#like regardless if you want to say genetics or magic

[dragontamer05]

Ngl I think Blue Exorcist is like the first Series I've read where they actually acknowledge/ do something with the fact that BOTH Yukio and Rin are the children of satan.

Like so often when you have like siblings and one inherits like idk the power/ something off the other. It weirdly gets treated as One being the "child of X' or saying they're "half X" and just sorta ignores the fact that the other sibling still technically by all accounts is also a child of that parent as well making them also technically a 'half x'- even is say they didn't inherit an innate ability or certain features or whatever.

Sure Yukio may not have inherited Satans Blue Flame and Rin seems to have acquired more of the demonic traits / side of things. But like Yukio is still a child of satan- and I'd argue that still technically makes him half demon powers or not-

It just took a bit longer for Yukio's abilities to appear.

--

At bare minimum they at least think to have the characters bring up and question Yukio early on, that uh 'Hey you know you're also Satan's kid to.."

--

[sunderwight]

Headcanon/Theory/Concept/Etc Concerning Dragons in the World of Ice and Fire:

The ancient Valyrian blood magic system for taming dragons does increase the general affinity of those of Valyrian descent for dragons. In this case, the general affinity is non-specific. Because Valyria was a slave empire and most menial tasks were handled by members of the lower classes, a lot of dragon handling and care (feeding, cleaning the pits, assisting in training, etc) like what we see the servants of the Dragon Pits in canon doing, would have still been handled by slaves and servants in Valyria itself. If you don't want to be constantly replacing staff all the time, and losing experienced/skilled personnel to random fits of dragon temper, it's best if all if your people have some affinity for dragon handling regardless of rank. So whatever the Valyrian blood mages did, they did it to the whole populace.

But then, how to ensure that only your upper classes are actually taming and riding dragons? After all, you're a slave owning prick who doesn't want your staff stealing dragon eggs to raise in secret and use as part of some violent uprising against you. You'll want some kind of security measure to make that less feasible.

Enter the weird and (in the future) inscrutable "dragon affinity" system. The blood mages find a way to basically encode certain types of dragons so that they will strongly favor specific bloodlines. This system, in turn, is passed among the dragons themselves via their bloodlines. Which basically binds certain lineages of dragons to certain lineages of Valyrian houses. Like say you have Ancient Targaryens living in their Valyrian holdings, and they have Balerion's grandma in their dragon stables. They want to make sure that none of their slaves can steal any of her eggs and eventually become a dragon rider. There's no 100% foolproof method of doing that, since dragons are still somewhat inscrutable. But, you can drastically decrease the odds of success by making Targaryen blood significantly more appealing to Dragon Meemaw and her offspring. As a bonus, this also makes it less likely for the rival dragon riding houses to claim another house's dragons, too.

But there's a bit of a flaw in this system (which is probably the only solution that can be deployed by use of blood-related magics): noble houses tend to intermarry. Obviously, there are a distinct lack of political advantages to marrying commoners, so the Valyrian dragon riding houses would have preferred to marry among themselves and/or powerful foreign rulers. But this means that after a certain point, everyone is related. The magic doesn't care about surnames or paperwork, it cares about blood. So let's say you're Ancient Dragon Lord Targaryen and you marry one of your younger kids off to a different dragon rider house. Their kids are, genetically, still as Targaryen as your direct heir's kids.

So after a while you're still locking out the slaves and servants from being able to tame dragons, but you're not locking out your rival houses. You're losing that perk. Which may not seem all that important at first, but as we witnessed with the Dance, civil wars between dragon riders can get extremely messy, and a lot of it can often come down to posturing about who has the most and/or strongest dragons. So it probably wouldn't take long before various dragon riding houses were wanting to ensure that their dragons were restricted to their actual house, and that their rivals couldn't sneak in and reduce their dragon numbers by claiming dragons from their stock. (You'd think containing the dragons might solve that, but dragons are a bit hard to contain, really.)

Hence, the rise of inbreeding. You try and make sure your house's main lines especially have a higher percentage of "Targaryen" blood, and that none of your rivals have any of it either. The downsides of incest are perhaps mitigated by the same blood mages who have been influencing things from the beginning, perhaps magically tweaking your genetics to reduce the odds of complications, and researching more ways to refine this blood-based system of locking others out of ever accessing your power.

But I imagine that the system required maintaining. There are still going to be times when it's more advantageous to form alliances than to keep your dragons strictly controlled, after all, not to mention limits to how much inbreeding you can do even with magical intervention before shit's getting very Habsburg on you. Not to mention the dragons themselves can be tricky to control, and are less liable to understand the political motivations for not mixing their bloodlines with the perfectly attractive dragons several caves over, who belong to your rivals. Luckily, with Valyrian blood mages still around, you probably just need to pay through the nose to get someone to swing by every few generations and update the blood-based security codes. So to speak. Renew the magic binding your people to your dragons to account for all the drifting genetic nuances. So you don't necessarily need to be wedding siblings to one another every generation.

Except, after the Doom, all those blood mages are gone.

So on the one hand, the Targaryens no longer need to worry about rival dragon riders. Because they're (mostly) all dead. But on the other hand, there's no way to update the bloodline passwords on your dragons now. With each passing generation, you're going to lose some of your advantages for controlling them, unless you're inbreeding at a level that is going to severely limit your ability to make alliances and is going to, you know, completely fuck with your family dynamics for all foreseeable generations. Plus, since you're not a blood mage and this situation is kind of unprecedented, you probably don't really know how long the magic will be able to hold out against the variables of increased genetic diversity over the years. If you "thin" your bloodline too much, how long before you've got basically zero advantages in taming dragons compared to everyone else? Conversely, if the magic is really strong and remains true even through dozens of generations, does that mean you're granting the same advantages to every house you marry your extraneous kids out to over the years? Does a Baratheon have the exact same capacity to tame a dragon as a Targaryen?

So your choices are basically to let it go, to try and retain control over the dragons via culture and influence and knowledge instead of blood purity and incest, or, double down and prioritize power and control above all else and retain whatever you can from the old blood magics by committing to an unhinged level of inbreeding. And then just tell everyone else that it's totally normal for Valyrians and you're an exception to all the usual rules against marrying your siblings, it's a cultural thing, and totally sell that because 1) it's kind of true and 2) anybody with the authority to call you out on exaggerating has just met a mysterious-yet-fiery end via the Doom.

Basically, you consign your descendants to generations of dysfunction and insularity that is guaranteed to alienate them from any of the nearby cultures they might assimilate into, in exchange for increased (but not total!) control over all hypothetical future dragons. Then you destroy a lot of information about dragons so that it can never be stolen, so that no one else can ever learn that taming dragons without your blood is still entirely possible, just harder and more dangerous. (Then you spend the Century of Blood embroiled in a civil war where you kill off most of your dragons, but uh that part wasn't planned, probably.)

Anyway that's why I think the Targaryens are Like That, and why the dragons of the Dance get tamed in the way that they do. Seasmoke likes Addam because he's kin to Laenor, even without the Targaryen blood, there's enough Velaryon blood in the current Targaryens to make him familiar regardless. Sheepstealer and Nettles (should that happen at all like it did in Fire and Blood) just bonded the normal way, without the blood magic advantage. Generations later, Targaryen blood still yields an edge in interacting with Dany's dragons, but it's just that -- an advantage, not a requirement.

[terminuslucis]

Story time! A little bit about my tiny Silver's family history.

It's a little sad.

From the start, it was clear that little Silver resembled his father the most. Nobody was quite sure where his pale coloring came from, but that was fine. Genetics didn't always make sense.

His parents noticed early on that their son had some sort of magic. Odd things happened around him, and sometimes he laughed at an empty corner of the room. Nobody else in their family had magic, as far as they knew. Then again, there was nobody to ask. Neither of them had parents left. The only family was his father's little sister.

Maybe his gift was why his hair and eyes were so different. Whatever the case, they would figure it out as he got older.

That never happened. Before the child turned three years old, his parents were in an accident. At the time, he was in the care of his aunt.

From her perspective, Silver waved at the door and wandered off to play in his room. A few hours later, she learned that her brother and his wife died. From his perspective, his parents came home and, some time later, his aunt started crying.

As his only living relative, his aunt was determined to look after Silver. It wasn't easy. She changed jobs often, chasing promotions and better schedules, so they moved a lot. Silver lost count of how many schools he went to. He didn't mind moving. There was always someone to play with, and his family was together.

Over time, his aunt realized that Silver was a little odder than she originally thought. It wasn't limited to the dishes moving on their own or his knack for knowing too much. His antics weren't just the rich imagination of a lonely boy. He saw things that she couldn't. He asked about things that shouldn't exist. He talked to her brother.

She tried to let it slide. She hated hearing only one half of a conversation with the only family she had, but Silver still had his parents, in a way...

In a way that she couldn't...

The boy grew up. The older he got, the more he resembled his parents, and the more his aunt hurt. She kept quiet about that. Of course he would look like his parents. It wasn't his fault that she missed them.

