#my love for art and culture and history. how humans have always created.

[suntraitor]

im about to make a post so personal u guys gotta prommy not to bully me /j

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

Hi hi! I love how in depth and detailed you are when making/creating characters, or even when talking about other characters.

but I was curious, I wanted to be more inclusive/have more representation of PoC with my art works. But I do not know where to begin, or how to properly do research especially with how to research history and find accurate articles or so on.

Which I was curious on if you have any tips or pointers on how to do this/do my homework correctly?

THANKS!! OOOOhhhh I love research! And for a recent Spidersona, I had to do something like this. So here's the process I use to say things that kinda sorta make sense sometimes

How to Learn Any Topic RIGHT NOW- (kinda)

[A slightly LONG length post where I talk about my biggest resource and my number one tactic for sounding like you know your shit in an hour or less. Plus a list of educational Youtubers]

In High School, I mastered an art. The Art of 'Skyrim Speech 100'. The way to sound like you know what you're talking about, and form a pretty solid foundation of information in one sitting.

I am DEADASS CONVINCED that I have it boiled down to a very specific scientific formula. I got this I okay. I gotchu I swear I'm bout to have you like this im so deadass -

For me personally, the best resource is YouTube. One Website - Three Videos. And you're GOOD.

I have ADHD so - huge attention issues, so videos are a go to for me.

But I also really appreciate seeing the person explaining things to me. Finding good websites can be HARD, especially nowadays where a lot of websites might not even be written by humans, just clobbered together by AI.

For me, YouTube lets me see the person behind the channel, and it's a lot easier for me to vet the information if it's coming from one person who is open about their identity/certifications.

If their whole channel is dedicated to one thing, you can usually tell when they're very dedicated/educated on a topic, and I feel a lot more comfortable listening to them. Rather than reading random websites with writers I don't know/can't see.

Longform Youtube can be SO GOOD.

I'm gonna list some at the bottom - but you can find channels on everything. From architecture, to historical dress, to subway systems, entire cultures, etc.

In recent years Youtube has made a big push for longform content - so I recommend checking out videos that are 15 minutes OR MORE.

Not only is that enough time to go in depth, but because it's a video - the information is fed to you in a linear fashion. It's a lot more conversational and visual than reading a website.

If you hear something and need to remember, you can always go back. It can be hard to go back to a webpage and find the exact line, but videos are a bit easier.

Tips:

Try for find Youtubers that focus on ONE topic - or creators who go in depth about a wide array of interesting things (like Tom Scott or Anthony Padilla). Look for Doctors and Professors - A lot of educational professionals have youtube channels now. And they'll usually be upfront about it, searching things like 'History Professor explains X' or 'Doctor explains Y'. TEDTalks are good for this too. Look for people who are, or have the thing you're representing - If you're writing for a disability, it's always good to watch a video about the day in the life of someone with it - mental illnesses too. And there are a lot of great youtubers that easily break down things like cultural practices - or the issues they face because of their identity. Look for news channels. Watch current events. Vice, BBC, Channel 4, and have a lot of good current news, and they're posting videos every day. These videos show real life conditions while explaining it all, and they're really helpful for knowing about current political/cultural topics. DOCUMENTARIES!!!! - There is a documentary on anything. You can quote them in academics, and unlike movies, people post them on YouTube ALL the time, and people make them all the time. If you need to know about something, DOCUMENTARY.

I love using videos for everything, and below is how I use them:

I have a method that usually helps me sound like I'm super knowledgeable - By casting a very wide and very specific net over any topic. By narrowing any topic down to three parts, you can learn about 40% of a topic, but sound like you know 80%.

How to Teach Yourself Any Topic (in an hour and some change)

Three step method.

Watch three longform videos (15+ mins) about the topic. Each video about something slightly different.

The first video is about The History. This teaches us about the background of the topic. The second video is about The Expert Opinion. This teaches us about the reality of the topic. The third video is about a Random Topic inside of the main topic. This is to make us sound smart (in school)/add details or inspiration (while making characters).

Watch a fifteen minute video about each of these things, and in less than an hour, you'll have a pretty solid foundation of what it is, where it came from, and random (but surprisingly useful) details.

And when I say random I MEAN RANDOM. Can be anything - the niche, the better.

I'll give an example below with real search results and videos.

[I also give tips on how to search by topic (culture, religion, time period, etc) - as well as a list of educational BUT FUN Youtubers]

Example: I wanna make a Victorian Era Spider-woman.

The History Video - I watch a video about the general era, or what it was like being a woman in that time. I searched: Women in Victorian Era I found a real video titled: The Daily Life of a Victorian Lady

The Expert Opinion - I wanted to design her outfit accurately, so I looked for a Dress Historian's opinion on 1880's outfits I searched: Victorian Era Fashion I found a real channel: Bernadetta Banner (a channel all about recreating historical dresses - by a Broadway costume designer.)

The Random Topic - I don't know much about the Victorian Era..but I know theres two topics people always relate to the era - Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper. I chose Sherlock. Sooooo, I watched a video about whether BBC sherlock was better than Downy Sherlock. Why? Because in 15 minutes it tells me about the show, the movie, AND the book - ALSO while teaching about the time period. I searched: BBC Sherlock vs Book I found a real video titled: Sherlock vs Sherlock - Which Iteration is Superior.

So after three 15-20 minute videos I know the history, the facts, and some random niche details of a topic.

Do I know everything about it? Not at all! But doing that, usually you can probably get through a conversation without freaking out too much.

By doing all that - I now know enough about the Victorian Era. From those videos I can accurately write an average Victorian woman, design her outfit accurate to the era, and also infuse some Victorian literature influence into her story.

All in an hour.

It works for other people character's too. Watching a video on the 70's, a video on the Punk Movement, and then a video of lets say a video about the band Ramones

Methods:

Some ideas for different topics:

If you want to show a character from a different time period -

If you're trying to write a character like Hobie, first watch a video about the history of the period - to understand when they were living. Then watch a video on their style/subculture - like the Punk movement. Then pick a specific band/media from the era and watch a video on it.

Sidebar: This is actually how I made Diane! I have little to no idea about the 70's outside of Punk. So searched up the history of 70's Disco, a video by Glamour about 1970's fashion, and I only knew one or two Disco singers (Donna Summer & Diana Ross) - so I chose Diana Ross. Diana is the direct inspiration for Diane's name and big hair. I never reference Diana, but it helps Diane fit the Disco theme, by emulating one of THE disco queens.

If you want to show a character from a different country -

Like India for example, a good place to start is watching a video about the history of India, then watching a vlog from someone in India (in the area you're thinking of), then watch a video about Indian fashion, or indian street food, or indian family traditions - so you can sprinkle those details into the story or conversation. Then you can build from there. Big tip: If they're from the city watch a video about the city's transit/subway system if they have one. It's a VERY fast way to learn the city, and make it sound like they actually live there, even if you're just name dropping stations and town squares.

If you want to show a character with a mental illness, disability or condition -

Start off by searching the background of the condition. Have a doctor break down what it is, how it effects the body, the mind, or both. Then watch a video of an average person with the condition, and their experience day to day. Then try and find a specific advocate, celebrity, or influence who goes into depth about it and how they empower themselves.

If you want to show someone from a different religion -

Watch a video about the beliefs of the religion, then the history of the religion, then a video of someone who practices the religion.

ETC-

Now disclaimer, this won't make you actually know everything about the topic - but at the very least, you'll probably be using the terms and words right. And you might be able to think up your own thought from there.

I used this ALL THROUGH High School.

If I know next class is about Marie Antoinette - yeah sure lemme go run and learn about her life history, her fashion taste, and the architecture of the Palace of Versailles in an hour.

Now I can talk about her childhood, personality, and where she lived.

The Great Gatsby? Never read it and I never will. The movie? NEVER SEEN IT. I searched up the history/inspiration of the author, watched a video on the book's plot and symbolism, then watched a video on the book vs the movie.

From there I kinda understood what the book was about, why the author might have written it, the symbolic ho-ha, and the extra details as if I watched the movie too.

And from there I could formulate whether I think the symbolism matters to our modern day society and why the director changed small details from the book, and etc, etc.

It was enough for me to bullshit and say words and usually people are like 'yeah you seem to be making sense' lol

HELL throw in ANOTHER video about the lives of women in the 1920's and I could probably bullshit an argument on how the Great Gatsby reflects gender roles in the Flapper Era. Like gun to my head I could probably come up with something im so deadass

HEY IM NOT SAYING SLACK OFF IN SCHOOL OKAY - DO NOT THIS IS JUST MY TESTIMONIAL - USE THIS TO LEARN TOPICS NOT BOOKS ITS A GREAT TOOL

Also disclaimer: use this for good don't be walking around like you Know Know Shit cause someone might check you and then i cant help you this is just a way to understand the basis of topics and be able to form thoughts and hold conversations about them or use them in your art and writing.

Plus it's a great way to gather strong resources for your art and writing.

It's a lot easier to show characters in a natural accurate way when you've curated a very rounded understanding of the topic or era - not just in an educational historical sense.

For the purposes of character creation, essays, sounding like you know anything in conversations - this does help. And you do start absorbing stuff. It's just about breaking the topic down, and learning about it in blocks.

If you understand the history, you can understand the now, and if you understand the now, you can understand the nuance. Like that.

I hope this helped! And because tis customary here, take this photo of Hobart Brown and go forth

And because I cannot send you off into the wild with no place to start here are some of my favorite youtubers that are actually FUN - here's a list.

Bye.

Youtube Channels

Bernadette Banner - Historical Clothing Expert specializing in Edwardian - Victorian

RMTransit - Videos about subway systems, buses, and public transit across the world. VERY quick way to realistically learn about a city

Anthony Padilla - Has lots of 'I Spent a Day With-' videos, where he sits down with people. Has videos ranging on things from Dipolar Disorder and ADHD to things like Asexuality and Ex-Mormons. Good for getting multiple honest experiences of people.

ReligionForBreakfast - Simple approachable videos about religions, their histories and beliefs. Made by a doctor of Religious Studies

Cognito - VERY good historical, cultural, and geographical videos, all cutely animated

Tasting History with Max Miller - Historically accurate cooking videos with really cool stories and histories to match

Vice News - Very good, very vetted Left-leaning news source. Vice and Vice News are two different things. Vice News is really good for current events videos on things like conflicts in countries.

Johnny Haris - slightly longer explainer videos about countries, geography, history, and weird quirks

Vox - Short detailed explainers about....anything really.

Weird History - .....It's history that's weird

Absolute History - Longer Documentaries about History, mainly the 1900's

CrowsEyeProductions - Really good Historical Fashion videos of 1400-2000's

Morgon Donner - ANOTHER Historical Fashion channel (they're really interesting yall) that focuses more on Medieval era

J.J McCullough - REALLY good videos about culture in general, as well as geography videos full of full interesting facts (did you know Nepal is the only country with a flag not four sided?) He also has some spicy takes on Canadian and Quebec politics that are interesting to me as an American but ????

Kati Moron - A therapist who makes videos about the experiences of mental illnesses and their treatment

Dr. Tracey Marks - A Doctor who makes short videos explaining the symptoms and experiences of neurodivergences and mental illnesses

[legallybrunettedotcom]

hello, i hope that you are good and not to bother with this ask! i was wondering about the role of the filmmaker (this artistic career in particular just because cinema is the art form i prefer) in the world we live in today. i remember reading one year ago that xavier dolan had decided to retire because “the world is on fire” and reading today that he’s working on his next movie. i know art can be a protest, a wake up call, a testimony of what happens or even a reminder of everything worthy of notice in the world. but at the end of the day is it just our ego that pushes us to make a movie? don’t we all want to make a tangible difference for the good in the world? i hope i explained myself, and this is in no way an attack, i just wanted to know your opinion since i think we share a sincere love for cinema

bye <3

Hi! It's not a bother at all, I love this. I often find myself thinking about this as well. What is an artist's true motivation behind art? I think we can hear them say many words, but ultimately will never know what is at its very core. Why do we even share art with others? If it's such a solitary and intimate act and experience and we are "doing it for ourselves" why not just make it and never share it? I think social media and capitalism has made these intentions muddied and conversations complex. I think because it seems like everything is about profit that we have become a bit cynical about art and artists. Is art a monologue or a dialogue? Are we truly having a conversation?

