#st alphonse

[thedaily-beer]

St. Alphonse Cuvée de Noël (Picked up at Casino Shop in Colmar, France). A 2 of 4. Heavy on the warming spices in the nose and a body that has a bit of caramel malt sweetness to it, but very little roast. Medium body that somehow feels a bit thin as it warms. This knows what it wants to be and has most of the pieces in place, but doesn’t have them all.

[faggotfungus]

Stained-glass Window designed by Alphonse Mucha at St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague (Early 1930s)

[empirearchives]

Whoa look at this portrait of Napoleon from 1877 (1878 salon)

Un titan déchu (A fallen titan), by Xavier-Alphonse Monchablon

[hugh-lauries-bald-spot]

turning ladies’ men into pansexual himbos is a passion of mine and i take it very seriously

[bluberimufim]

Hi, may a happy STS be upon ya! (as usual I am @writeblr-of-my-own). As of now, what is the best scene you have ever written? Feel free to also share a snippet of the scene in question if you want to!

STS be upon ye!!

What I consider to be the BEST scene I've ever written is in "Black and White", set a few days after Alphonse dies. It's, like, 100% just Diedrich's thoughts about how he feels about the death of his son, when he goes to spend some time with his wife. The narration isn't particularly beautiful, imo, but the feelings always hit me very strongly and the last time I revised it I nearly cried.

Anyway, here's a snippet!

It wasn't what they were used to. Of course it wasn't. It could never be. But something inside him became a thousand times sadder just by being there. It was something in the silence, deeper than it had ever been. Alphonse had never been particularly noisy or talkative, but the ausence of his voice in those rooms was soul-crushing. He wandered around the house, knowing that, around the corner or at the top of the stairs, he wouldn't find his boy. He wouldn't hear him greet him with his soft, low voice. [...] He was constantly haunted by images that took the place of ghosts. He was the man in black and white. He saw Alphonse's body, eyes closed, as serene as if he was asleep, but pale as snow, his red hair standing out like blood. He saw that form that had once been his son and no longer was. But the vision that tormented him the most was that of his grave. He could never forget the letters of his name engraved on the headstone, precise with sharp edges, not yet weathered by time. He never thought he would see something like this in his life. he had never thought he'd see his son's name on that stone, the name that he and Lucille had picked out with all the love in the world. That name would one day end up being used like this. And that was one of the things that bothered him most, besides his own guilt: how wrong it all was.

This scene is a bit longer and every paragraph causes me severe emotional damage, but this is my favourite bit.

I hope you enjoyed it!!!

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"Man Leaps From Glen Ridge Bridge to Avoid Arrest," St. Catharines Standard. June 27, 1941. Page 1 & 3. --- Melodramatic Chase in St. Catharines This Morning ---- POLICEMAN IS BEATEN ---- Two Men Found in Vacant Glen Ridge House ---- Police today investigated a melodramatic case in which a special police constable was attacked and beaten up by two house-breakers, one of whom later apparently ended his life by leaping from the Glen Ridge bridge into the old Welland Canal in an attempt to escape police.

Constable Beaten Special Constable Thomas Robertson, 37 Academy street, is confined to the General Hospital with a broken nose and extensive facial injuries.

The man who leaped from the bridge, and his companion who es caped and is still at large, have not been identified. It is thought that they were transients and police have certain information, it was revealed, which may lead to their identification.

Although police are not positive that the man drowned in the old canal dragging of the canal channel was commenced at nine o'clock today and a special check is being made of weirs and canal banks, to locate the body. City firemen, who joined earlier today with police in searching the canal banks in the vicinity of the bridge, are conducting dragging operations.

The opening chapter in the strange case was recorded at about 1:30 o'clock this morning when Constable Robertson, who was wearing civilian clothes, visited a Glen Ridge avenue home which is not occupied at present. It is the special constable's duty to inspect vacant houses to make sure that they are secure,

Constable Attacked When he arrived at the rear of the Glen Ridge avenue house, he found a window lifted and he entered the premises to investigate. He noticed a man and as he went to take charge of him a second man stepped out of another room and the two men piled on Robertson. In the scuffle they removed his "billy" and wallet.

The two men fled from the house leaving the officer practically exhausted. Some minutes later when Robertson was standing on the side-walk nearby the house where the scuffle had occurred, he saw the same two men approach on bicycles. He ran into the street and knocked one man from his wheel.

The brawl was renewed and this time, one of the men, presumably the one who leaped from the bridge, struck Robertson several times with the "billy", injuring his left eye and cheek. The fight caused such a disturbance that Al Corney, Glen Ridge avenue, telephoned police headquarters.

Constables Nat Armstrong and William Francis were dispatcher to the scene by Sergt. Thomas Howden. As the officers reached the Glen Ridge end of the bridge, they saw two men hiding bicycles being pursued by Constable Robertson. One man turned on to Ontario street south and he was followed by Robertson. The second man started across the bridge, and Constable

Armstrong swung the patrol car around and gave chase.

