#oni tribe

[myloh]

🤔🤔🤔

What if her link to the tree is that because it’s a part of her soul, which sprouted the moment she was born, and is a way for her to always remain a part of Yomakai, making her, in a sense, immortal ?

And said connection makes her absurdly powerful, and grants her great phytokinesis, taking the form of blooming cherry trees-

[fiery-emblems]

The other day I drew an idea for "what if branded could transform", but really I just wanted to design a dragon. In reality I think you could take the idea way further.

What if you were to take the idea of branded being half laguz way more literally?? Basically I think it would be cool to have more of a half transformation resulting in what are basically monsters from myth and legend. Of course, I continue to have an interest in a story where the branded are the main characters and the heroes so, making them look like monsters but actually be good guys is fun to me!

The first and most obvious version of this idea would be the half human/half wolf (werewolf). I don't think they would lose themselves like werewolves, but they are the most iconic animal human hybrid design!

The next most obvious design would be half human/half bird (harpies). I think its important to really push the animal aspect and not just make them sexy sexy mostly human things. I think it would be fun to explore the design differences between hawk harpies, raven harpies, and heron harpies.

The cats are the hardest ones to design imo because there aren't that many human/cat hybrid monsters in mythology that aren't also mixed with even more animals. Its probably fine to just follow the example of the wolves and do were-cats though. Still cool!

For dragons I actually think there are a couple different directions you could go in. For this idea I basically went with your standard high fantasy/DnD demons and devils. There's only one half dragon in Tellius but this is another case where it would be really fun to design different looks for red, white or black half dragons since the ones we see in canon have slightly different builds and horn designs plus the different skin colors. (I would go with different skin colors like tieflings. The whole idea is for them to look like monsters and I think dragons should be scary!!)

The other idea I had would be for half dragons to be oni? Basically the same design sensibility but you would lose the wings. My reason for this idea is because oni are cool dragons in Tellius are kind of seen as this terrifying force of nature that could destroy everyone if they wanted to, which is kind of what oni are as well. I think it could work nicely.

[littleeyesofpallas]

[anarkhebringer]

Y'know now that I'm thinking about it today, for a while I've been thinking about maybe saying Null Number is Two-Spirit too, but I hesitate because I'm not fully sure yet (he IS nonbinary though), and also because I haven't actually fully fleshed out his tribe's culture yet aside from them being loosely based on the nvnehi in behavior and values.

[kaibutsushidousha]

Thoughts on Shuten and Ibaraki (separately)?

Really challenging (separately) there since Shuten and Ibaraki are part of the same myth, introduced in the same event, and generally depicted together, but sure, I can work with that. Shuten and Ibuki, however, are part of the same character and have to go together. Also, see this post if you haven't yet.

Ibukidouji/Shutendouji

In 2002, Colorful Tsukihime established that oni come from two possible origins. Shimousa adds a third kind later, but what matters is that Shuten and Ibaraki were conceived as examples of the original two. Unworshipped gods, those who failed to abide to the rules of civilization, and their bloodlines (Shuten) or mutants with power far beyond what falls within the human category, those perfectly unrecognizable as human, and their bloodlines (Ibaraki).

Her backstory is horribly fragmented, even for Sakurai's standards, but assuming we already have all the pieces (and it really looks like we do), I believe it goes like this. The Hii River existed as part of nature, and the faith of the ancient Izumo tribes deified the river spirit (who was also a dragon for some reason) into Yamata-no-Orochi, who was then slain by Susanoo. Orochi's eight heads continued existing as eight mountain gods, one of them being Ibukidouji at Mt. Ibuki. Yamato colonization happens, despite Yamato Takeru's death at Ibukidouji's hands, and Ibukidouji loses her worship. She takes a wholly unelaborated trip to China during the process, and around the late 900s, returns to Japan now with her divinity pretty much fully degraded. After a minor stop at Mt. Sagara, she eventually takes nest at Mt. Ooe, meets Ibaraki and spends the rest of her life as a freeloader in Ibaraki's place until Kintoki cuts her neck.

Ibuki/Shuten has been through multiple self-identities there and displays completely personalities each time, but there are things are a couple of things that are consistent in every version of her. The first and more outwardly obvious is her free-spirited hedonism. Her moral compass doesn't judge in terms of beneficial vs harmful, it judges in terms of pleasant vs unpleasant. Drinking obviously poisoned sake? Fun. No regrets, no grudges against Raikou. Getting her head lopped off by a sexy blue-eyed blonde? Fun. No regrets, no grudges against Kintoki. But what is her criteria of what's fun and what's not? That's where the other consistent trait of all of her personas comes in.

