#inheritance cycle was my absolute shit

[asingularshieldmaiden]

possessed by my 11 year old self every time I open murtagh

[sparklepirate]

Absolutely devastated at the fact that there is not an Inheritance Cycle TTRPG I can play. Remembering the fact that APPARENTLY Paolini has either started developing or HAS developed one, but can't publish because of some sort of IP reasons??? Or something along those lines??? But Chris buddy if/when you get that shit figured out and you need a play tester. Please. I will run a prewritten campaign I will make my own campaign WHATEVER PLEASE I just NEED IT-

[dootznbootz]

At this point i am so sorry Ovid for all the hate you are better than the author that wrote Tele-GONE-ny :')

Like makes no sense for Odysseus story like it's not even canon. I believe he wrote it because of the success of Homer and wanted to make a known book based on something

Hmm this behaviour is oddly familiar with something recently we experience 👀

Honestly, it's not Ovid's fault in a way, just most peoples' taking his work as GREEK mythology instead of Roman. I don't think it's bad to enjoy the Roman Mythology version as long as people KNOW it's Roman and as long as they leave sweet boy Perseus alone.

Tele-GONE-y? That is just a titan of its own and it's so frustrating.

Because if you look it up? That's technically part of the Epic Cycle!

One of these is not like the others~

And it really sucks because we can't just say "It's Roman, therefore technically not Greek Mythology" like we can with Ovid! Why, out of all the myths for Odysseus and Penelope, would you choose this one? Why would you finish such a lovely story with such a trainwreck?

It literally goes against Tiresias' Prophecy! The myth of Odysseus being turned into a horse would've been a better one to go with if people didn't think "dying peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after old age" isn't "exciting enough". At least then it's kind of cute to possibly imagine Horse!Odysseus being pampered by his family or something.

It is so dumb and just WRONG to say that the Odysseus and Penelope that are in the Tele-GONE-y are the same ones we know and love in Homer's masterpieces.

Even to lump the Tele-GONE-y with the rest is laughable. Even without considering the extreme out of character-ness of it, its plot is just messy and almost overly simple. As even with just FRAGMENTS of the other poems, we can take so much of what is implied and see the beautiful web that's being woven!!!

One of my favorite arcs, for example, is with Palamedes and his effects along the way. He places Odysseus' BABY in front of the plow and ofc, Odysseus saves his son. His sanity is proven and he has to go to war now, after having a prophecy of being the only survivor and not seeing his family again for 20 years.

Odysseus' rage is just boiling under the surface and he frames Palamedes for treason, causing him to be killed. THEN Palamedes' father, King Nauplius, hearing of his son's death plans to get revenge against all the kings. He goes to their wives telling them that their husbands plan to replace them.

Almost all of them take new lovers EXCEPT for Penelope. While we don't know the exact details, I believe it was likely that:

1.) "You're telling me, my husband, my Odysseus, is planning to replace me? That man is the biggest simp to ever simp, I've never heard such utter bullshit in my life. Get out of my house." 2.) When she realizes that he is Palamedes' FATHER? She's absolutely not believing one word that leaves his mouth. This is the father of the man who nearly got her baby killed and caused her husband to be taken away from her. She does not trust him.

(Silly side thing but Penelope's also probably making sure that Telemachus doesn't meet him lol "Remember that mean man who put you in front of the plow that I told you about? That's his dad. Don't talk to him. We don't know if 'Malice towards Telemachus' was inherited." 😂 )

It's so amazing and ironic that Nauplius got revenge against them all except for the man responsible!!! ALL BECAUSE PENELOPE IS THAT COOL AND SMART!

Granted, yes, he lied to Anticlea causing her heartbreak but still!

It's just such masterful and lovely storytelling!!! The rest of the Epic Cycle interweaves and connects lil stories into the big ones in such satisfying ways!!!

There is nothing like that in the Tele-GONE-y. No little seeds placed along the way to build upon. No "hey, this decision is actually monumental". Shit just happens.

It really does just feel like a young author being like "So, this is my new OC. His name is Telegonus and his dad is Odysseus! No, his mom isn't Penelope! And like, he has a special stingray spear and he kills his dad with it!"

I'm all for supporting and encouraging authors no matter how silly or cringy they get (I'm silly and cringy too!) but imagine from Homer's and the other authors of the Epic Cycle's perspective, that you write a book that you worked so hard on, only for people to take some FANFICTION as canon and therefore affecting how people see your work!

I got really rambly but I'm just genuinely mindboggled that people take the Tele-GONE-y as canon. It's not good. In general.

Another small thing but Homer usually tells us little details even when the characters don't know it. For example, with Helen not knowing her brothers are dead. (in Homer's works)

But I can’t see two of the men’s leaders,                                     Castor, tamer of horses, and Pollux, the fine boxer—they are both my brothers, whom my mother bore along with me. Either they did not come with the contingent from lovely Lacedaemon, or they sailed here in their seaworthy ships, but have no wish                                     to join men’s battles, fearing the disgrace, the many slurs, which are justly mine.” Helen spoke. But the life-nourishing earth already held her brothers in Lacedaemon,                             in their own dear native land.

