#lamastu

[wyrdwaysrockshow]

Wyrd Ways Rock Show CDXV

We’re in the final month of 2024.  From a personal standpoint, it’s not been a good year.  From a musical standpoint it’s been pretty amazing, proving yet again that Gene Simmons is an idiot.  Yet again, he’s spouting that “Rock is dead”.  He couldn’t be more wrong if he tried.  One look at the Wyrd Ways Rock Show playlists from the last couple of weeks would show him how wrong he is.  It’s not…

[dante-drafts]

Lazarus’ Patron Feeds

The cathedral creaks with the laughs of the Blood Matron as her vassal slips past the rust-hinged doors. As it sinks to its knees on jagged tile. As it waits, tears spilling from its eyes, for her to speak first. It has learned well since the first time they met. It has learned respect. It has learned not to speak unless addressed. 

But now is not the time for tests. “Speak, martyred one. What is it that you  need?” The rasp of her voice is a gust through the rafters. 

“I am here to uphold the terms of our pact,” it says. As it has always said, distant-cold, since the day its civil war started. Is that when it realized its mistake? Or only when it began to regret it? She sighs, and again the rafters tremble. She wishes it were not so. She likes its power. She likes it, the human-faerie doomed to crumble with her temple. 

There is not much that she can do. But she is a mother-matron. She sees its tears. “Why do you weep, martyred one?” 

It tilts its face up. Silver moonlight flickers in the liquid. Some alien emotion flickers in its eyes. “Why do you call me that, Blood Matron?” 

She flips through time like a picture-book, to every future-past in which her vassal dies. Dragon’s blood to wake the gods, a poisoned blade to save them. On the front lines of their civil war. “Why ask me? You are the one that always dies a martyr. Now, little one. Why do you weep?” 

It tilts its face down; cups its head in its palms. She hears the shaking gasps it tries to muffle, and the corpse rasp in its voice: “Feed, Matron.” 

She does. It does not flinch when she appears behind it, when she runs a nail along its neck in search of a vein. It does not turn to face her. She bites hard, fangs deep into its throat for its disrespect. And it does not stop itself from crying, from whimpering at the pain. 

And its blood is bitter-sweet as pomegranate. So she drinks dangerously deeply--that’s what it wants, after all. To suffer. She sees it now, as she draws away. Its stubborn disrespect? Its pliant-meekness as it waited? 

It forces itself to stand, swaying, woeful, on its feet. It falls. It turns wide eyes to her, crying again.

She backs away. “You believe that you deserve to suffer, yet you mourn when you do.”

 It looks away. “No.” The liquid in its eyes was something she knows well: apathy. To her? To the world? To itself? Whatever it is, it is pathetic. Perhaps she has never truly known it.

But again, it tilts its face to her. It shakes its head, pressing an open palm to the wound at its neck, and she sees the liquid has become determination. “I was mourning for the future, Blood Matron. I was wrong, and you corrected me. Thank you.” It tries to stand and staggers. Again, it falls. “If I may ask of you one more thing, Matron, could you help me to a bench?” 

It is charming, when it isn’t wallowing. So she nods, and offers it a hand. “Self-pity is a road to ruin.” And she vanishes, content on her fill. 

[flowercoffeebb]

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[Headlands Coffee]

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[FLOWER COFFEE / BREW BAR]

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[stevocoffeeblog]

Varietal: Gesha

Originally from Ethiopia. Gesha is a part of the Arabica family. It is grown all over the world. Gesha trees are coffee rust resistant.

It is a crossbreed of Robusta and Just like any varietal, Gesha will be used in any process.

It has set the record for being possibly the most expensive coffee in the world. In 2004, Hacienda La Esmeralda sold unroasted for $21 per pound. In 2019, a Gesha produced by Lamastus Family Estates nicknamed "Elida Natural Gesha 1029" sold for $1029 per pound. 100 pounds of this Gesha sold for $100,000.

Known for their Sweet floral notes that are almost tea like: jasmine or black teas, and even tropical fruit notes.

Examples of Gesha that you may have had or will try: I have sample roasted some gesha from Kona, or my favorite coffee grown by Letty Bermudez.

A lot of my current favorite coffees have been Gesha varietal. Multiple roasters sold Letty Bermudez: Manhattan Coffee Roasters from Rotterdamn, Netherlands and Hydrengea Coffee Roasters from Berkley, California. Both roast the coffee differently and have different flavor notes. I have yet to have a bad experience with this coffee. This just happens to be one of the varietals of coffee I have bought multiple bags.

[gorgonarcher]

13th Game - City of Mist

All right, time to get to the third of my four favorite games. (The last is Monster of the Week and will likely do that one late this year or early next year because there's a thing I'm waiting for).

(and just so it is the picture in the thumbnail, here's a City of Heroes made picture for this character)

So, City of Mist is a game of noir superheroes takes place in a city where people are empowered by connections to a story. This story can be any sort of thing ranging ancient myths to comic books to overall concepts. As some examples, here are some other characters I've made or seen in games:

Arachnae

Arthur Dent

The concept of names

Count of Monte Cristo

Dracula

D&D Cleric

D&D Wizard

East India Trading Company

Echidna

Euryale

Evangeline A.K. McDowell

Evil Queen

Frankenstein

Gamemaster

Lamastu

Lilith

Mathematics

Medusa

Movie Monsters

Orpheus

Perseus

Peter Pan

Pompei (the volcano)

Puppet Master

Stheno

Tengu Swordmaster

In any case, the characters will have a combination of a Mythos, the supernatural aspect that gives them power, and a Logos, their day to day normal life. Though "normal" here is relative because you could be a "vigilante" or "lab test subject" as easily as "housewife" or "fire fighter". The only thing is that it is something that we could reasonably see being a situation that someone would be in, in the real world.

From there, you choose four themebooks. There are Logos and Mythos themebooks and you need at least one of each. So you would have one of these combinations:

Touched: 3 Logos, 1 Mythos

Borderliner: 2 Logos, 2 Mythos

Legendary: 1 Logos, 3 Mythos

Within the narrative, a Legendary character is substantially more powerful than a Borderliner or Touched character, but gameplay wise all three are balanced in the amount of bonuses they can get to rolls. As explained here:

Each of the four themebooks represent major character themes. Perhaps you have a signature piece of gear, that would be Possessions themebook for mundane gear like a sports car or a Relic for a magic weapon. You might have a formative event from your past. That's a Defining Event. If you have powers to alter the world around you, that's Expression. So on and so forth.