Shuten describes herself as a devoted oni. Despite her lack of inhibitions, she's very loyal and devoted to the ones she likes. You can see that since her debut event, where she orchestrated temporarily giving her powers to Ibaraki, but the extreme extents of her subservience only show for real when you see her multiple personas. Ibuki/Shuten is, above all else, loyal to the labels assigned to her. She will be what she's expected to be, at all times.

Ibukidouji originally identify as a god, and while this is not a timeframe ever covered on screen, in a few moments, mainly through her Heian portrayal and her costume, she shows her ability to behave regally and imposingly as expected of a god. She also assigned brutal trials to Saburou like he believed a god should and did the same to Dorothea during his own tenure as a Divine Spirit, but I don't know which of the two started this cycle. There's also the one time Yamato Takeru got fatally owned, but we get surprisingly little detail on that.

Ibuki's 1st Ascension aka Tinybuki is, as shown on her interlude, Ibuki with her divinity pretty much fully degraded. It's Ibuki/Shuten at her most serious ever, acting less like a god who does what it wants and more like a part of nature teaching young Kintoki its rules. It's an interesting phase where she lost the freedom of her god label and has yet to discover the freedom of her oni label, so she's kinda just vaguely bitter and no-nonsense. In different terms, it's after she stopped being loved by many and had yet to come to terms with the liberating idea of being the enemy of many idolized by a close few.

Then Shutendouji is the textbook oni. A walking disruption of human normalcy. Shamelessly depraved, violently monopolizing of anything that piques her interest, selfish as selfish can get (superficially) and easily prone to harming, killing, and eating people. An oni so oni that Ibaraki fell in love with her ability to perform the oni label. More on that in Ibaraki's half of the post.

But then Assassin Shutendouji doesn't eat people because her new label is Fujimaru's Servant and Fujimaru doesn't want her to do that. Then she makes a silly magical girl persona for Ibaraki's sake. Then Fujimaru's Ibuki just takes it a step further and adopts a whole new persona as a nice lady from Fujimaru's era. Compare and contrast to the Douman-summoned Ibuki, who stuck consistently to her most divine persona because Douman only wanted power out of her.

Heian's ultimate self-sabotage gets funnier the more you understand the characters, honestly. Douman gave up last minute on making Ibuki a new Beast because he couldn't trust that Ibuki would remain loyal to CHALDEAS like he is, but Ibuki is all about being who others want her to be. And Douman failed to realize despite her use of absolute loyalty to compensate for her lack of a more self-originating personality being something that Douman shares with her identically. I've talked about this before.

Her last major identity is her summer form. Arctic Summer World and her profile phrase her change into a Berserker Saint Graph as "redefining her self as a goddess of summer" and iirc there's even some mention of dismantling and rebuilding herself in there, making the concept feel more literal than it sounds. It shows how radical Ibuki's label swaps are, if true. There she tries to make an eternal summer for Fujimaru to enjoy (mixing her labels as a summer goddess and as Fujimaru's Servant) and then asks to be pacified in combat when rejected (mixing her Berserker and oni-god labels). It's only when her main collaborators Skadi and Douman tell her to stop that she does, because Ibuki/Shuten always is what the people she cares about want her to be, and this reaction proved she was using a persona literally no one wanted.

Then there's Samurai Remnant portrayal that's just weird. She mixes and matches traits from all her versions in FGO, with no intention of trying to be what Yasuhiro wants her to be. I guess having an identity independent of her Master is a that's a mark of impartiality characteristic of the Ruler class, but I think I'll have to come back to this one after the Ordeal in April.

Still, there are a few characteristics that are wholly unique to Shutendouji. Things that clearly came as a product of time and experience rather than as her nature to comply to expectations. The first being that Shuten is far more protective of her Shuten identity. Ibuki is willing to immediately throw her more divine persona to be Fujimaru's sweet neighbor figure, but Shuten, even becoming Oni Cure for Ibaraki, remains very recognizable Shuten. Also, when the Ibuki side of her Saint Graph tries to take her over in her Interlude, she very aggressively says she's Shutendouji and her older self doesn't get a turn on her Shuten Saint Graph. Ibuki and Shuten are otherwise very unshakably flippant, so Shuten's rejection of her past behavior stands out as her rare moment of vulnerability.

The other trait exclusive to Shuten is her clever talent to attend to her friends' needs. Ibuki is described as a corrupting force that ultimately kills everything she touches, but Shuten is very helpful to the one she cares for in very thoughtful ways, while ensuring the circumstances still make her look evil.

Her debut has knocking herself unconscious for the whole event give Ibaraki the power she needed to prove herself and overcome her complexes about not being oni enough. The pair's dialogue is designed to resemble interactions between an employee and an abusive boss, but in reality, Ibaraki is the real boss who only lets Shuten have control because she loves Shuten as an example of a what an oni should, and takes Shuten's fake authority as a lesson that lets survive leading her army of oni. She orchestrates the whole first tower event to help Tomoe sort through her denial of her oni blood while under the pretense of self-interest in human-oni relationships. And so on.