Meanwhile, little Silver saw his parents as clear as day. He knew they were dead, and his aunt was sad about that, but death didn't mean much to him. How could death be sad to someone who could look it in the eyes and hold its hand? But, when he mentioned them, sometimes his aunt looked like she wanted to cry.

Slowly, he stopped talking about the things his aunt couldn't see. He also stopped asking about things he heard without her saying them. He didn't want to make her sad. Over time, the gap between how they saw the world widened. His parents' ghosts could do very little to help.

Shortly after Silver started high school, his aunt caught a lucky break. They moved again, but that would be the last time. Silver made friends at his new school and their little family was finally stable.

And so, Silver mentioned his parents for the first time in years.

"Dad wants to say something."

His voice was almost a whisper as he braced for her reaction.

"What is it?" she asked.

"They have to leave soon. He wants to thank you for looking after me." He didn't know why his father said it like that when his parents had always been around, but he was asked to relay those exact words.

His aunt nodded, biting her lip before running to her room. She didn't say a word, but he heard everything regardless.

There was bittersweet relief, knowing her brother was with her for all that time, frustration and doubt as she questioned why Silver stopped talking about them in the first place, anger at herself because she knew it was her fault, and the sorrow of knowing that her family would be gone for good.

Silver had left many people over the last several years. To him, it felt as if his parents were simply the ones moving away this time. Why was it so different for his aunt? Why did his parents' smiles look so sad?

The day his parents' souls left, his aunt cried for the first time in years. Once again, Silver stopped talking about things she couldn't see, but only because they were no longer in the house. It seemed that last "goodbye" had changed things.

No, that was wrong. His parents said "goodbye" because things had already changed. They left because they knew everything would be okay.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Hiii! Do you think Harry stopped growing at 17? If he was as tall as James in DH I would imagine he was taller than his father. I have three brothers and my family is full of male cousins and they all had growth spurts after 17. I could see him growing another couple of inches after the war. His mind and body is finally at peace after 16 years. I always hc him to be 6’0-6’2 at the age of 21.

As far as Harry being scrawny… aren’t most teenage boys? My brothers were into sports and didn’t get into the gym until they were done with high school. With the profession he’s in I would assume fitness would be a requirement for the role. Yeah, you have a wand but what if it breaks or you lose it? He has a huge target on his back having defeated the darkest wizard of all time, and I can’t imagine him not learning how to physically defend himself and his loved ones. I don’t see him a huge buff gym junky, but I do see him as someone who has a lean athletic figure and someone who concentrates more on leg day than arm day. I think going to the gym would be an escape for him and help him decompress. I know the hp world prefer a shorter skinny hero (probably because of Daniel Radcliffe) who looks like an underdog, however every underdog grows up and barely anyone has the same physique as their teenage self.

Honestly, all this differs a lot with genetics. Harry's growth spurts in the books reminds me of my younger brother. Like, my brother was like 5'2 at 15, then, in like, one month near his 16th birthday, he grew to 5'10 and when he was around 19 he grew again by two inches. So, Harry could definitely still grow taller, but we don't really have a way to know.

Like, men can still grow in height until their late 20s, and it's possible James didn't even finish his growth since he died at 21, so he might've grown even taller if he survived to 25. Like, that's possible. I just don't really have evidence for or against besides saying, yes, it's possible, but I wouldn't call it likely since it's highly individual and based on genes. Like, I know guys who stopped growing at 16 and have been stuck at the same height since then. I also know guys who are 25 and still grow taller. It's the magic of genetics.

Muscle mass, physique, and the ability to gain weight are also heavily dependent on genetics and age. Men in their teens and early 20s usually have a much higher metabolic rate, which keeps them lean regardless of how much they eat (again, genetics play a big role here and this isn't true for everyone). Physical activity like Quidditch, would make the already fast metabolism faster. This naturally fast metabolism, combined with certain genetic makeup, can leave you looking lean regardless of how much you go to the gym as well. Some men need to reach their mid-20s before they can actually start gaining the weight necessary to appear buff.

I think Harry would look less lean as he got older. Like, I can hardly imagine a Harry in his mid to late 30s being as lean as 16-year-old Harry. I think his physique will change as he grows, as happens to most people. But I agree with you I don't see him as a super buff gym dude at any point in his life. He's always on the leaner side in my head, but this is all in headcanon territory since it isn't covered by the books.

I would like to add that all the super short and scrawny descriptions of Harry come from the first 4 books when these descriptions are correct. In book 6 Harry is thin, but no one describes him as a scrawny boy with knobbly knees past book 4. Not even he himself. So I definitely see Harry of the final 3 books as more lean than scrawny.

And yeah, you're right about Radcliffe messing up everyone's mental image of Harry, both in looks and personality. It's one of the things that bother me most about the movies. And, everyone can headcanon whatever they want, but I personally don't like short Harry (when he's older, when he's 14, make him short). It's not his canon character and when writers write him short, it's sometimes accompanied by him being written as too passive and meek for my liking because Harry James Potter is not passive or meek. (Radcliffe Harry in the movies is much more passive, hence the skewed mental image I mentioned, but I digress).

Besides, while malnourishment and food intake could affect one's growth, people tend to overlook the 6 years of Hogwarts and Molly's food which would be a huge boost during his puberty years in which he's having most of his growth. Additionally, some people's food intake matters less to their physical development than others — again, I can't stress enough how specific genetic makeup is super important in all this discussion.

TL;DR

Harry might grow taller to be 6' or 6'2. We don't have any evidence for or against really, so it's up to your preference on what you want to headcanon. But it's definitely super possible. If Lily was taller than the average it would even be likley (but I couldn't find any notes on Lily's or Petunia's height). In the books, he is very lean, and it's a combination of a lot of different factors working together: his lifestyle, genetic makeup, and yes, being a teenage boy with the fast metabolism that comes with it. As Harry grows up, he'd probably want to stay fit, but to what degree is also in personal headcanon territory (I personally don't like him becoming an Auror, but that's my preferred headcanon. I still see him staying pretty fit out of paranoia, sort of. I mean, he spent all his teenage years with a Damocles sword over his head. He literally died. I think he's allowed to be a little hypervigilant after that. I mean, he already is, but you get the point).

[since-times-long-forgotten]

are you still doing hypokits? if so, leafstar x echosong kits? :3c thanks regardless!

Leafstar/Echosong hypokits coming right up! Took longer than I would've liked, but such is life.

[click image for better quality]

Here we go! Top two cats are Echosong and Leafstar, bottom two are their kits, Flamefeather and Badgerkit!

— — —

Flamefeather - longhaired red silver tabby tom with medium white spotting and yellow eyes

Badgerkit - longhaired black classic tabby tom with medium white spotting and blue eyes (deceased)

— — —

closeups, genetics, and AU ideas under the cut.

— — —

AU Ideas:

Honestly, I don't have a ton of AU ideas.

But in this AU, things go as normal until Sharpclaw starts doing the whole undermining-Leafstar's-leadership shit he pulls in SkyClan's Destiny (he made me so mad) (I kind of hate him), and as he tries to essentially guilt-trip Leafstar into forgiving him, Echosong steps up and puts a stop to it, berating him about his lack of respect for their leader.

She helps Leafstar stand up for herself, and they put him on a sort of deputy-probation until he can prove that he can support his leader's decisions and respect her as a person (cat?).

So anyways, she and Leafstar get together, and they're like... yknow what? we want babies. So they visit StarClan and demand that they grant Leafstar the ability to carry Echosong's kits via StarClan Magic™, and since it's just SkyClan StarClan, they agree- the more future SkyClan warriors the better SkyClan will be able to defend itself. Both Leafstar and Echosong have two X chromosomes, so it would be impossible for them to have two XY babies even with magic, so let's just say that StarClan gave both kittens a Y chromosome. Or something.

So Leafstar gives birth to two kittens, Flamekit and Badgerkit. Flamekit is named in honor of Firestar, and Badgerkit is named for his markings reminiscent of the white stripes on a badger. Unfortunately, when the boys are about 2 moons old, a rodent-borne disease passes through SkyClan, and Badgerkit doesn't make it.

Flamekit becomes Flamepaw, mentored by Plumwillow, grows into an anxious but resilient young cat, and is given his warrior name early- Flamefeather.

— — —

Genetics:

Leafstar- longhaired black tortoiseshell classic tabby with medium white spotting, yellow eyes

A/A (agouti) B/b (black carries chocolate) XO/Xo (red & nonred- tortie) D/D (nondilute) s/s (nonsilver) mc/mc (classic tabby) Ws/Ws (white spotting) l/l (longhair)

Echosong- longhaired black silver classic tabby with medium white spotting, green eyes

A/a (agouti carries nonagouti) B/B (black) Xo/Xo (nonred) D/d (nondilute, carries dilution) S/s (silver carries nonsilver) mc/mc (classic tabby) Ws/w (white spotting carries nonwhite) l/l (longhair)

Flamefeather - longhaired red silver classic tabby with medium white spotting, yellow eyes

A/a (agouti, carries nonagouti) B/B (black) XO/Y (red) D/D (nondilute) S/s (silver carries nonsilver) mc/mc (classic tabby) Ws/w (white spotting carries nonwhite) l/l (longhair)

Badgerkit - longhaired black classic tabby with medium white spotting, blue eyes

A/A (agouti) B/b (black carries chocolate) Xo/Y (nonred) D/D (nondilute) s/s (nonsilver) mc/mc (classic tabby) Ws/Ws (white spotting) l/l (longhair)

— — —

[katyspersonal]

Were Marika and Radagon always the same being from the beginning or they were separate people who got fused later on?

