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hamliet · 4 years ago

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RWBY and the Philosopher’s Stone

So, I finally watched RWBY after a friend name-dropped several characters and I was like wait... those names are alchemical. I was still pleasantly surprised to find out just how deeply rooted in alchemy the story is, from its characters to its plot structure.

Background: alchemical structure is a type of story structure that focuses on inner transformation via outward obstacles. You can find it in literary traditions across the world, from Moxiang Tongxiu’s novels to A Song of Ice and Fire to Harry Potter to The Witcher to Trollhunters. Carl Jung incorporated it into his psychology. Daoism plays heavily into Chinese alchemy. The Wizard of Oz, one of RWBY’s main inspirations, is a blatant alchemy allegory. It’s everywhere, so it’s not surprising RWBY is drawing heavily on alchemy, but it is neat to see how blatant the references are.

Thematically, the goal of alchemy is a metaphorical philosopher’s stone. The philosopher’s stone, in legend, is said to produce an elixir of eternal life, and to be able to transform “baser” metals into gold.

In stories, when positive, as it usually is, this usually results in a character either overcoming death (see, Harry Potter) and/or transforming the world and others around him (Harry Potter saving his friends, etc.) But the journey from how they get from prima materia (raw material) to the philosopher’s stone? Now that’s the story.

(When reversed, a metaphorical stone results in something that can destroy everything; see: the One Ring, also Salem, because Salem’s whole thing is that she cheapened the process of life and death, while alchemy states that death is a necessary part of achieving life.)

So, mostly I’m gonna talk about the symbolism I’ve seen so far and make some predictions for what’s likely to happen next in the story, and for the characters.

Each of the four main characters has a name that corresponds to one of the four phases of the Magnum Opus. “Blake Belladonna” refers to the nigredo, or black stage; “Weiss Schnee” to the albedo, or white stage; “Yang Xiao Long” to the citrinitas or yellow phase, and “Ruby Rose” to the final stage, rubedo, or red (Ruby’s name is quite literally taken from that stage). Naming them for these stages shows a dual purpose: while Ruby is the central character, she needs her team around her, and Team RWBY will save the world together. Team JNR is also a part of the stages, but I’ll get to what they represent later on.

Jung associated each of the major stages with a major archetype. The major stages can be further broken up into a total of seven or twelve or even fourteen stages. Most commonly you’ll see George Ripley’s Twelve Gates referenced, and I believe that’s what RWBY is referencing as well since its allusions are pretty perfect. The "gates” or stages also sometimes overlap, especially when different characters might be at different stages.

Nigredo: Seasons 1-3

Alchemy begins by gathering the prima materia, or raw material. The characters assembling in season 1 is more of the gathering than the actual transformative process. But once we hit season 2, we dive straight into the process.

Calcination occurs during the climax of season 2, during the fight on the train. Season 3 contains dissolution, or the washing of impurities through the exposure of certain secrets (like the fall maiden) as well as the literal dissolution of Beacon Academy, and separation (the end of the season, when Team RWBY is scattered).

Narratively, Jung associated nigredo with the shadow, with someone’s dark night of the soul, their low point. In historical artistic depictions, often part of nigredo is dismemberment... which happens to Yang when she saves Blake from Adam. See, Splendor Solis:

The goal of the shadow is that it should be integrated with, accepted, rather than denied. Facing the shadow is a necessary part of growth and ultimate transformation... and the point is, through facing the shadow, hope and light come.

Peacock’s Tail: Seasons 4-5

Okay, I lied, there are sometimes five phases in alchemy. At the very end of nigredo, just before albedo, there is sometimes a flash of light, of rainbows and colors, that give hope. It’s not quite a phase, more of a moment, but it’s referred to as the peacock’s tail. While this is less plot-related, it does make sense that this is the point in the story where Team RJNR is formed. Why? Because look at their colors:

Ruby: red, black

Jaune: yellow, blue

Ren: green, purple

Nora: white, pink, orange

Between them we’ve pretty much got the full rainbow.

We also have, in Blake’s arc, the introduction of Ilia Amitola, whose last name is the Souix word for “rainbow.”

Albedo: Seasons 5-7

Albedo is associated with the anima or animus, or the part of ourselves that we are lacking (it’s generally gendered as the male within a female and the female within a male, but please understand he’s not talking literally and more in terms of traditional qualities ascribed as feminine or masculine that we may repress), which more than fits the fact that this stage begins while team RJNR is literally wandering around a continent called Anima.

Conjunction is a term in which all the separated parts that can be salvaged from the Nigredo come together. Obviously the main incident for this is the fight at the end of volume 5, but I’d argue it overlaps a bit with volume 4 and even with separation.

The characters are only able to come together again once they’ve accepted aspects of their shadows. Yang deals with hers in Raven and Blake with the White Fang. Nora and Ren’s fight at their home village represents them dealing with their shadow as well, and also relates to conjunction because conjunction is the stage where the first chemical wedding comes into play. A chemical wedding is the joining of alchemical partners, and while I’ll probably discuss ships in another post (there’s a lot of set up alchemy-wise), I’ll just reference the obvious one here:

The fountain image and a person shooting arrows is some pretty uncannily similar imagery to the fight at Nora and Ren’s home village.

Next up in albedo is putrefication (focus on death and rotting). We see this with the encounter with the Apathy, who look like skeletons, cause death, etc. We’re also introduced to Maria Calaveras, aka the Grimm Reaper. (Her last name also means “skull” aka the white results of putrefication).

Congelation requires a lot of water, and we see this in the focus on Atlas, wherein snow (water) is everywhere. The point of congelation is to separate the thin from the thick, the latter of which will of course become the Philosopher’s Stone. We see this through Team RWBY’s break with the Ace-Ops (aka the Aesops), whose simplistic morality and rule-following are not going to bring about character growth or eternal life.

Citrinitas: Volume 7-?

Citrinitas focuses on the light, or fire. That immediately after congelation, a giant whale brimming with yellow appears in the white-colored Atlas is not a coincidence. Citrinitas is associated with the sage or the wise old man/woman, so Maria and Pietro fill this role.

The first stage of citrinitas is cibation, which involves feeding with fresh material. I’d actually say that it seems quite possible cibation overlaps with congelation, in that there is a focus on food and on training with the Ace-Ops early in Volume 7. The next phases are sublimation and fermentation. I can see potential for sublimation in that it essentially is when solid becomes air (think of the setting of Atlas), but it’s too soon to say what this means for the plot.

Fermentation, though... well, things will get worse before they get better. :’)

Rubedo:

Finally, Rubedo is associated with the fully individualized self. We can assume each of the main seven will come into their own, confident of whom they are. Oscar should, as well, and probably will have fully control over his body by the end (ie Oz will likely... find rest or whatever).

The stages of rubedo are exaltation (the creation of the stone after two contraries meet), multiplication (the stones’ properties increase), and projection (the stone’s abilities are projected over the entire world, aka presumably RWBY will save the world).

The most common way to display multiplication is through, well, a lot of couplings. It’s why the main characters ending single seems extremely unlikely to me. Even if it seems a fairy tale ending, well.... *gestures to everything about RWBY being inspired by fairy tales* Fairy tales were also often alchemy based. But ships will get their own meta, because I actually don’t really ship much besides Renora and am for once not super invested in anything, but I can see the set-up for four or five ships.

I also want to highlight the other symbolic names that stood out to me:

Ironwood. While I know Ironwood references the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz (tin being one of seven metals associated with alchemy), his name also references a second metal: Iron. Tin and Iron are the two of the three basest metals in alchemy (the other is lead). Iron in particular is ruled by Mars, the god of war, meaning it is associated with violence. It’s not a coincidence that pretty much from the second Ironwood is introduced, the concept of war comes up, and his entire character has gone on to be the embodiment of the military and violence.

Tai Xiao Long. His name literally means “sun,” and Ruby’s mother is defined by her silver eyes (silver being a color traditionally associated with the moon). Ruby is thus considered the child of the Solar King and Lunar Queen, two mythical alchemical figures who together create the “Philosophical Child,” or the personified philosopher’s stone.

Pietro Polendina: his name literally means “stone,” and Penny is his philosopher’s stone. Penny is arguably a reference to copper, another of the seven metals, as copper references compassion and love, which seems like Penny to me.

Qrow and Raven Branwen: crows and ravens are symbolic of nigredo, or the black phase; death, decay, etc. However, within the story I think Qrow and Raven fulfill this role as the Jungian shadows of hunters as a whole and of Yang.

Sun Wukong: obviously a reference to the sun.

Emerald Sustrai: Emerald is a reference to the Emerald Tablet, which in alchemical lore is a tablet containing the secrets of alchemy, as written down by Hermes (in legend). Hermes is, of course, Mercury. Everything about alchemy stems from the Emerald Tablet, so Emerald should be important. In addition, green is the color of the prima materia, so it references Emerald’s arc in being shaped and molded by Cinder.

Mercury Black: Mercury as the mythological god is the legendary founder of alchemy, so like, he’s important. Mercury is also the third most important metal in alchemy, after gold and silver. It is necessary to achieving the philosopher’s stone so, like Emerald, Mercury is probably important. Mercury is of particular note because mercurial characters are common in alchemical literature: they make stuff happen. Think of Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, for example. Mercury transcends death symbolically (you can see the roots of this in Mercury’s backstory with his assassin father): it is difficult to pin down and can quickly shift from liquid to solid. Thus, in alchemy, mercury can shift between life and death.

Mercury is also a noted servant of the white queen. I initially thought this a surface reference to Salem’s appearance, and it might be, but Salem is more associated with a black queen in the recurring chess motif, and I don’t see Mercury staying on her side (mercury isn’t fixed, after all; that’s its central tenet), so I kind of wonder if the “white queen” will be later revealed. Or maybe it just is a surface mention.

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jackoshadows · 4 years ago

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Do you think that Daenerys will burn kings landing in the books? She did it on the show and she has to show the strength of her dragons in Westeros like in Essos.

For the answer to this question, I would direct you to Dany blogs that dissect her story arc using the books. You could read their theories and speculations based on the books and come to your own conclusion on this.

As for my speculations on this,

1. Dany has done nothing so far in the last 5 books that leads towards her going on a random rampage in KL. She has shown a lot of concern and care towards the civilians and common folk of Essos. More than the likes of Robb Stark for example.

2. Dany burning down KL would turn her into her father. This goes against what I think is GRRM’s message in the series - that the younger generation can rise above their birth and the societal biases against them.

3. That said, I do think that the author means for us to question and speculate, along with Daenerys, if she would turn into her father. This is an internal conflict that the character is struggling with and a part of her story. More on this below the cut.*

4. I think there will be a second dance of dragons between Young Griff/Aegon and Daenerys in KL. Going back to the original outline, the second book of the original trilogy - titled the Dance of Dragons - was supposed to be about Dany’s conquest of Westeros. There will be casualties in this war. GRRM has been explicit about the consequences of war on the small folk due to the WOT5K. Robb Stark may have had a just cause but innocent people suffered and died due to his war for independence. Even with Stannis’ march to Winterfell, we see a 14 year old soldier being burned to death as punishment for cannibalizing a corpse because he was so hungry and there’s no food. War is brutal.

5. Dany can win KL without massacring thousands. The Lannisters did it in the books when they sacked KL and no one - not even the honorable Ned Stark - complained about it. She could have done it on the show and won - except, suddenly pacifist Tyrion kept advising against it. In fact if the dragons act as a nuclear deterrent, there will be less casualties. Aegon the conqueror won the North without a single casualty.

5. Westeros is already in a bad way and winter has come to KL by the end of the fifth book. Dany will end up in charge of a war torn Westeros down south. By which time, the North is overrun, Winterfell is lost and the survivors head south. IMO, the Others will not be defeated at Winterfell in 30 minutes like on the show. They are the central antagonists and the last book will mostly be about the rest of Westeros uniting against them. Dany will acknowledge the central premise of the series - ‘ When dead men come hunting in the night, do you think it matters who sits the Iron Throne?’ and joins Jon, Bran, Arya and others to defeat the army of the dead.

6. I have no idea how her story will end in the books. Considering she dies on the show and if it’s the same in the books, I would think that if she goes out she will go out a hero and not a villain. There’s a lot of prophecies associated with her and I would speculate that her character is instrumental in defeating the Others. Fire and Ice and all that.

7. And speculate is all we can do, considering we will never get the last book and a conclusion to GRRM’s version of the story.

* Now to expand a little bit on the point number 3 above.

I would like to comment on a line of thought/discourse regarding Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Snow and Targaryen madness.

I have seen a few posts from time to time making the assertion that if one speculates on mad queen Dany, but does not do the same for Jon Snow, then this is sexism. I disagree.

Now, if one is making that argument that by genetics, Daenerys Targaryen is designed to go mad and she will go mad, burn down KL and die while Jon goes on to be King or goes into exile etc. then yes, this argument would indeed be sexist, IMO. If we are going to speculate based on Targaryen genetics, then, not much is different between Jon and Dany. They are both Targaryens. Dany is not fire proof and neither is Jon. While Dany has some strongly prophetic dragon dreams, there are indications that Jon’s dreams are prophetic as well.

“Sleep came at last, and with it nightmares. He dreamed of burning castles and dead men rising unquiet from their graves”

He has dreamed of Winterfell burning, of Ned being executed, of being told that he is not a Stark by the old kings of winter in the crypts where his mother is buried and of Bran as a weirwood.

Jon’s dream here is very similar to what Dany dreams of:

“Snow,” an eagle cried, as foemen scuttled up the ice like spiders. Jon was armored in black ice, but his blade burned red in his fist. As the dead men reached the top of the Wall he sent them down to die again. - Jon Snow

That night she dreamt that she was Rhaegar, riding to the Trident. But she was mounted on a dragon, not a horse. When she saw the Usurper’s rebel host across the river they were armored all in ice, but she bathed them in dragonfire and they melted away like dew and turned the Trident into a torrent.- Daenerys Targaryen

We know zombie ice spiders are going to be a thing. And the armor of black ice that Jon references here could be Euron Greyjoy’s black valyrian steel armor.

So if Dany is going to go mad because of genetics, then there is every chance that Jon will as well.

But from a narrative point of view, the author wants us to question if Dany will go the same way as her father. The mad king Aerys III is a part of Dany’s story. She questions if she is going to become her father. Other characters – allies and enemies – do the same. It’s a conflict that Dany wrestles with as she comes to terms with her Targaryen identity. It’s an obstacle she faces as she takes on both enemies and friends.

"Freedom to starve?" asked Dany sharply. "Freedom to die? Am I a dragon, or a harpy?" Am I mad? Do I have the taint? (ASOS, Daenerys VI)

A shadow. A memory. No one. She was the blood of the dragon, but Ser Barristan had warned her that in that blood there was a taint. Could I be going mad? They had called her father mad, once. (ADWD, Daenerys II)

The old knight did not blink. "Your father is called 'the Mad King' in Westeros. Has no one ever told you?"

"Viserys did." The Mad King. "The Usurper called him that, the Usurper and his dogs." The Mad King. "It was a lie."

"Why ask for truth," Ser Barristan said softly, "if you close your ears to it?" He hesitated, then continued. "I told you before that I used a false name so the Lannisters would not know that I'd joined you. That was less than half of it, Your Grace. The truth is, I wanted to watch you for a time before pledging you my sword. To make certain that you were not . . ."

". . . my father's daughter?" If she was not her father's daughter, who was she?

". . . mad," he finished. "But I see no taint in you."

And then there is the discourse that her enemies start about her being mad. The propaganda that she is just like her father. Propaganda that will no doubt be also used in Westeros.

The clever Volantene swordsman who always seemed to have his nose poked in some crumbly scroll, thought the dragon queen both murderous and mad. "Her khal killed her brother to make her queen. Then she killed her khal to make herself khaleesi. She practices blood sacrifice, lies as easily as she breathes, turns against her own on a whim. She's broken truces, tortured envoys … her father was mad too. It runs in the blood." (ADWD, The Windblown)

Madness and the mad king is nowhere in Jon’s story arcs or narrative themes. GRRM still thinks that R+L=J is some big secret and was so impressed that Benioff and Weiss figured it out he gave them the show. The author does not question whether Jon is going to become a mad Targaryen with a fascination for burning people to death.

Jon’s internal conflicts and the problems he has to surmount are different in nature. He is a bastard born of ‘lust and deceit’. If we want a connection here to the Targaryens that explores Jon’s narrative arc, then there is the Blackfyre rebellion. Daemon Blackfyre’s attempt to usurp the throne is used as an example in Westeros to be wary of all bastards, noble or base born.

So if the speculation is that Dany is going to turn into her father and become the mad queen, then the narrative equivalent for Jon would be that he would be a deceitful usurper who takes Winterfell from his trueborn siblings.

And this is something that is explored in Jon’s story.

When Stannis offers Winterfell to Jon, the only reason he does not accept is because of his oaths as a NW brother and his reluctance to burn down the heart trees in Winterfell. But in his heart, he wants it.

He wanted it, Jon knew then. He wanted it as much as he had ever wanted anything. I have always wanted it, he thought, guiltily. May the gods forgive me. It was a hunger inside him, sharp as a dragonglass blade. A hunger … he could feel it. — Jon Snow, ASOS

Just as Dany wrestles with whether she will turn into her father, Jon wrestles with his feelings of wanting Winterfell and feeling ashamed of those feelings.

His dreams in regards to this are interesting:

The world dissolved into a red mist. Jon stabbed and slashed and cut. He hacked down Donal Noye and gutted Deaf Dick Follard. Qhorin Halfhand stumbled to his knees, trying in vain to staunch the flow of blood from his neck. "I am the Lord of Winterfell," Jon screamed. It was Robb before him now, his hair wet with melting snow. Longclaw took his head off. Then a gnarled hand seized Jon roughly by the shoulder. He whirled …- Jon XII, ADWD

Jon literally beheads Robb in his dreams.

There is a lot of speculation here that after he comes back from the dead, we are going to get a darker Jon Snow who is going to go after Winterfell and not care much about the trueborn siblings ahead of him in the queue. We could see conflict between Jon and Rickon or Jon and Sansa. The original outline hinted that Jon and Bran would not get along.

And just like Dany faces the ‘Mad Queen’ propaganda because of Aerys III, Jon too faces the biased prejudice against bastards because of the actions of Daemon Blackfyre. While prejudice against bastards existed before then, the Blackfyres are often used as an example to caution against them.

Catelyn’s hatred for Jon Snow is based on the fear that someday he would usurp and take away Winterfell from her children.

“Not unless he’s legitimized by a royal decree,” said Robb. “There is more precedent for that than for releasing a Sworn Brother from his oath.”

