#shoutout to arabic very cool language

[the-amber-droid-dreams]

Why is ga3mora written like that? Is the 3 a standin for a non Latin character? is the '3' pronounced how you say 3? it is just an autocorrect your phone learned on accident?

stand in for a non latin character yes !

theres no single letter or combination of letters that would accurately transcribe the sound. i Could use the ipa, but the easier thing to do is use numbers that resemble the arabic letters, which is how we do it in our text speak

3 = ع

theres other letters that also get this treatment, but most of those can Sort Of get transcribed other ways (e.g. 5=خ=kh or 9=ق=k) but ع gets completely ignored when anglicized ! its literally the first letter of the words "arabic", "arab", and my name. i can't really go by 3anbar though, so amber as the translation is the closest non painful alternative ill get :p

[dailydemonspotlight]

It might be cool to see dullahan for pride month. I don't think any original stories about dullahan are particularly queer but her depiction SMTIV is something I think about a lot. Taking a red pill and changing gender is definitely a more accurate interpretation of the matrix than other times people talk about the red pill at least lol

Dullahan - Day 49 (Request)

Race: Haunt

Alignment: Neutral-Neutral

June 6th, 2024

Yeah, shoutout to the random NPC in SMT IV who eats a red and instantly transes their gender. A true icon. Today's Demon of the Day is a very common fixture of medieval fantasy, however, and not just a bit of someone's true identity- the headless knight of no renown, Dullahan. Headless Horsemen are a common sight in many tales spanning Europe, the subjects of many a legend or fairy tale, but each of these halloween fables can trace their roots all the way back to Celtic myth, in the form of this unseelie fairie... or so some think. In truth, the origins of the Dullahan are unclear and murky, much like the foggy skies it mingles within, so let's dig in!

Ireland is no stranger to weird fairy tales- as the place where the term fairy originated from, Celtic myth is filled with tales upon tales of weird, loveable goons that paint stranger and stranger pictures of the times each time one thinks about them. Whether it be the oh-so-elusive Cat-Síth or the inanely wailing Banshee, Celtic folktales are filled to the brim with creatures at the forefront of each and every story... which is what makes the Dullahan so bizarre. While the concept of a headless horse-riding knight isn't too out there, especially in comparison to some other fairies (looking at you, Pooka), very few primary sources actually attest to the existence of the Dullahan, whether it be by name or concept alike.

However, in spite of this, we do have a few historical accounts- this makes the Dullahan's existence frustratingly vague, to say the least, as it's impossible to say if it did or did not exist- either possibility is plausible, especially given that artwork depicting the Dullahan does exist, dating back to the 1800's. As according to Doris V. Sutherland, the earliest reference to the Dullahan can be found in 1802, within a text written by Charles Vallancey called "Prospectus of a Dictionary of the Language of the Aire Coti, or Ancient Irish, Compared with the Language of the Cuti, or Ancient Persians, with the Hindoostanee, the Arabic, and Chaldean Languages." Kind of a mouthful. Within the book, which is a compendium of all sorts of languages and drawn comparisons between them (among all sorts of other stuff, I'm too lazy to find a free copy of it online though lol), there is a segment in which Vallancey draws a comparison between the Irish Dullahan and an Arabian demon, the Wulahan.

"The Dullahan or Wullahan is a terrible bug-bear at this day; the peasants hear him in the night dragging a heavy chain through the villages and along the roads; this is the wulahan, or Satanas of the Arabs…"

As pointed out by Sutherland, though, the brief description given of only a few passages has no mention of it being headless. So why is it commonly seen as being headless? Skip ahead a few years and we get to a book by Thomas Cofton Croker going into the fairies of Irish folklore, and stories pertaining to them. Among the many fairies listed in this book, entitled "Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland," we get to our second mention of the Dullahan! In one of five segments, a tale is given regarding a man named Larry Dodd who gets a random hitchhiker one day atop horseback- a mysterious woman whose every feature was covered by a cloak. She climbs aboard after he offers so, and they take off.

After a few moments of silent, uncomfortable riding, the woman exits suddenly to head to a nearby church. Smitten, Larry chases after the woman to try and pursue a thank-you kiss, but when he catches up with her... shock! Horror! She has no head! So that's where the idea of the Dullahan came from as being headless- and likely why the Dullahan in SMT is so feminine in appearance as well. After witnessing a dance of the Dullahans in the dead of night, he's decapitated... only to come to a few hours later, confused from the whole sordid affair.

