#its also secundus

[sayitaliano]

Italian names of fingers

HAND'S FINGERS:

The official names are: pollice = thumb indice = forefinger or index medio = middle finger anulare = ring finger mignolo = little finger or pinkie

We learn them easily since when we are kids (something that doesn't happen with foot's fingers). We also learn that "dito" = finger, is masculine at the singular but has a double plural: the masculine plural "diti" can be used only when we refer to one type of finger (eg. "i diti indici" = the index fingers) while when we consider all the fingers of the hand, we use the feminine plural "dita" (eg. "le dita della mano" = the fingers of the hand)

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FOOT'S FINGERS:

The more official name list is the one originating from the Latin digiti pedis (basically the one used in English too):

primo dito = hallux (lat.: digitus primus or hallux) secondo dito = second toe (lat.: digitus secundus) terzo dito = third toe (lat.: digitus tertius) quarto dito = fourth toe (lat.: digitus quartus) quinto dito = fifth toe (lat.: digitus quintus or minimus pedis)

...with the generally accepted exceptions of alluce (also called pollicione or ditone or dito grosso del piede in informal context) for the first finger, and mignolo (or mignolino, again in informal context) for the fifth.

This said, online you can find another list (its names may vary a little tbh, but these are the most common ones):

alluce illice (or melluce) trillice pondolo mellino (or minolo)

This list doesn't seem to be accurate or scientific (source) but it was found since the early years of 2000's used in several occasions and even some non-traditional medicine books.

[iapetusneume]

Director's Cut: Dualitas Hastarum

Oh dear.

So, when I write something, I will (on average) have 0 - 2 people look at it before I post. For 40k stuff, pretty much everything I write Lieara sees before I post it. Sometimes I grab a beta, sometimes I don't.

This time, I had 4 people look at the Google Doc at various points. This doesn't include the questions I asked in the Discord Server. One could argue that with other people's help, that number goes up to 7 or 8. I don't remember the last time I've needed so much assistance.

Dualitas Hastarum

Sanguinius had cautioned Guilliman and the Lion that his change would be soon. Shapeshifting was peculiar like that. He'd once described the sense of the change as if an old human could feel the drop of barometric pressure in their joints. “Its not painful,” he had clarified, “but there is the sense that it is time. I can feel it. The change is needed, and will happen.” “Do you know what form you'll take?” the Lion had asked. Sanguinius chuckled, and shook his head. “Not specifically. Sometimes I have no clue. Sometimes, I have an idea.” When he had told them the change would happen soon, his smile was full of secrets. Sanguinius had an idea, and he kept it close to his chest. (Alternatively, Sanguinius can change his hair color and eye color. What if he could change more than that?)

I don't think it's something many would expect, either, that this fic was very difficult to write. I wanted it to be sweet, sexy, and simple. I didn't want a lot of "extra" plot. I wanted the reader to feel the love and trust between the three of them.

And yet.

This is the first piece of smut that I've posted anywhere that involves a vagina. I have an unfinished scene for a longer work, and I've RPed it plenty. When i realized this was where a lot of my anxiety was coming from, it made sense, but was also hopelessly frustrating.

Then my anxiety shifted to the actual logistics. As in, word choices. I have a lot more experience writing about cocks than I do vaginas, and I found myself getting hung up on words. So much of writing smut is "what feels right," which is so hard to do when the words escape me. I frequently found myself having a name for a body part but just not liking it at all in the prose. When I write, I try not to let word choices slow me down. I will put an approximation in &ALLCAPS, and then highlight it in yellow so I can't miss it. And well, this fic was littered with them before I started doing my editing.

There's also a phenomena with a lot of fic writers who have vaginas often struggling with writing about them. Something about it being too personal. I certainly felt that here, and then me struggling with the language that I feel like I really should know was rough.

I made a distinct decision to not change Sanguinius' pronouns in this story. I see him as being nonbinary/genderfluid, but more like... he doesn't really care about what pronouns are used? Or, alternatively, the pronoun he prefers to use is something specific to Aenokhian that doesn't translate into Low Gothic. I also see him using male pronouns in Low Gothic because of partial anxiety when dealing with Big E since he said he had sons. And Sanguinius has battles to fight and he doesn't care enough about this one to put up a fight. He has other things he's worried about.

But that's angsty. And even a more positive spin on gender presentation would start to make this fic feel heavy, and that's not what I wanted. And while I'd love to explore Sanguinius' gender expression and identity, that's not what I wanted for this story.

I kept running into these hurdles, in terms of angst. This is set during Imperium Secundus, which is already prone to angst, since it's during the Heresy. I wanted to make a reference about Sanguinius learning how to shapeshift from Magnus, but no, can't do that. That would bring up a traitor brother and at best it would be bittersweet. Same problem with Horus, whom Sanguinius has definitely fucked in this form. I'd even considered making an offhand remark that Sanguinius had fucked Jaghatai like this, but at this point in time the three of them do not know that Jaghatai is still alive.

I am a fan of angst, but that's not the goal of this story.

I was also running into a lot of moments where I was using gendered language. At first I was beating myself up over it, but then I just had to accept that it would be something I fixed in a later draft. This is not a Rule 63 fic. This is not a fic where Sanguinius is binary trans. I struggled with the tags on this for this reason as well, because I know how much it bothers a lot of people to see fic/art tagged as "female" because the person in questions has boobs and a vagina. Luckily Ao3 has a ton of variety of tags, and I think I was able to get around that hurdle.

I know my writing won't be for everyone, but I want to be respectful of this in my work. I also want to do it in a way that doesn't feel like an After School Special.

I also didn't want to get too deep into Guilliman or Lion's sexual identities in this. I HC that Lion is demisexual, and Guilliman is either bisexual or pansexual. They both don't have experience with tits and pussy because Lion just never felt very strongly about anyone who had them, and Guilliman was concerned about hurting his partner.

Due to a lot of reasons, I feel like I break out in hives whenever someone is terribly naive about sex in fic. It's often done for laughs, and I don't find anything funny about it. This is something else that's a bit personal and I won't get into here, but I was determined for Lion and Guilliman to not come off like that. What to do, then? I thought using the surprise and wonder angle was a good way around that. They're excited, and no they don't know what to do, but they're going to figure it out.

When they're looking at Sanguinius in this form, they are attracted to him for different reasons. Lion just sees Sanguinius, the person whom he loves so much, and his form is different. So what? And Guilliman sees Sanguinius in a different body, but this is another body that he finds attractive. Guilliman has yet to find a form of his he didn't like.

They love each other, they respect each other, they have fun. Sanguinius feels comfortable enough around Guilliman and Lion to show that he likes a wide variety of bodies, and Guilliman and Lion love Sanguinius no matter what body he decides to wear. It's sweet, it's cute, it makes me go "awwwwwww."

And I realize that I never got around to my idea about Lion reading romance novels in this, but I feel like that deserves a different post.

[sharenadraculea]

so since you‘re offering: imperium secundus. Scene drops off before sang agrees to become emperor and jump straight to the proclamation. Any chance you wanna write him making the decision and what follows in private with them? Lion and Rob swearing fealty to their Emperor (and staying on their knees for a different reason if you feel like nsfw). Or even showing a snippet of how their relationship changed post coronation or just why Lion of all people was willing to crown Sang and only Sang. There must be a story there

i‘d love it if you went for it. No hard feelings if you don’t though, its your time after all

love allyria/lieara

I finally got around to writing more prompts! I hope you‘ll forgive the wait! I was in the mood for something cute and fluffy

The Best of Us

„Why?“ Sanguinius asks quietly, pressing his nose against the nape of Lion‘s neck.

