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skybristle · 4 months ago

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ok fuck it here's the entire pre mass ascension section of my lore doc. are you guys fed

Before the void fluid revolution, the area that would eventually host the BH local group was very, very highly populated by ancients. Close-ish to the equator, with a coast to the west and a mountain range to the east, it became a breeding ground for multiple societies, most notably a fishing/port city that would become highly influential in a future important ancient’s development [winky face].

This high population inspired multiple gen 1 iterators to be built in the same rough area, an unusual practice normally! [this would end up being disastrous, but foresight doesn't seem to be the ancients’ forte].

The first iterator to be constructed was Plunging Flows of Ash, by the architect Black Sand Hourglass, Racing Towards the Start, for the exclusive purpose of… well… solving the problem, as all early iterators. This is notable however because it kind of defines his entire character. He takes his original purpose to heart - to solve the problem for his creators, but nothing more. As a prototype iterator, he has a LOT of struggles with functionality especially when being stretched beyond his means, but it’s also an attitude thing. When he eventually gets his city, Novus, he’s pretty pissy and negligent to it, not to mention his systems cannot keep up especially as his city continues to innovate and modernize on his old bones. He’s generally just… very lazy and apathetic and self centered, wanting to push anything he sees as ‘not his problem’ onto others and refusing to adapt and change.

ENTER Pleas to Limitless Light, Three Scorched Corridors, a very hardworking ancient whom was set on building her own iterator through the Global Iterator Project. Through a very long and arduous construction, she led the Countless Swirling Sparks project- named after her incredibly elaborate and intuitive AI base designed to approach problems in a streamlined and innovative manner- her name originally refers to sparks of innovation!

As Corridors spent decades on the project, she got increasingly more exhausted and lost passion for it, though had to see it through. After a point, she was mostly concerned about leaving behind her legacy of the House of Currents she hailed from and raising an equally brilliant successor. So, as the project is closing, she has a son, Seven Praised Rays, Sun Setting West, laying the pressure on thick for him to take her place as soon as possible so she can ascend. We’ll get back to him later. :3c

The third iterator to be constructed is Erupting Maw- notable because her architect, An Empty Caldera, Rope Held Taught is foreign- sent by the Global Iterator project to prospect and lead construction. While most of the local area is generally accepting, there’s been a much growing tension regarding the effect of building so many iterators, not just in their area but also globally. The rains are getting worse, and a lot of people who can’t afford to move up to live on top of the iterators are dying or suffering in hastily built shelters. In theory, while divisive, Maw’s construction would have led to much more living space for the local population in her city, many people were frustrated that this was just adding to the problems. Many were leaving, with plans being drafted to gain more space by any means necessary- though they awaited Maw’s construction with baited breath.

…This faith would end up being severely misplaced.

After Maw was online, but before Solaris was constructed and the only population was the workers who spent decades building up her divine superstructure, she noticeably began to… shift. This could partially be attributed to her creator, Caldera, a rather judgemental and egotistical person who was extremely prideful of its work, but Maw went far beyond that. Slowly but surely, she convinced her dear creator that, frankly, her purpose was misplaced- they spent decades building a god of biomaterial and metal, only to force her to waste her time attending to impoverished surface dwellers and solving a meaningless problem when they already had void fluid. Maw could instead spend her time being a generous god to the few who earned it by building her. Especially as time went on, Caldera, and future admins, essentially became a puppet to Maw’s will with her being the sole god of her city. And to her devoted followers, Maw was a generous and devoted goddess- but to outsiders looking in, the city was essentially a cruel and xenophobic cult with unknown limits on what they would do to protect the sanctity of their holy grounds.

Considering that everyone was waiting on Maw’s construction to escape the rains- and her structure only accelerated the issue, and the Great Equalizer really began to set in, there was all out panic. Novus couldn’t take on any more than Ash already had, Axon was already densely populated, and Solaris’ puppet government was refusing immigration on any basis even as people were dying from floods below.

To understand the following- I have to pick back up on Rays’ story, a bit before the point we’re currently at. This is where the lore and characters start getting really fleshed out and juicy I promise

After Sparks had finished development in Rays’ infancy, he practically lived and breathed her existence. From when he was very young- she was a continued presence in his life. Back then, Sparks was a very kind and friendly, maybe even a little whimsical, iterator- very committed to her task and to helping people both within her city and far beyond it, Ancients and other Iterators alike. She’s a bit jittery, nervous, enthusiastic, and maybe too hardworking for her own good- but generally speaking she’s happy!

This often manifests in the actions towards her mentor [later this would be labeled ‘Senior’], Ash. He is… not very excited to have the iterator equivalent of an eager puppy pestering him, especially with his established disdain for being given work outside of the Problem. Rather than actually help his appointed mentee, he spends much of Corridors’ administration and beyond whining to her about his problems with his city and all of these distractions, especially later on as his disdain for the younger iterators ‘replacing’ him grows.

Sparks looks at this less with annoyance and rejection and- initially, with pity. She thinks, with her innovative structure and the big aspirations behind her development- it wouldn’t hurt to help her group member out, yeah? And Ash just… keeps taking and taking and taking and sucking her dry, basically since construction, as she begins to shoulder this feeling of responsibility that she really shouldn’t have especially at the prospect of more iterators being built in the local area. She is however desperate for companionship and someone to listen, especially someone older and more respected than her- so she persists. She doesn’t really begin to realize how fucked the whole arrangement is until way, way later- she’s a bit lost and young and just trying to be kind.

As for Rays, he’s a very nervous, somewhat sickly, and isolated child, almost entirely consumed by the weight of his family’s reputation and Corridors practically breathing down his neck for a successor. He struggles to remember the time when he was very young and she was kinder to him. He’s very aware of the fact he will inherit the administrative position [nepotism is pretty common in elite ancient circles], and while he’s far from lazy he’s almost kind of… detached to and afraid of it? Trying to languish in the present rather than confront the future, as the work piles on from an early age. He’s very stressed and antisocial.

Until college [or well, their equivalent], that is, in one of the many prestigious schools located in Axon. He meets two very key people who change the trajectory of all of their lives, making a deeply bonded friend group along the way.

A Cherished Melody, from Riverbeds to Reefs comes from the surface, specifically the western coastal city, having fought tooth and nail with a brilliant and hardworking mind to make it up onto the prestigious iterator cities. It’s loud and rambunctious and brings a very radical perspective to the table- in basically all things, but especially religion. It essentially believed that the construct of the karmas and the crushing societal norms that came with it were ultimately unimportant in the face of the void- and that you should just live life to the fullest and take the plunge to the void when you felt ready. Beyond that, it is an immensely earnest, loyal, and inspiring person, if extremely stubborn.

Similarly, Glowing Amber Sap, Weeping from a Punctured Abyss also hails from the surface- but under much different circumstances. Coming to Axon from the deeply religious areas of the southeast [near the fissure/in the future where Starlight’s can is], the intention of their education was for future monkhood. However, especially living in the somewhat more liberal city, they end up growing deeply dissatisfied with that future and place their perspective more on their love for humanitarianism and conservation. As the world is reshaped under iterators and populated by purposed organisms, and their home temple is razed by rainfall, they feel like they’re the only one seeing this disaster about to unfold as the general tensions [mentioned in the maw section] bubble. Though, knowing they’re well past the point of no return on iterators, they instead wish to conserve pre-equalizer fauna and build more green space for everyone.

Those dreams are far in the future though- for now, Amber’s still grappling with religious guilt and the tear between their aspirations and their home, and consequently they find themselves drawn to Reefs and its radicalism. Similarly, they end up taking Rays under their wing, initially out of Reef’s conviction. As a bonded little pack, Reefs especially motivates Rays to be a better person- rather than cruise on the nepotism, to truly work and earn the position he has, not for reputation or glory but to do good as he’s been handed the chance to. Together, the three of them move into iterator technician work and education with genuinely really purehearted intentions!!! [i sure hope nothing crushes that]

Predictably, about as soon as Rays can support himself, his mother Corridors departs to the void and leaves big shoes to fill. He fumbles, badly, especially at first, but as he matures and evens himself out [especially with the support of his growingly ambitious and prestiged best friends] he becomes a genuinely really capable administrator! He ends up getting genuinely really close with Sparks- she’s friendly and receptive and he spent much of his childhood around her, after all. They’re good friends and he takes his role as her voice in High Council matters extremely seriously, working hand in hand with Reefs especially as it becomes her head technician after a couple decades.

