#osiris bishop

[saibug1022]

The Breach: Part 1

Word Count: 2k

Magnus Bishop & Osiris Bishop, Magnus Bishop x Marcus Sharpe

A/N: So, Osiris Bishop is one of my ILW MCs, and also Magnus's cousin. And I just could not get this idea out of my head, so have this which takes place about a year after the main WIndverse plot

Part 2, Part 3

Magnus made a note to himself that next time he wanted to use vacation days he was going to use them to take out his nieces or he was going to visit Marcus. Going back into the very woods he’d nearly died in and then spending the day trekking through a cave system with a stranger and a paralegal was not his ideal vacation. But there had been no way he’d be able to find another way to get both him and Amalia here, and even less of a way he could tell Jina the real reason he needed the vacation days.

“What the shit…” Magnus gasped as he stepped into the cavern. 

There, like it was just a normal part of the cave, was a swirling and pulsing portal of cyan light. It made the shadows of the cave dance and filled Magnus with this strange need to go and hide while also trying to pull him forward like there was a hook in his ribs.The most unsettling part was the warbling sound, because he couldn’t hear it exactly. It was more like it was coming from inside his head and he got the mildly terrifying feeling that he’d still be able to hear it if he turned off his hearing aids. 

“Pretty much,” Amalia nodded.

“Welcome back to Westchester,” Val snickered.

Val was the stranger, a guy even smaller and scrawnier than Wind, with short hair dyed the cyan of the portal and blue eyes that made Magnus’s skin crawl if he looked into them for too long. Magnus had no idea what it was but there was something just slightly off about the guy that made him want to squirm. Maybe it was the baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire he held in one hand and rested casually on his shoulder.

“Does he have to be here?” Magnus asked Amalia, but Val spoke before she could answer.

“No offense, but I don’t give a shit who you are,” Val shrugged and put his hand in his pockets, the other tightening just slightly around his baseball bat. “I don’t know you and I sure as hell don’t trust you. Only reason you’re even in here is because Amalia vouched for you and I do trust her. But I’m not leaving you here without watching you.”

“Great,” Magnus muttered. “Am I clear to approach your highness?”

“Haha,” Val rolled his eyes. “Just don’t try anything.”

“Trust me I really don’t want to.”

Val lingered by the entrance to the cave while Magnus and Amalia slowly approached the breach. Now joining the warbling sound was a chorus of strange whispers that Magnus liked even less. This thing had really been here for centuries? How had Magnus never noticed? He lived in this town for 18 years! His parents died in this town, his foster home had been right on the edge of the woods, he’d spent weeks in a hospital only a few hours away. Apparently his old high school had been attacked by monsters! He’d gone camping in these woods! 

The thing in front of him took his family. His entire family other than him and his sister had been wiped out, torn apart by unholy creatures. He didn’t care much, having always resented them for refusing to take him and his sister in. If they had, he never would have ended up separated from Vivian and he never would have ended up with Lily. But so many of them had been kids who had never done anything to him. Including Osiris.

But then they’d come back? Or, something that thought it was Osiris came back? Magnus could not understand that part. He wasn’t sure he wanted to either, especially seeing as his bloodline apparently has a strong connection to it. He’d needed to see it all, just once, to process and accept this part of his family and his reality. But then he was going to go right back to New York.

“They’re really in there?” Magnus asked.

“Yeah,” Amalia answered. The pain in her eyes was so raw in the cyan light as she wrapped her arms around herself. Magnus made a mental note to text Wind on the flight back and give her a heads up that Amalia would be upset. They could comfort her way more than Magnus could. “Sometimes they’re able to gather enough strength to visit for a few hours now. It used to be that we couldn't see them at all and they’d just do things like make constellations and make flowers bloom and send breezes.”

“My cousin is literally energy,” Magnus shook his head. “My dorky little cousin who cared more about that damn beanie Vivian gave them than whether or not they graduated high school, is basically a god.”

That’s…..rude………..not a……….dork……..

“What the hell?!” Magnus jumped back, almost stumbling on his own feet. 

“Did you hear something?” Amalia asked with wide and worried eyes.

“You didn’t?!”

“The bastard was right,” Val scoffed. “You do have it in your bloodline.”

“No way, I am not dealing with Power blood,” Magnus shook his head. “This is crazy.”

“You’re dealing with this way worse than I did, and I punched somebody.”

Magnus whirled around to face the new voice and spotted them leaning against the cave wall, fluffy hair just peeking out from that damn beanie, and wearing a brown leather jacket over a maroon shirt that matched the beanieTheir eyes were an inhuman cyan that reflected the light of the breach in a way different from Amalia and Val, making their eyes look like they were glowing. Magnus didn’t recognize them like this, but it wasn’t hard to guess.

“Osiris?” Magnus checked and the new person nodded. “Shit. Amalia are you-”

His voice cut off when he looked to the side and saw Amalia frozen and still staring at him, Val too.

“I am regretting this trip so much,” Magnus muttered. “Tell me you did that and I don’t have to fight some magic monster.”

‘It was me,’ Osiris snickered, thankfully signing as he talked. ‘Surprised you’re here. When I saw you and realized you could hear the wisps I figured I should probably talk to you alone. I’ll see Amalia next time she comes by. But you, coming back home instead of sticking with your fancy lawyer job?’

‘You know I’m a lawyer?’ Magnus signed, not bothering with speaking if he didn’t have to.

Osiris shrugged. ‘The senator thing was national news. Happened to catch it.’

‘I have to ask,’ Magnus’s signs were a little hesitant as he tried to figure out how to ask a question like this in sign. ‘Are you really Si? Lia said you have their memories but think like them.’

‘Technically no,’ Osiris admitted. ‘The original Si died in the attack. They’ve moved on now. But I’m also them while also being my own person. I still remember you. I still like you and I missed you.’

‘Why didn’t you contact me or Vi after the attack?’ Magnus wondered. ‘We would have helped.’

‘I couldn’t have gone to New York,’ Osiris shook their head. ‘And I didn’t want to ask you guys to bounce around the West Coast hunting monsters with me.’  

‘We still could have helped,’ Magnus protested. ‘You were just a kid. We could have sent money or something. We could have been in contact so you weren’t alone.’

‘I wasn’t alone. I had Lia and Horus,’ Osiris replied. ‘Look, it happened, it’s over. No point in beating yourself up about it now. Is that why you’re here? Don’t tell me you got fired.’

‘I did, actually,’ Magnus chuckled. ‘But not from this job. When Lia figured out we were cousins she told me everything. A lot of things were happening at work at the time so I couldn’t do much about it but now that things are settled I just had to see.’ 

‘The fact you could hear me from outside the breach means you definitely got the Power in your blood,’ Osiris told him. Though instead of signing the normal sign for the concept of power they preceded it quickly with the sign for ‘within’ so the two were back to back. ‘So if you really want nothing to do with this, run. Now. Leave and don’t ever come back. That tugging feeling trying to pull you into the breach will never stop and once you let the Power in it doesn’t let go.’

‘Aren’t you the Power?’

‘Yes. Also no.’

‘Does any of this shit make sense?’

‘Not to humans.’

‘Great.’

Osiris snickered and Magnus couldn’t help smiling a little bit. This wasn’t his baby cousin. Technically they’d never even met. There were all these little things slightly off about them that revealed they weren’t just not Magnus’s cousin, but not even human. And they were old. 

But they still had that damn beanie, the stitching fraying in places from constant wear and distress. They still had that crooked smile their dad and Magnus’s mom had, which they both inherited from their mom. They still tilted their head as they thought about how to say something in sign and they still flexed their knuckles while they waited for Magnus to reply. It wasn’t at all his cousin. And somehow they were still his cousin. And after how their family had abandoned Magnus and Vivian…Magnus just couldn’t find it in themself to do the same to Osiris.

‘I’ll try to visit when I can,’ Magnus told them. Osiris may not be very expressive and they may have warned him to stay away, but Magnus still caught how their eyes lit up a little. ‘My boyfriend lives in California, maybe I can visit when I see him.’

‘Damn, you got someone to date you?’ Osiris snickered and Magnus gave them a one-finger sign anyone could understand. ‘Are you sure? I don’t want you to get trapped in this.’

‘Apparently I’m already in it,’ Magnus shrugged. ‘Or at least my blood is. Besides, even if you aren’t technically my Si, you deserve your family too.’

Osiris blinked at him for a moment, looking the most confused they had since they’d shown up in the cave. Then they hauled Magnus forward into their arms and Magnus chuckled as he embraced them. He was committed now. And he intended to keep his word.

So, he did. 

Over the next few months, Magnus tried to engage with Osiris’s “life” as much as he could without fully committing himself to the Power. He got the full story instead of just the summary from Amalia. He even met more of Osiris’s friends. Him and Jocelyn got along well, and he met Lincoln when they coincidentally happened to choose the same weekend to visit, Magnus visiting Osiris and Lincoln visiting both Osiris and Val who was apparently his brother? Val said it was a long story and Mags dropped it. He knew a thing or two about long stories. Along with Lincoln came Horus, who Magnus very vaguely remembered being friends with Si when the two were younger, same with Amalia. The three had basically been joined at the hip.

Lincoln also gave him the number of someone named Abel, who was apparently Osiris’s boyfriend. According to Lincoln, he’d heard about Magnus through the grapevine and wanted to meet him. So the next time Magnus was in California he took the time to head further north and meet up with Abel. The two ended up deciding to keep in touch and often ended up visiting Osiris at the same time. Overall, things seemed to be going okay.

Until, just like Osiris had warned, the Power caught up to him.

[anamelessfool]

Somnambulist (AO3)

Papa Emeritus III x Necropolitus “ Nik” Cracoviensis II

18+ MDNI Dead Dove: Mind the Tags!

1988 This body, this body holding me…Be my reminder here that I am not alone… The newly appointed Bishop of Krakow, Necropolitus Cracoviensis II, is tasked to revitalize the destroyed archives of the Satanic Church of the Void. “Nik” comes across a mysterious young man from abroad, a brooding figure named Terzo. Nik soon learns that there’s more to this Terzo than his dark thoughts…

Dedicated to @osiris-iii-bc who inspired me to do all this. Reblog and comment, my friends.