When Xavier Dolan made that retirement statement, I understood what he was feeling, making a film does seem insignificant. Millions and millions of dollars are invested in making of a film and it often results in something that isn't very good. I think "times like these" or "world today" to signify bleakness and hopelessness of the world isn't something that really exists. Life and world have always been wrecked with turbulence and tragedy, but you, me, are getting older, more informed, more caring and the more you care the greater the fear, one that you have to fight to not give into.

He said about his new project that “It feels removed from my life and what I know but on re-reading it, I understood that it is a film about the fear of failure, the fear of being rejected, of being misunderstood, the difficulty of creating." He made his first film when he was 19 and he did so much in span of like 10 years, and was lauded as this kid genius, Cannes prizes left and right, but also criticism which is inevitable if you're in the filmmaking business. It comes with the territory and is something you have to accept, but of course it's a difficult thing to be like "yeah, fine, it's great how you just talked shit about my movie." Clearly it took a toll on him and he decided to back out.

If I remember correctly in his retirement statement/interview he was pretty vocal about his filmmaking insecurities, lack of success, is anyone going to see this? will they like it? etc etc which brings up the topic of success and ambition. Being ambitious and wanting to be successful aren't inherently bad things, but we cannot ignore how capitalism is shaping these two, re-defining them, the images of success it evokes.

His statement was also political. Is all art political? I don't know, but I know politics influence many areas of life. Through film we are exposed to so many different experiences and have the opportunity and choice to emphatize. Some of those films carry humanity's greatest tragedies and suffering. I don't think we can draw a clear line between a film and a larger societal change, like drawing a line from A to B to C and so on. It's a drop in the ocean, the wave. We are all part of history, of a specific reality, culture etc. that we can't detach ourselves from. Are there films that are revolutionary and ground-breaking? Of course, but they don't exist in a vacuum.

The question of is it just ego that pushes someone to make a movie is, I think, something that we'll never get an answer to, I doubt anyone will admit to that outloud. And even if they did someone can appear to fiercely and loudly fight you saying "it was never about me."

Why do you make the things you make? I feel like very few people go into a creative endeavour with a clear motivation. There are some noble and profound intentions, but a thread of irrationality is always present.

I think this is always an interesting topic, but ultimately one without a clear answer. It's something that we can dissect to the point of absurdity. It's a conversation that we should have, that is fun to have, but also "meaningless". From the beginning of time we can tell humans love stories and we can philosophize and analyze all we want, but, if I can be sentimental, I am just so glad we have soooo much art out there and I am so glad humans decided to invent movies and I hope we never stop making them!

Feel free to share more of your thoughts!

[tangibletechnomancy]

Valid criticisms of AI, or at least the way it's used:

- Just like any tech that can automate work in the professional sector, AI can have alarming implications for workers, especially in the current economy, including independent workers in gig economies for whom we may have an even harder time demanding a support system

- The amount of incredibly personal content in training databases really solidifies how dire the situation is with datamining on the internet today and buying products built with this kind of extensive, unmitigated datamining is pretty questionable

- There are many, very easy ways to be a complete fucking asshole with AI, from forgery to spite fine-tunes to maliciously flooding commission markets where one outright shows disdain for the community outside of how much money they're willing to spend, and the corporate developers seem to be content to encourage that crowd

- Social media culture is already toxically obsessed with instant gratification and things that look polished and professional, and AI has the potential to play into that

Not valid criticisms of AI:

- "The training data is copyrighted" - any copyright framework that bars usage as transformative as AI training from qualifying as fair use would do FAR more harm to small-time artists than it would prevent; do you want to get sued for drawing a similar pose to a Disney poster because they suspect you may have referenced from it? Do you want to go back to the Anne Rice days with fanart and fanfiction? Because that's what tightening up restrictions against transformative work to that extent will open up.

- "It's literally just sampling, copy-pasting chunks of pieces that already exist in the training set" - it's literally not. This is just straight up misinformation.

- "It's not Real Art, it's uncreative, there's no such thing as a creative use for it" - way too subjective to keep presenting as a fact, what little of it is objective is demonstrably false (see the number of people using it as a meditation on data and history, and many disabled people using it to preserve their ability to create), and if you claim that something needs to meet a minimum standard of creativity to be Real Art then I can name a LOT of manual illustrations that don't qualify either

- "No one actually NEEDS it as an accessibility tool, look at this famous artist who painted with their feet and this one who painted with their mouth and this one who forced themself through miserable pain every day, if art isn't worth suffering that much to you then you don't DESERVE it and what do you mean there are people who can't even move THAT much" - holy inspiration porn, Batman!

- "Well then if you really well and truly CAN'T draw on your own at ALL, just commission people!" - ah, yes, because what disabled people famously always have in surplus is money, and what we famously love more than anything in the world is having to rely on other people for every aspect of our own self-expression

- "It's going to REPLACE REAL ART, all the physical media companies and art tablet makers are going to GO OUT OF BUSINESS because NO ONE WANTS THEIR PRODUCTS ANYMORE, NO one cares about ANYTHING in art but the end result except ME and the other REAL artists, AI is going to DESTROY SOCIETY, even KIDS are NEVER going to want to draw for REAL anymore, the ENTIRE CONCEPT is DYSTOPIAN and we need to BURN THE TECH TO THE GROUND TO SAVE SOCIETY, my ingroup and I are the ONLY people not too stupid and sheeplike to fall for this VIOLENT DESTRUCTION OF ALL THAT MAKES US HUMAN that will DEFINITELY succeed in destroying art FOREVER" - ....yeah sorry if I don't sound like I'm taking you seriously when at this point you're just buying into blatant trad RETVRN bullshit to validate your discomfort and it's horrifying, STOP THAT

[windydrawallday]

Where do you find inspiration and motivation to make art? Is there a process to the whole mental prep for creating?

(Love your art so I thought I would ask :D)

You want me to make a TED Talk about art? Because that is what this will be coff

Inspiration comes from everywhere for me! I think it helps to have not only an open mind but also the spirit of an infant: get awestruck by what nature, science, history, culture, etc. offers. Even between my everyday activities, I find myself asking about how it felt for the first human to discover they could cook their food, or experimenting with so many shapes for pasta to get sauce stuck to it! I'm that silly.

Because most if not all things were already thought of if not invented by someone: we have so much heritage. We are blessed to have access to all this information and tools. Don't feel afraid to reference them! To dig critically into the work of someone else you feel it vibes with you and make it yours, too. Is healthy. Is good!

That ties in with one of the processes that helps me yank the abstract clay from my head to the canvas: making MOOD BOARDS!* I use them mostly to nail the visual style I want for illustrations (almost all my zine pics started with a mood board):

I use a similar method but call them MUSE BOARDS when working with character's archetypes, mannerisms, behaviors, etc I want to portray both accurately and with personal twists:

*Some prefer to call them aesthetic boards because of how the internet bastardized the use of the word for gif sets but ask a graphic or fashion designer, architect, etc; the term for a collage of visual references that are usually static IS mood board.

Tho, lately, during these weeks dealing with the burnout and gnawing art block, another thing became my motivation to keep doing art... and I'll put it under the cut because it can be quite dark for some (CW mention of death/mortality themes):

Probably I'll sound cynical and/or edgy for saying this but it's the truth:

One of these days, I could die (not by my own hand but this world is bigger and powerful than me, I can't control everything in it) and all those ideas and visions I never put on paper, will die with me.

And so, when I'm struggling with a part of the process during a piece and find myself wanting to quit, I say: If I give up now, I'm letting the idea die before I step into the graveyard.

When I'm killing my ideas, I'm killing myself, slowly. And I don't want that.

I go back to the canvas and try, TRY and T R Y. Until the idea comes out.

Probably incomplete. For sure imperfect. Still a work in progress.

But out of my mortal brain.

Flesh of paper, blood of ink. Colors of pixels, layers upon layer of illusory ligh and shadows.

Mine and at the same time, for the world. It's free now to be welcomed by other minds, to be wanted and played by other hearts.

It's immortal, it can inspire people beyond my reach. Even after I'm not here in constant presence.

Isn't that enough motivation?

I got overboard with this but I hope it doesn't sound too overdramatic orz I needed this out of my chest too haha

THANK YOU for your interest! Is always welcomed ✨✨✨✨✨

[grimmwolf]

⚠️ DNI ⚠️

DNI right off the bat cuz it’s important

🤬z••s + supporters, anti therian, anti otherkin DNI🤬

🤬hunters, trappers, taxidermists, supporters DNI🤬

🤬animal part collectors/buyers/sellers, etc. DNI🤬

🤬vulture culture, “oddity” enthusiasts, etc. DNI🤬

🤬⚠️‼️All of these things = animal abuse⚠️‼️🤬

🤬I am against all animal abuse, DNI supporters🤬

🤬There’s no such thing as “ethical”, that’s crap🤬

🤬If support/neutral, go, this is my safe space🤬

🤬Also pro-shippers/self-shippers can go too🤬

……

INTRO TIME cuz everyone else has one apparently-

Asks are always open btw :)

Ps. That means ask me things :)

Helloooo my name’s Maddy or Grimm. This is my Nonhuman etc. blog. So I’ll be posting and reblogging whatever identity related stuff here, some memes maybe. Anyhow, here’s…

Some stuff about me~

• I’m 20 years old in this body, and my birthday is on the 25th of May.

• I’m a straight cis female, so she / her pronouns would do just fine.

• I’ve been awakened since about 2014 ish, and I’m a spiritual Therian, Otherkin, Alterhuman, Nonhuman, Fictionfolk / Fictionkin, however you wanna call it 😂 Meaning I believe all if not most of my identities / kintypes are rooted from alternate lives, such as: Past, Future, Parallel, and Dream lives. I also display traits of experiencing some sort of age / pet regression, but I’m not sure if I fit the label entirely. But regressors are welcome here if you follow the dni! I try to keep the place as safe and family friendly as possible 😊

• Only a handful of my identities I’ve discovered are semi psychological tho. But they are not derived from imprinting, neurodivergence, or trauma. I also prefer to use the term identity, instead of therio / kin / ficto type etc.

• The label I use most in terms of my nonhumanity, is Omninonhuman! A term I coined for myself. Meaning I identify as all animals, beings, creatures, nature, etc. Basically anything and everything that’s nonhuman! Including, but not limited to: All earthly and non-earthly animals, beings, creatures, extant, extinct, insects, dirt, grass, plants, trees, flowers, fungi, rocks, stone, metals, crystals, water, land, sky, clouds, biomes, magical, mystical, mythical, mythological, supernatural, celestial, cosmic, galactic, divine, holy, unholy, infernal, universal, etc. Though, I connect more with wolves, or just canines in general lol.