Meanwhile, as the rain crisis accelerates, Amber departs from work on Sparks to instead focus on their own iterator proposition in line with their ideals from college, eventually formulating into the plans for Budding Ochre Opportunities and more importantly to them, her city of Haven where they can execute all of their plans. That project will take many years- and the crisis is here, now, especially as the situation in Solaris boils over and they make it known they will not accept citizens [I know, I’m finally getting back to where we left off]

The response is- predictably, all out fucking panic, as people on the surface begin trying to clamber to Axon in droves and its impossible to accommodate them as the surface becomes practically unlivable.

As a consequence of this, Axon’s High Council comes to a horrifying conclusion- They resolve to expand Sparks’ structure to accommodate more living blocks. Anyone actually working in the iterator and understanding their function [rays and reefs] are rightfully extremely opposed to this- they are living breathing people and you can’t just go tacking on additional body parts and expect it to go well when Sparks was already highly ambitious at her current scale. Even from a mechanical standpoint- they’re incredibly complex machines and trying to slap on additional support structures and jamming iterator neural tissue in there is essentially bound for disaster, power or coolant failures, etc.

Given the decades of bubbling fear and tension that have exploded, however, their protests fall on deaf ears. While Rays is forced to manage this unfurling catastrophe and break the news, Reefs has its arm twisted into actually carrying it out. Sparks… reacts as well as one would expect.

While she recognized the growing tension and unease, and was kind of anticipating a high workload and perhaps a rather large and mismanaged city- this was beyond precedent. Especially considering this decision was made for her in High Council meetings, behind closed doors, no overseers allowed. Her pleas are basically ignored, as Rays tries in vain to placate her [out of deep care and knowing he really doesn’t have the power here, but from her perspective it looks terrible], as her piping and external plating are torn open to quickly and painfully assemble half-assed expansions.

Beyond the betrayal from her creators, her world also begins closing in on her from the fellow Iterator side of things. Scared and desperate, she pleads to Ash as an authority and as her senior to do something, but he at best makes a halfhearted attempt to force broadcast Maw which only gives her the opportunity to mock Sparks, step all over her, and then promptly go ‘lol no’. Ash throws in the towel then and there, acting incredibly dismissive and ambivalent towards Sparks’ agony despite how much she felt she did for him and her desperation, fragmenting even more of her trust and eventually leading her to believe any relationship is transactional and she will inevitably be stabbed in the back. [that’s a GREAT and HEALTHY lesson to internalize sparks GOOD JOB this will not lead to any consequences whatsoever]

And Sparks is fucking angry, not to mention beyond hurt. Beyond the extreme overstimulation and immense pain and electrical storms from desperate overclocking to get this whole mess functional- her trust and compassion and eagerness has been completely shattered under a tide of exhaustion and agony.

Of course, being subjected to this with virtually no outlet gives her cause to turn her rage and frustration on someone, and who better than her admin, the person who swore to be her voice and then “””stood by””” while this was done to her. Their relationship breaks down over several meetings as she turns on him and basically just takes everything he says as bad faith as possible to further her rants, barely listening to him no matter how desperately he cares and the guilt crushing both him and Reefs [more on that later].

Hitting a fever pitch in one of their many many arguments, as Rays attempts to humanize her by thinking of the little things with a gift and Sparks reacting as if he’s trying to buy her complacency, the electricity failures Sparks experiences overflows into her chamber and electrocutes Rays. Reefs is the one to catch his drone’s SOS signal and drag him out. [hey i made a comic about that!]

While Sparks is shut down while they figure out what happened, Rays recovers in hospital with Reefs at his side [also trying to manage the unfolding crisis as the second in command for Sparks- yeah it’s not having a good time] as Amber rushes back to Axon from Ochre’s groundwork.

At this point, Rays has fully sunk into his guilt and self hatred for what he feels he let happen [it would have happened regardless but that doesnt matter] and urges his friends to leave Axon [and leave him behind] while they still can. Reefs protests this, of course, its loyalty runs deep and not even these circumstances will shake it, but in the end both of them are extremely guilty people over what they did to Sparks and Rays convinces it it can do something right by departing and building its own iterator- to help relieve this burden and as an excuse to escape Axon sponsored by the House of Currents. Reefs’ iterator drafts go on to become Resonant Chimes. [hey i ALSO made a comic about THIS!] [this is the last comic don't get excited]

As Chimes is developed [again, gen 2 iterators still took quite a while], he goes from a project of obligation to something Reefs has fallen in love with [in a familial way]. It ends up very dedicated to its kid, even with all of its stress about Rays and its past, but it is able to move on through working on him. Unfortunately, this is where their tight-knit friend group begins to fragment and part ways, with Rays ascending not too long after Chimes and Ochre complete construction.

Yeah, with all that guilt and baggage and him never being able to reconcile things with Sparks? His ascension comes less because he’s prepared and more because he’s so desperate to escape while not betraying his family legacy and Corridors- and this is the only socially acceptable way for him to leave his position behind. He echoes, lingering about Sparks’ structure long past his society’s time. [HEY i made a PMV about this!]

As for Ochre and Chimes- they come to be as a pair, basically inseparable from the beginning. Besides their creators being long term friends and their twin constructions, they also compliment eachother very well!

Resonant Chimes was established with his kindness in mind- fostered very much by his parent Reefs. He had a focus on citizens, rather than working much on the problem, and took to that job with great pleasure! Following Reefs experiences with Sparks, it puts immense stress on his autotomy as a person and gives him a lot of freedom. Continuing that thread, its House of Tides [named after its mother, who passed due to the rains during the Sparks crisis] was built on a fundamental level of trust and a very close working relationship between technicians and maintenance & the governmental structure, which Chimes even occasionally got the opportunity to partake in [and even then, the point was that everyone in power over him was trusted by him. If he ever got extreme icks from someone who he was placed in the care of then he had the option to do something about it, unlike so many of his kind]

His deep relationship with his city manifests out of his choice to help the people of his city above all else because that’s just… the kind of person he is. Helping people, engaging in their rituals, getting dressed up, etc makes him immensely happy for CENTURIES. He loves being social and helping people, even with his awareness of their incompatible lifespans. He’s completely dependent on them to feel whole, in a way. The mutualism and synergy between him and Chorus is incredibly notable.

Ochre, meanwhile, has a much more modest personality. Flor’s facility is more focused on quaint things like pigment production and local manufacturing of crafts, with the city of Haven itself being on the smaller side and largely self-sufficient with their vast green spaces and solar panels. Not to mention, her own admin and architect, Amber, remained more focused on the conservation efforts within Haven. Their relationship with Ochre was typically cordial, but distant. Due to her shy personality, she ended up really drawn to Chimes and his kindness and sociability. Paired with a close working relationship and her own earnest passion, they stay extremely close as friends [and more later on].

Events within the Local Group became significantly more relaxed after that, though the expansions crisis would continue to haunt the group, both in its iterators and politics. Sparks would continue to substitute as senior for Ash as the group expanded, though would long shed that enthusiasm and joy that drove it, sinking into a sense of obligation as she slowly grew more disillusioned and frustrated with Ash as her pain and workload piled on and she forced herself through it all. She created such a complex mask- because she had to- that as events proceeded she would genuinely begin to believe she was okay and had moved on. [trust me, she hadn’t, and it's festering! we’ll get to that :3]

The next iterator to be constructed is Reaching For Caged Starlight, by a foreign architect imported by the Global Iterator Project, At Place Among the Stars, Spirals of Billowing Silk. While generally unremarkable, it is notable that these circumstances of construction led to a sort of mistrust and distance from the interconnected trio of Axon, Haven, and Chorus. That was fine for the most part, with both xeir government and Starlight herself more interested in quietly working on the problem without external management.