(Book 3, Johnston)

Homer would have most likely said something in Book 12 of the Odyssey along the lines of "And so he left Aeaea for the final time, not knowing that he will have another son that grew up without his father." or something. HE DOESN'T SAY ANYTHING LIKE THAT. BECAUSE IT'S NOT CANON. It also never says that they slept together in Book 12. All she did was pull him away so that they could talk and she could warn him.

[kazz-brekker]

hotd episode 8 thoughts

boy! this family really never can have a funky good time together without something happening, can they? (i say as a distraction from my immense emotional pain)

rhaenys you may never have been queen of westeros but you are queen to ME.

really liked the bits of daemon and rhaenyra’s life married that we got to see and how comfortable they were with each other. hbo, i’m just saying, but it’s not too late to abandon this whole “adapting the dance of the dragons” idea and just do a 5 season sitcom about the dragonstone household.

wow alicent really has become the westerosi equivalent of a christian housewife but also with girlboss ambitions.

the scenes with the dying viserys made me so sad. rhaenyra trying to talk to her father but he’s too incoherent to understand … introducing him to the grandkids … daemon helping him climb the iron throne … god it really got to me see how much they care about him and how much he was hurting :(

baby aegon iii and viserys ii were really cute though!

no … alicent … please don’t uphold the patriarchy and become complicity in the oppression of women … don’t continue the cycle of abuse begun by others that you now perpetuate…

i am impressed by how quickly this show made my opinion on aegon ii go from “annoying yet entertaining” to “die in a hole you rat bastard.”

congrats to daemon and rhaenyra (and rhaenys!) for raising some much better-adjusted teenagers, definitely liked what we saw of the older versions of the kids.

adult aemond is an absolute menace and i am going to enjoy every single second of his screen time.

jesus christ rhaenyra it’s been SIX YEARS and you still haven’t told rhaenys and corlys their son isn’t dead? please get on that! did love that those two had another scene together at last, though.

the scene where viserys dragged himself to court to sit judgement over the inheritance case was pretty powerful.

damn vaemond velaryon was kind of an ambitious asshole but he really didn’t deserve to die like that. kind of love that daemon was like “talk shit about my wife and you get a sword to the face” though, very in character.

those 30 seconds at the dinner party where everyone was getting along were so bittersweet, it did such a good job of establishing that the whole impending tragedy COULD have been averted if things went differently.

viserys really did need to put his foot down more often and be a stronger king, but it’s also so sad that he just wants his family to get along and love each other and it’s just not going to happen.

helaena honey i am going to rescue you and your ominous prophecies from your terrible husband, you deserve so much better.

the fact that viserys left the room and things immediately went to shit and the younger generation got into a fistfight was peak black comedy, not gonna lie.

the dramatic pause before aemond finished his “strong boys” toast … yeah i love him.

mentally chanting kiss! kiss! kiss! at rhaenyra and alicent as if this could someone how avert all the impending doom.

god, that last scene with alicent and viserys was so good and i am obsessed with how viserys’s obsession with prophecy and the future of his house is actually what dooms it.

PEAK asoiaf vibes to have the prophecy that was supposed to be the duty of the house instead lead to its downfall!

i’m really going to miss paddy considine as viserys, he brought so much depth and complexity to a character who was pretty flat in the book.

i know this whole show has been building up to the dance of the dragons but ohhhhh man am i not ready to see things actually begin in earnest now that the king is dead.

if anyone needs me i will be sitting here trying to process the hour of television i just watched!

[qqueenofhades]

seeing the maneuvers by Biden and his team in recent days/weeks really makes me appreciate the good that experience in legislating does for actually getting things done!

I mean... yeah. Dark Brandon really went OFF yesterday, and it was very satisfying to watch. Whether it was the White House official twitter account dragging (by name!) all the Republicans whining about student debt relief since they had their much larger PPP loans forgiven, or Biden repeatedly calling out the MAGA Republicans (protip, my man, there's nothing "semi" about their fascism, they're just fascists), or unveiling a fairly comprehensive student debt reform plan that represents the largest attempt to fix multiple aspects of this issue in literal DECADES, they've definitely put on their Get Shit Done underpants in recent weeks, and I'm all for it. Also, let us not forget that Biden flat-out promised that if Dems keep the House and expand their Senate majority, they will BAN ASSAULT WEAPONS. That is a) incredibly important, and b) incredibly strong, since Democrats have usually meekly tiptoed around the gun-control issue and ceded way too much ground to the loonies. The vast majority of America, as they should, wants assault weapons to be outlawed again, so actually saying that the Democrats will do it is Major.

At this particular moment, I think the administration is doing a genuinely great job, and this comes after I was considerably critical of them, and Biden personally, for the initial response to Dobbs and the pacing of the DOJ investigation into Trump. They got the IRA passed by completely faceplanting Mitch McConnell, they slipped in that provision that once more allows the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, they are actually going on the offensive, widely publicizing their accomplishments, and calling out the danger of the Republicans. It also does seem that this strategy is working; Democrat Pat Ryan just won a special House election for NY-19, which is a rural, upstate, swing NY district where his Republican opponent was supposedly ahead by eight points on the day of the election. He also did so by focusing almost entirely on the issues of safeguarding the right to abortion and protecting democracy from Trump. If that message can win in red rural NY, it can win nationwide, and hopefully other Democrats in competitive races are taking notes.

