#it's not even an art but lets call it that for the sake of non-existent tagging system on my blog

[kotofeden]

I was reading excellent narumitsu fic (not safe for Tumblr, mind you) where Wright calls Edgeworth "buddy" after se×. My friend said something like "well, good thing that he didn't call him pal"

And I said " and then Gumshoe jumps out of the vent and says "HEY HEY, SAYING 'PAL' IS *MY* ENDEARING CHARACTER TRAIT" - he just spawns in their bedroom after being like "O, Mr Edgeworth, sir, didn't notice you here, are you two wrestling or smth?" "Who's winning "

aND THEN, THIS MONSTROSITY COMES TO LIFE

Tbh, he would

[thewebcomicsreview]

Homestuck 2 updated early this month, and we're Yiffy now. It's a Valentine's Day miracle!

Yiffy was one of the most interesting characters in HS2, because literally everyone treated her like shit constantly. Jade's giving her daughter a smooch but also Jade sent her off to a boarding school explicitly because she was embarrassing to acknowledge and also Jade named her child Yiffy Longstocking on a joke and never bothered to change it. In the epilogues, Rose acknowledged that nothing in Candy was "real" and she was joining the rebellion basically for the luls, and one some level Jade and Rose don't think Yiffy is a real three-quarters-human person, and I think they think of her more like an OC in a game they like.

Well, that was my read of HS2, lets see how HSBC handles her.

Oh, this visual is great. Kanaya is so pissed off she's turning into the Ancestor art style in real time. She also kind of looks like Batman, here.

No doubt if your POSSE OF PUBESCENT PUNKS back at school could see you now they'd throw up laughing.

I am suddenly way more interested in Yiffy's gang than I am in half the HS1 cast. What kids join a gang led by a dog girl named Yiffy Longstocking?

Engineering that reprieve might be just about the only real solid your no-show non-mom has ever actually bothered to do for you.

Oh thank christ, there was a part of me worried that Yiffy wouldn't resent her parents for being the second-worst parents in HS2. This is the most interesting thing in the sequels, I think.

TAVVY: ,,, And also, everyone knows you exist now,,, instead of just me,,, TAVVY: And our moms

TAVVY: Wow,,,! YIFFY: TAVVY: You know, i was almost kidnapped,,, once,,, TAVVY: My mom removed the window, after that, TAVVY: Which, um, sucked, TAVVY: Though, i guess you'd know, uh, about that,,,

Oh, interesting. Tavvy knew about Yiffy this whole time? Actually, this and Yiffy's description of him via narration earlier imply they grew up together. I guess that makes sense, since he's Jane's kid and Jade inexplicably put Jane in charge of Yiffy, but he never told Vrissy about her secret sister? That's a bit fucked up, dude. Yiffy's not saying anything (and I hope she doesn't for a long time, until she has something meaningful to say), but her text color is Dave's red, even though she's not related to Dave. Or she is and HSBC is going to retcon HS2's most hated plot point somehow.

Pepis

Look at this ARRANT BEAVIS double fisting those cans of pop

"ARRANT BEAVIS" is a great Homestuckism

The Sylph has been slow boiling, you can tell.

Interesting that Yiffy refers to Kanaya as "The Sylph". I don't know what else she'd call her, I suppose, but Yiffy of all people being the one to mention Classpect is odd.

You've only been around this earth for 15 years, but it's a self-evident fact that there are no useful authorities. Gifted with unimaginable power, their concern only stretches so far as to manhandle those dependent on them, and tangles into ineffectual deadlock the instant it meets a challenge worth addressing. Potential killed for the sake of comfort. True kindness is real, but only for those that bare teeth and break skin. Why should these disingenuous, bystanding, spineless, SELFISH adults get anything they want?

Fuck yes, Yiffy hates all the HS1 characters. I've been hoping for this, she has more beef with them all than even Tavros, and it's a bit of Vriska energy this comic has needed that neither actually Vriska really provides.

Yiffy being the best thing about HS2 was maybe a hot take before, but hopefully it isn't now. She's great.

JADE: and of course you arent obligated to ever forgive me but... i dont want to lose you too! JADE: i love you kanaya JADE: youre my family KANAYA: You Fucked My Wife

This is the best update in the entire comic.

KANAYA: And Though That Travesty Of A Name Is Undoubtedly An Incomprehensibly Offensive Piece Of This Particular Puzzle KANAYA: What I See Is Not An Explanation KANAYA: But A Glossing Over Of The Worst Detail ROSE: Jane.

Yeah, HS2 kind of glossed over Rose/Jade putting TrumpHitler in charge of their literal child. I could copy/paste this whole conversation but basically Kanaya is pointing out that there's like fifty plot holes in Yiffy's backstory and it makes no fucking sense at all and are they going to retcon her to being Jade/Dave's ecto-kid?

ROSE: You've managed to exhume the solemn cadaver of my mother's memory and make her the star of another argument. KANAYA: As If You Ever Bothered To Bury Her ROSE: What does this have to do with anything!? KANAYA: What I Am Doing Is Demonstrating That I Have No Intention To Mediate This Situation KANAYA: Or Pacify It KANAYA: Or Even Be A Little Bit Nice Right Now KANAYA: So Perhaps Youll Actually Take Me Seriously For Once

This is the well-earned sass we've been waiting for since Yiffy's reveal.

ROSE: But more than anything else, I took her up on it because it felt oddly ROSE: inevitable. ROSE: Anyways, ROSE: Deep down, I knew it didn’t matter. ROSE: However we handled it. ROSE: Whatever hurt we caused. ROSE: It was never that serious.

Man, I'm glad that I'm live-blogging and put my read of the situation up as I went because I fucking called it. Yes! I am capable of retaining information when I read instead of staring at the screen slack-jawed.

ROSE: I knew you would forgive me. KANAYA: Rose KANAYA: When Did You Stop Trying JADE: yeah rose!!!!! JADE: what the fuck!!!!

Oh shit, Candy Rose is evil?

JADE: b-but i just dont want things to get even worse!!!!!! KANAYA: Then stop pretending that my feelings are top priority KANAYA: AND TRY BEING HONEST FOR ONCE JADE: WHAT DOES IT EVEN MATTER!!!!!!! KANAYA: Excuse Me? JADE: you heard me! JADE: you were wronged kanaya! JADE: the truth cant change that JADE: saying it just fucking hurts more JADE: what does that accomplish? JADE: its so embarrassing, would you even get it if i had?

JADE: you have no idea what its like out there JADE: how traumatizing dating regular citizens was JADE: imagine trying to love someone who already knows every available detail about you JADE: who has *opinions* on what happened to you as a child JADE: who assumes youre indestructible JADE: newsflash it fucking sucks!!!!!!! because no matter how nice they were JADE: they didnt want to know me JADE: they wanted to date the god of space

I have no notes, this is great and I'm thrilled everyone is mad now.

JADE: so everyone could lecture me again on how "bad" my "boundaries" are? ROSE: (I did that one time.) JADE: you want bad boundaries JADE: do you know how many people would be waiting outside public bathrooms to talk to me about their problems? JADE: this one guy randomly started apologizing because they cooked their hamster in the microwave! JADE: and they looked so sad... i had to hug them and say it was ok JADE: but it was not ok! JADE: they murdered their hamster! Rose: Ugh... JADE: and their other hamster killed itself KANAYA: JADE JADE: out of loneliness!!!!!

What the fuck, this is amazing.

The art here is great, by the way.

JADE: millions of people told me they loved me JADE: but i was never a real person to them JADE: i couldn't let that happen to yiffy too KANAYA: What JADE: i had to save her kanaya! JADE: give her the chance to grow up as a normal kid with a normal life

Jade she's half-dog and she's named Yiffy Fucking Longstocking, that ship has sailed. How are people not going to know she's your child?

Oh, okay. She wears a hat. Sure.

This art is so good!

KANAYA: Even If I Didnt Want Her KANAYA: She Was Already Here

*Makes a note in my "ominous foreshadowing lines journal*

What. Why does Jade have a Frankenstein in her inventory? What's that about?

And that was the update. Honestly? Banger, easily the best HSBC update yet. I could, and if I didn't have DnD in five minutes perhaps would (and perhaps still will!) write a whole essay on this. Phenomenal. A+

[pleasantspark]

My partner literally defends this show a lot and in VC he tries to "dispute it" so here's the full list of issues wrong with this show, you ALL have the fucking excuse as "no creative control", "endgame and slowburn", "You watch spliced up clips.", "It's Hell!"

No Creative Control: ViziePops characters would have IMMEDIATELY been changed COMPLETELY if that were the case.

Endgame and Slowburn: A ship being fucking depicted as going through a crisis every fucking minute and taking over an episode that was meant for two other characters? While also ruining a Parent Child bond? "Endgame" my ass, also lets not forget a character sexually harassed another character and was not depicted as calling that character out, "Couple Goals" my ass too. Slowburn is non-existent in this world.

You watched spliced up clips: HONEY the only clips I watch are those that ACTUALLY are relevant to my fucking point, Are we even watching the same damn thing? Also edits are beyond that.

It's Hell: Ah yes, so it's hell, no it's fucking downtown Los Angelos thats DISGUISED as Hell, Hell would be more "chaotic" and more "consequencal" most of the demons there are LIVING IT UP, and continiuing their lives much as they were alive. There's nothing different from when they are alive. It seems like Hell is LITERALLY Heaven. The only consequence is that demons seemed to get harassed or at the minimal killed, so next time I stab someone in Jail, I can go and say "IT'S JAIL!"

I feel as though people who compare ViziePops Harassment to Rebecca Sugar's harassment is completely stupid af.

Rebecca was harassed because someone decided to make a 1 hour long video trashing her show and indirectly called her a neo-nazi which caused other people to parrot the accusations as well, Rebecca was harassed by her fans just for standing up for a fan who was getting sent death threats over a FUCKING art style.

Afaik, Viv's harassments is just criticism of how she handled the pilot actors (And apparently Cherri Bomb's pilot VA had lost her Husband due to a medical ailment and she was trying to raise money to help fund the expenses that were left behind and fucking Viv said, Nuh uh, and shut that shit down. KNOWING PEOPLE PAID FOR THAT SHIT, I mean can Viv LEGALLY take down VA who impersonate her characters? Sure it's her IP but it doesn't mean that the VA for the original CB is her.), how she drew something I am not about to get into because quite frankly it's not my business (And I mean MOST of the creators, Rebecca included, had drawn some fucked up shit in the past.). She also apparently mistreats her workers. And afaik Sugar never did any of that.

You can scream "Oh but Viv has a LOT of struggles and [Rebecca Sugar] is just like her!!" all you want, but THERE'S nothing similar to her and Rebecca and the only thing similar is they make tv shows with diversity and are both females.

Don't get me wrong, I love HelluvaHazbin but people needlessly finding excuses for poorly written shows and bad pacing/decisions while also holding Viv on a pedestal infuriates me, and the worse part is, allegedly she never received criticism in her college years.

I ain't gonna sugar coat it, the LGBTQ+ Rep in this show is completely for the fujoshi and as a Trans Male whose Gay, I am HIGHLY disturbed about how most of the Gay characters are depicted as "Uwu Soft boys who could do no wrong"

Like for FUCKS sake, we're NORMAL PEOPLE, we don't get treated any differently by a standard hetrosexual, the only time we get treated differently is by angry Facebook Prudes and edgy fuckers who think being scared of homes is the new norm.

