#produce branches

[tom4jc]

Ezekiel 17:8 Planted To Bear Fruit

It was planted in good soil by many waters, to bring forth branches, bear fruit, and become a majestic vine. Ezekiel 17:8 When a person plants a fruit plant, it is expected to grow and produce fruit. This can be expected when the plant is properly cared for with first being planted in good soil and then being watered correctly. Problems usually arise when a person does not properly care for the…

[serpentface]

Do psychotropic drugs and/or ritual play a role in any of the blightseed cultures? A pretty broad question, lol

Yeah that’s a very broad question, the answer is about as much as it tends to play roles in real history. Alcohol is pretty ubiquitous (outside of cultures that abstain from intoxicants) and used for a variety of purposes, opioids are commonly used in some parts for pain relief or recreational purposes, stimulants (usually in mild, natural forms) are used to provide extra energy, and hallucinogens are most commonly used as part of a larger religious framework (rather than for recreational purposes). Any more elaborate answer kinda has to be case by case in a certain culture or part of the setting.

I'll just take this as an opportunity to talk about the one established sect that pretty much REVOLVES around psychoactive use. This is the Scholarly Order of the Root, which is a sort of mystery religion + elite community of scholars who currently occupy the Ur-Tree and its forest in the far southern Lowlands (southeast of Imperial Wardin, on the same land mass).

The Ur-Tree is the obligatory Huge Fucking Fantasy Tree (and its surrounding forest). It’s a mass of vegetation about a mile tall and almost as old as Plant Life Itself, its upper branches are primeval plants, which become more modern the nearer they get to the ground (and each 'level' holds tiny ecosystems, some containing descendants of LONG-extinct arthropods/other small animals). Its lowest branches and the surrounding forest are contemporary plant life, and all is connected and protected by an incomparably MASSIVE fungal mycelium network (which is itself a living god).

A lot of the Scholars' more secretive practices revolve around experimentation with substance use with the goal of expanding the Mind and transcending the body to fully connect to the Dreamlands, and they have a supply chain of traders and mercenaries called Rootrunners who traffic substances into the Lowlands. Most of their psychoactive use is in a very intentional capacity and not just like, for fun, but a LOT of them are just straight up addicted to cocaine (in the form of alchemically refined bruljenum, which is used for practical purposes of its stimulant effect during long hours of work).

All known psychoactives are desirable for experimentation (particularly hallucinogens), with each having properties that either allow expansion of the Mind, transcendence of the body, or outright divine communion. Their effects are logged in great detail and interpreted to form the basis of the Scholars' understanding of the natural world and reality itself.

The most important substance is Ur-Root, which is root matter from subterranean levels of the Ur-Tree that have both their own intrinsic psychoactive substances and a very, very high concentration of living god mycelium. The tree root contains DMT and the mycelium has its own wholly unique effects (being an actual living god). They alchemically refine it into a purer, more potent form, and use it to expand beyond the body and directly commune with the Giants, a group of entities they have identified as the only true gods.

An Ur-Root trip starts off with minor visual distortion, which turns into shifting fractals that slowly obscure the vision. Eventually the senses are entirely taken over by a 'tunnel' of rapidly shifting fractals and geometries. In a complete trip, the experiencer gets a sense that they have been pushed through a membrane and entered another realm, finding themselves in a distinct experiential Space.

At this point they may encounter entities which communicate to them in a language impossible to describe but wholly understood. These beings are understood to be the Giants, or at least aspects of the Giants that mortals are capable of comprehending (they often take familiar tutelary forms of the Mantis or the Snake, or appear resembling the same type of sophont that the experiencer is, all composed of ever-shifting geometries). The experiencer often feels a sense of unconditional and endless love from these beings, though the Giants may be more hostile and may appear in the form of the Trickster (usually a cultural figure regarded as malicious, be it an animal or otherwise) in a bad trip.

(^Up until this point, this has mostly just been a DMT 'breakthrough' experience ft. 'machine elves' and the like).