„I allready told you.“ He squeezes the angels hand. „You are the best of us.“

Sanguinius sighs, closing his eyes and snuggeling closer against his brother. „I‘m not. At least not for this job. You just keep telling me this so I don‘t feel as bad.“ 

„Now, don‘t say something this stupid.“ Roboute looks up from his book, gently petting Sanguinus‘ hair. „The people love you. You are beautifull and charismatic and…“

„So you have chosen me for my looks.“ The angel can‘t stifle a small laugh.

Roboute pouts but doesn‘t stop brushing through Sanguinus‘ curls. „You didn‘t let me finish! You are also a fantastic statesman, you are able to stay calm in arguments during which Lion would comitg murder, you care about people so much!“

There is a playfull smirk on Lion‘s lips. „Well, your looks did certainly play a large role. I mean, could you imagine Roboute‘s face on all those posters and films?“

„He doesn‘t look that bad…“ Sanguinius gently protests. 

Lion grumbles. „Roboute looks boring - don‘t look at me like this! You on the other hand… I mean just look at your wings.“ He presses a kiss on Sanguinius‘ hand. „And also, consider how it would look if he declared himself Emperor over Ultramar.“

„I know…“ The angel mumbles. „You would have still been a better Emperor than me…“

Roboute closes his book before laying down too. „Do you really think leaving Lion in charge won‘t end with all my bureacrats massacred?“

„I guess it would be a possibility.“ Sanguinius presses a kiss on his brother‘s neck in a attempt to stop him from grumbeling. „Maybe I‘ll consider a try at beeing Emperor…“

[victorluvsalice]

Helo yes, I just want to say that I found your Forgotten Vows verse again, and also your Secundus verse, because of @thesatiricaldemon 's "Beneath A Broken Sky" and all I have to say is:

... how dare you both, now I have two AU fic ideas that sprouted from them because of inspiration! [Positive] (Actually three, but that one is just an afterthought)

*snrrrk* How very dare we XD But hey, I'm glad that both my fics and SatiricalDemon's have been inspiring to you! Love to know more about what percolating in your head! (And hey, don't dismiss that "afterthought" idea -- my ORIGINAL idea for an Alice: Madness Returns / Corpse Bride crossover after the release of the former was for them to meet after Alice killed Dr. Bumby and Victor had gone through both the "corpse bride" incident and its aftermath, but while I was sorting out that, I had a stray thought of "but what if Victor's parents hadn't believed him and instead sent him to Dr. Bumby to force him to forget the whole thing...and we see where THAT ended up. XD)

[nebmia]

Reviewing every rpg book on my shelf: 7, Wolves of God

Wolves of God by Kevin Crawford is a game about adventuring in early anglo-saxon england and its prime virtue is in how thoroughly (and for the most part accurately) it develops that time period and attempts to place players in the outlook of those people. I happen to have a particular love for the early middle ages and for the anglo-saxons in particular, which places me directly in the target demographic for this game, and as far as I am concerned it delivers.

Mechanically Wolves of God is built on the same fundamental system as Kevin Crawfords other ‘without number’ games: So an osr type game with a greater than usual quantity of character build options and a particular focus on sandbox play.

The first thing you notice when you read the book is the framing device. The book is treated as if it was a manuscript written by a monk in 710AD (the rather opinionated Brother Cornix) documenting anglo-saxon gaming practice that has been unearthed and edited by Kevin Crawford. This lends the whole book a very unique and (to me) entertaining voice. For illustration here is a section from character creation:

The rules in these pages will show you how to make your bold adventurer, but do not be a thrall to man-marked ink on pale parchment. If your band of gamesmen has their own thought to the right way to manage a matter, then let it be done as you and your companions think best. Listen, then, and I will tell you how to make an English hero. From the first strong sinews of the mortal body to the crown of reason and high ambition, you will learn what makes a mighty champion of our people.

The styling as a medieval manuscript does, however, mean that many standard features of modern layout are absent, such as bullet points being replaced by paragraphs starting ‘primus’, ‘secundus’, ‘Tertius’, etc and that overall the text is much wordier than most contemporary rpgs. However, there are footnotes and sidebars from ‘the editor’ which summarise important rules or discuss some of Brother Cornix’s biases, and I find that, overall, the writing style is worth it for the level of immersion in the culture that it provides.

There are three classes you can use to create your ‘English Hero’ (plus an option for multiclassing): the warrior, the saint, and the galdorman. These are broadly analogous to the original D&D fighting man, cleric, magic user line up but each has twists to place it in the setting. The big point is that each classes has a set of ‘glories’ and ‘shames, which determine how they gain (or lose!) xp. These do a lot to place your character within the outlook and value system of the early middle ages. For instance the saints shames tie them to follow the law of the church, while a warriors shames relate to oath breaking or betraying your lord or friends. An interesting feature is that, while warriors or galdormen can escape shame if no one knows what they did, a saint always suffers the penalty as ‘God knows all things.’

Which is a good segue for talking about christianity and how deeply enmeshed it is in the setting. The book spends almost as many pages detailing the essentials of early medieval christianity as it does describing the rules for combat, and then goes on to spend twice as many pages describing monasteries and giving rules for generating them. Basically, religion was really important then and also quite unlike how we as modern people understand it.

Among the other things that were important to people then but unfamiliar to a modern audience are: Cattle Raids, Feasting etiquette, a gift economy, and the weight placed on fate. All of which Wolves of god sets out rules and procedures to guide you though. Outside of what is rendered in the rules to book also lays out an expansive description of anglo-saxon england covering the legal system, customs, farming practice, history and the main kingdoms. In contrast to games (D&D) where you play as essentially modern people in an essentially modern world wrapped in medieval aesthetics, Wolves of God is a game where you simply must inhabit the alien world that is the past.

Apart from the areas where is does deviate from history, which is primarily in the transformation of old roman ruins into portals to pocket dimensions (or ‘arxes’) created with ancient roman magic into which the romano-british retreated. What with it being, at its root, a dungeon crawling game I can see why there was a need to add magical dungeons and a treatment of roman ruins is definetly appropriate as the remnants of roman civilisation is deeply important to this time period (see the old english poem ‘the ruin’) but there is still fundamentally something about the inclusion of arxes that does not work for me. I think it is, perhaps, that the existence of dungeons and the delving off them is too big a thing to add without it dramatically changing the setting. A world with dungeon delving adventures is inevitably drawn into the sphere of classical D&D fantasy and away from the early middle ages. Fortunately, I can simply choose not to have any arxes and instead focus on more historical adventures with the odd mythical creature or barrow delve thrown in (don’t ask me why a barrow feels different to an arxe. It just does, ok)

A final note: My copy is the deluxe edition, which is unfortunately no longer available. I think the only difference with the print on demand version will be a less premium binding and printing and not having the red cover with gold

[parchmentleaves]

Lady Essiala Ariathia ban Vor'cle

No game this week, so a brief entry about Lady Essiala instead. Who is the lady behind this journal? Linked above or copy-pasted below.

Lady Essiala Ariathia Sorjiik den Morgenstern ban Vor’cle is the Navigator Primaris of the void-ship Gloriosa Lux Misericordiae Imperialis, a role she has held for just over a standard decade. She is a bookish and reserved woman who prefers the solitude of her library to the hubbub of human interactions, and uses her noble bearing as a mask to conceal her terrors and inner loneliness.

