#local folklore collection

[wardensantoineandevka]

the funniest part to me is that Antoine, the Grey Warden's foremost explosives and alchemical flame developer who is constantly working on a bomb or a better way to start fires, doesn't even seem to have a personal fascination with fire or explosions, they're just the most useful and valuable things for him to work on professionally

[angsty-prompt-hole]

Hot take but people who aren't from Wyoming should stop writing books about the state if they can't be nice about it. I just read one of the most condescending forewords ever while doing research for Rot and Ruin and Winter Hollow and I want to hit the editors as hard as humanly possible.

[lackadaisycats]

Miss Tracy, do u have any advice on researching a specific time period?

(also I know u probably won't see this, but I love your art and you are awesome)

Look for books about the time period, but also books written contemporaneous to the time period, whether fiction or non-fiction. Check used book stores for out of print gems at good prices.

If photography was a technology that existed in the time period you're researching, look for photos of people doing everyday things. Take in the context, the geography, the economic situation. Look at how they're dressed and what their clothes say about them.

Newspaper archives. Sometimes newspapers of the past are free to browse. Sometimes you have to pay for access. Old shopping catalogue collections - if they exist for your time period - are great too.

Documentary films about time periods, or specific events in a given time period can be useful, even if only for a broad overview.

Museum exhibits - helpful whether you're looking for famous paintings or artifacts of past civilizations in a world renowned institution, or trying to dig up something impossibly unique in an oddity denture museum in some forgotten place in the Midwest. If you can't go in person, check online. You can find museums with vintage clothing or household appliance collections from even a few decades ago. Some museums have extensive, searchable online collections too. Take the Metropolitan Museum for instance.

If you can visit historical sites relevant to your area of interest, do it! Do those little guided walking tours. Do the ghost tours even - they're often fairly history-centric with some paranormal folklore for added spice. Sometimes they get you access to places you otherwise can't enter. Check historical societies local to cities or towns of interest.

If you need information about something deeply specific, check the internet for communities that form around that deeply specific topic. I've found tidbits of useful info searching around old forum posts from radio enthusiasts, Model T owners, and people who collect old telephone booths. (Granted, it's getting harder to search for this kind of stuff nowadays.)

-----------

Be careful of AI trash, whether it's generative images, text descriptions, or entire articles. Don't rely much on film or television for accuracy. Some things are more interested in being accurate than others, but there's almost always some artistic license taken. If you're trying to be particularly accurate about something, triple check it for confirmation. Misinformation has had a way of spreading like insidious mildew even before AI started disseminating it with delusory authority.

Lastly, if you don't enjoy doing this kind of historical research like a weird little detective-creature, consider loosening up on the 'historical' aspect of your writing. It's okay to not focus on historicity in your fiction. But if you're going to dive in whole-hog on history, bear in mind it's an ongoing, often time-consuming adventure in information-finding.

(Thank you for the kind words!)

[bekkathyst]

My Märchenwald jewelry collection will go live this Sunday, October 6th 🌿🧚‍♀️ It’s been a pleasure to bring this to life! I’ve used more plants and organic materials in this collection than I ever have before, and I love how everything turned out. I might even have another 3 or 4 pieces I can finish up in time, but I will have everything pictured for sure.

Plants from my local forest and my home garden come together with high quality natural stones to bring this fairy tale forest collection to life. I was deeply inspired by Austrian folklore, specifically the folklore from the alpine region I live in. It’s been so fun to share these folktales with you as I worked on the collection, and this has really given me so many ideas for future collections as well. Let me know which piece calls to you! 🌿

[angelesca]

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐱𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐳𝐡𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐮𝐨𝐟𝐮’𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞

˚☽˚.⋆ 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩. 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐭. 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫-𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐝.˚☽˚.⋆ a collection of your four great encounters with a dragon, zombie, lion, and a changeling, and their daily life in your house (your haunted house haha) w.c: ¬3k // content: dan heng (imbibitor lunae form) / zombie!blade / guardianlion!jing yuan / changeling!luocha x gn!reader, gang of idiots, 4 crazy guys in your house, they share one brain cell (and its dan heng's), short writings and bullet point headcanons, found family vibes, huo huo as your exorcist, tail is there too ig, chaos everywhere, probs out of character, rushed this for halloween (failed) so quality is questionable

⋆⁺₊⋆♱♡♱⋆⁺₊⋆(¬ ´ཀ` )¬⋆⁺₊⋆♱♡♱⋆⁺₊⋆(¬ ´ཀ` )¬⋆⁺₊⋆♱♡♱⋆⁺₊⋆(┛〃°Д°)┛⋆⁺₊⋆⁺₊⋆⁺₊

𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬, 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐛𝐢, 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 – 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝. you coined this as a curse of sorts, a coagulation of the corrupted karma from your ancestors, you rationalised. 

you need serious help. under the black quilt of the night sky, tall tales speak of a renowned exorcist. if they are as good as locals say, the days of sleepless nights and hair-pulling frustration will finally be cleansed. 

in the fyxestroll garden, bad omens riddle the place. perhaps it is a promising sign of the exorcists' capabilities, who is unintimated in the territory of their enemies. you reach a pavilion, scanning the people and matching them to your criteria: short girl, green, and… weird tail. 

“uhm,” the ‘weird tail’ was an understatement. “are you huo huo?”

the girl jumps when you tap her shoulder from behind, swinging her fiery tail around as she faces you. “oh!” her mouth shapes into a circle, eyes frantically flitting. “h-how may i help you?” 

“sorry, i didn’t mean to scare you,” you smile, pulling a friendly expression in hopes that it will calm her jittery nerves. “i’ve heard that you deal with exorcisms? i was hoping you could help me with such matters.”

“uhhh, do you know who you are speaking to?” your eyes follow the bouncing of green flames behind huo huo, confused at the sudden third voice. “we are the best in town! you should be on your knees! to even comprehend that you dare approach us-”

huo huo scrambles to hide the boisterous heliobus. “sorry! don’t mind him…” the tail harrumphed, letting her regain control. “w-what ails you to come seek me?” 

“ah, well,” you tap your chin in contemplation. “there’s a lot.”

and so, you begin recounting your haunted days to huo huo.

⋆⁺₊⋆♱♡♱⋆⁺₊⋆(¬ ´ཀ` )¬⋆⁺₊⋆♱♡♱⋆⁺₊⋆(¬ ´ཀ` )¬⋆⁺₊⋆♱♡♱⋆⁺₊⋆(┛〃°Д°)┛⋆⁺₊⋆⁺₊⋆⁺₊

1.

𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐲𝐚𝐝𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚. what was believed to be an all-mighty species in the past, was reduced to a forgotten folklore.

when you found dan heng, he was lying wounded in an alley like a stray cat. nothing about power or might was portrayed on his face: creased eyebrows, gritted teeth, he clutched onto a bleeding patch by his abdomen.

you took the injured creature to your home, and now, somehow, its his home too. 

distant and quiet at first

when you took interest in your his book, he opened up ever so little – non stop yapping when you engage with his interests

dreams of traversing the universe in a massive space-weaving train

reveals that his nightmares are of a gruesome past. you stay by his side during those nights

you thought he would leave eventually after healing. how come he’s also cooking your meals and cleaning the place? 

you learned the language of his tail: when he’s delighted, it wags like a dog. his tail brushes and wraps lightly around your leg when he is really relaxed

brews crazy bitter coffee – learned from a certain person. wakes you up like a slap to the face

it was another stressful day of work. endless papers and nagging, you were sure your supervisor must have been an enemy of the past who came to haunt you too. 

yet, when you opened the door, the stress seeped out like vapour. after all, you had a dragon in your home. his terrific presence was ovepowering.

“hey, dan heng,” the mythical dragon was reading the latest volume by his favourite author. it was a strange image to wrap your head around in the beginning. as months passed, you grew accustomed to this daily life. “how’s the book?”

dan heng’s tail swished upon seeing you. quickly, he averted his eyes back on the book. “intriguing. it writes in detail of a distant planet covered in snow.”

“oh?” you placed a cushion on the floor, sitting next to him. you yawned, almost unhinging your jaw. “is it… good…?” you were slipping out of your composure, head hanging low, your body close to spilling over the table. sleep was taking you.

dan heng caught your shoulders, saving you from injury. your head was heavy with burden. he lifted some of your weight as he moved your head onto his shoulder, even if only temporarily.

as still as concrete, he dared not to rouse you from your deserved sleep. he has seen your restless days and effort to chase after the unforgiving deadline. it was why he took on your domestic duties, as best as he could, cleaning and cooking to ease some of your responsibilities. 

his tail wrapped around your leg. just as you have been there for his nights, imbibitor lunae would be there for yours too.

