#the Crux

[luthienne]

Rosanna Warren, from Go Forth: Poems; "The Crux"

[Text ID: An end will come. But in a different plot.]

[mixing-bowl-of-stories]

Selcouthian World Building: The Agrona Councils and Kingdoms

In the kingdom of Agrona Morgana there are 9 kingdoms within the main kingdom.

Each kingdom has a council, these councils range from 5-11 people per council.

Overall, the hierarchy of councils goes as follows:

Grandmasters Council:

The council responsible for overseeing all action done by the government. However, they rarely ever meet as this is not necessary all the time.

Usually used for: plans of war, crisis that have inflicted the citizens, among other large scale issues.

(Pandora is on this Council later on)

Grand Judicial Council:

Self explanatory, responsible for ruling over federal laws and the highest profile cases.

(Noah is on this Council later on)

Grand Executive Council:

Used for enforcing laws and dealing in foreign affairs.

(Pandora is also on this one later on)

Grand Legislative Council:

Makes all other laws, regulates commerce, and controls taxing and spending policies.

Ruling Council(s):

The councils that rule over the individual kingdoms (have their own Executive, Judicial, and Legislative councils)

Local Council(s):

Similar to the Ruling Councils, just local to cities and small territories inside the kingdoms.

The Grandmasters are:

Morgana - Diana De La Dáinn (Female) (Later Pandora De La Dáinn (Female))

Edelweiss - Arya Adair (Female)

Bronwen - Bastian Warblaze (Male)

Noel - Aerith Windward (Non Binary)

Bylur - Samuel Verlice (Male)

Albina - Lucien Huxley (Male)

Fintan - Marius Bozzelli (Female)

Wynn - Serian Wix (Non Binary)

Dwight - Lysandra Odessa (Female)

Fun fact: Noah does NOT get put on the grandmasters council when he becomes grand judge

He IS however considered an advisor to Pandora and does occasionally sit in on meetings and give his two cents as the grand judge

So while he’s up high, he’s not on top

Noah is fine doing his thing and letting his wife do the big stuff, he’s just here to oversee cases and make sure the wrong people aren’t put in prison.

Each Kingdom is responsible for a different aspect of trade, communications, and/or resources. Some of these do overlap.

Morgana - Foreign Affairs, Weaponry, Arts

Edelweiss - Farming (Fields)

Bronwen - Fishing, Sea Trade

Noel - Music, Arts, Processing Food and other materials

Bylur - Land Trade, Farming (Mountains)

Albina - Foraging, Farming (Underground)

Fintan - Mining, Rare Resources

Wynn - Mining, Construction Materials

Dwight - Exploration, Weaponry

[bl00dblight]

The Crux has been revamped! Silly little problem of a critter!

(My askbox is always open for questions about them!)

[bowl-of-shortness]

2023 Summary of Art!

Wow look at all that

You can tell I didn’t draw anything in December or July

Anyways. Will I draw more next year? That’s if I can get my CFS to chill the fuck out

[j1rouz]

au u where ningguang is a pirate that takes place pre-canon and her and beidou grow up together, they get their visions, and fall in love with each other and adventure

[giya-goates]

Dear genshin Impact fans and beidou lovers, I have a proposal for the animators.....

SOMEONE NEEDS TO ANIMATE BEIDOU AND THE CRUX TO ONE OF THEIR SONGS

[sinkthoseshipspoll]

Ship Poll: Round One

Alcor[The Crux] from Genshin Impact VS. B'rel class Bird-of-Prey[Klingon Bird-of-Prey] from Star Trek

[raffaellopalandri]

Book of the Day - The Crux: How Leaders Become Strategists

Today’s book of the day is The Crux: How Leaders Become Strategists, written by Richard P. Rumelt in 2022 and published by PublicAffairs. Richard P. Rumelt is an internationally known writer, speaker, and consultant on strategy. He is also Emeritus Professor at UCLA Anderson. He received his MSEE from UC Berkeley and his doctorate in business from Harvard Business School. The Crux, by Richard…

[qxiao]

◈Troublesome Work◈

Summary: Beidou is the boss of the most popular tattoo parlour in all of Liyue, just a quick look into what a normal day could look like.

Mentions of Zhongli, Kazuha, Xiao, Xiao x traveller (just a lil tho), mentions of Itto and Razor (they’re brothers). Tattoo artist au, slight gang au, more modern au.

