekai'd as a larrow rn would you take it up? what about the other way around, would a larrow want to be us

It doesn't really suck anymore than life as a human does, but a lot of humans would see it as bad or stressful in certain ways:

Larrow imago usually only live about 30 years, and it's not super abnormal for them to die before 20. They're also very tiny (like on average the size of a button quail or a smallish parrot) so compared to humans they seem pretty fragile.

Their society doesn't consistently exist; eggs are produced, hatched and grow up at roughly the same time, and all the larrow of a single generation usually die off entirely before new ones emerge from the ocean (with an occasional outlier). That next generation isn't exactly the same culture as before, just formed through similar needs and off of the technology left behind by the last. their whole 'rome falls every few decades' set up would probably be very offputting to most alien cultures

They have next to no health care; larrow learn medical care by themselves, for themselves, and they practice surgery and similarly extreme procedures on themselves quite regularly.

Larrow are basically fine not socializing and will sometimes go years without talking to one another; it's to a degree where even anti social humans may be stressed and lonely. They also don't really show a ton of concern for other people and animals, empathy is more of a philosophical idea than this totally innate thing.

The world they live has very extreme storms; their average low winds would be difficult for a human to walk around in. They don't have houses but public access "storm shelters" which, from a human perspective, look woefully incompetent as they're full of holes and look more like animal nests than a "real" building

On the other hand:

Larrow are adapted to live in an environment with constantly moving air and are instinctively adverse to areas with stagnant air, as they struggle to breathe in it and it can make them really sick. Human buildings seem really gross to them in the same way rot or mold does to us

The way humans are constantly trailing each other and actively trying to initiate touching and interaction all the time feels both animal-like and weird/scammy/aggressive to them, our social behavior is their "about to get mugged" behavior

complex nest building in constant storms was like their main evolutionary pressure to Get Good with the brain power, so they're very technologically minded in a way humans just aren't. They could open up a human car or computer (or indeed a body) for the first time and understand how it worked back to front. This is all just architecture to their lizard brains. Which means humans needing to go to school to study this stuff sounds like, really stupid to a larrow.

the whole idea that humans will bribe other humans to knock them out and operate on them sounds like a horror show. What if the doctors got bored and left? What if it turned out they wanted to hurt you while you were asleep? If letting other people chop you up is a normal cultural quirk why do they keep making scary movies about it

the way humans have all these complex daily networks of giving things up and gaining them is confusing and stressful. they're kind of like that boar in this tumblr post

This is all to say many humans would see larrow as living short lonely survivalist lives in ramshackle houses in a dying culture too selfish to care about each other, where many larrow would see humans as spending most of their lives in gross little prisons being so incompetent at everything that they'll die of minor ailments like "tumors" and "internal bleeding" if other humans don't randomly take pity on them.

Not to say some people wouldn't be interested or jealous about aspects of each other's lives... "what if you could just fly alone for weeks at a time and work on the first draft of your novel" would obviously be appealing to a lot of humans, and getting to root through a world of completely alien tech and biology would make a larrow feel like it was one of these caddisflies

[elderscrollsconceptart]

Imago Storm

3D asset for An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire

Modeling and final design by Mark Jones

[bookshopsbizarreblog]

Midst Appendix Collection: Season 2

All of the appendixes from Midst's second season, along with the tag associated with them. From Midst's twitter. Click for higher quality.

[Master Document] [Season 1] [Season 3]

Episode 1: Shelter - "A storm is coming."

"Interisetary Cable Housing Specifications" (sic.)

Episode 2: Ascendancy - "Who's in charge here, anyways?"

"TO BE UNSEALED ONLY IN THE EVENT OF CATASTROPHE"

Episode 3: Stalemate - "Three's a crowd."

"Welcome To The Post Office"

Episode 4: Weather - "Change is in the air."

"Bernhard and Gottle's Introduction To Cosmological Reasoning, 3rd Edition"

Episode 5: Sugarcoat - "One short day in the crystalline city."

"A Feature In SevUnTeen Magazine"

Episode 6: Tinderbox - "An explosive situation."

"A Natural Description Of Fold Fauna"

Episode 7: Security - "Company comes to call."

"A Failed Delivery"

Episode 8: Wake - "Unrecognizable yet unmistakable."

"Live In Concert"

Episode 9: Crossroads - "Don't be afraid to ask for directions."

"Sequester's Finest"

Episode 10: Oversight - "The room where it happens."

"An Annotated Agenda"

Episode 11: Buddies - "The devil you know."

"A Rather Alarming Headline"

Episode 12: Lazaretto - "Mother knows best."

"Axioms of the Mothers Merciful"

Episode 13: Inside - "For the good of the Trust."

"A Yearbook Full Of Memories"

Episode 14: Imago - "A cure is never complete."