Disclaimer: I hereby promise that I really, really tried to fit a "snake sheds skin" metaphor to describe Ibuki's ability to easily discard personas, but I couldn't a proper place for it in the text. Sorry.

Ibarakidouji

Ibaraki, despite being the more interesting part of the duo, has a lot less things to talk about. She's surprisingly straightforward. Her backstory is as fragmented as Shuten's, but her fragments are clearly meant to be a neat puzzle the player is meant to solve. I have a past post about it. Plus addendum.

Ibaraki's deal is that she's a naturally conscientious, diligent, non-proactive, and cowardly kid trying and failing to be live up to the capricious, arrogant, and decadent image of an oni as described by her dear mother. Ibaraki was raised without freedom and instilled with the idea that should embody freedom as an oni. But when she kills her mother and begins living by her oni identity, she doesn't know how to be free.

In her very human-like way of thinking, she becomes the leader of a band of oni, something unprecedented because a true selfish oni would never think of grouping together. Through that she discovers Shuten and grows enamored with the ex-god's ability to embody the platonic ideal of an oni. So while Ibaraki remains the leader on paper, she made Shuten the freeloader who call the shots. As someone who processes the world as rules that need to be followed, having a role model like Shuten around is the most reassuring thing ever.

What Ibaraki can't possibly know is that she struggles so hard to be an oni correctly because there's a complicated human behind her oni mask, while Shuten, as shown mainly through Ibuki, can perform any label effortlessly because there's a blank slate behind her multiple masks.

[timothy-shepard1]

Ngl thinking about garmadon again and I'm kinda thinking about if he was just like weird like even in Oni standards.

Like in more fandom based designs his tail wags when he gets really excited or happy and the other Oni just like dont get that sort of reaction when happy

Or that he's always growling and roaring while fighting and whatever even though the other Oni just kinda snarl and hiss and are a lot quieter

Or how he can feel the evil and bad around him. And empathy and emotions aren't hard to understand to the other Oni they read eachother fine

Or how he's always yapping about smth and super curious the list goes on

The ninja think his behaviour is just normal for Oni but when they talk w the tribe they're like no???? Idk he's kinda weird i dont know what his problem is ngl i think he's just like that and it pans over to garmadon telling vinny about his new plant research and like plant biology bc he really wants to give christofern the Happiest Life Possible

I think vinnys fine w it though he's happy he can read him by more body language bc he doesn't express much by face by my observations👍

[amf-studios]

Don't mess with best girl

Yokai watch puni puni is getting a collab with Re:Zero! Meaning my favorite blue oni girl gets to be put up against the terror time oni!

Rem may be sweet and petite, but don't mess with her! She's a tough tribe berserker that is ready to throw hands...! As well as people! XD

I hope you enjoy this piece, and if you do, I'm open for commissions! Details on my blog!

[sachikos-biggest-fan]

List of my top ten favorite Yokai from Yo-Kai watch in order from most to least favorite or something idk

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Thurston: I love everything about him! Like, when the game first came out I literally wrote pages and pages of Wattpad-style fanfiction about him with so many different characterizations, to the point that his different interpretations split off into two separate OCs who I still have to this day, who I then shipped him with along with his other two versions, Draculadoji and Shutencaesar. I was very normal about him.

Tattlecakes: I also love her design, she seems so friendly and sweet, plus I love an old lady character who can still kick your ass. When I wasn't writing about Thurston getting shipped with himself, I was writing Yo-kai Watch Blasters found family fanfiction where Thurston and Tattlecakes meet with other yokai while trapped in a dungeon and then they bond while trying to escape together.

Jibanyan: Yeah, he's the mascot character, but he's the mascot for a reason. He's got a strong personality, he's funny, has an amazing backstory that never fails to make me cry no matter how many times I watch/play it, was really cool in YKW Shadowside, and serves as a perfect foil for whisper's tomfoolery.

Rattelle: She's an icon, a legend, a fashionista, and so much more. I adore her design, and would love to cosplay her someday, and she has enough presence in the games to where she has a fairly established characterization as sassy, confident, and style-savvy. If archaeologists ever find my bones, they won't even be able to misgender me because I'll be serving 100% Rattelle.

Usapyon: He's a perfect companion and foil for Hailey-Ann, I love the twist that he's an otter, and not a rabbit, and he's so cool, funny, and cute at the same time. His backstory was genuinely so bittersweet and it makes me cry whenever I revisit the third game. Also, space and Star Wars reference.