Child of Vor’cle

Essiala is a scion of House Vor’cle, an ancient and vaunted House of the Navis Nobilite that eschews sector and planetary politics in favour of broad-ranging interests and connections throughout the Imperium of Man, including at the very heights of power. Vor’cle Navigators guide ships of nobility, adepta of the mighty Adeptus Terra, Rogue Traders, and even the dreaded Inquisition. The House maintains its own fleet of void-clippers – fast courier voidcraft that crisscross Sectors, Segmenta and even the Imperium itself bearing information too dense, complex or secure to risk astropathic communication, as well as individuals wishing swift and unobtrusive transport across the stars.

She was born on one of these void-clippers, the lean and ancient Morgenstern, and is a child of an esteemed and stable gene-lineage that has been free of genomic instability for over a millenium. Children of the Sorjiik lineage tend to a greater height, leanness of build and paleness of skin than even most void-born, with many also possessing entirely black eyes well-suited to finding even the fainest of lights in the darkness of the void. Essiala shows all these traits and, like many children of her line, prefers her quarters set to lower local gravity and dimmer lumination than ship standard.

House Vor’cle is less hidebound than many great magisterial Houses of the Navis Nobilite who might rely on their breeding and connections to secure contracts of navigation. The Vor’cle instead educate their scions and inculcate a deep curiosity about the universe into them. They in turn record everything that they encounter on their long-ranging travels across and beyond the Imperium and send their reports back to the House archives, where they may be used to further the obectives of the House and its allies. This cavalier disregard for the virtue of ignorance has led to multiple long term feuds between the House and factions of the Ecclesiarchy.

Dark Apprenticeship

Decades of scholarship and apprenticeship taught Essiala well the lessons of her House. She served as a Navigatrix Tertius and learned the practicalities of navigation aboard multiple ships with distinction and no issue save for a short-lived daliance with a bright-eyed void-mistress that ended when Essiala ascended to the rank of Navigatrix Secundus and was assigned to the void-ship Revenance.

Her years aboard the Revenance took her into the Halo Stars beyond the frontiers of the Imperium. She saw strange aetheric phenomena and curious alien ruins, decimated remnants of fallen civilisations far older than that of Man, and steered the ship through terrible warp storms to find safe refuge in the light of the Astronomicon once more. An incident occured on one voyage where she had the honour of steering the ship while the Navigator Primaris was recovering from injuries following a skirmish with Orkish pirates. The ship’s Gellar field, likely suffering some minor damage in the prior engagement, fluctuated during a turbulent ana-surge within the Immaterium and something attempted to coalesce through the cracks into the Navis spire.

A shapeless darkness with a voice of ash and burning violet eyes appeared on before Essiala and begged for her to open disable the safeties on the Aciens Horrens, the heavily warded portal through which the Navigator views the Immaterium, and allow it inside. It offered power, knowledge, all the sweet temptations fit to lure her into obeying its pleas. She refused and, in a moment of righteous anger, tried to turn the power of her Third Eye on the blasphemous thing. The entity simply laughed in amusement and departed, leaving her with words.

“Such fire you have. And such fires you will see Beyond. Three and three and all will burn as bright as you. May they consume you by delightful degrees.”

Essiala found herself marked and shaken by this dreadful encounter. All food tastes of ash in her mouth and her dreams echo with the three-eyed entities mocking laughter. In response she threw herself into studying all she could find about such blasphemous foes, so that she might face and destroy the entity if she encountered it once more. And to this day she takes great care to maintain a personal shrine to the Emperor in her quarters, praying to Him on Earth and all His Saints each morning after a night of fitful, restless sleep.

Navigator of the Gloriosa Lux

The incident on the Revenance earned Essiala her elevation to the rank of full Navigatrix, after sufficient psychoexamination and deep testing to ensure that the entity had left no taint upon her soul. She was assigned to fulfil House Vor’cle’s contract of navigation with the Void-ghast Dynasty, an ancient rogue trader family now fallen from the heights of their past glories, and she assumed the duties of Navigator Primaris aboard the Void-ghast’s only true void-ship, the Sword-class frigate Gloriosa Lux Misericordiae Imperialis.

Lady Essiala worked well with the Gloriosa Lux and her Lord-Captain Eleazar Void-ghast, steering the vessel on nearly a dozen expeditions into into the wild space of the Koronus Expanse and bringing her home safely each time. Each voyage brought new wonders and new terrors, and always the subtlest hints of some meaning behind the words and the sinister laughter haunting her nightmares.

Lord Eleazar’s sudden and unexpected death upended everything. Gloriosa Lux was forced to return to anchorage, spending nearly a year in limbo waiting for the heir to the Dynasty, the Writ of Trade, and the Lord-Captaincy to be found. Essiala spent the time reading, writing notes for future memoirs, and attempting to make sense of her dreams. She could feel a pattern forming, though it was still too diffuse and subtle to fully grasp.

Finally, after interminable politics and delays of transit, Lazarus Void-ghast was declared Lord of the Dynasty and the Gloriosa Lux Misericordiae Imperialis has set sail once more into the Koronus Expanse…

[thecreaturecodex]

Modron, Secundus

Image © @tredlocity​

[The secundus modrons actually have unique abilities, albeit class abilities from multiple other classes. They’re monks, clerics and wizards all in one. I simplified their casting a bit, in the manner of some of the other shared spell list monsters out there like gold dragons and guardian nagas, and gave them some abilities that aren’t just copies of character class abilities. I asked Tred to give them a crook and flail because the art for the modron hierarchs in the original MM2 always reminded me of Akhenaten.

Incidentally, if you want to make these guys even more complicated, I could see giving them access to a second spell list other than sorcerer/wizard. A divination or enchantment based secundus could use the psychic spell list, for example, or a conjuration or transmutation one use the druid list.]

Modron, Secundus CR 23 LN Outsider (extraplanar) This metallic humanoid is tall and gaunt, clad in robes. It carries a crooked rod in one hand and a jointed flail in the other. The symbol of a half-circle is embedded in its forehead.

The secundi are the most powerful of the modron hierarchs save for Primus himself. They are nearly unique creatures—only seven exist at any time, although when one is slain, a new secundus is rapidly promoted from the ranks of the tertians. They represent the domain of Magic, although Primus’ other domains (Artifice, Knowledge and Law) are all reflected in them as well. Their primary task is to facilitate the will of Primus however it needs to be done. At any time, several of the secundi can be found in the Great Modron Cathedral maintaining the Energy Pool and communing with Primus directly, while others are coordinating the efforts of lesser modrons. They are the final line of defense between Primus and any who would dare attack him, and great incursions into Regulus are met with a secundus response after an initiation of hostilities and the reports of scouts.

A secundus is well suited to this task of defense, as they are alone the equal of an entire regimen of wizards, clerics and monks. A secundus can strike with lightning speed, set up lethal vibrations in an enemy, and are capable of casting a wide variety of offensive and defensive spells. On the off chance they do not have just the right spell prepared for the occasion, a secundus can call upon the versatility of magic itself and cast almost any spell. This can only be used once per day, so most secundi typically save this ability for an emergency or highly unusual foe. The seven secundi each have specialized in a different school of magic—all of the schools except for necromancy are currently represented.

One of the many tasks of the secundi is to analyze reports from individual modrons and make suggestions for who is to be promoted amongst the hierarchs when casualties occur. Primus makes the ultimate decision, of course, but appreciates the plurality of viewpoints. This also acts as on-the-job training; each secundus knows that, if the unthinkable happens and Primus is slain, the next Primus will be chosen from their ranks. The secundus who commits the greatest act of service to the forces of Law within a week of Primus’ death will be the next Primus. Each of the secundi already has contingency plans lined up in case of Primus’ demise.

