#the book of the ancestor

[eggsploded]

heiress eternal

[egophiliac]

oh, uh, this...this isn't Silver's backstory after all.

[mournfulroses]

Margaret Atwood, from The Selected Poems of Margaret Atwood; "Book Of Ancestors,"

[aria-greenhoodie]

REVAMPED DESIGNS FOR THE ANTI-CIPHER SOCIETY!

Click for Quality!

Special PANTS version for the ladies under cut….↓

[autismmydearwatson]

Still more important is the realization that all those generations of British people (largely men), who were educated in the classics, were being taught to understand and sympathize with the Greeks and Romans. When thinking of the long confrontation between the Celts and Romans, therefore they instinctively sided with the Romans. They would have all read Tacitus' warning: "Remember, they are barbarians..." For the Romans were seen as the bearers of civilization and the ancient Britons as the uncivilized.....

All manner of pressure was brought to bear to ensure that British schoolboys empathized with Rome. From the sixteenth century to the mid-twentieth, every educated person was required to learn Latin. Caesar and Tacitus were among the very first authors which all those pupils were obliged to read. Yet no one taught them anything about the Celts, let alone a Celtic language. Even today, when the teaching of classics in the United Kingdom has sharply declined and Celtic studies receive a measure of official support, for every British schoolchild that learns even a little about the native Celtic heritage, there are a hundred that still learn about the heritage of Rome.

A whole literary genre was devoted to strengthening the bond of identity between the modern Britons and the Ancient Romans. Any number of books and poems have been written to invite the reader to stand in Roman shoes, to put oneself shoulder to shoulder with the legions in the eternal struggle of civilization against barbarity.

-Norman Davies, The Isles

[restinslices]

Some of y'all ain't thinking about being Ares' favorite mortal lover and him watching as you get in a new relationship with a guy that treats you terrible so he pulls up on the guy and reveals he's a god and goes over all his titles and ends on him being the protector of mistreated women then asking "have you been mistreating my woman?" AND THAT'S WHERE WE DIFFER

[intheholler]

o mississippi of a thousand ghosts. my parents made it clear they never asked for a changelin like me, but the woods always made me feel like i belonged. left the state bc too many angry spirits hauntin me everywhere i went. copperhead, catfish, gator & more i had to leave behind. now i'm an invasive species in the west. i could return, but i can never go home

this is my favorite thing that has ever graced my ask box. i just keep re-reading it.

i wish you could come home, darling. i really, really, really do

[hazyange1s]

⟢ 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒔.

Sebastian Sallow is cursed.

For once, it’s by no fault of his own — tragedy, as it so happens, runs through his veins.

In 1348, a powerful wizard and well-known scholar named Alexander Sallow lived with his sister, Evelyn, in the South of England. Evelyn, who had always been a sickly child to begin with, became afflicted with the Black Death, and none of the Healers had been able to cure her. But she was all Alexander had, and she him, so he promised her while she lay on her death bed that he would not allow her to die.

He tried all manner of spells, potions, and miracles to save her. When all hope seemed lost, Alexander kneeled at his sister’s side, begging Death to spare her.

And Death answered.

“I will let her remain here a while longer,” he promised. “But to right the balance, you understand that I am owed a debt. A life for a life.”

And so, in his desperation, Alexander agreed to offer up his own.

However, he was just arrogant enough to ask for a small concession — that he be granted enough time to get his affairs in order first. Then, he would willingly depart the earth with Death.

But shortly after Evelyn was healed, he began to regret his choice…and sought a way to escape such a fate.

He had few options, though the simplest seemed to also be the most harrowing, for he knew its price. Still, he had made a deal with Death, and nobody escaped from Death without risking everything. Alexander had never been the sort to shy away from doing what needed to be done. Resolved to be cursed rather than dead, he killed a wild unicorn and took its blood, becoming immortal the moment it touched his lips.

Death appeared instantly. Furious, he admonished the wizard for going back on their bargain, cursing Alexander and any descendants he would have in His betrayal-fueled rage.

Evelyn was gone by the next sunrise.

Every Sallow since has been shackled to a tragic fate: some have been cursed, others afflicted with incurable illnesses from birth, and many have met with sudden accidents. But it all ends the same way — with Death.

