#magnus thought it might happen though

[magicalnicole]

Magnus recapping game 1 of the world championship match. Ding vs Gukesh (1-0)

November 25, 2024

[icarusredwings]

Thinking about Autistic Asexual Charles and how many times Hank, his unofficial caregiver just stands here like "Jesus christ Charles you're going to 'play chess' with Erik AGAIN? This is like.. the 5th time this week." And Charles, with the most smug expression just says "What can I say, Hank? I like chess. And I always win."

Only to see the look of concern on Hanks face as he's like "Well.. alright.. it's your life I guess."

And while yes, he could very easily just read his mind, he's learning that, that's quite rude to do so without invitation.

The thing is, though, Charles is a massive flirt, and honestly, I think it should be taken with a grain of salt. My man is a master of persuasion and has actively learned how to tell people what they want to hear to get his way when growing up, so now, as an adult, it seems charming and flirtatious. And yes, some of it IS flirtatious, but it's not the "What a lovely dress that is." Rather him just looking at Erik and saying "Precisely." With a smug smirk and heart eyes.

Certian words are for certain people. Hank gets certainly and exactly. Erik gets precisely and "Why, of course, my old friend."

This being said I love the idea of Hank coming to tell him that a student tattled on oppisite gendered students together in their room at night and Charles is like "okkaayy...?? And?"

Hank just rolls his eyes and is like "Charles-" and Charles is like, "OH- oh right. Gosh, I keep forgetting.." then rolls his own eyes. "Teenagers.."

Also, I love thinking about how Erik is so confused and so flustard by how WEIRD Charles flirts. He can be over here complimenting a ladies hair and buying drinks for her only to turn to Erik the moment they ask if he has anyone at home with a smooth "Not yet."

And Erik stands there like "???!!?? Does he mean me or her?" Only for Charles to lowkey abandon the woman and come to Erik like "I wanna go home now. Its boring here."

"Won't you be more bored in your massive mansion?"

"Not with you Magnus. I can't afford to be bored of you."

*Magnus brain malfuction Error code g a y ??!!?*

Charles just smirks that small shit eating grin he does and goes "Come now, Someone's gotta keep an eye on you and unfortunately Satan himself favors me."

Like WHAT is this poetry?? SIR!!!?? Romantic mother fucker.

"And I want a grilled cheese."

Magneto??? More like malewife.

Funny enough, they get there, and nothing happens. Charles gets his grilled cheese. They theoretically argue over how the perfect grilled cheese would be made, and Charles goes to bed. Erik leaves, afraid of what Charles might see in his head if he stays.

He's so afraid of ruining their friendship with these "sinful" thoughts but Charles waves him goodbye through the window just before he drives away- And Erik cant sleep that night.

Dozens of spare rooms. And none are big enough to keep his feelings behind locked doors, so he drives home. Stares at his ceiling. Wishing he'd only gather the courage to ask to stay..

[aroaceleovaldez]

was thinking about next-gen kids and decided to doodle a couple. elaborated thoughts below:

Iphis is named with the same naming conventions that Sally used when naming Percy - primarily, mythological figure who had a good fate. Nice for Percy to honor his mom by naming his own kid the same way and Annabeth gets a fun nerdy mythology name. Also sending good vibes to their kid. Plus middle name directly in honor of Sally, of course.

Specific myth is Iphis and Ianthe, with the idea that a.) it's gender-neutral so works regardless of kid's gender and b.) not only does Iphis have a good fate, but arguably nothing bad happens to them ever and they get helped out by like three whole pantheons who show up in a literal parade and they live happily ever after. Percy and Annabeth are pushing for the BEST vibes possible.

(Also I am a very strong proponent of the "I don't think they'd name their kids after dead family/friends" so none of them have that)

Iphis of course inherited the Jackson family early grey hairs <3

Virginia is named after Juniper (cause Juniper is specifically implied to be Juniperus virginiana). She's probably been childhood bffs with Iphis since Iphis was born.

Chuck is Chuck. I gave him a Yankees jersey cause you know he's being raised as a sporty kid.

Do you ever think about how OP Frank and Hazel's kid would be. It's ridiculous. Quadruple legacy, including 2/3 of the Big Three. Frank by himself was already so OP the gods had to nerf him. Hazel came back from the dead and Frank kinda just said "nope" to dying that one time. Hazel presumably has every power that Nico has which is. A lot. Not to mention what Hazel has been shown to just be able to do on her own (including but not limited to SINKING AN ENTIRE SMALL ISLAND). Ares/Mars kids can functionally be completely invulnerable sometimes and also have some limited necromancy. Combo that with Hades/Pluto kids also being hard to kill and having necromancy as one of their main powers. Not to mention how Pluto geokinesis might combo with Chloris (goddess of spring) powers? And this kid is 100% being protected by both Nico (who is probably a deity by that point) and probably Pluto himself as well? Hello?

Anyways Hazel and Frank's kid is a total powerhouse. Possibly functionally immortal. Easily strongest demigod of her generation.

I like to think the latent Chloris legacy would crop up (probably in combo with Mars and Poseidon's plant aspects) and give them an accidental Persephone-type theme and that's fun. Frazel's goth daughter who takes after her grandmother (and uncle).

Figured since Frank is Canadian and Hazel is from Louisiana they'd go for a French name. The flower theme was not intentional on their part it just happened. Law of demigod naming conventions appears nonetheless.

I figure Leo might not have kids of his own but he probably still hangs around with Hazel and Frank so of course he's going to make their kid a cool thematic robot pet. He's probably her godfather or something.

Ronan is literally just some kid who showed up at the Chase Space who coincidentally was a legacy of Freyr and could shapeshift. Magnus and Alex obviously can't have kids cause they're dead, BUT some orphan with essentially a combo of their powers just shows up on their doorstep? Their kid now.

The ironic part is of course their shapeshifting powers just happen to be because they're distantly related to one of Annabeth's friends. Ronan finds himself suddenly gaining two parents and two cousins (Iphis and Lily) in rapid succession.

He only picks up Magnus' last name though cause Alex has 100% disowned her mortal parents.

He has a seal flipper cause shapeshifting and apparently "Ronan" means seal. I just wanted to draw those two showcasing their shapeshifting a lil bit.

Might try to doodle the other next-gen kid thoughts I had at some point but idk when. anyways yeah.

[in1-nutshell]

Bot Buddy being Rodimus's older sister and having a crush on Swerve

SFW, Platonic, Familial, Hinted Romance, Cybertronain reader

Buddy is a near carbon copy of Rodimus.

Key word ‘almost’.

Instead of sporting the red and oranges being her main color on her frame, Buddy has more blue tones with some yellow around.

That is where all similarities end.

Buddy being related to Ultra Magnus makes more sense than her being related to Rodimus.

“Hey Buddy! Watch this!”--Rodimus

Rodimus on the top of a tall shelf.

“Rodimus No!”—Buddy and Magnus

Buddy and Magnus look at each other in surprise.

“… I hate when you two do that.”--Rodimus

“Don’t care, get down here before you break something or hurt yourself.”--Buddy

“But—”--Rodimus

“Rodimus.”--Magnus

“…”--Rodimus

She was in fact close to him though.