The seven secundi each have a simple alphanumeric designation, reflecting their order of creation and chosen school of magic. When a secundus is slain, the numbers decrease by one, and the new secundus adopts the number 7. Although there are no current redundancies in the schools specialized in by the secundi, it is not impossible that such a thing may happen in the future if Primus wills it. The seven secundi are CO-1, AB-2, TR-3, EV-4, DI-5, IL-6 and EN-7.

Secundus               CR 23 XP 820,000 CR 23 LN outsider (extraplanar, lawful, modron) Init 37 (fixed); Senses darkvision 60 ft., detect chaos, greater arcane sight, Perception +41, true seeing Aura shield of law (DC 28) Defense AC 40, touch 24, flat-footed 40 (-1 size, +10 Dex, +1 dodge, +4 deflection, +16 natural) hp 475 (27d10+297 plus 30); regeneration 10 (chaotic, force) Fort +24, Ref +29, Will +31 DR 15/chaotic and epic; Resist acid 10, cold 10, fire 10; SR 34 Defensive Abilities constructed, freedom of movement, uncanny dodge Offense Speed 50 ft., fly 80 ft. (perfect) Melee unarmed strike +38/+33/+28/+23 (4d8+12) or unarmed strike flurry +36/+36/+31/+31/+26/+26/+21 (4d8+12) or +4 axiomatic nunchaku +42/+37/+32/+27 (1d8+16 plus 2d6 lawful) or +4 axiomatic nunchaku flurry +40/+40/+35/+35/+30/+30/+25 (1d8+16 plus 2d6 lawful) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Special Attacks flurry of blows, quivering palm Spells CL 20th, concentration +32 (+36 casting defensively) 9th—maximized cold ice strike (DC 30), mage’s disjunction (DC 31), mass heal (DC 31), meteor swarm (DC 33), overwhelming presence (DC 31), symbol of vulnerability (DC 31) 8th—maximized breath of life (DC 27), discern location, quickened divine power, greater spell immunity, fire storm (DC 33), maze, protection from spells 7th—forcecage (DC 31), greater scrying (DC 29), mass cure serious wounds (DC 29), quickened protection from energy, quickened remove blindness/deafness, resonating word (DC 29), spell turning 6th—antimagic field, banishment (DC 28), chain lightning (DC 30), disintegrate (DC 28), heal (DC 28), quickened mirror image, quickened owl’s wisdom 5th—cone of cold (DC 29), quickened divine favor, greater forbid action (DC 27), quickened magic missile, mark of justice, prying eyes, spell resistance 4th—cure critical wounds (DC 26, x2), fire shield, inflict critical wounds (DC 26, x2), imbue with spell ability, resilient sphere, tongues 3rd—archon’s aura (DC 27), dispel magic, fireball (DC 27), haste, magic vestment, prayer, searing light (x2) 2nd—arrow of law (DC 26, x2), bear’s endurance, blur, bull’s strength, magic mouth, spiritual weapon (x2) 1st—cure light wounds (DC 23, x2), identify, magic missile (x3), ray of enfeeblement (DC 23, x2) plus 7 0th--detect magic, read magic, stabilize, virtue Domain—Magic Spell-like Abilities CL 23rd, concentration +33 (+37 casting defensively) Constant—detect chaos, freedom of movement, greater arcane sight, shield of law (DC 28, self only), true seeing At will—clairaudience/clairvoyance, greater command (DC 25), greater teleport, order’s wrath (DC 23), protection from chaos (DC 19), sending 3/day— dictum (DC 29), dispel chaos (DC 25), finger of death (DC 27), geas/quest, greater dispel magic, wall of force 1/day—anyspell (DC 29), gate (DC 29), power word kill Statistics Str 34, Dex 30, Con 32, Int 31, Wis 35, Cha 31 Base Atk +27; CMB +40; CMD 55 Feats Combat Casting, Craft Construct, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Rod, Craft Wondrous Item, Divine Interference, Dodge, Gorgon’s Fist, Greater Spell Focus (evocation) (B), Improved Initiative, Improved Unarmed Strike (B), Maximize Spell, Medusa’s Wrath, Quicken Spell, Scorpion Style, Spell Focus (evocation) (B), Stunning Fist Skills Acrobatics +37 (+45 when jumping), Climb +24, Diplomacy +34, Fly +40, Intimidate +34, Knowledge (arcana, planes) +37, Knowledge (dungeoneering, engineering, geography, history, religion) +34, Linguistics +34, Perception +41, Sense Motive +39, Spellcraft +37, Stealth +29, Swim +24, Use Magic Device +37; Racial Modifiers +2 Perception Languages Celestial, Infernal, Modron, 24 others, telepathy 100 ft (81 miles for other modrons) SQ coordinated ally, coupled casting, fixed initiative, monastic training, school training Ecology Environment any land or underground (Regulus) Organization solitary, council (2-4) or party (1 plus 2-12 modrons) Treasure double standard (+4 axiomatic nunchaku, rod worth 60,000 or less, other treasure) Special Abilities Anyspell (Sp) Once per day, a secundus can cast any 8th level or lower spell from any spell list as a spell-like ability. This spell has the normal casting time for that spell. This is treated as a 9th level spell. Coupled Casting (Ex) A secundus can use spells with somatic components without penalty if it is wielding a rod in one hand and a weapon in the other. Flight (Su) The fly speed of a secundus is a supernatural ability. Flurry of Blows (Ex) A secundus gains the flurry of blows class ability of a 20th level monk. Monastic Training (Ex) A secundus gains Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat, and deals unarmed damage equal to a 20th level monk. It also gains proficiency with all exotic weapons with the monk descriptor. Quivering Palm (Su) A secundus gains the quivering palm ability of a 20th level monk, except that it can maintain a number of quivering palms in different creatures equal to its Wisdom modifier (12 for an ordinary specimen). The save DC to resist a secundus’ quivering palm is Fortitude DC 35. This save DC is Wisdom based. School Training (Ex) A secundus gains Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus feats for one school of its choice as bonus spells. It may apply the effects of these feats to its spell-like abilities as well, including to appropriate spells simulated with the anyspell ability. Spells A secundus casts spells as a 20th level cleric with access to the Magic domain. It may also prepare and cast spells from the sorcerer/wizard list as if they were cleric spells.

[pactargent]

We are pleased to inform after our long absence from communications that the former BISS Collozi has completed full refit to Pact naval specifications. As per regulations, it has also received a new identification: The LSV Bavia’s Folly.

The vessel will be assigned to internal defence duties once its shakedown cruise has been completed, ostensibly Defence Group Secundus in the Kaltaer System.

On another note, our 1st Expeditionary Group has returned after a several month-long mission, charting the sectors and systems to the galactic north-west. The ships of the group have subsequently been reassigned to the ongoing Bavian conflict. That is all.

Pact Eternas.

[40klog]

The Sleeping Scorpion

Chirurgeon’s Log, MD-1011101.  Indecipherable Complexity’s Chirurgeon Saphillex Koth reporting.  Input from Sacred Mars indicates that the lost Symphony of Data might lie somewhere in the Probai subsector, and Indecipherable Complexity is investigating, system by system.  The Eukestren system lies in the fringes of a warp storm, and Indecipherable Complexity has sent Shuttle-001, rather than risking the entire explorator ship.  Explorator Secundus Aukane Theta commands the shuttle, and I have accompanied him, along with a squad of Skitarii.  We are now scanning Eukestren’s major satellites.