Officers Heard Splash As the police car overtook the escaping house breaker he suddenly applied the brake, fell from the bicycle on to the sidewalk, climbed over the railing and jumped. Constable Francis jumped from the police auto and was joined seconds later by Armstrong. Both men heard a splash and what sounded like groans and then silence prevailed.

The spot when the man jumped is on the "city" side of the canal and about 65 feet above the water. The fact that the man pulled off his coat indicated that he knew that there was water below the bridge and he may have planned to swim ashore to escape. However, the officers remained on the bridge for a short time but heard no sounds to indicate that the man was swimming. The water is eight feet in depth at the point where he presumably landed.

The officers telephoned the police headquarters and accompanied by other officers, Deputy Fire Chief John Cropper and firemen combed the canal banks but could find no trace of the man.

Meanwhile, the second house-breaker had outdistanced Constable Robertson and the latter was ordered removed to the hospital.

Inspector D. B. Brown and Detective James Anderson commenced an immediate investigation which is continuing today with Detective William Irwin assisting.

A shabby coat which had caught on the spiked rail of the bridge contained the officer's "billy."

[solomon-revisited]

my copy has finally arrived... sixteen old songs from my earnest friends

THE CORONER'S GAMBIT LINER NOTES

TRANSCRIPT:

HE was a guy from California who'd fallen in love with a woman from Iowa. She was working at a water testing lab. They lived in a very small house whose pipes froze every winter. The landlord would come by and put space heaters under the sink. Years later, they retained the memory of the water coming back on - the sudden sound of the shower, the rush from the sink. They slept on a foam mattress in the bedroom in the summer, and on the couch in the living room in the winter, since the house did not have central heating, rendering the bedroom essentially uninhabitable from December through March.

They were not really the kind of people to plan things: they had fun when and where they could on an austere budget. The ice skates they bought used from Play It Again Sports made for fun Christmas mornings on West Indian Creek in Nevada, one town over from where they lived. He learned to cook, and to bake: they didn't go out to eat, because there really wasn't any place to go out and eat, though on occasion they would get a pizza from Casey's, because their town had a Casey's. Under the right circumstances a gas station pizza can be just the thing, and they sometimes found themselves in those circumstances.

He made music which was slowly reaching a wider audience. If he played in New York or Chicago as many as a hundred people might show up. He was idly entertaining the idea of becoming ambitious about it: as a child, he'd been pretty pretentious, and although he was working hard to shake most of that off, a little pretension isn't a bad thing in an artist. Just as a seasoning, as a little extra flavor here or there.

One summer he took a job as a harvest help at the Farmers Cooperative Exchange down the street from the very small house where the pipes froze in winter: getting the corn and soybeans into the grain elevator and into a big Morton building where the beans formed giant mountains, which he sometimes had to climb to knock down the peaks. If you don't knock down the peaks the beans get too hot and might rot. The job didn't pay much, and he wasn't good at it, but during slow stretches he would write song lyrics on scraps of paper or in a small notebook, and when he got home from work and washed off the crop dust, he'd set the lyrics to music. "Elijah" was written like this. So was "The Alphonse Mambo."

He took a Greyhound bus to Omaha to record some of the songs, so that the album would have a nice varied feel to it, but he got very sick, which is not an uncommon thing to have happen after a Greyhound ride, and only a few songs came out the way he wanted. He kept those, and then they got married and moved to Ames because the City of Colo had purchased their home from that landlord and intended to knock it down, which they did do, he affirmed years later: and in Ames he put the album together, and then later they moved to North Carolina and a whole lot of other things happened, too, but the main thing is that this album is a document of a time when two young people in love hadn't yet located the spot on the current that would carry them to their destination, twenty-five years later, parents of two beautiful children, worlds away from Colo, the place where, for better or worse, as the saying goes, all this really began.

Dedicated to my wife, Lalitree, and to the City of Colo, Iowa.

This is the original text of the paper bag that housed the first edition of this album. I am leaving it intact rather than revising it. Stage Bidet's moment comes ever closer: let the people tremble in fear.

Elijah, Baboon, Horseradish Road, Onions, and the Alphonse Mambo recorded in Omaha with Simon Joyner, Chris Deden, Lonnie Methe, Brad Smith, John Kotchen, Steve Micek, and Pat Oakes. All of them are owed money and are to be treated with deference and respect. Five of the remaining songs were recorded at Main St. in Colo, which is a small town in Iowa, and the rest were recorded two blocks north of Emma McCarthy Lee Park in Ames, which is a considerably larger town half and hour west of Colo. Though happy circumstances currently have the Mountain Goats claiming Ames, we continue to straight up represent Colo and will put the slap down on anyone who disrespects it. Transfer and levels by Bob Durkee at FBE in Pomona, California, with Joel Huschle attending. As a result of some regrettable but inevitable conversations that took place during the transfer, Bob, Joel, and the Mountain Goats have formed a new, super-powerful punk rock machine called Stage Bidet, and we urge you to watch for us and clear us a wide berth whenever we're in your town. Instead of thanking all the people I always thank to whom I say, collectively and with no less sincerity: thanks. I am just going to spend the time left us here addressing an absent friend. Rozz: I wish you hadn't've gone and killed yourself. Though I hadn't seen or spoken with you in eight years since that night when, as far as I can tell from the reports I was later able to piece together, you tried, not without reason, to strangle the life out of me out there on the landing of Damien's apartment and I probably never would have ever seen you again anyway, it was still hard to hear that you were gone. All your friends had been predicting your death since the early eighties, and no-one could bear the thought of you growing old, but none of that did anything to soften the blow when I heard. I don't really believe that the dead see or hear what we do out here in the realm of corruptible things and I don't imagine that the anyone reads the scribblings on the backs of album jackets to them, either, so I am really only addressing a memory. To that memory I say: I thought of you now and then when I was writing these songs. I don't suppose they'd do much for you, but I thought of you all the same. All your friends miss you in some way, a little or a lot. The rumors about your final hours are dismal and tawdry: I am sure they would please you immensely. For your sake, I hope that the Christians were wrong and that you were right about whether the faithless are destined for eternal torment. In the event that you are a ghost and are wandering the earth moaning and rattling chains, I moved to Iowa from California four or five years ago, stop by any time. Have a seat on the couch until I get home from work. Help yourself to anything in the refrigerator, or to the whiskey and sake on top of it. Make yourself right at home.

Album cover design by Tom Hart

[wgm-beautiful-world]

Stained glass window by Alphonse Mucha at St. Vitus Cathedral in PRAGUE

[intertexts]

head in hands....

anyway nhw virion has ram's revolvers. if u even care.

[thedaily-beer]

St. Alphonse Colmar “Tradition” (Picked up at Casino Shop in Colmar, France). A 2 of 4. This is a relatively simple lager -- some moderate grain sweetness on the nose and very faint grassy hop presence. The body is interestingly thicker than I was expecting, and a bit stickily sweet, which I don’t dislike, as it makes this a bit unique. Finishes relatively crisply, and doesn’t particularly linger.

[ladystarksneedle]

Daenerys Targaryen

// Portrait of novelist and Hollywood screenwriter Vicki Baum, 1934 by Kay Nielsen illustration from 'East of the Sun and West of the Moon', Age of Wisdom 1938 by Alphonse Mucha, The Passenger 1964 by Leonor Finni, Robinet Testard: Français : Plat de couverture du manuscrit des Traités sur les vertus cardinales de François Desmoulins, Uccello's St George and the Dragon 1456 //

[thisisnotthenerd]

Curriculum at the Aguefort Adventuring Academy

Now that the Night Yorb adventure has concluded and the Bad Kids are headed back to school I have thoughts about the structure of the Aguefort Adventuring Academy.

The Solisian School District in Elmville, as far as we know, consists of Skullcleaver Elementary School, Oakshield Middle School, Mumple School, Hudol College, and the Aguefort Adventuring Academy. While Skullcleaver and Oakshield serve the population as a whole, Mumple focuses on NPC trades, while Hudol is a private school that focuses on theoretical magic for the ‘upper class’ of Elmville, and the Aguefort Adventuring Academy focuses on training adventurers from within their specific classes while also providing general education.

Obviously, the differing structures of each of these institutions brings up some questions. Since the Solisian School District presumably has a school board and a superintendent, are there any enforceable curriculum standards that the high schools have to abide by? What common classes do Mumple, Hudol, and Aguefort have? What does a high school diploma from each of these mean? 

Given the endless questions brought up by the organization of this school district, I’m going to try and make logical sense of it by tackling them as they come to me.

First, I’m going to focus on the Aguefort Adventuring Academy, since that’s what we have information on. I can speculate on the nature of Mumple and Hudol, but we have actual info about the AAA.

What has to be in the base curriculum for each school?

For the AAA:

I’m basing this on a combination of what we know from the Bad Kids’ classes and their investigation during Family in Flames.

Here’s what we know of the AAA faculty:

Administrative Staff:

Principal: Arthur Aguefort

Vice Principal: Goldenhoard/Kalvaxus, Gilear Faeth

Lunch Lad(y): Doreen, Gilear Faeth

Guidance Counselor: Mr. GIbbons, Jawbone O’Shaughnessy

Librarian: Maugly Dimweather

Nurse: Fatima al-Aydaa

Receptionist: Chart Bomsk

Custodian: Kasavian the Wise

Bloodrush Coach: Coach Daybreak, Gorthalax the Insatiable

Gen Ed/Elective Teachers:

History: Kurby Rockstone

Linguistics: Efevrian Stuttle

Home Ec: Pilby Hatchet

Driver’s Ed: Alphonse Doublefist

Health: Spunge Dirtfoot

Theater: Ebria Dwimmerwaithe, Mr. Pepper

Music: Lucilla Lullaby

Arcana: Joria Casterwall

Class-Specific Teachers:

Artificer: Grunding Tomblast

Barbarian: Porter Cliffbreaker

Bard: none listed

Cleric/Religious Studies: Yolanda Badgood

Druid: Ellarian Fallowglade

Fighter: Corsica Jones

Monk: River Moondaughter

Paladin: Halo St. Croix

Ranger: Ellen Fleetfoot

Rogue: Eugenia Shadow

Sorcerer: Jace Stardiamond

Warlock: Evan Freem

Wizard: Tiberia Runestaff

So we know there is at least history and linguistics, as well as many elective options. Math and science likely run differently when Arthur ‘Chronomancer’ Aguefort is around, so I can understand them not being present on this list, though I would say that math is probably present in the elementary/middle schools, just because having a basic understanding of how arithmetic and geometry work forms a lot of what goes into basic life skills and also things like material components and ritual circles for casters. Adaine has made reference to math classes before, so the existence of them is kind of up in the air–we don’t have direct confirmation, but they’re likely present.