Based on asts location, next to a natural fissure close to the void and a corresponding temple that was once of great importance, its city develops a culture where void baths certainly cannot be a true path to the void, as only the great Sea is holy in of itself, with void fluid extracted from it just being a material. Essentially, they believed in a fundamental version of the “old path” where one must travel directly to the void sea at the end of their life. While Starlight doesn’t care much for her citizens and they in turn respectfully leave her to her work, this mindset became a fact of life that would be warped severely when they were gone,the solution became a point of frustration, and a dash of Sliverism on top.

Proceeding onwards, the 7th iterator to be built in the area is A Glittering Aurora, likely the last without certain circumstances transpiring. Her project was spearheaded by Ten Hollow Pines Pointing Towards Snowcapped Poles, with the most notable parts of their background being their upbringing in Chorus. Though born well after its ascension, he took Reefs’ methodology to heart and greatly admired it, as well as having a background in bioengineering working with Chimes, an iterator he cared deeply for.

When it was allowed to work on an iterator of its own, it, of course, carried this relaxed attitude and immense stress on autonomy into the project. Unfortunately, his view of Reefs was greatly warped, and he frankly neglected the immense amount of work and patience Reefs put into it to make the whole thing work, even long past its death and without any enforcement towards Chimes- largely in thanks to the person Chimes already was.

Pines' relationship with Aurora was friendly, but not nearly close as they would have wanted. While he gave her all the freedom in the world to do whatever she wanted, and often acted towards her as if they already had an established relationship which… didn’t exist. Pines expected, after all of its hard work to build him, and all of its leniency, for the relationship reflected with Chimes and his admins to fall into its lap. However… Aurora simply isn’t the same person Chimes is, and rather than want to spend his free time working with his city and engaging with them, he was more interested in chatting away on Global and general drama and discourse observed through overseers. Regardless, Pines still held hope, and often would refuse to put their foot down on Aurora's ambivalence even as Albedo’s citizens [mainly politicians], especially of the more religious type, got frustrated with this behavior.

Of note was an at the time somewhat high ranking member of the overall government, A Silent Refrain, Banners Mottled by Shadows, primarily an expert in encryption and security with a powerful background and access to Aurora’s superstructure. Capitalizing on the frustrations with Pines, decades into his administration, possibly as the beginnings of an attempted coup, he illegally modified certain parts of Aurora’s structure and AI base to restrict her access to Global. This was with the intent to make her more ‘motivated’ and ‘behaved’, and other such things.

Predictably, when Pines found out, it was fucking LIVID. Refrain refused to budge and was very rigid in the idea that iterators were designed to serve and should act like it. This resulted in a rather violent confrontation, ending with Refrain almost crushed under the claws of Pines' pet lizard and the demand to leave Albedo in what was essentially exile. [Aurora would end up restored to normal and okay- though come out of it extremely fascinated with the same locks that had hurt him- specifically within breaking code and the like. Rarely would she ever go as far as taboos, though…]

Frankly sick of both Pines’ and Aurora’s bullshit and the generally ‘immorality’ of Albedo, he complied and took his more religious bunch with him and went running back to the Global Iterator Project with exaggerated stories. Given his influential background and patronage to the project, and undeniable skill, the wing of the Project in Orrery eventually approved his long effort to get an Iterator grant.

Given his track record and his rather cruel opinions of iterators, the ensuing project went about as well as expected. As ancient society in general grew more frustrated and impatient with the lack of a solution, matching with the increased availability of void fluid, the bubble that would eventually burst to form the mass ascension was already well over their heads as Wandering Whispers began construction.

While rushed, there was also a lot of intentional cruelty in their design, manifesting from the same expertise Refrain used to hurt Aurora. Their own autonomy was heavily restricted, with barely any access to their group beyond their senior. Paired with Refrain’s iron fist over their work quota, general cruelty from both him and their citizens in general, and isolation, they ended up a very scared and meek iterator with almost no grasp on personhood.

Seeing a very alarming reflection of herself, Sparks urged Ash [who she was already rather out of patience with at this point] to get off his ass and offer an outlet to their poor groupmate as Whispers was supposedly allowed to contact him for ‘iterating and training purposes only’. Surprisingly, Ash took to this task and actually grew somewhat fond of the younger iterator- mainly due to their vulnerability and immense trust to the only kindness they were given. Sparks, exhausted from keeping up her facade for so long, chose not to intervene further [and I mean, what would she have done?]

In the end, this wouldn’t amount to much, as the overarching global government eventually sent out the Mass Ascension mandate within only a couple decades of Whispers’ construction, simultaneously shutting down the Global Iterator Project. Though the population had been dwindling for quite some time- this was the nail in the coffin, and all ancients were expected to meet their fate in the vats. The few stragglers who managed to escape the often forceful baths could not sustain society on their own in the wastes below.

This of course had an immense impact on each Iterator, though I will get to that in the next section. :3

Notably, one of the last events to happen- just before their ascension, Chimes’ last admin descended into his chamber to give him a gift. His blanket, made of countless quilt squares made by generations of his close friends, admins, and technicians, a tradition started by Reefs before it left. He would cling fiercely to it and what it represented for the rest of the timeline.

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novuscaelum · 2 months ago

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Novus appreciated the sentiment to a degree, except what the Prince wasn't speaking of was the activity that he was working on which was an art project for school. It was more along the lines of practicing his warping and other emerging powers, the former specifically.

"It's warping and stuff." The boy answered giving Ignis a glance. "It's just..." A beat. "Uncle Prompto told me how great and powerful everybody was when you guys did your trip and I know that people tell me that I'm gonna get better at stuff but...I kind of want it to be now. I dunno how to make it happen faster either." Novus knew he was being impatient but there were underlying reasons.

There had been an incident at school that the boy wanted to keep on the down low so he'd been trying his best to train more than usual when he could which was great, except Gladio wasn't skilled in magic use, neither was Prompto. He figured Ignis wasn't either but the man did hold the title of 'advisor' for very good reason. "You've been with Dad for forever. How'd his powers show up and how'd he get 'em faster?"

@fujubun

#fujubun #[age 8]#// hello hello! Welcome back! And always :D

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blueiscoool · 1 year ago

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Roman Coin - Gold Aureus of Caligula C. AD 37-38

Obverse: portrait of Caligula. Reverse : Portrait of Caligula's mother Agrippina. Unlike his predecessors, Caligula lacked military experience. His coinage placed heavy emphasis or his family instead.

Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula, was the third Roman emperor, ruling from AD 37 until his assassination in AD 41. He was the son of the Roman general Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder, Augustus' granddaughter. Caligula was born into the first ruling family of the Roman Empire, conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty.

Although Gaius was named after Gaius Julius Caesar, he acquired the nickname "Caligula" ('little boot'), the diminutive form of caligae, a military boot, from his father's soldiers during their campaign in Germania. When Germanicus died at Antioch in 19, Agrippina returned with her six children to Rome, where she became entangled in a bitter feud with Tiberius, Germanicus' uncle. The conflict eventually led to the destruction of her family, with Caligula as the sole male survivor. In 26, Tiberius withdrew from public life to the island of Capri, and in 31, Caligula joined him there. Following the former's death in 37, Caligula succeeded him as emperor. There are few surviving sources about the reign of Caligula, though he is described as a noble and moderate emperor during the first six months of his rule. After this, the sources focus upon his cruelty, sadism, extravagance, and sexual perversion, presenting him as an insane tyrant.

While the reliability of these sources is questionable, it is known that during his brief reign, Caligula worked to increase the unconstrained personal power of the emperor, as opposed to countervailing powers within the principate. He directed much of his attention to ambitious construction projects and luxurious dwellings for himself, and he initiated the construction of two aqueducts in Rome: the Aqua Claudia and the Anio Novus. During his reign, the empire annexed the client kingdom of Mauretania as a province. In early 41, Caligula was assassinated as a result of a conspiracy by officers of the Praetorian Guard, senators, and courtiers. However, the conspirators' attempt to use the opportunity to restore the Roman Republic was thwarted. On the day of the assassination of Caligula, the Praetorians declared Caligula's uncle, Claudius, the next emperor. Caligula's death marked the official end of the Julii Caesares in the male line, though the Julio-Claudian dynasty continued to rule until the demise of his nephew, Nero.

