#very devout and morality-driven

[robindaydream]

Speaking of is anyone else playing Roadwarden cause that game rules.

The amount of choices you get to make is absolutely wild especially with how much you get to define your character and where they come from. I really felt like I was roleplaying a character which is rare for me in choice games, I usually just end up picking choices as myself.

It is also kinda hard with having to manage your resources and time alongside trying to advance the story but it’s super rewarding.

[darkersoul]

Squit

Squit!

So, what is Cthulhu. Seemingly simple answer, he's just the big guy in the ocean with the octopus head, right? He's dead but will come back some day, he broadcasts his dreams, HPL is pretty explicit about Big C, going so far as to draw him on multiple occasions. Pretty uncomplicated.

And I hate uncomplicated (when it comes to Mythos beasties) so let's talk about my Cthulhu.

There exists a force which has been interpreted and reinterpreted by various cultures which have interacted with its influence. It is localized at a central point which appears at seemingly random times, a strange and gigantic formation of stones that give the appearance of a great city. There is a biological mass under these stones. How large? Completely unknown, as it has never left, if it even can.

This mass, this force, this being, it is a massive psychic explosion, continuously transmitting itself to the brains of those sensitive to feel it. Those touched by its outreach are driven to acts they never thought possible, given knowledge they should never have, seeing the distant future and past. Pacifist philosophers become serial killers, violent criminals become sensitive artists. The devout priest denounces their faith, and the staunch atheist claims he saw angels.

On rare occasions, these psychic phenomenon become physically manifest. They follow no laws of physics, are nit made of matter, but are very much real. The Deep Ones call the manifestation they witness Dagon. We know one as the creature depicted in the famed idol of the Louisiana Swamp Cult. But these are not Cthulhu, just his pure psychic energy given manifest. The thing that slumbers under R’lyeh is much larger, much more terrible, and constantly casting it's horrible influence on the Earth.

Thematically, Cthulhu is about the end of the world. Specifically, it's about the inevitability of the end. It's the crushing ocean-like pressure of knowing that nothing you do will matter in the end. Like. It represents total control, the perfect storm, the end of days that could never be avoided with every step meticulously placed. Not an uncaring cosmos, but a cosmos so perfectly designed to fuck you over.

It's a realization that transforms you. Some people find it freeing. Toss aside your morals, your responsibilities, nothing matters anyways! Kill and revel and enjoy yourself! This is the only time you get before it crushes you underfoot.

[idrisofficial]

🚨 all 3 warryns

🚨 (siren) - What’s your character’s relationship with the law? Have they ever been arrested? What for? What are their opinions on law enforcement?

lennox: lennox sees the law as a means to maintain order. he has no particular affinity for idrisian laws themselves, and brinne has certainly convinced him that there’s little merit in a monarchy. he could take or leave the theocratic laws; he understands them as a means of controlling the people and respects their purpose as thay. obviously he’s never been arrested, although theoretically brinne probably could have him jailed for his assumption of her royal duties while she’s depressed. she won’t do that. lennox is fascinated by political structures and from a point of morality does feel bad that idris’s happen to fuck most of its citizens over. at his core, he does believe in freedom more than most other nobles. but he considers his self-preservation and the country’s prosperity much more important than any real positive change for ordinary citizens. primarily, as the leader of the house of justice, he wants to enforce the law that exists and keep the population in line so that the country can prosper as best it can in accordance with tradition. the fact that he doesn’t personally give a fuck about tradition has little bearing on the work he carries out. he’s good like that. separating his own ideas from the ideas he knows are right (ha) for the country.

mikhail: mikhail is not immune to propaganda. when he bothers to care about how his house’s decisions actually impact people, he’s mostly supportive of increasing governmental power and stabilizing various legal hierarchies. censorship laws in particular make perfect sense to him because of how they reinforce his elite status—of course common people aren’t allowed to speak badly about government officials, but it’s perfectly fine if he does it, because he was just born one of the gods’ favorites. he listened to what he was taught in lessons. he doesn’t fully buy that the law is the product of divine ordination, but it’s a convenient explanation and mikhail is the most well-steeped in social conditioning of his siblings (meaning he’s also the most religious of them, even if he’s not exactly devout). he thinks countries with laws that differ greatly from idris’s are foolish and harbor their own self-destruction, even when they’re overall much more successful nations compared with idris. but in general he doesn’t feel too strongly about it. he just follows his siblings and spends the rest of his time basking in the hedonism of nobility. no cause for arrest or anything of the like here.

kaia: kaia is the least religious of the three, practically atheistic. she holds little regard for halcyonism personally or as an institution and in terms of law is much more driven by her inner morality. said inner morality, though, is bad. having been only thirteen and still majorly developing at the time of artemis’s massacre, her stance on law enforcement is pretty brutal. she’s not very popular among the public and for good reason. kaia and brinne don’t have a very positive relationship, but brinne has a shred more respect for kaia than she does for other nobles because of their agreement on national security and harsh criminal punishment. this is one of the few things kaia and lennox really argue about. it drives a wedge in their relationship, especially with the silent reminder of natal’s execution that permeate the conversation. she is often frustrated by the law, though. she thinks a lot of the restrictions placed on the public generate a genuinely unlivable environment, but she’s stopped too often by bureaucracy and her own aversion to risk-taking to be able to change them. halcyonism’s influence on the law feels entirely convoluted and unfair to her, but she doesn’t really see any option but to work around it. the last thing she wants is the trouble of being called a heretic. with the way brinne is becoming, she probably could be arrested for it.

[stxriesfromasharchive]

Headcanons

Cassandra Pentaghast

Appearance Cassandra is a striking figure with a muscular build and short dark hair. She has a prominent nose and sharp features, and her piercing green-hazel eyes exude a sense of intensity and purpose. She wears a suit of heavy plate armor and wields a large sword and shield in combat, reflecting her warrior background and role as a protector of the Divine. She has two small scars across each side of her face. [Modern Verse: She wears lots of dark colors, clothes that are breathable and flexible in the event she is forced into a physical fight, with a simple leather jacket that belonged to her brother. She adorns simple ear piercings and has an emblem of the Seekers' crest that is mostly hidden in public].

Personality Cassandra is a strong-willed and determined individual who is not afraid to take action to solve problems. She is a devout Andrastian who firmly believes in the teachings of the Chantry and the Maker. She is often mistrustful of mages and is wary of magic and spirits. However, despite her aggressive and militant demeanor, she is also compassionate and moral, respecting the principles of honor, sacrifice, truth, and selflessness. She generally supports Chantry-derived institutions such as the Circle of Magi and the Templar Order and favors a “take action” approach to restoring order in the world. [Modern Verse: To be honest, I think I may keep the faith of Andraste in her modern world and not try to translate it into a real world religion. I haven't been able to find a concrete consensus withoin the community as to what type of religion it could relate to, though Christianity is a popular choice. I will do my best to translate DAI lore into a modern day setting] She is a fierce and determined woman, but has a softer side underneath her hardened exterior. She is passionate, pious and driven, and a true believer in justice. She is a huge romance novel junkie - but that is not a fact openly shared. That is a secret she guards very close to her chest.

Orientation Cassandra is a heterosexual and straight romance woman. IF she were to experiment with the same sex, I would most likely write f/f with a Leiliana, Josephine, or female Inquisitor if I were to ever write with either one.

[deathsmallcaps]

Mansa Musa

Hey so I wrote a paper about  Mansa Musa, the richest man to ever live (he’s richer than Jeff Bezos!) so if you all want to read it here it is. I’m not entirely sure about how well I cited everything, and I’m not entirely confident about the source, but researching this paper was fun and very interesting. However, I wrote this for American History class so the paper is written in context with colonization and Western expansion. If that is something you, emotionally, are not up for today, I would suggest not reading it. 

Kankan Mansa Musa I, also known as Mansa Musa I or Kanku Musa, along with his family’s legacy, is arguably one of the biggest inspirations for the European exploration and colonization of the Americas. Grandson to the legendary Sundiata, the Allah-appointed leader of the Malinké people, he ruled over the land now considered southern Mali. He was a devout Muslim, and was brought into the European consciousness because of his lavish pilgrimage to Mecca. He also conquered many lands, and made the almost mythical city Timbuktu, an intellectual’s paradise. Interestingly, there may also be a direct connection between Musa and the Americas; according to some records, his predecessor Abubakari II abdicated  to sail West.

During Musa’s reign as the leader of the Mali Empire, he ruled and took over many areas in modern day Chad, Gambia, Guinea, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal, gaining control of the numerous gold fields populating the landscape. Deciding to thank Allah for his successes, he became the most famous West African king to make the Hajj pilgrimage. It is a required rite of all adult Muslims to do at least once in their lifetime if they can physically as well as financially make the trip while also supporting their families. He brought so many heralds that his procession stretched for miles and numbered in the thousands. Musa also brought so much gold with him on the pilgrimage that during a brief stop in the city of Cairo, he paid with enough gold that it took “12 years for the flooded gold market to recover.” (Cartwright). Only three decades before, the famed explorer Marco Polo returned with news of the riches found in the East. These two events may have spurred the European fixation on adventuring in search for foriegn riches. Two years after Musa’s death in 1337, an Italian cartographer created a map displaying the king’s wealth. A preoccupation with “… his flamboyant journey was to … stimulate a desire … among many of European nations as well, to reach the source of this incredible wealth.” (Graft-Johnson).

Another factor of Musa’s contribution to the European invasion of the Americas was the era of enlightenment and excellent control of his empire. He built up the almost mythical city of Timbuktu, making it a moral and intellectual garden of minds. It may have inspired the jealousy of his Christian counterparts. The Christian mentality of that time was of ignorance and economic jealousy towards the Islamic part of the world. Literacy was uncommon, and the scientific and mathematical advances of the Islmic world were viewed with suspicion. They were actively searching for ways to get exotic goods, such as sugar and spices, without the indignity of dealing with Muslim middlemen. Relatively shortly after Musa’s name became known up north, the Portuguese and later the Spanish and Italians started sailing around and taking people from Africa. The Catholic kingdoms were also looking for a way to get military assistance from China in taking back Jerusalem from Islamic control, as they ultimately considered it their holy duty. So, Musa’s success as a ruler may have stimulated enough spite and jealousy in the Europeans that they invented whole new capitalistic tendencies which led to the invasion of the American continents. 

In a harder to prove way, Mali may have also been one of the first Old World nations to make contact with the Americans. According to some sources, his predecessor and brother, Abubakari II, “ ... wanted to find out whether the Atlantic Ocean – like the great River Niger that swept through Mali – had another ‘bank’.” (Boakye). Initially the man had sent out a fleet full, and when only one ship came back, reporting first of an island of goats (possibly one of the Canary Islands) and then farther away, an extremely wide and tumultuous river where the rest of the boats sank. The one surviving ship reported to have then met a people with red skin, who in turn said that they had met a group of venturing Berbers some years before. Hearing this, Abubakari immediately decided to set out and live in the strange land, which is one story of how Musa inherited the empire from his brother. There is further proof concerning the West African expeditions to Brazil and the Carribbean islands; “Philologists have discovered Red-Indian words of Arabic origin, from pre-Colombian days. Columbus found on the coast of Cuba dogs that do not bark. This is a West-African race of dogs.” (Hamidullah). So quite possibly, news of this successful venture to a land across the Atlantic may have inspired Columbus's notion to sail across it.

In conclusion, there are three reasons why Kankan Mansa Musa could be quite relevant to the European discovery and later invasion of the American continents. Firstly, the tales of his immense wealth may have inspired southern European ventures around Africa, Asia and eventually the Americas for new business opportunities. Secondly, the success of his Islamic empire may have driven the jealous Christians into trying to find that sort of power and worldliness without reaching through Muslim middlemen for goods from East Asia. Lastly, Musa’s strange succession to the throne and tales of a land to the West could’ve inspired Columbus's journey to the Americas. In short, his wealth, his power and legends of Musa’s family could’ve inspired European westward exploration. 

Bibliography

Cartwright, Mark. “Mansa Musa I.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 18 Aug. 2020, www.ancient.eu/Mansa_Musa_I/.

Graft-Johnson, John Coleman de. “Mūsā I of Mali.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 29 Apr. 2020, www.britannica.com/biography/Musa-I-of-Mali.