• I have depression, social anxiety, body and species dysphoria. Are name, personality and voice dysphoria a thing as well, perhaps? Lol. Also I’m a vegan for the animals :)

Some fandoms I’m in + interests of mine~

• Animals

• Anime

• Art

• Black Butler

• Canines

• Creepypasta

• Demon Slayer

• Detroit: Become Human

• Dinosaurs

• Dragons

• Dungeons and Dragons

• Fantasy

• Five Nights at Freddy’s

• Genshin Impact

• Harry Potter

• History

• Hobbit

• How to Train Your Dragon

• James Cameron’s Avatar

• Jujutsu Kaisen

• Lord of the Rings

• Marvel

• My Hero Academia

• Obey Me!

• Omegaverse

• Paleontology

• Period Pieces

• Photography

• Pokémon

• Red Dead Redemption 2

• Sci - Fi

• SCP Containment Breach

• Slenderverse

• Supernatural

• Twilight

• Wings of Fire

• Wolves

• Zoology

Some hobbies of mine~

• Adding pins on Pinterest

• Collecting Merch ( Figures, plushes, posters, etc. )

• Creating playlists on Spotify

• Drawing

• Listening to music

• Photography

• Playing video games

• Reading

• Sleeping

• Watching YouTube

• Writing

Some fun facts about me~

• I absolutely love animals. I aspire to be an Animal & Nature Conservationist / Own an animal rescue ( domestic or wild ). I am against all forms of animal abuse, agriculture, cruelty, exploitation, use, etc., as I am a true vegan through and through, and so I do not support the therian real animal part gear obsession. If you support that or other related things, do not interact with me.

• I absolutely love talking about my alternate / past lives, even though I may not know a whole bunch about them. And I would be more than happy to listen to others speak of their lives as well! Alternate / past lives in general are all very intriguing to me

• I’m a huge fan of Pewdiepie and Markiplier. I watch their videos everyday, they just make me so happy. I love to laugh, and they make me laugh more than anyone honestly. They’re my gods lol

• I have a habit of either capitalizing words that don’t abide by the laws of human grammar. Or I alphabetize every thing I list. Oh, and my favorite colors are beige, black, cream, gold, gray, lavender, tan, and white :3

……

…Did you notice it?

Anyway! As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a spiritual otherkin. Meaning I believe I’ve had past or alternate lives of my kintypes! That being said, here are…

My identities / types’~

( From first discovered to most recently discovered )

• Angel

• Fallen Angel

• Earth Angel

• Dinosaur / Paleo / Raptor Shifter

• Merfolk / Draconic - Like Sea Being

• Divine Leader / Goddess

• Spirit / Universe / Goddess / Guardian

• Demon / Unidentified Being / Other bbkin ( Black Butler )

• Canine Cryptid / Shifter / Werecanine / Werewolf / Werefolk

• Alien / Angel / Unidentified Being

• Draconic Fae / Shifter

• Standard / Traditional / European / Western Dragon / Wyvern / Shifter

• Eywa / Na’vi / Pandoran

• Night / Light Fury / Goddess / Other httydkin

• Dragon / Other ratldkin ( Raya and the Last Dragon )

• Fae

• Other Mariokin

• Other Spyrokin

• Other Kirbykin

• Blue / Sea / SeaWing / Water Dragon

• Desert / Sand Dragon / SandWing

• Forest / Green / Nature Dragon

• Celestial / Cosmic Dragon

• Abyssal / Eldritch Dragon

• Black / Darkness Dragon / NightWing

• Gold / Golden Dragon

• Fire / Red Dragon / SkyWing

• Air / Blue / Sky / Wind / White Dragon

• Ancient / Imperial / Standard / Traditional Asian / Eastern Dragon

• Other WoFkin ( Wings of Fire )

• Omni Pokémonkin / Other Pokémonkin

• Other GenshinImpactkin

• Other LionKingkin

• Other mhakin ( My Hero Academia )

• Other RDR2kin ( Red Dead Redemption 2 )

• Other Alpha&Omegakin

• Other Marvelkin

• Other Supernaturalkin

• Other Twilightkin

• Other Creepypastakin / Proxykin / Slenderversekin

• Android / Divine Cryptid / Eldritch Angel

• Machine Shifter / Omni Machine kin / Other Horizon: Zero Dawn / Frozen Wilds / Forbidden West / Burning Shores / Call of the Mountain kin

• Other Omegaversekin

• Other Howl’s Moving Castle / Studio Gibli kin

• Aquatic / Dark / Drow / High / Light / Moon / Silvan / Snow / Sun / White / Wild / Wood Elfkin

• Other dbhkin ( Detroit: Become Human )

• Conceptkin / Dimensionkin / Existencekin / Galaxykin / Levelkin / Planekin / Realitykin / Realmkin / Worldkin / Universekin / Vibrationkin

• Other Twilightkin

• Other hbkin ( Helluva Boss ) / hhkin ( Hazbin Hotel ) - ps. I do not like the shows or the creators

• Dhampir / Vampire

• Other scpcbkin ( SCP Containment Breech )

• Other FarCrykin

• All Beast / Other bnakin ( Brand New Animal )

• Other Hook / Neverland / Pan / Peter Pan / Tinkerbell kin

• Other dndkin ( Dungeons and Dragons )

• Other potckin ( Pirates of the Caribbean )

• Other fbkin ( Fantastic Beasts ) / hpkin ( Harry Potter )

• Other Hobbit / lotrkin ( Lord of the Rings ) / Medievalkin / MiddleEarthkin

• Medievalkin / Other Skyrimkin

• Other Okamikin

• Other gowkin ( God of War )

• Other Grishaversekin / snbkin ( Shadow and Bone )

• Alien / Amphibian / Dinosaurian / Draconic / Kaiju / Machine / Mecha / Pandoran / Reptilian

• Other asekin ( Ark: Survival Evolved )

• Other revkin ( Resident Evil: Village )

• Dark Fae / Other Maleficentkin

• Other fnafkin ( Five Nights at Freddy’s )

• Other dskin ( Demon Slayer )

• Other jkkin ( Jujutsu Kaisen )

• Other trkin ( Tokyo Revengers )

• Chimera / Trico / Other tlgkin ( The Last Guardian )

• Alien / Avian / Canine / Draconic / Feline / Pandoran

• AI / Alien / Android / Bot / Canine / Code / Cyber / Cyberware / Droid / Drone / Firewall / Future / Glitch / Hardware / Machine / Malware / Mech / Mecha / Program / Robot / Tech / Technology / Virus

• Other Transformerskin

• Other Cyberpunkkin

• Other ldrkin ( Love, Death & Robots )

• Other aotkin ( Attack on Titan )

• Other tgkin ( Tokyo Ghoul )

• Other gotkin ( Ghost of Tsushima )

• Other ackin ( Assassin’s Creed )

• Other twkin ( The Witcher )

• Other Nimonakin

• Lizard / Scavenger / Slugcat / Vulture / Etc. / Other rwkin ( Rain World )

• Alien / Alien Jackal / Alien Vulture / Bioraptor / Hellhound / Mud Demon / Etc. / Other Riddikkin

• Celestial / Cosmic / Divine / Galactic / Holy / Universal Creator / Deity / God / Goddess / Guardian / Saint / Planet / Solar System / Galaxy / Universe / Reality / Mother Earth / Life / Moon / Nature / Sun / Death / Light / Dark / Demeter / Gaia / Existence / Nonexistence / Etc.

• White War Wolf ( Asgardian / Marvel / Norse )

• Canine Spirit / Fox Spirit / Gumiho / Inugami / Kemonomimi / Kitsune / Komainu / Lion Dog / Magical Canine / Mythical Canine / Mythological Canine / Nine Tailed Fox / Nogitsune / Okami / Okami Spirit / Raccoon Spirit / Supernatural Canine / Tanuki Spirit / Wolf Spirit

• Child Fortune / Luck / Wealth Spirit

• Demon / Devil / Ecstasy / Emotion / Encubus / Euphoria / Feeling / Fiend / Heat / Hell / Hormone / Incarnate / Incubus / Infernal / Instinct / Love / Lust / Lust Incarnation / Pleasure / Primal / Romance / Rut / Sensation / Sex / Sexual / Sexuality / Stimulation / Succubus / Touch

• Other Spiritkin ( Spirit of the Cimarron )

• Other Elementalkin ( Disney )

• Other SlyCooperkin

• Other RiseoftheGuardianskin

• Other StrangeMagickin

• Other ObeyMe!kin

• Other MysticMessengerkin

• Other Otomekin / ShallWeDatekin / Voltagekin ( Dating Sims )

• Other KungFuPandakin

• Other Lucakin

•Other TurningRedkin

• Other Baldur’sGate3kin

• Other HotelTransylvaniakin

• Spirit / Wisp

• Other Siren’sLamentkin ( Webtoon )

• Other AnimalCrossingkin

• Other Tangledkin

• Other lolkin ( League of Legends )

• Other atkin ( Adventure Time )

• Mermaid / Selkie / Siren

• Alicorn / Hellhorse / Hippocampus / Kelpie / Magical Horse / Mythical Horse / Mythological Horse / Pegasus / Thestral / Unicorn

• Kirin / Magical Deer / Mythical Deer / Mythological Deer / Qilin / Peryton

• Centaur / Cervitaur / Faun / Satyr

• Griffin / Griffon / Gryphon / Hippogriff

• Amphiptere / Amphitere / Amphithere / Magical Avian / Mythical Avian / Mythological Avian / Phipthere / Phoenix / Quetzalcoatl

• Black Dog / Black Shuck / Canine Spirit / Church Grimm / Cu Sith / Divinehound / Fox Spirit / Enfield / Gumiho / Heavenhound / Hellhound / Inugami / Kemonomimi / Kitsune / Komainu / Lion Dog / Magical Canine / Mythical Canine / Mythological Canine / Nine Tailed Fox / Nogitsune / Okami / Okami Spirit / Raccoon Spirit / Supernatural Canine / Tanuki Spirit / Wolf Spirit

• Other twdkin ( The Walking Dead )

• ( Behemoth ) / Gorgon / ( Gorgonus ) / ( Gorgun ) / Leviathan / ( Nag ) / Naga / Quetzalcoatl

• Other hsrkin ( Honkai Starrail )

• Other WuWakin ( Wuthering Waves )

• Other zzzkin ( Zenless Zone Zero )

• AI / Android / Bot / Code / Cyber / Cyberbot / Droid / Drone / Firewall / Future / Glitch / Hardware / Machine / Malware / Mech / Mecha / Program / Robo / Robot / Tech / Technology / Virus

• Heavenhound / Divinehound

• Other mckin ( Minecraft )

As you can see from my identities listed, I have about 122 discovered identities, and most likely counting. I’d like to make it clear that I am not “adding to any kin list” or “kinning for fun”. I am completely certain and genuine about my alterhumanity and my many identities.

I have entire playlists of some of these lives on Spotify, that help me connect with them more. I figured out how to link my Spotify, give it a listen if you’d like. So here’s…

My Spotify~

……

Anywho, see ya! Also pls interact, I want friends / mutuals with similar kintypes 🥲

……

[wwouldvecouldveshouldve]

Male, romantic preference

MITB: INFJ

information about your hobbies

Oooo, I crochet, listen to music, cook, just adopted a cat, go to the gym (trying to become a competitive weight lifter)

information about topics you like to discuss

I’m a psychology and English major graduate. So I live to talk about sociology and human history and how that relates to the culture and habit of modern humans. Love deep conversation, I hate small talk. I give good life advice to my friends and people younger than me.

information about things that you hate

I am not a math person. I am not a fan of video games or most science fiction. Like I don’t like Star Trek or Star Wars but 2001 a space odyssey is my jam.

information about your personality

My personality seems to be a combo between Akutagawa, Poe, and Kunikida. Need to be recognized but also anxious and type A neurotic.

something that makes you unique (fo example, you like antiques from the 19th century. trust me, there's something that makes you a little bit different from most of the people around you)

I am working with my local university’s history, art, and earth sciences departments to be able to create experiments to recreate artwork normally seen in museums for the purpose of giving stolen artwork back to their original cultures.

if you are okay with being matched with a character who commits crimes/is a bad person/etc

Yeah, I don’t really get along with people who try to do the right thing by the right means all the time.

something that you value in others

Honesty and commitment. I hate flakes and cheaters.

something that you can't stand in others

Cheating.

