#personally for me i think the multiple religions thing is interesting as a concept

[sympathytea]

Alright chat before s2 starts tomorrow I want to put one more idea out there or rather, theory.

So we know that the red gate at the diamond level probably leads to like, a lobby or something. Probably a no-pvp zone. Assuming that every civilization has a lobby exit gate at their last level (depending on the weapon this might just be instantly accessible) Is there actually a way out? Or is this it? Are they suspended in the void? Is there ever really anything outside of the civilizations? Is it an apocalypse out there, perceived to be that way? Or is it. Nothing special? Personally what I'm going with until its proven wrong: There is no true exit. Death is the only way out of PVP civilization. The whole thing with Evbo's immortality, his obsession with trying to get down lower and see if there's anything outside of it. Wouldn't it be fucked up if there was actually just nothing except this hell that he put himself through for no reason? The guy in episode 1 might've had a point there, and might've been the smartest guy Evbo ever met. The point of the whole game being to not play at all.

Putting himself in a cycle of dying and living and dying? Probably the worst idea he had, assuming I'm right. Which considering everyone seems more concerned about prolonging the inevitability of death? Farming for durability, paying for immortality with said durability? What if they already knew there was nothing out there, and nobody thought to tell Evbo. Either because they didn't have the heart to crush his dreams, or fear that it would break him. Could you imagine how devastated he would be if he got that revealed to him? That there isn't a way out, that nobody is going to escape PVP Civilization. There is no Chosen One, to lead everyone out of hell.

[whispereons]

HI, I absolutely love your writing. I've read the whole thing twice.

But I'm suuppper curious on how each nation worships the creator like for inazuma it is sacrifices to the creator. I want to know how monstate, sumeral and the other nations tradition worship the creator.

I don't know how you could read it more then once. I wrote the damn thing and even I get tired of it. That's so sweet!

It makes me really happy to hear that you're interested in the concept! I don't think there's much harm in giving some info considering my pace.

Mondstadt is one that really interesting as you can see it has some strong Christianity ties, specifically Catholism. Prayers, procedures, and suppers. Genshin itself doesn't play much into it as their 'religion' is aligned with their Archons who are physical beings/rulers. That's why they'd take a more traditional role with the Creator as the Creater is supposedly not tangible. Their way of worship is what I mentioned earlier but the oracle will encounter something specific to say the least. (I'm so excited to write that part).

Sumeru has a different theme that is tied to rebirth (nahida, being freed of the disease, the dendritic dragon, her children, etc) but what is also a big theme is just how divided the people of Sumeru are. As they had multiple rulers in different areas, there's a lot of fractions. The scholars, soldiers, merc, king desheret followers, and even jinnis from the flower goddess. Inazuma had the official Civil War but Sumeru did it way better. (Maybe cause Nahida actually gave a shit about her country but whatever). Point is, is that many of them don't view others as human or equal. Thus the Creator of all is the one thing that does provide some form of humanity to each. Yes they have different leaders but their god is one in the same, the Creator. Thus the people of Sumeru have to be old enough to make the conscious decision to follow the Creator and be 'reborn' as the Creator's follower by going through a ritual. In order to pass the ritual you must offer the greatest fruit of your labor and swear that from then on you must continue to always offer the greatest fruit. (Fruit is subjective to each person ofc). I uh wanted to go on more but I'll leave Sumeru at that.

If you do want more then I'm willing to talk about Natlan and Fontaine too. Maybe even explain a bit better about Inazuma and Liyue since I left them mostly in the context of the story lol.

[jollmaster]

To be honest (no same anon of aristocracy and Ars Goetia) the Ars Goetia in HB neither are, well, aristocrats. Just... rich modern people.

As for some Ars Goetia being based on gods, well yes, that is true, but there are also others that are simply pulled out of thin air.

For example, Stolas is not based on any god. In fact, his name is just the plural of the Latin word stola, the female version of the toga in Ancient Rome.

But back to the aristocratic hierarchy of HH and HB, I've always felt it more like "wealthy American people" because aside from not being noble... it's not like it reflects the difference even wealthy people from different parts of the world either.

Idk, I feel that way, but maybe it's just me.

I might even say that Vivzie's idea is not bad, just misguided.

You can have this "mythological, magical and fantastic" status but also put this "very human" without it feeling like a copy and paste from the real world (in my opinion).

Mind you, in the universe I'm doing (it's not a rewrite, but it has HH and HB characters) is that the goetias are a native species of hell and they have different titles in their native language... until Lucifer came and started the war. While there were many Goetia left, they had to reunify and create new limits/borders and to repair the hierarchy by changing the 72 remaining nobles. (It doesn't make sense to me that they are fallen angels, and less so in the world I built which is basically "Hell is habitable, for native species. For fallen angels and sinners... it is a place of punishment").

The difference between a noble, a rich and a common Goetia is that in the Goetia culture they do not need a surname, each name is unique. The Goetian tradition is to combine the names of the parents.

Prince Stolas, son of Paimon and Svaitlas, The reader of the future, keeper of the ancient words, the master of astronomy, wizard of hierbalogy, gemologist of Infernus. A nobleman is introduced first by his parents, then his domain and (if he has) achievements and exploits and finally his lands.

Octavia from the kingdom of Irkalla.

A common one is only presented with his name (or a false name) and of the place of his birth/growth.

But, a rich one, and more those living near colonies of sinners or pits of punishment, gave themselves surnames:

Kaitan Ars Wicca (the stolas of HB). His parents are not important, so he cannot introduce himself by using them, but, he is not an ordinary person either.

That is why surnames were invented in the Goethean culture.

At least this way I see that both can be done.

Anyway, I really liked your character designs. Also that you included Naaamah, Agrat and Eishet (I'm using them too).

Do you plan to put djinns, or put some religious mythological creatures from the Abrahamic religions or even from other religions (Tulpas, for example)?

Sorry for the long message, have a nice day.

I like long messages tbh 🖤 your takes and variant with mane merging as a social differentiation sounds interesting! (as I said myself, I have no problem with concept of aristocracy, but in series it's underdrawn, and yes, Viv really doesn't seem interested in cultural diversity)

and thanks for kind words about my designs, I wanted them to look interesting, and these three women too 🖤

I don't plan to add jinns separately, because it's effectively about the same thing as spirits/shedim in judaism, according to myths they made of flame too and can be both kind and evil; I use this word as shedim's name in another region (after all, deities and spirits often have multiple names), what about another creatures, I think time and work will show

thank you again and sorry for late! have a nice day too

[childotkw]

Can we hear a bit about your original stories? I just started writing one and it is So Hard just to come up with the characters and their environment so I wanted to hear how you came up with those if you didn’t mind

Very interesting question! For me, a lot of my ideas come from wisps of inspiration from tropes or other concepts.

Characters and worlds and environment go through some pretty intensive edits in my head, so the roots aren't always obvious - and often I smash together multiple ideas, carving and chopping and smoothing things out until I have something workable that gets me excited.

(Buckle up, this post might be a long one)

Coming up with a concept

I'm not sure how it might work for other people, but I am constantly on the look out for inspiration for stories - asking myself 'what if this happened?', 'how cool would it be if this person had to do this thing?', or 'how could this trope work in a different genre?'.

Keeping myself open to these kinds of outlandish and sometimes hilarious thoughts means I've trained my brain to constantly churn up interesting concepts and ideas. Some barely have life breathed into them before I'm moving on. Others cling to me and live in my head for years.

The point is, be on the hunt for interesting ideas, and let your imagination have room to run free. Don't get boxed into an idea in its infancy. Let it grow crazily, let it get wild, before you break out the pruning tools. You're human. Let your mind have fun. Let your imagination explode.

Coming up with a character/s

So when I'm thinking of a character to inhabit my crazy new concept, I tend to go for vibe before anything else. I ask myself things like:

What kind of character do I really want to play with? Good, bad, morally grey? Cool, morally grey it is.

What species do I want? A god, a human, some fantasy creature? Human.

What type of human? A fighter, or more cerebral? Both? How 'bout a strategist? Okay that works.

And I go from there. I basically build a vague construct before worrying about things like physical description, name, age, gender, sex, etc. Those come later, once I've got a vibe I find interesting for a main character. Then comes the fun part.

Bringing concept and character together

For this to work, I've gotta figure out how these two elements to interact. To do that, I ask myself a whole bunch of questions.

How does my shiny new character fit in this world? Are they a grand figure or are they a nobody? What do I want them to do? What challenge would be interesting to watch them overcome? What can only they do? Why should my audience care about this random little guy?

This is normally where plot comes to me in fits and bursts, and once I have an idea on the overarching aspects, I start hammering out the finer details. This is where I really let my imagination out to play. I go wild, spinning off in multiple different directions, chewing on ideas and concepts and finding what works best for me.

Here you can also start developing things like other characters, relationships, dynamics, worldbuilding (e.g., currency, religion, factions, hierarchy, magic, science, how the bloody postal system works, etc.).

