#quintessence tribe lore

[blacklight-ghoulette]

Aether and Omega's tattoos

Took me a loooot longer than intended to finish these, but I finally have them figured out to where I'm happy with them.

Aether

Omega

lengthy blurb about them under the cut

Omega's were designed by the lovely @theproblematiclife, I did a few tiny tweaks to work them into a bit of my lore-- namely, the bands on his arms.

The healer tribes mostly have clan tattoos that cover a sizable portion of their upper body in solid blocks of ink, typically adorned with simple geometric patterns and shapes.

The bands on their arms indicate their prowess with their element. Kits just beginning to learn have a single thin band around the middle of their arm, usually given to them at the same time they start having their clan patterns inked in.

Once they've learned the very basics of the aether (recognizing it, being able to open their mind's eye and see the currents around them, and being able to direct its flow) they earn their second band right above the first, signaling that they are ready to learn how to use it to heal. They start with learning medicines, slowly working up to using the aether to mend physical wounds. When their clan elders determine them capable they are given their third band--the thickest and highest one on their upper arm--and are then sent on their Trials. They'll spend the next two or three years travelling across Hell, going from village to village, to offer aid and healing as its needed. Some will go from place to place in short order, while others tend to find one spot and stay there for an extended amount of time before moving on.

During their Trials they hone their skills, the more powerful healers typically focusing on specific type of healing, which gain them a new set of tattoo bands just below their elbow. These are referred to as mastery bands which consist of a wide top band, thin middle band, and a medium-sized lower band, which are given for different strengths and abilities that they have gained and learned, with the full 3 being the highest amount they can earn.

The wide red bands on Omega's wrists are shun markings, a visual indication that he's been cast out from his tribe. While he used to hide them, since being on earth he's become accustomed to leaving them uncovered.

[thedxckpond]

[DEATH] - What is their view on the cycle of life? Do they believe in reincarnation? - Quin

Oh yes you've hit the ghoul lore part of my brain

In the tribe Quin was raised in, they lived next to a lake. Much of the tribe's life revolves around the lake: they're born there, they're buried there, celebrations and rituals take place in and around the lake, and it's just a part of life there. Within the lake resides a spirit/goddess/being they worship, Our Lady of the Lake. It was by her power that when Rain ate Quin on the shore of the lake, Quin was able to sort of attach her soul to her brother's, and it was in the lake that years later the ghouls performed the ritual to give Quin her own body, which Our Lady of the Lake helped with.

Quin has a very...loosey-goosey relationship with death. Her thing is "I've already died once, it'll be fine." That plus her being a quintessence ghoul and being very connected with the energy in everything, her view is basically "from the elements we come, and to the elements we will return." Reincarnation isn't really a thing in her beliefs, but she does think reincarnation exists within other beliefs, if that makes sense?

[sad-sad-detective]

If water ghouls take in orphaned ghouls do the other types do that like fire earth air or quintessenc?

Hello again!

All ghoul tribes protect and take care of little ones, but some tribes - like water or quintessence ghouls - are more likely to take in orphans from other tribes or hybrids.

Your question gave me some food for thought, btw! This part of the ghoul lore looks very interesting to explore.

[agentduckorico]

any thoughts on aether?? or just. all of the ghouls

I'll give some general lore and then zoom in on Aeth

Five different elements of ghouls (fire, water, earth, air, and Quintessence), plus hybrids that take on two elements (like Dew, fire/water, Swiss, fire/earth, Mist, water/air, or Sunshine, air/fire) and one of the elements is dominant. Quintessence is different, being a mutation rather than an inherited element (or when a fallen angel joins the clergy and is transformed into a ghoul, they only become quintessence ghouls), so one cannot be a quintessence hybrid, though their inherited element can be noticeable sometimes.

Each element has a physical attribute that marks the ghoul as that element. Fire ghouls have thick, leathery skin; water ghouls have patches of fur; earth ghouls have patches of bark/moss or craggy rock depending on if they're of a stone tribe or a life tribe; air ghouls have patches of feathers; quintessence ghouls have fur. Hybrids will have a mix of their attributes. For example Dew, a fire/water ghoul has thick, leathery skin as well as patches of blood red scales in places on his body. A quintessence ghoul born to air parents would be covered in fur but also have bits of feathers here and there.

Aether, being a fallen angel turned quintessence ghoul, is covered in fur. It's nice and soft, like rabbit's fur, and it'll stand up if he's angry or scared, to make him look bigger. The others in the pack LOVE it, they use him as a teddy bear sometimes, or they'll stim by running their fingers through his fur, which always makes him purr.