I hope you were not kept waiting, darling! here is your matchup with the one and only kunikida!

kunikida is honest, practical, and reliable and he expects the same for his partner. of course, he eventually learns after meeting you that the love of someone's life does not have to meet every single one of his requirements. you fall first but when I tell you he falls HARD. he remembers every promise, anniversary, and special date. he cuts out a certain portion of his budget to spend on you, but he is weak to your requests. he is a complete loser for your love and dazai occasionally takes advantage of that. he enjoys conversations with you and is always looking to learn. your knowledge on people and life is always recorded in his notebook (every detail about you is in there <3) and he sometimes uses your psychology facts in his work. he's very grateful for how you help others and how you have changed him. he does not particularly mind your dislike for math, despite having taught the subject. he understands, after teaching many students, that people have different specialities and preferences and it is useless to pressure someone into being someone that they are not. kunikida appreciates how organized you are but you two must keep each other in check when you take things to far. additionally, you give good advice to each other in times of need. the agency thinks it's adorable! it takes a bit of time for kunikida to get used to your cat. eventually, however, he grows to adore the little fellow and spoils it a little too much. he enjoys being able to find it whenever he comes home, it's a stable variable in his life. he's always a little nervous that you two could be injured, so he forms various habits to keep your little family safe.

I finished it! I kept putting it off (I am too obsessed with verlaine to function), sorry. I hope you enjoyed the matchup :)

[sophia-sol]

wow it's a new year! gosh. well let's talk about the IMPORTANT things, like this round-up of all the recs I did over the course of this month on mastodon! this month you will find:

3 article recs 6 tgcf recs 6 cql/mdzs recs 4 original short story recs 1 multifandom rec 1 doctor who rec 1 2ha rec 29 yuletide recs

(yuletide fandoms are: My Cousin Rachel, Jane of Lantern Hill, Sunshine, All the Horses of Iceland, Gods of Jade and Shadow, Debrief, Deeplight, Yudah Cohen, Winter's Orbit, Goncharov, Left Hand of Darkness, Mr Queen, Ocean's 8, I Want To Go Home!, Knives Out, Tortall, When the Angels Left the Old Country, The Blue Castle, Vespertine, Jeeves & Wooster, Chess (Musical), Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Ocean's Echo, The Goblin Emperor, Temeraire, and the Enchanted Forest Chronicles.)

ARTICLES

Black Silk, Brown Silk: China and Beyond—Traditional Practice Meets Fashion, by Abby Lillethun, 2008

just read this interesting article on a technique for dyeing silk fabric a black colour in southeastern Asia, which can be called gummed silk or mud-treated/mud-dyed/mud-coated silk or a variety of other names

The article is about the socio-cultural context of the fabric's use in the last century and a half, which is fascinating, but now I want to know more about the chemistry of what goes on in this dyeing process. Especially since this is a process that involves iron in creating the black colour, and my understanding is that iron-rich dyes tend to corrode fabric over time, but gummed silk is specifically noted as being durable!

TELL ME MORE, INTERNET!

(the internet only wants to provide me fluff pieces about chinese fashion when I try searching) anyway the article is worth reading in itself even if it doesn't do everything I want it to!

Blue to black: Hypotheses on plant use complexity in traditional dyeing processes in Southeast Asia and China, by S. Li, A.B. Cunningham, Y. Shi, Z. Qiu, A. Hartl, X. Ding, S. Wu, Y. Wang.

I just read this paper on traditional indigo dyeing methods in Southeast Asia & China and it's so INTERESTING.

did you know: humans have been dying textiles with indigo dyes for at LEAST 6,000 years? despite it being a very complex multi-stage process? I am so impressed. (I'm also impressed we manage to have evidence of this! archeological research into the history of fibre arts is always a trial, for obvious reasons)

an indigo dye vat needs to be an alkaline environment that has been fermented to grow anaerobic bacteria

the dye vat will need various ingredients included to promote the fermentation and the correct type of bacterial growth, as well as to create the alkaline environment, and is monitored and maintained over time to make sure it goes right

the reason you need all this is because indigo particles don't actually penetrate the fibres; you need to reduce the size of the indigo particles, and when they're small enough you can turn them into leuco-indigo which CAN penetrate the fibres. then when the material you're dyeing is exposed to air, the leuco-indigo turns back into indigo and is trapped in the fibres!

if you want to overdye the indigo to create black, you also need a source of tannins as well as hyperaccumulator plants to be a source of metal mordant

so if you have indigo you can dye fabric black without using iron! iron corrodes fabric over time, and is the other main way to create a black dye, so this is amazing

modern industrial indigo-dyeing uses toxic reducing agents instead of the fermented dye bath, and this paper is intended to provide information on how sustainable dyeing could be done in a modern context as well. which, rock on. I love this.

Mickey, Disney, and the Public Domain: a 95-year Love Triangle, by Jennifer Jenkins

really enjoyed this article about Mickey Mouse and what it means practically speaking for Steamboat Willie to join the public domain in 2024! TGCF TGCF

Ming Yi's Monologue, by Zdenka

The original Ming Yi doesn't get much attention in fanworks, perhaps understandably since he never appears on-screen in tgcf while alive (or as a ghost, or otherwise able to exist and communicate), but he's a fascinating character to speculate about through what we know of him!

This short work is from Ming Yi's pov, a poem addressed to He Xuan from after death

it's so much fun! I love the pov, and I love the air of menace and resentment from ming yi towards his usurper. Perfect ending.

300 words in length

party city, by verity

rule 63 modern au hualian

it is so SOFT and suffused with care that I am all emotions!!!!

also. the outfits. I die.

3k words in length

My Love for You is Crimson, by elfowlgirl

xie lian gets an idea for a fun adventure and hua cheng loves to indulge his husband's mischievous side (I LOVE THIS)

the idea: if hua cheng went to heaven wearing clothes that aren't red, would anyone recognize him?

a charming and cute fic!

3k words in length

thanks to xieliansbignaturals@blorbo.social for the rec!

Double Trouble, by corduroyserpent

wow?!?! jun wu is such a disaster and this is amazing

post-canon, jun wu has a qi deviation that splits off a younger version of himself as bai wuxiang

mei nianqing suggests that jun wu can fix it by dual cultivating with himself. jun wu is NOT into it but makes it work with mei nianqing's help.

3k words in length

thanks to to xieliansbignaturals@blorbo.social for the rec!!!

we all have a hunger, by spicecandy

beefleaf modern reincarnation! reincarnation isn't usually my thing but I liked how it was handled here

he xuan has not developed any more chill over the years between when sqx dies and when sqx is finally reincarnated

he xuan's pov is very fun. the drama! the pathos! meanwhile sqx is clearly just having a nice time bonding with he-jie. beefleaf always about contrasts :)

I believe in u, he xuan! you can do it! have an actual relationship with sqx!!

also the gender stuff is great.

6k words in length

thanks to roland@federatedfandom.net for the rec!

shadowplay, by bloodletter

a postcanon beefleaf reconciliation fic; it's a wip and the first chapter was just posted today

sqx wakes up in a mysterious cave and finds that hx has saved her life and taken her there

the gothic vibes are out of this world and I love it so much, I am just eating this up, it's delicious. there's even a bit where sqx is standing on rocks looking out over a tempestuous sea!

hx is peak drama kid, peak capital-R Romantic, peak cannot-let-things-go. and sqx is unable to look away

I cannot wait to watch the rest of this unfold!

CQL/MDZS

For the Love of Quilting, by Scrippio

a super cute modern au where wangxian are quilters! I love how much the author is clearly familiar with quilting and is able to imbue the fic with insider perspectives on the art/hobby

I love when writers port "these characters are super skilled at The Thing The Show Is About" into a completely different domain like this, especially when it's a domain that doesn't get much attention from fandom usually!

the dynamics between wwx and lwj are also so fun, the way they click so easily, and push each other, and inspire each other, and love each other

also I dearly want to see all the quilts that are described in the fic lol

5k words in length

It's Only Time, by soupytwist

wangxian fanvid set to "It's Only Time" by the magnetic fields

I tend to be a hard sell on vids set to slower songs but this one totally captured me

a gorgeous look at the endlessness of lwj's love

thanks to lookitmychicken@blorbo.social for the rec that brought this one to my attention!

Hold On, I'm Coming, by inkjunket

wangxian fanvid set to "Hold On, I'm Coming" by Book featuring Ndidi O

damn this vidder is so good at using the motion of clips with the music to create and build intensity!

I love how clear the arc is of what the vid is doing, even with almost no words in the song

thanks to lookitmychicken@blorbo.social again for reccing this one!

Ready For It?, by wrensandroses

fanvid focusing on jin guangyao, especially his relationships with lxc and nmj and qin su

set to "Ready For It" by Taylor Swift

this was so much FUN. the song makes it a real bop, experiencing jgy and his uhhhhhh Choices. the vid makes excellent use of his patented customer service smile also!

thanks yet again to lookitmychicken@blorbo.social for the rec!

like a virgin (feels so good inside), by wildwestwind

modern au where wei wuxian is a camboy and wen ning is his roommate

wei wuxian is bad at recognizing boundaries and wen ning is bad at having them and it leads to them having sex together on camera

they are both disasters and I love them very much!

3k words in length

thanks to Betty@fandom.ink for the rec!

Salt in Our Sentences, by hansbekhart

exploring the relationship between Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji; the three months of almost-friendship when they were searching for Wei Wuxian together, and then the many years of hatred that followed

and yet lwj saves jc's life when he's injured in a night hunt. but they still hate each other.

the deep well of bitterness on both sides, as both feel fully justified in their hate! god it's so good. the vibes in this fic are impeccable.

2k words in length

thanks lookitmychicken@blorbo.social for the rec!

ORIGINAL SHORT STORY

Maladaptive Camouflage, by Ann Leblanc

a woman with a gun is faced with two identical people who both claim to be her wife

it's a fascinating short horror story about shape-shifting monsters who can duplicate human forms

told through the pov of a shape-shifter!

2k words in length

Catch and Release, by Nemainofthewater

an original xianxia short story on ao3

in which an unorthodox cultivator gets himself adopted by a small child who turns out to be part of a major righteous sect, despite the unorthodox cultivator's attempts to remain a lone wolf unencumbered by attachments

totally adorable and delightful!

1k words in length

My Bonsai Lover in Winter, by Rachael K. Jones

I'm not quite sure what to make of this short story but it's odd and lovely and I enjoyed reading it so I'm sharing it with you as well.

content note for body horror I think

1k words in length

There’s a Door to the Land of the Dead in the Land of the Dead, by Sarah Pinsker

about queer intergenerational friendship and mentorship, about being a young adult trying to find your place, about death and what it means to you, about living through the death of all your peers and coming out the other side, about hope and love and making connections.

holy shit this gave me so many emotions. READ IT READ IT READ IT.

also I adore the title. pinsker writes great titles.

6k words in length

MULTIFANDOM

Bicycle Race, by seekingferret

multifandom vid set to Queen's "Bicycle Race"

no serious deep meaning, just a whole lot of different people bicycling in a whole lot of different fandoms!

charming and fun to watch

DOCTOR WHO

Rest, by Aria

I left the doctor who era of my life behind in 2012 but when one of my beloved doctor who friends posted a new fic today inspired by the newest doctor who happenings, I had to read it

and guess what I had SO many feelings! the doctor! and donna! and finding ways to rest and live a linear life on earth with people he cares about and learning how to find the mundane things worth paying attention to!

