#the background may or may not be inspired by the arcana

[professorcalculusstanaccount]

Tintin Tarot - A Fool's Journey, Part One. A collaboration with @josephscoat who knows a lot about tarot and other spiritual and cultural topics. They're a very talented writer too, so go check them out!

They first pointed out how perfectly the Fool tarot card mapped onto Tintin himself, and it led to me illustrating the Major Arcana as Tintin characters. I'm surprised Moulinsart hasn't released an official Tintin tarot deck yet, though knowing them if they did they'd probably just reuse existing art...

I wanted this set to reference the Rider-Waite tarot deck, as it's iconic! I tried to keep as much symbolism from this deck as possible, while incorperating a lot of appropriate Tintin references. It was important to us that none of these felt like a stretch, so we tried our best to find the best fit for each card, including the card's reverse meaning!

The Fool - New beginnings, taking risks, embarking on a new adventure, independence and blind faith. He even has a little white dog. Of course Tintin is the Fool! The yellow tights indicate he moves forward with self confidence, even if forwards means off a ledge. He carries a white flower, symbolising purity.

The Magician - Manifestation, creation, resourcefulness and inspired action. Calculus's inventions behind him are a nod to each element - the shark submarine represents water, the moon rocket represents fire, the sound weapon represents air and the white roses he creates for Castafiore represent earth! On the table we have Didi's sword, a bottle of Loch Lommond whiskey, a pentacle and King Ottokar's sceptre. This card is my favourite!

The High Priestess - Mystery, intuition and the subconcious mind. Madame Yamilah was the obvious pick, being canonically psychic! I incorperated the curtains from the theatre she performs at, as well as the columns Haddock knocks over, now in black and white to represent light and dark.

The Empress - Motherhood, protection, femininity. There aren't many parents in the Tintin universe, probably by design. Mrs Wang came to mind. I used phoenix motifs in her headress as in Chinese culture they are symbols of femininity, and are distinct from the fiery immortal birds from Greek mythology.

The Emperor - Fatherhood, authority, structure, control. Mr Wang runs a crime fighting organisation and is Didi and Chang's stern father. Dragon motifs represent masculinity, and I referenced ancient Chinese armour as a symbol of protection.

The Hierophant - Tradition, conformity. The Prince of the Sun sticks closely to ancient laws and traditions, but like the card's reverse, is open to new approaches, such as when he takes in Zorrino. I gave him some elements of the priest's clothing to symbolise the Prince's role as a religious leader.

The Lovers - Partnerships, duality and unity! Despite being identical, the Thomsons aren't related. They in fact come from different countries - one is from France and the other is from Switzerland. Me and my friend confirmed this fact at the Herge museum in Belgium! The card's reverse meaning, disharmony and loss of balance, is also very much in line with the Thomsons. I included the internet famous Gay Lions in the background!

The Chariot - Direction. Control. Willpower. These are the perfect descriptors for Arturo Benedetto Giovanni Giuseppe Pietro Arcangelo Alfredo Cartoffoli, the Italian driver that helps out Tintin and Haddock in the Calculus Affair. He may have only appeared for a few pages, and I may be the only person to get this reference, but he is a perfect fit. He drives.

Strength - Compassion, bravery, endurance. Not only has Chang demonstrated these qualities in Tintin in Tibet, he's had to endure a lot of hardship throughout his life, being orphaned, swept up in a flood and watching his home get torn apart by imperial forces. He still comes out the other side patient and compassionate, being one of the few people to recognise a form of humanity in the Yeti, and possibly being the one to change Tintin's entire political journey! Chang is draped with juniper berries.

The Hermit - Laszlo Carreidas is a lonely and isolated millionnaire who goes through a huge personality change. Being drugged with a truth serum makes him more honest and open. His base personality before his development fits with the card's reverse - isolation and a loss of direction.

Wheel of Fortune - Alcazar and Tapioca's conflict is an endless cycle of war for political control. The Wheel of Fortune represents cycles and inevitable fate. Reversed, it represents a lack of control - both Alcazar and Tapioca cycle between having absolute power and no power at all. I dressed Tapioca as Anubis as a nod to the original card!

Justice - I picked Miarka to represent Justice as she and her community are wrongfully accused of crime due to being profiled. Instead of a sword she weilds the golden pair of scissors she is accused of stealing, and the gemstone representing a third eye is the Castafiore emerald. The owl, a symbol of wisdom, and the magpie from the Castafiore Emerald sit beside her.

[theic-manic]

Tarot Hellenic Deity Communication Post that should probably be a book someday.

Hello, Feeling inspired by some other posts about Deity identification via tarot I wanted to tweak their ideas and add some additional strategies that help me. This is a devotional post to two of my patron Gods, Lord Apollon and Lord Hermes, who are assisting me with my Oracular duties. Praise Apollo and Hermes.

Post index:

My Background

Some notes about this post

The Major Arcana: Intro

The Major Arcana Deities

The Minor Arcana Part 1: How to incorporate the Minor Arcana

The Minor Arcana Part 2: The Suits

The Minor Arcana: Part 3: The Courts Pentacles Swords Wands Cups

The Minor Arcana part 4: Notable Pip Cards

A Note on Gender

A Note on Symbolism

What the Hermes? (important!)

Deity Communication troubleshooting

How to incorporate Shufflemancy as a Tarot reading clarifier (link to another post)

Notable sources (used in addition to my own knowledge & research) My background: I started Tarot at the age of 11 (2001) and own dozens of different tarot and oracle decks, my exposure to various interpretations over almost 2.5 decades has allowed me to appreciate the nuances in interpretations and even assigned deities. As such, while I do know the broader meanings of each card, I also check the interpretation provided by various deck creators as their own divine guidance adds to my work. E.g. The Tower in my Murder of Crows deck has a very different vibe to The Tower in my Gold Lyre tarot deck. I will be covering deck design nuance after the list of card deities. Some notes about this post: Firstly: I will only be listing Hellenic deities as I currently work with the Hellenic Gods and while I have worked with the Kemetic Gods briefly, I have a distant while cordial relationship with them. I had worked with the Norse Gods for 3-4 years prior to moving to my current locale, however I acknowledge that my time with them has passed (at least for now) and I want to limit this to one pantheon. Secondly: In some of the other posts that assign deities to tarot cards, I found it odd that they would assign say, Freyja to some cards but not Aphrodite, arguably Freyja's Greek counterpart. As such, I will be taking care to check that I don't miss any deities due to these overlaps however this means that some deities will be gaining more cards than typically assigned. Note that some of the Gods of other pantheons have multiple equivalents in the Hellenic Pantheon so in the case that occurs, I will do my best to select whichever one already has their Hellenic equivalent listed by other sources and in cases that hasn't occurred, I will select/assign whichever Hellenic God/s best fit the card.

Thirdly: I won't be assigning deities to each of the numbered minor arcana for a couple of reasons; 1. Not all decks have imagery for these cards except for literal pentacles, wands, swords or cups images 2. While I prefer the Rider-Waite approach to providing story images to these minor cards, said images can be distracting to one's intuition or may add to the confusion. However I will explain how to incorporate these cards into your readings to gain clarity, especially if you draw Major Arcana that can be assigned to a couple of potential deities.

Finally: I will be adding the concept of Shufflemancy at the very bottom. This is optional but I find that it can really add to a reading... however as an Apollo and Hermes devotee I am a tad biased.

If you find this post to be useful please share it so that others may find it.

The Tarot Cards:

Major Arcana

The Fool: Pan, Hermes, Dionysus, Apollo, Morpheus

The Magician: Hermes, Apollo, Empusai

The High Priestess: Hekate, Selene, Artemis, Persephone, Aphrodite, Medusa, Melinoe, Lamia, Empusai

The Empress: Aphrodite, Hera, Demeter, Lamia, Empusai The Emperor: Zeus, Ares, Hades, Apollo

The Hierophant: Apollo, Athena, Hermes

The Lovers: Aphrodite & Ares, Eros & Psyche, Dionysus, Pan, Hades & Persephone, Lamia, Empusai The Chariot: Helios, Apollo, Hermes, Ares, Nike, Athena, Lamia Strength: Athena, Artemis, Medusa The Hermit: Kronos, Prometheus, The Muses*, Hades, Hermes, Hekate * The Muses appearing may also be a more subtle Apollo sign, use surrounding cards to guide your interpretation here. Wheel of Fortune: The Moirai*, Zeus, Hermes, Tyche, Morpheus * The Moirai are the triplet daughters of Kronos & Nyx or Zeus & Themis depending on which lore you refer to. They were also on friendly terms with Apollo and worshipped with Apollo at a number of shrines & temples. As such, please check surrounding cards carefully to determine which Hellenic deity/ies this acts as a confirmation card for. I would not rely on this card alone to confirm a deity's presence. Also pay attention to card imagery & any notes from the deck creator in the accompanying booklet if applicable.

Justice: Zeus, Athena, Themis

The Hanged Man: Artemis, Prometheus, Demeter, Poseidon, Hermes, Morpheus

Death: Persephone, Thanatos, Hades, Hekate, Melinoe, Lamia, Empusai

Temperance: Artemis, Iris, Apollo, Hades.

The Devil: Dionysus, Pan, Ares,

The Tower: Ares, Demeter, Eris, Perses.

The Star: Aphrodite, Hermes, Nyx, Astrea

The Moon: Artemis, Hekate, Selene, Morpheus. Medusa, Melinoe, Lamia, Empusai

The Sun: Apollo, Helios, Brigid, Eos

Judgement: Persephone, Hades, Hephaestus, Metatron, Nemisis

The World: Hermes, Nike, Gaia, Kronos, Athena, Demeter, Arachne

The Minor Arcana:

Intro:

As mentioned at the beginning, I won't be assigning deities to every single minor arcana card however I will be assigning deities to the suits, court cards & a few notable numbered cards to assist with deity identification.

