#there is a big difference between 'this religion doesn't have all the problems of these other religions' and 'this religion has no problems

[holycrownalice]

Sorry but Judaism is still bad for women just like the other Abrahamic religions. Even if Judaic misogyny doesn't, as you say, have the power to influence people in the wider world, women WITHIN those religious communities are still cast as lesser. Synagogues don't allow women to sit near the main alter, they have to sit to side behind screens.... There are hardly any women in the Torah compared to males and male leaders and women weren't allowed to be religious leaders(rabbis) until the late 1900s... That history matters to women's trajectory. Sorry but Judaism staying right next to the other religions that damage women's rights and interests through organization and control (subjugation) of women's positions in society.

Feminism is against all (and especially male orientated) religions, not just the globally powerful ones.

hi i never said judaism doesn't have misogyny issues so please go and argue with someone who did

[crudely-drawn-ben]

Introducing Trilogy

Yesterday I released Trilogy, a new tabletop RPG crafted to support you in having grand adventures in worlds of your own making.

There are several reasons I started writing Trilogy, but the biggest one is that I ran a Dungeon World podcast called Crudely Drawn Swords for seven years and that was a lot of time to think about what we were playing. To a degree Trilogy is the game I wish that we could have had to run the podcast.

Starting from the question "what would a purely PbtA game for epic fantasy look like?" I started thinking more widely - what do I want from a fantasy game? And the truth is that I want a game that supports the structure of characters and their interactions but doesn't tie itself to a specific setting.

Trilogy begins with The Appendices - conventionally in epic fantasy these are at the end and document information about the wider world that might not have made it into the story, but here it is where you sit down as a group and decide what tone you want your game to have, and your world looks like. What kind of place is it? What magic is there? What is religion like? What are the major cultures where the story begins? How would it feel to be in this world? Trilogy doesn't tell you any of these things, it gives you the tools to think through how you want your world to look.

This creates a secondary challenge - without knowing what the world looks like, how could I design character classes for this type of game? Trilogy answers this by going back to the fundamentals - instead of a conventional character class, the playbooks in Trilogy represent a narrative arc. Some of them, like The Fighter, The Priest, or The Magus, look like familiar classes. Others, such as The Volunteer, The Mentor, The Weapon, or The Defeated, are a little different. Character arcs have a set of turning points, story beats that allow you to advance along your arc after you have collected a certain amount of experience. Some are positive and others negative, you choose which ones you want to hit and when, but every character's story has its highs and lows and to get the most from the game you need to lean into both. A character can pass through three arcs as they grow and change, like the three volumes of a trilogy.

The aim of the game is to create a slower but satisfying sense of progression - instead of hit points characters take Stress and Harm like in other Powered by the Apocalypse games that can have both mechanical and narrative effects. That makes combat feel dangerous, but the game also offers more ways to solve problems without getting into combat - I have played games where the player characters never got into a fight, instead resolving confrontations through an ingenious selection of alternative strategies including "lying" and "vomiting magic ink all over the floor." I'm genuinely enthusiastic about this game - I think I would be as excited about it if somebody else had written it. It leans hard into the joy of discovery and the excitement of adventure - you can play it as spooky and whimsical or gritty and hard-edged and anywhere in between.

Because I was writing it I even got to make most of the examples of play roll out as the story of someone's game, something I always appreciate when I read it. It also contains every technique I use as a GM in the hope that even before people get the chance to play it (heaven forbid any TTRPG afficionado have books we haven't got around to playing yet!) people who read it will still be able to use that advice in their other games. So that's Trilogy, the game I've been working on for the last few years. I think it's pretty great and I hope you will too:

Obviously it's a full-priced game and that's a big gamble from an unfamiliar creator - if you want an idea of what it's like in practice we've got the CDS team back together and we're starting a streamed campaign so you have a chance to see it in action. You can find that over on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxpXacko9Nc

The first episode includes me notably failing to use OBS at both the beginning and end, and I can't make any promises things will improve in that regard, but it should be a good opportunity to see how the game shapes up from this start and with this crew I know it's going to be funny and take some wild swings. If you're interested in reviewing Trilogy or you really want to give it a try but you can't afford it, drop me a message

[aoxizu]

i have another 2.1 character dynamic post in the recesses of my brain but i need to get this out first

star rail's 2.1 update main plotline leans a lot more into existentialism and absurdism than i thought it would which is a really nice surprise

like i thought before 2.0 that at most it was just going to be some "oh no capitalism bad ipc bad cults also bad" thing but honestly what we got is so much more interesting. the spoilers start now

also massive disclaimer i am not a philosophist and actually i really don't like philosophy because it makes my brain hurt and i would much rather just look at logical nice things like math and plants so. if i get anything wrong please correct me

acheron's past and how she became an emanator of nihility reminds me somewhat of the absurdist theme of how people always look for meaning when there isn't any, until they finally realize that the universe is meaningless

and the entire path of nihility basically is a road towards that realization that people tread on, and the difference between the real world and star rail is that in the real world here we have people who will see that and then go write a book about a guy not crying at his mother's funeral, whereas in star rail it seems that just accepting that the universe is meaningless turns you into a pathstrider or even emanator of the nihility (not sure if i remember the details, correct me if i'm wrong)

and then aventurine's whole motivation is trying to understand why the universe is so cruel to him, and to find meaning when you have everything except freedom, both of which are absurdist themes

the leap of faith argument often attributed to søren kierkegaard claims that even though there is no rational logic for believing in god, you should do it anyway because the alternatives are madness, suicide, and ignorance. this was one solution to the problem of confronting the universe's meaninglessness: choosing to believe in a higher being regardless

later world wars i and ii both contributed heavily to the rise of absurdism as people returned from the war, having seen so many others die around them, and then just going back to a normal society with none of what they as individual soldiers had contributed seemingly doing anything. and then it happened again, but on a much greater scale with even more deaths. both wars and the destruction they brought led many people to start questioning why a supposedly moral god could allow this suffering, and this is where camus comes in and says that actually religion and nationalism both aren't good solutions, and instead we should just accept meaninglessness and keep living despite the absurdity

and i think dr ratio's scroll thing kind of relates to that

he tells aventurine to open it when he's about to die, or when he's completely out of answers for the question of how to confront absurdity

and dr ratio's answer for aventurine is to just tell him to keep living, good luck

which is. yeah

it's the argument that there are more answers to nihilism than just 1) going insane, 2) pretending like it doesn't exist, and 3) dying

it's the bold claim that despite everything, you can still choose to live

sure nothing makes sense but that does not detract from your life. it doesn't need to make sense at all

and with the understanding that things do not need to fit our human definition of meaning, we can continue on knowing our true place in the universe

and with that aventurine walks into the very big black hole like look at that thing you cannot tell me there is no symbolism there

let's go back to acheron.

in the part where you get a snippet of acheron's conversation with some guy just before this cutscene, the other party states that "[IX] leave[s] woven strands of fate for humans to walk, and together THEY weave a great shadow...And this shadow silently envelops them."

which to me sounds like a statement on how people across time and space have again and again come to the same question, what is the meaning of life?

and acheron's whole color thing seems to mean that she is one of the few who, after walking so far on the path of nihility, somehow have not died yet, be it from madness or something else

like it seems implied that many many more have seen the meaninglessness of the universe and have not reacted as well as acheron has

ok i have more to say about the elation and how it in turn relates to the nihility but that will have to come later but there is. a lot of interesting things there to explore

once again disclaimer: I Am Not A Philosophist And Do Not Know What The Correct Definitions Of These Words I'm Throwing Around Are. thank you for coming to my ted talk that was more of a longwinded ramble

[lamialamia]

We have a problem: expositions and trivial

One of MOTA's writing problems is how it under-utilized its exposition. In this analysis, I'll only focus on one instance to complain explain my point.

In episode one of MOTA. The show tells us that the characters are from many different parts of the US.

Everyone came from different places in the US... which was good for us to know. Now the scene will end and you can immediately forget it ever happens, because ultimately the distinct geographical backgrounds of our characters doesn't matter.

And all of this information never means anything more than a list. Not once in MOTA does this entire scene lends a helping hand to the story in any way possible.

In comparison, Band of Brothers didn't tell us in great detail where the characters came from and yet it managed to make us remember that fact. BoB did it by using their conflict to illustrate the exposition.

From this, we know that wherever Guarnere and Winters came from, those places definitely were very different, especially on the religions front. And thus, Guarnere was wary of him even if he knew Dick's a good man.

And then this

Cue the infamous Liebgott vs Guarnere fight

this is also exposition. We learn that Liebgott is Jewish and would not stand for Guarnere thinly veiled antisemitic bs. More important, this is the basis for their fight, their conflict. And we can infer that Guarnere and Liebgott have two different backgrounds, possibly based on the geographical location of wherever they came; now, that difference led to this conflict between them.

Immediately, the stake was increased. Not only were these men about to fight off foreign enemies in foreign land, they were also fighting among themselves: enlisted man vs officer (Guarnere vs Dick) and enlisted men vs enlisted men (Guarnere vs Liebgott).

Exposition is a tool of story telling, they are not trivial to be put in for funsies. A good story used its exposition, making it actually relevant instead of an info-dump.

In a different case, in the same episode, we have Toye listing out the insane number of things the paratroopers have to carry.

(Sorry the subtitles being hard to read)

Then later on, we saw the scene where the guys are struggling to get on the planes:

The exposition from Toye is there to explain this scene. And in a way, the stake is stacked against the men in an unexpected way: the brass forced them to wear more than they should. Then in the next episode, we saw everyone just lose so much of all these gears as they dropped into occupied France.

Back to the geographical difference. Unlike MOTA or BoB, this isn't made to be a big conflict in TP or GenKil. In fact, when it came up, the possible conflict is resolved immediately to make a difference point.

Ack-ack brought this up, and then they started talking about Sledge's dad and his dad. How different as those men were (a doctor in the south and a textile worker in Massachusetts) yet they both contributed to the US's war effort (treating vets from first world war and making the Marines' greens).