Furthermore, every first born male of the Sallow line (as Alexander was the first of his family centuries ago) is doomed to repeat the mistakes of their forebears. Many have succumbed to the pull of dark magic, as he did, and all have had a special relationship with Death.

He haunts them still, even hundreds of years later. Fueled by his vendetta against a now-dead man (it turns out immortality isn’t as black and white as one may think), Death visits the Sallow males often, effectively making them beacons of loss and tragedy.

For the symbol of the Sallows is the willow, whose branches brush tombstones and signify grief and mourning…while also reminding us of the endurance of family, of the strength and magic of love, and how it can overcome even Death.

So goes the story of Sebastian Alexander Sallow.

[mayasaura]

Kiriona said that if she killed Alecto, she would be John's cavalier. That's so interesting to me, because it's the one relationship we've never seen in a necrocav pairing. We've had siblings, lovers, cousins, best friends, coworkers, uncles, servants, and whatever the fuck Babs and Ianthe had going on, but never a parent and child.

Unless.

We still don't know what Samael and Anastasia's relationship was, but we do know now that Anastasia was already a mother before the ascension. Pyrrha painted a nursery for her.

It would be very interesting if Samael had been Anastasia's son.

[um-weird-flex-but-ok]

“Rhaenicent shippers are just Alicent stans that hate Rhaenyra”

Nah babe, we’re Alicent AND Rhaenyra stans who don't ignore the fact that they’re complex characters that both have flaws and are therefore not a woman hating tradwife and a two-dimensional girlboss feminist queen

In fact, I love that Rhaenyra’s dumb and bitchy, she’d be boring if she wasn't

[the-weaving-cryptid]

"Most people treat ancestor work like it's a trade, a transaction: they help us, we give offerings, and that's that. Lord, if that ain't further from the truth. In this work you will meet ancestors who weren't very good in life, who bring to light the sins of your blood, and you will be faced with the task of healing these generational wounds."

- Jake Richards, "Backwoods Witchcraft"

[ceezedby]

Where did all those farmyard animal "The cow says Moo!" type of book come from? They came from this:

The Orbis Sensualium Pictus (the Illustrated Works of the Senses) by John Comenius, 1658 --> the first educational picture book for children.

[susielesbianism]

had a thought about the Undyne determination debate recently.

Undyne’s body having the ability to generate it naturally was always the obvious answer over her getting it from Alphys, considering she never knew about the Amalgamates, but I feel like there’s more to it too. Given the existence of a type of monster called a Boss Monster, whose souls last a few moments after death (and. well. the sheer range of monster types in the Underground), it would make perfect sense for there to be other monster types with limited human physiological characteristics. Like think about it: Humans’ souls last outside the body after death —> Boss Monsters’ souls last outside the body after death, but only for a few moments before they disappear

Humans have natural determination —> Whatever monster type Undyne is has the ability to generate its own determination, but can only withstand it for so long before its body melts

It just makes perfect sense to me idk.

[kataraavatara]

while we’re on the topic of sarah not thinking through the implications of slavery in her worldbuilding any reader would conclude there’s like a 99% chance at least a chunk of jewelry rhysand gifted to feyre were mined by human slave labor right. they’re his ancestral heirlooms and we know his ancestors owned human slaves. then she added a new fae species in acofas whose whole deal is loving to make jewelry and loving to sell it to rhysand to cover for this but i still don’t buy it. rhysand might have bought some new jewels but i know the shit he inherited in the treasury is so so shady.

[subukunojess]

Lost In The Book: TNBC In A Nutshell (TWST Spoiler Reaction)

*A Halloween Town Meeting starring NRC Students and Skully like a comic con panel about to begin* Me, before: You know what? Skully is an innocent Autistic blorbo who needs to get obsessed and twisted in the climax. Either have him become Twist Oogie or have Oogie manipulate him and it will be a sweet story we'll talk about for a long time. Skully: *Sharing his ideas for a simple, silent, modest Halloween* Me, now: NEVERMIND, HE'S CRAZY ACTUALLY! OOGIE, DO NOT GET INVOLVED! WHAT IS GOING ON???