“Precedent,” she said bitterly. “Yes, Aegon the Fourth legitimized all his bastards on his deathbed. And how much pain, grief, war, and murder grew from that? I know you trust Jon. But can you trust his sons? Or their sons? The Blackfyre pretenders troubled the Targaryens for five generations, until Barristan the Bold slew the last of them on the Stepstones. If you make Jon legitimate, there is no way to turn him bastard again. Should he wed and breed, any sons you may have by Jeyne will never be safe.” - Catelyn, ASoS

Similarly the Blackfish – having not even met Jon Snow – distrusts him.

"I will permit you to take the black. Ned Stark's bastard is the Lord Commander on the Wall."

The Blackfish narrowed his eyes. "Did your father arrange for that as well? Catelyn never trusted the boy, as I recall, no more than she ever trusted Theon Greyjoy. It would seem she was right about them both..." - Jaime Lannister, AFfC

The existing prejudices against bastards in Westeros is strong.

"Trueborn children are made in a marriage bed and blessed by the Father and Mother, but bastards are born of lust and weakness." - Jon Snow

Orys Baratheon was a baseborn half brother to Lord Aegon, it was whispered, and the Storm King would not dishonor his daughter by giving her hand to a bastard. The very suggestion enraged him.

Go away, I wanted only Freys up here, the King in the North has no interest in base stock.— Walder Frey to little Walda Rivers

Bastard children were born from lust and lies, men said; their nature was wanton and treacherous. Once Jon had meant to prove them wrong, to show his lord father he could as good a true son as Robb Stark - Jon Snow

So both Jon and Dany face internal conflicts and the author wishes to interrogate if Dany can overcome her own self doubts with respect to her father and society’s opinions of her and if Jon can overcome his desires and personal ambition for Winterfell and society’s opinions of bastards as untrustworthy and deceitful.

If a reader is therefore making the argument that Dany will become the mad queen like her father and burn down everyone – they should also rightfully be arguing for Jon turning against his family for a selfish power grab and essentially turning into Daemon Blackfyre.

Remember how Daemon took the Targaryen sigil with colors reversed – a black dragon on red giving him the nickname ‘The Black Dragon’

Jon was referred to as the ‘White Wolf’ on the show and as per the books, two bastards have reversed the sigils. Jon’s direwolf Ghost is white and he would therefore have a white wolf on a grey background as opposed to the Stark grey direwolf on a white background.

The sexism arises when Dany is singled out for turning into exactly what her enemies expect her to be, while the Starks overcome societal prejudices and expectations and end up the heroes. That, while Dany turns into her father, Jon Snow continues to love his Stark family (i.e Sansa Stark) so much and would sacrifice everything for them.

The show’s thesis and final message for these Targaryens is that they cannot rise above their birth and are exactly what society makes of them. That their final destiny is decided from birth and that they cannot change it no matter how much they tried. Daenerys turned into her father, randomly burned down KL for no reason and massacred thousands. Jon Snow pretends to support her, gets close to her, deceives her and kills her. He becomes a kinslayer, a queenslayer, a traitor – deceitful and untrustworthy and is exiled. It was an utterly nihilistic ending for house Targaryen.

I strongly believe that GRRM is not heading in this direction for these characters. It would be very disappointing if this is what he intends for them. It would indeed be sexist if GRRM wrote Dany as turning into her father, while Jon remains good and faithful to his family. From my reading and interpretation of these books, the story is about these underdogs triumphing over their internal conflicts. The conclusion of this tale would be Dany not turning into the mad queen, Jon not turning into a deceitful traitor, Arya not fleeing Westeros because she does not belong, Bran becoming king despite being a cripple.

But that is the final answer. In the meantime, GRRM means to explore these characters and their narrative themes and conflicts. In that context, it’s valid to question and theorize whether a possible direction for Dany’s story is her becoming her father. Five books in there is nothing to support this theory, but it is a theme that GRRM is interested in examining for the character of Daenerys Targaryen.

#Daenerys Targaryen #Jon Snow #asoiaf #anti GOT #asks

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cogentranting · 5 years ago

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The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and Mockingjays and Roses

*Warning: Full Spoilers for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes*

Symbols are an important part of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Symbols are used to mark the identities of different characters, define relationships, and provide thematic links to the original trilogy. The symbols work to create a tension in the story, a question of whether they complement or contrast. Symbolism is used to explore two of the most influential people in Snow’s life: Lucy Gray and Katniss.

The various symbols associated with Lucy Gray are color, music, and birds. Each of these things plays a special role in the story and serves to distinguish her from Coriolanus. In a typical setting, love interests with different symbols could be understood to show how they complement each other-- opposites attract, two halves of a whole, etc. This novel lets the reader play with that interpretation for a large portion of the book; the story questions the relationship between them, wondering repeatedly how strong, or even how genuine, their love is. Ultimately, however, the contrasting associations sets them up for their final conflict and foreshadows the eventual destruction of both of them.

At the first sight of Lucy Gray, she is in a “dress made of a rainbow of ruffles” (24). In her first interview she says “the Covey love color” (53). The Covey are all named with colors. Lucy Gray wears bright colors at all times. The snakes which end up being drawn to Lucy Gray in the arena are bright neon colors. The colors represent her exuberance, her love of beauty, her eccentricity, her freedom to stand apart. But Coriolanus is white. The absence of color, the opposite of all that Lucy Gray loves and represents. However, this symbol for Coriolanus is not prominent in this book. In fact it only really exists in this book in the form of his last name-- Snow. Even that is not the name he goes by. But it is the name that forms his connection with the Capitol and all that it represents: Dr. Gaul calls him by his last name; the Capitol media makes frequent plays on his name; he is associated with the legacy of his family name; in the peacekeepers he is officially addressed as “Private Snow”. It’s also used as the voice of his ambition in the phrase that he and Tigris use, “Snow lands on top” (9). Eventually, when his character arc is complete and he has embraced evil, he switches to going by his last name, as the Epilogue exclusively refers to him as “Snow”. However, to fully grasp that a part of the symbolism of his name relates to the color white requires knowledge of the Hunger Games trilogy. There Snow is represented by his white roses. The roses are present in this book, but they are colored roses. Therefore, Coriolanus being symbolized by white is not a constant in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, it’s a progression. It is Coriolanus turning against what drew him to Lucy Gray. While the progression is ongoing, the decisive moment comes when Lucy Gray uses the bright orange scarf he gave her to set a trap for him (or at least so he assumes) (581). The shift is there as he is “betrayed” by Lucy Gray’s colors, and the fulfillment is present in the person of President Snow in The Hunger Games. By knowing the trilogy, the reader knows Coriolanus’s future and can see that he eventually eschews color, choosing the stark white which here sets him apart from Lucy Gray, but will also inevitably mark the violent contrast between him and the Girl on Fire.

The second hallmark of Lucy Gray is her love of music. Her singing is her survival. It’s how she earns her living in District 12. It’s what unites her with her family. It’s how she expresses her emotions. It’s how she attracts attention at the Reaping and how she gains enough favor to win the Games. Coriolanus does not start out opposed to music. In fact, it initially attracts him to Lucy Gray, especially since one of her songs she sings in the Capitol awakens memories of his mother and a song she sang to him that “mentioned loving him” (78). Music is associated with his mother on several occasions, and his mother is the figure who most represents love and goodness for Coriolanus. When asked how he is like his mother he replies that they “shared a fondness for music” but also internally admits to himself that “she liked music, and he didn’t hate it, he guessed” (290). Despite his positive associations with music and his connection with people who love music (his mother, Lucy Gray, and also Pluribus), Coriolanus himself does particularly like music and doesn’t really understand it. He notes that he “can’t really sing” and when he sings the anthem “his singing was more like sustained talking” (127, 129). Beyond lacking talent, it seems that music and poetry are something that he cannot grasp; all the Capitol’s songs “sounded the same to him”, and Livia Cardew mocked him for “his inability to decipher the deeper meaning of a poem” (185). This extends later into the novel when he specifically fails to grasp the meaning of Lucy Gray’s song, which he describes as “nonsense words” and “ridiculous” because he “couldn’t make sense of it” (425, 427). Coriolanus has an inability to understand something that is an essential part of Lucy Gray which represents a failure to connect to her on a deeper level. It also distances him from those characters who demonstrate positive moral character: Lucy Gray, his mother, the generous Pluribus, and Sejanus (who Coriolanus notes had “always been good at rhetoric” (427)). Livia Cardew attributes this to Coriolanus being “self-absorbed” (185). The presentation of this trait within the book represents his moral failings and his rejection of the Romanticism which defines the Covey and the philosophical rhetoric of the Rebels and Sejanus. This puts him at odds with all that the novel holds up as praiseworthy. His attitude toward music only worsens as the book progresses and he finds that he is “weary of the infusion of music into his life. Invasion might be a better word” (445). He feels the way it pushes him away from others and threatens his position. But the significance of the music does not stop with the concept in general.

The novel features the lyrics of multiple songs. Lucy Gray’s ballad is notable for the way it describes her mystery, how it shows Coriolanus’s failure to truly understand or appreciate her, and how it foreshadows his hand in her destruction. However, as he brings about her destruction, she has a hand in his eventual destruction. Lucy Gray is revealed to be the writer of the two songs from the Hunger Games trilogy-- “Deep in the Meadow” (“Rue’s Song”) and “The Hanging Tree”. “Deep in the Meadow” has less prominence in this book. The context is essentially the same-- Lucy Gray sings it as a lullaby to Maude Ivory in the same way that Katniss sings it to Prim and Rue-- so it carries the same weight initially. It is a symbol of peace and comfort and love. These are things which are mostly denied to Coriolanus and things which he rejects by the end of The Ballad, and actively seeks to destroy in The Hunger Games. However, it is eventually used against him, as Katniss’s use of the song-- her gesture of love for Rue-- is what causes the first sparks of rebellion to rise up in District 11. “The Hanging Tree” plays this role to an even greater extent. Lucy Gray writes the song about a moment that Coriolanus is present for and deeply disturbed by (350-351). The song is, on one level, about doomed lovers. Within the song you have Arlo and Lil-- two Rebels whose fate is mourned and romanticized, and whose doom Coriolanus has a hand in, already casting him in the role of antagonist. However, there’s also the speaker in the song. At one point in the narrative, the speaker is Billy Taupe calling to Lucy Gray. With him in the role of speaker the love story of the song is poisonous-- when they can’t be free together, Billy Taupe wants her to die rather than be free without him (487). After his death, the song transfers to be a call from Lucy Gray to Coriolanus. However, his character is entirely antithetical to the song. He rejects the dark romanticism that makes star-crossed lovers appealing, and rather than being willing to “wear a necklace of rope side by side with” Lucy Gray, he tries to kill her, betraying her and everything she and the song stand for. The song could also be applied to another pair of star-crossed lovers-- Katniss and Peeta. In their Games, Peeta tried to save her life-- “called out for his love to flee”-- then they try to survive together-- “I told you to run, so we’d both be free”-- and when that hope is lost they are prepared to die together-- “wear a necklace of rope, side by side with me”-- in order to deny the Capitol its victory and its ownership over them. Despite being the only couple without a literal connection to the Hanging Tree (and being a fake couple at the time of their actions) Katniss and Peeta most truly embody the spirit of the song, which Lucy Gray calls “too rebellious” (491). The song is meaningful on a broader level because it subverts the symbol of the Hanging Tree, which is meant to be an instrument for the Capitol’s control, and turns into a symbol of love and hope for freedom and resistance that would rather die than submit to the Capitol. Katniss later takes this song and transforms it into an anthem for the rebellion. In fact, it’s compared by Lucy Gray and Coriolanus to the Capitol’s anthem, saying it “has authority” like “when [Coriolanus] sang the anthem in the Capitol” (491). Katniss gives it the platform to be the rival anthem that it was destined to be, and she uses it to attack Snow. Lucy Gray haunts Coriolanus through the Hunger Games trilogy through her songs. These songs which are all that remains of the girl he betrayed and destroyed, come back as weapons against him, brandished as symbols of all that he and his tyranny stand against.

Beyond her general association with music, Lucy Gray is associated with birds. Her musical nature makes her a songbird like that of the title and her family is deemed “the Covey”-- covey is a word which means “a small party or flock of birds”. The way she is continually conscious of her appearance early in her time in the Capitol evokes a bird preening, as the ruffles of her brightly colored dress evoke feathers. Coriolanus ends up dealing with birds through his work as a peacekeeper, rounding up jabberjays and mockingjays. While his team member shows an affinity for birds, Coriolanus does not. He specifically notes that while some people “just understand birds” he is certain “that he would never be one of those people” (413). In an immediate sense, this once again signals a distance between him and Lucy Gray. She is a bird that he can never understand. In contrast, Lucy Gray has an affinity for snakes. The clearest counterpart for snakes is Coriolanus himself. His use of poison in this book and the Hunger Games trilogy creates the suggestion that he is venomous (especially when the evidence of his poisoning is found in the sores in his mouth). Dr. Gaul also breeds deadly snakes in the same way that she grooms Coriolanus into the man he becomes. Her snakes ignore him as if he is one of them. And Lucy Gray “always knows where [snakes] will be” (433). She uses her understanding of snakes to her advantage, dropping one down Mayfair’s dress, leaving one as a trap for Coriolanus, and poisoning Treech with one. The snakes in the Games end up drawn to her and soothed by her singing. Coriolanus is drawn to her and her singing in the same way, and likewise is used by her to win the Games. Lucy Gray seems to understand Coriolanus in a way that he can never understand her. However, she may have confused him for one of the non-venomous snakes from District 12, rather than a snake specifically bred to kill by Dr. Gaul. Or perhaps she subconsciously knows the truth about him since she states, “I love all kinds of things I don’t trust… snakes. Sometimes I think I love them because I can’t trust them” (441). Regardless of how his role of a snake attracts Lucy Gray, her role as a bird creates tension with Coriolanus. The wildness of the birds unsettles him. He expresses the belief that they’d be happier in a cage, but both Bug and Lucy Gray believe the birds should be free (418, 421). It reflects Coriolanus’s relationship with nature in general. It cannot be controlled and so he dislikes it. When he first sees the woods he is afraid of them; “the disorder alone felt disturbing” (348). This is a stark contrast to both Lucy Gray, who frequents the woods with the Covey, and Katniss who thrives in the woods. In similar fashion, the plant that Katniss is named for, and which aids in Lucy Gray’s survival (435, 497) grows wild, while Coriolanus’s signature flower, his roses, are domesticated and highly cultivated. Coriolanus likes only what he can control. It’s when he realizes that he cannot control Lucy Gray that he turns on her. This distinction takes on further relevance in his specific response to the jabberjays and the mockingjays

Coriolanus appreciates the jabberjays because they can be controlled easily with a simple remote control. Mockingjays, however, represent the uncontrollable. His reaction to them is immediate: “he’d spotted his first mockingjay, and he disliked the thing on sight” (352). Later he advocates killing all the mockingjays because “they’re unnatural” and “he distrusted their spontaneous creation. Nature running amok” (417). Lucy Gray on the other hand loves the mockingjays. When the mockingjays take up her song “the Covey were all smiles” and Tam Amber asserts “like sandstones to diamonds, that’s what we are to them” (439). Here Coriolanus expresses that what he fears most is that the mockingjays have removed “the Capitol birds from the equation” (439). He deeply believes in the need for the Capitol to maintain control, so something that openly flouts the need for the Capitol’s influence is both frightening and a threat to the beliefs that define him. Coriolanus eventually uses the jabberjays (a symbol of Capitol control) to betray Sejanus. In return, Lucy Gray uses the mockingjays to protect herself from Coriolanus as he hunts her (504). If she survived the encounter, it is because of the mockingjays. With his transformation into Snow complete, he is able to return to the Capitol. When he looks back on his time in District 12, he views Lucy Gray not as a lost love but as a conquered threat. Because Lucy Gray was someone he could not control he repaints her in his memory as someone who manipulated him and made him feel jealous and weak (516). But with his new power Snow is assured that “she and her mockingjays could never harm him again” (516). The memories have been twisted to associate Lucy Gray with mockingjays and in turn with harm done to him, though neither has ever actually harmed him. However, knowledge of the Hunger Games trilogy reveals the clear irony of his statement. Katniss uses the mockingjays to help her in the Games and makes them a tool for herself. They then become a symbol of the rebellion for the very reason that he initially hated them. Katniss comes to embody the things that mockingjay symbolizes and she and that symbol are the rallying point for the rebellion. Because of the Mockingjay that he can never predict, understand or control, everything Snow is and has built is destroyed.

Lucy Gray is a vibrant character that tempts Coriolanus toward a better life and a better way of being. Everything about her symbolizes a potential for good within him in his early years. However, he fully and irrevocably rejects that good. In doing so he commits his first great sin and destroys Lucy Gray. But he is unable to entirely destroy her. In fact, he’s never even sure if he killed her. Instead, she stays on as a ghost girl, her influence haunting District 12. From her influence rises Katniss, the Girl on Fire, like a phoenix rising from the ashes of the songbird Snow killed. Katniss is symbolically linked to Lucy Gray, but at the same time wholly distinct. Through her, Lucy Gray haunts Snow as punishment for his crimes. This link between the Songbird and the Mockingjay represents the way that Snow’s evil paved the way for his own destruction, but more importantly it shows that the things which he rejects and opposes and tries to kill cannot be destroyed. The spark of hope cannot be put out, beauty will not be tamed, and rebellion cannot stay dead in the face of tyranny. Those things were always destined to destroy him. Though The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes may end with “Snow lands on top,” Lucy Gray is the persistent reminder that “The show’s not over until the mockingjay sings.”

#the ballad of sonbirds and snakes #the hunger games #the ballad of songbirds and snakes spoilers #coriolanus snow #lucy gray baird #katniss everdeen

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rainbowrosegames · 1 year ago

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I've been dreaming of my revenge for years now. To kill the leader of the robots called "Minglers". With the new field offices their company has been building, I now had that chance. To kill a Mingler far stronger than anyone had ever seen. It's been four years since they killed just about everyone I had ever held dear. They killed my wife, they killed our daughter, they killed our niece, they nearly killed at least three others in my family who barely made it out.

I'd gone to the field offices they built-- one in "The Brrgh", a snowy land not free from the grasp of C.O.G.S Inc. and those Minglers.

There were 99 annexes of the accursed building, and it had 3 stars on its sign, telling me it wasn't gonna be easy. I called my friends and my sister to help me. I needed to kill some really strong robots, and they were the trustiest crew I knew. Trixie, Believeix, and my sister, Lily.

We'd gone in, fought a whole bunch of the Minglers and some of their associates who were named differently from them.

We fought who knows how many robots in an icy wasteland they made in their building! It felt colder than the harsh winds and knee-deep snow outside!

We got to the top, feeling healthy and strong, but we had no clue how hard this would be. No, we underestimated C.O.G.S Inc. and those stupid Minglers, facing their boss known as "The Boiler" for their harsh attitude, anger, and brute strength that quite literally left you burning after taking a hit. We fought what had to be dozens of robots, burning alive, seeing boring presentations The Boiler showed his underlings, which showed the statistics of our nation's downfall at their hands, we spent dozens of our weapons, or as we call them, "Gags" and an unknown number of really strong summon cards, heavy machinery we call "Fires", magic spells of healing and artillery called "Unites", and remotes to control the robots given to us by The Resistance, but none of it was enough for the biggest Minglers we'd ever seen- four Minglers that were what had to be 70% stronger than the strongest Mingler I'd seen before this.