Boakye Full bio Close Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email , Bridget, and Gaoussou Diawara. “Way before Columbus, Ancient Malians Sailed to the Americas in 1311.” Face2Face Africa, 5 Dec. 2018, face2faceafrica.com/article/way-before-columbus-ancient-malians-sailed-to-the-americas-in-1311.

Hamidullah, Mohammed. “Echoes of What Lies Behind the 'Ocean of Fogs' in Muslim Historical NarrativeH.” MuslimHeritage.com - Topics, Journal of the Muslim's Student Association of the United States and Canada, 2013, web.archive.org/web/20131020191955/www.muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=646.

[theholycovenantrpg]

CONGRATULATIONS, JORDAN! YOU’VE BEEN ACCEPTED FOR THE ROLE OF GADRIEL.

Admin Rosey: Eeeeeee! Jordan you have no idea how much I’m bouncing off the walls because you brought us such an unparalleled Gadriel! I was hoping, with all my heart, that someone would dare to write a character that is full of such unfettered love, and you did it. All the more, you didn’t hold back with the adoration that seems to burrow itself into every single facet of the character. Your para sample was an absolute thrill to read and truly, I couldn’t have asked for someone more capable of delivering the Gadriel we all know and love. Thank you so much for this wonderful application - it had me grinning from ear to ear. Please create and send in your account, review the information on our CHECKLIST, and follow everyone on the FOLLOW LIST. Welcome to the Holy Land!

OUT OF CHARACTER

Alias | Jordan

Age | 23

Personal Pronouns | She/her

Activity Level | I’m not in school or working right now, so I do have quite a bit of free time on my hands. However, I still have real life stuff that crops up occasionally, and I’m currently looking for a job, so  if/when?? (hopefully) that happens I’ll let you guys know! As it stands, I can on average devote a few hours each day to rp’ing, though that might vary depending on the day.  

Timezone | EST

Triggers | REMOVED

How did you find the group?  | I saw Rosey reblog the prerelease advertisement thing and the rest was history. 

Current/Past RP Accounts | https://chandlerrosen.tumblr.com/ 

IN CHARACTER

Character | Gadriel

What drew you to this character? | 

Though there were quite a number of characters I considered applying for at various stages, I kept coming back to Gadriel. Within her character is everything I’m familiar with, and yet nothing that I’ve written before. I study (or studied, technically) early modern literature and art history, with a focus on Catholic theology, so I was initially drawn to Gadriel’s background as a martyred saint. I love her grief, I love the way she grows from it while still carrying it with her. I love her fighting for compassion and pacifism, while still being shrouded by the monstrous aspect of her that has always lingered within. Her love is her driving force, and her vision all encompassing, and for the “greater good,” but she is still so selfish. More on this now!

What future plots do you have in mind for the character? | 

i. beware of false prophets [. . .] ye shall know them by their fruits

The God she loved was not always a benevolent one, but she loved Him nonetheless, the words of the scripture a familiar glaze on her tongue, weaving its way through the air as it settles around her like a warm blanket. These were the words she lived by, and the words she, in another life, died by. But now these words, and the God who fomented them, are obsolete—ash and dust, they swirl around her still, only a faint echo of their former glory. Now, the residents (those who choose to partake in religion) worship the Hundred-Eyed God—instead of fire and brimstone, this new deity promised everlasting serenity. Gadriel, like most residents of Caelum, doesn’t worship the Hundred-Eyed God, but as God’s most devout and loving follower, she is faced with the difficult task of protecting ISOLDE, the All-Seeing Priestess of the faith. Despite her best efforts, Gadriel finds herself liking the mortal, and where once Gadriel would have seen an idolator, she now sees what could turn into a friend. The relationship, however, is tenuous, and Gadriel is very reluctant to let herself become attached to the girl—it didn’t end so well for the last worshipped figure in Gadriel’s life. But more than that, Isolde feels like a punishment, or rather, like she should be a punishment. Sure, it pains Gadriel to watch new rituals when the old ones sit in her bones and on her tongue, aching to be remembered and repeated, but otherwise, her task is, at times, an enjoyable one. So when will the other shoe drop? I’m very interested in seeing how this relationship will develop, and how ESTIENNE will fit into it. The biography mentions that Gadriel would kill to protect ARAEL, presumably she would do the same for Isolde, if only out of obligation (though personal affection may one day be a reason as well). Whether it be Estienne or someone else, how will Gadriel, generally a pacifist, react if Isolde is threatened?

I also think it’s interesting to consider what would happen, not if Isolde is physically threatened, but if her status is somehow threatened, or if someone, say ORIAS or CASSIEL (though there are many others), challenges Isolde (an extension of the Hundred-Eyed God) as someone/something to be worshipped? Zealotry is comfortable for Gadriel, a familiar armor to lace over her chest as she draws her sword, but it has rusted and worn down, a passion without a purpose, without an outlet. I think Gadriel is far from becoming a zealot for the Hundred-Eyed God, and to be honest, I’m not sure it would ever actually happen. However, I can see this going two ways (not necessarily mutually exclusive, either): 

Gadriel develops a love for Isolde similar to the love she felt for God; it would be different, no doubt, but I think part of Gadriel’s worship of God in her mortal life came from, faith yes, but also love and a desire to be loved. Her worship of God was not entirely unselfish, but fervently pious nevertheless. Could Gadriel ever get to the point where she would take up her sword for Isolde, not against imminent danger, but against idolatry? Maybe, maybe not, and if it did, it would be, as I said, much further down the line, and certainly not as strong as the zealotry she exhibited for God, but I do think it’s an important aspect of Gadriel that cannot just be shirked because her God is dead.

Regardless of Isolde and how Gadriel may feel about her, there is still a part of Gadriel, no matter how slowly waning it may be, that fought tooth and nail to worship her God, both as a human and angel. And now, with people cropping up, Orias, Cassiel, Michael, etc. who try to fill that void He left, to be worshipped in their own right, I’m interested in how Gadriel will react. Obviously, Gadriel is not omnipotent, and therefore doesn’t necessarily know the extent to which these various figures have designs on power, on reverence. But throughout the course of the roleplay, I think as their actions reflect their intentions, and as those intentions become clearer, the familiar feeling of zealotry will crop up again, burning inside Gadriel’s bosom as it once had. Perhaps something starts it, perhaps she will see the corruption of mortals, of her fellow angels, even, and she wants to stop it. It’s not something she could do alone, at least not successfully, and depending on where Gadriel is in her development, she might not even care at first. But I still think it would be interesting to explore, and which unlikely alliances she may form to quell the rising of a new, different, idol. 

ii. should intermitted vengeance arm again / His red right hand to plague us?

For every cloud, there is a silver lining, and for every slain deity, a world to be made anew. I don’t think Gadriel has ever been motivated by power, and I don’t think she is now, either. I do think, however, that she believes in a very strong vision of the world, a vision she believed she shared with her God. Of course, without God, Gadriel now has the freedom to reshape her vision, and mold the world into, as the biography states,  “her own vision of beauty.” But that which is beautiful, is also terrible, for beauty without power is vulnerability, a quality Gadriel has shedded like a skin too tight and too itchy to ever be comfortable again. There is an anger inside her, a feeling of righteousness against those she believes have acted unjustly. Namely, MICHAEL and CASSIEL. There are many people she blames for this war, for the death of her beloved God, and Michael’s name is at the top of the list. He clipped her wings, he punished her for her pride (for is hubris not the most base of the tragic flaws?), smearing her face in the dirt of her own folly by naming her the Virtue of Temperance, forcing her to protect a being instrumental to the worship of a new, unfamiliar religion. And still, Gadriel turns the other cheek. To wage outright war against Michael would be foolish, and though Gadriel is privy to foolishness (a lingering effect of her not-so-long-forgotten mortality), she isn’t that foolish. I think the dynamic between Gadriel and Michael is very interesting, and something I’d love to explore. As he hungers for more power, as Gadriel’s resentment of him festers, infecting her life’s blood with boiling wrath, when will Gadriel decide that enough is enough. And who will stand with her? 

Now onto Cassiel. Cassiel’s betrayal of the Cherubim, of Gadriel and her own people (though really, with Gadriel’s part in the war against Michael, I think Gadriel would be put on trial regardless), is another interesting avenue to explore. I mentioned Cassiel above as being a sort of “False Prophet,” and in truth, I think she is the antithesis to Gadriel. Speaking of Cherubim, I think Gadriel and ZADKIEL would actually get along fairly well, as Gadriel is (or at least was) well-liked by her fellow angels, and liked them in return, and I think they have a similar philosophy and moral compass. Would Gadriel and Zadkiel, two angels affected by Cassiel’s actions, end up lighting the spark of retribution against Cassiel? Or will it divide them? Cassiel and Gadriel are two people driven by the notion of beauty, though their definitions couldn’t be further apart. While Cassiel’s vision is of herself, Gadriel sees an eternal peace, filial piety and the burning passion of people who join in communion as one (so really, the concept of the Hundred-Eyed God should be alluring to her, once Gadriel realizes that it aligns with her vision and she could wield it considering Isolde is her charge—I digress). Perhaps Gadriel goes against Cassiel, not necessarily for past indiscretions, but present grievances. 

To create, you must destroy, and from the ashes of the old world will Gadriel’s vision of beauty rise, sheathed in gold with a purity so simple, it can only be considered divine.   

iii. when is a monster not a monster?

The answer, of course, “when you love it.” Gadriel’s connections to Asmodeus, Arael, and Mammon are all thematically concerned with when Gadriel shows her monstrous side, if at all. With ARAEL, Gadriel’s monstrous side is not hidden, because with their level of intimacy, with its purity, Gadriel holds no secrets from Arael. It just rarely (if ever) rears its ugly head. The biography mentions that Gadriel would kill for Arael, and I would like to put that to the test. I don’t know how, or when, but I want Gadriel to become a monster, all for the sake of Arael. She knows of Arael’s grief, but I’m wondering just how much Gadriel knows of Arael’s visits to ABBADON’S domain. If she doesn’t know, then perhaps Gadriel will feel betrayed. Of course, she wouldn’t take it out on Arael, there is very little Arael could do to warrant that sort of emotion from Gadriel, but I do think it would shift their relationship. If Gadriel does know, however, I wonder if Gadriel might try to take it upon herself to help Arael (if it’s unwanted, so much the better), because Gadriel is the picture of self-righteousness.  

ASMODEUS is an interesting case with regard to Gadriel’s monstrous side. She hasn’t quite figured him out, she doesn’t know his sad past, but the glances they share, the stares that betray his longing for something else, someone else, intrigue her. And I think it makes Gadriel feel powerful, this unsaid tension between them, the notion that at any moment, it could all crumble and collapse, that he could, if she so chose. I think she wants to poke and prod at him, maybe from afar at first, and then toy with him, his vulnerability between her teeth, with only gravity (the gravity she is so adept at manipulating) to crush it, or release him from her grasp. Of course, Gadriel is not without compassion, and maybe once she knows Asmodeus’ story, she’ll feel differently. It all depends on what part of Asmodeus she chooses to see: the human, or the demon.

Gadriel’s most monstrous side, her most vindictive and self-righteous, self-satisfying, parts, are shown in her relationship with MAMMON. She spared them, not because she felt pity, not because she cared, or didn’t wish to shed blood, but to show them that she could. She held their life at the end of her blade and laughed when she removed it from his throat. Surely they still harbor bitter feelings towards her, feelings of hatred and resentment, even. In Emma’s app for Mammon, she mentions how she envisions them fighting, even to the death. I fully agree, and am looking forward to their confrontation a lot. Gadriel is, generally, soft, but I want to explore those parts of her that are more monster than divine, more human than angel. 

Are you comfortable with killing off your character? | Yes.

IN DEPTH

Driving Character Motivation | 

In Gadriel’s mortal life, her driving motivation was her love for God, and her desire to be loved by God. The picture of piety, Gadriel shirked near all else to proclaim her love for God, frustrated when others wouldn’t recognize His great power, his all-encompassing love. Even when she became an angel, she was still driven by this love, but now it was realized, it was reciprocated. And rather than have that be diminished upon conquest, it only grew stronger and more fervent. 