Part 1: The Suits

Wands: Ares, Apollo, Eros, Hermes*

Swords: Ares, Athena, Hades, Athena, Hermes* , Poseidon*

Pentacles: Gaia, Demeter, Hephaestus, Athena

Cups: Aphrodite, Hermes* *Refer to Part 2b

Part 2a: The Courts Pentacles:

Pages: Pan, The Muses, Apollo Knights: Athena, Artemis, Demeter Queens: Persephone. Gaia, Demeter Kings: Hades, Chiron, Pan Swords:

Pages: Athena, Nike, Arachne Knights: Athena, Hermes Queens: Hekate. Athena, Themis, Melinoe Kings: Hephaestus, Hermes

Wands:

Pages: Apollo, Artemis, Athena Knights: Apollo, Orpheus Queens: Aphrodite, Hestia Kings: Zeus, Ares, Apollo

Cups:

Pages: Aphrodite, Eros Knights: Aphrodite Queens: Hera Kings: Poseidon, Dionysus

Part 2b: Notable Pip cards (Ace-10) Certain Pip cards of the Minor Arcana have strong deity connections based on their traditional meanings. I will not be covering the meanings as there are enough books covering this.

Aces: Pentacles- Demeter, Gaia, Swords- Athena, Nike Wands- Pan, Aphrodite and/or Ares, Apollo Cups - Aphrodite, The Nesoi, Eros

9 of Pentacles: Persephone 10 of Pentacles: Hephaestus, Arachne

2 of Swords: Hekate 3 of Swords: Hermes 4 of Swords: Arachne 5 of Swords: Ares, Eris, Melinoe 7 of Swords: Hermes 8 of Swords: Athena, Eris, Arachne 10 of Swords: Poseidon

3 of Wands: Hermes 5 of Wands: Hephaestus 8 of Wands: Dionysus 10 of Wands: Hephaestus

2 of Cups: Hermes with the caduceus, this can also clarify a divine partnership (Hades & Persephone, Ares & Aphrodite etc.) 8 of Cups: Nereus, Melinoe 10 of cups: Nike

Part 3: How to incorporate the minor Arcana

Whenever I am reaching out to deities via Tarot I do this in two stages. Stage 1: Deity identification Stage 2: What they want me to know (this is when a structured spread would be appropriate or simply apply traditional interpretations to the cards). Stage 1: With Deity identification stage I am purely interested in identifying who is in my room/orbit/astral right now but as you likely picked up in the Major Arcana list, many deities share cards and this can become confusing, especially if you draw cards that share the same gods. Solution: Look at the minor Arcana cards and which deities they align with to clarify which God is likely reaching out to you either via direct correspondence or relationship. Examples: 1. Sometimes I will draw Major arcana that are typically associated with Hermes & Apollo (makes sense as they're my patron gods) however if I also draw some wands* then I will typically sense that it is more Apollo that is reaching out whereas if swords pop out, or the 2 of cups, then I am getting a Hermes vibe. (*8 of wands is the one wands card I'd assign to Hermes due to its meaning) 2. If I draw some cards assigned to Ares and another God but draw some cups minor Arcana, I will then lean towards this being Ares as cups are associated with Aphrodite. I then consider how the minor arcana + Major Arcana identifiers act as Deity aspect (or vibe) identifiers. E.g. Ares Major Arcana + Cups cards will likely indicate to me that I am getting Ares' softer side. However if I get Ares + Swords, then I am likely being shown his more traditional warlike nature. If I draw Wands cards, then this is typically aligning with some more passionate energy from Ares. And this is when I gather the cards, reshuffle and commence stage 2 where I am seeking what message/s the identified God/s would like me to know. Even when I draw Major arcana in these readings, I will stick to their traditional interpretations rather than deity correspondences. This assists in me receiving a clearer message.

A Note on Gender:

If you are using a gender themed deck (e.g. a Goddess tarot deck) this may make deity identification more challenging for you as you could potentially mistake the identify of a deity depending on the style of the deck. If however you are confident with interpreting tarot or just work with goddesses or gods, that's cool too. Deities sometimes may appear as a gender not typically assigned to them as they find this is an easier way for you to connect with them.

Pages & Knights are gender neutral, so take their pictorial representation with a grain of salt if that helps.

A note on Symbolism: Some decks may have symbols to help you better discern which deity is reaching out, especially with cards that share numerous gods so please pay attention to the illustrations of the major arcana in addition to the clarifying minor arcana cards. Certain themed decks may make this easier or more difficult however if like me you own many tarot decks then the deck you feel called to use is a sign in itself. E.g. Whenever I feel drawn to my Golden Lyre deck, I know that Apollo and Hermes are going to show up (& they do). If I feel drawn to my Vlad the Dracula, Diablo or another "dark" deck, this to me has Ares energy. Ultimately, much of this depends on your connection with the divine, how you best communicate (e.g. which clair-sense is strongest for you), your physical & mental health and ongoing practice with the Gods and honing your intuition.

What the Hermes?! Hermes wanted me to mention that if you see a lot of his cards (you likely noticed that he is associated with many tarot cards) this means either a) your deity has an urgent message that they need him to deliver to you, b) the deity reaching out does not have very good history with one of your patron gods so he is delivering their message to keep the peace or c) the deity is just not good at communicating via tarot (see below)

Deity communication troubleshooting:

The cards are a real mixed bag and/or nothing makes sense: You might be tired, hungry, dehydrated or just not ready to receive messages.

Some Gods take longer than others to "talk": Oracular deities and deities with a decent history with Oracles & the likes are very vocal through tarot for me whereas other deities aren't very good at communicating through tarot & perhaps another method would be best such as Shufflemancy, meditation, tea leaves, automatic writing or a range of other methods. E.g. Ares takes a while to talk to me through tarot and that's often because 1. Apollo is very loud & Ares likes to... give him space and 2. There appear to be some stories of Ares potentially having poor experiences with oracles, e.g. an Oracle allegedly directing the people of various places in southern Asia Minor or the likes to bind Ares' statue in chains and even an annual rite involving this to force him into being more peaceful...  The oracle promises that "thus will he become a peaceful deity for you, once he has driven the enemy horde far from your country, and he will give rise to prosperity much prayed for." Wikipedia I'll admit my ignorance with much of Greek mythology however upon learning more about Ares' history with Apollo and certain Oracle cults I have learned to be more understanding of him taking longer to communicate this way. Even writing this & feeling my back hurt I can sense Ares' disapproval of Hermes & Apollo guiding me to write this post.

How to incorporate Shufflemancy as a Tarot reading clarifier:

Notable sources (used in addition to my own knowledge & research): https://backyardbanshee.com/tarot/deities-associated-with-tarot-cards/

Updates made July 14 2024:

I have started to add the lesser-known deities such as Medua, Lamia, Empusai, Arachne and Melinoe and will slowly add the others. Please comment or DM any Hellenic deity or spirit requests to be added.

[sonofcoulson]

Dungeons and Dragons: The Witches Road

Yes, my d&d x marvel obsession continues, even though I have never played the game in my life.

Obviously, massive spoilers for Agatha All Along here so if you haven't seen it (why haven't you seen it?), stop reading now...

Incoming premise and character builds.

First off, for a full d&d campaign, we need more. More backstory, more lore, monsters, merchants, taverns etc.

In short, we need the Witches Road to be real.

Agatha's repeated ritual and probably thousands of other Witches learning of the song and attempting to perform the ritual made it real, just like the song became a warding spell for Alice. She is completely unaware because only a true coven can enter, as Agatha set out in her sham ceremonies.

Follow me my friend...

And once you get on the road, you can't leave unless you succeed.

...to glory at the end

So most have either died or got stuck on the road, leading to whole communities and economies within this liminal dimension, especially near the start of the road.

Billy is responsible for opening the door, as the coven is not true, not at the beginning.

They could have several encounters with the Salem Seven, managing to drive them off each time. They would also have encounters with legendary beasts on fetch quests and such, Salem Seven secretly setting up false clues to send them dangerous monsters so it's not just the trials.

It starts the same, Agatha under an illusion, investigating Wanda's death. Rio and Billy pull her out of it. Rio gives her a reprieve, Billy wants to go to the road, they make up the coven, start the ritual, Salem Seven show up and the door opens just in time.

Characters:

There is, unbelievably, no official Witch class in the game. I found a few homebrewed ones and quite liked this one, but there is no guarantee it would be allowed. So I have chosen from official classes and subclasses as much as possible. Also, having never played the game, this may be more about character than game balance.

I used this article about different types of witchcraft as inspiration.

Agatha Harkness -

Class:Warlock

Subclass:Undead

I figured Agatha should mostly use spells to harm people so I wanted her to have access to lots of necromancy spells. I would ask the DM if you could change your title to Spirit Witch or something similar (Death Witch?).

At over 300 years as a practicing Witch, Agatha knows a thing or two about magic (Arcana skill). And she likes to bully people (Intimidation skill).

She has an Eldritch blast which can be upgraded to Agonising Blast with the Warlock's Eldritch Invocations at level 2. The 5th level spell, Enervation, works a a drain spell.

I've made her a Variant Human as she is enhanced with magic even when not casting. She gets Insight as her skill as she understands people pretty well, even though she doesn't seem to like them. And her bonus feat is ritual caster which allows her to cast Find Familiar (they largely ignored familiar by thy side didn't they?). There are other good options like War Caster, so she can cast spells under pressure, but I want Señor Scratchy.

Background:Charlatan

Scam:I insinuate myself into people's lives to prey on their weakness and secure their fortunes

False Identity:Agnes of Westview

Skill:Deception

Personality:I lie about almost everything, even when there's no good reason to

Ideal:Independence. I am a free spirit – no one tells me what to do. (Chaotic)

Bond:I crossed the wrong person and must work to ensure that this individual never crosses paths with me or those I care about

Flaw:Don't expect me to save those who can't save themselves. It is nature's way that the strong thrive and the weak perish (Couldn't find a flaw that fit under Charlatan, so I swiped one from Outlander)

I based this off Agatha's repeating scam/mass murder shtick. Also very good at carrying off different personas. She gets the Deception skill with this background and a disguise kit.