Step One: Concept

So, to start with, I've done a build of this before, and that was Yuri Ayler, a competitive archer whose sister had died recently. I don't want to re-use that because it will prevent me from actually thinking through the idea. So I'm going to make a new character and I'm going to name her Steffani Noel. She goes by Stef.

Now, for her mythos, the obvious choice would be Stheno, given the name. But we're not required to do that. We could have Stef's mythos be Stheno specifically, Gorgons in a more general sense, or even the specific gorgon of a different story like Clash of the Titans.

In this case, I think I am going to say her Mythos is the idea of Gorgons in general rather than any specific one.

So now, let's consider the Logos. Let's think of some real world roles or occupations that could work with the idea of an archer. Yuri Ayler was a competitive sport archer, which is an option, of course, but I want to do something a bit different. City of Mist also mostly takes place within an urban environment, but there's accounting for having nearby semi-rural areas. So park ranger isn't completely out of bounds, but feels a bit meh. What I think I'm going to do is have her as a sporting goods store owner.

So that presents the following:

Name: Steffani "Stef" Noel

Mythos: Gorgon

Logos: Store Owner

Step Two: Themebooks

Now, we have to choose four themebooks. The options are as follows (themebooks from the Shadows and Showdowns supplement are marked as such):

Mythos

Bastion - Defensive powers

Divination - Sensory powers

Expression - Alter the world

Mobility - Movement powers

Subversion - Stealth powers

Adaptation - versatile powers

Relic - magical artifact

Conjuration (S&S) - summon creatures

Destiny (S&S) - Luck, fate, curses, prophecies, etc

Enclave (S&S) - Magical location

Familiar (S&S) - Magical companion

Logos

Defining Event - Formative event or experience

Defining Relationship - Mundane relationship

Mission - A chosen duty and drive

Personality - Manner of behavior

Possessions - Signature items

Routine - A set sequence you engage in regularly

Training - Skills you have acquired

Struggle (S&S) - Personal adversity

Turf (S&S) - mundane domain or reputation

I think Stef is going to be a borderliner. So, two of each. I'm actually going to make her a very locational based hero and give her both Turf and Enclave. Yuri didn't have the gaze, but in this case I think I will go for that and give Stef an Expression. For the fourth themebook, I'm going to go with Defining Event.

So now, we complete each of the Themebooks answering certain questions associated with each book. So, for each Themebook we're going to have the following:

One title for the theme.

One Concept which doesn't have much mechanics but forms a guideline for what makes sense for you to be able to do with that theme.

One Identity/Mystery, a statement of self that anchors you to your life or a question that drives you. Mythos themes get Mysteries, Logos themes get Identities.

Three Power Tag questions

One Weakness Question

A relationship with one of the other crew members.

In addition, we will choose one Theme to get an extra Power Tag and extra Weakness.

For the purposes of showing the History, we're going to give her four Crew members, one for each theme. This is a fairly large group to play this game with those. Anyway, that Crew will be:

Maxine Itami - Rift of the First Person Shooter and Online Gamer

Kylie Swift - Rift of the Banshee and Street Musician

Ada Sainz - Rift of the Hell Hound and Veterinarian

Mika Lala - Rift of Blahaj and Therapist

I'll explain the mechanics of Tags and Weaknesses after character creation.

Step Three - Use the Themebooks to choose theme components

So, we're going to start with the Logos themes.

Logos Theme - Turf

So, the themebook gives some basic questions to help inspire you about your concept for a themebook. I'm not sure I really need them and they don't particularly have mechanics attached, but I'll look through them anyway to see if it gives some ideas. Rather, there's a single question and three example answers.

The question is "What is your Domain?" and the answer is going to be a variation of "I am the head honcho at _________". And we're going to use the name of the shop as the title of the Turf.

Let's see, the mythical Python was a great serpent associated with oracles and a child of Gaea. They laired at Delphi and were slain by Apollo who set up his own oracle at Delphi.

So, we're going to go with "Gaea's Girl - Sporting Supplies". With a concept of "independently owned sporting good shop."

For the Identity, we can't just say what the Turf is, we have to make a statement about our relationship to it. Ambitions for its future, strong emotions attached to it, or other sorts of statements that can be threatened in game play. I'm going to say "This was Mother's gift to me and I'll make her proud." So, I'm going to say that her mother funded her to buy the land and building for her shop.

So, now we get to Power Tag and Weakness questions. Each Theme has ten possible Power Tag questions and four Weakness questions. Of these, we will answer the question marked with the letter A and choose two other questions and then we will choose one of the four weakness questions.

So for Power Tags, I'm choosing the following questions. (Again, question A is mandatory.

A: What area or domain do you control?

D: Who in your turf follows your orders?

I: What advantage do you have over your competition in your Turf

And for the Weakness, I'm going with:

B: What negative behavior or quality did you develop in your role as leader?

So, the answers should short statements, things that can be easily quoted as a catch phrase, or easily worked into a narrative description. And I'm going with the following.

Power Tags:

A: shop full of sporting gear

D: enthusiastic and well-paid team

I: loyal customer base

So, if she has a need for rope, tents, pitons, ammunition, or anything in that vein. She can get it easy enough from her own shop. Her employees are friendly and well-paid, so they are eager to be there. Finally, she has a lot of repeat customers and they lead on to other customers via word of mouth.

Weakness:

B: "No time to relax."

I envision that Stef puts everything she has into her business. She's probably the sort of owner that will cut her own pay rather than that of her employees and she probably doesn't delegate nearly as much work as she should.

Now Crew Relationships will provide either a Hurt or a Help related to the named Crew member. A Hurt is used to give a crew member a -1 to a roll while a Help is used to give them a +1. As a note, there are times when you can use a Hurt to prevent a crew member from doing something that you think will be bad from them in the long run. And you can use Help to push enable them along a self-destructive path. But these do generally represent lingering emotions between the two of you.