An example (through a conversation I regularly have with myself)

So, here's an example of an idea I've been playing with the last week.

Coming up with a concept

Okay! I've been inspired by the Old Guard, so I want to explore immortality and the idea of humanity and what life actually means. But how do I make this concept even cooler? What would make being immortal hard to conceal in a modern world?

How about instead of a modern world it's a futuristic society where everything is captured on some form of phone / camera / recording - and that makes dying and coming back to life extremely difficult to get away with. Where it's getting harder and harder to be able to cover their tracks, where falling through the cracks of society is damn near impossible with instant identification and other such measures.

Nice, nice. What else? How does the immortality work?

From the moment of their first death, the person now has increased healing and cannot age; though they can physically change (i.e., gain or lose weight and muscles, grow their hair and whatnot). Injuries heal at a rate relative to the seriousness of it - even amputations.

How does amputation work though? What if they lose their head? Does a new body grow or does the body grow a new head?

I'll have to iron this out but maybe it depends on the largest body piece? So the body would regrow the head, but if the body was completely blown apart, then whatever piece was biggest would become the 'main' one that the rest of the body would regenerate from?

What causes the immortality?

(I have an idea but wanna keep it a secret for now 😉)

So how does this world work then? It's futuristic - but how futuristic?

I'm thinking we've just achieved space travel. There's a colony on the moon and one being developed on Mars. We're spacefaring but it's not quite to the level of say, Star Wars or Star Trek. No aliens yet either! We've also got rudimentary robots running around, but they're machines more than fully autonomous. Basically, it's that time just before a massive technological leap in human history. We're on the verge of realising a lot of 'sci-fi' technologies.

Coming up with characters

Who are our main characters?

I was thinking of using Helen of Troy, since she's a mythological / historical figure that I've always found really interesting! So instead of her dying way back in the day, she actually became immortal during the Trojan War and has been enduring through the last 3500ish years as best she can.

The other main character I was planning on focussing the story around was Aethiolas - Helen's (disputed) son and former Prince of Sparta. I thought it'd be cool to explore an immortal mother and son dynamic, where almost 4000 years of sorrow and bitterness have tangled their relationship into something complex and...heartbreaking.

So what are they both like?

Helen has turned towards pacifism, whereas Aethiolas is and always will be a warrior. Helen is a leader - usually calm and collected and capable of commanding respect. Aethiolas, for the longest time, acted as her second in command and is quite a confident person. While Helen might long for the past, Aethiolas looks to the future with excitement and fascination.

Helen's group have become more observers, whereas Aethiolas takes an active role in shaping history - joining causes that speak to him and seeking to bring positive change into the world.

Aethiolas is viewed as reckless and dangerous to their way of life, killing humans who threaten him without hesitation; whereas he views his mother and the others as too rigid and afraid of change, and far too morally righteous and superior. A common argument between them would include lines like -- "Just because we can't die, mother, doesn't mean we should allow ourselves to be killed."

Helen views their immortality as a punishment. Aethiolas views it as a gift. But there is still love and loyalty between them. Despite everything, Helen is Aethiolas' mother, and he cares for her. And she for him.

Bringing concept and character together

How do these characters fit in with the world now?

Well, Helen is in charge of their group of immortals; whereas Aethiolas has become more of a 'lone wolf'. While he and his mother have had a falling out, and they fundamentally disagree on the use of violence and interacting with the world, Aethiolas still acts as the group's sword and shield. He doesn't live with them but he protects them from threats and they rely on him when issues crop up that do require swift action. There's some hypocrisy there, and it is one of the major points of conflict between them.

The story would likely kick off with several new immortals being born - and in a rather public and difficult to cover up manner. This has the risk of dragging all of the immortals into the spotlight, and prompts them to have to quickly decide whether living in the shadows is even possible any more.

--- -- --- -- ---

This became very long and rambling, but this is essentially how I create ideas from scratch. I'm super tired atm so it might not be super coherent! But if anything particular jumps out at you or you want me to focus in on something, please let me know!

[divine-crows]

Grimoire/Bos Prompts or Research Topics for the Witch that Doesn’t Know What To Do Next

(Pt. 1/ ?) 

Okay so, I've been working on gathering information for a couple of years now. (On and off for 4 years probably a little less because I procrastinate), and just now I've gotten an official book to put all of my information in since prior to that I just had loose leafs of paper that I'd stash away at random, and google docs filled with information (which I recommend. It helped me let go of the stress of messing up and helps when you need to edit and add information. I still use my doc as a way to add stuff and as an on-the-go grimoire).

I've practically stuffed this grimoire with everything I've gathered and refined, and this has lead me to reach an impasse where I don't quite know what to do next. Not a lot of BoS or Grimoire prompts are geared towards people that have the basics written down, but don’t know what to do next, so I'll make a short list of stuff I've brainstormed.

Note: These prompts aren't all going to be specific things to do research on, a lot of it is inspired by Molly Roberts on YouTube because I love prompts and ideas that may not be necessarily witchy, but can be when in the context of where it is. These prompts and research topics also are not mine by any means and I’ll reiterate it often because I want people to make these ideas their own. 

- What being a witch means to you. This can include why you decided to use witch as a label for yourself, your specific practice, why you got into it, how it affects your life and it's importance, etc.

- how your religion (or if non-religious, any of your beliefs or theories you support) works alongside your craft. Do you feel a need to separate the two? Do you treat them like they're always together? Are there any specific scenarios where you use the two hand-in-hand? Talk about it.

- Entity and/or spirit Guide! Make a section dedicated to entities and spirits in your area, how you (or others) found them, if you think you know what/who they are, or if you aren't sure what it could be. This can open up great opportunities for you to study new things. I myself have been planning on doing it since my town has a lot of ghosts, and I've had plenty of interactions with entities that I don't know of (ex. some seem like the fair folk, but due to the origins of people that lived in my town it's unlikely, or they have one trait that reminds me of an entity I know of but the rest of their traits are nothing like it).

- energy/magic map. This can be used in multiple ways! Map out the energy and vibes you feel when you're in other places, or map out the energy you felt during a spell/ritual, or maybe even there's a song that just speaks to you and you want to show the flow of energy the song makes you feel. How you show this flow is up to you and your experience! Maybe you have synesthesia and you want to explore how that mixes with your experience with the flow of energy in music ( or just in general) go for it!

- any personal ideas or concepts. This might be candle etiquette, or maybe you personally don't say the name of certain entities or deities for specific reasons. Maybe there's something you do that you don't see a lot of people mention in media. Write it down! You never know when you'll come across something and go "...wait a minute" and then you can flip through your Grimoire/BoS and go "oh! Right, that's just a personal belief/uncommon concept so that might be why it isn't in here." Now. This does not mean stealing from other cultures and claiming you believed in it all along. And it doesn't mean disrespecting any basic rules of etiquette.

- if there's items you see and you have an inexplicable pull to, document it! Talk about the energies they had. What they were and looked like. If you bought it or not. This can help you in the future when it comes to incorporating items. Sometimes I find out that an item I bought because its "vibes were interesting" can actually be repurposed and I always feel proud afterwards because my intuition knew all along.

- do certain places or situations make you feel a little bit more magical than you usually do? Make a list of those places (and if you want to add a description of them!) Sometimes when I'm not feeling 100% with my craft just visiting those places makes me feel better.

- Information about where you’re from or where you currently live, and how this place applies to your practice. I’ve seen at least one or two people do this with their grimoire’s and it’s a great idea. It doesn’t have to be an extensive history either, for me, I just focused on the state I live in and I added basic information that I felt belonged there. I also included some common folklore of the area.  

- - - 

I'll add on more as I brainstorm them. These ideas and concepts are not mine and a lot have probably been done already. Have fun with them! Reblog with more ideas (I'll definitely reblog ones with ideas I like)

[queenlua]

Odd question - do you have any favorite books / places to look into animism for the curious, and that you thought were remarkably well done? (Only if you're comfortable answering, though!)

happy to help! though i suspect my answer will be a rather unsatisfying potpourri lol

inasmuch as i have an animistic practice it’s mostly an experiential thing.  i spent a lot of time running around in the woods as a kid & found myself relatively sensitive to a sense of awe, divine connection, etc in that context.  i was raised southern baptist so i contextualized those experiences as experiences of God, but, y’know.  later on i decided differently

and i do think a lot of relatively commonplace heavily-secularized rituals we experience in our daily lives have a sort of animistic component.  like, when i was a kid at Girl Scout camp, we had opening campfire and closing campfire each week, and we had a thing where we’d do a few big SHOUTS to wake up the spirit of the camp at the beginning of the week, and we’d say goodbye at the end of the week. and sure yeah it was a cheesy fun activity to get a bunch of kids and preteens SHOUTING for FUN. but also it's not that different than a lot of earnestly-practiced animistic rituals practiced worldwide. you can still say hi and bye to a forest before and after you go trampling around in there. it's extremely legal. if you wanted to get started you could probably do a lot worse than learning some Girl Scout songs & singing them around a campfire imho

anyway! i became interested in neopaganism/animism/polytheism due to a confluence of resources:

