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voraxiia · 1 year

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𝐕𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐄 ( 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝟏 )

// edited the doc for plotting purposes with a friend , but decided to make it into a post so it's easier for mutuals who want to plot with my vampire muses in the future (രᴗര๑)⸃⸃ this part is some general information about my vamps in my lore , the next part will be specifically about the coven my muses belong to !

ㅤ 𝙿𝙷𝚈𝚂𝙸𝙾𝙻𝙾𝙶𝚈 :

i .ㅤthey’re stronger , more agile , with more endurance / durability and sharper senses . these abilities are also proportional with their energy / blood intake . some older , more powerful vampires do have certain special powers as well , which usually comprise charm , illusions , certain element or energy manipulation , to name a few .

ii .ㅤthey’re immortal as well , but more in the sense that they age a lot slower than humans . while they definitely appear un-ageing to mortals , they do still age , and therefore will still die of old age one far , far day .

iii .ㅤthey do feel bloodthirst , and an instinct to feed , but the intensity of it that makes them go berserk only happens in young / new vampires , or fledglings . it can be detected by their laziness / grogginess when they haven’t fed for a period of time , signs and symptoms similar to anaemic humans , before it progresses gradually into bloodlust .

ㅤㅤㅤolder vampires are usually less likely to get into such a state , because they slowly get used to either ‘ hunger cues ’ their body gives them , or simply the hunger itself .

iv .ㅤthey do not like sunlight , but the degree to which they can tolerate it varies greatly among vampires . some get annoying sunburns of various severity , some get rashes similar to those with photosensitivity , some get dramatic because they just don’t like being under the sun .

ㅤㅤㅤturning to ashes in the sun used to be a warning tale to younger vampires so that they don’t run about and make themselves known to humans during the day , owing to awfully tense human-supernatural relations back then , but some vamps do insist they have seen it happen with their own eyes . there also seems to be a trend where younger / more newly turned vampires nowadays don’t suffer as badly from sun exposure , but they do remain hard to tan .

v .ㅤdepending on the proportion of vampire and human blood in their circulation , turned vampires do show certain signs that are different from both pureblood vampires and humans . while they do get paler as vampiric ‘ blood ’ doesn’t work the way or the speed human blood does , some turned vampires bruise quite easily , probably due to stasis of their human blood . this same change in physiology may give them prominent dark circles as well .

ㅤㅤㅤvampire blood is also the source of their efficient self-healing capacity . purebloods do have the ability to regenerate parts of their body because of this .

vi .ㅤvampires actually don’t need to breathe , their blood doesn’t work the same way human blood does . purebloods may appear to breathe in front of humans , though it’s only because it’s polite , and sometimes humans really do over-react to everything . ugh . turned vampires , on the other hand , continue to breathe physically out of reflex . their muscles are used to doing their job .

ㅤ 𝙾𝚁𝙳𝙴𝚁 :

i .ㅤvampires do have a council of sorts to help cater to their needs , as well as keep them in line . the leaders are made up of influential vampires over the years , from royals to nobles of the past to present , to important military , political , or even economical figures , as well as elder / ancient vampires that have proved themselves capable of helping to maintain order among their own kind . supernaturals and humans do coexist peacefully to an extent , but at the same time , politics may be background influences to certain conflicts that if severe , may even threaten war .

ii .ㅤvampires have to ‘ register ’ themselves to said council , in order to keep their numbers in check , as well as the safety of both vampires from humans , and humans from vampires . it’s a fierce political fight to ensure equality between humans , vampires , and other supernaturals , but all parties stand strong against any chance of discrimination or exploitation .

ㅤㅤㅤtaking into consideration of their nature , vampires can ‘ hunt ’ ( a controversial term to some ) , or feed , but serious harm or killing of individuals or communities is not allowed . the same applies to causing chaos within said communities , as well as whatever occurs the other way around . specific authorities of humans can take action against destructive vampires , specific authorities of the vampires can take action against relentless hunters or whoever threatens the delicate stability between their worlds .

ㅤㅤㅤthe occasional exceptions to this are how no one really bats an eye to the disappearance or death of ‘ vermins ’ of their societies , and corruption . of course , it’s not possible to make sure everything always goes to plan , as there are just so many of them out there .

iii .ㅤvampires can also request for assistance from their council’s blood banks located all over the world , should they find themselves unable to keep their bloodthirst under control by their own means .

ㅤㅤㅤ 𝚃𝚁𝙰𝙽𝚂𝙵𝙾𝚁𝙼𝙰𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽 :

i .ㅤfor one to become a vampire , one has to be bitten by a pureblood , or at least one with enough vampiric blood to dominate the human’s circulation , and be ‘ injected ’ some of said vampiric blood into their system .

ㅤㅤㅤthe change occurs in such a way that it multiplies ( and gets worn ) a lot quicker than red blood cells of humans , while also ‘ poisoning ’ or destroying the human blood so that vampiric blood eventually predominates . this is the cause for the severe reactions that occur during the period of transformation , and a reason why those who had been fed on / had their blood practically drained have a higher chance of turning .

ㅤㅤㅤthe ‘ injection ’ occurs through a particular set of glands vampires have , from which the ‘ venom ’ is delivered through a vampire’s fangs that are actually hollow , much alike what is found in venomous snakes . this anatomy takes time to develop , which is why purebloods have a higher chance of ‘ creating ’ new vampires .

ii .ㅤthe vampire is not always the hunter , the human is not always the prey . drinking vampire blood does have a significant chance of turning a human immortal as well , especially if the human is healthy and unharmed at the time . this is one selfish , ultimate desire of some hunters , or rather , poachers .

ㅤㅤㅤthe vampires they manage to hunt down will often be kept alive , if not shared by groups or crowds in one go , as one would need a continuous source of vampiric blood to stay immortal . it just makes everything more convenient that vampires cannot avoid healing themselves , forever if their human master wanted them to .

#＊╱ lore

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dragonflyght-rising · 3 years

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@directorate-fr here. Could you tell me about Starswallow please? 👉🏼👈🏼💓

yes yes! she's one of my very favorites.

Starswallow was born under a different name to parents on the western Arcane/Plague border. she had three other siblings, and was the runt of the litter. her parents abandoned her there, hoping she'd either vanish or be taken in by someone else. against all odds, she survived!

not knowing who her parents were, and having nobody trustworthy in her life, she turned to the Arcanist. when praying for help, a family, friends- even just some kind of sign, didn't work? she became bitter. she felt that, if nothing else, she deserved to know why he abandoned her.

she was 9 by this point, and spent the next 3 years doing as much research and magic practice as she could. she was quite competent, if narrowly focused on combat. her delusions of grandeur began at this time, and she started to believe that more than deserving answers from the Arcanist, she deserved to *be* him.

a bit after she turned twelve, she began her journey to the Observatory. getting there was anything but easy, but she didn't realize it'd pale in comparison to the next day or so. alternating climbing and flying got her up the first half, until footholds became scare, and her wings were all she had to rely on. updrafts were inviting and easy, and they brought her up faster than she would have ever expected.

missing the first window seemed like an easy mistake, but once she realized the wind had taken her tiny body too high to come back from, panic set in. folding her wings did nothing but get her off-balance, and as she was whipped around, she could see the Observatory getting further and further away. the air started getting thin, and her vision swam. she was aware, faintly, of how much brighter, and *hotter* the stars felt.

flecks of stars were embedded into her skin, burning out the patterns of the cosmos, almost as a record of her hubris. she didn't know how long she floated in that aether before realizing she was plummeting. the instinct to put out her wings and break her fall was a foolish one. she was severely burned but managed to survive, barely making it to the ground. she was tossed all the way into the soft red sands of Plague.

unconsciousness took her for days as her body tried to mend itself. eventually, a wandering tundra happened by her, and took her back to the doctors in his own clan. her wounds were treated, and she woke up. many of the events of the past week had been lost to her for the time being, and she lacked even a name- the tiny sparks floating around her earned her the name Starswallow.

the tundra- who named himself as Mothra- began to take care of her. she was flighty, restless, anxiety-ridden, and deeply traumatized, but his slow approach wore her down. several years and many, many tears later, she's grown into a much happier, healthier young lady, and resides in the new clan with her adoptive father and several cousins, whom she gets along with swimmingly.

she's gotten mobility aids to prevent her from dropping out of the sky while gliding, and is quick on her feet now, preferring to run wherever she needs to, or catch a ride on a larger dragon if need be. her antennae will never grow back, unfortunately, but she doesn't miss them too bad. she does wonder, sometimes, what her life would have been like with caring birth parents... but really, she can't imagine a better life than she has now.

#my lore is dramatic and varied and i will keep it that way #i hope you enjoy! and thank you SO much for asking???#you have no idea how happy i was and am!!#Starsie is easily my favorite dragon ever and i spoil her sm #i commissioned her a unique skin #and spent months debeloping her lore and ideas and abilities #she sheds star-sparks when she experiences strong emotion #and her forehead jewel is a star ruby #or at least resembles one #shes also got a big chip in her beak because she was nutrient deprived and it got brittle #she was like 4-5 when it happened and has never grown over and never will #AAA i love her #thabk you again!!!

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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 2 years

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Is it weird that I think the vignettes and event stories are better than the main story? The main story just seems so unnecessarily dramatic and angst to me. What do you think? You obviously don't need to answer this if you don't want to. Im just curious.

I think that the vignettes and event stories give entirely different vibes than the main story does, but in my opinion, neither is “better” than the other. The way they’re framed fundamentally serves different purposes, and they all contribute to the charm of Twisted Wonderland in their own ways.

The main story focuses on a specific narrative (the whole isekai’d thing), and as a result, it’s forced to follow a certain path in every chapter, with Yuu somehow getting involved in a conflict, then eventually building up to the OB and the resolution. This can get formulaic, but I think TWST generally does a good job of switching things up to keep the players engaged. I also think that the main story definitely has more of a lean toward drama and angst (especially the deeper you get into the main story), but I don’t believe that’s a bad thing. This kind of content IS valuable and necessary at times, because if everything is already happy, then no one evolves or gets any better. What the main story does well is homing in on a few choice characters per chapter (namely the OB boy) and their dorm mates) and their issues. It has the advantage of having enough time to elaborating on its ideas, but at the cost of maybe not knowing other characters as well (even in subsequent main story chapters), and/or being forced to find a consistent way to keep Yuu relevant to the conflicts (as Yuu is the audience surrogate character).

The vignettes and event stories are a lot more lighthearted, varied in themes, and have the chance to expand on things not addressed in the main story, such as the lore of the world and how the characters spend their days in school and with their free time. We get to see how different characters engage with each other, rather than be forced into the perspective of Yuu and/or Grim. Because of this, vignettes and event stories feel much more liberating than the main story, which feels extremely structured and rigid by comparison. The advantage that vignettes and event stories have is the freedom to build off the amazing characters and world that TWST has already established, without the pressure of having to say something profound or to shoehorn a way to get Grim and/or MC heavily involved in it. Unfortunately, vignettes and event stories tend to feel shallow because they can never be as long as the main story is, and it can be hard to keep up with them since they’re so numerous and might be locked behind time gates and the gacha system.

