#north👁️

[creepyscritches]

Honestly I would prefer a barn wedding to most other weddings. Recently went to a like Nice Country Club wedding and goooooooooooooooooood I felt like a lost bumpkin lol...barns are the great equalizer. or I'm just very yeehaw pilled and only thrive around yeehaws

[jackstheprinceofhearts]

STOP HI ITS ME FROM THE SERVER

( kay )

hi kay 👁️

[jaarijani]

13, 48, 87 😁

13. where do you wish to live? I want to live in a smaller town in a more forest-y area, I'm not a big city person

48. do you have a beloved stuffed animal? I have a little hedgehog handpuppet/plushie whose name is Egelie and an old dusty rat plushie whose name is Rattie, I've had them both since I was like 5 and I still love them 🥰

87. do you wear any jewelry? Yes!! I have a nose ring and three pairs of earrings, and I always wear my scorpio necklace. I often switch up rings and bracelets but I wear those a lot too :)

Ask me some questions <3

[xtruss]

Hundreds of detainees have died as a consequence of torture and inhumane treatment in Kurdish-run prisons in northeast Syria for people suspected of links to the Islamic State group (IS), according to Amnesty International.

In a new report published on Wednesday, the human rights organisation accused authorities and security forces in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) of committing war crimes at prisons and detention facilities where it said more than 56,000 people - the majority of them children - remain captive.

Launching the report on Wednesday, Nicolette Waldman, a senior crisis adviser at Amnesty, said the US government had played a "key role" in the detention system because of its support for the Kurdish authorities, including funding since 2015 totalling hundreds of millions of dollars.

"The US is involved in most aspects of this detention system. They played a key role in establishing the system in the first place and they've played a key role since in supporting and maintaining the system," said Waldman. The report found that US officials and military personnel had visited detention facilities and were likely aware of the brutal treatment inflicted on detainees.

Local officials told Amnesty that US intelligence bodies were involved in conducting interrogations of American nationals and Syrian and Iraqi detainees, while several other states had interrogated their own nationals.

"These interrogations, from what we were told, are very regular, they've been happening over the course of years and we were told that the US has interrogated all what are termed 'high-value' suspects as well as all of their nationals," Waldman told Middle East Eye. "Something that became clear through this process is just how much access there is for third states through this system of detention," Waldman added.

US forces had also delivered detainees into Kurdish custody, where they were subsequently tortured, and had repatriated detainees to countries, including Saudi Arabia and Iraq, where they were at risk of further rights abuses, Amnesty said.

Amnesty also said that scores and possibly hundreds of Yazidis captured and enslaved during IS militants' genocidal campaign against the minority group in Iraq and Syria likely remained among about 14,500 women and 30,000 children being held at the Al-Hol and Al-Roj detention camps.

Most of those held in the camps were rounded up during the final battles between IS militants and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) near Baghouz in 2019, and many women were victims of trafficking and forced marriages with IS militants, it said.

While the arbitrary detention of women and children at Al-Hol and Al-Roj, and the reluctance of some countries to repatriate their own nationals from the camps, have long been condemned by rights groups, Amnesty's report reveals harrowing details about conditions inside a network of prisons and interrogation facilities where about 11,500 men are still being held.

It highlighted the Sini detention facility, near Al-Shaddadi city in Al-Hasakah governorate, where it said thousands of prisoners had been subjected to "unrelenting and systematic brutality" resulting in at least hundreds of deaths.

"Former detainees said they were subjected to torture or other ill-treatment primarily in the form of beating with various implements, but also including whipping with electrical cables, suspension from the wrists in what is known as the shabeh stress position, sexual violence and electric shocks," the report said.

In one incident in 2020, a former detainee said that 17 people in his cell had died of suffocation after prison authorities turned off an exhaust fan. Other former detainees said the bodies of those who died were buried in a mass grave inside the prison complex. Former detainees also described routinely being denied access to adequate food, water and medical care.

One detainee said that he and his cellmates had regularly gone for two or three days without water, leaving them so thirsty that on one occasion one of his cellmates tried to drink urine from the toilet in the cell.

"Former detainees said the combination of the physical abuse, inhumane conditions and lack of medical care led to the deaths of at least many hundreds of people, if not more. Former detainees recounted witnessing friends and other cellmates dying in front of them, sometimes in large numbers," the report said.

Amnesty said that about 800 detainees remained in the prison in 2023, down from about 3,000 to 4,000 detainees prior to 2022. One former detainee told Amnesty that US soldiers had visited the prison in 2021 to collect biometric data and check on the state of the prison.

"We know the Americans, they come with their weapons and their dogs... [They] checked on the prison, and they searched us, and all of our rooms... [We] were going outside to the courtyard. It was the same courtyard where we were tortured. They were able to see the blood on the wall. They could see the people who were injured from torture," the report quoted the detainee as saying.

At another detention facility in al-Hasakah city, known as Panorama, Amnesty said that a lack of adequate medical care had resulted in an outbreak of tuberculosis that had been ongoing and unchecked for years.

Kurdish officials confirmed to Amnesty that nearly 600 detainees held at Panorama had died as a result of tuberculosis and other diseases, according to the report. Torture and mistreatment had been systematically used in another 15 detention facilities to coerce confessions, extract intelligence or as a form of punishment, Amnesty said.

Women held in camps and prisons also described incidents of torture and sexual violence. One former detainee said she had been subjected to electric shocks while pregnant.

Waldman said: "Men, women and children told us they were subjected to the same methods of torture. They included electric shocks, stress positions, severe beating. The majority of these people we interviewed were Syrians who were being tortured to confess."

According to the report, about 42 percent of detainees (about 23,500 people) are Syrian, 37 percent (20,700) Iraqi, and the remaining 21 percent (11,700) foreign nationals from approximately 74 countries.

Amnesty called on AANES to investigate and address allegations of torture and other abuses, and to end practices which it said had led to "mass death as well as severe pain and suffering".

It called on the US government and its anti-IS coalition allies to take steps to enforce international humanitarian law. And it called for a United Nations-led international response to address "the detention crisis in northeast Syria".

Agnes Callamard, Amnesty's secretary general, said: "The autonomous authorities, the US government, other members of the coalition and the UN must all work together and prioritise the urgent development of a comprehensive strategy to bring this shameful system into compliance with international law and identify justice solutions to finally hold perpetrators of IS's atrocity crimes to account.

"They should conduct an urgent screening process to identify individuals in detention who should be immediately released, with a particular focus on victims of IS crimes and at-risk groups.

"While this is under way, they must ensure that the violations being committed are stopped immediately, and reports of torture and death are independently investigated." Amnesty's report follows a plea last month by Paulo Pinheiro, the chair of the UN's International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, for action to address the situation of the 30,000 children still detained in the camps.

Kurdish officials did not respond to MEE's request for comment. But in a response to Amnesty, the AANES said it operated in compliance with international human rights laws. It said it had "not received any information or complaints" regarding alleged torture, and said that if abuses had occurred they were "individual acts".

It said allegations about ill treatment and lack of food, water and healthcare in detention facilities were untrue, but admitted there were shortages of medical supplies and conditions of overcrowding in detention facilities. AANES highlighted the difficult conditions it faced, including continuing conflict and a lack of resources to manage and maintain the prisons and camps. It said members of the international community had failed to "fulfil their legal and moral obligations" by failing to repatriate their own nationals.

The US State Department also called for the repatriation of detained foreign nationals to their countries of origin and said it "remained committed to addressing the dire humanitarian and security challenges" in the region.

It said: "We take seriously and remain deeply concerned about reports of human rights abuses including extrajudicial killings; torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; arbitrary detention; and enforced disappearance.

"We continuously urge all actors in Syria, including the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), to uphold human rights, protect civilians, and to respond appropriately to allegations of abuse and civilian harm, including by holding perpetrators accountable as appropriate.

— ✍️ Simon Hooper

[the-mystery-of-christ]

✝️✡️✝️ All Glory to The Lord our God ✝️🔯✝️

As above so below, so within so without ⛧🌹⛧

No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.