They are then removed from this space and returned to something that feels like the real world, but is nearly unrecognizable. They have a sense of rapidly moving through time, and will usually see 'the spires' towards the beginning, which just so happen to look like this:

(source + some context via Implication- the spires are exactly what this art is depicting)

The experiencer continues to move across an unfathomable amount of time, occasionally 'seeing' other such flashes of unfamiliar landscapes and creatures, and yet also being devoid of all their senses, the 'seeing' is pure, unfiltered experience. There is a sense of interconnectedness with all life, and that one has become the forest (or even Life) itself. The sense of time is wildly distorted, the trip lasts only about 5 minutes but feels like an eternity and is understood as literal hundreds of millions of years.

The experiencer has usually lost any remaining sense of Self and individual consciousness during this phase (in which case this time distortion is usually a neutral or even peaceful experience), but some retain a fraction of their identity, and find themselves trapped and conscious while experiencing what feels like eternity (which can be LIFE-CHANGINGLY distressing, even after the fact).

(^This latter part of the trip is the effects of the Ur-Tree fungus).

The trip ends with a sense of rushing through the ground and back up into one's body, at which point they will abruptly return to their senses and consciousness. The details are then immediately retrieved via interview and recorded in immense detail. The whole experience is understood as having been full comprehension of the Dreamlands, communion with the Giants, and then a tour through the act of creation.

This is done as part of the initiatory practice into the inner mystery-religion of the scholars, and as needed for study by high scholar-priests. It is not taken lightly, both as it is absolute communion with the gods and reality, and in that it can be a very, very difficult experience. People who have gone through this often walk away with a permanently shifted perspective, often in a positive and/or comforting way- a sense of interconnectedness with all life, a peace with the concept of death, seeing less of a point in individual ego and the concept of Self, and comfort in the sense of divine love they (may have) experienced. This heavily influences the philosophy of the Scholars and has had effects by proxy in the religious worldviews of the region.

Details of this experience are closely guarded, and initiates are given absolutely no prior knowledge and expectations for their trip. This is seen as a necessity- their naivety will allow for a true, unfiltered experience, and can be used to gauge whether they should or should not be accepted. Those that have a distinctly bad trip upon initiation may be assumed to have been 'rejected' by the giants and thus denied full priesthood, though this largely depends on How they interpret their distressing trip- those who identify this as a test and harsh lesson in a journey to enlightenment may be accepted (as this is how fully initiated scholar-priests interpret and handle their bad trips).

This inner priesthood is only a small fraction of the Scholarly Order, and its greater function is as a hub of education and repository of knowledge, and Scholar-trained doctors can provide some of the best medical care available in the setting ('best medical care in this setting' only means so much but it's pretty solid, relatively speaking). Only a chosen few Scholars ever get to commune with the Ur-Root, and most of the divine secrets revealed in the process are kept hidden (though they indirectly influence the politics and worldview of the entire order).

[hanakihan]

quick Rapunzel!Ratio sketch before dinner

so basically Aventio Rapunzel AU actually follows Kavetham Beaty and the Beats AU and they’re heavily connected

/more useless lore under the cut it’s long lmao/

so in this entire fairytale AU Ratio is adopted son of Alhaitham (and later Kaveh’s). Alhaitham himself was living and supporting his grandmother and while he’s himself barely an adult he kinda adopted orphaned Ratio whose parents died of local variant of plague or incurable illness. Ratio was around 3 when Alhaitham took him under his wing because no one else wanted to take in a burden in form of an extra mouth to feed.

After events of Beauty and the Beast AU Ratio got officially adopted into royal family as Alhaitham and Kaveh’s child (6 years old by now), but then it’s revealed that Ratio’s parents died not of plague or illness that roamed around by that time, but by inherited defect in health. Small Ratio falls really ill and each day it becomes progressively worse and nothing helps. Then one day they acquire magical flower that miraculously cures Ratio but at the same night he gets kidnapped, since essence of a magical flower now flows through his blood.

Years go by and Ratio grows into a curious but easily annoyed young man whose hair impossibly long. He and people who confine him tried to cut them but each time it happens cut hair just turn into rotting poisonous mess and then grow up back again after some time (Ratio doesn’t know it, but all the poison and illness in his body go into his hair so it turns into a cycle of cleansing and getting sick again).