I think sometimes people can get too caught up in what is “better” and what is “worse” that we don’t stop to realize that everything (main story, vignettes, and/or event stories, voice lines, etc.) has worth.

#twst #twisted wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #twst en #twisted wonderland en #notes from the writing raven #question

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purgatoriorpg · 3 years

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admin c-senpai, please, if it’s not a bother, can you please give us some writing tips? you’re so talented, I’m literally shocked, no joke, your writing is flawless!!!! The aesthetic??? On point

Anon, this is so lovely of you to say. Thank you!! It depends on what kind of writing you’re talking about as I find depending on the format or purpose, your approach and style can change dramatically to suit those needs. But in general, here are some things off the top of my head that have helped me over the years:

PRACTICE: I hate the cliche of this but truly practice makes perfect. I’ve been writing or roleplaying in some shape or form for 10+ years. No matter how long or short the writing was, or how objectively “good” or well thought-out, everything I’ve ever written has helped me become a better writer. Writing is a craft and a skill, the more you do it, the more you’ll grow and learn how to be even better. Write badly, begin with self-forgiveness.

VOCABULARY: I don’t know if this is still considered a taboo anywhere? but I write with Google Thesaurus always open. Not because I deliberately want to write ‘purple prose’ or sound more elevated but because my short-term memory doesn’t always contain all the vocabulary that I actually know and sometimes you need a different / unique / more interesting word to articulate what you want to say in a sentence. I love finding more interesting ways to phrase a particular sentence — especially if it adds dynamism or rhythm to the sentence / imagery / moment. I also used to keep a list of favourite words / phrases that I would refer to for inspiration, collect your own favourite words and sprinkle them in your writing for flavour.

VARIATION: One of the easiest ways to make your writing more interesting and readable is to vary your sentence structure and style. Each sentence has a rhythm and sense of beat — if you were to read it out loud, what would it sound like? Using longer words, longer phrases and clauses will lengthen the feeling and emotion whereas shorter, sharper sentences and simpler words will strike closer to the heart. The best examples of this are where poets and authors will drop in a short punchy three or four word sentence (or even just a single word) to punctuate a verse or paragraph. It’s where they put emphasis. Use structure to build momentum and atmosphere, and also to hit hard and fast when you need it to.

REFERENCES: Everything I’ve ever written has been full of references to all my favourite things — mythology, divinity and biblical lore, classic literature, etc. It’s also an easy way to craft metaphors and imagery that immediately create associations in your audience’s mind. This is basically where having a place where you collect your inspirations and favourite quotes comes in handy. Also Pinterest boards, Spotify playlists, etc.

STRUCTURE: This depends on what you’re writing but even in roleplay where things are spontaneous and unplotted, I always try to go into a thread with a rough idea of what I want my character to have said / felt / done by the end of the interaction. It might be down to my Capricorn Moon but I love structure, I love having things plotted and planned down to the very last detail. Roleplay interactions don’t fit perfectly into this formula because you want to use your chemistry with your partner and let your characters’ imaginations run wild, but you can have an idea of the ‘end goal’ of the thread, i.e. the point that you need to arrive at by the end. I approach all roleplay ideas with this question: “What needs to happen at the end of this event / scene / thread?” So even if you don’t know what exactly will happen, you know what the end point is and how you get there will just unravel organically in real-time writing.

IMAGERY: Imagery is probably the thing I’ve spent the most time unconsciously perfecting and refining throughout my time writing and roleplaying. Every character I write has a specific aesthetic and set of references I’ll call on and repeatedly use throughout their writing, e.g. an actor or dramatic character — Shakespeare, plays & theatre, tragedy; the head of a crime syndicate — war, blood, divine violence, biblical references; a young prince — the Trojan War, Greek mythology, sun imagery; a doctor — surgery & death, the Reaper, flowers & immortality. This is one of the ways I paint a specific image and vibe for my characters that translates through to everything I write — metaphors / similes / analogies / everything that goes into a response becomes infused with those particular references and aesthetics. I also really like using specific occupations, disciplines or hobbies to explore a character’s mindset and terminology e.g. science, engineering, music, medicine, astronomy, art. A musically inclined character doesn’t merely pause, they’re resting between beats, their silences are interludes, or a conductor’s wand hovering in the air before the next movement, their movements are a violin bow singing through the air, their laughter is a cadenza, their grief is an elegy or a requiem. You can do the same with literally everything — scientists that are obsessed with the stars, or death, or immortality, or nature; engineers that approach everything like a schematic, a problem to be solved or deconstructed. Your character’s worldview frames the unique language you can use and the way you describe them.

MOTIVATION: My final bit of advice is probably something I’ve arrived at and become clearer about in more recent years, which is, understanding your character’s root motivations. To write a really compelling and interesting character, you need to know what drives them and what makes them tick. This is why in the application for this roleplay, the first thing I ask is the Impetus. What would your character kill for? What would they die for? Push them to the extreme, and dig deep into what their core is. When you know this, it informs everything you write about that character. They have purpose, they have a reason to do XYZ. Every character in a story needs purpose to be interesting, otherwise they’re just floating around without meaning. Even characters that lack purpose want something, and that something should shape their actions and development. Ultimately, knowing what your character wants outlines their ‘plot arc’ in your story or roleplay. Their goal is what they will achieve at the end. They will experience obstacles, develop / progress / regress, and encounter allies / antagonists on their journey to achieve this goal. Whether you love or hate a character, someone with a strongly defined purpose and motivation will always capture people’s attention.

#answered.

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grumpy-zane · 3 years

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((Idk what to title this. DOTD stuff/Royal Blacksmith HC lore.

WARNING: this is long.))

Dareth ran the tablecloth up and down the counter, scrubbing out the spots that had ring stains to the beat of the song cracking from the radio. It was still too early in the evening to open up shop, but he didn't mind the wait. It gave him a lot of time to double check everything and re-count inventory. He flicked off the radio and on the TV, leaning on the counter to catch the news.

Nothing important was happening today, unless you counted traffic jams as a lethal city attack, and it was the perfect weather to hit the beach according to the news. No doubt Gayle was trying to find something to talk about, but, "Not a single story to get a scoop out of today, miss reporter," he spoke to the screen. Eyeing the window, he contemplated going out for an hour to catch some rays. Not that he needed it immediately, but he had notice that his tan was starting to fade as of late.

Knocking against the door pulled him from his thoughts. "We're not open yet, come back in three hours!" Dareth called, hoping his voice carried though the thick wood.

"Not a patron!" A prideful voice muffled back.

"Lou?" He stood up and answered the door. "Lou! Good to see ya, how have you been?"

"Well I've been just wonderful," he smiled and stepped inside, taking a seat at the bar while Dareth returned to his position, "I stopped by to talk to you about Day of the Departed plans."

"You know me, always room in my schedule for that. That's a few months away though, right?"

"Yes, but its always good to plan these things far in advance. Anyway, the other day when I was going through the archives, It hit me that I never let Cole experience how the Royal Blacksmiths formed."

Dareth lowered the TV volume, "Wait, I thought Cole didn't want to be a Blacksmith?"

"No, of course not! But its family history that I think he and his friends should know.. on top of a performance of course! That’s why I've come to you! We need the Jade Palace rented out." Lou beamed.

Bewilderment struck across his face, "Lou. You can't just rent out the Jade Palace- sure the city rebuilt it and turned it into a memorial.. museum.. actually I haven't been inside. But! Isn't that a little 'out there' in terms of.. you know.."

He laughed, "That’s why I came to you! You know how to make the impossible work out! And it's perfect too! 'The Royal Blacksmiths perform at the Jade Palace: a Historical Unraveling', I can see the headline now." He looked up, picturing the scenario in his mind.

Dareth folded his arms and thought about it. No doubt he'd have to talk to a rabbit hole of people just to pull it off, at least Lou came to him about it now rather than one week in advanced. "I'll see what I can do," he sighed.

"Haha, yes! I knew I could count on you!" He jumped up and headed towards the door, "I'll give you more details once I flesh them out. This is going to be so much fun!" The door shut in excitement.

---------

"You said your dad planned something?" Jay popped a few pieces of candy in his mouth, "something about the palace?"

"Yeah," he reached over and dug into the bag, grabbing out a taffy. "He said he had something special for the team- more importantly me, but he extended the invitation. He said something about Blacksmith history, I just hope he doesn’t drone on and on." Cole rolled his eyes.

"It sounds like you didn't have a very good experience with this in the past?"

He shrugged, "My dad was never a 'when I was your age' person, but he was a 'your great great whatever' person when it came to performing. I didn't like listening to it, so I never payed much attention."

The two climbed the front stairway just as people were departing. so much for making the show, but at least they weren’t absurdly late and didn’t leave Lou waiting half an hour. Kai and Nya looked away from the entry way and waved at the two, drawing the attention of Dareth was was hovering around the side walls. He whistled, Lou snapping away from the conversation of the quartet and smiling. “Cole! Jay! there you two are!”

“Hey dad-” the two hugged, “sorry we missed the performance. Crime never rests.”

“Yeah, luckily Pixal and Zane took over for us.” Jay chirped, “So, a story? Will it be in the form of a song?”

He laughed and rested a hand on Cole’s shoulder, leading the two up through the entrance. “No, no, I’m afraid not. The boys want to call it early tonight, so it’s going to just be me.” Lou nodded to the rest of his group, the three calling their goodnights and goodbyes. “So, you said two of you aren’t showing up, what about Lloyd?”

Jay and Cole exchanged glanced, then repeated the motion with Kai and Nya.Usually everyone would be here, but the S.O.G. no doubt made him rethink things in regards to his father. “I’ll keep a look out for him,” Dareth waved a hand and smirked, “I already got the low-down and I’ll get him up to speed. You guys enjoy the tour.”

The interior was much like it was before the destruction, though more antique fitted for the occasion, no doubt. Glass cases displayed attire and relics of an older time; worn armor stood tall on wooden racks, faded paintings hung beneath special lights, weapons held vertically reflected the gold trimmings surrounding them, and masks hung from the walls. Lou proudly walked past the displays to a dark lit wall, “As all of you know who the Royal Blacksmiths are, I won’t e going over that. Instead, I want to start from the very beginning.” He flicked on a light, illuminating the wall with a portrait through a lamp. “Before there were Blacksmiths, there were entertainers. This group of four traveled through Ninjago by foot, performing tricks no one had seen before! Their acts drew the attention of the Royal Family, who’s prince was delighted by their performances! So much so, that he invited them to perform at the palace.”

Cole tried not to sigh, feeling deja vu from this spiel. Taking a look around, it seemed like no one else was feeling the same. Whether that was for better or worse...

“Mr. Compère, You’re needed!” Lou jumped with the rest of the group, the masked man wrapped his arm around the Blacksmith, his attire making him look out of place, hailing from a lost time.

“M-Mr. Compère?” He sputtered.

“Yes, the King wants to see what we can do!” He was promptly pulled away, the person stopping to look back at the stunned Ninja. “You best be making your way to the stage if you don’t want to miss the performance.” He held up a finger to the lips of the mask, dispersing away into smoke.