Luke 8:16 ☠️🔥☠️

[sweetlady555]

QUICK SYNASTRY OBSERVATIONS^_^

Venus 1H Synastry is nooo joke aside from the strong very obvious chemistry and attraction, if you or them identify as straight yall could literally turn gay for each other 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩🤣

Moon 1H Synastry is NAWTTT for the avoidants 😔!!! House person could really depend on moon person for validation and theres so much hidden things in this relationship like secrets and resentment </3 this could depend on the entire chart though!!! the good cute side though is that you both could lowkey have feelings for each but never telling each other because you both just know…

Mars 1H Synastry is lowkey so attractive like aside from the strong physical attraction, mars will literally do anything to please or meet house persons needs or desires 😭 i told this guy who had his mars in my 1h that i really liked his paintings and if he could make one for me and that boy had his gloves and canvas out the next hour😭🤣

Mars 8H Synastry not gonna lie i know some of yall be loving mars in the 8h synastry but this synastry placement irked me ouwwttttt overtime😭 as house person in this situation mars person was FEINING for me he was a real freakazoid like the freakiest of them all he was basically FERAL and i was chill with it for a few months but it seemed like thats all he wanted to do and its like can we just talk tonight❤️? Mars will not understand this because theyll percieve almost anything house person does as provocative and sexually enticing but this could go for both of you guys so idk🥴

Pluto 7H Synastry is cute at first because pluto will be so infatuated and interested in house person, youll notice pluto person will be the first to look at your stories without even following you sometimes and its like aw they must rly like me imma let them be :) but behind the scenes theyre checking your social media almost 24/7 looking at all your interactions online and probably will lowkey start stalking all of ur friends too 😭 the pluto person will do this without house person knowing (if theyre sneaky enough) feeling the need to anticipate the house persons actions or feelings … “i just wanna talk and conversate cause I usually just stalk and yk masturbate and I finally got the courage to ask you on a date so if you say yes, let the future fall into place, cunt” (she by tyler the creator resembling pluto 7h synastry👀👁️)

North Node 2H Synastry is lowkey cute in a way bc this is a “i gotta get rich” after looking at house person once😭! north node will literally see house person as this rare beautiful diamond that they wont wanna lose and they will let house person know about this too! but this is just the good side of this placement bc this could also lead to self worth issues feeling like u guys arent worth each other leading to insecurities showing out in this relationship🤬

Uranus 10H Synastry is lowkey a shocker to house person from my experience when it came to a certain career path, in my case fashion, uranus really changed my perception on it 😭 showing me the true reality of the fashion world and its like uhhh idk if i wanna do this anymore☺️! but at the same time uranus person could really be inspiring to house person because of how unconventional and unique they are! i also noticed uranus person could really influence house person to be unconventional and unique aswell! house person could go thru a lot of sudden changes with uranus person when it comes to their career and how they end up being percieved in person or online if this relationship ends up being public.

Sun 2H Synastry is nice to have with someone because sun person will motivate house person to improve in any area of their life they will be on you too (for good obviously)😖😩 Sun person will wanna see house person thrive financially and just in general giving house person opportunities for this. There is potential jealousy on both sides mostly house person because of achievements, wealth and values literally can be anything 😣

[felassan]

Rook's Coffer.

The rest of this post is under a cut due to length.

[link]

There is a lot of interesting stuff in here. 👁️

A coffer is a strongbox or small chest for holding valuables. The contents of the box is described as being Rook's "personal effects", the "tools of [their] resistance" (against the Evil Gods).

The Light-Up Lyrium Dagger

This is the dagger replica that BioWare had on display at their SDCC booth in a case. at the time we wondered if it glows (yes!) and whether it would be a merch item in the Gear Store or part of a collector's edition or something, and here we are. :D the name of the item confirms the idea that it's blue because blue lyrium (I wondered this here). the description on the Gear Store of the item reads:

"Its blade has torn the very fabric of the Veil."

and ~8 months ago I wrote,

"since we saw this image from the 2022 in-game cinematic and speculated that 1. this image shows Solas doing something to the Veil, and 2. the item he’s holding is the red lyrium idol in its ritual-blade form, what it’s reminded me of is the Subtle Knife from HDM (Pullman). Æsahættr cuts windows in the fabric between worlds; I wonder if the idol’s power as a magical ritual-blade is the ability to ‘cut’ through the 'fabric’ of the Veil (of reality), thereby tearing open the barrier that has been separating the two realms."

Cloth Map and Quiver

"Look to this illustrated map to learn about the world you defend."

First let's do the quiver. :>

A quiver to keep a map in is such a cute idea. going by the triangles, it's a replica of the quiver rogue Rooks store their arrows in in the game. ^^

Now the map.

Starting at the bottom right, where it all began~. Ferelden is depicted as a mabari (a symbol of Fereldan royalty), complete with kaddis. You can see the Brecilian Forest and the Imperial Highway snaking round Lake Calenhad. In the Frostback Mountains is the Inquisition’s hairy eyeball symbol, fittingly as that’s where Skyhold is located. North of the Arbor Wilds are the Dales, containing Dalish aravels. Orlais is portrayed as a reclining lion (the symbol of House Valmont is a lion). West and south of the lion are the Nahashin Marshes, the Abyssal Reach and the Tirashan. Across the sea from Ferelden is the landmark of Kirkwall, the Twins of Kirkwall (statues).

The north of the map is the most 👁️ tho, as DA:TV seems to be predominantly set in locales across northern Thedas. That part of the map has a lot of elements from the misted-out northern Thedas map from the Thedas Calls teaser trailer, only.. unmisted. :D we can see the Antivan city of Treviso with its spires and the Antivan Crows flying around Antiva. We can see the giant squid curling over Rivain, this time on a bed of treasure like gold and silver. West of the White Spire mountain is Arlathan Forest, with another aravel, ruins of the city of Arlathan, and floating rocks and floating ruins. in the sea south of Par Vollen is a Qunari dreadnought.

Tevinter is separated from Antiva by the Hundred Pillars. the way they look in this map, they remind me of Drumheller Alberta, where Mark Darrah once mentioned that DA:TV devs went to capture reference material for the game. in this post I wrote of the Tevinter coast that "much of the center is entangled in tentacle-like or snake-like tendrils". in this new map we can clearly see that they are snakes. makes sense, Tevinter is a nest of vipers metaphorically and snakes are part of Tevinter iconography. We can see the city of Minrathous and my all-time favorite guy, Floating Building. Weisshaupt is represented by a griffon and for the Anderfels we have  Our Lady of the Anderfels (the statue of Andraste). to the north, Tallo's Eye and the Donarks.

This part of the map is potentially super exciting:

This is a dwarven statue underground in the Deep. the location suggests this is representing Kal-Sharok south of the Anderfels (this is not anywhere near Orzammar, and Orzammar isn't represented on the map by a drawing either). omggg. I really hope we visit Kal-Sharok in this game oh shttt

In the center of the map is Nevarra and the Silent Plains. this map depicts the Silent Plains and surrounds as being full of the ancient bones of giant creatures and giant skeletons. that's 👀 since we saw giant skeletons in Nevarra in the new trailer. we can also see the Grand Necropolis with its eerie green glow as its reaches go down into the ground. it's attended by two [giant?] necromanced skeletons. the gold doodads on their heads remind me of the skeletons we've seen Emmrich necromancing.

There don't appear to be any depictions or landmarks shown in Seheron or Par Vollen. :< and in this last bit of the map it's a bit hard to tell due to poorer image quality that this section of the map is shown in, but east of Rivain is the map compass and south of Rivain, south of Llomerynn, in the whirlpool.. is that an island with an eluvian on it? maybe this represents the Lighthouse and the pocket dimension it exists in? watery Fade imagery and all that.

(Thedas Calls trailer map images below for reference. you can see that 'landmarks' from in that trailer are on this new map)

(^ ignore the yellow lines in the Rivain squid cap ^^;)

Rook's Card Deck

"A set of cards depicting people and places from Rook's adventures."