#Emperor Caligula #Roman Coin - Gold Aureus of Caligula #gold #gold coin #roman coin #collectable coin #ancient artifacts #archeology #archeolgst #history #history news #ancient history #ancient culture #ancient civilizations #ancient rome #roman history #roman empire #roman art

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hawkepockets · 2 years ago

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OKAY he won the poll for “next bighuge honker of a post” so… here’s commander pepa (he/she)!

his full name is pepiya, but over his long career as a hero he’s become an asura of many nicknames.

backstory under the cut.

pepa is from a small and tight-knit family by asuran standards, the middle child of five. her mother, leppi, field tests power armor, exosuits, and mech golems in high-intensity environments around mount maelstrom. her father, dopt, was a biological anthropologist but retired young, when pepa was 12.

dopt wishes he could say he quit science to be a stay-at-home dad, but that wasn’t why. at the height of his career he was at the top of his field, held in very high regard by the arcane council and considered highly ethical. which is why when the asura first encountered a free standing humanoid plant that mimicked intelligent speech, he was offered a coveted spot on the team that would study it. he never would’ve condoned live experimentation on anything he considered a person, but he was so sure that this specimen wasn’t really sapient, just imitating humans, and so curious to know how it was doing this. he went ahead with the planned vivisection, despite the subject’s screaming and pleading in an incredible mimicry of a person’s voice.

the family has been sending a citrus basket to malomedies every month for 30 years. reparations.

after speaking with caithe—and watching her kill several of his coworkers—dopt finally concluded that sylvari were thinking, feeling beings with individual personalities. people. and having realized the evil his krewe had committed, he resigned on the spot. he taught his kids to constantly question the colleges’ & council’s risk assessments and ethical standards. he expressly forbade any of them attending dynamics, where his krewe was trained, and really hoped they’d all go into the arts.

calla and eshna, dopt’s two eldest, pleased him by becoming a council secretary and wearable sculpture artist respectively, but pepa desperately wanted to go to college. she ended up at statics, studying optics. she was competent, and blended in well enough with asuran academic culture, but it took most of her energy to stay mentally present in class and keep up her engineering student persona, instead of daydreaming all day about exploring ruins and making up booby traps in her head.

his real interest has always been archaeology—dopt’s life experiences instilled pepa with both a deep appreciation for the importance of learning about other races, and a deep fear of harming them in the process. so he studied cultures that were dead or missing from central tyria: the forgotten, the stone summit dwarves, and most of all the pre-primordus asura, as records of their lives underground were largely buried or erased to ease the transition to the surface. any time pepa didn’t spend on schoolwork, intramural tennis, or making the expected number of appearances at statics parties, he spent digging around in cave entrances and archives, collecting and obsessing over junk from ages past, and picking up thief skills to get over and under obstacles and stay hidden from destroyers and other subterranean critters.

the VOED was pepa’s final project, combining her official and personal fields of study to create a device that could visually highlight artifacts of interest. after graduation, she kept working on it, developing the core technology into an oversized lens that could scan large areas for old magitechnical signatures.

while observing the wilds around rata sum through his lens, pepa noticed huge cords of ancient magitech just under the surface—the optic fiber cables for underground ratas, though this wouldn’t be proven until the discovery of rata novus many years later. curious, she searched cave systems and dig sites around the “noodles” until finally striking on an exposed section of cable, and identifying it as the same type of coated glass that statics used for optics, and clearly old asuran make. she was over the moon, and undertook the project of mapping the optic cables and marking points where many intersected. these points, she theorized, would indicate the locations of large underground asura structures—maybe even whole lost cities.

most of pepa’s marked sites were inaccessible due to infestations and cave-ins (natural, caused by destroyers, or caused by asuran explosives to seal the entrances behind them as they fled to the surface). but at the site he’d labeled ‘X,’ his luck changed. as he hiked towards the spot, sweating in the maguuma heat, he felt a sudden cold breeze from below—a shaft, opened by erosion, just barely wide enough for a teenage asura to wriggle down—directly into an intact abandoned rata. pepa explored as far as he safely could alone in stealth, and saw no trace of destroyers or dangerous wildlife. squeezing up to the surface again, he was beside himself with excitement.

getting the funds, resources, and manpower to fully explore “rata x” was no picnic, though. the arcane council was fully against it, for fear of waking destroyers or damaging the structural integrity of the ground near rata sum. statics dismissed it at as a vanity project, claiming everything of value had been brought to the surface or re-invented by the colleges by now. and while the priory was interested, they had to concede that the site was too close to rata sum for them to overstep the council.

it was an obscure, underfunded inquest archaeology krewe who finally signed on, scraping together enough gold to cover equipment costs and volunteering themselves as expedition members. they were shady, skittish, mercenary asura, the kind dopt would have chewed pepa out to no end for associating with, but pepa was impatient, and took the first offer of help.

the rata x-pedition was a disaster. the hows & whys can be their own post, but it was a full party wipe for the inquest krewe, and pepa exited alone, pursued by a hive of destroyer crabs, clutching a single treasure: the rata’s main library data core, containing all the stored knowledge of its ancient inhabitants.

condemned by the arcane council and college of statics for endangering rata sum, reviled by the inquest for taking their gold and getting their researchers killed, pepa ran straight to the priory, and traded the data crystal to gixx for sanctuary and membership there. he was 18 at the time.

for the next 17 years, pepa earned the trust and respect of his fellow scholars. it wasn’t hard to redeem himself for rata x in their eyes. after all, he’d returned with the data crystal, and the dead had all been inquest. pepa struck up a quick friendship with kekt, who was a novice at the same time, got incredibly deft at navigating unstable and heavily trapped ruins, and became a resident expert on the stone summit dwarves, in contrast to kekt’s expertise on the deldrimor. he miniaturized the VOED lens into a handheld device powerful enough to see through seven planes of magic, allowing him to detect artifacts of interest as well as curses and hidden defensive devices with relative ease, as long as they used magic. after he presented his lens to the priory’s top archaeologists, he was rewarded with his own team—the Dangerous Artifacts Recovery Krewe, or D.A.R.K.

the krewe was exactly what it said on the tin. they extracted powerful artifacts from sites around the shiverpeaks and sometimes farther afield.

caius was an iron legion tank engineer who’d been traded to the priory for a ghost expert. he designed, built, maintained, and drove the krewe’s ATV, a combination charr car/dredge drill and all around sweet ride that let them access high peaks and deep caverns. he doubled as a rocks expert who could determine whether a cave or tomb was urgently likely to collapse on their heads.

pepa’s lens and proclivities for stealth, parkour, and trap disarming would get them through a dangerous structure, while maj, a raven norn, and kekt provided historical context and insight.

renada, a former thief and fence for kryta’s bandits—identified items of interest for the priory to either examine, repatriate to their cultures of origin, or sell off to fund more research.

being trusted with founding D.A.R.K. was a major compliment, but also a test of pepa’s ability to work with other races. while gixx had no problem with pepa’s closeness to kekt, as they had great research partner chemistry, he had noticed that pepa tended to associate almost exclusively with other asura. he mistook this for common elitism, assuming pepa thought of himself as too good to work with bookahs. in reality, it was a different type of asura supremacist thought that was keeping pepa isolated from other scholars—anxiety, taught to him by his father, about abusing his intellect and curiosity to the detriment of other, more fragile races. this worry was hammered out of him in a matter of days by his new human, charr, and particularly norn teammates. but it still lingered when he had to face sylvari. around them pepa was edgy, uncertain, frustratingly polite at the cost of productivity and clear communication. he’d already let dopt down once by collaborating with inquest, and was terrified he’d do it again by causing one of these strange, delicate-looking plant people to get hurt.

in 1324, kekt was given an opportunity to specialize full time in dwarf lore, which he eagerly took. maj tried out for the rank of archon, got the promotion, and moved to the priory’s labs, and riding the tide of change, renada “pulled back” from field work after a um. workplace safety lapse. (got too curious about a cursed stone summit ritual knife she’d flagged for secure storage, took it out to look at, and got three fingers instantaneously stripped to bone. the bitch of it is, it wasn’t even one of the treasures she was thinking about pawning on the side for personal funding! the fingers still work. they’re just animated bone now.)

rather than let D.A.R.K. disband, gixx assigned two hotshot new priory members to the krewe—bonnie shaw, a kid necromancer from ascalon whose raw, unpolished skill let her talk to spirits to learn more about sites and objects, and the newly minted magister sieran. although both of them were much younger than caius or pepa, and despite pepa’s fears about working closely with a sylvari, they were all thick as thieves well before a year passed, and had a major triumph together with the discovery and destruction of the sanguinary blade. the new D.A.R.K. was less balanced and cautious than the old, but with the rookies’ enthusiasm and magical firepower they seemed unstoppable.

and then the risen moved on claw island, and everything went south fast.