Jay gawked, “Did you just SEE THAT?!”

“Who was that?” Kai asked, Cole pushing everyone aside.

“I dunno, but I don’t like the sound of what he has planned. Come on!”

Grand pillars held up the octagonal roof, the rafters danging dozens of lights of varying color, each held at a height that pointed down to the stage. The squad shoved open the doors, weapons brandished ready to fight when they were once again dumbstruck. On the far side the king sat, his green robes draping over his armored body. The Jade undertones in the trimming angled in a way that drew attention to his pale face, his dark eyes watching intently at the four masked men who stood in a circle with their backs on the inside. Among the four, one rose up an instrument: a lyre, intricately carved in ancient Ninjagian. The notes that escaped it echoed in the large room, the lights flickering as the air reacted to the music. The other three drew comically long blades, lifting them to the air and spinning around in a dance.

“The King and his son watched as their performance spelled out the story of a bard, One of which caught in plans that would prove to be quite fatal,” Lou’s voice spoke from the upper floor. As if on queue, one of the masked figured drove their sword into the other, shocking the royalty as the other two dropped to the floor dramatically. The bard only paused, returning to his playing once again. Another masked person stabbed their sword through, followed by the third, but the playing did not cease. This frightened the assailants, the person turning and gliding towards them, scaring them off stage. “It was such a grand display of endurance, that the King thought it would be foolish to simply send them away without compensation. Thus, he dubbed the ensemble, ‘The Royal Blacksmiths’, entertainers of the Royal Family.”

Cole lead the way around the lower balcony, the lights above blowing out suddenly before flickering back on. The stage had dramatically changed, one of that reflect a circus. The ringleader faced the four who had taken a seat next to the railing. Kai blinked, “Hey is that-”

“Ladies, and Gentlefolk, Tonight’s performance is none other than The Wondrous, Illustrious, Roooyaall Blacksmiths!” He brown cape flew as he lifted an arm to them, the curtains flying open as a large tiger leapt forward. One of the blacksmiths, wearing a black suit and white face paint with red accents, jogged across the ring, leading the large cat around the obstacles and through the tubes. From the other side, another Blacksmith ran out, performing flips through the same obstacle course and landing on a rolling board. A third leapt over the back curtain, landing in the hold of the rolling one who lifted them elegantly. The fourth emerged in a cloud of smoke, holding an arm out to the Ringleader who promptly through his hat and cane.

“Cole, That’s your dad!” Jay giddily squealed, pointing at the center circle.

“What?!”

Lou gently bowed, spinning the cane around and throwing it into the air, catching it and tossing it up again even higher. “No more was the need to act plays and stories, the people wanted to see something extraordinary, and so it was!” Lou shouted, barely turning around in time to see the tiger leap from the back curtains again.

“Dad look out-!” Cole leapt up from his seat, gripping the railing as the tiger fell into the hat and disappeared completely. Lou caught the cane and tossed it up again, winking at his son as he whipped the hat directly at him. It spun back around just out of reach and out of the light. The wheeling blacksmith sped up their circles, tossing the other into the air and catching the cane. The other landed next to Lou, striking a pose as the third slid out from the curtain on the other side. Lou kept his hands raised, marching in place as the cane was tossed up again. He grabbed it just as the last smith found his place behind the three, sparks exploding from the end of the cane like fireworks. The hat finally came back around which he promptly caught, lowering it to the ground and letting a small house cat step out of it.

“But it was so, that the life of excitement wasn’t something everyone could handle. Generations of building up elaborate stunts were daunting to the eyes of a junior, and so he chose a different approach,” Lou spoke as the quartet began humming various pitches. “He thought no one should bear to hear such noises that left ears ringing, Instead he came up with a new plan! One that involved singing!” He held the last word on a high note.

The tiger let out a low grumble, its purring distracting everyone to look at the side wall. “Oh nuts,” Dareth, the ringleader, smiled sheepishly, gently scratching the large cat under the chin.

Lou cleared his throat, “And so here we are now, carrying out the tradition to entertain no matter the form, display, or song. I hope you all enjoyed the performances, you especially, Cole.” He smiled up at his son.

Jay barged into the conversation, “That. Was. Awesome!”

“How did you pull it all off??” Nya asked, beaming.

“I would have never guessed that it was that deep,” Kai mirrored their excitement, “who knew?”

Cole leapt down from the balcony and approached his father, “You did all of this, just for me?”

“Of course, Cole, It’s family history!.. and I wanted to let you know that, not everyone in our historical line wanted to do what their fore-fathers did. I’m proud of you, that you’re a ninja, It gives me a lot to write and sing about!” He gripped Cole’s shoulder and laughed, pulling him into a half hug.

The other ninja had leapt down, asking the others as the group of performers congregated in the pit. It was a shame that Zane, Pixal, and Lloyd missed it, but Cole was sure that Kai had recorded at least part of it on his phone for his social media followers. The earth ninja eyed around at the general happiness, content with it, and leaned against his dad. “Happy Day of the Departed, dad.”

He squeezed him back, chuckling, “Happy Day of the departed.”

#ninjago #Lou #Dareth #cole #jay #nya #kai #the royal blacksmiths

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sleemo · 5 years

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But first: “You’ll learn an awful lot about the Knights of Ren very, very fast in this book,” Sliney teases.

“I think when that first page shows up in previews it’s going to land so hard,” adds Soule.

Soule was inspired by motorcycle gangs, classic Westerns, and Samurai tales as he dramatized some of the lore behind the masked marauders. “They can all use the Force, the dark side of the Force, to varying degrees,” he reveals. “They’re not as powerful as a Jedi or a Sith, but they use it when they fight…. They have some sort of a code, like a motorcycle gang, but it’s not elaborate. They’re flexible.” Like all good galactic thugs and scoundrels, they’re in it for themselves. “Mostly they’re just kind of out to live their lives the way they want to live them and take what the galaxy will give them and eat what the dark side sends,” Soule says.

The story also introduces a trio of Ben’s classmates, survivors of the Jedi temple destruction by virtue of being off-world on a mission at the time of its collapse. In the first issue, surveying the aftermath and Ben Solo standing among the wreckage, one of these students asks, “Should we call his mother?”

The answer is no. Soule says as much as he enjoys writing the character of Leia, he used her sparingly in this story. “I would like her to be in the book more than she is because I think Will draws a beautiful Leia Organa,” he says. “But ultimately this story is about Ben Solo…. I think because of what the journey is, he has to go through it by himself. And we’ve seen how attached he is to his mother in the films. If Leia was too much of a presence in it, I think his journey might not have gone the same way. And I think if you look at the larger architecture of the Star Wars galaxy around this time, I think there are a lot of things happening that are being specifically engineered to keep Leia away from Ben. Read into that what you will. Just as there is a long game being played with Anakin, I think there is a long game being played with Ben Solo as well.”

And of course, the story will include Snoke, Kylo Ren’s dark side master, although not like you’ve ever seen him before. “There’s an awesome moment towards the end of issue one where he first meets Snoke and…Snoke is very different in this book,” Soule says. “And the way he acts toward Ben and the way that Ben is with him is very different than he is in Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, which is on purpose.”

A new myth

Soule and Sliney have both been imagining their own versions of this particular tale ever since they saw The Force Awakens, although neither dared to think they might one day be part of the story’s official telling.

“It was a shock,” Soule says of getting the call from Lucasfilm Publishing. “I can’t believe that I’m the guy who gets to write that. Of course I had been thinking about it on a fan level from the minute I saw The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, but the idea that I would be writing it down was never in my mind until this past summer. And then I just dug in as hard as I could to really try to make a really good Star Wars story.” The final tale takes its cues from the saga’s mythological roots while trying to answer the question on everyone’s mind: How did Ben Solo, the son of two heroes of the Rebellion and the nephew of a Jedi Master fall so far to the darkness?

“You want it to feel like the really big mythological moments feel from Star Wars whether it’s the Mustafar battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan or the throne room battle at the end of Jedi,” Soule says. “These are the moments where the fate of the Force, the fate of the galaxy, and the balance of the Force, all these things are on the scales being weighed. And this book, if we do it right, should be building and building and building to a moment where Ben makes a choice and you understand why he does it and you realize he had no choice, even though he thinks he’s making one. That’s what the story’s supposed to be. That’s what happened to Anakin. If we do our job right, it will feel utterly inevitable and also utterly preventable, which is the tragedy of the whole story.”

#kylo ren #ben solo #anakin skywalker #leia organa #the rise of kylo ren #sw comics #star wars #charles soule #interview #will sliney

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littleeyesofpallas · 5 years

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Guilty Gear has always been a series just dripping with style thanks to the wildly varied talents and tastes of Ishiwatari Daisuke. But in the sizable cast of rock’n’roll and heavy metal inspired fighters, one of my all time favorite designs has been the dramatic redesign of Baiken in Guilty Gear Xrd. Let me break down why!

So starting with her design in general, the origin story goes that Ishiwatari Daisuku saw an illustration of Himura Kenshin, from the manga Rurouni Kenshin, and liking the design, but mistaking Kenshin for a woman, based Baiken’s early art off of that. Her earliest art seems pretty in line with that, right down to the red hair, but notably that hair changed colors, shifting towards more of a deep pink. Her name, Baiken [梅喧] is written with the kanji meaning “Plum” and ”Noisy/Uproarious.”

Like many flowering plants, the word can refer directly to either the fruit, the tree, or the flower; and many common girls names in Japanese use the names of flower. The name Baiken thus reads as a kind of self descriptor, communicating the idea of a “Loud & rambunctious woman.” The plum blossom is also where her hair color and various emblazoned clothing designs come from.

Her one-eyed, one-armed swordswoman gimmick is also a direct reference to a number of sources. Initially the overt reference in her design is to the character Tange Sazen, a character from a series of films from the 30s, 50s, and 60s. (themselves, spinoffs of a serial novel from the 20s.) But there have also been three Lady Sazen films, further spinoffs depicting a genderbent version of the iconic character.

In her updated Xrd design, she covers her scarred eye with a curious kind of accessory: a katana crossguard (tsuba) under the lens of a single-eyed aviator goggle. The eyepatch is a reference to another famous swordsman character, Yagyuu Juubei. Unlike Sazen, Juubei was in fact a real historical figure, although much of his reputation is built upon folk lore or pure fiction. Juubei has become a name synonymous with eyepatch wearing swordsmen (sometimes samurai, sometimes ninja), whether they are meant to be the legendary character himself, or simply named after him. And the distinctive tsuba eyepatch is derived from his portrayal by martial arts actor Sonny Chiba in various chanbara films and TV shows from the 70s and 80s.

The aviator goggles are a bit more obtuse, in part because they aren’t entirely accurate, but the flight goggles (as well as the combat boots) are evocative of Japan’s kamikaze pilots. The small issue is that the WWII model goggles were larger and rounder, where as the particular flat angled lens are more distinctive of the British RAF. The combat boots, also evoking a bit of a soldier aesthetic, are cut into sandals in the style of a samurai’s suneate and waraji.