The exposition is here to show how things have changed, how the perceived difference of where Sledge and Haldane came from didn't matter. They are fighting the same fight right then and there. In fact it showed how charismatic Ack-ack is as a leader and part of why Sledge admired and looked up to him a lot, no matter the history of where they were born.

Similarly,

and Ray was like

This scene is all about how Brad and Ray came from different place, both geographically, social and economic class, and religion. But we see no conflict here, not when it's obvious from Ray smiling that this was bantering, not insult.

No matter how difference their background was, Ray and Brad had overcome them together and now also fighting the same war. However, they would still use this as comedic material for their verbal sparring. From established differences, we have organic and very realistic rapport.

But in MOTA

Gale Cleven is the first in the 100th Bomb group to be from Wyoming. This doesn't matter. Because no one made a joke about it besides this very first scene with Crosby called it the "Cowboy State". No one made any kind of assumptions, no one believed Gale should behave in a certain way because of this, no one tried to ask Gale if he has ever ridden a horse.

Everyone in MOTA came from different places yet they never have any kind of conflict about it. Nor did their hometown explain how some characters might behave in a certain way, think a certain way. It didn't set up a twist. It didn't give insight to a character personality.

No importance was made here.

For such a long scene, what we got is trivial and info-dump. Not exposition.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The impoverished imagination of neoliberal climate “solutions

This morning (Oct 31) at 10hPT, the Internet Archive is livestreaming my presentation on my recent book, The Internet Con.

There is only one planet in the known universe capable of sustaining human life, and it is rapidly becoming uninhabitable by humans. Clearly, this warrants bold action – but which bold action should we take?

After half a century of denial and disinformation, the business lobby has seemingly found climate religion and has joined the choir, but they have their own unique hymn: this crisis is so dire, they say, that we don't have the luxury of choosing between different ways of addressing the emergency. We have to do "all of the above" – every possible solution must be tried.

In his new book Dark PR, Grant Ennis explains that this "all of the above" strategy doesn't represent a change of heart by big business. Rather, it's part of the denial playbook that's been used to sell tobacco-cancer doubt and climate disinformation:

https://darajapress.com/publication/dark-pr-how-corporate-disinformation-harms-our-health-and-the-environment

The point of "all of the above" isn't muscular, immediate action – rather, it's a delaying tactic that creates space for "solutions" that won't work, but will generate profits. Think of how the tobacco industry used "all of the above" to sell "light" cigarettes, snuff, snus, and vaping – and delay tobacco bans, sin taxes, and business-euthanizing litigation. Today, the same playbook is used to sell EVs as an answer to the destructive legacy of the personal automobile – to the exclusion of mass transit, bikes, and 15-minute cities:

https://thewaroncars.org/2023/10/24/113-dark-pr-with-grant-ennis/

As the tobacco and car examples show, "all of the above" is never really all of the above. Pursuing "light" cigarettes to reduce cancer is incompatible with simply banning tobacco; giving everyone a personal EV is incompatible with remaking our cities for transit, cycling and walking.

When it comes to the climate emergency, "all of the above" means trying "market-based" solutions to the exclusion of directly regulating emissions, despite the poor performance of these "solutions."

The big one here is carbon offsets, which allows companies to make money by promising not to emit carbon that they would otherwise emit. The idea here is that creating a new asset class will unleash the incredible creativity of markets by harnessing the greed of elite sociopaths to the project of decarbonization, rather of the prudence of democratically accountable lawmakers.

Carbon offsets have not worked: they have been plagued by absolutely foreseeable problems that have not lessened, despite repeated attempts to mitigate them.

For starters, carbon offsets are a classic market for lemons. The cheapest way to make a carbon offset is to promise not to emit carbon you were never going to emit anyway, as when fake charities like the Nature Conservancy make millions by promising not to log forests that can't be logged because they are wildlife preserves:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/03/18/greshams-carbon-law/#papal-indulgences

Then there's the problem of monitoring carbon offsetting activity. Like, what happens when the forest you promise not to log burns down? If you're a carbon trader, the answer is "nothing." That burned-down forest can still be sold as if it were sequestering carbon, rather than venting it to the atmosphere in an out-of-control blaze:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/07/26/aggregate-demand/#murder-offsets

When you bought a plane ticket and ticked the "offset the carbon on my flight" box and paid an extra $10, I bet you thought that you were contributing to a market that incentivized a reduction in discretionary, socially useless carbon-intensive activity. But without those carbon offsets, SUVs would have all but disappeared from American roads. Carbon offsets for Tesla cars generated billions in carbon offsets for Elon Musk, and allowed SUVs to escape regulations that would otherwise have seen them pulled from the market:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/11/24/no-puedo-pagar-no-pagara/#Rat

What's more, Tesla figured out how to get double the offsets they were entitled to by pretending that they had a working battery-swap technology. This directly translated to even more SUVs on the road:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Tesla,_Inc.#Misuse_of_government_subsidies

Harnessing the profit motive to the planet's survivability might sound like a good idea, but it assumes that corporations can self-regulate their way to a better climate future. They cannot. Think of how Canada's logging industry was allowed to clearcut old-growth forests and replace them with "pines in lines" – evenly spaced, highly flammable, commercially useful tree-farms that now turn into raging forest fires every year:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/16/murder-offsets/#pulped-and-papered

The idea of "market-based" climate solutions is that certain harmful conduct should be disincentivized through taxes, rather than banned. This makes carbon offsets into a kind of modern Papal indulgence, which let you continue to sin, for a price. As the outstanding short video Murder Offsets so ably demonstrates, this is an inadequate, unserious and immoral response to the urgency of the issue:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/14/for-sale-green-indulgences/#killer-analogy

Offsets and other market-based climate measures aren't "all of the above" – they exclude other measures that have better track-records and lower costs, because those measures cut against the interests of the business lobby. Writing for the Law and Political Economy Project, Yale Law's Douglas Kysar gives some pointed examples:

https://lpeproject.org/blog/climate-change-and-the-neoliberal-imagination/

For example: carbon offsets rely on a notion called "contrafactual carbon," this being the imaginary carbon that might be omitted by a company if it wasn't participating in offsets. The number of credits a company gets is determined by the difference between its contrafactual emissions and its actual emissions.

But the "contrafactual" here comes from a business-as-usual world, one where the only limit on carbon emissions comes from corporate executives' voluntary actions – and not from regulation, direct action, or other limits on corporate conduct.

Kysar asks us to imagine a contrafactual that depends on "carbon upsets," rather than offsets – one where the limits on carbon come from "lawsuits, referenda, protests, boycotts, civil disobedience":

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cif-green/2010/aug/29/carbon-upsets-offsets-cap-and-trade

If we're really committed to "all of the above" as baseline for calculating offsets, why not imagine a carbon world grounded in foreseeable, evidence-based reality, like the situation in Louisiana, where a planned petrochemical plant was canceled after a lawsuit over its 13.6m tons of annual carbon emissions?

https://earthjustice.org/press/2022/louisiana-court-vacates-air-permits-for-formosas-massive-petrochemical-complex-in-cancer-alley

Rather than a tradeable market in carbon offsets, we could harness the market to reward upsets. If your group wins a lawsuit that prevents 13.6m tons of carbon emissions every year, it will get 13.6 million credits for every year that plant would have run. That would certainly drive the commercial imaginations of many otherwise disinterested parties to find carbon-reduction measures. If we're going to revive dubious medieval practices like indulgences, why not champerty, too?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champerty_and_maintenance

That is, if every path to a survivable planet must run through Goldman-Sachs, why not turn their devious minds to figuring out ways to make billions in tradeable credits by suing the pants off oil companies?

There are any number of measures that rise to the flimsy standards of evidence in support of offsets. Like, we're giving away $85/ton in free public money for carbon capture technologies, despite the lack of any credible path to these making a serious dent in the climate situation:

https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/market-insights/latest-news/energy-transition/072523-ira-turbocharged-carbon-capture-tax-credit-but-challenges-persist-experts

If we're willing to fund untested longshots like carbon capture, why not measures that have far better track-records? For example, there's a pretty solid correlation between the presence of women in legislatures and on corporate boards and overall reductions in carbon. I'm the last person to suggest that the problems of capitalism can be replaced by replacing half of the old white men who run the world with women, PoCs and queers – but if we're willing to hand billions to ferkakte scheme like carbon capture, why not subsidize companies that pack their boards with women, or provide campaign subsidies to women running for office? It's quite a longshot (putting Liz Truss or Marjorie Taylor-Greene on your board or in your legislature is no way to save the planet), but it's got a better evidentiary basis than carbon capture.

There's also good evidence that correlates inequality with carbon emissions, though the causal relationship is unclear. Maybe inequality lets the wealthy control policy outcomes and tilt them towards permitting high-emission/high-profit activities. Maybe inequality reduces the social cohesion needed to make decarbonization work. Maybe inequality makes it harder for green tech to find customers. Maybe inequality leads to rich people chasing status-enhancing goods (think: private jet rides) that are extremely carbon-intensive.

Whatever the reason, there's a pretty good case that radical wealth redistribution would speed up decarbonization – any "all of the above" strategy should certainly consider this one.

Kysar's written a paper on this, entitled "Ways Not to Think About Climate Change":

https://political-theory.org/resources/Documents/Kysar.Ways%20Not%20to%20Think%20About%20Climate%20Change.pdf

It's been accepted for the upcoming American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy conference on climate change:

https://political-theory.org/13257256

It's quite a bracing read! The next time someone tells you we should hand Elon Musk billions to in exchange for making it possible to legally manufacture vast fleets of SUVs because we need to try "all of the above," send them a copy of this paper.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/31/carbon-upsets/#big-tradeoff

[incorrectmahabharatquotes]

Genuinely curious, because you seem to hate the Ram Mandir... or how you think one party/ruling government is using it for political gain/votes or how it's wasting money etc.

