#source: tribe twelve

[astrxealis]

once again i love ffxiv and think it's so funny that you have magic so much magic but you have Guns. too.

[flawseer]

#18 - "Fire"

Smaugust 2024

The last few submissions have been mostly visual, but today I want to do something more text-based. I'm always looking for opportunities to ramble ad nauseam about my headcanons and thoughts, but am usually hesitant if I don't think I can make a subject interesting or particularly insightful.

A few months back I was playing with the thought of publishing a speculative analysis on Pyrrhian dragon breath weapons, and how they might differ between tribes. I got up to the conceptualization stage, but then @sidyashchiy-na-plakhe came out with a better and more put-together version of what I was thinking about and touched on some similar points, so I filed those plans away to not step on any toes. If you're enjoying this type of deliberation, I recommend that you check out his take, as it is very thoughtfully put together with some cool visuals.

But, seeing as I have no other ideas for this prompt, and since it's been a while since then, I'm going to air out my scrapped draft here. I guess this is a mixture between canon information and headcanons, with a bias toward the latter.

General Information

Each of the seven Pyrrhian tribes is capable of using a kind of orally-discharged means of attack. For the purpose of this deliberation, I am going to refer to all of these as "breath weapons", even though not all of them are activated via exhalation. It will make things easier to talk about.

There are three general factors to each type of breath weapon, those being potency, range, and start-up time. In the case of fire breath--the most ubiquitous type of breath weapon on the continent--these would roughly correlate to the temperature of the flames, how far they can travel from the source while maintaining their shape and intensity, and for how long the fire must be stoked inside of the user before it can be expelled.

How developed these factors are differs for every dragon, but the two biggest determining modifiers are constitution and age. Being physically fit will make your breath weapon more efficient--and thus stronger--because you have better control over your breathing after exertion. As a dragon advances in age, the three factors all increase proportionally. A Mudwing hatchling can produce a puff of flame very quickly, but it will barely heat up the surrounding air. An elder meanwhile might take several minutes to get their fire going, but when they do, the result will be fearsome and devastating.

Fire is the most common element on the continent, with four of the seven tribes being able to command it. I will go through those first and then follow up with the other variants .

Nightwing fire is a dark purple in color, due to a slight variation in the gas component that fuels the flames.

The flames have no particularly outstanding properties strength-wise, but they emit comparatively little light, meaning they don't stand out as much against the night sky. This makes them ideal for low-profile ambushing, but very unsuitable as signal flares.

If a Nightwing ignites an object, the flames will gradually lose this characteristic as they will begin to consume the air around them and turn into ordinary, orange fire.

Nightwing flames are sometimes colloquially referred to as "Moonfire".

Sandwing fire is, on average, the least powerful among all the fire-breathing dragons. In terms of potency and range, flames emitted by a Sandwing of 20 years will be roughly equivalent to those of a twelve-year-old from the other fire-breathing tribes.

Their unique advantage is that Sandwings can produce these flames extremely quickly, usually within seconds. If readying fire takes a dragon 30 seconds, an equivalent Sandwing can do it in 5.

While for most other dragons the use of their breath weapon is a deliberate and calculated affair, the severely reduced start-up time allows Sandwings to "shoot from the hip" without having to commit to the action, making them less predictable in combat.

A popular Sandwing combat technique is to open a fight by blowing a quick plume of weak fire into an opponent's face and then using the resulting distraction to strike with their venomous tails.

Skywings command the strongest and purest variation of fire among all tribes. Their flames come out very straight and can maintain their shape over vast distances.

They can "cook" their fire by holding it inside themselves for longer than necessary. While this becomes unpleasant or even painful if done for long, it will increase the temperature and purity of the resulting flames far beyond what any of the other tribes are capable of.

Flames emitted after doing this for long enough will come out with an intense blue color that can cut through stone.

For dragons afflicted with firescales, all of the fire they breathe will be like this, as their bodies are already channeling flames at all times to fuel the burning scales.

Because Skywing fire is so intense, it is at times difficult to control. Skywings who become emotional will often start smoking from their nostrils involuntarily.

Mudwing fire, sometimes referred to as "moody fire", is very temperamental. Its strength will vary widely based on a number of different factors, not all of them fully understood, making it appear random at times.

The most commonly understood factor that influences a Mudwing's fire is the ambient temperature. Mudwings will struggle to produce flames in environments that are too cold (close to freezing weather, very cold water, etc.). This can be partially mitigated by ingesting hot stews, soups, or beverages before fire usage.

A factor that isn't as well documented is that the Mudwing's fire breath and their uncanny healing factor are fueled by the same source. This means a Mudwing's fire will be strongest when they are healthy, and begin to diminish if they become injured, as their body will divert resources away from the breath weapon to prioritize keeping itself alive, functioning, and mobile.

Mudwings hatched from blood eggs have a tendency to develop poor breath weapons, as their super-charged healing factor--while potent enough to outpace most damage sustained from fire--is even more resource-hungry than that of a regular Mudwing.

Icewings don't breathe fire. Instead, they are able to exhale a stream of frost magic. There is nothing I can think of to scientifically explain all the properties of frostbreath as they are presented in canon, especially with regards to Queen Battlewinner. Ice that makes you lava-proof? Nah, this is straight-up magic. All Icewings are born with a small piece of magic and this is how it expresses itself.

Contrary to popular belief, frostbreath is not stronger than firebreath. In terms of general characteristics, Icewings and Nightwings are actually roughly equivalent.

What makes frostbreath more overtly lethal than fire breath is the magical component. When frostbreath comes in contact with living tissue, it will form ice crystals on and inside the surface. All flesh in contact with these crystals will gradually turn necrotic. This process is very painful.

The crystals are very persistent and it requires sustained exposure to intense heat to melt them. The best way to accomplish this is via prolonged bath in warm water (close to boiling). This method, if applied quickly after the injury, will usually result in recovery after a few hours of bathing.

Getting hit while in a situation with no access to warm water is very dangerous and potentially lethal. If treatment does not begin soon after, the crystals will begin to spread, killing more tissue and making recovery increasingly less likely, especially once the injury spreads to internal organs.

It is not uncommon for soldiers who get hit by frost breath and are caught out in the open with no treatment options to cut off the afflicted body part to minimize tissue loss.

Icewings are more resistant to frostbreath than other dragons, but not fully immune. They can succumb to the same injuries.

If an Icewing suffers an intense burn, particularly in and around the face, they become completely unable to exhale frost until the burn begins to heal.

Rainwings do not have a breath weapon. Instead, they produce an acidic venom within their bodies, which can be administered through biting, or launched at targets through a pair of collapsible, hollow fangs.

The gland that produces this venom needs sunlight to develop properly. Once the Rainwing has been exposed to sufficient sunlight, venom production will begin, and may even continue without further exposure, but it is recommended to sunbathe for at least 5 hours a week to keep the gland healthy and the venom potent.

The venom is strongly corrosive and able to dissolve most organic materials like wood, plant matter, and flesh. It is potent enough that, if it enters another creature's blood stream directly (via bite, an open wound, or the eyes), that creature will die within seconds.

The venom's lethality will rapidly decrease once it separates from the user. If it hits surface tissue and has to burn through layers flesh, it will usually lose too much of its toxicity before it reaches the blood stream (though it will still function as acid and be excruciatingly painful).

Rainwings are immune to their own venom, but not the venom of other Rainwings. Mixing a sample of venom with the venom of a close blood relative will cancel out the destructive properties of both.

Seawings are amphibious dragons who prefer to live in water, but can also go on land and exist there in relative comfort for a decent while. Their body contains an organ that stores water, from which it periodically draws to keep the Seawing's skin from drying out.

When under duress, a Seawing can forcefully expel the contents of this organ through their mouth as a pressurized jet of water. While this is not very destructive, it can momentarily stun aggressors and allow the Seawing to retreat to the safety of a nearby lake or river.

If the blast is held inside and charged up similar to the fire breath of other tribes, the Seawing is able to draw from their body heat to increase the water's temperature to scalding degrees.

[fkapommel]

Etymology of TLT Character Names

Wanted to provide a fandom resource for analysis and theorizing. Since House names are explained in GTN, this list will just focus on first names. DM me for sources. Enjoy <3

Gideon

Biblical prophet, military leader, and judge, meaning "feeler," "hewer," or "one who cuts down." According to narrative, the Israelites had forgotten their god for 40 years and were punished by assaults from enemy tribes. After Israel turned back to God for aid, Gideon, an unnoteworthy Israelite, was delivered the message by an angel that he should lead Israel against its enemies. Gideon requested three miracles be done by God to prove his and God's ability to do this task, which God then performed. Gideon then completes God's tasks, including destroying an idol of Baal in the Israelite camp and displacing a much larger enemy encampment. Gideon delivered 40 years of peace for Israel during his lifetime and refused kinghood and dynasty when offered by his people. However, upon his death, the Israelites returned to worshipping Baal. A "Gideonic victory" can mean winning a battle against the odds.

Harrowhark

Harrowing - to use a piece of farming equipment to level soil, break rocks, and kill weeds to ready the dirt for seed growth. Also refers to the Harrowing of Hell, a non-Biblical, early to middle English traditional episode in which Jesus, upon death by crucifixtion, enters the Underworld to preach salvation to souls interned there before his birth, thus allowing them to enter Heaven. This tradition has been canonized by Catholic theology.