A/N: Ok so i saw a fan art of a tattoo artist au of beidou and zhongli and got inspired to write this, THIS IS NOT PROOFREAD, so sorry for the mistakes. I rlly didn’t know how to end it so-

ˏ 𓏧 𓏲 𓏲 𓏲 𓋒 𓏲 𓏲 𓏲 𓏲 𓏧 ˎ

Walking through the door, slowly inhaling the bitter smell of smoke, Beidou strutted through past the long line of costumers. Slipping through the back door before throwing her bag into her locker as she took a long puff out of the cig between her fingers.

Grabbing her gloves, she stubbed the cig out and threw it in the trash before swinging the door right open, coming face to face with a line of needy costumers. Making her way to the front, clipboard in hand, greeting the people before her with a smile.

“Welcome to The Crux everyone! Sorry for the wait, walk in’s please keep to the right, people who had an appointment to the left.”

As the sounds of shuffling feet and displeased grunts slowly started to fade, Beidou called out name after name, sending people to their rightful tattoo artists before assisting the walk-in’s, handing them over to which ever artist was free.

That’s how most days went by, before they even knew it, lunch hour had came around and the parlour emptied out as the other employees made their way to the break room.

Upon closing up for the next hour, a hefty sigh made Beidou chuckled as she turned around to face their best artist. Zhongli.

“I do not understand why so many people are getting glaze lilies these days. If I hear one more person ask for one I’ll send them off for Kazuha to handle.”

Bursting out in laughter, the ex-captain was amused about how frustrated the old archon was, after all, you’d think a 6000 year old god wouldn’t be ruffled up over a bunch of silly flower tats.

Beidou loved days like these, annoying the hell out of Zhongli before retiring to check up on Kazuha’s new designs. She was about to head to the lunch room before the front door busted open. With the sound of heavy feet running towards her, Beidou let out a groan before she opened up the janitors closet, threw the two hooligans who busted through inside and made her way to the front. Just as an officer walks up.

“Good evening there ma’am, have u happened to see two males, both with silver hair, go around these parts? We have reason to believe that they are part of the Arataki gang.”

Putting up her best face, and most striking grin, “Ah actually, i did see two people run by the shop, i believe they went down that alley.” She lied, pointing down the block.

“Thank you ma’am, have a wonderful evening.”

“You too officer” you too.

After insuring the officer left, Zhongli sighed as he unlocked the closet, only to have two monstrous boys fall out, face flat on the ground.

“Hah… You two have got to keep out of trouble! The Qixing AND the Kujou Clan are after you!”

Slow grunts escaped from the taller one’s mouth. Before standing up and putting on the most shit eating grin.

“Exactly! And we haven’t been caught no?”

Beidou made dead eye contact with him, scowling. “Listen here Itto, you better be more careful ya here me? And you cant keep dragging your poor brother into this.”

The Oni rolled his eyes, before placing a firm hand on his sidekick’s shoulder, “Razor’s fineeee, plus he wants to be here, don’t you?” He asked, looking intensively at the younger.

“Yup! Razor likes being with Itto!” He replied with a toothy smile. Itto chuckling as he patted his head.

“See? we’re fine, no need to worry, i’m always 2 steps ahead of that Sara chick.” 

Zhongli shook his head before letting the door open to the break room. Cheers and greetings were shouted as their captain stepped through.

Beidou laughed as she grabbed a beer, scanning her eyes through the crowd before laying falling on a short stub of white hair, making her way through, she slung an arm around kazuha’s neck as she peered over his shoulder, looking at his latest sketches.

“Hello there captain, there seems to have been quite a crowd today.” Seeming displeased with the bunch of fangirls that stood outside his workstation, before being shooed out of the store.

Beidou rolled her eyes, already all to familiar with the multiple fanclubs created for her most popular tattooists. Both Zhongli and Kazuha was already used to the attention, however Xiao, Zhongli’s new assistant, wasn’t all that prepared for the unrequited love. Who happened to be on his phone, he always was. No one’s actually seen him eat anything, speaking of which neither has Zhongli… Oh whatever it was none of her business what they did with their break time. Xiao did however pique her interests when his face suddenly burst bright red, his eyes looked stunned, and his mouth hung open.