Being a part of the Elite Guard for most of the war can do that.

The other part was stationed around communications and message relay for the Guard or the Wreckers.

That was where she first met Swerve.

It was purely by accident.

Swerve had been given the wrong number and connected her instead.

“Hello? How may I help you?”--Buddy

“You’re not Blurr. Who are you?”--Swerve

“You have the help line for the Wrecker’s and Elite Guard, do you require any assistance?”--Buddy

“Oh, no not really. I thought I had Blurr’s number. You know Blurr?”--Swerve

“Yes, I am familiar with the racer.”--Buddy

“Isn’t he the best! We were going to hatch a plan to build and run a bar when the war ended.”--Swerve

“Really? Blurr agreed to that?”--Buddy

“Absolutely! He even gave me his number, but I must have punched in the wrong digits and contacted you instead. Not that you haven’t been nice and all!”--Swerve

Buddy laughing a little bit.

“Its all right… umm… what is your designation?”--Buddy

“The names Swerve! And who might I be speaking with if you don’t mind?”--Swerve

“I’m Buddy—”--Buddy

“You’re THE Buddy!? Wow! This is just my day! I’ve heard so much about you and your work with the Elite Guard, The Wrecker’s…”--Swerve

Buddy gets a bit more comfortable on her end ready to continue this pleasant conversation with Swerve.

It was a slow day anyways… it felt nice.

That started a slow friendship between the two.

The chats had to happen on scheduled days since Swerve had a habit of talking too much and Buddy didn’t like to stop him.

Buddy refused to talk to Hot Rod about this.

Swerve was her friend.

Finally, someone that hadn’t been friends with Hot Rod before knowing her.

She was going to protect her friend’s identity as long as she could.

But of course, Hot Rod had a feeling his sister was hiding something from him and was going to get to the bottom of it.

Hot Rod dramatically draping his frame on Buddy’s berth.

“Why won’t you tell me!”—Hot Rod

Buddy rolling her optics.

“I’m not telling you squat Roddy.”--Buddy

Hot Rod suddenly sitting up.

“What if its… someone?”—Hot Rod

Buddy frame stiffens a bit.

“It is someone!”—Hot Rod

Hot Rod flopping on her back and starts popping her side annoyingly.

“Who’s the lucky bot who’s got my stuck up of a sister like this?”—Hot Rod

Buddy grabs his digit and slightly bends it backwards.

“Hey! OWW!”-Hot Rod

“Keep it up and I’ll bend more than your digit Hot Rod. Got that?”--Buddy

Buddy lets go of his digit and crosses her arms glaring at him.

“Fine, fine, I wont start talking about your secret—”—Hot Rod

Buddy judo flips her brother to the floor.

Hot Rod was over the moon hearing that there might be someone out there for his stuck-up sis.

Maybe it would help loosen her up.

Primus knows she needs to stop stressing so much.

Buddy just wishes that Hot Rod would drop the subject… but is secretly pleased to hear that he is happy that she found someone she likes.

…then came Rodimus Prime.

Buddy felt their sibling bond significantly weakened thanks to the matrix bonding.

Rodimus didn’t seem to notice but Buddy did.

But she refused to acknowledge it to him.

He was a Prime now, he had other things to worry about than her.

Just pushing through trying to get her work done.

Timeskip to the Lost Light…

Buddy was not aware that Swerve was on the ship until she got wind of the bar.

She walked in and zeroed in on the minibot.

Buddy walking over to the bar where Swerve had his back to her.

“Welcome to Swerve’s you see anything you like?”--Swerve

Buddy smiles a bit.

“Hmm… I don’t know you recommend anything Swerve?”--Buddy

Swerve stops cleaning the glass in his servo and turns around, wide eyed.

Buddy smiles a bit more seeing Swerve’s own face light up.

“Buddy!”--Swerve

Swerve reaches over the bar to hug his friend.

Several bots at the bar stop seeing the small bartender hugging one of the most strict bots on bourd.

“… 20 shanix that Buddy tells Swerve off.”--Skids

“Deal.”--Chromedome

“Domey--”--Rewind

“Wrong. 50 and she throws him out.”--Whirl

“She wouldn’t do that… right?”--Tailgate

Buddy hugs Swerve back while silent chaos ensues behind them.

So many bots thought that Swerve was going to die that day.

Rodimus had so many com pings within that hour.

He brushes the pings off like a rumor.

Especially when he hears about something potentially happening between Buddy and Swerve.

… That changes when Rodimus starts to notice Buddy hanging out more and more at Swerve’s.

This was the first flag to be raised.

Buddy doesn’t ‘do’ crowded bars.

But he brushes it off as Buddy finally letting loose.

Rodimus is talking with Drift when he notices Buddy at the bar.

“Isn’t it nice seeing Buddy happy?”--Drift

“Hmm? Yeah… but it’s a bit weird seeing her out here.”--Rodimus

Drift raises an optic.

“She doesn’t like big, crowded places, it’s ‘Too loud and too much engex being spilled all over’.”--Rodimus

Drift looking at Buddy happily talking with Swerve at the counter.

“Maybe she’s here for someone?”--Drift

Rodimus downing the rest of his drink laughing at the end.

“Ha! That’ll be the day.”--Rodimus

One time a rather rude bot had come to the bar and demanded to know why he was cut off from the drinks.

All while he was slowly tipping to the side.

Buddy tried to de-escalate the situation.

“Listen, we are all civilized bots here. Lets just get you back to your habsuite or the med bay if—”--Buddy

The bot looks at Buddy and spits in their face.

“Can it! Your nothing more of a has been-washout-guards-bot who is only good for a pretty paperweight!”—Random Bot

Buddy wipes the spit infused engex from her optics, glares at the bot harshly, about to unleash the Pits when she gets interrupted.

“HEY!”--Swerve

Swerve stands on the bar counter gaining some height, his servos shaking at his sides.

“Don’t you EVER talk to her like that! Now. Get. Out. Of. MY! BAR!”—Swerve

Buddy feels her spark skip a pulse looking at the mini bartender.

The bot tries to take a swing at him, but Buddy grabs the fist in her’s.

Buddy’s optics blazing in fury.

“You heard the minibot.”--Buddy

Buddy kicks the bot in the back of the knee and throws the frame across her shoulder.

Marching outside and kicking the bot several feet away from the entrance.

“Get. Out.”—Buddy

“… She gonna be my Amica.”--Whirl

“Whirl, not the time.”--Cyclonus

“Well, I can’t be her Conjunx. Swerve has that covered; this is the next best thing.”--Whirl

“Swerve does not—”--Tailgate

Whirl points at Swerve still standing on the counter with a lovesick smile on his face.

“…Maybe your right.”--Tailgate

“Tailgate, Whirl no.”--Cyclonus

“Hold on Cyclonus, they might have a point.”--Rewind

“Rewind—”--Chromedome

Cylcnous puts a servo on Chromedome’s shoulder shaking his helm.

Chromedome sighs giving in as Whirl, Tailgate, and Rewind scheming in silence.