Oh boy, I've almost missed this ask in the tidal wave of Sephi spam from THOSE TWO LITTLE PRICKS!!!!!!, but yes thank you for the question! My theory on the matter is:

This for me ties into a couple of things: 1) the idea that when something bad happens with a (demi)god, they are likely to develop an alter as defence mechanism that I mostly base on the theory that Trina and their purple 'sleep' flame happened as response to Miquella being scorched by Frenzy (more here: ( x )) and 2) theme of 'astral projections' that have transcendental knowledge compared with the 'rest of the person' which is more plain!

Recently I've also discussed theme of "if you want to defeat the thing, become the thing" like with dragons, but I decided to discard the idea that Marika willingly inflicted curse of the giants onto herself! But existence of Radagon is exactly what I think happened with Marika - a curse of the giants!

I think that "they say Marika has slain the Fell God" is taken at face value here, they 'say' it because it happened very long time ago and there are almost no witnesses left rather than a rumour! Sure, I still "await for the return of my Lord" (for the one who will precisely re-translate Japanese script), but I am happy with this for now! Yet, 'their flames will never die' refers to Marika having taken up that curse in the moment she killed the Fell God! This is why she was able to pass the curse mark onto the last Fire Giant that survived: because now the curse was her, taken from the Fell God by slaying him.

But, although she was able to get rid of the flame by giving it to the Fire Giant, the impact already left its side-effect on her very being! I still need DLC to confirm or deny whether Trina exists for 'unhappy reason' as I can't tell whether more info on them was cut due to time limitations or rewriting, I am just using it as an extra backup for now! Regardless, it is safe to say that since Fire Giants are all male and Marika was a female, it caused the conflict and so Radagon turned in to exist as male. So yeah kill gods carefully of you'll get cursed with dysphoria idk I am bad at philosophical conclusions

^ I also think that the curse left its mark on Marika genetically, and her children would show traces of it from time to time! Radahn is the biggest evidence of it in my eyes! He started to learn gravitational magic so he could still ride Leonard, which means that he was growing massive even before learning it! Other demigods have no problem staying very human-sized so I think his massive size is not an effect of his massive power, but traces of Giants' 'genes' showing!

I am also considering the ideas that 1) Morgott might have had a fire of his own as result of it, that he sealed into blade, since unlike with Mohg his fire doesn't link to interacting with Formless Mother 2) Rykard might have had natural affinity towards fires as side-effect of such 'genes', that only made his research of fire sorcery easier, and it simply was coincidental that fire reflects heresy

3) Maybe the third eye imagery that is only so far seen in Godwyn's Prince of Death form and Trina's side of Miquella is the secret less obvious effect, that only manifests after something bad happens to them? Since the cyclopic eye is the mark of the Fell God! Again, I need information on Trina first, but so far this works! So yeah. 'Evil eye'.

(Screenshot of Godwyn's model from Zullie's video: ( x ))

I also take the script occasionally from this ( x ) document, but yeah. In Japanese, it is a bit more blatant that he is her other self literally, not metaphorically! She also uses 'omae', a pretty derogatory way to refer to someone. She looks down on this side of herself, which is interesting, but also why? And why Radagon disagreed with her idea to scatter the Elden Ring and let the history sort itself?

This is what made me think of how the separation aspect of them played out! I believe that they are able to exist within the same body, as we can clearly see through the cutscene, but also to split. The thing is? There are precedents of it in the game as well! Sellen and Dung Eater both are under the situation where their real bodies, and real selves are in imprisonment and are suffering without being aware of their astral projections. Their astral projections, however? They are quite aware of where their bodies are and what is going on, but can think independently. The 'body' and the 'mind' are able to exist in separation in The Lands Between. Let's also not forget the case of powerful illusions like the ones of Rennala and Mohg, who are basically the auto-receivers that were set to kick your ass lol x) It is also my idea on why it is named The Lands Between to begin with: because this is where physical and mental blend together, to the point both are equally tangible and perceivable!

Basically? When Marika and Radagon are split, it is very much like this. He would be her 'physical body', living and thinking on his own, not aware of Marika's opinions and plans, whereas Marika would be same as those astral projections that told Tarnished 'oh by the way my actual body is imprisoned in this or that location'. Knowing more and planning more, being aware of what the 'body' thinks and experiences without the reverse being true, however, being limited until the 'body' is returned to the owner. So that's why Radagon would not think and feel exactly the same as Marika: not only he was able to live his own life, but also he understands less than the "transcendental" part which makes astral projections. Marika maybe had the plan to scatter the Ring and let it all sort itself out, so the conflict would let only someone capable of levelling with her lost Godwyn to raise at the top and come and replace her. She generally thinks very far ahead, as the 'higher self' that she is, which Radagon can't do and he just studies and understands the things as they are.

So yeah.. In the conclusion, I think it was the curse of the Giants but specifically the side-effect of slaying the Fell God, yet she sealed the curse she inherited from the act in the last survivor too late and her 'genes' already got traces of it! Radagon is valid but by all laws that strangely split people in the Lands Between he is her "lesser" half that thinks on more grounded plane. We could, again, see from Sellen and Dung Eater that 'body' and 'astral projection' are able to fuse back into one entity, yet Radagon and Marika are still in the conflict?

I like to think it came from Marika herself despising this more "human" side of herself.. Sure, she is not alien to human flaws herself, as someone that set many unfair laws in motion just because of her fears and set the world into war from her grief, but you can't just SAY that hahah; She wants to be perfect, invulnerable, all-powerful, and Radagon is just "not that", not yet. I am pretty sure a big part of it is Marika's very pragmatic view on relationship, whereas Radagon *gasp* had the nerve to truly love Rennala! She only can truly become one with him when his flaws and vulnerabilities are eradicated and he is the same cold, calculating, clever, machiavellian entity as herself, literally just her but male. And, well... this hasn't been this way so far, so in turn, the two are at the conflict. He thinks of the other people and the world, and doesn't believe it is right to betray the Greater Will and the mortals born under it like that, when she decides to just let the world suffer and burn. Ironically, her "lowly" half had more sympathy and reason than her "dignified" half, after all.

This is all very interesting to think about, but so far a lot of this lingers on the conclusions I still need to confirm or deny via DLC! Anyways it was interesting to think about and put together!

[honeybewrites]

Echoes of War Chronicles WIP Intro!!!

Look at me! Writing and posting a WIP Intro and not a tag game like last Wednesday!! Did it take fifteen reminders and ten instances of sitting down with the intention to write it but getting distracted and not making any progress? Yes. But I finally got it finished!! So let's get into it!

Fair warning, this is kind of a long post, but when is anything I post not?

While nothing in this post has any kind of CW/TW I can find, this whole series is pretty dark/gory in its contents, and for that reason, I'm labeling it 18+. Specifically for excessive violence, dark themes, and general explicit content and gore. I try my hardest to label content appropriately whenever I post tag games and snippets.

Series: Echoes of War Chronicles

Genre: adult high/dark fantasy/sci-fi (I don't really know what genre to label this as lol)

Status: First draft/planning

Tags: #echoes of war chronicles #eowc

Synopsis (for the overall series, so it's pretty vague)

Created to fight a war that has wrecked the Realms for years, two genetic experiments were trained side by side. Merciless, lethal weapons of death. Inseparable. Until they weren't. Years later, they're on opposite sides of the war. Both of them intent on destroying the other, regardless of their shared history. Bonds are tested. Secrets revealed. Loyalties made and destroyed as two partners threaten to destroy the entirety of the Realms in their hunt for blood.

Tropes and Things

Found Family

DRAGONS + other fantasy creatures

Living Weapon

Lovers to Enemies

LGBTQ+ OCs and relationships

LOTS OF MAGIC

Morally gray OCs and just downright completely morally black OCs

Angst

High Action

War

Now let me introduce you to the stars of the show!

Asset 703

Created from Project Viall, 703 has been with the Mors her entire life. Trained from birth to be the most deadly weapon in the Realms. She is regarded as a demon of death and an unfeeling monster. It's the only life she's known, and she long since accepted that fact. She doesn't particularly care about the nature of her creation or the brutality of her job. She was created for a purpose, and it's the sole reason for her existence. It's not her place to think about things like life outside the Mors. Those were traitorous thoughts and pointless hopes.