Amidst the blazing inferno around us from The Boiler, we fought those Minglers with all that we had. So many Unites were used, so many of our strongest Gags, yet they still lived. I even pounced on one of them and tried maiming it, not seeing a single dent from what are the sharpest claws and fangs in all of Toontown! I had to kill them, not only for survival but for what I hold dear to me. My wife, our daughter, my family... My friends didn't know they would see me, a full-grown adult woman, completely lose it and start sobbing in the middle of flames, oil and blood stains, and in front of my worst enemies.

"Rainbow! Get it together! YOU'RE GOING TO DIE! RAINBOW! RAINBOW!!"

But the voices of Believeix were almost entirely drowned out by my sorrow, and the raging battle around me, as they tried to hold off the other enemies. Then I saw two feet in front of me. It was Trixie, who was near the brink of death, and she gave me a hand to help me get up! I got up and she spoke to me.

"Sorry, Rainbow, it's either you or me here, and I have the lowest health in the group anyways. You understand, right? You're just sitting there, doing nothing, like when your wife died in front of you..."

"What are you-" WHAM! She shoved me, and a mostly dead Mingler had tackled me, and we fell off one of the ledges, and went tumbling downwards through what had to be 3 floors of the tall building. I was able to kick the now dead robot off of me before it exploded, but the blast left me flying out of a window, half-dead, in the cold snow with nobody nearby. In fact, I had never seen this place, I flew so far that there wasn't any civilization in sight.

I now lay on the cold, deep snow, practically not even visible anymore in the pile of snow, bleeding harsh red blood that dyed the snow that I would soon get entirely buried under. I had heard of divine deities before, those who punish those who break "the rules of living here." I prayed, "Please, don't let me die here, please, I beg of anyone who can hear my call in this wasteland!" Well, I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I sure wasn't expecting to meet the most evil-looking and sounding creature I'd ever seen since before my wife died!

"Hello, Rainbow. I heard your call, and, well... I'm here!" The creature said, morphing into something.

"No. It's not possible. I killed you! I even hired the toughest Minglers I could find to make sure you couldn't come back to The Playground! Why are you here?!"

I screamed at the creature that just turned into the appearance of my late wife, ʍǟɢɨƈǟʟ ɮǟռǟռǟ.

"So. That's your story of why you're here! Aww, try not to be so scared that I can read your mind. After all, I had to if I wanted to find out why you killed me!"

I said, to my wife, watching her slowly die in this wasteland, like how she watched me die. Her mouth agape in horror, not at what she'd done, but at the fact that I was here.

(Please reblog, I spent a long time making this ^^)

You sacrificed everything to get this far, and at the last moment you were betrayed by the one you thought most dear. You lay dying one the snow, praying to any god, demon, or anything that would listen. You receive an answer.

#writers #writers on tumblr #writing prompts #writeblr #writing inspiration #toontown #toontag #toonblr #toontown rewritten #ttr

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tickledpink31 · 4 years ago

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My tablet wasn’t working so behold a hand-drawing of my OCs

Let me introduce them to you:

Akane Hayashi from Ouran High School Host Club

Age: 16-17

Height: 157cm (5′2″)

Formerly known as Aisling by her birth parents

The adopted daughter of the Hayashi family

Deaf and speaks JSL

She came to life after I watched Amélie

Affiliated closely with Kyoya

A talented engineer and botanist

Her parents are generous people and she’s no different

The Hayashi family are also a modest bunch and live in an apartment big enough for three people

Veronica Midford from Black Butler

Age: 19-20

Height: 156.5cm (5′2″)

I wanted to indulge in my love for reverse harems and time travel stories so Veronica was born

Prepare to be romanced by a demon, three reapers, and maybe I’ll throw in an angel

Descendant of the Phantomhives and Midfords (either from Lizzie or Edward, but not O!Ciel.)

Known as Lady Phantomhive by ominous people that she meets *cough* Undertaker *cough*

I kept changing her style before I settled with the short wavy look

A psychic like her ancestors as a side effect of the demon contract

Dresses in lolita, but her fashion choices look more mature these days

Her older sister, Beatrice, practices exorcism

I just realized I forgot to put the devil’s trap in her eye (Beatrice put it there for protection)

A charitable young woman who wants to help and will do it outside of the law if she has to

Much smarter than people realize

Fluent in 6 languages including ASL

Kaguya from Avatar the Last Airbender

Age: 16-18

Height: 165cm (5′5″)

Born in the era after Korra

I don’t really follow The Legend of Korra ever since the end of season 1 and I don’t really want to so I’ll decide what’s canon

Youngest of 10 siblings

Has been to the spirit world several times without aid

Travelled to Republic City from the Northern Water Tribe to attend the Bending Arts Academy and become a doctor

Invented a healing form of blood bending

Minerva “Minnie” Castillo from Obey Me

Age: 18-19

Height: 162.6cm (5′4″)

You probably know her from some of my posts so I’ll give you a brief rundown

She’s me but better

Why did I draw her eyes wonky?

I ship her mostly with Lucifer

Filipino-Canadian like me

A musical theatre kid

An identical twin, practically the Snow White to her sister’s Rose Red

Unwilling and chaotic mom friend

Planning never goes right for her so she’s in literally in hell

Lives in a van during her college life

Erika Matsumori from Harry Potter

Age: 11-16 (Golden Trio Era) 30s–40s (Post-Wizarding War II)

Height: 175cm (5′9″)

At the risk of getting attacked I am making not one but two Harry Potter OCs one of which will be paired with Draco

I am a recent fan and yes I’m aware how problematic Rowling is so don’t ruin this for me

This girl’s resting bitch face gives Blaise Zabini a run for his money

In the language of Hanakotoba, Erika means “solitude” explaining her solitary disposition

Her surname translates to “pine” and “forest”

Pine for the wood of her wand

Forest because back in Japan, Erika often ventured into the nearby forest to look for yokai

Erika has nerves of steel and an equally steely face

But she has a good heart underneath

Had a hard time making friends but Luna Lovegood was a good start

Ginny became her friend by extension of Luna but not without a few misunderstandings

A year younger than the Golden Trio

Dated Colin Creevey for a month before they decided to just stay friends

She’s a muggle-born Slytherin (I do what I want)

Although she’s a muggle-born, she grew up knowing about the wizarding world because her uncle is a muggle-born

Was once a student at Mahoutokoro (did you know students there start attending at age 7 but are not boarded until they are 11?) until she was expelled for associating with yokai

Moved to the UK with her uncle to attend Hogwarts at 11

Became part fox after helping a kitsune get back to their mother

Has narcolepsy and has plenty of vivid prophetic dreams because of it

Like a true Slytherin, she protects her kind, muggle-borns that is

She defended her fellow Slytherins before the Battle of Hogwarts

It annoys Draco that she just happened to catch his attention

Made love potions illegal as an adult

Like vixens, Erika goes to great lengths for her family especially her three children in the future

Kikyo Malfoy from Harry Potter

Age: 16–19 (mid to late teens depending on when the story takes place)

Height: 160cm (5′3″)

Erika and Draco’s eldest child and only daughter

She two brothers who are twins, Scorpius and Ryuji, they are both protective of their sister

In the language of Hanakotoba, Kikyo means unchanging love, honesty, and obedience

Not a Slytherin but a Ravenclaw, her parents knew that all along and they are proud of her regardless

Wrote a non-biased version of the Harry Potter series for the purpose of helping muggle-borns and half-bloods who are not aware of their magical heritage

Writes about Newt Scamander, her mother, and herself—a complete series in different points of views of all the houses

Has the ability to split into four different versions of herself (Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor) possibly even more

Wishes she has her mother’s nerves of steel

Has some kitsune abilities like summoning fire and enhanced sense

Marie Christen/Marjorie Calieus/Mar from The Arcana

Age: 21

Height: 151.8cm (5′0″)

I have mentioned my love for time travel stories and world hopping so prepare for another one

There aren’t a lot of world hopping fanfic for The Arcana so here’s mine…sort of

They are the offspring of two powerful magicians from far outside of Vesuvia

Their father travelled to our world and dropped Mar off at a married couple’s house in Zürich and was renamed Marie Christen

Mar is non-binary but goes by all pronouns and still responds to the names Marie and Marjorie

They have a birthmark on their cheek which The Fool symbol

Happily lives in adoption with her parents Eva and Liam and her kid sister Antoinette

Her familiar is a lamb named Edelweiss

Her biological aunt located Mar when they were 10. From then on, Mar made frequent visits to their aunt’s shop in Vesuvia to hone their magical abilities

At 12, they met Asra who was nearly 15 at the time

#my art #OC: Akane Hayashi #OC: Veronica Midford #OC: Kaguya #OC: Minerva Castillo #OC: Erika Matsumori #OC: Kikyo Malfoy #OC: Mar #ouran high school host club #ouran koukou host club #black butler #kuroshitsuji #avatar the last airbender #legend of korra #obey me #harry potter #the arcana

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bestworstcase · 5 years ago

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cliff notes bitter snow lore

aka notes i can’t reasonably cram into a story

GEOGRAPHY

the seven kingdoms trading alliance. sometimes also referred to as the pact. spans most of the western half of the continent. galcrest and ingvarr control the northwest, koto the central plains, corona and pittsford the western coast, bayangor the southeast and neserdnia the far south. with the exception of landlocked koto all member states are seafaring countries, with corona and neserdnia having the most prominent naval cultures. ingvarr is known as the fist of the seven kingdoms due to the renowned strength of its standing army; the other nations are economic powers rather than military ones. neither corona nor pittsford has a standing army.

corona large kingdom on the west coast of the continent. a prosperous trading nation. fishing, agriculture, silver mining, lumber are major industries. roughly bisected by the pingora mountain range which extend east into blavenia, corona’s eastern neighbor. south of the pingoras is the region where saporia used to be; much of the former border follows the general line of the mountains. there are pockets in the south where saporian is still spoken over coronan and much of central-south population is bilingual.

major cities include herzingen (the capital, built on an island, basically canon!corona), anbruch (an old fort near the former saporian border that grew over time; varian’s village is one of many satellite settlements whose farms support support anbruch’s population), alcorcia (a port town in the south, notorious for being a hotbed of separatists and pirates), and carcathune (the old saporian capital, still half in ruins).

other nations tend to be smaller and weaker, both militaristically and economically speaking. equis is the strongest nation outside of the seven kingdoms and a persistent thorn in the pact’s side due to longstanding rivalry with corona, robust navy, and financing of privateers. it lies on the northwest coast and shares its southernmost border with corona.

blavenia, eldora, and marne vie with koto for control over the central plains. eldora and marne are neighbors and have been closely allied for centuries, blavenia has a loose alliance with equis based mostly on the grounds of rivalry with corona and the enemy of my enemy principle. arianna was minor eldoran nobility prior to marrying into the coronan monarchy, and vardaros is a major eldoran city.

the hlessian league is a major alliance shared by nations in the northeastern region of the continent. it is controlled by arendelle, seland, and skaron—the triad of kingdoms that occupy the hlessian penninsula for which the league is named—but includes a half dozen smaller nations as well. trade agreements are in place between the seven kingdoms and the league but they are also frequent rivals in trade with unaffiliated nations and tensions are always sort of high

quintonia is a small sovereign duchy wedged between ingvarr and koto which controls an important mountain pass, making it a gateway for trade. it has been invaded many times but is currently a member of the hlessian league, which gives it a measure of protection. presently ruled by the duchess rosalia morcant.

aphelion is the name of the “dark kingdom.” it’s on the far eastern end of the continent and very far away from corona. it lies in the gigantic caldera of an ancient supervolcano and in modern times is almost completely abandoned due to the desolation caused by the moonstone. many aphelionese refugees live in neighboring volkan (a large empire that stretches to the eastern coast), zamora (a small kingdom to the north), or antares (a powerful city-state situated to the west, not far from the great tree); others dispersed even farther to the west, and there are thriving aphelionese communities as far west as the hlessian penninsula.

RELIGION AND MAGIC

magic in general

comes from powerful beings; call them gods, call them demons, call them natural forces of the cosmos, whatever, the point is that if you want to do magic you need the direct patronage of an entity like zhan tiri or you need to perform rituals to temporarily draw the attention of one. gifts, bargains, curses. as a general rule gaining the permanent patronage of such a being requires hard work, dedication, and sacrifice, but can grant you tremendous power; rituals and bargains take less work and are far less risky, but they’re also temporary and most useful for the creation of enchanted artifacts, which last much longer and are a common means of splitting the difference between patronage and ritual.

due to the nature of magic and the necessity of some form of mutual exchange between practitioner and power, magic often features worship or religious elements to some degree.

coronan heliolatry

sun cult built around solar worship and the myth of the sundrop. the cult had a lot of power in corona’s early history but it has declined in prominence significantly over the centuries mainly because the actual sundrop was never found. values healing, truth, growth, and peace. in modern times its biggest influence on coronan culture is death rites, which involve cremation on funeral barges that are sailed into the east at sunrise. frederic yoinking the sundrop and feeding it to his wife caused something of a schism because on the one hand now the coronan princess is a vessel of the sun but on the other the king just killed an avatar of the sun what. that said most coronans are secular or if religious at all might go to temple for, like, midsummer and the harvest service and perhaps mutter a prayer on occasion.

the saporian ternary

back in the day saporia was a theocratic oligarchy controlled by the three cults of the divine ternary. unlike the coronan sun cult the cults of the divine ternary are still a prominent part of daily life for saporian coronans, though none of them are sanctioned by the coronan government and thus they seldom if ever practice openly. the deities of the divine ternary are:

char malách, the sacred terror, god of wonder [pronounced “kahr mal-AHK”, the ch is a phlegmy k]

his sphere is beauty, imagination, the arts, ambition and inspiration. he is associated with the sun and stars, fire, stone, metal, jewels, creativity and craftsmanship; also earthquakes, volcanoes, and wildfires. he never takes a physical form and is often depicted as a twisting, liquescent, burning spiral. his devotees are artisans, architects, artists, and outside of the cult they’re best known for having a yearly holiday where they make art for the specific purpose of setting it on fire.

his cult is called the temple of splendor (chalán hechá) and its members are sometimes referred to as the terrified (aráloshem)

cathay, the bone hound, goddess of woe [pronounced “kath-AY”]

her sphere is the dead, grief and loss, obsession and madness. she is associated with eclipses, rust, desolation, neglect, abandonment; pestilence and famine, war and treachery. though she is widely feared she is not considered evil, but rather more akin to a shadow cast by a bright light; she represents the natural opposite of the living world. she always appears as a large skeletal hound with dirt packed between the bones and hackles of rusted metal.

members of her cult are called barrow-makers (sholámar) and some of her priests practice a form of necromancy that involves self-mutilation and the reanimation of corpses.

zhan tiri, the lady of the woods, goddess of ways [pronounced “zahn tiri,” with a long a.]

her sphere is nature, wildness, passion, cycles and change. she is associated with the sea, the sky, soil and storms; growth, decay, and renewal; beginnings and endings, life and death, the cycle of the seasons, choices and consequence, freedom and will; trees, thorns, and flowers. her physical form is protean in the extreme and often chimerical, straddling the border between animal and plant, and in varying states of decay; her iconography varies accordingly but she’s almost always depicted with large, curling, ramlike horns.

members of her cult commonly refer to her as “our lady” (crezathan), and she has a host of other epithets: the black goat, the mother of thorns, web-spinner, flower-maker, sun-eater, lady of the woods. her cult is called the thorn syconium (cáshacathán) and has been working for centuries to weaken the boundaries between this realm and the dimension into which lord demanitus bound her a thousand years ago.

the saporian word for god/deity (zátocha) translates literally as revenant; the beings of the ternary are said to have grown from fragments of a greater cosmic power which was destroyed during the creation of the world. they are also euphemistically called the gentry (zatem).

the moonstone cult

before the desolation began a thousand years ago, the moonstone and the black rocks were a linchpin of aphelionese culture, with the moonstone being worshipped as a protective and transformative force. its cult developed a branch of magic that involves siphoning, channeling, and binding with the use of rituals and talismans. two of the incantations lord demanitus recorded in his scroll—the withering spell and the invocation of the moon—originated with the moonstone cult, and he later used them as a basis for the composition of the healing spell and the invocation of the sun.

a “mind trap” is one of the better known types of talismans used by the moonstone cult. its common name in coronan/english is a poor translation of an aphelionese word that more accurately means “spirit anchor,” and the talismans play an important role in aphelionese necromancy, which involved summoning spirits and binding them as shades in the physical plane. a living person who binds themself to a spirit anchor is able to call on the moonstone’s power to perform staggering feats of magic, but this was seldom done because binding your soul to a rock leaves you vulnerable to anyone who manages to get their hands on it. they’re difficult to make and only a single soul can be bound to each stone, making the practice even rarer. their reputation far exceeds their actual use and is founded mostly on the misunderstanding that a single talisman can “control the minds of anyone who’s sworn loyalty to the moonstone” a la canon.

lord demanitus got his hands on one of these talismans while researching the moonstone and did basically the magical equivalent of hacking it to turn it into a phylactery so he could lich it up. this.. provoked the moonstone and ultimately lead to the desolation, with the entire kingdom of aphelion being reduced to solid rock and dust.

speaking of that...