Buddy managed to cuff the bot and send him to Magnus.

The bot never came back to Swerve’s.

Swerve has heart shaped optics behind his visor.

You’d have to be blind not to see his clear ‘admiration’ for the former member of the Elite Guard.

But he is convinced that all of this will pass.

It’s not like Buddy would actually have feelings for him.

Meanwhile Buddy has started creating Swerve/Love playlists in secret.

A secret that she is taking with her until she goes offline.

[sam-keeper]

There Is No Antimemetics Division reminded me why I keep coming back to speculative fiction.

---

Here's a short excerpt from qntm's novel There Is No Antimemetics Division:

Kim is so deeply buried in work at his terminal and the airlock is so quiet that he almost doesn't notice when it starts to cycle open again. "We need to check you for notes," he begins, but then he sees that Marion Wheeler is curled up in the bottom of the narrow cylinder, panting as though she just finished a marathon run. Kim holds a hand out but she shakes her head, electing to stay lying down, knees bent up to her chest, sucking down lungfuls of air. "What in the world happened in there?" Kim asks. "Just need…" she gasps, "…to breathe. Be okay in a… second. Haaaaah. I think I blacked out for a moment, might have inhaled some. Haaaaah. I think I'm okay. I remember the plan." Kim looks confused and worried for a second, then they replace him. "You shouldn't be able to remember anything… what did you do?"

Look at the bolded line. I couldn't make heads or tails of that the first time I read it. It's grammatically weird because "they" as a pronoun has an ambiguous referent. Typically one would expect an antecedent--a noun that a pronoun refers to--somewhere in the sentence or at least the paragraphs before that pronoun pops up. So, I fumble around for a second. Could it be a bizarre, metaphorical way to refer to the verb phrase in the sentence, like, confusion and worry "replace him", like completely consume all his thoughts? A pretty, if strange, turn of phrase. But no, "they" is an external entity. I might have understood more readily if the pronoun was "IT replaces him", but that's part of the fun of the sentence. Because in the span of a few words, having been exposed for just a few seconds to a toxic idea, agent Paul Kim is hollowed out and replaced as a person, and if you knew who "they" are, doing the replacing, you'd already be replaced too.

To know the antecedent is to be consumed by it.

That's the hook of There Is No Antimemetics Division. Antimemes are self-redacting concepts, and the story, told episodically and nonlinearly through a series of encounters with antimemetic anomalies, is about an antimeme so vast and monstrous that it ends the world. That probably sounds familiar if you were a Magnus Archives fan; Antimemetics Division is basically like that but more compressed, chaotic, and... seemingly more sincere about being a Creative Commons work. The novel only exists, after all, because of the creative commons work of countless contributors to the SCP Wiki, a large collaborative fiction writing project about the titular SCP Foundation. This organization exists to Secure, Contain, and Protect dangerous anomalies. The novel, then, poses a specific challenge to the Foundation: how do you contain a threat you can't remember?

Read The Rest Of The Review

[autismprotocol]

TMAG Theory Board Update (EP 11-12)

Hi guys sorry about the late posting I've just started a new quarter of college and its been pretty hectic. also got into my school design BFA program so pretty stoked about that! Anyways lets get into the Episode Breakdowns because even though not a lot of lore related things happened I still have a lot to talk about

For the breakdown I'll separate each by episode in sequential order

What Happened in Episode 11: Marked

Celias Rude Awakening- we jump right into the weirdness straight away with Celia waking up on the side of the interstate. she indicates that this is not a weird occurrence and ends the scene by telling someone named Jack that she's "on her way." If you remember episode 8 after Celia and Sam talk to Gerry and Gertrude, she mentions stuff about wanting help with her own mystery. When Sam asks about it she says she's looking into Time travel, other dimentions and teleportation. Many people have theorized that maybe Celia is just a super heavy sleepwalker, but I think the she teleports random places out of nowhere. This could be a side effect of her reality hopping if this Celia is originally from The archives universe.

As for the identity of Jack I'm not quite sure about that yet. I cross referenced the name Jack with past episodes of TMA. The only thing that came up was Jack Barnabas from the statement about dating Agnes Montague (aka an avatar of the desolation and Jesus-like figure for the cult of the lightless flame) So Unless Celia is secretly Agnes of Agnes reincarnated , I can't find any way to link Barnabas to Celia. (if anyone has a theory feel free to send it my way.)

Sam Lore- this one is pretty minor story-wise but I thought it was interesting. Before the statement for the episode is presented we get some classic Sam and Alice Banter ™ most of it is pretty lighthearted but I noticed Sam mention something that could indicate he might be an amputee.

These could not mean anything and I find it weird that it hasn't been mentioned until now but thought it was kind of cool and I will probably be drawing sam with a prothetic leg in the future cause I really like this head-canon. It also begs to question if he is missing a leg. it might have anything to do with his past as a Magnus institute test subject but then again could just be a fun character detail added by Jonny and/or Alex .

The Statement- Getting into the statement we get another Ink5oul appearance. Also possible Ink5oul identifying as she/they. (and lets be honest being a fear avatar is pretty non binary core). I found this Episode gave me a feeling of a hybrid between the Vast, Buried and the Flesh some people are theorizing that is might be a new entity called the Deep but I think that the fear of the ocean could easily apply to the vast or buried. Not much to say about this story though pretty standard Magnus horror that also gave us a hint to what Ink5oul's goal could be/which entity they serve.

Post Bonzo- Gwen has a debrief with Lena after her first Externals Liason assignment and her meeting with Mr. Bonzo. Undoubtedly Gwen is still pretty shaken from her encounter, even arriving late to work due to sleeplessness. Gwen is able to ask Lena a few questions mainly she wanted to know who's name was written on the letter given to Bonzo

Lena is largely unhelpful but tells Gwen she should have worked it out by now and if not to pay close attention to the case load for the next couple of days. before the latest episode my guess was Klaus because that is the only person mentioned so far that the OIAR intends to kill. but more on that later

Marked- Now were getting to my favorite thing about this episode. This episode title can have two meanings. The first is the more literal interpretation. Tattoos are marking of the body and the case this episode was all about tattoos so easily a good name would be marked. But I believe this is a red herring meant to misguide listeners who have not consumed all 200 episodes of TMA because if you know the world of Magnus Archives the term Marked takes on a entirely different meaning.

In TMA the term marked is used to indicate that somebody has been influenced by one or more or the fears and are one their way to becoming an Avatar. I think this could be a coded way to tell the audience someone in the OIAR has been marked. I have two potential candidates

Alice Dyer- Alice has been having dreams about the Institute after her and Sam's adventure into the ruins. also she mentions feeling like someone's watching her (common to people influenced or fed upon by the Ceaseless Watcher/The Eye) My guess if she is marked it would be by the Eye.

Gwendolyn Bouchard: Probably the most likely culprit. The main way an entitly tends to mark people is through encounters with other avatars. Gwen has just had an encounter with Mr Bonzo last episode who I strongly believe must be an avatar of some sort.