For this case I'm going with

"You once caught one of them operating in your turf. Tell them what you said. If they complied, take a Help point on them. If they ignored you, take a Hurt point on them."

What I think happened is she caught Kylie Swift busking outside her store and asked her to not do it so close to the entrances. However, Kylie refused to do it. Stef didn't want to resort to trespassing her team mate, and people have started to chuckle at or ignore the repeated low-stake arguments between the two. So Kylie continues to busk there and the result is a Hurt on Kylie.

Now we do the same for the other three themes.

Logos Theme - Defining Event

The inspiration question here is "What happened to you that changed your life forever?" So, what I'm going to say here is that her shop was robbed by a man with a couple of thugs with a gun and a Molotov cocktail. When the cocktail was thrown at one of her employees she moved to shove them out of the way and was badly burned as a result.

Title: Robbery and Arson

Concept: I was burned in an attempted robbery.

Identity: I'd do anything to protect my people.

Now for the Power Tag questions I want to answer:

A: What kind of strong emotion did your defining event leave you with?

F: What skill or mundane ability did you pick up during or due to your defining event?

H: What approach to life did you adopt following your defining event?

Next, the Weakness question:

D: What is now broken within you, physically or mentally, due to your defining event?

And the answers to the Power tags will be:

A: fierce rage and protectiveness

F: mastered the bow

H: "I can't let them down."

The whole event set a cold, snake-like fury into her veins. She will protect her people and her territory as much as she can. To do this, she picked up the bow, figuring it was a quiet weapon that was less regulated than guns. Finally, she has burdened herself with the need to make sure she lives up to the expectations of her family, employees, and customers... even if some of those expectations are ones she decided they should have of her.

Finally, the Weakness answer:

D: severe burn scars

Stef's face and body was severely burned, which comes with occasional spikes of pain and a decidedly shocking appearance that new people aren't used to.

For Stef's crew relationship here, I'm going to go with the following question:

"One of them is trying to help you (or make you) get over your defining event and move on. If you appreciate it, take a Help point on them. If you resent it, take a Hurt point on them."

I'm going to say that Mika has been trying to be there for Stef and be someone to listen to. She provides counter points to some of Stef's most self-destructive arguments and thoughts on the matter and is basically trying to slowly chip away at the damage. Stef appreciates this and thus she takes Help on Mika.

Mythos Theme - Expression

So, where as Logos themes get an Identity that anchors things to the character's non-supernatural life, the Mythos has a Mystery which is a question that drives them forward into adventure. The Expression theme is all about how the character's supernatural power influences the world around them. This can include things like mind control, weather control, super strength, fire powers, or anything of the like.

The inspiration question is "What change does your Mythos wish to effect in the world?"

The phrasing of that is important. It is unclear what exactly the Mythos is. Possibilities include:

The truth of a supernatural being that has forgotten who they are.

The influence of an entity reliving itself through a human.

A metaphysical modeling of powers via a familiar tale.

The game calls the heroes "Rifts" but notes that the term is mostly for game-mechanic purposes, to have something in text to refer to, and that in-universe there's no common term that all the Rifts go by. Some Rifts have never even heard of the story they gain power from, while for others it is a well known story they have long thought about.

What is consistent is that the Mythos is more about repeating its story than about seeking the goals of the beings in that story. As such letting the Mythos rampant and override the Logos, called becoming an Avatar, is never something you want to last very wrong. An Avatar has lost connection to humanity and it will do everything to recreate its story on an epic scale. A Rift of a legendarily kind entity still becomes a monstrous danger because the Mythos doesn't have the entity's morals... it just wants to repeat the rehash the story.

So, how does the Gorgon wish to change the world? Let's say the Gorgon wants to punish everyone for her suffering.

That said, let's look at this:

Title: Gorgon's Gaze

Concept: The gorgon seeks to punish the world for her suffering.

Mystery: Why did this happen to me?

For the Power Tag Questions:

A: What is the most common way you use your Mythos to affect the world?

G: What additional expression, not necessarily related to the main one, does your mythos have?

J: How can you use your power to shield yourself, especially from similar effects?

And the Weakness:

A: What situations or conditions weaken or suppress your Mythos' Expressions

The Power Tag answers will be:

A: petrifying gaze

G: vipers for hair

J: bulwark of rage

So, of course, the primary expression is her ability to turn people to stone with a look, but she also has vipers for hair which she could attack with or use to spot trouble coming. Most people wouldn't notice the snakes because the Mist hides the supernatural aspects of the world from most people. Finally, she is protected by the vast amount of rage she now harbors in her heart. This makes it especially difficult to affect her with emotional attacks or to stop her through mere pain.

With the Weakness answer being:

A: They have to see me.

Unfortunately, if someone can't see her, they're not going to be affected by her gaze. They can still be bitten by the snakes, but a significant portion of her power has been avoided by people that can't see her.

Crew Relationships for Mythos themes talk about how the two crew members have interacted with or relate to each other's powers and Mythoi. Perhaps one Mythoi feels a kinship or suspicion with another. Perhaps one Rift has helped you protect or deal with your supernatural abilities. For this I'm going with the following question:

"To your Mythos, one of them seems like the modern-day version of a character in its legend. If they were your foe in the legend, take a Hurt point on them. If they were your ally or loved one, or if you were their rescuer, take a Help point on them."

I'm going to say that they have mixed feelings about Maxine Itami, they recognize Maxine's past and near death experience is similar to their own situation with the robbery. However, the Gorgon part of her (assuming it is part of her and not an eldritch other) looks at Maxine and is reminded of the various adventurers that come to their lair to slay the monster. So, she takes a Hurt on Maxine.

Mythos Theme - Enclave

The inspiring question for this is going to be "What location serves an important role in your mythos?" In this case I'm going to say it's a Statuary Garden full of the trophies of past victories and places to hide and ambush foes. As we want Stef to be a hero, I'm ambivalent on having the garden fell of actual petrified enemies. It could be that a representative trophy is made when a victory occurs. On the other hand, this game tends to be on the gritty side, so she might very well store the statues of people she found too dangerous to let live.

It's important to remember that every hero in City of Mist has the seeds to become a villain.