[unnecessarybeltbuckles]

Hey ny’all, finally, here’s a summary of points of interest I found in Shang Tsung’s mk11 gear, skins, moves, etc. Mostly small notes of references and new things, as well some personal observations. Hope you get something out of it~~

A couple of General Notes

There’s a bunch of references to Onaga throughout Shang’s gear (Skin: Onaga’s resurrector; Scroll: Onaga’s cryptic magic; Soul Phylactery: Soulbreath of the Dragon King; etc). It looks like they’re buffing his association with the Outworld Dragon King real hard (though in the previous iterations he was only interested in Onaga after Quan Chi discovered the tomb and sought Shang Tsung out to help him, huh). If we see Shang in a future game and they don’t trash everything from MK11, I’ll bet big money that his main motives are going to involve Onaga. It’s an interesting turn on his character, when he’s supposedly loyal to Shao Kahn. I think it’s relatedly somewhat significant that Shang has a lot of dragons in his design, alongside his usual snakes, this time round. 

And a really general note: a rule of thumb for gear, if you want to hunt for references yourself — if you see a name in a gear that seems really out of place and you don’t recognize, there’s a good chance it’s a developer’s name. 

Gear

Bracers

Tokens of Shao Kahn’s Favor — it could be false airs, but I thought it was interesting that Shao Kahn would grant Tsung these special bracers (and they look like snakes, adorable) when Tsung’s his bound servant. Shao doesn’t seem the type to bestow gifts on servants. Does Shao Kahn actually favor Shang Tsung? Who knows. 

Soulsnake Arms — You’ve heard of soulnados, now get ready for

Z’ankarian Forged Bracers — As revealed in the Krypt, the Z’ankarian empire was one of Onaga’s greatest allies, who were tricked and crushed by Shao Kahn when he came to reign. Another off-handed reference to Onaga. 

Bracers of Mendalgavia — As revealed in the Krypt, the Mendalgavians were a race of cyclops from the Chaos realm wiped out by the Seidan. 

Korloven Imperial Bracers — The Korloven were briefly mentioned in the Krypt as being wiped out by the Shokan, no mention of what they even were. 

Armor of the Kafallah Warlocks — Now these guys are interesting because, according to new Krypt lore, they were an ancient cult of Outworld sorcerers who worked closely with Outworld Kahns with the secret agenda of bringing about Netherrealm’s conquest; they were supposedly found and wiped out, but this seems right up Tsung’s alley. I could definitely see a possible association.

Ancient Scrolls 

Spells of Tarkata’s Augerers — Apparently, Tarkatans have their own system of magick and clairvoyance 

Zaterran Conjuring Rituals — Zaterrans (like Reptile) apparently also have their own system of magick

Handscroll of Vaeternus — Vaeternus is the home of the Vampires, although we haven’t seen any of them in this timeline

Divine Words of Ashrah — eyy Ashrah cameo

Soul Phylacteries 

Poached Will of the Matoka — Matoka is the tribe that Nightwolf comes from

Last Remnants of Searealm — A new mention of a realm, which apparently was somehow destroyed

Stolen Lives of Sun Do — According to the Krypt, Sun Do is the village that Tsung and Quan Chi enslaved during the events of Deadly Alliance (interesting that this event is referenced multiple times when it didn’t happen in this timeline…)

Decanted Lightrealm Essence — Another new mention of a realm

Vital Spark of Vaeternus — Another reference to the realm of the Vampires

Distilled Spirit of Jerrod — Apparently, Tsung is able to isolate King Jerrod (King of Edenia)’s soul from Ermac (rest in pieces). Why does he specifically want it so bad? 

Quan Chi’s Quintessence — I’m still living for this reference where this little bottle looks even looks like Quan Chi. I do think it’s worth to note that Tsung has Quan Chi’s quintessence, a step above just his essence… and just the fact that he sought to hunt it down and keep it in the first place and it’s the last item on the list. C’mon. Could he be hanging onto it for a possible resurrection? I think it’s possible.  

Skins

Student of Death — I know skins are really low-tier when it comes to canon legitimacy, but I think the idea of Tsung possibly studying under Shinnok is VERY interesting

Shao Kahn’s Seer — The idea of Tsung being Shao Kahn’s seer, a sort of oracle, caught me by surprise, especially at the implication that this was a major role for Tsung under Shao Kahn. We haven’t heard about it before but apparently Tsung has significant skills involving divination and fortune-telling. (and, Shang Tsung has probably lied to Shao Kahn by it. Many times.)