Of course, after the war, after her wings were clipped, Gadriel turned into the dutiful angel, obeying Michael’s orders (much to her chagrin). Now she’s driven by her vision of beauty, of peace everlasting and passion overflowing. Love is still very much part of the equation, and the love she feels for Arael, for Isolde (maybe, eventually), also motivates her. But it’s her love for God, and for his vision, that stoke the fire of ambition in her loins. I think Gadriel is tired of constantly being taken for granted, being walked all over, and is using the new world as an opportunity to turn a page in her own life. To become all that she once sought to, to fulfill all righteousness on earth, and to spread her vision to all those who will listen. 

Character Traits | 

(passionate, loyal, empathetic)

(dogmatic, vengeful, obstinate)

In-Character Para Sample | 

“Brothers, sisters, friends, lend me your ears,” she began, standing in front of her fellow angels, on trial for crimes committed against Michael, committed for God. “I stand on trial today, though I believe myself innocent of all crimes, guilty only of being consumed by love. Perhaps my love was misplaced, my loyalty misguided, but is that so unreasonable? Was that not God’s almighty power—to stir inside those who are lost the guidance to follow His will through His love?” She looked around, eyes imploring as she clutched her chest. The room was bright, the sun almost overbearing and artificial, devoid of everything Heaven held, a false divinity imbuing every corner and crevice. She had been here before. But rather than in a spotless room, she was surrounded by dust and the jeers of Romans who believed her guilty of the same crime she was accused of now: treason.

“You accuse me of treason,” she began again, and the lion’s roar in her ear was so loud, she felt as though it was standing across the room from her, not Michael, “but forgive me, I knew nothing else. If my actions offended, let us rectify the situation, together. Let us venture forth, hand in hand, brothers in arms, angels enshrouded in the divinity that is our right, into this new era. But let us not paint this era with more blood than has already been shed; for is that truly what you want your legacy to entail? Fire and brimstone—would you be any better than the God you have deposed?” She raised her eyebrow, scanning the eyes of the crowd as they shifted uncomfortably. An invisible string lifted Gadriel’s spine—perhaps it was her power of gravity, perhaps newfound confidence at the uncomfortability of the angels who wished her dead.

“And how, dear sister, could we trust you?” Michael asked, unmoved, the pinnacle of strength and composure. 

“This is new territory for both of us, brother. This world has never known God’s absence—but together, and only together, could we bring it into a new Golden Age, an era of rebirth and plenty.” Everyone was silent, pondering her words. This silence was deafening, and the lion roared louder. Her heart began to race as she saw the saliva glint off the lion’s teeth, the blood staining its fur from the last human he shred. 

“You seek to do better than God? Well do better. Ff His picture of compassion was imperfect, perfect it. His vision of mercy unfulfilled, fulfill it.” The words stung her tongue as she spoke them against her God, but perhaps she could give Michael and his legions the chance to be better, if that is what they truly sought. “Violence, retribution. This is not the way, and we both know it.” 

Silence still more. Until finally, Michael made his decision. 

“Very well, you have your amnesty. But Gadriel, this can not go unpunished.” He contemplated further, his hands steepled like a church she once worshipped at, before continuing, “your wings will be clipped, and we will watch you. Very closely.” He nodded, but she could tell this wasn’t his desired outcome. 

“Thank you, Michael, for your compassion. You won’t regret it,” she said through gritted teeth, sharp as a lion’s, before she sheathed them. Not now. Not today. Today, she lived, and she will continue to do so, if only to continue God’s work. For so it become us to fulfill all righteousness. 

Extras | 

i. COMPANION: By her side, Gadriel’s companion is a LION. I’m hearkening back to the typological tradition of depicting a martyred saint with the instruments of their demise. St. Lawrence has his grill, St. Catherine of Alexandria her spiked wheel, and so Gadriel will have her lion. 

ii. WINGS: Gadriel’s wings are clipped, but not torn from her back. Right now they don’t extend past her shoulder blades, but at once they were the most radiant, pure, white of the softest down. When they grow back, however, perhaps they will be muddled and murky.

[creepingsharia]

The Battle of Hattin: Islam’s July 4 Triumph

Saladin and King Guy after Hattin

by Raymond Ibrahim

Centuries before it was remembered as a day of Independence, July 4 was remembered as one of the most consequential days between the perennial war between Islam and Christendom — and a disaster for the latter. That story follows:

Soon after liberating the ancient Christian city of Antioch from Muslim oppression, the First Crusaders managed to realize their primary goal: take Jerusalem from Islam in 1099.

Despite all the propaganda that surrounds the conquest of Jerusalem, there were very few Muslim calls to jihad (only one is known, and it quickly fell on deaf ears).  After all, in the preceding decades, and thanks to Sunni and Shia infighting, local Muslim populations were hardly unused to such invasions and bloodbaths.

In Muslim historian Ibn al-Athir’s words, “While the Franks—Allah damn them!—were conquering and settling in a part of the territories of Islam, the rulers and armies of Islam were fighting among themselves, causing discord and disunity among their people and weakening their power to combat the enemy.”

In this context, the pure doctrine of jihad—warfare against infidels—was lost to the average Muslim, who watched and suffered as Muslim empires and sects collided.

It was only during the reign of Imad al-Din Zengi (d.1146)—a particularly ruthless Turkish warlord and atabeg of Mosul and Aleppo—and even more so under his son and successor, Nur al-Din (r.1146-1174), that the old duty of jihad was resuscitated.  They founded numerous madrasas, mosques, and Sufi orders all devoted to propagandizing the virtues of jihad and martyrdom.   Contemporary literature makes clear that Islamic zeal (or, in modern parlance, “radicalization”) reached a fever pitch during their reigns.

It was in this context that a Kurd from Tikrit emerged on the scene. Salah al-Din—the “Righteousness of Islam,” or Saladin (b. 1137)—formerly one of Nur al-Din’s viziers, conquered Fatimid (Shia) Egypt in 1171.   On his master’s death, he quickly moved and added more Muslim territories—Damascus and Aleppo—to his growing empire, thereby realizing the crusaders’ worst fear: a united Islamic front.

According to his biographer, Baha’ al-Din, Saladin was a pious Muslim—he loved hearing Koran recitals, prayed punctually, and “hated philosophers, heretics, and materialists and all opponents of the sharia.” Above all else he was a devotee of jihad:  “The sacred works [Koran, hadith, etc.] are full of passages referring to the jihad. Saladin was more assiduous and zealous in this than in anything else. . . . [H]e spoke of nothing else [but jihad], thought only about equipment for the fight, was interested only in those who had taken up arms, had little sympathy with anyone who spoke of anything else or encouraged any other activity.”

By spring of 1186, Saladin’s empire had so grown that he felt the time was right: “We should confront all the enemy’s forces with all the forces of Islam,” he told a subordinate.  Before long, the crusader kingdoms had to marshal all their forces to meet him, near Nazareth in the summer of 1187. Although Saladin had more men—approximately 30,000, half of whom were light cavalry and many of whom were slave-soldiers—the Christians, under the leadership of King Guy, had assembled the largest army since capturing Jerusalem, consisting of some 20,000 knights, including 1,200 heavy horse.

Aware that a head-on assault was futile, Saladin withdrew his forces, went to and besieged the nearby crusader kingdom of Tiberias.  Some twenty miles of stony, parched land—with no natural water sources or wells—stood between the crusader army and the besieged city. Nonetheless, on July 3, they set out to relive it.

Looking “like mountains on the march,” a Muslim chronicler remarked that the “hardened warriors” moved “as fast as if they were always going downhill,” despite being “loaded down with the apparel of war.”

On learning that the crusaders had fallen for his trap, Saladin rubbed his hands with glee: “This, indeed, is what we wished for most!” He immediately dispatched his light cavalry to harry the crusaders. Guy hurried the march: the real battle—and water—lay in Tiberias; but when swarms of Muslim archers bogged down his rear force, the king ordered the entire army to halt and fight near a parched and ominous double hill formation, known as the Horns of Hattin.

“This was on a burningly hot day,” writes a Muslim, “while they themselves were burning with wrath.” According to Ernoul, a European squire who was present:

As soon as they [Franks] were encamped, Saladin ordered all his men to collect brushwood, dry grass, stubble and anything else with which they could light fires, and make barriers which he had made all round the Christians. They soon did this, and the fires burned vigorously and the smoke from the fires was great; and this, together with the heat of the sun above them caused them discomfort and great harm. . . . When the fires were lit and the smoke was great, the Saracens surrounded the host and shot their darts through the smoke and so wounded and killed men and horses.

This continued into nightfall. No one slept; from the surrounding darkness, the Muslims, who by now “had lost their first fear of the enemy and were in high spirits,” made a great din. “They could smell victory in the air, and the more they saw of the unexpectedly low morale of the Franks the more aggressive and daring they became.” Out of the smoke-filled gloom and into the crusader camp came volley after volley of arrows, accompanied by cries of “Allahu Akbar” and triumphant iterations of the shahada, the Islamic declaration of faith.

Matters only worsened with the breaking of dawn, July 4: seventy camels laden with water and arrows had arrived to refresh and replenish the Muslim camp; and because Saladin’s archers could now see, even more precise shafts continued to rain on the crusader camp. The sadistic sultan further ordered “water pots placed near the [crusader] camp” and “then emptied in view of the Christians so that they should have still greater anguish through thirst, and their mounts too.”

Trapped like wild animals and driven to the brink of madness, the crusaders charged at their tormenters. And so, to quote Ibn al-Athir:

The two armies came to blows. The Franks were suffering badly from thirst, and had lost confidence. The battle raged furiously, both sides putting up a tenacious resistance. The Muslim archers sent up clouds of arrows like thick swarms of locusts, killing many of the Frankish horses. The Franks, surrounding themselves with their infantry, tried to fight their way toward Tiberias in the hope of reaching water, but Saladin realized their objective and forestalled them by planting himself and his army in the way.

As the battle raged, Muslim reserves “created more brushfires and the wind carried the heat and smoke down on to the enemy. They had to endure thirst, the summer’s heat, the blazing fire and smoke and the fury of battle.” Yet the desperate crusaders fought on: “Terrible encounters took place on that day,” writes another Muslim chronicler; “never in the history of generations that have gone have such feats of arms been told.”

The crusaders, who “burned and glowed in a frenzied ferment,” knew that “the only way to save their lives was to defy death,” and so “made a series of charges that almost dislodged the Muslims from their position in spite of their [greater] numbers, had not the grace of Allah been with them. As each wave of attacks fell back they left their dead behind them; their numbers diminished rapidly, while the Muslims were all around them like a circle about its diameter.”

By now the crusader army consisted of a confused mass of desperate men stumbling over the bodies of their dead; forests of prickly shafts appeared everywhere—in man, beast, and earth.  Encircled by an ever-shrinking ring of fire and Islamic horsemen, tormented by arrows and thirst, the Fighters of Christ finally succumbed.

The rout was complete, the gloating great: “This defeat of the enemy, this our victory occurred on a Saturday, and the humiliation proper to the men of Saturday [Jews] was inflicted on the men of Sunday [Christians], who had been lions and now were reduced to the level of miserable sheep,” concluded one Muslim contemporary.   In the end, single Muslim soldiers were seen dragging as many as thirty crusaders with one rope, any of whom would once have terrified the same—so maddened with thirst and reduced to delirium were the Europeans.

Saladin “dismounted and prostrated himself in thanks to Allah.”  Next he ordered the mass slaughter of the military orders—those warrior-monks most committed to the cause, the Knights Templars and Hospitallers: “With him was a whole band of scholars and Sufis and a certain number of devout men and ascetics; each begged to be allowed to kill one of them, and drew his scimitar and rolled back his sleeve. Saladin, his face joyful, was sitting on his dais” as they carved off the heads of their Christian captives.

Then “that night was spent by our people in the most complete joy and perfect delight . . . with cries of ‘Allahu Akbar’ and ‘There is no god but Allah,’ until daybreak on Sunday,” piously concluded a Muslim chronicler.

Finally, adding insult to injury, Saladin had the True Cross—for centuries Christendom’s most revered relic, which was brought by the crusaders to and captured by the Muslims at Hattin—spat upon and dragged upside down in the dirt.

For long, passersby could still see  “the limbs of the fallen cast naked on the field of battle, scattered in pieces over the site of the encounter, lacerated and disjointed, with heads cracked open, throats split, spines broken, necks shattered, feet in pieces, noses mutilated, extremities torn off, members dismembered, parts shredded, eyes gouged out, [and] stomachs disemboweled.”