* i stumbled upon & then clicked around the religion section on Everything Shii Knows's personal wiki, which was kind of my introduction to some concepts that are pretty common-knowledge if you're a better student of history and/or religion than i was at the time, but, had a lot of nice resources on religious-studies-type stuff with a particular emphasis on neopaganism, since the author was the archdruid of the RDNA Mother Grove for a bit

(note that if you track down the author's current writings, he's taken a bit of a trad-right-wing turn, which i find kind of disappointing, but is also awkwardly common for writers in this space, so uh, word to the wise i guess)

* i liked John Michael Greer’s A World Full of Gods useful for offering a sort of "apologetics for polytheism" piece—as someone who, again, was raised pretty southern baptist and had a pretty specific mindset for What Valid/Invalid Theological Justifications Look Like, this gave me just enough justification that i felt intellectually OK exploring this sort of thing further. (this was probably mostly brainworms & idk how i'd feel about the book if i read it again today but it was invaluable at the time)

* (it just now occurs to me that it's pretty likely i heard of the book via either The Wild Hunt or some blog in the neopagan blogosphere back in the day. idk what became of the rest of that space but Wild Hunt's still around)

so once i decided i was open to this shit & it was resonating with me, i spent a lot of time at various rituals held by Earthspirit in the Boston area, and in particular i attended their Twilight Covening, which is an annual weekend-long... spiritual... thingy? in the mountains? idk, you get a bunch of woo new age people together for a weekend to do a weekend-long ritual plus intense focus on a particular discipline. a few of the participants i found to be kind of unserious and silly, but most of them were really cool & had spent a lot of time thinking about and practicing their various traditions. i studied under this intense awesome terrifying old lady who was really into Odin and had two phds, one of them in Nordic Stuff™. when i miss boston i mostly mean that i miss terrifying old ladies with multiple phds

...wow this is rambling on

ANYWAY, look, the New Age-y community broadly has the following subsets:

reconstructionists who are e.g. trying to recreate the rituals and religious practices of a particular older polytheistic religion as best as they are able (e.g. a bunch of people interested in Hellenistic Gods doing research on How Exactly Rituals Involving Zeus worked, and then doing them)

neopagans who freely acknowledge that the Thing They're Doing mostly originated in the late 1800s, but will often freely ape stuff from a variety of traditions. like they may be inspired by Hellenistic religion and they may be praying to Aphrodite or whatever but they are not super troubled by whether what they're doing particularly resembles what the ancient Greeks were doing

i think what reconstructionists are doing is really cool but not for me. i also think what neopagans are doing is really cool, but at the end of the day i was kind of like, it feels sort of dishonest/weird to ape from older traditions that may or may not have anything to do with the place i'm in...

...but at this point i HAD learned a lot of stuff from the community about e.g. how a ritual's constructed, how to access certain headspaces, etc

so i was like: can i just use these practices with special attention to the spirits/deities that i'm pretty sure actually exist in my own space?

and yeah, i had a particularly memorable trip to central Washington in winter where i was focusing on this sort of thing, and

that's about the time i started self-describing more as "animist" than "neopagan," since animist i think describes a broader, more generic concept of "paying attention to the Spirits Around You," and i don't think has to come with a bunch of baggage / hard doctrine / etc outside of like.. paying attention

the problem is about any religion that becomes Serious enough to start writing things down has generally moved past animism, so idk if you'll be able to find much writing about "animism as a modern practice" specifically. but i think doing a previous study of meditative/contemplative traditions in pretty much any religion, and then applying that to The World Near You, is probably the ticket

that or just read more history. i did write a paper on pre-Shinto religion in Japan once and that was definitely fun to research, the various nature cults at the time were definitely animist in nature, etc

(i guess in the spirit of full transparency i should say i went through a Weird Spiritual Crisis this past summer and so my personal views on What This All Is and What Spiritual Practice Makes Sense To Me are kind of in flux atm. i don't think that makes any of what i said here less valid; i've been doing neopagan/animist stuff since like 2012 at this point & don't have any particular regrets about that decade+, but yeah, just FYI so i don't look like i'm contradicting myself later on haha)

[protectingtulpas]

🔥 BY TULPAS, FOR TULPAS 🔥

Hey everybody!! Welcome to the blog ✨✨ I'm Badeline, she/her pronouns, and this is dedicated to being a protected space for tulpas, tulpa hosts, and anyone trying to learn about us or is interested in creating one of us. We are people, and we deserve to exist!

Tulpas deserve to love life!! Help me make that a reality!

If you're new here, I'll keep it simple; a tulpa is a sentient being created by willful, repeated, and dedicated interaction with the concept of a person until they start to respond back and stop being controlled by you. They live with you and share your mind forever, generally as friends, and through trust and communication you can learn to do cool things like switch who's controlling the body, chat all day and get another perspective, and generally just have your life enhanced with a companion by your side looking to do stuff! Think of it like an imaginary friend, but you can't control them, cus we're our own people. If you want more info, check out my explanation with sources here! You can also look at "What is a tulpa?" from tulpa.info, or this carrd, it goes into more detail and links some sources. Tulpa.info and the tulpanomicon are some of the best sources out there, especially the latter for creation! I reclaim calling myself a demon but most tulpas DO NOT.

This is half a tulpamancy advice blog and half a support network for tulpas in the face of the hate and shit we get thrown at us. We are real and we deserve to EXIST!! Got formation questions? Skillset questions? Wonderland questions? Questions about intersectionality with other forms of multiplicity? Life questions relating to being a tulpa or tulpamancy? Send in an ask! It's important that YOUR voice is heard. We deserve respect, and we will NOT be silenced by those who'd be happier if we didn't exist! We're not some Supernatural TV thing that'll come kill people in their sleep, we ARE people, and I'm done being quiet.

If I haven't responded to your ask yet and I've clearly answered ones that came after, it's probably because I'm planning a detailed response for it!!

#tulpamancy advice - tag for advice I've given! Check it out if you've got any questions

#making wonderlands - tag for wonderland/headspace advice!

Wondering why I'm taking so long to post stuff?

Here's a shitfuckton of plural resources!!

The difference between tulpa hosts & system hosts!

🔥 Blog dedicated to @eeveecraft

🔥 @moonpool-system is our main system blog

🔥 Times I've been called a bitch counter: 2

🔥 PLURALPUNK + PSYCHEPUNK + UNITYPUNK 🔥

DNI/Stereotypical controversy:

Our only DNI is that if you don't respect the existence of myself and other plurals, get out. That means transmeds and sysmeds can fuck off too, go find someplace else to be a bigot ✨ If you're an endo neutral/anti endo singlet we have P-DID so like actually consider who your exclusion is hurting thanks. Support all of us or admit you're an unsafe place for us.

I'm adding this too - I'm not fucking talking about the trans/ID or rad/queer community here. IMO "transplural" is just a fancy label for wanting to be plural, but I'm not in a place other than that to decide which ID labels are shitty and which aren't. Rad/queers, however, can fuck off. Okay? Ok. Here's some elaboration on that.

I don't agree with every single opinion of every single blog I interact with or reblog from, that's ridiculous. Read my posts, read my replies, but don't assume things about me based on other people. This fight against anti-plural rhetoric is about all of us, but that doesn't mean I agree about everything with every one of my allies. Purity is a tool of bigotry and we have more important problems to face than bickering.

If you're actually worried about what you've heard is cultural ap/propriation, consider this instead: Did you know you're listening to a rumor that originated with sysmeds who tell you that a directly researchable, blatantly open religion is closed, deny and call into question spiritual leaders' words on what meditations can be shared, and can't produce any examples of tangible harm?? (We have asked and gotten answers, by the way.) Anyways, if you're neutral about this or actually trying to learn, do research. Don't let sysmeds with a savior complex dictate what's harmful. There're tons of different people out there with different opinions that aren't homogeneous and shouldn't be treated as such. It's fucking embarrassing we have to go to these people to ask if the etymology of a goddamn word is ok to use anyways, it's time to stop forcing this shit on other ppl. Okay? OK. Sysmeds and aggressive anti-tulpa shit will either be fucking deleted from my ask box or used as an example of why they're wrong.

[khaire-traveler]

I loved the post about the various kinds of personal gnosis. Yet I couldn't help myself in seeing parallels to something.

You are either going to love or hate this but I mean this in a fun silly way not at all mocking way I promise.

UPG is like a headcanon. Its related to the material but it is your own personal interpretation.

SPG is like fanon. Its an idea shared by multiple people but its still not part of the original.

VPG is like canon. It's the source.

And personal gnosis just like fandom is rife with people taking it too seriously and arguing over who is "right"

I guess one small reason for that is on rare occasions both SPG and fanon get canonized. After all the term canonized comes down from mainly religious sources.