Tags: Dead Dove, Dark Past, Family Secrets, Age Difference, Depression, Drug Use, 1980s, Art History, Watch me butcher Polish AND Italian! Other Additional Tags to Be Added

1988

Necropolitus Cracoviensis II, Bishop of Satanic Church of the Void in Kraków, was also known as Nik. Each member of the clergy had a chance to choose a new name once they had joined the ranks, an opportunity to leave their old life behind and build something new on their own terms. Nik chose Necropolitus Cracoviensis II because he wanted to frustrate his acquaintances. They considered him pompous anyway, so let them enjoy chewing on that name to save face. He then chose the shortened version “Nik” for his friends, because he wasn't a total dick.

Currently he was in the backseat of a car driving through Milan after an exhausting day in the airport. He was fighting a battle that had begun a few weeks ago when Sister Imperator herself requested he visit: a battle to be perfectly fluent in Italian in literally a week. He didn't plan on budgeting a week for the task; at a certain point he looked up over the mountains of new bishop obligations and realized he only had a week left.

Read the rest on AO3!

[forgottenroderick]

OOC | The Twelve Conquered Kingdoms & the Formal Style of the Emperor

antilla -- HOUSE OF RODERICK'S STEPMAMA, im sort of picturing a spain/portugal mashup || taken from a medieval iberian legend abt a mystical land founded by some visigothic bishop (antillia)

vinetta – think lithuania, latvia, poland, germany, etc || a mythical city at the edge of the baltic sea (vineta)

kvenheim – i was sort of envisioning norse scandinavia || the icy otherworld which the forst giants rule meets a mysterious lost island from medieval and norse legend (kvenland + jotunheim)

kolchis -- HOME OF HOUSE CALAINON, think medieval byzantium/greece || taken from greek mythology, the homeland of medea, the golden fleece, and the cholchean dragon (cholchis)

malakarta – the sun-soaked deserts of the middle east || an invisible realm meets the toll house located between the realm of light and the earth (malakut + matarta)

aarnu -- think egypt: a fertile river running through vast deserts || also known as the field of reeds, the sacred paradise ruled by osiris (aaru)

argadara – a whole country of vast mountains in the fantasy!himalayas || a legendary land located at the core of the earth meets a sacred mountain in the puranas (agartha + mount mandara)

xangadu – the most hospitable part of china basically -- their governing body was called a blogring ;D jk jk no but fr s/o to xanga rip || the mythologized summer capitol of kublai khan, used to represent opulence and splendor (xangdu/xanadu)

aotepo -- sort of pictured a chain of tropical islands! which is also interesting bc i feel like roderick's navy is kinda. ehhh so they def got a work out w this one! def think this was one of the more recent conquests too! || the polynesian realm of light meets its realm of darkness and the ancestors (ao + te po)

alytar – HOME OF HOUSE VASILIEVA, think medieval russia || taken from slavic myth where it is the navel of the earth, a rocky and sacred place, marked w ancient runes and endowed with healing powers (alatyr)

affaraon -- tis scotland ;D and, as such, i was thinking this was possibly a neighbor to astaira? || also known as the immortal land and the 'city of higher powers,' and the 'ambrosial city,' it is the legendary home of a sect of druids dedicated to metallugry and alchemy and is said to be located somewhere in scotland (dinas affaraon/ffaraon)

astaira -- HOME OF HOUSE STAFFORD, &c.

you will note that the og varmont nation is not included on this list, and that is purely bc he did not conquer it but, rather, inherited it. also, except for kolchis and astaira, ofc, these are all place holder names but [ i stole most of them from world mythologlies ] and sort of jostled them about a bit: for exmaple, xanadu aka xangdu is now XANGAdu for reasons ;DDD

INFORMAL STYLE OF THE TRUE EMPEROR

His Imperial Majesty, Roderick the First of His Name, by the Grace of the One True God, of the Great and Holy Empire of [Varmont] and Astaira and of His other Realms and Territories One True Emperor, Conquer of the Twelve Kingdoms, Defender of the Faith, and God’s Own Champion

FORMAL STYLE OF THE TRUE EMPEROR

His Imperial Majesty, Roderick the First of His Name, by the Grace of the One True God, of [Varmont], and of Antillia, Kolchis, Alatyr, Aarnu, Vinetta, Kvenheim, Aotepo, Argadara, Xangadu, Malakarta, Affaraon, and Astaira, and of his Dominions beyond the Seas, One True Emperor, Protector of Vyrajj, God-King of Kolchis, Archduke of the Two Isles and of the Shimmering Seas Overlord, King-Elector of the Astairans, Lord of the Two Lands, Sun-King of the Hauren, Divine Emperor of the Iddenese, the Freefolk, and the Cockaignians, Evenstar of Astaira*, Conqueror of the Twelve Kingdoms, Defender of the Faith, and God's Own Champion

*i hc that that's just the title of the ~lord of stafford~ but roderick still isn't quite taking in the whole premise of elected kings and so he's like 'obv that is the title of the ruler of astaira' and...its not so astairans hear this and they just like 'why that one county??? and why not malconaire or lorcan or smth too?? but ok' alkdjfkljdsf bc i love to laugh at roderick

[lordturkish-robomallcop]

Hi! Imma go for it.

21/46/47/48 For Ana and Mihal (I have a weakness for codependent Tzim child/sire duos, what can I say). 

And 14/26 for Eliza but about her being a ghoul. 

hELL YEAH BUDDY.

Apologies ahead of time this is gonna be a Lot Of Text because I ramble hard. I tried to keep it brief but... it is clearly impossible for me to keep things brief. Also spoilers for future Limits of an Invitation/Project Cadmus stuff-ahoy! Nothing earth-shattering, but if that's a concern I wanted to flag that right off the bat in case there's anyone who wants to go into the fic blind. But with all that being said, let's dive under the fold and chat some tzims and their very "fortunate" ghouls!

21 Mihal/Ana - Predator Type This has changed/evolved for both of them over time based on what was available. Words from ST Roan on Mihal: “Word of god says predator type is a game term that is great for creating newer vamps but not narratively necessary or universally applicable to elder npcs… That said, since coming to America Mihal’s go to types are Osiris and Siren. Especially Osiris in Hollywood era. Before was often, but not always Montero, when utilizing ghouls since that’s common for old school tzims.” Valeriy would've been Mihal's main guy for netting dinner-- he's been doing it his entire life as a Grimaldi, he (was) a turbo-pro, 10/10 would doordash again. The NY->Hollywood scene was a constant churn of cult creation/destruction around whatever vanity project the two were making/beefing over at the given moment. Now in Fairhaven, he's a lot more lowkey so def more of a Siren than Osiris these days. Ana is a Blood Leech through and through. While he can settle for human blood, it has never slaked him unless it's a Rev or another kindred. His early days he remained bound to Mihal and supplemented his diet by tapping the schlacta/ghouls on the estate, as well as whatever poor sucker he could rip into traveling through their domain.

When Helena arrived and the pack was formed/as it grew, Ana would cleave more and more from his packmates. Also, obviously, if there was a Cammie lick that needed dusting he always had first dibs.

Now that he has been separated from the pack and Hermia is def not as down to be tapped on a whim as Mihal... Ana may have had to cut some deals with the Fairhaven branch of the Circulatory System to keep his meal plan buttoned-up and to his standards.

46 - Mihal/Ana, What are their Ambitions? 47 - Mihal/Ana, What are their Desires? Popping these two together bc they go hand in hand. Mihal and Ana were both 'freed' from their sires/sabbat expectations in the space of a couple of months. So weirdly, they're at almost identical turning points. Always mirrors, these two! Mihal: FIRSTLIGHT knocked down their doors and dusted their Ductus, as well as gave him a window to torpor their Bishop/his sire Vratislav. For the first time in centuries, he's beholden to no one. 900 years in counting and he's finally earned this 'moment' and he isn't going spend it rashly. Right now he has what remains of the pack, a precarious position hugging the Tower, and an prodigal childe who isn't coming home as quickly as he would like.

He desires stability, but as method of securing his own agency and control. He never wants to be subject to another's whims again after being bound to Vrat--to the point of faking partaking in the vaulderie unbeknownst to the rest of his pack. His ambition is securing a legacy that can stand shoulder-to-shoulder if not entirely surpass the true Elders of his bloodline. Which is a tall order when your Grandsire is Vykos, but Mihal isn't known for his humility. So, why not get his childe that city he always dreamed of? Ana: Mihal saw fit to 'cut him off' for a few reasons. First is political-- the FIRSTLIGHT operation left every kindred faction in Fairhaven scrambling. True-Cam heads pissed that the Cam is now mostly made up by ex-sabbat opportunists/anarch dregs. Anarch heads pissed that their leaders sold them out to the Cam when they were so close to taking it down. The two Sabbat packs that rolled over and renounced the Sword of Caine for protection are regarded to only slightly better than the few thinbloods that managed to make themselves useful enough not to get purged-it's a shit time for everyone in Fairhaven rn. Ana was the only one in the pack that Mihal trusted could make it out the other side of a bond while still being in his pocket. Cynically assumes if the remorse doesn't pull him back, the addiction will. Simultaneously, this is also to continue their escalating game of spite. Shortly before the raid, the two had a more-major-than-usual falling out over Mihal's treatment of Roman-- yeah surprise Roman is still alive and kicking as Ana's husbandish ghoul to this day. Yes it's a full can of worms but long story short Ana sticking up for Roman/at times putting Roman *above* Mihal has been the Issue Of The Past Century. Playing second fiddle to a Chisel? Kindly fuck off with that, Darling. Ana shares Mihal's desire for stability, but inverted. Bonds, Pleasure, Love, All Which Keeps The Beast At Bay-- its rooting the self deep into those you serve and who serve you. It's dedication, it's till death do you fucking part. Part of woodworking as a vampire is accepting that you are incredibly vulnerable to the thing you are shaping, that it could destroy you in a blink. He carries that attitude into not just his fleshcrafting but his day-to-day. Sure giving himself over, allowing that vulnerability, is a kind of oblivion, but it's an oblivion he can navigate, that he knows intimately and can maybe even thrive in/manipulate to his own ends.

His ambition? He'd love to know, he's taking suggestions. In the past he'd say cutting his own skyline-- something that he had begun to do when they first migrated to Fairhaven. Two downtown residential towers were drafted by his hand, but he's nowhere near amassing the resources to get another project off the ground in the current political climate. So he's taken in some goddamn pupils to keep the drafting hand limber. Maybe that'll be something. 48 - Something that I spent a lot of time on! Damn! Well, easy answer is the fic. But I think if I wanted to dig in, it'd be the bloodline/character arc timeline that I made that starts with the eldest and ends with Eliza. I spent a weekend reading clanbooks/supplements across editions as well as marinating in the vtm wiki to nail down what themes/trends I liked and wanted to play with as well as general history skimming because I, Mr. Podunk Midwestern Man, got most of my education about 1800's Russia from Chekov plays. Then I just went hog wild on a google doc and peppered my ST with too many questions so I could build out some of my own loresheets. Now I can not only tell you what Ana and Eliza were up to at any given point but also what their parents and grandparents were generally up to. Generational Narratives! I like em! I like the big sprawling tangled up casts even if the majority of them only exist offscreen/in the lore notes.