⋆⁺₊⋆♱♡♱⋆⁺₊⋆(¬ ´ཀ` )¬⋆⁺₊⋆♱♡♱⋆⁺₊⋆(¬ ´ཀ` )¬⋆⁺₊⋆♱♡♱⋆⁺₊⋆(┛〃°Д°)┛⋆⁺₊⋆⁺₊⋆⁺₊

2.

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐳𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐞. languid posture, killer eyes. a jiangshi, was your initial thought, yet he had no affinity for blood. but it was definitely not human.

you were strolling along the xianzhou pier when you bumped against a brooding frame. bowing your head, a wordless apology, you wished for that to be the end of the interaction.

it was only when you were in front of your house door, that you realised it had followed you, lured by your scent, the scent of a vidyadhara. no words, no other action. braindead? perchance. 

when you opened the door, all hell broke loose between the dragon and a zombie.

that zombie went by blade.

theres not a day when dan heng and blade aren't having a go at each other

speaks even less words than dan heng. stares at you whenever he wants something. you’ve more or less learnt how to read him by following his gaze. for example, looking at the door meant he was bored and needed his walkies wanted to go outside

personal guard dog. will accompany you outside and swing his sword at anything threatening. although for blade, the threshold for what counts as threatening is horribly low. good thing normal people can’t see him

not too fond of light. when it is too bright, he trusts your body to block it. e.g. stretching your shirt as if it can hide him inside too

no thought, head empty. forgetful, zombies don't have the best memory

does he not notice the drool on his mouth when he stares at your bare arm? bites you randomly. not painful, though. you are always praying that his bites aren’t infectious like in the stories

sometimes you hear blade’s quiet ramblings. jingliu? maybe a fellow zombie friend. paying a price? maybe he’s in debt

“could you both please stop it already?!” your throat was burning.

“he… started it…!”  the dragon struggled beneath the zombie, who was clawing at his nemesis.

you knew one effective way to stop this. “blade! i’m going for a walk!”

works like magic. blade immediately halted, empty brain firing at the trigger word. with one last sassy side eye at dan heng, he took his rightful place by your side. 

dan heng stared at him, stunned. “what the…you littl-”

you browsed the stalls. a radiant shine caught your attention. it was a pendant made of multicoloured glass beads, hanging on a thread of intertwining rainbows. you held it under the sun, a kaleidoscope of crimson and sable shimmers reflected on your skin. it reminded you of blade. 

without another thought, you purchased it enthusiastically. you turned to blade who stood with his sword in his crossed arms, eyes closed. “blade, let’s go. i have something for you.” you whispered, though most people would believe you were talking to yourself anyways.

blade nodded, eyes half-open. “o…kay…” his fingers tugged onto a corner of your jacket, a preventative measure for getting lost.

you both sat on a bench far removed from watchful eyes. verdant trees hung over you, shading you in camouflage. 

taking the pendant out, you handed it to blade, smiling. “for you.”

“what gives…?” blade questioned, inspecting the gift as if it had evil hidden powers.

“no reason, really,” you watched his careful hands which cradled the pendant. “well, i guess it reminded me of you.”

blade gazed at you. he looked at you and then his pocket. you tried to decipher it; this was one wasn’t in the manual.

he scooped out a golden lump and handed it to you, holding your hand in his. “for you… too…” blade mumbled.

“wait… this is…” you picked up his gift, eyebrows creased. “this is… this is the limited edition ultra rare golden super original one-in-a-billion trashcan figurine! you remembered!” you squealed, excited beyond measure. “how did you even- did you steal this??”

of course he remembered your favourites, however hard it may be for the forgetful blade. when he thought of you, even he, a zombie, could become human again.

⋆⁺₊⋆♱♡♱⋆⁺₊⋆(¬ ´ཀ` )¬⋆⁺₊⋆♱♡♱⋆⁺₊⋆(¬ ´ཀ` )¬⋆⁺₊⋆♱♡♱⋆⁺₊⋆(┛〃°Д°)┛⋆⁺₊⋆⁺₊⋆⁺₊

3.

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧. these pairs of statues were all too common in the streets of xianzhou, a semblance of divine protection and prosperity.

you were on your usual stroll, which happens to attract the worst fates, when you felt a pair of eyes on you. you gulped. the one day you don’t bring blade along, has to be the time where his sword would prove useful.

turning around, you saw a guardian lion statue. wait, did it just tilt its head?

you blinked. that day choked the loudest scream out of you. in front of you was the spirit known as jing yuan.

you opened the door to your house. hell broke another time between a dragon, zombie, and a lion.

in spirit, jing yuan is a lion; by heart, he is a sloth. bro sleeps all day like a cat (though a lion is a big cat). unlike blade, jing yuan loves sleeping in the sun

reliable, wise old spirit. offers you good life lessons.

gently scolds dan heng and blade when they fight, like a father and his children. works 50/50 on blade, but your method has a 100% gacha rate. you become the emergency button.

fluffy mane. works great as a stress reliever (approved)

has a good friend, lightning lord, who comes to hang out

cultivated a garden in the back. plucks the flowers for you.

fondness for children. he did mention having adopted some blue kid once.

“now that i think about it,” you turned to jing yuan who was sluggishly lying on the living room floor, flicking through the tv. “where’s your partner? don’t guardian lions come in pairs?”

jing yuan was chewing on some jerky. “i ate them.”

“huh?” you examined the jerky in his mouth. “surely not…”

jing yuan did not respond, smirking like a mischievous cat. he patted down the space next to him.

you raised an eyebrow before sitting down where he wanted you, legs splayed on the floor. the afternoon sun casted its gaze through your window. it was perfect for a nap.

jing yuan decided just that, taking your lap up on offer. his bountiful mane bundled like wool in your hands as you stroked his head. 

“what if i clone myself? perhaps that can complete the pair.” jing yuan hypothesised, a playful gleam in his eyes.

“you can do that?” you asked curiously.

“why, of course. as a powerful spirit, my abilities are quite extensive. i can even make blade smile with his teeth showing.”

“ah,” the thought was uncanny. “please leave blade alone.”

suddenly, a bulky weight pressed onto you from behind. strong arms draped around your waist, encircling you in a warm embrace. someone or something was nuzzling onto your shoulder.

you looked back and saw jing yuan. you looked in front and saw jing yuan. two. jing. yuans. your brain exploded. “o-oh-”

the original jing yuan studied how your body grew warmer. “if you like it so much, i can keep him here...” he purred.

“i don’t…” you recollected your jumbled thoughts, retraining your breathing. “it’s too many spirits here! one jing yuan is enough.”

original jing yuan grinned. “so that’s your answer.”

clicking his fingers, the original jing yuan sucked in the fake one, like he was drinking a beverage. he rubbed his belly, satisfied, the cat-like smile plastered on his face.

everyday you experience something new. “oh… my god.” 

jing yuan licked his lips. “told you i ate them.”

“did jing yuan just...” dan heng was standing in the doorway, perturbed. a giant shadow loomed behind him. “commit cannibalism...?”

blade charged forward, sword in hand.

⋆⁺₊⋆♱♡♱⋆⁺₊⋆(¬ ´ཀ` )¬⋆⁺₊⋆♱♡♱⋆⁺₊⋆(¬ ´ཀ` )¬⋆⁺₊⋆♱♡♱⋆⁺₊⋆(┛〃°Д°)┛⋆⁺₊⋆⁺₊⋆⁺₊

4.

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠. a myth that travelled from the far west, they were also known as shapeshifters.

on your casual walk, and you swore after this you were never leaving the house again, you stopped by a pharmacy. you talked to a blonde man behind the counter and asked for pain relievers.

“uhmm, sorry, who are you talking to?” the assistant was concerned as she approached you.

you pointed at the man in front of you who was chewing on the assistant’s head. “huh? what?”

you did not realise that luocha was a spirit, his human disguise fooling as intended.

blade kicked down your door before you could open it. the changeling struggled against a dragon, a zombie, and a lion. 

the most enigmatic one out of the bunch. even the other spirits are creeped out

occasionally, his neck creaks at impossible angles, bones crunching. recites anything he has absorbed. kinda like a parrot. you get used to it.

the house is cramped so luocha is banished to the basement with his coffin. sometimes sleeps on the living room floor. always tripping over his body. plus, he sleeps with his eyes open

outside of his healing expertise, he has negative common sense in everything else. has probably almost burnt the house down a hundred times, if not for jing yuan’s protection spell. chews on blade’s hair like a horse. dan heng will weaponise an egg in hand when needed

willing to learn the ways of the human. is attached to you as he copies your actions, but is sloppy and clumsy

changeling powers come in handy for espionage. want to change your work days? ask luocha to disguise as your boss and grant seven sundays

will sometimes shapeshift when overwhelmed – like a shut-down response? whose dog is that? why is there an elephant on the toilet?

waking up to another dreadful day, you headed downstairs. luocha rose from the dead like a mummy, arms criss-crossed on his chest. 

your heart leaped. “the living room floor again?! ugh…” it was too early for this.