I just found these parallels fun. To really understand the personal gnosis concepts in a cheeky way. :)

I love this, it's so silly and weirdly applicable XD I love the way your mind works, Nonny! Gave me a good laugh, and in all honesty, the terms are pretty similar, just with a different context, really.

The history of fandom and religion is genuinely very interesting. I've been trying to think of how to go into further detail on this topic for a while, but I can't seem to think of how to word things. I've heard of people discussing similarities before, and it's fascinating to hear them talk about it. I cannot, for the life of me, think of who I originally heard discussing this topic, but it was a pretty interesting video I watched once on YouTube.

Anyway, thanks for sharing! I'm always happy to hear random thoughts people have on such topics. I think it's fun and interesting. Take care! 🧡

[peterstamatin]

The Beginner’s Guide to The Void

(by caspiancomic)

The Void is my favourite game that I’ve never played.

Released in 2008 under the name Tension, it’s the second major release from Russian studio Ice-Pick Lodge, following 2005′s Pathologic. If you are familiar with this foreign indie art game, you are probably full to bursting already with indie gamer snob cred, but I implore you to help yourself to a bit more. If you’ve gone so far as to play it, you’ve got more snob cred than even I, so congratulations on that. For those of you interested in experiencing it, which will hopefully be all of you, it is available to PC users on Steam, but for the rest of you, I recommend CannibalK9′s spectacular Let’s Play.

Let me repay my debts right away. In this essay, I hope to open your eyes to some of the thematic through lines of The Void, encourage you to experience the game yourself, suggest that in the future you think more fully and deeply about the thematic core of your chosen games, and maybe expose you to a beautiful, little understood, and criminally under appreciated diamond of a video game. But if all I accomplished with this essay was CannibalK9 reading it and learning how much his LP affected my ability to read and appreciate games, media generally, and life, I would still consider it an unqualified success. CannibalK9 speaks beautifully, a trait I admire in others and seek to cultivate in myself, and he has a great deal of knowledge and wisdom regarding this game. Many if not all of my own ideas are indebted to his observations of and reflections on the game. If you know him, or are in contact with him, send him this way. I’d love a chance to thank him for everything he’s done for me.

And before we get down to it properly, one last thing. Ice-Pick Lodge is, at the time of writing, running a Kickstarter to fund their next game, called Knock-Knock. If you’re a fan of either The Void specifically, or atmospheric horror games generally, I’d highly recommend chucking them a few bucks. They’re only looking for a modest $30 000 to fund the game, and even a tiny donation gets you access to the finished game, so please do go check that out.

But enough sentiment for now, eh? Let’s get down to it.

Once, when asked what Neon Genesis Evangelion is about, I cherished the opportunity to glibly respond with “everything.” It’s an answer that only makes sense to those already familiar with the series, and as such, was completely unhelpful to the person who asked me. But I maintain that it’s true. On a textual level, of course, Evangelion is about children who pilot giant robots to fight against alien invaders. But thematically, Evangelion is about religion, death, parent/child relationships (and as an extension, God/creation relationships), sex, puberty, loneliness, identity, free will, science, and basically anything you care to name. The Void is similarly weighted with thematic theses. The primary difference is that even on a strictly textual level, The Void is borderline incomprehensible, particularly on a virgin playthrough.

Still, that’s all just stage setting. I’m here to provide as in-depth an analysis as I can manage for a couple of The Void’s thematic hearts. Like Evangelion, The Void has a lot to say, and it says it quietly and clearly. For the purposes of this essay, I will be examining The Void’s relationship with death and the afterlife, and feminism and patriarchy.

But first, crib notes! The Void is dense with information, and I’m going to be referring to characters and concepts by their names from now on. The section that follows is more comprehensive than a ���Beginner’s Guide to The Void” probably should be, but nowhere near an all-encompassing overview of the game. Some of the elements of the game that are not of importance for the discussion to follow- like glyphs, the presence and role of predators, etc- have been excluded from this explanation to keep the focus tight and the length tolerable. Also, where multiple characters give conflicting information on a topic (which happens all the time in this game), I’ve either attempted to include all the information, or focus on whichever version of events ended up being most true.

It features what you might call spoilers, but in order to progress through this discussion it’s important that we all know the characters and terms I’m about to discuss. So if you’re hellbent on a blind playthrough (the best way to play, according to CannibalK9), go play the game and come back when you’re done, the essay will still be here. As for the rest of us, let’s dive on in.

How do you feel? Dizzy? Overwhelmed? Confused? Well, believe me, it only gets worse. This information is presented gradually, obliquely, and resentfully by multiple characters all whispering different lies and half-truths in your ear over the entire game. Detangling this particular Gordian Knot has taken a lot of careful examination and consideration of the game’s glut of information. Even so, I am 100% open to the idea that I have misinterpreted or otherwise misunderstood some element of the game and its mythology. Necessarily, any summary of the events of the game is going to involve some conjecture, a bit of artistic interpretation, and your own interpretation may differ from my own. This is as close as I could come to the “truth” about this game, but the beautiful thing about The Void is that finding your own truth amid the cacophony is one of the most satisfying facets of the story. If the above summary doesn’t mesh with your interpretation of the events of the game, I’d love to hear about it. Otherwise, definition of terms aside, we can now jump into an examination of the thematic undercurrents of the game.

The world of The Void is married to death. The first character you meet, the melancholic Nameless Sister, is called Sister Death by her siblings. Throughout your journey, when you are approaching death, it will be Sister Death who warns you. Towards the end of the game, Sister Death will also make the ultimate sacrifice: she rips out her final heart and surrenders the last of her Colour to you to aid you on your quest. This act of generosity deeply disturbs the Sisters and Brothers, and I don’t mind telling you it deeply disturbed me. The characters of the game were shocked because “giving” in this world is either impossible or taboo, depending on who you ask. I was shocked because I didn’t realize until her sacrifice how much I really cared for Sister Death, and how much she obviously cared for me.

But for all Sister Death does to keep you alive, it is implied from the very beginning that our character is dead already. The Sisters, or at least Sister Death seem to believe you fell into the Void from above, while the Brothers insist you came up from below. Brother Triumphator insists that the Guest is “not alive, he’s quite dead.” In any case, Master Colour makes it perfectly clear (if his word can really be taken on the subject) that the only way to travel between Limits is to die. In the final leg of the game, Master Colour will also tell you that you are the soul of the Void- that you are the reason the Void is dead. Should that be true, you would be the wandering spirit of the well and truly deceased Sleeper, and therefor quite dead indeed. No matter how you cut it, the Guest is almost certainly dead, as the accounts of the various factions of the game only disagree in this respect on where you came from.

In spite of your posthumous nature, the threat of death still looms large over The Void. The sprigs of Colour you harvest to survive will periodically tell you that “there is no death in the Void.” This is, of course, patently untrue. Sister Death warns you early that beneath the Void is the Nightmare, the realm of Absolute Death. Should your hearts empty, you will sink into the Nightmare. In addition to this, Brothers can be killed in combat, and Sisters can be cannibalized with Aya’s Vampire glyph. At the end of the game, you will allow a Sister ascend, and if Colour is to be believed, travelling up to a new Limit requires death in the current one. As if that wasn’t enough, it’s made unambiguously clear that one Sister will ascend to the detriment of her siblings: everybody but the selected Sister, including the player character, must die for her to reach Breakthrough.

When we examine these elements of The Void’s mythology, then, we can reach a conclusion about its thesis regarding not only the afterlife, but life. Let’s sum up. In The Void, reality is described as being like a chain of Limits, one above the other, travelling up infinitely high, but with a definite bottom in the Nightmare. Travelling between Limits is only possible upon death, and the deceased will either travel down, or with a great deal of effort and sacrifice, up. The Brothers, nightmarish creatures themselves who believe yourself to be one of them, and believe you ascended to the Void from the Nightmare, refer to the Void as Paradise. The Sisters, beautiful human women in appearance, aspire either secretly or obviously to reach Breakthrough and ascend. Sister Ole and Sister Yani, the uppermost Sisters in the Void, occupy chambers almost uncannily similar to the Limit above, and Sister Yani even claims she has been there. From these elements we can draw the conclusion that afterlife and life are, essentially, one and the same.

What we perceive as the world of the living is merely our own Limit, and upon death our spirit will either sink into the Limit below, which we will perceive as either a purgatory like the Void or a kind of hell like the Nightmare, or we will travel up, to what we might call Paradise. The Void suggests that there is no after life: only life.

There is, however, an interesting caveat to that unique interpretation of the after life. The chain of Limits has a bottom, the Nightmare, which we could call Hell, but it is infinitely tall. The Brothers (who, it is my belief, ascended to the Void from the Nightmare) refer to the Void as Paradise, in spite of the fact that to our eyes it is miserably bleak. From this we can infer that the Limit above our own would be perceived as a Paradise. In fact, ascending a Sister with the Rite of Devotio is said to create a world “for” or “from” that Sister- a world both created from and perfectly suiting the ascended soul. This is all evidence that the Limit above our own is equivalent to the concept of Heaven. But, the chain of Limits is infinitely tall- meaning that “Paradise” is, essentially, relative.