What Happened in Episode 12: Getting Off

Aww Sam!!- Sam asked Celia out and it was adorably awkward. not much to say I just loved this interaction and I'm longing for a new Magnus brand office romance hopefully is wont be an agonizing slowburn that ends tragically like a certain pair of morons from Archives (I love you Jon and Martin but Jesus christ)

It's Bonzo time bitches!!- Probably one of the most gruesome Magnus statement I've ever listened to (good work Alex) Mr Bonzo completely annihilated some poor dude at his bachelor party. Based on the date of the Incident the I can confidently say that whoever Baz (the groom) was he was our mystery person the OIAR sent Mr Bonzo to get rid of. Along with some of the bloodiest imagery we learned a few things about Bonzo. The most interesting detail is that Bonzo has to be summoned by playing his theme song I think the CD of his theme song acts somewhat like the tapes did in TMA by materialising out of nowhere. Also fun fact you know that torn seam that is right down Bonzo's middle? that is actually is his mouth lined with rows sharp teeth so I guess I know that now (so fun) Moral of the story dont f*ck with Mr. Bonzo

Alice knows something: Theres been this recurring audio glitch throughout TMAGP thatnks to a few extremly observent fans we have started to relize that these glitches are not at all random and are actually letting the audience know when a character is lying (i actually reposted somones deepdive into all the istances of this glitch so far if you guys are intrested in knowing more) why i bring this up now is becuase since we know when any charater is lying we also know when they are being truthful if there is no glitch when they say somthing and at the end of this episode this interaction occurs

Alice goes ahead and makes a joke about this to annoy Gwen but the fact theres no audio glitch when she says "I know" means she does actually know who is behind the OIAR and is activly refusing to share it with Gwen or the others. What do you know Alice!?

and that's about it im already loving these next batch of episodes and am so excited to learn more (ERROR has to show up somtime )

thanks to everyone who resonded the poll on the last update I will continue to include drawings into the breakdown even if it takes me a little bit of time to post. anyways I wrote this all in one sitting and I'm about ready to pass out so thanks again and the ask box and comments are always open for discussion and theory crafting.

-Echo

[katakaluptastrophy]

Masterpost of TLT metas

This is mostly for my own reference, as tagging doesn't seem to guarantee something being findable on Tumblr...but if you like wildly overthinking lesbian necromancers in space, enjoy!

Overthinking the Fifth House:

What is a "Speaker to the Dead"?

Actually, Magnus Quinn isn't terrible at sword fighting

Imperial complicity: Abigail the First

Pyschopomp: Abigail Pent and Hecate

Did Teacher conspire with Cytherea to kill the Fifth?

What does the Fifth House actually do?

The Fourth and the Fifth can never just be family

Cytherea's political observations at the anniversary dinner

Abigail Pent's affect: ghosts and autism

Were the Fourth wards of the Fifth?

Abigail probably knew most of the scions as children

Magnus Quinn's very understandable anger

Fifth House necromancy is not neat and tidy

Are Abigail and Magnus an exception to the exploitative nature of cavaliership?

"Abigail Pent literally brought her husband and look where that got her" (the Fifth in TUG)

The Fifth's relationship dynamic

The Fifth's relationship is unconventional in a number of ways

The queer-coding of Abigail and Magnus' relationship

Abigail and Palamedes, and knowing in the River

Was Isaac the ward of the Fifth?

Did Magnus manage to draw his sword before Cytherea killed him? (and why he probably had to watch his wife die)

How did Abigail know she was murdered by a Lyctor?

Fifth House necromancy is straight out of the Odyssey

The politics of the anniversary dinner (and further thoughts)

Was Magnus born outside of the Dominicus system?

Overthinking John Gaius:

The one time John was happy was playing Jesus

Is Alecto's body made from John's?

Are there atheists in the Nine Houses?

Why isn't John's daughter a necromancer?

The horrors of love go both ways: why John could have asked Alecto 'what have you done to me?'

Why M- may have really hoped John was on drugs

What is it with guys called Jo(h)n and getting disintegrated? (John and Dr Manhattan)

John's conference call with his CIA handlers

Watching your friend turn into an eldritch horror

Why does G1deon look so weird? (Jod regrew him from an arm)

When is a friendship bracelet not a friendship bracelet?

Why did John have G1deon hunt Harrow? (with bonus update)

The 'indelible' sin of Lyctorhood and John's shoddy plagiarism of Catholicism

Are John Gaius and Abigail Pent so different?

What was Jod's plan at Canaan House?

John and Ianthe tread the Eightfold path

The Mithraeum is more than a joke about cows

When was John Gaius born? (And another)

John Gaius and the tragic Orestes

John and Jesus writing sins in the sand

John and Nona's echoing chapters

John's motivations

Is Alecto just as guilty as John?

John's cult (and what he might have done to them)

The horror of Jod

Did John get bloodsweat before he became god?

Some very silly thoughts about John and Abigail arguing about academia

Overthinking the Nine Houses:

'No retainers, no attendants, no domestics'

Funerary customs and the violence of John's silence

Juno Zeta and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad time

The horror of the River bubble

Every instance of 'is this how it happens' in HTN

Feudalism is still shitty even if you make it queer and sex positive

How do stele work?

Thought crime in the Nine Houses

The Houses have a population the size of Canada

What must it be like to fight the Houses?

You know what can't have been fun? Merv wing's megatruck on Varun day...

Augustine's very Catholic hobby (decorating skeletons)

Necromancers are not thin in a conventionally attractive way

Matching the Houses with the planets of the solar system (though perhaps the Fourth *is* on Saturn)

Why don't the Nine Houses have (consistent) vaccination or varifocals?

How would the Houses react to the deaths at Canaan House?

How does Wake understand her own name (languages over 10,000 years)

What pre-resurrection texts are known in the Houses?

Camilla and Palamedes very Platonic relationship (further thoughts)

The horrors the Cohort found at Canaan House

Do the Houses understand the tech keeping them alive?

The scions from an external perspective (sci fi baddies)

Cav cots

The Nine Houses and feudalism

The horrors of early necromantic education

[primus-why]

Another A/B/O AU...

... this time TFA!

Okay some rules this time are:

Alphas can mate with Betas to produce offspring-- with the exception of cross-factional pairs. And you will only ever produce the same frametype as the creators.

Betas and Betas can mate to produce offspring-- but again, they have to both be civilians or both be warframes. They will only produce offspring of the same frametype.

It's very rare for Alpha pairings to reproduce. Same rules above apply concerning frametypes.

Omegas are rare in that anyone can reproduce with them, and thus their offspring can be any frametype. Contrary to a popular myth, the sparkling's frametype is random and not automatically based on whomever the sire/carrier is.

Generally the majority of Decepticons are Alphas, and the majority of Autobots are Betas. A Beta!Decepticon or Alpha!Autobot is not rare but still pretty uncommon.

Omegas have not been seen for generations, and it's believed they've been wiped out. The deaths of Omegas on both sides is partially what kicked up the war, as it now became much more difficult to procreate. Especially for Decepticons, being mostly Alphas.

All mechs regardless of secondary status go through a reproductive receptivity cycle-- the horny time we usually call "heat" or "rut". (But since I couldn't think of a 3rd word for a Betas cycle, we'll call it "RRC" or just "cycle" across the board lol)

Surprise, surprise! Optimus Prime is, in fact, an Omega. He doesn't know that, though...