Like the map, there's a lot in these too. first of all the art looks so beautiful and I'm psyched that cards/card-style art is returning in DA:TV, the tarot card art in DA:I was so cool and gave so much inspiration to the DA art community! some of the art is familiar to us, some is totally new.

in this last image we can see that among the cards is the art for the Solas print that came with the BioWare Gear Store exclusive variant of the artbook. the design for the back of the cards is similar to the box for Rook's coffer. for the others I think I'm going to identify them with letters so it makes talking about them easier. ^^ (image without key is above). 26 x 2 = looks like there are 52 cards total, if this image contains the whole set. (if I've mixed up any of my numbers or letters in the below, pls lmk so I can correct it!)

please keep in mind that these are just guesses for fun. [thanku to mime who helped me guess what each card could be :D]

A - Venatori? red like red lyrium and they're always messing with it, diamond shape like their new symbol (two), cult-like vibe, mage robe-vibe. the pointy hoods remind me of the figure in the background of Neve's card. (given the shape in the background, is Elgar'nan messing with them or are they working for him? they could be without knowing he's an elf) B - dragons, dragon fights? (looks like a giant toothy dragon maw bearing down on a party) C - F qunari Rook? (like how there was a card for M and F of each lineage Inquisitor in DA:I. F qunari Inky for comparison) D - Harding companion card art from the Dragon Age website E - Veil Jumpers? gold, triangles, antler/halla-horn type pattern, looks like the person has a glowing gadget F - Grey Wardens? silver plate armor, Joining Chalice, shield with griffon wings on it G - Rogue Rook/rogue class (like there was a class card for each class for Inky in DA:I. Rogue inky) H - one gender of elf Rook? (like how there was a card for M and F of each lineage Inquisitor in DA:I. elf Inky cards for comparison) I - Arlathan Forest? it looks like it has ruins and floating rocks J - 'Fen'Harel' Solas from the in-game cinematic that we saw in this trailer K - Neve companion card art from the Dragon Age website L - Weisshaupt in the Anderfels (see this concept) M - Warrior Rook/warrior class (like there was a class card for each class for Inky in DA:I. Warrior inky) N - M qunari Rook? (like how there was a card for M and F of each lineage Inquisitor in DA:I. M qunari Inky for comparison) O - undead, giant green glow skeletons? P - ? Q - Minrathous R - Lords of Fortune? they have Taash vibes. blue sea in the background, gold trinkets at their waist, swashbuckling vibe S - ? T - Emmrich companion card art from the Dragon Age website U - another gender of elf Rook? (like how there was a card for M and F of each lineage Inquisitor in DA:I. elf Inky cards for comparison) V - red lyrium darkspawn W - M dwarf Rook? (like how there was a card for M and F of each lineage Inquisitor in DA:I. M dwarf Inky for comparison) X - Bellara companion card art from the Dragon Age website Y - Elgar'nan from back in the day before being Blighted? bald like ancient elves sometimes are shown, maybe the orb is his foci. Z - ? not sure, but something bad and maybe red lyrium-related. also blood and maybe an eluvian in the background

[block character limit text break!]

1 - Ghilan'nain from back in the day before being Blighted? creepy tentacle-vibe hair. 2 - Mortalitasi / Mournwatch 3 - ? not sure, but something bad and maybe red lyrium-related 4 - 'Humble apostate Solas' from the in-game cinematic that we saw in this trailer 5 - Blue lyrium dagger 6 - Red lyrium dagger 7 - Davrin companion card art from the Dragon Age website 8 - Taash companion card art from the Dragon Age website 9 - Grand Necropolis. undead city vibes, the eerie green glow 10 - part of this concept art posted on Halloween in 2021. (I think this may be somewhere in the Anderfels/Weisshaupt surrounds after something bad has happened. those creatures are red lyrium-afflicted darkspawn. the location has the same dark/night-time corrupted/Blighted vibe as here, complete with Blightsacs and red lyrium darkspawn. the bad dark Blighted ruined vibe is also like here from the Thedas Calls teaser, where if you zoom in there's some red in the image. when this image was shown in Thedas Calls, it was the segment about Weisshaupt and the Wardens. in the release date reveal teaser, we see a shot of the Anderfels in the day-time without Blight/before anything bad has happened. it looks nice and is a beautiful view. you can tell that is the same place as here because of the presence of the posts with the basketball hoops on top of them. lastly, in the companions reveal trailer, Davrin is shown fighting red lyrium darkspawn in the dark/night-time corrupted looking area, and in the background is a statue of a griffon. 11 - ? not sure, but something bad and maybe red lyrium-related 12 - this Solas art from the Gear Store artbook exclusive variant pack 13 - Treviso in Antiva (see images here) 14 - Elgar'nan? curving horn shape, eclipse 15 - demons? or Elgar'nan and Ghil in their prison together? 16 - Qunari, as in from the group that have been invading/occupying? 17 - mage Rook/mage class (like there was a class card for each class for Inky in DA:I. mage inky) 18 - The Dread Wolf? or the Dread.. wolves. there are 2 wolves in this. Two Wolf Moon 19 - Lucanis companion card art from the Dragon Age website 20 - F dwarf Rook? (like how there was a card for M and F of each lineage Inquisitor in DA:I. F dwarf Inky for comparison) 21 - the Deep Roads (concept art for comparison) 22 - ? but they are this figure from the full cover art of the regular edition of the artbook 23 - Ghilan'nain? horrible centipede creature, suggestion of Ghil's head-shape, suggestion of hands and faces 24 - feather. griffon feather? to represent Assan? 25 - Rivain. boats, sea 26 - Antivan Crows

I feel like I've made mistakes or missed something though because if there's a card for each faction, where is the Shadow Dragons? and if there's an M and an F card for each lineage Rook, where are the human Rooks? I'll revisit the cards and my list again sometime with fresh eyes. :D

One thing I wanted to highlight at the end of the section on the cards is the blue lyrium and red lyrium dagger[s].

Above we talked about how the item name Lyrium Dagger confirms the idea that the dagger is blue because blue lyrium (I wondered that here). in the same post I wondered about the other dagger that we first saw on the deluxe artbook cover:

"This artbook cover one is more gnarled in appearance and the 'ring’ of the handle isn’t complete. It has extra spiky bits protruding off it too and it looks like something is growing on it. Maybe this is what happens if/when the blue [lyrium?] dagger becomes red (Blighted)? because this gnarled kinda vibe reminds me a bit of Meredith’s sword Certainty in DA2, and of that body horror way in which red lyrium growth looks on people. It also reminds me of the tendrils of Blight corruption on walls and the ground and stuff in DA:TV screenshots, and the gnarled red lyrium darkspawn we’ve seen (look at this darkspawn’s back for example). Or maybe there’s simply more than one dagger?"

and here we are. 👀 the blue lyrium dagger Blighted to red lyrium, or else there's a red lyrium dagger out there too somewhere.

Enchanted Die

"This beautiful die will help guide you through the perils of conversation."

The Gear Store description for this item makes perfect sense as the symbols on the dice are the dialogue wheel icons. :D here we can see Romance, Anxious, Sad, Warrior, Investigate, Mad, Stoic and others. also I love the iconic purple-theme color of the dice. :)

Glass Potion Flask

"A decorative vessel that would be essential for storing healing potions."

I have no comments on this really other than it's pretty and that I think it resembles the design of healing potion bottles in the game. :)

Dragon Age™: The Veilguard Companion Lithograph

"This art depicts the faces of your closest allies, the ones who'll stand beside you against impossible odds."

This features the companion art pieces from here.

Thank-You Letter

"A note of gratitude from the creatives at the helm of Dragon Age™: The Veilguard. (From game director Corinne Busche and creative director John Epler)"

and this is a lovely and thoughtful idea 🥺 .. maybe it's the inscription inside the box with the Veilguard symbol?

Lastly there's the box!

It's pretty and is in the same style as the UI on e.g. the skill trees. it looks like there's a square with each companion round the outside, plus a square for Manfred, Assan, and Varric. the gang's all here. :D for the 7 companions, their image is from their 'tarot style' art, but for Manfred, Assan and Varric it's art we haven't seen before. around the outside is also each of their weapons, like an arrow for archer Harding and Lucanis' fancy rapier-sword. I guess in the middle the helmet represents Rook. (it gives me Warden vibes. maybe it's a version of the helmet Rook wears here?).

As a last thought, with the items being Rook's "personal effects", the "tools of [their] resistance", I really love the idea that they have a deck of playing cards and a dice/enchanted dice. I know these are common fantasy world items but idk it's giving a lil, Remy LeBeau. I dunno, Rook somehow has a rogueish kinda vibe to me (as in the trait, not the class). Varric describes them as clever and adaptable, words you might apply to a trickster. "You don't know when to quit" implies a certain incorrigibility. rooks are corvids which have trickster lore irl, and characters that play games with cards and roll dice often have that smart, rogueish, trickster kind of edge in tropes and stuff. it works in my brain in different scenarios too, like if Rook is a foil to Solas, or someone advised by Solas (trickster-mini trickster mentee), or someone opposed to Solas (takes a trickster to outwit a trickster), and/or someone who is in some kind of a way a sorta successor[?] to Solas in terms of story role or repeating history or foils again etc (if you remember the line "They call me the Dread Wolf. What will they call you when this is over?"). you know, like think about what is said about Fen'Harel today and was said about him immediately after the fall (elven voices in Vir Dirthara in Trespasser). what will they say about Rook when this is over? hope that paragraph made sense :D

[harmoonix]

♕ Mysterious Placements in your birth chart ♕

Oh, who is she?