This tale is only one of four, however- the general idea of Dullahans and the Headless Horsemen being synonymous actually came from this same book as well. A later story is, well, quite literally the fable of the Headless Horseman! From these tales, we can glean quite a few things- almost every account of the Dullahan comes from this book, with the name being spurned from the Prospectus and its offhand mentioning of the 'Irish Dullahan' as though it were common knowledge. I'm of two minds here, personally- for one, it's entirely possible that Croker, pardon my french, just made some shit up, basing his fables on pure speculation as to what the Dullahan name could mean by connecting it to the Arabian Wulahan. However, the other possibility, one that I personally subscribe to, is that the Dullahan was a part of the tapestry of Celtic folklore- it was just obscure.

The tales presented clearly speak of the Dullahan as though it were a preexisting concept, and the offhand mention of its existence in the Prospectus seems to give light to the idea that it did, indeed, exist in the cultural consciousness to some extent. Of course, this is all purely guesswork on my end- unless Croker digs himself out of his grave to answer my burning questions, I doubt I'll find an exact answer to this line of thinking- but I think it makes the most sense given what little information we have to work off of.

Now, in terms of representation in SMT... It sure is a headless knight. One aspect I really adore in this design, though, has to be the way the top of the head appears- the implication of the Dullahan being able to freely attach and detach its head like the joints on a Bionicle is hilarious, and gives a whole new line of depth to this already cool looking design. The silver, deep purple, and gold all combine to make the knight look regal, as though it was a stalwart protector of a kingdom under the king's right hand that had now fallen into disrepair. Somewhat fitting, given that it appears most prominently in SMT IV as a boss!

Lastly, though, I've gotta say I'm so glad we're almost to 50 posts. I didn't expect this series to last this long, and we've got a big, big one coming up for post 50, so I hope you're all excited! Happy Pride Month, and I need to say thanks for sticking with me, all this time.

[atimefordragons]

Get to know me tag game

thanks for the tag lovely @queen-of-salt-and-fury! 

Nicknames: lol, I mean, my fake internet name is basically a nickname, also “C”, all the broski, brosauce, etc variations me and my bestie use, speaking of, could also consider Elsa a nickname, or Cristina, because we are stone cold adults to refer to each other as our respective personality double in favourite duos (Elsa and Anna, and Meredith and Cristina) - yeah, we know we are fucking lame. My sister calls me “Titly”, which means butterfly, you may now also refer to me as Your Majesty, because I bought Elsa’s crown as a birthday gift for myself and gave myself a coronation, thereby legally making me Arendelle’s Queen. This is how it works now right? Declaring something online immediately makes it true. 

Real name: Clara, lol, it’s not, it’s just what I’ve been using online for nearly a decade or so now, so what’s the point? But my real middle name is “Taika”, which is a name I share with Taika Waititi, which is cool. 

Zodiac: Scorpio 

Favourite Musicians / Band: Taylor Swift, Dima Bilan, Sergey Lazarev, Anime OST (deep into Code Geass and Bleash OST atm, god they were iconic), OST in general, KAZKA (thank you again so much @pulltheskydown for introducing me to her), Alma, Amir, Rihanna, Polina Gagarina, been in a Britney mood the last few weeks. Idk, I just have music I like, and music I don’t like, and some people I am very thirsty for. Also, also, literally any song from any Shahrukh Khan movie. I always was, still am, and always will be, one of those SRK loving bitches. The man is ICONIC. 

Do I get asks?: Once in a blue moon. 

Favourite sports team: I support the national teams ‘cause Go Canada Go or whatever. Also more invested in the Raptors than I ever thought I’d be, but hey, them winning the NBA last year gave me more serotonin than I ever thought boring sports could give me. It’s still so boring, but I do follow the scores when they appear on CP24 (local news channel), feels good when your city’s teams win. Guess that means by default I also support the Blue Jays and the Maple Leafs, but whatever. 

Other blogs: lol, you are talking to the Queen of Too Many blogs right here. My first ever main was @livesinabluebox (which has gone through a few url changes, namely melanin-monster and moonrxvenge, but it’s 2012 again so I switched back to my og url), I’m trying to clear out all my likes so I’m still posting there, but trying to move to my new main over @moonrxvenge. And I also have 600 million sideblogs for characters and roleplays and resources and whatever. I have so many that I need to keep a masterlist, and yes, it is HELLA out of date. (I still say hella)

Tumblr Crushes: meh, I never really befriended people on tumblr until much more recently, and like all those people are friends I made elsewhere, ie polyvore (I shy, tumblr scary and got far too many stupid peoples opinions). 