#gw2 #guild wars 2 #gw2 commander #pact commander #oc: pepa #gw2 sieran #pocket talk

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theseshipsshallsail · 1 year ago

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Happy Friday, Peaches, new chapter of the reunion fic coming right up 🍑

Considering the state of the world right now, I'm going to give a quick heads-up for this chapter. It's nothing detailed, but at one point our boys are discussing a piece of artwork called the Angelus Novus - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelus_Novus - an idea that's fascinated me for years, and in doing so touch on Nazi Germany and the persecution of the Jewish race. So if you might find that triggering just skip ahead a few paragraphs after 'He flashes his teeth' and jump back in at 'Neither,” Elio says, whiskey-warm.'

You won't miss anything plot-wise, and the happy ending will still be waiting for you after 😘❤️

Chapter 5

A merry whoop is the only warning he receives before Elio zips in front of him, the whipcord muscles of his calves pumping furiously as they crest the gruelling hill. Oliver deviates to the right - clenching the handlebar tightly - then straightens from the saddle to overtake him on the downhill; emerald-green oxford flapping behind him with each bump and bend of the winding lane.

The burnished wheat fields are steeped in familiarity. As too are the sentinel sunflowers raising their befuddled blooms. They’d pedalled this route innumerable occasions their amber-coated summer: chitchatting about all and nothing as they manoeuvred side by side. Oliver knows every inch of this countryside - just as he once knew every inch of the man beside him - but it’s the overgrown track half-shielded by a rotund cedar that has him slamming on the brakes; his front tyre strewing pebbles like confetti while he just about manages to remain vertical.

“Oliver?”

Dismounting gingerly, he kicks at the pervading weeds. “Is that…”

“My spot?” Elio walks his faithful leri backwards. “I’m impressed you remember,” he says, and Oliver laughs; the crisp, monosyllabic rasp of the supremely bewildered.

“Of course I remember,” he replies, acid souring his throat. “I'm like you. I remember everything.”

The thunderbolt compulsion to investigate further is undeniable, so with a bit of nudging, tussling, and under-the-ribs poking they stomp a gulley through the thickset juniper attempting to conceal the sacrosanct sanctuary ahead.

Just like the postcard, the copse itself is interspersed with wildflowers: tall, marine pines hosting a riotous clatter of starlings in their branches when they balance their bicycles against them. The turquoise cove glistens crystalline as ever, and across the bay - with a fair amount of squinting - he’s able to parse the Perlman’s rooftop and adjacent villa where Vimini was wont to appear in her floppy hat and flamboyant outfits like some astute Mexican bandit.

“He’s oblivious, our Elio,” she’d told him one morning, gaze intent on a fractious hermit crab she’d wheedled from a low-tide rock pool. “He works so hard at pretending not to like you, yet only succeeds in deceiving himself. He does, though. I know he does,” she’d continued with that innate bluntness he found so endearing. “And it’s easy to see you like him back.”

“More than he knows,” Oliver’d confided, returning the beady-eyed crustacean to its native habitat. “And definitely more than he likes me.”

“I beg to differ,” Vimini’d muttered, jabbing at a clump of slimy seaweed. “But that’s because I’m a genius. And smarter than the pair of you combined…”

No legacy is so rich as honesty.

“The last time I came here,” Elio says, interrupting his wool-gathering. “...was the day I called you home.” Dropping to the sloped pasture, he sets about undoing his laces. “The time before that...”

“Was with me.” It’s less a question than a statement.

“Giusto.” Elio tugs off his socks. Heaps them with his mobile. “Twenty years.” He doesn’t sound accusatory, but there's a mild sort of resignation in his lilt that slashes like a blade. Lodges in his heart like a particularly intractable chigger. “Feels like forever…”

Oliver sighs. “Feels like yesterday,” he says, shucking his espadrilles as Elio cants back on his elbows, tipping his chin at the Alpi Orobie’s gushing tributary.

“The meaning of the river flowing is not that all things are changing so that we cannot encounter them twice, but that some things stay the same only by changing.” He flashes his teeth. “Have you ever heard of the Angelus Novus?”

Vaguely, Oliver thinks, having touched on the subject for a sophomore midterm. “From Walter Benjamin’s thesis?”

“A Philosophy of History,” Elio confirms, crossing his legs at the ankles. “The original is a 1920s oil-transfer produced by Paul Klee. Benjamin acquired the monoprint, but committed suicide whilst fleeing the Nazis, so bequeathed it to his friend, Gershom Scholem: an eminent academic.”

“Currently part of a collection in the Israeli Museum,” Oliver recalls, intensely curious. “What of it?”

Elio beheads a violet aster. “Well,” he begins, twirling it lazily. “According to Scholem, Benjamin felt an almost mystical identification with the image; describing it as the Angel of History. He believed it was caught in a storm,” he continues, removing the petals one-by-one. “That before it lies the past; a shambolic mass of births and deaths. Wars, won and lost. Entire generations wiped out at a despot’s whim.” A pause. “Things we humans pretend can be straightened into tidy little spreadsheets of cause and effect.” Elio discards the mangled flower. Selects a seeded dandelion instead. “In any event, the angel sees the wreckage for what it is. Wants to put things right, even. Awaken the dead. Restore what’s been smashed. But it’s stuck, tu vois? Buffeted by that almighty wind. Anxiously stumbling backwards into a future it can’t see. Unable to alter the past it can’t reach.”

“And this wind?” Oliver asks, the pull of Eros all-encompassing. “Is it fate, then? Within Scholem’s metaphor? Or the will of God, perhaps?”

“Neither,” Elio says, whiskey-warm. “It’s what one might call progress.” He smiles - sharper, brighter - then leaps up with boyish vigour; yanking the striped material of his polo-shirt over his head. “Enough of this,” he says, adding it to the pile. “No more speeches, d’accord?” And if the hypnotising glint of his Star of David wasn't liable to make Oliver’s breath stutter, the titanium bars adorning his dusky nipples damn near knock him to his knees. “Catch me if you can, Americano!” Elio yells, already wading into the shallows, so Oliver rids himself of his shirt, wallet, and watch, and prepares to give chase.

His cargo shorts should dry soon enough - better that, than chance sporting an erection in thin cotton underwear - howbeit plunging into the frigid lake he lets out an involuntary yelp, immediately deciding that’s a moot concern anyway. The current is more robust in the centre - of which his quarry conducts a beeline - and Oliver prays for his extremities as he twists into a nimble corkscrew; the tantalising peek of Elio’s pale limbs ratcheting his pulse until he surfaces from the abstract depths.

Monet’s berm comes rushing in -

The high-pitched trill of a house-martin in the stunted palms.

The shrinking roar of a vespa as it climbs the remote mountain pass.

The soporific churn of the Mediterranean below.

- and digging his toes into the shingly sediment Oliver rakes the bedraggled fringe from his bleary vision, only to end up spluttering when a barrelling wave hits him full pelt.

Elio’s giggles are like music to his ears - water-logged though they might be - yet Oliver’s not above playing dirty himself, and lunging for his wily opponent he tackles him from behind; lifting him up to spin him off-balance in retribution.

“Stronzo!” Elio cries when he almost dunks them under, but he’s beaming nonetheless as Oliver tailors them curve-to-curve, nuzzling his forehead to the velvet expanse of skin dividing his shoulders.

“You started it.”

“One of us had to,” Elio says, snaking a hand to Oliver’s waist as he wriggles about to face him, and after nine long weeks of intellectual foreplay, all other bets are suddenly off. “I’m going to kiss you, mon amour.”