So, for the concept section:

Title: Statuary Garden

Concept: A place that carries reminders of pain and conflict.

Mystery: "How can I bring life to this ruin?"

So now we go to the Power Tag questions:

A: What or where is your Enclave?

C: How can you access your Enclave quickly, discreetly, etc?

J: What item, skill, or quality do you keep when you leave the Enclave?

With the Weakness question of:

B: What happens when you've spent too long in your Enclave?

The answers for the power tags are as follows:

A: ruin of dark shadows and terror

C: walk through lonely places

J: instinct for stalking

The statuary garden is a lonely place that appears to have been abandoned for centuries and allowed to become overgrown and falling apart. There are statues of people and animals in poses of terror all over the place. Stef can access the garden, or lead people to it, by walking through lonely areas, like an abandoned building, or an unknown alleyway. She probably has a basement storage mostly forgotten about in her shop that she can use to reach it as well. This means that if she plans her route, then she can lead enemies into the garden for a battle. Finally, she has learned how to stalk enemies through her time in the garden.

Finally the Weakness answer comes as follows:

B: depression and self-loathing

The garden as it currently exists is a place of death and destruction and does nothing to remind Stef of anything good about her life. Staying too long in the garden will deepen the negative ways she views herself. Especially as her Mystery drives her to find out how she can bring life to the place again and make it something different.

For the crew relationship question I'm choosing to answer

"When your Enclave was in danger of being discovered or damaged, one of them stepped up to cover for your or had your back. Take a Help point on them."

I'm going to say it was Ada Sainz and say that in an early case when some thugs managed to get into the Garden somehow while Stef was busy, Ada followed and took care of them.

Extra Tags

Now we come to one Theme that will get an extra Power Tag and an Extra Weakness tag. And I feel like I've got most of the Themes where I want them for the start of this character, but I feel like the Statuary Garden could use more filling out.

So, we're going to get a fourth Power Tag and second Weakness for Enclave. These are going to be:

Power Tag D: What protects your Enclave?

Weakness Tag D: What could hinder you from accessing or using your Enclave?

And these will be the Answers:

Power D: serpents and shadows

Weakness D: too many bystanders

So, now we can further see that the garden is full of shadowy places to hide in and many serpents which will help her defend the place by attacking intruders. Unfortunately, if there are too many people around, she won't be able to reach it. So if she leads enemies through what she expects to be an empty warehouse and instead finds a rave, she'll be stuck in the mundane world.

Crew Theme

A Crew theme is like any other themebook with some differences. Every character in the Crew has access to it and its Tags will "burn" when they are used. What this means is that whenever the team uses a Crew power tag to add a bonus to a roll or introduce something to the story then that tag cannot be re-used until something is done to refresh it. A character's tags can also burn, but usually that's as a result of making a desperate gamble or as a consequence of bad luck.

There's also only one set of Crew theme questions, though there are a lot of example ways to create them.

As with the other themebooks there are some inspiring questions before we get to Power Tags and Weaknesses.

What is our shared goal?

Who or what brought us together?

Why do we work together? What does each member contribute to the cause?

Where do we meet? Where do we collect our evidence or prepare for action?

What sort of resources do we have at our disposal?

Three of the stories I chose are related to violence or death, and are similar in many ways to each other. The fourth member I deliberately made an outlier to anchor them and made it a story about the kindness of a shark bringing food to an old man. I'm thinking the group is trying to resist the gentrification of their neighborhood and have found that there are supernatural forces at play in the situation.

Also, note, that for a Crew theme, you can give it either an Identity or a Mystery. We're going for an Identity in this case.

Title: Peach Circle Protectors

Identity: This is our home and nobody's going to take it.

Concept: A crew of superheroes resisting gentrification and other threats.

For the Power Tag questions, we can choose any three questions and are not required to answer the A question... but I'm going to anyway. I'm choosing:

A: How do you help, assist, or support one another?

C: Who is guiding, backing, or assisting your operation?

H: What sort of reputation or name have you made for yourselves?

The Weakness tag I am going for will be the following:

D: What places or situations do you find tough to handle?

So the answers to the Power tags will be as follows:

A: understanding and honesty

C: Countess and Princess

H: reliable and down to Earth

So, despite everything, the four have all experienced tragedy and initially came together through a support group before learning that the four of them all had some supernatural things as well as the public trauma. As such, they have gained a habit of trying to be honest and supportive of each other. It's not a 100% successful thing. Things are still hidden and feelings are still hurt, but they have a better connection than most.

The Countess and Princess are a reference to one of my past played characters (Patricia Althius, Rift of the Count of Monte Cristo and Lamashtu) and her girlfriend (Hayley Hayami, Rift of Medusa) who later in the campaign would have come back as mysterious rich people to start to carry out their revenges on various evil-doers. I felt these two in late game would make a good support for this vengeance-focused team.

Finally, the local neighborhood may not know everything the team has done for them, heck they might not even know who the team is if secret identities are going on, but there's an ongoing reputation that the local heroes have a good head on their shoulders.

And next is the Weakness:

D: "There's never enough money."

Even with patrons like The Countess and The Princess, there's only so much money the team has available. And most of their backer's resources are mythical and supernatural anyway, that's hard to convert into a bank account.

Tags and Weaknesses

So, what do tags do? Whenever you apply a tag to a roll you gain a +1 bonus to that roll. When weaknesses are applied then you instead apply a -1 to the roll but you also grant that Theme one Attention and after three Attention you can give the Themebook an Improvement.

Tags also apply narrative justification for certain things. For example, Stef is going to have snakes for hair, and that will justify her attacking someone and giving them a venom related status as a result. Other characters would have to explain where the poison came from first.

Now, what's stopping you from using all tags on every roll? First of all, the tag has to apply, "petrifying gaze" isn't going to do anything to help breaking down a stone door, for example. Second is that you can't apply the same tag twice to the same situation. For example, say you had the tag "Bomb Disposal Expert" and added that to a roll for disarming a bomb but the roll doesn't completely end the danger. Well, you won't be able to use that tag on the next roll, because you've already applied those skills to this problem.