See, Omegas have been out of the picture for so long, they don't really teach about them anymore in the Academy. Obviously some folks like Ultra Magnus and Ratchet are old enough to remember, as are many of the Decepticons. But generally speaking, Optimus believes he's just a Beta with an abnormally persistent cycle.

Optimus' status is only known to a few-- thanks to the standard examination all new recruits undergo, only some of the older medics and Ultra Magnus himself were aware. The Magnus took great care to not place Optimus on the front lines whenever possible, as he did not want to risk the Cause losing something so precious as an Autobot Omega.

However, at the same time he did not disclose Optimus' status to anyone else-- he knew it would likely result in his peers treating him differently, or worse, the Council might vote to sequester him to a breeding center. No, Optimus himself couldn't even be aware-- Ultra Magnus was worried he'd fall prey to the old stigmas which claimed Omegas were inherently weaker or incapable. Perhaps that was hypocritical of him, since he had been avoiding using Optimus in battles, despite the young Prime being one of the most skilled and capable Bots at the Academy...

Perhaps that's why when the incident on Archa-7 happened, he took the opportunity to all but banish Optimus from Cybertron. Repairing space bridges kept him out of the direct line of fire; nothing ever seemed to happen all the way out there. What's more, Ultra Magnus wouldn't have to continue fabricating reasons why one of the Academy's top students was not being placed in more active roles. Optimus would also be spared the scrutiny of re-evaluation, wherein his status would likely have been disclosed to the Council and everyone in the upper ranks... as well as Ultra Magnus' favoritism.

Yes, Ultra Magnus had thought he was in the clear. The young Prime still had a part to play in the Great Autobot Machine, but not until things had quieted significantly. One day, Optimus would have the chance at a normal civilian life while their planet rebuilds, and Ultra Magnus would have the medics disclose his status so he could decide his own future without the pressures of wartime. For now, all he needed to do was ship the Omega somewhere, far away from prying optics, with a medic who could be discreet and a parting reminder to not be a hero.

... A lot of good that did him.

Some additional notes of who-is-what:

Alphas include*: Megatron, Sentinel Prime, Lugnut, Strika, Ultra Magnus, Bulkhead, Starscream, Blitzwing, Drift

Betas include*: Shockwave, Blurr, Bumblebee, Ratchet, Jazz, Blackarachnia, Prowl, Jetfire and Jetstorm, Rodimus Prime

*but are not limited to

[singingcicadas]

Realized that even though it's a shame that there wasn’t much Drift/Megatron interaction in the story, we still got a fairly detailed one-sided account of Drift’s opinion.

Because this is in no way an accurate assessment of the mentality of the crew members on Necroworld. Drift's either doing some really bullshit armchair psychology or he's projecting his own feelings and assuming that they're shared by everyone else.

Once you break everyone down individually you can see that Drift’s theory applies to very few people:

Rodimus and Minimus have sort of an ambiguous friendship going on with Megatron. Rodimus literally chose to save his life when he could have let Megatron explode with Tarn. Minimus immediately proceeded to give himself congnitive dissonance b/c he thought Megatron betrayed them by running away.

Nautica Velocity Cyclonus Tailgate Ten have no preexisting history against Megatron.

Nautica has more Other Problems than to pay attention to Megatron.

Velocity’s conversation with Megatron after the psychological attack was nothing but caring and friendly. Megatron even felt comfortable enough to admit to her that he was happy. She and Nautica are amongst the few people who sees Megatron as a person first, before his deeds.

Cyclonus might even admire him a little with the romanticized way he talks about the Decepticon ideology.

Tailgate's knowledge about Megatron's past comes entirely from datapackets and documentaries. And his response to that kind of threat level is to pull a gun on him and then try to shadowplay the evilness out. Point is, Tailgate's method to dealing with threats is to be very hands-on, especially after he got his spark spasm superpowers. His way of coping is definitely not brainwashing himself into thinking 'he's not a threat' and being unconsciously nervous all the time.

Whirl hates Megatron with a passion but he also saved Megatron in the time travel. He views Megatron as less of a threat than the functionists.

Nightbeat doesn’t care about anything other than his mysteries; his response to threat of imminent demise at sundown is to go exploring.

Rung’s… Rung. He’s forgiving and compassionate, and also a professional therapist who should be capable of employing healthy rational methods to cope with Megatron being in his life.

Rewind, like Nautica, has a whole slew of Other Problems, I'm sure Megatron's not a very big priority right now.

Skids is dead.

That only leaves like three people unaccounted for and they’re all branded Megatron sympathizers for a reason: they all said no to Getaway when he asked if they were pro ‘mutiny and kick Megatron off the ship.’

Drift's only been back for seven days, even if he got filled in with everything that happened since, he's still in no position to be making that kind of assessment. He doesn't have the context. He wasn't there when Megatron was captain of the ship. He didn't even meet Nautica Velocity and Nightbeat before he left, he has no idea what they're like or what they think of Megatron. Even Rewind's not the same one from before. (Add: he also didn't know Ultra Magnus was actually Minimus in a suit)

Most importantly his entire response in the second two panels is the complete opposite of Ratchet's original question. Ratchet's question was "Is it me or is everyone a little skittish?" Skittish. as in nervous. uneasy. jumpy. Drift's like "Megatron's gone so they can relax." But skittish is the opposite of relaxing? and they only started being skittish after Megatron left? He's the only one to bring up Megatron in this?

Rodimus' reasoning in the first panel (sans Rodpod) makes much more sense.

TL;DR: Drift's nervous around his old boss and can only relax after Megatron's gone, so he assumes that everyone else must feel the same way too. Everyone else: not really?

[lineffability]

The Serpent Files 🐍

chapters: 5/5 rating: M/E wordcount: 13.9k au: human, the magnus archives

summary: Aziraphale works as the head archivist at Eden Institute. Crowley has been supplying them with potentially cursed artifacts over the years -- until he himself gets entangled in a case that turns him from associate to client...

[ art credit and support credit and 1000 hugs to: @chernozemm my beloved ]

start reading:

“Ouroboros. Yes. The introductory statement is meant to be concise, though, akin to a title. You can describe the necklace in detail in your statement, Crowley. Also, I need you to state your name. It occurs to me I don't actually know it. I mean. I'm not saying I want to know your full name, or anything. Just, all these years– erm. You'd have to state it anyway. For formality's sake. We have a system.”

“Sure. So. Name's Crowley.”

“I… know that part. [sighs] Full names, please, throughout.”

“Ah. Anthony J Crowley.”

“I said full names, please. What's the J stand for?”

“Erm. Uh. Just a J, really. Thought it added a certain gravitas, y’know, flair. Je ne sais quoi. Makes people treat you serious, a J like that.”

“Uh. Alright. Well. Anthony J. Crowley, then. I suppose. Seriously? [clears throat] So. Please start from the beginning.”

“Mmmmhhhh wellll. I’ve been coming to Eden for, what, now, six years maybe?”