Come Aventurine who was simply trying to get away from pursuers because he is a gambler and is pretty much in big debt at the moment and he really needs some treasure to sell. He stumbles upon Ratio’s confinement and they strike a deal - Aventurine helps Ratio to finally escape from his kidnappers and reach nearby town while Aventurine gets a gemstone that Ratio has on him (which Aventurine recognizes as a sign of royal family since much similar but green one is in possession of King Alhaitham). Selling this one will give Aventurine enough fortune to pay off his debts and even live comfortably.

So they go on a chaotic adventure to reach a town (where Kaveh and Alhaitham reside) so they can go their separate ways. They arrive on time of missing prince’s birthday to see and partake in a festival (which Ratio was against at first because he’s not here for fun and he still fears he’s still followed by people who kept him confined). Aventurine insists, having suspicions Ratio may be a missing prince judging by gemstone he possesses but then again who knows what happened to prince and gemstone could’ve ended up anywhere.

After that deal is complete, Ratio gives Aventurine his gemstone as was promised and they go on separate ways. While walking his own way to sell gemstone, Aventurine stumbles upon Alhaitham who’s away from celebrations to be in quiet and reminiscence about a young boy he once adopted as his own. It’s near outskirts of city, Alhaitham’s old house and Ratio’s nearby, where they lived before Alhaitham got married to Kaveh. Alhaitham spots Aventurine who wanted to leave unnoticed, but in the end Aventurine understands whole picture because Alhaitham shares some past with him. Turns out Ratio is the missing prince - Veritas. No one knows Veritas’ last name so no one connected the dots between Prince Veritas and a man going by last name Ratio. Aventurine realizes how much royal family misses their son, realizes how he himself fell in love with this insufferable man and how he’s ready to risk it all for him in his last gambit gamble. Aventurine gives Alhaitham gemstone that Ratio gave him and promises to bring their son back while rushing to direction Ratio left.

Cut further and Ratio is found by his kidnappers again. Aventurine does arrive in time to help him escape once again, dragging him along to the palace so they can get help. They’re close enough when one of kidnappers manages to grab Ratio’s hair. Now he and Aventurine are separated, one of kidnappers managed to injure Aventurine when he tried to get to Ratio, and in his last effort he does reach Ratio and cuts off his hair, freeing him and telling him to run and not to look back. Ratio’s cut hair start to rot and poison to death everyone who was holding it in their grasp thus killing at least half of them. Ratio chaotically tries to cut his hand so his blood can be used to help Aventurine but it doesn’t work and his hair don’t grow out again like it usually does - meaning there’s no more essence of flower in his body, just as there’s no more illness in him, since everything was purged and purified in him. Alhaitham and Kaveh arrive on time with others to this scene and deal with remaining kidnappers while Ratio chaotically tries to do something because Aventurine’s life slips through his fingers and he refuses to accept such outcome. Ratio never really cried in his life no matter what, but this breaks his heart and final drop of flower’s essence in his single tear heals Aventurine.

Everything is good and sweet and nothing hurts anymore because I’m a sucker for happy endings (Kaveh be questioning Aventurine’s morals until Alhaitham smacks him on head. Eventually Kaveh remembers where he saw Aventurine - turns out Aventurine (which is not his real name) was Veritas’ childhood companion back after adoption into royal family. Aventurine was a son of a head maid and thus was always following Ratio around as well as studying with him and disappeared same night since he was taken away along by being a witness but then kidnappers just sold him away and with time he forgot who he was and what was his goal)

[steveharrington]

just saw a tweet saying stranger things has “killed television as a medium” in response to maya hawke saying the s5 episodes will be movie length and that is just. such an embarrassingly dramatic thing to say that just kinda implies you don’t watch any other tv. yes stranger things influences other shows with its binge release model (although that would arguably be a feature of netflix with or without st) and yes tv production time is becoming longer and longer, but to say it’s KILLED TV is so insane when we have shows like the bear, severance, interview with the vampire, the white lotus, abbott elementary, succession, ted lasso etc that have seen massive success and acclaim in the last couple years without adapting to stranger things’ new model of blockbuster type production. you can criticize what st is becoming without acting like it’s just obliterating all other shows and forcing you to only watch hour and a half long episodes. just…. change the channel ?