For Stef, she could apply the "petrifying gaze" to attempt to turn a hitman to stone, but perhaps she doesn't quite finish him off. On a future attack she would still be applying the petrifying gaze narratively, but she couldn't use the tag for a bonus to the roll because she's already thrown that in there. The stoning is still happening, yes, but the roll needs support elsewhere.

In combat, we tended to work this out by saying repeatedly attacking with no variation was just doing the same action over and over again and thus you would have a slowly dwindling supply of tags to use in the fight. Every so often, we'd then try to change up the strategy and create a new situation to justify refreshing all those tags.

As another note, it is possible to use a Weakness for a +1 (doing so would not grant Attention) or a Power tag for a -1 (doing so would grant Attention) if it makes sense. For example, Stef could use her "severe burn scars" to help her out intimidating someone or maybe even empowering her "petrifying gaze". Or the GM might poke her tag about "I can't let them down" as a -1 due to her being worried about someone getting hurt because she failed.

As a note, the same Tag can't be used for both a +1 and a -1 on the same roll. Similar to the "Bomb Disposal Expert" example above on using the same tag twice, that fact is already influencing matters.

Breaking Themes

It is also important to note that themebooks can go away and change. Mythos themes can Fade as that part of your legend is forgotten and Logos themes can Crack as that facet of your life is shattered or left behind. This is not a bad thing and exists for the most part at the control of the character.

When a theme cracks, the character will receive some "Build-Up" which allows for taking a global improvement called a "Moment of Evolution". Unlike with Attention to improve a themebook, global improvements require five Build Up and the only way to gain Build Up is to lose a theme.

Once a theme is lost, it will be replaced with a theme of the opposite type. A Mythos theme will be replaced by a Logos theme and vice versa. If the last theme of a type is lost then it will not be replaced and the character will instead have three Logos (becoming a Sleeper) or three Mythos (becoming an Avatar). These are both meant to be temporary states of being and once the character comes out of them, they will vanish for a while before returning as a basically an entirely fresh character, rebuilding themselves from scratch. A character who went Avatar will come back as a Touched and a character who went Sleeper will come back as a Legendary.

This mechanic allows for some of the deepest mechanical support of character development I've ever seen in any RPG. Look above at the two pictures of Patricia and Hayley to see the gulf in how they begin the game and how they end it. And the best part is that these changes are very very rarely dictated by the dice. They almost always come as a result of informed player choice. And even when dice cause it, the player is informed of the possibility of the risk before they roll.

All that said, here's the collection of themebook cards for Stef Noel. I used the character sheet template on Roll20 for this graphic. Also note that I write down the letter of the questioned that is answered for each tag so that if there's question of what context the tag exists in we can look it up.

[tempi-dispari]

New Post has been published on https://www.tempi-dispari.it/2024/02/13/ultima-la-musica-oggi-ha-tutto-forse-troppo/

Ultima: la musica oggi ha tutto... forse troppo

Gli Ultima sono una interessante realtà djent nostrana. Incredibile padronanza tecnica e sensibilità melodica rendono il loro lavoro davvero degno di nota. In questa intervista raccontano del loro ultimo disco, Bloom the ego, del loro concetto di underground, di come ascoltare sempre e solo i classici limiti la scoperta di nuovi artisti meritevoli di attenzioni e altri interessanti spunti.

Una presentazione per chi non ti conosce

Bella! Noi siamo gli Ultima, un gruppo di amici (ormai fratelli) che si impegna il più possibile per cercare di fare le cose fighe! Facciamo Djent / prog metal dove sembriamo cattivissimi ma in realtà siamo buoni

Iniziamo dal vostro ultimo lavoro. Come è nato?

’Bloom The Ego’ non è nato come album, lo è diventato dopo. Quando ci siamo formati abbiamo semplicemente continuato a comporre il più possibile in tutte la maniere possibili (tutti in sala prove, tutti a casa di Patrik (chitarra), Matteo (voce) da solo che mandava demo che avremmo poi rivisitato in sala, Jacopo (batteria) che faceva intere strutture che poi mandava ai chitarristi etc.). Una volta raggiunto un certo numero di brani abbiamo scelto quelli di cui eravamo più convinti, formando così l’album.

Il vostro genere, una casualità o una scelta?

È stata una scelta dal giorno 1. Ci siamo tutti innamorati dei Periphery in primo luogo e da allora è stato subito deciso che quello era ciò che volevamo fare, sia perché ci è piaciuto troppo, perché era una sfida estrema a livello tecnico e anche perché secondo noi è il metal del presente e del futuro.

Da dove nascono i vostri testi?

Nascono spesso da sensazioni/avvenimenti che vive il membro/i che scrive il testo (può capitare che oltre al cantante Matteo scrivano i testi anche Patrik o il batterista Jacopo, non abbiamo una regola fissa). Altre volte invece prendiamo ispirazione da avvenimenti storicamente accaduti come nel è stato nel caso di ‘Wolves’ dove parliamo del disastro di Chernobyl, oppure nel caso dell’ormai penultimo singolo abbiamo raccontato la storia della divinità mesopotamica Lamastu.

Quanto conta la preparazione tecnica oggi?

Allo stato attuale conta poco, ma ci sentiamo in dovere di dirlo: dovrebbe contare molto di più. Alle volte può capitare che dei brani di una x band suonino da Dio all’ascolto, poi però live cadono le braccia perché spesso sembra che non sia nemmeno la stessa band, mentre secondo noi (per quanto possibile) una band dovrebbe suonare bene in studio ma altrettanto bene anche dal vivo.

L’aspetto più difficile del vostro metodo compositivo?

La cosa più complessa è avere la mentality per mantenere i ritmi serrati, soprattutto per il fatto che in fase compositiva abbiamo la regola di essere tutti presenti in maniera tale che tutti possano dare il proprio contributo, cosicché una volta terminato il brano non ci siano dubbi o rimpianti: meglio di così non potevamo.

Come vi siete trovati per suonare assieme?

Jacopo e Massimo che suonavano già insieme in una precedente band hanno aperto il progetto, subito dopo si è unito Patrik (che suonava con Jacopo prima ancora di Massimo). Matteo (basso) lo abbiamo trovato per miracolo sull’allora già morente Villaggio Musicale e dopo una serie di tentativi con vari cantanti siamo finalmente incappati su Matteo (voce) che si è unito a noi dopo qualche mese.