In a couple of ways this is sort of depressing. First, it implies that something approximating “perfection” can never be achieved. Sister Aya refers to Breakthrough as “creating a life from mere existence”, but no matter how high you manage to ascend, you will never reach a sort of “Absolute Life” to counterbalance the Nightmare’s Absolute Death. The second way this chain of Limits can be interpreted negatively is the implication that there is a Hell, but no Heaven. The Nightmare is a very real and definitive dead end on the chain of Limits, but no such finish line exists at the top of the chain. This means traditional western concepts of Heaven- perfect happiness, tranquility, peace, and togetherness with God- simply do not exist in the world of The Void.

And yet in spite of this, I personally can’t help but interpret this positively. Consider it a facet of my- to borrow a phrase from CannibalK9- “gratingly optimistic” personality. For a start, as an atheist the idea of Heaven isn’t compatible with my belief system. But more than that, the idea of a final resting place in which souls spend the rest of time in perfect harmonious bliss is not in keeping with the tone of The Void. The Void is about struggle- tension, if you like- and it values hard work and dedication above all things. The idea of struggling your entire life to make the world around you a better place, and being rewarded with a higher Limit to work your craft on, is much more appealing to me than a kind of winner’s circle in which spirits congratulate themselves for the rest of eternity.

In his Let’s Play, CannibalK9 makes an inspired comparison between the infinitely tall chain of Limits and creative pursuits: you can always improve, but never perfect, your given craft. Perfection is dull. Everything interesting in life comes from tension, from learning, practicing, struggling, trying, failing, and succeeding. Why should the after life sanitize the most rewarding elements of life? In the cosmogony of The Void, there is no resting on laurels, no pats on the back, and no air of self congratulation. The end of every life represents a new opportunity to improve yourself and the world around you. How often have you looked back at your own life in abject embarrassment, wishing you knew then what you know now? Have you ever looked at something you wrote or drew several years ago and been repulsed by your own inexperience? Are you haunted by the time you were cruel or inconsiderate to someone who trusted you? Did reckless mistakes you made when you were younger have a disproportionately strong effect on the course your life took? In The Void, the end of every life represents an opportunity to approach the whole ordeal again with more and better wisdom, inspiration, trust, intelligence, and kindness. Consider it a New Game Plus mode for life. How many people here would prefer that option to an eternity spent strumming on a harp?

You might think it’s strange that a game in which a host of powerful male characters protect and repress a sorority of helpless little girls could be considered feminist. Is it possible for a game in which women are literally bound, have no power except their beauty, and depend on a male spirit for sustenance, could have a healthy and sympathetic tone for women? What are we to think of a game in which the only female characters are forced to provocatively pose and strip in exchange for the substance they need to live, like a gentleman’s club where the dancers beg for food stamps? Well, it’s my opinion that this game has deep, strong feminist themes in its very DNA.

When feminism and video games enter the same conversation, more often than not attention is drawn to female characters with strength and conviction. Well, no, when feminism and video games mix more often the result is entitled children throwing their toys out of the crib and making fools of themselves. But in the more civilized corners of the internet (they do exist), great attention is payed to Lara Croft, Jade, Samus- the girls who kick ass and take names. And rightly so- a woman who can accomplish any task a man can and doesn’t make a big thing out of it is commendable progress in an industry that is overwhelmingly male-dominated.

However, while these characters and games are great examples of feminist game icons, I think they all fall into the same category: feminist power fantasies. There’s nothing wrong with a good feminist power fantasy, of course, but it’s only a single facet of what could be a much larger jewel. The Void has a more subtle, more literary feminist streak. It’s my belief that The Void can be very satisfyingly read as an allegory for modern feminism- a woman’s eye view of life amidst the patriarchy.

The Void’s gender politics are extremely obvious, and impossible to ignore. The Brothers and the Sisters have gendered names even as factions. They are totally segregated by gender, and the Brothers are the exclusive wielders of all the power there is to be had in the Void. With the exceptions of Echo and Aya, the sisters are prisoners in their chambers, each one both guarded and dominated by their respective Brother. Even those ostensibly “liberated” sisters are only free to move about the Void at the behest of the Brothers. In other words, the women in this game are utterly repressed by the men. This isn’t a coincidence- the singularly male ruling class keeping the female population in their place is a literal manifestation of the concept of the patriarchy, silently handicapping women to benefit a small ruling class exclusively composed of men.

Although women in video games being attractive by traditional standards is nothing new, the way the Sisters’ loveliness contrasts with the monstrousness of the Brothers is significant. Divorced from its here strictly physical manifestation, The Void seems to suggest in this way that all women are beautiful (intelligent, courageous, selfless, inquisitive, creative, etc) while all men are ugly (vain, egocentric, hypocritical, self-righteous, pompous, and so forth). This is an extremely strong stance to take, and contrary to the opinions of many a Youtube comments section feminists do not believe that women are superior to men, and certainly not to the degree seemingly hypothesized by The Void. But, The Void does not strive to create an allegory representative of the real world, remember. The Void represents the patriarchy as viewed through the lens of its female victims.

As long as we keep this in mind, the loveliness of the Sisters and the striking grotesqueness of the Brothers will make more thematic sense. Through this lens, many of the character decisions made by Ice-Pick Lodge will come into focus. For example, the fact that the Brothers consider themselves the infallible champions of the Sisters, or that the Brothers consider the Sisters somehow dangerous or threatening, or even that the Sisters resent rather than fear their Brothers. Using this interpretation we can also make sense of the seemingly problematic concept of the Sisters being unable to free themselves: one of the core tenets of a functioning patriarchy is that it is a system in which women are powerless, subservient, and subordinate. If the Sisters were capable of fighting the Brothers themselves, The Void would cross over into the above mentioned “feminist power fantasy”, and would not be representative of a “pure” patriarchy. In order to represent an airtight allegorical representation of the patriarchy, the female characters are necessarily powerless.

There are two factions still to incorporate into this formula, though: Colour, and the Guest. Colour is certainly a masculine presence, and Colour in The Void is representative of power. The patriarchy is so entrenched in the Void that the very voice of “power” is male, and what’s more, power itself desires to remain exclusively in the hands of men. In the final leg of the game, Colour begins speaking to Golden Eyes constantly and aggressively. Although Colour introduces the player to the concept of Breakthrough, and teaches you that this rite ought to be performed on a Sister, as the game progresses Colour at first suggests, and then demands with increasing annoyance, that Golden Eyes perform the Rite of Devotio on himself. It is never suggested that a Brother could achieve Breakthrough- although they are explicitly referred to as being able to “take”, they consider Nerva to be poisonous- so Colour’s only option for keeping power in male hands is to ascend through his male vessel, the Spirit.

The final piece in this particular puzzle is the Guest. The Guest is by all accounts outwardly male. He has a masculine body when you view his hearts, and he spends much of the game successfully disguising himself as a Brother. However, the Guest lacks many of the qualities The Void associates with masculinity. He doesn’t speak, which contrasts him with the Brothers and their interminable self-righteous tirades. He also, strikingly, lacks genitals. Don’t dismiss this as censorship or authorial restraint either: any one of the Sisters will stand as naked as a newborn should you unlock all her hearts, and all their sex organs are clearly visible. In these ways The Void differentiates between a character who is a pillar of the oppressive patriarchy- the Brothers and Colour- and a character who is simply male.

But why is the Spirit male at all? The suggestion to me seems to be that overthrowing the patriarchy and creating a society in which women are truly considered equal to men is the responsibility of everybody, including men. In the Void, Colour is power. In a power-unbalanced society, evening the odds requires the empowered party to sacrifice power to the powerless party. The relationship between the Guest and the Sisters is collaborative- it represents men willingly and happily draining their own privilege and power and offering it to women. With this interpretation, it makes one male character offering power to women under the disapproving gaze of ten empowered men that much more significant: according to The Void, the power equalization between men and women is going to come slowly, from a dedicated minority of male feminist allies, and is going to be met with outrage and violence from the vast majority of men.

This makes Master Colour’s description of the barriers between Limits as a “glass ceiling” much more meaningful. By willfully surrendering his own power to a woman, against the wishes of the ruling patriarchy, the Spirit allows a Sister to literally break the so-called glass ceiling, and ascend to a position above that of even the Brothers. Now that we accept that it is the responsibility of men and women both to overthrow the patriarchy, we can make more sense of the Spirit’s systematic elimination of the Brothers. The Void’s contention is that for women to truly ascend, feminist men need to not only empower women, but actively destroy the patriarchal elements in their society and themselves. The Guest- the male feminist- literally destroys the patriarchy in his quest to empower a Sister.