3k words in length

2HA

oh, to be in love (and never get out again), by verity

rule 63 modern au f/f ranwan

chu wanning has atticwifed taxian-jun

cwn is SO horny for her wife (wives) but can't let herself just enjoy that

CHU WANNING.

1k words in length

YULETIDE

The Collar Tightens, by nemali

fic for My Cousin Rachel

post-canon fic from Louise's perspective!

Philip is haunted by the ghost of Rachel!

Louise struggles to keep up the mindset that of COURSE she must be happy to be married to Philip!

-1k words in length

Longest and Lasting, by Jougetsu

fic for Jane of Lantern Hill

fic about Aunt Gertrude through the years, her relationship with her mother and siblings, and growing into the person we see through Jane's eyes in the book

so good and believable! poor Gertrude. she never had an opportunity to escape, or to learn how to want something other than her mother's approval!

1k words in length

under our skins, by Wildcard

fic for Robin McKinley's novel "Sunshine" featuring Mel and Mel's tattoo artist!

told through the notes kept by the tattoo artist on each tattoo associated with Mel

Such a great glimpse into Mel's side of Sunshine's world!

1k words in length

The Nameless Mare and the Mountains, by tryfanstone

Take the beautiful novella All the Horses of Iceland, and tell it from the perspective of one of the horses!

just as beautiful and numinous as the original!

1k words in length

descent, by misura

fic for Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Gods of Jade and Shadow

such a fun pov choice to have it from Vucub-Kame's perspective!

I loved the arguments between Vucub-Kame and Hun-Kame, and between Hun-Kame and Casiopeia!

2k words in length

Souls in the River, by primeideal

Fic for the two-person roleplay game Debrief (I LOVE DEBRIEF!!!!)

featuring Dora and Jean, the wives of the player characters in the game, and I love how it makes them real people with their own complex relationship with each other!

I also love what it does with footnotes, it is a GENIUS way of doing pov things for this particular canon

ahhhh there are so many great details in the fic too!

3k words in length

the lord survives the rainbow of his will, by XenomorphLiebe

fic for the Frances Hardinge book "Deeplight"

focusing on the friendship between Hark and Jelt

absolutely perfect creepy vibes, and capturing what's compelling to Hark about his friendship with Jelt despite everything

also perfect bits about Quest as mentor-figure!

4k words in length

An Occasion On Which Yudah Cohen Was, Shockingly, Not Required To Meddle, by whetherwoman

fic for the Yudah Cohen series of short stories by Rebecca Fraimow

ft. exactly what the title describes

and ahhhh what a DELIGHTFUL story, a perfect little addition to the world of Yudah Cohen that feels exactly right!

it feels like Yudah Cohen and his family and the people around him are the kinds of people about whom endless stories COULD be told, and this is simply another absolutely correct story about his life.

2k words in length

Groundhawk Day, by Caracalliope

fic for Everina Maxwell's book Winter's Orbit

a timeloop on Kiem and Jainan's wedding day! oh noes, what will they do!

I love the timeloop as an external factor they have to face together

Kiem is so KIEM! I love him so much. the way he is delighted every time by whatever Jainan's done with his hair and clothes!

and I am so glad the fic cares as much as I do about the external non-romantic relationships for both of the romantic leads. how Bel is an integral part of things no matter what, and how much Jainan and his sister love each other

4k words in length

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Goncharov, by berlincorpography

fic about the made-up film Goncharov, by which I mean, fic about the made-up academics who study the real-in-their-world film Goncharov and have fights about it in academic journals, and also write fic about it

told entirely via text messages, ao3 comments, academic paper abstracts, and emails

yes obviously it's enemies-to-lovers

it's completely delightful, I love everything about it

6k words in length

thanks to bloodripelives@fandom.ink for the rec!

Uncautionary Tales, by Roadsterguy

fic for The Left Hand of Darkness, set generations after canon!

a young person of Gethen dreams of journeying out to join the rest of the Ekumen; their parent tells them the story of the Envoy and of Estraven

I love this outside perspective on the characters we know and love from canon, and what must have/might have happened to them, and the stories they've become in the generations since!

the original characters are wonderful also, bringing a great dynamic to the discussion of what it means to be a Gethenian vs an Outsider, and to the consideration of what a story means and what it means to tell that story

yuletide always brings fabulous left hand of darkness fics and this one is no exception!

2k words in length

Some Things that No One Teaches You, by DachOsmin

another Left Hand of Darkness fic!!! just as good as the other one! god I love fandom

genly and estraven on the ice, while estraven is in kemmer; a classic premise

this one is so sweet and loving, so full of genly being obtuse about things but trying so hard regardless, and estraven wanting him despite it all!

2k words in length

Instructions for those who have relocated in space, time and/or genitalia, by Jang Bong Hwan - by halotolerant

have I watched Mr Queen? no I have not. but I HAVE had friends tell me about it and that's nearly as good, in that it means I could read this fic and understand and appreciate it

Jang Bong Hwan is writing down maxims about how to survive the experience of bodyswapping through time and space, for reference for future people in the same situation

Jang Bong Hwan gets a little off topic. a lot.

Jang Bong Hwan loves Cheoljong so much!

delightful and charming throughout, such an engaging and endearing narrative voice

7k words in length

Double Down, by chasesstarlight

pre-canon story for Ocean's 8, telling the story of how Lou and Debbie met each other and the first con they worked together!

a fun story with a con that does a good job of fulfilling the story's needs

I really enjoyed the Debbie/Lou dynamics!

6k words in length

The boys are back in town, by scintilla10

post-canon fic about I Want To Go Home! featuring young adult Mike and Rudy going back to the camp for a reunion weekend

super cute and sweet, and I loved how much camp turns out to be just….camp. Chip is a reasonable person who's grown up some more and was embarrassed about how at a loss he'd been as a counsellor, the new camp director is making changes to the programming, the other attendees are into the group bonding activities but don't force Mike and Rudy to do anything

and it leaves Mike and Rudy a lot of time to just hang out and figure out what they mean to each other!

8k words in length

the most riveting intermission, by 061828

cute little fic for the Knives Out universe, about Benoit Blanc and Phillip's first meeting!

from Phillip's pov and I loved seeing Benoit Blanc from his perspective

2k words in length

The Duke's Curse, by Ghostinthehouse

Tortall fic set in the Alanna era, about the ways different parts of the country deal with the famine, in the year after the use of the dominion jewel

I liked the realistic look at what the differences would be in how hard the famine is depending on the main sources of food, eg in Pirate's Swoop which can look to the sea, vs Trebond with its field crops, and the people who have to go hungry vs the people who merely have to eat less deliciously than usual.

I would have loved the inclusion as well of a place where the people in charge don't care as much about the well-being of the commoners through the famine, but I understand why the fic didn't want to go there!

2k words in length

if it were physical, it would show, by orthostatics

a Tortall fic set during the era when Duke Roger is dead the first time, from Alex of Tirragen's pov

omg I am OBSESSED with this minor canon divergence au that takes seriously the question of what Alex's motivations are

the fucked up relationships between Alex and Delia, Alex and Roger, Alex and Thom! Alex's obsession with and failure to understand Alanna! Roger continuing to be horrible from beyond the grave!

HELLO I AM HERE FOR ALL OF THIS

5k words in length

Known, by Kass

a lovely post-canon fic about Uriel after When The Angels Left the Old Country, as its relationship with Ash evolves but remains the cornerstone of its life

also full of Jewish geekery (as the tags of the fic say too!) which feels so right for fic of this book!

3k words in length

Zichronam Livracha, by azhdarchidaen

another fic for When the Angels Left the Old Country, this one set 200 years later in the present day

Ash and Uriel have continued to live in the US, and have brought Essie and Rose's papers to donate to a Jewish archive

I love the archivist, and I love Uriel and Little Ash, and I love that from both sides there's kindhearted delight at seeing young people interested in preserving history!

1k words in length

a place where joy is known, by redgear

a fic about The Blue Castle! a fic about Abel and Barney's friendship!!!

I love this look at what their friendship is like - and at what Abel's perspective on Valancy is like!

1k words in length

the place you need to reach, by go_gentle

Artemisia/Marguerite fic for the book Vespertine, a post-canon adventure

look I have a terrible memory and don't remember most of what happened in Vespertine but I DO remember I loved the book, and this felt like a great addition to it

Artemisia stops getting letters from Marguerite and immediately knows it means something is wrong and goes after her

investigating a creepy group of people with the help of her revenant!

Marguerite isn't just a damsel waiting for rescue!

I really enjoyed it

8k words in length

Supporting Partner's Suit, by Persiflager

a delightfully charming Jeeves/Wooster story wherein Wooster is bodyswapped with Honoria Glossop

I loved the original character Tilly and I was SO cheering on the Tilly/Honoria ship!

and of course Wooster and Jeeves are beautifully themselves as always

6k words in length

Building Bridges, by the_alchemist

fic about the musical Chess!

Anatoly/Svetlana navigating their relationship in the aftermath, in all its complexities

navigating the feelings and the realities of their lives and what they are and aren't capable of being for each other, but being connected on some level despite it all!

second person pov

6k words in length

A Winter Wood Warming, by Terrantalen

post-canon Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell fic, about Arabella and Emma and a trip to Faerie

much of it told through letters and journal entries

I love the developing relationship between the two women, how important they are to each other, and how Arabella's relationship with the missing Jonathan is treated at the same time

and the sense of the numinous fits just right into the way it's handled in canon!

what a good fic. one I will definitely want to return to to reread.

9k words in length

Secrets Kept, by softboypassing

post-canon Temeraire fic about Laurence/Tharkay exploring Tharkay's estate for the first time

really good at vibes and the themes and the narrative voice! loved this one!

7k words in length

Guidance Lights and Caffeine Shots, by lc2l

coffee shop au for Ocean's Echo!

wherein Tennal runs a froofy indie coffee shop and Surit is on a budge that doesn't allow for froofy drinks

super cute!

4k words in length

Interregnum, by Samizdat

Goblin Emperor fic set during the period between the crash of the Wisdom of Choharo and the coming of Edrehasivar VII

featuring various other people whose lives were changed by what happened!

I loved seeing all these other little perspectives on the upheaval of that time

5k words in length

Procrastinating with Princesses, by azurefishnets

an Enchanted Forest Chronicles fic that takes place post-canon, about one of Kazul's grandchildren

featuring a dragon who doesn't want to have to choose a gender in order to be considered an adult, and a princess who's also a prince

the next generation finding their own ways to be "improper" and shock the the older generation! gender experiences outside the binary! a very fun dragon-and-princess relationship! I loved it all

8k words in length

[writing-is-a-martial-art]

On modern myths and why they're fun, actually

Now that I got dragged into this being my legacy had time to think about stories and how they work in a community, and I have come to a few conclusions.

Stories are a big part of the human experience - not only listening to them, telling and preserving them, too. 

"Weaving was a monotonous task that took all day! The women were bored to death!" yeah it's monotonous, but they told each other stories, from local gossip to what we would now classify as fairytales or myths. 

"The masses were completely uninformed of the goings-on of the country!" in the short term, yeah. In the long term? There were stories. The accounts we have of history before writing systems were established in a culture are of oral tales that were either written down at some point or only written down now. Some historical accounts survive to this day purely because humans tell stories. And yeah, they're far from perfect, they've changed radically throughout time, but they're still far better than nothing - they carry some traces of the impression the original event had on the people, and that's plenty to work with. 