Agatha saw what was happening to Witches in Salem and gave herself the tools to survive. She then survived the incident with her coven and has been surviving ever since. This powerful massacre attracted Rio and they made a partnership. Agatha gets power, Rio gets her bodies.

But Nicky complicated things...

William Kaplan/Billy Maximoff -

Class:Sorcerer

Subclass:Wild Magic

I like wild magic for Billy as it sounds like chaos magic, just like his mum. Ask the DM if you can rename as a Chaos Witch.

He seems to mostly understand his coven, he has Agatha's number and he is charming and polite so I have given him the Insight and Persuasion skills.

He gets suitable cantrips and spells like Chaos Bolt, Mass Suggestion and Wish. The description for Wish says 'you can alter the very foundations of reality in accord with your desires'. Very apt.

He is a Variant Human as he was an embodiment of a sliver of the mind stone wished into reality by a mutant witch, with an imaginary android father, who escaped the dispersement of the hex that gave him life and found a dying boy to impart himself into. Very variant.

I gave him Animal Handling as his extra skill as he loves Sparky and Señor Scratchy. And he has Ritual Caster as his feat so he can summon his little dog to his side. Dogs are not official familiars but I can't imagine too many objections from DMs.

Background:Haunted One

Harrowing Event:Your family has a history of practicing the dark arts. You dabbled once and felt something horrible clutch at your soul, whereupon you fled in terror

Personality:I like to read and memorize poetry. It keeps me calm and brings me fleeting moments of happiness

Ideal:I try to help those in need, no matter what the personal cost

Bond:I keep my thoughts and discoveries in a journal. My journal is my legacy

Flaw:I talk to spirits that no one else can see

Horror Trinket:The memory of a sibling who died on the day you were born

His background Skills are Arcana and Religion as I think he is so studious as to have researched and remembered many, many things about magic and witchcraft. He seems like he would journal and read poetry too.

Also he can talk to spirits that no one else can see. That may come in handy after the end of the campaign...

Though he didn't create The Road™, he did unconsciously choose the coven members from moments in his life. The witch trials are drawn from his expectations on what they should look like and he often says things and then they happen (ie "I wish Lilia was here"). This is not Divination, this is reality altering Chaos Magic...

Just like the show he is hoping to get his brother back as his reward.

Jennifer Kale -

Class:5 Artificer, 15 Cleric

Subclass:Alchemist, Life

I'm not that keen on the Artificer class for Jen, but it's the best way I could see to work her potion magic into her build.

See if the DM will let you have a Herbalism kit and proficiency (as an 11th generation rootworker) instead of thieves tools so she can make things straight away, she can also get Cook's Utensils too. Then when the Alchemist Subclass kicks in at level 3 she gets an easy way to make potions (Experimental Elixirs) which levels up with her. You could, theoretically stay on that path till the end. You could even pretend that all the Magical Tinkering objects and Artificer Infusions all use magical potions to make them work. You may have to just pretend that in your head though as the DM might ask you where all these potions are coming from...

But I like the idea that she was born into a Hearth Witch family, and then joined a Wiccan coven, covered here by multiclassing into Life Cleric (Hathor might be a good fit as a Patron). When she was bound she lost her Wiccan magic and went back to hearth magic; she used it to build her beauty business from scratch. She has lotions, potions, creams, soaps etc. But as she identifes as more than 'just a witch' she wants to go back to being a High Priestess too, hence The Road™.

She will need to discover earlier that Agatha was actually the one that bound her and make her set her free, so she can begin to regain her power and explain the switch into Cleric/Wiccan Priestess. Again, check with the DM if they mind the renaming to Hearth Witch (Alchemist Artificer) and Wiccan Priestess (Life Cleric).

I chose the Medicine and Nature skills as these complement gathering ingredients and administering healing elixirs.

Her race is Variant Human as she is a magic user and 100+ years old.

I chose Ritual Caster, again, as her feat and a Poisonous snake as her Familiar. The Rod of Asclepius is closely associated with medicine and features a snake entwined round a staff. Also, she could probably milk it for anti venom potions.

I chose Survival as the bonus skill because it complements her knowing so much about nature, herbs, cooking and medicine. She knows where to find ingredients, what's safe to eat and how to cook it.

I chose Sage as a background and Alchemist as her Specialty within that. She studied hard in both her disciplines and is very proud and knowledgeable about both.

Personality:I'm used to helping out those who aren't as smart as I am, and I patiently explain anything and everything to others

Ideal:Beauty. What is beautiful points us beyond itself toward what is true

Bond:I've been searching my whole life for the answer to a certain question

(eg Who bound me? Or, How do I get my power back?)

Flaw:I'm quick to assume that someone is trying to cheat me (from Guild Artisan background, couldn't find one in Sage that really fit)

I figured after the experience of being bound, seemingly by a muggle, and consequently leaving her coven, I thought she might be slow to trust. And actually, that attitude will serve her well against Agatha.

The man that bound her was a doctor, a man of science, a student of 'modern medicine'. He couldn’t stand that a woman practicing witchcraft was more popular and successful then he was. The TV show obviously cast Sasheer Zamata in the role which adds another, significant, layer. This binding was religiously intolerant, misogynistic and racist. Agatha is complicit in this, despite her excuses. There is an interesting take on this, and other themes in the show in this article. I love her unbinding herself as well ("You hold nothing!"), very powerful moment.

Jen stays with the party after releasing her bond as every living coven member must complete their trial first.

Lilia Calderu -

Class:Wizard

Subclass:School of Divination

Lilia is clearly a Divination Witch so this Class/Subclass is a great fit. The rename to Divination Witch is also not too big of a change.

Like Agatha, Lilia has lived a long life in the craft and would therefore know a great deal about magic (Arcana) and gets a sense of people and places from her passive Divination skills (Insight).

She gets an object as an Arcane Focus. There is an Orb on the official list which could work as a crystal ball, but you could also ask the DM if she is allowed a pack of Tarot Cards as her focus instead.

I would give her the Scholar's Pack as it seems more useful for Divination than an Explorer's Pack.

She gets features like Portent, Third Eye, and Expert Divination as part of her Subclass. She also has access to spells like True Seeing and Foresight.

Variant Human again (magic user, long life etc). Perception skill as her bonus, as in extra sensory. She can have Lucky as her bonus feat because it apparently goes well with Divination. She gets Find Familiar from 1st level Wizard spells and I have gone for cat as that seems appropriate.

She has Hermit for her Background as it can refer to a group and I thought that her original coven had isolated themselves, nun style, to prevent personal attachments affecting their visions (a little Star Warsy, I know). The Hermit gets a herbalism kit; I thought Lilia could make teas to read the leaves with. Also if Jen isn't allowed one then Lilia can assist her sister in the craft with her potion ingredients.

Life of Seclusion:I was partaking of communal living in accordance with the dictates of a religious order

Personality:I often get lost in my own thoughts and contemplation, becoming oblivious to my surroundings

Ideal:Greater Good. My gifts are meant to be shared with all, not used for my own benefit. (Good)

Bond:Nothing is more important than the other members of my coven

Flaw:I have trouble staying in the present, which confuses others (custom)

I think Lilia might need a custom Flaw as the options available don't really seem to suit. Neither the Hermit Flaws nor anything from the other Backgrounds.

Lilia has not lost her magic, she has lost her joy, her community, her focus. That's what she wants back. She couldn’t save her first coven, her mother from death and it has gnawed away at her for centuries.

She could potentially survive the confrontation with the Salem Seven and the reversed Tower if someone casts Feather Fall on her and then they patch her up before moving to the last trial.

Alice Wu Gulliver-

Class:Paladin

Subclass:Heroism

Alice is a Protection Witch (or something similar, check with DM), and as a police officer and security guard she's probably had a few tangles. So a Paladin with a Sacred Oath of Heroism seemed to be the way to go. I went for the Athletics and Insight skills, would have been handy for her previous jobs. Her Fighting Style is obviously Protection.

Tenets of Heroism:Embrace Destiny You didn't choose this road, but it's yours to walk. And it will carry you into legend.

She gets the Peerless Athlete feature, which gives her advantage on Athletics and Acrobatics rolls. That's dice rolls by the way, she isn't doing roly polys down The Road™. She gets Guiding Bolt (we'll say it's orange) from Oath Spells on lvl 3 and has a range of combat skills and protection spells.

She could be a Human as she's not been alive for that long compared to the others, but she is a born magic user. If you do go for Variant Human the the skill could be Stealth? Survival? idk

The feat would be Ritual Caster and her Familiar would be a Hawk.

She obviously has the Investigator background with Investigation (obvs) and Perception skills. She gets Thieves tools (handy for traps) and a disguise kit.

Case:You survived the destructive use of a curse that killed your mother. Then, the coven found you. You now travel with them, hoping to somehow lift your curse upon the Witches Road

Horror Characteristics:-

Personality:Nothing is more important than life, and I never leave anyone in danger

Ideal:Obsession. I've lived this way for so long that I can't imagine another way

Bond:I lost someone I care about, but I still see them in guilty visions, recurring dreams, or as a spirit

Flaw:I'm especially superstitious and live life seeking to avoid bad luck, wicked spirits, or the Mists

Horror Trinket:An urn with the ashes of a dead relative

Alice wanted to know if the curse was real, if The Road™ was real, even if magic was real. Always wondering when she lost a job or had a break up, was it the curse?

But despite her grief and anger, which drove her to denial, deep down she knew the truth and longed for a way to break the curse.

Alice is definitely weakened by Agatha's attack, but this being Dungeons and Dragons a saving roll or a team mate's spell could save her!

Sharon Davis -

Class:Druid

Subclass:Land Circle

According to the TV show, Sharon never makes it past level 1, but would have been a Land Druid/Green Witch (Though the starting Herbalism Kit does lend itself well to her gardening interest).