But of course the most noticeable addition to her wardrobe is the school uniform she wears over her shoulders like a half-cape. The school uniform itself is an older, and nowdays lesser used, style called a gakuran; once a fairly ubiquitous style, in modern Japan it’s relegated to middle schoolers, rather than high schoolers. The particular open style of it however is derived from equally outdated Yankii and Banchou aesthetics: a kind of high school delinquent archetype that was popular in manga and even film in the 70s and 80s. Of note here is that she still leans on the Banchou look with the boys’ uniform, and not something from the image of the Sukeban (the girl gang archetype of the same era) lending her a bit of an androgynous vibe. (one somewhat unfortunately offset by her enormous breasts.)

She’s also sporting a fun skull design that is a pretty obvious attempt at a legally distinct spin on the Misfits logo. It’s a nice way to compliment the delinquent theme while also tying her to the Punk genre. Most of the Guilty Gear cast are themed around various rock bands and musicians, but Baiken has always been one of just a handful that are curiously non-musically themed. Kind of a shame they don’t throw more of the Horror Punk aesthetic in there, though.

Additionally, while she wears a pretty normal looking kimono and kind of silly sarashi (the body wrap that confusingly ISN’T binding her gigantic breasts into place), her belt and makeshift half-cape are tied with a kind of braided and tasseled cord called a Fusa-himo. A Fusa-himo is generally not an article of clothing; it can be used in decoration and for binding a sword sheathe, but as clothing it’s generally considered a synonym for a western aiguillette, used in military uniforms. I can’t really tell if its more evocative of a soldier or of a katana decoration in the way it’s used here.

And speaking of accessories, just a handful of other little samurai goodies that really give her character some flavor and texture:

Samurai strut: a distinctive chin up(looking down on others), chest out swagger originating in the character acting of Kabuki theater, but taken more directly from the body language of actors on film in classic chanbara film.

Tatami-Gaeshi: “Mat block.” A film cliche of samurai and ninja fiction where an ambushed warrior upturns a tatami mat from the floor of the room he’s in to defend himself.

Nuguigami: Wiping paper used in traditional sword cleaning (which she of course has to used with her mouth, mixed with the Falling Paper/Leaves/Silk cutting cliche from samurai fiction.

Kiseru: The traditional Japanese tobacco pipe with metal bowl and mouthpiece. The Kabuki-mono (a sub-culture of gaudy, rowdy, and generally socially disruptive samurai in the 1500-1600s) were known to carry large Kiseru as one of their many ways of showing off, but given how prone to bar brawls they were, it was said some were so large (and considering their metal components) they could be used to fend off attacks from a sword.

Hyoutan: The hollowed Calabash gourd used to store sake.

Manriki & Tekko-kagi: The weighted chain weapon and hand claw she keeps concealed in her empty sleeve.

Kanabou: In her Xrd design, the simple metal claw was changed into an iron club with retractable clawed joints.

O-zutsu & Taihou: Her lacquered handcannon and full size cannon that she pulls out of her loose sleeve.

The fullsized cannon is decorated with a Shisa head: an Okinawan guard dog statue, related to the Chinese lion-dogs, but identifiable by its distinctive tightly curled mane pattern.

#guilty gear #guilty gear xrd #baiken #weebshit

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keepersofeorzea · 4 years

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LFRP - MAIN - Raylin Nadia

Basics:

Name: Raylin Nadia Alias: Stray, Ray, etc. Age: Early to mid 20's Birthday: 4th Sun of the 4th Umbral Moon Race: Keeper of the Moon - Miqo'te Alignment: Chaotic Neutral Identity: Female (concept of self is fluid but they are not knowledgeable in that subject) Sexuality: Demi-sexual/Pan-romantic/Polyamourous

Appearance:

Weight: 150 ponze Height: 5 fulm 4 ilm Hair: Black with white/silver undertones, usually cut short and plain. Eye color: Heterochromia (Green/Blue) Common accessories or markings: Has a kink in her tail. Facial scars on cheek and near eye, has a few tattoos from her tribe. Usually wears masks or eye coverings. Her clothing style varies depending on location/what she’s currently doing - she adjusts to her surroundings.

Personal:

Personality: To those that aren't familiar to Raylin, she may seem curious although reserved, though the closer and more trust they gain, she becomes more sardonic and easy-going. She's mischievous and knowledge-thirsty, easily tossing self preservation to the side if she finds something worthy of risk. Profession: Although her roots have been an adventurer and healer for hire, she's more of a dabbler of trades. Still an adventurer at heart, she mainly deals with her inn and apothecary, though is known to take a break to go back to her roots or work on something new. She's always looking in underground markets for knowledge in the form of books and recipes, even secrets or anything else that could be made of value, unbeknownst to her normal clients and comrades. Hobbies: She dabbles in crafts and in various forums of combat, unfortunately due to constantly keeping busy she doesn't seem to get much sleep and seems to be perpetually tired underneath her masks. Her main passion is forbidden magics and long lost alchemy and knowledge. Faith: Worshiper of Menphina, Sophia, Dawn and Dusk dreadwryms, Nymeia, and Nophica. She's a shroud-borne Meracydian thus her beliefs are a mixture of both, especially after being taken in by a Gridianian Wildwood Elzen in her youth. Languages: Meracydian, Eorzean, bastardized Draconian. She's proficient in Allag, Nymian, and other old languages but she's no expert.

RP Hooks:

Seeker of Forbidden: Known in unseedy places as Stray, her lust for forbidden tomes and rare things like soul-stones or old recipes for potions and poisons and even cursed items is well known. Perhaps you have knowledge of such items or perhaps you have items for trade? She’s also always on the lookout for translators that are client confidential, and maybe you’re the one with those skills! Healer/Apothecarian: Known in the Shroud and in Adventuring Guilds, she's known to help most if not everyone regardless of their standing or lack thereof. Especially helping those turned away from official Hearers of Gridania. Inn Keeper/FC Leader: As Raylin, she's also known to run an inn from the base of her Free Company’s (Knights of Meracydia) home base. From an outsider's perspective it seems like an East meets West Bathhouse and Inn, though in underground groups is known as a good place to conduct business without much suspicion due to the nature of the Inn. Partially gimmicky, the Yellowjackets pay little mind to the clientele, but members of the rogue's guild know its also a good place to gather information due to the various clientele. Though as ever, it also serves as a good home looking for a place to call their own. Adventurer: Being an adventurer has always resonated with Raylin, thus no matter how busy she keeps, she is always on the look out for a 'break' to return to her roots.

OOC Info:

Character location: Adamantoise, Aether Server! Availability: On discord Raylin Nadia#1191, Tumblr (shades-of-tedium), and in game. Due to having chronic pain and a job, sometimes I get on later but am always contactable via discord or Tumblr. Usually on later on in the day or afternoons PST time zone. RP Style: I am OK with lore bending! But try not to lore break ^^ so am pretty open to most things. I am more into the connections and character development part of roleplay. So please do not expect me to be down for ERP, as it's rarely my cup of tea. I dont care if that’s what people are looking for, it’s not what I am looking for, thanks in advance for understanding! I’m fond of adventure, dramatic, and even dark and morbid subjects but am even down for slice of life! As long as rivalries, friendships, and other connections are made, I’m down for the story that comes along the way! Im also always down to OOC contact first before any rp as well to get plotting before hand. I’m also very anxious so have difficulties asking people to RP first ;v; so please know I dont bite and am also trying my best to make friends so any help will be appreciated!

#Raylin Nadia Bio #Raylin Nadia LFRP #LFRP Adamantoise Server #Aether LFRP #FFXIV LFRP

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shidoukanae · 5 years

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Things I plan to do in SWSH longfics to fix the story of the games:

-Make Leon an actual competent Champion. In one fanfic he will be an antagonist and in one he will be a Good Guy but both fanfics will still feature him as a competent Champion who knows how to run his region. He’ll also play prominent roles in each fanfic that vary wildly from each other but ;) he’s gonna be fun to write for either way

-Bede. I’m making him the mean jerk rival with a heart of gold I was snubbed of in both of my fanfics. In Tamerverse his meanness will be toned down but in Galarverse he will be very much what I had hoped for from him. Both of them will feature his canon background story of being an orphan but I will propose two different takes on how Bede deals with that status as well as how it impacts his split character arcs. He can be summed up in both fanfics as “jerk rival who plays a very vital role in the plot”.

-Sonia. In both fanfics she will be given waaaay more relevance and be relegated to a minor if not MAJOR character. In Tamerverse she plays a big role in helping the main characters and in Galarverse she is my take on her if I was allowed to write her into the plot of the games. Suffice to say she is going to play a huge part in the plots of both fanfics because I would remiss to leave her out of them.

-Oleana. I will DEFINITELY be giving Oleana more plot relevance than that mess she got in SwSh. She will have the same role in both fanfics as Rose’s secretary but suffice to say that both variations of Oleana are wildly different due to the setting of the plots. Let’s just say she’s a formidably scary ice queen in one fanfic and in the other she’s an ominous presence who knows more than she lets on...

-Rose. Won’t say much about him except I’m reworking him in both works. Don’t like his canon interpretation though some ideas are stolen from canon to recreate him. He’ll be as you’d expect him to be in one fanfic and in another he’ll completely surprise you. Or, if I’m lucky, he’ll surprise you in both fanfics and rob you blind before you know it hjfggfhj

-Marnie. In Tamerverse AU she’s kickass but mysterious for reasons I don’t want to get into quite yet. Will play major roles in each of the stories. As one of the three rivals, she will be given huge amounts of plot prevalence in each universe and you’ll definitely want to keep an eye on her :3c

-Hop. Tamerverse him is close to canon him (okay, close-ish) while Galarverse him is as you might expect. I have surprises in store for him in both fanfics though and suffice to say that his role in the plot in my fanfics will not adhere to canon. Look forward to him ;3c

-Story. Both fanfics will feature stories that loosely adhere to canon but are wildly different from it. Lore will likely be my own in Galarverse while lore in Tamerverse will be a mix of my own and Tamerverse lore. Do not plan to copy many major story points from the games only a few here and there. Just the ones that make the most sense to me, anyways, and can be reinterpreted into a plausible yet more dramatic and sensical light :P

Tamerverse will be more in line with canon than Galarverse but both will still feature wildly different takes on the plot. Suffice to say I try to make sense of what Sword and Shield has given us because after that mess I can only go up from here hjfghjgf

#story spoilers #pokemon sword and shield #leon #bede #sonia #Marnie #Rose #Oleana #Hop #longfic stuff

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gracie-bird · 5 years

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youtube

NBC MONITOR RADIO 1954 NEW YORK FILM CRITIC AWARDS WITH SYDNEY SMITH.

Interviews took place in the famed Sardis Restaurant in New York City (in a series along with Rudy Vallee, Thelma Ritter, Ben Grower, Loring Smith, Vincent Sardy)

TRANSCRIPTION BELOW:

NBC: “Hi, I just have to talk to you, will you excuse me… Always for Grace Kelly. And sitting opposite me now is lovely Grace Kelly. Welcome and congratulations.”