Chirurgeon’s Log, supplemental.  As we approached and scanned Eukestren V, we spotted an unknown vessel (UV-1011101-01) in orbit of it.  The vessel was emitting a greeting signal, while also emitting some violent directed energy at the planet below.  As we watched, Eukestren V exploded, and the vessel ceased all energy emissions and transmissions.  I convinced Explorator Secundus Theta to approach, and scan. ¶ The ship matched the configuration of certain pre-Imperial vessels previously known to Mechanicus records.  At my insistence, we boarded. ¶ We saw visions of the ship’s former crew flickering in and out of the gaze of our personal sensors, and no apparent sign of their physical forms.  The situation had an air of the Immaterium.

Chirurgeon's Log, supplemental.  We have met the horror at the heart of UV-1011101-01.  The interior of the vessel shifts and changes behind our backs, and the path back to Shuttle-001 is blocked off.  We ventured deeper into the vessel, and found the crucified remains of the crew, long since decayed.  Eventually, we stumbled into a blasphemous cathedral, dominated by the towering cradle of an Abominable Intelligence.  It sent rotting servitors against us in force, managing to strike down Theta.  I managed to stabilize him, while the Skitarii facilitated a fighting retreat to a smaller, defensible chamber.

Chirurgeon's Log, supplemental.  We thought ourselves momentarily safe from the AI's influence in our side-chamber, but both Explorator Secundus Theta and the Skitarii began to succumb to some blasphemous illness; I managed to preserve them by siphoning off my own homeostatic tincture for them. ¶ Theta deployed the Skitarii for a well-coordinated assault on the AI, but collapsed with nightmare hallucinations before he could carry it out.  I commanded them in his place and, Omnissiah be praised, we were victorious over the beast, and I was able to download its core database.  But the ship itself grew violently unstable.  With the AI destroyed, the ship's corridors ceased their shifting, and I was able to lead us back to the shuttle. ¶ I find myself back on Shuttle-001, plotting a course to rendezvous with Indecipherable Complexity, and preparing to perform extensive purification rites.

[midnightactual]

Rukongai is Salusa Secundus

I keep referencing Dune for a reason and I can now explain to you why Rukongai is set up the way it is through analogy with the Imperial House, the Sardaukar, and Salusa Secundus.

A people known as the Sardau rise to primacy on a terrible world called Salusa Secundus. They eventually get off-world, become mercenaries, and due to external circumstances manage to become the Imperial House of the Known Universe, House Corrino. House Corrino still needs more troops to maintain its primacy though. So what to do?

Well, they take whatever prisoners they acquire, dump them back on Salusa Secundus, force them to endure all the hardships that they themselves experienced, and simultaneously stamp their culture and traditions onto them, while at the same time preventing any efforts to make the planet more bearable.

"In this way, they manufactured a deadly environment of near-anarchy that naturally trained battle-ready forces. Recruits would be drawn from their ranks by special selection practices. Those few who were chosen to ascend were released from their bonds of imprisonment and welcomed as brethren by the Emperor, who spoiled them with lavish treatment."

Is this starting to sound familiar?

This is exactly how Rukongai is managed, right down to the unnaturally persistent and smooth conditions of anarchy. Actually, the forces of the Seireitei have an even more organic system, as they don't even have to select recruits—recruits self-select by venturing to the Seireitei themselves.

The whole thing is a prison camp for recruiting Shinigami, and the quality of those recruits is increasing with time. Just look at all the commoners from Rukongai who know Bankai in the present era, something unheard of in the past.

The system is working perfectly.

Now you might be wondering why the Great Nobles would set up a world like this when they bound the Soul King and created multiple realms, and the answer to that is in Dune too: they're playing the Bene Gesserit. They're breeding superior forces.

While the Nobles have to finance a bunch of dumb technological solutions like Hollowfication to try and catch up with them, the Great Nobles can just snatch up whatever awesome commoners appear and integrate them into their bloodlines directly, or make them into vassal Houses on merit and thus also dilute the power of the Nobles by stacking their ranks with more and more servants. Either way they win.

[pb-dot]

The Character Name Challenge

One of my newer, but no less beloved, mutuals @asterhaze tagged me in this little thing. I am entering into it with some measure of fear in addition to the excitement as naming things is one of my least favorite parts of writing, something that my naming schemes might indicate. Even so, it'll be interesting to see what sort of meanings my names have and how well they fit.

Rules: Explain the etymology/origin of your character's names and rate on a scale of 1-10 how fitting the names are for the characters.

I'm tagging some Old and Some new here as well: @aziz-reads @mrbexwrites for the old reliables, and @maskedemerald @unspokenvastlywritten for the new hotness.

Names and ratings below the cut

Jake [No Last Name]

I didn't really know what to name Jake up until the moment I started my first draft, and as such I went with the single most generic-sounding name I knew that wasn't John. My love for the Animorphs series in my youth may also have contributed to the decision. Either way, the name now stuck, and although I'm not willing to fight a prospective publisher over it, it's come to be linked with the character in my mind.

The name Jake has multiple possible origins, but I chose to view it as a variant of Jack, which in the middle ages was used as a sort of catch-all name for "man," I.E for the "Just Some Guy"-factor of it. Jake certainly started out as a bit of an everyman character, but he has gained some depth since then that I believe makes the name not fit him that well. Jake is, however, undeniably a man, so... 7/10

The Clockmen

Just getting out ahead of this one. The Clockmen are all referred to by numbers which are their place in the production order. One is named so because she was first, and 13 is named so because he is the 13th, and currently last, produced. There are however two exceptions to this.

13/Adrian

13 renames himself to Adrian to show a clean break from his time in The Clockmen and as an act of rebellion from the dehumanizing authoritarianism of the organization and its creator.

Adrian comes from the Roman name Hadrian, which itself comes from (per behindthename.com):

(...) the Roman cognomen Hadrianus, which meant "from Hadria" in Latin. Hadria was the name of two Roman settlements. The first (modern Adria) is in northern Italy and was an important Etruscan port town. The second (modern Atri) is in central Italy and was named after the northern town. The Adriatic Sea is also named after the northern town. A famous bearer of the name was Publius Aelius Hadrianus, better known as Hadrian, a 2nd-century Roman emperor who built a wall across northern Britain. His family came from the town of Atri in central Italy.

Which honestly isn't helping us much since there's no roman empire or Italy in Adrian's setting. He himself chose the name after a character in a book he read because said character was weak but brave, determined, and dedicated to his ideals, and the protagonist of said book is maybe a little gay for him? These are all aspects Adrian values highly, but as far as fit with the real-world origins of the name, I'm going to give this a 2/10, saved from a lower score by the fact that it's a better fit than 13 as a name that actual human beings have.

Secundus Two

Secundus Two, or Two for short, also chose her own name but decided to add to her number rather than replace it. In the way of the highly unpredictable maybe-insane-maybe-brilliant clockman, the name refers back to her number, as Secundus is Latin for "Second," but can, at least if Wikipedia is to be believed, also mean "Favored" or "Lucky." This one's a pretty good fit honestly. If one were to read her as deranged, it would be pretty out there to name oneself "Two the Second," but if we embrace the "the lady knows what she's doing"-reading of the character, it could either read as a satire of the naming scheme "Oh, calling yourself Secundus is weird is it? Weirder than christening someone "Two"?" Alternatively, the "Two the Favored" also works as Creator has a soft spot for Two that allows her to get away with all but her most monstrous of shenanigans. All in all, solid naming, me. 9/10. Would've been 10 if all of that stuff, and not just most of it, was intended.