I am surprised most of the fandom (On tumblr) don't call out the problematic shit, when THE LGBTQ+ is prominent here! The more you continue to agree and like these "rep ships" the more you're giving these people the okay to continue to drive the show WHICH WAS BASED OFF OF "Assassinations" now turned into "Arguements between a same sex couple that has one victim and one gaslighter"

A little tidbit for those who stand with Stolas.

An Abuse Victim can be a Abuser.

It's not that difficult. Jfc. Anyways, this is my reason why I made Biblically Inaccurate to begin with.

[thetwilightroadtonightfall]

I need to know what the hell is up with Ephy’s family and their societies so bad, it’s killing me

I’m gonna ramble on a whim because I need copium [SPOILERS BELOW]

A main family and a branch family implies that Eph had at least 2 children, who of course went on to have their own children, and so on and so forth. Which of his descendants created their own societies? His kids? His grandkids? Further down the line? All of them? And why?

The quote “societies that sprawl and branch like veins”, these screenshots, and Remus’ dialogue in the beta confirm that there are several societies: The major ones (we don’t know how many, my guess is 7), presumably a bunch of sub-societies under those major ones, and possibly some more that exist outside of the major ones. The npc dialogue above even implies that there are levels of prestige (and pay), maybe even an established hierarchy present amongst the societies.

From what’s been shown in the beta, the societies have been fully integrated into Scala’s culture, with normal citizens (non-Keyblade wielders most likely) being aware of them, and relying on their prowess to basically run the town. Remus says that the societies are run by Operation Masters, who may or may not all be Eph’s descendants. But for simplicity’s sake, I assume they are.

Like.…geez, this is a lot to take in already, isn’t it? Would Ephemera have even wanted this? For his descendants to all have a set path in running this world as a dynasty. It makes me wonder if it was his idea, or an idea that was formed somewhere down the line

There are a lot of big questions to be asked here. I’ve mostly just been parsing through the stuff we know so far, but something I can give a lil guessy on with the limited info we have are the names of the other societies

Since the society we join is called the Baroque society, and I’m assuming that it’s one of the major societies I’m thinking maybe the other major societies are also named after other periods/movements in art history, like Gothic, Rococo…if that’s the case, it’s possible that there might be some kind of correlation between what each movement represents, the heads of the societies (Eph’s descendants), and the members/characters that are in those societies (like Remus and whoever else we meet later). I wouldn’t put it past the kh team to come up with something clever like that

It’s incredibly hard to make any real claims without too much concrete information…..I need to know more. LET ME IN! LET ME IINNNNN!!!

[e-s-willswriting]

So, You've Seen a Bad Play: An Essay

Yesterday I went to see a show.

It was a student production my friend was involved in. I’ve seen student productions in the past and overall, I have been very impressed with them. They’re a showcase for budding talent and intriguing ideas, even if aspects need to be refined. I can’t say any of the shows I’ve seen are bad (all that comes to mind was a production of Measure for Measure, but it was simply that I hadn’t studied the text itself. The production was great and had intriguing fight choreography).

Part of me felt I would do an actual review of the thing, but for the sake of privacy for those involved, I felt I’d rather not. But I still wanted to discuss it, nonetheless.

It was a small-scale production by someone who was not from an Arts and Humanities background, but a medical sciences background. I really respect when artists incorporate their studies and careers, even those unrelated to creative fields, into their work. In my student workshops I’d read one text about a pilot written by someone who was a trainee pilot, and another time I’d read a book that, even if I didn’t like the text, I loved the details that came from the writer being an archivist and imbuing that into the text. It adds a real richness to those aspects that can only be gained from hands on experience, and I love that. I feared that the work I was going to see might be too technical, that aspects may go over my head, but I hoped to go in and appreciate it even if I didn’t fully get it.

I didn’t get it.

But not for those reasons.

Let me set the scene. I’m sat in the back row on pretty standard fold-up chairs with limited visibility due to those in the front two rows, sipping a complimentary cider that came with the ticket I paid for (much needed). Tiny studio room. The writer gets up, only gives an epilepsy warning and promptly sits back down. I make a mental note of how unceremonious of a welcome that is, if you could call it one, but pass it off. Play begins.

In short, the next hour was an incredibly poorly written production. Character arcs were non-existent, things would be introduced then promptly dropped, they wanted to deal with too many environmental and political messages for an hour runtime and all of them fell flat, scenes were poorly established, and the messaging felt non-existent.

But it’s not like I can’t praise aspects of the show. The actors hard carried the production despite the abysmal script they had to work with. If I saw them in another production, I’m sure they could absolutely kill it. And there were interesting things that could have worked if fully incorporated. There was a musical accompaniment for one (1) scene that was very well done and pleasant to listen to and then she just sat in the corner quietly for the rest of the show not to be used again (like multiple aspects of the script, established and ditched). There was a cool little red beep under one of the characters’ tops to act as their heart. They really tried to do things with what little they had.

As a creative, it feels weird to be a critic. Especially one to a student production. I'm always having to clarify that I understand that making stuff is hard because I do it too. Perhaps I'm only harsh because I'm affirming to myself what I want to see out of my own works. I see a thing, I think ‘this could have been better’. and I think about how I'd apply those lessons to my works. It only comes from a deep love for the medium that my critiques are harsh. I’ll always look for good, even in things I don’t like (even if it’s just ‘I think the concept is cool’) because there’s very few things that are wholly bad. Hell, some terrible things can at least be entertaining, which I don’t deny this production was (if not for the reasons it intended). I am a firm believer that one of the worst things a story can be is boring.

I’m particularly harsh on this production because I sincerely believe it was AI-generated.

What doesn’t help is the show all but confirmed it, with an almost 5 minute long in-universe advert for a hospital. Multiple AI voices (man 1 to woman 2) saying effectively the same thing. All it served was to establish setting.

Here’s roughly how I would have done it, in about 30 seconds:

A man walks out in a white coat. He puts on blue gloves and a face mask, and hurriedly walks off stage as CHARACTER A walks on, nervously pacing the hall of the hospital.

There. Done.

Could my friend have told me it was AI-generated?  Sure. Thing is, they didn’t know for certain, only that they were paid to work in it (thank God) but thus under contractual obligation to finish the production for pay (they’re a uni student, any money’s good!) And by the time they’d told us to get tickets, they’d come to realize just how bad it would be, and it was too late at that point (student productions can be under tight time constraints).

Thing is, I believe one of the core issues of AI is consent, or lack thereof. I believe that as a consumer, I should have had the right to know what content was involved in this production, and it was up to the production itself to disclose that. Just as people deserve to know any potential content warnings and epilepsy warnings for a show and to make the educated choice to engage with that material as a consumer, I think they also deserve to know if a production uses (or is entirely made with) AI.

Sure it's not going to harm them if they're seeing it, but don't they deserve to know? Because what if next door, there's a small self-produced play written by humans that could change their lives and speak to their souls? Don't they deserve to know that it was made by a person, honestly produced by them?

Little on the webpage communicated that it was AI generated, and the text only appears as such now after I’ve seen the play. If I had known the play used AI, and seemingly was entirely written in it, I would have not paid to see this show. Simple as. I want to support shows written by people.

But now I must grapple with the fact that I paid money to see something made with a tool I have extreme ethical complaints against as an artist and consumer. I have seen one 15-minute play (Caryl Churchill’s What If If Only, a quarter of the runtime) and a free production by Mamoru Iriguchi (What You See/What You Don’t See) and I would much rather have paid the ticket price for those shows which I absolutely loved, than to have seen this seemingly AI production once.

And I think that’s why I wanted to write this blogpost. To remind people that as consumers, we deserve to know if a production uses AI machine learning software. We deserve informed choices. AI probably won't leave anytime soon and might significantly help certain sectors, but right now it’s a wild west and often not used for these purposes to sincerely help people and provide accurate information. And there are those that assume that it democratizes the writing process. On the surface, yes. My mum could put in a prompt and get a script. But the love of labour? No. Not now, not ever. AI devalues artistic processes, and it's insulting to a medium that's withstood all of human history to effectively be told that a robot can recreate it.

But no, it can't replicate heart. It can't replicate real human experience.

In a strange way, seeing this production is somewhat affirming. I struggle with writing. Sometimes it’s just the act of getting up to write after a long day or a late night. Other days it’s harder stages (editing for example). At some points it’s having the ideas and having little way to communicate them. At times it’s just the isolation of it all and the compulsion to just scroll through my phone- I’ve written best when I’m working with others at times, even if those people aren’t writers!

Writing for me has been a struggle, and it’s a struggle I’m still overcoming. I’m still discovering who I am as a writer, what works for me, what stuff I want to produce. And there’s those times when I manage a good session, or an idea burns in me like fuel, or I make people’s eyes light up with the stuff I’m producing. That’s when I know the reasons I struggle. It’s because I can’t suppress the urge to make stuff, and I don’t want to live a life I’d regret in not at least trying to make cool things.

I’ll probably make bad things. First drafts and such that aren’t good. I’ve made bad things in the past, absolutely!

But I chose that struggle.

And if this play can exist and be produced, then the only thing really holding me back is myself. Seeing things like this galvanizes me to push on and make the things I care about.

And I will them with my own hands.

[ancientbygone]

intro post

Copper, 19 years old, it/its pronouns (he/him acceptable; no they/them). made this side blog as a contained space for my own Sleep Token art and ramblings and such first and foremost, as well as others' Sleep Token posts i like.

if you want to support me, consider donating or purchasing from the store: https://ko-fi.com/copper_sands

DNI:

the basics (racist/queerphobic/etc), including zionists

unmasking the band members

RPF supporters/creators

if you romanticize/glorify incest, zoophilia, sexual depictions of children, etc. (fictional or not, either way it's block on sight)

if you use, support, or in any way condone any use of generative AI (images, music, text, anything at all)

strictly/mostly NSFW blogs (if it's just occasional NSFW content that's chill)

taglist & more info under the cut:

notes:

DO NOT REPOST MY ART. if you wanna use it for non-commercial means, ask for permission & if allowed, credit me when used. if you wanna use it for commercial means, fuck right off.

my native language isn't english. if i fuck it up i fuck it up.

i do not ship the band members themselves or their stage personas and i find it uncomfortable in general (for myself). i know i listed RPF in my dni but i feel the need to elaborate that for the sake of personal taste, it applies to their stage presence, too.

adding onto the previous point, whenever i talk about the vessels in terms of lore/adjacent, i am talking about them as characters. always. this blog is not for speculating on their private lives, and if you do so, you will be blocked.

i'd prefer not to discuss any of the sexual connotations in the lyrics for my own comfort. i know they exist, i just prefer not to think about them for my own interpretations.

i would appreciate people not leaving NSFW comments on my art, especially the more emotionally heavy stuff, thank you very much! if you really Have to say something, please do it in a separate post or just in a place where i'm unlikely to see it.

even if i might tag my writing as "theories", they aren't necessarily intended as such. if anything, i'm telling a story of my own based on the lyrics. if you try to claim there is one correct interpretation and it's yours, you're getting blocked.

adding onto the previous point (x2), a lot of the time i interpret the lyrics in tandem with my personal life experiences. it will absolutely get a little too real here. if the subject matter is too heavy, it will be tagged with #[subject] and #[subject] tw.

let me know if you want/need me to tag anything specific! either in an ask or in my DMs. don't hesitate to reach out about that :]

in addition to everything, i will be posting about my Sleep Token D&D AU, which is as simple as it sounds and also not at all. it's also very removed from my "main canon" or most of the band IRL, so it's really just me (& @mapleborealis !) fucking around. also, unlike the "main canon", they are a polycule and all kiss with tongue /hj

blog tags (WIP):

organization:

#bygone art - my own art

#bygone talks - my ramblings & the more disconnected bits of writing/theorizing

#bygone writes - the more coherent writing/theorizing

#bygone lore - everything related to my version of the lore of Sleep Token, be it art, writing, or anything else

#bygone silly - my memes

#bygone shows - any post of mine related to a personal Sleep Token ritual experience (pics, rambling, etc)

#bygone footage - images/videos/etc of the band, mine or not (credited as much as possible)

#bygone beloved - posts i particularly like and want to archive, mine or otherwise

#bygone off topic - things vaguely related to sleep token or not related at all

#others' [___] - a post of any variety listed above, just made by someone else

d&d au:

#sleep token dnd and #dnd au - general au tags

#dnd au vessel/ii/iii/iv/etc. - character-specific d&d au posts

little clarifying moments:

#espera - tag for vesselettes (hopefully no maskless posts; won't call them vesselettes either)

#sleep token him - separate tag for whatever Vessel and Sleep were pre-Sundowning. you can glimpse more on that in my posts about it.