Because so many professional fighting men were lost at Hattin, several vulnerable crusader kingdoms and strongholds were quickly captured by the determined sultan.  After a desperate siege that began in September, the holed-upped crusaders even surrendered Jerusalem.

Now “a great cry went up from the city and from outside the walls, the Muslims crying the Allahu Akbar in their joy, the Franks groaning in consternation and grief,” wrote the Muslim chronicler. “So loud and piercing was the cry that the earth shook….  The Koran was raised to the throne and the [Old and New] Testaments cast down,” as Saladin “purified Jerusalem of the pollution of those races, of the filth of the dregs of humanity.”

Muslims appreciated the continuity: “This noble act of conquest was achieved, after Omar bin al-Khattab [the caliph who first conquered Jerusalem in 637]—Allah have mercy on him!—by no one but Saladin, and that is a sufficient title to glory and honor.”

Note: The above account was entirely excerpted from Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West—a book that CAIR and its Islamist allies did everything they could to prevent the US Army War College from learning about it.   

[inquistior-a]

@ofrevas said   :   𝙷𝙾𝚆 𝙳𝙴𝚅𝙾𝚄𝚃 𝙸𝚂 𝙷𝙰𝙻𝚆𝚈𝙽? 𝙳𝙾 𝙷𝙸𝚂 𝙱𝙴𝙻𝙸𝙴𝙵𝚂 𝙴𝚇𝚃𝙴𝙽𝙳 𝚃𝙾 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙻𝙴𝙶𝙸𝚃𝙸𝙼𝙰𝙲𝚈 (𝙾𝚁 𝙻𝙰𝙲𝙺) 𝙾𝙵 𝙰𝙽𝙳𝚁𝙰𝚂𝚃𝙸𝙰𝙽 𝙾𝚁𝙶𝙰𝙽𝙸𝚉𝙰𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽𝚂 𝙰𝙽𝙳 𝙳𝙾𝙲𝚃𝚁𝙸𝙽𝙴? 𝙷𝙾𝚆 𝙳𝙾 𝙷𝙸𝚂 𝙴𝚇𝙿𝙴𝚁𝙸𝙴𝙽𝙲𝙴𝚂 𝚆𝙸𝚃𝙷 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙸𝙽𝚀𝚄𝙸𝚂𝙸𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽 𝙰𝙵𝙵𝙴𝙲𝚃 𝚃𝙷𝙴𝙼?

halwn believes in the maker, and considers himself andrastian---but he is certainly not devout in the way that he understands the term from childhood. he was raised in a highly religious city-state, a member of nobility in a place where devoutness is both traditional and, at a certain level, even considered fashionable. ostwick is essentially ruled by the chantry, in the sense that its laws are ruled by chantric values and its people assert their identity  (their historic non-tevinter-ism, for lack of better term)  through andrastianism. given that it is literally a tevinter city populated by a variety of transplants, many of whom have at least a few tevinter origins, the great houses use andrastianism as a way of reinforcing their adherence to the traditions of the origins of ostwick and the andrastian rebellions. basically, all good ostwick families, all the players of note, are andrastian, and if they aren’t andrastian then they aren’t really an ostwick house. there are in fact many minor houses in oswtick who remain in good social graces only because of a strong connection to the chantry that enables them to continue to access the upper echelons of of trade and resource negotiation.

halwn’s mother is a deeply devout woman, whose faith is the central focus of her life. she is from the anderfels, where the chantry is perhaps even more influential than it is in ostwick---and the advertisable devoutness of her anders family was what made her an appealing match for halwn’s father. when he was a boy, halwn can remember both a certain jealousy and a then contingent shame that followed that jealousy over the attention his mother paid the chantry vs what she paid to him. essentially, he has always known that his mother loved the maker more than she loved him. while she wasn’t cold or cruel to her children, they were something of a distraction to her dedication to her faith. the older he became, and the more he was able to understand her, he saw that his mother /needed/ religion, needed the focus of established belief and ritual, and the connection it ran in her through her own family, in order to have both structure and meaning in her life. or, at least, to distract her from the emptiness in the rest of her life. in the end, halwn questions whether his mother has ever really thought critically about what she believes, really ever considered the alternatives, and as such he sees her faith as a blind love, and therefor empty---and since it is the greatest love she has in her life, halwn sort of mourns his mother’s religion ?? though he also, as a son, would feel it cruel to ever try to take it from her, to challenge it directly, because he knows that it would be essentially removing her gravity. she is, to him, a lukewarm woman, who only had so much love to give and chose to give it all to the ritual of organized religion rather than to other people. he thinks of that as a terrible waste.

his father, on the opposite end, preforms religion as a member of the gentry in a highly religious state---because it is simply ‘what people do’, but has never shown any indication that he genuinely believes in any of it. there are things that he has said to halwn throughout his life that lead halwn to believe that his father is not a genuinely religious man, and does not actually put any stock in the lore or moral philosophy of the chantry outside of how it informs the law and serves as a basis for tradition, and even seems to look down on those who do---including his own wife. he’s a draconian man, and his religion was always a thin veneer that painted one of two extremes for halwn when it came to understanding the ‘faithful’:  one as his mother, the fragility of the mindlessly devout and unwilling or unable to sacrifice imposed surety for genuine reflection, and the other as his father, using faith as a shield and an excuse to prop up a lack of legitimate confluence with other people. either way, halwn saw religion as something that separated people, something that dehumanized the notion of love and worship.

when halwn refused to marry, his father ‘suggested’ that he join the templars---this being the only other socially acceptable way for a noble in ostwick to avoid marriage without seeming to disregard their parents’ wishes, which is really the onus of where the stigma of not marrying is placed:  on house loyalty and participation in the practice of nobility. there was a time for him when he was a boy who still wanted to please his parents that he thought that being a templar would be a heroic occupation for him, ideal since he’d get to leave, but by his early teens his disillusionment with the chantry was complete enough that he knew he could never be happy with a life centered around formal religion. he also had no idea what templars /actually/ do until he left the city. it should be noted that ostwick is highly insular and extremely ‘traditional’ in the chantric sense. the circle at ostwick is separated from the city by a narrow landbridge, the sort meant to prevent anyone from crossing unless in single-file thus making it easy to pick them off from above. mages do not enter the city walls without templar escort, and even then rarely. as a noble child, halwn would have been instructed to ignore them / not interact with them in a sense that is very much intensely classist---though he was never told this, and wouldn’t have been unless the situation presented itself, for even discussing mages was taboo among the elite houses. halwn did not actually meet a mage or witness magic at all until he left the city at 17 to serve as a knight errant in the teyrn’s name, and even then it was in passing. magick was not discussed, and political topics revolving around mages were relegated to ‘rude’ topics that were only whispered about behind close doors. magick was evil, of course, but almost presented as a non-issue, mythical, since it was understood that no one in good society was ever going to encounter it---proof of the power of the chantry, a kind of self-rewarding and self-perpetuating tactic to avoid the possibility of uncomfortable or even remotely challenging questions.

halwn is something of a natural skeptic. he’s curious, and he loves to learn, and anything rigid or dogmatic tends to darken to him on impulse. he has always been this way, and he was quite young when he realized that he didn’t believe in the same way that the people around him seemed to believe. initially, this awareness was almost guilty. all of his education, outside of the military, was preformed by teachers involved in the clergy somehow, and the amount of shame used as an educational tool in a religious education worked on him for only so long. halwn’s natural mistrust and even animosity for those who are unfailingly dogmatic comes in part from a revulsion he has for those that try to make others feel ashamed---and this revulsion is a protective impulse rooted in the fact that he is the eldest of three children, with a large gap between him and his younger siblings, and he was nine years old when he felt he had to begin silently defending his siblings from their tutors and providing them emotional support to counteract the lack left behind by their ‘religious’ parents in a devout family.

his impulse to defend people comes from this:  from the way that always conceiving of himself as a ‘we’ makes his thinking almost inherently communal, ‘this is what we’re going to do’ / ‘this is what we need’ / etc, as a lot of eldest siblings can probably identify with. in his case, this is because he wanted to provide emotionally for his siblings. this why he’s so warm, so tender, so patient, and so gentle. it’s also why he is so driven to understand, and then forgive, because they are the opposite of what his upbringing taught him, and he never felt like a real ‘part’ of his own childhood and its methods.

he was defending his siblings from their parents absence, but also from the shame and guilt-based tactics of behavioral reinforcement used by the clergy who helped to raise them.

in many ways, halwn associates the chantry with stifling, performance, and wasted lives. he has no nostalgia for the organized religion that dominated his youth, and he was happy to leave it. leaving the city to travel as a knight was the first time he felt he had his head above water. his sexuality factors into this as well, but that’s honestly another entire meta in and of itself. living in ferelden, away from his family and away from the chantry, allowed him to breathe. it should be noted that northern ferelden is a very scattered place home to many refugees, and a lot of halwn’s neighbours and those with whom he became very close with when they formed sort of a communal group during the blight were from all over thedas, and those who were andrastian worshiped in many different ways. faith did not really rise in his mind again until the blight---when he watched people of varied backgrounds / classes / races, and varied religions, comforting one another with what he perceived to be genuine religious principles. he had witnessed a lot of violence and hideousness as a knight errant, had learned more about the world outside of ostwick that way, had suffered emotionally in his early life, but it wasn’t until the blight that halwn was actually stripped of the privilege inherent in his status, though he’d lost a lot of that after being informally disinherited he was still living comfortably by world standards, still had a farm and a house and work and freedom. the blight was the first time he felt real and genuine life-or-death responsibility for other’s lives  (outside of leading a small group of knights, but even then the danger was less dire and lacked the element of despair that thickened the danger of the blight),  he was responsible for feeding people, defending people, but also for being part of a group that just mentally had to find a way to sleep through the night. it was the first time in his life since he was very young that he felt a genuine desire to pray.

the transition from seeing religion as the power-based artifice of the wealthy to finally understanding it as the thing that gets the frightened and hungry through the night is what allowed halwn to accept the part of himself that still believed, and wanted to, that allowed him to let go of the stigma of religion he developed in youth. he hasn’t practiced formally since leaving ostwick, but he never did more genuine ‘believing’ than during the blight and the tumult that followed. saying prayers over the dead, and the ones who hadn’t died, and having to practice martial law based on collective morals, returned some of the private tenderness of belief that he once felt as a child, before that feeling was corrupted.

it’s difficult to exactly quantify his beliefs, as they are partly agnostic though, as i’ve said, he does consider himself andrastian. as a leader, he doesn’t act out of a sense of duty to chantric ideals or chantric laws anymore than he acts out of a sense of duty over anything other than to try to ascertain the truth and act in the most just way possible. he has his own compass, he has since he was a child, and he balances that against as many varied opinions as he can trust to be presented to him honestly. he also doesn’t particularly like being in chantric settings---you may sometimes, particularly when he’s drinking, hear him quote the chant, and hear that tired sting of sarcasm in it, the recitation of a disillusioned youth having his knuckles whipped by a tutor, but you may also hear him quote some small part in a dark time, using the words as words, genuinely hoping to draw and give comfort. there’s a tension, certainly, between his belief and his disillusionment, and it makes being the leader of what is essentially a renegade arm of the chantry both deeply ironic and deeply appropriate for him.

[hawkbucks]

It’s AUnytime which means I finally have an excuse to post a myriad of AU’s. Dragon Age!AU because I said so and also because the 4th game is coming out and I’m very, very excited for it, I love Dragon Age so much, thanks. Also: ROGUE 4 LIFE.

Idk when this takes place, so please do not ask me hgfjdksl I’m inclined to say after Inquisition but we all know how nothing is really set in stone with me so  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Do not ask me where this takes place either, because I also don’t know. Ferelden? The Free Marches? Orlais? Nevarra? Who knows, because I certainly don’t. I said that but teyrn is a specifically Fereldan term, so they’re in Ferelden, I GUESS. Let’s pretend that Kinloch is… better (which would probably put this after Origins and sometime before Inquisition or… god, I should stop).

Anyway, basic stuuuuuuuff:

Anthony is the son of the influential teyrn Howard Stark. He comes into his magic at the age of 8 when he burns–and scars–a young Tiberius Stone after Tiberius kept harassing him. All his life, he’s grown up hearing about the dangers of magic: it’s a punishment bestowed by the Maker upon mankind for their ambition and greed. Wielders of magic are usually taken from their families when their powers manifest and brought to schools called Circles. Anthony, scared of both the implications of being imbued with magic and the very real threat of being separated from his family, flees.