Moves - subtle observations about Shang’s character through his moves

-Most of his sorcery involves his hands, summoning and directing magick/energy through the motion of his hands

-Alongside, his pyromantic abilities seem particularly hand-oriented; generating fireskulls through his hands, summoning and guiding fire, using fire in hand blows, and the new ability where he swipes at the ground and it creates fiery gouges in the earth. (Just a personal note of something of a headcanon here, I imagine that these fiery gouges and things like the magma pool that opens beneath the opponent in Shang’s throw are his ability to super-heat the earth till it briefly turns to magma/lava, because he’s just that kool)

-Okay so the scroll and its associated abilities are a subject of great interest to me. Corpse drop especially — it seems so out of place for Tsung’s abilities. Tsung does deal with souls, yes, but he’s never expressed truly necromantic abilities before now; the ability to summon a marred corpse from the sky comes seemingly out of nowhere for his character. He also uses the scroll to cast debuffs on his opponents and buffs for himself, surrounding the enemy in red and purple auras respectively — similar to Quan Chi’s magick circles. The scroll is also used to amplify soul energy and expulses purple energy in his back throw. All of these colors, green red and purple, are colors associated with Quan Chi’s magick. Most notably, the purple and red magick aren’t otherwise present in Tsung’s sorcery except with the scroll. This, combined with the fact that the necromantic move seems so out of place for him — well, I think there’s a distinct possibility that, in the least, the scroll was not originally of Shang Tsung’s possession. Whatever you want to conclude with that theory. 

Fatalities

Both of Tsung’s fatalities are, in the least, unconventional

-In “Kondemned to the Damned,” he summons two zombie-like being from a fiery pit in the ground who appear to be remnants of Shaolin Monks, after raising his opponent in magical binds which is a thing he can apparently do. The zombie-monks (I initially thought they were a couple of the servants from Tsung’s island but proved this to be incorrect, thanks mk wiki) have glowing green eyes, suggesting that they may be reanimated with some soul power. Once again, to note, Shang Tsung is displaying necromantic abilities that we haven’t seen before— and the rupturing of these zombies from a fiery pit seems rather hell-ish. Maybe he’s learned some new tricks from hellish sources. Maybe I ship ShangChi and look for connections in all probable venues. Who knows. 

Then, his “Shokan Reborn” fatality has many new implications. Shang Tsung never had a particular connection to Kintaro, other than by proximity to Shao Kahn and Goro. This might suggest that Tsung has a stronger tie to the Shokan as a whole than originally suggested (or, maybe, he just thinks they’re neat). Kintaro is “reborn” through the body of another living being, which begs many questions; can Tsung resurrect anyone like this? Why does he have Kintaro’s soul on speeddial? Is a living body required? What’s the extent of this resurrection — does it tear the person apart then disperse after a few seconds, or is it more permanent? Is it just a neat ploy for a neat fatality that will never be seen again? Probably. Note that again Kitaro’s eyes are glowing green, indicative that if this is truly a resurrection, or merely a temporary summoning, he is likely completely subservient to Shang Tsung’s will, zombie-like. 

I hope this was at least mildly interesting, I enjoyed hunting through the nooks and crannies of this character. If you ever want to discuss anything about Shang Tsung ever, please feel free to pop into my inbox :)

[slashtakemylife]

Voltron x ATLA x LOK fusion

A prompt or idea of sorts of the Voltron characters that follows a bit on the ATLA and LOK storylines with little changes, I also added a bit of Voltron’s lore into it

It’s a bit long and I in fact cover 3 arcs from beggining to finish but there are some blank spots which is why it won’t be made into a full fic but I hope you enjoy the ride

Allura, an airbender and the Avatar finds herself in the last and most prominent of the Air Temples being decimated by the Fire Nation, in order to protect her from the Fire Lord’s rage, her father, knocks her out and send her with Coran and her bison away, they catch a storm and when they go down the water she freezes them

- time skip of only a few years - (10?)

Keith, is a firebender from Republic City looking for his missing brother Shiro, his last clue sent him to the South Pole were a stranded Fire Nation boat may have more information on his wereabouts, he sees a south pole-ner? looking at his reflexion on an ice, he tries to bypass him but Lance, a waterbender from the South Tribe spots him, he then wants to capture Keith, who he thinks is a Fire Nation soldier, to impress the ladies and fellas at home however Keith gets the upper hand and easily defeats him, leaving him on the floor covered in snow, Lance in a tantrum brings forth a giant ice that has Allura and Coran along with their bison, named something that I would love if it sounds similar to the Castle of Lions (Cas? just straigth out Castle?)