A fun fact which arose from this: Ana has a cousin who is his age, still breathing, leading an Obertus research initiative on the East Coast. She's wheeling and dealing with multiple Farm teams, funding Renditions in exchange of getting first dibs on any ghouls or suspected tzim that get bagged.

14 - Eliza, How did they initially feel after being ghould? Did they like being reborn into something new or did it take them a while to cope with their new reality? Eliza's first reaction was to compartmentalize the shit out of the situation and move on. It took a day or two for it to start to fully sink in, but overall she adapted well at first. This is mostly thanks to Ana taking a more hands-off approach, so outside of the basics (the blood bond situation and the masquerade of the living dead situation) what she learned and when was in her hands. It's a luxury of having a robust collection of kindred writing a keycard away at the University. Though the first time seeing Ana's 'Garden' definitely had a negative impact on her, throwing the whole arrangement back into question. Especially after learning that the 'Poppy' was Ana's last protégé, as well as the source of her current arm-- it launches her into an existential spiral.

Thankfully Roman turns out to be solid support, he steps into paternal role and helps guide her through it. He tells her that he's spent his time in the garden, that it was terrible and unforgivable, and yet he's sitting here with her today. The situation isn't ideal but it isn't unsalvageable, is his belief. He's seen the full scope of degeneration and growth, and he's convinced that the scales are tipped toward growth. Eliza isn't but also understands that, right now, this is what she has to work with. 26 - Eliza, Do they want to become human again or are they fine as a ghoul?

Eliza goes back and forth. In her darker moments she sometimes wishes Ana hadn't saved her. It's easy to see her life as an unnatural extension when her ghouling was that traumatic, and she is aware that she's complicit to some nasty shit. At the same time, the more she works with Ana and Roman the more desensitized she becomes.

Another major factor is her mother, Alana. She leads a Farm team in eastern Iowa, seasoned to the point where most FIRSTLIGHT hawks know of/have worked with her in the past.

Needless to say Alana Locks In the second she discovers Eliza's been ghoul'd. Full blown Rendition/Conversion team. It's ugly, and almost identical to the Garden/Circulatory System operations she was pissed at Ana about.

She gets out the other side with the general notion of "Its Complicated And I Don't Fucking Know, Dude." But she isn't one to romanticize humanity, not anymore. ... Whew. I think I need a nap.

Thank you @hlozt for the ask! As you can see I was chomping at the bit to ramble about these terrible lads. Hopefully it made some amount of sense!!

To everyone else-- if you made it this far/read all that, damn! Thanks! Have a draft Ana Zulo drawn by Roan for your efforts!

[pessimisticshapewithablog]

How are Death gods made?

I was thinking about TOWW's origin as a god. Maybe that was why TOWW was so different from his siblings? His origin as a god was one of death. Let's begin!

TOWW seems to be dead. He is a 'dead' death god. In mythology, gods of death aren't always dead themselves. As death for gods usually means they ceased to exist. This is very likely why the bishops couldn't kill him, only seal him away. You can't kill what's already dead. 

Now we know that gods in COTL can die just like mortals can, so whatever TOWW is, was not a normal death state for a god. Something about his death or how he died had to be significant enough to make him like this. Where death was a part of his being, enough to be a death god, not just the state he was in. Think Osiris, the Egyption god of death and mummification. He was not always a death god, he was once a living one with a different sphere of influence. Once he died, death became his portfolio. When it comes to death gods they are usually the first dead of their pantheon.

When it comes to how a death god is created it is expected for death to play a part in their origin. But this is not always the case. In some mythos, gods of death are living, they're just responsible for managing the dead. In TOWW's case it's implied that he is in fact dead. He makes a statement about his heart not beating and the state of his arms might imply some level of decomposition has occurred. The fact that he uses his eyes as combatants could also hint that his body isn't alive and he doesn't really need them, no other boss uses pieces of their body to fight us. 

Because TOWW is a 'dead' death god, I make these speculations under the pretense that all death gods in COTL are dead or must die to become one.The exact timeframe for when TOWW could have died isn't possible to know. He could have perished as a mortal and arose as an undead, possibly by the red crown, slowly gaining enough power to become godlike. Or he could have died as a god, and through some profane ritual, awoken as a death god. 

I liken TOWW's origins as a death god to that of a church grim. Church grims were guardian spirits of churches and their graveyards. They were 'created' when an animal, usually a black dog, was buried alive on the church grounds at its creation. It was believed they would serve as protectors and guides for the souls of the deceased. Animals were chosen to spare people from this eternal duty but not always. Their death was seen as a necessity.

COTL is a world of gods and the supernatural, so I imagine a church grim would be a real life necessity rather than simply a barbaric practice. But why, you ask, would Narinder have been at risk of becoming what amounts to a sacrifice? Well, he is a black cat. The devs state TOWW was designed after the belief that seeing a black cat would mean someone would die soon. 

With that in mind I imagine in the magical world of COTL that maybe a real possibility rather than a superstition. A possibility that could lead to prejudice against black cats. Maybe Narinder was a victim of prejudice, being murdered and turned into a church grim against his will? Maybe it was a cultural practice within society? Maybe it was a sinister ritual done under the cover of night. Maybe it was a punishment? Who can know?

Within the same cultures as church grims there was also a belief that the first person buried in a churchyard was tasked with protecting the souls of the deceased until the next funeral/burial. The newly dead would be their replacement. If something were to happen, and no more burials occurred there, that soul would be trapped in eternal vigil, with no replacement, and no way to pass on themselves. This is why animals were usually chosen. I believe this is the current predicament that TOWW is/was in. Why he seemed to grow tired of his duty as a god. 

"Lamb. Mortal life is so... fragile. So fleeting. So long did I stand at the gates between this life and the next, trapped at the nexus of what was and what wasn't."

-Narinder

Conclusion

Speculation Station 

In the beginning TOWW may have enjoyed the power of being a god but being dead may have been an uncomfortable state to be in for all eternity.

On a lighter note ,there is an IRL god with origins similar to church grims. Ankou, a servant of death. He was responsible for collecting the souls of the dead before he could go to the afterlife. This god has many disputed origins but he is the death god I personally associate most with TOWW. 

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 10.29

Holidays

Bishop James Hannington Memorial Day (Uganda)

Black Salsify Day (French Republic)

Bob Ross Day (Abeldane Empire)

Candies Day

Coronation Day (Cambodia)

C6HO Day (Kentucky)

Cumhuriyet Bayrami (North Cyprus, Turkey)

Cyrus the Great Day (Iran)

Feed the Birds Day (UK)

Festival of Global Climate Change

Fiestas Patrias begins (Honduras)

Halloween Eve Eve

Hermit Day

Hide From Everyone Day (a.k.a. Hermit Day)

International Day of Care and Support (UN)

International Day of Degrowth

International Internet Day

Laugh Suddenly For No Reason A Lot Today Day

Ľudovít Štúr Day (Slovakia)

Military Financier Day (Ukraine)s

Naming Day (Tanzania)

National Boner Day

National Book Day (Brazil)

National Cat Daddy Day

National Cat Day

National Hermit Day

National Martina Day

Oatmeal Day

PSC Awareness Day

Sea Slug Day

Security Guard Day (Kazakhstan)

Separation of Church and State Day

Turkish Republic Day (Turkey)

Vote Early Day

World Online Networking Day

World Psoriasis Day

World Stroke Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Gnocchi Day (Argentina)

National Disgusting Little Pumpkin-Shaped Candies Day

National Oatmeal Day

Poperinge Beer & Hop Festival begins (Belgium) [Every 3 years, 3rd Friday]

Independence & Related Days

Constitutional Referendum Anniversary Day (Serbia)

Turkey (from Ottoman Empire, 1923)

Westarctica (Declared; 2017) [unrecognized]

5th & Last Tuesday in October

Mix It Up at Lunch Day [Last Tuesday]

Taco Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Target Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Tater Tot Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Teriyaki Tuesday [Last Tuesday of Each Month]

Transformation Tuesday [Last Tuesday of Each Month]

Trivia Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Two For Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Weekly Holidays beginning October 29 (Last Week of October)

None Known

Festivals Beginning October 29, 2024

The Norman E. Borlaug International Dialogue (Des Moines, Iowa) [thru 10.31]

Feast Days

Abraham of Rostov (Christian; Saint)

Andrei Ryabushkin (Artology)

Bill Mauldin (Artology)

Blažej Baláž (Artology)

Bob Ross (Artology)

Chef (a.k.a. Theuderius; Christian; Saint)

Chiara Badano (Christian; Blessed)

Colman mac Duagh (Christian; Saint)

Desmond Bagley (Writerism)

Dominick Dunne (Writerism)

Douai Martyrs (Christian; Saint)

Gaetano Errico (Christian; Saint)

Ghatasthapana begins (Nepal)

Harriet Powers (Artology)

Isis/Osiris Mysteries II (Pagan)

James Hannington (Anglicanism)

Kojagrat Purnima [15th Day of Dashain]

Lazarus Long Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Lee Child (Writerism)

Mary of Edessa (Christian; Saint)

Maximillian (Christian; Saint)

Narcissus of Jerusalem (Roman Catholic Church)

Niki De Saint Phalle (Artology)

Nut Day (Pastafarian)

Robertson (Positivist; Saint)

Second Fiddle of the Mounth (Shamanism)

Shin Saimdang (Artology)

Theuderius (a.k.a. Chef; Christian; Saint)

Warren the Warthog (Muppetism)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Historically Unlucky Day [10 of 11]

Historically Bad Day (Stock Market Crash, Hurricane Sandy & 8 other tragedies) [10 of 11]

Lucky Day (Philippines) [58 of 71]

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Premieres

All I Want for Christmas Is You, by Mariah Carey (Song; 1994)

The Autobiography of Malcolm X, with Alex Haley (Biography; 1965)

Being John Malkovich (Film; 1999)

Blue Moon, 24th Jack Reacher book, by Lee Child (Novel; 2019)