Fres

Another of Project Viall's subjects, Fres was also raised in the Mors. Nearly as deadly as their partner 703, the two were feared. But as Fres was exposed to more of the Realms during their missions, they began to resent the life they had. All the pain and abuse fueled their anger. So they created a plan, escaping from the Mors in a blazing chaotic mess. From them on, they devoted themselves to fighting against the Mors. They wanted to see them burn in eternal damnation, unable to ever rise back from the smoldering pile they left them in.

Ronan "Rage" Airvix

Assigned to be 703's field handler and healer, Rage works for the Mors. He's very calm and patient, unless you disregard his healing expertise, then you'll see where the nickname Rage came from. He will adopt anyone left unattended for five minutes.

Dana Hueland

Dana is one of the hardest fighters against the Mors. A feisty woman and phenomenal fighter, she's intimidating to anyone that comes across her. She excels at close combat and piloting and is a certified BAMF, MILF, and top tier Bisexual.

Master Gerd

One of the highest ranked in the Mors, Master Gerd is a psychopath with a god complex. He abuses his power religiously, especially over 703. He is feared my nearly everyone in the Mors and he knows it. -1000/10 would drown violently.

Healer Asurr

The head of Project Viall, Healer Asurr is a bit of a mad scientist. They're only concern is their life long work of enhancing species, ultimately to create the superior lifeform. They would stick you in a cage and study you obsessively for months.

Now, because the Seven Realms are so expansive, I'm just including a few basics here (she says after having written way too much info and then hitting delete far too many times). If anyone shows an interest in knowing more about them, I'll do a post for each Realm, I'm planning to anyway at some point, but for now, enjoy the little snippets that tell you absolutely nothing about their importance to the plot!

Mirralia has the second largest population of the Seven Realms. With its variety of biomes and massive cities, it's one of the most sought after places to live. Full of some of the most rich and powerful flora and fauna, many resources for alchemy are found in the Realm. It also remains to be one of the only Realms dragons have still been spotted. Mirralia government positions are highly sought after and their military is one of the strongest of the Seven Realms.

Enkkon produces some of the best Agi (trained magic users) in the Seven Realms, with schools to match. With top schools in many specialties, it brings in species from every Realm, creating the most diverse population of any Realm. Far less rich in raw elemental, Enkkon is a quiet Realm, reliant on technology far more than the other Realms, but that doesn't make its native species any weaker than the other Realms.

Levekint has the largest population. While the cities are large and bubbling, the flora and fauna of the planet interacts with everything. It's not uncommon to see buildings with vines or trees growing out of the middle, or for a shop to have bird nests and other creatures wandering about indoors. Levekint taught healers make up ninety percent of the Seven Realms healers. It is the forefront of healing innovation, producing some of the most renowned and well known healing names in history.

Zj'ahju is the smallest Realm, with the smallest population to go with it. The harsh biome and oppressive heat make the Realm nearly inhabitable for non-native species. However, it has some of the most beautiful architecture of the Realms, specializing in metal and glass. Both are big exports for the Realm, and they produce nearly fifty percent of the Seven Realms building supplies. Weapons and jaw dropping pieces of glass art are other major exports.

Ketaawi is the second largest Realm, comprising of ninety percent water. Most of Ketaawi's native species can breathe underwater, or can hold their breath for long periods of time. The massive cities of Ketaawi are either floating on the water, able to move much like a boat, or beautiful domes underwater. Right after Enkkon, Ketaawi is one of the most technologically advanced Realms, with some of the best defenses and security to be found anywhere.

Rorrut is a mountainous planet, having the highest peaks and deepest caves in the Realms. With such conditions, it's also a major Realm for rare alchemy supplies, specifically minerals and powerful, giant creatures. The planet is constantly "growing," creating more mountains and caves to replace the ones mined. With some of the most dangerous creatures in the Seven Realms, the natives became natural fighters and survivalists. There are very few large cities, and the habitants mostly form small villages, keeping to themselves and protecting each other.

The largest of the Seven Realms, Aveilu is a gas planet. The natives of the Realm have built their cities on the many rings of the planet, which are made up of large floating island, with the largest cities being floating cities, completely fueled by energy to keep them in the sky. Most native species in the Realm have some form of flight capabilities. Aveilu is the top Realm in ship production and export, creating ninety percent of the Realms flying transportation. It is the only other Realm dragons have been spotted in.

My Master Post is here with all the links to my other more detailed intros, including OCs, world related things, and the magic system if anyone is interested in reading any more about EoWC.

I know this is a pretty long post, so if you read through everything, wow, you're amazing! Thanks for reading through my little (okay, big) rant!!!

If anyone wants to be added/subtracted from the tag list, you can comment or DM me!

General Tag: @orions-quill @fractured-shield and @leahnardo-da-veggie

EoWC Tag: N/A

LotA Tag: N/A

[emilieautumnarchives]

Happy New Year from the Asylum, and Rare Posters!

Posted: December 28, 2009 Archived from BonnyTymePyrate’s Journal Archives

Dearest Plague Rats,

Have I taken the time to thank you properly for being there with all of us lunatics on the N. American tour? If I have not, THANK YOU!!! From the bottom of my plague-ridden heart, thank you. As I said so many times on stage, you have proven me right and everybody else wrong (we have no audience in America? Really???), and I love you for that. Many of you drove for hours to see us, and god knows we drove for hours to see you;), and I now sit in a cell surrounded by letters and paintings and poems and rats and tokens of remembrance given to me by you, but the most cherished gift of all is that you sang with me. You sang with me, and you knew every word, and I will never forget that. My girls and I saw MANY of you beautiful Muffins coming to show after show after show, and in the end we felt like we were singing to old friends…and don’t think I don’t realize that a lot of you had waited more than five years to see me, and I thank you sincerely for not giving up on me that I would ever come to you, because I know for some time it seemed that I would never make it back to the homeland. I thought perhaps you would have forgotten me, but I didn’t give up on you, and we made this happen at last, both of us hoping and praying that the other would be there, and the magic is that we all were! So, is the economy down? Yes. Are ticket sales down more than 60% for all concerts in America no matter the artist? Yes. But did we all make it happen, and do what it took to find each other at last, despite these odds, AND dress up in our finest Asylum best? YES. Should I stopping asking myself questions? Yes.

Of course, for my VIP Book Reading PRs (you know you are all VIPs to us, PRs): You gave me your time and your love each and every night. You cried with me. You watched me bleed. You heard things about me that my closest friends don’t know, and you accepted them with open ratty hearts. And you sang “My Fairweather Friend” with me and gave new and happy memories to a song I had only before associated with sadness. I adored meeting you, I adored holding you in my arms and taking beautiful sexy crazy photos with you, I adored singing with you, I adored teaching you all about leeches (THE AMAZING LEECH!!!), I adored sharing out secrets, and we ALL enjoyed the tea cookies many of you made for us;)…we had some sweet after-show bus parties with those!

Lastly, I want to thank all of the parents (and there were many) who took their young Plague Rats to see us. Some of you knew about us and wanted to sing along too, and others just went because you saw how much it meant to your little ones that they could be there that night, and you may be sure that it meant just as much to me and the Crumpets, because (a) we recruit early;), and (b) there is something in the Asylum for everybody, regardless of age (we’re pretty much a dinner theatre children’s show anyway…). I saw (and was happy to meet many of you) mothers and daughters (often both dressed to the nines), fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, fathers and sons, (no, I won’t go through every genetic combination here) fathers carrying tiny daughters on their shoulders so they could see…having a four-year-old with a heart painted on her cheek call out “I’m still innocent!!” after the song “I Want My Innocence Back”…well, it just doesn’t get much better than that.

Now, Europe…N. America has raised the bar, so get ready to fight like a girl, because we are coming for you;)…and we can hardly wait!!!

Final note: Sir Edward and the Asylum presents a very limited number of Autographed German “Opheliac” Promotional Posters on eBay. These are up for one day only, and are a bit special if I do say so myself as they have never been made available to the public for sale, but were used for promotional store use only. They are also really big, and the ratties want to have them for dinner, so get them before they do…

So, for the moment, I wish all of my little rats all over the world a very Happy New Year of Plague spreading! I am so proud of us all;)!!!

With Love & Bloody Crumpets from the Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls, Block B, Cell W14, Inmate A,

EA, Sir Edward, and Basil

P.S.

The Asylum Army: Are You Committed?

P.P.S.

The Plague: Get it. Feed it. Spread it.

[raxistaicho]

Fantasy Invader blaming Edelgard for literally everything

Ordinarily I try to work from old to new when it comes to Fantasy Invader because he likes to build on and constantly repeat older claims he’s made, so it’s convenient to be able to just pull back up my old posts to demonstrate he’s wrong. This new claim of his, however, was so juicy I couldn’t resist hitting it immediately. Let’s go!

First, for context:

He’s referring to a post by renisfan where they claimed that Edelgard’s line,

In the original Japanese allegedly meant something to the effect of, “I don’t care about that.”

I’ve used both DeepL and Google Translate and neither came up with anything close to that, (DeepL was closer and said, “that’s none of my business”), but I’ve learned a long time ago not to take an Edelgard detractor at their word without fact-checking them, and in this instance I can’t. So, moving on.