I took the liberty of moving arcana to the elective category because while it is a specific specialization, it doesn’t fit with the rest of the class model, and it fits more as a class that would be shared between the casters that have to learn things. Understanding the foundations of each type of magic, learning the bases of material, verbal, and somatic components bc even if you use an arcane focus, it’s important to understand where the idea is coming from. 

Based on my own American high school experience, I would have expected a few more core classes. There really are a lot of electives. There don’t seem to be specific curriculum standards that would transfer well from school to school. Thus, I would expect that earning a diploma and/or a GED would have significantly different requirements.

Class-specific curricula:

Artificers

They likely have some sort of shop class/STEM course to learn how to build things and repair them–easy way to get tool proficiencies. Also a class on the different infusions and how to use them? 

Subclasses: Once you get past 3rd level and choose a subclass I'd assume they would have optional electives for each subclass (alchemist, armorer, artillerist, battlesmith). Ultimately it just comes down to different skills, but artificers do a lot of the same things from subclass to subclass.

Barbarians

We have insight into these classes because Fig and Gorgug attended them; they are learning about  the sources of rage, and how to control the rage state while in combat. 

Subclasses: electives likely split into controlling magical elements of rage for wild magic, zealot, totem, storm herald, and ancestral guardian barbarians, and martial elements of rage for battleragers, berserkers, beasts, giants, and juggernauts.

Bards

Bards are one of the classes that often have a strong theoretical basis, so I would assume they have a relatively heavy curriculum. We know there’s bardic history, because Aguefort talks about it in Sophomore Year, but bards would likely have some required music classes as well. 

Subclasses: Lore bards would definitely have some history crossover and maybe arcana crossover with the wizards once they started taking electives for their subclasses, while swords and valor bards would share classes with the fighters, creation bards with the artificers, glamour bards with the charisma rogues, and eloquence, spirits, tragedy, and whispers would likely have similar electives.

Clerics

Healing/medicine is likely one of their core classes, but generally clerics are probably going to be learning rituals and the histories of deities, along with other wisdom based skills. 

Subclasses: like the bards, there’s a ton of variance with clerics. A knowledge cleric is not going to have the same classes as a trickster cleric, or a grave cleric, etc.. Now that I think about it, it makes sense for forge clerics to be taking shop classes with the artificers.

Druids

Ecology, druidic magic, survival classes? They’re probably paired with the rangers often. I think I recall Aabria and Erika talking about Danielle helping Antiope with more traditional ranger skills, so it makes sense that they share some classes. Wildshape training and summoning practice probably factor in when they can perform the skills more than once a day.

Subclasses: the things that druids can do can vary significantly, but if i had to guess: moon & shepherd druids would get paired because they’re working with creatures, spores & blighted druids would work with more necrotic spells, dreams & stars druids would get paired because they’re associated with night in differing ways, land druids have their own classes, and wildfire druids would be arsonists. Just kidding.

Fighters

Fighters are explicitly trained warriors, so learning strategy, different fighting styles and martial skills depending on what fits their needs best. Learning to use action surge and attacking quickly would be a big one.

Subclasses: Each subclass would get slightly different training, but ultimately they’re all learning to fight, so it would be more like groups within a larger class. Fighter is also a solid multiclass, so I’d expect a bunch of multiclassed kids to join in with training.

Monks

Monks are also  explicitly trained warriors, though the focus is ki and finding enlightenment at a base level. We haven’t had a monk PC in the world of Spyre, but there is a monastic studies chair, so there presumably are monks at the AAA

Subclasses: some monks learn more ki-based techniques while others learn more arcana, so there’s probably some really split classes there.

Paladins

Paired with the clerics for deific history, though they have electives on the different forms of oaths as well as fighting classes/training. Ultimately paladins are a partial caster combination of a fighter and a cleric, so I would expect them to share classes with both of those

Subclasses: as stated, it would mostly be based on the differing oaths and the magics they get from each.

Rangers

They’d share ecology/survival classes with the druids, though the rangers are given more specific combat training and ways of tracking favored enemies and such. There’s probably a class that helps you decide your favored terrain.

Subclasses: all of the animal companion subclasses would get paired, while the hunter/assassin types would probably have some kind of stealth and tracking classes.

Rogues

Rogues would get skills training for expertise but also stealth training. Basically assassin training but also charisma classes for charisma rogues and elective magic for the arcane tricksters

Subclasses: not huge differences here except for the arcane tricksters because they’re partial casters. they're learning to sneak around and kill people by surprise.