Delilah Bellows

Ok, here comes an actual full name, heavens be praised. For the first name, we have the meaning (again from behindthename.com)

Means "delicate, weak, languishing" in Hebrew. In the Old Testament she is the lover of Samson, whom she betrays to the Philistines by cutting his hair, which is the source of his power. Despite her character flaws, the name began to be used by the Puritans in the 17th century. It has been used occasionally in the English-speaking world since that time.

This one is so the wrong way around that I honestly am tempted to call it intentionally ironic. Delilah is physically and mentally strong, and fiercely loyal to both her cause and her relations, and she is doing quite alright at the moment thank you very much. 0/10 in the sense of direct fit, 10/10 in an ironic "The huge guy is called tiny"-type way.

Bellows, on the other hand, is a more direct fit. I chose this from the "you're named after your job" European-style last name scheme that gave us Smith, Wright, Blower, and so on. Bellows is, per Wikipedia:

A bellows or pair of bellows is a device constructed to furnish a strong blast of air.

Wikipedia then goes on to note that

Several processes, such as metallurgical iron smelting and welding, require so much heat that they could only be developed after the invention, in antiquity, of the bellows. The bellows are used to deliver additional air to the fuel, raising the rate of combustion and therefore the heat output.

So in short, Delilah's family is implied to have a long tradition of working in metallurgy, perhaps initially having the slightly ungainlier moniker of "Bellowblower" or "Bellowsman" that through the years got filed down to the shorter and catchier Bellows. Good fit, but the implication that she's full of hot air stops this from being a slam dunk. 7/10

Wilhelmina "Mina" Limner

Mina is, as her full name would imply, short for Wilhelmina which is the feminine form of Wilhelm, which means (again behindthename.com)

From the Germanic name Willehelm meaning "will helmet", composed of the elements willo "will, desire" and helm "helmet, protection"

This is a decent fit for Mina, whose strict adherence to protocol and penchant for paperwork may not make her seem like a particularly staunch protector of anything. However, I would argue that these things, along with her burning passion for the ideas and politics behind The Northwest where she and Delilah both work, can be seen as a desire to protect her comrades. Hell, if you want to take it one further it could be argued that her protection comes in the form of her wit and will, in contrast to Delilah's passion and 13's physical protection. Overall fits her like a glove 8/10

It should also be mentioned that Mina in Farsi, again according to behindthename.com means Enamel and one could certainly see Mina's paperwork as the finishing touch of The Northwest's production, but that is A: a stretch and B: not what I intended. If you want to go with that and headcanon Mina as hailing from my setting's equivalent of Persia/Iran though, I'm not going to stop you. I know I described her as a redhead. Hair coloring products exist.

As for her last name, this is another one of the "you're named after your job"-ones, but it implies a somewhat higher social class than the proletarian Bellows. Also, the job has also been extinct for a good long while, so it paints the family as somewhat more established, if not Old Money, then certainly Of Some Age and Some Means. Someone should ask Mina about that one day. A limner is (per Wikipedia)

A limner is an illuminator of manuscripts, or more generally, a painter of ornamental decoration.

So working with (the) books as Mina is today, albeit in a more art-focused manner than she does. An ok match, I like it more for the implications about her family. 6/10

Creator

Not going to get into this one much, Creator named, or I suppose rather titled himself out of hubris, nothing more to that. 0/10 garbage name for a garbage-tier old man. I will however reveal that his given name is Magnus, which per behindthename.com means "Great," as in "the Great." Whatever you can say about his family, they have certainly set their son up for some hubris. 5/10 He isn't all that great, but he certainly has the ambitions for the name.

And finally:

The Benefactor

And again with these titular monikers. To this guy's credit, he's not in Book 1 that much, and he didn't name himself this, he just chose to not tell Creator his given name. I will however reveal that his given name is Loquacious and that his family name is a spoiler. Loquacious isn't a common name anywhere, but I chose it as a variant of the American frontier-era Puritan "Virtue Name"-scheme that gave us both such catchy bangers as Charity and Charisma and such... memorable entries as If-Jesus-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned. Loquacious, however, would be a Vice Name, a name given by the parents in the hope that it would turn out to be ironic. Loquacious, per dictionary.com, means

talking or tending to talk much or freely; talkative; chattering; babbling; garrulous

and

characterized by excessive talk; wordy:

Unfortunately for the people in Loquacious' life, the name fits him like a tailored suit, although he is quite curt with Creator so as to not give away his identity. 9/10 This boy loves the sound of his own voice.

Overall, my naming score is somewhat hampered by neither the Roman Empire nor Latin existing in my setting, but then again, neither does England or English, so I might as well just pull a Tolkien-style "This is a translation of a text in a foreign language made to be as fitting with the English language and surrounding etymology as possible."

[canadianno]

[[IGNORE: THIS HAS NO RELATION TO THIS BLOG AS A WHOLE]]

Sanguinius, The Red Angel

"Angel born in hell"

Also known as the "perfect child", the most beloved of all the primachs, atleast to the public eye, Sanguinius represent all that is pure and noble about humanity

His capsule did not crash against a planet, insted it was moon, "Baal Secundus" (strange name i know), the moon of the planet that later could be the base of the Blood Angels, his sons, but thats going to much into the future

Long ago the two moons of Baal were a beatiful place, even more for the standarts of the Dark Age of Technology, but as you can guess it didn't last during the Old Night, we don't know how, but both the two moons of baal were infected with enormus amounts of radiation, probably result of some kind of weapon against the man of steel

Soon the few survivors had to live in the leftovers of its monuments and cities, ending with horrible mutants created for the radiation, basically fallout in space

When a group of humans first found the "angel", the people of the place tried to kill him, why?, because this was perfect child only with a tiny defect, he had wings, yeah that part of being called and angel it was literal btw

The people thinking he was a mutant, the people was gonna end short his life. Now why did Sanguinius had wings????, some say it was for the radiation, some others said it was the design of the Emperor (maybe even the Chaos gods), the thing is that even the own Primach didn't know, he supposed it was some kind of "phych" manifestation cuz even him knew that it was completly imposible having wings due to his you know, 4 meters tall demigod-

I mean he was a Primach and all, so he thought that, but he still could feel the wings so he kinda eventually just roll with it, lets leave it there (that and the Emperor himself never really answer that)

In the end of the day it didn't matter, the people of baal couldn't put the child down due to feeling his "primach vibes" and being a motherfucking child, so they adopted the child and just ignore the wings that were there-

With time Sanguinius grew and so did his wings, and with time we was surfing over the skies like an angel, not only that but he grew up to became a nice person to knowing and understanding the necesity and value of the people of Baal that with each day they pushed forwad to live another day

Until one day, an army super mutants could attack Sanguinius campament to kill everyone in it, seeing how the people of Baal died to such beast Sanguinius entered in an blood rage, destroying the bodies of the mutants and eventually leaving nothing of them

In the end all that was left was Sanguinius in the middle of a battle and being covered in the blood of his enemy, any person would have been horrified at this vision, but when you live at a place like that, this was the perfect man to being at your side

Soon Sanguinius conquered his world and purged all the mutants out of it, soon the hope came back to Baal Secondus and soon came the Emperor and meet his son and his legion, the Blood Angels....