In the modern day, listening to stories, or watching or reading them, is still a part of a person's daily life, but creating stories changed from a thing everyone does to a strictly professional niche. 

We see the result of this in some people's beliefs that the lower classes just didn't have art because they didn't have access to opera houses and theaters and were either illiterate or didn't have the time to read books and books were hard to come by. 

While one argument to that is that literacy varied greatly from country to country and in quite a few cultures theater was far from high-brow, another, equally important one is that people always had stories that they made for themselves: stories that would explain seasons, the creation of the world, why some animal looks or sounds a certain way, why some plants grow in specific spots or accompanied by other plants, why a volcano erupts sometimes. Some stories were purely about a human's favorite topic - humans, how the good is rewarded and the bad is punished, how the smart common person outwits someone in power, how the youth overcomes difficulties on their road to adulthood. 

This sort of storytelling, having a story be not owned by anyone, based on simple elements that make retelling it easy, and having making, telling and listening to it all be part of the fun, survives to this day only in bedside stories, and that is partly natural, seeing how most work spaces nowadays are unfriendly to people getting "distracted" by stories and communal activities just aren't as big of a thing, but. But. 

We do have online spaces, and online spaces are often oriented towards telling each other things and reinterpreting something (fandom, political satire, fun science facts, etc.). This is the perfect ground for resurrecting casual storytelling, and here, on this wonderful trainwreck of a site, we do have signs of that: stories that are known to everyone and get passed around again and again, stories created communally through a thread. We, as human beings, love stories, consuming AND creating. I say we keep doing that. Modern myths and tales deserve to be a thing, not only for the the fun of reading them, but also for the fun of making them. 

[ravelintherain]

Some words on fanfiction, AO3 and imposing parallel realities on real people

Max Verstappen, the AO3 comment in the RBR video and fan culture in general.

Fan culture is not a new thing, nor even was created in the 2000s. There are tons of academic books describing this social movement that gained body, soul and mind with the advance of internet around the world due to the economic and technological development. I have studied it once to a uni assignment because I have an understand of the world around myself as a fan (from Pokémon, to K-POP, to Taylor Swift, always following the lore of something).

So being aware of fanfiction is one of the consequences of this condition. And they were created due to the great commitment of these fans to the original art, since they wanted to live in that world for more than the original one could provide them. And for art, it can be punctuated on the relationship fans have with real people. Boy bands were the first “victim” of the fictional words where they had entirely new personalities and sexuality, where they would do things they could not imagine why and/or how.

And this did not stop on the music. Everything that has fans, has fanfiction. Tumblr is a great witness of that, as well as Live Journal, and AO3. Fanfics two-decades old of artists a lot of us have not even heard about it in our yet short life spam on Earth. But they were there, marking the presence of fans in the history of fame and art. It was supposed to be ok, something harmless for those real people. But, come on, we are speaking about human beings.

Human irrationality and capitalism, hand in hand to turn the fan experience something so sick there are no words to describe it better. For the peeps who know how it works in K-POP: fans, imposed to a surreal beauty standard, are made to believe they would marry their favourite artists, so these artists should not date anyone (only their other bandmates, and in their created words based on pictures and videos quite biased).

I consumed a lot of K-POP fanfiction, even wrote it. But it didn’t stop me to be mesmerised by this anthropological phenomenon. I know the people I wrote about would never see my words, and why? Because it was all inside a bubble, in which there was an agreement of keeping it inside no matter what. These works help people to practise writing, to have a hobby, to meet new people with the same interests, this whole thing resumed nowadays on “AO3” or “Wattpad” was supposed to be a great community to share ideas and to develop hobbies and abilities in a safe environment.

However, it came to the spotlight the comment of a blessed human being in an official account of a important team of motorsport soliciting them to ask one of their drivers (which, for knowledge, is the currently world championship of said sport) if he knows what AO3 is. His team liked this blessed human being commented and now the internet (at least people who actually care) are commenting how absurd it can be to someone like him to get in touch with something like “AO3 culture”.

Public people have public personas. They trained their personas to profit based on what their target audience wants to consume. Every social individual is like that, we do exactly the same thing to our family, friends, schools and universities, and jobs. Have you ever thought that being seen as an LGBTQ+ man in love with some of your adversaries (even with a beautiful story of childhood competitiveness behind) is not part of the plan? That these kinds of people (> us <) are not the target audience?

F1 is a misogynist sport, full of straight and homophobic men. I’m not saying that the person involved and being questioned about AO3 is one of these things, but I can assure you that at least 70% of the people who buy his merch are. As a gay man, I know a few. So being part of such narrative is so bad for business… And worse, a narrative shoved down your throat that you don’t have a say on it since every word would be taken as offensive. You just have to wait and see if it doesn’t get any worse.

Then, you’re friends with this person they allegedly say you’re in love and have a secret relationship with (even having a LONG-TERM GIRLFRIEND being a HETEROSEXUAL MAN). You cannot be seen with this person since you don’t wanna to fill this narrative any more. Not because you’re against, but because you don’t wanna be part of something that it’s been out of control because a bunch of crazy people goes to your comment section to comment about it.

I’m not here to condemn anything nor no one (it would be so hypocrite…), even more considering that I’m no one to do that. But I invite whoever read this to think. Do not stop writing, or editing, or drawing fanarts, they are all forms of expressions and, above all, ART. But be careful in trying to prove something that is clearly not that deep and could harm real people, and real lives. Do not spread fan culture for people who aren’t fan. It’s fan culture, not people’s culture. Only someone who is fan will understand the pleasure of seeing a fanart, or reading a fanfic three times in a row for the micro dose of serotonin it’ll give you.

Being said that, be safe y’all and if you see any of these comments on TikTok or any other social media, primarily in main accounts, fight back. Fan culture has saved me a lot of times since I was a kid, I would HATE to see something to cause a disturbance on it (it seems it would with this AO3 thing, god help me).

Ravel.

[munsonshire]

Hello! Can I please get a matchup for supernatural?

I'm a straight female and my pronouns are she/her

I'm 5'9 and I have long and curly dark brown hair and brown eyes. I have a fair skin tone, I'm slim and I've got full lips and fairly large eyes. I also have these dimples that I really like!

I love reading, my favorite genres are poetry, Russian lit, and mysteries! I love learning about new things and knowing a little bit of everything. I adore adventures, witty and playful banter, joking around and having indepth discussions on anything and everything! I adore all forms of art and I have quite a few creative hobbies! I listen to a lot of modern/indie rock and I love watching films very much! It takes me a while to feel comfortable around new people but once I do, I become really talkative and outgoing. I love helping out and I'm the therapist friend, people come to me to vent or for advice and comfort. I'm smart and ambitious; I love being the best at everything I do. I'm quite the hopeless romantic and I love being in love! I adore big and small romantic gestures and I love domesticity sm!! My love languages are acts of service and quality time. I'm a ravenclaw, my mbti is infp and my enneagram is 4w3!

Thank you very much!

Anonymous x Supernatural Matchup

Hello there!! Here is your request, I hope you like it!!

Disclaimer: its been a long LONG time since I last saw supernatural, so keep this in mind hehe.

I believe you would match pretty well with Castiel.

Learning and knowledge

Castiel shares your intellectual curiosity and thirst for knowledge. We is constantly learning about the human world, pretty much like you enjoy knowing about different genres and subjects.

Also, his vast knowledge of everything, having been an angel that has lived for thousands of years would be amazing, he'd talk to you about so many topics most would include angel themes such as celestial lore or even the intricacies of angel weapons and so on.

You two would always (playfully) challenge each other on knowledge of different things

You'd also tease Cas a lot because of how outdated some of his information about human history is.

You'd provide a grounding presence for Castiel as he tries to understand and learn human emotions and relationships. While he would introduce you to the Supernatural aspects of the world (lets be honest, you'd be a hunter and his tips would be useful)

Potential Banter

Castiel's literal interpretations and occasional social awkwardness could lead to some truly hilarious moments.

Imagine trying to explain sarcasm or a pop culture reference – the possibilities for amusement are endless!

Also his straightforward nature and close to no filter when he talks would bring so many funny moments between you two, especially due to your playful personality. Also, expect the most unhinged comments ever

Your playful personality could help him loosen up and discover the joy of wordplay.

Artistic connection

Being an angel, Castiel's appreciation for art may not rely on human traditional art forms, though he does marvel at the complexity of human creations

You say you're interested in poetry and I can imagine Castiel asking you to recite one of your favorite poems to him. Then him being awestruck by the emotional depth of the poem you just read to him.

I believe he would be very interested in painting and sculpture, especially the ones based on angels and god (cuz he's an angel), enter The Piety by Michaelangelo or Crucifixión de San Pedro. Caravaggio (1601). He'd also be amazed by modern ways of painting, such as digital art, he can't quite grasp how it works but he likes learning about it.

You two go to a lot of museums

His ability to transport everywhere is beneficial, he'd take you to all the different libraries, museums, and historical buildings that you might want to visit

Challenges to overcome, growth Together:

Castiel's angelic nature can be a double-edged sword.

His loyalty to Heaven could create conflict if it ever clashes with your values

However, open communication and a willingness to understand each other's perspectives could lead to a deeper bond and a stronger relationship.

Your nurturing personality could be a balm to Castiel's struggles with understanding human emotions

As he opens up (slowly, but surely), you'd be there to offer support and guidance

In turn, his unwavering loyalty and angelic perspective could provide a sense of security and stability in your life.

The hopeless romantic meets the loyal angel:

Castiel, despite his initial awkwardness, is a deeply devoted being.

His angelic expressions of love might not be what you see in human relationships, but his unwavering loyalty and willingness to protect you speak volumes

Together, you could create a unique and beautiful love story, filled with grand gestures and quiet moments of domestic bliss.

I really hope you liked it, if there's something you'd like me to add, anything you don't like of somewhere where you want me to in-deep more just tell me!!

[marabarl-and-marlbara]

hi mara, i just wanted to say i love your art, your work, and i would be really excited to playing a vn by you - though there's no pressure. i hope you dont mind me asking, how many scientology works have you read? im currently reading a history of man. have a great day.

good morning, anonymous -- thank you very much for the kind words; i likely won:t ever make/finish a VN so let that excitement drain away, it was one of my "before-doomsday" goals, but @ some point it felt like the only reason i was creating a VN (to begin with) was to impress someone i had a crush on.

That:s not so simple, though! Because deep-down I really love the medium, and last night I spent the day day-dreaming about opening scenes + graphics I:d use to direct it; the day-prior was spent reflecting on my own failures to finish/publish my "blueprint for basic beliefs and practices" for others to follow, to form a fledgling sickly insect of introducing chiral faith (a sort-of 'anti-christianity' -- not-so-much anti as in "satan rules" and more-so "chiral objects should not overlap") coinciding with the production of the 8th-day calendar I:ve been following, for this year (this ties in-to the VN because the setting/script segregates the handedness of followers along several cultural lines, one of the major ones is separating the calendars with the introduction of an 8th-day for the left-handed (based on quaternal patternings) sabbath) -- because it dawned on me that I could probably affect more people by a) withdrawing wholly, as I freak-out easily from being exposed to connectivity due to contamination, & b) the VN script I had written already served as a 'pungent blueprint' for the insemination of my faith -- it made me think of that story about mundum, wherein there were two 'vehicles of mundum' b1) the fiction author, & b2) the academic, who both channeled utilitarian mechanical grind/erosion in their own outputs (ie, even if the method was different, the cause was the same); I might be more of an artist than a priest, basically, so I was (and am) struggling with a crisis of my own utility. Do I try to don the garb of religion, and affect people with well-written (lol) and concise (lolx2) blueprints that provide clear glossary/instructions for a future flock, when I die? Or: do I just map-out my internal world with characters that are being mechanically eroded (unaware) by the bacteria of my faith, in hope that it can reach-out and affect the environments of readers -- the phylactery that I wrote about in the "I am not a person of integrity" substack post.