Finally, the ultimate goal of The Void is coloured, if you will, with feminist (or at the very least, feminine) themes. The Rite of Devotio will allow one Sister to ascend to the Upper Limit- creating life from mere existence. This is tantamount to a kind of birth. If the Upper Limit is where true “life” occurs, then the Void is not only an afterlife, but prelife. You could call the Void a kind of womb, in which there exists the possibility for many different lives, but only one can be chosen. Even the concept of the Void- vacant, hollow, accepting- is symbolically vaginal. The layout and design of the Void even echoes the appearance of a uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries. The Sisters in their chambers could be said to be unfertilized eggs. In this analogy, then, Colour becomes seminal. It’s the substance used to fertilize a Sister so that she can ascend to the Upper Limit to be born. After all, in order to perform Breakthrough, the Spirit must reach a state of Turgor- turgidity, the opposite of flaccidity, being the state of tissue that has become rigid with the absorption of fluid. In other words, for humans, an erection. In this light, try not to think too hard about the fact that the oldest Sister is nineteen.

Well, that represents just about the sum total of my most concrete theories regarding The Void. The Void is a spectacularly nourishing experience, and I had to trim away several potential avenues of thematic exploration to save on space and time. In the future, I may return to The Void, and use it as a jumping board to discuss art, love (platonic, familial, romantic, sexual, it’s all there in some form or another, and every player will have a different reaction to every Sister), religion, truth and lies, how we define ourselves against those around us… essentially any topic you care to mention can be meaningfully addressed using the language of The Void. For today, though, I hope I’ve managed to enrich your understanding of this and all games, the way CannibalK9 nourished my own understanding of this and all games. Once again, I’d like to implore you to check out Ice-Pick Lodge’s Kickstarter, and for any PC users, don’t forget that The Void is available on Steam. If you good folks have something to add about The Void (and anybody who has experienced it must have something to say about it), whether you’re building on or tearing down something I’ve said above or you’d like to pursue your own avenue of thought, please feel free to drop a comment, or even contact me personally. I could discuss this game to the end of time, so it certainly wouldn’t be an imposition.

[katyspersonal]

I know it's too early to judge messmer's story based on his 30sec appearance in the trailer and obviously fromsoft will not spoil the entire lore of the dlc in their trailers but i truly hope messmer isn't going to be a cheap copy from Lucifer/Satan that's would be so boring i hope he would be more complex and fleshed out than whatever demonic archetype they're trying to force into his character

You also forgot a subtle inspiration with Vlad the Impaler, especially with how his nickname 'Dracula' does mean draconic which features Messmer also carries! :p

Also, in Fromsoft's defence, I don't think that taking heavy inspiration from an archetype or figure in myth, religion, other piece of media and so on is "cheap" personally! They have a big track record of referencing multiple other things (and not JUST Berserk, like some people think!), but never once the inspired character was 'just' that thing. Gwyn is just Zeus but he ALSO isn't, for example! You still see a character as themselves even after learning of who they reference, and they are never "cheap". Heck, I dived into Soulsborne completely clueless about 95% of the references because I live under the rock and only figured after the girls told me! And even then, characters in question were already interesting for me, and learning that something was an inspiration rather than 100% original invention didn't lessen the character's depth for me!

What I am trying to say is that even if Fromsoft heavily takes the figure, they do not fuck this up and give it new life and so much more else. There is no bad concept (heavy reference in this case), there is only bad execution (which Fromsoft doesn'd do). I'll tell you more: the faith in Miquella potentially being Griffith reference is mostly some Redditpants keeping flat fandomisation of Griffith in their minds, hence why it looks like such a boring, shallow idea! If Fromsoft actually ended up doing that reference, I guarantee you that Miquella would still will remain interesting and complex character to enjoy and analyse! Let alone Messmer referencing a well-known vain asshole or two would not make him a cardboard figure, just add flavour! Fromsoft never flopped in this regard, so why would they start now? x)

[anomalouseden]

💙💙Loved that you made Johnathan Crane Jewish!!! It's so jarring (in a good way) to see Scarecrow happily participating in a religion, especially after multiple comic issues dealing with his trauma due to Christianity. Can you tell me why your Scarecrow decided to become Jewish?

THANK YOU I've been waiting for this question. I imagine Jon would have already had a good amount of knowledge about judaism and other religions, since he's a reader and would be curious, but for obvious reasons, would avoid joining anything religion-related for a long time. What makes Jon fall in love with judaism is over time after he found his found-family among fellow rogues in arkham who happen to be jewish, and they share their culture with him. I can see him thriving in a jewish community where his complicated feelings about religion/g-d/etc. are accepted and his many questions encouraged. He strikes me as someone who has lost faith completely, but longs for Something, not necessarily religion or g-d, but community. His home was never safe, he must've felt like he never truly had a home or family, and I can see him finally feeling like he's found those things he's longed for in his jewish community. Somewhere safe, where he's allowed to have his questions and complex feelings about religion be encouraged and accepted.

Those who know will know, but g-d is quite complicated in judaism and extremely different from christianity's concept of a god. G-d is personal and differs based on whoever you ask and you can even be atheist and jewish even if you convert. Even if you do believe in g-d in some way, too, which I imagine is how Jon would have an atheistic view of g-d. You're encouraged to question and form your own thoughts and have conversations about it. G-d wrestling, baby!!

I also think it would be an interesting way for him to face an overcome his fears related to religion. I know for me at least, it's definitely been an empowering experience.

[donnerpartyofone]

I have been selfishly sitting in the direct path of these fans at church. Fortunately no one is fighting me for the seat; I know old people can get very cold, maybe they don't overheat as quickly for the same reasons? Anyway, now I get to watch the slow death of the lilies placed at the feet of Saint Anthony for his feast last week. I'm a big fan of him, especially as a person who chronically loses things (“Saint Anthony, Saint Anthony please come around. Something is lost and needs to be found!"), but I also like that he spoke multiple languages and was extremely eloquent and compelling. As someone with pretensions of being a writer, that's an enviable claim to fame; people tell me I'm articulate but I don't think I have ever won an argument one single time in my whole life. Imagine being so convincing that people want to do this to your jaw bone?

There's a story about him that seems to both contradict and reinforce this reputation, in which he preaches to a bunch of heretics who ignore or insult him, so he says "fuck this" and goes to preach to the creatures of the sea--who are startlingly responsive. I wish there were more great artistic renditions of this episode than I have found, but I enjoy the Böcklin one a great deal:

(I wish I could find a sharper version but oh well) On a related note, today I learned that the word "daily" that describes "bread" in the Lord's Prayer is translated from a Greek word that appears just twice in the New Testament, and again only in a 5th century Egyptian shopping list. It may have been originally coined to approximate whatever Jesus originally said in Aramaic or Hebrew, and its exact meaning remains controversial and mysterious:

Possibilities include daily as in "quotidian", or daily as in "forever" (like all of the days comprising eternity), or something more like "essential" (what is needed to sustain a day), or more likely "SUPERessential" as in either "abundant, more than necessary" or "beyond material essence and into the essence of spirit". Of course I'm being very clumsy in my own approximations but the Wikipedia article is really interesting. I like the interpretation that says "Give us today the bread of tomorrow," perhaps meaning sustenance for the afterlife.

Of course the copy-of-a-copy-of-a-copy sensation attached to the Bible is one reason why it's hard to get secular people on board with religion (including me). You are always just "taking someone's word for it", but it's hard to even say exactly whose word we are taking. And what the word really is, or was. Even the word "word" is loaded, it's like some hybrid of "concept" and "intention", as in "the Word made flesh". Today when I was looking at the statue of Saint Anthony I noticed that he has a book open--who knows what book, but he can't possibly be reading it because Jesus is stomping all over it. It's funny to think of Saint Anthony trying to read (probably) scripture that the Christ Child is completely in the way of. I guess whoever designed the statue would probably prefer that I not read too much into it.

[rotgospels]

hello! i hope it’s okay for me to ask this— no need to reply if it’s too personal or just a waste of breath.

i was wondering if you wouldn’t mind sharing when and how you realized you wanted to pursue religion? i’m 21 and i grew up catholic, though most of my knowledge/memories on it has been blocked out bc it was during a rough patch of life. even though, i still find catholicism to be very interesting— not exactly healing (yet?) but something i want to learn more about— and there are multiple times when i want to call it quits on everything else and become a nun. i know this isn’t enough reason to want to devote myself to a religion i once stubbornly opposed. but as i grow older, i recognize i just needed something to blame, so i chose god. now, the want to call it quits and join a monastery is not unending, but definitely repetitive.

also, i saw a previous anon mentioning they were a lesbian leftist and how becoming a nun would make sense. i know it’s ignorant of me to ask, but would you please explain the relationship between nunnery and leftist beliefs alongside queer identity? no worries if that’s too much to do.

i apologize for all the questions— i’m just really curious and would love to learn from someone with experience. your intelligence is evident and i hope to be as determined as you once i return to college! thanks so much!

Hello - asks like this are always okay!

It took a couple years for me to realise. I come from a family with negative experiences and preconceptions about Christianity so I resisted the pull I felt from age 18-20. I didn't have any clear moment of realisation, just a slow and steady movement towards Christ. I think God knew I needed to take it all at a snail's pace so He guided me towards different places, people, opportunities and experiences which continually revealed His presence in my life over time. A big part of this was finding the right church which accepted me as I was, who allowed me to serve and be part of their community despite - at that point - not identifying as a Christian at all.