Che cosa manca alla musica di oggi?

È proprio quello il fatto: alla musica non manca nulla anzi, c’è troppa roba. Oltre ad essere musicisti e compositori per sperare di ottenere qualche soddisfazione è necessario essere anche content creator, manager, editor, producer, pr…Tutto ciò rende tutto molto più complesso, però sembra quasi un gioco di ruolo dove devi livellare il personaggio per poter progredire nella storia e ogni volta succede sempre qualcosa di nuovo da aggiungere al proprio bagaglio di memorie. Tutto ciò è estremamente eccitante e divertente!

Se doveste iniziare adesso a fare musica, quale via scegliereste?

La stessa che abbiamo scelto all’inizio del progetto. Ci rifiutiamo di cambiare stile o genere solo per il gusto di seguire le tendenze del momento, questa è la nostra personalità quindi poco cambierebbe.

Qual è oggi la difficoltà maggiore, secondo voi, per le band storiche (parliamo di underground)?

Raggiunta una certa età è sempre complesso portare avanti progetti simili. Perché poi entra in gioco la famiglia, il lavoro e tutto il resto. Per di più la musica evolve e se non si è disposti ad evolvere con lei è facile che la passione venga a mancare dopo un certo periodo.

In tanti dicono che troppi artisti cercano di riprodurre ciò che è stato nel passato perché la musica di oggi non vale nulla. Il tuo punto di vista?

Mah ragazzi, noi ce ne laviamo le mani. Tanto ci sarà sempre il bulletto di turno a cui non va bene qualcosa. Che continuino ad ascoltarsi i primi Metallica o i Led Zeppelin se vogliono, non sanno che si perdono un mondo incredibile formato da altrettanto persone incredibili, sicché il problema è tutto loro. È necessario far riferimento a band del passato proprio perché ci possono essere degli spunti, se avessimo la sfera di cristallo faremmo affidamento pure sulle band del futuro!

La musica oggi dovrebbe essere più…?

La musica oggi deve essere più guardinga. Perché gli emergenti sono incazzati a causa del nonnismo che alle volte percepiamo e prima o dopo ci si renderà conto che gli emergenti alle volte sono molto più preparati dei professionisti, sia tecnicamente, professionalmente e mentalmente.

Un artista o una band per cui vi piacerebbe aprire? Ma noi non vogliamo aprire, noi ci meritiamo l’headlining!! No dai si scherza. Beh potremmo risultare ripetitivi ma noi avremmo troppo piacere di scendere in guerra con (o contro?) i Periphery. Essendo nati grazie a quasi solo la loro esistenza sarebbe per noi un onore impagabile.

Una che vorresti aprisse per voi? I Periphery! Se dovesse mai essere che loro aprono a noi allora significa che siamo arrivati <3

Il vostro concetto di underground?

L’underground è un luogo bellissimo, alle volte un po’ balordo, pieno di mafie varie, ma davvero scavando sotto terra si capiscono i valori della musica e non solo. È un luogo dove ci si può arricchire di esperienze!

La sua ‘malattia’ peggiore? La cura? La malattia è spesso non essere in grado di replicare live i brani registrati. La cura? In linguaggio da gaming noi diciamo “grindate Cristoddio” (studiate/allenatevi). Perché volete azzardare cose che non sapete suonare?

Una band o un artista underground che consigliereste? Non si supporta la concorrenza… (LOL)… A parte gli scherzi non ce la sentiamo di fare nomi perché di sicuro dimentichiamo qualcuno involontariamente. Perché si, c’è moltissima gente che merita molta più visibilità. Ma per adesso son tutti fossilizzati a guardare le trashate ridicole su Sanremo piuttosto che cercare su Spotify qualche gruppetto emergente che faccia qualsiasi genere.

Una mainstream che ti stupisce? Abbiamo già detto Periphery? Solo per il fatto che hanno una costanza incredibile nel fare album e anche per il fatto che sono dei demoni in tutto. Hanno costruito un impero fatto non solo di musica: si sono aperti la loro etichetta, vendono samples midi delle loro batterie, in 4 su 5 sono produttori, fanno clinic, sono endorser di cose che esulano pure dal contesto musicale etc.

Ieri l’idea, oggi il disco, e domani… Boh! Noi continuiamo semplicemente a fare quello che più ci piace e a rispettare le scadenze varie che siamo preposti. Ci siamo resi conto che alla fine della fiera la cosa più importante è il viaggio, non la destinazione. Poi se arriva anche quella meglio!

Una domanda che non vi hanno mai posto ma vi piacerebbe vi fosse rivolta? “Se aveste la possibilità di vedere il futuro, vedendo quindi dove siete stati in grado di arrivare e i vostri peggiori errori, cosa fareste?”.

Riposta: non faremmo niente perché rifiuteremmo l’offerta di vedere il nostro futuro. Non ci vogliamo spoilerare e precludere nulla.

Se foste voi ad intervistare, ipotizzando di avere a disposizione anche una macchina del tempo, chi intervistereste e cosa gli chiedereste? Probabilmente uno dei gruppi più big di sempre nel metal. Slipknot oppure anche i Metallica. Chiederemmo: ne è valsa la pena fare tutto questo? Come ci si sente dall’altra parte? Qual’è la cosa più importante? Cosa cambia dall’avere successo o dall’avere una vita normale?

Un saluto e una raccomandazione a chi vi legge

Ciao a tutti ragazzi, speriamo di non avervi annoiati! Non siamo nessuno per poter raccomandare cose e non abbiamo nemmeno voglia di spammarci dicendovi di seguirci nel viaggio che vorremmo far con voi, ma un messaggio lo vogliamo trasmettere: fate quel che vi piace, già solo facendolo vi renderete conto che ne vale la pena!

[importantdeerpizza]

Also:

Lylyt, Lilin, Abito, Abizo, Amozrpho, Haqash, Odam, Kephido, Ailo, Tatrota, Abniqta, Shatrina, Kalubtza, Tiloi, Pirtsha, Lamastu.

&

The Whore of Babylon, The Mother of Harlots, The Mother of Abominations.