Who unlike their genetical Father

They were a bunch of super sociopaths cannibals addited to the blood traumatized from the wars on terra

"Ah" said the Primach, "lmao" said the Emperor

In the eyes of the Imperium, the Blood Angels were at par with legion of Angron, the world eaters, at least in how the were despicted, Sanguinius seeing this decided to send his legion to therapy but to change them all by himself

And he did it, Sanguinius managed to convert an entire legion worth of monsters into one of noble warriors with honor, from monters to heroes of the imperium

But with a small problem, the Blood Angels were had the called "black rage" (or something like that i forgot) which turned the Marines into monsters once again, Sanguinius did his best to hide this information from the public and even other primachs and the Emperor due to his fear of his legion being probably replaced with another

This genetical problem could never be resolved

Sanguinius, Primach of the IX legion, The Blood Angels for the Imperium

-alz, 13/18

-alz, also the Blood angels were extremly loyal to their Primach

-alz, the only other person that knew about the black rage was Horus Lupercal.

HELLNYEAH

[victorluvsalice]

Merry Christmas Ace!

@ace-of-tales Hope you're doing well! I remembered your request from ages ago -- another installment of the "Klaus, Leona, and company end up in Secundus" series we've been doing for a few years now, showing the Libra team battling a Blood Breed in the city and everyone being very impressed and intrigued by their battle skills. Enjoy!

Also That Is Too Much Blood For One Person

“I have to say – I really did not expect there to be so many ways to fashion weapons out of your own blood.”

“It is extremely impressive, isn’t it?” Alice said, watching as Klaus hit the “Blood Breed” – a tall, pale man sporting claws, fangs, and an expression suggesting he wished he was anywhere else right about now – with. . .well, to her it looked like an axe, but as Klaus kept smacking the Blood Breed with the bit she thought of as the “handle,” it was probably an overly-fancy blood sword instead. “They really know what they’re doing.”

“I should say – did you see the white-haired one? Zapp, I believe?” Christopher said, pointing him out as he darted away from a swipe of the Blood Breed’s claws. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone slice up a monster so quickly! And with a sword technically made out of liquid no less!”

“It looks like it crystalizes once it’s outside their bodies,” Richard said, extending his neck to get a better look at the action. “Though, in that case, you’d expect all those blades to be a lot more fragile. They seem to be able to take quite a few hits!”

“Honestly, I’m most impressed with Steven,” Victoria admitted, looking over at the Blood Breed’s minions, currently standing literally frozen in place on the sidelines. “I still don’t know how he did that, but – goodness me, he barely even blinked, and they were just completely out of the fight!”

“Leona told me that that particular party trick involves him turning drops of his own blood into little needles that burrow into his victims, allowing him to flash-freeze them,” Alice told her. “Which is – disconcerting, to say the least, so we should all be grateful he’s using it on the side of good.”

“Really,” Victor agreed, before flinching away as another gigantic spray of blood came very close to his face. It formed into a fancy wall, then slammed into the ground, just in time to halt the Blood Breed as he tried to flee. “I think we can say that for all of them, frankly.”

“Indeed – we’re very lucky that they’re all as keen on fighting and eliminating monsters as I am,” Christopher said, puffing out his chest slightly. “And that they were here for the day when this particular one showed up! I don’t know how well my own sword would have done against this beast.”

“I’m sure you would have been just fine,” Victoria said, with a loyal, loving smile.

“I just wish they’d end it already,” Emily squeaked, half-hidden behind Richard. “I do not like the size of the teeth on that creature!”

“I think they’re trying to weaken it in preparation for the final blow,” Doc assured her, as Richard put his arm around her. “What did Leona say? They need to learn the Breed’s true name before it can be sealed?”

“Yup – that’s her job, to try and learn the name from its aura with her special eyes while the others keep it busy,” Alice said, then spotted a small figure running up to the hulking Klaus. “And if I don’t miss my guess, I think she’s just figured it out. . .yup, here comes the dramatic blood again. . .”

A few more words shouted in a language none of them understood, and suddenly Klaus’s blood wrapped around the Blood Breed like mummy bandages, forcing his form into a T-shape before shrinking down and solidifying into an elaborate metal cross. Klaus picked it up, tucked it away, then turned and waved to the onlookers. “You’re all right over there?”

“Fine!” Marty yelled back. “Awesome work!”

“Quite the show!” Alice added.

“Very impressive!” Christopher agreed.

“How are you not all anemic?”

All eyes went to Richard. “Hey, it’s a fair question,” he said, shrugging. “None of the blood ever seems to go back in their bodies.”

Emily facepalmed. “Richard. . .”

“Uh – never really thought about that?” the one called Zapp said, blinking. “Until now, anyway?”

“Don’t start having existential crises now,” Alice called down. “How about some tea instead?”

“Indeed! My treat!” Richard said brightly. “I think we could all use some!”

“That’s for certain,” Klaus mumbled, then gave them a small smile. “All right then – lead the way.”

[vodkacheesefries]

I know its been a minute since I posted any history Sims, but the game has had a couple updates and broke a couple of my mods. So I haven't been able to play them and advance the story. That said I think I'm *finally* in the clear, so onto the next household we'll be frequenting:

Emperor Rabirus - Self Assured, Ambitious, Loner

Rabirius didn't exactly want to be emperor, but it fell to him regardless. He trusts his friend, Laelius, with his life. Time will tell if this is a wise decision. He enjoys his wife's company, but given he won't stop flirting with Laelius or Finn, I don't actually think he has a preference for women. Regardless, they have three children, whom he loves, and he cares for Lucretia deeply even if it isn't romantic.

Lucretia - Family Oriented, Foodie, Loner

Lucretia didn't exactly want to be married to be the emperor's wife, but since he wasn't married and she had reached the end of her 30 year service as one of the Vestal Virgins, and the Pontifex was determined to find a worthy match for her--ta daaaa! Lucretia and Rabirius get along well enough and she loves their children, but she'd rather take her pension and retire to the country side. She's tired of politics and prophecies. At least the food from the Emperor's larder good.

To be honest I don't have much planned for their kids (had triplets on the first go) since I don't think I'll be in Tartosa much past when they've aged up into adulthood, but they're cute so here they are:

Rabirius I - Hot Headed

Secundus - Adventurous

Tertius - Squeamish

Rabirius is my backup for the political goal for this era, and as emperor he and Lucretia will be throwing parties to contribute to the "throw 50 parties" goal. Lucretia is also going to try and master cooking for one of the goals as well.

Other households:

The Gladiators

The Frugi Family

[homenecromancer]

@fishmech replied to your post “i said i wasn’t gonna reread any of the Brian...”:

its so funny how much they are star wars eu novels in quality and decisions on what needs explaining from the existing stuff. and like ofc kja is coauthor on all of them and he did a lot of star wars eu stuff, but still

​i had some time to kill while making dinner yesterday, so picked up Dune: House Atreides and oh my god. oh my god, this is exactly the vibe

i mean, for one thing, these prequels will inevitably disappoint if you've read Dune, because most of the main characters are people you know damn well survive to be in that book. there are multiple scenes, as well, that exist to flesh out an aside from the appendices to Dune, and they are not good at that. (like, there's a briefly-sketched scene in that appendix where a guy tries to kill Pardot Kynes, then chooses not to, because he's come to believe in Kynes's message. this scene gets repeated, and spun out to needless length, in Dune: House Atreides.)

i could probably find a lot to pick at in this book, but the fundamental thing really is this kind of... lack of trust in the reader. Frank Herbert is willing to offer the occasional brief explanation of his weird future concepts, but other than that, he expects the reader to pick things up as they go. the KJA + Brian Herbert team are continually stopping to explain things at length, or dropping references that don't really make sense except to assure the reader "yeah we read those books too"

like. the fact that Guild Navigators experience physical changes due to their massive spice addictions does not come up until it's referenced a little in Dune Messiah. it's a bit of a surprise when a Guildsman experiences contact lens failure near the end of Dune and we see that he has the Eyes of Ibad -- before this you know that spice is very important, but you don't know exactly why the Guild want it so bad. this little detail helps clue you in: aha! they use spice exactly as Paul does, as an aid to prescience! so a few pages later, you're ready when Paul uses this as a direct threat to the Guild. you have to wait for the next book to begin to learn that it's not just the eyes that change with sufficient spice exposure...