"A Mothers Merciful Patient File"

Episode 15: Truth - "This is part of who you are now."

"Tzila's Sketches"

Episode 16: Blood Ties - "Faces old and new."

"The New Edition of the Vermillion County Almanac"

Episode 17: Compensation - "Too little, too late."

"Sherman's Letters"

Episode 18: Boss - "The Baron will see you now."

"From The Desk of Kozma Laszlo"

Episode 19: Exposed - "The monster within."

"Reward, A Fortune In Valor"

[monkeydluffy19920]

Is Nami a mermaid? The evidence includes: An original drawing by Luffy of Nami as a mermaid. Her name means wave in Japanese. Shirahoshi instantly liked her. Nami understands the ocean even without any formal training. She’s Swedish (this is important because Scandinavian mermaids warn sailors of storms and danger). Her past is completely unknown. Also, she has constantly worn those two circles on her skirt and pants that we see the mer guards wear

Hiya Nonny and thanks for the ask :)

First of all, amazing background work made there!  It took some time for me to do some as well so sorry for the delay but let’s move forward to the ponders whether Nami could be a mermaid.

This post will most likely be long since there are lots of interesting themes to talk about so here we go! :)

Mermaids in (Scandinavian) mythology

Ok first the basics, mermaid is a mythical sea creature with the head and trunk of a woman and the tail of a fish, conventionally depicted as beautiful and with long flowing golden hair [x].

Since you Nonny made a good point about Oda-sensei picking Nami’s nationality to be swedish so I will (try to) focus on scandinavian folklores in this post.   By the way, if you dear reader are native Swede and know more about the folklore please let me know, I’m completely leaning on Google at the moment *laughs*

Anyway, in Sweden Mermaids are called Havsfru and they are believed to be seen in the open ocean, living peacefully with other creatures that live in the oceans. According to the legends, the sailors that meet mermaids usually give little sacrifices such as small coins, food or warm pieces of clothes in winter in order to honor them and as an exchange, the Havsfrus repay the kind gestures with either sharing weather information (i.e warning for approaching storms, or good winds, like you Nonny said) or warn them about icebergs etc.

Mermaids can take different figures, an indescribable beautiful lady (like Sanji dreams of) with the tail of a fish tails and sometimes they move with legs. Also according to the folklore, mermaids can also transform into another sea creature.

Transformation is something we saw in Water 7 when Oda made a plot twist and made Kokoro saved Zoro and the others from a huge wave: 

In European mythologies, all kinds of tales have given mermaid a very  variant imagos. Sometimes they were portrayed as beautiful and seductive maidens who were greatly desired by lonely sailors whereas they also were sometimes portrayed as siren-esque beasts that dragged men into the inky-black depths.

Also in swedish folklore, the continuation of your travel depended on the way you treated the mermaids. If you refused their requests, you surely got to taste the wrath power of hers and you’d end up deep down to the sea with your sunken ship. If you were nice and did what she asked, you would get rewarded.

If we think about this mythology and compare it to Nami’s appearence, we indeed can see some similarities in her and mermaids’ characteristics. First of all, she now also has long wavy hair Sanji imagined her to have before the time skip (frankly spoken that mermaid Sanji mentions back then indeed looks a lot like Nami, especially in colored version, not only the hair but the earrings and stuff) but again it can all be coincidence.

We can reminisce the  she still worked for Arlong she was sneaky and used her cute appearence to fool other pirates (just like mermaids lured sailors) in order to rob them and also she charmed Sanji to get away with paying the food in Baratie. 

Now that One Piece has gone further with Time Skip and stuff Nami hasn’t used her looks so much to fool the enemies. I think there are various reasons for this, first of all back then she worked all alone. So she needed always to be one step ahead of the game if she wanted to steal the gold and stuff.

Now she is a part of a pirate group which means she can always lean on her crew mates and second important reason is that her fighting skills have been improved a lot. She started with a (portable?) stick-kind of weapon which wasn’t quite strong but enough for her to get away just in case.

Now she has a clima-tact that has been upgraded ever since it was introduced the first time and now we can say that now she really is strong enough to fight so she won’t end up in such trouble first hand.

Last one thing why Nami doesn’t use her looks is that she simply doesn’t have to. She collected money to save the her home village from Arlong but now that Arlong is out of the game she can be more relaxed. One of her life goals was achieved. Also, she is now a part of a pirate group. Her main occupation is being a navigator.

Despite that she is still proven to be a quick and excellent thief. She freaking robbed a whole village while bidding them goodbye at Cocoyashi *laughs* She keeps her thief-skills still updated because she snatches important things every once in a while.

The point is, stealing money etc. isn’t a must anymore for Nami. Like a thing which her life depends on, it’s nowadays more like a “hobby”. Also now it’s easier to steal stuff vs. when she was alone so no more need to fool the others with body and so on.