‘Course, he’s 8 so he doesn’t get very far. They find him in a wheat field, scorched earth forming a circle around him. Maria begs H*ward to keep Anthony with them. She’ll find a teacher, pay them well, just please don’t let them take Anthony away. H*ward doesn’t really give a shit, though. Mage children cannot inherit land or fortune, so what’s the point of keeping Anthony? Plus, he’d be accused of nepotism and his reputation would go down the chamberpot.

He lets the Templars take Anthony away. It’s a shame, really. Anthony  has shown great prowess with an anvil and a pair of blacksmithing tools, and Howard has no doubt that Tony’s natural charisma would’ve been a great help in the court of Thedosian politics. The only thing they allow him to bring is a plush mabari that his mother bought for him when he was a wee bit younger (he named it “Dummy” and he’s refused to part with it ever). There are tears, yes, quite a bit of them. When Maria pulls away, her entire shoulder is soaked, but there really is nothing that she can do. As much as she hates H*ward’s decision, she also knew it was the only way Anthony could stay safe.

It is in the Circle that he meets one James Rhodes, the child of a fisherman and seamtress from some town near a lake whose name Anthony finds to be somewhat familiar. James is maybe a year or two older than him, and he’s the only one who didn’t scoff at him when he arrived. Plus, he helped get Dummy back from a bunch of other children who wanted to tease the new arrival. He’s also much kinder to Anthony than what Anthony would’ve expected, whether that means James giving Anthony the rest of his broth if he notices that he still looks rather hungry, or James draping another blanket around Anthony’s shoulders if he notices him shivering.

(This is, of course, thanks to the fact that James has been in the Circle for a good amount of time and he knows how crushing it can be to remain alone. In Anthony, he sees this kid who’s confused, scared, just had his blood taken to make a phylactery, and who reminds him so much of how he was like when he first came in, so he tries his best to make it better. He is far, far too young to be acting this old.)

Anthony eventually nicknames James “Rhodey,” and it sticks. However, James only lets Anthony call him that. He, in turn, nicknames Anthony “Tones.” “Tony” for something slightly shorter. They spend pretty much any moment that’s not studying or learning or sleeping with each other.

(Just adding this, but Tony is shown to be adept at Primal magic, particularly fire, while Rhodey has talent in the Force side of things.)

Also, Harrowings! Harrowings are good and not at all traumatizing! Rhodey goes through his first. He’s just sitting there, eating some nice cheese with Tony, and bam! A couple of Templars take him because the enchanters decided he was ready. Thankfully, he’s able to resist the temptation of the demon and exit. Tony, when he sees him again, admits to nearly crying because he’s heard of the Harrowing—even if he doesn’t know what it specifically entails—and he was worried for Rhodey.

When Tony is taken for his Harrowing, Rhodey just prays to the Maker that he doesn’t find his best friend Tranquil or worse: with a sword driven through his body. But it’s all good. Tony comes back.

The Templars are hardasses, and some are just downright creepy, but thankfully none of them try to antagonize Tony or Rhodey.

I do want to have Pepper in this, but I was thinking of introducing her by having Tony and Rhodey eventually leave the Circle [whether through egress or me backtracking on my previous statement of not knowing when this takes place and having it be when the Breach appears in the sky and it All Goes To Hell therefore giving Tony and Rhodey a better chance to leave and not be found out] and coming across her humble little farm. She’d be older than they are and she’d have a husband, Harold/Happy, and she’d basically take them under her wing. “You’re not put off by the fact that we’re mages?” Rhodey would ask, and she’d shake her head. “Why should I be? You’re human like the rest of us. It just happens that you both are—” she’d look at the both of them up and down, taking in their robes, their silver rings, and the staves strapped to their backs— “more… talented than others.”

As for other characters, I am considering making Steve a Templar. His mother was a devout Chantry goer, and during their trips he’d see them and think they were doing the Maker’s work. Of course, he was a child, so he didn’t really… know about how terrible Templars can be, he just thought they would help protect the mages from people that wished them harm and from themselves if need be.

The only thing about him being a Templar is that I cannot see him putting aside his morals to blindly trust the command of a superior. He can’t be that emotionally rigid. “A Templar’s obedience to the Chantry is more important than their moral center.” “Bullshit,” Steven Grant Rogers replies, throwing his sword down on the ground.

If he were to be a Templar, he’d be one of those Templars that does not stand for any other Templar’s shenanigans. He calls out everyone and anyone, whether they be a lowly recruit or the goddamn Knight-Commander. He’s got a mouth; he’s going to use it. (He’s pretty sure there’s a contingent that’s planning his assassination. He wishes them luck, because he’s rather skilled in swordplay.) He’s not going to let them stray from their duty of protecting mages and the outside world.

There’s also lyrium and all that. Which brings me to Bucky. I could also make Bucky a Templar, and… it would make sense, right? A bit? That’s where him and Steve meet, and the both of them have such strong moral compasses that they hit it off almost immediately. It’s like they’re both going “Same hat! Same hat!”

Then, at some point, Bucky leaves to visit his family and he just doesn’t come back. I’m still rough on what happens, but obviously that would be the “Winter Soldier” part of his life where either a) whoever has him drastically increases his lyrium dosage to further heighten his abilities at the expense of horrific lyrium-induced nightmares and episodes of paranoia or b) red lyrium which is infinitely more worse and you know what, nah, I can’t do this to Bucky :(

Natasha is definitely a bard. Full stop. She’s a master in deception, manipulation, espionage, and she knows her way around a blade or two. She also has a delightful singing voice. However, even with the adrenaline rush of a job done right, the thrill of being caught spiking through her veins, she can’t say that she enjoys her job. It’s just that she’s good at it and Orlesian nobles are stacked with royals.

(Another option would be her being an Antivan Crow, because it certainly is as brutal as her backstory, but I just felt like her being a bard suited her better?)

Okay, that’s it for now before this gets too big gjfdkls

[thatsadorbsyo]

LFRP: Landon Bell [Mateus]

Basic Information:

Full Name: Landon Bell Gender: Male Age: 23 Race: Midlander Hyur Birthplace: Tailfeather Current Residence: Ishgard

General Character Info:

Sexual Orientation: Straight? (emphasis on the ?) Relationship Status: Single Occupation: Temple Knight, Ranch hand Notable Features: Very pale (well-healed) parallel slash scars across his face, mainly along the cheeks and the bridge of his nose. When not in his armor, he dresses in functional clothes made with simple peasant fabrics in pale or low saturation colors. Physical Appearance: 5′11″, 220 ponze, with pale skin, short blonde hair, blue eyes, and dense freckles. He has a broad and well-muscled frame from years of manual labor, but he isn’t toned and lacks obvious definition in most places. Further sets of parallel scarring along his torso, though redder and less well-healed. Personality: First impressions of Landon tend to be Boy Next Door meets Choir Boy meets Good Ol’ Boy. He’s grounded, physically inclined, and a bit salt-of-the earth. Naive and trusting, though interpersonally guarded. Friendly aura, blank face, subtle sense of humor. Self-effacing.

Hooks:

Congregation of Our Knights Most Heavenly: Landon joined the Temple Knights in the final few years of the Dragonsong War, and saw a fair degree of combat with Dravanians. He also did grunt work protecting Ishgard proper when he wasn’t actively deployed. Any character who is linked to the Temple Knights or Holy See could have a reason to have engaged with him in this context. Alternatively, he may have had a run-in with your civilian or heretic character during guard duty!

Chocobo Rancher: Growing up in Tailfeather with his father and stepmother, Landon spent his youth working around chocobos (mostly cleaning up after them--it was not glamorous work). The Bell family is pledged to a noble house and performs chocobo husbandry and training in service to them. Characters who live or spend significant time in Tailfeather or who are in the chocobo business may know his family. Landon also currently does grunt labor for the various chocobo stables in Ishgard, so a connection could be made there too.

Halonic Devotion: Pious and devout, Landon spends a great deal of time in St. Reymanaud’s Cathedral and attends regular services. He has a pipe dream of joining the Scholasticate and taking a more formal step toward deepening his devotion, but he can’t currently afford the tuition, even if he wasn’t struggling with religious self-doubt. Halonic scholars, clergy of the See, and other habitual worshipers will likely know his face.

Spiritual Cleansing (18+): Landon suffers from nightmares and insomnia, which he believes are a result of some personal moral failure, and he is actively seeking guidance from a spiritual authority. While I’m eager to do general religious guidance RP with any appropriate character, I’m also specifically interested in seeking some dark and adult themes that bridge the gap between spirituality and sexuality (primarily, but not limited to, bondage/discipline, submission, and religious shame). This would heavily depend on his chemistry with the other character, and I’m likely to be fairly selective about who I roleplay this with! Although erotic in theme and nature, this does not have to explicitly include sex. All genders are appropriate.

Ishgardians: While I realize I’m tying my own hands with this, I’m trying to roleplay Landon as a character who doesn’t venture into the other city-states very often (and when he does, it’s almost always Gridania). As such, I am extremely fucking thirsty for Ishgardians-in-Ishgard RP! If you play an Ishgardian and you like what you’re seeing here, please reach out to me! I’m happy to put our heads together and come up with a contrivance for why our characters might run into each other. If all else fails, Landon frequents both the bar and the pew.

Sex (18+): I like ERP, but Landon is one of my tougher nuts to crack (no... pun... intended). He’s likely to eschew anyone’s attempts to date him, although at heart he’s a romantic and desires to be intimate with people. He’s not shy or timid, he’s just a bit closed off. Give it a shot! The worst that can happen is that he says ‘no’ too abruptly and then gets embarrassed and never talks to you again because he feels guilty about bluntly turning down your sexual advances. So, hey, no pressure.

Heresy: Landon isn’t (currently) a heretic, but you might be. ;) No spoilers for this one! Open-ended. Just fuck me up, dude.

OOC:

Server: Mateus/Crystal DC Timezone: EST Type of RP: Action/adventure, sex and relationships, fumbling and ineffective romance, military, spiritual/religious, dark/mature themes, plot-driven, ERP (18+ only). [A note: I like my “dark” RP to be primarily rooted in and the result of realistic human flaws and shittiness as opposed to cartoonishly or villainously grimdark.] Contact: thatsadorbsyo#6895 on Discord, or Tumblr message.

[twitchesandstitches]

twitchy mass effect squad thoughts: 2

Kasumi Goto: It’s hard to get a read on her, but she’s a ton of fun; I genuinely like her a fair amount, and she definitely sticks out of the cast. Not the least because as she admits in the third game, she’s out of place in a squad of commandos. I can honestly see her as a support member, in all honesty.

Grunt: This giant super soldier is Shepard’s son. She has a family, it’s Garrus and her adopted krogan son. Grunt is fascinating to me for his very understated character arc of going from a bloody-minded berserker, to... well, a berserker, but one who wants a REASON to fight, a purpose to live for. Being born in a tank and educated in visions, he has no real attachment to anything and he feels lost; Shepard gives him a purpose and its really good watching him grow.

Thane Krios: I just, I love this guy so much. He gives me big Nightcrawler vibes; A religiously devout and sincerely compassionate man. Him being an assassin doesn’t take it away for me, as the hanar don’t seem particularly cruel about employing him. (The hanar are chill.) HE’s genuinely got some of the most badass moments in the game, for how understated they are, and he evokes some of the biggest teary moments for me; dying from sickness, working to make the universe brighter in his last days. he was my first romance in mass effect, and I’m still brough to emotional compromise by the letter he wrote to Shepard as a last testimony. “I will wait for you by the sea.”

Jack: remember when I said ‘most of the humans in this game are kinda boring’? Jack is one of the big, BIG exceptions to that, though I have a hard time befriending her because I can’t be mean in this game. She’s a loud, rough, tough and fundamentally broken woman who is the biggest example of how horrifically evil Cerberus really is, having been kidnapped as a baby and experimented on her entire life; her turnaround into a protective teacher and reformed figure in 3 is genuinely an amazing change for her, given her life of violence.