Shutendoji: I love him, from his story about the fall of the Oni tribe's rule and trying to bring back the original ruler, to his relationship with Douketsu and Shuka, and all the stuff in between that I can't quite call to mind right now. I hated him in Shadowside though, he felt like a totally different character. He also looks cool.

Foiletta: You would think she's a mean girl until she helps you put a curse on your cheating ex, also she was super helpful during my first run of Yo-Kai Watch 2.

Mermother: Gorgeous, powerful, has the 10/10 best soultimate no notes.

Whyvern King: If I'm being honest I mostly like him because he looks like Great Value Thurston.

Fukurou: He's my poor little meow meow. That's all.

[dumb-about-legos]

Royals Races (Modern Time)

Humans - They're just humans. They rule all the 'main' kingdoms. They were created by the gods of creation and destruction and probably brag about it. (Also they're probably killing the planet)

Sky Folk - Descendants of the Sky People (Created by the FSM when he made the realm) and humans. When the Sky People came to the Earth Kingdom (aka Shintaro) they interbred with humans and became a new hybrid species (there's still some old Sky People families around, but they're slowly going 'extinct').

Merlopians - The ones like King Trimaar and Kalmaar are direct descendants of the original Sea People. Most Merlopians like them are of royal descent. The ones who look like sea snakes are descended from Sea and Snake people. The ones who look like Benthomaar are descended from Sea People and Humans.

Serpentine - Descended from the Snake People. They split into different tribes sometime before the First Serpentine War.

Keepers - Descended from Sky and Sea peoples. Chosen to protect something (no one except them and Queen Raeden know).

Oni, Dragons, and Dragoni/Gods - The 4 Royal Dragons, Mistake, FSM, Garm and Wu.

Golden Person - Spinjitzu Mom

Immortal Human - Misako, if Wu ever got married his partner would be one, Morro (<- adopted into the Spinjitzu fam)

Golden Angel - Lloyd (mix of Dragoni and Immortal Human)

Chimera - Anyone who is a mix of any of the above races. (Lloyd is technically a chimera)

[myloh]

I feel like the Oni Cherry Tree would’ve looked even cooler if it had a reddish lighting, as a way to fit Shuka’s color palette-

[shalomniscient]

You don't have to post this if you don't wanna but thinking of how Sara would've suffered in Inazuma's very unequal society is doing things to my psyche.

Warning: this is LONG. Still hope you enjoy, your Kujou Sara takes keep me alive lol.

She's a Tengu. Immediately, she's going to be deumanised to some extent by swathes of people; yes, while it was mostly mentioned that Oni are historically discriminated against, the Youkai and humans are incredibly divided in modern Inazuma as is. A street orphan like Sara, someone not confirmed (yet?) to originate from a major wealthy Tengu clan/tribe like the Yougou Tengu would also lack any privilege by birth that would quell any outward discrimination, also considering how she was literally a homeless child living in the woods alone, parentless, and was chased off a cliff my monsters. Theoretically, if they discriminate against other species of Youkai like tanuki, then I don't doubt they'd stop at some random "unruly" Tengu kid. Also add in the way Yae Miko treats her canonically and in lore and yeah...

Sexism; people like to avoid this topic a lot but Inazuman society, especially the Tenryou Comission, is especially divided by sex. Yes, Sara was mistaken as a boy by the military as a kid, but growing up would have undoubtedly been isolating, especially as a non-human girl/woman. Plus, unlike Fontaine, Mondstadt, Sumeru, and Natlan, we see 0 female warriors outside of her; all the soldier NPCs are male. Even though Japan historically had female warriors, a vast majority in samurai families were heavily restricted to marriage and women were still seen as lesser than men. Accounting for the nuance of Sara not being human, it's also that she was possibly dehumanised to the point of not being seen as a girl at all, hence why she was raised as a weapon and exploited in this way. There is also a male NPC in tenshukaku who mockingly calls her "useless". Yes, Ei is the Shogun, but even Takayuki himself confirms he doesn't see her as a woman but only as a god - I'm probably reaching here, but even if a nation's leader was female, they often reinforced sexist values through the system; add in the whole concept of eternity and it's slightly ominous. Add in the whole gender-based clan inheritance thing and yeah...

Being raised as a weapon who wasn't allowed friends. This is pretty self-explanatory but comparing her to everyone else in Inazuma this hurts my heart, and the only person who ever acknowledges this is Ayato of all people; Miko had a hand to play in Sara's upbringing, and Sara's "daddy Tengu" (as Miko calls him) is fuck knows where and she's probably never had anybody to protect her out of love.