“My my, what’s got the brilliantly tough Xiao so riled up?”, the adeptus happened to be going through all the gifts he received throughout the day. Piles on piles of pretty boxes filled with chocolate or any sort of other trinkets. Usually Xiao would just go through them and throw them out or give them away, so it’s quite a surprise to see him stare at one for more then a minute, none the less blush at a letter.

“Oooh who’s it from? Is it a girl you’re interested in?” Beidou teased.

“N-no.”, he stuttered, still somewhat flustered, “I just wasn’t expecting a gift from a certain someone is all.”

ah

it immediately clicked 

“So… You and Traveller huh?” She raised an eyebrow, already knowing the answer. I mean cmon, the traveller is the only person ( besides Zhongli ) that could just drop by his work station and NOT receive a scowl.

Xiao turning even redder than before, could hardly even force out coherent sentences.

“I..N-no…We’re not..”

“Yea sure you’re not but i can sure as hell see you want to be.” Beidou spat out quite bluntly, not even letting Xiao a second to protest before getting up and going to the bar to get a bottle. Leaving Xiao in the dust, left with his conflicting feelings.

Although today was almost like any other day, Beidou still treasured these moments. The chants to chug being encouraged to Razor. Xiao quietly sipping some tea with Zhongli, who was telling ancient stories to anyone that’ll listen. Kazuha mindlessly looking out the window to the sea. The bustling sounds, warm lighting, bittersweet aroma, and familiar faces made Beidou remember why she loved the crux, why she loved her work and the people she worked with.

A/N: I’m really only posting becuz i haven’t posted in 6 months and this has been sitting in the drafts for almost a year 😭

[aphel1on]

i have such a love for characters who descend into madness or villainy out of deep, deep empathy. characters who fundamentally cannot cope with the cruel realities they find themselves in and blow up about it in spectacular fashion. fallen angel type characters with tears of outrage in their eyes. characters who break before they bend, and break so badly they splatter blood all over their noble ideals. every variation on it gets me so good

[total-derangement-of-the-senses]

Song of the Day

4 Dec., ‘23

[nextwavefutures]

Solving the ‘gnarly problems’ of business

Solving the ‘gnarly problems’ of business. A review of Richard Rumelt’s strategy book ‘The Crux’.

A review of Richard Rumelt’s business strategy book The Crux. I picked up The Crux (2022) because Richard Rumelt’s previous book, Good Strategy Bad Strategy, is one of the best books out there on strategy. I wondered initially if his publisher had encouraged him to write it to build on the success of the earlier book. Reading it, I’d say it is a ‘legacy’ book. Rumelt is towards the end of his…

[mixing-bowl-of-stories]

Did this trend with Pandora De La Dáinn

[bl00dblight]

Anyone here like uhhh...weird Slugcats? :)

[bowl-of-shortness]

Well, ig I’ll just do The Crux members in order then, give you guys something to work with? Idk, anyways here’s some descriptions of each of The Crux members:

Pandora De La Dáinn:

Pandora De La Dáinn, the youngest in the next generation of the noble family of Morgana, has lived in the post of her relatives’ massacre her entire life. But the tragedy doesn’t stop there.

At eight years old, her eldest brother, Victor, suddenly disappears into the depths of the night after saying goodnight to Pandora, and is never seen again.

At fourteen, she is stolen in the dead of night and murdered by the woman known as Alice Ripper. Alice working under a man named Lazarus’s orders. She awakens in the Neverwhere, a place full of souls of the deceased, and finds herself in front of the god of death himself. She pleads with the god, asking him to give her one more chance as she hasn’t done what she feels she must do. The god agrees, under one condition, she become the champion of death for him, and she will gain one more chance. She awakens in front of her family’s ancestral mansion, her hair white and her limbs a transparent navy blue, only her bones showing.

At eighteen, she finds one of Victor’s many journals and discovers where he went next. She then hastily writes a letter, telling her family what she expects from them when she gets back and why she’s leaving. Ending the letter in:

“If I return without Victor, it will be bad news, or, it means something more important than Victor has happened”

She sets off to find out what happened to her brother, and through these journals scattered around Selcouth, will learn why he left to begin with. All the while finding who she is outside of her family, who she will become as Champion of Death, and what she stands for as an individual.

Noah Ripper:

The finished project of two people’s genius, Noah is an android who was created to be nothing more than a weapon to the cruel and self absorbed Alice Ripper.

Running away at fourteen after seeing his mother murder a girl his age, he finds himself in the heart of the Agrona Branches, in the kingdom of Morgana. He takes in this new world after being hidden from it for so long, and eventually meets two tiefling kids whom he befriends.

The three travel together throughout the kingdom, until eventually, Alice finds him and attempts to dismantle him. Saved only by a girl his age with white hair and a knack for engineering and tinkering, he and his two friends promise to repay her for her kindness.

After the incident regarding his near dismantling, he vows to seek revenge on his mother and anyone involved in the horrible abuse he endured growing up. And finds his opportunity to do so when Pandora asks him, Ambrose, and Constance to travel with him.

They agree, and he sets out with a thirst for blood, a gun, and a handful of ideas on how to murder those who hurt him.

Ambrose & Constance Lockwood:

As two of the three children of the terrifying and dangerous Lockwood couple, Ambrose and Constance are born into a life of destruction and conquest. They are set to inherit their parents’ fortune and the countless kingdoms they ruled over as dictators. However, once the two were forced to take up a contract with two demons, they begin to question the righteousness of their family’s actions.

Seeing their eldest brother, Lazarus, fall further and further into torment, anger, pride, and violence, calls this into question even further.

After overhearing a plan to attack another noble family’s daughter and kill her, the two decide to run away that night. They quickly escape at fourteen and twelve years old without incident and make their way to the one kingdom they know Lazarus and their parents’ cult won’t want to touch, Morgana.

They meet an android boy their age, and quickly become friends due to their similar situations. But when the boy, named Noah, is attacked and nearly dismantled, they find a noble girl and beg for her help.

She fixes Noah up, and they learn her name is Pandora. They vow to her that they will find a way to repay her some day, and that day would come soon enough.

When Pandora asks for them to travel with her, the two plus Noah agree.

Ambrose and Constance make a promise to each other that they would do as much good in the world as possible, and that they will learn the details of what atrocities their family has committed and right those wrongs.

Little do they know what Lazarus is planning…

Nathaniel, Nico, and Natasha Woodwhisper:

Growing up the children of the Last Hunt Tribe’s chieftess, Dawn Woodwhisper, they lacked any knowledge of their father until age fifteen. Their mother begins telling them stories of their father, how he was a strong warrior and the Champion of Death.

Nathaniel despises him, seeing as he left their mother alone with triplets, and never once came to visit the family.

Natasha idolizes him, and does everything in her power to be just like him.

Nico is stuck in the middle, he understands Nathaniel’s position, but also understands Natasha’s. He is trying to balance his opinions.

One day, a group of strange people attack the tribe, setting the forest it’s in on fire and burning the entire forest to the ground. They are left without knowledge of where their mother is at or their tribe, the last words they heard from Dawn were:

“No matter what happens or how you feel about it, please go find your father, tell him what happened, please.”

And thus, the three set off with a group of four to find their dad, and figure out their familial mysteries.

Josiah & Lilith Mantlebar:

Josiah and Lilith Mantlebar are the children of a renowned cleric and bard. Lilith herself is a bard, playing the guitar, while Josiah is a paladin.

When Josiah was sixteen, he was chosen by the Thunder God Asterope to be their paladin and made an oath with them.

Lilith has had her dream since she was younger, that she would try to become the best bard there was out there.

One day, while the duo is out and about in a neighboring village, they return home to find their village in ruins. Their parents and neighbors nowhere to be found.

They stay in the ruined village for a few weeks, before they decide that in order to find their parents, they have to travel. And maybe they could achieve their goals along the way.

So the two set off, to find their parents, one to be the best bard in Selcouth, the other to learn his role as a paladin.

Karissa Jester:

Karissa grew up in a small village with her parents, she was a small tiefling girl and was happy for a long time, until her parents decided that the best option for her, was to give her up for adoption. She never knew the reason, but she knew it wasn’t a decision they wanted to make.

Going through dozens of different adoptive families and ultimately being put up for adoption every single time in the end, she decides to run away from the orphanage she was staying at and find somewhere she fit in at.

She’s finds that place eventually in Magnus Wanderlust, a traveling circus. She felt unconfident and afraid, but decided to try and see if she could join. The ringmaster, a lovely changeling woman, known for her changing in appearances, took Karissa in and decided that she would train her in the ways of the circus.