♕♕♕♕♕♕♕♕♕♕♕♕♕♕

➻ Sun/Moon in the 8th house/Moon in Scorpio or Moon/Sun at Scorpio Degrees (8°, 20°) are born with this mistery aura in them, they are secretive and savage in the same time

➻ Venus/Pluto/Mars in the 8th house or Scorpio, they are having this "Who are they" aura in them, everytime they make contact with someone, it will always bring their attention

➻ Venus conjunct/sextile/trine - Pluto = Not only misterious but tend to radiate some sexual and intimidating energy aswell. Very powerful placements when it comes to transformations

➻ Mercury conjunct/opposition/square Pluto, they are so intelligent and they can have this type of "dark mind" ans "dark thoughts", their voice aswell might be very attractive/sensual

➻ Jupiter conjunct/sextile/trine Moon - This might be an very underatted placement when it comes to being misterious but the truth is they can be very misterious when they make contact with people and when they met someone new, that person is always gonna have that impression of "I wanna know more about them"

➻ Lilith conjunct/square/opposition the ascendant can have this mistery aura inside them aswell, giving this "Shadows embrace" kind of mood

➻ Lilith conjunct/square/opposition Sun makes the native rebellious and secretive aswell as making them this "misunderstood" feeling and even judged sometimes. They have pretty misterious eyes

➻ Sun in Capricorn/Sun at Capricorn Degrees (10°,22°), Capricorns were always giving this vibe of "darkness and boldness" they are represented by the Ying element which is darkness and it makes sense so much. Capricorns are witchy aesthetic

➻ Moon in the 9th house is another indicator for underatted mysterious placements, they repsent the ancient/magic/past/history so many things that imply being seen as someone with a very mysterious flair

➻ Uranus or Neptune in the 12th house => Pretty mysterious when it comes to making a first impression, they can be connected spiritually and having this empath energy around them

➻ Mars in Sagittarius are very rebel and having this "rebellious" nature makes them to be seen as a mystery, they are having such a good personality

➻ Pluto in Sagittarius Generation [ 1996 - 2009 ] they change the worlds perspective, giving freedom to people and making them to be more spiritual than before, gives them really flair of mystery, when they want to change something they will do that. This generation is spiritual awaken

➻ Lilith in the 1st house can embody Lilith's traits pretty much and be seen as a mystery to people especially to men (no matter the gender), they can also be seen as someone very different

➻ Lilith in the 6th house is a very intense house to have Lilith in, because Lilith the dark divine meets with Virgo which is light divine, and they both create an mix of darkness and light

➻ Lilith in the 8th house can act pretty mysterious as they enter in a room everyone's eyes can switch on them

➻ Lilith in the 12th house is another underatted placement when it comes to mystery, they are having a very different vibe when they are near you and makes you wonder "What's with them"?

➻ Asteroid Hekate [100] in the 1st house/aspecting the ascendant, well this is Indeed the mystery itself, you are seen as a mystery and someone who can be a threat for some people

➻ Asteroid Hekate [100] in the 8th house are very intuitive when it comes to secrets and truth's they will always come to light, no one can lie to them

➻ Asteroid Hekate [100] in the 9th/12th houses are spiritual gifts, they can know so many things and been seen as someone very wise since a young age, a mystery surrounding

➻ Asteroid Hekate [100] conjunct/trine/sextile Moon=> very intuitive and in touch with everything that is around them is like they have the 3rd eye 👁️ open

➻ Asteroid Hekate [100] aspecting the North Node, embrace your own shadows and learn to stand for your power because this indeed is a very powerful placement, you are intuitive and creative use this tools in your life to feel better

➻ Moon conjunct/sextile/trine Pluto - gives the native this flawless energy of mystery. They are good at keeping others people secrets and can have a very dark humour

➻ Moon square/opposition/ Pluto is almost the same as the aspect above just more intense creating an sense of insecurities including jealousy and envy from other people. Dealing with people who have problems with you

➻ Neptune conjunct/sextile/trine Moon - Well this aspect is kind of mysterious as a siren song, they have a certain side of them who secretly wants to keep in the shadows and away from people

➻ Sun in the 12th house/Sun in Pisces - This placement is well known for being mysterious as being the "child of the universe", they carry with them this energy and got attention without them knowing why, is also an very empath placement

➻ Placements List of placements who are well known being seen as mysterious (already)

Scorpio Rising/Rising at 8°, 20° degrees

Aquarius Rising/Rising at 11°, 23° degrees

Capricorn Rising/Rising at 10°, 22° degrees

Pisces Rising/Rising at 12°, 24° degrees

Lilith aspecting the MC (Midhaven)

Lilith aspecting Neptune

Virgo Degrees on your planets (6°, 18°)

Jupiter in Leo

Jupiter in Scorpio

Jupiter in Libra

Jupiter in Virgo

Uranus in the 1st/2nd houses/7th houses

Pluto in the 10th/11th houses

➻ Having Pluto prominent in your chart gives you this baddie vibes, badass and mysterious someone with a very dark humour

➻ Having Moon prominent in your chart gives this "Moon child" appearance, someone with extremely beautiful eyes and you know how they say "Eyes never lie" 👀

➻ Having Saturn prominent in your chart gives "Boss is here" vibes, someone very admirable and respectable by the people

💋 The vibe is this post gives is so 🌃 Coquette and elegant 🌃 I love it honestly is such an mood

💋 May everyone who reads my notes have a good day with a good energy and good mood, and never forget to love yourself the most 💋

💋 H a r m o o n i x 💋

Harmoonix2023®

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

“red flowers”: fae, vargas camp 2, and glorious masquerade

THERE’S SOMETHING IN VARGAS CAMP 2 THAT MADE ME DO A DOUBLE TAKE 👁️ 👄 👁️

So in 2-2, the pixies of the forest are trying to put out the campfires. The boys then talk about how there was a miner's campfire a while back that caused a forest fire, which naturally spooked the local fairies. AND THEN VIL GOES AND DROPS THIS DOOZIE OF A LINE:

EXCUSE ME, VI L SIR??????? ?? ? ???? ? ? ?? ? ? ? Did you just say RED FLOWERS? Is that not similar to the CRIMSON FLOWERS/LOTUSES that ROLLO tried to use to establish a magicless Twisted Wonderland in Glorious Masquerade?!

ADDENDUM: I learned recently (very shortly after this post went live, actually!) that the “red flowers” may also be a reference to what the animals in the live action Jungle Book call fires. I’m not personally familiar with this film, so I’ll be running with the crimson lotus/Glorious Masquerade connection for the duration of this post!!

Looking at how the phrases are written in Japanese, they use the term 赤い花 ("akai no hana"/red flower) in Vargas Camp and 紅蓮の花 ("guren no hana"/crimson lotus flower) in Glorious Masquerade. Crimson is basically a specific kind of red, and lotus is just a certain type of flower. Even more damning is that fact that in 3-8 of Glorious Masquerade, Malleus EXPLICITLY describes the spreading crimson flowers as having "a brilliance like that of fire". You can see from images of the crimson lotus that they do, indeed, seem to glow like fire.

If you look at the real life timeline of these events releasing, it also coincidentally lines up!! Like, the original release of Vargas Camp 2 (for JP server) was in mid to late SEPTEMBER 2022. Then Glorious Masquerade would come out mid to late OCTOBER 2022. Vargas Camp 2 was literally the new story event that came out RIGHT BEFORE Glorious Masquerade... WAS THIS FORESHADOWING??????????????? And even more importantly than that... What does this mean for fae??????