Probable disconnect from heritage. Unlike Itto who at least knew his parents enough to be aware of Oni culture and folktales, and Miko who lived lovingly among them, Sara only has her fan, Tengu Archery (debatable if this is even fully historical Tengu archery as in the art form) and her natural abilities and mask. Tanuki have their own language, and it's not importable that Tengu also have their own. Sara is also shown, in a description in one of her talents, to have "departed from her people, the Tengu, long ago". How does Yoimiya have the "Thundering Pulse", a bow originally forged by the Shogun for the Great Tengu Reizenbou and passed down to her human servant Takamine, while Sara gets... nothing? She wasn't even in the Youkai event. She's mentioned, sure, but what are her opinions on her heritage? Who taught her how to take care of her wings? Does she know any Tengu magic? Etc. etc.

Apologies for how long that was. Feel free to ignore this if you wanna, but I just needed to get my thoughts out.

-🐗 (if I ever come back, this is me. Just lmk if you don't want me to).

sorry for taking a while to reply but since i think you’ve landed in my inbox again (to which i welcome you and any and all kjsr asks) i’ll answer this one first. YES omg this is such a good analysis especially your second point; i had my own suspicions about inazuma’s sexism but i’ve seen net zero information about it in any discussions of inazuma so i thought i was just seeing shit akxbdjjshf but i’m glad to know someone else has also picked up on that little oddity! anyway, circling back to the last line of your first point…

i wanna preface this by saying i love yae miko. i have her c0r1, friendship 10, her talents are almost maxed. i ADORE her—but at the same time i definitely believe she was to some extent complacent in sara’s abuse as a child. realistically there’s no way she wouldn’t know about it; she’s essentially the shogun’s left hand woman. i doubt there’s anything that goes on in inazuma city she doesn’t know about, and i doubt her hands are tied this badly when it comes to doing something about it, since takayuki is the shogun’s no. 1 glazer and miko is practically the shogun’s voice. this does raise an interesting character point about miko’s own morality, which i personally think is very ei-centric. it’s very gay and a little fucked up of her and i love it as a character trait (non-human morality in a non-human character/dilemma of is humanity learned or ingrained?) HOWEVER it does make her (in my hc and interpretation) a bystander to sara’s abuse for which i do have some conflicted feelings about lmao

i agree with your last two points as well, wholeheartedly. although for ‘signature’ weapons i do try not to take them as character canon unless the character themself is mentioned in the weapon’s lore, like how the shogun is mentioned in the lore of engulfing. it would be cool if sara was the owner of thundering pulse though, i will admit. i’ve talked about some of the things you mentioned in some previous asks so i won’t rehash it here for the sake of not soundlike a broken record skchdjdh but rest assured i do the long ask, 🐗 anon! i enjoyed reading it :)

[fiberturkey89]

So because tumblr always inspires me, I went back and looked - I forgot to repost The Crossroads headcanons from my old account - I think? Plus some additions.

When The Crossroads was new, people were still getting used to living in a community that was so mixed. It took about a year.. two or three where it started to become more like the present day Crossroads.

The Serpentine were a major factor in the construction of The Crossroads; the bridge they built was actually done by Fangpyre and Constrictai. Not to mention they, besides, the Merlopians and any surviving people of Ninjago City were the first to be there.

The Geckles, Munce, and any Shintarins that found their way there were the next peoples to come, followed by Chima's tribes save for the Eagles and Ravens who are missing alongside the Bears.

There are Oni living at The Crossroads, though they prefer to live in the Ruins of Ninjago City. They do visit for The Crossroads Carnival, though! Or other seasonal events.

Formlings are actually a semi-recent addition to The Crossroads! They came during years two and three before the present day.

Most of the Serpentine don't follow a king anymore, though some do live under Skales' rule for the assurance and security of a decent leader. Skales actually does run a couple of businesses in The Crossroads. Mainly entertainment locations such as dance classes, gyms, and yoga.

Bytor and Fangtom do share joint leadership of the largest construction company in The Crossroads(most of the buildings are from them). Though they're always looking to hire new hands, it's actually why the buildings are much more mixed now!

Acidicus runs a library somewhere in The Crossroads, though he does dabble inside businesses in stores that sell hunting equipment. He's also one of the few who know how to forge Vengestone equipment. Most notably, knives. (Skylor owns one)

Skylor gave food away to help the poor and in need- when the The Crossroads had gotten more developed she began to charge relatively fair prices for deliveries(Arin was one of her volunteer workers and she refused not paying them back at least a little bit. They called it volunteering, but it was more of a job.. shhh. )

Skylor actually likes working with her staff/any volunteers in the kitchens instead of doing paperwork. She often walked around to help package, cook, and make sure that everyone was safe within the restaurants that managed to survive The Merge Storm.

Instead of Nya, she helped Sora gain her trust in adults and people in general. This was when Sora had first started living with Arin. Something had drawn the Master of Amber to the kid. Maybe it was similar to how they were raised, but Sora very much looks up to Skylor and Skylor in turn looks up to Sora.