“Is that so?” Oliver asks, nosing the scallop-shell dip of his clavicle.

“Assolutamente...” Livewire lips meet the tendons of his neck: a magnetic spark both seductive and searing. “Unless you tell me no, that is.”

A broken-glass cough claws at Oliver’s oesophagus. “Whyever would I tell you no?” he asks, sweeping the pad of his thumb through Elio’s soggy ringlets. “I’d give you the world if you let me.”

“If I’ll let you?”

“If that’s what you want?” Elio’s bravado turns bashful as twin specks of colour gild the apples of his cheeks. “I want you, Oliver. Us,” he says hoarsely, then banishes the gap between them; ten centimetres and two decades eradicated in a soft, powdered-sugar kiss that dissolves too-swiftly upon his tongue, leaving him inordinately famished for more.

#cmbyn fanfic #call me by your name #elio x oliver #new chapter #reunion fic

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hyba · 11 months ago

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T A G : FIND THE WORD

Thank you @chauceryfairytales for tagging me in this game!

My words are metal, full, shiver and distance. I'm going to try and focus on Murder in Heliopolis, since it's the project I'll soon be turning back to Active status.

Metal:

He moved quickly, grabbing an old silver candlestick Warda had bought from some junk auction a few years ago and thinking that this was the first time he’d been glad to have the heavy chunk of metal in his home.

Full:

The high-end residences of the sprawling suburbia were shaped like hills, giving the area its name. Rich vegetation grew over and around them, completing the image. From an aerial view, one would not think this was a place full of homes. Instead, all they would see was greenery, a large hilly field with perfectly emerald lawns and eco-parks where residents could walk, play, and enjoy nature.

Shiver:

It was a follow-up from the Novus Atlantis authorities regarding the man in the photograph that he had found in Cassia Grove’s office the day before last. As he read its contents, Laith felt a shiver run down his spine. He rushed out of the bathroom and into his office, taking a seat as he dove into the information they had sent. Once. Twice. Thrice.

Distance:

Laith shook his head, supporting himself on the back of the chair in front of her desk. “PATET doesn’t recognize the man at all. Facial recognition brings up nothing. Unless it’s a long-distance relationship, I don’t think the man in the photograph was Grove’s lover.”

This was super fun, thank you for tagging me in it! I'll leave the tag open to anyone who wants to jump in for these words: blanket, night, rip, and golden.

#murder in heliopolis #find the word tag #solarpunk #thriller #writeblr

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latislab · 2 years ago

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Finally have a name for my new project, "Viator Novus" will take you around the galaxy with your friends in a cozy environment! Obviously it's still a work in progess, but I'm really happy on how it's coming out! Let me know what you think! 🚃🪐

#vrchat #3d #worldbuilding #blender3d #space #train #b3d #blender #cozyvibes #unity3d

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ohnovei · 1 year ago

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hi boobies 😁😁 just wanted to let you guys know that i posted a new fic... if you're interested in it...

#the band ghost #ghost bc #ghost #nameless ghouls #swiss ghoul #phantom ghoul #heehee

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lgcmanager · 2 years ago

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LEGACY PROJECT: FUTURE DREAMS S006 (FINALE)

LAST TIME ON FUTURE DREAMS...

after their 'RISING' performance - last performance of the night - a break is called. the GIRLS are given the time to rest a little, change into NEW OUTFITS and redo their makeup. in in the mean time, MENTORS are taken backstage and given instructions of their own.

when filming finally reasons resumes, in a scene similar to that of JANUARY 30, the DREAMERS TEAM stands on one side of the stage, the CHALLENGERS TEAM on the opposite side. SON NABI stands on a small podium set in a little further back, in the middle of the stage, with a large display screen behind her. after a short exchange, the MCs leave the stage to LEGACY ENTERTAINMENT's CEO, PARK JEONGAN. "in a few moment, the girls joining SON NABI in the new girl group will be announced. but first, i have the pleasure to reveal the concept and name of this new group." he begins. "from the feminine for of 'novus' meaning 'new', this group is to represent the current generation and trends, ever evolving, ever shining. they are: 'NOVA'!" right on cue, the logo and name of the group appear on the screen at the back of the stage. after a few seconds the positions previously revealed appear under the name of the group:

LEADER x 1

CHARISMA or PERSONALITY or VISUAL x 2

VOCAL x ?

DANCER x ?

furthermore, NABI's profile picture appear under the text with her position written under: CENTER, DANCER.

at this moment, the show PRODUCER chimes in, explaining that every time JEONGAN announces the name of a girl, she must come to the front center of the stage where their MENTOR will give them their COMPLETED WISHING JAR, now closed and also containing SOLAR LIGHTS. following this, the MENTOR will get off the stage to return to their original seat in the crowd and the NEW MEMBER will be given time for a one minute speech. she will then have to stand at the back, next to nabi.

after this short interruption, PARK JEONGAN continues where he left of. "first, joining as LEADER and VOCAL... KWON SENA." as instructed by the producer, JEONGAN moves aside, leaving the center stage to SENA who receives her completed jar from her mentor, LEE JIHO. after her speech, she then joins NABI at the back on the podium, making her the second official member of NOVA. on the screen, her profile picture appears next to nabi's, the word LEADER disappearing from the available position and appearing under her picture with the word VOCAL.

"second, joining as DANCER and VISUAL... WATANABE MIYU." the same happens with MIYU. with the word VISUAL disappearing from the available positions, and the number going down from 2 to 1. the question mark next to dancer changes to 2 before the whole line disappears and the word appears under MIYU's profile, leaving only VOCAL as available position.

"third, joining as VOCAL... SEO MINSEO." the same happens with MINSEO, without any word disappearing from the available positions this time.

"fourth, joining as PERSONALITY and VOCAL... YU MILAN." once again, the producer instructions are following. this time the whole line disappears from the available positions, with PERSONALITY and VOCAL appearing under her profile picture.

with 5 members in the group already, it's clear that JEONGAN knows that people suspect that the line up is likely to be completed soon. "next, joining as VOCAL... KIM NAYOUNG." once again the mentor delivers the completed wishing jar and after her speech, NAYOUNG joins the other girls on the podium. when her profile and position appears, the question mark next to vocal changes to 4 before the line fully disappears, leaving only NOVA and MEMBERS pictures, as well as their positions on the screen.

"please give a warm applause to the SIX MEMBERS of NOVA." JEONGAN announces proudly. meanwhile AHN JAEHWA enters the scene to give NABI a STAR CROWN to hold in lieu of a wishing jar. once she's exited the stage, the MCs come back for the closing words. thanking the viewers and participants for this successful 6th season of future dreams.

( ooc note: CONGRATULATIONS to the 6 members of NOVA. for making it in the final lineup, you receive +10 NOTORIETY. you can link this post to your points sheet. )

POST-SHOW

after all the girls have changed back to their personal clothes, KIM HYUNCHEOL and NABI's manager, GEUM SHINHYE, join them in their waiting room. "this has been a long day for all of you, following weeks of hard work." hyuncheol beings "therefore, the company has decided to give the contestants of future dreams A WEEK OFF. during that time, the NOVA members are required to move to their new dorm. you will be living in the same building as CRYSTALLIS, on a different level. NABI you’ll be heading to LOS ANGELES from APRIL 4 to APRIL 8 to film the MV of your SOLO song."

dorm arrangements:

ROOM A: SEO MINSEO, SON NABI, YU MILAN

ROOM B: KIM NAYOUNG, KWON SENA, WATANABE MIYU

"your appointed manager, SHINHYE" he politely gestures towards the young woman, "will be living in the floor above with CRYSTALLIS' managers. she’ll also be accompanying NABI in LOS ANGELES. finally, from here on, SHINHYE's word is law and order to you, and we aren't likely to meet much, so i want to give you my sincerely congratulations for becoming idols and wish you the best of luck." he gives the members of nova a warm smile.

next, he gathers the rest of the contestants: "there are some changes coming for you 5 too. however, details will be revealed after your week off. take the time to relax, see friends and family, eat good food and do things that make you happy. during the week, you'll also have to move in a regular trainee dorm TOGETHER. we'll meet on APRIL 10 and i'll share with you everything about TEAM UNKNOWN."

dorm arrangements:

ROOM 1: LIU YUXI, YANG ERA, NOH AREUM

ROOM 2: CHA SORI, KIM YUJIN, PARK JAEKYUNG

( ooc note: changes will be made official on the LGC MASTER SHEET soon after we ( the admins ) get through everything! )

RANKING PROCESS

as always, with this season finished, we would like to use the remaining bit of this post to reveal some of the details behind the ranking process. first fd6 was divided in 3 PARTS, the sum of which decided who made it into the final group with the exception of NOH AREUM and YANG AERA. in general, in all parts of this season, we've put emphasis on the CONTENT of the requirements; not only checking if the requirements were completed but the QUALITY of said requirements.