“good morning, master.” luocha stood up. he bowed, and you cringed hearing his spine break in half.

“uh, you don’t have to call me that.” you scratched your head as luocha reanimated himself back up straight.

luocha scratched his head. “your majesty?” he curtsied, almost tumbling.

“no, that’s worse.” you tilted your head.

he tilted his head. “my honeybear?” 

“what? where did you learn that?” you sighed. “just call me by my name. and please stop breaking your neck already.”

luocha readjusted his twisted neck. “hmm, i see.” 

you walk to the kitchen, roaming for breakfast. luocha marched up to you. “what is the most wondrous one doing anon, languish in posture and darkened eyes, at the crack of the ascending, hopeful dawn, at which hour thee shouldst beest slumbering soundly without a careth?”

you just barely understood him. “making breakfast, wanna help?”

“oh, i see.” luocha’s eyes twinkled. he read about this in the books, the part where the two main characters get closer as they cook together. a domestic activity that touches the hearts of readers as the characters brush hands, sidled close.

grabbing your ingredients, you chopped the tomatoes in slow demonstration for the learning luocha. “here, you try.”

“i see.” luocha takes the knife, his grip questionable as he holds the blade upright like a sword. fear ran cold in your veins as you gulped it down.

“u-uhh, maybe don’t hold it like that- holy sh- luocha you chopped your leg off!!”

“that didn’t work.” luocha calmly reattached his leg like it was just another day.

your lips curved down. “let me see it.” your fingers caress the area when the wound would have manifested. it really did heal.

“i... see…” luocha read about this. the part where the main lead tends to the other’s injuries. was it hurt and comfort? in this scenario, they get closer as their true feelings spill out after almost losing each other. then… they k-k-k-k-k-k-k-ki-kik-kis-kis-kit-kith-

“luocha, why did you turn into an elephant?”

⋆⁺₊⋆♱♡♱⋆⁺₊⋆(¬ ´ཀ` )¬⋆⁺₊⋆♱♡♱⋆⁺₊⋆(¬ ´ཀ` )¬⋆⁺₊⋆♱♡♱⋆⁺₊⋆(┛〃°Д°)┛⋆⁺₊⋆⁺₊⋆⁺₊

you sigh the weight off your chest after recounting your strange encounters. “so that’s that.”

huo huo’s eyes are distraught. 

“ha! hah! hahahaahaha!” the tail, conveniently named ‘tail’, roars, “how miserable! so, you want us to perform an exorcism? name your price peasant, no lower than a million credits!”

“tail…” huo huo swats at the heliobus. she looks back at you. “if it’s an exorcism… i can place a talisman in your home to w-ward off the yin energy temporarily. i suspect that your overflowing yang energy is… attracting strong spirits.”

“well… that means they won’t come back?”

huo huo tilts her head, pondering the stars. “i guess so,” she notices your scrunched eyebrows. “... are you sure about this? oh! not that i-i’m saying you shouldn't but… you looked happy when you were talking…”

“huh? really?”

“preposterous!” the tail fumes, “you mean that they looked depressed! depressed! why in lan’s name are you turning away good money?!”

you contemplate for a moment. without those four, your days would be quiet, peaceful. isn’t that what you wanted? isn’t that why you came here in the first place?

maybe, you enjoyed your little haunted house more than you thought. 

you sigh, chuckling. your eyes brighten. “thanks, huo huo.”

she nods, smiling at your refreshed confidence. 

the night feels different now. lantern lights dress the streets in a bright fever, like the kindling of fire. was it always this warm under the cold night sky?

you open the door once more. the scene is all too familiar.

“hey dan heng, what book is that- “

“blade, why are you biting the table leg?!” 

“jing yuan, wake up, it’s past evening already!” 

“and luocha… just keep being you, i guess.”

⋆⁺₊⋆♱♡♱⋆⁺₊⋆(¬ ´ཀ` )¬⋆⁺₊⋆♱♡♱⋆⁺₊⋆(¬ ´ཀ` )¬⋆⁺₊⋆♱♡♱⋆⁺₊⋆(┛〃°Д°)┛⋆⁺₊⋆⁺₊⋆⁺₊

“hey, did you hear the rumour down by aurum alley?”

“huh? i don’t think so?”

“apparently, people have heard strange sounds coming from a house: bloody screaming, cracking bones, and worse of all, meowing cats!”

“oh? that’s creepy…”

“yeah, they call it 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐱𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐳𝐡𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐮𝐨𝐟𝐮!”

⋆⁺₊⋆♱♡♱⋆⁺₊⋆(¬ ´ཀ` )¬⋆⁺₊⋆♱♡♱⋆⁺₊⋆(¬ ´ཀ` )¬⋆⁺₊⋆♱♡♱⋆⁺₊⋆(┛〃°Д°)┛⋆⁺₊⋆⁺₊⋆⁺₊

a/n: i was supposed to get this out by halloween buuuuut i got lazy can't believe i wrote something more unserious for once in my life but it was pretty good fun! hopefully the change in writing style is not too jarring(?) lemme know who you liked most out of the gang! (´ ω `♡) my fav to write was luocha (and tail)! thanks for reading!🎃

[slightly-knot-insane]

The Bringer of Rain

Monstertober 2024 - day 2 [ Local folklore ] by @ozzgin

[ m!zmaj* x fem!reader ]

*The closest translation for 'zmaj' would be 'dragon', and they are generally similar in many ways. However, Slavic zmaj has no connections to fire or gold like Western ones. Zmaj is connected to storms and rain, and they are quite fond of people. More info about them after the story.

You've been with him for days. Or was it weeks? You aren't really sure anymore. Days have melted into short moments of sleep, drowsy periods of wakefulness, and intense hours of sex and orgasms.

You are tired. Your body aches for rest and relaxation, but you can't get enough of him. You expect him every moment to come to your room, sneaking in through windows, underneath door gaps, through cracks in walls. He always takes human shape, and appears in front of you naked and hard.

"I had to see you," he says this every time he lays his radiating eyes on you. His arms are already all over you. He seems so desperate, so parched, as if he hasn't seen your for months. "I must have you again."

And he does - oh-so-hard. His stamina is incredible. He can pound your every hole for hours, holding his hand over your mouth to keep you quiet. He's not supposed to be spending this much time with you. He is supposed to gather clouds and bring fertalizing rain to the fields and farms. But all his been doing was fertilizing your eggs.

He lifts your leg on his shoulder and kisses your knee before starting to roll his hips. Zmaj's cock is large and thick, heavily ribbed. His breaths are shallow, even and collected, while you are panting, almost gasping for air, inches away from another climax.

"Shh, be quiet, my dove." His voice is calm, but there is a hint of panic.

Loud banging on the door interrupts you. "We know he's here, that zmaj-whore!" Your uncle's voice is on verge of screaming. "Untangle yourself from him so that we can talk some senses to him."

"Shit!" Zmaj grabs you and presses you against his chest, sheltering you from something. A strange feeling washes over you and you're plummeted into darkness.

When you open your eyes, you are outside, somewhere far away from your home, but you can't see a lot since it's dark and the sky is sprinkled with stars. And all around you lays a massive presence.

"My love," zmaj whispers, and embraces you with his claws. "I hope I didn't scare you."

"Not at all. I'm so happy to see your true form." An impressive adult zmaj is glowing with a dim silver light, encircling you like a tight ouroboros.

"It was the only way to escape a nasty fight. And I needed my wings."

You shake your head. "I know. You are magnificent."

He chuckles. "I'm happy you think so. But I should return you to—"

You abruptly stand up and hold his snout. "Return me? Before saying a proper goodbye? I could never forgive you."

Zmaj blinks in confusion. "Oh. I'm sorry. Of course I would never just—"

How is this magical creature so incredible, yet so dumb. "I want you to fuck me with a proper zmaj cock, you dumb-dumb."

"Oooooooh." His long exhale was like a warm breeze and your hair billows. With a wink of his snake-like eye, he rolls over on his side. A long and pulsating silver cock is already hard for you, too heavy to stand upwards. "Come here, my sweet sparrow."

Your zmaj boyfriend is more than patient. His cooing and kisses helped you relax, and his thick tongue stretched your pussy out, and kept you moist. His saliva was warm and slick. Slowly, easily, with your permission, he slides his dick in. It is so big that it immediately inflates your stomach, and a faint glow lights your skin. He puts his hand around your waist to support you, and he lets you take his length in your own pace. He only growls and praises your bravery for wanting to try out his true form.

All you can do is moan and pant, barely coherent, as his ribbed phallus rubs against your walls. Your cunt has never been this full and this moist. "Fuck... yes... please... more..."

"You like this? You like my true form?" He shifts behind you and there is a feral change in his voice. You just whine and confirm in some pathetic way, before he takes charge and pushes his cock as far as it can go and growls, no longer verbal.