She's one of the people that left portraits of the Ninja for the Memorial tent during the Crossroads Carnival and Spirit Festival.

She rarely goes there.

She actually still has little bits of Kai's firepower before he disappeared in The Merge, and misses him a lot more than she wants to admit to herself. (Sora tries to get her to open up).

Skylor and a couple of other people helped Sora make her armoured prosthetic, going into the junkyard and getting the parts with her.

[sexiestwerewolf]

my new Ninjago OC!

more information ↓

I haven't come up with a name for him yet bc I suck at those but I've got a backstory

- He was outcast by his species before the merge because of a reason I haven't fully flushed out yet (thinking of making it so that he can't do any shapeshifting at all and making it an entire allegory), but he deals with a lot of feelings of inadequacy because of this and he thinks he's failed as an Oni

- he was outcast before March of the Oni and was lost between realms trying to find a way back home to the first realm without the power of the darkness to guide him. essentially the realm crystal is the EASIEST way to travel realms but it isn't the only way, and he spent a lot of years alone

-When the merge happens he's forced to live in a world he doesn't understand at all and a lot of people during this time are struggling to figure things out. He manages to find a job at Chen's Noodle House and starts to enjoy the life as someone who serves food so eventually he leaves with enough money saved up and opens up his own restaurant

- I like the idea of someone gaining weight when they're happy bc he used to be really emaciated and could barely eat even 3 times a week due to how hard it was to survive but now he's got a healthy relationship with food and his body and he's generally a pretty sound guy and pretty mature considering things. It doesn't look like he's fat in the image but from experience an apron will hide a lot of that lol

- He does a lot of introspection and his outlook on life is that "it's complicated and messy but at least it's life," and he usually looks at things from a realistic perspective while hoping for the best.

-He still gets irrationally angry at a lot of things though and often he'll find himself taking it out on inanimate objects and then he'll feel bad about it afterwards. He doesn't do it a whole lot in front of people, especially customers, but if he's comfortable around you you'll see him swearing and breaking things (usually with his claws on accident) a lot more

- Meets Lloyd a few weeks after the merge when he just started his job at Chen's and initially Lloyd is weary at first because yk he's an Oni and Lloyd had subconsciously associated Oni with bad and everything wrong in his life, but [name I haven't come up with yet] is essential to something Lloyd is trying to figure out so they need to interact and Lloyd figures out through sheer power of being exposed to something that HEY you dumb idiot your ancestry isn't evil or bad

- He had severe issues for awhile with meeting people's expectations and he constantly ran himself ragged trying to keep himself in multiple places at once. He felt like he had to depend on only himself for a while because of the fact he let down his Oni tribe and because of the fact he lived so long in isolation away from others. When he's hired by Skylor he burns himself out within the first week because he doesn't take a break except to go home and sleep.

- Y y y es this is meant to be an OC shipped with Lloyd but they're both demisexual here bc I will always make my favs be on the ace spectrum no matter what

-Hes 21 when the merge happens and by the events of s1 he's 27 (2 years older than Lloyd). He was outcast by the Oni when he was 15 years old (around the events of season 1)

-fun fact, Oni still have pupils in my hc you just can't see them very well. they're kind of like the changelings from mlp where they do have pupils once you look closely but they blend in so well with their irises that you can hardly see them. most Oni eye colors are red, purple, or blue. some are occasionally orange, yellow, and pink. [name I haven't come up with yet] has purple eyes

- he has so much fur/hair (think kind of like mohair on a goat) that he has to stuff a lot of it in his shirt and then use pins to hold it in place and he spends like 30 minutes each day just combing it

- he works out every other day to help clear his mind and to calm himself down but Oni are naturally pretty big anyways and really strong

- despite the fact he knows how to cook he has the worst appetite known to man and will not hesitate to eat the nastiest things ever. I like to think that anytime Lloyd gets offered gross food (as he's somehow done a lot in the show) he pretends to "steal" it but he does genuinely enjoy every single food he comes across and it's not just something that comes from his life of being outcast it also comes from his Oni biology. Though, he seems to be a lot more inclined to eat certain things even for an Oni

if it's not poison, it's food!

- has abnormally large ears for most Oni and he can hear slightly better than most people. it's also another reason why he stretch himself too thin while working when he first started because he believed everything he heard needed his attention and he was constantly trying to get to multiple places and do many tasks all at once

okay now imma go to bed hehe this was actually really fun

-has a better work/life balance in the future at the very least lol so dw

-has digitigrade feet! they're not very exposed bc he wears baggy pants all the time but if you look down you'll see he's never wearing any shoes and his paws are just out

[arkus-rhapsode]

Fire Emblem and Aesthetics-A Mini Discussion

So for those who don't know, I don't really play Fire Emblem Heroes, but I still have an interest in seeing what units they release. Usually for fanfic purposes or just keeping track of new resplendent designs. But recently, FEH had an update for the original character of Dagr and it got me thinking about how resplendent from jotunheim look

Combined with FEH's ongoing storyline of taking from Norse mythology it really made me think-"Wait, why don't we have a Norse Fire Emblem game?"