Hark - the first word of many ancient texts or announcements, meaning "listen." Biblical angelic speeches often begin with "hark."

Judith

The feminine of Judah, a Biblical Hebrew name meaning "praised," "woman of Judea/Jewess." The name Judith appears twice in the deuterocanonical Bible: once as one of Esau's wives and seperately as the titular character in the Book of Judith (a book not part of the canonized Bible). In the Book of Judith, Judith is described as a widow who uses her wit, charm, and skills of seduction to be invited to the private tent of Holofernes, the general of the enemy Assyrian army who had laid siege to her city. Judith is able to get Holofernes drunk and overpowers him, decapitates him, and steals his head to show to her city. She is of the few illustrations of the "ideal Jewish woman."

Marta

Derived from Aramaic, meaning "the daughter," "the lady," and "dedicated to Mars"

Isaac

Meaning "he laughs," referring to the father of the Biblical character's laugh of disbelief when God told him, Abraham, that his nonogenarian wife would conceive his child. Isaac is one of the three patriarchs of Israel, grandfather to the 12 tribes. When Isaac was a child, God commanded Abraham to take him up a mountain and sacrifice his child in His name. When Abraham proved his obedience, God provided a ram to sacrifice instead of Isaac. Isaac went on to marry Rebekah; though they eventually believed her to be barren, after Isaac prayed to God, Rebekah concieved twin boys, Esau and Jacob, at an old age, just as his mother did. Rebekah grew to prefer Jacob. Later, due to Sarah and Jacob's scheming, Isaac gave Esau's birthright to his second-born son, Jacob. Jacob would live on to father the twelve tribes of Israel.

Jeannemary

This specific spelling seems to be an invention of Tazmuir, but the duel components of the name are significant. Firstly, "Jean-Marie" is a French masculine name. Jeanne is the feminine form of the English "John." "Jeanne"  can be traced to a Biblical Hebrew name, meaning "God is gracious." The most notable historical character of the same name is Jeanne d'Arc, a young female military leader who acted under divine guidance. Upon instruction of archangels and saints, Jeanne fought in pursuit of the coronation of Charless VII during the 100 Years War. Her leadership led to multiple military victories but was punctuated by multiple failures. The unsuccessful relief of a besieged city led to her capture and deliverance to the English, who tried her for blasphemy by wearing men's clothes and refusing submission to Church authority. Found guilty, Jeanne was burned at the stake at 19.

Mary is the most notable feminine name of the Christian Bible, referring predominately to Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, Mary Bethany, and Mary Magdalene, a female disciple of Jesus. Mary was born immaculately - without sin - so that she would be a pure vessel to carry Jesus, who she concieved as a virgin. Mary Bethany was a friend of Jesus and sister to Lazarus. She was deeply emotional about her brother's passing, which persuaded Jesus to resurrect her brother from the grave. Mary Magdalene was a probably wealthy Jewish woman who aided Jesus' teachings. As a loyal apostle, she was a witness at both His crucifixtion and resurrection.

Coronabeth

"Coronabeth," like "Jeannemary," is an obvious Tazmuir invention. "Corona" refers to both the part of the body that resembles a crown and to a colored circular frame around a stellar body, usually caused by its atmosphere.

"Beth" is derived from both "Elizabeth" ("God is my oath") and "Bethany" ("House of Figs"). The suffix -beth comes from Hebrew origins, meaning "house."

Ianthe

From the Ancient Greek, meaning "violet flower" or "she who delights." She was one of the 3,000 water-nymphs called Oceanides, daughters of the Titans. Ianthe and her sisters served as a companion to Persephone when she was in Hades. She is also a character in Ovid's Metamorphosis as the beautiful fiancé to Iphis, a character who has her/his gender changed by the goddess Isis.

Note on the Tridentarii: Coronabeth was almost called "Cainabeth" and Ianthe "Abella" after the two Biblical brother characters, Cain and Abel. In the narrative, God preferred Abel's divine sacrifices and loved him more than his brother. In a jealous rage, Cain killed Abel and hid from his crime, his family, and his God. When God asked him, "Where is your brother?" Cain returned, "I am not my brother's keeper." Angered, He cursed Cain with the Mark of Cain. Separately, the first fratricide cursed the Earth to never turn over its vegetation to Cain, the first murderer. His Mark symbolizes him as a wanderer, a person who belongs nowhere; however, it also protects him from the curses and abuse of others, returning scorned words and abuses back to the harasser seven-fold. Though Coronabeth and Ianthe received their names elsewhere, the lusty, jealous, murderous themes of Cain and Abel's narrative were present at the time of their creation and thus should not be dismissed.

Naberius

Though I can't find the meaning of the name, "Naberius" is rooted in Latin. It first appears in Johann Weyer's 1583 manuscript, "The Deceptions of Demons." Naberius, or "Cerberus" - relation to the same named three-headed dog of Ancient Greek theology unknown - is a Marquess of Hell, directing 19 legions of demons. He provides cunningness of the arts, sciences, and rhetoric in man through vocal instruction and can restore lost honors and dignities. His semblance is of a man with three dog heads or a raven.

Abigail

Biblical Hebrew name meaning "my father's joy," "my father is exalted." Abigail is a Biblical figure, being the third wife of King David and mother to one of his sons. She is a strong believer in the prophecy of David's ascension and his great dynasty. Abigail is considered to be one of the seven Jewish woman prophets and, in the Talmud, of the four women "surpassing beauty in this world." The word "Abigail" can refer nonspecifically to a waiting woman or handmaiden.

Palamedes

There are two notable historical fiction characters that share the name "Palamedes." Palamades was an ancient Grecian prince who joined the battle of Troy, according to the Aenid. After Paris had taken Helen to Troy, Palamedes was sent as envoy from Agamemnon to Odysseus because the latter man had previously vowed to defend Helen's marriage. Odysseus, however, did not want to attend the war, but Palamedes was successful in proving his fitness for war and ultimately delivering Odysseus to Troy. According to some traditions, Odysseus never forgave Palamedes for this and eventually killed him. In the Apology, Plato characterizes Socrates as looking forward to death in order to speak with Palamedes.

Secondly, Sir Palamedes is a knight of the round-table, a Saracen pagan (or probable Muslim) who converted to Christiantiy later in life. He is introduced dueling another knight, Sir Tristan, for a lady's hand, which he loses; these two fight several more times but with unclear victories, leading to a hate-love relationship deepened by their love for the same woman (the woman of their first duel). Many stories have Palamedes as the hunter of the Questing Beast, a fearsome animal the target of many a fruitless hunt. After years of pursuit, it is ultimately his freedom from wordly material granted by his Christian conversion that allows him to slaughter the beast. He remains loyal to Sir Lancelot after his affair with Queen Guinevere is revealed and follows Lancelot to France. Sir Palamedes is later killed by Sir Gawain. Except in matters concerning his love and Sir Tristan, where he often lost control of his anger, he was one of the most chivalrous and honorable knights.

Note: The story of Sir Palamedes, as a product of Arthurian legend, is nearly impossible to summarize properly due to its expansiveness and document fragmentation. If interested in the topic (such as the wink wink homo-erotic love-hate relationship he has with Sir Tristan,) i encourage futher research.

Camilla

"Camilla" is the feminine of "Camillus," a Latin term meaning acolyte, a helper of the Priest during religious processionals and ceremonies. In the Aeneid, Camilla is a queen gifted to the goddess Diana as a handmaiden who became a virginal Amazon warrior.

Dulcinea

"Dulcinea" is a name created by Don Quixote for his character, derivative of the Spanish word "dulce" meaning "sweetness." Princess Dulcinea was invented in the titular character's mind to be the most perfect, beautiful, and regal woman since he believes chivalry requires such a lady of him. To refer to a loved one as like Dulcinea is to express your idealistic devotion and love to her.

Protesilaus

"Protesilaus" may come from the Ancient Greek "protus" for "first." Protesilaus was a hero in the Iliad. According to an oracle, the first Greek to set foot on land after sailing to fight the Trojan War would die. Protesilaus was the first to dare step off ship; he sealed his fate then, later dying in combat. His widow was so devoted to his memory that she built a bronze statue with his likeness. She later self-emulated when the statue was burned and destroyed.

Silas

Latin in origin, "Silas" means "of the forest." Notable figures named "Silas" include first century St. Silas, who accompanied St. Paul on his second mission. He is credited as co-author of the two letters to Thessalonians and the Book of Hebrews; however, authoriship is disputed. St. Silas is sometimes depicted with broken chains due to an episode in which an earthquake freed him and St. Paul from imprisonment.

Colum

From the Gaelic word for "dove"

[whencyclopedia]

Enoch

In the book of Genesis in the pre-flood period, Enoch was the son of Jared and the father of Methuselah. There are few details about Enoch. We learn that he lived 365 years, and then Enoch "walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away" (Genesis 5:24). This cryptic note was interpreted to understand that Enoch did not die a physical death but was taken by God for continued existence in heaven.

Within the traditional texts, he is not referred to again, but he became a major figure during the Second Temple Period (450 BCE - 70 CE). If you have read the gospels, both the concept and the reference to Jesus of Nazareth as the "son of man" is drawn from the books of Enoch.