Miranda Lawson: I will be straight forward; for the most part, I really DON’T like Miranda, and I don’t care for how popular she is in the fandom. She is the 2nd in command of Cerberus, and endorses it wholeheartedly for most of the 2nd game, and this makes her a human supremacist by default, so I automatically have a great loathing of that. Her constant excuses for the worst of Cerberus’ horrors is grating, though I like her more in the 3rd game, when she becomes a lot more responsible and less ‘humanity first’. (I also think her fanservice-y ness is really weird and at odds with her character, though i attribute it to Cerberus having weird uniforms.)

Legion: MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE CHARACTER IN THE ENTIRE SERIES, AND I AM NOT KIDDING AT ALL. Legion is absolutely the entire reason I got into this series at all; I am not even kidding. I prefer to call this robot buddy ‘they’, since they are literally a plurality of many small minds in unison; I’m not very happy with the 3rd game treating Legion becoming an individuality as personhood because they were already a person; different does not mean lesser, yknow. I love Legion for being one of the most moral and ethical people, in their own strange way, and reading between the lines, it paints the image of someone who greatly regrets the deaths of the war with the geth’s makers, while at the same time resenting the quarians a lot for what they did. I totally interpret Legion as an abused child at the hands of the quarians, hating their makers but at the same time longing to understand WHAT they did to make their creators stop loving them.

Zaeed Masani: He’s entertaining, for sure, though his moral ambiguity makes him... questionable, to say the least! His thoughts on revenge, hate and retribution really do speak to me, but he’s not in my list of favs. It says a lot that him being against torture is honestly surprising.

Samara: why isn’t SHE the fanservice icon of the series. But seriously, I love Samara lot; if I had a proper list of favorite characters in the series, she’d be at the top five, most likely. She’s a paladin-archetype, absolutely devoted to her code of honor while being willing to look beyond the letter, and willing to do what must be done; her story is deeply tragic, and she’s one of my favorite characters. Also, she’s an actual MILF; im surprised she’s not more popular.

Morinth: I’ve never actually played with her, because you have to murder Samara to get her, and FUCK THAT. But I do have some opinions on her as a character, and these are them: she’s a terrible person, and her reasons for being a mass murderer are insufficient. Let’s not beat around the bush here; she’s a sadistic serial killer, a sexual predator. and she relishes in the kill. Yeah, she’s like that because she is an ardat-yakshi, but its one thing for her to flee the monatstaries; its another for her to have such an astronmically high body count. she didn’t NEED to kill anyone, she just wanted to do it to make herself feel good, and I insist she absolutely deserved getting her head squashed like a melon.

Mordin: Mordin reminds me of me; I am not even kidding at all, I genuinely talk like he does. (I have the speed and lack of focus of Mordin, and the detached, straightforward speaking fashion of Rogal Dorn from Text To Speech.) He’s a really interesting look into the salarians, and similar to Wrex and Garrus, he’s largely critical of their broader practices. He’s also notable in having participated in updating the genophage, keeping the krogan trapped in their slow rot, and his character development from someone who fully endorses it, to someone willing to die to atone for his sins, is a really striking thing. His loyalty mission is deeply affecting, with the quiet moment in the hospital and the corpses of dead women who let themselves be experimented on just for the hope of curing what he did to them, fanatical krogan driven to madness by despair... because of what he allowed to keep happening. Mordin’s soft words hinting at his remorse and doubt genuinely get me teary eyed.

Jacob: I’m one of the few people to have actually said this, I think... but I actually LIKE Jacob. Specifically, I like him for a lot of reasons that other people don’t; he’s straightforward, honest, doesn’t let his feelings get in the way of his duties, stays on track and does his job. I like him more than Miranda as it’s made clear that he is NOT a supporter of it’s motives, and is largely making use of its resources to do things with expedience, and seems to be working as an internal affairs, chipping away at its corruption. (He loses points for being mean to Legion and Thane, though.)

[secular-jew]

Zio Upbringings and Kvetchings in the Trumpian era

Zio Upbringings and Kvetchings in the Trumpian era.

I'm an American Jew who has does not suffer from moral wavering. I'm also an American Reform Jew that is neither Kashrut nor Kosher-observant.

My synagogue growing up was located in the the Boston suburbs, nestled amidst Protestant communities and dotted with Jews who somehow landed a port shy of Ellis Island. Attended shul almost exclusively during important Holidays and Hebrew school weekends through Bar-Mitvah.

At the age of 10, I remember the start to the Soviet-armament-supplied multilateral Arab-state war against Israel, a Pearl-Harbor style event lasting three harrowing weeks and almost wiping Israel off the map.

Word spread fast to reach North American Jews some 5,500 miles (8,800 kms) to the west. I remember hearing the tragic news Saturday morning during Yom Kippur services. The attack occupied 100% of the Sermon delivered by our Rabbi, who was known as Moses because he actually looked and spoke like Moses. He worried aloud that this could portend the end of our homeland, but concluded that the spark of Zionism was eternal: something that could never be extinguished by modern would-be colonizers. This thought that resonated deeply inside my soul.

This was thankfully a war that Israel survived, but was also a battle that Golda Meir ultimately lost, as she resigned just 1 month following her Labor Party's 1974 election win. Remember her final words as Israel's leader: "I have reached the end of my road."

My first physical intersection with Israel occurred in my late teens and early 20's, when I visited extensively what was the modern chapter of an 4,000-year old ancient Jewish story. Exploring 1979-1982 Israel meant stints to some obvious places; Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv, Haifa, Jaffa, Tiberius, and Eilat, Sinai (including a climb up/down Mt Sinai), the northern Golan Heights, the donut-hole known as Hebron, and the Dome of the Rock, the Jew's oldest extant relic. This is the place where Abraham is said to submitted to God's request that he sacrifice his son. Strange how this shrine has now submitted to a colonialist Islamic overlord.

Then came the Kibbutz experience, which meant living the communal lifestyle in Lower Galilee, sleeping on cots in the international guest quarters, up at 4:30am transported out to the fields, and picking pears until it got so hot, you felt like you were standing on the side of the sun.

All well worth the effort as the work day ended around lunch, at which point, we ate a lot of hummus and squeezed copious quantities of ruby-red Israeli grapefruits chilling in large stainless steel refrigerators. After lunch, we cooled down in the community pool, and in the evenings, hung with our Israeli contemporaries while listening to Bob Marley or the Doors, and smoking hashish for the first time. These are two experiences that transcended culture. I felt so at home, and even gained a Sabra girlfriend by the name of Rachel רָחֵל‎ (pictured).

In short, what I considered to be a typical Reform Jewish-American upbringing. (Or American-Jewish?)

Fast forward to present political leanings. Raised a JFK-liberal (liberal in its true meaning; rooted in idea-tolerance and acceptance of diverse views).

As a middle-schooler, I recollect being enamored by McGovern, although not sure exactly how or why. We were all indoctrinated into believing Nixon (one of the greatest friends to Israel, not something I had any clue about) was innately evil. Looking back at that period now, my political stylings appear to have been crafted mainly by academia, the news media, and my peers - all who seemed driven by a sanitized, 1980's version of TDS that could have been called: 'Nixon Derangement Syndrome.'

Once legal age, I was a 'de rigeur' Democrat, which thankfully lasted only a few short minutes. Not able to cast a vote in the 1976 election, I remember nonetheless favoring Jimmy Carter, a folksy down-to-earth ex-peanut-farmer who seemed very popular in the state of Massachusetts where I grew up. Carter morphed into nothing less than a clueless and spineless "progressive" who oversaw the dismantling of principled American leadership.

In high school, a few of us in the dormitory got to stay up late every night to watch "The Iran Crisis–America Held Hostage: Day "xxx" (where xxx represented the number of days that Iranians held the occupants of our U.S. Embassy hostage). The only TV in the building was located in the dorm-masters living room. I watched sitting next to my hall-mate Abdullah Hussein, the same person who became the King of Jordan and who sits on the Hashemite apartheid throne today. We had many discussions in which I defended Israel and lauded her accomplishments in defeating Arab imperialism, while Abdullah retorted with accusations of Jewish occupation and bloodlust at Deir Yassin. I did not have enough knowledge of the incident or of earlier examples of Arab genocide (such as the Hebron massacre and other Jewish genocides) to counter-punch effectively.

During my college years, I tended towards Democrat "moral" policies and candidates, until that goofy Georgian came along. At first, I naively admired Carter's straightforward folksy persona. But eventually, the President’s peanut incompetence drove me to #WalkAway from a party-lone Democrat.

I was proud of myself for making an independent decision (pun intended) and have little idea if any of my peers followed suit, but suffice to say, I have voted forcefully against Democrats up and down the ticket pretty much ever since, with a few exceptions. I consider Trump an pragmatic Independent masquerading as a Republican, not dissimilar to Democrat Bloomberg - who as Mayor of NYC masqueraded as a Republican.

Much as my odium for Carter drove me to #Jexit and advocate for Reagan, my contempt for Obama's virulently anti-America values drove me to become a self-assertive 'deplorable.' Between Reagan and Trump, every other voting-booth decision appeared to present itself as largely a Hobson's choice between a lesser of two evils.

Although Trump possesses virtually no tact and represents the antithesis of my personal style, I appreciate the skill and speed with which he accomplishes things, from building tall luxury residential condos -- to creating a global brand, to the refurbishment of Wolman's Rink in Central Park. His support of Israel, unlike his predecessors, is legion, documented, and consistent. Trump not only moved the Embassy to its rightful place, not only installed an incredible Ambassador, not only praises Israel at every turn, he constantly rebukes Israel's enemies (who should be everyone's enemies). I love that Israel renamed the Golan Heights in his honor. It's almost better than getting the Rec Room in the Ft. Lauderdale condo named after someone rich in your extended family.

Today? There's no political party for me. The Democrats are a shrill hodgepodge of looney-tunes and ill-tolerant blabbermouths who are given way too much airtime on CNN and what I now call MSLSD (aka, MSDNC).

In terms of policy, On social issues like marriage equality, I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Liberal. On local/national fiscal issues, I'm a decided Conservative. On international affairs, I'm a Hawk who majored in International Relations while attending Sciences-Po in Paris (an excuse to massively inhale croque-monsieurs) and firmly believe the US had relevant ethical global leadership responsibilities, a mantle given up by Europe. This meant leading from the front, not from behind. My philosophy became characterized by the notion that appeasement of tyrannies led by autocrats or theocrats was a policy doomed to failure, proven again and again throughout every civilization. Appeasement in the face of aggression has led to more death and destruction, and more insecurity, not less.

It's becoming evident, sadly, that history promises to repeat. Why? This seems to happen in a matter of a few generations. Case in point: Millennials (aka snowflakes) who are too far removed from the trauma of warfare to comprehend evil. Millennials steeped and indoctrinated in re-written and falsified academic narratives. Millennials who virtue signal intolerantly through the lens of victimization. The generation that seems to have lost a sense of moral courage and severed any emotional ties to the 'never-forget' tragedies that are meant to not be forgotten.

My thoughts on our homeland:

I'm a devout 2-state (Israel-Jordan) Zionist as per the 1917 Balfour Declaration and affirmed by the 1920 San Remo Conference (attended by Chaim Weizmann). I see Israel as an inherently Jewish state in its DNA, but which is secular in its jurisprudence.

Next year in Jerusalem.

[wisdomrays]

THE WORLD AWAITED

When we ponder great historical events we can see that thought and action live within one another, that they are interlaced in togetherness; action is, on the one side, planned and fed by thought, while on the other side, new efforts and ventures build the grounds or foundations for new thoughts and projects. In this sense, thought can be seen to be the sky and the rain, the atmosphere and the air for action, while action can be seen to be the container and the flowerpot, the soil and the power of vegetative growth for thought. It cannot be wrong to assume such reciprocity. For every venture is the realization of some thought and plan; every thought is a beginning and a process of finding its true framework and reaching for its target by directing actions toward it. The first stage of willpower is an inner inclination and the last stage is decision, determination, and effort; in this process thought is like the strands of the warp and the weft, from the beginning to the end, and conscious activities are like the patterns and the lace that is woven over those strands. Actions without thought and planning result mostly in fiasco and disorder; thoughts without actions prevent the construction of models—considered to be the latest dimension of thinking—and also damage the spirit of the willpower.