DEMANITUS, ZHAN TIRI, AND THE DROPS

the sundrop

primarily a healing/restorative power. it can generate light and heat, heal injuries, cure illness, push away death, reveal truth, and inspire hope. its magic also casts a shadow, of a sort, generating a dark, purely destructive and corruptive force.

the healing incantation draws on the restorative powers of the sundrop. over time, prolonged use results in a physical dependence on the sundrop’s magic, as the “shadow” of it sinks deeper and deeper into the body.

the invocation of the sun channels the raw power of the sun itself through the sundrop. its effect is most pronounced during the daytime and strongest in summer, when the sun is closest. using it also consumes/burns the physical body of the user until the channeled power is released, which can be fatal in reckless hands.

the moonstone

a warden whose purpose is to contain the shadows of the sundrop; it does so by forming them into the black rocks, rendering them inert. its magic is oriented around change, transformation, and movement. it also reflects the magic of the sundrop in a far less potent form; where the sundrop heals, the moonstone can grant the strength to simply keep going far beyond the point where a person should have collapsed, for example.

the withering incantation enlivens the sundrop’s shadow, drawing it out of the black rocks or siphoning the life out of everything nearby when used by the moonstone or sundrop respectively.

the invocation of the moon, like its counterpart, channels the raw power of the moon through the moonstone. it’s strongest at night and when the moon is full. it’s also less dangerous than the invocation of the sun, because it draws on the strength of the user’s will rather than body, though incautious use can shatter the user’s mind.

both drops

fell when the world was a newly-formed ball of magma. they worked in concert to cool and stabilize the globe and are effectively the progenitors of all life. the moonstone’s black rocks run through the core of the world, and the roots of the sundrop encompassed the whole globe.

when frederic pulled the sundrop out of the earth, he essentially killed it. the heart of its power flowed into rapunzel and stayed there, but the roots began to die and rot. the sundrop’s shadow grew stronger as it faded, leading to the wild growth of black rock as the moonstone struggled to contain it all. gothel keeping rapunzel in a tower made it worse by separating the sundrop from the earth.

demanitus’s belief that the sundrop and moonstone “long to reunite” is a little mistaken; they were already united before frederic uprooted the sundrop and upset the natural balance they shared. unlike in canon, the drops have little interest and no ability to recombine into a greater power and return to the cosmos; they built this world together and have made it their home. they do, however, want the sundrop to be released so it can regrow and heal.

zhan tiri and the ancient power

jinarche, the celestial light, is a primordial entity associated with order, light, and stasis who either created or is the cosmos. when the primordial stasis was disrupted by the appearance of hunger, jinarche was torn apart, unleashing darkness and chaos into the world. as she died, hunger devoured her, feeding on her power; corrupting it but being likewise corrupted; this force became zhan tiri. other pieces of jinarche became the sun, moon, stars, and the molten embryo of the planet. the sun/moon drops were created by the sun and moon to restore balance. various other powers developed over time out of leftover bits of jinarche and the interactions between earlier forces. the cosmos is a flourishing ecosystem growing in the carcass of a dead god, basically.

zhan tiri’s basic nature, accordingly, is Hunger. but on top of that there’s a messy amalgam of a personality she developed over her billions of years of existence in a you are what you eat sort of way.

she’s drawn to the sun/moon drops (and vice versa) because the drops are remnants of jinarche and zhan tiri is a cursed reincarnation of jinarche, sort of; a cosmic parasite that became. if she were to acquire both drops that would essentially sort of... burn out the corruption / fuse them all and flip them to just being jinarche for all intents and purposes. the drops do not want this to happen. zhan tiri also does not want this to happen but her solution is to acquire human vessels for the drops, like oven mitts.

demanitus imprisoned her in a void dimension a thousand years prior to the story and since then she’s been reduced to the cosmic equivalent of shoving her fingers through cracks under the door. her cults and those few disciples who escaped being killed or bound by demanitus have been busily weakening the boundaries ever since, with the ultimate goal of eroding it enough for her to break free completely.

demanitus

was the scion of minor coronan nobility and grew up during the peak of the sun cult’s power. became obsessed with the legend of the sundrop and determined to find it. was nineteen when he met a saporian scholar and learned just enough about the divine ternary to get himself into trouble by following the logic of: these people call their weird demon patron flower-maker -> she must have something to do with the sundrop flower -> i will summon her to help me find it What Could Go Wrong

(everything. everything could go wrong)

zhan tiri wasn’t opposed to helping at first because: oven mitt, but demanitus, being a youthfully stupid nineteen year old aristocrat, treated her like a servant instead of a powerful being he was petitioning for help so she was like; knock it off you brat, and ripped half his face off.

cue bad decisions tango. after he seals zhan tiri for the first time (in the mountain beneath his family home, the dummy) he tries to settle down to raise a family but eventually the spreading corruption and his horrorterror eldritch vision gets to be too much so he fucks off into the night to become a vagrant warlock/artificer. gets obsessed with the moonstone and sundrop again. the drama with his trusted pupils betraying him and unleashing zhan tiri again happens when demanitus is in his sixties and his quest to figure out a way to get rid of her Forever puts him on the path that leads to him making himself a lich and triggering the desolation of aphelion.

he has a big book of eldritch lore that he wrote over the course of his first century which he passed to his eldest grandson when he “dies,” to ensure that corona is protected by his legacy even when he’s not around. this gets handed down from parent to child for generations until it eventually ends up in the hands of his distant descendant, xavier.

the disciples

sugracha il pchela, tromus matthiaos, and calanthe gothel were demanitus’s pupils and the only ones he trusted enough to bring with him to his ancestral home while searching for the sundrop. this backfired on him spectacularly when sugracha stumbled through the half-rotten magical bindings that kept zhan tiri imprisoned beneath his house, ended up haunted and sort of obsessed, and dragged matthiaos and calanthe down with her. sugracha and matthiaos were and still are extremely loyal; both of them like the power, sugracha sees zhan tiri as something of a muse, and matthiaos has a more classic scholar-patron relationship with her. calanthe on the other hand wanted immortality, decided the price zhan tiri demanded was too steep, and dipped as soon as she found the sundrop.

#rta #tts #bitter snow #[rambles about lore for nine pages] this is fine

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atimefordragons · 5 years ago

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[ T S E S A R E V N A ... ]

My incomplete audition for Gem Quest, didn’t have the time to participate properly, let alone finish my audition from all the other groups (yeah, I don’t know what time management is and have no idea how to pace myself).

“В небе далеком горит звезда, | In distant heaven star shines Не одинока и не одна | It's not alone and not the one Каждый себе выбирает путь | Everyone choose their own way И она не даст свернуть | And star won't allow them to turn Не закрывай глаза | Don't close your eyes Смотри она ведет тебя.. | Look, it leads you...”

- Звезда (Dima Bilan ft Anna Belan)

Real Name: Yekatrina “Katya/Rina” Anatolyevna Raevskaya

Age: 26

FC: Alia Bhatt

Species & Class: Dragonborn & Mage-Knight

Guild: Moonstone

Description of In-Game Powers: (what their fantasy species lets them do, basically, and all the associated drawbacks)

A dragonborn is a cross-bred species, born from the bloodline of either a human or an elf, and a Great Dragon (highly evolved, ancient dragons that can cast spells, and shit, and even speak the human tongue). Because great dragons are rare, most dragonborn are second generation or later. In the case of Tsesarevna, an ice dragon and a human (not a first gen).

Dragonborns have a natural affinity for magic, particularly elemental, even more specifically for the element of the dragon type whose blood they inherited, in the case of Tsesarevna, frozen water related magic, ice, frost, snow.

Place of Birth: Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation

Appearance: (optional textual description/notes of wardrobe, features not represented by fc, etc)

Places Most Likely to be Found In-Game: Level 20 - A Midwinter Night’s Dream (I see what you did there Ayz) and Level 38 - Murias Pass (the snow reminds her of home, ya know. The cold never bothered me anyway), also sometimes Level 39 - The Dragon, but she’s technically stuck on that level because she refuses to kill the Dragon, issa zaldrīzo ānogar.

Current Inventory:

History Book: The Dragon King Festival

Strongest character trait: eurovision knowledge Confidence (in herself and some others)

Strengths: Katya is almost surprisingly determined, it contradicts with the rest of her “I’ve never had to work hard to get what I want in my life” type personality, but she is persevering and stubborn, when she wants something, she won’t stop until she gets it. Which in her real life was never very difficult getting.

Weaknesses: Where to even start? Spoiled Princess Brat (she has never not gotten what she wants in her life, and it shows), impatient, impulsive, not exactly a team player (I mean, she is now, but that shady shit she pulled back when she first started playing kinda got her a rep), arrogant, prideful, kind of a bitch (doesn’t really think of it as a weakness, but ya know, it’s hard to make friends), dragon obsession (refuses to kill dragons, even in order to advance the game, got herself and party members killed early on in the game ‘cause of it), kind of an adrenaline junkie, and reckless af. She doesn’t really consider the consequences of the game, wholeheartedly believes her dad, fam and connections in the real world will get her out soon enough, so has no problem running head first into fire (”I’m too hot to die in a video game”).

Player Stats: (on a scale of 1-10, 1 being the weakest, 10 being the strongest. try to balance it out!)

STRENGTH: 9

DEFENSE: 7

CHARISMA: 3

PSYCHE: 5

WILLPOWER: 9

CAUTIOUSNESS: 2

AGILITY: 5

ENDURANCE: 7

INTELLIGENCE: 8

LUCK: 4

Personality: “Haven’t you ever seen a princess be a bad bitch before?”

Haha, yeah, but mostly, she’s just a massive nerd. She’s such a fucking nerd. Bitch learned Quenya and Sindarin just for kicks, and her own amusement. Literally no one else in her irl circle even fucking knows what those two things are (Elvish tongues in Tolkien).

As the baby of a two large families, and the only daughter of a Russian oligarch, Katya is incredibly spoiled, and very much self-centered. Something of a downplayed celebutante, she is not quite as present at every single high society, high fashion event in Russia, or elsewhere in Europe, she only goes to a handful. And really only for the free stuff, she loves stuff. Katya maintains a somewhat disinterested high social status, as she is the daughter of a major industrialist, and friends with other, higher profile wealthy Russian heirs and heiresses, and there are benefits (so many), but she isn't quite interested in attaining spotlight or attention. However, she also perceives it as something that is just naturally part of her life. She uses a lot of hand gestures when speaking, and tends to give off a naive-princessy vibe who seems to think the world revolves around her. Which, to be fair, it does in her house -she does know that it doesn’t actually, but ya know, can’t quite turn off that bitch, I’m a princess mindset.

“I don’t skate through life... I walk through life. In really nice shoes.” - Alexis Rose (Schitts’ Creek 3.04)

Notably, she speaks with a vocal fry when speaking English. She says “like” a lot, has a bit of a condescending tone, but, she like, does care. About a lot of stuff, but also humanity in general. Spoiled baby she may be, she does have a moral compass, and was amongst the public figures who signed an open letter against the Saint Petersburg Anti-”Gay Propaganda” bill (it’s some bullshit about “protecting” minors from “non-traditional sexual relationships”). She believes in doing the right thing, that the goal of any organization or even person should just be to decrease the net suffering of humanity, but also, she is a super proud Russian. Very anti-american, thinks they’re all stupid, always says shady shit in Russian whenever she runs into americans online. However, it’s not like she’s a fan of United Russia (Putin’s party), they’re right-wing nutjobs, she does not like them. Her main political party is A Just Russia, who are much less then left than her (officially, they be centre-left), but they’re the only ones (of her favoured parties) who have seats in the State Duma (the lower house of the Federal Assembly, Russia’s legislative body - the Duma is like parliament, or congress, I think, I don’t really know what congress is tbh, house of representatives maybe? Idk, the place where Nancy Pelosi is charge, equivalent to that). Katya also supports Patriots of Russia, a socialist, left-wing party, but they only have seats in regional parliaments, and only one seat in the Federation Council (similar to the senate, the upper house of Russia’s legislative body). There’s also Russia of the Future, but it’s not been formally registered yet. In the 2018 election she voted for the communist party’s candidate just for kicks (it’s different in Russia, there’s was zero possibility of Putin losing, come on, grow up).

As a side note, if this helps with the explainary-stuff, I basically envision her as a slavic-desi cross of Alexis Rose from Schitts’ Creek, and Gina Linetti from Brooklyn-99, also this hindi song; Sheila ki Jawani. The song is basically about owning the fact that you’re super sexy.

Biography: Katya is half-Russian, half-Indian, born to a Russian father, industrialist (and oligarch) Anatoli Ivanovich Raevsky, and an Indian mother, activist and journalist Mishti Syeda Khan. Her parents eventually separated, though technically are still married, when she was about 14, and her mother moved to Manchester in the UK, while Katya remained in Russia with her father. Katya is from a large family, on both sides, and at the time of her birth, was the first baby to be born in quite a few years (the elder cousins were like tween-teen, too old be constantly coddled and cuddled, and too young to make babies), so she was hella spoiled by everyone. The problems her maternal family had with her mother marrying a non-Muslim white boy? Well, we still hate him, but look how cute Rina is.

Despite the... complications between her family members - the whole religion/marrying a shada (white) boy thing, not to mention that Mishti herself is like agnostic at “best”, in general, as the baby, Katya (or Rina as her mother and maternal family call her), get along - well, okay, there’s always the shady auntieji’s, and bullshit drama, but like, that’s just brown families yo. We like that. We’re all 100% those bitches (see ya at Eid Nanu [grandma], ya messy bitch). While there is some distance between Katya and her mother, metaphorically and literally, she really does look up to her mother and her work, and followed in her footsteps, studying journalism at Moscow State University, and moving on to work at Известия (Izvestia), the “national” paper of Russia, formerly the state newspaper of the Soviet Union. Currently, she’s a glorified fact checker, and maintains the website with a handful of other colleagues. She’s also authored small “puff pieces” for Nedelya (a weekly Friday section about leisure actives, culture, that kinda stuff).

Katya is not exactly an avid gamer. She likes games, but it’s not like a 24/7 thing, whereas she is 24/7 thinking about like ASOIAF or Stars Wars (fuck you JJ, you were supposed to destroy the Sith R*ylo, not join them), not to mention Eurovision. Anyone who thinks Eurovision only lasts for a week is a fake fan, and anyone who thinks it’s a one day thing is an american. Ziben ziben ilulu motherfucker. Anyway.... she prefers immersive, high fantasy worlds, she likes the story and plot, so her types of games are The Witcher and Dragon Age Series, Elder Scrolls, that sort of thing. She doesn’t put in daily hours, ‘cause she got other stuff to do, but will dedicate weekends to leveling up her characters in order to accomplish quests and missions quickly and not waste time to get to the story cut scenes. She hates, hates, hatessss microtransactions and those stupid fucking mmorpg phone games which are literally just farmville repackaged with a dragon or an orc; FUCK YOU. What a fucking waste of time, quit advertising as having a plot and story, or cool character customization, ‘cause you don’t have any of that you basic ass bitch!

Gem Quest was regifted to Katya by a coworker, who had gotten it as a present, but didn’t have a VR set (of course she had one, she’s rich, and also she needed it to play Batman: Arkham VR - she’s still waiting on a game that’ll let her make out with Nightwing while playing as a custom character). She got a bit of a bad rep (understatement) in the beginning of the game. Katya hates being stuck because she doesn’t have enough exp or whatever, so she always levels up in the beginning of a game before taking the time to fuck around and do whatever, which, in the case of Gem Quest, means teaming up is the easiest way to do that. So, whenever a party member was holding them back from leveling up, she would straight up kill them in order to move on. She killed her own irl friends, to be fair, she doesn’t do that anymore, that was just in the beginning, but ya know, the rep of being that bitch kinda hard to get of.

G.’s announcement didn’t particularly freak out Katya. Whatever kind of evil Kaiba Corp execs bullshit he was pulling didn’t matter, he still had a body out there in the real world, and there’s no fucking way her dad would let die in a fucking game. There’s perks to being Oligarchs in Russia, and even if she did die in-game and was unable to return to reality, wherever G. and his real body were, motherfucker will die in excruciating pain. Polonium-210 ain’t pleasant, and the Novichok series is so much worse.

Relationships: (OPTIONAL, fill out whenever you want to)

Silverwing - rn. Anastasia “Anya” Gagarina (fc: Anna Belan), a fellow moonstone, and real life friend - well, the younger sister of an ex-boyfriend whom she still gets along with (the sister, not necessarily the ex).

Inferna - I don’t really have any plotting ideas, but Inferna’s whole; “It’s very important that I am both cute and powerful” is so relatable (to me and Katya xp)

Enthroned -

Morningstar -

Extras/Trivia (aka unnecessary information):

Her mother, and thus maternal family, are from Kolkata, in the state of West Bengal in India, thus making Katya fluent (relatively) in Bengali as well (well, a dialect of it - West Central, you’d think as an actual Bengali person, I’d know the proper name of it, but nope. Idk, shudobasha maybe, but I think that’s for people from Dakha, which is in Bangladesh, not India. Whatever. Not like my dad will check this and be disappointed in me.)

Apart from her native Russian, Hindi, and Bengali, she speaks English, and Japanese (100% learned it because she’s a weeb), as well as the fictional languages; Quenya, Sindarin (and can use the Tengwar script to write them), High Valyrian, Mando’a, Dovazhul, and Klingon. As a teenager she also created a dictionary for ancient “Black Speech”, an in-universe constructed language in Tolkien’s legendarium, but her version is not canon, so it doesn’t count - she’s also forgotten a lot of it. She was a baby, she still has the hard copy she made somewhere in the Raevsky Manor in Saint Petersburg.

After graduating from MSU, her father bought her, her own apartment in the Kudrinskaya Square Building in Moscow, adjacent to the ones he owned already, which she had lived in when she moved to Moscow for school.

Katya’s family is religiously mixed (well, she’s the one who’s mixed), her maternal family are largely Muslim, some Hindu (very few though, like, you can count them on one hand), and her paternal family are either Orthodox Christian or atheist (usually depending on how long they were alive and how into the Soviet Regime they were). Katya’s parents are agnostic (Mishti), and atheist (Anatoli), Katya herself is also atheist, but sometimes she’ll say she prays to the Seven or R’hllar, or Lord Jashin, or some other made up nerd ass religion (’cause she that bitch).

But for real, she can be a real bitch about religion. The Soviets got a lot wrong, but banning religion was not one of them <- so she says. She gets super pissed when someone brings up religion during a politics chat, that fake shit should have nothing to do with running a country.

hates starbucks with every fibre of her being, it’s such an american staple and the first time she saw one in Russia, she nearly had a heart attack.

Will die mad about:

The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker; the fuck was that bullshit? We trusted you JJ!

the garbage show’s gaslighting and murder of Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, First of Her Name, Rightful Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men. Queen of Meereen, The Prince who was Promised, The Unburnt, Slayer of Lies, Breaker of Shackles, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, and Mother of Dragons.

Hrithik Roshan still being so fucking hot (he’s 45, please like chill a little, holy fuck)

Catarina de Lurton dying

Former american politician John McCain constantly saying “Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country” - bitch, we’re a thousand years old, how’s your 250 year old failed experiment of a garbage nation going?

Freud.

Links:

Playlist

Urstyle Collection (aesthetics, and other shit)

Social Media

#gem quest #katya raevskaya #audition #my edits #clara's edits #mine #incomplete #writing #graphics

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roll-for-dexterity · 6 years ago

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Emire: Spirits of Nature and Beyond

Emire’s are a race of creatures I made for a comic series I’ve planned on making, and to my joy I was able to adapt them into DnD. This is my first home brew, and I’m more than likely going to be tweaking this with new art for subraces, and fixing/adding traits. Please, feel free to give any tips. :D

(If anyone from my DnD group is reading this you should be able to guess who these two could be, and this is only giving our DM ideas so I’ll go on to the race info.)

Emire’s:

A species known to only a very few outside their land of origin, Emire’s are a rare sight that are spirits born as the mortal deities who maintain the world around them.