GRACE: “Thank you, very very much”

NBC: “Well now, you are a real Triple Threat’ girl as they say in the business because you won it for Rear Window,’ for ‘Dial M for Murder,’ and ‘The Country Girl’ – all quite different parts, weren't they?”

GRACE: “Yes, they were. I was very grateful for the chance to play such varied roles.”

NBC: “Tell me something, how did you get started in motion pictures? You came from television originally?”

GRACE: “Well my first part in pictures came when people from Fox saw me in ‘The Father’ with Raymond Massey and Mady Christians, and I went out to do a small part in a picture called ‘Fourteen Hours’ and that was my first part. And then I went on to do ‘High Noon,’ and after that, I signed my contract with MGM and went to Africa to do ‘Mogambo.’

NBC: “Have you travelled very much since you´ve started making pictures?”

GRACE: “¡Oh, yes! I´ve been very lucky. I´ve been to so many wonderful places. I´ve been to Africa and to France, and South America and London.”

NBC: “¡Oh, yes! that is exciting. I hear you´re going back to Africa. Is that true, or is that just gossip in the papers?”

GRACE: “Well there is talk about it, but I don't think it will be for a couple years.”

NBC: “Well now, how does a young lady coming from legitimate theatre and television go out to Hollywood and get so many pictures in one year? You´re really quite a… well, I don´t know what, but you must have the magic touch. How did you do it?”

GRACE: “Well it´s sheer luck! Really, I happened to be there when all of these things came my way. It was a freak thing, and I´m very, very grateful for it.”

NBC: “That´s very sweet and I think not only should you be so sweet to say something like that, but absolutely you´ve proved it in every sense of the word that you´re so capable and that you´ve done such a marvellous job. We have another picture of yours now at the Music Hall, “The Bridges of Toko-Ri.” How did you do that? Did you do that in Hollywood too?”

GRACE: “Sí, most of the company went to Japan, but I was filming ‘Rear Window’ at the time and couldn´t go. I was very sorry about that, but when the company came back from Tokyo I worked with them at the studios at Paramount.”

NBC: “What are you up to now?”

GRACE: “Well I was just out to the Coast for a quick visit this week. I left on Tuesday and came back on Friday. It was my quickest trip to date. I went out to talk to the studio about future plans. There´s nothing definite so far but there are several things we´re talking about.”

NBC: “Let me see now… you went out to Hollywood when was that exactly?”

GRACE: “Tuesday”

NBC: “No, I mean the first time, to make the first picture…”

GRACE: “The first time was in 1951.”

NBC: “And how many pictures have you made since that time. It´s 1955 now, just 1955.”

GRACE: “I´ve made nine.”

NBC: “9 pictures… That´s a wonderful record, Grace Kelly. Listen, didn´t you win an award last year of some sort, as I recall, for another picture?”

GRACE: “No, I was nominated for an award for Supporting Actress, but I didn´t win.”

NBC: “Well that was a good beginning. And for all supporting actresses who have almost won, this is certainly – if Grace Kelly is an example – a very hopeful sign. Grace Kelly, when you start out in this business, did you go to drama school or did you just make up your mind you were going to be an actress, and you just barged in where angels fear to tread?”

GRACE: “Well, a little bit of both. I went to dramatic school at the American Academy for two years, and then came time for barging. (laughs)”

NBC: “Tell me, if you were going to give a tip to a young lady listening to this program, what would you suggest are the ingredients that they have for success in the theatre or motion pictures, aside from talent?”

GRACE: “Well, it is very difficult to say. The main thing is that you first have to decide if it´s something that you really want to do. Whatever you want to do, if you believe in it and work at it hard enough, your dream should come true.”

NBC: “In other words, you really have to stick to it, don´t you? Not just one shot and try it, and if it fails, you give up?”

GRACE: “Well, If it´s something that you love and that you want to do, you don´t mind giving up other things for it.”

NBC: “Now of all the great classics in the world, of all the great plays that we´ve heard of if you had your choice, which part would you choose to play?”

GRACE: “It´s funny, I have no dream to play any particular part. There are many I would like to do, but there´s not one that I´m dying to do. I´ve been lucky to play a lot of very different parts and for the next few years, because I´m still learning, I´d like to try to play as many different roles as possible.”

NBC: “Have you any plans for your personal life, or should I keep my mouth shut about that? Are we going to see you get married, have children, settle down, or are you going to go on with this career of yours?”

GRACE: “Well, of course I´d love to be married and have children, but I don´t think it´s the time for that just now. I´m still more interested in my career than marriage, and I don´t think I could do both at once very well right now.”

NBC: Well that´s certainly very interesting to hear from an actress, and I think very, very honest and candid of her. It certainly takes a lot of energy and time. Do you still study? You know, so many actresses that I know, like Geraldine Page, and so forth, they still work, they still study, they still sing, and they train. Do you still find it helpful to study?”

GRACE: “¡Oh, yes! I think one must always continue to study.”

NBC: “Do you have any other interests? Do you paint or write?”

GRACE: “Well, I paint only for my own amusement, merely for relaxation.”

NBC: “That certainly is a wonderful hobby to have. Do you use oil? Watercolour?”

GRACE: “Oil occasionally, but mostly charcoal and pastel.”

NBC: “And what do you like to do, scenes or people?”

GRACE: “I prefer people.”

NBC: “I thought so, it would seem right somehow. Of all the parts that you have played so far, which do you think is the one… Which is the one… as you look on the screen, most performers feel a little odd about seeing themselves on the screen the first time. As you looked at yourself in the different pictures, which one did you feel was the best job and the one that you liked to do the most?”

GRACE: “That´s hard to say. I feel that ‘The Country Girl’ was the part that was more of a challenge than anything else I had done and I enjoyed it, not only for that reason, but that I felt it was an important picture and an important story about people, and I really enjoyed doing it.

NBC: “Well it´s been a great pleasure having you, Grace Kelly, with us. I want to wish you all the luck in the world. It couldn´t have happened to a very nicer girl, I´m sure.

GRACE: “Thank you very much.”

#GRACE KELLY #nbc #1954 #1955 #princess grace #interview #film critic award #NEW YORK FILM CRITIC AWARDS #sidney smith #nbc radio #mid atlantic accent

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tiefighters · 5 years

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Interview: The Creators of The Rise of Kylo Ren

“And then it was about creating a story that felt epic and above all emotional for Ben Solo,” Soule explains. “Because this transition, this turn to the dark side has to be as good and stand at the same level as some of the other big turns to the dark side we see,” including the fall of Anakin Skywalker, who was transformed into the infamous Sith Lord Darth Vader.

Soule previously delved into Darth Vader’s past with another Marvel comic, Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith, an epic story that kicked off as the machine-enabled man was lurching off Emperor Palpatine’s operating table at the end of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.

In The Rise of Kylo Ren, Soule has written in emotional beats by folding in quiet moments, omitting dialogue from panels to firmly place the focus on the internal struggle within Ben and allow Sliney’s art to sing. “In this book, we’re leaning towards the mask,” Sliney says. “In one of the very early moments…we kind see the two sides of Ben where you can see him emotionally hurt and then he starts to put up this shield, this outer shield. Within the course of two panels, you want to show in one instance this is a frightened boy and in the second instance he has the potential to be this really, really dark person. It’s something that has to be subtly done.”

“There’s lots of moments where you can see him thinking and waiting before he reacts,” Soule adds. “He’s a very internal person…except when he’s not, right? He’s completely under control and completely compartmentalized until sometimes all those walls break at once and he does things like smashing his helmet or slicing up a computer console with his lightsaber.”

Sliney studied Adam Driver’s portrayal of the character to quantify exactly how the character betrays his emotion in those quieter moments — sometimes with little more than the twitch of his mouth. “I’ve never seen an actor or character that gives away so much with kind of the quiver of a lip, which is something that I’m trying to get across as much as I can in the panels,” Sliney adds, which can be a challenge. “He has this almost childish pout of his bottom lip that gives away emotion, so I’m trying to bring that in there ever so slightly at different times, which is difficult to do when it’s a still image.”

Meet the Knights of Ren

An integral part of Ben Solo’s journey involves the Knights of Ren, a mysterious helmeted posse we’ve only just glimpsed in The Force Awakens, but will meet again in the upcoming film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

But first: “You’ll learn an awful lot about the Knights of Ren very, very fast in this book,” Sliney teases.

“I think when that first page shows up in previews it’s going to land so hard,” adds Soule.

A new myth

Preorder the first issue of Marvel’s Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren now.

#ben solo #kylo ren #comics #news #star wars #The Rise of Kylo Ren #Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren #marvel #the knights of ren

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destiny-smasher · 5 years

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I used to be close friends with one of the composers for Steven Universe. I watched them rise from a YouTube remixer living in a cramped bedroom in a shared apartment with nothing but a mattress on the floor and a keyboard beside it to owning a house, happily married with a whole backyard garden and a cat because they found success working on one of the biggest cartoon shows I’ve known. But they broke off that friendship earlier this year and it’s made my biased love for Steven Universe become very difficult to grasp with. Understanding how and why we weren’t friends anymore was likewise difficult to grasp, even after hours of us trying to hash things out and resolve it. And while we DID resolve things amicably (I hope) and peacefully, it wasn’t until Steven Universe: The Movie that I was really able to feel like I could see the forest from the trees and ‘get’ what happened. This will be a kind of review of the movie, but mostly it became more of a personal ramble relating my real life experiences with Aivi to those of characters within SU, especially the antagonist of the Movie. This is lifted from this Twitter thread, so it was originally written stream of consciousness and I’m sharing it here to keep it more readable and archived. This is a bit of a read so tucking it behind a ‘read more.’

"You keep on turning pages for people who don't care about you And still it takes you ages to see that no one's there Everyone's gone on without you"

Time to finally talk about the #StevenUniverse Movie. Strap in 'cause this gon' get personal.

It should go without saying BUT I am gonna be talking about the movie! Dunno how in detail per se but I can't properly say what I wanna say without diving into some of the important plotty stuff. So yea.

Don't read this thread if ya don't want #spoilers #sumovie

First off, I wanna talk about what this movie does well. Going in, I had heard it was framed like a musical. And I wasn't sure how I felt about that idea, though it wasn't surprising. After all, the 'musical' style episodes tend to resonate quite a lot.