#sparrowverse (thank you @fivewholeminutes for the name) - everything related to the lore of a timeline alternate to my main lore in which each vessel of Sleep has to kill the one before them to assume their place. outlined in my fanfic "kill the sparrow". there isn't much to it right now but there might be more trust

[nudiscoturkey]

My personal project: Nullite Chronicles

Alright. Where do I start with this. Those who have known me for a while - long before I made a tumblr account - know that I've been working on a novel series on and off for several years. However, it's better to think of it as just a story that's primarily told in novel format for the sake of convenience.

For those not in the know, however, here's some essential information on the state of the project:

The general concept has been a thing since 2013, and while much of it has changed since then, there are still some core aspects that have remained.

The reason why the ideas changed drastically over time is because I have been, and still am, guilty of letting ideas stew in my head and never really write them down in tangible form. Even now, I procrastinate on writing a ton and so there's plenty of things at risk of growing beyond their intended purpose.

Regardless, the first entry of the series took me about 2.5 years to complete (on and off, as usual). Long ago, I wrote nearly 3/4 of an entire novel that had a vastly different story before abandoning it. Long before that, I tried making a graphic novel of that same story before realizing how time-consuming the process would be.

As expected for a story written in first-person and has existed (to me) for over 10 years, it has a lot of personal meaning to me, though I will admit that there are some aspects that are undoubtedly personal yet I don't fully understand how. Perhaps the process of continuing the story will help me find out.

Now on to the concrete details. What is this story actually about and where can one even read about it?

As you have read, the series is called Nullite Chronicles. Still a working title, but it's what I've got for now. A sci-fi/fantasy series that, in very short summary, is about a goddess that decides to fuck around and give a few modern day humans reality-bending powers to see what happens, just because. The story follows these humans and the things that happen because of them.

The first entry was titled Crisis Inheriting. It should be important to note that this story begins from the perspective of some (relatively) ordinary humans and builds off from there. The story begins when a mad scientist passes away, allowing his inventions and research to be stolen. His son organizes a team to reclaim the stolen items.

The second entry, currently in progress, is titled Chaos Two Fold, following two of the aforementioned empowered humans right after the events of Crisis Inheriting.

To see archived art I've made related to the series, check out the deviantart gallery here. I may or may not update it in the future, it's there for the sake of archiving older art.

To read Crisis Inheriting, well... it's just a pdf on Google Drive. I really don't know of a better place to host non-fanfic writing right now, so it will do.

Chaos Two Fold can be found here, I simply update the file each time I release a chapter. I'll also try to announce new content here so you'll see this link again

Honestly, the real reason I made this post was because I've recently finished some art related to the story but I'd much rather give context to everyone before I start launching my art into the void. It's been many months since I last worked on the actual writing, so only time will tell if I'll pick it back up again. Besides, I'm sure many artists know the pain of drawing their beloved OCs so much yet not having enough motivation to expand on their lore :) you know it's serious when i actually write with proper capitalization and punctuation lol

[lazy-dog24601]

It doesn't fucking work, the VN plug-in for Homestuck^2: Beyond Canon doesn't work at all. All the little icons are still greyed out despite them being things that have been released. For the record. This is on chrome. The date is 9/15/2024. I've done what it's said at the bottom and it still doesn't work.

Here's hoping page 667 is a wet t-shirt contest. If this "Beyond Canon" team really is the shaft and sack they describe themselves to be then they'll start adding a bunch of on-screen graphic sexual content. It's literally the only way they could make up for this VN blunder.

Look, we're all adults here. This ain't a story about teenagers anymore, these are grown-ass adults that fuck, piss on each other, hold wet t-shirt contests, and get divorced.

Forget about Davekat or Teriska or June Egbert- where the FUCK is the Jade Harley golden shower? Freaking cowards. THIS is what it means to exist for the sake of existing. The horror of being a sequel? Of begin in a story that doesn't need to exist? Of being the sad continuation of a happily ever after? Of being non-canon? Of being a story that exists because your fans kept bugging you to write more of the story you ended?

It's all piss, baby. Calliope, the ugly green flesh skeleton lesboy, said that. Yeah, they call people baby. They know what the fuck is up. They've given Roxy a golden shower. You wanna know why? Well, first off, it's because they're two consenting legal adults. But the second and more important answer is that. Because that's how reality works, bitch. Yeah, I just called you a bitch. The person reading this.

That's what this all is. Homestuck 2. Beyond Canon. The Epilogues. This is the heavy shit of reality breaking through the constipated asshole that is Homestuck, the first. Hussie was one-upping God itself by taking the laxatives know as truth and shitting out the reality bomb known as "everything after homestuck." It was so fucking real and truthful that Hussie completely abandoned Homestuck^2, along with the first team of writers and artists and script writers and story boarders and producers and story consultants and assistant writers. What a bunch of pogchamps, my next shit is dedicated to you legends for creating such a massive piece of shit.

But, you might be wondering, what about Hussie's clown VN- Psycholonials? That came after Homestuck. And my answer is. I don't know, bitch. Oh yeah, that's still a thing. You being a bitch. It wasn't a thing that stopped being a thing. You're still a bitch.

Psycholonials is something I haven't read. And will probably never read. Because clowns are lame. Clowns are for people too scared and too horny to use blackface, although everyone knows Hussie doesn't have a sexual bone in her body, because why else did Hussie not draw John Egbert's soaking wet vagina during any point of her active involvement in the Homestuck franchise.

Hussie saw Joker, that conservative movie that made fun of disabled people, the one that was made by a billion-dollar company, and was like, oh shit I wanna do that. I don't even care if that doesn't line up properly on the timeline. Clowns are lame and I refuse to read her VN. It's not about truth or reality or piss, I just don't want to read Hussie's clown VN because I genuinely never want to give them the light of day. They've had their dream- I'll let them wake up and enjoy what they have left.

I don't care for Hussie. If that comes off as disrespectful, or immoral, or something along the lines of "that's not how you treat people, that's not how you treat people that write stories you don't like, you're being really mean" then fuck you I don't like Andrew Hussie. I also don't like Kinoko Nasu, so keep that in mind. I refuse to read F/GO or the Tsukihime remake because the art is really fucking bad in both and I hate the whole "secret organization" crap that's in F/GO that leaks in Tsukihime remake.

I hate secret government organizations. Stupid fucking blood libel anti-semitic New World Order Illuminati bullshit, the entire concept. Like, fuck you Kinoko Nasu for writing a story about a giant underground organization that fights aliens and magic monsters and keeps it hidden from the rest of the world, you're literally writing nazi fanfic. Fuck you Nasu, you anti-semitic piece of shit.

I also don't like that fucker who made the Nier games. Yoko Taro. I hate all the Nier games. I refuse to play his shitty, "insightful" and "deconstructive" games. They're all edgy garbage. Not my flavor at all.

I'm also not a big fan of that Uro-butcher guy. Gen Urobuchi. Fate/zero is alright but Madoka Magica is pure fucking garbage, based solely on what all the Madoka Magica fans say about the show. The only reason I don't despise him like the rest is that he worked on Thunderbolt Fantasy, which is peak from what I've heard. Genuine peak, unlike Madoka Magica or Nier.

TL:DR- Homestuck^2: Beyond Canon Vriska VN isn't working.

[defiantscribe]

Trouble with Getting in a Routine

Well, I find myself needing some kind of outlet as I just don't know how to honestly express myself in any other format other than rambling to a notepad via keyboard.

So here goes.

I've been struggling with my job lately. Nothing in particular is wrong with it, I just hate it. I don't like having to be at someone's beck and call and deal with dumb shit in order to live. I've always been a whiner about my need to have a job. I've never liked having a job, I would really rather not have a job. If I could have a large sum of money that I was in charge of just trying to organize/maintain a comfortable existence, that would be the best course for me. I just do not like having to fit into this mold of being a worker.

Never have, never will. I feel almost like an artist with no art. That when I want to create or contribute, I will, otherwise, let me brood until that time comes.

Granted, a lot of how I operate, function and perform in life would need to drastically change for that kind of thing to improve or even happen, but it's ideally what I want. I just hate having to be somewhere at a particular time to do things just to have the comfort of living well. It's a balls mentality. Not that it's not necessary, mind you, I just don't like the idea of it.

Worst part about it is that I'm good at what I do, but I just don't like doing it. I don't wanna deal with people all day long. I would much rather have a job where I'm in charge of doing stuff off hours, non-customer related that I could just plug in my headphones and knock the fuck out and move onto the next thing at my own pace. I don't like being on phones, I don't like talking with people, I don't like any of it.

I am just so tired of feeling like I'm having to take on someone else's problems.

I've done that for a long time, I'm tired of doing it.

Whine over, back to work.

Still working, but felt like typing more since I was going somewhere with this, but didn't. I believe I've fallen into a bad pattern of internet usage and viewing. I enjoy the things I watch and the content I consume, but I honestly feel that it's started to take control of my brain and I need to stop the pattern of misuse/abuse to get my brain back in order.

I find myself watching twitch streamers most of the day, consuming the lives of young people with massive amounts of "brain rot" and finding myself unable to turn away. I'm currently watching a collaboration between users right now as I type this. I had to turn the audio off so I could concentrate long enough to type this out because it's like being in an elevator with drunk sorority girls chattering their asses off the entire ride to the top of the Empire State building.

And then at night I find myself caught in an infinity scroll of doom in Youtube shorts. It's quick little hits of dopamine like this that cause me to not fall asleep at a decent time. I find myself taking naps at weird times, sleeping through alarms and having a general sense of discord towards the things that should matter in my own life for the sake of consuming content from others.

And this is problematic.

I don't feel good while consuming it, I find myself chainsmoking while just scrolling and trying to think of ways I could be in this workspace and how to break into shit like this.

Honestly…. I want to sorta be in this space, but the other side is I would REALLY rather not. I just need to get my own personal health in check. I'm not taking meds or doing treatments like I should be and the only person to blame is myself, yet I'm not changing what I'm doing to make this work. I need to get my diabetes in check, I need to stop smoking, I need to fix my fucking body, but I keep finding ways of avoiding it and then complaining about how much I hurt or how frustrated or defeated I am by it. I'm my own worst enemy and I need to stop.