Isolation to Varinway:

The exact origin of Emire’s is unknown, but it has been pinpointed to this continent. Many theorize their existence is due to the desire of the gods to have beings to keep the balance for them, or tied to the flow of the world itself, but no one is truly certain. As for why Emire’s aren’t so wide spread outside their origin country is only theorizable that they see no reason to leave. From the regions various environments that all Emire’s can call home, and the fact that if they have a Thane may only root further the fact they may never leave the continent. Those who have entered places such as Barovia, Ravenloft, etc, is due to the fact they followed their Thane, or were forcefully transported to such places in their Shard Forme.

Souls in Stones:

The main (Or actually real for that matter) part of an Emire is their Core jewel in the center of their chest. These commonly look like diamond shaped crystals on first appearance, until they reveal themself or a arcane check is made. The crystal stone their soul resides in is theorized to be a purified vessel, perfect for a habiting spirit. Emire’s are susceptible to corruption by supernatural means, so they must be careful around fellow spirits or those who can manipulate them (Liches in best example). The only other worry over the Core crystals all Emire’s have is the possibility of it being badly damaged or shattering. Heavy damage will put the Emire in a weakened state, unable to defend themself, or keep their form, and they will retreat into the crystal to recover. However the shattering of a crystal is the equivalent of perma-death. A new Emire of their respected spirit will appear to replace them in due time, but the original is unrecoverable. As for what happens to those who are slain, only rumors of regular people resembling them are the only plausible answers.

Simulacra Mimicry:

Emire’s are able to manipulate their appearance as desired, looking akin to any race or species they like. However, their chosen form will echo their elemental power by the colors of various parts of the body such as: skin, eyes, hair, nails, additions of extra appendages or features, and in rare cases tongues. These however tend to go more than greatly unnoticed. Their Core jewel is the true tell-tale sign one is a Emire, especially if they dislike you touching it. To initiate a quick forming of a simulacra body, a player must expose their jewel to their spiritual element if known. If unable to perform, then as a matter of 5 in game minutes will pass before they appear in this forme. It is also best to keep in mind that Emire’s do not have items, or forms of currency on them wen first awoken, but an always be given such things as the party pleases.

Spiritual Hierarchy:

The race it’self is split into separate levels varying upon their subrace. Emire’s greatly respect this ancient order, and will generally display some level of respect to one of a superior ranking. Those who study Emire’s dub the names of each level reflect the subspecies name to prevent confusion.

Servitude:

Emire’s are a race who’s only other purpose in life is to find a Thane, a master. If you as a player of another race discovers a wild Emire (Or a party member discovers that you yourself are one) they may attempt to tame them if desired. To tame a Emire a player must first get consent from the Emire in question, if allowed roll percentile. If a success the Emire will be bound to the player until their death, and the Emire will gain a bonus of 5 to all their basic stats during the partnership. There is only one way to re-roll a failed attempt, giving up a Fate Point. If it fails a second time the player cannot try to tame the Emire for the rest of the game. It will not harm an Emire to go without someone to command it, but they will still crave a companionship of sorts out of anyone in the party.

Emire Names:

Emire names are mostly basic in origin, always based on their subrace, and spirit. Element Emire names are always a anagram of their elements name. Animal Emire’s names either are themed of, literally are, or can be a spin off of the name of the creature they embody. Mind, Weather, and Celestial Emire’s are always named after the state of the mortal mind, weather conditions, and celestial bodies they take after. Emire’s are willing to accept more normal of names, but this must be a accepted option presented by their Thane.

Element Names: Tewar, Diwn, Feri, Reath, Hundter, Kard, Tighl, Cie, Latme, Alef.

Animal Names: Wild, Kanine, Leon, Shelldon, Megalodonna, Kitt, Alucard, Jello, Thorn.

Weather Names: Rain, Hurricane, Monsoon, Quake, Eruption, Blizzard, Snow.

Mind Names: Dream, Joy, Anger, Hate, Love, Insanity, Fear, Anxiety, Hunger, Sorrow.

Celestial Names: Capricorn, Gemini, Libra, Ochipucus, Cancer, Leo, Time, Ether, Kesis.

Adoptive Names: Oliver, Jane, Austin, Louraine, Ellise, Henry, Nora, Orlain, Adibell.

Racial Traits:

Age: The age of an Emire is rumored to be able to span for all eternity if given the chance, however they are still quite vulnerable to death. The longest recorded age of an active Emire is rumored amongst the species to be over three million years old, the dormant age is said to possibly be much, much longer.

Size: Emire’s at full maturity are most often the same height if not taller than the average man. Depending on their element, they may be broader, and bulkier, however Emire’s can be small as well. Your size may vary from small, medium, to large depending on Subrace.

Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 ft, however certain subraces do have slightly higher speeds.

Nature Know All: Your selected skills will always include Nature and Animal Handling automatically with any other selected skills.

Clear Minded: Basic mental attacks are ineffective against Emire’s given they are but merely spirits. However, a stronger attack of any sort will surely damage them.

Self Heal: If a limb is lost, it will regenerate at varying speeds in the given environment. If attacked by the same thing you are the spirit of, you will gain health instead of loose it.

Natural Armor: The basic attire worn by a Emire is made of a tough, unknown material. It will dampen most to fair amounts of damage depending upon the attack. Rough and hardened skin can also contribute. If you are a Emire with this trait, your defense will increase by two.

Alignment: Emire’s usually spend most of their life in their Shard forme, and have little to no contact with others until they change forme. However, past Thane’s and experiences with others can shape an Emire’s view of those around them and alter their alignment. They do value their bond with their Thane above all else, but a negative bond can change them from a Lawful to a Chaotic alignment, and vice versa. Most Emire’s are indeed naturally of the Lawful side, but some have been born to be Chaotically aligned.

Languages: Emire’s commonly speak Common, Primorial, and Telepathic (Up to 125 ft equal to Con+Proficency). It is not uncommon for Emire’s to learn other languages depending on Subrace.

Subrace: As beings who are born directly from the natural world Emire’s are all similar, yet very different. Certain unique abilities are limited to each subrace, making them perfect for specific classes. But the wisest thing any Thane, or Emire them self would do is multi class as there’s more potential to be had than with just one.

(Emire of Water, Tewar. Lawful Good) Element Emire: The second most common type of Emire, and are part of the second hierarchy level. Element Emire’s are commonly associated with factors like earth, fire, sound, metal, and ice. They are often sought after by doctors, and healers for their natural knowledge in medicine and ability to heal virtually any wound. But don’t just take them for full time healers, Element Emire’s can deal some critical damage.

Medicine Magicians:Even if your not choosing to be a spell user, choose two healing spells for your spell slots.

Absorbtion: It’s risky, but you can attempt to absorb a elemental attack. Absorbing a oncoming attack can harm you, and can possibly harm those around you. Good news is that if you don’t miss, you can then fling it back for twice the rolled damage. Absorbing the attack itself is performed with a -2 disadvantage of you're dexterity.

Natures Cure: Knowing the world around them, Element Emire’s know various natural ingredients used in common and unusual medicine. Select the skill of Medicine along others selected.

Size: Range from 4′8 to 7 ft tall. Your size is medium.

(Animal Emire, Kelpie. Neutral) Animal Emire: Spirits of the fifth level who are the most common of the whole race, and vary hardy. They are naturally born to various skills, but most of all to fight, and protect, as is often their job by Thane’s leading a farmers, or warriors lifestyle. Don’t let some of their small range of sizes fool you, they can still bring the pain, and cause all sorts of havoc.

Animal Lover: Animals naturally respect you, and basic boundaries are naturally in place upon encounter. Get a bonus of 2 to Animal Handling.

Feral Beast: In time’s of great stress, or overwhelming odds a Animal Emire will turn to the beast lurking within. This will give you a temporary bonus of 5 to your strength, constitution, and dexterity. Best to chose when to turn carefully, as you could easily harm party members out of blinded rage. Roll percentile to gauge how likely you turn on your team.

Nose that Knows: If in search of a object, and the player has rolled d20 resulting a 15 or higher, they will know the scent and can search for it.

Tough Hide: Chances are that your animal side has skin, fur, feathers, or scales too thick or tough to fully pierced at first. Get a bonus of 3 to armor class.

Size: Can range from 1 to 10 ft tall. Your size is tiny, small, medium, or large

Languages: As for having animalistic origins you will naturally be capable of speaking Beast, and Draconinc.

(Mind Emire, Incubus/Nightmare. Chaotic Evil) Mind Emire: Spirits of the fourth level who can get in your head and make you say, perform, or believe anything. From thinking of positives for the future, to walking the line of insanity, these Emire’s can be the biggest pain to others. Most Illithids aren’t very fond of them. Theory has it, that Mind Emire’s came to be when a Illithid scholar procreated with a celestial Emire they somehow tamed, and various crystals sprouted forth, one for each state and aspect of the mind.

Mind Manipulator: Naturally have high skill in ways to manipulate the mind, and are often deemed the ones responsible for some good and bad mental happenings. Due to their knowledge of how the mind works they have great skill in persuasion. You gain a bonus of 3 to your Charisma.

Corrupting Thoughts: You have the ability to manipulate desired targets with thoughts of mischief, and evil. This will set forth effects similar to schizophrenia, and can drive the target mad, or convince them to do as desired believing the thoughts to be their own. This all depends on the desire of the user.

Mental Shielding: You have heightened defense against mental attack. Gain a defensive bonus of 3 when under such attack.

Languages: Mind Emire’s don’t need to be proficient in all languages to convey mind altering thoughts. However all the common player species languages, and Underdark are most well known.

Size: Commonly range from 4′6 to 7 ft tall. Your size is medium.

(Weather Emire, Rain. Lawful Good) Weather Emire: Spirits of the third level who are responsible for altering the weather patterns to their liking, or to a Thane’s desire. They are naturally quite quirky, and may be a bit unpredictable. Most are still young, so all party members must be prepared for spasms of power to cause any type of unusual change in weather, followed by similar change in player mood.

Climate Change: Depending on your surroundings you can summon rain, wind, snow, and drought to a area. However, this may possibly harm members of your party along with you’re enemies, so this is always performed with -2 disadvantage.

Sky Bind Dance: The player will break into a short, tribal-like dance that can change the current weather conditions in battle. This can change the day/night cycle, bring forth clouds to block the sun, clear the sky of clouds, or bring forth blowing winds. This can actually give certain members of a party advantages. Day/Night give’s boosts of 3 points to any chosen stat depending on alignment. Darken Clouds gives a boost of 3 to stealth users. Sunny Sky give’s boosts to strength users. Great Winds grants a bonus of 3 to magic users.

The Perfect Storm: The Emire will call forth the elements, rampaging the area with their power for a 200 mile radius. May be harmful to the party, so be careful with close quarter, and indoor use.

Size: Weather Emire’s are commonly range from 4 to 7 ft tall. Your size is small/medium.

(Celestial Emire, Capricorn. Lawful Good) Celestial Emire: Emire’s who are tied to the origin of creation themselves, and are of the first level in the hierarchy. They are the most powerful and rarest of Emire’s to encounter. Celestial’s are well versed in practically any skills of their choosing, thus their skill sets are never the same. They believe deeply in justice and balance, and will put all else aside to achieve these desired goals.

Foresight Fortune: Look to the stars to see a probable moment in the future. This divination will be vague, and entirely random from when it occurs, along with how it came to pass. Thankfully, it will give foresight into possible ways to avoid a deft hand of fate.

Stardust Blessing: Using you’re cosmic powers, you gift all party members with a specifically desired effect (Healing, increasing stats, gifting limited time abilities) in battle.

Astronomical Assault: The most powerful move any Celestial Emire can perform. When used, it will destroy everything in a 2,000 kilometer radius into a pure, natural state for life to regrow and repopulate the decimated area. Be careful however, for this will instantly, and permanently kill all party members but yourself.

Languages: Know know to speak fluent Celestial, Abyssal, and Underdark.

Size: Celestial Emire’s are most commonly ranged from 8 to 25 ft tall. Your size is large, or huge.

#dnd #dnd race #homebrew #dungeons and dragons #artists on tumblr #d&d #d&d 5e #d&d race #d&d homebrew #digital art

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fantroll-purgatory · 6 years ago

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hey guys, it’s me again! this troll is based on a tabletop character I’ve had for almost two years who’s very dear to my heart. have fun!

I have to tell you right out the gate that I don’t have a lot of commentary here! They’re pretty well defined in all areas and you’ve very carefully considered what each part of their profile that you have means!

home planet: Alternia

name: Lelelu Luciin - based off the names they had in the game? their first name is based off their childhood name, Lellu, which was picked by the DM and as far as I know wasn’t based off anything, and their last name is based on the name they go by as an adult, Lucine, which ties into their association with divine light.

I’m almost tempted to make an Odette joke/recommendation here, but considered it has in-universe establishment from an external source, I think Lelelu is fair. I could also try to make some kind of tenuous connection about how Lelelu sounds similar to Leleu which means wolf, but… That’s not helpful. I’ve also found a few questionable sources about grammar stating that Ira Lelelu means The Disobedient in… Peterara? I think?, so there’s that take-with-a-grain-of-salt fact.

age: around 9 sweeps.

strife specibus: Fistkind. they’re quite strong and have become adept at unarmed combat.

Going weaponless is usually reserved for void players, but I do think it kind of fits their ideological bent that they would not want a lot of separation between themself and the people they fight- to be really sure that this is the right thing before laying in. I wonder if there’s any other similarly intimate weapon that they could use? Corded whips are sometimes associated with justice and retribution (see: Jesus braiding his own whip and then chasing the money changers). They could have a weapon setup so that they need to actually braid their whip before they fight, so they have to be sure they REALLY need to fight before going in.

fetch modus: Memory. this is mostly a joke based on the game they’re from, which had “all the players wake up with total Hollywood amnesia and have to reassemble their memories over the course of the game” as its premise and a throwaway line from the DM when I kept rolling poorly to recall that normally they had a pretty good memory, but since Lelelu is a fundamentally patient person who plays by the rules, I think they’d use it effectively, even if it’s not as much as Jade.

trolltag: I haven’t come up with one since I’m not really the greatest at those, ha ha!

How about ophidianDominie? It basically just means Snake Priest.

quirk: honestly I haven’t come up with one either, just because I haven’t really conceptualized their online presence? their speaking pattern is very serious, almost formal - they’re autistic and use a distinctive blend of registers that utilizes a lot of sophisticated words, but the actual sentence structures they use are personal, not academic.

Sometimes trolls really do just have some straightforward typing quirks. Maybe you could use something like Frequent Stops to represent them carefully considering their words.

Ex: I am not. Mad. Just disappointed.

blood color: jade. this is subject to change if the mods think another color would fit better! the primary reason for this is that although my character is primarily associated with a warm gold in game, they’re also heavily associated with the sun god they worship.

symbol: a version of their god’s symbol (a roughly T-shaped sunburst best seen here) that’s been modified to fit the jade rules. if we’re going by Extended Zodiac rules, I would use the jade/Prospit/Hope sign.

lusus: a horse-sized swan with a snake’s head. they keep its feathers and sew them into a shiny white cape.

special abilities: they’re a rainbow drinker. obviously rainbow drinking is tied to their status as a jadeblood - I chose this because of a rainbow drinker’s enhanced strength, agility, and glowiness, which are all abilities my game character has, but if there’s something else that fits the bill for a non-jade, I’d be fine with it. (the white marks on their design are scars, which retain a degree of luminosity even when they tone down the rest of their skin.)

they also have an old, discarded cherub juju, though they’re not aware that’s what it is. they discovered it along with accounts of a noble defender of justice who fought and prevailed against a mighty evildoer and believed that the defender described was a troll from long ago, much like Kanaya’s initial perception of the elusive tentacleTherapist. the juju grants them powerful abilities, though they can’t use the full extent because they’re not a cherub. with it, they can conjure fire and temporarily shift their arms into wings. (the character they’re based on can transform into a swan as a racial trait, but I kinda nerfed it for the troll version.)

personality: Lelelu is, at heart, a nurturing person. in a better world, raised by people with an ironclad commitment to protect the weak, they’d be a staunch pacifist, never killing if they can wound, never wounding if they can subdue, never subduing if they can’t pacify, and so on. Alternia is not that world.

although Lelelu would never hurt one they perceive as innocent, they don’t believe in extending that same treatment to those who would. they’re distrustful of highbloods, and that distrust turns to fury if they discover that someone practices culling. they’re not so impulsive as to act on that fury if they’re not in a situation where their safety would be assured, but they have a good memory for those who offend their principles.

a lifetime on Alternia has taught them that most trolls are quick to practice needless violence. even so, they can’t help but feel that even the most brutal of killers could have been a kinder person if they just tried. every time they take a life, they’re disappointed: disappointed at a situation they feel forced their hand, disappointed in themselves for not being able to save an innocent troll, and disappointed in the offender for not being better.

when dealing with trolls who aren’t murderers, they’re a striking mix of serious and cheerful. most people interpret them as more severe than they actually are, partly because of their odd manner of speaking, partly because of their logical thought processes, and partly because they’ve been jaded (ha ha) by Alternian society, but they’re surprisingly optimistic, for someone whose high standards so often lead them to be disappointed in others.

Lelelu is a troll with a higher calling - at least, that’s what makes the most sense to them. when they were young, they discovered a mysterious artifact and inspiring tales of a snakelike winged person who seemed to share their principles and sense of justice. because the artifact resembled their sign, they believed the figure in the legends was their own ancestor and decided to carry on their legacy.

they have a great deal of faith in fate and a sense that everything will ultimately work out. it doesn’t necessarily have to benefit them, but they have a strong sense that there’s a force bigger than themselves out there that has a goal and looks out for everyone, in its own way.

one event in particular that stands out in their life is their conversion to a rainbow drinker. they got into a fight they couldn’t handle that left them with deep scars, but though they were left for dead, they woke up stronger, faster, shinier… and thirstier. they interpreted the transformation as a blessing and swore to only drink from trolls whose lives they personally brought to a righteous end.

I love themmm

interests: they enjoy tending to living things and keep a thriving garden around their hive, weeds and all. because they spent a good deal of time in the brooding caverns before they discovered their true purpose, they’re fascinated by rain, snow, and other weather they wouldn’t encounter underground. they also have a fondness for music and sing to themselves when they’re alone.

title: Knight of Hope. Lelelu is a troll of strong principles who holds the idea of a better world close to their pusher, and they use their principles and optimism to accomplish almost everything they do.

You’ve written a PERFECT knight of hope here (and a perfect prospitan)

dreamself: Prospit. they’re straightforward in nature and take things at face value, always pursuing the path of fate and personal destiny. they have a firm faith that the universe will always follow its own rules.

land: I haven’t come up with a quest or Land yet, mostly because I’ve been thinking of them mostly on Alternia rather than in Sgrub. I sort of picture a land of treacherous terrain wracked by storms, and their goal being to restore sunlight, though that’s based on events that happened in the tabletop session.

It’s still a good one. If it was a land filled with despair and they needed to bring the metaphorical light back into people’s lives even more than the literal, that’d be great. You could do something like the Land of Dolor and Tempest?