What do you have to say about the Waqf board act? Or the infamous Shah Bano case and the way the Rajiv Gandhi government went against the decision of the Supreme Court to favour Muslim patriarchy. Or the fact that the Congress government banned books like the Satanic Verses to please a certain community. Is this not politics of appeasement?

You say that the ruling party is playing politics over religion, but hasn't every party done it? It's not like BJP was even hiding it, they've been campaigning for the Ram Mandir rebuilding for decades. It doesn't make it automatically a bad move.

Besides, Ram Mandir is built through devotee donations, so why so much vitriol against it? If Hindus are giving money to construct a temple, it's solely their own decision. I genuinely don't understand why there's so much hatred for it. If a community is reclaiming their holy land, which had been forcibly ruined and rebuilt into another type of building, it's not a bad thing. Plus, a big chunk of land was given to the Sunny Waqf board to build a beautiful mosque in Ayodhya itself, which has begun construction this year (iirc). Both communities will have their interests restored.

Why can't we move on and celebrate the Ram Mandir rebuilding and inauguration? Is decolonization and reclaiming of a place of cultural significance not important?

(I know that some people are being too aggressive about it, but the majority isn't. They're simply celebrating and praying. And some of them actually got attacked for it.)

Okay. Since you're genuinely curious, I'll answer this.

"Why am I criticising the current ruling party for playing politics of appeasement and not any of the other parties?" I'm criticizing them BECAUSE they're the ruling party. They have been in power for close to 10 years now. That's more than 1/3rd of my whole life. This is a hilarious question because I would've been criticizing the same action if it would've been taken by any other political party. I don't have a problem with the party, I have a problem with what they're doing. All citizens are SUPPOSED to do this, my friend. Criticizing your government on what they're doing wrong is a fundamental part of a democracy.

"Politics of appeasement." I hope you understand the difference between appeasement and religious nationalism. The ruling party isn't appeasing anyone. Their acts are guided by their political ideology of Hindutva. I fundamentally disagree with their ideology. I do not agree with them when they say being Hindu is integral to being an Indian. I do not believe in maintaining a Hindu hegemony in India. I simply refuse to accept an ideology that was LITERALLY INSPIRED BY FASCISM AND THE IDEAS OF RACIAL SUPERIORITY.

"What do you have to say about so-and-so?" You know, I would've criticised things I believe are harming our country and power when the governments you speak of were in power. Unfortunately, in certain cases I was not alive then to criticize them and in a few cases, I was a child and I did not know how to form complex sentences. I do not believe in essentialism, you understand? I do not believe that any religion or political party is essentially good or bad. I believe in judging them for what they do.

"They've been campaigning for the Ram Mandir for decades. It doesn't make it automatically a bad move." It's imperative for you to understand this, it is politically a good move and in all other ways a HORRIBLE move. They get the support of all the Hindus who make up the majority of the population? Decent political move. Who could begrudge them for using DIVIDE AND CONQUER as a strategy? But in doing so, what kind of monster have they created? Have they created a billion people who think religious-nationalism is an okay direction for the country's future? Is that a good move, I ask you.

"Ram mandir is built through devotee donations so it's okay." That's close to ₹1,800 crores. (Estimated amount because of course, there's no transparency in the donation system so that we know who donated what amount.) Do you seriously believe all that money came out of the pockets of average working class Indians? Or did the ultra wealthy businessmen fund this religious project and get massive tax breaks in the process? But yes, I'm sure there's no fuckery going on with the money because it's out of DEVOTION. That makes it okay, I guess.

Now we come to the part that is the worst part of this anon message, according to me.

"Reclamation and decolonization." You use these words so lightly and I find that offensive. These words are HIGHLY tied to power structures. Who has the power right now? Is it the mythic evil Islamic conquerors of 400 years ago? Or is it a political party that believes in hindu nationalism and is funded by the ultra wealthy billionaires because said party helps them get even richer? Who is reclaiming what here? I want you to ask yourself this. Can a powerful majority claim reclamation when they tear down a building to build another building there?

"They tore down the temple and built a mosque there" And now you've torn down the mosque and built a temple there. Congratulations, you've won the game. Where do we go from here? Will everyone be happy now? Has peace been restored? A great evil destroyed? What story are we telling ourselves here? Will the religious fanaticism go away now? Will the hatred that has been cultivated in the hearts of Hindus against Muslims be sated? Or will it find more avenues to spread itself?

Decolonizing the mind, right? I wonder why we're only focused on decolonizing against the islamic past and not anything else. But it's okay that India is currently colonising Kashmir. We don't believe in decolonisation when it comes to Kashmir. We don't believe in decolonizing from the system of capitalism that is choking the lives out of us. HELL, WE DON'T EVEN BELIEVE IN RECLAMATION SEEING HOW WE HAVE A PROBLEM WITH GIVING THE BARE MINIMUM RESERVATION TO CERTAIN COMMUNITIES AS A REPARATION FOR THE HARM THEY'VE HISTORICALLY AND CURRENTLY SUFFERED AND ARE STILL SUFFERING.

I don't want people to talk to me about reclamation, reparation and decolonisation before they accept their own hypocrisy.

Anon, you say have so much vitriol and hate towards a mandir. I should let people celebrate. Did I stop you personally from celebrating? Did I beat up somebody for trying to shove their religious agenda on me? All I did was talk about how sad I am that this is what we've decided to do with our country's resources. Why is one voice of dissent such a big deal to you? Do you want me to shut up and fall in line? Will that be acceptable?

- Mod S

[jamethinks]

Spy x family prompts that are objectively more interesting than an identity reveal (based on the Richter scale)

What if Yor was ordered to kill Loid and Anya? Why would she be given such a mission?

What if Loid gets exposed as a spy (not twilight just a spy)?

What if Donovan already knows who Twilight was?

What if Yor finds out that Anya and Loid aren't biologically related? How does she find out? Play with her imagination.

Someone breaks into the Forger house, and Yor kills them in self-defense. How does Twilight react?

What if Yor finds out Yuri is lying about his job? Note I only said lying about his job, i.e., that he doesn't work at MOFA.

What if Twilight finds out Anya was experimented on? Bonus: Why was Anya involved in the experiments in the first place (cough human trafficking cough immigration cough)? Note: he only finds out she was a part of human experiments. The goal and results are unknown to him. Not all human experiments result in superpowers, so that won't be his initial assumption.

What if Anya doesn't become an imperial scholar?

What if Donovan was the wrong target?

Why is there conflict between the east and the west? (Hint: do research on actual conflicts between countries for inspo*)

What are some cultural and social differences between the East and West? What biases and stereotypes exist? How do they relate to the war? How do they affect the lives of migrants in the country?

How does Twilight's life as a homeless child affect his relationship with Anya?

What kind of conflicts would arise between Loid and Yor around Anya's parenting?

Kill someone outside of the main family (excluding Bond). Doesn't have to be murder btw.

What was Yor like as a child/teen?

What if Yuri gets a girlfriend? How much would Yor care? Make her care, don't be a bitch.

What if Twilight/Yor fell for someone else? How would the other feel? And don't say jealous because they're secretly in love with each other, come up with something else. (Eg. I had one where Yor straight murders the other woman because helloshws trying to hide from the cops nor get a big ole target on her back)

Make a random side character gay and have them come out to their designated forger

Give someone a chronic illness. Go crazy.

Veterans. Let's talk about them.

NSFW prompts

Address Bond. Yall always get rid of Anya so now you gotta address Bond

Pregnancy scare, but they're not actually in a relationship

What's their favorite positions? Little quirks? Favourite move? Slight kinks? Don't be boring and say Loid is a bottom or Yor is a top. Gimme something very niche and specific (eg, I think Twilight likes it when you play with his ears and Yor is very noisy, not loud, just noisy)

Body count

*I am not encouraging the romanticization of war or encouraging you to only reasefch for fanfic purposes. Just expand your understanding of war as a whole beyond the boring rich people proxy fight narrative. Lots of reasons wars happen (political, resources, borders, religion and culture, America being messy and causing problems), so use it as a time for some world building and hcing

[blue-devil-of-the-lord]

I wanna know your opinions on the differences between the movie nightcrawlers and the comic/cartoon nightcrawlers sooo bad!

The difference between charismatic, almost flirty comics Kurt and then both movie versions being more shy and clumsy(?) is so interesting to me! I love them all very much, but I think the difference in portrayals being very divided between live action/drawn is definitely telling somehow.

Ilysm!! ♡♡

That is a very good question, especially when remembering the fact how much I write about him. Before I start though, I've not read every comic, just a couple of them so I wouldn't necessarily call myself an expert but I am quite happy to answer anyway.

I'm starting with the Kodi's Kurt.

I've not seen these movies that much and therefore I don't really remember that much about it, but from what I remember Kurt is generally in all the movies rather quite or at least stays in the background? Correct me if I'm wrong.

I don't really have a big problem with it because he's a kid and just out of a fighting circle (especially in his first movie) so it's understandable that he's a bit withdrawn into himself. He also goes out with the others and tries to enjoy himself even though he doesn't know a lot so I think that speaks for him.

However especially the after thee first movie with him, I just really wished they would've shown him to be a bit more extroverted and flirty. It would've been nice to see his developement into coming to terms with himself and enjoying being himself, so that was a kinda missed opportunity there.

I don't really have a problem with this interpretation because he's still a kid (if I remember correctly he was an adult in the comics) but as the movies progress (even though he was just in two if I remember correctly) I just wish we wuld've seen more of him. On the other hand, he wasn't the "main focus" of the movies so I get why the directors didn't put much thought into it, even when I don't like it.

Now onto Alan's Kurt. At first you gotta know, that I prefer this version over Kodi's version and I love him in general so I'm really sorry if it comes off as biased.

We didn't have much screen time with this Kurt, especially since he only appeared in one movie which makes it kind of difficult and definetely more difficult than with Kodi's Kurt.