One could call "red flowers" just a poetic way for the pixies to label something they don't understand. But what's confusing is that there are clearly also fire pixies living in the forest; we see several of them in Vargas Camp attacking the students. It's not as though the fairies are unfamiliar with fire itself, so why not just call the campfires 'fires'?? What if... (and stick with me here) the pixies named the campfires thus because it's potentially a reference to something far deadlier (than even the forest fire) that they experienced or heard of in their history? In the time period of ~400 years ago shown to us in book 7, we learn that human invaders drove fae out of their homes and began mining their land for resources. This, more specifically, impacts the Briar Country up north, who are fighting against humans that arm themselves with iron (something which appears to repulse the fae). These humans are also known to use deceptive tactics, such as distracting the messenger team of Lilia and co. while they launch an assault on Mallenoa's castle, where she and her unborn son are. So... what's to say they wouldn't resort to other underhanded means as well? Mean such as... utilizing a flower known to suck out the magic from living beings :))) like maybe the... crimson lotus, perhaps?

In Glorious Masquerade, we learn that the crimson lotus has been extinct for a long time now. They were destroyed by humans centuries ago because of how dangerous they were to mages. We don't have an exact number of years, but "centuries" is enough to land it in the rough ballpark of the human-fae war. Malleus himself, who is canonically 178 years old, didn't even recognize the flowers at first (as very few records of them exist in modern times); this could imply that the crimson flowers were around before he was born, which further supports that they were present during the war era.

What's more, if we look at Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (ie the second live action Maleficent movie), we see a VERY strong parallel to the crimson lotus flower. In the film, we are introduced to the Tomb Bloom, a flower that just so happens to also be red and glows a little like fire.

UNCANNY RESEMBLANCE, NO? 🤡

Tomb Blooms are said to grow on the graves of fairies, and, when mixed with iron, creates "red dust". This red dust is considered deadly to fairies upon contact--and in the film, a fairy-hating queen lures a bunch of fae into a wedding venue to eliminate them en masse with the stuff. The crimson lotus flowers of TWST, meanwhile, are deadly on their own, draining the magic out of any magical being they touch (and permanently depriving them of magic once all the magic has been taken out of someone). For fae, who rely on magic for basically everything (travel, cooking etc.), it would be a miserable existence symbolically synonymous with death.

(Side note: in hindsight, this somewhat explains why Malleus is part of the Glorious Masquerade SSR trio. If the crimson lotus flowers were, in actuality, inspired by the Tomb Blooms (something which was weaponized against Maleficent and her kind), then it just makes so much sense for the antagonist of the event, Rollo, to utilize similar plants against Malleus, who is twisted from the Mistress of Evil herself.)

OKAY, now knowing all of that, here's what I propose as a possible timeline of events if we consider all of what I just said: ~400 years ago, crimson lotuses were plentiful. When the human-fae conflict escalated, the human side decided to play dirty to eliminate those pesky fae--because even the great Draconias would be susceptible to the magic-leeching properties of the flower. However, they discovered, upon repeated experimentation, that the flower could also harm their own mages, so they had to reformulate. Maybe this was when they learned that they could combine iron with the powdered lotus (increased surface area, and therefore also increased potency) to create something even more deadly to fae (like in Maleficent 2). Alternatively, this could contribute for the reasoning for the iron armor they wear in battle; iron repulses fae, but it could also protect them from the crimson lotus flowers due to how much of the skin it covers. For example, the Dawn Knight is said to wear a helmet that completely cover the face, and many Silver Owl NPCs do the same. There is little skin visible, unlike the armor of the Briar Country fae. But anyway, the point is that, some way or another, the humans abused the crimson lotus during this time. Once the war concluded (or in the period of reconstruction that followed), fae and humans came to an agreement to destroy all the lotuses as a part of their peace treaty/negotiations, agreeing that it was mutually beneficial to all magical creatures and mages. Humans were mainly responsible for this extinction, as there was a larger population of them that were magicless and could therefore handle the flowers without consequences. Because of the war engulfing an entire continent, fae in other parts of Twisted Wonderland would have heard about the events, fae migrated out of Briar Country to get away from the conflict, OR the conflict itself was a Twisted Wonderland-wide issue, not just contained within Briar Country. Any one of these could explain why eventually pixies on Sage's Island, in the Silent Woods (where the boys went camping), would know of the calamity caused by the crimson lotuses of the past. When they come across wild campfires, the pixies may be frightened by them due to their resemblance to the crimson lotuses and the trauma associated with war because it's human outsiders that are invading their home and propagating these 'fires'... the same situation as the human-fae war. There was the literal manmade forest fire that was far more recent, yes--but again, this doesn't fully explain why the pixies, who should be familiar with fire, would call it a "red flower" instead of just 'fire'. The association with "red flowers" being dangerous may be a result of what they recall from the war--that crimson flower which sapped away their strength and robbed them of their magic. Then, in modern day, we have Rollo somehow stumbling across seeds and breeding crimson lotuses of his own in secret for his own nefarious purposes. History (mayhaps???) repeating itself??????? ?? ? ????? ??? ??

DKJNsfhbvoqef32ygtr69r137fbofasib IDK, MAYBE I'M JUST TALKING OUT OF MY ASS AND EXTRAPOLATING TOO MUCH FROM LITTLE DETAILS 🤡 I just think it's kind of a fun theory, even if the whole timeline ends up being thrown out the window in the next main story update... Don't mind me, I'm still on my "Rollo will come save us all in a cruel and ironic twist of fate" copium--

[90shaladriel]

In Defense of Sauron was Genuine Theories

I have been meaning to write something about this ever since Season 1 of Rings of Power. I never did and here we are about to get the premieres of Season 2 which will likely blow many theories and interpretations out of the water as they give more backstory for the characters.

In some Tolkien and RoP fandom circles, the notion that Sauron was genuine in his attraction, desire, feelings towards Galadriel as "Halbrand" is controversial. There's also many fan theories putting together Sauron's grand conspiracy to orchestrate all of the events we saw in Season 1. Those theories may indeed be correct depending on what Season 2 and the future of ROP show us. I would argue that they would be doing this through retconning rather than what they actually depicted onscreen in Season 1 being evidence for this master plan.

Disclaimers:

In cannon, Sauron is Very Bad™

In ROP S1 Ep 8, he at least appears to be cruel to Galadriel and possibly tried to drown her* This would definitely be toxic behavior IRL

Season 2 might still vindicate the Sauron was evil all along interpretation.

If you want to write fanfic or create art where sauron is truly bad and evil that is wonderful!

Sauron interacted with the Elves and Poisoned the Tree of Lindon

I think this was a popular idea because it explained Mithril / Elves fading subplot in a way that makes more canon-sense to book readers than how it appeared in the show. If Sauron was a saboteur who came to Lindon, caused the tree to die and threaten the Elves to fade, therefore causing Gil-galad and Celebrimbor to seek solutions. This leads pretty nicely to Sauron's ultimate plan if it were to forge the rings. Circumstantially there was an offscreen "meeting of the Elf-lords" that neither Elrond, Galadriel or the viewers were shown prior to Gil-galad revealing the crisis to Elrond. Some speculated that "Annatar" was one of those Elf lords. It also explains some unusual behavior by Celebrimbor who acted conspiratorial and manipulated Elrond.

It appears that this wasn't the case from the backstory we were shown in S2. While there was a slight time skip from when Sauron becomes Halbrand in the North to meeting the human refugees fleeing the Orcs presumably in the South. Also Annatar was only revealed to Celebrimbor in S2, so he couldn’t have been in Lindon as either Halbrand or Annarar forms.

I think this is still open depending on how much you dislike the Elves fading when the tree dies plot.

The other thing that still work against this is that if this were Sauron's original plan then there would be no reason to detour to Numenor. Nor would there be a specific reason he needed to corrupt Galadriel to gain access to the Elven kingdoms, he already had it!

Plausibility: 1/5 👁️ Eyes of Sauron

Sauron orchestrated the meeting with Galadriel at Sea

A big part of this line of thinking is that it seems so improbable that Sauron and Galadriel would happen to meet in the middle of the sea. Or how could Sauron, one of the Ainur _let_ himself be shipwrecked. There has also been some analysis of Galadriel's odd behavior before entering Valinor when she jumped overboard, could she have been called or drawn by him?

I think the meeting was one of the more interesting choices for a Tolkien adaptation, so I'm very biased here.

We see no mechanism on screen that would imply Sauron had this direct control over Galadriel's actions. If he had been able to do that, he surely would have been able to orchestrate other meetings with Elves to get more direct access to Celebrimbor and Eregion?