I'm imagining that she keeps animals at home (Animal Handling) and, as mentioned above, she likes gardening (Nature)

In her handbag she is carrying a dreamcatcher that she bought for her niece but hasn't passed to her yet. That will serve as her Druidic focus.

She would not be able to speak Druidic, only common. This would make it difficult for her as she would have to learn as she goes.

She does not have weapons, armour or a shield. She only has what she carried in her handbag. And the Herbalism Kit. And some cook's utensils from her background...it's a big handbag okay?

She would know Create Bonfire and Druidcraft Cantrips if she was a real druid, but we'll get on to that in a minute. She does not have a familiar as she doesn't have access to the spell. If she survives, she may be able to transform into an animal herself, but more on that later.

Her race is Human and I chose Guild Artisan for her Background. I thought she would probablybein the Women's Guild. They are chiefly Cooks and Bakers for which she gets Chef's Utensils. There are many other skills within the Guild, such as Sharon's gardening.

If they happen to come across any members of the Women's Guild on the Witches Road then they're laughing, as they may have multiple skills as well as being able to give them shelter or a good meal. There is a possibility for a crossover between Witches and the Women's Guild as many will meet the criteria for joining. This increases the chance of some Women's Guild members being on The Road™.

Personality:I'm full of witty aphorisms and have a proverb for every occasion

Ideal:Community. It is the duty of all civilized people to strengthen the bonds of community and the security of civilization. (Lawful)

Bond:I owe my guild a great debt for forging me into the person I am today

Flaw:I like a glass of wine. Or two. Oh just give me the damn bottle! (I wanted to reference the moment from the potions trial so I made a custom one. Don't judge me)

There are different ways of playing Sharon. One is she has no magical ability at all and is destined to die during the potions trial. Perhaps then the person role playing her can switch to Rio or the DM could have her as an npc.

Equally, you could decide that Agatha chose her because she saw some potential in her and, in the event of her survival, she can develop into a full Druid.

Again, a saving roll or a spell/potion from an ally could mean Sharon's story has many more chapters.

Rio Vidal-

Class:Sorcerer 1/Wizard 2/Cleric 17 (Witch)

Subclass:Shadow Magic 1/School of Necromancy 2/Death Domain 17 (Green)

Rio is a special one 🖤

After reading this thread and doing some research I found a lot of features I wanted to incorporate into her build. Not sure how picking skills works with multiclassing. History would be a good one for such a long lived creature but that doesn't come up until you get to Cleric. Arcana may be the best choice as she is the longest practicing green witch in the world...or universe? Also, she mentions the sacred balance a few times which has a quasi-religious tone to it so Religion could be an option too.

She gets to pick a Quirk from Shadow Sorcerer which plays up her otherworldly, deathly persona.

Shadow Sorcerer Quirk:You have trouble remembering that living creatures and corpses should be treated differently.

From Shadow Sorcerer she gets Eyes of the Dark which is essentially Darkvision (although she will get Darkvision with her race). If you stay in that class she gets to learn and cast the Darkness spell, but retains her ability to see through it.

She also gets Strength of the Grave which makes Rio harder to kill.

1 lvl of Necromancy Wizard gives you Necromancy Savant, which reduced the cost of Necromancy spells and GRIM Harvest, which gives you HP back (or "reap life energy") and has an even greater benefit when a Necromancy spell was used.

Death Cleric gives bonus proficiency in martial weapons. This could possibly give you a glaive reskinned as scythe (ask your DM). This Subclass also gets you the REAPER feature allowing you to learn a Necromancy Cantrip from any spell list.

She can have a raven as her Familiar.

I chose Shadar-Kai as her race. The description is pretty close, just needing a few tweaks, which should be fine. It would be nice if you could rename it to something more apt like Shadow Being, ask your DM about this.

It is an Elf Race, which I liked for the not needing to sleep feature. Though you don't have to refer to her as such. Elves do die though...

Blessing of the Raven Queen allows her to teleport and appear where others aren't expecting.

Background:Faceless

This background gives the Deception and Intimidation skills. Intimidation is certainly a good skill for Death.

It also allows her to have Rio Vidal as a Persona that she takes when walking amongst the living but isn't actually her true form.

Personality:I'm earnest and uncommonly direct

Ideal:Anonymity. It's my deeds that should be remembered, not their instrument. (Any)

Bond:What I do, I do for the world. The people don't realize how much they need me

Flaw:I am callous about death. It comes to us all eventually

As mentioned above, Rio could be played by the person who is being Sharon, if she is dying at the Potion Witch trial. Otherwise she will need to wait until she is accidentally summoned to The Road™ and then joins for the ride.

Rio is hurt that Agatha never wanted to see her again and angry that she stopped their little arrangement. She was furious that Agatha used the Darkhold to hide from her for decades. She knew it was because of Nicky but never fully understood why. Never fully understood grief until (I saw this on a post on Tumblr somewhere but I can't find it now...) Agatha died. That's where her story is leading.

In conclusion:

I have spent way too much time on this.

Also, this can be as close or as far away from the TV show as you want it to be. They can all survive, they can all die (save for Rio), or somewhere in between. You can have lots of battles and encounters or just the trials.

Such great characters and such a great jumping off point for a Dungeons and Dragons campaign.

This has been my TED talk. Thank you for listening.

[synergysilhouette]

My MC for "The Arcana"

I swear, I made like 3 MCs during my Reddit days, but I don't feel like searching for them, so I decided to make a new one for a sadly underrated mobile app. Perhaps one day we'll get something on a major platform--if Dorian ever gets their act together.

Name: Iliad

(Haven't decided if he's Hispanic, Romani, or Southern European and I want his surname to reflect this)

Age: early 20s (let's imagine everyone else is in their 20s-30s in my post since the devs never confirmed ages anyway)

Hair color and style: Medium-length teal hair with gold highlights

Eye color: Violet eyes

Skin color: Tan (roughly around Nadia's skintone)

Build: Muscular (somewhere between Muriel and Lucio), 5"7, not to mention thicc af

Identity: Homosexual homoromantic cisgender male; uses he/him pronouns

Love interest(s): Lucio (his red confession suit is his normal one here, Muriel, Julian, and Asra--NOT all at once; personal headcanon is that Asra/Muriel is canon in Julian's route (and Iliad and Julian have crushes on Salim), Asra/Julian is canon in Lucio's route (as well as Lucio and Iliad collectively thirsting for Namar), and Julian/Nadia is canon in Asra's route.

Personality: Sweet and heartfelt as well as an intellectual. That said, he often puts other before himself (explaining his somewhat problematic relationship choices)

Background: Grew up in a noble family in Prakha with two older brothers

Fashion: Kaleidescope-inspired sleeveless shirt with plunging v-neck, silver armband, and pants that made him look poured into (he does wear conservative versions of this on certain occasions); masquerade look is peacock-inspired.

I may add more details later!

[fayrinferno]

Hello, how would you describe the house in which the family Kanzaki lives? I have the impression it’s a mix of Japanese and western architecture and interior design. Would you agree to that? Background: I am writing on a story about Hitomis early childhood, how her father discovers her powers to predict the future (in the show she says she always had this ability) and how he tries to take advantage of it by playing in the lottery.

Note: it may sound like a fun story, but it’s actually pretty traumatizing.

Viele Grüße

Miri

Hi Miri. I'm not sure if you are asking me to do a research or for my own opinion.

In any case, I believe the "Western" and the "Japanese" house shown in the anime (if you are referencing that) may be two places and that's also the idea I used in my writing so far.

I recommend checking out this post but to fully see what I mean, I guess you would have to read chapter 4 of Vis Arcana.

Anyway, you don't have to accept my headcanon. If you think it's one house with a traditional and a modern part, sure, many houses in Japan combine the two somehow. But I wouldn't say western, it's basically how majority of modern Japanese homes are nowadays. Or were even in the 90s. I don't think a kitchen or a room like Hitomi's as we see it in the anime was anything special even at the time. It's a regular modern Japanese house, not some unusual place that went out of way to imitate a European or American house, I think it matches the image of the house in that location from what I've seen there. Even if it may look familiar, if it was an actual place and you went there, you would see the Japanese quirks that other countries don't have. But I guess that's the case in any country, a house in Germany wouldn't be the same as in the UK or in Norway, not to mention US. Even if it may look similar on the first sight, some construction features and details would be customarily different.

I think your idea may be just as plausible as mine, because the conclusion of my research is eventually that you cannot take the real place as a reference, and my arguments rely on that a lot, so they are in no way rock solid. In other words, it's up to you.

I would also say her family is upper-middle class, they have a house like that not far from Tokyo and Hitomi goes to a private school. I would normally hope they didn't pay for it by Hitomi's child labor predicting the future though which is kind of dark for me but I understand it may be a good fic inspiration. From what little Hitomi said, I would personally say her dad is just the typical hard-working Japanese professional of some sort who secured the family financially at the cost of being absent most of the time.

Hope this helps somehow.

mfg Rin

[cbairdash]

Author’s note: Hoist the Colors may eventually inspire fiction. Most likely will and I’ll gladly write it. But right now, it’s a role-playing game setting with what I hope is an interesting take and look at an “Alternate History” of Earth. It isn’t really “steampunk”, though I can see how someone would get that impression. For me, it’s more a “flintlock fantasy” set on Earth of 1722 in all it’s historical mess… that I’ve stirred up even more!

So, with that said, lets get into the mystical a bit. This one is a bit different and covers a lot that will show up in the upcoming web serial for Hoist the Colors, and the roleplaying game. 

Etherwave Arcana

Magic. The Etherwave Arcana. It isn’t simple mind tricks, but altering the rhythm of the universe with the force of a person’s willpower and determination. - Professor Elistar Riley, Archbinder of the Royal Academy of Arcanum and Science

Across the world, natural forces are at work. Storms, oceans, wind, and more clash in unending struggles for power. A delicate, but devastating dance as old as time itself. But there is another natural force, one that flooded the world after Crossing’s Fall. A power as deep and ancient as the earth itself. Often called magic, scholars and those who study this power call it the Etherwave Arcana. An enigmatic force that binds the very air, sea, land, and perhaps reality itself.