This Kurt was not forced to fight other mutants while other were betting on him, however he was controlled to kill the president so especially in the scene in the church he's probably still in shock, confused, hurt etc. However he's a bit more confident than Kodi's Kurt in my opinion.

With this Kurt they put the focus a lot on his faith and his religion (at least I think so) and the characters he usually had a lot of chemistry with were either not in the movie or in scenes with him or were srangers to him. You have to remember that this guy was just mind controlled into doing horrible things, so of course he's not suddenly going around flirting and being all charming but I think they tried a little bit of it with Storm in the plane scene.

In general he's still more reserved but more confident than Kodi's Kurt though not nearly as confident as comic/cartoon Kurt but I feel like this may have to do with the situation. While he's on screeen he's either hurt, trying to kill someone (not his choice), other try to kill him or rescuing kids from being killed. so, of course he's not that outgoing and flirty.

He has small moments where he's maybe a little bit cheeky e.g. offering to "take a closer look" to Rogue regarding Magneto etc. or when everybody is talking to the president and he's sitting there, waving as if he hasn't tried to kill that guy not even a week ago, but I think it has mostly to do with the setting of the movie.

In the newer movies Kurt was able to spend time with people his age, however Alan's Kurt didn't have that opportunity, due to being on the move constantly. Maybe if we had gotten another movie with him, he would've been more flirty or open but I'll guess we'll never know.

In general I don't have a big problem with him being more quiter [especially with Alan] all things considered, but I still wish they wouldn't have gone down that road completely, especially when talking about Kodi's Kurt. I also haven't read so many of the comics and X2 was the first time I even got to know Kurt so maybe I'm just used to that version, my "first version". I don't know.

This is just my opinion and everybody is allowed to have their own take on it, this is just mine.

[pinehutch]

Okay so my Thing about Dragon Age is this:

Ten years ago, I was in constant extreme pain as I worked my way towards a rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis. I had spent the previous year working 12-18 hour days most days, between an unsustainable volunteer job and my daytime career. Sometime that fall, I started noticing that my hands were locking into fists while I slept, and that the fatigue was never getting better, and that walking was really hard, more days than not.

I tried to work through it, that first awful year. I mostly did, too. I had weeks when I couldn't walk unassisted, and months where I was sick all the time because we were trying different meds. I called the rheumatologist in tears more than once, feeling hopeless and like a failure because I couldn't tolerate some of the easier drugs. And in between it all, I worked.

On the days that I couldn't work, and if my hands would let me, I played Dragon Age.

I'm stubborn, and I don't usually watch or read or play things that other people recommend until the time feels right. Spring 2014, I needed something that would be immersive enough that it could distract me from my body but that wouldn't require too much complex problem solving. I needed gaming, and some very trusted people had recommended Dragon Age to me before, so I started Origins in March and by July I had played through Origins and DA2 and all the DLC I could get. Inquisition came out that fall, and I was hooked.

(It also was one of the first ways that I learned to distinguish between healthy pain and warning sign pain: I learned to put the controller down before my hands would be so irritated I couldn't use them at all the next day.)

So there I was, having the worst year of my life (at that point), and I got to fill up my brain with lore and distractions and become a hobbyist expert in the historiography and folklore and religion and politics of something that was entirely made up. I could invest, mentally and emotionally, but I didn't have to fix anything real, including my own unfixable problem. I just had to learn, and to play.

Dragon Age brought me into video games for grown-ups, and it brought me back to fiction writing. The first short story I had written since high school was DA fic. I came back to writing poetry, the love of my life, a couple of years later.

My life doesn't look that different from the outside vs what it was 10 years ago. I'm working out whether or not I'm okay with that; making big changes in your life is hard when you're chronically ill and have adhd and you work a complicated job with a lot of responsibility, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't try. I had expected that my general weariness would stretch over into a kind of Dragon Apathy - that there would be news and I'd say 'oh, nice,' and then go back to work and the other little agonies.

Instead, I'm delighted? Surprised? Fond? Something I loved and that I needed during a really difficult time is here, again, while I'm anticipating another sea change. The thing that brought me some happiness, some wonder, and some escape can do it still, maybe.

Anyway. I collect my favourite DA stuff at @free-smarcher. I always roll a rogue on my first playthrough. (In real life I'm a giant brain on a giant, clumsy body; my fantasy is being able to go undetected.) I love Varric Tethras because he's a highly-accomplished fuckup with too many responsibilities and because he's bad at his personal life.

When Veilguard comes out I will almost certainly, at least once, play it until my hands seize.

[wendytestabrat]

another obvious reason why kyle rips on cartman for being fat all the time

ok so like the past couple days i've been trying to read more and learn more about judaism (bc i'm a nerd). even tho i'm an ashkenazi jew i've never known that much about judaism the religion outside of being jewish by race/ethnicity FHDJSJSK. and yes for the ignorant people out there who don't know there's a HUGE difference between between practicing judaism and just being jewish bc yeah i hate it when people assume bc of my jewish background that i'm super religious like bitch i was raised by ATHEISTS. even my gma the holocaust survivor didn't believe in god which goes to show the holocaust was abt targeting jews as a race not a religion but i don't need to get into all of that rn. ok let's move on to shitting on kyle, the part ya'll RLLY care about. so i think a BIG reason why kyle shits on cartman for being fat sm is bc HE HAS TO EAT KOSHER DUH (which was confirmed in the episode "ginger kids" when kyle said his mom packed him a kosher lunch) which i can't believe i never realized before lol. some other things i've theorized on in the past is how kyle is just taking out his anger abt his fat obnoxious mom onto cartman for being fat and obnoxious. bc yeah obviously kyle can't backsass his mom but he can backsass cartman all he wants bc he's an easier target LOL. i've also theorized that kyle has an eating disorder so he's just projecting all of his negative views about his body and food onto cartman. but the problem may not be abt kyle not wanting to eat.....it could be the complete opposite in that he WISHES he can eat whatever he wants. and after looking into what exactly kosher is....yeah it's understandable why kyle is so miserable LOL. i'm not trying to shit on you if you're jewish and you eat kosher like i'm all about trying different diets i think that's rlly cool, but it's understandable that it would be hard for a kid to do that bc kids loveeee eating junk food and whatever they want all the time. and it's ESPECIALLY hard for a jewish kid if he/she is the only one eating like that while all of his/her peers get to eat whatever. but yeah if u rlly look into the nitty gritty of it, kosher eating jews are NOT ALLOWED TO EAT PORK. so this means kyle has prob never been allowed to eat shit like bacon or hot dogs in his entire life TSHDHSKS. they're also not allowed to have any other meats UNLESS it was prepared and butchered a certain way. so i can imagine kyle wouldn't be allowed to eat a lot of the foods with meat they serve at school. AND ALSO they're not allowed to eat milk and meat together at the same time and this goes for anything with milk in it such as butter or cheese which means kyle isn't even allowed to eat cheeseburgers LOL. so in kosher u would either have to eat a meal that is mostly just milk/dairy products or one that's mostly meat. so yeah when you put all of that into context it makes A LOT of sense why kyle gets so grumpy over cartman being fat and why he's soooooo critical over his eating choices. he's prob just jealous that cartman gets to enjoy food and eat whatever the fuck he wants all the time and he doesn't.

[buckysmith]

Ramadan Special

NON BINARY READER

First disclaimer, I'm NOT a Muslim, so I use google and a lot of websites to write that headcanon, so I DEEPLY APOLOGIZE for ANY mistakes, please let me know if I did something wrong/incorrect and I'll correct it as fast as I can!

Why do I do an Ramadan special  when I'm not an Muslim? 'Cause it's only fair for my  dear friends from another religion to have the same treatment as my own religion, so cause I did an Christmas special, I'll do an Ramadan special as well.

So as a Christian I wish all my Muslim friends, a happy Ramadan, may all your duas come true this Ramadan!

Ramadan Mubarak! <3

Enjoy it D. and thank you so much for helping me with the intel <3

Oh and dear, if you're reading this, I was just as embarrassed as gromsko, much love  😂

Ghost:

- he knows that for you it is an incredibly important period, so it hurts him even more to leave you alone during this time because of his job

- if he is not in the country due to his job and has the time, he will call you just before iftar to either wish you a good evening or to be there via FaceTime

- if he is at home, he helps you during the day to prepare food for the evening so that you can have a nice time together with friends and family in the evening

- if you are not feeling well, it is not a problem for him to take over your household chores, because he has the highest respect for what you do for your faith and seeing you happy is the most important for him

- during ramadan he also keeps some distance physically so as not to tempt you

- he would even sleep in the guest room if you want it

- it is important for him not to do anything wrong and therefore he learns through you, other muslims and many books what he has to follow and what he is allowed to do and what not, which what  he can help you and so much more

- expect him to sit next to you, almost asleep just to eat suhoor at 3 AM with you

- he doesn’t give a something when you tell him that he can go to sleep early, he stays awake for you no matter what, no matter how tired he is

Soap

- as a Roman Catholic, he is familiar with fasting, however, it was a surprise to him how big the difference are

- he was a bit confused at the beginning, not knowing exactly what he could and could not do.

- when he found out that you were going to fast for a month and therefore abstain from water and food for a month, he was already panic-stricken that you would die because of the dehydration.

- however the fear subsided after you explained it to him and he felt really stupid

- if he is not at home during ramadan because of his job, he will make sure you are near your family/friends or that you can go to his family to break the fast

- he is a really good cook and his dishes are always very good, he doesn't like spicy food but he will cook anything for you, you just have to tell him what you want.

- if you are not feeling well during Ramadan, he will make sure that he can at least make your life more comfortable

- but expect him to avoid you physically like the plague itself

- he loves you too much and has too little self control to keep the relationship between you "normal" so he tries to have as little physical contact as possible, after all he doesn't want you to commit a sin or anything like that

- while you are fasting, he is also fasting while he is at home, he thinks it is unfair that only you are fasting and so he goes along with it

- but if he goes on a mission he apologizes a thousand times for not fasting as well.

Alejandro

- he is quite awkward at the beginning concerning the topic.