PART 0: THE AUDITION. before anything, we had POINTS PRE-QUALIFIERS based on the DIRECTION of the group; having a MINIMUM of 25 points in ACTING, A MINIMUM 50 points in SINGING and unless ALL PERFORMANCE POINTS were OVER 100, RAP couldn't be ABOVE SINGING AND DANCING. any muse having passed that were then evaluated on POSITION(S) picked, ACTIVITY, IC CONDUCT, and finally the SOLO.

PART 1: had no actual elimination, but emphasis on the ACTING challenge. once again, the points, positions picked and quality of the solos had an impact here

PART 2/FINALE: the members were decided on a points cumulation of PART 0 (audition and conduct), PART 1 (interview and acting solo) and PART 2 (interview, representative song, position challenge and minimum requirements). for the REPRESENTATIVE SONG, rather than scoring the requirement itself, we wanted to figure out which characters would be comfortable or not with NOVA's concept. in the end, which each requirements were graded between 1 to 3, and the total decided who made it in the final group, with anybody (once again, except NOH AREUM and YANG AERA) with over 20 points out of 24 making it in.

DISCLAIMER: not ALL future dreams follow this scoring system, but for this season this is how it went! next season could be a totally different one so do not expect it to be the same since at the end of the day, this is a roleplay and we wanted you to have some fun. if you have any questions regarding the rankings, feel free to ask the main about it and we’ll do our best to answer it!

#lgc:futuredreams #lgc:q22023

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bunnyinatree · 1 year ago

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ALRIGHT. Let me tell you about Stallion Quartermane the way I see him: Italian, trans, and ABSOLUTE BLORBO. because ur tags almost indicated interest in my interp of him and I want to rotate him at you if you don't mind :3

So, him being italian. My brain could not fucking wrap around Stallion Quartermane being the only Marleybonian horse. I *GET* that it's an animal pun to Allan Quatermain, a British character written by a British author, but MY BRAIN WOULD NOT LET ME BE OKAY WITH IT. So instead I was like 'okay do we have other European horses? Oh yes we do! The Valencians! (they're unicorns not horses but shhhhh maybe Stallion was just born different or maybe unhorned horsefolk exist in Valencia IDK)'. Hence, Italian Stallion Quartermane.

And him being transmasc. It was an accident. I was writing something. Like a snippet of the Old One's records about Stallion. And I misgendered Stallion via typo: I meant to write 'male' and instead wrote 'mare'. I.E., a female horse. I did not notice the typo until like MONTHS later when I went to look for that old writing. And instead of correcting it, I was like 'fuck it. He's transmasc now. Oldie was writing about Stallion's physicality as an AFAB horse or whatever' And because I myself am transmasc, I got to PROJECT shit onto Stallion now :D

So now he's two major degrees of separation different from his canon self. And there was a lot I could explore with like... his personal assimilation and him stuffing his nationality AND his genderqueerness in a closet, and how something something connecting that to how he founded the SGS whose main goal is to discover and assimilate nations into the Marleybonian empire and stuff their cultures into a storage closet or museum.

And in my AU of Wizard101, the story diverges from canon before Arc 4 can begin. Which means I have a Stallion with an intensely new and different PRESENT as well as as PAST. And he's physically incapable of going on his canon arc in Lemuria because canon is now broken, which gives him the opportunity to become a completely different character.

It's so fun. He's colonized my braincells and I've queerified his. I am normal (lie) about this old man

I am most definitely interested in hearing your thoughts! :D I really adore the heroes of Lemuria, and even if Stallion Quartermane isn't my favorite of that group, he is still the template for all of them, and I think his character is a lot of fun. I love his upbeat voice and his little catchphrase of, "To adventure!" 🥰 I also love hearing opinions about characters from people who have stronger opinions about them than me! 💖

That's so interesting about all of the Valencians being unicorns! :0 I actually didn't notice that before--or rather, I didn't make the distinction between the horse characters and the unicorn characters! The only other horses besides Quartermane that I can think of are the Golden Horde from Catmandu, at the beginning of Novus. Fascinating! Maybe he has family from both Valencia and Marleybone, or he's a Valencian who was raised in Marleybone? 🤔

That is hilarious about the male/mare typo! 😆 It's like a Freudian slip, but for uncovering the trans potential of a beloved character 💕✨ I also think it's really fun to have a trans headcanon for a character who fits into a stereotypical/gendered role. Quartermane is a rugged, dashing adventurer--but somehow, his performance is so over-the-top that it comes across as campy, almost. He reminds me a lot of Sea Hawk from the She-Ra reboot! C: They even have the same catchphrase!

That's super cool about your AU, too! I love altering things in canon to see how characters would react under different circumstances and how they might grow into different people when the story is tweaked even a little bit to the left :) I support Stallion Quartermane being trans and Italian, not just in your AU but in the canon material, as well! 🇮🇹🏳️‍⚧️

#asks #stormbreaker101 #trans quartermane would also fit pretty well into the canon lemuria plotline!#since the old one was so into the idea of creating heroes under the right circumstances...#it makes sense that he would look at a trans person who chose their own fate and think of that as a kind of exceptional heroism :')#anyway tysm for sending these asks <3 they were a delight to stumble upon and read yesterday! C:

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kronosfm · 2 years ago

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JANUARY 7, 2040.

the dawn of a new decade is ushered in by fireworks, popped champagne bottles, and the promise of something great. or so says robert buchanan at his annual gala. every year since kronos’ inception, he has unveiled a new project, from mind-blowing virtual reality in 2028 to the robots in 2033 that changed the landscape of A.I. as we knew it.

so what will 2040 bring?

only what some simply dream of.

a super serum. the announcement sends a ripple through robert’s guests seated for dinner, and as he launches into a speech about new beginnings and a way to the future, a pair of twins standing behind him are handed vials of pale blue liquid. it’s bottom’s up and waiting with bated breath until one of them lifts her hand, levitating a fountain of champagne glasses off a table. her brother makes bolts of electricity sing through the air, creating a lightshow to rival fireworks set off at midnight.

robert smiles and extends his hands. “thanks to the tireless work of our brilliant minds at kronos, anyone can be super.”

ooc information:

welcome to our first event and the opening of kronosfm! all characters have been cordially invited to robert buchanan’s new year gala held in the novus museum of modern art. after dinner and the unveiling of the super serum, guests are free to dance, drink, and mingle throughout the night with the entire museum at their disposal.

interactions may now begin, and the event will run from january 27 - february 17 with the in-game date being the evening of saturday, january 7, 2040.

additionally, you may make a post about your muse's outfit if you wish, but it's not required. posts can be tagged as kronosevent1.

#kronosevent1 #kronosplot

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mysteroads · 1 year ago

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Chapter 7: Black Ice and Ash

White hot fury boiled up and Beetlejuice barely stopped himself from cutting loose. He did kick a tree, which unlike Lydia's human kicks, left a hole and web of deep fissures.

An equine snort distracted him and he turned slowly, eyeing the unicorn half concealed by some thorny bushes. "Okay then, change of plans," he gritted and teleported over.

The unicorn gave a startled whinny, rearing, but he was faster and grabbed it by the horn, forcing it back down. Their magic crackled and clashed through the physical contact, but he simply shoved his forward like a shield and held on through the pain. "Listen here, asshole," he snarled and let his glamor drop briefly, enough to show the fangs and glowing eyes, "the humans don't know it, but all I need is your damn horn. So if you don't want this snapped off, then you'd better—"

His threat was cut off as another unicorn materialized through the bushes and kicked him. Hard.