Obvs, shoutouts to my loves @kzombi3 / @thots4daze @themadmonarchist @celestialfairies @alittlebitluna @eternalsailorstar @ayzrules @themonsterslut @turquoisesiren @pulltheskydown 

some tumblr people who are v cool and maybe I say things or just do that whole “senpai notice me” lowkey stalking from my main, main: @queen-of-salt-and-fury @daenerys-targaryen  @salty-sailors-unite​ @wellstartled​ and loads of others I’m probably forgetting rn

Lucky numbers: as a kid I considered 7 and 13 lucky, also 735 or something like that for islam reasons I forgot, but I don’t have any now. I think it’s all bull. 

What am I wearing: blue pajamas. my shirt says “happy monday - said nobody ever”, it is thursday. 

Dream holiday: Russia and Japan are definitely my number ones, all the historical places like the Winter Palace and Himeji Castle, and the cities.

Dream car: Tesla, it was a blue Model S, but that was 5 years ago (4? 3? idk, a time ago) and I’m sure there are newer models now that I am too lazy look up

Favourite food: Macarons

Drink of choice: Tim Hortons Ice Coffee with a shot of caramel

Instruments: I technically played the flute for a year (maybe three) in middle school music class, but it was mandated and I don’t remember. I could play the beginning of To Love’s End from Inuyasha back then, but not now. I can play the main tune, like just the first few notes, of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’s main theme on the piano, but I just memorized the keys. Idk the actual notes. F or G or E I guess? Idk. 

Languages: English, Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, technically French, but I didn’t really retain anything from it, like I can read French, but got little to no idea what I’m saying. Straight up surprised when I do understand. I think it’s in there, but barely. Also supposed to be able to speak Arabic, but retained less of that than French. 

Celebrity crushes: Chris Evans, Jenna Coleman, SRK (lol, since I was born probably), Kajol, Bruna Marquezine, Yuki Kimisawa, and loads of others. I’m a hoe for the fictional and the theoretical, what can I say?  

Random facts: Buying notebooks and using them are two entirely different hobbies, and, okay, this isn’t like interesting in the least but I am OBSESSING over the drama that went down between Salman Khan and Zayn over his cover of Allah Duhai Hai - yeah, I know I’m 2 years late to this, but whatever, no fucking told me about it and I can’t find any definitive information and I’m going crazy! Please, someone explain what happened 'cause I am dying!!! I need to know!! (also, salman fans don’t interact, vo kuni hai yaar, tu phagal hai kya?) 

I’ll tag: all of you lovelies  @kzombi3 / @thots4daze @themadmonarchist @celestialfairies @alittlebitluna @eternalsailorstar @ayzrules @themonsterslut @turquoisesiren @pulltheskydown @queen-of-salt-and-fury @daenerys-targaryen @salty-sailors-unite​​ @wellstartled​ + whoever else wants to do it (and ofc tag me and befriend me, I am but a thirsty ass hoe for friendship) 

[wanderlustjas-blog]

Welcome back! Look at me go, two posts in one week. This year is off to a good start! So let’s dive right in, onwards to Marrakesh!

I also forgot to add the day-sheet for Fes, so just sticking it in here!

DAY THIRTEEN: Daysheet for reference!

Shoutout to Simone for reminding me of some of the conversations we had along the way about Morocco which I had honestly forgotten about until she reminded me – how we thought language evolved and thinking without words – we had some weird and wonderful conversation on this trip – so thank-you and sorry for forgetting :P

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To say it was hot when we were in Morocco was an understatement. Height of summer, lots of sun meant you were sweating as soon as you woke up. So having a surprise stop for lunch on our drive to Marrakesh was heaven for me – a pool.

This wonderful, random hotel in the middle of the desert allowed us to stop in for a few hours, get our swim on and have some lunch. It was a wonderful surprise and it definitely rejuvenated the group.

Back on the road, we arrived at our hotel in Marrakech after a few hours, so we dropped our bags and headed out for our first look at the Jamaa el Fna Square where the main marketplace of Marrkech is. Again, because of Ramadan, there’s not too many people around during the day, so the square was pretty empty.

After our quick look around the square, it was off back to the the hotel to get changed for our dinner out. We would be travelling in style this evening with a horse ride to the restaurant. It was definitely a race to see who would get there first which was slightly harrowing when there’s horses, cars, scooters, pedestrians and the like all clamouring to get through first. Not sure if there was a speed limit, but it really didn’t feel like it! You basically just go when you want. Thrilling, and glad to be finished!