- México isn't a country with  many muslims and therefore he simply lacks the knowledge.

- however, it is important to him that you know that he supports you in every aspect of your life.

- accordingly he learns a lot about your religion to not look completely stupid

- but he was really awkward the first time

- he did not know what he is allowed to do and what not

- in his base there was always music playing, when he found out that you were not allowed to listen to music among other things, he made sure that as soon as you entered the base there was no music to be heard anywhere

- when he found out that you were in fact allowed to listen to music, he felt so stupid and you teased him about it endlessly

- he even arranged for you to have your own little room on the base, which looked towards Mecca, where you could pray in peace, if you ever spent a longer time on the base

- he also tried not to drink or eat in front of you, nor to say any swear words in that time

- he would also gladly do the cooking for you if it was too much for you and you needed time to rest or pray.

- he avoided physical touch with you like the plague, cause he knew himself and he wanted everything but to commit a sin

Rudy

- he is a little awkward at the beginning, in México there are not many Muslims he could have learned from, so it is new territory for him to learn more about you, your culture and religion.

- The first time he experienced Ramadan with you, he was confused why you didn't have breakfast with him in the morning as usual

- he then offered you something to drink, which you also declined

- and when you told him that you were not allowed to eat or drink anything for a month, he died inside.

- but he didn't make a face cause he didn't want  to hurt you and just nodded with a smile.

- when he went to work that day, the first person he talked to was Alejandro.

- he talked to his best friend about how unhealthy it was to not eat for a month, but he was way more worried about you not drinking anything

- three days without water was bad, but a month?! How did you survive that before?! He was sure that you must be a super  human to go a month without water.

- he came home that evening at the time you broke your fast, and was shocked to see so much delicious food

- that confused him, he thought you were not allowed to eat and drink anything?

- after you explained it to him he understood and at the same time was so incredibly relieved and ashamed

- he also keeps his distance during Ramadan and the most you might get is a kiss on the cheek if you don't allow him to give you more attention

- but as soon as Ramadan is over he makes up for all the attention he missed during that month.

Price:

- he has traveled a lot in his life, got to know many people and many religions and is accordingly enlightened

- especially because his "adopted daughter" Farah is muslim herself

- he tries to be with you during this time, but his job doesn't allow that most of the time, so he at least tries to call you or write you an sms

- if he can't make it at all, he records a video and sends it to you so that he can be there too

- but if he is at home, he does it for you out of solidarity, because he was once not allowed to eat solid food for two weeks and was so mad at everyone who ate in front of him

- he even gives up smoking, which is incredibly difficult for him, but nothing is too hard for him when it's for you

- he is also an incredibly good cook, so you are not alone in preparing food for your whole family and believe me, even your family loves his food

- the hardest thing for him though was to avoid physical contact, because his mind quickly darts to something else and he knew yours was too, so he kept his distance.... Unless you allowed him that certain something after sunset.

Laswell:

- She has several friends who are Muslims, so it's not new territory

- she has already celebrated iftar with all of them, helped her friends to cook and is really good at it

- when you cooked together for the first time during Ramadan, you always let her taste the food to know if there was anything missing in the spices

- for that you had cooked all the dishes you would cook during Ramadan before it so she knew what they should taste like

- she also tried to avoid eating or drinking in front of you and also stopped smoking in front of you

- for her the worst thing was not to have as much physical contact with you as before, but she knew how fast your mind was elsewhere and she did not want you to break your fast because of her

Valeria

- she did not care much for religion, neither for her own nor for any of the others

- for her religion was only the strongest means to oppress people, because it threatened consequences after death and put pressure on people during their lifetime

- she saw it as the perfect means to control people the way you wanted to

- however, she knew that you were faithful to your religion and that it was important to you, which she did not understand, but she accepted it for you

- she also made sure that you had a quiet place in her villa where you could pray in peace

- the principle of fasting was not really understandable to her but it did not make much difference to her since you usually ate something after sunset anyway

- although she is not a fan of religion, she still tries to be there for you and support you

- what really annoys her is that she has to stay physically at a distance

König

- a few of his old colleagues were Muslims, which is why he partly noticed it, but other religions did not interest him very much

- his religion was more than enough for him, he didn't need to know anything about others, after all his was already too much for him!

- However, this changes when you told him about your religion, explained it to him and why you are fasting and all the other things.

- he listens to you attentively and tries to remember as much of it as possible

- he has the highest respect for you that you manage not to drink or eat anything during the day for a month, he had tried it for five days

- the food had been an easy one, he had had many missions where he had no food for a long time, but drinking had been the problem for him

- he could not do without water during the day

- the worst thing for him was that when he was at home he couldn't have that much physical contact with you anymore

- but after Ramadan he will make up for all the physical contact he missed, so be prepared.

Makarov

- for him religion is only a means to legally oppress people to make them compliant without getting violent

- he likes the principle of religion itself, because in his opinion it makes people stick to something for centuries

- For him, it's the same thing he did to people

- when you told him that you were going to fast, he was confused and didn't really understand

- you had to explain it to him and you could see in his face that he was not the biggest fan of it

- according to him it was just impossible to know if you had time to eat at night, after all you lived with him

- however, when he saw that it hurt you the way he treated your religion, he made sure that you could fully concentrate on your religion during this time

- he tries to support you in his own way, which may not always be correct but he tries his best

Gromsko

- he himself had a few colleagues who were Muslims and with whom he celebrated iftar, but only when you lived with him did he really realize what it actually meant

- he made you a Ramadan calendar like you made him an Advent calendar at Christmas

- he filled it with things he knew you would like, different sweets and a lot of other stuff

- he also helped you with cooking or did all the housework when you were not feeling well

- he also helped you cook and prepare for breaking the fast

- he found out of his own that you were not allowed to listen to music, he made sure that there wasn’t music playing anywhere

- that confused you, cause he was always listing to some Taylor swift song and when you asked him about it he told you confused himself that you weren’t allowed to listen to music, which made you giggle

- you told him that you were allowed to listen to it, but that you had to avoid it a bit, to focus more on praying and your religion

- he was SOO embarrassed that he had misunderstood it

- he helped and supported you wherever he could

[greenerteacups]

I'm on my nth re-read of books 1-4, and I keep finding new things to be delighted by, on top of the old reliable lines that make me giggle every time. Like in book 4:

“Yeah,” said Harry, whose success had overdosed him with optimism. “Hey, think about this: you reckon I can just Banish the water and walk down?”

“Oh, bless, he thinks he’s Moses.”

How does (presumably pagan-ish or non-religious based on holiday celebrations) Draco know about Moses? Does he think Moses is a wizard??? I mean... he DID accomplish several miracles with a big stick. Any of the implications here make me cackle

Oh this is awesome, I've been wanting to talk about this for ages: I think wizards know what the Bible is! And Christianity, and Judaism and Islam, and I think there are practicing members of all of those religions (and more!) in the Wizarding World. Here's why.

The Bible (Old Testament specifically — Draco's references lean towards the OT because that's the broader cultural referent, it's the common glue of the Bible/Quran/Torah and if wizards know any Abrahamic text, it's that) is a huge, ubiquitous, world-shaping cultural text that was thousands of years old before the International Statute of Secrecy. The date of 1692 for the SOS means that any muggle culture before the 17th century is fair game, even if it's not accepted by wizards. So that's why I think atheist/agnostic/pagan wizards should still have at least referential familiarity with it.

The fact that wizards celebrate Christmas (NOT Yule, although obviously in Lionheart they do both) tells me that there is at least vestigial religious belief in the population. Expressions like "Merlin" in place of "God" tells me that wizards probably have a different relationship with it — Merlin's generally treated as a kind of prophet? — which is giving "splinter sect of Christianity defined by the emergence of Merlin as a separate prophet for wizards," but I'm not gonna spiral too far into that headcanon, because this is a lore analysis post. But that's my working idea, here.

The first-order response to the "what about magic?" problem is: Not everything that happens in the Bible can be explained by the Harry Potter magic system. Water into wine, sure. Resurrection? Impossible, as far as 99% of wizards know. Harry Potter is the only person we know of to be fully resurrected, and even he's never technically full-dead. Moses parting the Red Sea? I mean, we can imagine spells that would do it, but think about how much water is in the fucking sea! We don't see anything of nearly that scope happen in the series. And what about manna? We know for a fact that you can't use magic to make food!

But let's sidebar that, and drill down on what you can explain. Water into wine. Curing the sick. Okay, cool. There's still a big difference between "established in-universe ability that has been ritualized and turned into technology" and "literal miracles." Walk on water? Sure, you could probably perform a spell for that. But does Jesus? Do we know, for a fact, that he had a wand, or that he cast a spell? Had the spell for that been invented yet? Are you even sure he was a wizard? Can we prove it? Moreover, would it matter?

This leads me to my bigger point about the nature of religious belief: if you believe the dude's divine, having magic doesn't change anything, right? Because he's still the son of God. Christians don't believe Jesus was divine because he performed the miracles; they believe he was divine and so performed the miracles. There are many different IRL-theological stances on how much of the supernatural stuff in the Bible "actually happened," and you can be a skeptic about the scientific facets while still subscribing to its broader philosophical and religious claims about God.

Even if you take Jesus and other Abrahamic characters out of the question, there's still a place for religion in wizarding society, because of the afterlife. With the exception of ghosts (who by their account have never been fully "dead," and so don't know it) and inferi, the relation between the wizarding world and the afterlife is a one-way conduit. That means there's still plenty of room for wizards to adopt religious beliefs specifically about the afterlife, and religion would still play a social role in defining how people approached those topics.

Finally, the pagan elements of the Harry Potter series read less to me as an espousal of sincere religious conviction and more as a ritualistic vestige of prehistorical magical practices. Since the universe's magic draws heavily on pagan ceremonies — especially in the realm of potions/herbology/magical creatures — ironically, I can't imagine paganism as a religion in the universe of Harry Potter. Like, it's just straight-up true! It would be like starting a religion around meteorology, or chemistry. There's no element of mystery or divinity involved for faith and belief to fill in the gaps; you know how magic works, and you can be good at it.