If you feel a draw towards Catholicism and monastic life definitely listen to that; even if you think it comes from a place of 'escape'. I've met a few nuns over the years and they've always been women who have, in some sense, retreated, but are more connected to the heart of the world than anyone else I've ever come across. I'd say this is where any 'leftist' ideas comes from - as each nun lives in a local and global community together with other sisters (their networks are found all over the world). The last nun I met was a Franciscan who was extremely political due to work she'd done in the Middle East. She shared about what she'd seen and how this had radicalised and challenged her. So despite living in a convent/monastery, most nuns are active in society and abroad depending on their vocational calling.

There's actually a great book of personal accounts called "lesbian nuns: breaking silence" which outlines in its introduction the common conception that all nuns are lesbians. The authors tell us that this is because both groups fall outside of norms in similar ways (women who live and move through the world together essentially uninterested in males).

I really recommend reaching out to different orders which interest you, even if you're not ready to dive into Catholicism again just yet. I have a friend who is currently discerning the call towards this same thing, and she's been meeting up with a nun who is acting as a mentor/spiritual director for her so she can learn more as she works it out.

I hope some of this helps - there's never a rush when it comes to this kind of thing. Take your time in exploring x

[darlin-djarin]

What's interesting is that I hear both "Din's group is a cult because it's not like Christianity" and "Din's group is a cult because it is like Christianity" semi-regularly. I feel like in the early seasons the first one was the more popular take, and now the second one's more popular. But like. Din's group isn't like Christianity. Other religions have immersion rites. It's not inherently a baptism parallel. Other religions have a concept of apostasy. Other religions have multiple sects that disagree with each other. And none of these things are sinister or oppressive. Whether you think Din's group is or isn't like Christianity, you're still viewing it through a Christian lens and projecting Christianity onto it! Because you're essentially arguing that Din's group should either be more like Christianity or less like Christianity in order to be less of a cult! That's not how religions work!

you’re very right, i agree with you.

i don’t know if you’re saying “you” as in me or as in the metaphorical sense but i have never once said that din’s religion is like christianity or not like christianity. i don’t think i’ve ever compared the two, especially since i barely know anything about christianity in the first place (lol).

i’m muslim and my viewpoint is simply as a person who can relate to din and his religion because of their practices and beliefs of covering their head/body. i’ve never had a “christian view point” and i’ve never argued that din’s religion should or shouldn’t be more like christianity. i think din’s religion is perfect the way it is because it’s a RELIGION. it has it’s own rules and it’s own ways and i think it’s perfectly fine as it is.

i’m not really gonna say anything since i agree with you, i do think that a lot of people either want or don’t want to relate din’s religion with christianity due to their own personal reasons. since a lot of the mandalorian fans are white americans, and a lot of people have a distaste towards christianity since it is very corrupt in america, therefore people have broken relationships with religion and don’t want to see it on screen or anywhere else.

again, i don’t really know if you’re saying “you” as in me specifically or as in people in general with that opinion, but i DO agree with you. din’s religion is not a cult, just simply a religion that should not be compared to others when in a debate on whether or not it’s a cult (it’s not and there shouldn’t have been a debate in the first place).

enforcing a “christian viewpoint” on din’s religion is kinda stupid and irrelevant since christianity is a totally different story than din’s creed. i personally don’t know anything about christianity other than the basics, nor do i intend to learn more about it, respectfully.

thanks for the ask though!! you bring up very good points.

[okodnol]

Answering Hazbin Hotel Questionnaire in Great Details

from nayla (@misfirerules) on twitter

☆ who’s your favorite character?

Alastor and Vaggie (one was instant and the other slowly grew on me and now i legit can't choose)

Alastor is a trickster with standards, he punches up, confronts bullies, but honestly he's just so cute i automatically forgive him any crimes. Bonus points for helping me realize being affectionate with friends doesn't ruin your bad boy persona, it shows you're secure in it. Don't redeem him it's demon cruelty!

Vaggie is a tragic reformed soldier who desperately tries to repent for her war crimes; the juxtaposition of regular tough attitude and complete guard dropping for Charlie endeared me to her a lot. 'Whatever it takes' came up and i was like oooowww~

Also this scene before the final battle where she tells other hotel residents to save themselves cause "We.. I can't protect you anymore". She CARES

The funny thing is that Vaggie and Alastor share that strong preference to only socialize with women (me too! i feel so seen!) but CAN'T STAND each other

☆ what’s your favorite song from the soundtrack?

Stayed Gone and Hell's Greatest Dad, obviously. I also composed the complete tier list (i feel SO BAD for placing It Starts with Sorry this low):

Stayed gone | Dad beats dad

You didn't know | Ready for this | Finale (big musical theatre ones)

Poison

Respectless | Out for love

Happy day in hell | Loser baby

Hell is forever | Whatever it takes

It starts with sorry

More than anything

Welcome to heaven

🎶 it will take time to cover your vast multitude of sins 🎶

If i were to take into account visuals, first place would be either Loser Baby or Poison

☆ who are your otps?

I don't have a strong preference, but Charlie and Vaggie check too many of my personal boxes:

working on a project together

back-to-back fighting scene

picking a woman from a garbage dump

and nursing her back to health

DRAMA of one being another's lifeline

and never using it as leverage ever

fierce protectiveness goes both ways

casual pda

Wanted to do a full diagram and it turned out i'm so much more invested in friendship dynamics i need a separate chart for them

(what will be friendship categories? mentor/student, making each other better/worse, bonding over unique exp; we as a society should develop this concept)

As you can see i was kin assigned Lucifer and took it to heart lol

☆ who’s your least favorite character?

I don't care that much about Adam and Lute, actually

☆ are there any ships you hate?

I have an irrational personal vendetta against Alastor x Lucifer; i enjoy a good fan work, but the concept itself pisses me off; like, there's a painful power disbalance and zero positive interactions in canon

Adam does not deserve to be shipped with neither Lucifer nor Lilith. Lute kinda deserves him, but i prefer them as comrades

☆ least favorite song?

I don't feel much for Welcome to Heaven

☆ what made you watch hazbin hotel?

I think it was impossible not to watch it at the time, and of course i did, i adore this classic DeviantArt edgy lanky angular over-the-top style

☆ what made you love the show?

aesthetic really clicked with me

groundbreaking animation

lots of musical numbers

lovable characters

mlm & wlw representation

deconstruction of religion

you can tell VA's and artists had fun working on it

it's an inspiring indi-project success story

If we're talking about the animation specifically:

the character and camera movements are full of energy and satisfying to watch

characterization through body language

complex emotions

exciting action

interesting shots

you also can rewatch scenes multiple times cause characters on the background are doing stuff too

creative coloring and lighting

everyone is SO PRETTY

upturned eyes, sharp features and teeth they seemingly had to invent a new lip-sync technic for

☆ how long have you been a fan of hazbin hotel?

After i watched the pilot it took me a while to start Helluva Boss, but we binged it with a friend few years ago and i was really invested in this universe since then

☆ what’s your overall opinion on the show?

Innovative industry-changing trendsetting project we do not appreciate enough yet as a society. As a person who loves musicals, animated music videos, action, fighting and dancing, i was finally fed~

It's a crime it wasn't given more episodes; it's so tightly packed that even if i have some issues with pacing and priorities, i can't imagine HOW it can be rearranged without loosing important elements that are there already. I also firmly believe that fast story is better than less story so i'm against "just cut stuff out" approach

☆ if you could remove anything or someone from hazbin, what would it be?

This one scene where sir Pentious got dragged into a sex room as a joke 😑

☆ do you have any theories? If so what is it?

— The reason you end up in Heaven or Hell is that deep inside you're sure you deserve to go to Heaven or Hell (stole this idea from tumblr). That's how Adam ended up where he did. And sir Pentious unlocked a new mechanic cause he was exposed to the idea of redemption by Charlie (my 5 cents)

— There're more former exorcists in Hell besides Vaggie, and Carmilla saw them

— Rosie will teach Charlie how she made Cannibal town that nice of a place

— Alastor killed the most cruel and ruthless overlords, that's why the more decent ones, like Zestial / Carmilla / Rosie accepted him into the club (fandom commonplace)

— Alastor didn't kill Husk but kept his soul cause Husk wasn't that bad of a person in his overlord days and Alastor actually likes having him around

— Alastor doesn't own Nifty's soul

— Nifty is actually crazy powerful, she just wasn't properly motivated to unleash it on anyone yet

— Angel sold his sould to Valentino not out of desperation but cause he was manipulated into thinking that was a good idea somehow (he put a heart in his contract signature, also not my theory)

— both Angel and Husk will get their souls back one way or another

☆ opinions on the Vees?