Ok then about the other thing, at least from the comical aspect the travel indeed depends on Nami’s mood. I mean not only hers but if she is in a bad mood, she isn’t shy to show it.

No matter canon or filler one of the running gags is that Nami hits people to make them behave or stop the idiocy. This we learned very well before Skypiea when she was literally so pissed off because they became laughing stocks at Jaya.

Nami indeed is a great strategist ad negotiator, I mean she even got Zeus to turn against Big Mom. Let’s not forget that Zeus was made of Big Mom’s soul so a literal yonko soul is scared of a random pirate. That is something incredible.

But let’s not forget Nami does have a soft side too. Despite her greediness is huge running gag she did give away some treasure back in Thriller Bark which was a big moment of confusion for Luffy and Usopp.

Not only this but also in general Nami "repays" the good deeds which means she is thankful for everything Straw Hats done for her and gives back too. She might give chills if things are not in order (as a comical relief though) but she deeply cares about her nakama and is very protective of them.

For example it was her who felt the most openly distress when things start to fall apart in Water 7 and even tried to fix things by reasoning her mates. Then back in WCI she drove forward the retrieval team and showed constant worry about her missing nakama.

Let's not forget that Nami was also ready to save random kids at Punk Hazard (since she herself experienced a miserable childhood after Bellmere died she could somehow relate to the childrens' pain although they didn't know for a long time) so it really speaks for the fact that she is far from selfish.

We must not also forget that although her element is air, she also enjoys swimming a lot. That alone doesn't make her the mermaid but I have to say it's an interesting coincidence Nami was chosen to be a mermaid in one of that One Piece Straw Hat Theater-episode where Straw Hats were mythological creatures.

This was part of Oda's One Piece Omake-series so even though it was "fictional" and "spin off"-styled, I partly wonder Oda picked the mermaid-role for her on purpose.

Nami's unknown past

So, like Nonny said, we know just a little scratch of Nami’s past. She first met her foster mother Bellmere in Oykot where the Marines went to save the kingdom that was battling for some unknown reason. Then later she adopted little Nami and Nojiko and raised them in Cocoyashi Village.

There is basically nothing told about this place named Oykot (which is Tokyo backwards) but somehow it’s almost 50% safe to expect that Oda-sensei somehow returns to this topic and perhaps even reveals more about Nami’s origins (because things have been connected earlier too and everything seem to have a meaning when it comes down to the main characters, the Straw Hats and their character growths).

Like mentioned in this post, what puzzles me the most in this flashback in chapter 77 is the smile of hers. Also Nojiko is pretty much a “wild card” when it comes down to Nami’s past. Why?

Because when Bellemeré asks Nojiko claims that they are not blood related siblings. However she carries Nami around the rainy battlefield so it kind of gives the vibes that they might know each other but I don’t know enough to tell whether it’s normal to carry a stranger in your arms as a kid in middle of a battlefield.

Nojiko and Nami do look alike, maybe it’s Oda’s way to draw but this could indicate that they could actually be (distant) relatives?

She understands the ocean

So, in the folklore-part was talked, mermaids had some sort of ability to predict the weather and they'd share the information to the men of the seas. Nami's one most significant skill is related strongly to the weather (and linked to the ocean) this is something for example Vivi brought up back in Grand Line.

It's an amazing skill, no one knows where she has inherited it (like from books or just going by gut-feeling?) but she has honed it in Weatheria and even if she wasn't a mermaid, her skills are still beyond amazing!!

Friendship with Shirahoshi

Nami and Shirahoshi befriended quickly back in Fishman Island. Hard to say what was the "ice breaker" but mysteriously Nami replies her compliment with: "I guess we have some things in common".

This could be interpreted in many ways but somehow I have the feeling Nami is relating to the similarities in their pasts: both were under the influence Fish Men (and literally trapped by them) and lost their mothers tragically. They are also both emotional too. Would be interesting though if Shirahoshi would be the only one to sense Nami's mermaidness and at thait point these panels could become foreshadowing:

She has constantly worn those two circles on her skirt and pants that we see the mer guards wear

Frankly spoken, I've never paid attention to this detail so this is a great catch, Nonny!!!

There might not be info about who has created one of Nami's favorite clothing brand (which seems to be the one with the two circles-style since she wears it a lot in different forms) but perhaps it has taken influence on Fishman Island?

An original drawing by Luffy of Nami as a mermaid.

So, Luffy drew a “mermaid” version of Nami inspired by Sanji’s thoughts by basically adding hair and eyelashes to his sketch of fish-man. That could be another great foreshadow from Oda for sure but at least we know one thing. Oda is great with details and loves hiding easter eggs and atcually in chapter 262, Luffy’s drawing can be found too "alive"!