What JKR did with the magic system — apparently on accident — was to textually validate huge volumes of pagan practice without invoking any of the associated spiritual or religious beliefs. And since we live for seven years in the mind of a competent, practicing wizard who does tons of magic without seeming to believe in any particular god at all, I have to infer that you don't need to. Rowling has, again, likely not on purpose, built a universe whose central conceit is: "what if the pagans were just straight-up right?" and revealed the answer to be: "well, then it wouldn't be paganism anymore."

[dexare]

[COR: SHESHA CLEPSYDRA - CF/Local:1955] - Part 1 of 3

[Mythology Analysis - by Agent [99] of the DieWell Collective] [SEC/00.66.99 Taken Earth]

"....on the way it's spread throughout the system, we estimate....Across the endless cosmos, were stars align-🎶...hm!/hm!/hm!...

99: Kör, you've been taking your time with that. Is it done yet?

Kör: Defragmentation is at 60%. Would you like to see the available data?

🎶🎶🎶

99: What is this Kör?

Kör: According to the information contained in the document, this file contains a song sung by Minueta Jenkins herself alongside several images.

The song is a revision made by Minueta Jenkins of the Folk Song "Braker" witch itself is based on the mythology of the world serpent "SHESHA CLEPSYDRA"..

99: Hmm.. Why would a woman like Minueta ever make a song like this?..

@^#^&##.......&$#^.....

99: Ok, so here it is 98, we'll kinda.. long fulkimg~ story UL-right~~

98: Just hurry up and tell me.

99: Alright, so there's this dragon.. He/she who dafuck knows, it doesn't know how to fly, and obviously, feels pretty sad about it. He travels the world until one day, he straight-up meets a demon.

The demon, unlike 99% of the people, is actually a pretty cool dud, and because he has a few thousand years freed up, he decides hes going to help out the dragon and teach it how to fly.

Now there's a problem the dragon has been roaming around the planet too much. Not only are his bones too heavy, but girl is ripped to kingdom come. He's got mussels for days, way too heavy to ever actually fly.

There's this big ark after that about them meeting different people, and basically, this were this religion gets all it's moral and ideology from. As they search for a way to help the dragon fly, the Dragon meets different kinds of asssholes and obviously end up dying in the most gruesome way possible, basic holy book stuff.

During this ark, you would expect to see the Dragon and the Demon get closer, but you kinda get the vibe that there's a wall between them. On top of that, even though this religion centers around the Dragon, most of what you can call the good parts and lessons come from the Demon, with the dragon being the one that unintentionally starts the problem in the fish place, it not his fault but it almost like everything about the world hates him.

Eventually, though, the demon unlocks a hidden power within himself after having this big enlightenment moment where the Demon becomes an angel again and redeems himself in the eyes of ??? Who dafuck knows? another fucking mystery.

Anyway, thanks to this, he can use his deus machina, magic, bullshit to finally give the dragon the ability to fly.

There, this moment in the book, we're the demon try's to warn the dragon about something inside him, but since were reading the book from the perspective of the dragon, and the dragon doesn't give a fuck. We don't get to know more about this warning. Suffice it to say that the dragon is so hype up about fly that he instantaneously decides to Fly off not even bother to say farewell or thanks to the demon, in fact we never hear about the demon after the Dragon leaves him and we're left to wonder what happened to him.

The book gets pretty weird from this point on. Up until now, the book has been pretty on the level it's a fantasy world, so to us, it looks weird, but to the people of local 1955, all of this sounds as realistic as a history book. The only thing I can maybe compare it to is Revelations from Bible in The Taken Earth. It has that same level of weirdness and metaphoric meaning.

Here also, where the famous song comes in, it's the page before the final chapter of the book. Oh.. and there's something you need to keep in mind. These people are in the medival ages, so keep that in mind while I tell you this next bit.

..The Dragon rises to the sky and chooses to never stop, never wanting for her talons to feel dirt again. He flies hooping to embrace the deep eternal blue, uncaring of the cost to her heart.

The sky's true face is made known to it, and although her eyes flutter, the Dragon gaze could see past a blinding light. Black waters teaming with pearls, that his eye alone could see before him.

Stars that mear mortals could never see as the God's themselves danced around him bound to eternal circles, in the center of witch was heaven. In the far distance, pearls of all colors.

Dancing in paradise, the Dragon was blessed with the heaven's warm embrace as it took hold of him in Ernest...

Bunch of trash after that, then it pick back up back her..

... Leviathan grabbed a hold of the dragon as the heavens themselves casted him away. Rejeted by the heavens, the dragon fell into the tendrils of the great beast, who drug the dragon to the sea.

Dejected as he fell, his mind wondered to the past, rejecting the very concept of his fall. He rose with anger as he battered his body in Rebellion against the world around him.

The dragons mind fractured, having only his promise to hold him true.. piercing the sky, the dragon splinters all of the beasts tendrils as he looks from above, at the body of the great Leviathan. The word itself, as it stood before him, as he vaow to keep his promise, plugging to the ground with such a force that Leviathan body crumbles into dust...

98: I don't know it's kinda hard to fallow the way you're explaining things, man.

99: I know, i know, but we don't care about any of that. Just listen to this last bit, and you'll see what I'm getting at.

..The Dragon rebirth by the orb of Turin was given into the flames of the true heaven's light and grew to understand the lie of the sky. Making a new vaow of chaos, he burned with greater glory than the false heavens and slaughtered the gods as they danced around it.

Surrounded by jewels, the dragon heart was now empty, with her promise fulfilled the dragons fractured mind, was now laid bare to madness. The only hope of escaping to find her past. Traveling to the north, the Dragon found pure light, where nothing existed beyound vail turbulant water. Not the land, nor the jowels could pearce the light, and even as the dragon saw the ocean im rage fighting to get trought the edge of life itself, nothing it could escape the the turbulant waters.

Rebellion.. The Dragon stretched out his wing and, without a thought crossed towards the light.. To the north lays, three pyramids were the Dragon vaows to kill it own past.

98: The Dragon attack the Congregation??

99: Yep, and not just that, I figured out where he ends up. The Dragon ended up on Earth Prime of all places. If we can figure out when, then... you get what I'm saying..

98: Then we can sneak inside and get access to the speakers, private network, holy shit 99..."

[DELUSION] [REBELLION] [JEWELS]

[Personal Device recording of agent 98]

"99: Folk- me man.. he fucking broke again, Ahh..

98: What? Did he overheat again?

99: Yeah, fucker decided to process the the same.. what 12-13 images over 852 times in a row.. fucking idiot.

99: Fuck that like what.. 97 million Aberration tears just for a couples of images. Jesus, he is dumb. "

[FRESH AIR] [MEMORY] [HATRED]

99: I feel like the biggest question about this entire book is the promise the Dragon made. It is pretty obvious to us that the dragon made a promise or, I guess, vaow to Minueta, but I can never see Minute of all people asking the Dragon to destroy a planet.

98: I don't know, but I'd be careful about making assumptions about this. I feel like we don't actually know enough to read into it like this. I read a little yesterday, and I get the feeling the dragon isint as Holy as the book paints him out to be, plus during the ark where the dragon travels with the demon you see him constantly looking for loops holes in arguments. I wouldn't be surprised if Minueta made a totally normal request only for the dragon to twist it for its own needs."

"99: I feel like you're trusting the Contance Foundation and Minueta, too much.

98: Maybe, but like you said, I don't see Minueta of all people asking for the end of some randome planet. By the way, what's up with the wizard dud in the image?

99: Aw yeah, that guy.. the books dosent mention him, but apparently, there's a separate scroll that talks about him. He knows as the Turin of Sahsha as apparently he'd been hunting the dragon until a woman killed him. You can guess who that was.

It pretty gruesome the way she kills him too, reminds me of when the dragon flies back up after being cast down into the ocean, apparently he twisted and contorted his entire body as he flew back up creating a tornado that split appart the planets atmosphere along side its magnetic field. "

98: Jesus man that fucking brutal.. did all of that already happen or is local/1955 still around.

99: On the galactic calendar well.. no, not yet, for us at least. It's still what 2 years out, I think. That is enough time for us to get ready. Apparently, the thing that gets the Contance Foundation to show up on Local/1955 is the arrival of the Phoenix version of the Dragon, so it's one of those loops where time keeps repeating. Works out for us since it gives us the perfect chance to steal from them.

98: Depends.. I'm still looking into what happens during the attack."

CHRONICLES OF REBELLION | FRACTURE [SHESHA CLEPSYDRA PART 1 OF 3]

Chronicles of Rebellion Track 09 - Braker Dans l'ombre des montagnes, un dragon rêve, Des ailes de feu, il désire qu'elles s'élèvent, Un démon bienveillant, avec un sourire, Lui montre les cieux, lui enseigne à s'envoler. Flieg, oh Drache, in den Himmel so weit, Die Sterne rufen, gib deiner Seele das Geleit. Doch in deinem Herzen, ein Schatten so tief, Eine alte Versprechen, das niemand dir schrieb. Il lève son regard, les étoiles scintillent, Un appel mystérieux, une histoire qui brille. Cherchant un destin, illustre et grand, Dans l'infini, il s'élance, le cœur battant. Flieg, oh Drache, die Weite ist klar, Die Hoffnung zu finden, es ist alles so nah. Doch die Stimme der Erinnerung, sie murmure so sacht, Ein ewiges Versprechen, das ihn in sich bewacht. Mais à chaque battement, la promesse résonne, Une chaîne invisible, un poids qu'il frissonne. Il veut l'oublier, fuir cette contrainte, Mais en lui, une flamme, une lutte l’atteinte. Er kämpft gegen das Echo, will die Freiheit spüren, Die Sterne, sie rufen, doch die Fesseln regieren. Im Herzen ein Sturm, die Dunkelheit weicht, Doch die Stimme der Treue, die niemals vergeicht. Alors il se rappelle, de son serment ancien, Le voler est un art, mais le cœur a son chemin. Dans un geste de foi, il choisit d’obéir, Plongeant dans la terre, décidé à périr. Mit einem lauten Donnerschlag bricht er die Erde, Die Maßen zerfällt, und die Sterne vergerben. Sein Herz schlägt schnell, in der Dunkelheit weit, Er hatte gewählt, in der Stille der Zeit. Il a volé, même au prix de sa chute, Sa promesse le guide, sa peur l’influte. Le dragon renaît, de ses cendres, il s’élève, Un destin trouvé, comme un souffle en trêve. Flieg, oh Drache, zurück zu dir selbst, In der Dunkelheit strahlst du, wie ein Licht in der Welt. Sein Versprechen nun stark, führt ihn zur Ruh, Der Drache, der fliegt, ist endlich er selbst, im neuen Licht, im neuen Flug.