Boy Pest with Ash (Modern Madcaps Cartoon; 1963)

Bullwinkle Busts a Brush or The Cleft Palette (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S5, Ep. 226; 1963)

BUtterfield 8, by John O'Hara (Roman à clef Novel; 1935)

Create Dangerously, by Albert Camus (manifesto; 1957)

Don Giovanni, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Opera; 1787)

Fido Beta Kappa (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1954)

The Fleischmann’s Yeast Hour (Radio Series; 1929)

Get Nervous, by Pat Benatar (Album; 1982)

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (Film; 2010)

Halloween Is Grinch Night (DePatie-Freleng Animated YV Special; 1977)

The Halloween Tree, by Ray Bradbury (Novel; 1972)

Hemispheres, by Rush (Album; 1978)

Hulu (Streaming Network; 2007)

The Huntley-Brinkley Report (TV News Show; 1956)

Jingle Bell Rock, recorded by Bobby Helm (Song; 1957)

Keeping Up Appearances (UK TV Series; 1990)

Last Night in Soho (Film; 2021)

Man of the Century (Film; 1999)

The Marbleheads, Parts 1 & 2 (Underdog Cartoon, S3, Eps. 13 & 14; 1966)

Maruhi Gekiga, Ukiyoe Senichiya (Japanese Animated Film; 1969)

Mind Games, by John Lennon (Album; 1973)

The Music Lesson (Ub Iwerks Flip the Frog MGM Cartoon; 1932)

My Generation, by The Who (Song; 1965)

The Nightmare Before Christmas (Animated Film; 1993)

The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James (Novel; 1880)

Portrait of a Moose or Bullwinkle Gets the Brush (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S5, Ep. 225; 1963)

Princess Mononoke (Anime Film; 1999)

Ray (Film; 2004)

Red Riding Hoodwinked (WB LT Cartoon; 1955)

The Saw Mill Mystery (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1937)

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You Now! (WB Animated Film; 2021)

The Sentinel, 25th Jack Reacher book, by Lee Child (Novel; 2020)

Trip for Tat (WB MM Cartoon; 1960)

The Valiant Tailor (Ub Iwerks ComiColor Cartoon; 1934)

Welcome to the Pleasure Dome, by Frankie Goes to Hollywood (Album; 1984)

What’ll I Do?, recorded by Frank Sinatra (Song; 1947)

Wild Target (Film; 2010)

The Woody Woodpecker Polka (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1951)

Today’s Name Days

Ermelina, Hermelindis, Melinda (Austria)

Časlav, Honorat, Ida, Narcis (Croatia)

Silvie (Czech Republic)

Narcissus (Denmark)

Alf, Alfred, Fred, Fredi (Estonia)

Alfred, Urmasimo (Finland)

Narcisse (France)

Ermelinda, Franco, Grete, Melinda (Germany)

Abramios, Melina (Greece)

Nárcisz (Hungary)

Ermelinda, Michela, Massimiliano (Italy)

Elva, Elvijs, Fortuna, Laimonis (Latvia)

Gelgaudas, Narcizas, Tolvydė, Violeta (Lithuania)

Noralf, Norunn (Norway)

Euzebia, Franciszek, Longin, Longina, Lubogost, Narcyz, Teodor, Wioletta (Poland)

Anastasia (Romania)

Zinaida (Russia)

Klára (Slovakia)

Narciso (Spain)

Viola (Sweden)

Garrison, Cyrano, Cyrena, Narcissa, Narcissus (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 303 of 2024; 63 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 2 of Week 44 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Hagal (Hailstone) [Day 3 of 28]

Chinese: Month 9 (Jia-Xu), Day 27 (Bing-Yin)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 27 Tishri 5785

Islamic: 25 Rabi II 1446

J Cal: 3 Wood; Threesday [3 of 30]

Julian: 15 October 2024

Moon: 7%: Waning Crescent

Positivist: 23 Descartes (11th Month) [Dunoyer / Adam Smith]

Runic Half Month: Wyn (Joy) [Day 7 of 15]

Season: Autumn or Fall (Day 37 of 90)

Week: Last Week of October

Zodiac: Scorpio (Day 6 of 30)

[savedfromsalvation]

While a lot of this is accurate, the idea that this was a harvest festival is not entirely correct. This was actually a Solstice celebration across all of the Classical European world. which commemorated the death of the old year and birth of the new year, anthropomorphized as various dying and reborn sun gods, Apollo, Osiris, Attis etc, and Classical Mystery Festivals in general.

in the first century, Hellenized Jewish scholars in Alexandria, Egypt began creating a Jewish mystery religion based on the classical model of the dying and reborn sun god. This work was later continued by Hellenized Jewish scholars in Antioch. There are 64 bible verses about Jesus being "the Light of the World". This early Hellenized Hebrew cult was organized around the idea of Novices, who were kept outside the inner Sanctum, and the Gnostics who where initiated in the rites, and believed you could know the diety through you own personal enlightenment..

Eventually this cult was subverted by the Romans who changed the structure into a hierarchical cult depending on the obtaining of enlightenment through the guidance of bishops and priest, and modern christianity was born!

[poem-today]

A poem by Traci Brimhall

Love Poem Without a Drop of Hyperbole in It

I love you like ladybugs love windowsills, love you like sperm whales love squid. There’s no depth I wouldn’t follow you through. I love you like the pawns in chess love aristocratic horses. I’ll throw myself in front of a bishop or a queen for you. Even a sentient castle. My love is crazy like that. I like that sweet little hothouse mouth you have. I like to kiss you with tongue, with gusto, with socks still on. I love you like a vulture loves the careless deer at the roadside. I want to get all up in you. I love you like Isis loved Osiris, but her devotion came up a few inches short. I’d train my breath and learn to read sonar until I retrieved every lost blood vessel of you. I swear this love is ungodly, not an ounce of suffering in it. Like salmon and its upstream itch, I’ll dodge grizzlies for you. Like hawks and skyscraper rooftops, I’ll keep coming back. Maddened. A little hopeless. Embarrassingly in love. And that’s why I’m on the couch kissing pictures on my phone instead of calling you in from the kitchen where you are undoubtedly making dinner too spicy, but when you hold the spoon to my lips and ask if it’s ready I’ll say it is, always, but never, there is never enough.

Traci Brimhall

Listen to Tracy Brimhall read her poem.

Published in the print edition (January 8, 2018) of the New Yorker..

[brookston]

Holidays 10.30

Holidays

Africa Day for Food and Nutrition Security

Banknote Day (Indonesia)

Beggars Night

Bodybuilders Day

Checklist Day

Chequer Tree Day (French Republic)

Coach Day (Russia)

Covenant of Grace Day

Create a Great Funeral Day

Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions (for Soviet Republics, except Ukraine)

Devil's Night (Michigan)

Frankenstein's Monster Day

Gate Night

GATTiversary

Goosing Night

Haunted Refrigerator Night

International Ghost Shark Day

International Orthopedic Nurses Day

Look in the Back of Your Refrigerator Day

Miggy Night

Mine Rescue Day

Mischief Night

Mizzy Night

National Checklist Day

National Dashiki Day

National Publicist Day

National Sleep-In Day

National Speak Up For Service Day

National Text Your Ex Day

National Treat Your Pet Day

National Wicked Day

Practice Winter Snuggling Night

Punisher Day

Speak Up For Service Day

Try on Your Halloween Costume Early Day

Uplift Someone Day

Vice Presidents Day

Weatherization Day

Wish We Hadn’t Done That Day

World Audio Drama Day

World Day of Bodybuilding

World Hypophosphatasia Day

World Online Networking Day

World Uchinanchu Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Buy a Doughnut Day

Cabbage Night

Egg Night

National Candy Corn Day

Pete’s Wicked Ale Day

Pumpkin Bread Day

Sugar Addiction Awareness Day

Independence & Related Days

Anniversary of the Declaration of the Slovak Nation (Slovakia)

Danland (Declared; 2013) [unrecognized]

Marlborough Province Day (New Zealand)

Sprinskè (Declared; 2020) [unrecognized]

5th & Last Wednesday in October

Buckle Up Phone Down Day (Missouri) [Last Wednesday]

Global Pink Hijab Day [Last Wednesday]

Hump Day [Every Wednesday]

Senior Health & Fitness Day [Last Wednesday]

Utah Apple Crunch (Utah) [Last Wednesday]

Wacky Wednesday [Every Wednesday]

Website Wednesday [Every Wednesday]

Whole Grain Wednesday [Last Wednesday of Each Month]

Wishful Wednesday [Last Wednesday of Each Month]

Weekly Holidays beginning October 30 (Last Week of October)

Rhyne Toll (Chetwode Manor, UK) [thru 11.7]

Festivals Beginning October 30, 2024

American Royal World Series of Barbecue (Kansas City, Missouri) [thru 11.3]

Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) [thru 11.3]

Lucca Comics & Games (Lucca, Italy) [thru 11.3]

Salon du Chocolat (Paris, France) [thru 11.3]

State Fair of Louisiana (Shreveport, Louisiana) [thru 11.17]

Terlingua International Championship Chili Cookoff (Terlingua, Texas) [thru 11.2]

Yellow Rails & Rice Festival (Jennings, Louisiana) [thru 11.2]

Feast Days

Adam Smith (Positivist; Saint)

Adelaide Anne Procter (Writerism)

Alfred Sisley (Artology)

Alonso Rodriguez (Christian; Saint)

Angelica Kauffman (Artology)

Antoine Bourdelle (Artology)

Artemas (Christian; Saint)

Auserius of Pontus (Christian; Saint)

Dominic Collins, Blessed (Catholic, Ireland, Society of Jesus)

Chat Parwa (Nepal)

Country Joe Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Crow (Muppetism)

Dorothy of Montau (Christian; Saint)

Ethelnoth (Egelnoth) the Good (Christian; Saint)

Ezra Pound (Writerism)

Furry Animal Fondling Day (Pastafarian)

Gerard of Potenza (Christian; Saint)

Germanus, Bishop of Papua (Christian; Saint)

Herbert (Christian; Saint)

Isis/Osiris Mysteries III (Pagan)

John Wycliffe (Episcopal Church (USA))

Lhabab Duechen (Descending Day of Lord Buddha; Buddhism)

Marcellus of Tangier (a.k.a. Marcellus the Centurion; Christian; Saint)

Maria Teresa of St. Joseph (Christian; Blessed)

Paul Valéry (Writerism)

Saturninus of Cagliari (Christian; Saint)

Serapion of Antioch (Christian; Saint)

Talarican (a.k.a. Tarkin; Christian; Saint)

Theonistus (Christian; Saint)

Thevar Jayanthi (Thevar community, India)

Tim Kirk (Artology)

Zenobios and Zenobia (Christian; Saints)

Zoe Akins (Writerism)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Lucky Day (Philippines) [59 of 71]

Shakku (赤口 Japan) [Bad luck all day, except at noon.]