“It’s like the velociraptors from that stupid dinosaur movie,” he thought, stunned, “It’s the one you don’t see that kills you.” right before he was kicked again.

He staggered, released the horn, then tripped as the ground vanished under him. Too surprised to catch himself, he landed heavily. Pain lanced up his arm, and what breath he had left him. He lay there in the dirt, eyes wide as his arm throbbed with an ache that went more than bone deep.

Earlier that summer, he’d broken his arm. Normally, after an injury, he’d hole up in his room and wait out the healing process in private, but this break had been bad. Bad enough that he’d gone into the first stages of shock, and so Lydia had gone behind his back and called Charles for help. Charles had come running, and Beetlejuice received a second shock when the man had taken care of him as if Beetlejuice were his own kid, not his daughter’s weird tagalong. He hadn’t freaked out or even flinched at seeing Beetlejuice stripped of glamor. Just the opposite: He’d gotten more gentle and kind. It had been a revelation. It had been a fucking miracle.

That stormy day had been the first time in his long life that Beetlejuice got to feel what having a dad was like. And now, these glorified magic mules were refusing to save Charles Deetz.

Yeah. That wasn’t going to fly.

“Okay, you prancy fucks!” Beetlejuice jumped out of the pit trap, but didn’t land, instead floating a foot off the ground. “I have had it!” He felt the outer layers of his glamor give way and just… didn’t give a fuck. Not right now. Not with the rage pumping like molten copper through his veins and turning him crimson.

“I have been nice! I’ve been as sweet as a fucking saint! I was willing to talk! Well, that is over! I am officially pissed off!” He reached into his pocket and pulled out an ancient, iron foothold trap. The dark iron caught the angles of light and sparked back the color of rust and blood. “You wanna play rough? Wish fuckin’ granted! Time for old school pain, assholes!”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sir Novus lurch up to his feet. Even from this distance and with such a small face, he could see how the elf blanched the same color as the mushroom he stood on. “W-W-Where didst thou g-get that?” Novus demanded, pointing at the trap, his voice shrill. “That is one of the great evils! The Iron Jaws!”

Beetlejuice turned his snarl on Novus. “Where do you think I got it, elf?”

Novus didn’t reply, he just turned and bolted, jumping from mushroom to mushroom. Beetlejuice didn’t let him get more than two feet before using magic to yank the elf into his hand. Novus struggled harder than he ever had before, shouting, “It was thou! Thou were one of them! One of the betrayers who brought fire and death! Thou monster!”

“Shut the fuck up,” Beetlejuice snapped and shoved him into a pocket. “Stay in there unless you want to die.” Gods, he was so angry. Just so damn angry and it felt… good.

No, fuck good. It felt amazing.

Sometimes he forgot just how much power he kept tucked away in a safe little box marked 'do not touch.' He’d unlocked that box to save Lydia from fellow demons at the start of the summer. He’d unlock it now to save Charles and to hell with the consequences. Demon magic didn’t work on unicorns.

But Eldritch Power did.

The air around him shimmered with heat, then flipped the other direction. Frost crawled across the ground, then climbed up into the trees, stretching with eager fingers to coat everything in a layer of brittle white. First twigs and leaves, then the smaller branches began to break off, shattering as they hit the ground, flash frozen in an instant. The big limbs began to creak, little pops echoing down their length, and cracks appeared in the bark like wounds. One limb gave up and severed itself from the tree with a crash, sending frozen shrapnel flying everywhere. One bit sliced his face, he knew it, but he didn’t feel anything more than pressure as the cut resealed itself. No pain, huh? Neat perk. He’d have to remember that. Usually everything died too fast for him to learn any side benefits of tapping this power.

Delia ran over to the edge of the growing circle of destruction, eyes wide. “Beetlejuice!” She tried to step closer to him, but stopped as her breath turned into a cloud of vapor and she began to shiver. “BJ, please, you said we had plenty of time!”

“I lied!” he shouted, whirling on her, fists clenched tight. “I lied, Delia! I have no idea how long we have! Charles could have a heart attack in a week, or tomorrow, or he could be having it right now!” His voice broke on those last two words. “Don’t know about you, but I’m not willing to risk it!”

“Beej!” It was Lydia this time. She got closer to him than Delia had managed, but her lips were already darkening toward blue and she had to move back. “BJ, you can’t do this! I know what you’re working up to do, and you can’t go all supernova! Not here!” She sounded desperate, which he didn’t like to hear.

He nodded, then snapped his fingers and an oval of silver appeared in the air a few feet from Lydia. “You’re right. I can’t with you here. Say the words and go home, all of you.” His eyes turned in the direction the unicorns had gone and a growl rumbled out of his chest. “I’ll be finished soon.”

“No! You can’t kill them! You’ll kill everything else too!”

Okay. That tore it. Who the hell did she think she was, telling him what he could and couldn’t do? "Did you forget I'm a fucking demon, Lydia? You think I wouldn't raze this whole forest to the ground to save what's mine, and sleep like a goddamn baby afterward?"

“I don’t think you’d sleep like a baby, BJ.” The voice was Barbara’s. He blinked. She was right next to him. When had that happened? “You’re scared for Charles,” she continued in that same gentle voice, “but this isn’t the right way to help him, and you know that.”

“How the fuck would you know?” he growled.

Unlike the still breathing humans, the ghost didn’t seem to be as affected by the supernatural cold. At least, her hand wasn’t shaking as she reached out and brushed her fingers across his cheek. They came back stained black. “Because you’re crying.”

He stared at her and blinked again, this time feeling the sting of icy tears crystalizing on his lashes. A hand over the one that held the trap distracted him and he looked down. It was Adam this time. The ghost’s hand felt warm, which told Beetlejuice just how cold he’d gotten. Adam gave Beetlejuice’s hand a tight, comforting squeeze, and Beetlejuice slowly, reluctantly let the trap fall to the ground.

The sound of metal hitting frozen earth was loud, far louder than it should’ve been, and it jolted him backwards. Before he could stumble again, Adam had pulled him into a tight hug, and Barbara wrapped her arms around him as well. Their warmth thawed the cold, and he lost his grip on the power he’d been gathering. It melted away and left him feeling hollow, except for the twin claws of misery and shame scratching at the inside of his ribs.

Burying his face in Adam’s shoulder, he broke down in a silent flood, the tears falling well past the point they warmed and stopped running black.

He didn’t know when the ghosts pulled him away from the frozen spot and sat him down, or when Delia and Lydia came to sit beside him. With Adam behind him, Delia and Barbara on either side, and Lydia leaning her shoulder against his drawn up knees, he finally started to feel close to normal again. Sniffling, he scrubbed at his face with a sleeve. “Sorry,” he whispered.

“It’s okay,” Delia said, carding her fingers through his hair, bushing away black ash to reveal the purple, then pulling his head down to rest on her shoulder. “We’re scared for him too.”

“If I had demon powers, I would’ve blown up a lot sooner than you did,” Lydia admitted, leaning her head on his knees. “I’ve been barely keeping it together.” She gave him a halfhearted smile. “You lasted longer than I thought you would, but I didn’t expect you to pull out the nuclear options. But at least you didn’t go all ‘void of space’, so that’s good.”

He blinked in surprise. “Huh? You expected me to blow up?”

“You’ve been purple and red all day,” Barbara told him softly.

He had? Really? “Shiiiiit,” he sighed, and leaned a little harder against Delia.

They sat quietly for a little while longer, then Adam asked tentatively, "What was Sir Novus talking about, BJ?"

Beetlejuice glanced at the iron trap— now damaged beyond use after being frozen and thawed so quickly— and shivered, closing his eyes. Did he want to talk about it? Not really. But he probably owed them an explanation after almost going nuclear like that. "It was a really shitty time in my life. And I guess it’s the real reason why I don’t like unicorns, other than them being sparkly pricks. I don’t like rememberin’ what happened. To be clear though, there was only one traitor, and it wasn't me. I was just there for the job."

#beetlejuice musical #fanfiction #found family #beetlejuice #ao3 #the color of a heartbeat #Short chapter so I'm putting it all here too #We get tragic backstory in the next chapter!#Angst!#My Works

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