Allura doesn’t trust Keith because he is fire nation, Keith doesn’t give af and leaves them to reach that ship and they separate, Allura goes with Lance, however Lotor, the exiled prince shows up, Allura can easily beat Lotor but he sends his soldiers to attack the village.

After Keith finds what he needed in the ship, he knows Lotor is attacking them due to the smoke of his ship so he goes to help, that is how he gains Allura’s trust, Keith tells them he is looking for Shiro, he is an important metalbender that has helped keep Republic City safe, however he was sent to Ba Sing Se to help protect it with a few of their squad, they succeed but he ends up captured, there are rumors on him being alive but no one can do anything, thus Keith leaving, he knows he is close

Allura, Coran, Lance and Keith go save Shiro from an ice prision, (long haired Shiro), he has no arm but when he finds metal he uses his bending to create one, while his metal arm works as a natural hand, he still needs some adjustment time to get used and learn how to bend with just one arm, he tells them their most important task is to protect and train the Avatar, Republic City is the most advanced, heavily protected city and is filled with masters that would gladly teach the avatar, btw Allura can’t reach the pasts Avatars and her Avatar state is either weaken or she just can’t reach it, they think it’s a spiritual thing, remember this detail ;)

And then this is the reason this is just like a prompt because basically the next part is just Lotor giving chase and shenanigams happen, in the middle they find Hunk, an earthbender who’s village has been taken by the FN and took his father, they liberate them all and he joins them in their quest, they go to an air temple were a group of non benders has taken over the temple, they were seeking refuge from the fire nation and found the temple, they are tech junkies, once the FN took notice there was someone in the temple they attacked, their inventions helped protect them but with little resources they knew a second wave would decimate them, Sam agreed to be taken away so long as the temple was spared, his son was also taken away as guarantee, Katie Holt just knows his father and brother mysteriously disappeared, leaving Colleen in charge, she escapes as goes by the name of Pidge to avoid being discovered and joins the team

So they reach Republic City (I have to say it’s mostly Adashi but there is story, bare with me please) were Shiro (obviously) reunites with his husband Adam and gives them a place to stay in their home, he wants to announce Allura as the Avatar and begin her training, Adam tells him not to, apparently there is a new issue

Sendak, the equalist, they say he can take bending away and has been kidnapping benders and striping them of their bending to create a benderless world, the kidnappers are expert at close combat that use chi blocking and electricity to kidnap them, this makes Shiro nervous, so they wait out

Next day finds Adam not going to work, Shiro asks if it’s okay given the situation and Adam says he is just a worried husband caring for his recently appeared husband

The truth is the next, Adam is the highest ranking non-bender in the police force, they obviously prefer benders and of course there is the police force of only metal benders, Shiro is a high rank officer (even Chief maybe?) before he was deployed to aid Ba Sing Se from an incoming attack, Adam had a hard time proving himself as a non bender in the police force, the way he reached the top was with his amazing fighting skills and chi blocking, he uses the later to handle benders, so many people in the police force were wary of him, everything Adam fought for, all the time he took to convince the benders he was equal to them, died in 5 seconds when this radical dude showed up (ADASHI TIME! Can I interest you with in-training yet prodigy metal bender Shiro crushing hard on also in-training Adam as he decimates his 5th bender opponent with his bare non-bending hands?)

While they had yet to investigate him fully, he feels uncomfortable since everyone is suspicious of him, some think he is their true leader. So Adam is using Shiro as an excuse to ask for an early vacations to take care of him and also, Adam does want to take care of Shiro, come on! He hasn’t seen Shiro since his deployment nearly four years ago and after he was announced as missing in action, his little brother who lives with them, just dissapears as well so yeah, Adam is not letting his boys out of his watch Ever Again

Again there’s a reason this is a prompt or I don’t know but smth smth happens, Allura is discovered to be the Avatar, they find Sam, he knows part of Honerva’s plan I’ll cover in a few, smth smth, time skip XD then Adam is having an interview done, since he is the highest rank non-bender they want an interview regarding the recent equalizer events, in reality they just give an introduction on who Adam is, the interviewer does the “what you think” question and goes to commercial

There in the radio booth is Sendak and he wants Adam to support the movement since he is one of the most prominent non-benders there is, transmission comes back and instead of a pro-equalists speech, Adam makes a pro-benders one (even mentioning how the love of his life it’s a bender for extra tears)

So anyway, Shiro realizes it’s a trap and he desperately tries to reach Adam but unfortunately Adam gets kidnapped because he refused to bow down to the equalists