Premieres

Appalachian Spring, by Aaron Copland (Orchestral Suite; 1944)

A Battle Royal, featuring Farmer Al Falfa (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1936)

Bucket-Headed Bullwinkle or Pail-Face Moose (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S4, Ep. 173; 1962)

Calcutta Adventure (Animated TV Show;Jonny Quest #7; 1964)

Casper’s Halloween Special(Hanna-Barbera Animated TV Special; 1979)

The Case of the Stuttering Pig (WB LT Cartoon; 1937)

Chicken Little (Animated Film; 1963)

The City of Gold and Lead, by John Christopher (Novel; 1967) [Tripods #2]

Coat of Many Colors, by Dolly Parton (Song; 1971)

Danger in the Desert or Max Attacks (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S2, Ep. 68; 1960)

Doctor Sleep (Film; 2019)

Faith, by George Michael (Album; 1987)

The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone (Hanna-Barbera Animated TV Film; 1979)

Forget-Me-Net, Parts 1 & 2 (Underdog Cartoon, S2, Eps. 29 & 30; 1965)

The Halloween Tree, by Ray Bradbury (Hanna-Barbera Animated TV Special; 1993)

The Hidden (Film; 1987)

Hook and Ladder No. 1 (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1932)

I Heard It Through the Grapevine, by Marvin Gaye (Album; 1968)

The Incredible Journey (Film; 1963)

Joy of Cooking, by Irma S. Rombauer (Cookbook; 1931)

Just Plane Beep (WB MM Cartoon; 1965)

The Lion in Winter (Film; 1968)

Make-Believe Monster or Once Upon a Crime (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S4, Ep. 174; 1962)

Meddle, by Pink Floyd (Album; 1971)

Megamind (Animated Film; 2010)

Old Yeller, by Fred Gipson (Novel; 1958)

One Night in the Tropics (Film; 1940) [1st Abbot & Costello Film]

Pac-Man Halloween Special(Hanna-Barbera Animated TV Special; 1982)

The Postman Always Rings Twice, by James M. Cain (Novel; 1934)

Professor Tom (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1948)

Quack Shot (WB MM Cartoon; 1954)

Rumble in the Jungle; Muhammed Ali KO’s George Foreman in Zaire (Heavyweight Prize Fight; 1974)

The Train on the Plain or The Overland Express (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S2, Ep. 67; 1960)

Tumbleweed Connection, by Elton John (Album; 1970)

The War of the Worlds (Radio Program; 1938)

Winter (Silly Symphony Disney Cartoon; 1930)

Wonderwall, by Oasis (Song; 1995)

Today’s Name Days

Alfons, Angelo, Dieter (Austria)

German, Klaudije, Marcel, Marcijan (Croatia)

Tadeáš (Czech Republic)

Absalon, Elsa (Denmark)

Urmas, Urmet, Urmo (Estonia)

Eila (Finland)

Bienvenue, Maeva (France)

Alfons, Angelo, Dieter, Sabine (Germany)

Apollonia, Asterios, Astero, Kleopas, Kronos, Markianos, Tertios, Zenovia, Zenovios, Zinovia, Zinovios (Greece)

Alfonz (Hungary)

Benvenuta, Germano (Italy)

Algards, Nadīna, Ratne, Ulla, Venera (Latvia)

Darata, Edmundas, Skirgaila, Skirvydė (Lithuania)

Aksel, Ånund, Ove (Norway)

Alfons, Alfonsyna, Angel, Angelus, Edmund, Klaudiusz, Przemysław, Sądosław, Zenobia (Poland)

Zenobia, Zenovie (Romania)

Šimon (Slovakia)

Amparo, Marcelo (Spain)

Elsa, Isabella (Sweden)

Arilda, Xena, Xenia, Ximena, Zena, Zenas, Zenia, Zeno, Zenobia (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 304 of 2024; 62 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of Week 44 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Hagal (Hailstone) [Day 4 of 28]

Chinese: Month 9 (Jia-Xu), Day 28 (Ding-Mao)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 28 Tishri 5785

Islamic: 26 Rabi II 1446

J Cal: 4 Wood; Foursday [4 of 30]

Julian: 17 October 2024

Moon: 3%: Waning Crescent

Positivist: 24 Descartes (11th Month) [Fichte / Kant]

Runic Half Month: Wyn (Joy) [Day 8 of 15]

Season: Autumn or Fall (Day 38 of 90)

Week: Last Week of October

Zodiac: Scorpio (Day 7 of 30)

[exit-babylon]

From the Ark to Idolatry

(click on link above for full article)

Like the ancient Egyptian rituals for Osiris, Freemasonry promises life after death and access to occult knowledge. Like the mystery cults of Osiris, Freemasonry emphasizes secrecy in its rites and symbols. The two share an interconnected system of rites and beliefs.

When you think of immense wealth and power, most would think of names like Rockefeller and Rothschild. While it’s true that they are known to be extremely wealthy, some other families and power structures have even greater, longer-held wealth and influence that stretches back through history.

These include dynasties and institutions that extend back to ancient Persia, Egypt, the Roman Empire, and the founding of the Catholic Church. Through behind-the-scenes influence over figures like kings, queens, bishops, knights, and others, these powerful entities have shaped history.

The Black Nobility is a network of elite families, linked by bloodlines and wealth, that wield power and influence and act as the base of the worldwide crime syndicate. Most of the Black Nobility are Vatican royalty. They are also known in popular culture as the ‘Cabal’ or ‘Deep State’. You can even see the results of their corruption in the Bible when it describes ‘Mystery Babylon’.

The Black Nobility were the families that financed and created the corporation of the Vatican to impose world slavery as a necessary institution, with the sole belief that some were born to rule and others to be ruled. Their bloodlines originate with the Canaanites and the Phoenicians, who were wealthy merchants. They were apostate Hebrews descended from Ham, Noah’s son. They worshipped Baal, who has been identified as Nimrod. They also worshipped Pan (or Saturn) and sacrificed their children to Moloch.

They build and destroy empires for control through an order-out-of-chaos process. They destroy to build, then build to destroy. Royal and noble houses are corporate entities that claim to rule and own land, resources, and people. 

These Babylonian/Phoenicians founded Venice. The Black Nobility descends primarily from these bloodlines. The word ‘Phoenician’ became ‘Venetian’. The Black Nobility families primarily live in Venice and Genoa Italy today.

Some of the major Roman (Phoenician) Black Nobility royal bloodlines include the following:

The Orsini (Maximus / Orso) family claim to be the Zoroastrianist esoteric heads of the Jesuit Order. Members of the Orsini family include three popes, 34 cardinals, numerous condottieri, and many other significant political and religious figures. Allegedly, the Rothschilds can trace their own lineage back to Nimrod.

Sometimes history can get complicated with so many different names and seemingly different characters, but as we’ve seen, it's not so disjointed. Just a few people who waged war with God became the victors throughout many languages and nations resulting in many different names for the same people. These men were seen as the ancestors of the ruling class in various ancient civilizations, and their names were associated with the development of astronomy, astrology, and magic.

The worship of these men as gods is idolatry. There is only one true God, and all other gods are false idols.

“Ye shall be as gods”

The same adversary since the beginning of time has been carefully crafting narratives to throw humanity off his trail of interconnectedness and deceit in order to indirectly worship him. We’ve seen the pattern of self-deification and pride, reminiscent of Lucifer's age-old desire to take the place of God in the hearts of men. It’s interesting to note that the wicked rulers of today claim to descend from the wicked rulers of yesterday.

Let us hold fast to the reassurance found in 1 John 4:4: "Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world."

[saibug1022]

The Breach: Part 2

Word Count: 1.8k

Magnus Bishop x Marcus Sharpe, Val's Polycule (background)

Part 1, Part 3

Marcus grumbled in his sleep, feeling something missing even in his state. He reached over for Magnus only for his arm to hit the cold mattress. He groaned and sat up, looking around to see if his boyfriend was still in the room but Magnus was nowhere to be found. Honestly, waking up to find Magnus missing wasn't entirely uncommon, but it still worried Marcus a little every time.

Marcus grabbed a shirt, intent on searching their hotel room for Magnus, only to see something that made him pause. Magnus's shirt he'd worn to bed was on the floor. And when he went out to the living area Magnus's shoes were gone too. He'd gotten dressed and left. But where would he go? They were in Westchester, there wasn't much to do. Especially not in the middle of the night.

Marcus had to pause and take a deep breath before his mind started racing. He was already thinking of a thousand horrible possibilities for what horrible thing could have happened to Magnus but he stopped and redirected his attention. He just had to find Magnus. He went back into the bedroom and grabbed his phone to call Magnus. A buzzing sound started up from the other side of the bed accompanied by a bright flash of light from the nightstand. Magnus left his phone on the nightstand. Next to his hearing aids.

Okay. Now Marcus was panicking.

After what happened last year with Magnus losing track of time and Marcus completely freaking out, Mags took his phone everywhere. This was something else. Magnus just left, but didn’t bring his phone. That would be concerning enough on it’s own but in a town with supernatural crap going on Marcus could barely wrap his head around? It was downright terrifying. And his hearing aids? Again with the dangerous supernatural crap! Marcus shuffled through his phone’s contacts, trying to remember the name of the guy Magnus had introduced him to. Val, right? Yes, Val was in his contacts, that had to be him.

Please be him.

The phone rang for a minute but just when Marcus thought he was going to have to show up at Val’s cabin himself, he heard the small click.

“Val’s phone,” A murmured, tired voice answered. That was not Val.

“Uh, this is Marcus, Magnus’s boyfriend,” Marcus said.

“It’s Magnus’s boyfriend,” The voice said but quieter, like they’d turned away from the phone.

“Ah shit,” Val sighed and Marcus could have cried with relief. “Here, Andy, gimme.”

There was a small pause then Val’s voice came through the phone properly.

“What’s going on?” Val asked.