Returning to the present day, not only have the rays of thought been prevented from illuminating all sections of society, but willpower has also been completely paralyzed, representation has been excluded from the system and anarchy has been allowed to kill action. The unfortunate movements of the century have driven the masses from one depression to another, and dragged them into one disorder after another. The masses, in the hands of selfish, greedy, and ambitious souls, have been misled, paralyzed, and confused, and have tottered hither and thither, constantly exploited. Despite all these excuses, we reluctantly can see that the people of today have not yet matured enough to be able to move their own hearts and mental powers, and we say "and yet a bit more. . ." to rid ourselves of the weaknesses in our natural disposition, to strengthen our willpower, to feed our beliefs and to ripen them, and to eradicate all sorts of hopelessness and skepticism from our souls; and also, of course, first of all, to save ourselves from the "Western" shock, we again say "a bit more."

From the industrial revolution in the past to the technological advance of the present day, almost everything has produced shock after shock, creating many complications for us; moreover, the misinterpretation of "scientism" and the flightiness and inconstancy of modernism have largely confused our minds and blurred our vision. Unfortunately, it is highly likely that such weakness and shocks will continue for some time, and our delirious speeches in our somnambulism will apparently persist, and so only God knows how many more years we shall have to bear such a state. We have to and we will endure, for we are conscious of the fact that in order for a society that has been so shocked and shaken to recuperate, come to itself, and to settle its account with the age, disciplined and positive action over a long period of time is needed; like the living patience of corals, a disciplined and active movement that is like the tranquility and constancy of incubation.

After such waiting and action, I truly believe that we will revive and contribute to the betterment and advancement of the world. However, in order to enact such a process we should raise people of great willpower who will give the people of today the newest spirit, people with the profundity of Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, the breadth of Imam Ghazali, the devoutness of Imam Rabbani, the love and enthusiasm of Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi, and the comprehensiveness; and who may thus prepare for the people of today fresh ground on which to live. However, it is a fact that we need the time, the conditions and the opportunity to raise such people and thus to break the waves of depression which have been crushing thought and intuition for ages, and to allow the breezes of a mountain to blow into the souls of people. Of course, it goes without saying that we need to conquer ourselves, to repair the mechanism of our souls and restore our world of the heart, feelings, and thoughts as well. Otherwise, as we are unable to raise "the cavalry of light," who will help us to reach the fountain of Khidr? As we remain closed to our own values and as long as we, concerning our spiritual systems, live disorientedly, it will not be possible for us to go further and make progress; this has been the case so far. On this issue, we do not need to look for enemies outside, for our enemy is within ourselves, and is watching our misery and vagrancy from his own palace, legs crossed and sniggering at us under his breath.

If we are to produce a strategy for jihad, then this jihad should aim to eradicate the ruthless and faithless enemies enthroned in our hearts, our world has in fact been blockaded for ages by no other than these very enemies. Our people have not been able to raise this fatal blockade and come to themselves, nor to become themselves. Our nation has been like a strange focal point of diverse communities, traditions, and cultures; it has always been a sample of disorder and disorientation and has never pulled itself together, as if it were a victim of thought riven by conflicting allegiances to so many nations, tribes, understandings, and idols; it has knelt to so many false gods at the same time, renewing its solemn oaths before so many false deities everyday. It was so, for, in that unfortunate period, our people never believed that any of the ideas were complete or right. Though it has lived in so many intellectual and ideological cross-currents, our nation has never been able to be completely in or of any of them.

Who knows how many great ideas remained merely latent and inapplicable to life, and what serious projects were trapped and destroyed because of the vague, blurred view of those with myopic vision then? For, in their view, the meaning borne by things and events and the interrelations of humanity, the universe, life, and science are insignificant and meaningless things, not worth dwelling on. Of them, they claimed that we know only what we know about existence; as to what we do not know, this will be solved by the understanding of someone else in the future anyway. Everything is measured, formed, and resolved by their fixed ideas. They can, as the need arises, by showing a world of wrongs to be right and rights to be wrong, go on keeping science, research, and knowledge under the injunctions of their own beliefs and dogmas; and, as if they had even witnessed the whole of creation and its stages from time immemorial, they can brag and swagger in such an assured manner and sell certain hypotheses fait accompli.

If there is no truth to be believed in, if no idea is worth believing or accepting, then what distinguishes existence from chaos? In a world where such an understanding prevails, how can a community be protected from relativism on even improbable matters? Will not the masses steeped in relativism accept what is most true and what is most untrue only to the degree that they accept its opposite? Of course, if such an understanding becomes widespread, everything, from the concept of goodness/badness to the consideration of moral/immoral, will be influenced by relativism. Today, what we need as a nation is a character which is activated by consciousness, realization, and responsibility, a character which is thoughtful in future plans and projects as well as in attitudes and actions concerning the necessities and requirements of today, and which is sincere and uplifted, but balanced; we need a character of thought and spirit which is open to all existence through the heart, one whose mind is cultivated and prosperous, and conscious of knowledge, one who always knows how to renew itself once more, one who is always after order and regularity, and which is quick to repair any damage.

A person of such character will always run from victory to victory. Not, however, in order to ruin countries and set up capitals on the ruins, but rather to move and activate humane thoughts, feelings, and faculties, to strengthen us with so much love, affection, and benevolence that we will be able to embrace everything and everybody, to restore and repair ruined sites, to blow life into the dead sections of society, to become the blood and life and thus flow within the veins of beings and existence and to make us feel the vast pleasures of existence. With all that such a person has, they are a man of God and as His vicegerent they are always in contact with the creation. All their acts and attitudes are controlled and supervised. Everything they do, they do as if it were to be presented for His inspection; they feel by what He feels; they see by His look; they derive their way of speech from His Revelation; they are like the dead man in the hands of the ghassal before His Will; their greatest source of power is their awareness of their own weakness, inability, and poverty before Him, and they always try to do their utmost, and not to make a mistake in order to make the best use of that endless treasure.

They are also people of enormous self-accounting and self-control; good and bad, beauty and ugliness are as distinct and ordered within their own places in the mirror of their soul as day and night, light and darkness; all their powers of will, heart, consciousness, and perception are bent on attaining the mechanism of conscience and the highest aims related to and incumbent upon the faculties which compose conscience; knowing "the Almighty Creator's 'atiyya (gifts, bounties) are carried only (by) the matiyyas (the beasts of burden)," in the way responsibility is carried by the willpower, and love by the heart, with the connection and exchange of information between consciousness and existence, and between consciousness and the mysteries behind the veil of existence, with their senses perceiving the absolute truth, without or beyond any manner and measure, without or beyond any quality and quantity, and with their knowledge that places them some steps ahead of the angels, they feel closeness to God.

Regarding their own individual life, their eyes are always on the horizon of being an exemplary person; in the pursuit of excellence they are neck and neck with the saints and sincere friends of God; they are inexpressibly attentive, meticulous, subtle, and particular in fulfilling and representing God's commands. All their attributes, such as their heroic determination to live true Islam, their reaction to the things God does not love, their fearlessness, intrepidity, and perseverance in the way of realizing the precepts of their faith, are beyond our conception or imagination.

Moreover, the enormous breadth of their collective feeling, the depth of their being a person of Truth and simultaneously a fellow of the common person, their love for God and for the creation because of Him, and their ascetic love, joyful zeal, interest and concerns are beyond all measure and expression.

Such a person is indeed, above all, a person of other worldly knowledge and other worldly duty. What we understand by other worldly duty merits a separate discussion.

[basicsofislam]

ISLAM 101: The Position of Good Character in Islam: Part 1

1. The perfection of noble character was one of the most important objectives of the Prophet’s mission

Allah ﷻ says, “It is He who raised up among the unlettered [Arabs] a Messenger from them to recite His verses to them and purify them and teach them the Book and Wisdom, even though before that they were clearly misguided.” (Soorat Al-Jumu‛ah, 62:2)

This verse reveals one of the favors Allah ﷻ has bestowed on the believers, stating that He has sent them His Messenger, Muhammad ﷺ, to teach them the Qur’an and to purify them. Purification can only be attained by purging one’s heart from such imperfections as associating others with Allah in worship, having a bad moral character like hatred and jealousy and ridding one’s speech and deeds of all forms of evil practices. The Prophet ﷺ once declared, “I have been sent to the perfect noble character.” (Sunan Al-Bayhaqee: 21301)

This statement makes it clear that one of the reasons behind the Prophet’s mission was to elevate and perfect the moral character of the individual and society at large.

2. A noble character is part and parcel of faith and belief

The perfection of noble character was one of the most important objectives of the Prophet’s mission.

When asked about the best of the believers, the Prophet ﷺ replied, “They are those who have the best character and manners.” (Sunan At-Tirmidhee: 1162; Sunan Abu Daawood: 4682)

In fact, the Qur’an uses the comprehensive Arabic word birr to refer to faith. As the Qur’an states, “Righteousness (birr) does not lie in turning your faces [during prayer] to the East or to the West. Rather, those with true devoutness are the ones who believe in Allah, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the Prophets…” (Soorat Al-Baqarah, 2:177)

The word birr is a rather comprehensive term which includes all forms of righteousness, in word and deed. It is for this reason that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Righteousness (birr) is good character.” (Saheeh Muslim: 2553)

This becomes clear in the Prophet’s declaration: “Faith (eemaan) has sixty odd branches. The uppermost of all these is the Testimony of Faith: Laa ilaaha illallaah (There is no god worthy of worship except Allah) while the least of them is the removal of a harmful object from the road. Shyness is a branch of faith.” (Saheeh Muslim: 35)

3. Noble character permeates all acts of worship

Every time Allah commands the believers to perform an act of worship, He draws their attention to its moral significance or its positive effect on the individual and society. Examples of this are numerous and include the following: The Prayer: “Establish the prayer, for the prayer restrains from shameful and unjust deeds.” (Soorat Al-‛Ankaboot, 29:45).

The Obligatory Charity Payment (Zakaat): “Take zakaat from their wealth to purify and cleanse them with it.” (Soorat At-Tawbah: 9:103) Besides showing kindness and giving comfort to people, zakaat refines benefactor’s character and purges it from evil practices. 

Fasting: O You who believe, fasting has been prescribed for you just as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may remain conscious of Allah.” (Soorat Al-Baqarah: 183) 

This verse makes it abundantly clear that the foremost objective of fasting is to realise the consciousness of Allah by obeying His commands and avoiding all words and deeds He has prohibited. As the Prophet ﷺ said, “ Whoever does not abandon false speech and false conduct, then Allah has no need of his abandoning of food and drink.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree: 1804)

Therefore, if fasting fails to effect a change in one’s character and dealings with others, it will by no means serve its real purpose.

4. The immense rewards Allah ﷻ has in store for those who observe good character Textual proofs from the Qur’an and the Sunnah to this effect are numerous, including the following:

Good character will be the heaviest righteous deed to be placed on a person’s scale of deeds on the Day of Judgement. The Prophet ﷺ said, “No deed that will be placed on the scale of deeds [on the Day of Judgement] will be heavier than good character. Indeed, a person with good character will attain the rank of those with a good record of voluntary fasts and prayers.” (Sunan At-Tirmidhee: 2003)

 It is the very deed that will lead people to enter Paradise the most. When the Prophet ﷺ was asked about which act leads people to enter Paradise the most, he replied, “Piety and good character.” (Sunan At-Tirmidhee: 2004; Sunan Ibn Maajah: 4246)

Of all people, those who have good character will be the closest to the Prophet ﷺ on the Day of Judgement.

The Prophet ﷺ said, “The dearest to me among you and the nearest to me on the Day of Judgement are those who have the best character.” (Sunan At-Tirmidhee: 2018)

The Prophet ﷺ guarantees a house in the highest part of Paradise to those who have good character: “I guarantee a house in the surroundings of Paradise for those who give up arguing, even if they are in the right; and I guarantee a house in the middle of Paradise for those who abandon lying even when joking; and I guarantee a house in the highest part of Paradise for those who have good character and manners.” (Sunan Abu Daawood:

Distinguishing Features of Noble Character in Islam

Noble character in Islam is characterized by unique qualities which distinguish it from all other faiths, including the following

1. A noble character is not confined to a particular type of people

Almighty Allah has made people into different shapes, colors, and languages. They are all equal in His sight, and no one has an advantage over another except in piety and noble conduct, as the Qur’an states, “O mankind, We have created you of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes that you may know one another; verily, the most honorable of you, in the sight of Allah, is the most pious of you.” (Soorat Al-Hujuraat, 49:13)

Indeed, noble character characterizes Muslims’ relationship with all members of society: There is no difference whatsoever between rich and poor, black and white, Arab and non-Arab, or a prince and a pauper.