The Books of the Prophets

Israel suffered several major disasters throughout its history. In 722 BCE, Assyria conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The conquerors switched populations, moving their own people into the region and this is when ten of the twelve tribes of Israel were lost to history. In 587 BCE, the Neo-Babylonian Empire conquered the Southern Kingdom of Judah, destroying Jerusalem and the Temple complex. The books of the Prophets blamed these disasters on the sins of the people, particularly the sin of idolatry.

At the same time, the Prophets offered a message of hope., that the God of Israel would intervene in human history one final time, raising up a messiah figure ("anointed one") to lead the armies of Israel against the nations. At that time, Israel would be restored to its former glory and God’s original plan for humans (the Garden of Eden) would be established on earth. The shorthand phrase for this conviction was "the kingdom of God on earth."

In 330 BCE, Alexander the Great (r. 336-323 BCE) conquered the regions of the Mediterranean Basin. Upon his death, his generals divided his empire during the Wars of the Diadochi. In 167 BCE, the Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes IV (175-164 BCE) ordered the extinction of Jewish customs (their religion). The Jews, under the leadership of a family known as the Maccabees, rose against them and eventually drove them out in the Maccabean Revolt.

Not all Jews agreed with the ruling house of the Maccabees (the Hasmoneans) and so we have the formation of various groups or sects of Jews: the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots. By 63 BCE, Rome had conquered Israel, and many of these groups felt the urgency that God should intervene now. There was a renewed interest in the details of the prophetic books, updated to reflect the current situation. Additional texts were written, recalling ancient figures of Israel to interpret views on the final days.

By the Second Temple period, there were no more traditional Prophets of Israel. Instead, we have the development of seers, men who experienced out-of-body journeys to heaven. While there, they were shown secrets of the future intervention by God. 'Apocalypse' is the term for a disclosure, the revealing of hidden things. As the revelations concerned the final days (eschaton in Greek), scholars apply the term 'apocalyptic eschatology' to the literature of this period. To convey credibility, the texts were always written in the name of an individual who was known to be in heaven. The figure of Enoch became popular as the source of the revelations.

Continue reading...

[ben-marco]

Do you have credible sources for cult abuse / ritual abuse? Because 99% of the stuff I've seen about it has been made up shit during the Satanic Panic. What cults are responsible for the abuse?

(Hope not coming off as mean or anything; genuinely curious!)

I think one thing to realize here is that "cult" is a loaded word with many connotations and a long history in this context. When people think of a cult they often think of what they see in the movies or on TV: sensationalized representations of people doing sacrifices or intricate religious rituals. A cult can look like many different things, and in my opinion a cult is any group that scores significantly on the BITE model. My understanding is also that the frequent use of the word "cult" in RAMCOA/OEA/CDD spaces is a holdover from decades ago when "cult" was the main descriptor used for any abusive group. Over the past several years, I have noticed people beginning to use the word "group" over the word "cult".

OEA can happen in many contexts under the banner of many different groups, religions, ideologies, etc. Some people are abused by groups of people from the Catholic Church or the Southern Baptist Convention. Some are abused within the bounds of the Mormon Church / LDS or within Jehovah's Witnesses sects. Some people are abused in smaller, more stereotypical "cult-like" groups like the Twelve Tribes. Some people experience extreme and organized abuse that is not linked to any religion or ideology at all. Abusers are opportunistic after all, and this is not about the religion or ideology portion, but moreso about the opportunity for an abuser to exploit a child. It just so happens that organized religion is an environment in which there are many such opportunities. Some abusers also intentionally twist or bastardize religious concepts in order to further their abuse and manipulate victims. In short, there is no single shadowy Illuminati-adjacent cult that is doing all of this.

Can I ask what you've seen so far? Svali, Fritz Springmeier, Cisco Wheeler, Colin A. Ross, and Ozian are all unreliable sources but unfortunately they are what people tend to stumble upon first when looking into this.

As far as I know, Alison Miller, Ellen Lacter, Michael Salter, and Harvey L. Schwartz are credible. There are others but these are the main four that I usually list. Michael Salter is of particular interest seeing as how he is a professor of criminology and works mainly on the judicial aspect of organized sexual abuse instead of on the psychological aspect of it. He is on the Board of Directors at the ISSTD, but he is also an advisor to Australian and Canadian agencies for child protection.

As I've said in responding to another ask on this blog, once I am less busy in the real world I intend to create a masterpost with a list of credible researchers and resources on the topics that I discuss.

[dailydemonspotlight]

Melchom - Day 122

Race: Fallen

Alignment: Neutral-Chaos

October 8th, 2024

While I commonly point to the Ars Goetia for my demonic sources, another popular compendium of demons is the Dictionnaire Infernal, possibly the most popular and influential compendium on the metaphorical market. Filled with many fun facets and facts for understanding and enjoying Demonology, the book introduces several important concepts such as the demonic hierarchy and what society to demons may look like overall. The influence this book has is easy to see in many series that take inspiration from satanic works, and, of course, SMT is among those many. One standout figure from the pages of the book, however, is today's Demon of the Day, and a personal favorite- Melchom, the banker of hell.

Melchom's name and role share many similarities with Moloch, a major biblical figure that represents a lot of sin and evil. While, in Hebrew, Moloch means 'king,' it is typically referred to in the Bible as the name of several forms of sin that typically involve child sacrifice. Melchom may be an aspect or avatar of Moloch, though it's very vague, as his name is also similar to many other completely different figures- Milcom, for instance, who is another Ammonite god referred to in the Bible. We can put together from this, however, that Melchom was once an Ammonite deity in much the same vein, if not being the same as, Moloch or Milcom. However, for whatever reason, the Dictionnaire Infernal makes a stark reference to Melchom as his own being, putting him in a separate entry from Moloch and calling him the "Paymaster of civil servants." So, why is this?

According to a commentary on the Bible by scholar Jamieson Fausset Brown, the Ammonites worshiped a usurper god that they lived alongside within Gad, one of the twelve tribes of Israel. However, after the tribe of Gad was chased down by the Israelites, Melchom fell from his spot of divinity and became a demon, separate from Moloch, as, from what I can interpret, Moloch and Melchom had different methods of worship and different tribes overall: after all, Moloch was a Canaanite god, and Melchom an Ammonite one. (For the record, Ammonite in a biblical context refers to a race of people close to the Hebrews, not the funny little shell guys. Sorry to disappoint.) Now separated from his place of worship and a feeble demon once more, Melchom took up his job as the paymaster of hell, getting a single mention alongside his more powerful contemporaries in the Dictionnaire Infernal. To quote,

"Melchom, demon who carries the purse; he is in hell [sic] paymaster of civil servants."

Now, in terms of design, the stunning artwork from the Dictionnaire Infernal has been translated well into this far more cartoony but still accurate and fun imp-like paymaster. Everything has been adapted swimmingly, whether it be his goat hooves to his tail, even to his face stuck in a smug expression. However, again, it takes a far more cartoony lens which I honestly enjoy, with bat-wing ears and a big ol' necklace with a dollar sign on it to indicate his role as paymaster of hell. Overall, a fittingly goofy design for a demon whose fall from grace was equally as goofy, going from a god to a lowly paymaster. Still, I'd rather him than a landlord. At least a demon won't pretend to be nice while draining your wallet.

[yandere-fetish]

October 4th, 2024

Entry 4

Inspired by hidden worlds and ancient jungles, enjoy this wild adventure you’ll never return from…

warnings: mentions of gruesome deaths, cannibalism, mentions of torture

To Worship or To Be Worshipped

What had started out as a simple hunt to discover another ancient tomb ended up in a miscommunication with the locals. And now, they want their god to recognize them…

”No! Alphonse! Saphira! Let them go!” I pleaded through the stone bars as I reached out for them.

That was the very last of the crew I came here with. There were twelve of us at one point, but after falling into these ancient traps that led to this temple completely took us by surprise when we began dropping like flies.

Whether they were decapitated, impaled, or severed in half, their lives all ended up being deceased. I remember their smiles, the laughs we shared just the night before this chaos ensued. They had been such a lively group of comrades and such a joy to adventure with. It was devastating to know that their deaths were so agonizing.

Tears fall from my cheeks as I scream out in protest as the two are dragged towards an altarpiece in the middle of this jungle. It was obvious this place was inhabited long ago and somehow, they sustained life this long. Especially if it was found from a secret passage within a hidden tomb. I had always thought it was planted, and that they found their food source from, but it wasn’t until the second day of being captured where my thoughts had been horribly wrong.

Instead of hunting and eating meat for the whole tribe that second night, they took a fellow researcher first, injuring two of the guards who weren’t tied up. We watched— everyone watched and heard as they carved her skin off to fry in a medieval pan over a burning fire. Several of the tribesmen and women were using scary looking hunting knives. Paget was screaming until her lungs couldn’t hold anymore air. Her screams had gone on for so long, my ears had continued to ring even after her voice was silenced.

Even now, as I’m trying to fight against the bars as the last two of my companions are being wretched from me and used as a food source, my hands tremble on the bars. My sobs come out all choked up as their screams and pleas for help reach my ears. It wasn’t long before I was haunted by their ghosts, seeing them everywhere I looked when I opened my eyes. I saw them in my dreams, begging, crying for me to save them from their destined fates.