“Magnus is gone,” Marcus answered, running a hand over his face. “I woke up and he’d disappeared. His shoes and clothes are gone too, so he got dressed, but he left his phone and hearing aids, which is completely unlike him. He didn’t leave a note or anything which is even less like him.”

“Was Magnus acting strange before you went to bed?” A new voice asked. “Almost like he wasn’t quite aware of his surroundings?”

“Who is that?” Marcus questioned.

“Dan. my boyfriend,” Val replied.

“How many boyfriends do you have?”

“Four, focus.”

“Right. Yeah, he was. I was worried but I figured it was just being back in Westchester, you know, and I didn’t want to push and freak him out. He said something about going back into the woods feeling right, so he wanted to go back again.”

“Val-” The newest voice, Dan, started but Val was already cursing under his breath.

“I know, I know, shit,” Val cursed, quickly followed by rustling and a few tired grumbles and groans from various people. “Marcus, listen to me. Do you remember how to get to the cave where you met Osiris?”

“Maybe?” Marcus tried. He was already hurrying around the room to get dressed.

“Can you-, thank you,” Val sighed. “Okay Marcus, Noah is going to meet you at the edge of town, along the woods and lead you back.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll meet you there.”

“Why?”

“Because I need to make sure the cave is safe for humans.”

“What?!”

“Just go!”

The call disconnected and Marcus flew around his room, rushing like he never had before to get dressed, grab his things and Magnus’s phone and hearing aids in case he wanted them, then sprint from the room. He managed to find Noah, barely remembering his face but assuming there’d only be one college-age guy lingering in the shadows of the woods. Marcus barely stopped before they were hiking through the woods, Noah explaining some of the intricacies of the cave as they went.

Apparently, when the breach was acting up usually only Power creatures (like Val, Osiris, and a guy from Pine Springs) and sometimes people with the Power (like Lincoln) could enter into the deeper parts of the cave where the Breach actually was. Magnus was neither of those things so the fact they were so sure he was there was just scaring him more.

Marcus may not understand all this but he knew it was dangerous. He knew plenty of people had been killed by the Power. Pretty much everyone Power-adjacent Marcus had met or even been told about had lost people to the Power. He knew it got in people’s heads too, so they couldn’t or wouldn’t fight back.

Marcus could lose him. He could actually lose Magnus this time.

Every step echoed in his terrified heart, his breath caught in his ribs in a way he knew had nothing to do with how fast they were moving through the woods and then through the cave system. This couldn’t be real. This was one of his nightmares. Any moment now he’d wake up and Magnus would be right next to him and putting Marcus’s hand on his chest so he could feel Magnus’s heartbeat under his fingers. Then he’d fall back asleep with Magnus in his arms. That was it. He even prayed, for the first time in years. He wasn’t sure who he was praying to, but he was. He was desperate.

Finally, Noah and Marcus found Val just outside the Breach chamber holding onto the wall as sweat dripped down his face. Noah rushed to his side and wrapped an arm around the smaller man’s waist to help hold him up.

“Good, you’re here,” Val panted. When he looked up Marcus couldn’t help flinching back. Val’s eyes—the whites, irises, and pupils—were pitch black. “I’ve been trying to get through to him but all I’ve managed to do is hold him back. I didn’t wanna go in because if he saw someone he barely knew and freaked out it would just be harder to pull him back. Ah!”

Val’s knees gave out from under him but Noah adjusted to hold him up as Val gripped at his head with one hand, using the other to hold on to Noah.

“Shit, Val, what are you doing?!” Noah demanded.

“The Power is trying to pull him in!” Val exclaimed. Marcus’s heart stopped. Val looked at him. “I technically have to power to influence people but I never use it so I’m not good at it. I can barely keep him back. But something just changed. It’s still pulling at him but not to go into the Breach.”

“Is it safe to go in?” Marcus asked. Val nodded and Marcus turned the corner in an instant.

The sight before him was something he’d never even see on a movie set. The light from the Breach was blinding. The dancing cyan light made shadows dance across the cave and forced Marcus to cover his eyes with his hand as best he could and still see. There was something moving about, part force and part wind. But the howling, Marcus could hear it in his skull it was so loud.

There, in the middle of the cave, standing before the pool at the foot of the breach, was Magnus. He looked completely undisturbed by the maelstrom around him. If anything he looked calm. At ease.

“MAGS!” Marcus shouted to be heard over the breach only to remember there was no use to it anyway because Magnus’s hearing aids were in Marcus’s pockets. “Fuck!”

Marcus tried to move forward but every step forward he took the wind forced him two steps back. He couldn’t throw anything, the wind would just force it back too. He wanted to ask if Val could do anything about the wind but when he glanced over Val couldn’t even stand on his own. He was holding onto Noah for dear life, using all of his energy to keep Magnus from walking into the Breach.

As Marcus watched Magnus grabbed a sharp stone from the cavern floor and held his hand out over the pool of water. He used the rock to slice open his hand and let the blood fall into the water.

“FUCK!” Noah exclaimed. “We have to-”

“From blood to Earth,” Magnus chanted, in a voice so devoid of expression it didn’t even sound like a person. “From shadow to dust. I pledge myself to the Power and the Power pledges itself to me.”

Another drop of Magnus’s blood hit the water and the pool began to glow. It was no longer just reflecting the light of the breach, no, this light was coming from the water itself. The wind picked up even further as the breach brightened. At this rate the howling was going to make Marcus go deaf too. He heard a shout of pain from behind him and a thud as Val completely collapsed. Strange tendrils of blue mist began to rise and before Marcus’s horrified eyes they wrapped around Magnus.

The wind stopped and the howling silenced itself as Magnus cried out in pain and collapsed to the ground. Finally Marcus was able to run forward but when he reached out to touch him it was like his boyfriend was on fire. He hissed in pain as he managed to get just one hearing aid in Magnus’s ear for the moment, figuring the other could wait.

“Magnus!” Marcus shook him again, ignoring how his palms blistered. He couldn’t be so hot he actually burned him. Magnus ran warm but not this warm. This shouldn’t be physically possible. “Mags, sweetheart, please, can you hear me?”

The tendrils could have taken seconds, minutes, or maybe hours to dissipate. Marcus ignored them entirely, just trying to get Magnus to see or hear him. But eventually they did withdraw and everything went dead silent.

Then Magnus’s temperature rose even higher. Marcus’s eyes widened but he couldn’t even get a word out before a blast of cyan fire exploded through the cave. Marcus went flying back. He just had time to register hitting something hard before the world went dark.

[bieberfeverradioshow-blog]

You know what save it. It’s just like my brother

Swifties what do you think of my Easter egg theory

and Sam and everybody telling me I’m crazy. And I was right about everything. You don’t have to acknowledge it I’m just telling you. Your not the only one who does it it’s common practice in the church when they anoint things. Guierilmo de Teri or whatever makes Pinocchio  which is a rip off of Johnson in the bible. So hogs makes me to replace Jesus with then we get away but in a twist I get blown up by a land one. That’s what mahogany is about in midnights. Because you made a rare tweet about joes the hero.. it that was out of character and you mention the end. You know the hero dies so why keep score.. so I’m the anti hero and.. and in lavender haze Ashley is wearing a sun on its elbow..Rey  sunshine Lana del Rey or is ghosts gag in be anti hero..or is it Marylyn Manson..or Trent reznor..reptiles is about you Taylor.I think Manson because Rita was in bejeweled..and Trent to Manson on his first big tour..I went to it in St. Louis..royal arch..red lodge..and I’m linked to Trent..Trent just did a song with ghosts..bones calls himself the weatherman..they made Francis pope changed out benidict because I had a papel line to Peter..no Dylan will have a closer one..Lana del Rey Dana Lynn Hudson..Dana names her first born Mitchell a folk singers last names...Joni Mitchell bob dylan Taylor swift..fuck they were plotting against me at 8 years old my family was... Eliot’s I’d sings in bury you alive..we got a runner a roadrunner..Forrest tump I ran..the bar i go to is roadrunners..they substitute krylon for nylon..i could go on get into west side connection..1 pussy and 13 dicks..we got probate faces fighting federal cases:.or ghost idiot and mercury and feet but I’m done guess what I don’t have any books by the night standitokd you that’s why I does it..when I come out everything is clear..better with a girl but you know..that’she can see into a mother time thru a computer and he gets framed..the change out his eyes..John Anderson neo is mr anderson..neo 1 trinity 3 terminator 3 John Conner goes off the grid..but comes back and he can’t stop fate.like when I disapeeeard until prison..ghosts she is tattling kill the machines on people e faces at lolapaloza a theima concert..the techno world lace i went to was called hore e Horus Hudson son of an Horne wise the o and the u are opposite on Hudson and Horus e denotes and attachment to something else son of a hor us..

Come on that’s pretty impressive..just think if we were together..I’m not tripping out about it I’m just teaching a master class..

Maybe I’ll give Phil smith a call it’s in Florida..I have a feeling I have something to do with it..warren buffets management firm..and vanguard.,I own cable television and all theme infrastructure that’s why they are trying to get rid of me..

I am so sorry to have you suffer so badly from your...whatever I can lay it out from delaymar to me..I can trace the my confirmation to Benedict.. his coat of arms has a Moore.. the popes did do that..st Louis has the arch royal arch.. John Paul came there when I was there as a marker. Regali was the bishop Burke and Dolan were there. Regali moves to Knoxville I find transfiguration because of him. He’s the archbishop of Philadelphia.. to the angel of the church of Philadelphia rev 3:7 37 the zip code in Tennessee starts 37 the zip code in Vegas starts 89.  Oh yea and everywhere I go music comes out of the sky. The angels sing sorry to ruin your plans. Ai is artificial intelligence IAM is God. iA is Adam the opposite of AI Satan. I’m Adam ISIS is Adams sister ISIS.. OSIRIS IS OR SISI meaning the other halF ISIS SPELLING SISI  I SIS OR SISI MY LITTLE SISTERS NICKNAME IS CCWE CALL HER SIS..some of its fate it’s not planned.. Osiris gets killed and is wrapped in a nun tree when Isis saves him. He raises from the dead. Joshua in the Bible who fights AI IS NAMES IS Joshua Son of Nun Hudson Horus Son son of Hor ..In judges a left handed EHud is leader of the Benjamin . EHud JOSHUA REPLACE THE VOWEL WITH THE ONE THAT ISNT THERE AN E JOSHE JOESH GHOSTE MANE HORSE JO DELI  JOSH OSIRIS  ITS DELICATE  IAM  IA IM ADAM  ITS IM TAYLOR SWIFT DELICATE DELI CAT LANA DEL RAY DANA EL RA GET RID OF FIRST AND THE LAST LETTER  am a 10th level @sw black mage yet..lmfao @swiftie-stephanie. @swiftsecretsquestions @swiftclass @swiftgallery @lanadelrey @eminem @espnpr @catholicliving @catholic-inspiration @wordonfirecatholic @archdiocese @archbishop

@archbishop-bisharp @archdioceseofawesome @notredame-dedouleur @thebleacher @fallontonight @madonnaciccone @popefrancis

@royalfamilyprincess @idfonline-blog @unitednationssystemcop21-blog @potissa-ths-nuxtas @potus @reprovador @billie-eilish-is-an-idol @joealwyndaily @tayswifttrade

[anamelessfool]

Duomo di Milano, 1969

Domestic Ficlet of Young Terzo. Inspired by and dedicated to my friends @revelisms and @osiris-iii-bc. They post some really detailed HC and immersive posts describing locations. I've really enjoyed their work.