“I believe so. Yes.”

“Anyway, not like I go here often. We’ve met a handful of times, you and me, maybe nine, ten? I mean, it was ten times. I know. Uh. Not like I counted or anything. Just, coming here, it stays with you a bit, doesn’t it? All that occult shit. Which is why I come here, of course. I’m – what should I call it? A… supplier. Of sorts. I work with – this is confidential, right?”

“Yes. Internal use only. We don’t give out those files. Your words are safe with me. Erm. Us.”

“Good. Right. I work with the Doomsday Group. Can’t really talk about it much, but you’ve heard of them. Shady stuff, crime, theft, trade, religious artifacts, apocalyptic jazz, all that. Supernatural stuff, too, sometimes. Or claimed supernatural. You know I don’t believe in all that. Well. Didn’t. I didn’t believe in it. Now… uh, anyway. Sometimes we get those weird artifacts, right, apparently cursed, so I bring them to you, to, to check, or verify, or call bullshit. Or to lock them away, or whatever you do with them when you buy them off our lot. That’s how we met. Best part of this shit job, really, if I’m being honest. I didn’t ask to be– hm. Wish I could just– ngh. Confidential, right? Wish I could just be done with them. Run off. Can’t, though. But erm. Forget I said that, alright? Please.”

[pause] “You're rambling a bit, de- Crowley. Or should I, should I call you Anthony now?”

“Hell no. I mean – Crowley's fine. You've called me Crowley for years, haven't you? What, now you don't like it?”

“No, no, I do in fact quite – well, for propriety’s sake, the official documentation, I thought – nevermind. So, Crowley, while the background information on your…job is reasonable, might I politely remind you why you’re here? Please talk less about our personal relationship, or at least only insofar as it pertains to the case, and more about what happened to you since… since you put on that necklace.”

“Right. Righty-oh. S’ just, never been in this room before. The tape recorder, all that. I’ve only ever been here as a sort of… co-worker? Nah. You’re not my co-worker, you’re better than that. As a tradesman. So to be here as a client , it feels… surreal.”

“That is understandable. I trust you will muddle through, though.”

“Hey – remember the first thing I said when I came here? Today, I mean.”

[continue reading]

[studentinpursuitofclouds]

Given that the farmer is frequently pulling weeds, it would make sense that there’s an occasional bit of skin irritation and burns from touching specific weeds. How would the SVE spouses respond to their partner getting burns from improper handling of weeds and plants?

I imagine Magnus and Sophia probably both know a bit about these plants and might have even told the farmer ahead of time to be cautious.

Oof, I can feel that nasty itch because of plants right on my own skin from just reading this ask.... Burns from weeds and plants, brrrrr!

Nevertheless, it's a very interesting question! Enjoy some headcanons, dear anon! 🫰💕

_________________________________________

SVE bachelors/ettes react to Farmer's weed burns:

Magnus Rasmodius:

Magnus could understand the first time a Farmer came home from the field covered in scratches and red spots. It happens, even the most experienced farmers and gardeners make mistakes.

...But this was the fifth time in a row.

"I can't get it why you allow this to happen, love. Treating weed burns is hardly a pleasant pastime." "But you do care about me, Razzy." "We can do that without the burns, you know."

After healing Farmer's skin, Magnus will ask his spouse what the reason is for their continued disregard for safety rules while pulling weed.

Maybe their farmer's overall isn't comfortable for work? Is it too hot in this clothes? Does the poor quality fabric make everything itch even more than the grass burns itself?

Let Farmer speak, and the wizard will find a solution. With or without magic.

Victor:

Victor covered Farmer with bandages and ointment almost from head to toe. Well, because Farmer was covered in red spots from head to toe, so that makes sense.

"You're allergic to weeds! What if you started having trouble breathing and then choking?

Farmer now definitely regretted not wearing their farm clothes to treat the field for weeds. Because worried Victor looks like he's going to cry.

And he can be understood - Farmer is risking their life not only on an adventure, but also on the quiet work on the farm field! Although they can avoid danger by at least wearing gloves.

Speaking of which... "Gloves, no buts! Please... don't injure yourself."

It's now Victor's job to remind Farmer for proper farm clothes and gloves (also lightly slap their hands when they want to scratch itchy skin).

Lance:

Lance's stern look immediately made Farmer realise that they were now in trouble for their own carelessness.

Though it would seem they hadn't been on the missions for a week or so, fully immersed in harvesting a bountiful crops. But now...

"You're constantly risking your life fighting monsters. So why would you risk your life in your own home? Such an aggressive weed allergy can quickly go from annoying itchiness to suffocation."

Lance activated his healing magic and began treating Farmer. "...You want me to find you with no signs of life in your own field?" Ouch...

"No more risking your health like that, my love." From a stern look to a look full of concern for his loved one.

If need be, Lance could put a special protective barrier on Farmer's skin, but wearing protective clothes necessary too.

Sophia:

Sophia always had a first aid kit nearby for such occasions when she had to treat grapes for weeds.

She thought that her partner, as an experienced farmer, had also done their best to prevent burns from weeds and grass at work.

But judging by Farmer, whose skin showed a multitude of red spots, the pink-haired girl was wrong.

Poor Sophia was thrashing around the house looking for the first aid kit, quickly treating Farmer's skin.

She absolutely hated to see Farmer squirming in pain. Why didn't he wear special clothes to provide this unpleasant occasion?

She tearfully asks them to be more careful next time.

From now on, Sophia is vigilant to make sure her spouse doesn't forget to put on farmer's clothes, and she always has the burn ointment with her.

Olivia:

Olivia nearly dropped the glasses of cold lemonade in her hands when she saw Farmer on the doorstep.

"Honey! You're all red and swollen! Did you... Picking hogweed? Without special clothes?! You're terribly allergic!

Considering how panicked and almost screaming Olivia was while on the phone with Harvey, the doctor arrived at the farmhouse instantly.

Thankfully, everything turned out okay, but the former accountant (along with the doctor) later scolded Farmer for being so careless. Allergies are no joke.

Olivia apologises for panicking in the evening, but Farmer must promise her that they will no longer put themselves in danger while working on the farm.

She will then order an anti-allergy medication so that next time she can help her spouse immediately, rather than panicking over the phone.

Claire:

Claire, looking at the abrasions and in some places red spots on Farmer's skin, at first thought that her beloved spouse had managed to fight with someone.

But upon closer inspection, the ginger girl immediately realized it was because of the weeds.

"I'm allergic to certain plants too, bluegrass for example. I have an ointment in my bag that will definitely help with burns like this."

Farmer can't help but notice the sadness in Claire's eyes as she dabbed the ointment on them.

"Please be more careful next time, dear. I'm so worried about you."

She keeps reminding Farmer to dress better so they don't get grass burns again. Or would leave them little notes in the kitchen if Claire was busy/at work.

[disappointingcabbage]

TMAGP 23 thoughts, spoilers under the cut!!

lmao I love how Sam’s reasoning for bothering with the response department paperwork is to A) assume it’s Alice doing a bit and B) seeing how long Alice can keep up said bit. I would do the same thing tbh

Lena cautioning him against it raises some red flags about what it might actually be though. That said, if doing the paperwork really is dangerous, she isn’t exactly trying all that hard to convince him to stop so who knows?