[silviakundera]

idk what the hell these 2 bosom friends™ got going on here in Dashing Youth, compelling tho

[adam-trademark]

KAUFFMAN

LEGACY PARK

(September 22, 2021)

[tunemyart]

y'all agatha all along took me by such surprise, i'm already grieving the end of this show in just three eps

[jamboreeartsupplies]

Acorn Anne visits some Mulberry trees that are in need of healing. please send a small offering of dry, warm air through your closest fairy ring and Acorn Anne will direct it to the leaves of both trees. thank you for your cooperation 🫡

[waitingforsecretsouls]

...Is it just me or does this not imply (assuming Traumerei was being honest with Gustang here of course) that Traumerei's reason for having biological children was to provide potential candidates for the Princesses of Zahard? At least at that point in time?

[gynandromorph]

it's unbelievable to me that rain world is NOT considered "one of the greats." many "greats" only improved on extant genres. STARDEW VALLEY does not deserve to be considered one of the greats more than rain world. CELESTE does not deserve to be considered one of the greats more than rain world. ELDEN RING does not deserve to be considered one of the greats more than rain world. i don't like, hate these games, they're all good games, but they objectively built on well-established genres and mechanics. if you asked me for games almost identical in gameplay but a little worse than ANY of those games made BEFORE they were made i could give them to you, but i can't name a single game that plays like rain world. it makes me feel like a feral animal that people will praise games like dark souls for the difficulty but they all whined about the difficulty in rain world as if it was a bad thing, as if the plot of the game did not deliberately emphasize this for a deeper appreciation of a mostly non-verbal story. most of the game IS NOT random and has been well-documented and picked apart in the code, but it gave the illusion of being random because the game has an absurd amount of depth put into the mechanics that mirrored the procedural animation used to produce its aesthetic.

[finnickodaiir]

.

[arolesbianism]

Hello miss Marker Bills can I help you…?

[serpentface]

Palo and Tigran standing casually in place to provide an outfit reference.

They are wearing the most typical day to day clothing for Galenii monks. This consists of three main parts:

-A simple, ankle-length sleeveless robe (white in initiate monks and black in the fully initiated). -A dark woolen cloak, which doubles as a blanket. This cloak is the foundational item of clothing throughout much of Imperial Wardin as a whole, and worn by all social classes. They tend to be cut shorter and highly decorative in the upper classes, serving only the practical purpose of shielding the arms from the sun. Poor laborers may wear only the cloak and a loincloth and nothing else. In the case of Galenii monks, it is standardized, simple, and dark blue-gray. -The sash. This is a very long scarf that is the primary visual signifier of a Galenii monk. Its open ends drape down the front side of the body and are tied at the chest. It is slung over the shoulders and hangs in a loop around the back. These sashes are dyed an expensive royal blue, indicating the significance and relative esteemed status of this religious order.

Additional elements:

-The sign of the horns: a small iron pin used to fasten the cloak. This is the symbol of the Lunar Face Of God (the specific aspect to which the Galenii are devoted, which is primarily associated with fertility and the cycles of sacrifice and rebirth). This is very common among monks but not standardized wear. Galenii priests wear the sign of the triple horns (though more commonly as an amulet).

-Ear piercings: Galenii monks and priests wear thick earrings of dark meteoric iron and stretch their earlobes. One is added to each ear for each year of the initiatory process. Palo is a year in, and Tigran is fully initiated and has five bands per ear. Body modification is exceptionally rare in Imperial Wardi culture, largely in relation to taboos surrounding body integrity. The exception here is done with great significance and care- these earrings can be made only with true meteoric iron, considered to be the blood of God Itself. Permanently marking their bodies with this metal signifies this priesthood's integral connection to maintaining the continual cycle of sacrifice/rebirth that is believed to keep God's domain stable, and binds them to this role.

-Sandals: usually very simple in construction. Monks are often expected to go barefoot, but the cities are quite dirty so most prefer to avoid this if possible.

-Ceremonial dagger: a sign of a fully initiated monk. It is curved and its sheath is decorated with a tuft of lion's mane (a signal of the Galenii order's close connection to the Odonii order). Most of its uses are ceremonial, but it will be periodically used to perform animal sacrifices. A smaller razor blade is kept in the home for personal bloodletting.