[aquaburst3]

By popular request...or an anon commenting me last night about enjoying me creating posts about the flaws in TWST and wanting me to talk about the worldbuilding aspect specifically along with me having some free time between jobs, here it is!

Disclaimer: Keep in mind this is all personal opinion. If you enjoy the worldbuilding in the game and find zero problems with it, great! I don't care. You are entitled to your opinion and I am entitled to mine.

Where do I even begin? The shorter question would be, "What isn't wrong with it?" xD But seriously, oh, boy—there's a lot. Hell, this is pretty much my go-to example how NOT to write an urban fantasy world.

The closest thing I can compare the world of TWST to is the movie Bright—and that's NOT a good thing. For those of you who never had the misfortune of watching that late 2010s trainwreck, it's about a cop played by Will Smith teaming up with an orc to retrieve a magic wand. Sounds cool, right? However, like with TWST, the worldbuilding is something to be desired. It's an alternate universe where two thousand years ago there was a big war between The Nine Races where the orcs supported the Dark Lord, but an orc defected and lead an army that defeated him. Despite everything, it's pretty much exactly like real life with a few added fantasy elements. It even brings up real world pop culture references, containing such cringey and problematic lines like, "Fairy lives don't matter" after the Will Smith cop squishes a pixie that's on par with a raccoon in that world.

The worldbuilding in TWST feels like that. It's exactly like real life but with a few Disney and fantasy elements slapped on top, like magnets on a fridge. There is hardly any deviation from real life. Things like planes, cell phones, methods of measuring, days of the week, etc all exist just as they do irl. When you stop and think about it, half of these things shouldn't exist and the other should be a little different.

Yana also never thinks of the implications all of this alternate history. Magic always existing and the Greek gods being real should have a huge ripple effect, creating a completely different history compared to real life, but yet it doesn't. Hell, the whole idea of knowing that the Greek gods are real alone would massively change world history, since they would be a proven concept, snuffing out every other religion in existence! The world should be more massively different than ours with Disney sprinkled on top. There's no imagination about how a world like this would work. To quote Lindsey Ellis, "You cannot import elements from our real world without including all of the history that comes with them. You can, but it's lazy, and it sucks." xD Sure, you can write a fantasy world with cars and stuff, but the histories and the ways those exist in those worlds cannot be the exact same. There must be some divergence for it to make sense.

None of the new worldbuilding elements sense or feels woven in. It feels like Yana tossing out whatever idea she comes up up with at the wall and seeing what sticks. A lot of it starts to fall a part or even contradicts itself.

Take the whole Stitch or Tsums events. The existence both of these imply that aliens exist. That brings up a lot of questions like...

What is this world's policy for alien life?

Are aliens well known entities for this world?

What are other's reaction to this?

How did his story play out in this world if that's the case?

Everyone in this world has a Disney counterpart, right? If that's the case, wouldn't that mean there's some TWST version of Stitch running around Night Raven?

Is any of this ever addressed? Nope. That's stupid. World shattering shit like that should be addressed. While I know these are probably more than likely corporate mandates, especially since Tmus are a Japanese Disney product while Stitch is super popular in Japan, she could've added a disclaimer saying that it's a crack au that has nothing to do with the canon. The fact that these are both canon is mind boggling.

Plus, both of these events create a giant plot hole. If aliens are known to exist in this world, then why the fuck can't Yuu go home? If aliens exist, wouldn't there be portals and other ways for them to go home? It just makes Yuu and the rest of the cast look like total dumbasses for never thinking of this!

It goes beyond stupid events, but happens in general. The game routinely brings up similar elements without thinking of their implications on the game as a whole. Take the whole existence of STYKs. It was never once brought up or foreshadowed in the game, but brings about a lot of questions that are hardly explored. Like if this has existed for hundreds of years, how the fuck hasn't anyone heard of it? If STYKS is attached has a branch which is like our world's, someone should've blew the whistle eons ago. Surely, someone as smart as Idia or another mage should've been able to hack them and expose that to the public. Right? Wouldn't there be more of a public outcry for stealing people away, including royalty? Wouldn't there be government oversight about this? None of these questions are never addressed. Yet that element is slapped in without a second thought. Same also goes for all of the new lore in regards to Lilia's past, those pointless prophet dreams or how Playful Land works.

The magic system and how overblot works also fall apart the more you think about it. According to the light novel, only one out of ten humans is a mage. The percentage goes up in other races, but it remains about the same. But that makes no sense. TWST isn't like the HP universe where mages are isolated from the outside world, they are a part of society. Wouldn't it be the DOMINANT gene after over centuries of mages fucking mortals? I think it being more like the ATLA or BNHA universe where mages are the majority would make a lot more sense. That's what I did in my fic. Hell, it would make the world more unique, because usually fantasy stories have it where mages are a minority.

How overblotting works is never fully explained. All that we know, despite being on the seventh fucking story arc, is that whenever a mage uses Okay, sure. But there are times where that isn't the case. Characters who hard use up any magic like Leona and Vil overblot. Even if you argue that they were emotional during those bits or something, wouldn't the other part play a bigger role, since they used up so little magic in those cases? How in the fuck is that unknown concept to the general public? Wouldn't that be common knowledge? Diseases like Alzheimer's aren't something that everyone experiences, but this existence of those things are still common knowledge. Hell, why is it extremely rare in the first place? Wouldn't it be more commonplace? I feel like having it be a biological consequence of a mage using up too much magic and it being a well known down side to the world like how it is in my writing makes a lot more sense and is much simpler.

The lore around the fae also make zero sense. Common elements in fae lore like never thanking them or accepting gifts from them for you owe them a favour to cream and honey making them drunk are never brought up or mentioned. These are not random tropes brought up in shit like Baldur's Gate 3, but ingrained shit to the fantasy genre. You can't strip them out, because it is what makes the fae, fae. Hardly any types of fae from folklore are ever brought up outside of dragons and Tinkerbell style pixies. Characters like Vil who act very fae like are completely human. To be honest, I genuinely get the sense that Yana has done no research into this topic at all, because that's how out of touch they seem compared to how they are in folklore and other fantasy series. But if that is actually the case, then she should've looked into it more or consulted another writer who knows a lot about it.

Plus, the whole idea behind Briar Valley also makes no sense. They are completely isolated from the rest of the world...because…well, nothing, besides possibly vague hatred of tech. That's dumb. Countries don’t isolate themselves for no reason. There is always some sort of explanation for them to do that, whether it's manufactured for political gain like Panem or out of protection like Wakanda. Seriously, am I the only one that thinks that Brier Valley is just the fantasy Amish? As for the Spinning Wheel Wars, that will be explored in more depth as the fics go on.

If you want to see a world similar to TWST done right, watch The Owl House. That series, too, has a modern fantasy world. Unlike TWST, it seems like a fantasy world with modern elements instead of the other way around. Despite having phone-like devices and manga, it feels like stepping into another world.

Either way, if you wondered why I came up with completely different worldbuilding for my fics—this is exactly why. The worldbuilding in this game is pure dogshit. I wanted to create something leaps and bounds better than the bullshit we got. The fact that me, an amuetur writer, gets complimented and praised for the worldbuilding in my fics and it being better then the game is truly sad. Yana is a seasoned professional with a published manga with dozens of volumes under her belt, she should be better at this than me, not the other way around! Same goes for @stormkitty97, because she helps me brainstorm ideas for my shit and uses it in her writing, too.

The biggest sin of all is that there are some genuinely really cool ideas in TWST. The idea of turning into a monster whenever you use up too much magic is terrifying. The story could've done so much more with that if it made more sense!

As much as I might get hate for saying this, Yana reminds me a lot of Stephanie Meyers in the sense that she can come up with cool concepts and ideas, but has no idea how to execute them properly. I would love to see a better professional writer tackle a concept similar to overblot, because it would be cool and scary in the right hands.

I think one big lesson that amuetur writers like myself can learn from the worldbuilding in TWST is that if you are a "Pantser", aka someone who writes on the fly, like Yana, great, all the more power to you. Hell, I confess that I'm more like Brandon Sanderson in the sense that I'm a mixture of both a "Pantser" and an "Architect" Writer, and I came up with some elements of my worldbuilding on my TWST fics as I was writing like the characters being able to teleport. But for fuck's sake, have a solid plan for your worldbuilding and stick with it. Because constantly throwing ideas at the wall beyond the outlining stage will eventually make these contradictions arise and make your world fall apart. Also, if you are building a modern fantasy world like TWST, always think through the implications each element bring. Adding in elements from our real world will always drag along all of the history tied with it. Having your modern fantasy world seem like TWST or Bright is the last thing you want.

[thenighttimeparadise]

So a while ago there was this question that went viral, what is a woman, and I'm here to talk about it a bit and answer the question, so if like me, you support trans people but are a bit confused with what it means for gender to be a social construct, you're in the right place. This is also my take on why I think gender as it is now is inherently patriarchical and misogynistic, not gender in itself but as it is nowadays.

So first of all, sex is not the same as gender, you probably know that already but gender is a social construct, so...what does that mean?