In S2 we are shown that he was apparently seeking Numenor when the sea wyrm attacked. I'm still not sure, but it looks like maybe Sauron was able to control the creature with magic or something similar. Or maybe it didn't attack because he stayed still. Perhaps he did cause the wyrm to attack the raft once she was aboard? Maybe!

Did Sauron even have a specific reason to meet Galadriel? There is the connection to her brother and the dagger. I was disappointed they didn't revisit that at all so far in S2 E1. Did he know she was the one hunting him? Did he know her from Valinor as some have speculated he was one of the boys in S1 E1 prologue? Did he know enough about the Elves to know her personality and specific character flaws he thought made her vulnerable to his deception? I don't think we see enough evidence for this to be very plausible but maybe not totally ruled out. His reaction to her on the raft when they did meet was cautious, he did not try to befriend her immediately, nor seek to corrupt her on the spot.

Plausibility 2/5 👁️👁️ Eyes of Sauron

Sauron played 4d chess to get Galadriel to make him King of the Southlands

Sauron eventually makes it back to Middle Earth, almost kills his enemy Adar thanks to Galadriel's help giving him an army, and then results in him winding up with a golden ticket to Eregion and Celebrimbor's workshop.

I think this is mainly people trying to fit the data points of Sauron's actions to the theorized curve of Sauron being evil and wanting to forge the rings to take over the world from before the events of Season 1 occurred.

So far, Season 2 has certainly indicated that Sauron had some kind of plan that he was enacting with the rings and using Celebrimbor in some way. His Halbrand form, which introduced by Galadriel, was instrumental in getting close to Celebrimbor in Season 2 and revealing himself as 'Annatar'.

But do we know he had this plan all along? From the opening episode of S2 we know that Sauron was apparently wandering towards the Southlands and the Orcs before coming across some random human refugees. He chose to go with them, sailing west across the sea away from the Southlands, Eregions or any of the Elven realms, so was he really setting up a long con all along? To me it seems like he may have planned to set up in Numenor, whether to use/corrupt them or to genuinely repent and live out a quiet life in retirement or at least until events in Middle Earth gave him some new opportunities.

Then we have the actual S1 events. He met Galadriel on a raft in the middle of the ocean, it seems like this was by chance. At every point when she offered him the opportunity to return to Middle Earth he declined. His actions in Numenor could hardly be a meticulous strategy to return to Middle Earth, trying to get hired in a forge, trying to get Galadriel to chill out and stay there, getting thrown in prison. Constantly telling Galadriel he would *not* help her.

He only eventually agreed to go with a combination of good fortune (the omen of the white petals) and Galadriel's persistence that he was a King of the Southlands. Maybe Sauron caused the tree to lose it's petals through his corrupting magic remotely? Maybe he was hunting for the crest of the Southlands king offscreen in S2 and deliberately followed that refugee that had it, waiting for an opportunity to steal it? ehhhhh I'm going to say not very plausible

Plausibility 2/5 👁️👁️ Eyes of Sauron

Sauron and Adar were working together (Sauron was a mole)

This was also an interesting theory, that the supposed rivalry between Halbrand and Adar was just for show to help convince Galadriel to trust Halbrand even more. That Sauron knew Adar was planning the eruption all along and that the sword artifact was being taken the the dam mechanism when he chased Adar with Galadriel in the woods. He also stops Galadriel from killing Adar in her interrogation. Adar saying he killed Sauron was just a straight up lie (hence him smirking in that scene). Which means everything Sauron/Halbrand said was pretty much a lie from the beginning as well. Although what the actual objective would be for Sauron is not totally clear to me. Maybe the Elven/Numenor forces would have behaved differently had Sauron not been meddling with both via Galadriel? Maybe they wanted to convince the Elves to create the Rings of Power.

I am pretty sure this now ruled out by Season 2 so far. Adar is shown onscreen actually killing Sauron. Sauron seems pretty ticked off about Adar and the Orcs when he returns as prisoner to Mordor. Adar and Sauron give no indication they are working together though having screentime together again.

Plausibility 0/5 () Eyes of Sauron

Sauron self-injured to go to Eregion

We aren't shown how Halbrand got wounded, he was found already wounded and it's not shown how. He clearly takes advantage of this dire situation to be taken to Eregion by Galadriel. A pretty cut and dry situation where Sauron had both motive and opportunity to achieve his ends.

This assumes that Sauron at this point had the plan to go to Eregion. And that would tie in well with the original Sauron interacted with the Elves prior to S1 theory.

This theory holds up pretty well. I think even if you take the Sauron was genuinely repentant belief, you have to admit by S1 E8 he was working on his own schemes that were not entirely "good". So it's fairly believable even if he was genuine until the battle in the Southlands and deciding to try to be the King of the Southlands, that he quickly changed plans post-eruption as the ultimate opportunist.

I think Season 2 hasn't changed this interpretation at all. He is shown to be clearly invested in Eregion and Celebrimbor again. When "Halbrand" turns himself in to Adar and the Orcs no one says anything about stabbing him or his injuries. Maybe he was stabbed by some random Orc after the eruption but killed that Orc immediately?

Plausibility 4/5 👁️👁️👁️👁️ Eyes of Sauron

Sauron had an ‘I Am Good’ Phase

This could be it's own post. But there is a case I could make that Sauron genuinely had an "I am Good" phase of his own at least through S1 E6 (Eruption of Mt. Doom). I think the best case would be that Sauron was probably morally ambiguous, or maybe at least morally neutral as opposed to scheming evil mastermind.

He saved Galadriel at sea, he didn't have to, or at least it only makes sense for the Evil Sauron in the 4d chess sense. (did he summon the lightning bolt that knocked her in the water?) He appears to have mostly told her the truth when he did talk to her. He could have straight up lied. He initially pushed back on Galadriel's intentions to crown him a king and give him an army, when it would have been so easy to just go along with her. One interpretation is that he only agreed to go was because he wanted to help her or just sheer infatuation with her made him decide to follow her.

Circumstantial evidence: He smiles at the children in Numenor. He stares at the pouch when no one is looking. Before getting into the tavern brawl he pleads with them to not do this. He fights and kills Orcs, he listens to Galadriel when she tells him not to kill Adar. He pulls Galadriel back when she is about to kill him as well. The raft scene in the mind palace seems to be a romantic overture to Galadriel and could be interpreted as a genuine expression of vulnerability (before he screams at her, makes her cry and tries to drown her I guess)

The counter argument is Season 2 it shows him being a rotten pile of goop, taking the lives of others to form the Halbrand body. He clearly let the guy die in the ship and stole his pouch. It's unclear how much he might have used Galadriel or entered her mind. He is a compulsive liar in the Annatar form and extremely manipulative as Halbrand to Celebrimbor.

Before Season 2 I would say this a 4 on the Plausibility scale, I think we have to drop a point at least now.

Plausibility 3/5 👁️👁️👁️ Eyes of Sauron

[sleepyconfusedpotato]

Hi, just want you to know that I LOVE BARA, he's beautiful 🥺. I just wanna know Where is he come from, East Java? Central Java? West Java? DKI? DIY? Or outside Java?

Don't get me wrong, i just get the Surabayan Vibes from him ✌️😔. And in your last post of him, he's definitely has a 'Kuli Jawa' vibes.

Sorry for my nonsense, I just love him so much ❤️

Hello!! OMG AN ASK ABOUT BARA LFG

and WRONG, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong ❌

His full name is Barandos Tarigan, and yep, if you're Indonesian you'll get it! He's from Medan, North Sumatera 👁️👁️. Bara is NOT a 'kuli Jawa' he's a 'KULI BATAK' 😎 LAE-LAE GOMOS NI 😎

He's actually a spin-off version of my Call of Duty OC with the same name (because I'm uncreative like that ok)

Anyway have this sketch of them together! CoD Bara is basically just the older and colder version of the comic Bara 😂

Glad you love him!