In reality, Sendak takes them to Haggar, she is in Republic City because it has the biggest concentration of benders and the most powerful as well as diversity, so the bending is just her taking out their spirit energy/quintessence, leaving them benderless, she trained Sendak to be a blood bender in order to temporarily chi block their bending and make them faint enough for her to act

They go to save Adam but in there, Shiro finds Adam, he is brainwashed and tells him he should allow Haggar to take his bending away so they could have a happy benderless life, away from the battlefield like Adam always wanted, Shiro is one of the strongest benders there is so they do use Adam as bait for him, he has no choice but to shock Adam unconscious, still he losses his bending before Allura can get there, Haggar with so much spiritual/quintessence energy from taking the benders and now one of the strongest, Shiro, goes against Team Avatar until only Allura is left and she also sees she can energy bend even if it’s a little so she is able to defeat her but she escapes, she restores Shiro’s bending as well, btw Lotor also reached Republic city and gets a redemption ark, he changes like Zuko in Ba Sing Se and goes to Team Avatar to reveal that Haggar wants to release Vatu and make Zarkon a dark Avatar

The third ark is they discover the story behind it all, so here it is:

We go back to the paladins of old, GoodZarkon is the Avatar, great friends with the previous Paladins of Voltron, a group of representatives of each nation that helps the avatar with it’s affairs, they had the issue of Vatu being released, you know the 10,000 y/o, it was with them that happened so they make plans to imprison him again

However GoodZarkon’s wife, Honerva believes she can put an end to this cycle because every 10k years each avatar has to deal with him, you just need one avatar to fail for everything to be over, she has been studying spiritual leaves and vines from the spirit world and finds their energy source, which she names quintessence, we all have it, in fact that is what allows benders to bend but spirits can use quintessence at will for so much more, she actually wants to release Vatu and make something with him, not imprison him

Vatu could have tricker her into thinking this would put and end to the squabble, of course they all disagree but shit happens and Honerva is badly injured, maybe a spirit passes through her and she get’s weird? Vatu tells GoodZarkon that with the combined power of him and Raava inside him, they can heal Honerva, so he releases him and tries to contain both entities inside, but only works for them to fight inside GoodZarkon, Vatu just wants to have his cycle like Raava and have her be locked away, the paladins come over and manage to separate both entities out of GoodZarkon, they imprison Vatu and release Raava for her to look for an Avatar, since it was Alfor the one who physically releases her to the world, unbestknown to him, it makes Raava latch onto his energy signature and thus falls into a days old Allura

Leaving GoodZarkon “dead” and out of the cycle but actually he and Honerva both survive as Zarkon and Haggar, since Zarkon had Vatu inside him and Honerva is now kind of spirit crazy Haggar, few years later they kidnapp the current Fire Lord and go to the spirit world were they find the face swapping spirit and they exchange the face to that of the current Fire Lord into Zarkon so he becomes Fire Lord

Zarkon slowly begins his quest of conquering the world but really he is looking for the Avatar because he wants to be the Avatar again, he wants to drag Raava out of Allura and into him again or, release Vatu and take him instead, Haggar is in charge on finding where he is and how to release him, the old paladins sealed the entrance

There was peace in between the old Paladins fight with Zarkon and his supposed ‘death’ were Allura grew but one day the Fire Nation went crazy (they face swap, it’s Zarkon now) and started to want to conquer the world, they were able to keep him contained but they struggle and Zarkon is incredibly powerful due to having previously had both entities inside his body, he retains his core element bending which is fire, and lays waste on the air nation, the paladins join once again to defeat him but without the avatar they can’t do a thing, Alfor knows Allura (now grown up) is the avatar but he considers she’s still to young, Allura wants to fight, wants to fulfill her destiny but one day Zarkon finally lays waste on the final air temple, Alfor sends her and Coran away

Back to the present, The Paladins knew the Fire Lord was previous Avatar Zarkon but said nothing to no one, they just said he died while saving the world from Vatu, that is the reason Allura can’t reach the previous Avatar since the link is broken since Zarkon is not really dead but he’s no longer the Avatar? She finally strips away any connection and finally can connect to previous Avatar and reach the Avatar state at it’s full potential

Big fight, they win, end

[shadowtongued]

Meta: GALRA and similarities that Galra and Mahjarrat share.

send me a topic to write a meta about my muse on(no rly plz. almost anything is fair game. even grody/gory/immoral/nsfw shit. help me world-build a species/character with like hardly any lore)

forewarning: not all answers to this meme are canon, some is headcanon based on personal interpretation. differing opinions are a welcome thing here/on this blog.

blue, this is the fucking best question :,,)c , i s 2 g . this right here is one of the main reasons i NEED™ to sit down and write out a VLD verse bc, tbh, there are A LOT of similarities. some i probably haven’t even thought of yet.

i had waaaay too much fun with this. this was a fuckin’ 10/10 question.