Back in May, when Biden's approval rating was in the mid-30s and gas was above $5 a gallon, it did feel more like we might have been heading for a red wave, which would have obviously been calamitous. But there's been a major shift in the political winds in the last few weeks, Biden's approval rating is picking up steam, and all the actual elections we have had have shown Democrats drastically overperforming for the expected disadvantages of a new president's first midterm year. This definitely is not a normal election cycle, and if we keep up the pressure, we can get a more favorable Congress and do even MORE on all this stuff. But they've made at least a start on pretty much every important left-wing issue, and I'm absolutely willing to give them kudos for that, considering the incredibly difficult political environment and the ungodly mess that they inherited. So yes: it's almost like electing people who have a lot of experience and know how to do the job, instead of acting like kooky "Outsider Mavericks!!" who have no clue what they're doing and are only there to fundraise and posture on social media, is a GOOD thing. Who knew.

[cloudyswritings]

The Silly Ones

just a dump for some silly headcanons from different fandoms.

Hollow Knight:

Smoker Hornet: see my other post

Hollow likes scarfs, like they just like being cozy.

Kinda morbid, but Grimm has a collection of small like, lumaflies, maskflies, and other relatives pinned up in his tent. This includes non-sapient butterflies. He does it to get out his aggression for his sister.

PK absolutely eats via his head, like bro has a mouth between his crown. It’s like a garbage disposal.

if he had a weapon, it’d be a trident with some dramatic name. But he’d secretly call it the Pale Fork

The dreamers once sealed started playing card games together. They really want to play euchre but don’t want to invite the radiance as their fourth.

Dryya: might just be canon but she’s gay for the white lady. The biggest silliest gay.

Zote used to be a higher being…

Hollow can’t sleep and Ghost is the biggest napper. Hollow carries them around like a little tote bag.

Rainworld:

Saint isn’t actually fluffy, but like a kinda gross slimy fluff, like they’re still a scug and scugs are slimy bois

Rivulet spends like 500 cycles trying to get that damn rarefaction cell to moon without chucking it into the void from pebbles can.

The ancients in pebbles city used to drink Pebsi, named after his august self.

NSH is responsible for miros vultures, suffice to say the local scugs went out their way to damage his structure in small ways when they found out.

Artis bomb jumps are just superpowered farts

Pebbles could’ve been saved if he just took up a hobby like every other damn iterator.

Pjo(these are more serious):

Gaia insited on Percy’s blood because he inherited on of his fathers names related to the earth, specifically Gaienokhos which has a possible interpretation as Holder of the Earth

Percy actually is mostly the son of Yam the twisting serpent, it’d explain his poison control, the weird shit he does with the rivers of the underworld, as well as the general strength buff he has compared to poisedons strength names. This is mostly something I learned from reading An Undertow of Sand by Shujin on space battles, so please go check it out, you won’t regret it.

Thalia could see and hear as her tree form, she regrets this immensely.

Percy is actually really good at sciences? Like especially chemistry.

I feel like he could easily start incorporating biology from various marine creatures as a power if he really tried. Like he could make his blood poisonous, or possibly slow his metabolism to survive the cold like a Greenland shark. He may even do this subconsciously to survive the pressure by taking chemicals from deep seas snail fish.

on that note I feel like he has the ability of tuna to conserve the heat generated by like normal metabolism and use it to warm his core temperature and speed up his metabolism for short bursts of incredible strength and speed.

Amphitrite is the true ruler of Atlantis, Poseidon is just her trophy husband. This is like pseudo canon? Cause she’s legit a titan(second gen I think?, her dad is Oceanus) so…

[strawberryybird]

Thoughts on Edeleth?

in the era of bot messages, a hero rises from the navy blue darkness... thank u profusely for the untold joy that human interaction brings ;0;

anyway: edeleth. LOVE THEM. LOVE THEM A LOT.

and also here's a 3 paragraph response as to why i love them but not in the fandom content creation sense.

Truth be told, they're not actually my fire emblem 3H ship of choice! But this is because I consider their story to be, in large part, resolved. I really enjoyed the edelgard/byleth relationship that ran through CF when I played; especially poignant as the relationship the route lord has with Byleth is the thematic hinge of each storyline. I liked all the accompanying discussion of free will/autonomy and inheritance and mothers and dark/light and rebirth, and every like theme you could throw at the game like spaghetti on a stovetop splashback. As 'shallow' (scare quotes intentional) an exploration that the game/CF route gives us... it hit the mark for me. It showed the foundation of a complex, tense, and a relationship altogether necessary for Edelgard & Byleth, in order for them to make it through the story. I loved that. I legitimately burst into tears when colour of sunshine played out the TV at 1am.

Having said all that - I got my depth and resolution from the game at the same time. It showered me with thoughts about what a relationship between E&B would look like after the story ended. I then started thinking about it and came to my own personal conclusion that I had already seen the very apex of their relationship (word choice intentional). There was very little fanfic I could write that would provide a story more compelling than the cutscene I just played towards (with the dragon and the burning city and the heartbeats and the crest stone, all that good shit). All this culminates in a story that is, ultimately, already told.

They are, put simply, my canon couple. The relationship that is Edeleth is my loadbearing pillar for a lot of my generosity towards the story the viddy game tells. I absolutely love them for it. I adored getting to be a part of that story!!