Sorcerers

Sorcerers would get basic magic training, with a focus on controlling sorcery points/fonts of magic, and understanding where sorcerers come from. Sorcerers don’t technically have to do work to get their magic, rather, it’s a matter of precise control of what they have i.e. metamagic.

Subclasses: There’s a wide variety of sorcerous origins, so each would have pretty different classes associated. Divine soul sorcerers would probably get paired with the clerics, but everyone else would have their own options.

Warlocks

Warlocks are the weirdest type of full caster, so they probably don’t combine with other classes very much. I imagine that not many high schoolers are making these kinds of deals early on, so it probably involves learning about patrons, and maybe negotiation with your patron? There’s also probably classes on invocations and the different benefits of each. To be completely honest, I wouldn’t expect them to offer much in the way of warlock classes anyway. The only warlocks we’ve run into have been Johnny Spells and the greasers, Fig, Bill Seacaster’s cult, and Sam’s eldritch adept feat. Most of these are outside organizations, and if they aren’t it’s been based on in-game deals and negotiation.

Subclasses: very split. Different patrons have very different demands.

Wizards 

They’re already nerds that learn magic from books. Arcana and history classes, split courses to work in different schools of magic. Aguefort is a wizard–you think he wouldn’t have a robust wizard’s education at his academy?

Subclasses: one for every school of magic and also chronomancy. 

Next Question:

How does leveling work at the AAA?

Everyone presumably starts around level one in freshman year, probably with some variance based on family background and previous experience. The seven are level 10 when they get their GED, and all of them lost at least part of a school year. According to the RTX college visit oneshot, college students are ~level 15. I would say they probably don’t enter at level 15–somewhere around level 12-13 maybe?

This is not canon, but I think what’s maybe intended is annual progression requirements. You start at level 1 and get to 5ish freshman year, start at 5 and get to 8 sophomore year, start at 8 and get to 10 junior year, and start at 10 get to 12 in time for graduation. While they’re forming adventuring parties on the first day, most groups are not going to be going out and finding encounters immediately in Solace. They’re going to school. They’re learning how to work together as a party. They’re participating in extracurriculars. The lower levels are easier to get through–that’s why the progression slows down at the higher levels, because you get diminishing returns on leveling the higher level you are.

This seems to fit–the 7 are evenly leveled, but fit into the junior-senior model that would allow them to get their GEDs while being a little underleveled for graduation. The assumption is that they’re immediately going to go and be an adventuring party–they’ll make up any difference very quickly. By contrast, the bad kids had progressive leveling during freshman year that left them at level 8 during the Prompocalypse fight. I’m fairly sure that Penelope and Dayne were level 10 at least, and during sophomore year she can cast 6th level spells and has 3d10 fire bolt damage, so she’s at least 11th level if not higher. So being at level 12 in senior year tracks.

Thus the bad kids over-level during freshman year, even going by milestone leveling. if you go on an xp model you’d have to get around 10000 throughout the year to hit level 5–they’re running into so many encounters that they overshoot. And thus they’re still over-leveled in sophomore year, but if they had a relatively quiet year up to spring break, then not leveling up significantly makes sense.

Numerically, if a student is assessed on xp basis for what they have to earn in that year to level up appropriately, if they go back to zero at the start of each level.

Freshman year: 10,400

Sophomore year: 71,000

Junior Year: 112,000

Senior Year: 185,000

That tracks for high school–you can do very well in freshman year classes and then all of a sudden start struggling, and it’s more work every year. you’re capable of more, sure, but you also have way more responsibility. 

How does the quest assignment system work?

What we know: they have adventures during the year as a party that serve as a sort of capstone project–60% of their grade. My hypothesis: Knowing how high school classes work in a non-fantasy public school, I’d posit that the adventures are considered a form of independent study; every student is required to do a certain amount every year, in order to move to the next grade as an adventuring party. If they don’t complete a quest of a high enough level, or enough lower-level quests, the party can be disbanded, and they may need to repeat grades in order to move to the next grade.

In order to support the infrastructure of a modern school system, and modern technology, Solace can’t be unstable enough to require adventurers. That’s the crux of what Charity Blythe was advocating for with Project Reset–using a catastrophe to drive the market of adventure. Since this was a distinct event that the Ministry of Adventure was planning for, one can conclude that these Class A, B, and C quests are not happening all that often. What are those you ask?

The Ministry of Adventure classifies quests in a six-tiered system, from class A to class F, in order of decreasing severity. Class A quests threaten the existence of the Universe and planes beyond the prime material; class B quests threaten the prime material/the world of Spyre; class C quests threaten nations; classes D-F are for localized threats, the ‘bread-and-butter’ quests, though an adventurer that can handle a class F quest may not be able to handle a class D quest. There is likely some further calculus when it comes to these classifications–the classes simply refer to the scope of the threat with regard to what it threatens, not specifically how difficult it is to complete the quest.

A GED from the Larger Solisian School District requires the sign-off of the Superintendent of Schools as well as the completion of a Class A, B, or C quest. By classification: the Bad Kids’ defeat of Kalvaxus was a class C quest, their defeat of the Nightmare King was class B, and the Seven’s quest to release Talura to infinity was a Class A quest. Sidenote: if a GED requires quest completion, how does anyone not from the AAA get a GED? Do they still have exams for non-adventurers? What subjects are required in the world of Spyre? Is it even needed?