& also:

The female of Samael,

Serpent,

Woman of Harlotry,

End of All Flesh,

End of Days.

[dante-and-dragons]

Tagging System!

I'm making a tag system for this blog because I post here infrequently enough that I'll actually use the tagging system, and also because I want to be able to navigate it and come back to posts. This also isn't a comprehensive tagging system, it's just for me to find things related to my campaigns.

My three campaigns are Order of the Owlbears (DM), Seasalt and Seamen (Player - Intrepid), and The Lunch Bunch (DM). The Lunch Bunch is also a working name; I'll almost certainly change it later (hopefully). More specific tags are under the cut (they're basically the same tags as my writing blog).

Miscellaneous Tags

thelle the changeling

shadow of the people

Order of the Owlbears (tags -> #order of the owlbears, #ooto spoilers)

lucifer/lazarus trevils

lamastu/the blood matron

duncan/leandro tre

aurelio/adelio thaetas

lucinda cosop

viktor cosop

matthian b. hunt

Seasalt and Seamen (tags -> #seasalt and seamen, #s&s spoilers)

intrepid/akmensus morrigan

elea morrigan

vivian rand

The Lunch Bunch (tags -> #the lunch bunch, #tlb spoilers)

[currently no specific tags]

[defensenow]

LaMastus, Penne, Newby selected as top Airmen for 2022

123rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs | Story by Dale Greer | Saturday, March 25, 2023

[sag-dab-sar]

Lilitu is NOT a Goddess of sex and war. They are demons, with Ardat-Lili usually being the one people try to claim is Lilith. They are nothing like what neo-pagans / left-hand path people claim Lilith is like.

Lil-demons:

From Mesopotamian Pandemonium by Frans A M Wiggermann:

The ghosts of (unmarried) youngsters who died sexually unfulfilled become lil-spirits, a type of "phantoms" or "apparitions" that try to satisfy their needs with the living, and in the process cause suffering and disease; the female ones are particularly aggressive.

The group of lil-spirits consists of:

Ardat lilî / Kiskilīlu — "phantom-bride"

Eṭel lilî — "phantom-bridegroom"

Lilītu — "female phantom"

Lilû — "male phantom"

and probably

Naššuqītu "(phantom-)kisser (demoness)".

The plural "lil-spirits" occurs only in Pazuzu's qualification "king of the evil lil-spirits", and must cover Lamaštu, one of the beings over whom Pazuzu exerts power as king.

The remarkable and unexplained grouping of sexually unsatisfied spirits under a king cannot be independent from the king's equally remarkable and unexplained serpentine penis.

From Gods Demons & Symbols by Jeremy Black & Antony Green:

Lilitu

The male lilû and the two females lilitu and ardat-lilî are a sort of family group of demons. They are not gods. The lilû haunts desert and open country and is especially dangerous to pregnant women and infants. The lilitu seems to be a female equivalent, while the ardat-lilî (whose name means 'maiden lilû') seems to have the character of a frustrated bride, incapable of normal sexual activity. As such, she compensates by aggressive behaviour especially towards young men.

The ardat-lilî, who is often mentioned in magical texts, seems to have some affinities with the Jewish Lilith (e.g.Isaiah 34:14). "She is not a wife, a mother; she has not known happiness, has not undressed in front of her husband, has no milk in her breasts." She was believed to cause impotence in men and sterility in women. A plaque thought possibly to depict her shows a scorpion-tailed she-wolf about to de. vour a young girl.

From Gods & Goddess of Ancient Mesopotamia by Stuckey and Frayne

Lil, Lilla, Kisikil-lila (Sum.), Lilû(m), Lilitu(m), Ardat-lili (Akk.)

The name derives from Sumerian lil, "air, spirit." The Akkadian Liliu(m) and Lilitu(m) haunted the open spaces and deserts.

They posed a threat to pregnant women and infants. They had no spouse and were sexually predatory, rather like incubi and succubi. The Lilitu(m) was incapable of "normal" sexual activity and was very aggressive with young men. She could not give birth or suckle a child. It was a Lilitu(m) that made its home in the trunk of Inana's haluppu-tree and refused to leave. Lili-tu(m) seems later to have been assimilated with the baby-stealing monster Lamastu(m).

Sumerian Kisikil-lila and Akkadian Ardat-lili mean "Maiden Air Spirit." The demons, particularly the Ardat-lili, were often mentioned in magical texts and incantations. The Ardat-lili were credited with causing sterility in women and impotence in men.

.▪️.

No matter what source you find, they are demons, not a Goddess. Please don't spread misinformation to fight misinformation and cultural appropriation. Information on Lilith.

There is a Mesopotamian Lili goddess attested only in a theophoric personal name. And another Goddess Lil / Lil(l)u as a name for Belet-ili a mother/birth Goddess or the child of Ninḫursaĝa and Šulpa'e & sibling of Ašgi and Lisina (Stuckey). These are clearly not what people are referring to when they make the Sumerian origin claim.

There are plenty of Goddesses of Sex and War, all of these spread beyond the originating pantheons:

Inana (Sumerian)

Nanaya (Sumerian)

Ištar (Akkadian/Babylonian)

Attart [Astarte in Greek] (Ugarit/Canannite)

Išhara (Eblaite/Anatolian)

Šaušga (Hurrian/Anatolian)

Aphrodite Areia / Aphrodite Hôplismenê (Greek)

Venus Victrix (Roman)

If you need "edgy" Goddesses:

Ereškigal (Sumerian)— Queen of the Underworld

Allani [Allatum in Akkadian] (Hurrian/Anatolian) — Goddess of the Underworld

Išnekarap (Elamite) — Goddess of the Underworld and assistant in the cult of the dead

Ištuštaya (Hattian) — Underworld Goddess of fate

Papaya (Hattian) — Underworld Goddess of fate

Tiamat [modern worship] (Akkadian/Babylonian) — Primordial Salt Sea , "Dragon", has an entourage of monsters

Sekhmet (Egyptian) — War

Tannit (Phoenician/Carthaginian) — War

Enyo (Greek) — War

Eris (Greek) — Discord & Strife

Alala (Greek) — Personified War Cry

No one needs to make up the worship of literal demons as alternatives to Lilith. No one needs to culturally appropriate Lilith to find a sex & love Goddess in the ANE & Mediterranean.