So, when I turn to fandom, by and large, I'm not actively seeking out Edeleth content. That's not to say i don't like it, not by any stretch of the imagination, it just means I'm incredibly nonsensically subjective about my Edeleth tastes. Just for fun, here are some fics i haven't stopped thinking about since pre-pandemic.

It's also very much worth saying that I have grown up really rather a lot since playing 3H for the first time, so my thoughts are much more.. collected, shall we say, than they would have been. I've also been tempered by the passage of time, reading Jane Eyre for 4 years against my will (long uni anecdote) and also falling directly into the combination of the locked tomb and the raven cycle brainrot. (IE: my hobby reading has actually satiated a lot of the media thematic cravings instigated by the Edeleth in my head. I think about Edie & Byleth very fondly for this. Also because I still love them very much).

I strongly suspect this was wayyyyy more than you bargained for by sending an ask, so I hope it was at least mildly entertaining hahaha. thank u for coming on this rant with me, it was longer than the wait time for those damn cathedral gates to lift in garreg mach. let me in. seiros let me into ur cathedral i need to teach ferdinand how to heal people through the power of song.

[kitsaystransrights]

Okay I’m starting a new series on here called “I just finished this game” where I gush about a game I just finished.

Anyway, if you’re a fan of musicals, visual novels, or Greek mythology, you NEED to play Stray Gods.

If you haven’t heard of it before, Stray Gods is a visual novel with branching story routes, but it has the twist of also being a musical! Many of the game’s major choices take place in the songs themselves, and the songs will actually changed based on your decisions! Each song has numerous different permutations based on around 3-5 choices in each one. I recommend checking out Challenging a Queen, one of the early game songs that’s relatively light on spoilers, to see how some of the choices really add some spice to the game and weave through the songs.

The game’s story just follows Grace, a 20-something girl who witnesses the death of Calliope, the Last Muse, and to make matters worse, she has inherited her powers and role. The Chorus, leaders of the remaining Greek gods (known as Idols), give Grace one week to prove her innocence before she is executed, and the line of Calliope is gone forever.

Accompanying her on this journey are a variety of gods, monsters, and her mortal (strictly platonic… strictly) roommate, Freddie. The cast of Stray Gods is easily its best aspect, full of lovable and complex characters, leaving you laughing a lot, sobbing sometimes, and sometimes not knowing who to trust. And when it’s backed up by a fantastic voice cast, and nearly every character getting their own song if not multiple, I’d be astounded if you managed to get through the game without getting attached to SOMEONE lol.

(For the record, my favorite characters are Freddie, Persephone, and Aphrodite hehe)

And of course, what’s a musical without its music? The soundtrack of Stray Gods is absolutely incredible, even beyond the incredible amount of work and dedication it took to integrate so many variations of all the songs in the game. Lots of variety with the genre, sometimes even changing in the middle of a song! If I haaad to pick a few favorites, I suppose it’d be The Ritual, Look Into Me, and If Only. I’m a sucker for the emotional songs, but Look Into Me is suuuuuch a banger, it feels so threatening and I LOVE it.

OKAY now I’m gonna gush about my favorite parts of the story and get all spoilery so if you don’t want to be spoiled, DON’T KEEP READING! Go play the game yourself! Iirc it’s on all current platforms. Enjoy :)

So HOLY SHIT APHRODITE’S SONG HIT ME LIKE A BRICK??? I love the moral dilemma her whole cycle of rebirth puts you in, deciding whether to honor her wishes and let her die again or to convince her to find peace in life rather than trying to forget. I tried SO HARD to save her without forcing her and she ended up passing on anyways.

Persephone’s character is also SOOOO well done here, the reinterpretation of her story where she kills Hades is a fantastic direction to take her character. She ended up being my main investigative partner for the game and I did NOT regret it. I almost ended up romancing her, and I definitely will on my next playthrough, but I didn’t this time because of…

Freddie!!! Freddie absolutely rules and is my favorite character in the whole game. Mortal Greek mythology nerd who is super gay and wears a cool hat, how could I NOT love her??? My heart was completely torn to shreds when she died, and even though I knew she had to be able to come back somehow because you could romance her, the fury it raised in me made me blaze through the last four hours of the game and finish it in one sitting XD.

And JEEZ the way they let you bring her back is so well done. It’s not outright good or bad, it’s complex! Freddie and Grace are both traumatized by her death and resurrection, and the fact that you went against Freddie’s wishes and passed the line of Calliope onto her just makes it even more interesting from a storytelling perspective. It’s part of what makes If Only one of my favorite songs in the game. And of course, I’m a sucker for stories of unrequited love like Freddie’s is for Grace and now I’m gonna feel so guilty romancing anyone else 😭. Freddie is so relatable istg.

Anyways uuuuuh that’s all I have to say, maybe I’ll do a full review on my YouTube? Thanks for checking this post out tho! Okay bye :)

[savefrog]

Dude the human body is crazy

That post about T giving you too much blood, and how thats a genetic condition passed down mainly through cis men (hemachromatosis). And how its a risk for going on T because someone can have inherited the gene but not know until going on T triggers the issues. I need to do more research, because I cant find a lot of information on how it reacts to T (besides it often resulting in lower T), but it almost looks like the body gets T and is like "Oh cool we're going dude mode now, heres that condition you were missing!"