-Hair: Fully initiated monks shave their heads, while those in the process of initiation have relative freedom with hair dressing. Palo is wearing his hair in a single braid tucked around the front. Broadly speaking, braiding the hair is associated with female beauty standards throughout much of Imperial Wardin (though generally in two braids). There is no cultural convention Against men doing so, but it is regarded as mildly effeminate (particularly in the south and southeast).

-Lore Friendly Sunglasses: Palo has photosensitive epilepsy. No effective treatments for epilepsy exist in the setting (most 'treatments' in Imperial Wardin are alchemical in nature, ie: ambiguously helpful at best or literal poison at worst), but understanding of the Nature of epilepsy as a neurological disorder is relatively accurate, and the concept of photosensitivity is loosely understood (though not with great accuracy, it's assumed to be caused by light in General). Palo had this pair of (VERY expensive) sunglasses commissioned as a youth, which Do slightly reduce the frequency of his seizures. Devastatingly stylish as they may be, his glasses do not offer much visual clarity so he only wears them in bright conditions.

[teddy-bear-naps-and-random-snaps]

[randomnameless]

I missed that detail about House Vestra. House Vestra oversaw the consorts, while it's personal battalion of “sorcery engineers” are dressed as Slithers. And Hubert was given to Edelgard when she was four despite her being the 9th child of Ionius. Everything seems to point to House Vestra being Slithers pushing the moral decline of the Empire, and with the detail about consorts it could also be they were selectively breeding in order to create a perfect candidate for their plans. Their own Kwisatz Haderach as it were, after all they expect Edelgard to give them salvation.

Their own Kwisatz Haderach as it were, after all they expect Edelgard to give them salvation.

I'm having the worst mental images of Thales trying to have sexy times with random Empress #55 to further the breeding project and I'm not thanking you for that lol

More seriously,

As I mentioned in the other ask, the "get a heir with two crests" plans only popped up recently, since Word of God said the Ordelias were a prototype.

So why would they need to breed a perfect heir before having the idea to "infuse" one of them with the Crest of Flames or at least two crests ? Send a major blooded Seiros Hresvelg against Nabateans? It wouldn't work, the poor Hresvelg would be stomped on.

I always was under the impression that the Slither's influence was more in the lines of political influence, like saping the image the CoS had in Adrestia and ultimately, turn humans against Nabateans (again) while ruining things because that's what they do.

Emperor Proud (i don't have a name for him :() who ordered the Brigid and Dagda invasion was the kind of dude who, 1/ wanted to invade other countries bcs why not 2/the kind of dude who would be so angry at his people returning home without having conquered anything that said people prefer to die at sea, fighting.

Then we have the Emperor who was in charge during the Southern Church incident, who was so pissed that someone dared to rebel that they piss on an agreement their father made and banished that branch away, as an excuse to distance themselves more from the Central Church for ~reasons~.

Those Emperors are far from Willy, as Rhea (a biased source!) described him, or as the "Nobles of old" Hanneman, in a certain way Ferdie and Lorenz seem to admire. Did Adrestia fall bcs of Agarthan influence? I want to believe that it's not the case but... Fodlan games seem keen on putting everything "bad" that happens on the Agarthans, as if people can't be asses without an "alien" influence...

I've read your theory about Vestras being Agarthans themselves but, well, idk.

I really don't like blaming doylist writing here, but Hubert being given to Supreme Leader still reeks of the writers' lack of continuity guys, especially given the scarce mentions of her siblings and the unknown fate of her step-mothers - i know Mothers aren't prevalent in the FE series, but Anselma gets more mentions from her than Ionius's first (legal) wife!

Also, IDK where I read it, but it was said that House Vestra and House Hresvelg were together since the "dawn" of the Empire, imo it means since the Willy Era, so unless those "real Vestras" were bodysnatched after Willy and Rhea's departure, I can't believe the Vestras were Agarthans since day 1 (Macuil throws a tantrum over sparing the descendants of the Elites, imo he would never have accepted to work, less to even let live, an agarthan).

Back to them being there since the "dawn" of the Empire, does it also mean the harem tradition traces back to that era too?

Or, after seeing the fuckery that followed after Lycaon's death (Wilhelm, who could have assumed the throne again, fucked off instead of supporting the new emperor!) they devised to "look after/take care/organise" the harem and the Hresvelg heirs?

IDK

[narke]

me when im making teochew style braised duck and i find galangal at the supermarket: