#sidhe rambles

[hobgobknowsbest]

Goblin Tips: Bite Size Edition vol. 4: Belief

believe in yourself.

relying on the belief of others is tenuous at best

even the gods of old can be turned into wee, glittery winged fairies by the human psyche

barred entry into homes and even common areas by hidden fences, iron pipes filled with moving water, and free to be mocked and blatantly laughed at

don't let this happen to you

be your own strongest follower.

[cresvalkyrie]

'Liberator' is an interesting trainer class for Hauyne. What's the reason for it?

Okay, so to answer that question, you'll need to know some Chroniclerverse lore history. I'm talking like super ancient history, all the way back in the Old World Era.

Spoilers from .karma files' Paragon and Renegade routes under the cut!

So in the Chroniclerverse, after humanity won the war against Arceus, Pokemon and its loyal followers the Sidhe (aka aura wielders if you've been following @/tired-needs-sleep's Sara content), the world starts to crumble away in the absence of their god.

However, the humans soon learned that the Sidhe have been attempting to resurrect their god, Arceus, using the golden arch it left behind upon its death via a series of sacrificial hosts. But it's not the resurrection of Arceus they're interested in, they're interested in the godlike powers the host of the golden arch was bestowed in. They did not want Arceus to return, they want to replace it with a god of their own making, one that could sustain the world in its place.

With that, humanity launched a second attack upon the surviving Sidhe, seizing the golden arch for their own selfish gains. They would call this artifact "Archetype" after refining it, and experimented it on willing volunteers in an attempt to find/manufacture their perfect God.

One of these volunteers is Electra, who would later become the Renegade Interceptor of the Chroniclerverse. Unlike the others, Electra showed far more promise as the Archetype's host, gaining traits of Dialga's abilities and was even able to manifest the Archetype's full power albeit for short periods of time. However, she inevitably contracted Genesis Syndrome and died a slow painful death, so she was marked off as a failure (although her soul was harvested and kept away for a different program).

Then came Reset Zero that ended the Old World, and Electra was awakened for the first time in eons to take Aevia's place as the Interceptor. Due to her being dormant for so long, her memories became fractured, so her journey across Aevium is also a journey for her to regain her memories, find out what happened to her old home and if she could return to it.

Of course, Electra would eventually learn that all traces of her old life was wiped away, which drove her past the brink of despair and made her obsessed with restoring the Old World so that she could return to her old life. To that end, she sent the world onto a destructive path, hoping to destroy it in order to make room for the restoration of the Old. While she was successful... somewhat, her destroying the world also ended up wiping herself from existence, so all her struggles ended up being for nothing in the end.

But not all traces of her was wiped away; remnants of her, the manifestation of her bitterness, resentment and grief lingered still, and it remained inside the CORE, infecting it like a virus. That 'virus' was what corrupted the CORE and by extension Karma, causing it to loop endlessly and trapping everyone in a never-ending cycle of death and suffering even after a world has flourished and "Bloomed". There's more to the cycles than just the virus infecting and corrupting it, but it's one of the main reasons since the loops are partially to reconstruct the data that got corrupted as a result of Electra's actions.

This is where Hauyne comes in. Due to her origins, she's gained awareness of the cycles very early on, realising that this was not supposed to happen and that there's something that's causing this unnatural timeloops. So her mission as the Interceptor went from "saving the world" to "liberating the worlds from its endless cycle of death", even if it meant declaring war against Karma itself and removing it as well as its influence from the worlds entirely. Hence, "Liberator".

[bisexual-wanderer]

Some non-MC Housamo ships I have.

Hekate x Tindalos (alright @summocrap you kinda got me with this one.) Leanan Sidhe x Cthugha (Destruction Duo ftw, this one courtesy of @neirumilysor )

Shiro x Kengo (not much to say about this one) Arsalan x Zabaniyya (basically cannon) Gabriel x Maria (also basically cannon) And these are the ones off the top of my head.

[phoenix]

Back in high school, I spent a lot of time in the library (Shocker! I know.) and they had a series of books about folklore and magic and such, and they were kinda in that 'Time Life Mysteries of the Unknown" books.

In one of them, I remember coming across a bit of banshee folklore that according to some people, a banshee's scream could put some people to sleep for a very long time.

I have ALWAYS wanted to use this in a story as a means of sending a character to the future, a la Rip Van Winkle, except for one problem.

I've never been able to find the book again, or even any mention of any such folklore on the internet, because I both don't trust my memory to have gotten that 100% correctly, and I also want the coroboration, because that is such a little known bit of folklore, if I'm even remembering accurately!, that I want to be able to point at a source and say see! I'm not just pulling shit out of my ass!

And I know, it's my world, I can make shit up if I want, but I do also love using actual bits of folklore, the more obscure the better.

[rook2ii]

i what

@2xhbergggg

Saw this going around twitter, looked like fun. What? I'm not procrastinating (I am, I really am)

Make this picrew of yourself

Take this uquiz

Post the results side-by-side. No pressure tags: @alypink, @revnah1406, @madefordvarka, @deadbranch, @welldonekhushi, @kaitaiga, @applbottmjeens, @froglights-and-pearls

[morriguwrites]

my idea for mallaidh (name pending) has the potential to be problematic if not written the right way, but i also tend to want to write things that promotes deeper thinking and social discourse. early 1900 setting and social culture absolutely stated that women who went against patriarchal norms were labeled as "hysterics". her journey over the novel could be that she comes to defy this label and understand it for what it is: another way to be trapped under the thumb of another and the pressures of society to present a certain way

[ryeallytired]

Its finally done!!!

After getting back into BBC's Merlin recently (read: a couple months ago) I realized I no longer trusted streaming services to still have it available long term and managed to buy a complete DVD box set.

But because the slip case had quite a bit of wear to it (and due to some minor scopophobia) I made it a box that looks like a book!

(More rambling info & video under cut)

Materials:

The base construction is cardboard and paper (used to cover the exposed cut edges and strengthen corners). The box's faux paper edge is a printed texture on cardstock that was then waxed. The interior is black cardstock with silver vinyl. The 'book case' is that same cardboard construction with faux raised bands (made with some scrap foam I had) wrapped in Cialux's night blue bookcloth (hence the minor wrinkles) with Cricut HTV in metallic gold and 'reflective rainbow'.

Design:

Cover: Obviously Pendragon logo had to go front and center, no argument on that one. (Also partially cause Merlin doesn't really have his own symbol to him? The triskelion just doesn't make sense to me because although Emyrs is a symbol for the druids, Merlin himself isn't a druid and I'd imagine would instead choose icons of Camelot and Arthur to represent himself besides.) ANYWAY- Behind the crest, filligree containing a blade and the sidhe staff in that subtle reflective HTV that blends into the bookcloth exactly how I wanted until it catches the light (something something, hidden magic in the background something something).

(Appologies for the unsteady hands)

Spine: Mortaeus flower! Because it really felt like a turning point for the two (you've known each other... what a week? and you're going against your father to travel to some far off cave to get a flower?? that's some good as dnd-adventuring-party type shit I love it). Minor detail are the top and bottom shapes: pulled from some cool windows we see a lot in season one (I just think there' neat, okay?)

Back Cover: Excalibur with two butterflies cut from the blue-toned area of the rainbow HTV :)

And finally the Inside!: The cup of life! Because it felt just a little empty. I'm still tempted to put something small on the bottom left corner of the inside cover... maybe a crown? not sure yet

And that's everything! Thanks for reading! If anyone wants to make something similar for their own dvd set I'd be happy to share the .svg or .png file of the cut outs, just shoot me a message 👍 Before you go, wanna know the worst part about this project???

.

.

It doesn't even fit on my DVDs shelf :)))) It sticks out by about an inch and a half 😭So we maaay have to be relegated to the 'actual books' bookshelf...

[cipher-the-sidhe]

Do you know of any folklore or resources about blind people and magic or spiritual site? I do remember reading something in a book about Shinto but I would have to go back and transcribe it

Of course there's Odin

And then Argus and the Cyclops are all beings having to do with eyes.... I guess if there's anything that resonates with you in particular that you want to share? I've also been thinking about Cassandra

I don’t have a particular resource to direct you to. Truth is that anytime blindness comes up in folklore it usually Means Something, and I personally haven’t researched too much into anyone’s interpretation of that symbology. My own experience with blindness as a spiritual person and as someone who practices magic feels very intentional and meaningful, but I do not think my experience with it is universal.

My mind first goes to Welsh mythology and Morda- the blind man who helps tend the cauldron of Awen under the goddess Cerridwen’s command; and to the old stories of faery doctors passing on their Sight from mentor to apprentice by having the master put the palms of their hands on their student’s head and the bottom of their foot. In this way, their Gift would transfer from one to the other. This does imply that the mentor would either need to be surrendering their own Sight so their apprentice could have it, or they would be spreading part of it from themselves (almost like an infection, which seems appropriate when one considers the often brutal consequences of having Second Sight).

In both cases, mundane vision is disregarded in favor of a guiding inner or second Sight. Morda remains faithful to the Goddess’ task of brewing the Awen, never once casting his mortal gaze onto the potion. But when Gwion Bach stares into it, he is entranced and that leads him to stealing (on purpose or not is up to debate) the gift of Awen for himself and betraying the Goddess Cerridwen, and consequently being hunted down and devoured by Her. This speaks to a frequently present theme of punishment by the Otherside for the abuse (or indeed use at all) of second sight.

At the same time, there are countless stories of people being struck blind- poc sidhe- by the fair folk for viewing them without permission. The Good Neighbors do not like to be observed as a general rule. This has always been interesting for me to think about, because while I was born with second sight, I was not born blind, and indeed I became blind/visually impaired only about 3 years ago under mysterious circumstances. That is, no doctor has yet to be able to explain what is causing my vision loss, despite conditions about myself that should have been able to otherwise explain it (I have a brain tumor that sits precisely between my optical nerves, yet does not appear to in any way be affecting them. And nothing else so far has solved this mystery as to why I am still blind). So was I punished randomly after 25 years of having second sight by some Neighbor that didn’t like me catching sight of them? I don’t think so, but it is still interesting to think about how my second sight and the loss of most of my first sight could be related.

Sorry, I ended up rambling a lot! TLDR is that no, I don’t really have any resources to suggest. I’m not sure that this topic has been covered by anyone in our position before in a comprehensive way. But if you do come across anything, please let me know! And I will do the same.

[avocado-ramen]

My Tybalt Exposition

I read somewhere (likely on Twitter, but no guarantees) about people getting really upset with the depiction of Tybalt in the two most recent October Daye novels (Sleep No More and The Innocent Sleep) which cover the same events, one from October's POV, the other from Tybalt's. This is the first time there's been another narrator in the October Daye series outside of short stories/novellas.

That original poster said that while they saw Tybalt's behaviour as problematic in Sleep No More, they had hoped that The Innocent Sleep, since told from his point of view, would clarify matters and perhaps 'redeem' his character. They went on to say that The Innocent Sleep made it much worse, and (I am completely paraphrasing here, I read this weeks ago and no longer have those posts available for reference) that Tybalt was basically abusive trash. If I recall correctly, they toed the line with calling the author a DV sympathizer/apologizer, but it was a near thing.

Even if I remembered where that original post was, I wouldn’t link to it, because I don’t want to bring attention to what they said, nor do I want to risk people piling onto them as is common when people feel like an IP they love is being attacked in any way. I’d rather just make an entirely too long post explaining my own views, and possibly rambling too much and make no sense – because that’s what I do. 😊

As I’ve now finished The Innocent Sleep, I felt the need to get some thoughts down to address some of the things brought forward in that post/thread/whatever I read just after The Innocent Sleep was released.

The author: people need to realise that these books are FICTION. The bonus of writing fiction is that you can safely explore troublesome parts of humanity and society without actually agreeing with those troublesome things.

A significant portion of the books I read have murder happening either on page or off screen in the first few pages because the mystery of a dead body gives the protagonist something to do. Do I think these authors all believe that people should be able to go around killing each other just for fun? No. So why on earth would people think an author including any other kind of violence in their work approves of that violence? This could be it’s own post, and many others have made this point much better than I ever will. Tybalt’s behavior in Sleep No More: We are seeing Tybalt through October’s eyes. Sure, we as readers are privy to the previous 16 books worth of information (even more if we’ve read all the shorts and novellas), but at this point in time, October doesn’t know Tybalt. She’s never seen a Cait Sidhe. She doesn’t know anything about them aside from what Titania’s illusion tells her. From this framing, Tybalt comes across as brash, angry, controlling, and violent. He has a tendency to storm off if things aren’t going his way. To October, Tybalt’s behaviour is completely out of line, and she’d be correct – from everything she knows at this point. Tybalt’s behaviour in The Innocent Sleep: One thing people need to remember before they start applying present-day human morality to Tybalt is that he is not human. At all. He’s fae. Cait Sidhe. He is both a cat and a humanoid, but he is not, and has never been, human. One of the things the author has reiterated time and time again is that both the fae as a whole, and Cait Sidhe specifically, live by an entirely different set of rules than humanity does. Titania hates the Cait Sidhe because she believes they are beasts and below the perfection of her other descendant lines like the Daione Sidhe. As much as Titania is the villain, she’s not entirely wrong. First and foremost, the Cait Sidhe are cats. When backed into a corner, they’re going to lash out. If they’re stressed, or hurt, etc., they’re going to lash out. It’s what they do. I have the scars from my own cats to prove it.

Tybalt knows he is barely in control of his emotions. He freely admits that, and the fact that he at times needs to walk away before he lashes out and does something he’ll regret, which I feel is smart and responsible of him.

Tybalt’s attack on Ginevra in the throne room in Golden Shore is excessive. And it’s meant to be. It’s completely unexpected and jarring in Sleep No More when seen from October’s point of view. In The Innocent Sleep, being in Tybalt’s head, while still a severe overreaction to a situation he wasn’t paying attention to and therefore didn’t have full context of, it is completely in line for how a) a cat would react, and b) how a Cait Sidhe king would react when they believe someone has attacked/injured/wronged someone that ‘belongs’ to them. Does that make it right? No. And Tybalt himself shows as much shame as his position allows when he sees Ginevra at dinner. Do I think Tybalt is an abusive asshole that needs to be shunned, killed off, or whatever other over the top reaction people have had? No. And no, that doesn’t mean I approve of his behaviour or think he should face no repercussions. But context means a lot. I can see when his behaviour is completely in character for his species and title, while also admitting when he’s crossed a line. The benefit of an ongoing series is that it is quite possible that Tybalt will face the fallout of his behaviour in Book 19, or even further. I don’t expect everything to be wrapped up in a perfect bow at the end of each book. None of the characters in these books is perfect (with the exception of Spike, Cagney, and Lacey), and if the author can foreshadow some of the things we’ve seen in Book 16 way back in Book 1, then we can believe she’s got plans for them for Book 19 and beyond.

This is the same author that took one of the most loathsome characters and made me want to wrap him in wool and protect him at all costs (ok, I still want to shake him now and again), to the point that I named my new kitten after him. Please, admire Simon “The Tiny Terror”.

[zoomerinaboomercostume]

Epithet Erased/ Fiends & Fire CYOA AU

(Idea from @ramblings-from-the-ether 's AU poll right here. They chose to make a Prohibition AU, but they let others use the discarded concepts & expand on them.) Link to the CYOA here. (Fair warning, on Imgur & rather long.) Now that the credits are out of the way... This AU takes place in an alternate industrial revolution upset by every supernatural force at once because they weren’t invited to New Year’s celebrations. As a result, organizations church-sponsored, state-sponsored & private formed to combat the darkness.

Now that the basic concepts have been established, the ideas:

-Anyone in their 20s or below are born after the New Year's Bloodletting (the worldwide havoc mentioned above), so that excludes the Neo Trio, Gio, Sylvie & Stink for named characters. -This is Everyone Adopts Molly (EAM) adjacent, so Molly gets all the support she needs. Lorelai's fine, just newly apprenticed in the Roughhouse Witch Coven/Clan to gain some much-needed character development & lessons in how to use her magic responsibly (Gio managed to convince them to take her in when he recognized she was born with magic, there not being many other options for her in Sweet Jazz City). -Bliss Ocean are good guys here! Well, mostly. They do mean well & their Fiend-Hunting skills are genuinely good, but until recently they did not get along with the authorities very well. It's a step-up from the terrorists of Canon. -Rick is a half-Sidhe (this setting's Fae) here. Not a Changeling, a true Human-Sidhe hybrid. Perhaps the only one of his kind, he's still trying to unlearn the promise-&-contract-based morality they have. Naven taking him under his wing has helped immensely.