As always, characterization based on my own Scenes from the Void Ghost AU. Excerpt from an upcoming Terzo-centered fic.

TW: Mentions of Suicide

1969

Giuseppe Lombardi, Archbishop of Milan and spiritual caretaker of the historic Duomo di Milano and distant pen-friend of the current Pope Paul IV, was currently using all of his willpower to not vomit in the back of this police car. Before this moment he was rudely disturbed from his sleep by the housekeeper rapping and creaking the door to his apartments open. He was needed immediately, at the Cathedral. Emergency. He opened one eye, his voice blazing. “At this hour? Can this not wait?” “No, no. Polizia.”

And so here he was, his bones rudely jostled like fruit in a cart as the car drove across the cobbles, lights off. It was an emergency, but whatever incident has occured was already for the most part resolved. Everything was grey, unwelcoming as it all scooted past in the window. It was that boring part of night after the last of the degenerates had staggered elsewhere but before the early pink of morning stirred the ancient stone facades. No emergency, no pageantry, nothing. So why ruin a perfectly good brandy nightcap before bed, just to haul him half-dressed out in the cold? He had been suffering from chronic agita for weeks and it has destroyed his sleep. Maybe it was just him getting old. Or maybe it was the blowback continuing from Vatican II, he wasn’t sure. Bishop Lombardi groaned and squeezed his knees as the car stopped in front of the cathedral steps. The officer respectfully opened the door for him, helped him to his feet but the bishop continued to stare with mild irritation at the priceless stones before him. The sculptures lovingly carved generations ago had no charm to them at this hour, only the weight of the responsibility he did not enjoy at such a time and with so much non-ceremony. Right when he was fully rolling about in his own fabricated misery something caught his eye and gave his brain a swift jerk. A white sheet laid across a body on the cobblestones. Two black heeled shoes peeked from underneath, the feet of a woman. He instinctively looked upward at the white tower surging into the sky, imagining the intensity of the breeze from that height. Marveling at a mental image of those heels against the starry blackness. And they managed to stay on? He was ushered into the Cathedral too quickly to think more about it.

The Cathedral swallowed him like a fish and he stood now in the archway of shadowy overhangs of stone, white fishbones of opulent carvings. The man in the overcoat waiting for him there nodded and shook his hand. “Inspector Rossi, your Excellency, apologies for the late night disturbance.” “What is the meaning of this?” The Bishop wanted his voice to echo across the walls like it did every Sunday but the image of the black heels falling past the white marble facade stalled the voice in his throat. “I brought you in to see if you recognize the victim,” explained Rossi. “She’s…she’s wearing a novitiate’s clothing.” “And you didn’t send for Mother Superior?” He huffed back. “Well, your Excellency it is your Cathedral. And I did not think it would be…an appropriate subject for a woman to talk about. Suicide.” “And you think that’s what it was?” “She left a note. And a child here.” The inspector gestured behind him. “He’s speaking with a doctor now.” “A child?” The Bishop’s head reeled, but their conversation was cut short by the approach of a shadowy figure at the entrance. For a breathless moment both men thought the figure would not cross the threshold, but rather stand there waiting to be let in. It was an odd notion to have about another person, but the way he was dressed in near-mockery of holy vestments prodded a primal sense of doom. There was a beat of hesitation and the man continued his slink over the threshold and into the cathedral, stopping right between the Bishop and the Inspector. He was short, slim, with a smart little mustache and glinting eyes. He clasped his hands together, presenting them with a small neat bow. “I am Cardinal Raphael, pleased to make your acquaintance, your Excellency.” Bishop raised an eyebrow. “I am not aware of you….Cardinal…” His words dripped with the acid that continued to roil in his own guts. His gazed dragged down the man’s appearance, observing the oddly formed biretta, the pendant that at this angle was definitely that of an upside-down crucifix. If it was some sort of perverse statement to wear an out-of-season Carnevale costume, the Bishop was deeply offended but too tired to bluster about it.

Raphael stretched a smile across his face which was supposed to give off a feeling of warmth but was entirely too toothy and smug to accomplish the task. “Not to worry, sir, we shan’t be seeing each other ever again after this moment.”

“You were let into a crime scene, now explain why before I eject you,” stated the Inspector, looking altogether bored with the arcane drama happening before his dark-rimmed eyes.

Raphael bowed his head, nearly curtsying. “You‘ve found a child, have you not? He is ours.”

”Oh? Then you are aware of the victim?”

“Yes, rest her soul,” replied Raphael. “A troubled girl. A convert.”

“Convert? She’s dressed as a noviate, what sort of preposterous—“

“Yes, she wrestled with dark thoughts for a long while. But we took care of her, when no one else would.” Raphael continued his crooked smile. “She was ejected from this very church long before her fateful climb tonight, I’m afraid.”

“We? And who is we?” The Bishop snorted.

“Takes all kinds to lift heaven and earth, your Excellency,” he replied smoothly. “There’s a child here, no? Little boy, dark hair, big eyes? Arsenio.”

“Child?! What is the meaning—a novitiate with a child, that’s preposterous—“

“He’s correct, a child is here,” said the Inspector. “And he’s right about the name.”

“Maria—well, that was the name she chose for herself when she was with us— stayed with us. We helped her raise Arsenio. Delightful boy, very artistic.”

“And do you have an idea of why she would take her life?”

“I wish…I wish I had gotten here sooner. Perhaps things would have been…different.” Raphael sighed. “We noticed she was gone, and had taken Arsenio with her. Didn’t think it would come to this, Inspector. But her heart held a paradox, and we did our best to help. Perhaps the guilt was still too much.”

The acid in his gut and the boiling in his brain curled the Bishop’s lip into a disgusted sneer. Ah, yes, Cardinal Raphael. Some pimp from some sort of depraved bordello, a mocking parody of his organization delighting in vices and whoredom. He’d have to find this den of filth and see it burned to the ground. But later. Right now he just wanted to end this dance and go home to bed. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “The child will go to the appropriate orphanage.”

“The child is not an orphan, your Excellency,” prodded Raphael. “He’ll go to his father, of course.”

”Oh and who—! Who exactly is his father then?”

”Our leader.” Raphael continued his toothy smile. “Although, the major difference between us is that we’re more open about our leader having any sort of progeny.”

“This is absolutely obscene,” stormed the Bishop.

“Then let me take a nun’s child off your hands, Your Excellency.” Raphael’s gloved hands tightened, the leather squeaking. His mouth was calm, but within his stare grew a fire of mischief. “I would not want the Church to be involved in…obscenity, surely. I told you that you shall not be seeing us again.”

The Bishop gulped like a fish, then relented. There was already enough controversies that he spent most of his twilight years stamping down. A whore nun with a bastard child from some priest-themed den of secular vice was only going to add more gasoline to the fire and years off his life. All he could do was shrug and throw up his hands. “Fine, take him.”

Inspector Rossi took it from there, ,addressing Raphael. “Sir, well, if he can recognize you then he’s yours. Let me bring him here.”

And so the two men of faith were left alone for a moment.

“You're young for a Cardinal.” Bishop Lombardi gave a little prod at the man beside him. If this degenerate was to slink so casually into his house of God, Lombardi was going to do his best to make him crawl out.

“Am I?” Raphael’s eyes grew wide, and he looked around the space just in case the other man was talking to somebody else. “I'm thirty-eight. Respectable. But I still have my knees.”

“I have never heard of you, and I frequent the Vatican.” He would write immediately to the Holy See after this, of course. He just decided.

“Different social circles, I suppose.”

The bishop’s stomach boiled as he pressed on. “And I was not aware of your elevation. What are your merits, your publications? I have never seen your name in print.”

“I said please and thank you,” Raphael announced. “I ate my vegetables. I brush my teeth three times a day. I did not step on any cracks in the sidewalk.”

“You mock my question, sir,” the Bishop hissed, but the short man barely bat an eye.

“Isn't that what God wants for us?” The Cardinal asked, his grin almost catlike. “To do what we're told?”

Footsteps, and the patter of little shoes echoed on the marble again. It was the Inspector holding the hand of a tiny boy. The boy’s face was white like the carved statues that surrounded them, eyes wide and feline. His jacket was too large for his body, he fought with the knit hat jammed over his head. The socks slid from his bird-like legs and pooled at his ankles. On the front of his jacket was a paper neatly folded and pinned like a schoolmaster’s note for home.

“Born so early, did not think he'd make it,” explained Raphael. “Impatient little fellow.”

The little boy held out his arms wide, oblivious to his surroundings. His little loafers slapped the stone floor as he ran into the Cardinal's arms. “Uncle! Uncle Raphael!”

“Ah, kiddo,” chuckled Raphael. He stooped to his knees and gave the boy a pinch on the nose. “You're out past your bedtime, my little potato. Shall we go home?”

“That was easier than I thought,” said the inspector. “Mystery solved. Barely needed you to come by, Your Excellency!”

“You're going to let this…child…go with this—this— offensive, Satanic mockery?!”

“The boy clearly recognizes him,” replied the Inspector. He chuckled, shaking his head. “Some look…Happy Carnevale, Your Excellency.”

“In September?!”

“Thank you, thank you Inspector, Bishop,” said Raphael while Arsenio continued to bounce on his tippy-toes like a spring lamb. “I'll take him home….perhaps in a day or two we will sit him down…explain it all…” A pained expression lanced across his easy smile, then he recovered. “I'll admit now that I will miss the little lad.”