Well basically, gender is the associations we gathered and made along the centuries with the different sexes. They vary in different cultures, religions, regions, and individuals.

gender right now isn't only misogynistic and patriarchal in itself, since assigning characteristics based on biological and physical qualities will never be fair, logical, nor efficient idea, but the qualities that are associated with each sex IS IN ITSELF what people dislike about gender.

what I mean is, the things that are associated with femininity for example, aren't inherently good or bad, they're just things (liking pink, being a stay at home partner, being submissive, being kind, wearing make up, showing emotions, ect) but even only associating those things with someone based on physical characteristics or anything else that doesn't have anything to do with the characteristic itself (people say you like pink if you're a girl but pink has nothing to do with biology, it's the same with almost everyone else that is associated with femininity and masculinity) is problematic, because it's like saying that people that have big noses, for example, are more prone to like the colour purple, or just do certain things that other people that aren't in that category don't usually do, but that has nothing to do with the category itself. I could also bring race into this but this is a (very important) talk for anyone time.

Now, I can absolutely assure you that if you'll check the correlations between people's nose sizes (or other physical characteristics) and people's favorite color (or other things that doesn't have anything to do with big noses), you'll probably fine one group that is more prone to like one colour or thing then the other. But does that mean they like that colour BECAUSE they have a big nose? Or is it just a coincidence?

if you'll tell me that people with big noses usually spend more money on plastic surgery then others, that would make sense and could ACTUALLY have something to do with the fact that they have a big nose, but it wouldn't be that they're more prone to spend money on that biologically, it's that the beauty standard that society has for us has decided that noses that are too big are unattractive (I wholeheartedly disagree that was just an example don't come at me)

Another example is that blonde people are more likely to prefer comedy to horror. Again I have no idea if that's true, it's just an example, but while some people might just decide that people that are blonde are cowards or like to laugh, it could just be a coincidence or two facts that don't actually correlate. There could be social reasons for that for sure, and I can make up different explanations for that all day, but my point is that while males and females do definitely have physical differences that affect the personality, sex (not gender, but sex, just the biological part) is more like a spectrum too, you can ask any doctor and they'll tell you, some females has more testosterone and some males have more estrogen, it's not this or that, black or white. And even those differences that the different sexes have, aren't as big nor significant as people make them out to be, and they greatly very between individuals.

Many people think that what's wrong with our society is that we force women to be traditionally feminine and men to be traditionally masculine, but the real problem is that we even associate those kinds of characteristics with biological qualities. Feminine and musculine could just be things by themselves, but that are not associated with the different sexes. If gender wasn't something that is associated with sex then that'd be good, but the problem now is that if someone thinks they relate to something that's more traditionally feminine for example, while they're a male, then think they're a female, because being a female is associated with those certain characteristics they relate to. Of course it's possible and absolutely valid to just feel like you don't belong in your body, I do that too, but the thing is, people need to ask themselves WHY, because the only reason you can feel like you don't belong in your own body is it a psychological one, which means you or someone associates certain physical characteristics and body types with certain qualities, and so you or they feel like because you have a certain quality, you need to have a certain body.

I'm in NO WAY saying trans people aren't valid, I'm trans myself, I'm non binary, but what I'm saying is that you or someone being trans is not the reason it's the result, and it's the result of something else, there is a reason why you feel that way, things don't just happen, and this is what I think is the reason some people feel like they do not belong in their body. Someone being a male only means one thing, that they're a male. That's it. The same with female.

Because of the way they were socialized, women learned to make themselves smaller, and men are usually thought they need to be bigger then they actually are, and that's why usually when guys change for the better, they learn they don't have to be big and take up space or always we tough and strong and woman learn that they don't have to me small and vulnerable.

Please please please leave your opinion or write it to me in private or leave a request, the subject of gender is very interesting to me and I have a lot of things to say about it, so if you have any questions or you disagree with what I've said or you just wanna talk, you know what to do

* disclaim the art is not mine. Also English is not my first language, so let me know if I made any mistakes, thank you for reading!

[esta-elavaris]

I’m sorry if this is invasive- plz ignore if so! :)- but what inspired your spiritual journey?

Not invasive, I don't mind! Also won't be a short answer tho.

So I went to a very Christian primary school, not because it was Christian but because it was just the best primary school in the area but it just also happened to be Christian, and my parents were very laidback in terms of wanting me to choose my own religion - they didn't even have me christened or anything when I was a baby. Father is a fckn devout athiest, mother was a Christian believer (I do have a very fun story about her making my aunt promise not to tell my brother and I the proper Christian beliefs, because she wasn't willing to follow the beliefs to the letter so therefore believed she would go to hell, and didn't want us getting into heaven if she wasn't getting in, which is wild and very funny).

ANYWAY I believed in the whole Christianity thing for a hot second just because I was a six year old who was singing hymns every single morning so like, not surprising. By the time I moved on to middle school I didn't believe in any of it, and then when I was around? 13? I started dabbling in different beliefs, just because I was a big ol' goth and the goth shops do tend to also deal in witchy stuff, so I was always exposed to it and always curious, and I just always had a sort of sense that there was something there, I just didn't know what.

At first I delved into Wicca, it's the most accessible, there's sooo much about it online (the trick these days is finding witchy resources that aren't fucking Wiccan), I feel like it's most people's gateway into alternative religions, and the whole thing with Wicca is the concept of "the god" and "the goddess", so you're encouraged to meditate on the concept of those two deities and try to feel "connections" with them, but I could only ever feel the presence of "the god" (one god in particular, turns out, but I didn't know that yet) and never "the goddess" -- and because I'm me, I was like "o shit the goddess has beef with me lmao she doesn't like me". But I mean, in addition to that problem, Wicca just wasn't "clicking" with me. I knew there was something there in terms of faith, I could feel some sort of presence, but I also knew that when I found the right thing I'd know it.

By this point I must've been around 15, and I was pretty heavily active in the goth/alt scene on here on my old account, and there's a lot of overlap between that community and the Norse Pagan community on socials, so a lot of my mutuals openly followed the Norse gods, and I was just kinda like "...huh" about it, where something was nagging at me but I didn't know where to begin because it's a hell of a thing to dive into.

And as a general rule of thumb, if a deity is trying to get your attention, they're gonna get your attention, you don't get away with being wilfully blind for long. So I was getting all of these signs, but I was reluctant because this also coincided with the time period that everybody was losing their shit over Marvel and Tom Hiddleston in particular, so pagan communities were being fckn invaded by rabid fangirls who were using the faith as an outlet for the fact that they wanted to shag Chris Hemsworth, and the last thing I wanted to be seen as was one of them, so I kept it all very quiet and was very reluctant to get anywhere near it, especially because a lot of the signs I was getting did appear to be coming from Loki and my gut feeling deep down was that it was him.

So I was in denial about it for a while, I accepted that the Norse thing felt right in general, and deep down I knew the Loki aspect of it did too, but being a teenage goth in that period of time who tried to claim "Loki is reaching out to me" would just look fucking ridiculous (and idk why I cared so much about the look of things but I mean, I was a teenager, it's a given) so I tried to convince myself that it was Frey, but that didn't feel right either, and I did/do fit the archetype of that Loki does tend to gravitate towards in a devotee - abusive history, "outsider", creative - and his signs often tend to come in the form of spiders and I was getting a lot of them where I typically did not usually. And when I began to really question if it was him, I started getting MORE spiders, as if confirming it, but I was still in denial, so one day I figured "okay if I get a spider tomorrow, that's it, that's who it is." and I went to school the next day, and in my first class of the day there was a big ass spider square in the middle of my assigned desk - in a school that I'd attended for years, and never had? Random insects? So that was wild, I could explain that away less than I could the ones I'd encountered in my house, and that was when I accepted it, even if I did keep it secret for years and years to follow.

I've only started getting really open about it in the last few years - my friends have always known, my brother is the only one in my family that knows explicitly (but I mean, the others have seen the tattoos and can probably do some guesswork), but I pretty much refused to discuss it online for a long time because it only seemed to invite wank - but then I stopped caring and that fear proved pointless because people have generally been great about it, bar an incident with a lad who pretended to have the same beliefs a few years back in order to try and flirt with me 🫠🫠🫠

Another funny incident was for my 16th birthday party I had a tarot card reader who was also like, into spiritualism/sensing presences she kept telling me I had some sort of entity hanging around me who was "linked to horses" and I thought at first she meant like, a ghost, so I didn't put those pieces together but uhhh the main myth about Loki that everybody knows does indeed feature a horse, so that always makes me laugh in hindsight.

For a couple of years back in the beginning I just considered myself a Norse pagan who primarily worked with Loki, even though I never felt much of a "bond" with the other deities and seldom reached out to them with a few exceptions, and all of my daily offerings did exclusively just go to him, but by the time I was applying to universities I felt massively called to be an all-out Loki devotee/for him to be my patron god "officially", and then in September '21 I finally did a formal dedication ritual just to make everything official, but by that point I'd been living it for the better part of a decade, so it was just a formality. I'd already had his rune tattooed behind my ear for like four years by that point.

This is a vastly summarised explanation and it's already stupidly long - a lot of it is about signs and gut feelings, and knowing when something is a sign and when it's a coincidence, and in the case of Norse stuff specifically it is called "the religion that comes with homework" because there's just so much reading to do, but my overall story is essentially "Loki kicked down my door and made himself at home (and I wouldn't want it any other way)". It's not a one size fits all kind of journey, mine was actually made very easy for me because I wasn't the one having to make the initial overtures//I didn't have to "shop around" and test out bonds and see which deity/deities I had the best fit with, the biggest hurdle in my case was paying attention to the signs I was being given without worrying about "how it looked". I was very lucky in my case. Lad saw a kid Going Through It and stepped in. (And typing that last sentence has me tearing up, I cannot lie.)

And now I just try to live in a way that he would approve of -- which, happily, is also the way I want to live. Which is what he would approve of. Nice wee cycle there.