People cling to Lilith because they believe ahistorical claims about her. They see her as antithetical to the Christian (or ""Abrahamic"") Patriarchal God. The "woman" who defied the Christian God by refusing to be subjugated to her husband's authority. Thats why they can't let her go: cultural Christianity.

--

*Edited to turn photos into texts and add a bit of information on the other Lil Goddess

-not audio proof read-

the frustrating thing about the lilitu/lilith debate, for me at least is

like, yes, the ancient sumerians were pretty open with their religion

but even if lilith was 'inspired by' or another form of her

that doesn't mean that she could still be worshipped and whatnot by gentiles?

like on a spiritual level, if you think about it, her making herself known in a specific way to a specific culture means something, and people who aren't from that culture trying to dilute and steal that is disrespectful as hell.

if they really are the same person, then why can't you worship lilitu? why is worshipping this specific iteration (in their minds) of her so important to you?

this is the goddess of sex and war and such that you want lilith to be! you don't have to twist up another culture's religion to make her that! lilitu is everything they want lilith to be! so why can't they just worship lilitu?

insisting on worshipping lilith is, quite frankly, disrespectful to her and disrespectful to jews.

just. worship. lilitu.

This. 👆🏼

Like, why is there even a debate to begin with. Lilitu is Mesopotamian, Lilith is Jewish, the end.

[soritadeste]

The Seven Names of Lamastu is an exploration of the religions and mysteries of the cradle of civilisation, Mesopotamia by Jan Fries, author of Kali Kaula and Dragon Bones. The Sumerians developed the first functional script (3500-3200 BC), the priests wrote god lists, dictionaries, catalogues, recorded spells, myth and poetry – and committed the first known medical prescriptions and rituals into writing. In the centre of their faith lurks the lustful animal-headed goddess DIM.ME/Lamaštu , exiled from Heaven for her forbidden desires, and charged by the council of Gods with a fearsome task: to cull the vulnerable and keep the human population within manageable limits. For all but a few, her name conjured terror in the hearts of Mesopotamians.

https://www.avaloniabooks.com/product-page/the-seven-names-of-lama-tu-by-jan-fries

[dante-drafts]

Tag System/Ongoing Projects

When tagging my writing, first I’ll put “my writing,” then the characters involved, then the project/thing it’s related to, then the genre, and then any vaguely-related tags.

Projects/Tags

order of the owlbears

seasalt and seamen

esterau academy

out of the blackbird’s throat

reaper’s world

miscellaneous writing

writing memes

Below the cut are more detailed descriptions of each of these projects along with the characters that might be tagged as a part of them. 

Order of the Owlbears

This is a homebrewed D&D campaign that I’ve been running since 2020 that revolves around the aftermath of a holy war in a majority-fire-genasi country. I write a lot of very angsty pieces for the NPCs of this campaign, especially Lazarus and Lucinda. Many of the NPCs have several names, so the list below has their names written out exactly as they will be in my tags.

Characters/Tags:

lucifer/lazarus trevils

lamastu/the blood matron

duncan/leandro tre

aurelio/adelio thaetas

lucinda cosop

viktor cosop

matthian b. hunt

ooto spoilers

Seasalt and Seamen

This is a seafaring D&D campaign that my friend (@a-h-li) is running. I’ll mostly be posting works related to my character, Intrepid/Akmensus Morrigan, who is a swashbucker rogue tiefling with one level in bard and a little dash of trauma. Those pieces might also mention the NPCs associated with their backstory. 

Characters/Tags

intrepid/akmensus morrigan

elea morrigan

vivian rand

s&s spoilers

Out of the Blackbird’s Throat

This is an ongoing work that I’m posting on Wattpad. It focuses on the aftermath of a human-vampire war and the (non-romantic) relationship between the generals of both sides: Cynfael Engilram and Milo Corvinus. Currently, I’m going back to do a bit of editing, so there aren’t any new chapters being published at the moment, but I usually update it on Fridays every week. Here is a link to it. (At the moment it isn’t very cohesive and the characters are a little inconsistent, hence the break for editing.)

Characters/Tags

cynfael engilram

milo corvinus

beverly rush

Reaper’s World

This is my biggest ongoing project at the moment (despite not having a title). I’m planning on eventually publishing this as a book, so most likely I won’t be posting too much from/about it besides progress updates or complaints about the writing process. As such, “reaper’s world” is the only tag you need to know for it. 

Miscellaneous Writing

I have a lot of random characters that aren’t a part of a larger project, but the only one coming to mind right now is Patch (a character designed loosely using Cyberpunk Red’s character creation system). I’ll update this as I post more random bits of writing. 

Characters/Tags

patirix ‘patch’ mcguile/ego-patch/patch-consul

writing prompts

[ishtargates]

A Neo-Babylonian plaque depicting the head of the demon Pazuzu looking over various animal-headed beings.  At the bottom is the demoness Lamashtu known for attacking children and babies.  Mesopotamian women wore amulets and had plaques like this one depicting Pazuzu to protect their children.

If you look closely under Pazuzu’s head you can see the star symbol of Inanna/Ishtar.

The book from which the picture is from is Markham J. Geller’s Evil Demons:  Canonical Utukku Lemnutu Incantations.  The picture itself is from the twitter of Dr. Moudhy Al-Rashid.

~Hasmonean

[bittersweetblasphemy]

aight i guess this one is on my ass knowing him more as a wind deity who protects against demons like Lamastu but looks like he was also considered a dangerous demon himself

confession time. i have never watched the exorcist. but im watching it now and my husband is listening to me yell about the "archaeology" going on.

WHY DOES EVERYONE HAVE SLEDGEHAMMERS AND PICKAXES

kid shows up "they found something... small pieces" YEAH I BET EVERYTHING IS IN SMALL PIECES

no wonder this demon is pissed. people hacking apart their ancient site of worship instead of caring the tiniest bit about preservation

[osbornelius]

One of the most annoying things about translating new cuneiform texts has got to be finding all the parallels, like I know I've seen this line before but where in the thousands upon thousands of texts out there was it??

[atariforce]

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