So, Solace isn’t unstable enough to induce quests beyond class D on a regular basis; where, then, do these teen adventurers get high level quests? We first need to talk about how the rest of the world and their capacity for teen adventurers.

Highcourt: Nation ruled by monarchy that reigns over most of the rest of Spyre, the have an ongoing treaty with spyre–they were the source of the original Sol worshippers that became the harvestmen. Thus, the mentions of perditional contradoxy in their treaty with Solace make sense. Not suitable for adventures beyond D class as it would likely violate treaties, unless the adventurers are specifically hired.

Fallinel: high elven nation ruled by the court of stars, or Seven Immortal Dancers on a Spindle, who Sing to the Various Phases of the Moon, with lower courts for bureaucracy. No lawyers. Not suitable for adventures beyond D class as it would likely violate treaties, unless the adventurers are specifically hired.

Sylvaire: aka the forest of the nightmare king. south of Highcourt, home of cassandra’s original worshippers, the town of arborly, and a bunch of captured gnomes who were sustaining magic for the druids of the storm king. The forest itself was walled off for ~850 years. Quests are feasible along the coast and around the borders of the forest, but quests to enter the forest would not succeed without infernal permission.

Red Waste: Kalvaxus’s initial territory but his lair was in the mountains of chaos? Desert-like, full of Kalvaxus worshippers and Yorbies. The Seven went there for their sophomore year quest. Developed enough to have a tattoo parlor where Antiope could get her leader tattoo. Suitable for higher level adventures.

The Baronies: collection of small city states/nations that are constantly at war, where the richest of the rich have access to technology while others are still operating in a medieval society. Suitable for higher level adventures.

Mountains of Chaos: where Kalvaxus’s lair is located, but also home to the Temple of the Earth Defiant. Sklonda Gukgak has family from there, though she is from Bastion City in Solace. Suitable for higher level adventures.

Swamps of Ruin: Not much that we know currently; Kristen was building swamp Venice there while on a humanitarian/missionary trip. Suitable for higher level adventures.

Nekronomicron: subterranean city of necromancy and the undead, the location of Talura’s final stand. Kalvaxus was allied with the necromancers–which extended his control beyond the Red Waste. Suitable for higher level adventures.

Leviathan: the pirate city made of ships cobbled together into a functional city. if you can find it. They have their own adventurers though. they’re more likely to kill you. Technically suitable for higher level adventures.

Throshk: North of the Mountains of Chaos and Solace, home to Kalebrimbor, not much known in canon. clear for adventure. Suitable for higher level adventures.

Frostheim: North of Throshk, snow-covered according to maps of Spyre.  Suitable for higher level adventures.

And that’s just the continent we’ve been shown; there’s probably more to Spyre that we have yet to explore. Sidenote: the map poster from the seven has been taken off the dropout store and i’m sad about it. I know this means they’re probably doing a poster for this season but still.

So what does this all mean? Well, all students of the aguefort adventuring academy must engage in a quest of an appropriate level with their adventuring party in order to jointly pass the year and move to the next grade. They are allowed to travel to achieve their objective, and can enlist paid assistance from non-students known as hirelings. They must go on at least one higher level quest, or multiple D-F quests, presumably starting in sophomore year, since parties are generally formed on the first day of freshman year, and the expectation is that the students are not of a high enough level to engage with threats of class C and above. 

This contextualizes Antiope failing a year for non-palimpsest reasons–her party would have failed their yearly quest and been disbanded. It also gives context to the rest of the Seven losing their adventuring parties; if one of your members is not participating in the completion of the quest, they can be removed from the party and left as a solo adventurer.

That’s all I have for now on this because I don't have the energy to keep digging at the moment. We’ll see about more as this season progresses.

[justascribbla]

Alphonse Mucha poster for the 1904 World Exposition in St Louis. 19.7 million people attended. In 1904!

[breelandwalker]

Heya! In the spirit of me becoming feral about La Fheile Bride/Imbolc/St. Brigid's Day, I was wondering two things: Do you have a favorite piece of art depicting Brigid, and do you have a favorite thing to cook for Imbolc? I like doing Bannock, but I kinda want to change it up this year.

I have a couple of favorite artworks depicting Brighid, mostly random paintings. I do have a print of this one by angelicshades on etsy hanging in my office. I don't know if it was particularly meant to be a depiction of Brighid, but that's how it hit me when I saw it. And I love me some Alphonse Mucha style art nouveau goddess art.

I don't usually cook a particular meal for Imbolc, but my offering on the day always consists of oatmeal, milk, and honey, sometimes with mead or whiskey as a chaser.

There are plenty of thematic options for Imbolc foods, like milk, cheese, eggs, honey, jams and preserves, oats, bread, beer, and wine. So you could try things like quiche, honey cakes, jam tarts, cheese and herb pinwheels, scones or muffins with honey butter, porridge with fixings, and sweet or savory pull-apart bread.