When a piece of burnt meat is shoved into my teepee-like cell, I almost gag at the sight.. had it not been for my growling stomach demanding for some sustenance to sustain my broken and terrified life.

As they celebrated that night, they seemed to worship a stone statue. It was of a mighty bird-hybrid creature with many different animalistic features. I had never seen a deity or statue with the type of markings, nor the type of ritual they had going on during this full moon.

It wasn’t until the night I thought my life would end that these sudden fears were suddenly pulverized into nothing.

It was the night I met the deity.

[web-novel-polls]

Web Novel Women Tournament 

[Please be kind and respectful in the notes. Anti-Propaganda is NOT allowed.]

Qiyan Agula from Clear and Muddy Loss of Love / JWQS

[No propaganda submitted] 

Mod Propaganda: The Prince of the Chengli tribe that was raised as a man to solidify her parents’ marriage & then pretended to be a frail scholar to get revenge on the Wei Kingdom that destroyed her tribe. A Horse Girl™ with more crimes than I can list 

Source: Wiki

Mu Nihuang from Langya Bang / Langya List / Nirvana in Fire

Submission: 

Mu Nihuang was born into a military household. Both parents died in battle when she was still a teen, and she rode to war at the head of their armies and won the victory herself. She has been the general defending the same border ever since, and also raised her much younger brother for the role.  She is one of the best ten fighters in the world. Her brother and all her men look up to her. Even the emperor, famous for his paranoia, respects and adores her. By nature she is straightforward, loyal and unapologetic. But she is also extremely intelligent and knows when to be underhanded and tricky should the need arise. She still believes in her ex-fiancee, declared a traitor twelve years ago, but is practical enough to not be loud about it. She knows people well, and is the first person to figure out the main character's true identity. 

[voidsentprinces]

I like how the narrative slowly builds up to the ideal of Hydaelyn and Zodiark not being creationist gods in the divine, always being sense but in the sense that they are the eldest and most powerful of Primals.

Firstly, 1.0 and a Realm Reborn giving us Ifrit, Titan, Garuda, and Bahamut as the concept of Primals. "Deities" that run on massive quantities of crystal and the aether therein. Then the introduction of Bahamut as an Elder Primal, something so fast and devestating it can cause cataclysms if its sneezes hard enough and doesn't have to run off a constant stream of aether or crystals any longer. While still tempering all around it. As well as introducing Carbuncle as a functioning minion of Summoners and Scholar that can take on the form of others in Egi.

Post-A Realm Reborn introducing us to the origins of Primals from stories past down through cultures with Good King Moggle Mog XII, Leviathan and Ramuh. Then introduce a person with a soul vast enough and will strong enough to become a Primal. Show how it can take over a persons sense of self in Phoenix and Louisoix then show how you can guide and control it via Shiva. And during the same patch cycle, stealth introduce Elidibus as "just another Ascian" while introducing this concept.

Heavensward further explore how various beast tribes summon Primals for purposes beyond defense but aggression in Ravana and how a benevolent source of protection can go rogue in Bismarck. As well as how a particularly strong willed being can take over the body of another in Nidhogg and sacrificing even those unwilling to the summoning is possible, Shinryu.

Stormblood introduce Kami and the idea that in some places, if an object is old enough it can become a thinking being and not necessarily have to run off crystal aether but faith and belief alone. From gathered objects absorbing aether over time.

Shadowbringers don't just casually drop that they're the most ancient and powerful of primals. Introduce us to Cubus and Amaurot's creation of Concepts. Introduce how echoes and other reflections belief in the right of all and the vaguest of memories can forge a Primal that can abuse all it stands for at the Seat of Sacrifice and just EVERYTHING involving Elidibus as the Heart of Zodiark.

Endwalker finally putting into play how without a heart, Zodiark can be taken over by anyone more than willing to take control of it. And Hydaelyn being created of the memories and stalwart devotion of one person against the oncoming tide of despair and darkness.

Post-Endwalker introducing the functioning of Voidsent and what a Voidsent Primal would be with Zeromus and finally the role of the Twelve becoming Primals but reversing the course as all but one of them return to the lifestream to refresh it. While Athena tries to take control of it to ascend to what she believes is true Godhood and how the Concept can be taken to logical extremes in Pandaemonium. Used to become a parasitic force or fully taking over a vessel.

[magnetothemagnificent]

sorry f its obvious, goy here, could you go into what all the colors represent? :D

The twelve stripes on the queer Jewish pride flag represent the 12 stones of the 12 Tribes of Israel on the High Priest's Choshen (breastplate):

Onyx: Levi

Garnet: Yehudah (Judah)

Ruby: Reuven (Reuben)

Peridot: Asher

Malachite: Yosef (Joseph)

Emerald: Dan

Prase: Shimon (Simeon)

Torquise: Naftali

Sapphire: Yissachar (Issachar)

Jasper: Binyamin (Benjamin)

Pearl: Zevulun (Zebulun)

Crystal: Gad

There's no consensus as to which stones exactly were on the breastplate, so I synthesized different interpretations.

Sources used were:

The High Priest’s Breastplate (Choshen)

The Stones, Symbols, and Flags of the Twelve Tribes of Israel

Exodus Tetzaveh 28:17-20 JPS translation

Onkelos Tetzaveh 28-17-20 Metsudah translation

Translating Gemstones

I colour-picked from each stone and ordered them to resemble a rainbow, representing the unity and diversity of the Jewish people and the inclusion of LGBTQ Jews in our history.

[dailyanarchistposts]

Chapter 7: Mutual Aid Amongst Ourselves (Part 1)

Popular revolts at the beginning of the State-period. — Mutual Aid institutions of the present time. — The village community; its struggles for resisting its abolition by the State. — Habits derived from the village-community life, retained in our modern villages. — Switzerland, France, Germany, Russia.

The mutual-aid tendency in man has so remote an origin, and is so deeply interwoven with all the past evolution of the human race, that it has been maintained by mankind up to the present time, notwithstanding all vicissitudes of history. It was chiefly evolved during periods of peace and prosperity; but when even the greatest calamities befell men — when whole countries were laid waste by wars, and whole populations were decimated by misery, or groaned under the yoke of tyranny — the same tendency continued to live in the villages and among the poorer classes in the towns; it still kept them together, and in the long run it reacted even upon those ruling, fighting, and devastating minorities which dismissed it as sentimental nonsense. And whenever mankind had to work out a new social organization, adapted to a new phase of development, its constructive genius always drew the elements and the inspiration for the new departure from that same ever-living tendency. New economical and social institutions, in so far as they were a creation of the masses, new ethical systems, and new religions, all have originated from the same source, and the ethical progress of our race, viewed in its broad lines, appears as a gradual extension of the mutual-aid principles from the tribe to always larger and larger agglomerations, so as to finally embrace one day the whole of mankind, without respect to its diverse creeds, languages, and races.

After having passed through the savage tribe, and next through the village community, the Europeans came to work out in medieval times a new form of organization, which had the advantage of allowing great latitude for individual initiative, while it largely responded at the same time to man’s need of mutual support. A federation of village communities, covered by a network of guilds and fraternities, was called into existence in the medieval cities. The immense results achieved under this new form of union — in well-being for all, in industries, art, science, and commerce — were discussed at some length in two preceding chapters, and an attempt was also made to show why, towards the end of the fifteenth century, the medieval republics — surrounded by domains of hostile feudal lords, unable to free the peasants from servitude, and gradually corrupted by ideas of Roman Cæsarism — were doomed to become a prey to the growing military States.

However, before submitting for three centuries to come, to the all-absorbing authority of the State, the masses of the people made a formidable attempt at reconstructing society on the old basis of mutual aid and support. It is well known by this time that the great movement of the reform was not a mere revolt against the abuses of the Catholic Church. It had its constructive ideal as well, and that ideal was life in free, brotherly communities. Those of the early writings and sermons of the period which found most response with the masses were imbued with ideas of the economical and social brotherhood of mankind. The “Twelve Articles” and similar professions of faith, which were circulated among the German and Swiss peasants and artisans, maintained not only every one’s right to interpret the Bible according to his own understanding, but also included the demand of communal lands being restored to the village communities and feudal servitudes being abolished, and they always alluded to the “true” faith — a faith of brotherhood. At the same time scores of thousands of men and women joined the communist fraternities of Moravia, giving them all their fortune and living in numerous and prosperous settlements constructed upon the principles of communism.[251] Only wholesale massacres by the thousand could put a stop to this widely-spread popular movement, and it was by the sword, the fire, and the rack that the young States secured their first and decisive victory over the masses of the people.[252]

For the next three centuries the States, both on the Continent and in these islands, systematically weeded out all institutions in which the mutual-aid tendency had formerly found its expression. The village communities were bereft of their folkmotes, their courts and independent administration; their lands were confiscated. The guilds were spoliated of their possessions and liberties, and placed under the control, the fancy, and the bribery of the State’s official. The cities were divested of their sovereignty, and the very springs of their inner life — the folkmote, the elected justices and administration, the sovereign parish and the sovereign guild — were annihilated; the State’s functionary took possession of every link of what formerly was an organic whole. Under that fatal policy and the wars it engendered, whole regions, once populous and wealthy, were laid bare; rich cities became insignificant boroughs; the very roads which connected them with other cities became impracticable. Industry, art, and knowledge fell into decay. Political education, science, and law were rendered subservient to the idea of State centralization. It was taught in the universities and from the pulpit that the institutions in which men formerly used to embody their needs of mutual support could not be tolerated in a properly organized State; that the State alone could represent the bonds of union between its subjects; that federalism and “particularism” were the enemies of progress, and the State was the only proper initiator of further development. By the end of the last century the kings on the Continent, the Parliament in these isles, and the revolutionary Convention in France, although they were at war with each other, agreed in asserting that no separate unions between citizens must exist within the State; that hard labour and death were the only suitable punishments to workers who dared to enter into “coalitions.” “No state within the State!” The State alone, and the State’s Church, must take care of matters of general interest, while the subjects must represent loose aggregations of individuals, connected by no particular bonds, bound to appeal to the Government each time that they feel a common need. Up to the middle of this century this was the theory and practice in Europe. Even commercial and industrial societies were looked at with suspicion. As to the workers, their unions were treated as unlawful almost within our own lifetime in this country and within the last twenty years on the Continent. The whole system of our State education was such that up to the present time, even in this country, a notable portion of society would treat as a revolutionary measure the concession of such rights as every one, freeman or serf, exercised five hundred years ago in the village folkmote, the guild, the parish, and the city.

The absorption of all social functions by the State necessarily favoured the development of an unbridled, narrow-minded individualism. In proportion as the obligations towards the State grew in numbers the citizens were evidently relieved from their obligations towards each other. In the guild — and in medieval times every man belonged to some guild or fraternity two “brothers” were bound to watch in turns a brother who had fallen ill; it would be sufficient now to give one’s neighbour the address of the next paupers’ hospital. In barbarian society, to assist at a fight between two men, arisen from a quarrel, and not to prevent it from taking a fatal issue, meant to be oneself treated as a murderer; but under the theory of the all-protecting State the bystander need not intrude: it is the policeman’s business to interfere, or not. And while in a savage land, among the Hottentots, it would be scandalous to eat without having loudly called out thrice whether there is not somebody wanting to share the food, all that a respectable citizen has to do now is to pay the poor tax and to let the starving starve. The result is, that the theory which maintains that men can, and must, seek their own happiness in a disregard of other people’s wants is now triumphant all round in law, in science, in religion. It is the religion of the day, and to doubt of its efficacy is to be a dangerous Utopian. Science loudly proclaims that the struggle of each against all is the leading principle of nature, and of human societies as well. To that struggle biology ascribes the progressive evolution of the animal world. History takes the same line of argument; and political economists, in their naive ignorance, trace all progress of modern industry and machinery to the “wonderful” effects of the same principle. The very religion of the pulpit is a religion of individualism, slightly mitigated by more or less charitable relations to one’s neighbours, chiefly on Sundays. “Practical” men and theorists, men of science and religious preachers, lawyers and politicians, all agree upon one thing — that individualism may be more or less softened in its harshest effects by charity, but that it is the only secure basis for the maintenance of society and its ulterior progress.

It seems, therefore, hopeless to look for mutual-aid institutions and practices in modern society. What could remain of them? And yet, as soon as we try to ascertain how the millions of human beings live, and begin to study their everyday relations, we are struck with the immense part which the mutual-aid and mutual-support principles play even now-a-days in human life. Although the destruction of mutual-aid institutions has been going on in practice and theory, for full three or four hundred years, hundreds of millions of men continue to live under such institutions; they piously maintain them and endeavour to reconstitute them where they have ceased to exist. In our mutual relations every one of us has his moments of revolt against the fashionable individualistic creed of the day, and actions in which men are guided by their mutual aid inclinations constitute so great a part of our daily intercourse that if a stop to such actions could be put all further ethical progress would be stopped at once. Human society itself could not be maintained for even so much as the lifetime of one single generation. These facts, mostly neglected by sociologists and yet of the first importance for the life and further elevation of mankind, we are now going to analyze, beginning with the standing institutions of mutual support, and passing next to those acts of mutual aid which have their origin in personal or social sympathies.

When we cast a broad glance on the present constitution of European society we are struck at once with the fact that, although so much has been done to get rid of the village community, this form of union continues to exist to the extent we shall presently see, and that many attempts are now made either to reconstitute it in some shape or another or to find some substitute for it. The current theory as regards the village community is, that in Western Europe it has died out by a natural death, because the communal possession of the soil was found inconsistent with the modern requirements of agriculture. But the truth is that nowhere did the village community disappear of its own accord; everywhere, on the contrary, it took the ruling classes several centuries of persistent but not always successful efforts to abolish it and to confiscate the communal lands.

In France, the village communities began to be deprived of their independence, and their lands began to be plundered, as early as the sixteenth century. However, it was only in the next century, when the mass of the peasants was brought, by exactions and wars, to the state of subjection and misery which is vividly depicted by all historians, that the plundering of their lands became easy and attained scandalous proportions. “Every one has taken of them according to his powers... imaginary debts have been claimed, in order to seize upon their lands;” so we read in an edict promulgated by Louis the Fourteenth in 1667.[253] Of course the State’s remedy for such evils was to render the communes still more subservient to the State, and to plunder them itself. In fact, two years later all money revenue of the communes was confiscated by the King. As to the appropriation of communal lands, it grew worse and worse, and in the next century the nobles and the clergy had already taken possession of immense tracts of land — one-half of the cultivated area, according to certain estimates — mostly to let it go out of culture.[254] But the peasants still maintained their communal institutions, and until the year 1787 the village folkmotes, composed of all householders, used to come together in the shadow of the bell-tower or a tree, to allot and re-allot what they had retained of their fields, to assess the taxes, and to elect their executive, just as the Russian mir does at the present time. This is what Babeau’s researches have proved to demonstration.[255]

The Government found, however, the folkmotes “too noisy,” too disobedient, and in 1787, elected councils, composed of a mayor and three to six syndics, chosen from among the wealthier peasants, were introduced instead. Two years later the Revolutionary Assemblé e Constituante, which was on this point at one with the old régime, fully confirmed this law (on the 14th of December, 1789), and the bourgeois du village had now their turn for the plunder of communal lands, which continued all through the Revolutionary period. Only on the 16th of August, 1792, the Convention, under the pressure of the peasants’ insurrections, decided to return the enclosed lands to the communes;[256] but it ordered at the same time that they should be divided in equal parts among the wealthier peasants only — a measure which provoked new insurrections and was abrogated next year, in 1793, when the order came to divide the communal lands among. All commoners, rich and poor alike, “active” and “inactive.”

These two laws, however, ran so much against the conceptions of the peasants that they were not obeyed, and wherever the peasants had retaken possession of part of their lands they kept them undivided. But then came the long years of wars, and the communal lands were simply confiscated by the State (in 1794) as a mortgage for State loans, put up for sale, and plundered as such; then returned again to the communes and confiscated again (in 1813); and only in 1816 what remained of them, i.e. about 15,000,000 acres of the least productive land, was restored to the village communities.[257] Still this was not yet the end of the troubles of the communes. Every new régime saw in the communal lands a means for gratifying its supporters, and three laws (the first in 1837 and the last under Napoleon the Third) were passed to induce the village communities to divide their estates. Three times these laws had to be repealed, in consequence of the opposition they met with in the villages; but something was snapped up each time, and Napoleon the Third, under the pretext of encouraging perfected methods of agriculture, granted large estates out of the communal lands to some of his favourites.

As to the autonomy of the village communities, what could be retained of it after so many blows? The mayor and the syndics were simply looked upon as unpaid functionaries of the State machinery. Even now, under the Third Republic, very little can be done in a village community without the huge State machinery, up to the préfet and the ministries, being set in motion. It is hardly credible, and yet it is true, that when, for instance, a peasant intends to pay in money his share in the repair of a communal road, instead of himself breaking the necessary amount of stones, no fewer than twelve different functionaries of the State must give their approval, and an aggregate of fifty-two different acts must be performed by them, and exchanged between them, before the peasant is permitted to pay that money to the communal council. All the remainder bears the same character.[258]

What took place in France took place everywhere in Western and Middle Europe. Even the chief dates of the great assaults upon the peasant lands are the same. For England the only difference is that the spoliation was accomplished by separate acts rather than by general sweeping measures — with less haste but more thoroughly than in France. The seizure of the communal lands by the lords also began in the fifteenth century, after the defeat of the peasant insurrection of 1380 — as seen from Rossus’s Historia and from a statute of Henry the Seventh, in which these seizures are spoken of under the heading of “enormitees and myschefes as be hurtfull... to the common wele.”[259] Later on the Great Inquest, under Henry the Eighth, was begun, as is known, in order to put a stop to the enclosure of communal lands, but it ended in a sanction of what had been done.[260] The communal lands continued to be preyed upon, and the peasants were driven from the land. But it was especially since the middle of the eighteenth century that, in England as everywhere else, it became part of a systematic policy to simply weed out all traces of communal ownership; and the wonder is not that it has disappeared, but that it could be maintained, even in England, so as to be “generally prevalent so late as the grandfathers of this generation.”[261] The very object of the Enclosure Acts, as shown by Mr. Seebohm, was to remove this system,[262] and it was so well removed by the nearly four thousand Acts passed between 1760 and 1844 that only faint traces of it remain now. The land of the village communities was taken by the lords, and the appropriation was sanctioned by Parliament in each separate case.

In Germany, in Austria, in Belgium the village community was also destroyed by the State. Instances of commoners themselves dividing their lands were rare,[263] while everywhere the States coerced them to enforce the division, or simply favoured the private appropriation of their lands. The last blow to communal ownership in Middle Europe also dates from the middle of the eighteenth century. In Austria sheer force was used by the Government, in 1768, to compel the communes to divide their lands — a special commission being nominated two years later for that purpose. In Prussia Frederick the Second, in several of his ordinances (in 1752, 1763, 1765, and 1769), recommended to the Justizcollegien to enforce the division. In Silesia a special resolution was issued to serve that aim in 1771. The same took place in Belgium, and, as the communes did not obey, a law was issued in 1847 empowering the Government to buy communal meadows in order to sell them in retail, and to make a forced sale of the communal land when there was a would-be buyer for it.[264]

In short, to speak of the natural death of the village communities in virtue of economical laws is as grim a joke as to speak of the natural death of soldiers slaughtered on a battlefield. The fact was simply this: The village communities had lived for over a thousand years; and where and when the peasants were not ruined by wars and exactions they steadily improved their methods of culture. But as the value of land was increasing, in consequence of the growth of industries, and the nobility had acquired, under the State organization, a power which it never had had under the feudal system, it took possession of the best parts of the communal lands, and did its best to destroy the communal institutions.

However, the village-community institutions so well respond to the needs and conceptions of the tillers of the soil that, in spite of all, Europe is up to this date covered with living survivals of the village communities, and European country life is permeated with customs and habits dating from the community period. Even in England, notwithstanding all the drastic measures taken against the old order of things, it prevailed as late as the beginning of the nineteenth century. Mr. Gomme — one of the very few English scholars who have paid attention to the subject — shows in his work that many traces of the communal possession of the soil are found in Scotland, “runrig” tenancy having been maintained in Forfarshire up to 1813, while in certain villages of Inverness the custom was, up to 1801, to plough the land for the whole community, without leaving any boundaries, and to allot it after the ploughing was done. In Kilmorie the allotment and re-allotment of the fields was in full vigour “till the last twenty-five years,” and the Crofters’ Commission found it still in vigour in certain islands.[265] In Ireland the system prevailed up to the great famine; and as to England, Marshall’s works, which passed unnoticed until Nasse and Sir Henry Maine drew attention to them, leave no doubt as to the village-community system having been widely spread, in nearly all English counties, at the beginning of the nineteenth century.[266] No more than twenty years ago Sir Henry Maine was “greatly surprised at the number of instances of abnormal property rights, necessarily implying the former existence of collective ownership and joint cultivation,” which a comparatively brief inquiry brought under his notice.[267] And, communal institutions having persisted so late as that, a great number of mutual-aid habits and customs would undoubtedly be discovered in English villages if the writers of this country only paid attention to village life.[268]

[aisling-saoirse]

White Ash - Fraxinus pensylvanica

For this post I'm going to discuss the snags and reason I got back into ecology: The Ash Tree

Around the 1990s an insect from northeastern Asia was accidentally introduced to the Continental United States, by 2002 this insect was identified in Michigan after destroying several million acres of forest, this insect was the Emerald Ash Borer. The borer's larvae consume the living inner bark layer (leaving an interesting pattern), ultimately starving the tree of nutrients. The bark will often flake or peel off. By the year 2015, there were signs that the borer had spread to the east coast, its journey likely accelerated by the spread of firewood from infected logs, by 2019 nearly every mature Ash tree in Northern New Jersey was killed.

I grew up in a yard with twelve 150 year old Ash trees, the yard was adjacent to a section of Ash dominant forest, I watched the slow decline of all these trees, for half a decade I hoped our trees would be lucky enough to survive but unfortunately they all died within a few summers. Although the White Ash trees I encountered were wild from a 20th century clear-cut, they were a fairly common street tree around the northeast, straight growing, lovely bark and unfortunately most of the nursery stock was derived from a similar gene pool. There was little genetic diversity and many suburban neighborhoods were wiped of Ash trees. Many Ash trees were infested and look like the section of log I saved from my yard now (image below)

Suburban yards aside I quickly began to notice entire sections of forest filled with standing deadwood (image below). Worse yet white ash wasn't the only ash species affected, the entire genus is at risk. American Ash species often occupy a unique niche in cultivating young organisms which grow in vernal pools, the leaves of american ash are low in tannin, meaning they're one of the few leaves which are a suitable food source for young frog tadpoles. The loss of the ash means damage to American frog populations. It also means insects which utilized ash as a host are also at risk.

Ash also has quite a lovely ethnobotanical history, black ash is famous amoung various tribes around the northeast for its use in basket weaving. Historically Lenape elders would use the juice from white ash leaves for reducing swelling. More modern settler usages revolve around using the elastic yet study wood for baseball bats, oars, hockey sticks, and tool handles. My friends father used to raid his boss's construction sites at night to harvest ash slated for removal and deliver it to a baseball bat manufacturer for a decent payout. Ash also has a lovely grain visible in the broken log in the second image

Ash forests now eerie snag filled openings which creak and occasionally fall on unsuspecting hikers. The thought of watching an entire forest ecosystem go really bothered me, ash swamps are unique, varied, there's something almost indescribable about growing up hearing early spring chirps from little tree frogs at night which are now silent. I left my job in architecture and started pursuing a degree related to landscape architecture and ecological planning (not that this is the answer). I started propagating ash trees where I could and planting them around. Unfortunately ash can't immediately return, invasive species often outcompete ash trees in their former forest, the added pressure ultimately reduces their ability to regenerate. The borer has spread so far there is little we can do to remove it, however there is a positive effect with biological control via the borers' specific parasitic wasp.

Is this the end of the ash? Hopefully not. I still find saplings throughout the woods, ash can be aggressive in the right conditions, can they survive into maturity is another question. Perhaps in another century, more will return, and ash will occupy our woods once more. Like the Chestnut work is being done to breed more resistant species.

[thevikingwoman]

❗💔 and 🍓 for the emoji asks?

Thank you Rolo!!

❗️(exclamation point) - What was the scariest moment of your character’s life? Does it still affect them?

there's a lot to pick from the wol's life, isn't there?

I'm a bit torn between two moments - the light poisoning at the end of Shb, and fighting Hades, until Ardbert showed up; she was very affected by the light and sure it would end her. She just wanted to finish what she had set out to do before? I think she is still worried it affects her, no matter what Ryne and Y'shtola tells her. It's a fear now, of too much aether no matter how it's aspected inside of her. She doesn't have any major physical side effects, but gathering and channeling aether does come easier to her. Experience; or is her fear real?

The other moment is the Zenos body snatching - having her body stolen and put in some other body was extremely harrowring, and she was so frighted, how to undo this spinning constantly on top of her need to survive. How it affects her in the future is yet to be determined, however! I'm sure it will be another source of nightmares one way or the other.

💔 (broken heart) - Who has your character hurt most? Physically or emotionally? How did it feel? Do they regret it?

Hurting Zenos by not caring about his little competition? Heh. Real answer- probably her parents, by running away from home. She didn't want to hurt them, but it felt good to take her own destiny in her hands. Now, she regrets she didn't go about it in a better way, but she can't imagine how her life had turned out if she hadn't? so much has happened to her, she wouldn't know who she would be if she stayed on the Steppe. She regrets not keeping contact, not returning sooner - she's deep down worried she'll never be truly forgiven.

🍓 (strawberry) - Does your oc believe in anything? Are they superstitious? Religious? Atheistic? Has anything in their past made them this way?

OH this!

Meryta and her tribe worship Nhaama and Azim both, in line with with many Xaela in the game. For her they are both important and exist in a balance, both protecting, nurturing and empowering all Xaela. She doesn't care much for the twelve (or Hydealyn), it doesn't mean much to her, but another people's gods. She did, until recently see the primals less as "gods" as she could fight them; more like Kami or Avatars of their people and not capital-G-Gods.

However, once Emet-Selch tells her of Zodiark and Hydealyn she has a crisis of sorts - she realizes all gods are simply made up by worship, there's no difference at all. She is, again, less concerned with Hydealyn, but she realizes that Nhaama and Azim are maybe not unshakable constants of the universe - and that au ra on the First doesn't share the creation myth either. She doesn't know what to do with that.

it leaves her in an uncomfortable place, she will still pray for Nhaama's protection but she's not sure what it means? And she fears her people will summon Azim or Nhaama in some sort of idiotic fit of desperation, and that she'd have to go fight them, in a sort of low key 'one fear' back of her mind.

It's all shoved aside in her mind because of stuffs and happenings and the next crisis, but she is wobbly and feels, perhaps, a bit alone for it.

red emoji asks!

[orthodoxydaily]

Saints&Reading: Thursday, August 22, 2024

august 9_august 22

THE HOLY APOSTLE MATTHIAS (63)

The Holy Apostle Matthias was born at Bethlehem of the Tribe of Judah. From his early childhood he studied the Law of God under the guidance of Saint Simeon the God-Receiver (February 3).

When the Lord Jesus Christ revealed Himself to the world, Saint Matthias believed in Him as the Messiah, followed constantly after Him and was numbered among the Seventy Apostles, whom the Lord “sent them two by two before His face” (Luke 10:1).

After the Ascension of the Savior, Saint Matthias was chosen by lot to replace Judas Iscariot as one of the Twelve Apostles (Acts 1:15-26). After the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Matthias preached the Gospel at Jerusalem and in Judea together with the other Apostles (Acts 6:2, 8:14). From Jerusalem he went with the Apostles Peter and Andrew to Syrian Antioch, and was in the Cappadocian city of Tianum and Sinope. Here the Apostle Matthias was locked into prison, from which he was miraculously freed by Saint Andrew the First-Called.

The Apostle Matthias journeyed after this to Amasea, a city on the shore of the sea. During a three year journey of the Apostle Andrew, Saint Matthias was with him at Edessa and Sebaste. According to Church Tradition, he was preaching at Pontine Ethiopia (presently Western Georgia) and Macedonia. He was frequently subjected to deadly peril, but the Lord preserved him to preach the Gospel.

Once, pagans forced the saint to drink a poison potion. He drank it, and not only did he himself remain unharmed, but he also healed other prisoners who had been blinded by the potion. When Saint Matthias left the prison, the pagans searched for him in vain, for he had become invisible to them. Another time, when the pagans had become enraged intending to kill the Apostle, the earth opened up and engulfed them.

The Apostle Matthias returned to Judea and did not cease to enlighten his countrymen with the light of Christ’s teachings. He worked great miracles in the Name of the Lord Jesus and he converted a great many to faith in Christ.

The Jewish High Priest Ananias hated Christ and earlier had commanded the Apostle James, Brother of the Lord, to be flung down from the heights of the Temple, and now he ordered that the Apostle Matthias be arrested and brought for judgment before the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem.

The impious Ananias uttered a speech in which he blasphemously slandered the Lord. Using the prophecies of the Old Testament, the Apostle Matthias demonstrated that Jesus Christ is the True God, the promised Messiah, the Son of God, Consubstantial and Coeternal with God the Father. After these words the Apostle Matthias was sentenced to death by the Sanhedrin and stoned.

When Saint Matthias was already dead, the Jews, to hide their malefaction, cut off his head as an enemy of Caesar. (According to several historians, the Apostle Matthias was crucified, and indicate that he instead died at Colchis.) The Apostle Matthias received the martyr’s crown of glory in the year 63.

Source: Orthodox Church in America_OCA

NEW MARTYR MARGARET (1918)

Abbess Margaret, in the world Maria Mikhailovna Gunarodnoulo, was born in 1865 or 1866 in a family of Greek origin. Before becoming a nun she lived in Kiev. Her spiritual father was Protopriest Alexander Korsakovsky, the rector of the St. George church, in whose parish she lived. In his memoirs Prince N.D. Zhevakov, who knew matushka long before she became a nun, writes: “I saw in Maria Mikhailovna the incarnation of fiery faith and ardent love for God. Small, frail, almost an old woman, she burned like a candle before God: everyone who knew her knew that she had been born precisely in order to warm others with her love.” Shortly after receiving the monastic tonsure with the name Margaret, she went to live in the “Joy and Consolation” community of the Orlov-Davydovs near Moscow, where the abbess was the very elderly Countess Orlova-Davydova. This period in her life was a heavy trial that demanded great courage, patience and humility.

     On January 18, 1917 the Holy Synod appointed her superior of the Menzelinsk women’s monastery of the Prophet Elijah in Ufa province with elevation to the rank of abbess. This appointment took place thanks to the efforts of Prince N.D. Zhevakov, the assistant over-procurator of the Holy Synod. And her ordination as abbess took place in the presence of Great Princess Elizabeth Fyodorovna, who was exceptionally fond of Matushka Margaret.

     The move to Menzelinsk was long and difficult. At the end of 1917 she arrived in the monastery, which was one of the biggest women’s communities in the Ufa diocese. It had three churches, a church-parish school, a monastic economy with fruit trees, kitchen-gardens and apiaries. The nuns worked in the guest-house for pilgrims, in workshops devoted to iconography, gold-weaving, carpentry, dress-making and book-binding, and also baking bread and prosphoras and preparing food. The monastery even had its own photographic studio – an extreme rarity at that time. In 1917 there were fifty nuns and 248 novices. The intelligent and educated abbess was renowned for her strict ascetic life and the good order she introduced into the monastery in the old Russian spirit.

     In April, 1917 the revolutionary wave also hit the Prophet Elijah monastery. By decree of the Provisional Government, the church-parish schools had to be transferred into the administration of the Ministry of popular enlightenment, but the abbess tried to defend the monastery’s school from this transfer on the grounds that the property and buildings of the school belonged to the monastery and that the pupils were its novices. She declared that the upkeep of the school would from now on be the responsibility of the monastery (under the Tsars the State had paid the teachers). The unshakeable will of the abbess to keep the school’s education in the Orthodox faith had an unexpected result: the city left the school in her hands. Moreover, since city girls were studying in it, the city decided to pay the teachers and provide the necessary equipment.

     On April 18, 1918 Abbess Margaret was elected a member of the diocesan council.

     In May, 1918 the Czech legion rebelled, and by July the whole province had been liberated from the Bolsheviks. However, battles still continued on the western boundaries of the province, and Menzelinsk changed hands between the combatants several times. In the late summer the Whites abandoned Kazan; and according to Nun Alevtina, a previous inhabitant of the monastery, Abbess Margaret at one time decided to leave with the Whites and not remain under the authority of the Bolsheviks. She was at the wharf preparing to leave when St. Nicholas appeared to her and said:

     “Why are you running from your crown?”

     Stunned by the vision, Abbess Margaret returned to the monastery and told the monastery priest about what had happened. And sensing that she would soon have to suffer for the faith, she asked for her coffin to be prepared in advance, and that she should be buried on the very day of her death, after the burial service.

     During the night of August 11–12 the Bolsheviks suddenly left Menzelinsk. The citizens created a voluntary unit to guard the city and established links with units of the White army. On August 21 the Bolsheviks renewed their attack on Menzelinsk. The Whites held out for four hours, but finally the Bolsheviks burst into the city and began to take revenge… On August 21 and 22, they shot 150-200 people in the city. Mother Margaret was one of their victims. Another was Priest Vozdvizhensky of the Trinity church.

     According to the witness of the Red Army soldier Ya.F. Ostroumov, the excuse for killing the abbess was the fact that the nuns were trying to defend some White officers (probably wounded) in the monastery. “Several White officers who had been left in the monastery were hidden in the cells of the women’s monastery and were… shot in the monastery courtyard. The abbess of the monastery was also shot… for hiding White officers in the cells of the monastery.”

     According to another account that reached Prince Zhevakov across the front line, the Bolsheviks, having burst into the territory of the monastery, wanted to defile the church, but the abbess did not let them in there. Matushka fearlessly went out to the crowd of drunk and heavily armed Bolsheviks and meekly said to them: ‘I do not fear death, for only after death will I appear before the Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom I have striven all my life. You will only bring forward my meeting with the Lord… But I wish to suffer and endure endlessly in this life if only you would save your souls… In killing my body, you kill your own souls… Think about that.”

     In reply to this they hurled insults and curses at her and demanded that she open the church. The abbess refused outright, and the Bolsheviks said to her: “Look to it: early tomorrow we will kill you…” With these words they left.

     After their departure, having locked the monastery gates, Abbess Margaret went together with the sisters into the church, where they spent the whole night in prayer and communed at the early liturgy. The abbess had not succeeded in leaving the church when the Bolsheviks, seeing her coming down from the ambon, took aim at her and fired point-blank. “Glory to Thee, O God!” cried the abbess loudly when she saw the Bolsheviks taking aim at her, and… fell dead to the floor.

     Nun Alevtina has a slightly different account: “The following day [after the Whites left Menzelinsk], Abbess Margaret was arrested as a supposed ‘counter-revolutionary’ during a service. She was taken out onto the porch, and having refused her request to partake of the Holy Mysteries, shot her.”

     Immediately after the burial service, the sisters of the monastery buried her behind the altar of the Ascension church where she had been shot.

     It was only the next day that the abbess’s request to be buried on the very day of her death, which had at first seemed strange to the priest, became comprehensible. For the same chekists who had shot Abbess Margaret brought out a Muslim mullah to be shot, wishing to bury him in one grave with the Orthodox superior of the monastery. However, since she was already buried, they could not do this and took the mullah somewhere else.

     According to M.V. Mikhailova, the daughter of a priest of Menzelinsk, in the 1970s, near the main church of the Menzelinsk monastery, which was closed at that time, they decided to dig a hole behind the very altar. Suddenly they came on a coffin. In it were the incorrupt relics of Abbess Margaret with a cross on her breast. They did not disturb the coffin, but filled in the grave and found another place for the hole…

     A great Russian elder – St. Ambrose of Optina, it seems – prophesied about this monastery that under one superior they would build a church, another would be a martyr, and under a third – the bells would fall. The prophecy was fulfilled. Abbess Margaret became a martyr, and under the last superior they removed the bells from the church and closed the monastery.