(Ideas & suggestions are appreciated. Thanks again to @ramblings-from-the-ether for getting this ball rolling. Credit to @epitheterasedgen for popularizing "Everyone Adopts Molly" in the EE fandom.) Edit: I forgot to tag for spoilers. Sorry for everyone who has been spoiled.

[awritingcaitlin]

On Repeat Game

Tagged by @synobun for this! I love doing these things.

go to 'on repeat'/heavy rotation playlist on spotify/apple music, throw it on shuffle and share the first 10 songs you get

Ship in a Bottle by fin

Alba by The Sidh

Rule #27 - Drunk on Pride by Fish in a Birdcage

Inkpot Gods by The Amazing Devil

Kill the Pain Away by Avantasia

What if it Doesn't End Well by chloe moriondo

Magic by Jaroslav Black

Eye of the Untold Her by Lindsey Stirling

The Emptiness Machine by Linkin Park

The Wolf by PHILDEL

Tagging: @kaylinalexanderbooks, @theprissythumbelina, @carrotblr, @ryns-ramblings, @tananaphone

@jediqueen95, @golden-heretic, @elizmanderson, @atomatowriter, and @sentfromwolves

And literally anyone else who wants to do this!

[eilinelsghost]

Is there any information you’re willing to share about the ghomennin? It got me thinking of men interacting with masquerading maiar or avari even.

Of course! I love the ghomennin so much. I'm not sure if the ask connects to their presence in Atandil or in Atanatárissë, so I'll answer for both.

When they showed up, I expected them to be a sort of passing reference in Grief in All Her Guises and then once later in a future installment we haven't gotten to yet. But they've ended up becoming a bit of a throughline in Atandil as a whole now, and it was so fun to get to dig into them further in Atanatárissë.

In-world, they are definitely intended to be referencing the Avari. Finrod hints at it a bit in Grief in All Her Guises when he suspects the stories are spread by Morgoth and his servants to set a wedge between humans and Elves. Humans definitely encountered the Avari while east of the Ered Luin and some of this is their own mythological attempts to make sense of that, intermingled with the darker elements that seep in from either their own suspicion or suspicions sown among them. However, I also wanted them to be a vague enough concept that people could read them how they wanted in the narrative - masquerading Maiar is a fascinating read, for example, and I love where all that could go!

Riders of the Sidhe (1911), painting by John Duncan

As far as inspiration, I pulled some of the broad strokes from the Aos Sí legends. There are better and more academic sources you can find, but Wikipedia has a decent overview. I loved the combination of beauty and fright that comes along with those legends, as well as the need to appease them or face consequences - kidnapping etc. That immediately connected for me with Bëor leaving his people to dwell in Nargothrond, which in some senses maps nicely on being abducted to live within the sídhe, or "fairy mound." So tying those myths in this way brought a slight undercurrent of horror to his choice to leave, which I think was important in navigating a) his own fear regarding the decision, b) the weight of his attachment to Finrod in facing that, and c) the confusion and anger that his sons and Estreth feel when he opts for that route.

Sorry this got a bit rambly! Thank you so much for the ask - I'm so fond of the ghomennin and it was fun to get to talk about them a bit!

[1stunseeliefaelass]

🔮 and I'll describe a hidden talent or power my OC possesses.

Hmm well I suppose I can go with Harker for this one, as he's been on my mind more lately. Once my latest drafts are finished being fixed and tidied up, I can finally start adding him in due time. I'll only go over his true and preferred form's appearances tho, so no one is here all day heheh... Anyway here goes.

Harker is a Leanan Sidhe, or Faerie Lover as the term translates to. However there are some twists and liberties on this mythical creature that I've taken.