All in all, the conclusion of this post is, I really find this theory interesting although I can't say for sure whether there could be possibility that Nami is secretly a mermaid but it would require another arc for her.

Nami basically had already one main arc but now to think about, this could be a huge plot twist just like Sanji had, another arc that explained basically everything I mean.

So, who knows, anything can happen in the story of One Piece!

[erwin-ando]

The Karma of Patricide (I)

It’s totally an over-interpreting shit about the dynamics between Stannis and Edric, as an extension of my previous sketchy viewpoint on the patricide tendency of Baratheon brothers. It’s sort of morbid and twisted and full of my sciolistic knowledge about sex psychology. Ok? Ok!👇

After Stannis conquered Storm’s End, Edric was sent to Dragonstone. Stannis allows Edric to take lessons along with Shireen and play with her in the garden, and he picks up the role as Edric’s father though not very pleasantly. But Edric is from Robert’s bloodline, the way he was made was significant.

“Robert and Delena defiled our bed and laid a curse upon our union. This boy is the foul fruit of their fornications.” —ASOS.

Stannis was involved in Edric’s birth in an unpleasant and involuntary way which he has been grudging against for many years. As a child conceived in his wedding bed, at the facade, Edric is a stain to Stannis’ marriage and ‘a dark cloud upon his soul’.

However, if the sex psychology was taken into consideration, Edric can be taken as Robert’s extension, and a testament to Robert’s masculine. Firstly, Edric is a healthy and pround boy, a full embodiment of the features of House Baratheon. Secondly, as far as we know that Robert had sex with Delena only once and Edric was definitely conceived then. It’s a direct contrast to Stannis’ sexual repression and the resultant lack of heir, while Edric as a healthy proud boy is a striking contrast to Shireen, Stannis’ heavyhearted ailing little girl.

And besides, even Tywin knows that Robert fucked up Stannis’ wedding bed, so that it can be imagined that this scandal was spread wide and how much mockery and sarcarsm would be brought to Stannis by that. Under this condition, Stannis is just like Cronus who was locked inside Gaia. He’s not the direct physical sufferer of Robert’s erotism, but an indirect mental one. Cronus took revenge on Uranus by castrating him, and to Stannis there’s a similar solution.

And here comes the solution: Kill Edric to wake the stone dragons. On the face of it, killing Edric is just in exchange for the magical power promised by Melisandre, mere some sort of ‘normal and common’ sacrificing. But if the sex psychology shits are taken into consideration, Stannis is killing his son and castrating his patriarch (in this case that refers to Robert) simultaneously to achieve his completion, and to gain the strength to claim the throne.

It’s over-interpreting I guess, but I dooooooo loooooove it. I’ve heard that stag is a symbolism of power and reproductive capacity, but Stannis, as a character who takes no enjoyment from power and is obviously sexually repressed, is totally opposite to the stag and the imago of it. Analysing such an entangled and complex figure is very interesting, which makes me want to fuck him even more XD (Yeh that’s the point ❤️‍🔥).

[lazyflux]

Phoenix Chronicles E9

Eviction Notice

Episode 8 here

Most of the Cabal goes to a crafts convention! Mainly so Drakonval can meet with a blacksmithing Mage whose YouTube video he stumbled across, seeking an apprenticeship to achieve his long-standing obsession to reconstruct weapons of myth.

Our Mage in question is Diego (shadowname: Ironman), a forge master and adept in Matter. He tests Drakonval out, and then clocks him when Drak casts a spell to look over a fancy hammer presented to him -- this, this is the Mage who thought it would be a good idea to cause a big storm in Phoenix. So, Ironman ribs him over this, and Drak takes the opportunity to learn why someone would claim they're hearing "voices" as a side-effect from his storm. Now, Ironman himself is from Tucson, so this immediately triggers alarm bells for him -- did Drakonval encounter a Banisher?

[Tucson in the context of my specific chronicle has fallen to Banishers just months earlier, hence Ironman's move here.]

They chat it over a bit more and Drakonval leaves a little worried. Meanwhile, across town, Hel -- aka Allan Wake, real name still unknown* -- is trying to learn about the spectator from his dreams from the previous session. While Hel doesn't lucid dream, he was lucid just enough to pick out a peculiar spectator in his dreams just before waking up, catching really only a few lines of dialogue and tarot cards. And so, in the waking world, Hel tries to see if there are any shops within the city that specializes in producing custom made tarots. He encounters a psychic at her house and fumbles his investigation; our psychic here isn't a full-blown mage, just a Sleepwalker with a gift and said gift screamed doom. Frightened, she demanded Hel leave and so he does. He spends the rest of the afternoon hustling on the streets to rid himself of the broke condition I gave last session (beat!).

[*Even I don't know Hel's/Wake's real name yet.]