The sensation of his monstrous cock thrusting in and out, his loud breathing and smell of his sweat drive you crazy. You orgasm several times and so intensely that you eventually lose awareness and simply drown in pleasure.

When you open your eyes next time, waking up from a refreshing dream, the sun is rising. You are on your home's roof. But it wasn't the pink sky or uncomfortable ground that woke you up, but heavy drops of rain. You smile and pat your stomach swollen and heavy from zmaj's seed.

Zmaj monsters could, of course, be male or female, and they enjoyed taking human lovers. Sometimes, they would have sex with a new lover so much and often they would forget to bring rain. The angry villagers, whose crops were dying from drought, would then look for a human that looked the most ill and thin (since that would indicate they were exhausted from so much good zmaj sex). Then, the villagers would bang with pots around the lover's house to scare the zmaj back to work. Unfortunately for the poor zmaj's lover, zmaj would leave and they would never find another partner as good as zmaj was. Sometimes zmaj monsters and people would have children and they were called zmajevit. They were super strong and considered heroes (from Serbian mythology).

[wriothesleysgf]

★ you're the one i want. — alhaitham.

you visit alhaitham in his office, just before he finishes his work for the day.

notes: fluff, love-struck alhaitham.

wc: 0.9k.

three gentle knocks on alhaitham's door snapped him out of his paperwork-ridden daze. he was utterly exhausted, and you could hear just as much in his voice as he mumbled a gruff 'come in'.

his stoicism soon fled when he lay gaze on you, bright eyed and harbouring the same loving demeanour that he'd fallen for. typically others struggled to fathom a reason for why you were with him, primarily due to your contrasting dispositions, yet neither of you payed such thinking too much attention. moments like this, where you bounded into his office with a beaming smile and some fresh fruits that you'd bought in the bazaar.

"hi, my darling," alhaitham's tone was always softer with you, "it looks like somebody's been busy," he chuckled, putting his pen back into its inkwell. he pushed his chair out more, motioning for you to come and rest on his lap.

you did exactly that, putting your bag onto his desk. "a little, i finished up early so i decided to stop by. plus, i thought that you might appreciate a snack," you pecked his cheek, a blush spreading across his face. instinctively, alhaitham looked away to avoid the embarrassment — you found it utterly adorable.

"thank you, my love," his stature meant he was taller than you, even when you were sat on his thighs. it allowed for him to return your gesture, shifting himself to kiss your forehead. "i'm almost done; though you're always welcome to keep me company, i understand if it would bore you. perhaps you can head home and we can go out for a meal tonight? i fear that kaveh's attempt to make even something as simple as butter chicken may have contaminated the kitchen for the week,"

you giggled, the banter between the two roommates never failed to amuse you. "i'll stay, if that's okay," you turned to face him, soft smile beaming up at him.

"always, my love,"

getting up from alhaitham's lap, you made your way towards the extensive library in his office — surely you could find something to keep you occupied. most of the spines indicated that they were anthologies of research papers, encyclopaedias on anything and everything you could imagine one would need, and... ah! you found at least one work of fiction. it was a collection of folklore from across teyvat, ranging from tales of inazuma's yo-kai to rumours from decarabian's city. it even included local lore, including passed-down stories from desert tribes.

you sat on the opposite side of alhaitham's desk, in one of the chairs that he kept should a scholar or somebody of importance need to meet with him. the two of you were content in the comfortable silence, both getting on with your respective activities, before you began to grow a tad bored. you peeked over the top of your book, trying to eye up something else to do. when your eyes landed on some paper scraps on the desk, you were instantly reminded of a silly little thing that you used to do as a child. surely you still remembered...

without any more thought, you snapped your book closed and reached for the paper. alhaitham's curiosity meant he tried to figure out what you were up to, though when he saw your face contort in concentration, he just resumed with the final project draft that he had to review so as not to disturb you.

you folded the small pieces of paper precisely, beginning to feel that sense of childish innocence stir within you. when you were finished with the first piece, you hid it from alhaitham's sight and made another in the same manner.

"sweetheart, i'm done," he announced as you were making your final few folds. "what are you doing there?"

instead of vocalising your reply, you simply took his hand into your own, and slid a paper ring onto his finger. the man drew his hand back to admire your handiwork, giving you ample chance to slip the matching ring onto your finger.

"how lovely," he spoke, though the regular sarcasm that accompanied such phrase was absent and replaced with a more caring tone. "thank you, my love. i always assume i'd be the first to present you with a ring,"

though alhaitham was joking, you couldn't help your heart from leaping at the mere thought of spending forever with him.

he had picked up your bag and his other hand reached out to help you from your chair. usually he'd be extremely stern regarding the cleanliness of his desk at the end of the day, but honestly he found himself desperate to head out of here with you.

as you walked through the rest of the akademiya hand in hand, alhaitham's mind couldn't help but drift to the paper ring he still proudly wore on his finger. it didn't matter what others thought of such a menial thing, what truly mattered is that he felt as though it truly consolidated his love for you. after all, the ring box hidden in the very back of his bedside drawer was eating away at him, waiting to be used.

[serpentface]

An interaction between Kulyos, the legendary founding hero of the collective Hill Tribes, and the wildfolk witch Bernike, as depicted in folklore.

The collective Hill Tribes all descended from a single population (informally called Kulyites) who migrated south across the Viper seaway from what is now Finnerich, prior to their written history. Here, they found themselves in a new landscape and in both conflict and cooperation with its preexisting inhabitants (a broad collection of tribes, many of which would eventually coalesce into the Wardi and Wogan peoples).

The detail of why this ancestral group fled their homeland depends on the specific tradition. In some cases, it’s a cultural non-issue- they’re here now, have been for hundreds of years, and will be here for hundreds more. In other cases, they describe a local war, a famine, barbarian invaders from the northwest (likely Dain-speakers, possibly a distant leg of the first Burri empire, maybe both), or a combination of all three. All sources agree that cattle and horses were brought on ships with the migrants, though they differ on whether they already had a khait riding tradition or if this (or khait themselves) were adopted from the native population.

The Kulyites were small in number and had neither the power to gain territory by force or negotiation, thus having to settle in some of the few uninhabited territories, the rocky highlands of the northwest. These were difficult lands, far from ideal for farming and grazing, and much of the founding mythology surrounds the first Kulyites learning the ways of this new land and how to thrive where no one had before.

It is said that this original group was led by a young chieftain named Kulyos (this name comes directly from the word 'kulys', the thick mountain plant with yellow flowers seen here, which is important in the regional diet for its fruits and use in tea, and as a symbol of hardiness). He is credited with leading his people to their current lands, establishing many of their core traditions and ways of life, and settling conflicts with the local mountain spirits, thus allowing for his descendants to live there to this day.

Kulyos is very likely to be a based on a real person (possibly the actual chieftain of the original Kulyites, but more likely one of their sons or grandsons), but the details of his life are lost, his history interwoven with myth and allegory. He is usually characterized as well humored and supremely wily, a good leader and beloved by his people, overcoming most challenges with cunning and cooperation rather than brute force. He is wise in the ways of the mountain gods and spirits, and often escapes trouble by means of proper respect to the gods and calculated (if risky) dealings with spirits. He is a mostly venerable figure, but often cast as comically flawed (notably, being lecherous and prone to lying).

One of the most popular and widespread legends is his theft of the wildfolk witch Bernike’s deer and magic cloak.

---

Bernike was the greatest sorcerer of all the Wildfolk, unmatched in power and likened to a god. Her secret was her feather cloak, obtained in a pact with the storm goddess Ariakh and made from the goddess' very own black feathers. Ariakh agreed to provide Bernike with great power in return for routine sacrifice of fine livestock which her sons, the winds, would tend among the clouds. (This likely references practices of some of the proto-Wardi, who may have venerated a form of Ariakh in similar ways). The other condition was that all of Bernike’s magic arts would be contained within the feather cloak, making her powerless without this artifact (this would prevent her from challenging the goddess herself- being made from her body, it could not be used against her).

Bernike ruled over the highest mountain, which had a small pass critical to travel in the area, and took glee in torment of the new human additions to the region. The best grazing in the highlands was upon Bernike's foothills, and this was where the Kulyites settled. In their herding and trading, they would often have to traverse her mountain pass, and she would stop them and demand tribute (usually in form of cattle).

The reason for Bernike's demands was her herd of a hundred scimitar deer, her greatest prizes. These deer were magical in nature- strong enough to be used as mounts and plow animals, faster and more surefooted than any other hooved animal, and their milk could cure disease and impart longevity in those who partook (Bernike herself was over 5,000 years old and as spry as ever). Now that new people with cattle, khait, and horses had entered her lands, Bernike had a new source of livestock for the goddess and no longer would have to offer up her own precious herd.

She would be greedy and merciless with the settlers, demanding exorbitant offerings and inflicting them with terrible curses when they refused. The people all learned to live in fear of her, but had no other option but to submit to her demands in order to pass through her mountain.