Leanan Sidhe all have a true form, wherein they are in an eldritch, amorphous state. Basically they have a body and feet of a cat. Legs and a head like a unicorn(think of The Last Unicorn film for that imagery) that melds into a horse neck. Their tails are like a komodo dragon's but are super long and thin off the further down you go. On the back of their heads they have whispy, tendrils that shift about where one might expect a mane given the equine-esque look. Some have even mistaken them for antlers before. Finally they have six eyes on their heads, and the jaw has an elongated sharp point at the chin whilst the top part is slightly shorter. Showcasing a slight underbite that barely reveals rows of sharp snake like teeth and a similarly serpentine tongue. Oh and almost forgot, their skin is silky smooth(comparable to a river stone according to Death) and despite the reptilian features they have no scales. They come in a variety of colors, though Harker's own is tar black.

Despite how utterly Lovecraftian and downright terrifying Harker can be when meeting anyone new in his true form, he's downright charming in his preferred form. Sporting ginger red hair with freckles and emerald colored eyes that come from his true form. Usually putting his hair in a ponytail, and wearing either casual medieval fantasy country side clothes. Unless he's out on the seas with his pirate crewmates. In which case he's sporting a pirate get up. Like any Leanan Sidhe, he loves the sea after all. His build is also on par with someone like William Turner but a bit more toned, and his height is about average for the particular Fae form he's taking, at somewhere above 6ft I'd say. Admittedly I've not decided on a height yet, only that he's shorter than Death.

Anyways Imma quit rambling now, heheh... Hope you liked the info I shared about Harker. Do let me know what you think and if you have more questions, don't hesitate to ask me.

[blade-that-weeps]

Post-Amh Araeng

Shadowbringers MSQ progress gabbling below! Spoilers, obviously. This is very rambling and unstructured, as a warning.

So I’ve been scrabbling my way through the content, and having a delightful time having my heart repeatedly kicked by emotions.

Il Mheg was not as annoying as I thought it would be (I’m Irish born and bred so foreign takes on the lore and adaptions of it can be...Trying lmao) and I actually appreciated seeing some of the nods to the mythology it’s clearly inspired by. The accents were tough though. Yeesh.

The Fuath (which is Irish for hatred) being an analog for the Fomorians, the sea-dwelling race of monsters that were at odds with the Tuatha de Danann, who were a deific race often associated with the sidhe/the fae, and the pixies/others Il Mheg inhabitants not getting along with them was a nice touch. Also enjoyed most of the mobs in the Fuath dungeon being named for Celtic creatures associated with water or generally drowning people. Aenc Thon’s ‘form of terror’ being the model FFXIV used for Cu Chulainn in the Void Ark raid made sense, because Cu Chulainn is our big mythic cycle tragic hero figure, infamous for having a monstrous battle form. (Still hate that they made him a gross tentacle monster though) Aenc Thon, leader figure of the Fuath, having a metal arm/prosthetic likely being a nod to Nuada Airgetlam, the Tuatha de Danann king who had his arm cut off and replaced with a silver one. The fixation on obligation/debt, not giving the fae your name, the passing of position to the one that vanquishes the holder, all the little things. Also Feo Ul is darling, I adore a rabidly possessive creature, so when they went from regular cheery pixie voice to ragged snarly MINE, I was amused. I wanted to shake Thancred and have Urianger sit him down to teach him how to use his words, how to emotion right, and how to communicate his feelings. Mini-fillia (now Ryne) is precious and perfect and I desperately wanted my WoL to have more chances to be nice to her, and for someone to give her a hug. Okay, so. I know everyone and their dog is obsessed with and probably horny for Emet-Selch but I have to say, he activates the same instinct in me that a rat does a terrier. He’s just so pathetic and his voice is whining and snide and his posture is AWFUL, all his lovingly animated motions are so infuriating. I want to hurl him into a mountain. Enjoyed his little story time with the murals, though, he’s fine when he has actual, like, sincere emotion in his voice. I have been told repeatedly that his story is fantastic, so I’ll cut him a little slack, but I still want to shake him until all his bones fall out. Speaking of secret keeping manipulative figures of mystery, I want to slap the Exarch for not TELLING ME THINGS what is his DEAL. Why is everyone so fucking awful at communicating in this expansion, they need counselling. Also Ran’jit is, like. He’s cool. But he’s cool in the way an action figure is cool. He makes no god damned sense. How is he so monstrously strong? We can kick gods into the sun but a buff geriatric comes along and solos the entire Scion team like they’re nothing. I’m cool with the WoL and co being slapped around if there’s buildup and it makes sense, but this just, I don’t know. It’s jarring? I feel like Ran’jit would have been much better executed if they really leaned on him being a superb, absurdly experienced strategist, really had him outwit and outmaneuver us at every turn. Instead he feels like someone’s crudely inserted OC and it baffles me. I do like the general theme he presents, and the whole foil to Thancred thing, but would love for his power to be contextualised in a satisfactory way. Also that fight with him as Thancred went on for WAY too long oh my goodness. Y’shtola not recognising the WoL was rude as fuck, she’s my favourite Scion and having that reunion be ‘who the fuck is this you brought with you’ was unexpected and a nice way to show that Something Is Amiss in the House of Light. Her not being able to see the night sky when she clearly loves it so much was PAINFUL but Urianger (sweet, good, pure, perfect sexy Urianger) describing it to her was so beautiful. Love little moments like that. The whole duty with the sineater army butchering people, after you raise the Crystarium barriers? Brutal. Loved it. Really made me feel like they were taking the horrors of combat and loss seriously. Ardbert being forced to stand there and watch as people died was agonising. Lyna being betrayed by her own people, and then not mentioning it afterwards was horrendous, the poor woman.