Chester statement time!! It’s an internet one this week hell yeah I’m ready for some red canary (or weird movie) esque shit

“Creating a better me”???? this sounds… very Strange

what do you mean by “finding your piece”? It sounds at first like affirmations but then the statement writer directly refutes the idea of it being a psychological/ “inner peace” thing

The second post makes it seem like this piece thing is an object taken from a significant location in your life. That’s less cursed that what I thought it was gonna be (a body part)

the implication that this person did something at least mildly illegal to get their piece is somewhat troubling. it was probably just theft though. Also they never specified what the piece is

“I’m sure it’s totally safe and not at all dangerous to sleep with the piece in my bed” famous last words

Also why do you need to keep it warm??? Is it alive????? And you have to “bond with it” which I guess is in line with making a “better you”. I guess it has to know what you’re like to emulate you or smth idk but this doesn’t sound like it’ll end well

ok it’s coral. Why are you worried about keeping it warm? If it’s not in water it’s definitely not alive.

MAAM WHY DO YOU HAVE SURGICAL EQUIPMENT AND WHY IS THIS POST CALLED “FIRST CUT”

you fucking watered your coral with your own blood to grow a better copy of yourself? The fuck? What is the point??? Do you WANT to get replaced????

Wait no she transplanted the coral into her body to grow it. What the fuck maam are you trying to reproduce through some cursed version of asexual budding???

okay yeah that’s exactly what’s happening this thing burst out of her

I mean at least she planned this out and took off work so she doesn’t lose her source of income I guess??? And she made sure she had proper supplies and a paralysis computer.

Oh damn this lady is just straight up willingly getting replaced. This is reading more and more like the original Alesis Newman is more akin to a shed skin than anything related to asexual reproduction

Oooh it went wrong. Not sure how but it definitely did

Oh shit this world’s Jon and Martin have been dead for 20 years and have no connection to the Magnus Institute

YOOO CELIA’S LOOKING INTO BASIRA AND HELEN

wait how would she know about Helen? Did the tunnels cult ever meet her? I don’t remember

OH WAIT I REMEMBER SHE TRIED TO EAT CELIA (at least, according to Melanie and Georgie) lol girlie why would you want to find her ageidjdief

Oh poor Gwen is not doing great.

Oh my god she’s actually talking to Alice instead of being snappy

And Alice seems to be. Actually listening !!!! Here’s how Dyhard can still win-

Alice fully believes Gwen

LMAO THE IMMEDIATE GLITCH AFTER GWEN SAID “I’ve not been arsey”

we’ve got confirmation that [Error] has a shitload of eyes let’s gooooo archivist moment

Alice immediately recognizing the tape recorder from her own experience and putting the pieces together that the whole oiar is being targeted is peak girlboss energy hell yeah Alice

And Gwen is obviously taking Alice’s experience seriously too hell yeah

Alice and Gwen are in danger? I think they should kiss about it

[bots-and-cons]

Hello! Tfp optimus, ratchet and ultra magnus reaction to a reader that can see the future. As in we warn them of an attack or a trap or an outcome of a plan and it ends up happening exactly as we say every time. Thanks!

I did HCs, kind of a ramble maybe, but it’s kinda late so I don’t really have the energy for much else and I just wanted to write something

~Ultra Magnus~

•He just straight up didn’t believe it when you told him you could see the future

•He thought it was some strange human joke he didn’t understand

•Magnus also thought it was hazardous, because if someone were to take your word as fact they might believe they couldn’t get injured if you told them they would return unhurt and they would get reckless

•Of course Magnus thinks Bumblebee and Smokescreen are already needlessly reckless so he especially doesn’t want them believing anything you say

•But when you get proven right again and again, Magnus starts to think that maybe you’re not a fraud, maybe you’re a traitor, because you know when the cons are going to ambush someone and when and where the attacks are going to happen

•He doesn’t outright accuse you, but he does start keeping an even keener eye on you

•But it just seems to go beyond that, because you seem to know things you couldn’t possibly know even if you were getting intel from the cons

•And why would you try to warn the autobots if you were a traitor

•He just doesn’t want to believe such an ability exists, because it doesn’t make any sense to him

•But eventually he has no choice but to start believing what you’re telling him and the others

•When he finally starts taking you seriously, he actually notices you’re helping him and the others stay safe

~Optimus Prime~

•Optimus wants to believe you, but it just doesn’t seem very probable

•He does pay attention to what you say though, he sort of keeps it at the back of his mind and he stars noticing you seem to be right a lot

•Like suspiciously much

•So he can’t really deny that you are seeing the future

•He’s pretty interested in how it works, because he’s never encountered anything like this

•Like do you only see bad things? Can you see the future when you want to or is it kinda random? Does it drain you?

•It does cause you some pretty intense migraines, especially if you try to force your visions, but you don’t really tell Optimus that because you want to help the autobots

•You warn them all the time of danger and it ends up saving a lot of lives, resources and time

•It’s not like you can prevent all the bad stuff from happening and sometimes even though you warn the bots they have to go on missions anyway or can’t change the way they have to do something

~Ratchet~

•Ratchet wasn’t exactly ecstatic when you told him you saw something bad happening to Optimus

•He asks why you would say something like that, and that it’s not funny

•You assure him that it’s not meant to be funny and that you can sometimes see bad things before they happen

•But when it happens and Optimus gets hurt in the exact way you said, Ratchet confronts you after treating Optimus and asks how in the name of Primus you could know that

•You repeat the same thing you said before, but Ratchet is still a bit skeptical, even though the evidence is literally right in front of him

•But eventually he starts asking you about if you’ve seen something bad happening before just about every mission

•He starts trusting what you say about your visions and you become sort of like danger meter for the autobots

•While Ratchet doesn’t want you to hurt yourself, he might still sometimes push you to try and see something if you haven’t had a vision about a mission

•It causes you migraines and it’s all around not a pleasant experience when you try to force your visions, but Ratchet is way too worried about the team to not ask you about it

•Of course if you don’t see anything, that’s a sign too

[rungssparemodelpieces]

Drunk Headcanons

Swerve

* Swerve can handle a few drinks though any bartender worth his salt should be able to handle their own drinks. He’ll water down others drinks but won’t water his down. Depending on your relationship with him, he might not water down yours either! If Swerve gets in a creative mood or gets a hold of some rarer ingredients, he’ll try to make some new concoctions and call you over before the bar opens to test them out. If you’re human, he keeps a stock of human booze or learns how to make his own and have you test them out. There were many trials and errors that may or may not have left you ending up in the medbay due to alcohol poisoning.

* When Swerve allows himself to relax and enjoy a drink or two, he either becomes a more chatty than normal drunk or goes into a more existential crisis drunk mood. Some of his ramblings don’t make sense after a while or he starts to reveal deeper thoughts or conflicts he might have, usually feelings of his own self worth before he tries to cover it up with a joke or smile.