After a few years of this, Kulyos had grown quite tired of her demands on his people, and aimed to level the playing field. He had his wife, Brunil (herself a major character in this mythos), disguise herself and take a herd of cattle and ox-drawn cart through the pass. Bernike, of course, appeared and demanded tribute- the woman would only be allowed to pass if she gave the witch her choice of two of her finest cattle, and otherwise would be turned into a biting fly. Perhaps a sparrow, if she was lucky.

Brunil sorrowfully conceded, and begged that Bernike at least be quick about making her choice. Brunil said she was on her way to her sister's wedding, down in the village to the south of the pass. The cattle were to be a gift, and she also had a cask of the finest mead with her that needed to be delivered on time for the ceremonies.

Just as planned, Bernike immediately lost interest in the cattle and instead demanded the mead. Brunil put on a great show of hesitation and sorrow, but eventually relented and allowed the sorceress to take the entire cask. Brunil was allowed to travel onward (‘my sister will be so disappointed’), while Bernike eagerly set about drinking.

Kulyos had followed his wife from a distance and now watched and waited in a copse of trees. The witch drank enough mead to kill a man before she even began to get tipsy, and drank enough to kill two more before she fell into a deep, drunken slumber.

Kulyos then crept up upon her and took the cloak from her unconscious body, donning it over his shoulders. He then approached her deer, which did not flee, recognizing the scent of their master. He mounted on back of one of the bucks, and used it to drive the rest of the herd back down the mountains.

The next morning, Bernike awoke on the hillside, finding herself without her cloak, robbed of her deer, and with a nasty hangover.

She was outraged. This was not the first time she had dealt with Kulyos, and she recognized his scent in the air. She knew exactly who had robbed her. If she were in full power, she could have hunted Kulyos down and turned him into a flea, or made him impotent, or given him dysentery with a mere wave of the hand. Without her cloak, she was powerless, having no magic at all and no more physical capability than any other small (unusually spry, 5000 year old) woman.

She finally relented and contacted Ariakh herself, expecting the goddess to be furious at the theft. Ariakh was indeed furious, but not so much at Kulyos. The man had shown nothing but the proper respect to her, and she was unwilling to punish him for his deed. It was Bernike's failure, and would be up to Bernike herself to put things right. Still, as a favor to her most devoted follower, Ariakh agreed to give Bernike one of her magical arts back to help her along- the power of shapeshifting.

Back in the village, the deer were already showing their worth. Just two bucks had been put to the plow, and they had turned a field in three hours that would have taken an oxen three days. The animals were docile towards their new owner, even letting themselves be milked, and this was the most delicious milk any had ever tasted and could be fermented into the finest of murre.

Kulyos was quite pleased with his theft, but knew this would not be the end of things, and he kept the cloak on his person day and night. He took great care of it, and left out offerings of murre to Ariakh each night that he had it in his possession, to show his continued and utmost respect for the goddess he may have insulted as a byproduct of his theft. He went about his life, always watching and waiting for Bernike's inevitable return.

And so she came, though she was crafty and subtle, and did not make herself obvious. She first took the form of a bat and attempted to fly in through his window and take the cloak as he slept, only to find herself entangled. Those familiar with the legends would know that Kulyos had already bargained with the queen of the spiders to send some of her children into his village, who had cast their webs over the windows and happily ate all the bothersome flies and mosquitoes that had previously plagued his people. Humiliated and harassed by hungry spiders, Bernike fled.

The next day, she took the form of a viper, perfectly camouflaged and waiting in the grass to bite him as he tended to his herds. Kulyos indeed approached, but it was his little son who came near to Bernike. No matter, she thought. She would bite his son and seize the cloak when Kulyos tended to his child's wounds. Ariakh herself was offended at the aggression towards the child, innocent of Kulyos' crime and for whom he had prayed protection, and she sent a crested eagle (a snake eater) to swoop straight overhead.

Kulyos wisely realized a serpent must be in the area, and told his son to stay still. He used his spear to part the grasses in search of it, and at the sight of snake-Bernike, pulled back to stab her. In her panic, Bernike changed shape into a gazelle and fled, thus revealing herself and losing the element of surprise. Now, Kulyos knew for sure that she was after him, and knew she would come in the form of an animal.

Bernike was not stupid, she knew she had lost her advantage. So she waited a month for him to let his guard down, and took the form of a huge, beautiful aurochs bull, trotting and bellowing among Kulyos’ cows as if looking to mate. Surely he would be tempted by such a handsome and valuable animal, and she could take the cloak from him when he got close. And it seemed to have worked, for he excitedly approached with a lasso and slung it around her neck, speaking softly and soothingly as one would to such a wild prize. But instead of trying to lead her off, he tied the other end of the rope around a tree and walked away.

Bernike waited patiently for his return, no doubt in her mind that he was simply getting assistance in leading such a powerful animal away. Instead, Kulyos came back alone, leading his own prized bull (the giant white beast, Pyliod) along with him. As soon as Pyliod caught sight of what he perceived to be a rival bull, he became enraged, and charged at Bernike. She was chased around the tree ten times before she turned into a lion to face him down. The great bull was only more enraged at the sight of a predator, and chased her ten times more (and giving her a nasty jab in the hind, she is said to still bear the scars) before she gave up, turning into a sparrow to slip the rope and flying away. (The trunk of this tree still stands today, with the frayed remnants of an ancient rope around its base).

Now, Bernike waited another month, and took the form of a beautiful young woman, barely-dressed in riverfolk garb and tempting him from the edge of a creek. This attempt would have worked, but Brunil herself, quite annoyed, interceded by chasing the girl away with her staff and giving her husband a stern reprimanding. (“I knew it was her,” Kulyos insisted. "I had a plan.")

Finally, Bernike threw subtlety to the wind and took the form of a huge king hyena, the most powerful beast in the land, and came rampaging into the village. All the people feared this great animal, and even the most powerful warriors would hesitate to approach such a beast head-on. But Kulyos had known the witch would lose her temper at some point or another from the very beginning, and had tasked all the mothers and young children in the village with weaving a great net, so wide as to hold the largest beast, and so finely woven that not even a flea could escape.

Seeing the beast approach, he called to his his three daughters to fetch the net. He stood at the center of the village as bait, running and dodging from the beast while his daughters prepared the trap between two huts. His eldest, Aylian, whistled her signal, and Kulyos ran straight for the net, diving through the small space beneath. The witch in catform was far too big for such a maneuver and barreled right into the net, and Kulyos and his daughters wrapped it around her, trapping her in its clutches.

She fought the net with everything she had, turning into everything she knew how- a great bull, a lion, a tremendous riverdrake, a giant leviathan, a tiny songbird, a mosquito, and so on, but there was nothing she could do to break through. Finally, she turned back into her original shape, a tiny, bearded old woman, and demanded Kulyos approach.

He offered her a deal. If she would swear an oath in front of Ariakh herself of nonretribution and to end her demands of tribute from his people, he would return the cloak and all but two of her precious deer (a doe and stag), and his people would leave offerings of mead and murre at her pass every year on this day to grant them safe passage. Utterly defeated (and finding this offer quite appealing, in spite of her wounded pride), Bernike agreed, and called the great goddess forth.

Ariakh descended in the form of a dragon (a legendary beast with the head of a horned serpent and body of a bird), alighting on the roof of a hut. She plucked a single, massive feather from her breast and threw it to the ground, and Kulyos and Bernike both laid hands on it and swore their oaths. A vow before a goddess would have unspeakable consequences if broken, even for such a mighty sorcerer as Bernike.

Bernike donned her cloak and took her favorite form, that of a gigantic gray eagle. She took to the sky with a fearsome screech, circling the village three times, and then led all but two of her deer, a stag and a doe, back into the mountains.

And with this, the conflict was ended.

---

These deer are said to have become a great boon to the Kulyites. The herds they produced were eventually lost to the people and none of the Hill Tribes have herded deer ever since (that's another story), but their impact lives on. Being magical animals, they could breed not only with each other, but with khait, and produced the small, hardy khait stock still used as mounts and plow animals by the people to this day.

Bernike had only sworn nonretribution and an end to the tributes from Kulyos' people, but she did not swear to never harm them again, and as such all people who claim descent from the Kulyites avoid her mountaintop to this very day (with many more legends describing the consequence to those that do not), and are always sure to bring their yearly offerings of mead and murre to ensure continued safe usage of her pass.

Bernike also only swore to end tribute from his people, and other legends involve her stopping entire invading armies from navigating her pass with (often mischievous and utterly impossible) demands of tribute, and great consequences when these demands are not met.

Bernike is an ambiguous figure in the cultural schema, being feared and respected, an annoyance in her neutrality in (or active inflaming of) conflicts between the Hill Tribes, but credited as a protector of the collective peoples of the highlands. She is often cited as one of the reasons that neither the Burri empires nor the contemporary Wardi empire have ever seized the inner highlands, and no invader ever will.