Makes me think of how people who have had a hysterectomy can still experience the menstruation cycle even without a Uterus. Like PMS and the soreness and bloating associated with cramps. And its hard to find research on because its a newly recorded phenomenon with a lot of bias against it, but trans women on E may also experience a monthly cycle (PMS and the soreness and bloating associated with cramps) even without a Uterus as well. The body gets estrogen and is like "oh sick i know what to do with this! Pain!!!!!"

Like it really drives in how the human body is made of analogous structures. The reproductive system is all the same parts, just given different instructions. The clitoris can get erections! Hormones can change BONES even though its limited! (Horomonal changes also affect the bones during menopause for example, something archaeologists or forensic scientists can notice)

And speaking of, that whole thing about "when archaeologists see your skeleton THEN they will know" is bullshit! (ON SO MANY LEVELS)! Sex determination with bones is typically based on the measurement of literally ONE bone. And the field of archaeology has, for quite some time, acknowledged how innaccurate this can be. (And honestly, this assumption shows a lack of science knowledge in general, where in my experience researchers like to lean more towards "probably" rather than "definitely" when making ANY kind of assertion about something because there are ALWAYS EXCEPTIONS!)

Thanks to X-rays, we have classifications for different types of pelvis shapes. Do you know what may cause someone to have a C-section???? Having an Android (or "male-shaped") pelvis. Yes. A cis woman LITERALLY GIVING BIRTH, may have a pelvic shape that is labeled as having a masculine shape. AND IT IS NOT THAT RARE!!!! (A brief search says 20% of cis women)

But consider that people usually only get X-rays or other scans when absolutely needed. There could be so much more overlap that we arent even aware of. Things that are "rare instances" may not be that rare. We arent analyzing the dna of every person in existence, we only see what we are looking for and research has only just opened up past our cultural biases towards gender!

We know from studies of the brain that a lot of gendered assumptions (women are good at sorting colors because they were gatherers, etc) are not well-defined AT ALL. A lot of it may be learned during development. There are some stereotyped trends, but they're just small percentage trends such that its impossible to look at a brain and 100% say "yup thats male!", only at the most "well, statistically, its Slightly More Likely male" and still be very wrong. Exceptions are the NORM.

(And that whole evolutionary psychology thing of "women are better at colors because gatherers?"...based on what ancestors?!?!?!?!? Different groups of ancient people had different gender norms!!! There wasn't just one big caveman family for the entire paleolithic!!!! There are SO MANY recorded remains of what are most likely female hunters!!!!! Why would they not take advantage of having MORE HUNTERS during a hunting season?!?!!)

"Its simple biology" is quite possibly the most ignorant statement one can make, its a paradox. Biology is INHERENTLY complex, varied, and difficult to categorize. If you say it's simple even just for the sake of categorization, you are literally admitting to not knowing SHIT. Ask anyone into taxonomy. Categorizing animals seems easy if youve never actually done it, and meanwhile there are appparently heated debates on river dolphin teeth and whether or not river dolphins with no visible differences except slightly different teeth are different species or not. Birds are reptiles!!! Everything is a fucking fish!!!! Rigid thought based on societal bias is antithetical to science (though it has SURE affected science!)

Its that bias where the less you know about something, the easier you think it is. Someone may think they already know everything about a topic if they never actually researched it because they dont know whats out there. Whereas someone actually knowledgeable in that field KNOWS that its complicated and feels LESS like they know everything about it. Cis people who have never thought deeply about gender THINK it is simple because they lack any experience. They THINK its the same as they believed in preschool because they never challenged it - when everything else you learn in grade school is obviously simplified!!!

Its so blatantly apparent how little transphobes want to actually consider facts. Its all "just ask a biologist" until real biologists tell them its complex, then its "science is woke". They'll talk about gender all day and yet mock anyone actually studying it. It's all about rigid definitions, until someone tells them the literal definition of gender makes it seperate from sex. They pretend to care so much about the literal definitions of words and what you can and can't call something due to biology...but still call a seastar a "starFISH".

The WORLD is amorphous! Words are merely tools! Biology hates rigid categorization! EXCEPTIONS ARE THE NORM! live your damn life!

[basicallyaturtle]

just learned about and subsequently read the Murtagh book from the world of the inheritance cycle that apparently came out last year and aughaugh

I have no coherent thoughts on it but it is absolutely TUMBLING in my head like it's stuck in the washing machine. mmmmmm just positively getting microwaved by my brain waves

Have I got any eragon mutuals? this shit fucks so hardd

[beneathsilverstars]

3 and 11 for the ISAT ask game

3- favorite soundtrack?

"It's Finally Over..."! It's 100% the track that stuck out to me the most while playing. That little bit of uncanniness... I can't tell if it's actually a teensy bit out-of-tune in that music box way or just using unexpected note combos or what, but it's obvious that something is ever-so-slightly off.

I almost chose "Isn't It Over?" but no — It's true that "It's Finally Over" wouldn't be what it is if it wasn't building up to the subsequent track, but it's specifically the build-up that I love. The absolute dread of knowing exactly what comes next and that there is nothing you can do to avoid it. You've already spoken to each companion, and again for the this-npc-is-out-of-dialogue line, and again for good measure. You've already sat on the bench, looked out the window. You've already desperately checked the exit one last time. You're just standing there listening to that horribly sweet little song and you just want it to be over already but you don't want to end it. you don't want to end it. you don't want to end it. but that's the only thing left that you can do.