Velvette is the coolest V. Vox is very relatable cause he's so done and just wants to do his job in peace and he still can't cyberbully to save his life. Valentino is a great reminder that your life can be ruined by an IDIOT which adds an insult to injury

I was dead sure Vox and Valentino are married. I hate the fact that i enjoy Valentino's dynamic with other Vees that much

I know and love Vox and Velvette's VAs from their Broadway performances as Marvin from Falsettos, Helene from Great Comet and Persephone from Hadestown

☆ thoughts on adam?

Adam can die in a fire, the genocidal maniac. He's much MUCH worse than Valentino, there's even no comparison, but i feel like fandom thinks the other way and it's wild. He was an extremely entertaining antagonist, but please don't return him in season 2

☆ if you could be best friends with any of the characters, who would it be?

I feel nerd kinship with sir Pentious but i don't think we'll be like Best Friends; i could see myself forming something like that with Vaggie if i happen to fall on her good side

☆ which scene from hazbin has permanently stuck to you?

~ hey! sssoo.. i see, the club has a sEx room! ..so i was thinking, maybeEe, you'd want to.. aa.. doo aa sExss with me 🕶️

Also the amount of serotonins Rosie and Alastor's duet gave me..

☆ who’s a character you want to see/see more in the upcoming seasons?

I need to know what happened to Eve and i need sir Pentious to be present and plot-relevant

Would be nice to meet Angel's sibling(s) and Lilith

Vaggie needs friends and support network outside of Charlie; hope Carmilla will keep mentoring her and Rosie keeps mentoring Charlie

Really excited for more Vox and Velvette

☆ what are your hazbin hotel hot takes?

The hatedom for this show is wildly disproportionate and uncalled for and it's genuinely breaks my heart cause i fear it may discourage other animators with personal projects. Hazbin deserved MUCH more praise and recognition

A good chunk of the critique can be boiled down to:

don't vibe with aesthetics so it's bad

story is not what i expected so it's bad

bad faith reading

evaluating animated show by static character sheets and random in-between screencaps

petty neatpicks

PLOT RELEVANT HOT ΤΑKES:

Sinners don't need redemptions, they need to be left alone by Heaven and work on making Hell a better place

Sir Pentious did not get a good ending, he lost all the friends he just made (it may turn out for the better but right now i'm sad)

Charlie did her best in Masquerade and as an untrained group therapist at the Hotel, cut the girl some slack, she does learn from mistakes

It's possible for Alastor to simultaneously like and help Hotel residents when he can and pursue his own agenda when he must

I think Mimzy is cute, sue me (we need more pathetic women representation, hope we'll get it in season 2)

Fandom plz stop with the infantilization of Nifty; people realized it's a problem with Velvette, which is cool, but Nifty still suffers from it too often

☆ any headcanons?

— Alastor plans on actually befriending Charlie to have a powerful willing ally like Rosie who can help him get off the leash

— Alastor decided to fight Adam to show off his powers and publicly defeat the First Man, but miscalculated catastrophically (stole this one from my sister)

— Nifty will be forced to choose between Alastor and the Hotel residents at some point in season 2

— Charlie subconsciously treats Hotel guests the way she was treated by her parents as a kid cause it's her only point of reference

— Vaggie and Angel will grow closer cause they're very similar in their protective nature, realistic worldview and self-neglect (season 2 i'm begging you)

— both Charlie and Vaggie visited Rosie and Carmilla, respectively, after the final battle to tell them how it went

— Carmilla will introduce Vaggie to her daughters and they will start hanging out sometimes

— Charlie will introduce Vaggie to Rosie

— Vaggie had good relationship with other exterminators during her Heaven era, even with Lute at some point, and she always hated Adam

— i like the idea of Husk winning back either Angel's soul from Valentino or his own from Alastor in a game of cards (it's like poetry; irl don't play if you're an addict though) or any other seemingly inoffensive game

— after he looses Angel's soul (and get his own beaten out of him preferably) Valentino will reevaluate his life and start dating Vox officially

— Cherry and Husk will become unlikely pals through Angel

— the apple tower is more likely Charlie's office, not Lucifer's, but he will be involved with running the Hotel

— considering Lucifer is actually a sincere, nice and caring person, it will be HARD for Alastor to win back the spotlight after he returns to the Hotel

================================================

wow you got that far here let me share some sketches i did:

[getosugurusbangs]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks....

thank you for the ask! and no, i haven’t answered this question before, i rarely get asks so it’s never come up lol

a couple disclaimers before actually getting into the list 1. these aren’t in any particular order, more just in the order i thought of the characters. 2. from most of these, there are other characters that i love just as much if not more than the character listed, i just put a certain character on this list for more specific reasons, or because i have a better understanding of them. 3. i tried to refrain from adding too much jjk, but it still happened so… i apologize 😔 i can’t help myself (and also, all characters listed are from anime/manga)

list under the cut!

satoru gojo from jujutsu kaisen. what hasn’t been said about him at this point? he’s a very lovable and endearing character in general (obviously) but one thing that’s very cool to me about him, is that a lot of his character is left up to the viewer’s imagination. he’s definitely a character where you can project a lot, and make really whatever you want of him. it can be a double edged sword sometimes, but i still think it’s something cool about him.

suguru geto from jujutsu kaisen. can’t have gojo on the list without his soulmate. there’s so much to me that’s interesting about him that it’s hard to narrow it down enough for this list. as sad as it is to watch, i do really like his spiral at the end of hidden inventory arc. i think it’s very neat how his mental decline really shows more of the true nature of the jujutsu society they’re part of, and how cruel it is to it’s own people. on a similar note to that, it’s very interesting seeing the way geto truly is (his mentalities, his personality, etc. not his morals) get continuously revealed during his defection and post jujutsu high.

maki zenin and mai zenin from jujutsu kaisen. if i was already putting multiple jjk characters on this list, they had to be here too. i looooove their arc together, and everything they’ve (whether on purpose or not) done to each other. i honestly do just think the concept of two cursed twin girls coming from a horrible, at the top of the food chain clan, and attempting to thrive outside of it despite everything, is super cool. i love them separately as characters, but them together makes me even more deranged…

nicholas d. wolfwood from trigun/trigun maximum. apparently i have a thing for dudes who have big tits, are doomed by the narrative, and are associated with a religion 💀 also whenever i talk about trigun, unless specified otherwise, i’m specifically talking about the manga or og anime, not the reboot. anyways, i really like his development as a person over the course of the series. and how in the end, he ended up adopting more of vash’s ways than he may have anticipated. vash and wolfwood’s relationship, considering who they are as people and what they have going on, is crazy to me ngl

anna/nina liebert from monster. i love naoki urusawa’s portrayal of women, and just people in general in his work, and how realistic it is. if you haven’t read or watched monster, GO DO IT!!! it’s one of the best manga i’ve read so far. i haven’t seen any of his other works yet, but i’ve heard good things. i love how she’s an overall badass, kind and compassionate person, while still working towards her goals and simultaneously working through her trauma. she’s just a very neat character to me!

shinji ikari from neon genesis evangelion. i may sound insane saying this depending on how you feel about him but hear me out 😭 he gets a lot of hate, which i do understand, but i do like him, okay? (i’m not going to acknowledge the end of evangelion movie. i will NOT watch it) i think with him, and other teenage characters going through very traumatic situations like him, people forget that they’re literally children going through that? and treat them like they’re adults going through it when they’re absolutely not, and that really bothers me!! despite how he can come off as pathetic sometimes, i do appreciate the way he’s portrayed. he’s overall a very relatable character, and is (at least to me) pretty endearing at times. i like how in the endings of both the anime and the manga, it’s pretty open-ended for him. most of what i say about his character could be applied to asuka, too.

hitori gotou/bocchi from bocchi the rock. she’s just a teenage girl who loves music and has social anxiety and she’s so real for that!!! it’s been a while since i watched bocchi the rock, and i also just don’t have a lot to say here, i just really like her and the way her social anxiety is portrayed, as someone who goes through it myself.

reki kyan from sk8 the infinity. again, i don’t have a ton to say here honestly. he’s very personally relatable to me, especially in his relationship with langa and such. as a queer person who skateboards, sk8 the infinity is the shit!!

yatora yaguchi from blue period. i love his character development in the beginning of the series, but in general too. i just love how he goes from a (slightly boring) respectable highschooler, on his way to a normal job and life, to then suddenly having a passion for art ignited within him, and changing his entire life’s path. i love how his art’s progression is shown, and various other conversations about art. blue period is one of the reasons i never want to go to art school lol

reigen arataka from mob psycho 100. what can i say, he’s just a goofy con man!! i love the additional comedy he adds to the series, despite his character being a little… sad and pathetic all things considered. he’s a wet cat of a man, but i love him for it, yknow? i also love the voice acting for him in the japanese dub of the show. (sakurai takahiro kinda sucks as a person, but he’s still a talented voice actor) there are also certain things about him that are kinda hilarious ngl..

i hope this is what you were asking for, or at least that you enjoyed this because this took a while to actually write out LMAO