The foods that I see most often associated with Brighid in modern sources are blackberries, apples, potatoes, fish, cinnamon, and rosemary. So any dish using those might be appropriate as well. Perhaps a nice bit of salmon seasoned with honey, wine, and tart preserves and cinnamon baked apples for dessert. You can't go wrong with a nice bit of soda bread either.

Anyway, hope this helps and Happy Imbolc! 😊

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"HUNT ARMED HULL JAIL-BREAKER," Ottawa Journal. December 6, 1951. Page 1 & 18. --- 'Dangerous' Fugitive Say Police ---- Alphonse Plante Now Sought Across Two Provinces ---- A convict, described by police as "dangerous", escaped Hull jail last night. Sentenced only yesterday to two years less a day in Bordeaux, he made his way to freedom from his second floor, barred-window cell in the old prison.

His escape was not noticed by jail guards until 9.40 this morning.

Immediately Federal, provincial and city police of two provinces were notified to be on the look-out for Alphonse Plante, 43, well known to police across the country.

It was the second break in the Ottawa district in three days. Police believe Plante had planned his escape for weeks. They are almost certain certain he had a waiting car to pick him up outside the Hull jail while most Quebec Police and Hull jail officials have warned all police forces to exercise utmost caution when Plante is spotted.

They believe he is now armed.

Police on the Quebec aide of the river were moving carefully through all of Plante's known haunts.

The same procedure was being followed the throughout Ottawa.

Plante's escape was the first from the old stone jail in three years. It was also made from the same cell as a break 20 years ago.

The 29-year-old jail break provided Plante with the means for last night's escape.

At that time two bars had been removed from the second floor cell window.

After the escape jail officials had soldered-but not securely -the two bars back in place.

Plante had found one of the two bars loose and had removed it, Picture caption:

THROUGH THE WINDOW AND OVER THE WALL. Down this 20-foot man-made stone precipice leaped Convict Alphonse Plante last night after he squeezed through an upper-storey window in Hull jail. The upper inset shows the window, with bar missing. Lower inset is Plante. Dotted line is the route used in the escape. - Journal Staff Photos by Thibault.

The hole he made was only eight by 15 inches.

In the dark of night he squeezed and wriggled his way through the narrow opening, and lowered himself four feet from the window cell to the top of the 20-foot high, narrow jail yard wall.

As the rain pelted down into the fog-shrouded jail yard Plante, police believe cautiously eased along the narrow jail yard wall directly behind the jail governor's office and the guard room.

Then he dropped the 20 feet to the ground.

Police, think a car was prob- ably parked in the big Chez Henri Hotel parking lot just west of the lawns bordering the courthouse and jail.

A car driving from the lot in the dead of night would not likely arouse suspicion, since the yard is used by scores of persons.

Plante was last seen by jail guard Samuel Poirier who locked him in his second floor cell at 8.03 last evening.

Not a guard had looked in on Plante from eight o'clock until midnight when Guard Osias Desabrais came on duty.

He walked down the second floor cell block corridor shortly after midnight and again an hour later.

At that time the guard believed everything was in order. At 7.20 Desabrais unlocked the cell door, saw a form in the bed and which he believed to be Planie and told him to wake up.

"There was no answer," Desabrais told The Journal.

"He never used to answer us no matter what we said to him." Desabrais left Plante's breakfast tray on the cell floor, locked the cell door and went about his duties.

At eight o'clock the new shift of guards came on duty. At 9.40 Guard Boucher went to Plante's cell and saw the form still covered in the bed and the breakfast tray on the floor, untouched.

Other prisoners in the block told Boucher:

"Maybe Plante is dead. He's not moving this morning."

Boucher pulled back the blankets on the cell cot. Plante was not there. His pillows and blankets had been laid out in such a manner as to indicate he was in the cot. The break-alarm was set off.

Jail Governor Jacques Moussette called in Provincial Detective J. L. Ross, of Hull.

The pair set the two-province police hunt in motion.

By 10 o'clock police forces of the entire area had been notified.

Ontario Provincial Police had relayed the break-alarm across the entire province and road blocks were set up on all main highways.

Police could not believe the road blocks would be successful.

When the alarm was sounded police believed Plante had at least a seven-hour start In his office, J Jail Governor Gov Moussette told The Journal:

"Plante until 10 days ago had occupied a third floor cell near Edward Paczier, of Toronto, convicted on a post office robbery at this Session of King's Bench Court.

"I didn't like the thought of those two in together s0 1 moved Plante to the second floor. "In the past few days he has told the guards he was ill.

"A few days ago the jail physician saw him. "The guards this morning thought he was ill when he didn't waken", the governor said.

Police said Plante was wearing a blue shirt, khaki trousers and brown shoes. He is 43, is five and a half feet tall, weighs 140 pounds, has greying hair, brown eyes and a dark complexion.

[dawolfboris-again]

Okay! I'm back.

I'm unsure of /where/ exactly Hyrule is. Taking this on, we'd have an unsure clue as to what style Link does in his fights.