I am going to grind Vauthry’s bloated face into the dirt and relish every second. Fantastic job at making a villain that you really come to revile.

WoL on the verge of exploding because of too much Lightwarden aether is very cool, though I do wonder what exactly the Scions and Exarch plan to do if, you know. The only person strong enough to murder Lightwardens, punt gods around, generally one man army it up, defined by their combat ability. What do they plan to do if that person turns into a Lightwarden? The fuck are they going to do? Sure as hell can’t fight it, and that overabundance of Light aether that’s causing the apocalypse is still there in that case. Seems like the angle Emet is aiming for, but could be a mislead too. He’s slithery. Now I understand why everyone was making Lightwarden/sineater WoL designs for a hot minute.

Just had that...Flashback? Dream? Memory from a different timeline as someone else? After coming back to the Crystarium, post-Amh Araeng, which is what prompted me to vomit all this out before I kept going. That was weird, and the Exarch saying that the Crystal Tower was made possible by the sacrifices that had yet to come about, by heroes that had yet to die, makes me think there’s some sort of time-branch/timeline/AU nonsense afoot. Which is. Concerning, because it’s so rarely handled well, but FF has done time shenanigans in past instalments, so we’ll see. Oh also the reveal that Hydaelyn is a primal was rad, and explains a bunch.

[riladigi]

☆⋆｡𖦹°‧★ book review #3 ☆⋆｡𖦹°‧★

title: The Absolute Book

author: Elizabeth Knox

fin: 04/22/2024

rating: ★★☆☆☆

tags: norse mythology, libraries, magical books, fae, irish folktales

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

this novel has been a pain in the ass to read and i sincerely advise everyone to steer clear of it, unless you possess a heck ton of patience and sympathy for the author. i will be discussing three aspects in this review- namely, exposition, coherence and character development - and explain my utter disappointment in this novel.

when i first picked up this book, my interest was sparked by its promise of norse mythology, irish folktales, and a forbidden book linked to a tragic murder. when i actually started reading the book, i found myself incredibly confused and struggling to follow the plot. at first, i doubted myself and suspected myself of being extremely stupid to understand the plot and coherence of this novel. however, the more i read, i noticed that there was no coherence to begin with and nothing for me to follow, simply because the author struggles setting up a decent exposition and leaves their readers in the dark for around 100 pages. there is so much rambling about taryn’s ex husband, alan, but absolutely zero exposition to the sidhe, which are essentially a grand component of the story and necessary for the understanding of the plotline. knox does not even symbolise or hint the readers into figuring out what the sidhe are and instead leaves them to google and research the term on their own?