I think they work great when it's one song in a 10 minute episode, but an hour and a half of songs? I wasn't sure how well that would go. Turns out, pretty well. This is due to many factors but primarily the variety of song styles and art styles used throughout. Basically every scene has a primary song that drives it home, and basically all of them have a different genre/tone as well as visual presentation style. A lot of work went into getting it all to work together and feel cohesive. TBH for me personally the main highlight of the movie was honestly the animation. Average TV goers might just see "yup sure looks like a cartoon" but on the whole, on average, the movie is CLEARLY animated and framed with much more dynamism and detail than the majority of SU. Getting to see these characters we've gotten to know over the past few years a couple years in the future, generally at peace with things, but animated with more detail than ever, THAT is the true highlight of the film for me. Naturally, there was a lot of bits of comedy, often relying on knowledge of what the characters have been through, and I felt a lot of bittersweet smiles throughout as this felt like a good send off for Steven and his Space Moms. It managed to work in cameos from basically everyone you'd expect, some of which...didn't work out as well as others (specifically, the Diamonds bookending the movie was a bit forced and weird IMO but they ARE important to the lore even if I find them boring tbh) It was nice getting to 'catch up' with everyone, and the plot itself uses a generic 'gotta save the world again' thing (bleh) in a creative way, at least -- it all becomes an excuse to "re-live" the four primary heroes' stories through song. Cool enough. Something the movie inadvertently highlights, however, is the fact that SU as a series really started spinning its wheels a lot for its second half, in particular. Much has been said about how and why and why or not this doesn't matter, etc. etc. I was just along for the ride. I've repeatedly expressed my personal bias in the series' favor for a long time, and now? I kinda don't really have that personal bias anymore. I still love the show, I still think it's one of the best cartoons I've ever seen. But those rose-tinted glasses are off now. Taking said glasses off and actually listening to and looking up what critics of the show had to say kind of unearthed a bunch of things I had kept sweeping under the rug for the sake of personal bias/support of someone I loved and cared for a lot. We'll get back to that. I say all of this because the movie ironically failed to do much of anything NEW, something the series itself kind of struggled with for a while until it finally got around to the conclusion of Steven's story arc. The film ultimately kind of ends with "yeah Steven can change!" Which, um yea? Obviously. He's a completely different person than he was in S1. But he's kiiiiinda been the same person for....some while now. The weird irony of SU as a series is that about halfway through the narrative, the protag has essentially grown up, done. The last half or third or so of SU's narrative was basically Steven having to cheer everyone around him up and help them deal with their shit, and...kinda just going about that essentially the same way every time. The power of love, the friends we made along the way, etc. To be clear, there's nothing BAD about this, and in fact it's what sets Steven apart from most every other narrative of this type. The protag is almost always forced to change in ways they don't want, do things they don't want to do, etc. But when you put it side by side with something like Avatar or Gravity Falls, those series saw everyone growing alongside each other. There are clear arcs for everyone, almost all of which get resolved in ways fitting each character. It's imperfect but it's varied. SU has a tendency to just...hammer everyone's character flaws and arcs with ONE option: just love yourself and be nice, and everyyyyyyythinggggg 'll work out in the end! Which is fine, but when a story does it for so long, over and over, always the same, it gets a bit weird. I specifically LIKED in the film, at the end, that Steven actually does have to fight, because THAT is what Spinel needed to do. She needed to let out all of that anger, and that violence was her own way of doing it. 'you can't just sing a song to make everything go away' etc. It's typical, perhaps, for protagonists to have to tackle problems in different ways because that's LIFE. The fact is, Steven's approach will NOT save everyone. Lapis stilllll kinda stands as an example of this but an as of yet unresolved one. I liked that at the end of things, Spinel still doesn't come into the same fold as everyone else. Basically "sorry, I already fucked this up too much, I can't really deal with this," and that is IMPORTANT and I really liked it. Before really digging into the personal angle, I want to bring up how fascinating it is that the movie essentially had a real BUDGET and so they deliberately seemed to design an antagonist that would take full advantage of that animation budget. EASILY, by far, Spinel is the most interesting-to-watch antag in the whole series imo, in terms of how she moves and fights, etc. They really just wanted to flex and they did it, but like any SU antag there's (somewhat predictable) motives. This gets back at what I was saying before -- how the series spins its wheels a lot -- but Spinel's motivation/back story isssss kiiiinnndaaaa a lot like many many characters' issues and, like, I get it. We get it. Steven's Mom was Not The Best does that have to be the basis behind kinda EVERYONE who goes against Steven? Or the Gems? Lapis, Bismuth, and Peridot all offered more varied motivations, and even THEN, Bismuth was still essentially in the same boat? Anyway, I digress. I DO appreciate the way the series set up Rose as this wondrous lovely lady and has severely dissected and broken that down to the point where I really do not like Rose, in any of her ID's, as a character or a fictional person, and it did so gradually. A lot of what the movie did was kind of expected. Right? Songs, singing, check. Steven going about things the same way, check. Re-living/celebrating how far he and his moms have come, check. What I didn't expect was -- OK, well, there WAS that one fusion...which, um

But the actual thing that really latched onto me was how much I conncted with Spinel. As is the case with any story that has well presented characters, you can attach to SOME part of just about all of them. I associate most closely with Pearl overall but can relate with just about anyone prominent. I see parts of me and Jenny in Steven/Connie, in Ruby/Sapphire, in Peridot/Lapis. I see what kind of woman I might've become in Amethyst (and sometimes am). Spinel, though, is a really weird case because I see my adolescent self in her SO MUCH and yet fairly recent events in my life -- directly tied TO the show itself, mind you -- make that connection weirdly poignant and present. For some context, I used to be good friends with Aivi, one of the musicians who works on the series with their husband. Spring 2018, Aivi and I vocalized to each other that we considered one another one of the closest friends in each other's lives. We're no longer friends. To make sure this is clear, I think Aivi is a wonderful person, and our breaking apart wasn't violent or dramatic or anything, Aivi just...decided they weren't interested in the relationship anymore. And neglected to tell me this until like a year later. The context is of course not at ALL as severe or dramatic as Spinel/Pink, so please don't assume there's some one-to-one there. But OOF are there some harsh similarities and it really made Spinel's backstory sting in a very confusing way. I say 'confusing' because, as I mentioned, I see my adolescent self in Spinel. The way I was going about making friends matches her 'happy' self. The way I acted in my senior year of college matches her 'angry' self. There was no single person that created any of that, though. In high school, I was like Starfire, in college, I tried to nurture that, play to my strengths. I failed miserably. And what I feel is a big part of why is inherently tied to my transitioning (which is, still, something I feel I am failing miserably at). By the end of college I was more like Raven, and there I remained through the duration of my first long-term romance, into a very weird and atypical marriage and breakup, and then I moved to CA and started changing. Fittingly, my current self can't quite ID with any single Teen Titan. I'm not a teen anymore, after all. Throughout a lot of my friendship with Aivi, they really seemed to fixate on comparing me to Pearl. It sometimes made me uncomfortable the particular ways they did, though. I strongly identified with Pearl's flaws and strengths in personality (though we're obviously different people), and so seeing Pearl go through redemption via self-love and self-acceptance meant a lot to me. "It's Over, Isn't It?" I was IN THE ROOM listening to Aivi and their husband work on the chorus to that song. Obviously they couldn't talk about it but I knew damn well what it was about, and anticipated that piece for a long time. Now it's even more weirdly painful. I met Aivi because they made Mario arrangements they put on YouTube and they happened to live a few blocks away when I was subletting my first summer in CA. They seemed very kind and caring and eager to Be Nice and at the time I really needed that at a very vulnerable and fragile time in my life so I latched onto that. -In The Garden- The week when the LiS terfs freaked out on me and that Bad Spinel side of me lashed back, and I found myself suffering from being gaslit and facing the fact that the worst part of myself that Trigon in Raven's mind that Angry Spinel was still THERE was still ME It was too much For the first (and thankfully, only) time in my life, I experienced suicidal thoughts. And Aivi REACTED to that shit. Strongly. In a way no one ever had for me before, ever. They drove across the Bay to my house, picked me up, had me over, and helped me process it. And in the months to come, as I was healing and coming to terms with how That Worst Part of Me That I Wanted to BE RID OF was still THERE and apparently could just fucking show up, through all of that, Aivi helped me work through things, and we really bonded. In retrospect, though, it's SO damned hard for me to tell if Aivi and I became so close because of mutual respect or pity or just conditioned behavior to Be Nice and Keep Up Appearances. I dunno. What I know NOW is that apparently Cost More than I would've thought. I'm not Aivi so I don't want to really dig into 'dirt' (again, Aivi is a great person who works very hard and that's WHY their work is so good) but looking back, it's wild to see their progression into SUCCESS and fame while I just stood by, floundering The thing is, Aivi was a super busy person. We barely got to spend time together -- when we DID, it was a multi-hour affair and apart from like, Jenny, Aivi is prolly the person I've had the deepest, most vulnerable conversations with. They were next to me when I realized 'oh huh I'm maybe trans??' because they were there when I was at one of the lowest points in my life. I never ASKED them to be there, to Be So Nice and as it turns out, Being So Nice is harder than it looks. So to kind of loop this back to the movie, I wasn't some Skullgirls Peacock Cuphead grinny goof or anything like that but I AM WILLING to bet that from Aivi's POV the way Happy Spinel acts toward Steven is prolly how I felt in Aivi's life at points, at the least. The irony is that we would go weeks, months, barely interacting. But looking back, the way Aivi talked about things, the same phrase keeps dominating my mind: Aivi got bored of me. I wasn't 'useful' to them anymore. Aivi said that day in spring 2018 was like 'the climax' of our friendship, or something like that. Way they talked about it was like...the finale of a season of TV. Our character arc together was over. Even though we TALKED about it, came to mutual understandimng of The Logic behind Aivi's decision to cut ties, I don't think it ever REALLY made sense to me, how Aivi must've felt about our friendship, until Spinel. By spring of 2019, my role in Aivi's life -- from what they have told me, from what I can perceive -- was more like I existed in a separate space from the rest of their life. I was that one interesting person always waiting in The Garden for them to visit when they felt like it Because while Aivi had gotten BIG, gotten MARRIED, gotten a HOUSE, found legitimate SUCCESS in their creative field I was still poor still stuck in retail still unable to find an audience still unable to understand the pressures of Success And OOOOFFF in those last couple years, interacting became more and more strained for both of us, from opposite ends of things. Aivi had responsibilities, PEOPLE vying for their attention, people wanting to hire them, projects to complete, a house, a spouse, etc etc My life was (and kiiiinda still is?) nothing like that, and as our Mutual Creatives Struggling to MAKE THINGS and Get By transforming into Yep I Am Still Here but you are SUCCESSFUL I think that really put a lot of strain on things I never accepted until Spinel. After Aivi hit it big with SU, in particular, they gradually started...acting differently. Acting in ways that made less and less sense to me. They were a Diamond now. And I was still just what I was. When drawing comparisons to characters on the show, Aivi persistently compared me to Pearl. A fact I once took pride in. They repeatedly compared themself to Garnet. Which...always kind of didn't make sense to me. Aivi wasn't really like Garnet. They are more NOW, though? In the sense of how they act, I suppose. Specifically, one of the last things Aivi said to me was that trying to be friends with me had started feeling like Pearl trying to force Garnet to fuse with her. This was problematic because from my POV nothing of the sort was happening. All I was looking for was occasionally hanging out a few times a year. Like. Ya know. Actually a lot less than what I was looking for with basically all of my other friends. And that was still Too Much? But when I start looking at things like Pink Diamond and Spinel instead of Pearl and Garnet, somehow things make a lot more sense. I was probably too clingy, too exciteable, and what amusement or relief I could provide eventually stopped being useful. Aivi eventually didn't even want to spend time with friends to just...spend time with them. Everything had to have some kind of practical Purpose to it, it had to be contributing to a Goal. I still don't get that, tbh. But I'm also not A Diamond. I'm not Successful. The most responsibility I have right now is fucking hanging up the laundry to dry. I have college loans that have and continue to feel pointless to try and repay. I have severe dental problems I haven't been able to fix. My body fell out of shape because of retail hell, and what energy I’ve had to spare from that always ends up going into the people I love, and trying to keep Making Things. Let's not forget The Complications of coming out and wanting to transition but not possessing the resources to do so. (Aivi was actually super supportive of this btw and was the first person to make me feel comfortable wearing feminine things so yea) Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that MY LIFE is not together. My personality is? I feel like I am finally Myself in terms of mental/emotional stability. And that is largely because Jenny helped me get there. But Aivi helped a lot with that, too. But I think Aivi got to a point where Success was more of a measure of how Grown Up and Healthy one was because despite my behavior, my personality, my mood, what I was asking for, and what I was giving, all changing DRASTICALLY after being with Jenny, I think Aivi still...looked at me the way Pink Diamond looked at Spinel during that song. Like, "yeeeaaaa ok kiddo it's time for me to go now, kinda done here" This is what's so confusing about all of this metaphor/etc. I'm not...like Spinel anymore? My current, post-coming-out self doesn't really relate with Happy OR Angry Spinel. It's almost like Aivi couldn't see me for who I became, and could only see me for who I had been. And maybe that's like why Spinel can't be friends with Steven at the end. It's too painful. I used to take pride in being associated with Pearl because "I'm enough" and "being strong in the REAL way" but now it's more like "oh you just think I'm still hung up and needy and clingy?" which uh don't feel so great a comparison. I can't help but wonder if while working on the movie, Aivi saw some of themself in Pink. Because I'm not the only person who apparently wasn't 'useful' to them anymore. And I'm not saying we should've kept forcing something that wasn't working. Not at all. What we had was good for both us, but it also entailed a lot of patience on my part and effort on theirs. And unlike any of my other long term friends, I often ended up waiting weeks, months, "Happily wondering night after night, Is this how it works? Am I doing it right?"