But! Not before stopping for lunch with the rest of the Cabal at their favorite diner. They talk about the Banisher problem. Chufi casts perfect recall, and they snag a badge number off the banisher-cop that attacked them. Chufi is also able to get a scry window up on our cop and watches him on-and-off throughout the rest of the afternoon. They place an order for police records that will hopefully be enlightening through the city's request system, finish lunch while talking about all sorts of zany ideas about how to handle this guy, and then leave.

Enter Sonya, our Herald of our little burgeoning Consilium.

[Phoenix in my chronicle has long been.... a sort of dry spot for Mysteries. Not enough or "big enough" Mysteries in the city to warrant a full fledge Consilium, at least not since the early 90's. With people coming alive after dying, however, and nearby Tucson having "fallen," well, times are changing.]

Crime rates have been going up, and a resonance of a ley line that straddles the informal territory that is the Cabal's and another's (the "Harbingers of Metal"), has changed. The Harbingers lodged a complaint. Hel says they didn't sign up for no HoA. Once again, the Cabal is stand-offish, and the Herald leaves. We get our first Paradox Condition of the whole Chronicle: Hel makes it so that the tires of the Herald's car slowly deflates over an hour. What a petty thing to get an abyssal imago over.

At this point, Hel goes to do some hustling as previously stated. Cherrim goes to her green house where she's served an eviction notice from a rep of the Mercer, Colville, and Mulligan law firm (little do they know, it's going to be my "Wolfram & Heart" equivalent in the setting). Obviously, she's furious. She has 5 business days to vacate.

Meanwhile, Chufi and Drak execute step 1 of the plan to banish the, erm, Banisher. They decided to point the Banisher, who they've uncovered to be obsessed with Drak, at Power (though I suspect any Seer would do). They go-to the Library and work on then print out a fancy invitation they mean to accidentally drop at this guy's house. Thanks to the "stakeout" via scrying window, Chufi lands an address.

They depart at library's close at 10pm and out in the nearly empty lot, they're assaulted. First, Chufi did some Not Great(TM) things by psychically dominating someone for the sake of having a chauffer for the evening*, and then they find that said chauffer is now dead in the driver's seat. Then, vampires attack.

[Two acts of hubris in the game, and it's actually our first go at that. One for just psychically dominating someone, then over the presumed guilt for them having died while in Chufi's... "care"]

Two vampires (revenants specifically, but the players don't know that yet) assault our Mages getting good punches in on Drak specifically who tries to retaliate by turning the parking lot's streetlights into lasers. He fails this roll, then makes it a dramatic failure so what really happens is just blinding himself. There's a third presence here in the wings, however, with the duo of Mages in their sight, but they're waiting on a phone call...

One of Cherrim's greenhouse windows is smashed by a rock demanding the "church boy." To be continued.

[Samael, our vampire-hunting man of the Church, was MIA this session, so we call it quits mid-combat and Sam will arrive next session with a hard choice to make. He's been spending several session's worth of Downtime poking the nest, and the nest is finally retaliating.]

[the-consortium]

Herik shakes his head, but it is clearly amazement and fascination, not rejection. The Apothecary moves with the predatory grace of the Third Legion and now has to actually restrain his stride repeatedly to prevent Calypsos from falling behind him.

The two leave the area of the combined laboratory-library, past the bio-creches, whose insect-like inhabitants gently move their chitinous tentacles in their sleep. Past notes with remarks and poems pinned everywhere. Books laid out on tables and datapads on shelves. The eyes of the Vatborn follow them from under the tables and from the grilles of the ventilation shafts.

They wander through a few corridors and halls, leaving the busier areas with the laboratories and quarters of the Consortium's permanent members and finding their way through slowly decaying halls and corridors with snaking bundles of cables winding along the ceilings. The smell of blood and sterilium slowly fades, replaced by the dusty aroma of the dead planet.

As they ascend one of the slender towers in a jolting, steel-screeching lift, Herik takes the opportunity to take a few scans. But even more than the technology, he relies on his experience. With a questioning sound, he reaches towards Calypsos' shoulders to study the course of the muscles and feel with his own fingers how the tendons wrap around the bones.

"Yes … that is indeed a mystery! As far as we know, your Legion's Flesh Change is rarely something you survive. Similar to the Blight in a way." A few jerky movements of the head. Cool and analytical. "So you've undergone a metamorphosis. Like the transition of an insect from larval stage to imago, huh?"

The lift rumbles to a stop and the bulkhead opens onto the platform of a low anchor that has been retrofitted to the tower. As they step out onto the grid, dusty hot updrafts tug at them and both have to fold their wings around themselves to avoid being knocked over. The view opens up far across the ruined landscape to the toothy horizon, where the clouds of distant dust storms rage. From the towers in the neighbourhood - mostly swaying, yet elegant ruins - a few winged creatures rise up.