I don:t know ^^ the person behind any of those possibilities struggles to do anything except obsessively follow a tight daily routine of over-exercising and cleaning.

To your Scientology question: I read this message before I went to bed & had a nightmare loosely related to it, ie: nightmare scenario: "I received odd messages from a person accusing me of causing the suicides of two people I knew, and that I could have stopped it if I just acted human with them and were willing to eat a rotting sandwich (context: there was this baked-bun that was filled with maggots)." Loosely: the idea of other people getting into Scientology due to me stresses me out, but at the same time: if I really cared about that: I wouldn:t make art about Scientology. Connectivity is always contamination, and ultimately under every excuse of "why I let this leave a 'clean' (untrue due to outside inputs) environment of my thoughts is always because temptation of connectivity (ie: the output companion of that prior-mentioned-input)." I:ve partially read Dianetics (original thesis), Dianetics (the volcano one -- I own this one physically!), and Self Analysis (I own this one physically, too).

Take care, chief.

[obsidian-warthog]

Fan Servant/Remake: Avenger Tezcatlipoca

I've been displeased with the representation of Aztec mythology in FGO since Quetzalcoatl, and it was clear that Tezcatlipoca was going to be demonized, so I made a fan servant concept for him well before LB7 was being teased. Wanted to show how Aztec gods fit Fate perfectly if you actually do your research.

Now that LB7 happened and I'm on tumblr, figured I'd share it.

Name: Tezcatlipoca

Class: Avenger 

Skills

Independent Action: A

World Destroyer: A

Protection of the Faith: EX

Oblivion Correction: EX

Noble Phantasm: The Victorious Night

Ascensions:

First form’s art sticks close to depictions of Tezcatlipoca’s ixiptla. He has an enraged look on his face, standing in a bloodstained temple while holding a weapon.

Second form’s art has Tezcatlipoca dress as a jaguar warrior, weapons raised and covered in blood. The background is outside on a dark night.

Ascension Quote: The crimes of the enemy cannot be forgiven. My punishment will be without mercy.

Third form’s art is mostly the same as the second, just with more signs of damage.

Ascension Quote: Stand back, I don’t want you to get hurt, but clearly more of my power is needed.

Final form’s art shows Tezcatlipoca sitting in a field at night, with flowers in his hair. Weapons are strewn across the field. Tezcatlipoca is playing a flute.

Ascension Quote: You’ve done well handling my power. Perhaps you have earned the right to see more of my nature.

Profile

Entry 1: A major Aztec god associated with smoke and mirrors. He both destroys and creates, his destruction of the past worlds paving the way for the creation of the current world, which he gave up his own foot to create. Because he loves humans, he is willing to be harsh and even kill some in order to ensure they continue growing as a whole, like a farmer tending to his crops.

Entry 2: Humans known as ixiptla would be chosen to embody gods. Tezcatlipoca’s ixiptla had a long list of requirements, and was sacrificed to himself at the festival of Toxcatl every year. Every human that has been Tezcatlipoca is part of him. Because of this, he can be summoned as a servant through his ixiptla with a minimal loss of power and authority. The one here is the one who bore witness to the Toxcatl massacre.

Entry 3: The Toxcatl Massacre was a turning point in the conquest of Mexico, where worshipers were massacred by the conquistadors. Tezcatlipoca carries with him not just the vengeance of a profaned sacred rite, but the vengeance of those who saw their way of life trampled upon by the Spanish. 

Because he carries the rage of an entire culture, Tezcatlipoca’s Oblivion Correction surpasses the scale of any one individual. His is the grudge of one culture against the other, thus it could be said that he embodies prejudice rather than merely being prejudiced. To him Christians and Spaniards are monsters, not humans. All monsters must be slain.

Entry 4: Protection of the Faith EX: The ixiptla blend the line between man and god, Tezcatlipoca is both the worshiped and the worshiper. He believes in himself and his fellow gods as a human who revered them. As an existence bound in religious practice this manifestation of Tezcatlipoca is an aspect of religion itself. Therefore, it is impossible to place his version of Protection of the Faith on a scale.

Entry 5: The Victorious Night: Tezcatlipoca’s Noble Phantasm, a reality marble that forms a recreation of the Aztec retaliation against the Spainards after the Toxcatl Massacre, casting Tezcatlipoca’s enemies as the Spainards. 

Since it is a recreation those cast as the Spanish will always lose, unless they can escape the reality marble. Additionally, the activation of this Noble Phantasm summons every ixiptla of Tezcatlipoca from across time to slay the monsters in the name of humanity. 

Bonus Entry (requires start of Cosmos in Lostbelt): World Destroyer A: Tezcatlipoca is one associated with the end of worlds, clearing the way for Pan Human History. This skill facilitates the destruction of things that must be removed for the current world to exist. Tezcatlipoca destroyed many timelines like the Lostbelts.

“You have no need to bear the responsibility of destroying a world. A human can’t act on such a broad scale. I will destroy these stagnant worlds to plant the seeds of one where you can grow. That is a god’s love of humanity.”

My Room Lines

Random Line: Every manifestation of mine is different in some way, but they are all ‘me.’ If you are seeking a true Tezcatlipoca, you seek what does not exist.

Random Line: An evil god? That’s nonsensical propaganda spread by the monsters. Quetzalcoatl and I are opposing forces, do not simplify us into ‘good’ or ‘evil.’

Random Line: Avengers can’t forgive, it is in our nature. The monsters were the ones who refused to coexist, do not insult me by implying peace with them is possible.

Bond 1: The energy needed to maintain this form is enough of an offering to me, you need not give more. 

Bond 2: Say, do you have any interest in ballgames? Perhaps I’ll show you the great game of my people. It is far superior to any that those monsters play.

Bond 3: If you have any relationship troubles, feel free to request my help. I had four wives, we would renew our marriage every year a little before… apologies, I need to go unleash my rage on one of the monsters who deserve it, rather than you.

Bond 4: Why did I appear as a corpse with its heart showing in your room last night? That was a test, you passed it, so don’t worry. As the last hope of humanity, I can’t let you be weak. Now, do you have a wish for me to grant?

Bond 5: You don’t meet every one of my requirements, but I wouldn’t complain if you became the next ixiptla of mine. Perhaps you will become a me who is not an Avenger, who is free of this hatred.

Thoughts on Master-Servant relationship: I dislike both the terms master and servant for our relationship. My identity is no secret, call me by name, contractor.

Thoughts on Holy Grail: The world is movement, it is always changing. So rather than undo their crimes I will destroy the monsters, so something new can be made from their remains.

Birthday: Happy birthday. Now, what was the precise date of your birth? I hope it was a day that I govern, it’ll make protecting you from the monsters easier.

During Events: Oh, something lively is going on? It’s no Toxcatl, but perhaps it will do. Toxcatl… if only those monsters hadn’t appeared.

To John Dee: You have something that is mine. Return it, and your death will be swift and painless rather than the slow painful one you’d otherwise deserve.

To Cortez: I won’t let you tarnish this place. Your death will bring much joy, I’ll make sure you die again and again until I bore of killing you. Then it will be Quetzalcoatl’s turn to kill you.

To Chistian servants: Monster, invader, your day of judgment has come.

To Quetzalcoatl: Brother we should keep our distance, for the sake of our contractor. Call upon me if you’re fighting a monster or Beast however.

To Jaguar Warrior: Quit slacking off. Go back to your training or be punished. Humanity itself is on the line you idiot.

To Spartacus: Forced to fight to the death for mere entertainment? Mistreated slaves like you have my protection, continue your rebellion. Destroy the empire that will become a center of that detestable religion.

To Geronimo: You suffered at the hands of the monsters as well. Normally I don’t have allies, but I will always side with humans against monsters. We march together.

To King Hassan: Kill for the sake of killing? You must mean someone else. Every death has meaning, each act of destruction makes the path to an act of creation. What have you created through your death dealing, assassin?

To Ozymandias: Pharaoh? That’s the first I’ve been called that. Certainly not the worst title foreigners have given me, but it still does not suit me.

NP Chant

“A sad night for monsters is a joyful one for humanity. Your defeat has already happened. VICTORIOUS NIGHT!”

Gameplay/Interludes

I don’t care enough about FGO gameplay for a full kit theory craft, but Tezcatlipoca would have a specific anti Christian niche like Boudicca for the Romans. To make this not suck he’d be able to stick that trait on all enemies, either with a normal skill or as part of his NP before the damage part. His NP would be an AOE attack.

Tezcatlipoca’s interlude would have him talk about the story of the five suns as it relates to the Lostbelts. He and Quetzalcoatl would bicker over whose fault the first four worlds being destroyed really was, but they both agree that they can’t afford any real infighting while the Lostbelts remain.

Max Bond Craft Essence

Obsidian Mirror (art is of a handheld mirror): An item sacred to Tezcatlipoca. With these one could see and be seen by him. So long as this is kept close, Tezcatlipoca will always be near. For the last master of humanity, for the sake of humanity, just this once he will only be the enemy of one side.

Valentine’s Craft Essence

A Lost Song (art is of a flute): Not all knowledge is preserved, some is destroyed. There are many songs that will never be heard again. To cause such circumstances is unforgivable, but for this night that does not matter. For this night one of those songs is remembered, it is played to you. More than a song, it is a sign of trust, and as you listen, the avenger of the night wind smiles in a way avengers rarely do.

[hb-reynolds]

My first piece as the Arts & Literature editor at the University Observer. Issue one of the year is always a mad dash - it's typically made almost entirely in house, as you don't yet have a contributor list, so everyone is jumping from section to section, filling spaces for each other and writing 4,000 words after midnight the day before we go to print.

I'm a nerd at heart (always and forever) so of course my first piece when I got even a modicum of editorial control was about the difference in how the stories of Superman and Supergirl work as immigrant narratives.

The article was originally published in September 2017, and can be read at the link above, or in the read below.

The concept of Superman, at its core, is that of a god. He is a supernatural, infallible being who protects and serves humanity at a level that would be impossible for any other singular person. However, behind Superman, exists a man. Clark Kent, the humanity which motivates Superman, drives him to be the hero, has became such a cultural milestone. Due to this, Clark is where most of the internal conflict originates throughout the various iterations of the character, since his conception in 1938. A large portion of this conflict is derived from these conflicting personas. Clark, a humble, kind child of farmers from Kansas, and Kal-El, the superpowered ‘Last Son of Krypton’, battle for dominance in the life of Superman. His attempts to balance these two identities is what creates the majority of his internal struggle.

These identities represent the two worlds, the two origins, he has to balance. On the one hand, Superman is a farm boy from Smallville. The only son to his parents, he is a quiet reporter, an All-American father and loving husband. On the other, he is Kryptonian. He is one of two survivors of his home planet, and depending on the specific run, the sole owner to the knowledge of Krypton. He exists in an ever-present struggle between his lived history: the knowledge of where he has come from, and the knowledge that he will never truly experience the land which he is supposed to call ‘home’.

This struggle is one faced by many who immigrated at a young age, particularly those who were adopted into their new home, as Clark was. This has not gone unnoticed by writers either, many new recent issues depict Superman protecting and aligning himself with immigrants faced with violence or deportation to violent or unfamiliar lands. As well as this, fans and creators alike have taken to referring to Superman as a “DREAMer”, a young immigrant who is fully assimilated to American life by adulthood, who arrived to the United States without documentation, and followed the specific “DREAMer” path to gain citizenship.