So, I plan on just start cutting my "leisure internet" consumption back severely in an attempt of finding other ways of occupying my time and focusing on making better choices or getting those things I've constantly been putting off taken care of.

Here's hoping cause if this doesn't work, I really don't know what I'm going to do moving forward, if I can even move forward.

[astr0wl]

#𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝟎𝐰𝐥  indie / highly selective / private / crossover friendly / 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐒 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐑𝐒 𝐆𝐎𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐀 of v*vziepop’s ( unaffiliated ) helluva boss. as understood, written, and immensely loved by 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐄 ( they/them, she/her, 25+, gmt+1 ).

blog graphics by: hyruleshop

*blog is still partially under construction

PLEASE read guidelines BEFORE interacting with this blog! This blog is 21+ and NOT minor friendly; dark themes will be present on occasion, so if you are under the age of 21 and/or are uncomfortable with dark content, do not view and/or interact with this blog AT ALL.

PERSONALS WILL BE BLOCKED ON SIGHT.

activity; This blog is set to medium to low activity due to real life responsibilities. I will get to things I owe ( threads, asks, DM replies, etc. ) when I have the time and motivation to do so.

GENERAL ETIQUETTE. Understand that the mun is not the muse and vice versa, don’t godmod, no meta play, don’t steal my content ( headcanons, descriptions, edits/art, etc. - this includes taking inspiration of any kind from my blog without my permission ), don’t nag on me for replies, don’t force ships on me, don't use my blog SOLELY as a resource blog for musings/aesthetics/etc. without showing any interest in interacting with me, understand that fiction does not necessarily always reflect reality, and don’t bring any kind of drama onto my dash.

FOLLOWING. This blog is highly selective. That means I'm mutuals only, and I will only follow blogs that I see myself interacting with that also follows me back. It's very unlikely that I will follow muses from fandoms I'm unfamiliar with. I ask that personals refrain from interacting with my blog unless you wish to send me or my muse anons ( this feature is a privilege, don’t misuse it ). When it comes to OCs, I will be incredibly picky, and I tend to take a distance from those that claim to be related to my muse in any way, self-inserts, and those that are basically copies of an already existing canon character within my muse's universe. I'm 100% duplicate friendly, annnnnd for the sake of my own comfort since I'm 25+, I won't be following any muns that are under the age of 21.

WRITING. English isn’t my first language, so grammatical mistakes are bound to happen now and then. Open starters, starter calls, prompts, etc. are limited to mutuals only. I highly encourage the continuation of answered prompts! If you wish to continue from an ask, please tag me in a new post. I write various types of formats such as one-liners, novella, crack, and shorter paras. I let my muse take the wheel, so sometimes I will only respond to asks and threads that my muse allows me to respond to, and there's little I can do about it.

I have an incredibly difficult time figuring out plots on the spot, so if you wish to plot with me I would appreciate if you would have something in mind before approaching me. All I ask is that you have at least a small idea of a concept of something you want to do without being too vague ( i.e "I want to write something dark" ), propose it to me, and we can take it from there.

I reserve the right to not respond to any asks, starters, threads - or publish starters from my own starter calls if inspiration doesn’t come to me.

UNFOLLOWING/BLOCKING. I will unfollow blogs for various reasons. Most of which are related to blogs going inactive without any notice, blogs that haven’t shown any interest/initiated interactions, and blogs that engage in drama of any kind far too much.

I will also soft-block non-mutuals that follows me that I don't see myself interacting with. This is nothing personal against you at all - it's just that I prefer to only have my mutuals follow me. Besides, even if I happen to feel like I can't see myself interacting with the specific blog you followed me from, it still doesn't mean that I won't follow you back if you follow me from another blog of yours that I do see myself interacting with.

As for blocking, I don't use the block button lightly as I prefer to blacklist the urls of blogs I don't wish to see. However, there may still come times when I have the need to use it. When this happens, the reasons may include ( but is not limited to): you're a personal blog interacting with mine in any way, you're continuously using 'passive' methods to 'remind me' about our thread such as liking and re-liking it over and over, over excessive vague-posting, and blogs that continues to re-follow me to get my attention ( especially if I've already softblocked you more than two times ). If something else comes up, I may still use the block button however I see fit.

SHIPPING. My main rule of thumb when it comes to shipping is that I require chemistry between our muses, both canons and OCs. Not only that, but I also don't randomly jump into casual ships with just about anybody either. While chemistry between muses is very important, the chemistry between myself and the other mun is even more so. I'm the most comfortable when I ship with friends, and new people I've come to click with via muse interactions.

I usually put my entire heart and soul into my ships and expect them to last for the long-term. What I mean by this is basically that I don't ship for the sake of shipping, and I don't really enjoy writing ships with people that have the habit of dropping ships as soon as something new and shiny comes around. I understand that muse, motivation and inspiration will come and go, and sometimes you just simply know when a certain ship has finally sailed, but all I ask for really is dedication and communication.

As a last note on shipping: If you feel like our muses have chemistry and would like to explore a potential ship, then by all means feel free to ask me! But keep in mind that I still reserve the right to decline your offer on ( specifically romantic ) shipping if I for one reason or another don't see our muses going down that road.

TRIGGERS. This blog is 21+ and NOT minor friendly; dark themes will be present on occasion, so if you are under the age of 20 and/or are uncomfortable with dark content, do not view and/or interact with this blog AT ALL. I trigger tag the most common stuff ( tagged as ‘tw // tag’ ), and if there is anything else I need to tag feel free to reach out to me respectfully and I will tag it for you.

Personally, I don’t have anything that triggers me except any images that may trigger my trypophobia ( an aversion to the sight of ANY irregular patterns or clusters of small holes or bumps ) ━ PLEASE tag this, I’m begging you.

NSFW. The muse and the mun are both of legal age, and I’m comfortable with writing plot-related erotica with anyone that is over the age of 21 as long as it’s ( romantically ) ship-related. However, ALL smut-related threads must take place in a private chat ( I prefer discord for this since I hate the tumblr dms ). I’m not comfortable with spreading that stuff out on the dash for everybody to see.

However, themes alluring to anything of a sexual nature but not full-on smut ( such as suggestive themes ) may be published/reblogged on this blog in the form of prompt replies, headcanons and the like.

NSFW/Sexual themes are tagged 'tw // suggestive'

[tchaikovskym]

I think there has been a shift in the last couple of years that makes all non-professional degrees seem useless. You know how it was a running joke that going to uni for art is useless (no offense artists)? Well, now it has spread; you could study biology or history, but at the end of the day you would be asked: what are you going to do with your degree? Why are you wasting time for your education that has no profession at the end waiting for you?

And I find it horribly concerning.

You are considered lucky to join a project that will make a selling product with the help of your knowledge. If you want to keep up you have to jump on latest research trends, rephrase your research in latest buzzword terminology in order to be relevant.

And on one hand, I get it - why should someone waste money on something that is not promised to pay back. Why should there be investments made for a guy who, let's say, wants to study the grasshopper wing width changes in a secluded area in the span of 10 years, if there is a guy who wants to make High Tech Virtual Reality Artificial Intelligence "Being In a Room" Simulator? Truly, the grasshopper guy seems like an idiot for even choosing that topic when compared to the tech guy (even though the tech guy is literally creating the experience to be in a room).

But it shouldn't be like that! Have we really reached a point where new knowledge is useless, and we should just use the existing one to create endless products?

Except the new products I'm talking about are not really new - they are hybrids of sorts, a mesh of things for the sake to call it "innovation". It has to do something unseen yet to get into the market! It has to had the value of something new! (It's usually horrible "improvement"!)

We all now the bitter truth - it is more important to sell something, than to make it convenient for people to use.

And this brings me back to my original point.

Knowledge by itself is extremely useful. No matter what kind, the chances are, that even grasshopper wings can tell us a lot about the overall trends in climate and help us make predictions for the future. I don't think that there exists something that could not be useful in the long run, that could not be connected to another loose thread and gotten to a wonderful conclusion, that could improve our lives. And people with academic education are there to provide this knowledge.

But it doesn't sell.

And it has left me wondering what will happen next. Will there (is there already) less interest in academic subjects by young people than it has been before? Will we see a horrible stagnation of actual new inventions (ironically, due to the mandatory innovation tag required to succeed)? Will this diminish the role of education in our society, leading to more "anti-intellectual" stances? Will that in turn divide our society even more, with the gap being education this time? Will there be a crash in the innovation over-saturated market, and is it the only thing that could stop this?

Maybe I'm wrong.

[taleforquill]

As promised, here's my very belated April 2023 wrap-up. I originally posted this to my Instagram in early May, but I forgot I could post it to Tumblr too 😅.

I read 13 books in April. Quite a lot, but many of them were audiobooks and manga volumes (which I always get through faster).

In April I finally started my Hunger Games reread and I really, really enjoyed it. 13 year old me thought the first book was okay, and the rest sucked. But 13 year old me was also completely incapable of media literacy. 22 year old me thinks the books are mindblowingly good.

During April I also continued the Shatter Me series (which I still do not enjoy), and I decided to read some books I'd been hyping up in my mind. Mainly: The Turn of the Screw and Red, White and Royal Blue.

I'll start with Red, White and Royal Blue.

God... What a disappointment. I was a bit hesitant about it to begin with because it's a mlm story written by a non-man (as far as I'm aware). And while I do think that people can write about whatever they want, I prefer to read own-voices when it comes to queer books.

This book is disgustingly millenial. It centres 2 Gen Z kids who prefer to calls themselves millenials "because the press likes them better that way." Which is such bullshit (avocado toast, anyone?) that my brain can't even comprehend it.

It is also filled to the brim with H*rry P*tter references. This book came out in 2019! R*wling's TERF behaviour was well-known, even then. Millenials really need to let that series go. Get a fucking grip.

The author is projecting their own Millenial thoughts on Gen Z kids and it just doesn't work. It feels wrong. I'm reading about people in their early 20s, who think and act like they're in their mid-thirties.

No fucking self-respecting Gen Z would say "wow, you're definitely a Hufflepuff". Not even ironically. Yet it happens in this book. Multiple times.

They call a dog a Slytherin for fucks sake.

The way Alex interacted with his siblings also gave me the ick. Besides, he had no reason to hate Henry. And the press acted quite unrealistically and was only a problem for the characters when the plot demanded it. I'm also a bit too cynical to believe in a world where a divorced female US president with an interracial family could exist.

So yeah, rant over. But the Turn of the Screw was kind of disappointing too.

I expected to get the Haunting of Bly Manor in book form. And I kind of did? Even the lesbian tension was there. It just wasn't as good as the show. And I still highly prefer the show over this book.

I also finished the Attack On Titan manga, which I've been reading on and off for 10 years. I haven't liked it much since the Marley arc started and I still have very mixed feelings about it. I'll never forget how mindblowing the anime was when I was 13. And how much I enjoyed the first ±90 chapters.

But then it turned kind of meh and everything started dragging on for way too long. And the blatant imperialism and possible fascism and antisemitism came up. And just no.

So yeah, now that I've finished it, I'll let it go. Maybe I'll think about it once or twice but I definitely won't post about it (not in a positive context anyway).

ART: A Thorn amidst Roses by James Sant (1887)

Edit by me.