...Yes, you’re reading that right, folks. Fantasy Invader is comparing Edelgard concluding a partly-unwilling alliance of convenience with the perpetrators of the Tragedy of Duscur - whom she intends to punish for their misdeeds - with her actually orchestrating the Tragedy of Duscur.

I’m at a loss for words, most Edelgard detractors these days have realized that directly accusing Edelgard of responsibility for the Tragedy of Duscur is a lost cause and not something you’re meant to agree with Dimitri about (given he’s fully in Boar Mode when he accuses her of it), so they usually stick to just insisting she’s culpable by her association with the Agarthans, but Fantasy Invader is nothing if not behind the times on everything he says.

She doesn’t dehumanize her victims, you clown, she remains acutely aware of what she’s causing throughout the game:

She is.

Wow, what a notion, it takes someone from a position of power to overthrow those in power! Especially when they have an army at their command and super-genetics that allow them to command super human abilities and magic weapons.

We saw what happened in chapter 3 when what was mostly a civilian militia tried to rebel against the Knights of Seiros: they got destroyed, completely and mercilessly.

Also this reads like, “yet you participate in society, curious!”

(Snort) Fantasy Invader has no right to call anyone delusional.

Also, if Fantasy Invader was right and Edelgard didn’t really care about her victims, then Dimitri should get furious at her supposedly being dismissive of them. Or he should at least get angry. But he doesn’t, because the devs don’t want us to think she’s blinded herself to what she’s done.

Heh, should we start mentioning all the times Jeralt says Rhea’s pretty sus, tho?

And, again, she really did have nothing to do with Duscur. How could she? She was a powerless 14 year old at the time, fresh off from being mutilated by Thales. She lived across the continent from Duscur and had no authority in the Empire.

Also, isn’t it fascinating how Fantasy Invader focuses solely on the regicide part of the Tragedy but not the part where a genocide was done? It’s the same with all Edelgard’s detractors: they treat the genocide that followed as... basically a natural and unavoidable result of Lambert being killed. Like how a storm causes a mudslide: there’s nobody at fault for the mudslide, it just happened.

But no, the genocide didn’t just happen, it happened because the Faerghans got into a revenge frenzy, ignored the prince, the sole survivor of the Tragedy, when he said the people of Duscur weren’t to blame, and went to go kill the people of Duscur because Faerghans are just like that and will fuck your shit up if you ever inconvenience them at any point in history. They’re like those revenge monkeys from, So I’m a Spider, So What? where if you ever hurt one of their species they will come after you to kill you, regardless of how many lives they lose in the process.

This point gets ignored because addressing it means addressing the horrendous aspects of Faerghus’s knightly culture, but because Azure Moon is all about preserving Faerghus as a nation-state and not about criticizing Faerghus’s many failures (because why are you fighting for Faerghus if we’re acknowledging Faerghus is kinda fucked up?), it can’t do that, so they can’t do that.

Nope. Given how vague the line is, and how furious she was when she saw Remire, it’s very much premature to conclude she was fully aware of all the travesties the Agarthans would commit.

Yeeeeah, Edelgard detractors tend to be furious about Treehouse... portraying Rhea as a woman struggling with trauma that’s caused her to have a hair-trigger temper which she masks with an air of serenity.

How dare they portray Rhea... in character. And not as a sweet mommy who did nothing wrong. You know if you guys want Lumera you can go play Engage. Err, well, not really since Lumera’s barely in Engage, but eh.

Also they didn’t dress up “genocidal fascism” because there was none of that to dress up. Not even in the Japanese version.

[scarlet--wiccan]

I’d like to see Luminous come back but I think she falls into a certain trap since she is “Wanda and pietro combined but better”. Her being redeemed (and surviving) would lead people to ask “why not get luminous” in places where magic users and/or speedsters would be useful. Nobody is that likely to write her but if they did it’d probably be a net loss for the twins (both sets) since there’s another character who can fill their role(s), and they’re not like the countless wolverines who will definitely be featured heroes regardless of new intro. I feel like a redemption story for her would probably be a swan song and that sounds like a bummer.

Regarding her chaos magic: did she grow up around mount wundagore? Maybe ambient chthon vibes gave her the power. Could she have learned it, since Agatha seems to be into it these days

I can see how it would feel like a disservice to give Luminous this resolution, only to put her on a metaphorical bus and send her packing, but it's not like she's getting a whole lot of page-time in the first place. I'd rather get the resolution than not, and, you know, the Marvel universe is a big place. You can find somewhere for her to go where she won't step on Wanda and Pietro's toes.

Just because a character has powers doesn't mean they have to stay on-call-- or even on Earth. She's technically a space character, so I kind of figure she'd stay in that cosmic world. And, hey, just because I want her to be liberated doesn't mean I think she should necessarily become a hero.

There's no concrete information on when Luminous was born, but she's characterized as being a fair deal younger than the twins. Given the condensed timeline, I assume she was created after Wyndham left Mount Wundagore. Giving her the same, or similar, connection to Chthon could get really messy, anyways, and I don't think that genetic engineering could explain how she, allegedly, mastered chaos magic ahead of Wanda.

Part of the problem here is that Remender treats Wanda's powers the same way Bendis did in Disassembled, which just doesn't work with the larger canon. I think the best approach would be to gently retcon Luminous's abilities to make better sense and, also, make her a little less overpowered.

I would say that Luminous simply possesses a refined, enhanced version of Wanda's hex ability, which is the only part of her power that comes from her genetic mutation. That could account for Luminous's adept manipulation of physics, matter, and energy. You could even argue that it would allow her to subvert or disrupt Wanda's magic, and with Pietro's speed, it's easy for her to get the upper hand. Wanda was kind of at a low point when she met Luminous, but now, she's at her most powerful and has greater mastery over her chaos powers than ever before. Next time they cross paths, I think Wanda should just say "I can see more what's going on with you more clearly now, (here's what it is, so the reader knows), and you're not gonna get the drop on me again." It's a pretty simple solution, and it'd be easy to execute smoothly.

[polurbehr]

as a fellow audhd, im audhdasking you about ghost.

give it here.

OKAY so rather than just infodumping the basics and general lore, I am going to take this opportunity to ramble about something that has literally kept me awake at night and has no reason to make me so confused. So get ready because this is going to be a lot:

So I know why the Papas all have one white eye, specifically only their left eye, for the real-life reasons (if you don’t know it’s because Tobias was going to originally wear two white contacts but his right eye is too sensitive and he didn’t want to risk infection by wearing both). But in the lore sense? They have still never explained the significance of the white eye.

Obviously the assumption is that it’s simply genetic. Especially because during the zoom call in Chapter 9, Copia mentions “I have his eye.” That implies that there’s a genetic component at play, seeing as all the Emerituses have the white eye. But in the Dance Macabre music video, we see a young Nihil getting punched/gouged in the eye by young Sister Imperator, which as a result turned it white.

Then when we see old Nihil in the chapters- he has two white eyes, presumably cataracts making him mostly blind. So I’m also just going to assume then that this means that the brothers and young Nihil can still see out of their left eyes regardless of whether it’s from inheritance or injury. THEN we get to see Nihil as a ghost in the later chapters. And both of his eyes are back to his natural color? So this isn’t necessarily too important, I just find it interesting since this means health conditions are no longer present after death. Anyways, this was sort of a tangent, back to the main thing.

Obviously you can’t inherit injuries from parents. So it’s clear that it’s not genetic, or else Nihil would have already had the white eye. But then why did Copia say that in the chapters??? The other theory is that there is some sort of initiation process unique to the Emeritus bloodline where they are given the white eye like we saw in the Dance Macabre music video. But that also creates a plot hole of sorts. If this were the case, why would Copia have the white eye prior to becoming Papa? Why would Copia be put through an Emeritus-only tradition if Nihil is insistent that he isn’t part of the bloodline and refuses to claim him as his son?

The only thing I can think of that could make all of that possible is if there was some Satan Magic™️ at play where Nihil obtains the white eye in adulthood but his sons inherit it like some sort of curse. But then that raises some questions- why would that start with Nihil? We all know the spiel- his father was papa, his father, etc. So would that mean the whole Emeritus bloodline shares the white eye? Or was Nihil the first?

Then again, if there’s anything Ghost is good at, it’s being mildly inconsistent with lore as well as making things both metaphorical and literal. So this could just be a general oversight, of course. I could just be getting confused over nothing, probably. It also sucks because we haven’t seen anyone before Nihil and we haven’t seen the brothers in their youth, and I doubt we will. There is my rant. I will continue to think about this for the next 9 business days at least. Thank you.