Superman’s Kryptonian identity remains a background feature throughout his multiple iterations, creating internal drama surrounding his guilt for not engaging with it enough in his day to day life. Writers typically alternate between neglecting visits to the centre of Kryptonian history on Earth, and most recently, his internal debate over how much of his Kryptonian identity he wishes to pass on to his half-Kryptonian son, Jonathan. However, these underlying conflicts are ever present as moments for introspection in an otherwise action heavy comic. This conflict is seen far more clearly in one of Superman’s main companion comics, Supergirl. Supergirl, which tells the stories of Kara Zor-El, Clark’s elder cousin and the ‘last daughter of Krypton’, is typically depicted as arriving to Earth five to ten years after the emergence of Superman. Clark typically being in his mid-to-late twenties at the time of her arrival.  She is in her late teens when we first encounter her, escaping Krypton upon its demise. Immediately, she struggles to find a place in this new and confusing world she finds herself in. She cannot speak the language, has no friends or support network, and her only existing family is twenty-five to thirty years older than she is. Her story is that of a struggle for assimilation, of the complexities of finding your way in a nation you have no idea how to navigate or how to communicate in.

Due to this, Kara struggles to find a place on Earth while still maintaining her heritage, an intrinsic part of herself. To her, to give up her heritage is to give up Krypton, a land to which she can never return. This struggle is absent from Clark’s story, as he grew up in the heartland of America, only discovering his heritage later in life. 

Both narratives are easily discernible, as are the complexities of the aftermath of immigration, the settling and the settled, those who are detached from their heritage by circumstance and those who have to find a way to balance it with their new life. It serves to create internal tension for the work, to create a more rounded story than ‘Godlike Character Saves the Day #978’, by adding a level of political commentary that comics are seldom without. Without this, the stories would never have withstood the test of time and would likely have faded into obscurity, along with countless other superhero stories which lacked the internal conflict to make their tale eternal.

[maddiviner]

Today, I’ll be interviewing Taylor Ellwood! A well-known magical iconoclast, Ellwood (known here as @teriel) authored several books on pop culture magic. He’s also written many more on other postmodern magical topics. You can visit his website here. I recommend his recent revised book, Pop Culture Magic 2.0 to any magical practitioner who might want to integrate their love of stories and popular culture into their magical practice.

E: In the past few years, I’ve seen many magical practitioners criticizing the role of consumerism in the occult and culture at large. Given that popular culture sometimes has to take cues from what’s profitable, what do you think about the role consumerism plays, for better or worse?

T: I think consumerism is an inevitable reality of culture. It’s something that has been part of human history from at least the beginning of recorded history. It has evolved and is continuing to evolve (cryptocurrency seems to be the next evolution) but it isn’t going away. Pop culture will always be influenced by consumerism because what people buy, watch, etc., is what keeps a given pop culture in circulation. My perspective is to accept the reality of consumerism but also focus on what I genuinely like and enjoy, both in terms of magical work and in terms of creating art, writing etc. If you want to work with a given pop culture embrace the reality that consumerism does play a role in that pop culture…what makes something popular is dictated by what people are willing to spend and invest money on, to some degree.

E: In Pop Culture Magic 2.0, you talk about the practice of “experience taking” in work with pop culture characters. You describe how this can work as a kind of mediumship. You, of course, give safety advice in your books about not allowing the character’s spirit (so to speak) to pervade your entire life. That is usually the major criticism or fear people have about this kind of experiment. Is this a risky practice compared to other forms of spiritwork?

T: It’s no riskier than any other type of spirit work technique or practice. It’s using the same methodology and practices. When you invoke a traditional spirit you are also experience taking. Experience taking provides another frame of reference for working with spirits that may make it easier to connect with spirits because it provides a modern context for the connection, and in particular with pop culture characters it provides a frame of reference around the experiences that are relevant to the pop culture. The reason I included experience taking in Pop culture Magic 2.0 is because it provided a great example of how we unknowingly end up invoking pop culture spirits in us when we are into the pop culture that we’re enjoying. We do this with other people as well. We take on the traits and activities because we mirror what we’re observing. What magic allows us to do is do it on a conscious level and that may provide more control of the experience taking as a result.

E: I’ve heard some pop culture mages suggest that fictional characters might be real in their own right, albeit not in our universe. Usually, this relates to the “many worlds'' hypothesis. That perspective contrasts with the idea that we’re creating our characters as thoughtforms, using our own will and creativity. As someone with a lot of pop culture magic experience, what’s your perspective on this - created, discovered, a secret third thing…?

T: I’ve taken the perspective that fictional characters can be real in their own right and that what authors and other creators have done is channeled that pop culture. I don’t see it as being any less viable than other spirits being real. What makes a spirit real isn’t a question of tradition or age, but rather a question of whether we have encountered something we can’t conventionally explain or understand that may have an objective existence. Pop culture spirits could fit that and so I’ve always taken that stance.

E: In recent years, the term “reality shifting” gets thrown around a lot on TikTok and other sites. People claiming to practice this say that they’re able to “shift” into alternate (often fictional) universes. For example, they might “shift” to Middle Earth or the Marvel Universe, only to return bodily to ours. Initially I thought this was just the younger generation’s phrase for astral projection, but it seems to involve more intense, complicated claims. What’s your take on this? Is it all daydreams? Is it something else?

T: My take on this is that it’s a combination of day dreaming and wish fulfillment. This isn’t to say they aren’t connecting with an alternate universe or having meaningful experiences. In fact, we could see this as an extension of experience taking, where they are taking on the experiences of an alternate universe. In the end the real question does it serve their spiritual work and life in a meaningful way.

E: In Pop Culture Magic 2.0, you talk about setting boundaries when channeling pop culture entities. Do you have any thoughts on those who, for whatever reason, identify wholly with a character? Sometimes the term fictionkin gets used. They say that they don’t choose such identities, but rather “awaken” to them, and often believe they were a version of the character in a past life.

T: My thought on this is that it's an escape fantasy of sorts, like a method actor overly identifying with the character. You can take on too much of something, but does that mean you’re really that identity or are you trying to escape the identity you occupy in your regular life? People may not want to answer that question, but its worth asking and answering, especially in terms of developing a grounded practice that supports your life as opposed to helping you escape from your life. Pop culture magic and spirits ought to empower us, not become an escape fantasy.

E: Pop culture magical systems remain somewhat controversial , even within the magical community. You (alongside Felix Warren’s addition) address many common criticisms of the concept in your book. Do you think the occult community will become more accepting of this form of magical practice? Why or why not? What do you think the future holds for pop culture magic?

T: When I wrote Pop Culture Magick there was a lot less acceptance. Two decades later there is a lot more acceptance. I think as time goes on the occult community will become more accepting or quieter in the disagreement that is expressed. I also think as more people practice pop culture magic and develop systems of their own this will help with the overall acceptance and it’ll become a more mainstreamed version of magic that some people practice.

E: This is perhaps a bit tangential, but I think it’d be interesting to talk about. With things like those infamous algorithms and advanced artificial intelligences becoming more commonplace, do you think high technology will change magic?

T: I already think technology has changed magic. We see more technomancy occurring already. There’s some interesting work already available about AI and magic, so as with anything else the evolution of technology will also change how some people practice and think about and explore magic. It won’t replace what’s already there, but it will add its own cultural stream to the current of magic and provide different and novel ways to explore magic. It’s not an area of magic I’m all that interested in, but there are plenty of people already working on combining technology and magic.

E: You’ve worked with many pop culture paradigms over the years. I’ve worked quite a fair share of them myself. Some were easy for me, some were hard. Do you believe that certain narratives are more conducive to magic, or is it merely a matter of personal resonance?

T: I do think certain narratives are more conducive than other narratives. For example, if you have a system of magic in place within a narrative or something to the equivalent effect, this does make it easier to develop a pop culture system or a one off working. If that’s not present, I think its harder to develop a real fit that can be worked with. That’s just my opinion based on what I’ve tried and what I’ve observed.

E: I’m asking everyone this. How did the pandemic change your personal perspective and practice?

T: The pandemic turned everything upside down in my life. I’ve gone through a lot of life changes including a divorce and moving to a new city. Those life changes have spilled over to my magical life. My magical practice is currently focused around exploring sacred masculinity, both in terms of mythology and sacred sexuality, as well as focused around embodied and somatic practices for internal work and inner alchemy. I’m also continuing to develop an approach to magic that is an alternate to the will based approach espoused in the overall occult community. The pandemic really made me question the paradigms of power and focused me on continuing to develop more collaborative and cooperative relationships.

This is all pretty interesting stuff! I’d like to thank Mr. Ellwood for this interview and food for thought!

[spiders-hth-is-an-outlier]

While I am fully on-record as supporting the right and privilege of every artist to write whatever weird shit they want to write, because 1) art is a completely legitimate way to explore the outer reaches of human experience in a safely contained way and B) You Can Do Whatever You Want Forever, don't let a bunch of wannabe brain cops issue you an endless stream of moral citations -- I will say it's a tiny bit embarrassing when my team gets stuck on the argument "obviously people know right from wrong, reading a book isn't going to make a good person do bad things."

Because, like, yes, sure. Movies don't create psychos, Sydney, they just make psychos more creative. You're correct, but you're embarrassing because "Hannibal might make people think cannibals are sexy" is the lowest of low-hanging fruit, the definition of a strawman argument.

The problem is you're staking it all on the notion that there are Good People who will always know how to do good things and be sufficiently motivated to do so. Therefore, if someone does bad things, well shit, their Good Person Gauge was obviously broken, nothing we can do about that. Too bad about Bad People.

And that's. Just self-evidently incorrect, right? I mean, I think there's a good argument that in general, a predisposition toward prosocial behavior is part of the standard human software, something that we recognize as a "moral instinct" toward things like keeping your word and playing fair and making friends. But beyond that, you can't possibly look at all of human history and not realize that people contextually develop their sense of what's morally acceptable and unacceptable. Obviously! Obviously a person who wants to be a Good Person is going to be receiving and processing information all their lives from the people around them, learning how to separate normal from abnormal, admirable from disreputable, virtue from vice.

I can give you an easy, television-related example (the best kind of example!) When I was in college, I like most people I hung out with watched Friends, and we all framed Ross in our minds as a Good Boyfriend. We liked that he was loyal and devoted, that he knew Rachel well and seemed to care about her specifically; we saw him as the antithesis of the kind of sleazy, dishonest users and takers that we were always anxious to identify and avoid. And yes, many plotlines revolved around Rachel's objections to Ross' excessive jealousy and his resentment of her career, but in the context of the show, she always forgives him because she -- and the audience! -- interprets this as a stressful by-product of how intensely he adores her and his omnipresent anxiety that she's too good for him. It's not that we thought he was right -- the episodes themselves don't even frame his behavior as correct! But we thought. Well. That's the normal tradeoff. Relationships are hard, right? Someone was going to love us too much or not enough, and in the end, wasn't too much better? Women always have to manage male emotions, but this particular kind of admiration/neediness/insecurity was the Good Boyfriend set of emotions to have to manage.

And I'm not arguing that the reason women put up with sad-sack dudes flattering them into curtailing their lives so they don't outgrow unsupportive relationships is that Friends was a big hit. Movies don't, Sydney, etc. But I do think that in a culture where Media is kind of everyone's common language, people really, genuinely do consume media in a way that fundamentally forms their sense of what's normal and who's likeable and which stressful invasions against our boundaries and dignity are forgivable.

Anyway, write whatever you want! It's just one example of the way that I've personally witnessed real human beings adjust their sense of right and wrong around the media that's served to us as aspirational. So I know that does happen, and it has nothing to do with "adults know right from wrong;" I don't think that's a statement that's especially germane to real conditions in the real world.