As for design, I think they’re pretty perfect, I wouldn’t really change anything.

Thank you so much for sharing!

-CD

#jadeblood #submission #crashorpie #review #cd review

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modernlcve · 6 years ago

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* — stats — gabriela melo !

* — basics !

full name: gabriela beatriz melo. nickname(s): prefers none. her dad calls her gabby anyways. age: twenty - four. date of birth: april eleventh. place of birth: rockville, maryland. gender: female. pronouns: she / her. sexual orientation: bisexual. level of education: high school graduate.

* — physical !

tattoos: none. piercings: ears pierced twice. notable features: meticulously kept eyebrows. weakness(es): none notable. scar(s): none notable.

* — domestic !

occupation: clerk at a gift shop, waitress. residence: lives in an apartment building in delphinus heights. social class: working class. parents: ricky melo, age 43, her primary parent growing up. she took care of him more than vice versa. claudia aguilar, age 42, left the family when gabriela was 12. they don’t keep in touch. siblings: none. extended family: her father was an only child and his parents have passed over her lifetime, so there isn’t much to speak of.

* — personality !

positive traits: diligent, steadfast, resilient. negative traits: spiteful, jaded, unforgiving. myers-briggs ( x ): estj; the executive. temperament: choleric. moral alignment: neutral good. horoscope: aries, the ram. hogwarts house: slytherin.

* — favorites !

movie: easy a. tv show: broad city. book: catcher in the rye. drink: she likes a good mojito. food: solid county fair funnel cake. animal: hard call but she thinks jellyfish are cool and fun 2 talk about. color: sky blue. song: golden slumbers by the beatles. artist: arcade fire. celebrity crush: gary clark jr.

* — impressions !

first impression: she’s a smartass. she comes off as dry, a little holier-than-thou. she’s got a hard shell, but if you’ve got a similar sense of humor, everything should work out. self impression: she thinks of herself, generally, as someone who’s strong, and doesn’t take people’s shit, and is kind of Above the frilly things in life. that’s taken a hit after all the matty stuff, but she’s working on hyping herself back up. lover impression: again, she’s hard to get through too. but i feel like once you get through to her, she really would die for you. if she trusts you, she trusts you hardcore.

* — et cetera !

turn ons: humor, intelligence, confidence. turn offs: arrogance, people that can’t be direct. drink/drugs/smoke: yes/no/no. dominant hand: right. clean or messy: messy. early bird or night owl: night owl. hobbies or special talents: surprisingly good at fast mental math. extreme coupon-er in the making.

* — QUESTIONNAIRE !

01. where was your character born? what brought them to carina bay? what do they like most about the town?

gabriela was born in rockville, maryland. if i’m remembering the plot right, she moved to carina with matty before the break up. she was pulled here by promise of stability, a life that she’d never really thought she would get. she stays now mostly out of spite: she’s not gonna let matty win and run her out of town. that, and the hassle of moving and resettling is just too daunting right now. she likes the small town camaraderie of it all, and having friends she’s made since moving here as a support system. she also likes not having her dad breathing down her neck all the time.

02. who are your character’s friends and family? who do they surround themselves with? who are the people your character is closest to?

gabriela’s only notable family is her father. when she was twelve, her mother left him, and he fell off the wagon. he instilled in her a kind of grit, a proclivity for independence and sustaining herself from a young age. she had to pick up his slack. she surrounds herself now with people who support her: a novel idea, that she can trust other’s to do that, and doesn’t have to constantly be the one supporting everyone else with nothing in return.

03. what is your character’s biggest fear? who have they told this to? who would they never tell this to? why?

i reblogged this the other day mostly as a joke but. i thought about it and it’s probably true that she’s spent a lot of her life trying to not be a Bitch like her mom, but since she’s become the dumpee instead of the dumper, she’s seeing more of her dad in herself, a fear she didn’t realize she needed to have. she’s probably never told this to anyone because it’s just not her Style. tough girl divulging her mommy and daddy issues just kinda ruins the vibe.

04. has your character ever been in love? had a broken heart?

she loved matty a lot. i think she wasn’t used to someone who seemed to be so supportive and interested in her. she clung to that hard. while there was still an extent to which she was keeping some of her Mushier bits hidden from him, she really felt a sort of Us Against The World thing with him. and as much as i’ll Meme about subtweets and stuff gabriela really did take a blow from him leaving her. she’s always been proud of her ability to detect bullshit. she’s always thought she was really good at picking that out in people, but this whole thing is just proof that if someone comes to her, and appeals to that one part of her mind that fears ending up alone and pitiful like her dad, she’ll so easily forget to be scanning for Bullshit. matty truly had her fucking snowed and she’s reluctant to even think about getting back out there because of it.

05. your character is doing intense spring cleaning. what is easy for them to throw out? what is difficult for them to part with? why?

in general, she has a good bit of clutter, just because of how she grew up without much. you never know when something could come in handy, when you could need it and not be able to run out and grab it. easy for her to throw out would be things that aren’t Clearly Functional, but her standards of function may be different than the average.

06. it’s saturday at noon. what is your character doing? give details.

she’s working or sleeping. either she’s on shift at one of her two jobs, trying to scoop up as many hours as she possibly can, or she’s getting sleep when she’s off the clock for once. she usually tries to schedule time off during the week of instead of the weekend, so typically she’d be working.

07. what is one strong memory that has stuck with your character since childhood?

literally anytime she could she’d try to convince someone in her family to go with her to the zoo in dc. she just loves animals and Watching them so much. it was only an hour’s drive from her home, but it still felt special and fancy and like something to really Revel in.

09. what is something that upsets your character? where do they go when they’re upset?

gabriela is upset when she doesn’t feel in control. she’s used to having a certain amount of a hold on her life, and when it gets out of hand is when she starts to panic. when she’s upset, she isolates. she holes up in her apartment, until she’s decided she’s moped a sufficient amount and forces herself to socialize again.

10. when your character thinks of their childhood kitchen, what smell do they associate with it? why?

there wasn’t much cooking ever done in her childhood kitchen, but both her parents were into trying to make instant oatmeal taste as good as they could. the smell that stands out the most was her mother’s favorite, oatmeal with way too much cinnamon and strawberries.

#( gabriela melo. )#( stats. )#probably also altered stuff from original plotting but . its called growth i think

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asterinjapan · 6 years ago

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Of gardens and animals

Good afternoon!

Well, five PM is still noon, right?

Anyway, a little earlier today, but I still managed to see quite a lot. Since tomorrow is Disney day, I’m not sure if I’ll still go out tonight or if I’ll just get some dinner and call it a day, but I have some time to think about it still. In the mean while, here’s my report for today!

I cheered at breakfast as they had scrambled egg (which works much better with my stomach), so I could have a pretty filling breakfast, whoo! After that, I grabbed my things and made my way to the station. This time, my goal was the subway: I took the Yurakucho line to Iidabashi station, which was just ten minutes.

A short walk away is a garden called Koishikawa Korakuen. It’s one of the oldest gardens in Tokyo as it was completed during the Edo era (1600-1868), more specifically in the 17th century, with Chinese influences. Like many Japanese gardens, this garden has reproductions of famous Japanese (and in this case also Chinese) scenery, like with miniature hills and bridges. There are several bridges and small rivers named after bridges and rivers I’ve seen in Kyoto, for example.

Koishikawa Korakuen is actually very central, close to the Tokyo Dome and an amusement park ( you can see the white dome and the top of a rollercoaster from the garden). And it was a whole lot bigger than I somehow thought, haha. I think I compared it to another garden on the map and didn’t realize the proper scale. Anyway! Most Japanese gardens have something special depending on the season, as the Japanese like to pride their country on having four very different seasons. Cherry blossoms in spring are famous, but the fall leaves are almost just as popular, and it can get super busy in the popular spots when the autumn leaves reach their brightest colours.

The maple trees here had dropped almost all their leaves, but I still found an area that was a vibrant red and yellow, making for very spectacular views as the sun was shining bright today. The tree tops looked to be on fire. I took a ton of pictures and then found out I’d only covered a quarter of the garden, at best, haha.

Overall, I took almost 3 hours trailing through the garden, and even then I rushed some parts because the trees were completely barren in that area. Whoa! It was also interesting to see some of the trees (like the weeping cherry blossom tree and the trees in the inner garden) protected against the winter weather. Some have straw belts, but the cherry blossom tree has a straw cape: straw ropes are suspended from a central pole to protect the tree from snow, in the process drawing out a very basic Christmas tree shape, haha.

Anyway! Two breaks in the garden later (I had some amazake – sweet sake, although this was non-alcoholic), I made my way back to the station again to take the Namboku subway line this time. Of course, it first went past a station called Korakuen… Oops. Oh well, the next stop was where I was getting off anyway, and riding the subway for just 2 stops sounds slightly less pathetic than for one whole stop.

The stop is Todaimae, ‘in front of Tokyo University’. No, I haven’t signed up for classes, there’s a statue here that I wanted to pay a short visit.

You see, you’re probably familiar with the statue of Hachiko – if only because I post a picture of it every trip without fail, ahem. In case you forgot the story: Hachiko was a dog who always came to pick up his master, professor Ueno, at Shibuya station after work. One day, he didn’t return anymore as he’d had a heart attack at work and died there. Hachiko kept coming to the station for the ten years after, until his own passing. Touched by the dog’s loyalty, a statue was erected at Shibuya station as early as 1934 (when Hachiko was still alive!). The bronze was molten for the war efforts, so in 1948, a new statue was placed in the same spot, where it remains a popular meet-up spot to this day. In 2015, 80 years after Hachiko passed, a new statue was erected at Tokyo University: one of Hachiko happily reuniting with his master. Excuse me, I have something in my eye all of a sudden…

Anyway! The statue is actually super close to Todaimae station. I was fully prepared for a long search, but nope. Just walked out the street, found the entrance gate, and bam! There was the statue. It’s amidst some trees, but the sun was hitting it completely today, so I took pictures from every angle.

It was a short stop regardless – when I made it back to the station, I think I may have missed one subway at the most, ahem. I wasn’t done with the Namboku line, though, as I rode it a couple of stations further to Oji.

Oji (technically Ôji, a long o sound) is mostly famous for the Oji Fox Parade, which is held on New Year’s Eve. It’s a bit early for that, but foxes are still very present in Oji, at least in its shrines. Foxes (or fox spirits, more accurately - kitsune) are depicted in Asian and Japanese folklore as tricksters with magical powers (usually shapeshifting into beautiful women), but also as sacred creatures that can be a good or a bad omen, and they’re messengers of the gods. In Japan, they’re mostly associated with Inari, the god of rice and business among other things. There’s a lot of Inari shrines in Japan, most famously in Kyoto, the Fushimi Inari shrine with its many red gates. Numerous red gates in a row are usually a good tell if a shrine is dedicated to Inari, as well as the presence of fox statues.

Of course, Oji has several shrines with most of them featuring foxes, so I did 3 of them today. I started with the Oji shrine, which is close to the station and is also on a hill right next to dried out waterworks. It was a very lovely and unexpectedly rural scenery, so I sat down on a nearby rock to have lunch and enjoy the view. (My lunch was way too cute to eat by the way, I had melon bread shaped like a turtle.)

After that, I walked up the stairs to visit Oji shrine. The complex isn’t very big, but it’s one of the oldest shrines in Tokyo and supposedly grants protection against fires and natural disasters, making it a popular shrine for a new year’s visit. Not a lot of foxes to be spotted here yet, but there is a huge Ginkgo tree here which is said to be 600 years old! Whoa. It sure was big, anyway.

Next up, I took a little stroll to Oji Inari shrine. As expected with Inari in its name, there are more fox statues here, guarding the grounds and the small shrines at the complex. There’s indeed a pathway of several red gates, and then you find an Oishi-sama, or a ‘wish granting rock’ inside one of them. The story goes that if you can lift it, your wish will come true. The plaque next to it stated that if it is hard to lift, it’s a wish that can’t be easily fulfilled, so apparently this stone can change its weight depending on your wish. I gave it a go and barely managed to lift the rock, but I did it! (Hey, it’s a huge rock and I had two bags slung around my shoulder too, give me some credit.)

Interestingly, this shrine is not only in the middle of a normal neighbourhood, there’s actually a primary school in its backyard. Literally, even – one of the gates was closed, but led right into the playground, and the area around the shrine was in use as a bike park for all the mothers who went to pick up their kids. Huh.

The last stop of today was Shozoku Inari shrine, although not before going through an underground pass decorated with foxes, haha. According to legend, blue fires were spotted on New Year’s eve under a tree that used to stand here, said to be kitsunebi (fox fire) from foxes gathering from all over the country. The Fox Parade starts here every year due to this legend.

The shrine is tiny, but it’s very detailed and has some very elegant fox statues. I took my time (I was alone here anyway) and made a small prayer (if only to ward off any cheeky foxes, haha) before I decided to leave Oji again for today.

A quick hop to Tabata station and another quick hop to Ikebukuro brought me back to my hotel, so here I am! As said, tomorrow is Disneyland, so I’m not sure if I’ll go out anymore tonight. There’s some lovely winter illuminations still to see, like in Shibuya ,but I don’t want to ruin my feet before tomorrow, haha. Oh well, they’re not gone yet, so maybe another day if I can’t make it tonight.

For now, good evening and see you tomorrow! I suspect it’ll be late, haha.

#report #report: tokyo 2018 #tokyo 2018

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veotis-the-jewel-of-the-ocean · 6 years ago

Photo

☾♔; 31.07.2018

☾♔; Tasha

☾♔; @veotis-the-jewel-of-the-ocean

☾♔; @serveorburn

☾♔; mod(s): @livesinabluebox @sighsethereally

▬ Set Requirement: Doesn’t matter, just make sure it has your faceclaim. Other than that, make whatever kind of thing you want! Square, rectangle, moodboard, magazine cover, whatever you want my nerds!

♛ Daenir Échon ♛

pronounced: Day-nir

♛ B A S I C⠀S T A T S ♛

▬ Full Name: Daenir Échon

▬ Nickname(s): Dae

▬ Title(s) and/or alias(es): The High Sorcerer

▬ Age: Roughly 27 summers give or take a few years

▬ Gender: Male

▬ Species: Witch - Isahor

▬ Occupation: Sorcerer of Veotis {currently} // Assassin/Witch Hunter {formally}

▬ Kingdom of Birth: Calia

▬ Kingdom of Residence: Veotis

♛ P H Y S I C A L⠀A P P E A R A N C E ♛

▬ Face Claim: Matthew Daddario

▬ Hair: Black

▬ Eyes: Blue-Grey

▬ Height: 6 ft 1

▬ Body: Scared perfection

▬ Any Scars/ Marks?: Several scars over his body, the most prominent of those are the shiny silvery marks around his wrists

▬ Any Tattoos/ Piercings?:

- A black and white dragon entwined over his heart

- Black wings across his back

- Protective runes across his ribs

- An unknown symbol on his upper left thigh

- A magical brand on his neck given to him by his mother

▬ Other: Nothing for now

♛ P E R S O N A L I T Y ♛

▬ Overview: Headstrong, stubborn and full of snarky wit and dry sarcasm, Daenir prefers to push people away to keep them from getting underneath the shields he has perfected over the years. Whilst generally he looks out for himself and acts like he’s been put out when people gather for his attention, underneath all those layers, Daenir does enjoy helping people. Due to years of abuse at the hands of his father, and the years of his imprisonment thanks to his mother, Daenir is known by the court to suffer moments of mental instability. Despite this, the King and the Advisory Council hold the man in high esteem due to his years of service to the kingdom and former apprenticeship to Master Cedric. Deanir is a warrior and most of the time is known to have unshakable focus in all of his tasks with little to distract him. His singular drive is to do better for the world he lives in even if he can only do it one bit at a time.

▬ Strengths: His stubbornness - but it can also be a weakness; his inability to give up on someone or something; his desire to make things safer for witches

▬ Weaknesses: Hates, and I mean HATES dark places, has to sleep with the fire going due to his imprisonment; extreme awkwardness in social situations; overuse of his powers can result in severe dehydration, often occurs when he spends too long in combat; inability to share his feelings to avoid being called weak

▬ Habits and Quirks: Daenir has been known to spark when he is annoyed or frustrated, likewise he can lose control of his lightning based abilities when in a state of arousal

▬ Likes: Hot places, warm weather, soft music, reading, painting, drawing, being left alone when he needs to be, gardening, tea of all kinds, libraries, old stories, archery, horse riding, knives, outsmarting stupid nobles, Aldir and Ryo, his apprentice and likewise his former teacher, spicy food {the hotter the better}, traveling

▬ Dislikes: Animals that have no point, being called damaged, being coddled - he is NOT a child, foolish religious people, having other’s ideals forced onto him, discrimination, fighting for the sake of fighting, moronic little assholes, people who use position to gain what they want, bullies, being touched without permission, flirting {if you want someone, just fucking tell them stupid}, sweet food, cold weather, snow, parties

▬ Hobbies: Painting, drawing, collecting old tomes, pissing off his parents, building models, gardening, brooding spectacularly, outsmarting stupid nobles

▬ Character Tropes: Dark and Troubled Soul; When Dad Met Mum; Abusive Parent; Byronic Hero; The Quiet One; The Wild Card, Parental Issues; Parental Abandonment; Daddy Issues; Mum Is A Bitch {if that is not a trope is bloody well should be}, Big Brother Instinct; Bi The Way; Archer Archetype; Death Seeker; Jerk With A Heart of Gold; Friend To All Children; Tall, Dark and Handsome; Tall, Dark and Snarky; Badass Bookworm

▬ Additional Information: Will literally lose his shit at being called an animal. Daenir spent twenty years of his life being likened to an animal by his father and his mother, the first one to treat him as an actual human being was Cóven VI

♛ A B I L I T I E S ♛

▬ Pyrokinesis: an ability often associated with war. Most witches born in Veotis are born with an affinity for either earth, air or water, Daenir’s ability with fire is frightening and at the same time another way to show that he is not a Veotis native.

▬ Electrokinesis: Daenir barely has a grasp on this ability as it is. It is mostly responsible for the tangled, chaotic mess the sorcerer calls hair. He can create, shape and manipulate electricity

▬ Hardening: This skill is inherited from Daenir’s father, whilst he hates the man, the skill itself allows him to turn his body into a living weapon. There is one weak spot but Daenir has only told one person and that is the King

▬ Armed and Unarmed Combat: the skill is self explanatory but Daenir excels more with knives and the bow than he does with a sword

▬ Able to fumble his way through any conversation with a shy smile and incomprehensible mumbling

♛ F A M I L Y ♛

Fucked up. There is no other way to describe it. Feredir and Malrin consummated their love to hate your guts relationship after a drunken encounter in the middle of a storm. The Witch Hunter stole away with the child when he was barely a week old and turned him into a weapon that hunted his own kind. Feredir wants his weapon back, Malrin wants her son dead, Daenir just wants to train his apprentice, keep witches safe and stay loyal to the king.