[coinandcandle]

Coin's Resources for Research

Here's a list of my personal favorite resources for researching witchcraft, magic, and the occult!

Websites

Sacred Texts - This site is a collection of electronic texts about religion, mythology, legends and folklore, and occult and esoteric topics. Almost all of it is in the English language (translated) and when possible they give the original language (which is quite often)!

Jstor - Home to thousands of scholarly content. While there are limitations to the open and free content on the site, they still have quite a lot to offer! If you can afford the paid version I highly suggest you do so.

Wikipedia - I don't care what your high school lit teacher told you, Wikipedia is a great resource and a wonderful way to find where to start when you're learning a new topic. 

Encyclopedia Britannica - A fact-checked online encyclopedia with hundreds of thousands of objective articles, biographies, videos, and more.

Hoopla - A digital library where you can borrow books, audio books, and more! It's connected to your local library so make sure you get a library card!

Libby - Same situation as Hoopla.

Worldcat - A website that helps you track down reliable sources that you can only find in libraries.

PDFDrive - A website with thousands of free pdfs. It doesn't always have what I'm looking for but it's always worth a shot to check!

Youtube

Esoterica - Run by Dr. Justin Sledge, Esoterica is a channel that discusses the arcane in history, philosophy, and religion.

Angela's Symposium - Dr. Angela Puca's channel where she covers peer-reviewed research and scholarship on magic, witches, esoteric traditions, the occult, Paganism, shamanism and related currents.

ReligionForBreakfast - Dr. Andrew M. Henry's channel that discusses--you guessed it--religion! His goal is to improve the public's religious literacy by exploring humanity's beliefs and rituals through an anthropological, sociological, and archaeological lens. 

Misc

Ronald Hutton - Hutton is an invaluable resource and a fantastic historian. He writes the facts without being pretentious and is often quite funny too! 

Wiki's List of Occult Writers

Wiki's List of Occult Terms

[redd956]

30 Random Things to Worldbuild For Fun/When Bored

Pet Breeds

Unorthodox Jobs

Tree Species

Flower Species

Local Festivals & Fairs

Military Ranks

Weapon Laws

Pets

Insects

Local Pests

Beauty Standards

Alcohols & Recreationals

Edible Freshwater Fish Species

Local Cuisine

Children's Pastimes

Romance Rituals

Musical Instruments

Desserts

Folklore

Religious Rituals

Diseases

Genetic Anomalies

Local Prey Species

Sports

Card/Board Games

Language Dialects

Collectables

Common Brands/Companies

Stupid Laws

Uniforms Found Around Town (Jobs, Schools, Religion, Guilds, etc.)

[broomsick]

Nine unique ways to reconnect with nature

Why nine? Because it's the sacred number of my path. In my experience, for people like us who need a certain amount of spiritual practice in their lives, feeling close to nature does wonders for the mood. And I know this is easier said than done, which is why I wanted to share a few personal tips, all related to some extent to self care. After all, I feel like we underestimate the tight link between mental health and this feeling of “closeness” with the earth.

Find the sacred in plants, or animals you've always been drawn to. How can you explain this particular connection you feel? Your intuition often reveals truth.

Collect what you see, and don't be afraid to hoard trinkets like treasure. Cool rock, cool stick, cute acorn, fragrant flower, fallen branch... Whatever tickles your fancy.

Go out of your way to enjoy what every season has to offer. Garden in the summer, or chill at the park, carve a pumpkin during the autumn, make hot cocoa during the winter... Find ways to be cozy in every weather!

Look out the window. Do it as often as you can. Look at the sky, observe how windy it is, how bright the sun is, how thick the clouds are!

Give names to the natural elements around you. Simply calling a tree, plant or animal by the name of its species does the trick: names are powerful, and they show that you acknowledge the spirit that resides in everything that lives.

Learn the stories, as many as you can. Anything folklore related to your area! Folklore hides a great deal of generational wisdom and beliefs, and it reveals such a powerful connection between the people and the land.

Cook with fresh ingredients. No need to grow your own everything, or raise your own chickens, or adopt other such backyard farming activities. Simply by making meals out of fresh, local products as often as you can, you might feel as one with the land thanks to which you are fed.

Stop feeling silly when indulging in aesthetics. Make that Pinterest board filled with pictures of flowers! Listen to that song that makes you feel like a woodland fairy! Put on that long, flowy skirt, or that cardigan with knit mushrooms on it! Through these seemingly trivial little joys, we may experience a connection with ourselves that's crucial to feeling close to our mother earth.

Use your hands: craft artsy projects if you can, dig your fingers in the earth, and brush the bark of trees! You body is your best tool when it comes to feeling grounded. It's always the part of yourself that's closest to earth. To use it is to honor it, and to care for it is to care for yourself.

If you reside in the Northern hemisphere, have a great spring season! Hail the King of the Elves and the spirits of the land 💛

[scotianostra]

December 12th 1902 saw the birth of Nan Mackinnon or, to give her her Gaelic patronymic, Nan Eachainn Fhionnlaigh, at Kentangaval, Isle Of Barra.

Nan was a tradition-bearer, whose remarkable memory, enthusiasm, and love of the Gaelic oral tradition has ensured that her wealth of knowledge has been preserved and shared with future generations. She became known as Nan of Vatersay, or Nan of the songs.

Nan was the youngest of seven children. Her father, Hector (Eachann Fhionnlaigh), was also born and raised in Kentangaval, and was descended from the MacKinnons of Strath, Skye – the historic grazing constables to the MacNeils of Barra until the 19th century. Nan's mother Mary was from Mingulay, and had strong connections with the MacPhee family, who – according to local tradition – came to settle in Barra in the 14th century. Nan grew up in what was a politically tumultuous time in the Highlands, and this influenced her early life greatly. Despite having won security of tenure twenty years before Nan was born, there remained a strong sense of injustice at the uneven distribution of land in the Highlands. Having spent her early years in Barra, in 1907 Nan's father was part of the 'Vatersay Raiders' – landless cottars from Barra and Mingulay who carried out a land raid on Vatersay, establishing crofts on the neglected land. Despite the eventual failure of the Land Raid, Nan's family were eventually given a croft in Baile, Vatersay following the purchase of land on the island by the Congested Districts Board.

Nan's repertoire was among some of the most extensive and varied of her generation, and this is reflected in the recordings of her featured on the Tobar an Dualchais website. She came from a rich musical tradition, and was said to know around 400 songs by heart, most of which she learned from her mother. After receiving her schooling on the island, Nan left home when she was seventeen and – as was common for women of her age at the time – spent a number of years in service for a variety of people in Argyll. She also worked at the herring for a time, in both Shetland and Yarmouth before going to Glasgow. One of her sisters died suddenly in 1940, leaving four young children and a husband who was away at sea for long periods. Nan returned home to Vatersay to raise the children and remained there for the rest of her life.

Nan McKinnon had a great fondness for the stories and songs she knew, and she was convinced of the importance of the oral tradition to Gaelic communities. Growing up she would spend hours practising them until she knew them in their entirety. As Nan herself commented: "[Each story] tells the ways of the people that lived in those days. The waulking songs kept news alive from generation to generation. There were no newspapers, whereas today we read it in the papers and forget about it tomorrow. But the songs kept it alive. Those happenings that happened centuries ago are still to be told in song and story. It's wonderful." Over and above her repertoire of songs, Nan was also well known for her tales and legends – often of a supernatural nature – and her captivating story style. She also had a deep knowledge of the traditions of Uist and Barra, and was recording speaking about a variety of subjects from cures to feast days, to interpretations of omens and dreams. Her knowledge of the material culture of her native island was also extensive, and her recordings include discussions about traditional diet, including about what would be eaten when food was scarce.

There are almost 1,000 recordings of Nan on the Tobar an Dualchais website, the earliest dating back to 1953 when she was recorded by Donald MacPherson for the Canna Collection, several other visited her and recorded her over the years, she must have been quite the wee celebrity on Vatersay

James Ross summed up her significance as a tradition-bearer by saying: "Nan is the type of person that the folklore and folk-song collectors dream about. There is absolutely no trace of 'memory effect' as she responds to queries … Her answers are always a direct affirmative or negative, usually … the former. She never has to search her mind, and this, together with her unstinting co-operation, endless patience and subtle sense of humour, made the work of collecting a joy."

At the link below you can listen to Nan singing Griogal Cridhe, (literally "Gregor of the Heart", or "Beloved Gregor". It is a traditional Scottish lament and lullaby that was composed in Gaelic by Mór Chaimbeul ("Marion Campbell"), the widow of Griogair Ruadh Mac Griogair ("Gregor the Red MacGregor") (1541–1570), the chief of the Clan MacGregor of Glen Strae, who was executed at Taymouth Castle, Perthshire, on April 7th, 1570. There are many versions of the lyrics

Griogal Cridhe

Chorus;

Òbhan, òbhan, òbhan i ri

Òbhan i ri ò

Òbhan, òbhan, òbhan i ri

'S mòr, mo mhulad, 's mòr.