It is such a well-done part of the game and the music is so perfect and makes it all the more powerful! Plus I just love pluck-y instruments like music boxes and harps haha.

11- any character headcanons?

Hmm... I headcanon that Pétronille is bipolar with psychotic symptoms! The other day I joked that I could knock out two post-canon birds with one stone by making Nille a licensed psychotherapist, but it was definitely a joke. Buut... if she's got some kinda shit going on, then she can still bring another perspective on mental health to the post-canon table, which is so useful, esp if it's a very different experience from Mirabelle's. I still haven't decided exactly what I want to give Siffrin, but definitely something with an element of psychosis, so with this Nille hc there will be someone in the party who gets the psychotic side, along with Mirabelle who gets the social anxiety.

Since Nille's nearly a blank slate, I went with bipolar because it's something I'm more familiar with (though I don't have it myself, I'm just a depressanxiety bitch). Being able to clearly picture the things she'd struggle with made her suddenly feel like a full-fledged character in my mind that I could have opinions on and make plans for! I'm particularly invested in the dynamic of her being a solo caretaker and having to get up each morning and keep being a stable presence for her sibling no matter how unstable she's feeling herself. It's fucking hard, but she had help, and you don't have to be perfect to do well enough, and she did quite well enough in the end!

I haven't decided my exact headcanons here yet, but since mood disorders can be hereditary, there's also a chance that a family history of mental health struggles contributed to the toxic household she ran away from. Breaking the cycle or whatever! I imagine she might get psychotically fixated on not fucking up the way her parents fucked up, worried that running away wasn't enough and the rot will follow their family forever. 😔 And then there's also a chance that Bonnie would have inherited it as well, and I love the idea of Bonnie growing up familiar with all of this mental health shit and by the time their own disorder starts manifesting they know exactly what it is and a variety of techniques for managing it. It's still difficult, but they have a much easier time than Nille did, and everyone is so fucking grateful that they're able to be there for Bonnie (and Nille) and help them live their best lives! And it turns out, Nille being mentally ill didn't prevent her from being a good caretaker for Bonnie - it actually made her the best possible caretaker for this child in particular.

[sparklepirate]

Okay so I've put my Inheritance Cycle re-read on pause for a bit because I 1. Had to finish American Gods so I could give my friend his copy back, and 2. Decided to finally tackle To Sleep In A Sea Of Stars because Paolini is touring for Fractal Noise right now, and one of the places he's stopping is in a city only about an hour away from where I live!! So obviously I have to go do that.

But holy shit y'all, this book is good. If you are a fan of Eragon and you have any interest in sci-fi at all, highly recommend. It's very dense sci-fi (which is why I struggled to read it when I first bought it) of the variety that just throws a bunch of new concepts and terms at you until you have enough context to understand them, but if you can wade through that, the story and characters are so good.

We've got Kira, the main lady, who is Going Through It right now. We've got Falconi, crafty ship captain who's really into gardening. We've got Trig, an absolute lad. We've got Sparrow and Hwa-jung, muscle-bound space lesbians. We've got Nielsen, compassionate hard-ass, who I may or may not be imaging as Rhea Seehorn, even though her description doesn't line up. We've got Vishal, overly formal doctor after my own heart. We've got Gregorovich, the eccentric and definitely slightly crazy ship-mind. They have a cat and a pig on the ship, and god damn it if they aren't part of the family. They crew a ship called the Wallfish, an old British slang word for snail. They got in trouble with the space government for illegally selling a planet 777,776 newts and destroying the ecosystem. I'm love them.

Oh also Angela is just there. Like straight up she's just there.

[modern-inheritance]

I’d like to make a confession.

Would you hate me if I told you I have no idea what you are talking about? The whole inheritance thing, I think it’s some sort of book series..?

I once came across your post about FMAB. And came to your blog and for some reason followed you.

And then I just liked the general vibe and your enthusiasm for this inheritance stuff and stuck around..?😅

(Please don’t hunt me down)

My dear, dear Anon. I'm sorry I let this sit for over a week.

I would never hate you. Especially considering you're hanging out here for my off the wall vibes. I wonder what my vibes are like. I'm feeling particularly unhinged lately, I kinda hope it shows. It means a lot that you stuck it out even without knowing what the hell I'm talking about.

ANYWAY. FMAB. Yes. Much love for it. If you can't tell I have a thing for war trauma and angst. *Slaps the series* This baby can fit SO MUCH WAR TRAUMA! And I LOVE IT!

Let's answer your main question though! The Inheritance Cycle is a book series by Christopher Paolini, and is frequently known as 'the Eragon books.' A basic summary of the first book and the series as a whole is that Eragon, a farm boy in a medieval setting, is hunting for his family when a blue rock that kinda looks like a giant tictac explodes into existence in front of him. Takes it home, and eventually a babby dragon is borned and headbutts his hand and he gets magic powers and a mental link to the dragon, who he eventually names Saphira and is a sassy sassy lady. Eragon is, understandably, kinda a helpless dork, and when people who want the stone/egg/tictac come to the village and murder his family he has to go on the run with the local storyteller and Saphira in a harebrained revenge plot that eventually morphs into 'oh shit uh we have to save the entire fucking country, huh?'