[fitnessunion]

The “Blame Game” of Genetics Here at Fitness Union Activewear (FU!), we’ve had it with the blame game. We’re here to talk about what science really says about genetics, health, and those pesky habits that we all know are part of the problem. https://fuactivewear.com/the-blame-game-of-genetics/real-blog-posts/fitness-encouragement/?feed_id=2125&_unique_id=672d3fa3e92d0 How often have we heard it? “It’s just in my genes,” or, “My family’s always been like this.” Ah, genetics: the magical scapegoat that swoops in to explain every health woe without so much as a second thought. But let’s put it bluntly — how much of this is really about genes, and how much is a convenient excuse for unhealthy habits? Here at Fitness Union Activewear (FU!), we’ve had it with the blame game. We’re here to talk about what science really says about genetics, health, and those pesky habits that we all know are part of the problem. Spoiler: It turns out, you have more control over your health than you might think. 1. The Genetics Excuse: Just How Strong Is It, Really? Yes, genes are real. They give you your eye color, determine if you’re tall or short, and can affect things like metabolism to a degree. But let’s clarify something: genetics might set the stage, but your lifestyle choices are the main act. Let’s take obesity, for example. Studies show that less than 5% of obesity cases are purely genetic. Yep, only 5%! The rest is influenced by factors within your control, like diet, exercise, and overall lifestyle. So if you’re reaching for that “it’s genetic” excuse, make sure it holds up, because there’s a 95% chance it doesn’t. 2. Choices: The Real Health Game-Changer While it’s easier to chalk things up to “bad genes,” it’s often our own choices that tip the scales. Here’s where lifestyle habits come into play: Diet: What you eat matters far more than you might think. Ultra-processed foods, sugary snacks, and endless fast-food orders don’t “run in the family” — they’re daily choices that add up. Want to blame your DNA for that fast-food addiction? Try blaming the drive-thru routine instead. Exercise: No one’s DNA forces them to sit on the couch, binge-watching Netflix all day. Sure, some people might have a slower metabolism or less muscle mass, but movement is always within your control. A consistent exercise routine not only builds physical strength but also changes how your body burns calories, regardless of genetics. Sleep: Believe it or not, sleep is as important as food and exercise. Chronic sleep deprivation alters hormone levels and increases stress, leading to weight gain, low energy, and other health issues. Genes don’t control your bedtime — that’s on you. 3. Environment and Habits: The Silent Powerhouses Genetics aren’t nearly as bossy as some of our everyday habits. Picture this: if your family has a habit of sitting down every evening with a family-sized bag of chips, that habit has more to do with your health than your shared DNA. And research backs this up. The concept of epigenetics shows us that our environment and lifestyle choices can “turn on” or “turn off” certain genes. So yes, while your genetic blueprint might include some health risks, your lifestyle choices are what actually determine if those genes get expressed. So maybe the next time you’re considering that tub of ice cream, think about whether it’s really “fate” or just habit. 4. Fitness Union Activewear (FU!): Your No-Excuses Fitness Partner At Fitness Union Activewear (FU!), we believe in giving you every tool and style to make working out both enjoyable and effective. Our gear is designed for real people who are here to make real changes — no excuses. We’re all about promoting habits that turn into results. So slip into something that won’t quit on you halfway through your workout. And while you’re at it, remember that your DNA isn’t going to the gym for you — that’s up to you. So slip into something that won’t quit on you halfway through your workout.

And while you’re at it, remember that your DNA isn’t going to the gym for you — that’s up to you. 5. DNA vs. Daily Decisions: Who Wins? Here’s the final answer: daily decisions win. Period. Let’s look at some powerful lifestyle changes that can have lasting health impacts: Reducing Sugar Intake: Excessive sugar has been linked to countless health problems, from obesity to diabetes and heart disease. And no, you can’t blame this one on your grandparents. Consistent Exercise: Whether it’s running, weightlifting, or a simple daily walk, movement transforms your metabolism, builds muscle, and strengthens your heart. Stress Management: Chronic stress messes with everything from hormone balance to immune function. Genes can influence how we react to stress, but meditation, exercise, and sleep are proven stress relievers. Making even a few of these adjustments could outweigh the genetic cards you’ve been dealt. And unlike our genes, these are things we can change. 6. But What About “Genetically Slow Metabolism”? Slow metabolism is real, but here’s the twist: for most people, it’s minor. Lifestyle habits like regular exercise and a balanced diet play a far bigger role in burning calories than the slight variations in metabolic rates most people inherit. If you’re still convinced your metabolism is a huge hurdle, here’s a reality check. Research shows that weightlifting, HIIT workouts, and even just walking every day can help anyone improve their metabolism. And yes, even you, with that “slow metabolism,” can make gains here. 7. The Harsh Truth About Comfort Zones People often get into health ruts and blame their genetics because, let’s face it, habits are hard to break. It’s much easier to say, “I can’t help it, it’s in my genes,” than it is to face the reality that change is uncomfortable. But growth doesn’t happen in the comfort zone. So if you’re reading this and realizing you’ve been using your DNA as a free pass to skip the gym or ignore nutrition, remember: every small choice adds up. When you step out of that comfort zone, it’s amazing how fast those “genetic limitations” start to shrink. Here’s the bottom line: genetics might be a factor, but it’s hardly the whole picture. Blaming your DNA for health struggles is like blaming your car for taking you down the wrong road. It’s a convenient excuse, but it won’t get you where you want to go. At Fitness Union Activewear, we believe in being realistic and responsible. So let’s ditch the blame game. Your choices have power — far more than the genes you were born with. That power is in your hands, and it’s time to own it. https://fuactivewear.com/the-blame-game-of-genetics/real-blog-posts/fitness-encouragement/?feed_id=2125&_unique_id=672d3fa3e92d0

[endlessrise]

It was no surprise that the other would demand a reason to listen her, nor did it surprise her that he pit down a timer of a generous ten minutes. She could tell that they had some things in common, such as wanting to be impressed by whoever is vying for their attention. Though, to his questions he would receive little hums of affirmation.

"Well, first. If you're anything like me in this sense, you have a thirst for knowledge that you want quenched. Second, you know just as much as me the knowledge is power over the people . Third, why would you turn down knowledge from the first of a race? So, listen carefully, because I'm being generous with it and sharing it with you."

A start to her reason for why she was asking for his attention without formally announcing her presence to him or sending a text first. She would finally sit up from the somewhat half heartedly laying position she was in, keeping her arms folded in front of her.

"Well, first thing is is that Evoline are not only Demonic and Draconic, but Vampiric as well. For feeding, our fangs produces both a strong numbing venom to numb the pain of being bitten and an aphrodisiac venom which is well spoken for itself. The incress of the heartbeats pumps more blood around the body which naturally helps with our feedings."

She says with the tone of someone teaching a lesson, standing and stretching. Today she was wearing blue jeans, a low cut black shirt, and finally a pair black leather square heeled boots which gave her a few more inches in height. With a stretch she woudl start walking around some.

"Evoline are capable of turning into dragons that can eat planets, but we can control the size of such. We can control how much we scale over, one form coming with clothes we can change any time and the more full scaled form increases the height of an Evoline by a foot or so."

She would stop where he was, nice and close as she leans in to look at him. Eye to eye, a smirk on her face.

"Due to how rare Evoline are, it shouldt surprise your that we have voracious sex appetite and desires to breed. Heat months vary from Evoline to Evoline and as far as I know an Evolinaa can carry up to a cluch of eggs ranging from one to ten. Even children who aren't evoline do inherent some traits from the Evoline parent."

With that she would step back from him.before walking back and sitting where she originally started, still keeping an eye on him.

"Though, rest can be assured that those children will be far superior to the race of their none Evoline parents. A child with a race that normaly doesn't have viable or useful magic will actually have a rather decent mana reserve and useful magic. An Evolines genetics make sure to scope out all the useful genetics and silence all the useless ones. Any negative traits for example, such weakish bones would be lessened and improves upon with a much tough bone structure."

She was trying to get as much information in in that ten minutes given to her, so naturally she was talking a lot. Though now she would remain silent, as of waiting for any questions.

"Though perhaps, you have more specific knowledge you want to know?"

During the entire time, the woman speaks. He looks at his phone, but that doesn't mean he isn't listening and registering all she says. Always through, he puts a stop to the timer and puts his phone away. His interest has been given. Eventually, silence takes over the room when she finishes speaking.

A grin full of arrogance on his face.

You've said plenty of things, Solveig. Ah, my bad, I guess I should be calling you, wife — now. But I'm happy that you consider me someone worthy having children with. I know you won't admit to the feelings you feel for me, and you don't need to. Regardless, if you ever want to see what a child between us looks like, give me a call. Then the grin let place to a frown and incredible murderous intent directed at the woman. But if you even think for one second about treating any children we have like weapons, I will kill you. Expressionless face returning. So, wife. You've come a long way to tell me important things about what you are. Do you want something to drink, or perhaps you want to ask me things about what I am as well?

[duskaris]

This post has been circling around Twitter and I just want to share my thoughts on it in a longer form rant addressing each of their points with ideas for world building of how that could work in a high fantasy setting.

First off, their beginning statement is just wrong. There are lots of reasons to have a disabled person within a fantasy setting. To say otherwise is (1) ablest and (2) very poor world building. Then again, their definition of high fantasy seems to be limited to one where magic is easily accessible and basically limitless, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that they are just not creative rather than ablest.