Many believe that the Etherwave Arcana has always been present. A force in the background of the world that has been hard to reach until Crossing’s Fall. Pulsating, rhythmic energy that flows like water or air, but can only be reached once a person is attuned to those steady currents.

To Harness the Arcana

Practitioners who cast magic, or students of the Etherwave Arcana, are often called “Wavebinders” or “Navigators”. Skilled students who have learned to tap into this mysterious force. They use intricate hand gestures, resonating incantations, and more to shape their miraculous ‘spells’.

These ‘spells’ are often simple, such as lighting logs in a fireplace, or making something lift into the air and fly backwards. But a practitioner’s skill with the Etherwave Arcana can extend to the miraculous, such as arrows of lightning or glowing light-shields. Then there is the most dramatic of all, a Navigator opening an Arcane Gate using a ship’s portal platform. A mystical means to let a ship cover vast distances in the blink of an eye.

Wavebinders and Navigators don’t just “cast spells” on a whim like from a tall tale. Instead, it takes concentration, if not deep focus, to channel magic. Practitioners must attune themselves to the Etherwave Arcana’s ebb and flow. They must be able to feel the currents of power moving between themselves and the world around them. The sensation of an ever moving web of energy that flows between all things, from rocks and trees to clouds, water, and even people.

As they focus their mind, practitioners can channel the arcana and use their skill at manipulating its rhythm. This lets them blur the line between magic and laws of nature. Skilled Wavebinders have created many types of effects. Some are more physical, like generating blasts of lightning or fireballs. Others perfect their skills at magical stone shaping, or moving objects with the power of their minds. Then there are the Wavebinders who dabble in air and light-bending to create illusions, fog, or alter sounds.

Risk of the Reward

It’s all fun and games until you dissolve part of your arm. - Professor Elistar Riley, Archbinder of the Royal Academy of Arcanum and Science

Manipulating the Etherwave Arcana is as much art as it is science. Wavebinders and Navigators tread carefully when channeling this power. Anyone that loses their concentration on its rhythm and pulse, risk being consumed by its currents.

If a Wavebinder or Navigator loses control this way, the result is always the same. The Arcana turns on them with a vengeance. Power floods uncontrolled through the practitioner, like lightning through a tree. If they’re lucky, the Wavebinder or Navigator might only suffer a purple, lightning bolt shaped scar or have a limb vaporize. In the worst case, the practitioner is swallowed whole by the Arcana and vanishes in a blast of hot, white light.

But that isn’t to say anytime a practitioner fails to channel the magic, it ends in a scar or even death. Far from it. Wavebinders and Navigators can fail to channel enough of the Arcana’s power to fuel a spell. When that happens, the spell simply fails with a fizzle and brief sparkle of light, leaving behind one frustrated practitioner.

For the rest about The Etherwave Arcana in Hoist the Colors, see the link above!

Taglist: @thelaughingstag

[mysteriawrites]

Persona 5 Life

Matchup Trade with @fourtyfourcatss!!!

YOUR Persona 5 Life:

Background: Art Student of High Expectations

Your creativity has led you to great heights in life. When your family saw what skill you had in the arts they enrolled you in several programs and competitions. From a young age you were fawned over for your skill which led to your confident personality, however you never became arrogant or narcissistic. Despite all the success you weren’t happy. Sure you made a lot of money to support your family and it made you proud, but all you ever wanted to do was create. You didn’t need fame or fortune just the space to do your own thing. Of course you couldn’t bring yourself to tell your family. They were so happy and encouraging. You didn’t wanna break their hearts. So you suffered in silence.

Arcana and Persona Awakening:

Cu Chulainn of the Magician Arcana

These days you spend your days working under a strict (to put it nicely) art instructor. In their eyes everything had to be just so, and if it wasn’t…they would crush your dreams in an instant. They weren’t completely heartless though, they offered “consolation” for artists that in their eyes were struggling. You decided to seek out this consolation for yourself, because although they never made any negative comments on your work, in fact they loved it and thought it was perfect in every conceivable way, it didn’t leave you feeling the same sent of fulfillment that it used to. It left you feeling hollow and lifeless. When you walked up to the door, you found out what the consolation really was. They were abusing your fellow art prodigies. You were filled with rage. You had been lied to all this time and your friends were suffering. You were filled with a passion in your heart that you had never felt before. It filled you with power and the will to fight.

"I am thou, thou art I. I will be thy spear to plunge into the injustices of this world!"

Love of Your Life: Yusuke Kitagawa

Yosuke finds you the most beautiful art in his life. Not just physically but personality wise too.

He loves your passion and strive to improve but also loves your empathy and ability to connect with people which is something he struggles with

May have partially be why he fell in love with you. You don’t judge him or think he’s weird for being himself.

He draws you a lot especially when he needs inspiration for something.

He does his best to protect you in battle even though he knows you can handle yourself

He loves to take walks with you and you guys admire the beauty around you

I also think he would really like shopping dates. From finding stuff as inspiration for his art to seeing you in beautiful new outfits it never gets old. (Just keep him from blowing his whole wallet plz)

You also help him come to terms with his emotions when he’s struggling with self doubt and writers block.

Although he can be emotional and not the most socially adept person, i think he’s able to defuse a situation pretty well if you get yourself into an argument.

He loves your long dark hair. It reminds him of the sayori and he loves to brush it (the softness brings him comfort)

[aliliceswonderland]

Archetypes in Metaphor: ReFantazio, and the Neverending Story

It seems like the new Personas in Metaphor are called Archetypes. This term is interesting because it's linked to C. G. Jung's psychoanalysis, that predates the Persona series and to a certain extent also Megaten.

Archetypes according to Jung are basically prototypes or templates that are present in the collective unconscious and, as a consequence, repeat in stories, myths or dreams along time and around the world. The Persona and the Shadow are also archetypes, and so are other Jungian concepts like the Anima and the Animus. But the archetypes also include figures like the mother, the father, the wise old man, the child, the maiden, etc, and other related to events such as birth, death or marriage. Oh, and the Tarot arcana! So it's a pretty broad concept, that has already been present in Persona even if not by name.

Metaphor: ReFantazio doesn't seem preoccupied with keeping the archetypes Jung mentioned. Not like that's a big deal, Jung himself considered that the amount of archetypes could be infinite. The ones used in the game seem taken from TTRPG classes, which doesn't surprise me given how at some point years ago they mentioned TTRPG as inspiration.

[ID: one of the very artistic menus from Metaphor. The word EQUIPMENT in big wide letters fills the top of the screen. On the left side, under the question "Change whose gear?" the characters are listed along with an eyes-focused close up of their "archetype" (as summonable monster) that fades into their own, as it follows: - Leader / Travelling Boy / he's a boy with slightly darker skin than the rest, blue hair and yellow and blue heterochromia / Seeker Rank Master - Party / Strohl / boy with a gray eyes and hair / Warrior Rank Master - Party / Hulkenberg / redhaired elf girl / Knight Rank Master - Party / Heismay / red-eyed animal creature with white fur / Thief Rank 15/20 - Navi / Gallica / auburn haired fairy, no archetype present The Travelling Boy is selected. The right side shows the art of an the archetype, presumably the Seeker, a somewhat robotic humanoid beast in white armor with vein-like red lights in their exposed parts and golden pieces. They're holding a black sword. On the corner right down it reads: "Learns a wide array of versatile skills including Wind magic, single target healing and attack buffs." Under them there are buttons for Archetype Details (Y), Confirm (B) and Back (A). A subtitle reads "Who shall take the throne?".]

Something I also noticed in this image is that Archetypes seem to have ranks. If you ever played the old Persona, you may be familiar with the rank system. It's basically levels for a Persona/Archetype that work independently from the player's level and are tied to skill learning. This makes me wonder if Archetypes will be interchangable between the characters as in the old Persona system, or similarly to FF5 job system.

[ID: Another screenshot from the Metaphor trailer. A man with long hair is sitting behind a book on a desk. In the background, a big metallic statue resembling a crowned Vitruvian Man with glyphs over his body hovers over the long-haired man. A menu on the left has the following options: Learning Archetypes, Inheriting Skills, Seeker's Research, Lectures and Listen. Big wide letters at the bottom read AKADEMEIA. Over them, the subtitle says "You've acquired a most interesting power." Some faint lines and glyphs that could belong in a technical sketch adorn the UI.]

The "Learning Archetypes" option definitely sounds like at least the protagonist is going to be able to change Archetype. The "Seeker's Research", however, makes me think that the Seeker will be inevitably linked to the protagonist. I really wonder how the system is going to be.

[ID: another screenshot. A dragon is performing an attack called Ripping Claw. At the top of the image, some stars sketch in several colors one over the other seem to indicate a press-turn system. On the bottom right, the life and SP bars are located. The characters are named not by their names but through the Archetypes: Ninja (the animal companion), Paladin (the elf), Trickster (the grey haired guy) and Soul Hacker (the protagonist). Their eyes are burning. The subtitle reads: "The truth of the humans is laid bare."]

In this screenshot we can appreciate the same characters with different archetypes. If you compare them to the ones in the equipment menu, there's a clear correspondance. These look like evolved Archetypes. Whether they evolve in the new Persona way or are obtained as in the old Persona games, remains to be seen, although this makes me think more of the first case, which would correspond to a fixed Archetype system.

Of course, there's one Archetype here that stands out. The Soul Hacker. I don't think you'll found this in any TTRPG. This seems to be the evolved form of the Seeker, which already deviates from the usual RPG classes or jobs. But it should be obvious to you where it comes from: the Devil Summoner's sequels. The first Soul Hackers game has the protagonist relive other people's last moments in Vision Quests. I'm not sure what this may mean for Metaphor. The fact that we can see the protagonist over a spaceship at one point in the trailer makes me think of visions of different worlds, but then again, it wouldn't be the first Atlus game to depict medieval fantasy and space in the same world (Last Bible games are crazy, I swear). I don't think the Soul Hacker Archetype was called like that as a mere reference, but it could be a symbolism I'm not totally grasping with the little context I have, for example, that he's good at making bonds, therefore "hacking" the souls of others (????). I don't know.