There's dwarves, there's elves, there's an evil king with a tortured and warped dragon, there's evil incarnate shades, MOAR dragons, sword fights, family drama (oh man. sooooooo much family drama), wise old men that are grouchy but lovable, POC and female characters in power, an entire magic system that could kinda be based in wordplay that is also influenced by intention, there's eventually political bullshit and romance(ish), there's skimmed over trauma and it was originally written when Paolini was 14 for the first book and it kinda shows but. but. it is good. and I enjoyed it. It raised me. I got a tattoo of my favorite character's tattoo and a word from the magic language.

I kinda grew up with these characters, started reading Inheritance Cycle when I was 8. I first started writing through it around then after absolutely hating writing. But! I had some...issues. With certain things in the books. Specifically how several of the characters have some very...very obvious trauma, mostly with one character in particular but oh man it's a warzone and Eragon is like...15 when he's first dragged into it, it's been going on for a literal century, there are people who were there when it started still around, can we get some PTSD therapy over here? It's brushed over once or twice in a chapter or two, but otherwise we are left to speculate and shrug at how it really did affect them. And I wanted to explore it. So, after many years of trial, error, and false starts and not realizing I had actually, well, made it, I began writing the Modern Inheritance Cycle stories, aka MIC or Modern Inheritance. It's quite a bit different from the source material and to be honestly at this point I'm probably just borrowing character names and loose plotlines, but it's home for me.

Anyway, while the earlier books do indeed show Paolini's age at times, I would honestly recommend picking up the cycle at some point. There's a new TV show in the works, though we never get news about it, and since we're a fairly small fandom we always love new people. At least, we do here. On MIC. Am I a tv show?

I wanna say again that I really appreciate you sticking around. If you ever wanna chat one on one feel free to message me and I can gush about the series, but only if you don't mind spoilers. I mean if you actually read some of my stuff then you might have already spoiled a ton of stuff but hey. I protec the newbies. Thanks for showing interest and again, I would never hate you. This ask made my week I was smiling like a dumbass.

[collegeoflore]

6 + 7 for Xarrai and Ieriyn from the ask meme you reblogged?

hiii anon thank you 💖

6. How easily could your OC be convinced to do something that goes against their moral compass?

xarrai:

idk man astarion works pretty fucking hard to do this and it does not work LOL the thing about xarrai is that they barely have a moral compass at all and so what little they DO have they are incredibly dedicated to. like the only real moral they have to speak of is Tyranny Is Bad - though like, there's wiggle room there (in their opinion). at what point does something become tyranny? how much power is too much? i feel like they're constantly living in that grey area honestly so it may not be as hard to get them to do something against their morals if you kind of treated it like the frog in the boiling water analogy. like what astarion did (offered to share the power of the vampire ascendant with them) would not work because they can go "hm no that sounds like tyranny. hard pass." (tho he was also lying and they knew that) but if someone were to, say, encourage them to take power slowly and carefully by winning people over one by one and systematically ruining their lives to keep them in line, you may be able to get them a few ruined politicians deep before they were like "hey wait a minute...."

i rly need to expand on the weird mind games they've been playing with the elites of the upper city for the last 15 years to make this answer make any amount of sense tbh but that is its own can of worms. essentially for them the line between tyranny and simple control/influence is very thin and always moving and they are always always always right up against it out of some sort of baked in compulsion to seek safety in power whether they use that power or not.

ieriyn:

ieriyn has already crossed that line. killing people at all period was against his moral compass. BUT that wasn't him being convinced so much as him seeing the reality of the situation this whole tadpole business has put him in which i think is kinda different. and see the thing about ieriyn is he's not stupid but he is trusting and the right person probably could convince him of a lot. i'm cooking up some sort of plot wrt to his lifelong mentor manipulating him into. something (undecided what yet) that's going to play into the personal quest i'm giving him (bc i'm unwell and need all my tavs to have their own special personal quests) but that's like the exact thing i'm talking about - ieriyn trusts easy and he trusts deeply and while he does have a strong moral compass he also has a deep need to please the people he cares for that makes critical thinking harder for him sometimes.

7. What's one way your OC has changed since you first came up with them?

xarrai:

well when i made xarrai they were just some dude. they were just a stoner bard who moonlighted as an expensive fssw and that was... it. lol. they didn't give a shit about much of anything (still kind of true, though they have Some Things They Give A Shit About now) and absolutely didn't want to be any sort of leader. and now they're. well. an ex-banite cultist with a shitload of childhood trauma and an abstract sense of self trying to navigate cycles of abuse and trauma AND a stoner bard who moonlights as an expensive fssw.

ieriyn:

i initially planned to multiclass him into a warlock with the idea that he made this pact Very Recently to try to wrest power/inheritance money away from his older siblings but that seemed 1. too power hungry and i already have xarrai and their weird relationship to power and 2. too cool. ieriyn needed to be a little cringe. he needed to be a boyfailure. he was also originally meant to be part of a co-op campaign with my partner for their spawn astarion romance run (they r doing an ascended run rn) but i just didn't think his arc would work as well if he had to share responsibility like that because, again, i wanted him to be kind of a failure esp early game and the tav ramza has planned for their astarion romance is actually competent and i didn't want to bog him down with my sweet sweet fail son.