[thedickcavettshow]

When I get off 💦 of this mountain 🏔️ you know 😏 where I wanna go 👀 straight down the Mississippi River 🌊 To the Gulf of Mexico 🇲🇽 To Lake Charles, Louisiana 😍 little Bessie, girl 💁‍♀️that I once knew 😊 and she told me just to come 💦 on by if there's anything 😉 she could do 😛

Up 👆on Cripple Creek 🏞️, she sends me ➡️ If I spring a leak💧 she mends me 🪡 I don't have to speak 🗣️ she defends me 👩‍⚖️ A drunkard's 🍺 dream 😴 if I ever did see 👁️ one

Good luck 🍀 had just stung 🐝 me to the race track 🏇I did go 👏 she bet on one horse 🐴 to 🥇 and I bet on another 🐎 to show 🏆 Odds ⚖️ were in my favor 💁‍♂️ I had 'em five to 1️⃣ and that nag to win 🏅 came around the track 🛤️ Sure enough we had won 🙌

Up 👆on Cripple Creek 🏞️, she sends me ➡️ If I spring a leak💧 she mends me 🪡 I don't have to speak 🗣️ she defends me 👩‍⚖️ A drunkard's 🍺 dream 😴 if I ever did see 👁️ one

I took up ⬆️ all of my winnings 💰 and I gave my little Bessie half 💵 and she tore it up 💔 and threw it in my face 😭 just for a laugh 😂 now there's 1️⃣ thing in the whole 🌾 wide world 🌎 I sure would like to see 👀 that's when that little love ❤️ of mine dips her doughnut 🍩 in my tea ☕️

Up 👆on Cripple Creek 🏞️, she sends me ➡️ If I spring a leak💧 she mends me 🪡 I don't have to speak 🗣️ she defends me 👩‍⚖️ A drunkard's 🍺 dream 😴 if I ever did see 👁️ one

Now me 🙆‍♂️ and my mate 😚 were back at the shack 🏡 We had Spike Jones on the box 📦 She 🙋‍♀️ said, "I can't take 😤 the way he sings 🎤 but I love 💕 to hear him talk 🗣️" Now that just gave my heart 🫀 a throb 😳 to the bottom 🍑 of my feet 🦶 and I swore 🤬 and I took another pull 🪢 My Bessie can't be beat 🤕

Up 👆on Cripple Creek 🏞️, she sends me ➡️ If I spring a leak💧 she mends me 🪡 I don't have to speak 🗣️ she defends me 👩‍⚖️ A drunkard's 🍺 dream 😴 if I ever did see 👁️ one

There's a flood 🐬 out in California 🐻 and up north ⬆️ it's freezing cold 🥶 and this living off the road 🚗 is getting pretty old 👴 so I guess I'll call ☎️ up my big mama 👩 tell her I'll be rolling 🪨 in 💋 But you know, deep down 😏, I'm kinda tempted 🤔 to go 🚌 and see 👀 my Bessie again 😩

Up 👆on Cripple Creek 🏞️, she sends me ➡️ If I spring a leak💧 she mends me 🪡 I don't have to speak 🗣️ she defends me 👩‍⚖️ A drunkard's 🍺 dream 😴 if I ever did see 👁️ one

[ifindus]

I didn't know norway has interacted with HRE, could you tell us more about that?👁️

Of course!! Don't mind the essay below ✨

A direct relationship between Norway and HRE is difficult to find due to many reasons. One reason is that while HRE existed (962-1806) Norway was for the most part bound to Denmark and becomes non-existent in international relations. Another reason is the way that HRE was organized made it difficult to have a linear and stable relation. We mainly see potential interactions between HRE and Norway in two different ways: the Hanseatic league, and through wars and treaties.

The Hanseatic league.

The ­Hanseatic League was a guild of German tradesmen founded in the early 1100s, growing into a large organization for all German tradesmen by 1282. The guild was a result of common interests in trade and a need to protection; a network of alliances. They were essentially tradesmen based in the German area (HRE at the time) who banded together to make more profit in other cities and nations. Some foreign cities even getting their own areas where the German tradesmen lived and functioned as they would have under German rule. Bergen is a great example of this, and was the only Norwegian city included in the Hanseatic League trading network with an office, where still today there are areas referred to as the German dock. The League had their own laws and rules their members had to align with and had its high point from the 1300s to the middle of the 1400s.

The Hanseatic League founded the German office in Bergen at a time the Norwegian nation was weakened by the Black Plague. The access to grain from the Baltics was important for Norwegians and in Bergen the Germans got access to dried fish that came south from Northern Norway as well as fish oil, beer, iron, and certain fabrics. From around 1560, however, the Hanseatic League’s power in Bergen diminished as the Norwegian townspeople got a stronger trading position. Still, the Hanseatic League dominated the trade in Bergen until the middle of the 1700s. The Hanseatic office in Bergen was one of the last sold in 1754. The German population living in Bergen interacted with the locals through cooperation, competition, and conflict and had a great influence on the city.

The Hanseatic League was a major force in Northern Europe during the middle ages and more or less controlled all trade in the North, stretching from the Baltics to England. Middle Low German dominated the trading sphere and such has had a great influence of the Norwegian language and terms connected to trade. The Hanseatic League also made it easier for Norwegians to get access to continental goods and a more steady access to grain.

Wars and Treaties.

Firstly, there’s the German-Danish War of 974, where Norway fought along side Denmark against HRE. This is perhaps the only time we see a direct interaction between the nation Norway and HRE. HRE wanted to crush the Danish rebellion and prevent Viking raids further south. Denmark and Norway moved into German territory to ransack, and the first battle ended with a surprising Danish victory. After this battle, Norway returned home. A year later, HRE attacked again and this time they were successful, bringing the war into Denmark and even claiming Danish territory. The wat was a Danish loss.

Then we have the Treaty of Speyer in 1544 where the HRE Emperor recognised Christian III as the rightful king of Denmark and Norway and fully supported him against his rivals (just so far as to not aid them). In return Denmark-Norway would become pro-Hapsburg and respect the rights of the Teutonic Order, as they had had some disagreements over land previously.

Then there was the Danish-Norwegian involvement in the Thrity Years’ War (1618-1648) started in 1625. The war was in large related to a religious conflict within the borders of the HRE, and a want for European dominance between the Hapsburgs (Spain and Austria) and the House of Bourbon (France). The possibility to gain territories and seeing the war as a threat towards protestantism was what prompted Denmark-Norway to enter the war. Denmark was already present in German area due to trade and control of rivers leading into the sea around Denmark. The Danish intervention was financed by the Dutch and the English against HRE. The following battles were a massive failure for Denmark.

The Danish-Norwegian participation in the Thirty Years’ War ended with the treaty of Lübeck, signed in 1629, between HRE and Denmark-Norway. After the treaty, Denmark-Norway contributed to the war on HRE’s side and had to relinquish some territories. HRE and Denmark-Norway also ended up on the same side in the Franco-Dutch War (1672-1678), fighting against France, though they were both occupied in different areas of the war and never fought together.

HRE and Denmark-Norway were on opposing side in the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1814), which led to the dissolution of HRE in 1806) and a cede of Norway to Sweden in 1814, but never engaged in any battles against each other.

Summary.

The most extensive and influential interaction between Norway and HRE was within trade and contact through the Hanseatic League, with extensive cultural exchanges affecting language and norms and even local Norwegian politics.

They rarely dealt with each other directly in wars and treaties as the treaties were mainly organized by Denmark and to avoid fighting each other in the wars. The one time Norway as an independent nation fought against HRE in battle, Norway won. And Denmark lost.

[xtruss]

Former Minister of State of the United Kingdom for Europe and North America, Sir Alan Duncan, has questioned Terrorist, Fascist, Illegal Occupier, Genocidal, War Criminal and Zionist 🐖 Isra-hell's status as an ally to the UK, following the killing of seven aid workers, including three British veterans in Gaza on 1 April.

In a column for The Independent, Duncan called for an end to the UK's arms sales to Terrorist, Fascist, Illegal Occupier, Genocidal, War Criminal, Zionist 🐖 and Apartheid Isra-hell, citing the "Inexcusable Deaths" as a "Tipping Point in the Collapsing Reputation of the Terrorist, Fascist, Illegal Occupier, Genocidal, War Criminal and Zionist 🐖 Isra-hell, the Illegal Regime."

"As a Foreign Minister who oversaw the process of arms licensing, I now think that continued arms sales to Terrorist, Fascist, Illegal Occupier, Genocidal, War Criminal and Zionist 🐖 Isra-hell from the UK cannot be justified and must cease," stated Duncan. He also said that the UK government should be redirecting efforts towards the establishment of a Palestinian state.

"We Should Salute Our Aid Heroes By Devoting our Efforts To Securing A Palestinian State."