▬ Feredir Havel || 49 || Father || Karl Urban || Witch Hunter

If ego had a proper name it would be Feredir Havel. He is a prideful, manipulative, charismatic man who takes pleasure in twisting others to his cause. He dislikes witches and the freedom they have, often taking great joy in killing or imprisoning them.

▬ Malrin Échon || 46 || Mother || Charlez Theron || Head of the Witches Guild

Meaning lady crowned with gold. Malrin is the Head of the Witches Guild and seen as the most powerful witch in Veotis second to none until Daenir comes into his full power. She dislikes the fact that he can outdo her in just about anything without trying, the fact he spent the better part of six years actively killing and hunting his own kind might have something to do with it. Malrin cursed her son to hear the dying cries of those he has killed for the rest of his days

▬ Caladwin Échon || Deceased || Sister || Kaya Scodelario || Witch

She’s dead, nothing else to say

♛ B I O G R A P H Y ♛

Born the only son of Feredir Havel and Malrin Échon, Daenir spent the first years of his life being nothing but a tool to his father’s endgame. Feredir and Malrin consummated their love to hate your guts relationship after a drunken encounter in the middle of a storm resulting in the birth of Daenir a month earlier than normal. When he was barely a week old, Fereldir had his hunters kidnap his son and bring the baby back to Calia where he would spend the next fourteen years being raised as an ‘unofficial’ weapon to hunt his own kind.

Daenir committed his first hunt when he was a few months shy of fifteen, whilst it was widely known that the hunt went spectacularly wrong in every way possible, the truth being much bloodier than that. False intelligence was given which resulted in the death of a young witch and her parents, an act that would only serve to fuel the boy’s hatred of his own kind {and come back to haunt him years later}.

Whilst Feredir kept up his charade as a respectable Witch Hunter who kept to the law, he continually sent Daenir out into the world in order to rid the world of ALL witches. This carried on until Daenir was eighteen and came to the attention of his mother, now head of the Witches Guild in Veotis. Daenir killed the wrong witch who happened to be his half-sister and ended up spending the next year running from the wrath of his own mother, a woman he didn’t even know.

The hunt ended back in Veotis in the heart of the Aedis Forest where Daenir was taken down by the combined effort of the entire Guild. A curse was laid upon Daenir to hear the cries of his victims until the day he died, and then he was locked away into the darkness of Aedis Prison with a single warden who would be rotated by Malrin every month. Whilst the woman didn’t want her son to die just yet, she didn’t want him to be free to go about his life like he hadn’t caused harm to his own kind. That was her revenge for the death of her dear daughter.

When Cóven and his royal guard found the prison hidden in the Aedis Forest, Daenir was near feral from being chained and locked away for so long. With the assistance of Cedric Ebe, Cóven was able free him from the magical bindings and take him back Aecor and the Summer Palace to try and help bring him back from insanity, helping him heal along the way.

With the assistance of Lady Helaena from Astronia and her apprentice Lady Everleigh, Daenir was able to come back to the world a bit at a time until his mind could function properly. After four years in darkness, he found it hard to trust anyone, first opening up to Cóven and then Cedric after he took up an apprenticeship with the Royal Sorcerer. The feeling of trusting someone was so unfamiliar but the knowledge that he actually belonged somewhere was something that Daenir accepted even if his mind told him no.

After meeting his mother in the middle of an Advisory Council meeting, Daenir was forced to come clean with his past, he half expected to be thrown back inside the darkness of the prison and his own mind. Instead of rejection, Daenir found acceptance from both his master’s and soon found himself inheriting the title of Royal Sorcerer when Cedric decided to retire. During the years he has been active in his current role, Daenir has taken to trying to right many of wrongs committed in his earlier years and bring peace to the world a little bit at a time.

♛ O T H E R ♛

▬ Has a pet Nyrk gifted to him by his father when he was a child. Aldir {named after the God of War} is incredibly aggressive to everyone but Daenir and the King. Ryo, a rare Panthera in Veotis, was a gift given to him by the former King, the beast is loyal and far more friendly than his counterpart Aldir

▬ Daenir is basically Fenris and I will fight you if you say otherwise

#veotis #daenir Échon #tasha's work

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thefatfeministwitch · 8 years ago

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A Secular Witch’s Guide to the Sabbats: Imbolc

February 2nd marks the pagan fire festival of Imbolc, a day that marks the coming of spring and honours the peace and quiet of winter. It's a holiday celebrating rebirth, spring, inspiration, and purification. Rituals to the goddess Brighid, a irish goddess of fire and hearth who presided over poetry and music, healing and magic are prevalent at pagan Imbolc rituals. Because of its proximity to the Christian Candlemas it's often celebrated with lots of candles, and candle magick, visions of spring, and asking Brighid to bless new projects. Brighid was also one of the original Triple goddesses, with two sisters with the same name bringing up either end. (actually, the triple goddess appears A LOT in irish and celtic mythology! More so than in other places, I think.)

But what if you don't believe in Brighid? Or want to honour the triple goddess paradigm?

The face of witchcraft is changing, and many people are realizing they can celebrate without gods, and creating new ways of celebrating magic and the seasons with their fellow witches and pagans. One of the things that hasn't changed much in the 20 years I've been practicing is Sabbat celebrations. Despite may of the celebrations I've been to in the last few years hosting a range of theistic and atheistic people of all backgrounds, the rituals themselves still seem to focus on the deities and tend to be just a hair too religious for many people.

As I mentioned in what is no doubt my popular podcast episode to date "Godless Heathens!", if you realize that you like your witchcraft the way you like your public schools - secular - your path will take a little more soul-searching. You have to decide what it is you believe in, and how to interpret and use the information that IS out there. The following guide is what works for me and allows me to celebrate the changing seasons, and energy of the planet along with my pagan friends.

First Things First, The Name

Imbolc, or Imbolg, or Oimelc is irish gaelic and translates basically to "ewe's milk" with new lambs being a symbol of the season. It has literally nothing to do with religion at all! This makes the name more than appropriate for a secular celebration. Another name you might have heard for Imbolc is Candlemas, which many pagans believe is in reference to candle magic being popular this time of year. What many don't realize is that Candlemas, also known as the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Feast of the Presentation of our Lord Jesus, is a Christian holiday commemorating the presentation of Jesus at the Temple. For this reason I just don't agree with using the name, mostly because it already means something special to a lot of people.

Personally, my new name for Imbolc is Mid-Winter. Though this has commonly been associated with Yule or the Winter Solstice, I find it bizarre to refer to the literal beginning of winter as Midwinter, meanwhile Imbolc really is the middle! For me, this also makes it clear that although spring is on the way, winter is still here and it worth celebrating. Quit getting ahead of yourself! Don't like it? Got other ideas? I'd love to hear them!

Themes For Your Mid-Winter Celebration

Maybe it's because I'm a Capricorn, but I've never hate the beginning of the year. I always feel renewed and rejuvenated. I don't particularly like winter, but once the new year starts I get really into starting it off with a bang! (likewise I often "burn out" pretty substantially at the end of the year...) This is the perfect energy for a mid-Winter celebration. Think of themes like INSPIRATION, CREATIVITY, PASSION, FIRE, REBIRTH.

Fire, in general, has a strong place in this festival. Not only is it a symbol of the season - using fire to keep warm and bring light during the dark of winter - but fire is purifying and cleansing. Fire bring destruction, but it also bring new growth and winter is exactly the same. Purification rituals are perfect for Mid-Winter.

Though you could say Candles are the same as fire, when it comes to this festival I respectfully disagree. Candles and candle magick are extra popular and potent this time of year.

Weather divination! If you live in North America, you're no doubt familiar with the Groundhog day tradition, that originated in the Pennsylvania Dutch community, though predicting the coming of the seasons based on the weather of Imbolc or Candlemas day goes back to europe, where those settlers came from. Incorporate weather magick or divination into your Mid-Winter ritual or celebration for a decidedly american touch.

The Love Witch (2016)

Did you know that Valentine's Day has pagan origins? Ancient romans celebrated Lupercalia around the middle of February that featured fertility rites and a week-long party (read as:sex fest) that may or may not have included the ancient roman equivalent of car keys in the fishbowl. Mid-Winter and the entire month of february, are an awesome time for love and wedding magick. Especially attracting new love. Who's to say your Mid-Winter can't be red and pink and white and full of cheesy heart-shaped garbage? No one, that's who. (I'm sorry. I really love Valentine's day.) If you need more reasons why love is a good theme for Mid-Winter, consult this list of deities regularly associated with Imbolc from About.com. Though you're not incorporating these specific entities into your celebration, the energy of them or their stories is already there.

Mid-Winter is the dawning of the age of Aquarius, and it makes it a perfect time for health and healing magick. Rituals and prayers asking for healing of yourself or others is perfect around this time. Aquarius is also the house of friendships, so spending time with friends or helping in the healing of friends is a great theme for a Mid-Winter party.

Finally, magick that honours winter and incorporates snow is great now. Of course, if you live in an area that never gets snow (or doesn't get snow around this time) don't feel pressured to incorporate snow or any kind of classical winter symbols into your holiday.What is the natural environment like where you live? What marks your seasons? It will no doubt be different for everyone.

Of course, how you choose to celebrate will dictate how much of a theme you actually need - and these are only suggestions! Think of the kind of magick you choose to do, or the type of energy you want to raise, or the feelings you want you or your guests to feel from this occasion.

Symbols and Decor for Mid-Winter

Despite historically being a fire festival, Imbolc falls smack dab in the middle of the month belonging to Aquarius, the zodiac's most infuriating air sign. (Seriously, how is it not a water sign?!) Use some of the symbols associated with the sign as decor. Feature Aquarius's Tarot Card - The Star - in various forms on your altar. Decorate with cauldrons and bowls of water, or healing waters. Though yellow is rarely included in traditional Imbolc celebrations, I find its association with Aquarius, Air, and the sun to be ideal. I also find it to be a better solar colour than red.

Spring flower bulbs, especially ones that haven't bloomed yet are a perfect addition to your Mid-Winter altar or celebration. My personal favourites are snowdrops and crocuses, which grow in my neighbourhood around this time. Then again, not every one of you will be living in climate like mine! Go outside and gather some common symbols of this time of year for your area. You could also include bright, fresh green colours in your decor to call to mind the first buds of spring.

The colour white is popular for this time of year because of its association with snow, so break out the fake snow and paper snowflakes from your solstice decor box! You could even celebrate by collecting Mid-Winter snow, letting it melt and infusing the water with magical energy. Use the water as a decoration, or a part of your ritual!

Wolves and lambs - no kidding. I live in the city, so I don't see a great deal of either of these animals, but if you live near the forest or mountains where wolves dwell, or on a farm where lambs are born, these are common signs of the season! Now that we're right in the middle of winter, many wolves are having to travel closer to civilization for warmth and food, and are becoming more noticeable. Maybe you actually see wolves where you are, or maybe you can just hear them more clearly singing in the moonlight. Either way, they make a fantastic addition to the holiday. This is also the time of year when lamb's begin to come into the world, looking cute as a button and bring hope for a brand new world. Either incorporate some cute, wooly little accents, or maybe include "ewe's milk" cheese into your spread!

The phoenix, dragons, and other manner of mystical firebird. These mythical creatures perfectly embody the bold and passionate, inspirational and reflective nature of Mid-Winter and it's duel fire and air qualities. Especially if your focus this season is on rebirth or purification, including this mythical imagery can help enhance your holiday.

In addition to other symbols of love, and marriage (which are different for everybody!) the besom is a common fixture on Imbolc altars, and I find it perfectly appropriate for Mid-Winter as well. Besoms are used for clearing out the old to make way for the new, cleansing your home, and is associated with weddings! Jumping the broom is a pre-christian wedding tradition that clears the new lovers of their past and allows them to move forward into a new life! It's a great symbols not just of new love, but of embarking on a brand new path, and a safe and happy home.

Be creative! What colours or symbols are important to you this time of year? What kind of ritual or magick would you like the focus on this Sabbat? Use that as your inspiration.

Sketchy Herbs & Magic Rocks for Mid-Winter

Snowdrops and Crocuses - Both flowers are given the honour of being the first flowers that pop up through the snow when spring is on its way. (again, in europe and north america) This has made both flowers a symbol of hope and tranquility. Snowdrops have gotten very little press over the centuries, but many botanists of old agree that Snowdrops worked as an emmenagogue - which are herbs that help to bring on menstruation or terminate a pregnancy - and as such can function as a symbol of making your own choices in life and moving forward. Crocuses are a common ingredient in love potions and spells, and so the combination of the two create a powerful message for those looking to heal from love, or attract something brand new.

Hyacinth - This is another herb that's common in love magick, though this flower is the patron magickal herb for gay men! The best way to use it is to incorporate it into a mojo bag or use in candle magick when trying to attract a special person. Keeping a blooming hyacinth plant in your bedroom is supposed to help promote restful sleep, protect against nightmares, and ease the pain of depression and grief. This is perfect for those who struggle to find things they love about winter only being half over.

Sandalwood - Really, is there ever a wrong time for sandalwood? Sandalwood is wonderfully fragrant, and really multi-purpose when it comes to magick. White sandalwood, f you can find it, would be a little more appropriate for the season, then again red sandalwood is better for love magick! Either way, burning sandalwood on your Mid-Winter altar can help clear out negativity and spirits, grant wishes, attract love, or increase psychic intuition!

Dragon's blood - This isn't an herb, but a resin formed from the sap of a tree. DRagon's blood is an incredibly popular incense in magick, as it tends to amplify magical energy. Dragon's blood is great for calling on the energy of the dragon - that air/fire energy - and giving you the strength to make it the rest of the way through winter. It's also great in spells to attract love or lust! Dragon's blood ink is regularly used for magickal writing, and as Imbolc has traditionally been a holiday of poetry and creativity so combine the two!

Myrrh - this is another resin, and one that's not regularly associated with Imbolc. Myrrh is often mixed with Frankincense, and always comes out around Christmas thanks to its appearance at the birth of Jesus. Because so few people burn myrrh on its own, few people realize how sweet-smelling and uplifting it is! Myrrh has always been associated with good spirits, and healing. The smoke is used to purify and consecrate items and space, and the aroma is said to life people's spirits. This is another one that could potentially help with seasonal Affective Disorder or general winter blahs. In legend, Myrrh is associated with the Phoenix, as it's created after the phoenix is reborn from the ashes. In some legends, the egg the phoenix is born from is made from solid myrrh. Add myrrh to your altar, sachets, or incenses for rebirth or the birth of new projects and things.

Bloodstone - This deep green stone is recognizable by splatter or flecks of deep red and brown, looking a little like blood dripped on moss. Before it was called bloodstone it was Heliotrope - the sun stone. It was called this because it seemed to attract the rays of the sun, and when they fell on it they appeared a brilliant red. This stone is excellent for healing and health and has often been used to encourage healthy blood. It's association with blood also makes it good for healing emotional or spiritual wounds caused by family difficulties. It's good for inspiration, and creativity! Not only does it help stir ideas, but it helps with the forethought to actually carry them out. Bloodstone is also fantastic for weather-related magick and often helps tap into that specific energy - ie strengthening your connection with the wind, or storm clouds. Because bloodstone is a birthstone later in the spring, it's also an excellent stone to use in magick calling forward the spring!

Garnet - This is one of the birthstones for Aquarians and is already aligned with this season's energy! Yay! This stone is also incredibly power and can amplify the energy of other stones or any magick. In terms of emotional energy, garnet is one that works to resolve severe pain and trauma in your heart. Garnet strengthens the will to live, helps ease the feelings of depression, and helps to heal sexual-based issues. It's a stone of passion and action and is often used to help light a fire under a person to help them manifest their goals and ideas. It's also a powerful love talisman and help attract deep love, and deepen the connection and commitment between lovers.

Amethyst - Everyone loves amethyst! Amethyst is used for everything from physical healing, a sleep aid, and stress reduction, to opening the third eye and astral travel. When it comes to Mid-Winter, amethyst helps to ease the stress and depression many feel in the darkness of winter. Those of you with SAD will feel the most benefits if you carry around am amethyst in your pocket and put a nice big chunk on your night table. Amethyst's calming vibration also serves another purpose - a clear mind. This is a great stone for some gentle help focusing on your goals and manifesting your new year's resolutions or any new projects you choose to undertake. It works great with the third eye chakra, so basically anything mental or intellectual can be improved with amethyst.

Black Onyx - This is one I often overlook, unfortunately, but black onyx is actually perfect for Mid-Winter. Not only is it a beautiful symbol of the darkness and calm of winter, but it's an encouraging and empowering stone that just helps you get shit done. It helps encourage self-discipline and also happiness with your choices. Not bad!

Some other suggestions for stones to incorporate are sunny or bright yellow happy stones like sunstone or citrine; cool white stones like selenite, calcite, or opalite for that snowy vibe; and bright love stones like rose quartz and pink tourmaline. If you want to include more fire in your magick, incorporate fire herbs and plants like clove or ginger. How you choose to celebrate might ask for something different!

Mid-Winter Ritual and Activity Ideas

Snow Magick- there's so much you can do with snow in a magickal context. You can gather it around particular moon phases and add an extra layer to full moon water. You can melt it as part of a Mid-Winter ritual to bring forth spring. You can put it in a healing bath with herbs and crystals for the season. Use the snow for sympathetic magick by making poppets. Use snow water for scrying and doing some special MW divination! Draw sigils or spells into the snow so that the energy is released as the snow melts and spring comes. Snow water is good for healing, clarity, and reflection.

Feisty Familiar Fascinator! by TheFatFeministWitch on Etsy

Build Animal Shelters and Protect your Pets

- Help out those lonely and hungry wolves, or maybe just their urban counterparts. Spend Imbolc or Mid-Winter volunteering at a local animal shelter, or build small shelters you can keep on your own property. This is also a popular time to do some magick with pets, especially dogs, and to give them protective collars and amulets of their own. This time of year is difficult for most animals who have to live through the snow, so focus on and celebrate them now! If you're looking for a good spell for a charmed familiar collar, I recommend the one in Ellen Dugan's The Enchanted Cat.

I think crafts and activities like making bird feeders out of pine cones, and leaving snacks out for animals deliberately are truly magickal and have wonderful intentions.

How to Build a Feral Cat Shelter (YouTube)

Making Candles and Candle Magick

- Imbolc being a fire festival and Candlemas being a day to light candles and say prayers merged within witchcraft and made Imbolc the holiday of candle magick! This is an amazing time for good old-fashioned candle carving and dressing for spells. If you work as a group, have everyone carve a wish or sigil for the coming season into a large white candle and dress it together with oils of the season. You can also make your own candles! A traditional Imbolc activity is to use all of the bits of magical candles you've burned throughout the year to make a new candle that renews that energy. I don't save wax, but if you do, try to only use the wax from spells that you want to be ongoing and that are working towards long-term results. If you're not a wax saver, why not try your hand at making brand new candles?