[cartoonemotion]

after a million years plus an addition million years post the show ending i am finally just now scribbling out my takes and stuff on fethry's immediate family a la how they would fit into dt17 canon

the breakdown in my mind is that all 3 of eider and lulubelle's children are Strange and Ambiguously Disordered (fethry taking the most after his mother) and also to some degree have inherited eider's legendary strength (abner being basically on par with his father and fethry as the baby and the runt of the three being much more close to just having normal person strength, though still a bit surprising for how noodly he is)

more specific points abt the family under the cut bc i dont want the post to be too long @_@

abner

definitely autistic (as 3 and also lulu are) but its like in that. i dont have healthy coping mechanisms to deal with how alienated from ppl i feel so im just gonna fish and carve wood and if anyone enters my space i will burn it down with both of us still inside it. way

that being said abner’s still plenty capable of being a compassionate guy deep down. he cares a lot about his family and takes whatever responsibility u entrust him with extremely seriously

comes off as emotionally stunted bc he doesnt really show affection in the “normal” way, including and especially physical affection and also. saying shit  out loud. he has his own love language its called * noncommittal groan of acceptance as you enter his house *

in my brain i know he should have a job but all i can think about is him fucking off in the woods so he doesnt have to talk with people. maybe one of those people who sit in towers all day to make sure forests dont burn down. i dunno

mary

loves acting and wants to be a professional stage/screen actor so bad but is unfortunately terrible at acting. probably been in like a few commercials or something

very very dramatic, im talking full comedy sketch of a julliard actor levels of melodrama and stage fainting, whether onstage or not. this makes it hard to tell if her reactions to things are genuine or not unless u are her brothers or parents who have been dealing with this forever

since the acting career is not really taking off Yet she has maybe ripped off 1 or 2 or 20 or so people maybe more just to keep the lights on. ironically when shes conning people she can actually act convincingly (my leverage fans out there. you know)

some of you will probably ask about dugan and while i do absolutely love dugan personally in my mind marys not ready nor interested in motherhood. so. maybe some day i will reveal my own dt17 dugan origin concept idk

eider

something of a local folk hero due to both his truly legendary strength and his equally strong inclination to lend his neighbors a hand, or really anyone else who may need a little help for that matter

as exceptionally goofy and loving as you could want any dad to be, though he can also be a bit stern when he needs to be, and a little prideful

in my mind i think it would be very cool if he had moved his family into granny elvira’s farm to give her a hand bc while shes a tough old woman everyone still needs a hand from time to time but i dont know if this contradicts any serious duck lore so forgive me

lulubelle

full loon baby ! none of this “looks like every other member of clan mcduck” shit !!! yes this includes the blood red eyes #epicloonwin

many make the mistake to count her as an absent minded spooky insane woman but this could not be further from the truth. she is very sharp-witted, observant, and is only spooky simply because its pretty near impossible to creep or gross her out, and even harder to full-on scare. and also because she makes long uninterrupted eye contact all the time

fethry definitely inherited a lot from her, but one of the main things they share is the tendency to cycle through all kinds of seemingly unrelated hobbies and interests; but much like fethry’s chief passion seems to be marine biology, lulu greatly enjoys botany and all it’s practical applications, as well as music

[eliza-makepeace]

part 6?

this rant...means so much to me. he's so funny when he's pissed off.

this is the funniest thing he's ever said. every time i remember it it makes me laugh. i can't cope shfsfsjsfj

for the love of everything that is holy, christopher, let murtagh say fuck #3

dshfkjsdfksjfh he's so fucking funny. you sometimes forget he's a teenager, and then he behaves like this.

he's so dramatic, i love him. in sigismund's (the protagonist of Calderón's play "life is a dream") words: "for Man's greatest act on Earth is the fatal act of birth".

the poor thing is terrified. "my only wrongdoing is existing in the first place" if only he knew the absolute thirst trap he is for us lovely tumblrinas....

also! he doesn't want eragon to reject him like he suspects he would if he knew his parentage, and yet he still is about to tell him before he gets interrupted.

what? when? how? why?

he's had to do it so many times for self-preservation that it just doesn't pose any kind of moral dilemma for him.

the torkenbrand issue. it's interesting. this could be interpreted as murtagh being hateful but it's not that at all. he can't allow himself to feel pity towards someone who would/could hurt him. it's either him or them, there's no morality behind it for him. it's interesting that when murtagh does something like this it's seen as something bad by the narrative, but when eragon or roran have to do something of the like in order to like. not die. it's seen as "what has to be done".

paolini saying in the murtagh book announcement video "i don't want to say i gave murtagh short change in the inheritance cycle".... evidente proves otherwise chris. in both time and treatmeant.

this always makes me so sad. he's felt threatened his whole life. he's never been made to feel wanted, he's always been rejected, hated, feared.... unfortunately i'm sure he didn't even feel safe when selena was carrying him. selena must have been terrified for him, and unborn children feel that.

also yeah. torkenbrand being killed was fine. he was a slaver.

saphira is murtagh's defender and i love her for it.

i love u saphira. u know the shit.

she's literally acting like their mother.