Dune: House Atreides, meanwhile, has a character seek employment with the Guild and tells you that it's a known fact in-universe that Guild Navigators are physically mutated by spice exposure. there's no tension about it.

oh also i want to mention this further detail. House Atreides and House Harkonnen are at each others' throats from the beginning of Dune, and it takes a bit for the root of this rivalry to be teased out:

after the Atreides take possession of Arrakis, there's a brief mention in a conversation between Jessica and Doctor Yueh, where Jessica says of the Baron: "...the poison in him, deep in his mind, is the knowledge that an Atreides had a Harkonnen banished for cowardice after the Battle of Corrin." cool! allusive! if you want to know more, you have to turn to the appendices...

there, you'll find this in the Baron's biographical note: "Vladimir Harkonnen is the direct-line male descendant of the Bashar Abulurd Harkonnen who was banished for cowardice after the Battle of Corrin." this doesn't tell you much more, except to verify what Jessica said. you proceed to the next appendix, the Terminology of the Imperium

and here's the entire entry about this battle: "CORRIN, BATTLE OF: the space battle from which the Imperial House Corrino took its name. The battle fought near Sigma Draconis in the year 88 B.G. settled the ascendancy of the ruling House from Salusa Secundus."

so now you can begin to theorize based on this: House Atreides were probably on the side of House Corrino in this battle, and may have been rewarded for that. House Harkonnen carried a grudge about all this for thousands of years -- they did not fully recover power until they were able to profit from melange trading, which would have to have occurred within eighty years of the book's beginning, since that's how long they've held Arrakis. you don't know specifically what the Harkonnens did at this space battle; you know what you really need to know, which is that the disruption it caused them has pissed them off for ten thousand years.

Frank Herbert just made you piece together all of this from less than a paragraph of text

Dune: House Atreides has a minor character effectively turn to the camera and say the following:

"The Atreides-Harkonnen breach goes back thousands of years. Don't you know anything about the Battle of Corrin, the great betrayal, the Bridge of Hrethgir? How a cowardly Harkonnen ancestor almost cost the humans our victory against the hated machine-minds? Corrin was our last stand, and we would have fallen to the final onslaught if an Atreides hadn't saved the day."

first of all i wanna be a nitpicker: this implies that this battle was part of the Butlerian Jihad. which is a problem given that the Terminology of the Imperium gives dates for the Jihad, and it ended in 108 B.G. the Battle of Corrin was twenty years later.

second of all this paragraph made me remember reading the even worse Dune prequels set during the Butlerian Jihad. yes. of course this event isn't left off-page for the reader to imagine. it happens on-page. and it sucks.

this post is nine million years long so i'm gonna shut up now, but anyway. these prequels are light, fluffy pageturners that would be perfectly fine airport novels, but also we've invented e-readers now, so you can just fucking bring some good books instead

[jayjtheunsispiciousmelodicathem]

Raised Roman Catholic of the Polish variety, although nowadays I don't really give much thought to my religious beliefs.

On a "formal" level, I'd say that the Pope is probably the thing that separates roman catholicism from other sects and religions, in that he's both a political figure and the top religious authority in christianity (kind of like the Dalai Lama). To the Polish people - to whom I belong - papacy is even more important, at least historically, because of pope Jan Paweł II (Iohannes Paulus Secundus, John Paul II), whose becoming pope was a major morale boost during the age of the PRL (Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa - Polish People's Republic; the communist era).

But to give a more everyday example, I think that roman catholicism differs from other western christian sects (western when looked through the lens of the Great East-West Schism of 1054, so both catholicism and protestantism) in several core aspects. First: the architecture. Catholic churches are ornate, opulent, beautiful, while protestant churches are more down-to-earth following Luther's sola fide (faith alone) principle. Even the churches of my hometown (which is very small) and the nearby village my grandparents live in are all very beautiful, there's art everywhere, ornaments, gilded motifs etc., not to mention the gothic churches in my college town. Protestant, and especially American churches, are much more tame in comparison (which is also the reason why catholicism made its churches so beautiful - it was all part of the counter-reformation: catholics put more money into art to show the glory of GD, and how much more glorious catholicism is compared to other churches).

Roman Catholics also exhibit a strong cult of St Mary - should you ever drive through Poland, you will find small roadside shrines with a statue of Virgin Mary with lots of flowers and colourful ribbons, sometimes in the spot where a driver died in an accident. Locally the cult of other saints might be stronger, but personally I've never met a person who actually invokes any saints in their prayers or blessings. Also fun fact: the patron saint of Poland is King (or Queen, but formally king) Hedwig of Poland, the first woman to be head of state of Poland!

Also from what I've seen, confessionals - small booths or rooms where you anonymously confess your sins and transgressions to a priest so they can prescribe you a bunch of prayers to get absolution for those sins are apparently not a thing in other denominations of christianity??? Like, I get it, sola fide, and confessing your sins to GD personally through prayer if you're protestant but like y'all are missing on a powerful literary motif.

I could also get into holidays, since more of them are generally observed than in other denominations (and if you're not observant to them, you might find yourself in quite the predicament, like when I wanted to go to the grocery store but didn't realise it was Corpus Christi that day, and couldn't buy my groceries :c ), but that varies from country to country.

And as for inherently catholic/catholic coded? As I said, confessionals feel very inherently catholic, and anonymously confessing to someone in a piece of media invokes that imagery to me.

As much as catholic guilt is often brought up when talking about religious trauma, and maybe it's just American catholics, or the religious education in my hometown just had good teachers (priests, catechists), but here I personally have never seen anyone feel bad for enjoying themselves, no matter how devoted they are to religion. Like, to diverge from the subject a bit, in elementary school we were taught Sex Ed by our religion teacher/catechist, and it wasn't sanitised, nor was there any demonisation of LGBT or contraception and stuff (although there are clergy in this country who do demonise those things, but that's the case for every single Abrahamic faith).

Anyway, personally I don't feel like catholic guilt is all that catholic - maybe some people experience it, but in Poland catholicism generally isn't as puritan as stereotypes make it to be.

Crucifices on walls and icons/paintings of St Mary with Baby Jesus. I haven't been in a household of a religious family and haven't seen at least one crucifix and St Mary with Baby Jesus.

Calling All Catholics!

Weird thing for a Jew to post I know I know but hear me out here.

I would like to hear from Catholics (current and ex/raised),

what do you feel separates your religion from others (both other sects of Christianity and other religions as a whole? what feels unique or specific to you/your culture/your beliefs/your church? this can be theological beliefs, practices, or even aesthetics

what things feel "inherently Catholic" or "Catholic coded" to you?

if you don't mind, would you also include what subset of Catholicism you are/were raised in (Roman, Byzantine, Irish, Opus Dei, etc)?

As you may have guessed, this is for research, and I personally only have experience with Roman Catholicism (and limited experience at that, more cultural than truly religious). I would love to hear from a larger subset of people. My family is extremely Italian Catholic but that's just one very specific version, and I don't have much/any experience with any others. I'm curious to see what the common ground is.

Reblogs/signal boosts are appreciated as I doubt I have like a SUPER broad Catholic following myself lol!