ACTS 1:12-17, 21-26

12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey. 13 And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. 14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.15 And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples (altogether the number of names was about a hundred and twenty), and said, 16 Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus; 17 for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry.

21 Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection. 23 And they proposed two: Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. 24 And they prayed and said, "You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen 25 to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place 26 And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

LUKE 9:1-6

1 Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. 2 He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 3 And He said to them, "Take nothing for the journey, neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money; and do not have two tunics apiece. 4 Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. 5 And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them. 6 So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

[magnorious]

Review: The Last Airbender Episode 1 - “Aang”

“Long ago, the four nations lived in harm-”

Lol nope. What is it with writers these days fumbling exposition? You had a template, and you botched it.

I nitpicked the heck out of Disney’s Percy Jackson because if you say you’re going to adapt a book, it’s not a very far leap in logic to hope the script might follow said book. But aside from the likes of Twilight, following the source material as it was written never happens.

Netflix had an even easier job. Netflix already had the show they were adapting in a visual medium. Netflix could have gone two ways with this: Shot-for-shot remake just with live action actors, or with an “inspired by” vibe that takes familiar characters, story beats, and themes but tries to make something new with their shameless cash grab.

So, they wanted to take a beloved children’s cartoon and make it gritty and realistic… okay. Sure. No one asked for that and it shouldn’t be embarrassing for any adult to sit down and *gasp* watch a cartoon. For kids.

The original remains amazing, top-tier storytelling, so instead of these reviews stating the obvious “original did X better, why didn’t they do it that way?” we’ll look at the show as if the original didn’t exist… unless it just goes the route of Disney and Amazon and slaps a famous IP on the title screen without making any attempt to stay true to the original just to get butts in seats.

—

We open 100 years ago in Caldera (renamed generic Capital City) with a pretty decent fight scene and special effects. The choreography is solid, the tone is way darker – and so is the lighting, I had to shut the blinds and turn my laptop brightness all the way up – and it establishes pretty quickly that this is Not Your Kids Cartoon Anymore, even if the fight is bloodless.

*Side note: That no one has a Japanese accent in the Fire Nation is… surprising? I know it’s not actual Japan, I know the original didn’t have any accents, but that they’re going for the whole “gritty realism” vibe and didn’t white-wash the cast, not giving them any accent feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. Just the adults, even. Iroh had an accent in the cartoon.

The costumes are also amazing. The original is still a feat of animation but being able to see all the ornate detail in the costumes, particularly in the Fire Nation, is fantastic. The Water Tribe costumes don’t feel quite so lived-in. The colors are still vibrant, there’s no stains, no wear. They don’t reflect the weariness of a remote village still suffering the effects of a hundred-year-long war. Zuko’s scar doesn’t feel quite as gnarly as it could be, more like a very bad bruise and not the remnants of a 3rd degree burn (but at least it’s not on the wrong side). He still has his entire eyebrow and full visibility.

Sozin is amazing, too. Right off the bat he’s shown as clever, cunning, and violent. The original was limited by Nickelodeon’s censorship, so even though it was a kids’ show and they did amazing still scaring kids without showing the violence (like a graphic depiction of Zuko getting his scar), these are firebenders, and fire burns.

… Though if you’re twelve and watching this expecting a fun adventure, watching a man get burned alive in the first 5 minutes wakes you up right quick. I heard a rumor that they wanted to fill the Game of Thrones vacuum and, yeah, they went for it.

Is there a reason they didn’t lift the original opening narration straight from the old script? It was fine! It’s iconic! This feels like a student cracked open a thesaurus for their essay just to sound smarter. Gran Gran gets to deliver it and that is an... interesting choice.

They did salvage some of the original music, and hearing Aang’s theme and the foreboding horns of the Fire Nation theme redone was ear candy, along with the Sun Warrior chant in the end credits. During Aang’s escape from Zuko’s ship, however, the score sounded uncannily like the battle music from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. 

*Side side note: One nitpick. One little nitpick, I think I’m allowed. Aang cannot fly without his staff. It’s a convenient and logical cap on his abilities and there was no reason to not keep it in.

On the one hand, opening the series with the Air Nomad genocide establishes immediately that the Fire Nation is led by an evil warmonger. On the other hand, slowly weaving in that exposition over the first few episodes, culminating with “The Storm” took what we thought was a lighthearted adventure and made it so much more. That reveal in “The Storm” still makes it one of the best episodes of the show.

Gyatso is perfect. The casting is perfect. “Gritty realism” or not, they did their homework on Gyatso. The only voice actor that left a hole not-quite filled is Iroh’s. He doesn’t quite sound like the wizened old sage, just… a guy. Through no fault of his actor’s, he’s solid, he’s just not quite Iroh.

—

While the worldbuilding is fine and all the extra additions in the beginning are entertaining… the original cartoon was limited to a cable-bound, 30-minute time slot, with commercials. They did their best to pack as much as they could within that time limit for every episode and you weren’t left wanting. It was also animated and every single frame cost money to draw. Creativity thrives in a box and not having endless Netflix money forced them to do the best with what they had.

With all this room and time to kill on Netflix it loses that tightly-woven polish. Scenes linger and add in dialogue that could have been concise and short. This show marinates, where the original was multitasking in every shot – developing the characters, the world, the story, the lore, the relationships.

In the time it took an entire animated episode, this show front-loaded all the exposition and mysteries to be slowly teased and solved through the first half of the season. We’re not left wondering how Aang survived the Air Nomad massacre. We’re not wondering why he wasn’t there, we’re not wondering who he is and slowly learning him with each episode. Curious now if the “The Storm” episode will even exist.

When Aang takes Sokka and Katara to the Southern Air Temple, neither know exactly what happened beyond that it was bad, and Aang has no clue his people have been destroyed, that it’s been 100 years. This time, the trio and the audience already have that information so the oomph of seeing the aftermath, of seeing Gyatso, doesn’t hit as hard as it should.

The themes, the personalities, the motivations of the characters so far still feel like them, even with all the extra fluff. Aang remains a reluctant chosen one, a twelve-year old with too much responsibility on his shoulders – even if he explicitly ran away after eavesdropping on Gyato’s conversation about sending him away and didn’t just happen to be gone while his home was destroyed.

Everyone except Iroh, which is a shame. He reads less as a “concerned surrogate father figure trying to raise an angsty, bratty, entitled teenager” and more “old man who’s too old for his nephew’s BS so he patronizes instead of showing any genuine support.”

About the only major element that didn’t get the love it deserves is the humor. Aang’s abrupt “will you go penguin sledding with me?” right after he wakes up is just one of many missing lines. Game of Thrones had plenty of funny characters, a show can be gritty *and* funny and he’s still twelve, he’s allowed to be a little cringey and ridiculous.

For a shameless cash grab remake that lost the original writers and took forever to finally air, this is a lot better than I expected it to be. The script isn’t perfect and there’s some lines that aren’t well-executed, but no actor phoned in their performance and visually it looks amazing. The writers did their homework and, so far, even if they refuse to make it a kids’ show, they’re still making Avatar: The Last Airbender.

[madamlaydebug]

Alchemy is both a physical and spiritual science, according to the Philosophers, the physical is a "shadow" of the spiritual. Physical Alchemy is considered to be a true science and a paragon which leads to the true Light of Nature. Here Mr.Kuhn sheds some light on the spiritual allegory as it relates to ancient Scriptures.....his work is highly recommended for a return to the understanding of the cryptic meaning of Ancient myths and texts:

"Armed with this unquenchable fire which is intellect, we are sent on earth to inhabit a body which is described as a watery and miry swamp. The body is nearly eighty percent water! It is the duty of the fiery spark to enlighten the whole dark realm of mortal life, to transmute by its alchemical power the baser dross of animal propensity into the finer motivation of love and brotherhood. This life is a purgation--Purgatory--because it is a process of burning and tempering crude animal elements into the pure gold of spiritual light. In Egyptian scriptures the twelve sons of Ra (the twelve sons of Jacob, and the twelve tribes of Israel) were called the 'twelve saviors of the treasure of light.' An Egyptian text reads: 'This is the sun within us, the seminal source of light. Do not dim its luster or cause it to suffer eclipse.' And another runs: 'Give ye glory as to the sun; he is the chief, the only one coming from the body, the head of those who belong to the race of the sun.'

With this force of fire we must uplift the lower man and transmute his nature into the spiritual glow of love and intelligence. With it we must turn the water of the lower nature into the wine of spiritual force. Around it we must aggregate the refined material which we shall build into that temple of the soul, that body of the resurrection, the great garment of solar light, in which we shall rise out of the tomb of the physical corpus and ascend with the angels. This is the radiant Augoeides of the Greeks, the Sahu of the Egyptians, in which the soul wings its flight aloft like the phoenix, after rending the veil of the temple of the body. It is our garment of immortality, the seamless robe of glory, in prospect of which we groan and travail, says St. Paul, as we earnestly desire to be clothed upon with the garment of incorruption. As flesh and blood can not inherit the kingdom of heaven, we must fashion for our tenancy there this body of solar glory, in whose self-generated light we may live eternally, having overcome the realms of darkness, or spiritualized the body. Jesus prays the Father to grant unto him that glory that he had with him before the world was, and his prayer is fulfilled in the formation of the spirit body out of the elements of the sun."

-Alvin Boyd Kuhn