[wisdomrays]

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS: Are Muslims Guilty of Imperialism?

This charge continues to be leveled against the Muslim world. I would like to counter it by asking the following questions:

Given the existing circumstances of 1,400 years ago, how would any one living in Makka or Madina go about exploiting his own clan and tribe? If the supposedly exploited lands and people were those of the Hijaz, which were poor, unfruitful, and barren, who would have wished to invade or exploit them? It is ludicrous to level the charge of imperialist colonialism against the most noble-minded Muslims, who risked their lives to spread the message of Islam; who spent the greater part of their lives far from their children, families, homes, and native lands fighting armies ten or twenty times their size; and who felt deeply grieved when they did not die on the battlefield and join the earlier martyrs for Islam. We ask ourselves what worldly gain they obtained in return for such struggle, deprivation, and sacrifice!

Those who invaded, occupied, and exploited others with the worst intentions (and results) of imperialism are power-hungry individuals or nations. To mention a few: Alexander the "Great" and Napoleon, the Roman empire and Nazi Germany, the Mongol armies unleashed by Genghis Khan and the colonizing armies unleashed by western Europe, Russian dictatorship (whether czarist or communist) and the American empire (whether "manifest destiny" or "making the world safe for democracy"). Wherever such conquests came and went, they corrupted the morality of the conquerors and the conquered, causing chaos, conflict, tears, bloodshed, and devastation. Today their heirs, like bold thieves who bluff property owners to conceal their theft of that very property, turn to besmirching Islam, its Prophet, and his Companions.

True Muslims have never sought to exploit others. Nor have they let others do so where Muslim government had jurisdiction. At a time when Muslim armies were running from triumph to triumph, Caliph 'Umar said: "What befits me is to live at the level of the poorest Muslims," and he really did so. As he took only a few olives a day for his own sustenance, who was he exploiting?

After one battle, when a Muslim was asked to take the belongings of an enemy soldier whom he had fought and killed, he said: "I did not participate in the battle to take spoils." Pointing to his throat, he continued: "What I seek is an arrow here and to fall as a martyr." (His wish was granted.) While burning with the desire for martyrdom, who was he exploiting?

In another battle, a Muslim soldier fought and killed a leading enemy who had killed many Muslims. The Muslim commander saw him pass by his dead enemy. The commander went to the head of the dead soldier and asked who had killed him. The Muslim did not want to reply, but the commander called him back in the name of God. The Muslim felt himself obliged to do so, but concealed his face with a piece of cloth. The following conversation took place:

-Did you kill him for the sake of God?

-Yes.

-All right. But take this 1,000 dinar piece.

-But I did it for the sake of God!

-What is your name?

-What is my name to you? Perhaps you will tell this to everyone and cause me to lose the reward for this in the afterlife.

How could such people exploit others and establish colonies all over the world? To speak frankly, those who hate Islam and Muslims are blind to the historical truth of how Islam spread.

Let's look at what exploitation and imperialism are. Imperialism or colonization is a system of rule by which a rich and a powerful country controls other countries, their trade and policies, to enrich itself and gain more power at the other's expense. There are many kinds of exploitation. In today's world, they may take the following forms:

• Absolute sovereignty by dispossessing indigenous people in order to establish the invader's direct rule and sovereignty. Examples are western Europe's conquest of North and South America, as well as Australia and New Zealand, as well as the Zionists' conquest of Palestine.

• Military occupation so that the invaders can control the conquered nation's land and resources. One example is British colonial rule in India.

• Open or secret interference and intervention in a country's internal and foreign affairs, economy, and defense. Examples are those Third World countries who are manipulated and controlled by various developed countries.

• The transfer of intellectuals, which is currently the most common and dangerous type of imperialism. Young, intelligent, and gifted people of the countries to be exploited are chosen, given stipends, and educated abroad. There they are introduced to and made members of different groups. When they return to their country, they are given influential administrative and other posts so that they can influence their country's destiny. When native or foreign people linked to exploiters abroad are placed in crucial positions in the state mechanism, the country is conquered from inside. This immensely successful technique has enabled Western imperialists to achieve many of their goals smoothly and without overtly rousing the enmity of the people they wish to subjugate. Today, the Muslim world is caught in this trap and thus continues to suffer exploitation and abuse.

Whatever kind of imperialism they are subjected to, countries suffer a number of consequences:

• Various methods of assimilation alienate people from their own values, culture, and history. As a result, they suffer crises of identity and purpose, do not know their own past, and cannot freely imagine their own future.

• Any enthusiasm, effort, and zeal to support and develop their country is quenched. Industry is rendered dependent upon the (former) imperial masters, science and knowledge are not allowed to become productive and primary, and imitation is established firmly so that freedom of study and new research will gain no foothold.

• People remain in limbo, totally dependent upon foreigners. They are silenced and deluded by such empty phrases as progress, Westernization, civilization, and the like.

• All state institutions are penetrated by foreign aid, which is in reality no more than massive financial and cultural debt. Imports, exports, and development are wholly controlled by or conducted according to the exploiter's interests.

• While no effort is spared to keep the masses in poverty, the ruling classes become used to extravagant spending and luxury. The resulting communal dissatisfaction causes people to fight with each other, making them even more vulnerable to outside influence and intervention.

• Mental and spiritual activity is stifled, and so educational institutions tend to imitate foreign ways, ideas, and subjects. Industry is reduced to assembling prefabricated parts. The army tends to become a dumping ground for imperialist countries, for its purchases of expensive hardware ensure the continued well-being of the latter's industries.

We wonder if it is really rational to liken the Islamic conquest to imperialism, which brought disastrous consequences wherever it went.

The victory of Muslim armies never caused a great exodus of people from their homes and countries, nor has it prevented people from working by putting chains on their hands and feet. Muslims left the indigenous people free to follow their own way and beliefs, and protected them in exactly the same way it protected Muslims. Muslim governors and rulers were loved and respected for their justice and integrity. Equality, peace, and security were established between different communities.

If it had been otherwise, would the Christians of Damascus have gathered in their church and prayed for a Muslim victory against Christian Byzantium, which was seeking to regain control of the city? If Muslims had not been so respectful of non-Muslims' rights, could they have maintained security for centuries in a state so vast that it took more than 6 months to travel from one end to another?

One cannot help but admire those Muslim rulers and the dynamic energy that made them so, when we compare them to present-day rulers. Despite every modern means of transportation, telecommunications, and military back-up, they cannot maintain peace and security in even a small area of land.

Today, many scholars and intellectuals who realize the value of Islam's dynamics, which brought about Islam's global sovereignty and which will form the basis of our eternal existence in the Hereafter, expressly tell us that Muslims should reconsider and regain them. While conquering lands, the Muslims also were conquering their inhabitants' hearts. They were received with love, respect, and obedience. No people who accepted Islam ever complained that they were culturally prevented or ruined by the arrival of Muslims. The contrast with the reality of Christian Europe's conquests is stark and obvious.

Early Muslims evaluated the potential of knowledge and art in the conquered lands. They prepared and provided every opportunity for local scholars and scientists to pursue their work. Regardless of their religion, Muslims held the people in high regard and honored them in the community. They never did what the descendants of the British colonialists in America did to the American Indians or in Australia to the Aborigines, the French to the Algerians, or the Dutch to the Indonesians. On the contrary, they treated the conquered people as if they were from their own people and religion, as if they were brothers and sisters.

Caliph 'Umar once told a Coptic Egyptian who had been beaten by a Makkan noble to beat him just as he had been beaten. When 'Umar heard that 'Amr ibn al-'As had hurt the feelings of a native Egyptian, he rebuked him: "Human beings were born free. Why do you enslave them?" As he went to receive the keys to Masjid al-Aqsa, 'Umar visited and talked to priests in different churches in Palestine. Once he was in a church when it was time to pray. The priest repeatedly asked him to pray inside the church, but 'Umar refused, saying: "You may be harassed by other Christians later on because you let me pray in the church." He left the church's premises and prayed outside on the ground.

These are but a few examples to indicate how Muslims were sensitive, tolerant, just, and humane toward other people. Such an attitude of genuine tolerance has not been reached by any other people or society.

[asssikawa]

pretty boy swag

i was just in a silly goofy mood, dont take it seriously pls;; gojo x gn! reader

summary: gojo being a pick me boy for you

AU where curses don’t exist; tw underaged smoking and drinking courtesy of shoko. art by @reiouta

you didn’t know how much longer you could tolerate the menace to society; satoru gojo. as of the passing recent months, he started actually acknowledging your existence after months of hanging around his acquaintances. you weren’t sure if you missed that he walked past you as if you were thin air, constantly bumping shoulders with him or gojo actually pestering you in the name of “wanting to get closer.”

walking down the empty halls of your school, you had memorized each route gojo and his group walked down… just to avoid them. an all too familiar voice followed by a song boomed in the empty hallways; dread immediately rose in you, as you attempted to pick up speed to lose track of the white haired teen. “pretty boy coming through,” he said in a sing-a-long voice, his eyes landing on your distant figure. “(name)!” he called out, making you flinch. slowly, you turned your head, a forced smile burning the sides of your mouth.

“hey gojo,” you squeaked out; you wished you could beat yourself up for sounding so meek. on gojo’s sides, two others peered out, the more tolerable ones from the group; suguru getou and shoko ieiri. a sigh of relief left your mouth upon seeing the two. getou’s usual content expression morphed into one of a sly fox.

“now gojo, it’s not nice to scare the underclassmen. you should know better,” getou said, followed up by shoko’s sarcastic tsk tsk of disappointment.

“right? what would poor utahime think about you bothering her best friend?” shoko said. she wore gojo’s sunglasses, adjusting them every now and then when they slid down her high nose bridge.

you take it back. they were just as bad as him.

gojo’s mouth opened to say something, but the bell cut him off. saved by the bell; quite literally. “get to class,” he said instead, another smirk splitting his face.

“i plan to,” you deadpanned, before hastily rushing to your first period, math. never have you wanted to be in math class so bad until gojo popped into your life. hell, you weren’t even good at math.

why had he started tormenting you out of all people? there was nothing particularly extraordinary about you; maybe it was the fact you were close to utahime? or nanami and haibara?

lost in your thoughts and endless possibilities, you had missed the bell ringing until the bubbly boy peered over your desk. his doe-like eyes scanned your dazed out face. “(name)? earth to (name)?” haibara said, waving his hand in front of your face. the taller blond man sighed, watching you finally snap out of your thoughts.

“you don’t even have any of the notes written, (name), that isn’t good for the quiz tomorrow,” nanami said, pulling out his composition book, before beckoning you to take the notebook.

“kenny,” you started.

“i’ll take that notebook right back if you call me that again.”

“you are godsent,” you said, batting your eyelashes his way. a hearty laugh emitted from haibara, his bright smile nearly lit up nanami’s mood once more.

“what’s got you thinking so hard?” haibara asked, draping his body over the seat while watching you pack up.

“surely if you’re thinking, it’s never good,” nanami muttered, earning an offended ‘hey’ from you. pressing your cheek against your balled fist, letting out a small hum. do you tell them or not?

“it’s just that, you know how gojo had never acknowledged me before? he’s been non stop pestering me these days and i’m thinking to myself; why? he couldn’t possibly like utahime and trying to get information out of me, she hates his guts!” you exclaimed, adjusting the bag over your shoulders. the duo glanced at each other, focusing back on you.