- both are very warlike. galra more militaristically so, but mahjarrat parallel in the factor that where there’s a fight, there’s a chance they are interested. their whole home environment of freneskæ was essentially ‘if you survive maturity, congrats. you’re still eligible to die in a rejuvenation ritual for the better of us all. make sure you contribute to an enervation ( their breeding ritual ) so we don’t go extinct. no one really cares about what you think about it all.’ i have a feeling they would agree whole heartedly with zarkon’s statement of ‘weakness is an infection’ and the galran concept of ‘success or death’. they make it pretty culturally obvious through their rituals that only the strongest get to move their species forward and it’s super canon that despite the factor there is >10 mahjarrat left ( RIP what’s left of my baby boy tbfh post-endgame), those >10 are very intimidating and powerful through years of culling and being the winners. put it this way, unintentional genetic/natural selection took place and even their rituals ( which was stated after they were introduced, they literally built their culture around the rituals ) are super political; post-zaros’ banishment/post zamorak’s ascendancy and the factor that they SPLIT into two ‘political’ sides you win a fight and you kill the sacrificial kin/show your prowess over the others, you get to be closer to the ritual marker and get most of the energy. you drag ass and barely survive or just sit there and agree sycophantically with the others on a decision on who dies; you get to be in the back line and get just enough to get you through the next five centuries, sucks to be you. should have shown off and taken a risk.

- i’m not in the recent season yet, but from spoilers, i get the feeling in the past before the current paladins, zarkon/some galra were decently peaceful. which is cute. it kinda makes me realize before seren ( look, i love her but her choices had a huge impact : ((( ) showed them the rituals in order to preserve mah ( mother mah the stunted elder god who created both zaros, seren, and the four tribes, is by far my favorite ) the mahjarrat and other tribes were probably nothing more than little, confused nomadic people, worshiping their creator, who were probably hardly violent, if at all. seren’s implications of using the rituals to find a balance between the safety of mother mah and the four tribe’s population/creation to cycle energy between them all went haywire and ended up breeding hatred, spite, and hostility between each other, even what ‘family bonds’ they have are very, very fucking shoddy ( i.e; they aren’t above sending their relatives to slaughter: zemo turning on his cousin lucien ). it’s much like the headcanons i adore from you and your friends where some galra have no problem assassinating each other if they want a military rank freed up for thier possible taking.

- physiology wise? it’s not really too fuckin’ mentioned/paid much mind in RS but some mahjarrat look super fucking different from each other ( uhhh, pre-god, mahjarrat legatus zamorak has totally different horns than most of them and hardly any skull ridges ), hazeel bby obviously doesn’t count with his Massive Horns™ because he’s a Transformer: Mahserrat in Disguise, but some mahjarrat really look like they can physically differ a lot for being one tribe, out of four ( unless there actually was some form of breeding between tribes before they all in unison decided to Hate Each Other, we just don’t fucking know lore wise when it comes to pre-ritual/early freneskæ life ). just like how there are so many different galra traits, mahjarrat in RS kinda are streamlined for the sake of just….. being lazy and reskinning facial models, but i’m very sure and headcanon that some of them look vastly different from each other. i mean look at fucking azzy’s goddamn glorious chinspikes compared to the rest of them. look at how fucking towering at 8″ zemo and lucien are to the average 7″ of the rest. look at how only certain ones, sliske included, have more pronounced, horn like first ridges on their skulls. look at how some have one crystal in their forehead, and some have a whopping four or more. BREATHES DIRECTLY ONTO AND KEESES THIS CONCEPT ART OF MOST OF THEM.  i could go on. but in short, they have a lot of various species traits like galra. i love it. i love them both. they both have fucking wicked teeth and eyes. i’m 100% sure most galra could look at sliske/any mahjarrat and go ‘what fucking hairless subspecies are you?’ sans his obvious obnoxious yet fantastic taste in clothing, he physically might fit in**. low key strokes those stripes, don’t get me started. ** also, uh, there are so many inconsistencies in RS lore/concept art, i don’t at all accept that slissy has a fucking Stereotypical Villain Goatee™ in my linked fav artwork. he has nice chinspikes, not facial hair…. mahj just…. don’t…. fucking…. have hair. it’s not canon to me personally. we don’t talk abt that inconsistency, just like i refuse to believe in his horrendous endgame model and 360 personality change…… endgame sliske who???? who’s that??? i don’t know him??? n e ways…..