Herik looks at Calypsos. "There's enough updraft here that even I can ascend well. It should be enough for you even if your muscles are weak." He makes an inviting gesture. "Please show me what your god has made possible for you."

( from @codex-aetherium ):

A piece of what appears to be exceedingly old parchment appears on Fabius’ desk one morning. How it got there is unclear, but a quick glance makes it obvious it isn’t something that belonged to him. It is written in a dark blue ink with flecks of silver that catch the light at odd angles.

Chief Apothecary Bile,

I hope this letter finds you well, and at least in a good enough mood to grant a stranger a small favor.

I am lead to believe you are or have employed an individual known as Herik Stymphalos. I know you’re asking yourself why I would want to associate with such a person, and the answer is quite simple. I am an Astartes of the XV Legion and was greatly affected by the Flesh Change. More specifically, my body has transformed into what I can only describe as an anthropomorphic corvid.

I am tangentially aware of Stymphalos’ avian obsessions and would appreciate you putting us in contact if at all possible. As you may have guessed, I do not seek to cure this particular affliction and he may offer some unique insight.

If you please, write your response on the opposite side of this page, and it will find its way back to me.

Respect and Admiration,

Calypsos Renn - XV Legion Archivist

The Holvall sun has crept over the zenith and is beginning to colour the sky at the edges, first golden and then purple. Night falls quickly here near the equator. Flocks of twilight birds rise from the jungle with the whistling and rustling of their wings to catch insects and small flying lizards, which are now circling in particularly large numbers above the treetops.

In an old volcanic crater in the mountains deep in the woods, far away from any civilisation, bulkheads rumble over the windows of a cage-like hemisphere.

Herik gets ready for the nightly research cycle.

He is just about to make his way to the central lab when one of his serfs staggers down from the observation and communications area above, wings flapping ponderously, and holds out a datapad to him.

Herik raises his silver brows and takes the pad. Communication from outside normally only reaches him from one place. And this time too: the electronic seal of the Consortium. Even the private stamp of the Chief Apothecary. Herik whistles through his teeth and looks down, where one of the cloned geese is elegantly preening its feathers before returning his gaze.

Then he reads the short message.

Sighs.

One should never underestimate the command character of the Clone Lord's messages. And "your presence on Urum at your earliest possible convenience is in your interest. Vesalius is on its way to pick you up" is speaking very loud and very clear.

A curt gesture that covers the whole swarm of serfs." Pack my travel lab for Urum."

----------

Meanwhile on the Crone World of the Consortium, deep in the old palace.

Fabius nods briefly and contentedly when he receives Herik’s confirmation. Then he clasps his hands behind his back and marches up and down in his library, dictating to a servo skull that is eagerly floating behind him:

"To Archivist Renn of the Thousand Sons!

My personal feelings towards your Legion are of no concern to my work. If I were to choose my patients according to which legion has not yet put a bounty on me, I would have to limit myself to the second and eleventh.

The changes of the sons of Magnus are quite interesting to me, because I am still doing research on the instabilities and errors of the various gene seed variants.

According to my information, Herik’s current focus of work is aimed at creating a stable connection between the bird and human genome, but I am sure that he can spend a lot of worthwhile study time on your case.

My student will be in Urum in an estimated three weeks, give or take some time for warp fluctuations.

I await you here accordingly.

Fabius Bile, Chief Apothecary of the Emperor’s Children"

[uesp]

"We have lived too long, and grow dull and complacent. You live too short, and so are wonderfully sharp and inventive."

--Imago Storm

[bforblitz]

I finished Battlespire today and now carnally desire Dagon’s shit-talking kids

[scalecallerpeak]

Good morning to everyone except Imago Storm

[figmentjedi]

I just wish they had let her turn down the lights a smidge after breaking the storm for a Gandalf the White reveal. Like we never get a good look at her imago form until she jumps in for the final battle.

The third movie in today's feel good birthday movie marathon is Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), the final movie in the Monsterverse.

...Yep.

Last one.

This is where it ended.

Yes.

[ykoriana-imperatrix]

SDC Month - June 2022 - Saturday #4

(Cut for length and spoilers, mainly for The Masters and The Chosen.)

The Twins Laugh When the Ruling Lord Imago Makes Plans

Once more, we return to the early books in the series for the third and last theory for this SDC month. More specifically, this theory is going to be focusing on (some members of) House Imago. I trust everyone will remember Jaspar's little speech in The Chosen, in which he dwells a little on his motives for patricide:

"Terrible." Jaspar's hand went to a chain at his throat, drew out from his robe a Ruling Ring and dangled it. "But there are compensations for such loss. Long have I coveted this… to wield its power…" He sighed in a kind of ecstasy. "I cannot count how many times I have wished him dead."