“(name), have you considered that he may like you? you know? have a crush?” haibara said, scratching the back of his head. you stayed silent for a while, pondering on the idea of gojo liking you.

“that’s a joke right,”

“why are you so pessimistic about people actually taking interest in you, romantically?” nanami asked, leaning against the desk.

“no romantic attention from anyone my entire life,” you said, standing from your seat.

“how lonely,” haibara responded.

~

the last few periods went by quicker than expected. the ring of the bell pulled you out of your thoughts, turning away from the window. it was surprisingly beautiful for this time of year; the skies were blue, soft fluffy clouds passed every now and then. the occasional gust of wind rattled windows of your class as your teacher paused his lecture. you preferred the gloomy weather, but seeing the clear skies was nice. packing up your materials and standing, you peered out the door, widening your eyes. down the hall was your trio of haibara, nanami and utahime… speaking to the other trio. utahime’s raven hair was tied in a low ponytail, a vague look of annoyance washed over on her face as gojo spoke, her expression softened every time shoko had interjected the conversation. you always wondered why the two aren’t dating yet. nanami’s eyes landed on your figure, his fingers pointed downwards towards the steps, in hopes gojo hadn’t seen you yet.

unfortunately for the both of you, he had caught notice of nanami’s subtle hand motions and followed his eyes towards you. “wow, it’s (name)! we were just waiting on you!” gojo said, his sunglasses shifted downwards, revealing his icicle blue eyes. utahime turned towards you, mouthing an ‘i am so sorry.’ reluctantly, your feet dragged along the halls, it felt as if weights were tied around your ankles. eventually, you made it towards the group; gojo’s long arm draped around your shoulders. your heart raced at the sudden gesture, heat raising to your face. “wouldn’t we be so cute together? look how big my hand is compared to theirs!” he exclaimed, his hand engulfed in yours.

“nah, you guys wouldn’t, sorry he’s so annoying, (name). no wonder why getou gets more hoes than you,” shoko said, pulling out a single cigarette and a lighter from her bag. her auburn eyes met yours, “want one?”

“shoko! how many times do i have to say not to smoke? and (name) is young too!” utahime sighed, earning a small ‘sorry’ from the girl. the black haired teen peered over at you, another sly expression settling over his face.

“say, satoru; let me compare hands with (name) too, i want to see something,”

“you can compare from afar,” gojo responded, pulling you closer to his side. a chesire cat grin split shoko’s face, slinging her arm over your body as well.

“cmon satoru, sharing is caring~” her body smelt of husky tobacco, traces of pinewood on her uniform. her breath smelt like strawberry bubblegum; her glossed lips came closer to your ear, “play along,” she whispered, her brunette strands brushing against your cheek. a snore followed by a scoff came from gojo’s scrunched up expression.

“don’t you have a bottle of vodka you should be downing? besides (name) doesn’t like girls like you,” he said, sticking out his tongue.

“well, why don’t we ask (name), what do you say?”

“don’t put them on the spot like that; seriously, you guys, you’re third years for pete’s sake,” utahime swatted shoko’s arm off your body whilst poking gojo’s side, making him squeal as he let go of you. a frown replaced his usual cocky expression.

“geez utahime, i didn’t take you as the jealous type- ouch, what was that for?” gojo exclaimed, the water bottle bouncing off his head. he rubbed his head. you stared at haibara’s sympathetic expression, still processing everything that happened within a matter of minutes.

just what the fuck was going on?

weeks had passed since that incident and things had become fairly normal again. your grades were flourishing, with the help of haibara and nanami. the three of you have been hanging out more often; utahime and shoko finally started dating. the two of them occasionally tagged along with your trio. gojo has finally stopped pestering you; you should be happy, no? you had convinced yourself that you didn’t miss the attention from the white haired teen. everything you did felt empty without his presence.

you had memorized each hallway gojo and his group walked down, passing through them; in hopes he would stop you, calling your name in his usual whiny voice. you didn’t hear his favorite song; no more him bringing you close with his lanky arms. subconsciously, you brought your hand close to your shoulders, feeling the ghost of gojo’s touch. “(name)? what are you doing here? more like, why are you standing there?” a feminine voice called out. you turned, seeing shoko standing down the hall, her bag slugged over her shoulder, a lit cigarette dangled from the corner of her lips.

“shoko,” her name left your lips in a hushed whisper. “why are you here?” she quirked her lip to the side, pursing her pink lips.

“i’m heading to see menace 1 and menace 2, now, answer my question. you hardly come around these parts,” shoko said, leaning against the wall.

“can i come with you?”

“huh… ah, you miss gojo?” overwhelming amounts of embarrassment washed over your expression; you could already sense your face radiating in heat.

“whatever! i just want to check up on him, that’s all.”

walking down the road, you and shoko conversed, her short auburn tresses blowing in the wind. the roads and sidewalks were painted orange as the sun nestled under the skyline.

“i thought you stopped smoking?” you asked, as shoko tossed the finished cigarette on the sidewalk, stomping on it.

“i’m trying for utahime, but it gets hard when i’m stressed, you know? especially with dumb and dumber,” she said, pulling out a silver flask.

“shoko!”

“what? do you want a sip?”

“no!”

sitting at the park, getou and gojo awaited shoko’s arrival. squinting his eyes at the distance, getou spotted two figures walking towards them. “looks like shoko has company,” getou mentioned, looking back at his taller companion. a frustrated groan left gojo; his glasses slipping down his face.

“good god, if she brings utahime again,” he responded, extending his arms on the bench, his legs spread out. a sly smirk twitched onto getou’s face.

“hey shoko and (name)!” getou exclaimed, waving. gojo’s half-lidded eyes shot open at your name, adjusting his sunglasses. his lanky body rose from the bench, straightening out his sluggish position. he cleared his throat, crossing his legs over each other. upon seeing getou and shoko greet one another, your eyes drifted off to the white haired male sitting in the background, avoiding eye contact with you. a crestfallen expression washed over your face, shuffling over to gojo.

“hey, gojo,” you said softly, sitting across from him. he let out a hum of acknowledgement before looking down at the painted bench. “why have you been avoiding me?”

“why have i been avoiding you? i don’t know (name), maybe just maybe, it’s because i don’t want to bother you with my advances, y’know? could be a contributor i guess, i don’t know, it’s a mystery,” gojo responded, traces of sarcasm in his usual bright voice. he was quite literally a child, huh? your mind recoiled, a frown twitching onto your face. is this who you really want to date?

“listen, i know, and i’m sorry; i just miss you a lot, okay? i like you by my side,” you muttered the last part to yourself. unfortunately for you, gojo had heard every single bit of it.

“huh? what did you say?” he teased, resting his hand on top of yours. his glasses slide down his nose, revealing his ice blue eyes. “you like me, eh?”

“don’t push it.”

the winter semester rolled by rather quickly. walking into the heated building, you removed your outside shoes and scarf. after preparing yourself for the long day, you walked down the hallway, spotting your group down the hallway. peering over the group, gojo waved at you with a big smile, his cheeks and nose tip flushed red from the cold. “babe!” he said, walking over to you with opened arms. heat rose to your face, as he wrapped his arms around you, peppering your face with small kisses. his cold fingers cupped your feverish skin. “my own personal heater,” he said.

“hey, get a room, you two,” shoko said, pulling out an unlit cigarette. utahime frowned at her, as shoko mumbled a small sorry before putting away the cigarette.

“i know miss locking lips isn’t talking,” gojo sneered back. “guys look at how cute (name) is compared to me! their hands are so small!” he gushed, pressing your warm hands against his.

if it were you four months ago, you’d rip away your hand in disgust, however, a warm smile split your face, holding onto his long slender fingers.

“look they are even holding onto me,” gojo said, as the bell rang. everyone shuffled around to their respective classes as you and your group stayed at the end of the hall. with a smirk, his white eyelashes fluttered under his sunglasses. they slowly went down his nose bridge, exposing his beautiful eyes once more. “get to class.”

[dynyamight]

Midoriya, smling awkwardly; Apologies, sir, but i think you are in the wrong tower.

Bakugou, already in love: ... No, it's definitely the right one.

i offer you, flynn!bkg x musketeer!deku based off this lovely art, & woolly's precious dialouge

“You’re sure that this is the tower?”

Bakugou squints, fighting against the blaring sunlight that shines above the roof. “I guess..?”

Beside him, Todoroki groans, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You can’t possibly say that when we’re already here.”

Growling, Bakugou brings a hand to shield over his gaze. “Shut up.” He snarls lowly, “I barely had any information on this damn, stupid damsel, let alone where she lives. Give me a damn break!”

“That’s why you’re supposed to ask around.”

“Yeah, let me just ask a bunch of local bimbos and lackeys where to find a tall ass tower, holding a long destined princess inside.” Bakugou stomps in his boots, throwing his arms in the air. “Oh right, that’s every fucking tower, ‘round here!”

Todoroki sighs, turning his back away from Bakugou. “Well, I’m personally choosing to not stay and watch yourself get humiliated. For both of our sakes.”

Bakugou sputters, the ends of his hair spiking. “What the hell?!” He hisses, “You’re just gonna leave me all my damn self?!”

“This isn’t my fairy tale to fulfill.”

“Fuck that! Crooks and shitty pirates could be up this stupid tower! You’re staying, Half n’ Half!”

Todoroki never ceases his steps, waving a hand behind. “I’ll be awaiting your arrival back at the creek with our horses.” He calls back.

When his figure becomes non-existent, far deep in the forest where they came from, Bakugou angrily digs his booted heels into the ground. Grittened curses and insults are easily spewed, as doubts flood Bakugou’s mind.

This had to be the tallest tower in the countryside; there was no fucking way. He and Todoroki travelled out of their safe haven village, risked their damn lives as wanted men in the kingdom, and yet, all of their efforts could potentially be wasted, over some shit tip he got, when he was young and gullible.

Now, all he hopes is that his goddamn soulmate has enough money to bail him out of the authorities' heavy watch.

That’s right; Soulmates. Connected together through a folk story or fairy tale, they were fated, destined pairs that were lucky enough to be passed down through generations. Only a few people throughout their kingdom were blessed to have this guidance.

The fairy tales differ and vary in task. The most common to be gifted was the midnight glass slipper and the kissing of a frog; feet and reptiles were fucking gross. There was the waking kiss of a cursed needle struck; stupid. And, there was the beast curse uplifting, which was the most absurd of them all; absolutely disgusting.

Yet, Bakugou had been the unfortunate bastard to have been given the family fairy tale of having to find his princess at the tallest tower of the land, and climb it with her fucking hair. Go figure.

Glancing back at the tower, Bakugou notices its many oddities. Despite no front door anywhere to be seen, there were large windows, overlooking the forest and far city below. And, on the sills and on top of the stone slabs, moss, garden flowers, and vines grew, with a year's worth of growth. And, at the highest point, the compartment of the tower looked rather large, not all small or crowded looking.

The tower didn’t scream ‘help me’. Instead, the building looked rather cozy, well taken care of, and gave off an air of home.

It bewildered Bakugou entirely.

He’s meant to save his fated princess from the heights of her secluded isolation, and yet, it feels like he’s going to fucking bother her.

Regardless, he has a mission that he needs to get over with. The sooner he can call out to his fated partner, the sooner he can have a sword to her throat and demand riches.

“Oi!” Bakugou shouts aloud at the tower, towards the largest window opening. “Open up!”