If you're looking for good info on Candle Magick, I can't recommend Coventry Magic by Jacki Smith enough.

You can also focus the fire energy on larger bonfires. Instead of making candles, maybe make fire starters with the pinecones you find in your area! These would also be a fantastic party favour for sabbat attendees or cove member.

(Instructions)

Planting Seeds and New Growth - Since you're welcoming the coming of spring, having bulbs and spring flowers around during ritual or magick puts you in the right frame of mind and brings in nothing but positive energy. If you're working on new goals or projects and starting at Mid-Winter, gather a bulb or some spring seeds, some earth, a pot, and some biodegradable paper. You can write your goals on the paper, or maybe create a sigil, and bury it in the pot with your bulb. Infuse your energy into it and use that positive energy to nurture your little flower. As it grows, so does the energy available to you for assistance. When spring comes and it's safe, transfer your plant outside and let your intention reach a large audience, so to speak. If you're really crafty, you could also make spell paper with seeds right in it! Use this paper to write your spells or sigils on. (Instructions)

Spring Cleansing - Spring might be on its way, but we're only half way through winter and that means we're all still stuck inside. Cleansing your home of energy, failures, and negativity left over from the previous year (and you KNOW 2016 left some gross stuff behind) is a way to be out with the old and in with the new. If you gathered snow water, use it in floor or window washes or room sprays. Make an incense blend with some of the herbs above and some white sage to help clear your home and yourself. If you're practicing with a group, either light a nice bonfire or cauldron and use the flame to clear yourself of old patterns or problems. write them on paper and toss them into the fire, again making space for brand new things. The most complete and endlessly positive guide for House Cleansing I've found is Magical Housekeeping by Tess Whitehurst.

Love Magick - I have a confession: I don't know anything about love magick. I mean, I've got basics, but when ti comes to the real ins and outs? I'm lost. For years I've avoided spell books with mentions of love magick, as I regarded most of it really creepy. (I think I've mentioned "spiritual roofies" before.) (I did.) That being said, I've recently gotten a copy of Love Magick by Lillith Dorsey and I'll be reviewing the book on the blog and interviewing the author on the show! So by Valentine's day I'll have much better resources for y'all haha. If you're already familiar with and comfortable with Love Magick, now is a wonderful time to ignite sparks of new love, or to heal from past love so you feel better able to move on. Traditionally, it was also a time for fun little love divinations about who you'll marry and when. Things like apple love divinations, mirror scrying, and other activities that made girls in petticoats giggle are a fun activity to lighten up the winter blahs.

Play Outside In the Snow - No kidding. Play outside, throw a snowball, go tobogganing, gather pine cones and look for spring flowers and spring animals. Enjoy both the quiet of the winter night and the cool briskness of the day light. Magick doesn't always have to be deliberate. It can be something you just feel.

Of course, again, these are just ideas! What kind of magick do you want to focus on this season? What represents that?

These guidelines aren't just for solo practitioners - if you're planning a group ritual maybe think about other ways to incorporate the energy of your version of the divine into ritual that's not quite so overtly religious. I feel like the energy and spirit of Brighid is still present in many of the things mentioned.

I also want to say not to limit yourself to the exact date - these are themes and principles you can apply to your magick all throughout the season. Maybe focus on candle magick or love magick more for the next 6 weeks. Use the energy that's already out there swirling around thanks to the seasons and the other witches around you.

No matter how you choose to celebrate, I hope you have a blessed Mid-Winter, Imbolc, Candlemas, or even just groundhog day.

Looking for general tips and resources on Pagan Potlucks and Sabbat Celebrations?

Visit my aStore section on Sabbat Celebrations - You'll be shopping from Amazon, but helping to support the podcats and blog! It's always being updated with new books and items added for every sabbat.

Read my blog post about throwing a better pagan potluck

#imbolc #witchcraft #pagan

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3one3 · 7 years ago

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The Sequel - 903

Old Ways

André Schürrle, Juan Mata, other Chelsea/BVB players, and random awesome OC’s (okay they’re less random now but they’re still pretty awesome)

original epic tale

all chapters of The Sequel

“Hey man, do you know where Chris is? She’s not answering her phone.”

“Try Dirk’s paddock. Last I saw her was out there playing games with him. Tell her this one is ready in 10 minutes.”

“How many are left?”

“Him and two more.”

“Ugh. All right.”

Cartagena, petit in stature on the crossties in the very open, high-ceiling grooming area but far from slight or small in his impression, even with an oversized wool cooler covering much of his body, eyed André with a plain mix of suspicion and disdain. The player interrupted the curry job happening on his chest, and that was wholly unacceptable. Chest scratching via currycomb was the gray stallion’s favorite thing in the whole world. He stretched his neck out to its maximum and tilted his head and wiggled his lips and made savoring sounds. All he ever wanted from humans, besides hay and grain and water, was chest currying. André noticed the horse’s displeasure. He reached out to pat his nose just before Tom resumed making circles on his chest with the ovular grooming tool. Cartagena had been around for a long time already, but he didn’t really know him the way he knew his wife’s other horses. The horse in the next grooming stall, with Isandro, was even more foreign to the player.

Christina, Heiner, and Holger teamed up to persuade the syndicate that owned the lion’s share of Rio to invest in a mount for Stefanie. They’d been passively scouting potential horses for her for months and she had a chance to try one of them at Madrid Horse Week. Christina wished she could watch the pair in person before a decision was made, but Heiner and Holger said it was a good match, and Stefanie was already in love with Color Up, or Pacha, as he was called around the barn. A Chacco Blue son out of a Contender mare, the young bay stallion had buckets of talent and a curious, disbelieving personality. The girls all thought he was a cuddle bug in hiding, and the guys thought he was cautious and untrusting. He was just 6 years old and had a lot to learn about himself, not just show jumping. A half sibling of his with the same dam-sire was already competing at the top level and doing well, and tons of other Chacco Blue progeny dotted the orders of go at big shows, though his daughters were thus far more successful on balance than the sons.

Pasha’s greatest asset was a direct inheritance from him. He had a beautifully tight front end. He jumped everything square and tidy, clean as could be. The Oldenburg first got on the radar of the trio of trainers at the Young Horse Championships earlier in the year. Christina only saw him on video, while the other two watched him in person. He competed under one of Christian’s associates. Pasha was “one for the future”, and the trio of trainers would have to help Stefanie bring him along the right way. He needed someone to trust, and he needed patience. What he had to offer was, on all visual evidence, a great willingness to learn.

The first two things he learned at Stall Schürrle was that Goose wasn’t very welcoming and the girls always have treats. Tom moved Kyle’s retired old schoolmaster across the aisle next to Pasha so that he wasn’t alone in the otherwise unoccupied block of stalls. Goose hated everyone though, and bared his teeth and pinned his ears when the new youngster tried to visit through the bars between them. Kimi and Optimus were nicer to him outside when he was introduced to their paddock. Dirk did try to kick him in the face from the other side of the fence though. That’s why Christina was still outside when André was looking for her. She walked down with Isandro when he was going out to bring him in for Stefanie, just to see how he was getting along with her apathetic “baby” and his adorable sidekick. The newest of the gold medal winners in the barn was trying to fight him from next door. She climbed into his paddock to “scold” him but ended up just playing with him instead, “to distract him”. There was some kind of bullfighting scenario going on out there when André arrived, in the snow.

“Is this what “training like a multiple times Olympic champion” looks like?” he questioned with facetious skepticism from the fence line. His wife had told him a few days earlier, on her recommitment to her old work ethic, that she ought to train like a multiple times Olympic champion if she wanted to be one. The rider was running back and forth with her arms out beckoning her best equine friend and then bolting in the other direction when he got close. Dirk was like a really, really big dog. The actual dogs were on their way, at maximum speed, down the lane to greet André. They had their Barbour blankets on and kicked up snow such that they, combined, looked like a very small snow blower.

“Yes,” Christina verified. “We’re training for the winter Olympics.” There was a big smile visible between her fur pouf-festooned beanie and the scarf wrapped many times around her neck. She nearly slipped and fell every time she stopped or started her short little sideways run, despite wearing rubber galoshes over the foot part of her paddock boots. Her Holsteiner was mostly just moving his front feet, and had no traction trouble.

“What sport?”

“Bobsled? I dunno.” The rider was laughing and out of breath. Dirk’s ears were tall and forward, and his eyes bright. He could play her game all day, whatever it was. Calvin was standing behind him, just watching, and probably worrying that something terrible was about to happen to him. André could tell he wanted to come over and visit with him but was afraid of the commotion going on in between.

“Tom says Cartagena is ready in a few minutes.”

“Mkay.” Christina took a deep breath and stood up straight, abandoning her game posture. Dirk stretched to literally sniff out the situation. He clearly didn’t trust that the game was really over. He thought she was luring him in and would then dart away, out from under his nose. “Relax, you idiot. I’m trying to pet you.” She held her gloved hand out, and he snorted, on alert, wide stance. The hot air from his flaring nostrils made a little cloud around her hand. It took a couple of seconds for him to decide that he wasn’t getting played. His human let him sniff her open palm, and then rubbed his nose, and eventually up under his forelock. The snow was still coming down in a picturesque kind of sprinkling, so he had little flakes in his mane. Some of the other horses had hood attachments for their heavy-duty turnout blankets. Dirk didn’t like them, and he didn’t seem to get uncomfortably cold. He’s so handsome with a snowy backdrop, Christina thought wistfully. I wish I could leave him out here to play. “Time to go in, dude. We have to work still. You’re next after Cartagena. Also I’m sweating.” She tugged her waffle knit scarf down a little for ventilation. She didn’t know she’d be running around getting warm when she put her down jacket on to go outside.

“Training is over?”

“This part is. How did round-two crisis talks go?” Please say well, she willed, turning around to head for the gate. Dirk’s halter and lead were on a hook next to it. He followed her, and so did Calvin. Luckily they weren’t the kind of pasture buddies who get so attached that they can’t be left alone. The Hannoverian would definitely try to follow his friend out, but wouldn’t have a breakdown when he was pushed back and left behind.

“It wasn’t a crisis talk. It’s not a crisis until Watzke and Zorc call Marco and Nuri to the offices to talk about what the players want. It was just the regular team meeting. It was...not pleasant. We’ll see what happens at the weekend. Are you coming in now?” André stopped petting Spencer and Lucky to unsnap the chain for the gate as the Pied Piper approached with her followers. He wasn’t in any mood to talk about the team talk. Real Madrid beat his club 3-2 and it should have been a hiding. No one took anything positive from the minor rally. He didn’t play a single minute. He felt extra bad about it after watching Christina retweet a video of Juan absolutely destroying defenders on a crazy, dancing run the night before, all day long. It was as if she was sitting around looking for every person who posted it just so she could retweet it again. She even posted it on her Instagram. Bosz still wasn’t fired.

“Yeah, Dirk too. Watch out, puppies. G’d up idiot stallion coming out.” Christina reached around the post for the halter and knowingly took the second one, not the one on top, without having to look. Calvin had already come in, worked, and been put back out, so his was logically on top. The silver plates on both of them just said Schürrle on them, not their own names, but Calvin’s was much too big for Dirk’s finer head. Christina paused after fitting his over his ears and snapping the throatlatch to get a hello kiss from her visitor, whom she did not expect to see at the barn, much less out in the cold. “How come you’re braving the elements?”

“I was hoping you were almost done and interested in sneaking into the house for a nap.”

“Sneaking into the house?”

“Well if you just walk in normally then Mausi wants to show you whatever he made today, and play some game, or eat snacks with him or whatever. If we sneak in then we can go straight upstairs and have a nap,” the footballer explained. He waved Calvin back so that he could close the gate right behind Dirk, even though his wife had the situation under control. She could lead one horse out and turn him around while keeping a hand on the gate and closing it before the other one could escape. She did it without thinking.

“By “take a nap” do you mean do things in bed other than nap?” A sideways glance conveyed her meaning about his potential hidden meaning.

“No. I’m tired, Prinzessin.” André patted Dirk’s blanketed flank on his way to falling into step beside her and playing with the faux fox fur ball bobbing atop her head.

“Oh. Well I would love to nap with you if I could. I have him and Cartagena and Rio left to do.”

“Are those the fleece-lined pants Rafa gave you last year?”

“No. It’s not cold enough for those. I went with the half chaps today though, obviously.” Christina gestured down at the brown suede chaps on her lower legs. They were a lot warmer than her field boots, and riding in her winter paddock boots meant there was room for thick socks inside that would never fit in the field boots.

“I’m freezing.” Her human partner had a longish parka on with a cashmere hat, and tennis shoes that didn’t really keep the wet out. Horse and rider walked in the middle of the path, which had been mostly cleared through a combination of salt and traffic, and he was forced to walk on the side, where there were a few inches of snow. I want to go get under the covers with her and be warm and relax for a while, he lamented. I know I could talk her into it but I also know I shouldn’t. She wants to train, and it’s making her happy to do it on a real schedule again.

“There’s hot cocoa mix in the lounge. Or are you gonna go nap solo?”

“I don’t know. What are we doing later? Are we eating home?”

“We’re having super herby skillet roasted chicken with toasted wild rice and mushrooms, onions, and carrots.”

“That sounds nice.”

“It was, yesterday, when I made it. Hopefully it still is,” Christina laughed. “I’m willing to forego leftovers if you want to go out though.”

“I want whichever dinner gets you on the couch with me sooner.”

“It’s only three. I’ll be home in a couple of hours. There’s plenty of time for the couch before dinner.” She let her left hand swing around a little to feel for André’s right one, but it was in his coat pocket. They texted about the match earlier in the day while he was on the plane back from Madrid. She didn’t think he’d want to get into it again. It just worried her some that he was so desperate for a nap. It wasn’t like they had to wake up early for the flight, and they didn’t train when they got back to Brackel. It was a meetings-only kind of day for them.

“Yeah. I’m going to get a head start, I think. Mausi was mad that I only stopped at the house to change before coming out here. I should go see him. Tim called me about the London property. I should call him back.”

“What about it?”

“I think he has someone who wants to lease it.”

“Oh.”

“I’ll find out and then we can talk about it,” the footballer assured. “I’m gonna go. Have good rides, Prinzessin.” He stopped at the double doors at the back of the barn to give her a kiss and pat Dirk’s neck once more. Walking down the shed-row and through the narrow gate in the hedge was a much faster and more direct route back to the house than going inside with them and going out the courtyard doors and around the hedge, though the second one was completely clear of snow and the other was not.

“I’m gonna have to put him on antidepressants if that team doesn’t get its head out of its own ass soon,” his wife told her Holsteiner. “I can’t even try to temper my frustration by apportioning some blame to him, because it’s not like he ever gets a chance to play. You and me will need to win some stuff next week to make him feel at least a little better. You ready to get back in the game? Ready for minutes?”

“Did Schü find you?” Tom asked as they arrived in the grooming stall next to Cartagena. Pasha was already in the ring with Stefanie.

“Yeah.”

“Don’t clip him in. He’s coming over here.”

“You can’t tack up a horse in Isa’s crossties?”

“No. My stuff is here.”

“Men.” Christina shook her head disapprovingly at Dirk and handed his lead to the groom. The Dutch stallion got a quick smooch and scratch on his muzzle before she grabbed her helmet off the hanging bridle hook and put it on in place of her hat, which she tossed onto the bench across the aisle. “I’ll be like 20 minutes. Can you make sure Socks gets wrapped when he comes in? I don’t know that he really needs it, but just in case...”

“Kyle is in there putting out quilts and bandages for 5, fresh from the dyer.”

“Make sure Dirk gets the black ones. No poultice.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Black on black Back On Track. Say that 10 times fast.”

“Rather not.”

“K. Let’s go, Mr. Kingpin.”

Cartagena did not acknowledge his brand new, random nickname she pulled from her general association of the city of Cartagena with drug trafficking. Nor did he bristle at the fact that she told Tom she wanted the Back On Track pillow wraps for Dirk and not for him. They came with special fibers in them that promote blood flow, which reduces or prevents inflammation. All of the horses were treated in some way after jumping, as nearly all of them did that day. Some had to have their ice boots, some just got cold hosing, and some were rubbed down with liniment. If it were a big jumping day or one with a hard gallop in the field, Dirk, Nick, Rio, Calvin, and Dezy all spent some time with the Game Ready wraps, plugged into the magical machine. After whichever appropriate treatment, there was wrapping. Some were wrapped completely dry with traditional white “shipping” quilts, or pillow wraps as they’re also called, and burgundy or black stable bandages- like polo wraps, but longer, thinner, and stretchier, to provide more consistent tightness up and down the leg over the bulky quilt. Some were poulticed first, with wet brown paper bag wrapped loosely around the clay-like stuff to protect the quilt. There were other gels and products that could go on before the wrapping too. Dirk and Nick were always wrapped with the Back On Track-brand black quilts and matching black standing bandages.

Christina’s collection of quilts included multiple brands and sizes, as front and hind legs require different widths, and because she’d accumulated them over decades. Her grooms needed a ton of them. They can’t be re-used without washing, and they were used constantly. The regular ones were used for shipping too. So putting out the wraps for later was no insignificant task for Kyle. It required a lot of hunting and matching. Christina, Tom, and Isandro all abided by the same rule- no mismatched wraps of any kind, because it can result in uneven wrapping, which is bad for the legs. Helpfully, most of the quilts and bandages were marked in some way. Some were embroidered with “MARTIN” or “SCHÜRRLE”, or the name and a number corresponding to the other one in the pair. Some had names and/or numbers added in permanent marker. There were a couple of sets of standing bandages made by adidas, with the three white stripes just on the last 12” or so of the wrap by the Velcro. Those were easy to pair.

That she had specific wraps on her mind as she pulled Cartagena’s halter off and got ready to head into the indoor was a further sign that she was back to working the way she used to, before her out of the saddle life got in the way and made her crazy. It wasn’t something she really needed to be thinking about. Her grooms knew what to do and what she wanted. But she liked to feel as if she was on top of everything, not leaving anything up to others. It wouldn’t be Tom’s mistake if Dirk didn’t get the treatment she thought was best for him. It would be hers, for assuming Tom anticipated her thinking. The rider almost forgot she once ascribed herself that level of responsibility, until Juan talked to Sid Lowe about it and inadvertently reminded her. That wrapping was on her mind in that moment instead of her husband’s football depression was a big change too. While she felt absolutely gutted for him and wanted to do whatever she could to improve his mood and empower him to perform well, she was able to drop that subject entirely the second she set eyes on her next mount- the next horse she needed to work with and train, not just exercise. For a long time, she would have been able to think of nothing outside the typical spiral of “ugh” that began with a Borussia Dortmund foul-up and ended in “and he uprooted our entire life to bring us here for this garbage”. It was a lot easier to work and train while thinking about how on top of things her guys were in terms of caring for the horses than it was to do anything while she dwelled on all the wrong turns taken by her co-pilot.

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