Now, this does not tell us much regarding what the late Ruling Lord Imago and Jaspar's relationship was actually like, particularly on the former's side. Several possibilities could be at play, of course — it's far from implausible the senior Imago was an abusive father to his son, for one. I could, however, see them as just never having been close (or perhaps, their relationship having degraded over the years), which would still be consistent with Jaspar becoming increasingly more focused on becoming Ruling Lord Imago, and too impatient to wait for his father's natural death. (Which could perhaps be supported by the fact Jaspar never actually says he hated his father, only that he wished for his death. A distant kind of relationship could certainly still result in contempt, leading to Jaspar not feeling strong animosity for Lord Imago exactly, but being completely uncaring of his well-being or lack thereof, and the elder Imago essentially being just an obstacle in Jaspar's way to power.)

Thinking about the Imago family dynamics led me to consider that, as mentioned above, we know nothing regarding how Lord Imago felt about his elder son. An intriguing possibility emerged: it is not only entirely possible his feelings were quite similar to Jaspar's towards him, but that he was actually aware of his son's patricidal intentions. (In spite of the fact Jaspar had to be extremely careful to avoid any concrete evidence of his crime coming to light, the fact that he was responsible was still very obviously an open secret, so I would be incredibly surprised if cases of patricide (or at the very least, unrealised patricidal urges) were particularly rare among Chosen.)

This becomes interesting when considered alongside the fact that Ykoriana's attempt to have the group of faction representatives returning to Osrakum assassinated was also quite unsurprising in-universe. The Ruling Lord Imago, leader of his own important faction and no doubt a man with decades of political experience, would also have been aware of this. And yet, he still sent his own son and clear heir (as said in the books, there seemed to be no doubt Jaspar would be elected as his father's successor) on what was a considerably risky mission. (Not to mention assassination would be far from the only danger the group would be facing: there would also be all the potential accidental perilous situations to account for, such as a storm causing the baran to sink.) While yes, the choice was based on sending one representative for each faction, and this could instead be read as meaning Imago trusted his son far more than anyone else he might have sent in his place, I would say the lack of information about his motivations does not favour either of the possibilities more than the other. We can't be absolutely sure that there was not anyone else (his younger son, a cousin or a lord from another House he happened to trust to some degree, etc.) he trusted enough to send in this mission, which in my view creates just enough doubt to give this theory some plausibility.

So let's consider that Lord Imago did have his suspicions about Jaspar's plans, and was also well-aware of the risks posed by the journey. I propose that it was not just a matter of him being unconcerned about the danger to his son, but that he was actively hoping for his death. Even taking information gaps into account, Imago could have much to gain from Jaspar's death. First of all (and more importantly in the short term), it would remove the danger to his own life. He would know Jaspar was likely just waiting for a good opportunity to present itself to enact his plans, and so would have acted pre-emptively. Since he had two sons, he would not be left without a clear heir (and we have no reasons to believe he might have seen his younger son as a threat, or at least not as a great a threat as Jaspar). It would also be a course of action that would leave no incriminating evidence pointing to him, since he would be taking advantage of another's assassination plot (and I think that would be his desired outcome; while an accident would serve the same purpose, he couldn't, of course, count on a random occurrence).

Additionally, it could be something to be used to his own advantage, attempting to improve his public perception by playing the role of the grieving father who had oh-so-tragically and unexpectedly lost his elder son and heir. (While I tend to agree with the characters' belief that Ykoriana would never be actually publicly accused of the murders, Imago could certainly still capitalise on natural suspicion towards her, if that happened to serve his purposes.) Furthermore, as the deaths of Aurum and Sardian would be a heavy blow to Osidian's faction, Lord Imago could stand to benefit from that as well, as some (if not a significant number of) supporters of Osidian might switch sides and join him instead, seeing their cause all but lost. (This is not actually that relevant in the context of this theory, but it doesn't seem unlikely to me that Imago would ultimately side with Ykoriana and Molochite in this scenario; joining Osidian's diminished faction would carry more risks and fewer chances to gain anything from it. He would essentially reap the rewards Jaspar did in canon.)

To conclude, sending Jaspar on the mission to convince Sardian to return to Osrakum would have a non-insignificant chance of being advantageous to Ruling Lord Imago on both a personal and political level. It would, however, be a plan that would always be somewhat of a gamble, and unfortunately for Lord Imago, one that proved unsuccessful.

And so we reach the end of the Saturday theories project (though there might be a new one next December, if I do come up with new theories in the meantime). What did you think of this one — and where does it rank in terms of plausibility compared to the two previous ones for you?