How to Treat Non-Muslims

Allah ﷻ commands us to show kindness and courtesy to everyone without exception, for justice, kindness and mercy are aspects of good character which a Muslim observes in his words and deeds with Muslims and non-Muslims alike. A Muslim ought to embody good character traits as a means to call others to this great religion of Islam.

The Qur’an says, “Allah does not forbid you from being good to those who have not fought you on account of your religion or driven you from your homes, or from being just towards them. Allah loves those who are just.” (Soorat Al-Mumtahinah, 60:8)

Allah only forbids us to make friends with those belligerent non-Muslims who fight us because of our religion. He also forbids us to admire their way of life which clearly upholds unbelief and polytheist practices, as the Qur’an states, “Allah only forbids you respecting those who made war upon you on account of [your] religion, and drove you forth from your homes and backed up [others] in your expulsion, that you make friends with them. Whoever takes them for friends are wrongdoers.” (Soorat Al-Mumtahinah, 60:9)

2. A noble character is not confined only to human beings

Good Treatment of animals

The Prophet ﷺ once mentioned that a woman deserved punishment in Hellfire because of a cat that she had restrained and left it to starve to death. He also mentioned the story of a man whom Allah had forgiven after giving a thirsty dog some water to drink: “A woman entered Hellfire because of a cat which she had tied, neither giving it food nor setting it free to eat from the vermin of the earth.”(Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree: 3140; Saheeh Muslim: 2619)

He also said, “While a man was walking along a road, he became very thirsty and he found a well. He lowered himself into the well, drank and came out. Then he saw a dog panting and eating mud because of excessive thirst. The man said,‘This dog has become exhausted from thirst in the same way as I.’ He lowered himself into the well again and filled his shoe with water and gave the dog some water to drink. Allah thanked him for his good deed and forgave him.” The people asked, “Messenger of Allah! Is there a reward for us in serving these animals?” “Yes,” he replied, “There is a reward for serving every living thing.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree: 5663; Saheeh Muslim: 2244).

Preservation of the environment

Islam urges its adherents to safeguard the environment.

Islam instructs us to make the world a better place by utilizing the earth's natural resources to build a civilization and engage in development and production for the general welfare of mankind, while at the same time trying to preserve such resources and prevent others from abusing or unnecessarily wasting them. Corruption in all its forms and by whatever means it may be caused is frowned upon in Islam and abhorred to the Creator Himself, as the Qur’an states, “Allah does not like corruption.” (Soorat Al-Baqarah, 2:205)

In fact, Islam is so concerned about this issue that it goes as far as to direct its adherents to do righteous deeds and engage in such things as cultivating the land even in times of great turmoil and under terrifying circumstances, such as the Day of Judgement. As the Prophet ﷺ once instructed, “If the Day of Judgement takes place [and you recognise the Event], while a man is holding a palm-tree seedling [to plant in the soil], let him, if he can, plant it.” (Musnad Ahmad: 12981)

[shieldingfaith]

Headcanon: The Church of Aelfric

DISCLAIMER: I’m not going to go into large detail of how I have come to form these headcanons based on religion and culture. It would take soooo long. Please just trust me because I have a college degree in Classical Studies and Creative Writing and I do a lot of analysis work.

ORIGINS

The Church of Aelfric is said to have been founded in the Frostlands because that is where the God went when disguised in a mortal form. Legend has it that Aelfric was disguised as a kind beggar and gave blessings to those who passed by, and that this beggar was then taken in by some penniless, but devout, priests. After Aelfric revealed their divine form and blessed the priests, they are said to have founded the Church of Aelfric.

STRUCTURE

The Church is structured in two branches. The Clerical Order and the Knights Ardante. These two branches function independently, with regional Archbishops being the highest leader for cathedrals and Generals Ardante being the highest commanders for the Paladin Order. 

While the Knights Ardante do not have a specific base of operations, they do tend to function out of the cathedrals and are always provided with housing and resources there. Many Knights Ardante travel, though, so it is only high-level commanding officers who can be regularly found at the cathedrals as points of communication.

Both branches of Aelfric’s Order keep in close contact with each other. The Clerical Order were the original founders and act as leaders of morality and spirituality in Orsterra. The Knights Ardante were founded a few centuries after the Church began, when the faith was strong, but war and in-fighting had driven the continent to chaos. The first Knights Ardante were made up of devout clerics who knew that they would be able to do more good for others if they acted as protectors instead of healers, creating the Paladin Order. The Knights Ardante then became an established military group which acts as defenders of the Church, protectors of all citizens in need, and unbiased investigators who can find the truth with eyes unclouded by politics.

The two branches of Aelfric function independently in each region, but they are in constant communication and consultation with one another. They act as external checks and balances so that no order can become misguided (at least in theory). The Knights Ardante will investigate and hold trial if a Cleric is suspected or accused of crimes, and the Clerical Order does the same if a Knight is called into question. Both orders agree, though, that if the Gods should ever return to Orsterra, both will bow and defer to Aelfric’s voice and judgment above their own.

VOWS

Vows for both orders are very similar. While few things are ever strictly forbidden or required, the vows of Aelfric are more like personal dedications to strive for greater purpose and to assist those in need. But here are the tenants of the vows:

To dedicate yourself to the betterment of your community, yourself, and the church through acts of kindness, charity, and peace.

To guide those who are lost and always offer the needy a safe place to rest.

To live without excess. (NOTE: this is not a vow of poverty, but a vow of not-excessive-wealth, b/c the idea of it is that if you have excessive amounts of anything, then you could and should be donating more to your community and neighbors)

To don the mantle of your order every day that you are able.

To study the written works of the church and recite prayers to the gods every day that you are able.

To always offer protection and help before accusing.

To only act in violence when in defense of yourself or others.

To aid your fellow orders in their tasks.

To maintain Aelfric’s holy flame and ensure that its light never goes out.

All members of the church and the knight order are allowed to marry, have sex, have children, drink, and even resign from their position at any time. These things are not permitted by the church, but excessive or immoral participation in any of these is considered a serious offense that could get you excommunicated and even imprisoned.

PRACTICES / SERVICES

Since the Church of Aelfric is not led by any single, unified arbiter of what is or is not permitted, some of the services that churches and large cathedrals offer in various regions of Orsterra might vary. Here are some examples of what they do provide for their communities--

Daily prayer services and private confessionals for the public

Weddings, funerals, and baptisms

Counseling for mental & emotional health, including the organization of support groups for grief, addiction, trauma, and other conditions

Medical healing which is mostly clinical nursing, examinations, and hospice care, but supplies for things like surgery are kept on hand just in case of emergency

Soup-kitchens and shelter for the homeless and starving are available at large cathedrals and churches with enough resources

Tutoring and primary education for children

Day-care for infants and young children

Collegiate level seminary school offered at large cathedrals only

Traveling protection from the Knights Ardante

Investigation services from the Knights Ardante, if a valid claim is brought to them

Training for Knighthood as part of seminary classes at large cathedrals

Assistance with public betterment programs like charity drives, donation pools, festivals, orphanages, and funding for parks, schools, or other public institutions

How much a church can do is highly dependent on their size and the resources available to them, since the Church of Aelfric is a nonprofit organization. This means that some churches cannot offer much, except for the ordaining of specific ceremonies or daily prayer to the gods. But others might be able to run homeless shelters or schools out of their space if they have the accessibility and resources for it.

Knights Ardante tend to travel, but the specific and important services they can provide roam with them, and so their services to the public are not limited by regional church resources.

HIERARCHY

The Church’s 2 branches are structured like so--

POWER & INFLUENCE

It is the Church of Aelfric’s role to be a spiritual and moral guide for Orsterra. Their teachings dictate that they should not be political powers, but instead should act as ethical balances for the political governing of their respective areas. This makes the church a figure of influence and respect, but not direct ruling.

Local leaders and even kings might consult with Archbishops and Deacons when making choices, as getting the support and approval of the church can do good things for boosting public opinion. Knights Ardante are offered international ambassadorship and allowed to investigate and act as humanitarian protectors across the borders as well. For some city-states without much order, the Knights Ardante and the Church can become a figure of guidance and support and protection, but neither the Archbishops nor the Generals Ardante hold any actual political power. Accordingly, they won’t hold positions of office either.

But, given the public admiration for both branches of the church, the influence that they have is very real. And acting against the approval or sanctions of the church or the knight order can be risky and destabilizing. 

[emilyschultheis-blog]

Personality Words- Class 1

eclectic (adj)- deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.

Synonyms: broad, varied, wide-ranging

Etymology: 1680s, "not confined to or following any one model or system," originally in reference to ancient philosophers who selected doctrines from every system; from French eclectique (1650s), from Greek eklektikos "selective," literally "picking out," from eklektos "selected," from eklegein "pick out, select," from ek "out" (see ex-) + legein "gather, choose," from PIE root *leg- (1) "to collect, gather." Broader sense of "borrowed from diverse sources" is first recorded 1847. As a noun from 1817.

driven (adj)- (of a person) relentlessly compelled by the need to accomplish a goal; very hard-working and ambitious.

Synonyms: consumed, directed, motivated

Etymology: 1570s, of snow, "carried and gathered in heaps by the wind," past-participle adjective from drive (v.). Meaning "motivated" is by 1972.

passionate (adj)- showing or caused by strong feelings or a strong belief.

Synonyms: eager, expressive, intense

Etymology: early 15c., "angry; emotional," from Medieval Latin passionatus "affected with passion," from Latin passio (genitive passionis) "passion" (see passion). Specific sense of "amorous" is attested from 1580s. Related: Passionately.

perfectionist (n)- a person who refuses to accept any standard short of perfection.

Synonyms: detail-oriented, idealist

Etymology: 1650s, from perfection + -ist. Originally theological, "one who believes moral perfection may be attained in earthly existence;" sense of "one satisfied only with the highest standards" is from 1934. Related: Perfectionism.

(self) critical (adj)- expressing adverse or disapproving comments or judgments.

Synonyms: demanding, analytical, cynical

Etymology: 1580s, "censorious, inclined to find fault," from critic + -al (1). Sense of "important or essential for determining" is from c. 1600, originally in medicine. Meaning "of the nature of a crisis, in a condition of extreme doubt or danger" is from 1660s; that of "involving judgment as to the truth or merit of something" is from 1640s; that of "having the knowledge, ability, or discernment to pass judgment" is from 1640s. Meaning "pertaining to criticism" is from 1741.

crafty (adj)- of, involving, or relating to the making of decorative objects and other things by hand.

Synonyms: creative, artistic, innovative

Etymology: mid-12c., crafti, "skillful, clever, learned," from Old English cræftig "strong, powerful," later "skillful, ingenious," acquiring after c. 1200 a bad sense of "cunning, sly, skillful in scheming," the main modern sense (but through 15c. also "skillfully done or made; intelligent, learned; artful, scientific"); see craft (n.) + -y (2). Perhaps to retain a distinctly positive sense, Middle English also used craftious as "skillful, artistic" (mid-15c.). Related: Craftily; craftiness.

headstrong (adj)- self-willed and obstinate.

Synonyms: determined, stubborn, strong-minded

Etymology: "determined to have one's way," late 14c., from head (n.) + strong. Compare Old English heafodbald "impudent," literally "head-bold." Strongheaded is attested from c. 1600.

compassionate (adj)- feeling or showing sympathy and concern for others.

Synonyms: humane, sympathetic, warmhearted

Etymology: "characterized by compassion," 1580s, from compassion + -ate (1). Related: Compassionately. Phrase compassionate conservatism in American political language recorded by 1992, popularized, if not coined, by Marvin Olasky, instructor at University of Texas at Austin.

high-strung (adj)- nervous and easily upset.

Synonyms: anxious, restless, edgy

Etymology: also, high strung, 1848 in the figurative sense, "having a sensitive nervous system," from high (adv.) + strung. In literal use a musical term, in reference to stringed instruments, attested from 1748.

devoted (adj)- very loving or loyal.

Synonyms: committed, dedicated, devout

Etymology: 1590s, "set apart by a vow," past-participle adjective from devote (v.). Meaning "characterized by devotion, ardent, zealous, strongly attached" is from c. 1600. Sense of "given up, especially to some harm or evil" is from 1610s. Related: Devotedly; devotedness.