In world building terms this boils down to a few different factors. First, can magic do the thing. Second, does the person have access to the magic. Third, do they want the magic to be used. Basically physical, economical, cultural. Every fantasy world will have limits on its magic or rules about how it works. For example, if you cut off a limb and use healing magic on the wound, does the limb grow back or just heal over? If its the latter, congrats you have a disabled fantasy character. See how easy that was? Time can also be a factor here, maybe magic can heal an injury that just happened but once the body heals on its own that's now the baseline for where magic can heal them to. The economic factor ties into this as well. Most the time in fantasy not everyone is able to do any type of magic. Sometimes its bloodlines, sometimes its taught, sometimes its random, but regardless there will likely be people rural enough that there is no healer nearby or if its rare enough then working class will simply be unable to afford it. The cultural aspect is if people can heal the injury and are available to do it, does the injured person want to be healed. Maybe they don't trust magic, antivaxx-esque, or come from a culture of warriors who believe in keeping their battle scars as sources of pride.

Broken bones are an injury that if properly treated will heal naturally. In my own world Blades of Treason this would be treated with minor healing potions to ease pain and accelerate the healing, but there will still be a period of healing. Basically injuries that will heal on their own may not need or be worth using the world's healing magic on. In the meantime, the person will still need some sort of mobility device, even if its not a permanent necessity.

Paralysis is a bit more complicated medically and how this comes into the effectiveness of magic will vary based on the source of the paralysis. Maybe if it was an acquired illness or injury that caused paralysis it can be healed, but a genetic cause cannot. Maybe like in point 1, if it can heal on its own magic will help, but if it will never heal on its own magic won't bypass that. There are also the economic and social aspects I already touched on above. And this is me just spit-balling here, there are so many reasons someone may still be disabled in a fantasy universe.

Controlling a flight spell and casting a fireball at your enemies may be difficult or even impossible depending on the magic system. If a spell requires concentration to be used than multitasking is just infeasible. I do really like the idea of a mage who can't walk using a flight spell to move themselves around in everyday scenarios while needing a wheelchair if too tired to spell cast or in combat situations to concentrate on other spells.

This is the only (partially) reasonable critique this person gives. Accessibility devices should probably look like they were made with the technology of the rest of the fantasy world. A dwarven tech based wheelchair can be possible in your setting and is sick as fuck. Historically, canes and crutches are relatively easy to craft from branches and wheels aren't exactly a new invention either. Having a cart pushed or carried by others or pulled by animals is also a very low tech solution. Mobility aids are not a modern invention and were certainly possible to make if they don't look quite the same as we are used to today. Animal with saddle attached is also an option, although it would require a specialized saddle (I believe Bran had something like this in Game of Thrones, but I've only seen clips of the show so don't come at me if I'm off). Still possible and setting appropriate though.

It is impossible to tell a story without conflict. The type of conflict can vary but there must be some level of stakes. They only way I can see the type of world they suggest working within a story is a more slice of life comedy style story where life or death stakes rarely, if ever, come into play. If you're going for a more serious story line, unlimited healing is a detriment rather than an asset. Magic does not have to be extremely rare or dangerous in order for disabled characters to exist. With a little bit of creativity (y'know, like what fantasy is based on) there are literally infinite ways you can explain having disabled characters while still having an extensive magic system. And all that I've written is about how non-magic disabilities interact with magic, I haven't even touched on how magic caused disabilities may interact with other magic.

[marvel-ousmondays]

Marvel-ous Mondays... but it's Sunday

I was always, and mostly proudly, a nerd.

My parents had a set of orange student encyclopedias downstairs and they convinced me to do "reports" for fun. I played that Microsoft Encarta Trivia game as well as various incantations of Where in the ?? is Carmen Sandiego and even a math game known as Number Maze for an inordinate percentage of my childhood. I read books and maintained collections and had a microscope I insisted on for Christmas that I didn't know how to use.

But I didn't read comics.

I don't know why exactly. I went to bookstores, I even used to buy baseball cards at the local video game rental place, but I don't even remember SEEING comic books in real life. I also didn't watch X-men Evolution or any of the other great Marvel animation my friends remember. Probably my mom didn't like them for one reason or another, or they may have been on when I was out practicing for various sports. Regardless, I didn't have the usual indoctrination into comicbook universes that my fellow youthful nerds had.

The only small window of Marvel that opened for me pre-teen years was that my neighbor, a boy named Jon, collected X-men cards. And he would want to play X-men with myself and our other friend, Kari. He didn't have very many girl cards (another factor that may have limited my interest) so I was always Storm. (I don't remember who Kari agreed to be.)

These days, awesome as Storm is, I'd opt to be Jean Grey.

Regardless, my nerdy youth did not sense any lack and I continued into nerdy teenagehood unaware of the cinematic superhero renaissance on the horizon. The first of the X-men trilogy with Sir Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier (and of course, the then barely known amazing Australian, Hugh Jackman, as Wolverine) came out but it didn't garner my interest. I think my friends and I may have even watched it on a movie night (I grew up in a small town- trips to the movie theater 30 minutes away by car were rare and magical and reserved for something you assumed would be awesome... or a birthday), but my mind was probably on something or someone else.

It wasn't until the second movie, where Shawn Ashmore (who I adored from the much too short Animorphs series- yes I loved the books too) had a larger role that my interest was piqued. Genetic evolution as an explanation for powers? Fascinating. Found family for those who were either rejected or who just needed something their family couldn't give? Awesome. Being ashamed of being extraordinary in a world demanding conformity and ordinariness? Hell yes, sign me up.

One thing I will say for me is once I'm in, I'm in. I was now committed to X-men and all future movies and I would appreciate them no matter the reviews or the complaints of how it did or didn't match the comics. Which I still hadn't read.

But I had not expanded to Marvel at large. I watched at least one of the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies and liked it well enough, but it didn't grab me. It also seemed like superhero movies were all so male-dominated (except X-men, where it at least had smacked of a 30-70 split), so it didn't feel like it was FOR me.

Then Batman Begins came out.

Sit down geeky gatekeeper boy. I see you- yeah, I know you are about to "school" me about how that's DC and you've been talking about Marvel. I'm well aware of the difference- this post is about HOW I got INTO superhero movies (and leading up specifically to the MCU). And Batman was a part of that process, even if he is DC, mainly because Christopher Nolan's trilogy is fucking phenomenol.

Batman Begins, even more than X-men, sucked me into the superhero universe. The world it created felt real and therefore accessible to someone like me who hadn't experienced years of indoctrination into a universe littered with superheroes. I understood trauma and darkness and people doing bad things and the desire to stand up to all of that but not having any idea how to do battle with the world's demons at the same time you were fighting your own. I understood Bruce Wayne in all that and the film was just fucking good, regardless of previous interest. (Add in that my best friend in college was getting into film in general so I was watching A LOT of movies and ended up more interest in their storytelling than my friend in the long run.)

So superhero movies were now on my list of acceptable movies to spend money on at the theater. I also was now in college with a little bit of dispensable income and a movie theater within 10 minutes and/or friends at home that were down for a whole day out that ended with a late night at the drive-in. The latter of which is exactly where I first watched Iron Man, a movie about a superhero I didn't even know existed (I know, right?) with an actor I associated with Sherlock Holmes.

And into the MCU I dove.

I've unapologetically loved this universe ever since. I've read some of the comics now, and I've enjoyed them, but honestly my love remains with the movies and shows that are part of this canon. A love that only grew over the years and that still finds magic in the new directions the universe is taking.

But like most, I've missed things. There were movies I didn't and haven't seen, shows I didn't keep up with, and so on. So I'm doing this blog as sort of a "fun" resolution. I want to watch through the ENTIRE MCU- all the shows and movies (whether they are considered "canon" or not- like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D). I've tried several times before but haven't done it.

So this year I've committed to Marvel-ous Mondays. Every Monday I will watch (or at least start) a Marvel Movie or 2 episodes of a Marvel show. I'm going in release order. (I was originally going to do Chronological order but all the timey-wimey ness (Gatekeeper boy I swear to Gaia I will have you forcibly removed, you know damn well David Tenet was in both universes and would approve that use) has made that order really complicated.) And then- I'll blog about what I watched and what it meant to me.

Will this have tons of insider geeky knowledge where I note all the little details they included? No, I likely don't know most of those.

Will this be an incredibly insightful film critique? Doubtful, I'm not a film studies scholar- I'm just someone who really likes movies and shows and books and storytelling. I'm an ardent amateur.

What this will be is one nerdy girl reflecting on the MCU and why certain movies and characters resonate with me and what I do and don't like and what I associate with each film that I've seen (and how I feel about the pieces that I haven't). And mostly, I'm hoping blogging about it will keep me going when my squirrel brain tries to run off in distraction.

If you feel like following along, welcome. I love you 3000.