one quote, which particularly stuck with me, revolves around taryn talking about her own novel and stating: “my book has to be welcoming, like a public library, rather than an archival collection.” i wish elizabeth knox would have sticked to this line and applied it for her book - because quite frankly it is a mess to decipher and it takes the reader around 100 to 200 pages to figure shit out. on top of the difficulty of understanding the series of events, i particularly found it excruciating to read about the mc, taryn. mind you, this is a grown ass woman in her mid thirties who absolutely has no reaction to anything that happens in her goddamn life. while i understand, that the loss of her sister might have spurred her into a shock response - i cannot attribute this shock response for everything that happens in her entire life. when she isn’t busy being boring, taryn loves to be hypocritical - which imo is just a sign of inconsistency on the author’s part. taryn heavily judges the sidhe of enslaving humans, lying to them, and ultimately shoving them to an eternity in hell (one understandable reaction - one of the few on her part) BUT suddenly has nothing to say, when a close friend of hers, jacob, is a victim of this whole ordeal: “Taryn just accepted this. She knew that - yes - sometimes people were just suddenly lost”. Why then complain about this for around 400 pages???

to conclude this review - although there is much more to say - i recommend everyone who is interested in faeries, norse mythology and/or folktales to simply read gaiman’s american gods and spare themselves of this misery of a book. the sole reason i gave this novel two stars instead of one, is shift and is an incredibly promising character which might have saved this novel if the author had been consistent with his character.

[cresvalkyrie]

Oh yeah I know I'm asking a lot but yeah sure I'll hear you ramble >:3

Oh boy here we go

So I think sleepy might have told you guys before in the pyramid server like, who knows how long (I kinda want to rejoin so I could hand out with you guys more but couldn't because. personal reasons but that's beside the point), but her oc Kisaragi is distant cousins with my ocs Hauyne and the younger sibling (also the fav but you won't ever hear it coming out of her mouth) of my deso oc Iseult. Hauyne is related to both Iseult and Kisaragi, but they're many generations removed from each other. I'm talking like at least 2000 years worth of generations, with Hauyne being more closely related to the generation (specifically she's the great-granddaughter of a warrior who took part in that conflict) that fought in the Great War 3000 years before the events of rejuv in my rejuv au (which I call the chroniclerverse).

So the three of them are what the verse calls the Sidhe, or aura wielders in a more layman term. They're basically a race that can use the abilities of Pokemon, either through forming a bond with their partner Pokemon or by assuming the form of a Pokemon themselves. Iseult, like her sibling Kisaragi, is in the former category; the Sidhes call them mageia, or those who have bonded. Iseult's bond partner is a deso shiny Cresselia named Vega, so she has psychic abilities which she usually uses to communicate with Kisaragi/her friends telepathically. They're the most common kind of aura wielders you can find in-universe, and appearance wise they are virtually identical to humans barring some animalistic traits that they've inherited from their bond partner.

Hauyne, on the other hand, falls on the latter category. The aura wielders usually call them Anima, or those who transform, but there are a rare few amongst the Anima who can assume the form of Legendaries and Mythicals which they call Eikons (or the exalted ones). The Anima are already a fairly uncommon bunch amongst the aura wielders, but the Eikons are exceedingly rare and only manifests within certain bloodlines. Anima and Eikons form the "aristocrats" and "noble" classes of aura wielder society, with the latter often becoming the leaders of each ancient clan, usually revered as an incarnation of the Legendary they worship.

The three of them are descendants of the dragon clan's nobility, although Kisaragi and Iseult's family were very far removed from Hauyne's so they were akin to minor nobility within their society. Hauyne, on the other hand, is directly descended from the dragon clan's ruling bloodline, but in the present day it was believed to have gone extinct in the aftermath of the Great War. Well, they're not completely wrong, because the bloodline's only surviving members are her and her sibling Orion. And with Orion having stepped out since they've chosen to affiliate themselves with Reborn, that left her as the last legitimate heir to the clan.

okay, gonna stop here before I start writing up a text wall kkljflsjflsdf. if you want we can talk more in discord :)