Anyway, this derailing about Vision Quests makes me thing of another point I wanted to make. This will get even more into theory territory, so take it with a grain of salt.

[ID: The screenshot has the protagonist in a black space surrounded by light or crystal fragments. Another man is out of frame. In the middle of the image it reads: "This is the mirror of reality."]

This sentence has haunted me. This along with the title of the game and that other phrase later on: "It all began with the novel in thy possession." And you know why? Because I know a book that started just like that. It also had a dying monarch, now that I think of it. A book that can be easily interpreted through a Jungian perspective, including archetypes. That had a scene about a mirror reflecting another mirror to symbolize the relationship between a world called Fantastica and the real world. That's The Neverending Story (and, if you've only watched the movie, I'm sorry but you're missing out A LOT here).

Now, I can't know if this book has had an influence here, but I have the feeling this is going to be a similar story. To those who don't know, The Neverending Story is a book about a boy called Bastian who steals a book and starts reading about a green skinned native boy (that probably didn't age well) that is chosen to save the world of Fantastica from the Nothing that is devouring it, by searching for a human that can give the Child Empress a new name. Now, spoilers. Jump to the next paragraph if you don't want them. That human is Bastian, and the moment he calls the Empress by her new name, he gets isekai'd to Fantastica, which is a world made of the collective human imagination. Then, he begins to travel around the world making up stories that become true while he forgets their own memories of the real world, and when he notices it, he begins to look for a way home, that he learns he'll only reach if he finds his True Will. Which ends up being to love (aww).

"What if the world we live in today is their utopia?" at the beginning of the trailer suggests a relationship between the real world and the world of Metaphor. Heck, the frigging Metaphor name suggests that. It's very likely that they know of the human world through books. Through stories (could books become Vision Quests to unlock Archetypes? That would be cool). The same way we know about them: through a story (this time in videogame format). Remember what I said at the beggining? Archetypes are found in myths and stories. It wouldn't be a surprise to me if this world was another Fantastica, a world made with human imagination. Or/and viceversa.

Related to this, there's the concept of the collective unconscious, ever present in the Persona series, and in Megaten through the Great Will, and where Archetypes reside. If this world is anything like Fantastica, it's bound to belong into the Sea of Souls. I don't think the human world in Metaphor is supposed to be the Persona world, since they've shown images more similar to the actual real world, but if that was the case, it wouldn't be too farfetched to think of it as a cognitive world. Lieutenant General Zula in P2EP PSP remake already talked about the existence of populated worlds into the collective unconscious. P5T seemed to show a similar thing, although it could still be just a personal world as in the PQ games.

Even if the human world is our world, I think the Metaphor world is supposed to represent a mirror of our own, made of our thoughts and anxieties. Truly, that could be said about pretty much every work of art ever. But not all of them treat that relationship between ourselves and art or storytelling as a theme. I can think of a bunch, though: Undertale/Deltarune, Utena and Princess Tutu, the already cited Neverending Story, the Quixote... Regardless, since the Jungian themes are so heavily present through the Archetypes, I think it's possible that this world is supposed to exist into our (or our representation in the game's) collective psyche.

Wow, I think my train of thought absolutely derrailed in the last paragraphs, sorry about that. Anyway, nothing more to say here. I hope you found my thoughts interesting.

[lonely-shine]

Alnair 🌂🧠 Atlas 🍎🎯 Shell 🎓🍀 Ebis ✨🥊🎯 Marcus 🌂

Thanks for all the questions!! :D Let's see...

*Alnair

🌂 - What genre do they belong in? Fantasy! She's an Arcana game OC, so fantasy all the way in.

🧠 - What do you like most about the OC? They're the perfect mashup of self-insert to project into and character of its own to explore paths I myself would personally not walk through. I also love how she lets me rewrite canon events however I want xD

*Atlas

🍎 - What is the OC’s relationship w/their parents like? In short, pretty good! Atlas has two moms, Naith (they/them) and Irdred (she/her) (and the auntcle/biological father, Laith (she/he/they)) and loves them very much. Atlas picked many interests from them (art, gardening, etc), specially from Naith. And athough he travels far and often (he picked that from Laith), he still keeps in touch regularly and visits home once in a while.

...wow, me giving a character a perfectly healthy background/family. This is rare to happen. Quick, make a wish!

🎯 -What do they do best? All things plants. In magic? That means potions, charms, etc. In daily life? You got him gardening, cooking, brewing tea... If it involves working with plants one way or another, he has you covered.

*Shell

🎓 - How long have you had the OC? I wanna say May 2021? *goes check* Yeah, I posted about her in June 2021 for the first time, so maybe I had her for like. maybe a month before that. Which means I had her for almost three years already? And she's still so little developed? Gods. In my defence I don't choose what my brain fixates on and also my life went to shit in late 2021 and kept like that for two years, so yeah. I want to take better care of my OCs and stories now tho ^^

🍀 - What originally inspired the OC? At first I just needed someone to comfortably play Asra's and Julian's routes with because it didn't quite work with either Alnair nor Atlas. Then I started wondering if it was possible to have one character that fitted all six Arcana routes. So I gave her an angsty backstory by which her identity was stripped and to be reshaped by the route she takes, gave her the name 'Shell' solely so I could have the play on words "Shell is your name and that's what you shall become" as part of her 'curse', and ta-daa! Yet another OC for the collection was born xD

*Ebis

✨- How did you come up with the OC’s name? Okay, bear with me. Ebis is a Submachine OC, loosely based on the Player. And I say 'loosely' because there isn't really any information about Player to base Ebis on. Anyway, in one of the games you get out a padded room and there's the patient number 2183. Which, in digital clock numbers, if mirrored, kinda read like 'Ebis' if you squint hard enough. That's the logic Ebis follows to choose her name, since she wakes up without memories and it's easier to think of herself as 'Ebis' than a 4 digit number anyway.

Maybe it's a dumb way to decide for a name but if it works it works.

🥊 -What do they love to do? What do they hate to do? She loves tinkering away with computer software, which is good for her because she makes a job out of it post-canon (I have not written about that, but it exists in my head), and also numeric games for when she wants to scratch that brain itch without dealing with the inevitable bugs. She also loves gardening and not only that but needs to get her hands into the dirt and feel the sun on her face regularly for optimal mental stability. As for hating... I can only think of anything that would involve her going underground? Trauma related thing, after Submachine she's had enough underground for the rest of her life. Otherwise I don't know, I haven't given much thought to it. Oh! But she's incapable of sitting still and doing nothing, if that counts.

🎯 -What do they do best? She's very good at computers and programming... and the less socially accepted side of it as well (by which I mean she knows how to hack stuff, but she doesn't do that post-canon, and in-canon she does by necessity).

*Marcus

🌂 - What genre do they belong in? As the other Submachine OC I guess sci-fi/fantasy? Adventure? There's some post-apocalypse vibes to much of the game as well. Post-canon this would turn to the fluffy slice-of-life this poor tired man (and Ebis as well) deserves.

And that's all!! I believe I have talked enough for the day, thank you so much for the questions, they made my day :D

[skelletors]

MCYT as D&D Characters 2 - Wilbur

I’m back!

If you don’t know what this is, I’m making various MCYT (DSMP, Hermitcraft, Empires, etc…) figures into playable D&D characters.

Before we begin, a repeat of the ground rules

This will not be balanced and the builds may not be very good. This isn’t for the minmaxers (not that there's anything wrong with that), this is purely based on either stories these people have participated in or their overall persona on the internet

These characters will go up to level 20, but in no way do you have to play them to the max level to get all the mechanics that make up the character

There will be little to no homebrew in these builds, just for my own ease of use.

I will be using standard array for all of these characters (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8) when determining the stats for these characters for my own ease of use.

Character Traits to Emulate:

Charismatic bastard man

Risk-seeking behavior

Dirty crime boy

Maybe immortal?

Race, Class, Background and Stats

Race: Half-Elf (I chose half-elf mostly because it’s not really clear if Wilbur is fully human, considering that his father has some sort of technical immortality)

Ability Score Increase: +2 to Charisma, +1 to two other stats (We’ll go with Intelligence and Dexterity)

Darkvision: You can see in the dark! Not super important for the character, but pretty useful

Fey Ancestry: Advantage against being charmed and you can’t be put magically to sleep

Skill Versatility: You can have proficiency in any two skills. (It doesn’t matter what you pick, but I’ll chose History and Arcana)

Background: Folk Hero (There’s no perfect fit, but I think Folk Hero fits best, especially considering how in SMPs Wilbur is typically that sort of vibe when roleplay is in the mix)

Proficiencies: Animal Handling, Survival, land vehicles and one type of artisan’s tools (Calligraphy)

Class: Bard 20 (I mean, what else would you expect from this man? It just fits the aesthetic the best)

Stats:

Strength: 8

Dexterity: 12 + 1 = 13

Constitution: 10

Intelligence: 14 + 1 = 15

Wisdom: 13

Charisma: 15 + 2 = 17

Level 1: Bard

Bardic Inspiration! You can inspire your allies and give them an extra die a number of times equal to your Charisma Modifier

Spellcasting! I’m not really going to focus on this tbh, but it's there!

Level 2: Bard

Jack of All Trades: Whatever you’re not proficient in, you can add half your proficiency bonus rounded down

Song of Rest: You can give your teammates a d6 for healing whenever you take a short rest!

Level 3: Bard

SUBCLASS TIME! Now there are many good options, depending on what Wilbur we’re going for. College of Whispers would be fun for post-election Wilbur, but I think for overall Wilbur, I’ll be going with…

College of Eloquence! It’s all in the name, baby. Wilbur’s always been a better speaker than fighter, despite what he said to Quackity about violence vs words. Most of his impactful moments are what he says rather than who he fights.