[terrifictoonman]

[WP] “At Power Pre-K, we have all sorts of activities to nurture the budding superhero, villain, monster, titan, or…um, what exactly IS your child?” [u/codeScramble - Reddit]

~Lost in My World~

The Atlas Educational Center, since 1982, has been a pillar in the "enhanced" community. From superheroes to supervillains, from Kijus to Titans, even the horrors of the unknown found their way through Atlas' hollowed halls. Regardless of gender, race, religion, state of being, or dimensional status, Atlas is here for you!

As the bell sounds, hoards of children rush out of their classrooms and make their way to the exits. Fighting against the waves of children are a couple. A man with glossy black hair and wearing a cheap grey suit that's one size too big, and a faceless feminine-looking robot in a teal nurse uniform with a massive stain on its chest.

"I still can't believe you bought a suit," groaned the robot.

"I thought you wanted me to look more professional?" asked the man.

"You look like you hang around sports bars looking to "loan" people money," said the robot. "The fact that I'm currently wearing vomit and still look better than you is just pathetic."

"Welp, it's a good thing you didn't love me for my looks," said the man. "Next door on the right." The two stop before a blue door labeled "After School Care." The two look through the door's window, seeing kids playing with each other and an eight-foot, yellow-scaled half-dragon man reading a book to a group of kids.

"Scans aren't picking up anything out of the ordinary," said the robot.

"Why doesn't that make me feel any better," said the man. The half-dragon noticed the two and motioned them to come inside. "Any last words?"

"Yeah," said the robot as they opened the door, "Don't [CENSORED] up." The man wipes his hair before following the robot inside as the half-dragon sends the children around him away.

"Hello, I'm Mr. Thune. I'm with the front office," said Mr. Thune as he shook the robot's hand. "Are you Barbie's parents?"

"Barbie?" asked the robot.

"I'm her dad, Elliot," said Elliot, shaking Mr. Thune's hand, "just call me "Elli." This Barbie's...birth mother, Ruth, model designation R_0tH." Mr. Thune looked at his hand as hair grease dripped from it. "I am so sorry."

"No worries," said Mr. Thune. With the flick of his wrist, his hand suddenly burst into flames, evaporating the grease from his hand. "Follow me." Mr. Thune guides the two to a door at the room's far corner. Meanwhile, Ruth stares daggers at Elli.

"You named it?!" whispered Ruth.

"She named herself," whispered Bob. "Besides, it's kinda fitting if you think about it."

"I can see how you'd think that," said Ruth. "Also, what did we talk about using my real model?"

"Hey! It took a lot of work getting Bee into this place," said Elli, "I'm not risking getting her kicked out just because you're- "

"*Ahem*," Inturupted Mr. Thune as he held open the door, "right this way." The two regain what little composure they had before walking into Mr. Thune's office. Mr. Thune then pulls a stone with a rune carved into it. He whispers into the stone, flames flowing from his mouth into rune, causing it to glow orange. Mr. Thune tosses the stone back into the Daycare room, and it transforms into a golem made of rock and amber. A lizard child points at the golem.

"It's Mr. Pebbles!" yelled the child, followed by the frantic cheers of the other children. Mr. Pebbles whines as he looks back at Mr. Thune, who's slowly closing the door behind him.

"Fifteen minutes, twenty minutes tops," said Mr. Thune as he closed the door just before seeing the children pounce on Mr. Pebbles. With a heavy sigh, Mr. Thune walks over to his desk and sits across from Bob and Abbi. "Anyway, let me start off by saying that your daughter is not in any trouble."

"Oh, thank god!" muttered Elli, relieved.

"However, we do have some- " Mr. Thune pauses as he looks around his room. "questions. First off, is there any genetic or magical history that we should know about, anything you may have forgotten to put on her forms?"

"Nothing I know of," said Elli. "She doesn't like basil." Ruth stealthily kicks Elli's shin under the desk.

"All of its information is up to date," said Ruth. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong," said Mr. Thune. "It's just that...here at AEC, we run all of our students through a genetic database to help better identify their needs or any assistance they may need now or in the future. Now, I mean no disrespect, but neither of you is Barbie's genetic parent, correct?

"No," answered Ruth.

"But we're her parents where it counts!" Elli interjected.

"I promise you, that is not in question," said Mr. Thune. The half-dragon's ears perk up suddenly as he stares intensely at Bob. "We've just noticed some abnormalities that I thought you could help us identify."

"Uh...like what, exactly," asked Elli, nervously.

"Well, for starters," said Mr. Thune, "your daughter seems to have a habit of disappearing."

"Like, skipping class?" asked Elli.

"Oddly no," answered Mr. Thune, "AEC has the most advanced surveillance system of all our neighboring universes through the use of science, magic, and temporal machinations. However, it seems your daughter can avoid detection completely for short periods." Ruth sits up in her chair.

"You're implying it has the ability to hide its entire existence from time itself," said Ruth. "That's impossible."

"Not for Barbie, it seems," said Mr. Thune. "We've asked her how she does it, and her response is like any child her age, "I don't know. At first, we thought she may have been some old god or eldritch being or maybe just a re-incarnated pillar of reality. Those theories eventually proved false."

"Is that...good?" asked Elli. Mr. Thune sat silently for a moment as his gaze shifted to Ruth. "Is that a "no?"

"I'll be frank with you," said Mr. Thune. "As an elder dragon, I have seen the death and birth of universes more times than even fifth-dimensional beings can imagine, and in all that time, I have never felt, let alone seen, a being as unique as Barbie." Mr. Thune pulls a pamphlet from a desk drawer and slides it in front of Elli and Ruth.

"There is a universe known as the Index, dedicated to capturing all the knowledge of the multiverse and every previous iteration of it. It may know what Barbie truly is and her capabilities."

"But?" asked Ruth.

"But," continued Mr. Thune, "due to the universe's unique properties, it is unlikely you could accompany her to Index." Ruth and Elli tense up at the thought. "Now, this is by no means mandatory. Barbie has been a model student, has excellent behavior and stellar grades, and is well-liked by almost everyone. However, some would feel more comfortable having a better idea of what exactly your daughter is."

"Why? She's perfect," said Elli, "that's all that matters."

"Elli..." said Ruth.

"No!" interrupted Elli, "I don't care if some fancy school board or a few parents feel uncomfortable around my kid. From what I've heard, she's done nothing but what was asked of her and then some!"

"Sir, please," said Mr. Thune, "nothing's set in stone. I just wanted to make sure that you're aware..." Elli nearly jumps out of his seat and stares down Mr. Thune.

"Save it! I don't need you or some universe to tell me my little girl's special!" said Elli, "I get a reminder every morning when she wakes me up to take her to school!" Ruth grabs Elli's shoulder, and the two look at each other before Abbi eases him away from Mr. Thune.

Elli breaks free of Ruth's grasp and walks towards the door. As he gets closer, the sounds of children whispering and running away can be heard on the other side. All Ruth can do is watch as Elli storms out of the office.

"I'm sorry," said Mr. Thune. "I had no intention of upsetting..."

"It's fine," said Ruth, "emotions run high when it comes to her. Sometimes, he just cares too much."

"In my line of work, there's no such thing," said Mr. Thune. Ruth takes the pamphlet and looks over it for a second. "It's yours if you want it?"

"...no thank you," said Ruth as she returned the pamphlet to the desk. "I should probably chase after him before he angrily shows people baby pictures. Thank you for your time."

"Not a problem. I'll have them send your daughter to the front office," said Mr. Thune. Ruth nods as she leaves the office, closing the door behind her. With a deep, raspy breath, Mr. Thune blasts a cloud of ash from his nostrils that quickly fills the room. The sound of muffled coughing could be heard all around the room as several random objects began to shake.

"You know, it's rude to eavesdrop on adult conversations," said Mr. Thune as he stood up from his chair. "Come on, your parents are waiting for you."

Suddenly, several books, pens, paper, as well as other objects became solid black as they melted into liquids. The black liquids then flowed collectively into one of the chairs facing Mr. Thune, combining into a three-foot-tall humanoid figure. Three balls of light hovered from the ceiling light above the black figure.

Two of the lights placed themselves on the black figure's head, acting as their eyes, while the last one set itself where the heart would be. The black figure then transformed into a pale, nearly white-skinned little girl with chin-length messy black hair and equally messy pigtails. The girl wore a grey dress with a teal jacket, mismatched socks, and matching mismatched sneakers.

The Barbie sheepishly looked up at Mr. Thune as she made her backpack appear.

"I'm sorry my daddy got mad," said Barbie.

"It's ok, he was just scared," said Mr. Thune.

"I know," said Barbie. Mr. Thune walks over to Barbie but barely passes his desk before Barbie hugs his legs. "I don't want my parents to be scared of me."

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey," said Mr. Thune as he kneeled to meet Barbie. "If I've learned anything today, it's that neater of your parents are scared of you. They...they just want what's best for you, and sometimes it's hard to know what that is."

"Because they don't know what I am?" asked Barbie.

"They know who you are," said Mr. Thune. "You're Barbie, the girl who can do anything! And that's enough." Barbie wipes her face and smiles. "There's that superstar smile. Come on, let's get you to the office so I don't get yelled at again."