'S iomadh oidhche fhliuch is thioram,

Sìde nan seachd sian,

Gheibheadh Griogal dhomhsa creagan

Ris an gabhainn dìon.

Eudail mhòir, a shluagh an Domhain,

Dhòirt iad t'fhuil o'n dè,

'S chuir iad do cheann air stob daraich

Tacan beag bho d'chrè.

B' annsa bhi le Griogal cridhe

Teàrnadh chruidh le gleann,

Na le Baran mòr na Dalach,

Sìoda geal mu m' cheann.

Chan eil ùbhlan idir agam,

'S ùbhlan uil' aig càch,

'S ann tha m'ùbhlan-s' cùbhr' ri caineal

'S cùl a chinn ri làr.

'Nuair a bhios mnàthan òg a'bhaile,

'Nochd nan cadal sèimh,

'S ann bhios mis' air bruaich do lice,

'Bualadh mo dhà làimh.

Many a night, wet or dry

weather of the seven elements

Gregor would get me a rocky shelter

Against the storm

Greatest treasure in all the world

They spilt your blood yesterday

And they put your head on a post of oak

A little way from your body

Would that I were with beloved Gregor

Herding cattle in the glen

Than with the great Baron of the Dale

White silk around my head

I have no apples at all

Others have all the apples

My apple with the fragrance of cinnamon

The back of his head to the ground

When the young women of the village will be

Tonight sleeping soundly

I will be at your graveside

Beating my two hands

With the above being a lament I thought I would post another song from Nan, Haoi Ho Nach Dannsadh Sibh E is a much more upbeat song, according to the notes Nan’s mother heard this song from Lewis women at the fishing. Another source tells me that this is the only variant of that song, so without t the work of the likes of Donald MacPherson, and indeed Margaret Fay Shaw, some of these songs would have been lost to the world, they are an integral, very important part of our Gaelic roots. This song is a light vocal dance tune with a love theme. The song is of the type common among the women who worked as herring gutters.

https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/108438?l=en

[path-of-grass-and-leaves]

Working with Collective Spirits: Plants and Animals

UPG Warning: Content is based on personal experience.

Individual vs Collective

The difference between an individual spirit and a spirit collective is pretty simple. Working with an individual involves connecting with a being who has their own personality traits and motives. Some are well-known (like the Witch Father), some are spirits of the dead or specific ancestors, some are tied to certain individuals, families, and locations, and some are Nameless or long-forgotten.

A spirit collective is sort of like a current that runs through all living beings and objects. It can be as broad or as narrow as you wish. For example, you can work with the spirit of all trees or you can work with the spirit of Maples.

This is easy to conceptualize if you're an animist who believes that all life is connected and there is spirit in all things. Imagine the life force that runs through us all is a great river, and specific spiritual collectives are the tributaries.

To put it simply, if you are leaving offerings to the spirit of a dead rabbit that you found on the side of the road, you are engaging with an individual. If you are leaving an offering for all rabbits in your immediate area you are working with a collective.

Overlap

Sometimes a spirit can exist both as a collective and an individual. For example, the spirit of your house or local river may be made up of several different spirits and go by many names.

Additionally, if I'm working with the spirit of Apple Trees, one could assume that I'm working with millions of apple tree spirits formed into a single collective.

Connecting with Collective Spirits

If you're like me, you need to have an emotional and physical connection to certain spirits before you begin involving them in workings. This usually means that I'm working with plants and animals that exist in my own local biosphere.

Here are some ways to start getting to know plant and animal spirit collectives:

Meet them in their own environment: For example, if you want to work with the spirit of Oak Trees, start by spending time where they are known to grow. You can take a walk through a local forest or visit individual trees in a park or your own backyard.

Learn about them: Find reading material about the species you're interested in. Learn about their native habitat, behavior, diet, growth rate, myth and folklore, the time of year that they're present, etc. I find that engaging with a plant or animal on a scientific and material level helps you get to know them more personally and will therefore strengthen any spiritual relationships you wish to pursue.

Care for them: If you're looking to work with the spirit of Lilac, plant and care for a lilac shrub. If you want to work with the spirit of Hummingbirds, install a feeder. If you're interested in the spirit of cats or dogs, start fostering or volunteering for a rescue.

Observe them: If the collective that you want to work with is that of an animal, take some time to watch them from a safe distance in their natural environment. If you're working with a plant, feel free to get up close and personal as long as it's safe and you are not disturbing a protected species.

Veneration

I want to start by saying that veneration is not something that is required when working with spirits and in some cases can actually be a bit of a hindrance. However, it is beneficial if your goal is to emotionally connect with spirits, gain favor with them, and establish highly personal ongoing relationships. My workings boast a higher success rate and rich personal meaning when I am working with a spirit who I have developed a connection with through consistent offerings and acts of kindness.

Physical offerings

The most common form of veneration is a physical offering. They can be left at an altar or outdoors in the natural habitat of the collective spirit that you plan on working with.

Outdoor offerings should be left with great care for the local ecosystem. For plants I usually leave compost or fresh water. I will also drop specific food items in my compost bin as an offering to whatever plant spirit I'm working with that day.

For animals, things can be a bit more complicated. When offering food, it's crucial to be 100% certain that it is safe for wildlife to consume and that you aren't leaving so much so often that animals start to rely on you for food. I usually stick to birdseed, acorns, peanuts, fresh fruit and greens, unsalted sunflower seeds, and cat food for the strays. Keep in mind that food is left only in my own backyard (never, like, the woods) and never in high abundance. When in doubt, a bowl of fresh water is a more than sufficient offering.

Indoor offerings allow much more room for variety. Food items that cannot be left outside (like meat, cheese, confections, and alcohol) can be safely offered this way. You also won't be limited to compostable items and will be free to leave assorted trinkets, jewelry, or whatever you find appropriate.

Acts of Kindness

Personally I feel that acts of kindness are the best way to venerate plant and animal collectives. Not only are you building real-life relationships and connections, but you are making an active difference in the lives of actual living beings and this will always be well-received from a magical perspective. In my practice, how I interact with the physical world is in direct relation to that of the spirit world, so this is an important step for me.

Some acts of service can overlap with physical offerings such as leaving bowls of water for the wildlife on a hot day, filling a bird feeder, or watering a plant, but there are countless other options to choose from, including activism, rewilding, rescue, volunteering, and habitat restoration.

For example, if I want to work with the spirit of Monarch Butterflies, I may start a monarch waystation full of milkweed and nectar-producing native plants. If I'm venerating the spirit of Black-Eyed Susan, I could scatter some seeds on the roadside. If I'm working with the spirit of domestic dogs I might feel compelled to volunteer at a local shelter. Perhaps the spirit collective that I want to work with is fresh-water dwelling and I opt to help clean a local river.

In addition to physical offerings and acts of service, some ideas include constructing miniature altars and spirit houses, creating devotional art, and wearing devotional jewelry.

Working with Collective Spirits

There are many benefits to working with spirit collectives. They can be involved in spellwork, called directly during divination, and petitioned to help advance certain skills. This is where knowledge gained through study and observation are put to use. Plant and animal collectives come with their own folklore and symbolism, natural skill-sets, and physical and behavioral qualities which are useful in magical workings. Once you have a handful of spirit types that you're familiar with you can start putting everything into practice.

One way to begin choosing which collectives you incorporate into which workings is through divination. Break out your cards or bag of charms, call upon the spirit of your choosing, and ask them what their skills are. If you have researched the plant or animal in the past or already have a rough list of correspondences, you can compare the answers to your existing notes.

Petitioning spirits in magical workings is a great introduction to spirit work and can be easily executed by beginners. For simple workings, it's enough to just call upon the spirit, leave an offering, and ask for assistance. Here are a few simple ideas for getting started:

Divination: Call upon a specific plant or animal collective that corresponds with your question or possesses skills related to the subject at hand. Ask for them for their wisdom and guidance.

Spellwork: Before casting, call upon the collective spirit of your choosing and ask for them to assist you.

Glamours and Ambient Spells: Ask for the collective spirit to lend you some of their qualities, features, or skills, or ask them to bless a physical space or personal astral location with characteristics of their native environment.

Celebrations and Rituals: Invite the collective spirit of certain animals or plants to your ritual. For example, the spirit of Rabbits could be invited to join a Spring Equinox celebration.

Blessing or Enchanting Objects: Ask for the corresponding spirit collective to charm, enchant, or bless an object.