Silver Tongue. You can’t roll lower than a 10 on Persuasion and Deception checks.

Unsettling Words. If you expend a Bardic Inspiration die, you can make an enemy roll said die and subtract that number if they make a saving throw.

Expertise! You get to choose two skills you have proficiency in and double the proficiency bonus. Probably something like Persuasion and History.

Level 4: Bard

Ability Score Improvement. Let’s add a +2 to Charisma, for hopefully obvious reasons, bringing Wilbur’s Charisma score up to 19

Level 5: Bard

Bardic Inspiration Improvement. The die you use is now a d8

Font of Inspiration: You regain all expended Bardic Inspiration after a short rest

Level 6: Bard

Countercharm: You can play a tune to give any allies within 30ft advantage against charm effects

Unfailing Inspiration: If you give an ally Bardic Inspiration and they still fail their saving throw/ability check/attack roll, they can keep the die

Universal Speech: As many creatures equal to your Charisma modifier within 60ft can understand you for an hour. You can expend a spell slot to do this again, otherwise you must wait until the end of a long rest

Level 7: Bard

Nothing really happens here, just a few more spell slots

Level 8: Bard

Ability Score Improvement time again! Let’s add to his Charisma, bringing it up to 20, and to his Intelligence, bringing it up to 16.

Level 9: Bard

Song of Rest buff! It’s now a d8

Level 10: Bard

Bardic Inspiration buff! It’s now a d10

Expertise: You can get expertise in two more skills! I’m not sure what would be fitting, maybe Arcana and Deception

Magical Secrets: Hey. Hey you. Sad that Bard doesn’t have counterspell naturally? Now you can have it! You can choose two spells from any spellcaster. These spells count towards your known spell and have to be within your spell level, but aside from that, the world is your oyster!

Level 11: Bard

Again, nothing happens here other than more spell slots. But who’s complaining about more spell slots?

Level 12: Bard

ASI time baybeeeee! I thought for a while on what would be best, and I think it’s about damn time we got a feat for this boy. There are quite a few that fit the vibes of Wilbur, but I think Inspiring Leader is the best. Inspiring Leader allows you to give creatures within 30ft of you temporary hp equal to your level + Charisma modifier

Level 13: Bard

Song of Rest is now a d10!

Level 14: Bard

Remember what I said about Magical Secrets above? Yeah, do that again.

Infectious Inspiration: As a College of Eloquence Bard, when someone you’ve inspired uses their Bardic Inspiration within 60ft of you on an attack, ability check or saving throw and succeeds their roll, you can move it to another creature within 60ft excluding yourself. Pretty nifty, gotta say.

Level 15: Bard

Bardic Inspiration buff! It’s now the big, beefy d12. Oooooo. Ahhhhhh.

Level 16: Bard

ASI: Shadow Touched. You can add a +1 to Charisma, Intelligence or Wisdom, obviously we’re going for Charisma. You also learn invisibility and another 1st level illusion or necromancy spell, and there are some fun ones out there. Never discount a first level spell, they can be worth their weight in gold. And for aesthetic reasons? Well, his mom is a death goddess and Wilbur’s kinda a shady fellow in most SMPs.

Level 17: Bard

Song of Rest is now a d12

Level 18: Bard

Magical Secrets. See above Magical Secrets.

Level 19: Bard

The final Ability Score Improvement. There are a couple feats that would be most befitting of this man, but I decided to go for Actor, a pretty self-explanatory feat. You have advantage on Persuasion and Deception when pretending to be someone else, you can mimic basically any song and have a +1 to Charisma to a truly monstrous 22. That’s a +6 folks! I just think it’d be fun if Wilbur could make bird sounds at his bird dad, plus it just generally fits with the characters cc!Wilbur tends to play.

Level 20: Bard

Superior Inspiration: Whenever you roll initiative and you have no more Bardic Inspiration die, you regain one use. Honestly, kinda lackluster for a capstone ability

And that’s it! I’m not a frequent poster on Tumblr, but it was fun to go back to this. If you have any requests for future D&D-ification of Minecraft streamers and or Youtubers, that’d be great! I’m probably going to do a Hermit or a member of Empires next. Have a good one!

[anonymousbeefriendfanfics]

Um. Hi. I am actually alive! Ahahaha....

Sorry about the impromptu hiatus, friends. I'm like 85% sure I have some variety of ADHD and basically, if I'm not Very Invested In The Thing, I have significant amounts of difficulty doing The Thing at all. And, well... unsurprisingly, my hyperfixation on the arcana/fictif has faded into the abyss at about the same time as the stories themselves have. I still have both apps on my phone, though I'm not sure why. I suppose I'm afraid I'll lose them somehow, if I delete them, though I know there will be no further updates. Buuuuuut I digress!

So. For once in my life I don't have a main fandom I'm utterly obsessed with! And yet, I have suddenly found myself wanting to write again... so I suppose I have a few options, and I may as well let you all in on the fun, too!

It's poll time, baybee!

Option 1 - Open up my options for requests and take them for any fandom/character I feel confident enough to write for, likely sticking to headcannon list thingies instead of full fics. I'll still do Fictif/Arcana stuff too, don't worry! It'll actually be towards the top of my list, because it's my most recent obsession. Full disclosure: I've been on a little bit of a visual novel kick lately, so you can expect a lot of those in my content list, hehe~

Option 2 - Stick to what you all are here for, reread the routes and fics and such and try to get back to writing almost exclusively for Fictif/Arcana, and try to get out all of those requests I've promised... This will probably be the slowest option tbh, because I think I need to switch something up to get back into writing like I was, but I would be willing to do this if that's what you guys prefer! I'll probably still slip in the occasional thing from other fandoms, because whatever gets me writing, you know? But I'll focus primarily on this fandom.

Option 3 - Shift my focus from fandom content and move into OC content. You'll still get occasional fandom things when I have the inspiration, don't worry! I have one OC/reader insert that I use everywhere, because of various reasons, but the poor thing is horrifically undeveloped, and recently I've been working to fix that and expand on her life and background characters. I've never introduced her to you all, mostly because I just... didn't think you would be interested, and because I was afraid that bringing her into the spotlight would let you all see through the paper-thin veil of her character into the awful void behind it. But she actually feels like a character now, largely thanks to one of my best friends, who has pushed me to develop her further and helped compensate for the areas I'm lacking. You know who you are and you have my eternal gratitude.

Option 4 - Yes. Do all of that. I'll bring in other fandoms to try and spice things up, but try to keep a decent bit of focus on reviving the poor Fictif/Arcana fandoms, while also introducing you to my OC and working on her. You might get the occasional x character fic about her, but I'll try to keep primarily focusing on the x reader/insert ones.

Option 5 - Yes, but make a separate account to do the OC stuff on. I know OCs aren't everyone's cup of tea, and you might not want to deal with that, so I could always do a separate account. I do keep things pretty well organized here, though, so I highly doubt it would be terribly intrusive while you're trying to find my non-oc work.

[cookinguptales]

sketchysketchin said: You’re so fucking smart for these, they’ve been so so so cool

----------

Thank you, that's really sweet. ;;

Honestly, I'm just happy that people are indulging me haha. I get to ramble about two subjects I really enjoy, tarot and idiotic vampires.

One of my final projects for my major was about the history and material culture of tarot, so I finally get to shake out my nerd credentials lmao. There have been a few times where I almost went on a rant about some historical/occult tidbit but I reined it in.

(You're welcome.)

That said, tarot is also a lot of fun because there is no one "right" interpretation. There are some that are more common than others, especially when working with the Rider-Smith-Waite* tarot like I currently am, but you get a lot of leeway. If I want to bend things a bit for my blorbos, it is my right. lmao

And then, I mean. You all know what I'm like with wwdits and meta. lmao. Getting me to shut up is the hard part.

So combining them both has been a really fun project. I get to draw on my academic background, I get to be creative, and -- honestly, it's a little like a puzzle? You have to move around all the pieces until they fit just right. Like you have some characters that could work for multiple arcana, depending on how you look at things, and you have to just keep moving everything around until everything is in the best place it can be with no unassigned cards or missing people.

I know these may not be quite as popular as my usual meta posts, but I'm having fun. And the people who are reading them seem to enjoy them so much that I'm having even more fun.

I had a chance to talk to Harvey a little bit at NYCC last year, and we talked about how fun it is to be in a cycle of creativity, where you make one thing and that inspires someone to make something else and that inspires someone to make something else, and so on. It's something that I believe in strongly, so I've been really happy to see the way my creative interpretations of WWDITS characters as tarot archetypes has inspired visual artists to make some really lovely and interesting art. ;;

The only other fandom I could see myself doing something like this for is Sleep No More, so like. I guess the incredibly tiny SNM fandom better watch out. I'm an academic on the edge. haha

-------

*I CALLED IT WHAT I CALLED IT, fight me. I have a whole rant locked and loaded about this.

[shogikappa]

Introductory 1v3 Tarot for Two

Background

I developed this 2-player Tarot game variant inspired by Simplified Game of Tarot, Esculenta, and Troggu to introduce/teach a friend how a regular, traditional game of Tarot might play like. I was not sure how much we would be playing Tarot games again, so I decided to try to simulate a multiplayer (4-player) experience with just 2 players.

Overview

The game uses 2 Strawman players (which have 2 piles each), all controlled by the defending player, to simulate 1v3 gameplay.

Setup

This game uses a stripped deck of 62 tarot cards. Remove 1-4 of each of the 4 regular suits from the 78-card deck from the game. 

The deal

Both players are dealt 14 cards.

Additionally, there are 2 “dummy” players, which will be termed “Strawman A” and “Strawman B”. Each of these Strawman players also receive 14 cards in 2 piles of 7. The top card of each of the 2 piles is flipped open, the rest stay face down. Each of these 4 piles will be known as a “Strawman pile”. (I originally was going to give each Strawman player 4 or 3 piles, but 14 isn't divisible by them.)