Now look, I'm not here to bemoan that FEH don't have a console version, non gacha style game, but it really got me thinking about how we may be missing out on something relating to the use of a rich mythology and it only being in a mobile game more about collecting waifus and husbandos.

You see, Fire Emblem is no stranger to cribbing from existing mythologies like Norse in Genealogy, Arthurian myth and the matters of France in Elibe, and several characters just straight up being named after mythological/classic literature characters like Beowulf, Sampson, Priam etc. But its always done in this relatively Anglo-Saxon-British-French homogeny of aesthetics for their tales. So we can have a character named Sigurd, but he's not gonna look like he's fresh off the Viking Ship. Now Fire Emblem isn't the only franchise to do this, many pieces of media made by other countries draw upon these sort of exaggerated/romanticized look for fantasy stories all the time. And I want to be clear I am not advocating for "Medieval accuracy," I think that's silly. What I'm more getting at is I feel like FE could do with changing up its setting/aesthetics to perhaps inspire newer experiences.

Now I'm not saying FE as a franchise needs to be reinvented. In fact, I think FE has one of the most universal accessible mechanics in turn-based gaming. Simple to pick up, but still able to create many difficult maps and challenges. And by this point has made the support system one of the most iconic in gaming. But if the mechanics are good, doesn't that mean it could be transplanted into another setting? Well, In a way, yes. But once again, I'm not advocating for FE to stop being this fantasy style sword and sorcery story and become like the Napoleonic wars.

(That is a real Nintendo game by the way. Its wild!)

No what I'm saying is that the broad terms of "Middle Ages Warfare" is much more than simply a certain type Eurocentric fantasy.

I'll tell you what, as much as people like to rip on Birthright, I'm still shocked how it took so long for Fire Emblem to have a game where Japanese culture and aesthetics is super prominent and a main setting for a game. Fire Emblem tends to have one character who is obviously inspired by Japanese culture or even sometimes a single country. But a full blown game where so many characters come from and embrace this Japanese backdrop was unique.

Now of course it was still Birthright, so while you got these cool glimpses of a unique world and story like the Oni inspired Flame Tribe, the start of having a lot of retainers as main characters, the monk class and using fans as a weapons, and even roping in Kitsune. It still doesn't really do much than an average FE adventure with them. But it did at lease prove the the FE formula *could* still work removed from its conventional trappings.

Another in the different aesthetic, but missed opportunity category would be Fire Emblem Three Houses country of Almyra being pretty heavily inspired by Persian/Middle Eastern culture. A country that was gesturing so hard at an interesting idea that its left fan artist and fanfic writers to swoon over the idea of a possible FE game set in Almyra.

And if you want an even more recent example, for all the desert backdrops we've had in Fire Emblem, its kinda astounding it wasn't until Engage that we got a lightly (And admittedly exaggerated) African inspired country.

When I see stuff like this and what FEH is doing it makes me realize that we could be getting more. Im sure the next FE will likely still lean on its typical fantastical Anglo-Saxon look, but eventually there's got to be some spice to it. Sure it may be different, but Fire Emblem is a franchise that with each entry does try to be something different while maintaining certain core gameplay elements. So what is the harm of trying to approach something that looks a bit different?

Im not asking for an extreme change right away. Maybe start lighter. We have tons of pirates in Fire Emblem, why not a pirate/sea based game? We've even had the rare few pirate as a playable character. Its a type of story that could be told within the typical Fire Emblem world.

Then perhaps maybe something a bit more culturally ubiquitous like Greeco-Roman inspired FE? There's plenty of gods and magic, but also swords and spears to draw forth on. Heck, that may even open up new potential enemies or stories to tell with like an Evil Senate or a Gladiator culture. It could even push FE to maybe drop or reinvent certain tropes like how they approach the knighthood type of character where a certain culture's version of knight is different. Maybe even make new classes the way Birthright had to.

Overall, I think Fire Emblem is and always has been a malleable franchise. And because of that, I think it can afford to take certain risks on something as simple as drawing from another culture during the medieval magic era, while still being able to provide things that people still love about the franchise like the combat system and support system. Will there be push back on it looking different? Of course, I remember when Three Houses first teasers dropped and everyone was wondering what was up with the military school outfits and what even race was Claude. And of course a different aesthetic doesn't make the game automatically good. But let's remember, that people were judgmental of Birthright not because it went all in on looking Japanese, but because the general story and writing was lackluster for many.