When there’s no response, he cups his hand around his mouth. “Hey! I said fucking open up, already! Let down your hair!”

Nothing.

Irritation seeps under his skin. Bakugou knows he has to quote the cringest, most idiotic words to ever leave his lips, in order for his destiny to finally be fulfilled. But, for god’s sake, he doesn’t want to.

In a way, he’s glad the damn Half n’ Half bastard wasn’t nearby to hear him make a complete fool out of himself. Looking like a fucking jester to the king.

Clearing his throat, Bakugou stubbornly tries to ignore the embarrassed burning of his cheeks. “..Rapunzel, oh Rapunzel,” He begrudgingly echoes, “Let down your hair!”

Like a hawk eying at its prey, Bakugou focuses at the window, for any sign of possible movement or noise. But, just as before, not a single shift in the air changed, or an indication of acknowledgement.

Bakugou throws down his satchel in a fit of fury. “Are you fucking deaf?!” He turns away, shouting to the sky, “I swear, in the name of Ever After, I will set this stupid, tall ass tower ablaze, if you don’t open this damn window and let me climb your long ass hair, right—!”

A creak emits from the direction of the tower, and immediately Bakugou’s heart jumps.

Slowly, he twists back to notice finally that the closed, large window now had its curtains separated, and its double panels open.

And standing atop of the perch of the balcony, was a young man, dressed in a musketeer attire and red cape. His short, green curls peeped from under his feathered hat.

“Wh-What long hair?” The man asks, genuinely confused.

Even though there was a distance between them, Bakugou could still see the beauties. Those emerald eyes; they put every ruby and sapphire to shame. Those freckles, sprinkled across his soft features; splattered nicely like stars. And, that skin; kissed and caressed by the sun’s warmth lovingly.

Bakugou doesn’t realize he’s been staring, until the man speaks out, “Are you lost, sir?”

Now, that makes Bakugou double take. “Wha— I’m supposed to be fucking asking you that.”

The young musketeer tilts his head down below. “This is my home? I live here.”

“..Rapunzel isn’t fucking here? The damsel in distress, abandoned by a wicked mother, crying alone, and shitting bricks in fear, wanting to escape to see the real world outside?”

“..I have a wonderful mom. I regularly leave to guard the kingdom’s palace, and I would think I live a blessed, calm life.” The young man voices shyly, “And, um, I’m Midoriya. Midoriya Izuku. There is no Rapunzel here..”

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

Todoroki would have gone fucking mental, hearing this. And, honestly, Bakugou kinda wishes he could see his fellow bandit’s reaction.

“Shit.” Bakugou groans, running a hand through his hair. “You’re telling me this ain’t the tallest tower of the kingdom?”

“Um,” Midoriya scratches at the underside of his cheek, “I mean, this is one of them.”

“Fucking hell.”

Pointing behind him, Midoriya redirects Bakugou’s attention towards the horizon line. “The tallest towers are out to the mountainside, where their roofs graze the clouds and breeze. It will take you a few days to reach there.”

“..Are you fucking certain you ain’t the Rapunzel I seek?”

Midoriya blushes at the mention. However, smiling awkwardly, he shakes his head. “Apologies, sir. But, I do think you are at the wrong tower. I’m only a mere simpleton.”

Fucking hell. He was at the wrong tower.

Yet, that soft, gentle smile. It leaves Bakugou whirling, with this fluttery, airy sensation overwhelmingly consuming him from the inside, out. That smile looks so good, against those supple, rosy, freckled cheeks, and paired perfectly with those iries of jade.

Midoriya didn’t have the fated long, golden hair, or the destined, donned name of Rapunzel.

But, Bakugou was always the one to chase after things he wasn’t supposed to have, stealing them away for himself. And, despite the hefty bounty on his head, begging him to stop, there was nothing wrong in stealing one last thing.

Soulmate or not, he hopes to take Midoriya's heart.

“Nah,” Bakugou snorts, the corners of his lips lifting, “This is definitely the right one.”

[valhallanrose]

The Red Plague

The art above was created by Nix Hydra, and can be found in the Minor Arcana Art Book (or where I got it - off the fandom wiki page, because who’s going to stop me)

Much of Zelda’s story in the non-apprentice timeline delves into the plague before, during, and in the aftermath of Vesuvia, and I wanted to compile my lore and headcanons for it in one place before I delve into her story fully. I will incorporate as much canon as possible, but given that that isn’t a large amount of info, a lot of this is based off research and personal worldbuilding. 

CWs for discussions of disease, death, body horror, I guess spoilers but I’m surprised if it is for anyone considering how the info is everywhere in game in all routes. This is also, again, personal headcanon and I don’t expect it to fall in line with everyone’s thoughts on the plague.

The Timeline

I’m going to go with a comprehensive timeline first, and this part is all based on canon information. I’ll try and provide as many sources as I can as well, but some of this is pulled from multiple books and I might forget exactly where something came from. 

As we learn in the Lucio tale, Dawn of the Grub, Lucio strikes up a deal with the wyrm of pestilence (Vlastomil) - his parents’ hearts in exchange for a disease that will allow Lucio to kill them both. The Lucio brought the disease back to the tribe, which weakened his father enough for Lucio to kill him. His mother Morga, however, fights off the disease, referring to it as a ‘summer cold’, and Lucio flees the tribe and joins a traveling mercenary band which allows the plague to spread. 

I don’t have a particular reason why Morga would have survived the plague. Her sprites in the game never show any sign of the plague that are generally acknowledged - no red sclera, no veins, no signs of weakness, so on and so forth. The best theory I can posit is that Morga either genuinely had a summer cold, or that the plague only took hold in Lutz rather than them both. Either way, unsatisfying, but we’re going to call Morga the exception and not the rule. 

Because Lucio did not fulfill his end of the bargain with Vlastomil, the plague continued to spread, following Lucio as he traveled the continent. This is also the point where the beetles appear - more on them later. 

The implication in the game is that the disease reached other countries and areas, but the next canon mention of the Red Plague’s spread occurs in Portia’s route, book X - Wheel of Fortune. A map is discussed where dates, places, and sightings of the plague are noted by Julian in his study of the plague - the Painted Fields, Blue Mountain Ridge, and Annyala Gate are all names that arise. 

Nasmira recognizes the name of Annyala Gate and points out that Nazali was at that battle, in which a band of mercenaries was sighted - and their leader needed an arm amputated, which is confirmed to be Lucio. Nadia states that Lucio came to Vesuvia not long after that battle, and the next time the Plague was seen was in Vesuvia. 

It is never seen again outside Vesuvia, and this brings us to the three years before the game, where Lucio’s ‘death’ heralds the end of the plague, and it is never seen actively again in the Arcana world. 

The headcanons I have are to help establish a solid timeline. Dawn of the Grub tells us the deal is made on Lucio’s 18th birthday, and I personally believe that Lucio’s death occurred on his 40th birthday, giving us about 22 years of time for us to work with for the spread of the plague. 

Some more headcanons mixed with canon:

Lucio is newly titled Count in the tale Travel at Night. Based on personal age headcanons, this tale probably occurs at minimum 17 to 18 years pre-canon, putting Asra at (at most) 10/11, Muriel at 14/15, and Lucio at a startling 22/23. It could occur later, as art style can influence perspective on age, but Muriel and Asra really don’t feel like they could be much older than that. 

During his mercenary days (sometime between the ages of 18 and 22/23) Lucio was contracted by the former Count of Vesuvia, Count Spada. This battle occurs at Annyala, mentioned above, and is the battle where Lucio 

At a certain point, Lucio was contracted by the Count of Vesuvia at the time, Count Spada, for a battle where he "made a name for himself." Story implications indicate that this was the battle during which he lost his left arm. It was amputated by Julian to prevent his death from blood loss. After he won the battle for Count Spada, he became friends with the Count and privy to secrets about Vesuvia and the Palace. Spada would eventually name Lucio his heir, and upon his death, Lucio earned rulership of Vesuvia. 

The plague eventually appears and ravages Vesuvia’s population

Plague patients are sent to the Lazaret away from the city and cremated, then scattered on the beach. 

Lucio contracts the plague and defies the average lifespan of those who contracted it by lasting a few months rather than 3-10 days.

Lucio dies on his birthday, not of the plague but as a result of the ritual he was attempting to gain a new body.

I tried to map most of that out here, and wow, what a sad little diagram. Nix Hydra, y’all are cowards for not going hard on this. I, however, am not, and I am about to go more apeshit than I already have. 

The Spread

Cracking my knuckles on the history degree, baby, I’m borrowing some real life inspiration from across multiple time periods to tie all this together. 

I personally think the whole “Oh, the plague arrives wherever Lucio goes and disappears when he leaves” thing is a copout, and we’re drop kicking that out a window. 

I do believe, as canon states, that the plague follows Lucio. It spreads obviously to regions he visits, but I don’t think it just disappears when he leaves. I really, really want to believe someone would have been smart enough to see the connection if the plague suddenly appeared and was later yoinked out of existence as soon as Lucio left town every single time it cropped up somewhere way sooner than it was noticed in canon. 

I don’t think the plague was as isolated as the game implies, and when it was in Vesuvia, it was probably also elsewhere. The epicenter was Lucio, of course, so Vesuvia faced the worst of it, but I think there would have been pockets with much smaller numbers in other parts of the world. 

Earlier I mentioned a few locations cited in Portia’s route as to where the plague had been before Vesuvia - the Painted Fields, Blue Mountain Ridge, and Annyala Gate. I think once these areas were hit with the plague, it would have continued to spread even after Lucio left. Across multiple routes, it’s made clear that the only ‘cure’ to the plague is Lucio’s death, which is why Julian had intended to kill Lucio after making his deal with the Hanged Man. The lack of Lucio’s presence would have kept the plague from continuing to escalate, but in these regions, it probably would have spread when the region’s people attempted to relocate, or ceased when the population died out. 

Annyala Gate, or the Great Gate, is a location I can dive a little deeper into. It’s the last location the plague was sighted before Vesuvia, and because it ties into my OC Zelda’s storyline, I have many a thought. 

Lucio is in Annyala sometime between year 1 and year 4/5, though I believe it’s on the later end of that spectrum, so let’s say year 4 to clearly predate his title as heir to Vesuvia. For reference, here is a map of the Great Gate as provided by the art book: 

Jeebus. Terrible photo quality. Ah, well, on we go. 

The Great Gate is situated between the Sea of Persephia (left) and the Salty Sea (right), and as the map currently stands, is the only point on land that gives access to the southern part of the world map. In this area in particular, I feel like a number of factors would have kept the plague alive long after Lucio left. 

Narrowest point on the world map for transport of goods between ports and seas, which would be a more efficient route than traveling around the continent to reach the same point

As previously stated, this is the only known access point to the south, and travelers heading through this area could possibly be carriers of the plague or catch the plague from the area 

The only way for the plague to stop would be with the death of Lucio, so once it was inflicted upon this area, it continued to spread and infect the population in adjoining areas 

The game repeatedly has emphasized the proximity of the Red Beetles (known harbingers of the plague) to water, such as the Nopali village in Asra’s route and the red stains attributed to them in Julian’s route, and we receive further confirmation in Portia’s route that the water supplies are contaminated during the period of the disease

Fun bit of trivia from Nadia’s route - in the Strength book, Nadia mentions that she remembers the beetles, and that once they had been used as part of a pigment used to dye fabric crimson, which was all the rage in Vesuvia. Should this trend have continued, people wearing fabrics dyed with this beetle pigment most likely would become infected, and thus, the cycle continued. 