[burningdarkfire]

books i read in june 2022

[these are all short + casual reviews - feel free to msg me and ask   about individual ones if u want a full review or ask for my goodreads!!]

a month of rereads, graphic novels, novellas, and overall just a good time 🤠 gideon’s a reread (though it so deserves another shoutout), jujutsu kaisen is what it is so, here’s the #3 of the month:

the seventh perfection - daniel polansky ★★★★☆ (fantasy)

neat little fantasy novella that’s told entirely through dialogue directed at the POV character. i took notes while reading and it was very fun to construct the world and story from what we’re given!

gideon the ninth - tamsyn muir ★★★★★ (scifi)

it’s still gotta be my favourite book from the recent few years. it’s an insanely skillful genre mash and completely unmatched in terms of my personal enjoyment. i reread this and harrow at the end of june and it put me in a reading slump for july because nothing else can compare 😭

jujustu kaisen (volumes 11-15) - gege akutami ★★★★☆ (YA fantasy manga)

lots of combat this arc, which i don’t care for much personally. it’s still fun to read though and i’m looking forward to seeing it all animated!

the argonauts - maggie nelson ★★★★☆ (memoir)

absolutely fascinating queer memoir. i rarely get so much out of books that i (politely) don’t actually enjoy, but maggie nelson works some magic blending her lived experiences with critical theory. so much to think about!

a memory called empire - arkady martine ★★★★☆ (scifi)

another reread! my opinion of this book hasn’t changed at all either - so many fascinating ideas that drive me absolutely insane (the imago machines, please) but the writing feels a bit bloated and slow

messy roots: a graphic memoir of a wuhanese-american - laura gao ★★★★☆ (memoir)

very “standard” memoir of a chinese-american. i hate to say it but if you’ve read any other asam lit then you’ve basically already read this. the art was very nice though

ace: what asexuality reveals about desire, society, and the meaning of sex - angela chen ★★★★☆ (nonfiction)

good and useful overview but if, like me, you grew up on tumblr then there’s nothing new here. i wish it had been more of a memoir

conversations with friends - sally rooney ★★★☆☆ (contemporary)

the utmost respect for sally rooney because she makes me feel like no other contemporary author. i liked the premise of this book, but the main character was unbearable for me. i did still get gutted in the last 10% or so though

flatland: a romance of many dimension - edwin a. abbott ★★★☆☆ (mathematical satire)

entertaining bit of historical writing. it’s really funny to me personally to read about a square experiencing horrors beyond his comprehension, but even i thought this book dragged on a little long

panenka - ronan hession ★★★☆☆ (contemporary)

parts of this book were very beautifully written, but overall it felt slow and frustrating. maybe i’m the wrong audience though, so check back with me in a decade or two when i’m closer to the age of the protag

fence (volumes 1-4) - c.s. pacat ★★★☆☆ (sports romance)

very standard sports romance graphic novel. i’ve learned more about fencing than i ever expected to. the main romance has been pretty slow to get started but a lot of the side characters are fun

dark matter - blake crouch ★★☆☆☆ (scifi thriller)

this reads like a book written to be a movie. i wish the protag bought into the premise of the book way faster than he did. i think blake crouch wrote a situation that was far cleverer than he was, because the outcome was very unsatisfactory. very fast read though

storm cursed - patricia briggs ★★☆☆☆ (urban fantasy)

so sad to rate anything in this series lowly 😭 it was just boring? not a lot happens and mercy spends most of the book driving around recounting the plot thus far to other characters. really hoping the next one is better!

a spindle splintered - alix e. harrow ★★☆☆☆ (fantasy retelling)

very #quirkygirlpower and absolutely jammed full of pop culture references. it’s actually fine, just really not for me

beast boy (volumes 2-3) - kami garcia ★★☆☆☆ (superhero)

i love gabriel picolo’s art, which is why i keep reading these comics, but the plot leaves a lot to be desired. super generic plotlines, insta-love-y, and even after three volumes there’s no genuine concept of what’s at stake

[fatchance]

I found a cicada nymph crawling across my patio after a recent storm. The moisture in the soil from the monsoon rain was a signal for the insect to emerge from the ground and begin its brief time in the treetops. This sequence shows the final ecdysis or molt, as the nymph reached its adult stage. Cicadas are members of order Hemiptera—the true bugs—and are hemimetabolist. Hemimetabolism is sometimes called incomplete metamorphosis. The life cycles of hemimetabolist insects omit a pupal stage, and at each instar—the stages of growth between molts—the developing insect resembles the adult form more fully, but smaller, and without functional wings. At the final adult stage the insect, called an imago, is sexually mature. There are about fifty cicada species in Arizona. I have not attempted to identify this one. I let the nymph crawl on a wooden spoon to be photographed, and moved the teneral imago outside to let its wings harden and strike up it's song. Ecdysis took about an hour to complete. Yes, I have seen the Alien movies. And yes, the similarity is striking.