- they both can rely on energy sources: quintessence and the raw elder energy. galra can survive without it obviously versus mahjarrat very fucking much having a need for it lest they become skeletal and not as powerful. but it’s still neato they can absorb that tasty energy. 

- this is half baked and more of my yelling at a screen, but the druids totally, straight up, without a doubt, reminded me of mahjarrat. i remember just seeing that first fight between keith and the druid and later shiro with haggar and yelling in my room. the teleporting. the magic use. THE FUCKING SHAPESHIFTING AND ILLUSIONS. all of that is hallmark mahjarrat strats and i was just sitting there like (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)و !!!! 

[blacklight-ghoulette]

Continuing on quintessence lore: what tribes are Omega and Aether from? And what tattoos do they have? (If Special is a quintessence ghoul in your lore, I'd love to hear about his tribe and tattoos too!)

Omega and Aether are both from the healing tribes--in fact, Omega is the grandson of the spirit Chiron, who is also his namesake. Quick note, ghouls don't use their true names on earth. The way that magic works here is different than hell, and names are a big part of that. To know a ghoul's true name allows one to potentially have power over that ghoul, as they can use it to not just summon them but a variety of other things, very few of which would be considered good. But, I'll elaborate on that later...

I'll divide this post into a section on each ghoul, since I've got a ton of lore about Omega... I have diagrams of both of their tattoos but it's on my desktop at home and I'm back at work finally after a week of super-not-fun covid bullshit. Anyways... Ghouls!

Omega

Omega's true name is Chiron, named after his grandfather, the healing spirit. He was once considered to be the strongest healer in all of hell, almost matching Chiron's power, and was highly regarded amongst the healer tribes. During the second war against Heaven, Omega was able to heal the lake spirit, Badhi (also goes by Stanley, as he was called by a kit who couldn't properly pronounce 'Badhi') , from an otherwise fatal wound-- one of the Seraphim had managed to put a spearhead through the his heart. With his father and four other healers from his tribe keeping the Stanley clinging to life, Omega was able to remove the blessed blade and heal the damage and corruption it had wrought on the lake spirit's physical form, something that most did not even imagine before then. This forged a very tight friendship between Omega and Stanley, in fact it was because Omega was the last healer to arrive and save him that Stan started to call him 'Omega', and the nickname has stuck ever since.

Omega's tattoos are mostly tribal line work, featuring large blocks of dark ink that swoop down his chest and legs. His most prominent tattoos, however, are the red bands on his wrists. Yep, Omega is marked as shunned and outcast from his tribe. During the war, having seen and been surrounded by so much death took a massive toll on his mental state. During one battle, as the angels wrecked havok and had nearly all but won, Omega found a key to defeating the angels was to use the aether... Because healers were always taught that they were only ever to heal and fix, not fight, none had looked into using the opposite side of their power to defend themselves. Omega found that the aether was not just life, but it was also death, and in his grief from witnessing so many die he was done letting everyone fight for him, and decided it was time he fought for his people. And with his training and power, he was a force of nature that turned the tide of the war against Heaven.

Unfortunately, this brought the ire of his tribe and spirit upon him, and they banded his wrists in red to show they no longer thought of him as part of them. Chiron even went so far as to bar him from The Well, cutting him off from the direct source of Aether.

(The Well is just that, a well... But instead of water it is filled with pure, unadulterated aether in liquid form. Drinking a small amount of it increases a healer's power, and the water is used to make the ink that the healer tribe uses for their tattoos, which gives them a closer connection to their element.)

(As you can imagine, Chiron is an ass. A lot of the other spirits do not care for him, chief among which is Badhi, the lake spirit. Which, the sentiment goes both ways, as Chiron feels thst it is Badhi's fault that Omega fell into violence and began shirking their pacifistic ways)

Anyways, after the war and everything settled down, Lucifer asked Omega to be part of the group he sent to earth to stand against Heaven and help keep them from gaining more power and taking over everything, etc ect. I've got a story partially written about Omega and his little sister, bevause things got... Interesting, in the time between the end of the war and when Omega is sent to earth. More on that later, for now, onto...

Aether!

Aether's true name is Tychon. His tribe is considered to be second in power to Chiron's direct tribe, and Aether is the son of the tribe's chief elder. He's a good deal younger than Omega, as he was a kit during the war but he has some vivid memories of seeing Omega heal and was instantly in awe. Honestly, before he was shunned, Omega was what every healer ghoul wanted to be when they grew up. To say that his shunning made an impact on their society is putting it lightly. ANYWAYS.