I will also point out here that pigments have been used in makeup across history, and I’m sure applying some beetle-laden makeup would have really fucked some people up. Eyeshadows, blushes, lipsticks...contact with any of these areas, particularly the eyes and mouth, indicate a possibility of infection. 

This does, however, leave a fifteen year (ish) period where the plague would have been active in this region until Lucio’s death. Historically, diseases can last such broad swathes of time. For the sake of displaying precedent, I will point out some examples here:

The Black Death, lasting 1346-1353

The third cholera pandemic, lasting 1846-1860

The third plague pandemic, a major bubonic plague like the Black Death, lasting 1855-1960

The HIV/AIDS pandemic, which has been ongoing since 1981 in the US

However, some of the most devastating plagues have lasted only a few years, which I will touch on later when I discuss Vesuvia’s case of the plague. All of the diseases listed above are additionally categorized with death tolls over a million people.

(On a side note, if you would like to contribute to programs searching for a cure for HIV/AIDS, I will suggest donating to organizations like amfAR, the Black AIDS Institute, or the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, all of which are linked accordingly and deserve your support if you are capable of making a  contribution)

Remaining question: if the last place the plague was seen was in Annyala, more than fifteen years before it was seen in Vesuvia, what the fuck happened during that time beforehand?

Vesuvia - Before the Plague

Here’s the thing. The timeline given by the devs is a fucking mess. So, what I’m going to propose here is almost entirely theory, and I ask that you keep that in mind. 

Lucio ascends to the title of Count by the time he’s about 22 or 23. Spada dies, presumably, and there’s no noticeable mention of his death via plague or the establishment of the court. 

For some fascinating lore on how the government in Vesuvia works, I’m going to point you to this post by @sunrisenfool​, who has one of the biggest brains and is gracious enough to allow me to reference their work a little for this one. 

I don’t think the court as we know it existed when Lucio became Count. I agree with sunrisenfool here that Valdemar has been the Palace’s cockroach for a while - which was actually also confirmed in the Star book of Portia’s route, in which we see Count Prospero (founder of Vesuvia) summon Valdemar and ask for their aid in creating a city that will never die. The remaining courtiers would be gradually established as time continued on, all demons who struck bargains with the Devil in one form or another placed into positions of power alongside Lucio. We also cannot forget Valerius, who made his own deal with the Devil, and played his own role in this scenario.

We know that Lucio was also a pawn, later on, in the Devil’s agenda to bridge the gap between the main world and the Arcane realms. The ritual discussed in Portia’s Star book is described as a vessel to do just that - 

“...every 777 years, the physical and magical world will collide...the laws of magic will no longer be immutable, and the world will bend to our will...So long as the Countship and canals remain whole, so shall the power to reshape the world. You need only await the conjunction. Perform the ritual and lead the city to glory heretofore unknown. I, Count Prospero, first of my line, declare the founding of Vesuvia. The city eternal. My legacy.” - Count Prospero

It’s confirmed after this scene that the ritual, using the canals as a conduit, opened a ‘door’ so to speak to the Arcane realms. It’s also said there is a three year window to perform this ritual, and that at the time of game canon, we are at the end of that three year window. 

So. Borderline conspiracy time. 

Circling back to the lovely sunrisenfool’s work, I’m going to pull a particular excerpt here:

...the Consul of Vesuvia is the second most important/powerful political figure in Vesuvia, directly after the Count/ess. Aside of the political and civic duties I have already explained, the Consul acts as a “protector” of Vesuvia, albeit not in a paternalistic politically-conservative way (which is how paternalistic policies would be understood in our world). Instead, the Consul is meant to rule the City if the Count is absent or incapacitated, therefore being the subsidiary depositary of the secret of the foundation of Vesuvia, and the importance of it’s Canals.

Lucio makes it pretty clear he doesn’t know much of anything about the ritual during Portia’s Star book, but he was told about it by Spada before his death as it was a secret kept close to the court. That gave him something of leverage, even if he wasn’t aware of it, 

My thought as to why the plague did not spread in Vesuvia sooner is that Lucio had knowledge of this ritual, however minimal, and the Devil needed him alive to eventually use the ritual for himself. So, as Vlastomil (the wyrm of pestilence who granted this curse) was established in Vesuvia as Praetor, the plague was kept at bay for the time being while the city came under the full control of the Devil’s demons. 

I cannot imagine the only person who knows about the ritual is the Count, because that feels like a woefully flawed plan, so I do believe the Consul would have also been privy to such a secret in case the Count was in a position they could not share it due to absence or incapacitation. Basically, a rehash of sunrisenfool’s point, but I digress. 

As the window drew nearer for the completion of the ritual and it became clearer that Lucio knew next to nothing about the ritual and how it worked, the Devil decided to take a different approach. The plague was unleashed once again by Vlastomil, with the goal that Lucio become infected and eventually die, and that Valerius take over the Countship. Lucio no longer was useful to the Devil, and should he be removed from power, someone like Valerius - who knew the purpose of the ritual, who was under the Devil’s bargain by this point - would be an ideal candidate to finish the task at hand. Leverage, it works wonders. 

I don’t think the ritual performed to gain a new body could have been mere chance. I think Lucio knew more than he let on about the canals and the magic in Vesuvia from Spada. Yes, I know the first three were written before Portia, but come on, the timing is insane. He’s no magician, and performing something that complex and magically charged right at the beginning of the three year window when the ritual is supposed to be performed feels far from coincidental. Fight me. 

But, on to what happens in Vesuvia once the plague is free to spread again.

Vesuvia - During the Plague

The first sighting of the plague is in year 20, and I personally believe the plague lasted about two years or 24 months. The period is divided into three ‘waves’ - the first six months, the year leading up to Lucio’s death, and the six months following Lucio’s death. 

The First Wave

The first wave begins when the first known case of the Red Plague is confirmed, and in this period, the spread is rather slow.  

Here is the introduction of the Lazaret, which I do believe is a building that existed before the plague - this is personal thoughts, but the odds of this being the first major disease Vesuvia experienced feel pretty slim, and I do think this was a previously established quarantine that was renovated/expanded for the Red Plague outbreak. In an effort to get ahead of the disease, the space was designated a quarantine, largely staffed by volunteers when the palace seemed to not acknowledge the growing situation. It would slowly begin to increase until the plague boomed at the six month mark, heralding the beginning of the second wave. 

The Second Wave

This is the ‘bad period’ of the plague. I say that loosely, because it’s all bad, but I digress. 

I headcanon that the apprentice dies in the beginning of the second wave, when spread of the red plague rapidly begins to increase and the call goes out for researchers to search for a cure. We know how that story goes, so moving on to the details of this wave. 

There were two groups at this point in the plague - those assigned to research, working out of Valdemar’s dungeon/lab/carnival of horrors studying the plague, and those assigned to the Lazaret, caring for the sick and dying and maintaining the facility. 

I’m going to focus more on the Lazaret for this, as the research aspect is pretty well covered throughout Julian’s route and conversations with him in other routes, and this post is already getting long. 

The Lazaret was home to the dying, where they would be cared for in their final days and eventually cremated. My thought is that the remains of the patients were carefully catalogued in the beginning, returned to families willing to claim them, and those left unclaimed were scattered on the beach at the Lazaret. Later on, as more and more people died, less remains were claimed, leading to the black beaches that still mark the shores of the Lazaret in canon. Often the staff here were a mix of healers, doctors, apothecaries, anyone willing to try anything to ease the pain of such a disease. 

The staff at the Lazaret began wearing layered masks - the plague mask with its herb-stuffed beak, another facial covering beneath for an added layer of protection, and a head covering that sealed the gaps between the mask and the face. They were also required to wear gloves, tight-fitted sleeves tucked inside, and their pants tucked into their boots to reduce the risk of infection through contact. Their days would start in locker rooms on one end of the facility, removed from the patients, and suit up for the day while leaving belongings in the lockers. The end of the shift consisted of showers and disposal of garments to be sterilized, they’d return home in the clothes they came in, and by the time they returned a new uniform would be waiting for them. 

Lucio caught the plague during this period, most likely halfway through. He lasted several months, but the exact length is unknown, aside from he ‘lasted longer than most victims of the plague’ who died between 3-10 days.

I don’t think the averages are entirely accurate. There were most likely some who were asymptomatic until the plague was in very late stages, or those who presented symptoms very early on and survived for long stretches of time. All would die bearing the red sclera, veins, and other symptoms depicted above. Basically, this disease is claimed to be unpredictable, and I think that would also stretch to the duration at which each patient had it. Those who were physically frail likely would have died sooner than those who had been in oprtimal health before the plague, making the times vary rather drastically. I’d suggest perhaps a month at the longest, a few days at the shortest. 

Policy wise - during this period, the ports would have closed, and Vesuvia would have shut down. Nobody in, nobody out, not without rigorous inspection and quarantine before exiting to the city to avoid further spread. Often the only people allowed into the city were doctors from other regions affected by the plague called to help research, but during this year, I would estimate Vesuvia lost easily 30% of its population to the Red Plague. 

The Third Wave

This wave is the period that occurs after Lucio’s death at the Masquerade, three years pregame. I’ll touch a tiny bit more more on this in the next section, but this is where we see the gradual end of the spread of the plague, and the last cases shown in Vesuvia. It’s the end of the plague period, and I give this about six months for the official ‘all clear’ to have been given by those tracking case counts. 

The Lazaret is eventually decommissioned and now sits abandoned, a shadow on the horizon to remind those who survived what had been lost. The city mourned, the gates slowly opened, and gradually, we reach the point of comparative normalcy we see in the game set three years later. 

Vesuvia - The Aftermath

Lucio’s death would, ultimately, mean the end of the plague. Rather than immediately disappearing and all those suffering from it be cured, however, I would be inclined to say that the spread came to a halt. 

The last wave of the plague, in the six months after Lucio’s death, would have been a decrease in new cases until there were no new ones being reported, and the last of the patients who had been infected finally passed. 

The final duties of the doctors at the Lazaret, after all remains are cremated, would have been the incineration of all materials that could not be sterilized. Linens, spare uniforms, unclaimed personal affects, so on and so forth until the time came to return home. I do not remember the exact location, but I am fairly confident of a mention of the MC remembering barrels burning doctor’s uniforms and masks in the days after the end of the plague. It was, for a lack of better words, a purge - an attempt to erase the last physical memories of what the city had endured. 

Events like this are traumatic for all involved. They are painful wounds, and for the rate of death I imagine occurred in Vesuvia, the odds that someone lost no one are slim. There was likely a long period of mourning, and as noted in the present of the game, rarely is the plague spoken of outside of the context of the investigation in the primary routes. 

Many of those medical staff members who survived were those assigned to research at the Palace. The proximity of the staff to the ill at the Lazaret quarantine likely would have made the rate of infection far higher for the caretakers, meaning that often the staff would end up caring for colleagues in their final days. 

Even three years removed, the time of the plague is a raw wound for those in Vesuvia - but I do think the period is fascinating and I love exploring the different facets of it in my own world building. And, well, shameless self promo, but I am eager to write it myself when I get into Zelda’s backstory.

If you made it this far, thank you. Go drink some water or something, idk, wellbeing checkpoint bc what a long ass post