I do remember before we got to Morocco, that Simone & I were wanting to find the ‘David Beckham Morocco’. The pretty, exclusive part/s of the city that looked so beautiful and inviting. So we were on the lookout for that on the way in to the city!

  Dinner was in this big room, massive round table and comfy couches. Logan and I bee-lined for one big couch and pretty much took up the whole thing. Dinner was comprised of mountains of food and it felt like it just kept coming. It was lovely, like a Moroccan tapas, picking at lots of little bits and pieces. The food in this country was just lovely.

Once again, we had dinner and a show with traditional dancers as well a few belly’s in the mix. I did not get up again, my time in the belly dancing spotlight was one0time only. It was an enjoyable evening and we wanted to keep it moving so after dinner we went back to the square to find a nice bar to continue with a few drinks and maybe a shisha or two. The atmosphere was so very different to that very afternoon.

(Apologies for the blurred pic, my phone is no good for night shots!)

Our Egyptian Guider, Muhammad, took us to a rooftop bar in the marketplace. I do remember that there was a bit of gossiping going around at this point of the tour. Mainly from the group that joined ours and what they’d heard about what had happened (or people thought had happened) before they had joined us. I distinctly remember Christina telling me that one of the girls from the other group had told her gossip that was meant to be about her. It was such an odd way to go about putting a group together and it didn’t really work that well to integrate everyone together.

At this point in the tour, people had made friends and little groups so there wasn’t much that could make that change.

Anyway, some drinks were had before we headed back to the hotel.

  DAY FOURTEEN: Another full day in Marrakesh! Another scorcher as well, I think it got over 40 degrees in the full sun. So I was very happy when we started our tour of the city within the cool walls of the Bahia Palace. Beautiful old building, gorgeous mosaic patterns, doorways and tiles.

After this we walked past another spot that I remember Simone and I being excited for, the Casbah!

It was a fun moment to see and the song got stuck in my head all day afterwards.

Following this, we hit up the Berber pharmacy, somewhere quite a few of us were excited to visit. Berber’s are a group of people who are pre-Arab and live in North Africa. Old-school medicines, make-up and cheap products full of argon oil. This place was a lot of fun and it was interesting to learn how they made the products. It was also interesting to see them put the lipstick and eye liner and stuff on some of us.

I bought a couple of things, mainly lip-balm and some cold medicine as a just in case.

We had the rest of the day free to do with as we wished. Logan, Amy and I decided that we wanted to go to the Moroccan bathhouse. I’ve already done one in Turkey, so I knew what to expect. It was a lot smaller than what I was expecting, but it was warm and steamy and the three of us had the room to ourselves. You haven’t bonded with people until you’ve sat in a hot room on a hot day in just some disposable underwear.

Having burnt the back of my legs quite badly the previous fortnight before in Malaga, getting scrubbed down was wonderful – goodbye dead skin! After people properly rubbed, scrubbed and rinsed, we headed off to find some of the others for lunch near the Medina.

I had a tagine for lunch and then proceeded to completely sweat through my pants. Oh my god, the back of my legs just seemed to pool all of the liquid from my body so it looked and felt like I’d wet myself. A lovely feeling, really. 40+ degrees will do that to you.

After lunch and a chill out, Logan, I think Amy was still with us, and I went off to play in the Medina – the marketplace. Me being a cheap bitch, I just got a pair of new sunnies, but there was so much to see and look at. If I’d had unlimited bag space and money, I would’ve bought a lot more. Just means I’ll have to go back one day!

We wandered for a few hours, picking up bits and pieces, finding different people from our tour along the way. We could’ve played an amazing game of hide and seek in this place.

I don’t know if anyone else felt it, but I know I felt a little bit guilty carrying around my 2 litre bottle of water and chugging it down in front of the Moroccan’s who were working the heat and not being able to have anything themselves.

——————————————————-

We were out again for dinner in the evening. I have no recollection of the meal. What I do remember is going out to the club at the casino afterwards.

I wasn’t there for very long, I had a chat with Areti about Bianca, dancing for a bit and then buggering off home with Trevor and Lionel.

Our time in Marrakesh was at an end. I enjoyed this city a lot more than the more traditional Fes, it felt more ‘me’ and I would love some time to go back and explore it more fully.

Next day, we’re onto Tangier and the coast via Casablanca!

        Contiki: Morocco – Marrakesh Welcome back! Look at me go, two posts in one week. This year is off to a good start!