Aether has always held himself up to that standard, especially with his position as next-in-line for tribe chief when his father decides to retire, and as such has always been under a huge amount of (mostly self-imposed) pressure. He's learned to deal with it very well over the years, which is part of what made him such an obvious choice for becoming a band ghoul. Besides the fact that he's a top-tier ghoul wrangler by channeling his massive Dad Vibes...

One of the major things about Aether's tattoos is the flora patterns that are prominent on the center of his chest. He also has some tribal bands across his shoulders and neck, on his back, and down his abdomen and thighs. And of course, the bands on his arms and wrists to show his prowess as a healer.

Special

Special is, well, special. Despite his cheerful demeanor, Special is probably the strongest ghoul in the clergy and can be downright terrifying. He could, if he wanted to spend the time and effort on it, even become an elemental spirit in his own right, as he is the kit of two other spirits: the seer spirit Zaroni and traveler spirit Null. The mix of two tribal bloodlines gives him access to a range of powers and abilities that no other ghouls have, which is the reason he was the first ghoul Lucifer asked to go to earth and help guard the clergy.

He's probably the closest ghoul to Imperator; the two get along surprisingly well. Also Imperator knows how important it is to keep Special happy, as she knows that plenty of clergy have met their doom or lives turned miserable when Special believes they have treated him badly. (Those are mostly rumors, but Imperator knows better, she's seen him wrangle in unruly high clergy that began to think too highly of themselves).

For the sake of brevity and the fact that this post can keep going for a looong while more, I'll stop here. But, one last little tidbit: the second most powerful ghoul in the clergy, who rivals even Special, is Cowbell. Also, I have some art depicting Aether and Omega's tattoos that I'll try and remember to post when I get home later.

[blacklight-ghoulette]

Tell me about your quintessence ghouls! What are their abilities? What is quintessence in ur lore? How do they fit in with the other elements of ghouls?

Aether/quintessence tribes: (part 1)

(breaking it into parts because I keep adding things sksjshajdhs)

So each of the elements is broken down into smaller tribes based on certain aspects/types of their element. For the element of quintessence, or aether, (both terms can be used interchangeably. I usually use 'quintessence' when writing about the ghoul Aether to try and not make it as confusing... Try, at least lol.) The quintessence element is the smallest population of ghouls, even though technically the aether is found within all living beings. It is the backbone of almost all magic, and on its own it is a very strong, extremely dangerous element. It is not forgiving like water or air, and can be as temperamental as fire and stubborn as earth. But without it, there is nothing.

Each elemental sub-tribe has its own spirit, and for the aether we have 3 tribes:

Healers: spirit is Chiron

Seers: spirit is Zaroni

Travelers: spirit is Null

Healers are arguably the most important of the aether tribes. While all elements can heal, their healing is always specialized in relation to their element... Air can heal the lungs and airways, earth can mend bones, water can stop bleeding, fire can cauterize and cure infections, but only the aether can fully heal any kind of ailment. It takes a lot of discipline to learn, and healers are revered by all tribes of the elements. Unfortunately, they are also the most targeted ghouls by their enemies, making their numbers very, very small.

Seers are not quite as well-received as healers, it's not a common thing for ghouls to want their fortune told. But their ability is still useful, and they often will offer advice to other tribes if they see or scry something that might be of interest to them. Seer tribes are actually most well known for the sheep that they tend, called Caprini. Their wool is extremely soft and worth its weight in precious gems and metals. Seer tribes also intermix the most readily amongst other tribes. Many ghouls can say they have a seer grandparent or lineage somewhere in their ancestry.

Travelers are a very strange tribe. They are nomadic, and often very hard to find unless they want to be found (or you have hellhounds that were bred to sniff them out... Which are also rare). Their mastery of the aether is mind-boggling, as one of their main powers is the ability of teleportation. The other ability is crafting with pure aether... The making of something out of nothing, basically. They thrive on being mischievous, chaos is their fun time.

For quintessence tribes, their main physical attribute is their tattoos. For healer tribes, there is a strict regimen on style and placement for specific ones-typically bands on their arms and wrists, along with a number of smaller designs found on the chest, back, and neck. These are designations for how accomplished a healer the ghoul is: the more that they have, the more powerful a healer they are. Individual family tattoos can range from just filling in the gaps on the upper body to inking every limb possible. Designs typically tends to be floral, but can also be abstract lines and patterns. The ink is almost always black with some very rare exceptions, one of those being wide bands of red on a ghouls wrists. These are shun markings, branded onto ghouls who have broken the healer tribes pacifistic stance and not just engaged in violence, but used their element in it as well.

(to be continued)