There are multiple fighting styles due to the multiple weapons and races in Hyrule, and therefore multiple cuisine too, which can also affect how many calories one gets because they'll consist of different calories, trans and sat fat, gluten needs, carbohydrates, sodium, fibers and protein, as well as vitamin intakes, iron, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus. We aren't sure as to what or if Link is getting dietary needs, but based on several of the other bodies in Hyrule, he looks as if he's the only one slacking in them.

As far as I'm aware, Link is a normal Hylian person that was born from normal Hylian parents, all three of which ha(d/ve) no current or future health issues that would affect extreme physical changes and that his body follows regular caloric intake, even despite his high metabolism.

Sheikah also follow similar caloric intake, and those two seem to be damn near the same race, the only difference is that typical Hylians don't seem to shrink with age and aren't born with a specific type of hair color with an idea that they also can only birth one gender every century. At least I hope, considering that the Sheikah live damn near immortal lives, as far as we know. Yiga don't count as they only eat fucking bananas.

My current thoughts on this too is that Hyrule is almost akin to Amestris from Fullmetal Alchemist (brotherhood). They share similar maps, Edward and Link are similar characters, and they both have other similarities that aren't popping through my mind right now.

But before I'm on that, if I even remember, let's keep on the Calorie Train.

Link is a normal Hylian, and with that, assuming his parents were good parents in the first place, then Link, even if he did all that fake sword fights to best adults, as well as having the power to even pull a sword that was most likely a couple inches shorter than him, would have needed quite a few calories to even grow (sorry for the extreme use of commas), let alone fight, and still even pull a sword that Hylia herself made.

Link lived in Hateno, so he probably had a great source of food intake to help in growth, his father to teach him sword fighting and his mother to help teach him to make meals. Link being stated as a glutton meant there'd, most likely, be no seconds or even leftovers for the family, because he'd be the only one eating them, and let's admit this: Link would most definitely be a chubby fucker as a kid.

To learn sword fighting, Link's father would probably teach Link whatever his father learned from the Knight Academy, and then pass on. Unless the Academy taught Knights how to be sword-dancers, which seems to be rather a French style and not what could be a Germanic/Russian style of fighting, like what we see in a couple of Link's memories, as well as in his fighting style (but not in the flurry rush, bullet time arrows or parry), or a Japanese Samurai style, like that of a Sheikah, and the Germanic fighting style is probably what was most useful at the time period for the Hylians. We don't see much in terms of sword/spear/archery/however the fuck the Gorons fight nowadays, so unfortunately I can't base this theory on much, and what I've learned in history is fucked due to epilepsy. Beowulf is not much help either.

I remember a couple bits and pieces from Steven Universe (Future) as Pearl taught Connie how to sword fight at one point. Her method was almost French, or should I rather say Fencing-esque, in style (her little holograph self said "parry, parry, thrust" quite a few times. Never have I ever wanted to smack the screen so badly.)

Your videos seem to almost show it as a Fencing Ballet dance, something for balls with a Royal presence. I don't doubt that, yes, maybe Link does know how to dance, but he certainly doesn't portray how to in the games, whether he forgot or not is up to readers perspective.

Link's mother, however, most likely helped Link get some chub up, at least, as she most likely taught him cooking. I highly doubt Link taught himself, but it's a higher probability that his mother taught him because the way he cooks is similar to how my parents taught me cooking- somewhat simple, yet still good. It's pretty easy to cook a good meal, and Link doesn't seem to need to use any spices other than, from what I remember, Goron spice, certain fruits, plants or rock salt, and that's only if he wants to, dependant on the multiverse thing going on. I'm sure there's other spices but I can't think of them, and dragon scales don't really count, as not everyone can /see/ a dragon.

With all of that in mind, as I'm sure that Link's father didn't keep Link with him to continuously spar, I'm 100% sure that Link should have become chubby /in some way/. He just isn't, though, and yet with that, it's still bothering me that he isn't.

Which brings me back to my Amestris theory.

Edward travels all around Amestris in search for a philosophers stone, which might not even exist in the first place, with all of the travelling done by order of Mustang. He doesn't seem to eat jack for fuck, and in one of the shows the brothers learn that it's because their souls are linked and may or may not be sharing calories. Ed proceeds to state (and this is not an exact quote) that he will be eating whatever it takes to help get Al his body back, even if it means drinking milk (which Ed fucking hates. Big mood bro).

Link, however, doesn't have this similar excuse, unless he's soul bonded to Zelda, which is excruciatingly unlikely, as the both of them are not blood related by any means, and the only possible way they still could have been is because she saved him with her Goddess powers. It's still not possible unless it's incest, as in the first Hero was the Goddess's brother. I highly doubt it's incest.

I understand that Zelda is an immortal dragon, so she doesn't /need/ food whatsoever, mainly because she's, you know. Immortal.

Link is still chubby, and I understand that Link's walking about an entire few countries with Hyrule Castle at it's source might still be an excuse but, alas, the amount of eating done doesn't seem to be likely, especially for newer players, or even those who just suck at the game.

You know, for someone who supposedly eats a bunch of food and loves to cook quite a bunch, Link sure does look quite malnourished.