Years and years of broken friendships, one after the other, most lasting merely 6 months, MAYBE a year at most, with a handful that have lasted since middle school (but which are so much harder to maintain) took a toll on my Adult Self until Jenny, anyway. For quite a long time - the majority of my life, currently - I assumed I just was Too Different and that was why my friendships didn't seem to last, didn't seem to extend to the depths I was looking for. That's perhaps one critical difference between Spinel and I: she's looking for FUN, for smiling faces, for attention, for creating smiles, I just want some fucking consistency. At this point, I'm not even sure WHY I still reach out to people. I don't NEED friendships in that desperate way I used to, back in the Happy/Angry Spinel times. And I've come to terms with that Other Max part of myself and integrated it, accepted it. My worst parts are still me and instead of suppressing them (often by relying on bids of deep friendship with others) I just have to let them EXIST and let them do their thing once in a while. This is ALL why Celeste hit me as hard as it did. Because even if I'm not actually much like Spinel anymore, and Aivi's not really like Pink Diamond, even if I don't actually share much in common with Madeline (other than the subtle 'I drink sometimes to deal with my problems' thing, which I don't anymore) I still comprehend and resonate so much with that concept of just needing to accept the worst parts of yourself and work with them rather than trying to keep them caged up and then they escape and rampage every 5-10 years or so and ruin your life As I felt myself coming to all of these Good Feelings I FINALLY felt like I could help Aivi in the ways they had helped me. That I finally had something to offer I didn't before. Turns out, I didn't, apparently. Aivi had More Important Things to do than visit me in The Garden. And I couldn't blame them. Not a bit. Especially if they had gotten bored of visiting me. I didn't like feeling like a burden on them, either. Can't really argue with that. During the last time we talked, Aivi didn't use the WORDS, didn't literally say them, but I finally could see it: I wasn't Useful anymore. I couldn't Understand, either, because I wasn't Successful. Our friendship was rewarding, but because it required effort. And that effort was still worth it to me, but no longer to them. I was no longer worth it. And despite that, despite starting to feel those hunches, I spent those final months -- as had been the case before, they were afraid to hurt me so avoided actually confronting the problem -- I remained "Happy to listen, Happy to stay Happily watching her drift away" I have no idea if any aspect of our friendship impacted anything Aivi had worked on creatively. TBH Aivi seemed to approach even relationships themselves with more of a logical, pragmatic style -- it was entirely unique compared to anyone I had ever connected with. But if you've read @lis-allwounds then it might not surprise you to know that a lot of what I expressed through Stella and Max, as well as Other Max and Another Stella, channels a lot of these things. I even quoted Aivi directly in the story's end (perhaps foolishly optimistic) And yes, that epilogue moment of sorts is gonna be entirely different if I ever do finish the visual novel. The fact is that we were ALWAYS very different people and our friendship was weird and complicated and hard for one or both of us throughout its, what, 8 year duration? Ironically, I think I took away the opposite 'Character Arc Lesson' they did from all this. But that's just the thing, nothing is permanent for a Human Being. We aren't Gems, we don't actually fuse, we can't just change our appearances when we feel like it, or project ourselves to look how we want to look, or exist for thousands of years. But we DO all have different needs, different ways of understanding those needs, and different ways of needing to adjust or change ourselves or our environments in order to pursue what we want to pursue with the limited time we have here. We tried, hard, and it lasted long enough. If I'm not useful, I'm not useful, I guess? I don't have any ill will toward Aivi, I loved them as a friend and I know they loved me, too, and were better at showing it than most any friends I ever have had. If I'd been better at reciprocating in ways that were actually useful, that would've been good -- but then maybe we wouldn't have become friends in the first place if I hadn't needed 'saving' in the first place, I don't fuckin' know. And I hope my saying all of these things doesn't make anyone think any less of Aivi because your relationship with them is, very likely, not at all personal like mine is. And you know as well as I do how good they are at what they do. Aivi took the time to ease me out of things. Aivi did NOT suddenly up and vanish for thousands of years. While the dynamics of the situation might bare sharp points of similarity, Aivi is not like Pink Diamond and I'm not like Spinel -- not in the present, anyway. Stories help us because they share THREADS with reality but it's always important to recognize those threads for what they are and not confuse them for ropes. And me ranting and tossing all of this out there is something part of me has wanted to do for months but needed to take the time to grieve and process and accept. And maybe it's selfish to be posting all of this, I don't know. But it helps me accept myself and them a lot more. "Finally something finally news about how the story ends" Aivi likely has brand new friends, better ones than me, and I'm willing to bet some of them worked on this movie. And it turned out pretty good, all things considered, probably in part because Aivi was able to focus on it That person I became friends with, she doesn't exist anymore. Just like how who I used to be when Aivi first me, he doesn't exist anymore, either. We both changed, and grew in opposite directions, I guess. We've found happiness and growth and relief in different ways. In the end the Movie helped me come to terms with all of this in a way Angry Spinel younger me couldn't have still hurts yo

"Isn't that lovely?

Isn't that cool?

Isn't that cruel?

And aren't I a fool

to have happily listened,

happy to stay,

happily watching her drift away"

#Steven Universe The Movie #Spinel #Personal #SU #SU Spinel

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phantomoftruth · 5 years

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An Introduction to Witchcraft, Part 1

2/5/2020 - Day 12

To the reader of this grimoire, allow me to extend my greetings, and the assurance that you hold a great treasure in your hands, for you hold the key to beginning a journey onto the often misunderstood, wondrous, bizarre, and admittedly dangerous path of the witch. It is a path of constant balancing, a path that runs between mortality and monstrosity in pursuit of power that can be grasped by neither alone, and the culmination of which brings one to stand as a being wholly unique, reaching beyond mortality.

Before beginning, I must acknowledge those whose words and examples I borrow and adapt. Lady of Certainty, Golden Lady. Without your examples, I doubt I would have survived my failures. “Witches keep their promises, but neither can they fail to show gratitude.”

As a former human, I shall attempt to speak in a more direct manner from here on, without the excess ‘oooooooooooooo~ so mysterious~’ of the standard occultist, that I might be understood by creatures across different times, worlds, species and creed. With that, let us begin.

What is a Witch? Part 1 - Background

To understand what a Witch (or Warlock) is, it is necessary to very briefly cover magic, and the division between mortals and monsters. As this is a tome about Witchcraft, I shall leave excesses on magical theory to mages and their studies. For you, the reader, please allow this to suffice:

The world, all the worlds, can each be considered a creation, a work of art, composed of countless countless other works. Painting, sculpture, music, writing, all these things embody the living spark, to use one’s mind and soul to create something that exists beyond simple reality. That is the basis of magic, and the first step in using it is opening oneself to the possibility that it exists, and that it can be wielded. Magic allows its users to make the world from what it is, to what they believe it should be.

That stated, magic is a living force, and a powerful one. Magic changes its user. Put simply, this is the difference between mortals and monsters: mortals can’t handle magic freely. Consider fire. A human cannot hold fire in their hand without hurting themselves. Instead, they make a torch, a tool to carry the fire with them. For mortals, magic does not support their life, so it does not come naturally to them, and the uninitiated trying to channel magic directly through their bodies can cause serious harm or unpredictable results. So, they use tools. Wands and staves, orbs and books, crystals and totems, ritual weapons, holy symbols, all of it allows them to channel and shape magic, each a little differently from the other.

‘Monsters’ much more simply have magic as part of their life. This allows these creatures to use magic freely, as it is a part of them, but is also means they *must* have magic to survive, as their existence often spits in the face of physics. On the upside, this means powerful creatures, like archfiends or Fae Lords can’t freely treat worlds like their personal game rooms and larders.

What is a Witch? Part 2 - What Actually Are Witches?

All of that out of the way, A Witch is a magician that uses the magic of monsters to cast spells and perform their craft. That is a short, neat definition, but what does is mean? Broadly, it means a mortal taking monstrous influence into oneself, becoming something between monster and mortal. By doing so, a witch gains the powers of monster for themselves. A fae’s glamour, A demon’s lore, a gorgon’s gaze, a harpy’s wings, or the resilience of the undead. All this and oceans more lies within the secrets of witchcraft, needing no fetish or magic tool but one’s intuition and soul to guide themselves, with the potential to reach heights outside the realm of humanity, and even beyond monsters.

What does it mean for a mortal to take a monstrous influence into themselves? How does this occur? In short, witches gain their abilities by making contact with monsters, and the monster’s power is set within them, like a seed the witch nurtures by exercising their craft. The methods witches make contact and gain these powers vary broadly, but can be grouped into three categories: The exchange, where both a mortal and monster agree to a contract or deal (stories of witches selling their souls to demons and becoming their slaves, do happen, though is not nearly so omnipresent as stories would lead one to believe), the curse, where a monster forces their magic onto an unsuspecting or unwilling mortal, and the theft, those cases where a mortal forcefully takes a monster’s power, often by its subjugation or consumption.