He emphasised that even prior to Monday's killings, he had found the breaches of international humanitarian law by Israel to be inexcusable, suggesting that UK citizens should no longer be allowed to serve in the Israeli military.

While acknowledging the importance of condemning antisemitism, Duncan also underscored the necessity of acknowledging and condemning Israel's conduct, which he described as "Appalling."

[hum-suffer]

Explain any 5 of your mutuals as a fictional character

Oooohhhhh I didn't know ye mere paas ayega lmfao

I did more than five because i didn't wanna leave anyone out lol😭

@mayakimayahai is that one character with whom the reader relates the most. The main character does something stupid and you are thinking that this character should hit the main character. You want a spin off of this character solely because you want to hear what their 3 am thoughts are

@talesinmyhead040122 is that one mysterious crone character who comes out of the woods, reads a prophecy and goes back to their little cottage. They are mysterious but somehow extremely fun as well. Dry humour kinda fun

@alhad-maharani is the one where every reader searches their aesthetic on Pinterest and everyone instantly changes their icons as per their aesthetic. Cinnamon roll but would also kill you vibe. That one character who comes in every once a while, points at a crossroads and tells main character to go north to find their destiny

@magic-coffee is that one character that pops up every two chapters. Like main character's elder sibling. They're extremely cool and you like them more than the main character

@shyaamsundari and @vijayasena are that one cute character that comes along in the quest on the way and you get way too attached within like five paragraphs. The "I've known them for only half a day but if something happened to them I would kill everyone in this room and then myself" energy

@apsarareads is that one who randomly appeared at chapter 32 and you're like brother what but also they just fit in the story so well so you don't question them at all lol. The "character A but female version" type of character

@perpetualwhimsy the one you'd draw as a teddy bear. The one you're gonna look and say omg that's so me!!! You use increasingly weird but apt analogies for them. The story is going ❌❌👁️👄👁️??? But this character is going 😒🤷🏻‍♀️

And of course

@chandrkhev randomly appeared in a slow burn book at chapter 25 and you're debating just how long is that role but with each paragraph you're like....oh...I need to make mood boards, aesthetics, playlists everything. And you end up writing incorrect quotes about him but they're probably correct

[etinceelle]

𝚁𝚊𝚖𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝙶𝚛𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙵𝚊𝚞𝚟𝚎'𝚜 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚎𝚜

I don't think I ever described Gris and Fauve's personalities here, so I thought I could talk about it for a bit ! I'll start with Gris below :]

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𝙶𝚁𝙸𝚂

Gris' a very friendly and warm person, and she genuinely loves to be around people and to help. She's generous and ready to do as much as she can to be there for others. But she tends to push herself a lot because she feel like she can only matter to people by being useful. As she doesn't have any Spark and special magic like others, and as she's seen as a bad luck charm and rejected, she goes out of her way to do what she can but she's often pushed on the side or on tiny tasks because she can't do as much as others and is vulnerable.

This complex follows her in her whole life so she tends to "mask" that problem by being there, even if she truly only wants to be accepted as she is, and to understand why she's the only one without that Spark. This created a sensitive side inside of her, she wants to understand. She loves to explore but she tends to take risks to "prove" herself. She wants to be as capable as others. People consider her weak and she tends to believe it too. What she doesn't know is that she's VERY far from being "weak" 👁️

Gris' tribe (who lives on the island of Chah) believe that Sparks originate from stars, so they study astronomy a lot. Sagel is Chah's leader and Gris' mentor, and he's an astrophycisist. She borrows his books and also goes a lot to the library to study.

Gris takes the train often to go see her best and closest friend Sahel who lives on another island of the North. Sahel works at a forge and they love to hang out together and go drink and talk.

Train is the main transportation in the North islands. Also Gris works as a waitress at a restaurant/café who accepted her in Chah, but she doesn't really fit in this job either as she's more a discreet person. She has a lot of personality but likes to stay in her little corner most of the time. But as long as she can live peacefully and be useful to her tribe that's what matters the most to her.

She also can be pretty grumpy and impulsive. With her complex she also developed a deep anger for being different, and she tends to struggle in stressful situations. Gris loves to collect plants and tiny trinkets wherever she goes, she travels a lot and you can find her explore nearby islands alone even if that means she can be in danger and vulnerable to the Corruption.

She feels weak but is actually pretty fierce and strong when she face other people or creatures, for what she thinks is right. She can be stubborn but she'll always be joyful and curious.

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𝙵𝙰𝚄𝚅𝙴

Fauve is the embodiment of what I like to call a "gentle giant", she's REALLY strong but she's mostly KIND. Fauve is the incarnation of kindness and loyalty and will always do what she thinks is right for others and herself.

She can be pretty impressive or scary at first because she looks and feels powerful, especially since she's an Oruh and a powerful one. But despite all of this strength she hates to hurt people or other creatures, and if she does it unvoluntarily she'll cry and feel so guilty. She's the kind of person to be able to punch, destroy, bite, roar and scratch whatever or whoever is putting her tribe and herself in danger, but only because she HAS to. She'd rather not have to fight at all, or only in the friendly tournaments of her Oruh tribe.

Fauve has a lot of energy, she can be pretty stubborn too but also very clumsy. She's strong and fierce while fighting because she's very good at it, but outside of that she's like a complete different, innocent and even a bit naive creature.

Fauve is used to live in harsh conditions due to her Oruh life, traditions and environment. She fights a lot and isn't scared at all, she's actually really brave. She can defends herself but what matters to her is to protect others so she tends to take hits for them. Fauve's daily life is very busy, between her tribe and her role in it, her BIG family (both of her parents died when she was young, so she was raised by several members of her tribe and is used to have friends who are like her family).

Fauve's best friend with another girl named Kanaah, an Oruh as well, and they're really known together in the tribe as the trouble makers (mostly because of Kanaah's fault oops). Fauve always feels scared and guilty but also always ends up following Kanaah's chaotic plans.

Kanaah's not a bad person but they both enjoy to do some naughtiness. xD Fauve's life always has been pretty simple and she enjoys the most basic things, such as a meal, time with friends, sleeping outside in the grass...

She's not complicated and that can sometime be hard for someone who's not to it to follow her. She's rarely cold due to her Spark (thermal amp). She has no problem in warm environments, but she struggles more with very cold temperatures.

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𝙲𝙾𝚄𝙿𝙻𝙴 𝙳𝚈𝙽𝙰𝙼𝙸𝙲

As people as well aware now, Gris and Fauve end up together at some point >:] I'm not gonna describe the whole "how did they met" stuff because I'm still building stuff. But I still can talk about how they interact together

Without much surprise, Fauve tends to protect Gris a lot, while knowing how to leave her space and manage to do things alone. She's very worried about her being vulnerable so that's something they can struggle with at the beginning of their bond, but they learn how to trust each other on that aspect. Because even if Gris doesn't have a Spark, she can fight just like anyone else (because everyone learn to fight in this world, otherwise you can't survive). Fauve learns to trust Gris with that and to not overwhelm her or make her feel like she's weak.

Gris is very impressed and even scared of Fauve at first, not only because of her Oruh powers and form but because she has very strong vibes and look. But as they learn to know each other she realizes she's really not scary at all, and that's pretty much the opposite.

As they balance with their personalities and their problems, Fauve is here to support Gris in moments of weakness, and Gris is also here to support Fauve on her own struggles (which I did not describe because plot building lol) What is certain is that between them there's a biiiiig slowburn and they love each other a lot yey ♥

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𝙽𝚂𝙵𝚆 𝙼𝙴𝙽𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽

Because why not, I have ideas for that too-

To be short : most of the time, Fauve top/Gris bottom LMAO

But that's more than that obviously, Fauve gives a lot but in these moments they just enjoy to share with each other a lot. I imagine them as both demisexual, which means they never felt attracted sexually to anyone they didn't love. So these moments are really special and exclusive to them.

(Also, top/bottom is a very quick description but they can do both depending of the moment aha)

Fauve tends to have a bigger libido than Gris but they pretty much have a good balance on that aspect. They also enjoy sensual and intimate moments without having it to go that far.

Taking naps together, drinking/eating, cuddling, watching movies, travelling, they really love all of that but, the s3xual part is something they enjoy a lot in a very irregular pace and depending on the mood. It can be every 6 months, or later every week, it really depends

Anyway I ended up RAMBLING about them and my story so hard but I enjoyed it a lot- Happy of its development and characters in any case ♥