* Swerve is curious what drunk you turn out to be, having experience with any form of drunk or buzzed with the exception of flirty. Yeah, he’s turned down flirty bots and humans before but if he had feelings for you, it makes it harder to not take those to spark, hoping the booze is bringing those true feelings to the surface.

* There’s a guilty pleasure Swerve takes when he’s watching you from behind the counter, seeing you dance, laugh, cry, talk, sing karaoke, play games, and enjoying yourself but when you make your way over to his little corner, chatting with him, and he’s the one making you laugh, smile, and even blush though he thinks it might be from the drinks in your system.

* If you start to get a little too wobbly, Swerve will get Ten to take you back to your room but if it’s close to or is closing time, he’ll take you back himself. It’s when he’s taking you back that some of the more suggestive flirting happens and though he would love to, he has a responsibility as a bartender to make sure you’re safe but that’s not to say his fans don’t click on or his panels heat up. If you’re already in a relationship, drunk interfacing does happen but it stays in the berth… mostly. If only Ultra Magnus knew, he’d shut down Swerve’s again for “a failure to comply with bio-hazard safety laws” and “inappropriate use of a barstool” and the list just goes on and on!

[trans-jon-rights]

What is the Magnus Protocol ?

(And how does it tie in with the Magnus Institute ?)

With MAGP 19 being the bombshell it was, I think we might have enough information to at least draft up the beginning of a theory.

So what could it be ?

I suppose it might be just that, a Protocol of containment. To contain Newton's creation and whatever happened in London*. Still enacted to this day by the government, the O.I.A.R and Starkwall**. And maybe it is the reason why the Institute burned.

*I suspect what happened in London to be the Great Fire of London, which did help stop a plague and happened 18 years before the letter was written.

**As mentioned in MAGP 4

So with that we have the more concrete stuff set up, I think we can go into the slightly more crack theory, because I've had too much coffee and my brain is going to explode.

Albertus Magnus was a German alchemist from the 13th century. He was very interested in stones, and believed they held power, as stated in his work 'De Mineralibus'. There were also numerous rumours that he achieved immortality using the philosopher's stone, which was a huge achievement in alchemy (basically the ultimate goal).

His work inspired numerous others, including :

Metals and Materials

The Secrets of Chemistry

The Origin of Metals

The Origins of Compounds

Doesn't this remind you of something ?

The case also refers to Wilhelm Homberg, though I couldn't find much on him other than he was an alchemist, and that he looked to create the philosopher's stone as well (which confirms that whatever Newton found, it was about that).

Anyway.

Let's consider this. Sam confirmed in the latest episode that it at least somewhat related to alchemy. And look at this from MAGP 9 :

They were looking for catalysts. Even better, they had an entire department dedicated to them ! Maybe I'm totally wrong, but the direct synonym of it in my native language (un catalyste) is something that was used in alchemy, at least to my knowledge.

So yeah, we know it has to do with alchemy. I've yet to found it again, but I recall tumblr user @misfitmagpie did this very extensive post about alchemical symbols on the logo of the show, and others on more alchemical stuff if you are interested.

But it is very obvious the Institute studied alchemy, looking for something. I do have a theory as to why they studied it, but its not about the Protocol, so we'll hold that thought for slightly later.

To me, the Protocol is something meant to regulate things, and was enabled by the government. But the government might have at some point considered the Institute dangerous, much like Robert Hooke did with Newton's experiment, and decided to destroy it. Usually the destructions involve fire. Newton's lab did burn down, and the mentionned previous iteration was likely to be the Great Fire of London in 1666.

(It is also notable that, although irrelevant to the current theory, the charity shop in MAGP 7 did burn down as well, which would further strengthen the idea that Starkwall is the current enabler of the Protocol for the government)

What else burned ? The Magnus Institute.

The very same Institute that was invested in alchemy, and that I am uninclined to believe was well intentioned.

And here I'd like to introduce you to something. The Franciscans.

Those guys held the belief that the Antichrist was coming and that the philosopher's stone was essential to stop it.

There's also a concept of balance (something something Robert Smirke something something) involved which dictates that for an Antichrist there needs to be a Christ.

And the Institute did research on children, measuring their development, empathy and compliance. Whether they were looking for the Christ or the Antichrist is unsure, (though seeing that high empathy level children were rejected speaks for itself) but they were looking for something.

So here, I could conclude. Say that the Institute was looking for the philosopher's stone, and the Antichrist, and that the Protocol was used to destroy them. But there's more.

Do you remember MAG 140 ? In this episode, Basira says this about Maxwell Rayner :

And here I have a fun fact for you. Did you know that Albertus Magnus wasn't originally named like this ? His name was Albertus the Great, and he became 'Magnus' after his death (Magnus meaning 'The Great' in Latin).

So what if ?

What if Jonah discovered Albertus' old works, and decided to follow them, resulting in an imperfect immortality like in TMA, and founding his Institute to further his research it and access a perfect one ?

And maybe he succeeded, and then decided that he wanted more, and tried to find the Antichrist. Finding use for the child would be easy, and he could hold it as a Damocles sword up everyone's head.

Then, he almost found them, and the Protocol was executed. That would give us a potential identity for [ERROR], being either Jonah or the child that yhey couldn't destroy. If it is Jonah, that would explain why he was following Alice, if she was indeed Connor Dyer (and Alex confirmed that she was trans mtf, so the possibility is more than likely). But also, considering [ERROR] I voiced by a woman, I rather think it might be the child.

I don't believe Albertus to be Jonah, mostly because if he already had access to immortality that early, why wait so long to look for the child. Though Jonah being a relative would explain the origin of his last name and how he found Albertus' old works.

In short, I believe the Magnus Protocol to be a Protocol of containment/destruction of knowledge by fire, related but not only limited to alchemy. It was used in 1999 to stop the researches conducted at the Magnus Institute. These researches were looking for an Antichrist, and conducted by the maybe immortal Jonah Magnus, who had discovered the secret to eternal life and the philosopher's stone exploiting the work of Albertus Magnus.

I am going insane.

Please send opinions and corrections ! I am far from an expert, I'm just a sleep deprived guy who did some research so don't hesitate to correct me ! You won't come out as rude and I won't be offended I promise.

[lurafita]

Stabby McStabberson, aka Alec Lightwood

You know how thought processes are sometimes like driving on the freeway, and then hitting the exit, swerving into a side alley, getting out of the car to vault a wall, and then hunkering down beside a trash can? Anyway, this metaphor might explain how this happened: (very cracky and slightly murderous)

Alec has a secret obsession with stabbing things. Arrows are in fact just long distance stabbing instruments. He has at least five knives on him at any time (unless it's sexy times with Magnus, then another kind of stabbing is being done) His automatic first response to something annoying is to stab it, he has just become very good at not following through with that. (though the others still often have to grab his arm when it makes a motion to the clostest knife he has on his person when dealing with a clave official, Simon or Clary.) (Magnus just takes the hand and intertwines their fingers in those times.) Izzy called him Stabby McStabberson when they were young.

Magnus: "So, my dear shadowhunters, how do we want to deal with this new situation?" Alec: "I have a plan." Magnus: "No stabbing." Alec: "I no longer have a plan."