The leftover 6 cards go into a pile called the talon.

Selecting the Attacker

Each of the (human) players looks at their cards. They may sort them.

The players then volunteer to be the attacker if they have a decent number of trump (Major Arcana) cards, Kings, and Queens.

If neither volunteers, the cards are reshuffled. If both volunteer, a random method may be used to decide who becomes the attacker.

The other player, together with the 2 Strawman players, form the defender team.

Exchanging with the talon 

The attacker picks up the 6 cards in the talon, adding them to their hand, and then discards 6 cards into their scoring pile. These cards count as points for the attacker. The attacker may not discard any 5-point cards (the Fool, I, XXI, or Kings).

The Fool, I, and XXI are collectively known as the trull (or trio) cards.

The play

Regular Tarot trick-taking rules apply. A trick refers to the collection of cards played by each player on a turn (so in a 4-player game, a trick consists of 4 cards).

Select a player to lead first. That player plays a card to the trick. Then, the player on their right (which may be either a Strawman player or the other human player) plays, until each of the 4 players has played a card to the trick.

The defending human player makes the choices for the Strawman players by selecting 1 of the 2 face-up top cards of the Strawman piles of that Strawman player to play. 

Strawman players play by the same rules as humans: they must follow the led suit if possible, and trump if not possible. If they neither have a card in the led suit or a trump, they play any card.

The highest card of the led suit wins the trick, unless trumps were played, in which case the highest trump wins.

The attacker or defender team (whichever that won) then collects the cards in the trick into their own score pile (a.k.a. trick pile), keeping them separate from their hand cards.

The winner of the trick leads the next trick. Begin the next trick by flipping over the top card of the Strawman piles that were used, so that they again have the top card face-up.

If a Strawman player wins the trick, to keep things simple, it leads the next trick as if it were a human player. Like normal, the defending human player chooses which card from the Strawman player to lead with.

Note:

If during the game, 1 of the 2 Strawman piles of a Strawman player runs out, the only face-up card is moved to the other, now-empty, pile, and the next card of the original pile is turned face-up. There should always be 2 cards to choose from for each Strawman player, unless each (human and Strawman) player only has 1 card remaining.

The Fool card

The Fool is a special card that may be played to any trick instead of following suit, trumping, or a throwaway. The Fool wins itself to the scoring pile of its player's team, but does not win the trick. The rest of the 3 cards determine the winner of the trick, and the team that played the Fool finds a regular 1-point card (per Troggu scoring) from their score pile and adds it to the trick to bump the trick back up to 4 cards (this compensated card can never win the trick). If no tricks had been won, the Fool itself is then won by the trick winner, and no card is compensated.

End of hand and scoring

When all players have played the last card from their hand or Strawman piles, the hand is over.

Each team then counts up the cards that they have captured in their score piles. Choose 1 scoring method that you prefer:

Troggu scoring method:

Kings, trulls (the Fool, I, XXI): 5 card points (CP) each

Queens: 4 CP each

Cavaliers: 3 CP each

Pages: 2 CP each

all other cards: 1 CP each

“Original” scoring method:

Kings, trulls: 4 CP each

Queens: 3 CP each

Cavaliers: 2 CP each

Pages: 1 CP each

all other cards: 0 CP each

Every 4 cards (= each trick, including the initially discarded 6 by the Attacker): 1 CP

Whichever team with the most card points wins the hand and is paid 1 victory point (VP) by the other player. So for example, after 1 hand, the scoring would look like -1:1.

Gather all 62 cards and shuffle them to prepare for the next hand.

After an agreed number of hands, the player with the most VP wins.

[vesuvian-vampire]

Helpful Blog Guide (or, what you’ll find here)

this post updates from time to time | last update: october 6, 2024

『 Important Disclaimers! 』

Please read this if you aren’t already familiar with me and my work. A more complete/general list can be found on my main blog’s pinned post; this stuff is more specific to the fandom.

BYI ➥

This blog, overall, is a 16+ space. If you’re younger than 16, I won’t block you, but you’re on thin ice. My blog may feature the following:

gore

angst

various flavors of horror

explorations of trauma/traumatic events

occasional eyestrain

I’m asexual, and a minor, so sex/sexual themes aren’t really going to be present. Please don’t be sexual in reblogs/comments/asks, it weirds me out.

My opinions about Dorian are mixed at best. I’d rather ignore the app and do my own thing.

I neither like nor dislike Lucio. I think that his route is pretty flawed, but I won’t judge you if you’re into him.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

DNI ➥

Please block me if you/you’re:

A NSFW-heavy blog

Fit basic DNI criteria (queerphobic, ableist, racist, etc)

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Also, you might want to block me if you aren’t comfortable with the themes my blog features. I promise I won’t take offense. Take care of yourself!

I will block you if you’re:

Fitting into the above DNI criteria

Sexualizing Valdemar

Crossing my boundaries, despite being given warnings

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Other Boundaries ➥

I would like to keep my main blog separate from this one. That means this: The Arcana discussions stay here, personal project discussions stay on @caustic-caffeine. Aside from my main reblogging art I post on this blog, the two blogs won’t overlap very much. Cool? Cool.

Don’t try to pry into my personal life. You are not entitled to know anything about me. I will share what I see fit to share, and nothing more.

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You may reblog my work and use it as pfps/profile headers with credit. Outside of that, do not use my work without my explicit permission. DO NOT feed my work to an AI or turn it into NFTs.

『 Navigation! 』

Links ➥

Main blog: @caustic-caffeine

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Other links: see my linktree!

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Tags ➥

My stuff!

All about my fan-characters:

#asphodel’s apprentices, #asphodel’s love interests, #asphodel’s misc characters

Main 6: these aren’t in the featured tag list due to lack of space, but if you search the tags in my blog search they should show what you wanna see

#asra alnazar, #nadia satrinava, #julian devorak, #muriel of the kokhuri, #portia devorak, #lucio morgasson

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『 About the Blog! 』

Hello! Call me Asphodel. I’m a digital artist seeking to study The Arcana’s art style, both out of appreciation for the game and as a challenge to myself. My post schedule is fairly sporadic on account of my health, so I can’t really predict how often I’ll use this blog, but I figured I’d make one just in case.

I got into The Arcana for the first time all the way back in 2017, around the time of its release. I remember impatiently waiting for the bottom three LIs’ routes to update, as they were completed post-launch. Over the last few years, I periodically would hyperfixate on the game and then grow bored of it for a little while, before the cycle repeated itself. The Arcana was one of my inspirations for me to start taking my own art seriously, back in 2020.

I’ll be using this blog to document my study of the game’s art style. I’ll share headcanons from time to time. I’m also interested in meeting other fandom blogs, especially other artists!

『 Other Info! 』

I don’t currently take commissions.

DM me if you want to do an art trade or a collab! I may decline if my health’s flaring up/I’m too busy, but I’m happy to do them when I can.

Constructive critique is welcome on my style studies, with these conditions:

Be respectful. Don’t insult my work for the sake of being an ass.

Be descriptive. What works in my pieces and why? What doesn’t work and why?

Give pointers on how you’d improve weaker aspects of the work.

[grandhotelabyss]

I was struck by the description of Crowley in the latest Major Arcana chapter as the mage who had designed the entire 20th century - which I’m sure he would have found gratifying. Outside of fiction, do you think there is a serious case to be made for his direct influence as more than an articulation of the general spiritual flight inwards following the death of God and the advent of modernity?

Thanks for reading! I swiped the sentiment on behalf of Simon Magnus from the Art of Darkness podcast episode on Crowley, still my main source of Crowley information, along with Colin Wilson's The Occult: A History and Douglas Rushkoff's Aleister & Adolf graphic novel, though I did read The Book of the Law three times in the last month to write (or rather revise) that chapter. I think one of the pod hosts said, "It's Crowley's world, we're just living in it."

Crowley's worldview in general has gradually triumphed, all the more because it's been shorn by now of its gothic and "wicked" trappings and now presents itself to us as a sunny and cheerful matter of personal liberation, even at this point by medical professionals. You're right, though—and I'm not totally sure he'd object, since he did theorize the turning over of the Aeon even as he aggrandized himself—that this is part of a more general modernization process including figures either more prominent or more respectable than Crowley. Emerson or Mill or Nietzsche or Wilde or Jung or any number of others represent more superficially secular (or just less hokey) forms of the same radicalizing metaphysical individualism he did. The case for his direct design of later history, if a little conspiratorial, would rest on his putative assistance as both spy and meme warrior to the British state in the two World Wars, thus helping liberal capitalism to triumph over its collectivist enemies, and then, in continuity with this, his postwar influence on the Dionysian revels of popular music in the '60s and '70s, with The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, and more, which altered, among other things, the very way we live in our bodies.

(Novelists shouldn't explicate their own fiction, but that line, leaving aside its cogency as cultural criticism, has two purposes within the narrative. Psychologically, it reveals that Simon Magnus secretly feels inferior to the educated and tasteful Ellen Chandler, despite SM's coming from the superior class background to hers. Sociologically, it hints at another revolution than the one Crowley effected: the mid-to-late-20th-century rise of the educated class represented by Ellen Chandler over the old money elite to which SM belongs by blood. Just as Crowley's will-to-power helped to inspire English working-class artists thematically and aesthetically adjacent to my fictional Simon Magnus, such as The Beatles and Alan Moore, I figured he could also be made the ideological accomplice to the rise within popular culture of an out-caste member of the old and culturally dispossessed American elite. [I may have had Pynchon, with his Puritan background and occult interests, in mind.] Plus, aligning Crowley with SM's New England heritage in this way suggests the wicked mage's kinship with the radical cultural movements our own Puritanism inadvertently spawned, from Transcendentalism to the American Gothic, cf. Crowley's own background as the scion of wealthy merchants who were also Protestant fundamentalists.)