But if you can make an interesting and likable cast of a characters that elevate the story, and make a memorable world for people to wage war in, I see no reason why you couldn't make Fire Emblem work set in the Netherlands.

If there is a personal aesthetic or theme you'd like to see Fire Emblem tackle, sound off in the replies. I'd love to hear what you guys think.

[thenomadclan]

hi! I remember seeing you did some Skyrim using the Lost Tribes mod, but I couldn't get a very good look at Nomad during it. were you able to put in custom presets, and if so, how did you do it and how difficult was it?

Hey! Imma help answer this the best I can:

1.) Originally yes, Nomad Predator was custom made within the mod of Lost Tribe by a PC Modder, sadly no matter how hard I fought to make it public use, the modder wouldn’t budge…so I only had these 3 images of the Mod of my OC.

2.) If your looking to make Nomad in Skyrim with the Lost Tribe Predator Mod, I found it best using:

•The Broken Bio Mask

•Bone Trophy Accessories (doesn’t matter which)

•Oni Yautja Mace or Valendrung (As long as the weapon is hammer looking and functions like a mace, then it’s perfect for Nomad)

•Savior’s Hide or Forsworn Chest Armor (the closest I can get to his organic wood like armor, but I feel like it works)

•Regular Shoulder Canon

(Those were the main consistent customization options that I feel work with Nomads looks in Skyrim.)

I hope this answers your question 😅

[artandthebible]

Jacob with Leah And Rachel

Artist: Andrea Appiani (Italian, 1754-1817)

Date: n. d.

Medium: Oil painting

Collection: Private collection

The Story of Jacob with Leah and Rachel

The complicated story of Jacob, Leah, and Rachel comprises one of the larger sections of Genesis and includes much information relevant to the history of the Jewish people. Jacob, the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham, fled to his mother’s brother Laban. At the time, Jacob feared his twin brother, Esau, would kill him (Genesis 27:41–46). It was at Laban’s that Jacob met Leah and Rachel.

Laban offered his nephew Jacob a place to stay. Jacob soon fell in love with Laban’s younger daughter, Rachel, and agreed to work for Laban seven years in exchange for marriage to her (Genesis 29:16–20).

Laban agreed, but after seven years, he deceived Jacob. On the night that Jacob and Rachel were to be married, Laban gave Rachel’s older sister, Leah, to him as a wife instead. Jacob protested, but Laban argued that it wasn’t the custom to give the younger daughter in marriage first. So it was official: Jacob and Leah were to stay married. Laban then said Jacob could still have Rachel in exchange for another seven years of work (Genesis 29:21–30). In an ironic twist, the deceiver Jacob had himself been deceived. In exchange for fourteen years of labor, Jacob had two wives, Leah and Rachel.

Jacob showed favoritism to Rachael and loved her more than Leah. God compensated for the lack of love Leah received by enabling her to have children and closing Rachel’s womb for a time (Genesis 29:31). There developed an intense rivalry between the two wives. In fact, at one time the wives bartered over the right to sleep with Jacob. Genesis 30:16 says, “When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, ‘You must come in to me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.’ So he lay with her that night,” and Leah became pregnant. In the end, Jacob fathered twelve sons and a daughter. Jacob and Leah had six sons and a daughter; Zilpah, Leah’s maidservant, bore Jacob two sons; Jacob and Rachel had two sons together; and Bilhah, Rachel’s maidservant, bore Jacob another two sons (Genesis 35:23–36).

After twenty years with Laban, Jacob and Leah and Rachel, now very wealthy, moved their family back to Canaan. As they were leaving Laban’s house, Rachel stole her father’s teraphim and lied about having them (Genesis 31). As he drew closer home, Jacob knew that he would have to face Esau again. He still feared Esau’s anger, and he sent gifts to satisfy him before he arrived. The night before Jacob crossed the Jabbok River, he “wrestled with God” and was given the name “Israel” along with God’s blessing.

The story of Jacob and Rachel ended tragically, as Rachel died giving birth to her second child, Benjamin. Rachel named him Ben-Oni (“son of my trouble”), but Jacob renamed him Benjamin (“son of my right hand”). Rachel “was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, and to this day that pillar marks Rachel’s tomb” (Genesis 35:19–20).

Jacob and Leah’s marriage lasted longer, but eventually Leah, too, died in Canaan and was buried in the same tomb as Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Rebekah (Genesis 49:30–32). Jacob and his son Joseph would later be buried in this tomb as well (Genesis 50).

The story of Jacob, Leah, and Rachel is filled with much difficulty, yet God used these people greatly to impact history. Their twelve sons were the leaders of the twelve tribes that became the nation of Israel. Through their family, God blessed the entire world, as Jesus Christ was born from the tribe of Judah and offers salvation to all (John 3:16; Luke 2:10).