“His father will be grateful to have him back safely,” said Inspector, but the Bishop noticed a small wince from Raphael at that. Or perhaps it was a shadow. Or indigestion.

But whatever disturbance it was fell away and the mysterious Cardinal grinned again. “That's the plan. If you truly wanted to know.”

Bishop Lombardi snorted. “Not surprised she jumped. And what sort of depraved imbecile would run your….institution?”

“A musician,” Raphael replied simply.

“Terrible,” snorted the Bishop.

“An American.”

“Even worse.”

“See, there’s at least one thing we agree on,” Raphael said with a perfect wink. He smiled down at his young ward and muttered kind things to him as he helped him down the stairs.

And Raphael was then good at his word. He and the boy were never seen again.

Terzo and Raphael show up once more in this Secondo and Rebecca Domestic Fic!

[jasvvy]

hecking cool.

[godsopenwound]

I love you like ladybugs love windowsills, love you / like sperm whales love squid. There’s no depth 

I wouldn’t follow you through. I love you like / the pawns in chess love aristocratic horses. 

I’ll throw myself in front of a bishop or a queen / for you. Even a sentient castle. My love is crazy 

like that. I like that sweet little hothouse mouth / you have. I like to kiss you with tongue, with gusto, 

with socks still on. I love you like a vulture loves / the careless deer at the roadside. I want to get 

all up in you. I love you like Isis loved Osiris, / but her devotion came up a few inches short. 

I’ll train my breath and learn to read sonar until / I retrieve every lost blood vessel of you. I swear 

this love is ungodly, not an ounce of suffering in it. / Like salmon with its upstream itch, I’ll dodge grizzlies 

for you. Like hawks to skyscraper rooftops, / I’ll keep coming back. Maddened. A little hopeless. 

Embarrassingly in love. And that’s why I’m on / the couch kissing pictures on my phone instead of

calling you in from the kitchen where you are / undoubtedly making dinner too spicy, but when 

you hold the spoon to my lips and ask if it’s ready / I’ll say it is, always, but never, there is never enough.

— Traci Brimhall, “Love Poem without a Drop of Hyperbole” from Come the Slumberless To the Land of Nod

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 10.28

Holidays

Bhai Dooj (India)

Bhai Tika (Nepal)

Children’s Day (Australia)

Chucks-N-Pearls Day

Civil Servants’ Day (Brazil)

Common Fig Day (French Republic)

Cox Plate Day (Australia)

Day of International Concern About Young People and Gun Violence

Engineer’s Day (Venezuela)

Flying Baby Day

Folly Day

Gone-ta-Pott Day [every 28th]

Hari Sumpah Pemuda (Youth Pledge Day; Indonesia)

Honoring the Nation’s First Responders Day

International Animation Day

International Creole Day

Liberation of Ukraine from Nazi Invaders Day (Ukraine)

Milvian Bridge Day

National Caroline Day

National Comprehensive Sex Education Call-In Day

National Cry Yourself to Sleep Day

National Day of Outrage

National First Responders Day

National I Love You Day

National Immigrants Day

National Internal Medicine Day

National Internment Commemoration Day (Canada)

National William Day

Ohi Day (a.k.a. Ochi! Day or Oxi Day; Cyprus, Greece)

Part Your Hair Crooked Just To See If Anyone Will Say Anything About It Day

Plush Animal Lover's Day

Prefectural Earthquake Disaster Prevention Day (Gifu, Japan)

Q Day

Republic Day Eve (Turkey)

Separation of Church and State Day

Stan Lee Day (Los Angeles)

Stargate Day

Statue of Liberty Day

Ticker-Tape Parade Day

Time Day

Twitter Emancipation Day

Ugly Pickup Truck Day

Vote Early Day

World Judo Day

World Tobacco Growers’ Day

Youth Pledge Day (Indonesia)

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Chocolate Day

Wild Foods Day

4th & Last Monday in October

African-American Cotton Pickers’ Day [4th Monday]

Bank Holiday (Ireland) [Last Monday]

Equality Day (Antarctica) [4th Monday]

Green Monday [Monday of Last Full Week]

International School Library Day [4th Monday]

Labour Day (New Zealand) [4th Monday]

La Saoire i mi Dheireadh Fomhair [Last Monday]

Meatless Monday [Last Monday of Each Month]

Meditation Monday [Every Monday]

Monday Musings [Every Monday]

Moody Monday [Last Monday of Each Month]

Motivation Monday [Every Monday]

October Bank Holiday (Ireland) [Last Monday]

School Library Day (Canada) [Last Monday]

Independence & Related Days

Bokonton (Declared; 2007) [unrecognized]

Czechoslovakia (Now the Czech Republic; from Austria-Hungary, 1918)

Erusia (Declared; 2008) [unrecognized]

Foundation Day (Davao Occidental, Philippines)

United Republics of Michigan (Declared; 2019) [unrecognized]

Weekly Holidays beginning October 28 (Last Week of October)

Hudson Valley Restaurant Week (Hudson Valley, New York) [thru 11.10]

Festivals Beginning October 28, 2024

American Indian Tourism Conference (Marksville, Louisiana) [thru 10.31]

Supply Side West (Las Vegas, Nevada) [thru 10.31]

TechCrunch Disrupt (San Francisco, California) [thru 10.30]

Tokyo International Film Festival (Tokyo, Japan) [thru 11.6]

Feast Days

Abdias of Babylon (Christian; Saint)

Abgar V of Edessa (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Ayad Akhtar (Writerism)

Eadsige (Christian; Saint)

Evelyn Waugh (Writerism)

Extra Kinky Day (Pastafarian)

Faro, Bishop of Meauz (Christian; Saint)

Feast of the Einherjar (Norse)

Feast of the Lord of Miracles (Peru)

Fidelis of Como (Roman Catholic Church)

Firmilian (Christian; Saint)

Francis Bacon (Artology)

Fyribod (a.k.a. Forebode; Norse beginning of Winter)

Godwin of Stavelot (Christian; Saint)

Gumby Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Isis/Osiris Mysteries I (Pagan)

Job of Pochayiv (repose) (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Jude Thaddeus (a.k.a. Jude the Apostle; Western Christianity)

Leibnitz (Positivist; Saint)

Lord of Miracles (Lima; Christian; Saint)

Makoshe’s Holiday (Honoring Mother Earth; Asatru/Pagan Slavic)

Michael Noakes (Artology)

Neot (Christian; Saint)

Paraskrevi of Iconium (Christian; Saint)

Simon the Zealot (a.k.a. Simon the Canaanite; Simon the Apostle; Western Christianity)

The Tortoise (Muppetism)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Butsumetsu (仏滅 Japan) [Unlucky all day.]

Umu Limnu (Evil Day; Babylonian Calendar; 50 of 60)

Premieres

All Quiet on the Western Front (Film; 2022)

An Alpine Symphony, by Richard Strauss (Tone Poem; 1915)

Barking Dogs Don’t Fite (Fleischer/Famous Popeye Cartoon; 1949)

Because I Got High, by Afroman (Song; 2001)

Bee Movie (Animated Film; 2007)

Black Beauty (Hanna-Barbera Animated TV Special; 1978)

The Blue Danube (MGM Cartoon; 1939)

Breakfast at Tiffany’s, by Truman Capote (Novella; 1958)

Decade, by Neil Young (Compilation Album; 1977)

Decline and Fall, by Evelyn Waugh (Novel; 1928)

The Desperate Showers (George of the Jungle Cartoon; 1967) [#8]

Droopy (Tex Avery Droopy MGM Cartoon; 1955)

Educating Rita (Film; 1983)

The Futurological Congress: From the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy, by Stanisław Lem (Novel; 1971)

Gulliver’s Travels, by Jonathan Swift (Novel; 1726)

How Green Was My Valley (Film; 1941)

Inferno (Film; 2016)

Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park (TV movie; 1978)

The Legend of Zorro (Film; 2005)

Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor E. Frankl (Philosophical Book; 1959)

News of the World, by Queen (Album; 1978)

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, by Ursula K. Le Guin (Short Story; 1973)

The Pet Store (Disney Cartoon; 1933)

Pinterest (Social Media App; 2009)

Pop ‘im Pop! (WB LT Cartoon; 1950)

Puss in Boots (Animated Film; 2011)

Pussy Willie (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1929)

Puttin’ On the Dog (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1944)

The Quail Hunt (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1935)

Richard Pryor … Here and Now (Stand-Up Comedy Film; 1983)

Rotten Hood (Super Chicken Cartoon; 1967) [#18

The Rum Diary (Film; 2011)

Stargate (Film; 1994)

String Along Pink (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1978)

Supermarket Pink (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1978)

Talking Book, by Stevie Wonder (Album; 1972)

Tinker Bell (Animated Film; 2008)

We Can’t Dance, by Genesis (Album; 1991)

Today’s Name Days

Judas, Simon, Thaddeus (Austria)

Juda, Šimun, Siniša, Tadej, Tadija (Croatia)

Státní Svátek (Czech Republic)

Judas, Simon (Denmark)

Siim, Siimo, Siimon, Siimu, Simmo, Simmu, Simun (Estonia)

Simo (Finland)

Jude, Simon (France)

Freddy, Simon (Germany)

Evniki, Vili (Greece)

Simon, Szimonetta (Hungary)

Giuda, Simone (Italy)

Antoņina, Ņina, Ninona, Zemgals (Latvia)

Almantė, Gaudrimas, Simas, Simonas, Tadas (Lithuania)

Simen, Simon (Norway)

Juda, Szymon, Tadeusz, Wszeciech (Poland)

Iachint (Romania)

Dobromila (Slovakia)

Judas, Simón (Spain)

Simon, Simone (Sweden)

Nestor (Ukraine)

Dayanara, Eunice, Jonah, Jonas, Jude, Liberty, Simeon, Simon, Simone, Thad, Thaddea, Thaddeus (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 302 of 2024; 64 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 1 of Week 44 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Hagal (Hailstone) [Day 2 of 28]

Chinese: Month 9 (Jia-Xu), Day 26 (Yi-Chou)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 26 Tishri 5785

Islamic: 24 Rabi II 1446

J Cal: 2 Wood; Oneday [1 of 30]

Julian: 14 October 2024

Moon: 12%: Waning Crescent

Positivist: 22 Descartes (11th Month) [Gibbon / Robertson]

Runic Half Month: Wyn (Joy) [Day 6 of 15]

Season: Autumn or Fall (Day 36 of 90)

Week: Last Week of October

Zodiac: Scorpio (Day 5 of 30)