The place witches inhabit between mortal and monster also gives them a unique role, as one of the fundamentals of witchcraft includes the ability to universally speak to and understand monsters, which is unheard of in mortals. This gives witches recognition among monsters, and witches can often provide goods and services to magical beings as well as mortals, making friendly connections with monsters and gaining new spells and abilities, as well as having the potential to mediate between mortals and monsters.

However, there are risks in dealing with monsters. Just like mortals, there are all kinds, and many of them stand outside of mortal sensibilities of what one might consider good and evil. Even those not actively seeking to trick a witch may include burdens with their gifts not easily carried. “A blessing and a curse share the same substance.” Though one is protected against magic by this monstrous power, carelessness and excess can cause the magic placed in them to grow out of their control. This turns witches into monsters themselves, robbed of their mortality, and often, their sanity. Once this fate befalls them, only legends return.

What is a Witch? Part 3 - Why Mortals Pursue Witchcraft

Despite the title of this section, I will not be so arrogant as to state that every mortal’s desires could be captured in a mere part of a single text. Perhaps it would be more accurate to consider ‘why do mortals pursue witchcraft over other magical arts?’ Particularly given the dangers and often ill-reputation that follows witches. For a brisk comparison, consider the fundamental arcane magician, a Mage.

Mages are students of magic, the embodiment of the mortal approach to magic. Gathering into schools, they take a more rational and rigorous approach towards the arcane arts. Study, research, training, practice, seeking scientific precision. Spells and formula, recorded, reproduced, and refined. Though different schools or teachers will have variations in their practices, magecraft is a form of study that is built on that which came before.

Though this certainly makes it much less inherently dangerous than witchcraft, it is also much less accessible. Attempting to learn magecraft alone is the equal of trying to learn about a foreign art, written in a language you do not speak. One requires a competent teacher. Lone teachers are difficult enough to find. Then consider how rare schools to magecraft are, never mind worlds where magecraft does not exist at all. Then there is the matter of the costs to attend such schools, as well as the resources necessary to practice magecraft, beginning with a magic tool. It is not only resource intense, but it is demanding of one’s time and ability. And while there are many different branches of the craft to explore, a weakness or failure to grasp certain fundamentals or grasp certain concepts will block one’s ability to advance, sometimes for a lifetime.

Imagine a great, spiraling tower, built from all the knowledge and discoveries of past mages. With dedication, one can master each step, continuing to climb the path built by those who came before. But is a narrow path, and there are simply those lacking the ability to make such an arduous climb, and it is only as one nears the top that one can take in the freedom of the heights, and begin adding to that great monument to mortal mastery.

In contrast, witchcraft is a much more flexible path towards power. Though perilous, it is open to many. This includes the foolish hungry for power, yes, but also those without the ways or means to pursue magecraft. It is a craft of the self, and intuition. A witch can still use magic tools, but does not need them. A witch can seek out fellow witches, or speak with monsters for new paths and new insights, but it is their own aesthetics that they use to advance down the witch’s path. This means a witch can advance on their own, by making peace with and creatively using their own talents and crafts. And one gets results immediately. As dramatic as they are, stories of deals with devils to escape from dire straights form the basis of many humble witch’s beginnings.

To compare once again, if magecraft is a tower built of knowledge, leading to the heights, then witchcraft is a spiraling stair, leading into a deep, dark well. It is easy, even natural to descend downwards, and the knowledge is all along the walls and stones, new insights waiting for the hands as much as the eyes, but the deeper you go, the more treacherous the steps leading down, and carelessness or recklessness can mean a never ending fall. All the while, “they abyss returns even the boldest gaze.”

What is a Witch? Part 4 - Why Do Monsters Create Witches?

Fortunately, while monsters are as individual as mortals, the reasons why they grant mortals their power and create witches fall under a fewer, broader categories.

Primarily, witches are useful to monsters. Setting aside their unique position as beings between mortal and monster, many monsters, even unsophisticated ones, can appreciate the work of mortals, whether this is offerings of food and drink, or simply a humanoid with thumbs and time to spend. For every story of a monster that attacks a human village, kidnaps elves, or turns goblin tribes into cults of worship, there are monsters that want to go about their lives and be left alone, just as much as any mortal creature, with the difference being that many monsters are not able enjoy the comfort of mortal civilization. Having a reliable and reputable provider of services is something all creatures can appreciate. Even a demon will often take a simple deal without any attempts at manipulation, even if only to wait for another chance at some sinister plan.

The other main purpose, and arguably the ultimate purpose of why monsters *can* create witches, is as a form of propagation. The list of creatures considered monsters is vast. Creatures that only possess a single gender, creatures that are rare, and even creatures that cannot naturally increase their numbers, such as many undead. Even ageless creatures like the Fae still desire companions. A witch who loses themselves and becomes a monster is still a gain for monsters, and probably one that has at least helped monsters, if not made more monsters themselves along the way. Of course, there are monsters infamous for attempting to trick witches into being their minions and slaves, but as a great witch who has crossed many worlds and met many creatures, mortal and monster alike, thinking creatures are more alike than they ever know, wherever you may go.

And thus concludes the introduction to the world of witches. There is still much more to be told, and many witches to speak of, and stories to tell. To those who wish to walk the path, I wish you well in all your striving.

-Witch of Reflections

#Witch #Witches #Lore

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irinapaleolog · 5 years

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To tell the tale of Ben Solo’s fall to the dark side, the subject of the upcoming Marvel Star Wars comic The Rise of Kylo Ren, writer Charles Soule and artist Will Sliney started from a framework developed by Lucasfilm after a lengthy conversation with none other than J.J. Abrams. The director of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker had created the Knights of Ren for the first film in the sequel trilogy, and the pair knew their story had to fit between two fixed points in the Star Wars timeline: the destruction of the Jedi temple that sent Luke Skywalker into exile and the arrival of the fearsome dark warrior who appeared on Jakku at the start of The Force Awakens. “And then it was about creating a story that felt epic and above all emotional for Ben Solo,” Soule tells StarWars.com. “Because this transition, this turn to the dark side has to be as good and stand at the same level as some of the other big turns to the dark side we see,” including the fall of Anakin Skywalker, who was transformed into the infamous Sith Lord Darth Vader. Soule previously delved into Darth Vader’s past with another Marvel comic, Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith, an epic story that kicked off as the machine-enabled man was lurching off Emperor Palpatine’s operating table at the end of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. In The Rise of Kylo Ren, Soule has written in emotional beats by folding in quiet moments, omitting dialogue from panels to firmly place the focus on the internal struggle within Ben and allow Sliney’s art to sing. “In this book, we’re leaning towards the mask,” Sliney says. “In one of the very early moments…we kind see the two sides of Ben where you can see him emotionally hurt and then he starts to put up this shield, this outer shield. Within the course of two panels, you want to show in one instance this is a frightened boy and in the second instance he has the potential to be this really, really dark person. It’s something that has to be subtly done.” “There’s lots of moments where you can see him thinking and waiting before he reacts,” Soule adds. “He’s a very internal person…except when he’s not, right? He’s completely under control and completely compartmentalized until sometimes all those walls break at once and he does things like smashing his helmet or slicing up a computer console with his lightsaber.” Sliney studied Adam Driver’s portrayal of the character to quantify exactly how the character betrays his emotion in those quieter moments — sometimes with little more than the twitch of his mouth. “I’ve never seen an actor or character that gives away so much with kind of the quiver of a lip, which is something that I’m trying to get across as much as I can in the panels,” Sliney adds, which can be a challenge. “He has this almost childish pout of his bottom lip that gives away emotion, so I’m trying to bring that in there ever so slightly at different times, which is difficult to do when it’s a still image.” Meet the Knights of Ren An integral part of Ben Solo’s journey involves the Knights of Ren, a mysterious helmeted posse we’ve only just glimpsed in The Force Awakens, but will meet again in the upcoming film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. But first: “You’ll learn an awful lot about the Knights of Ren very, very fast in this book,” Sliney teases. “I think when that first page shows up in previews it’s going to land so hard,” adds Soule. Soule was inspired by motorcycle gangs, classic Westerns, and Samurai tales as he dramatized some of the lore behind the masked marauders. “They can all use the Force, the dark side of the Force, to varying degrees,” he reveals. “They’re not as powerful as a Jedi or a Sith, but they use it when they fight…. They have some sort of a code, like a motorcycle gang, but it’s not elaborate. They’re flexible.” Like all good galactic thugs and scoundrels, they’re in it for themselves. “Mostly they’re just kind of out to live their lives the way they want to live them and take what the galaxy will give them and eat what the dark side sends,” Soule says. The story also introduces a trio of Ben’s classmates, survivors of the Jedi temple destruction by virtue of being off-world on a mission at the time of its collapse. In the first issue, surveying the aftermath and Ben Solo standing among the wreckage, one of these students asks, “Should we call his mother?” The answer is no. Soule says as much as he enjoys writing the character of Leia, he used her sparingly in this story. “I would like her to be in the book more than she is because I think Will draws a beautiful Leia Organa,” he says. “But ultimately this story is about Ben Solo…. I think because of what the journey is, he has to go through it by himself. And we’ve seen how attached he is to his mother in the films. If Leia was too much of a presence in it, I think his journey might not have gone the same way. And I think if you look at the larger architecture of the Star Wars galaxy around this time, I think there are a lot of things happening that are being specifically engineered to keep Leia away from Ben. Read into that what you will. Just as there is a long game being played with Anakin, I think there is a long game being played with Ben Solo as well.” And of course, the story will include Snoke, Kylo Ren’s dark side master, although not like you’ve ever seen him before. “There’s an awesome moment towards the end of issue one where he first meets Snoke and…Snoke is very different in this book,” Soule says. “And the way he acts toward Ben and the way that Ben is with him is very different than he is in Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, which is on purpose.” A new myth Soule and Sliney have both been imagining their own versions of this particular tale ever since they saw The Force Awakens, although neither dared to think they might one day be part of the story’s official telling. “It was a shock,” Soule says of getting the call from Lucasfilm Publishing. “I can’t believe that I’m the guy who gets to write that. Of course I had been thinking about it on a fan level from the minute I saw The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, but the idea that I would be writing it down was never in my mind until this past summer. And then I just dug in as hard as I could to really try to make a really good Star Wars story.” The final tale takes its cues from the saga’s mythological roots while trying to answer the question on everyone’s mind: How did Ben Solo, the son of two heroes of the Rebellion and the nephew of a Jedi Master fall so far to the darkness? “You want it to feel like the really big mythological moments feel from Star Wars whether it’s the Mustafar battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan or the throne room battle at the end of Jedi,” Soule says. “These are the moments where the fate of the Force, the fate of the galaxy, and the balance of the Force, all these things are on the scales being weighed. And this book, if we do it right, should be building and building and building to a moment where Ben makes a choice and you understand why he does it and you realize he had no choice, even though he thinks he’s making one. That’s what the story’s supposed to be. That’s what happened to Anakin. If we do our job right, it will feel utterly inevitable and also utterly preventable, which is the tragedy of the whole story.”

#the rise of kylo ren #kylo ren

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