Karissa soon mastered her fire magic and proceeded to be a fan favorite by many, eventually becoming one of the highest paying acts the circus had.

But she wanted more, she’d seen some of the world, but only the small populated areas, never the unpopulated areas or the big kingdoms. And she wanted to learn who she was and where she came from. Lastly, she was ultimately lonely, she knew nobody her age who she was friends with, she didn’t mind being friends with all of the older members of the circus, but she wanted to experience true life as a young adult in Selcouth.

She brings this concerns to the ringmaster who nods and agrees that she has most likely outgrown the circus, and gives her some necessities and trinkets before she leaves.

And then, she’s off into the world, eventually meeting a pair of halfling siblings, one named Josiah, one named Lilith.

Lilith introduce Karissa into the world of music, and she never went back since, playing the guitar alongside her. Josiah taught her how to use her fire in a variety of different ways as well.

And thus the three became inseparable, traveling the world to find themselves and to explore.

Chance Boone:

Chance Boone was a famous cowboy out in The Restless Borderlands. He was known for his work with sheriffs, helping people out, and riding off into the sunset at the end of the day.

However, he was also known to be a violent man, destroying an entire town from his childhood who abandoned and ostracized him.

He loved the life he lived, but over time he became bored with the constant struggle of finding food or getting gold. And something kept gnawing at him.

He’d been kidnapped as a child and managed to escape, and his family had been murdered by these people. It was one night when he decided he would find the people who did that, and make sure they would be served justice.

And thus he hopped on his horse, and rode into the dawn, on a mission.

Barbara Monroe:

Barbara Monroe was known for being the outlaw of The Restless Borderlands. And her track record with Chance is certainly one to behold in the amount of times the two had met. She led her life, stealing, killing, and on the occasion finding a partner who’d inevitably stab her in the back and end up dead.

She always wondered what the rest of the world had in store. But knew she’d never leave The Restless Borderlands. That is, until her band of outlaws attempted to get rid of her under orders from a new outlaw king. Limping out into the desert with a gunshot wound in her side, she found the place Chance was staying at, and stumbled inside.

Chance was surprised to find his rival and nemesis asking for his help, he could’ve let her die, he should’ve let her die, but for whatever reason he chose to help.

The two talk for a while, until the topic of Chance’s family comes up, Barbara had a similar story about her family, and mentions the fact that she was put in the outlaw group to begin with because of that incident.

And with that, the two make a deal. They’d work together to get back at the outlaw group, and then they’d help each other with anything else.

For Chance that means exploring the world, for Barbara that means escaping her past.

Amelia Hayes:

Amelia was a noblewoman from the kingdom of Eudaemonia, she wasn’t from the noble family of Eudaemonia, but she was a noble nonetheless.

She would travel out to The Restless Borderlands in order to provide medicine and other sorts of technology to the people there, as they were behind on the times.

That is until she comes across a town that labels her a witch, and proceeds to try to burn her to death. Until, a pair of cowboys shows up and fights the ones attempting to kill her. One was a woman, the other a man.

They scare the rest of the townsfolk into leaving her alone, and then begin talking to her.

She explains her want to give medicine and other forms of technology and science to the world, and the two explain their wanting to explore the world.

And thus, after that, she began traveling with the two.

Owen Cogwright:

Owen, or, the second mind in the making of Noah, is a troubled man. Cursed with the heirloom curse given to his family by the god of souls, he is forced to work on the project for the god lest he be in an immense amount of pain.

He locked himself away like so many do, attempting to do the project on his own. That’s until Alice weasels her way into his life, and promises more than she can offer.

Owen works with her, creating the first 5 blueprints for Noah, ages 5-10 years old. However, Alice one night threatens Owen with his life if he didn’t leave the project with her and that he would have to deal with her taking credit.

Scared for his life, he unwillingly left, heartbroken for having to leave the one creation he saw as his own son behind.

Years and years passed and Owen never made another project, suffering with the pain and agony he endured from not working on it.

Until one day, he meets a group of people in the tavern he worked at, who he tells his story to. The short half elf girl with white hair asks him if he’d like to travel with them. And Owen, seeing as his time was running out in life due to the curse, decided to go with them. To see the world before he died.

[webdiggerxxx]

꧁★꧂