These are just basic concepts. Feel free to get creative and fine-tune some of these ideas to your personal practice. Working with collective animal and plant spirits is extremely rewarding and I've found that my magical skills have grown exponentially since doing so. My awareness of and connection to the natural world has also improved and I find that I notice and am able to identify significantly more plants and wildlife than I used to.

[bekkathyst]

Märchenwald Handmade Jewelry Collection

I combined quality crystals, pure copper, and organic materials such as leaves and branches from my local forest to create this collection. I drew inspiration from the local folklore and fairy tales of the Salzkammergut region of Austria, which is also where I live and create my works.

I am so blown away by the support I've received for this collection. You can find all the available pieces here.

[catsvrsdogscatswin]

Since there’s a bit of a hiatus in Dracula Daily right now, I thought I’d take the opportunity to ramble about what I know of vampiric folklore and history in Europe because I cannot contain my infodump and it’s actually really interesting.

Painting it in very broad strokes, the earliest folkloric creature we would recognize as a vampire was acknowledged in Europe in the 1100s and earlier as a human corpse that physically rose from their grave and returned to their former home/village to drink blood. (A 12th-century English text, The Life and Miracles of St. Modwenna, mentions two examples of this type of vampire.) These vampires’ victims did not become vampires as well, but sickened and died, usually from wasting diseases. What caused the original person to become a vampire was variable, but usually involved being, just, an absolute jerk when they were alive, or an increasingly convoluted series of ways in which they attracted bad luck/evil while they lived, after they died, or as they were buried.

This is where the traditions of stuffing a stone in the potential vampire’s mouth, decapitating them and putting the head in the grave between their knees, burying them facedown, cutting off their hands or feet, burying them in a too-small grave, piling stones atop the grave, or burying them with broken legs came from. All of these are regional or historical variations on ways to quite literally prevent the presumed vampire from digging their way out of the grave and causing trouble: an “And stay down there!” maneuver that we’ll see survive into modern pop culture in the form of a stake through the heart.

This was the predominant form of vampirism up until roughly the 1700s: someone nasty in the village died, and after a while, would start reappearing to their family or loved ones at night, slowly draining their lives away as they fell to a wasting disease like tuberculosis or leprosy. Once the villagers caught on, they would exhume the body, find it suspiciously preserved and with blood trickling from its mouth, and then take steps to neutralize the vampiric threat by beheading, staking it through the heart to literally pin it in the grave, stuff a stone in its mouth, or a combination of all three. 

(You may have heard of the Venetian mass-burial plague pit an archeological team discovered: one of the skeletons had a brick shoved in her mouth. She was the only body treated in such a way, implying that she was thought to have been a vampire: hypothetically even the vampire that caused this local upswing of the plague.)

A cultural shift happened in the 18th century, however, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire gained territory in Serbia and other portions of the Balkans. Since they were neighbors with the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarians kept a heavy military presence in these new territories, and the emperor of the time (Charles VI, I believe) asked the occupying forces to collect reports on the local customs and folklore and send them back.

A number of the reports they sent back included vampire stories.

Now, this was the Age of Enlightenment: many countries were pulling away from old superstitions and following the new methods of science. Belief in vampirism was a rural thing, and widespread plague situations had faded enough that they really weren’t relevant anymore and had fallen out of a lot of people’s memory. 

But the thing was... science was still new, and this whole vampirism thing sounded just plausible enough to be extremely interesting. The Austro-Hungarians sent all sorts of scientists, doctors, and clergy members to collect and dissect and discuss these stories, and for a short spate of time vampirism was the hot new discussion topic in esoteric circles. And for then and a while after, if you wanted case studies, debates, and just about any reference material on vampires, you knew you’d find it in Austro-Hungary’s library.

Eventually the scientific community all concluded that this vampirism thing was just silly peasants not understanding the process of decay, but the arts crowd -particularly the Sturm und Drang folks in Germany- remained very interested in this exotic new creature steeped in mystery and death. Sturm und Drang translates to “storm and stress” and if I had to describe their style in modern terms, I would say (roughly, and with affection) “a love of edgy tragedies.”

There were a number of poems and works spawned from this flurry of interest, but this Austrian version of the vampire still shared a common theme: more like a revenant than anything else, coming for their loved ones first, and a lot of their horror was tied up in how blasphemous and unChristian their very existence was. Less emphasis was placed on getting rid of the vampire and more was placed on the artistic allure of vengeance from beyond the grave and the vampire’s inherent exotic mysticism and threat.

Stoker, in fact, directly references an example of this in Dracula! On May 5th, when Dracula’s telling the coach driver that he knew they were trying to get Jonathan out of there before he showed up, because he himself drove fast enough to intercept them, one of the other passengers whispers to his friend “Denn die Todten reiten schnell,” which translates roughly to “For the dead ride fast,” a quote from Burger’s Lenore.

Lenore is a poem about a young woman whose fiancé died in the Seven Years’ War (connection with Austro-Hungary). In her despair, she curses god (old-school invitation for vampirism), and the following night, her lover knocks on her door to take her on horseback to their marriage bed (vampires attack their loved ones first). He takes her on an increasingly terrifying ride through the night, prompting the above quote, which ends in a graveyard, where he is revealed to be a skeleton and Lenore dies.  

Lenore was written in 1774, and although William is not technically a vampire, the poem is an example of the old-school vampire type. The vampire is a physical reanimated corpse that does not create more of its kind, but causes the people around them to die/waste away, and attacks their loved ones before anyone else. The transition to what we finally would recognize as a modern vampire started with Carmilla and was solidified in Dracula.

Written in 1872, Carmilla is a blending of both old and modern vampiric tropes. It uses the then-expected setting of the Austrian Empire, all of the titular vampire’s victims wasted away and died rather than rising as vampires themselves, and Carmilla’s coffin was filled with blood when she was unearthed. However, she was also able to shapeshift into a cat and walk through walls -no longer just a revenant- and she could walk around during the day without harm. She also does not target the people she knew and loved in life first: Carmilla is a vampire centuries old and her current victims are chosen indiscriminately. The vampire as a folkloric creature was evolving.

And, side note, while it was used partially as a narrative device to show how evil and unnatural Carmilla was, she was also gay. Gay as fuck. People who lost their shit at 

“Then the Count turned, after looking at my face attentively, and said in a soft whisper: ‘Yes, I too can love’” 

will go absolutely mental at Laura going

“It was like the ardour of a lover; it embarrassed me; it was hateful and yet overpowering; and with gloating eyes she drew me to her, and her hot lips travelled along my cheek in kisses; and she would whisper, almost in sobs, ‘You are mine, you shall be mine, and you and I are one for ever.’"

Anyway. Queerness is baked into the concept of the modern vampire from the very beginning, what of it.

With Carmilla as the springboard, though, Stoker was free to finally create Dracula, which was essentially the turning point between modern and archaic vampire depictions. He took all of the old stuff and reworked, revamped (heh), or added to it to get the foundation of the stereotypical vampire we know today.

He shifted the geographic vampire hotspot further over from Austria-Hungary, landing it in neighboring Transylvania. Dracula’s victims weaken and die and seem to be inflicted with a strange wasting disease, but can also turn into vampires themselves. Driving a stake through his heart and cutting off his head is no longer an attempt to pin him in his grave and keep him from rising, but merely to destroy him. He was dead, yes, and very unholy, but he also had powers beyond merely being a risen corpse, and his power set became the standard for future vampire media.

Hence, Dracula becomes the foundation for the modern concept of a vampire, which is why pop culture usually treats it as the beginning point of vampirism in general.

[whencyclopedia]

Prehistoric Isles of Scilly

The Isles of Scilly are a small island group west of Cornwall. Despite their small size, they abound in prehistoric sites dating from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age, including cairns, burial chambers and passage graves. While prehistoric sites are found on all islands, this image gallery focuses on the two larger islands St. Mary's and St. Agnes.

While the islands are remote today, they were once directly connected by a land bridge with Cornwall, a land called "Lyonesse" in traditional legends and folklore. About 18,000 years ago, at the height of the last glacial period, the sea level was about 100 metres (328 feet) below its current level, which meant that not only were all of the Scillonian islands connected, but they represented a hilly patch towards the western end of Lyonesse.

It is in these directly connected lands that people lived and built the prehistoric monuments that we can visit today. There are likely many more found below sea level. As the ice melted, sea levels rose slowly but noticeably in a human lifetime. About 10,000 years ago, sea levels were still 30 metres (98 feet) below current levels, and around 6,000 years ago they were about 5 metres (16 feet) lower than today.

Local legends say that on what is now the Seven Stones Reef (about 1/3 of the way to Cornwall) stood a great city, the City of Lions, with a turreted castle and no less than 140 churches. As the sea swallowed the city, only one man and his horse survived, and the Vyvyan family of Cornwall claims to be descended from this man.

The Isles of Scilly are a fantastic destination for lovers of prehistory, with stunning nature and friendly people to welcome travellers.

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