#womb magick

[daportalpractitioner]

the 4 moon cycles: purple moon cycle

there are four cycles that a woman can be on — the white, pink, red, or purple moon cycle. each cycle is represented by a different archetype and the type of cycle that you're in indicates what you should be focusing your energy on in that cycle.

the purple moon cycle is for those that bleed with the waning moon and ovulate with the waxing moon. the waning moon happens after the full moon when the moon starts to shed its way into back into the darkness. this is a time associated with autumn as harvest season has occurred and the leaves are slowly dying. the waning moon invites us to slow down, become introspective, and do the necessary shadow work to hold us accountable through the ebbs and flows of life. purple cycle moon sisters have a compromised energy that tells them that they need to take things slower in order to focus on being in our feminine energy of healing, transmuting, and processing. they are also giving the gift of sorcery to alchemize their trauma into power. this is a time to focus on healing and overcoming karmic patterns that you keep choosing to perpetuate.

during your cycle, you want to make sure that you are surrendering to the endings that want to take place in your life. as your cycle gives you more clarity on what's happening within and outside of you, choose yourself. choose not to be your own worst enemy. be honest with yourself and trust that when a season has come to an end, it only means that more is becoming available to you. give yourself grace as you transmute the negative energy that you have been allowing to have power over you.

this cycle is associated with the wild woman archetype. this kind of woman is connected to her fierce power that strengthens her authority to choose a better reality for herself. she surrenders to the transitions because she knows how to swim and not sink in the currents of change. it's very important to have a good head on your shoulders as you lean into the darkness — perspective is everything so make sure that it serves you. remember that everything that is happening is happening for you, even when it hurts. just like an alchemist, when life gives you lead, you make gold.

[nordseehexe]

[animystsoul]

🪶Spirit & Matter cannot be separated;

however in our discrimination— & how we perceive the world— it is useful for us to know what of that we perceive belongs to the physical & organic realms & what is of subtle nature…

🪶By interactions & feedback between these layers do beings such as ourselves, the human being, become the complex beings that we are…

🪶Within us, spirit & matter meet in a holy union to birth higher ideas into forms, creating the world in which we dwell…

🪶When we awaken to Spirit we can’t discard the organic realm, as the organic realm is the ground, through which Spirit emerges into a world of forms & variety

🪶The mechanisms of perception are intricate, but if we either spiritualise or materialise Reality we tear it down the middle in two— we separate—

🪶Where we separate we misunderstand, we don’t appreciate the full picture— consequently some or other aspect of Reality is overlooked, taken for granted, balance is disturbed, having ripple effects on other things, until eventually we are faced with a crisis of some sort…

🪶The crisis call, is to integrate, to bring things back into the whole—

🪶Alchemy is that field that has concerned itself with the study & understanding of the patterns of integration between Spirit & Matter that uphold the Whole of Reality—

🪶Manifestation brought out of the unmanifest field of potential, is a knowable science & art, for those who have walked such a path—

#animism #alchemy #womb #manifestation #membrane #spirit #spirits #ecospirituality #magick

[midasismyking24k]

We are very serious about wanting to add someone to our coven family. #Satanism #Satanic #TheisticSatanism #TheisticSatanist #Satanist #Luciferian #Lucifer #Satan #Lilith #Witch #SatanicWitch #Witchcraft #Magick #Triplemoon #Goddess #Pregnancy #Womb #Coven #Family #CovenFamily #CovenSister #Sister https://www.instagram.com/p/CoGhbFbJecg/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[theresattrpgforthat]

hi! have you seen the TTRPGS for Palestine bundle yet? and do you have any recommendations from it

https://tiltify.com/@jesthehuman/ttrpgs-for-palestine

THEME: TTRPGS for Palestine

The TTRPGs for Palestine Bundle is going from April 12 to May 7, so there's not much time left to get it, but here's some recommendations of some really awesome games that you can find in it.

Gubat Banwa, by makapatag.

GUBAT BANWA is a Martial Arts Tactics and War Drama Tabletop RPG where you play as martial artists poised to change the world: Kadungganan: the cavalry, the wandering swordsmen, the tide turners, the knights-errant, the ones to call in darkest night in a world inspired and centering Southeast Asian folklore.

Witness, grand warriors, honorable gallants that trudge and toil under kings and haloes. Witness, KADUNGGANAN, that refulgent name. That blasted name: WITNESS NOW. The end of days is upon us: and the new world MUST BE BORN. Bear your blades, incant your magicks. Cut open your tomorrow from the womb of violence. Inscribe your name upon the very akasha of this world. 

Gubat Banwa is designed for fans of 4th edition D&D, with in-depth character abilities that make you feel both unique and powerful, in a colourful and flavourful world full of vibrant cultures and clashing conflicts. The game uses an action economy with different action options carrying different weights, which also reminds me quite a bit of Lancer. If you want a game that pushes you to strategize with your friends and weigh your advancement options carefully, you want Gubat Banwa.

Gun & Slinger, by Nevyn Holmes.

GUN&SLINGER is an RPG geared for short, episodic sessions about a weapon and a wanderer. A Maestro and two players (Gun and Slinger) set out into a dead planet mutated by a god's forgotten child and hunt strange bounties, investigate the world and unlock hidden powers. During play, they seek to learn the nature of what’s hunting the Slinger, figure out why the Gun is sentient and discover how the world died.

This game is specifically for three players, using the rules of Go Fish as a resolution system. Gun & Slinger is all about using your resources to the best of their ability, and your resources might exist on your character sheet, but they also exist as cards in your hand.

What really intrigues me is the lore that’s baked into your character sheets. One of you is a wanderer in a twisted world, tempted by strange powers that guarantee to change you into a monster. One of you is a sentient magical gun, borne by that wanderer and designed to deliver death and pain.

Gun & Slinger has expansions included, allowing you to instead play as a wanderer possessed by a demon, a mech and a pilot fused as one, or someone who bears a cursed sword. I think the fact that it requires a small table and the fact that the characters’ lives are tied together makes this a high-stakes, terribly intimate game.

Apocalypse Frame, by Binary Star Games.

In a ruined and terraformed world where most of humanity is under the yoke of a brutal regime, the former workers of a once-remote factory - now known as The Collective - have risen up to create a future of freedom from oppression. You are an Ace - a highly skilled pilot referred from a Division in The Collective and assigned a humanoid combat vehicle known as a Frame. You and your Strike Team of fellow Aces must take on The Collective’s greatest threats, ensure its survival, and carve a path for its continued success.

Apocalypse Frame takes mechs and fits them into the LUMEN system, which centres competency as well as fast but effective rounds of combat. The game includes a variety of different threats, allowing you to tailor your campaign to your group’s tastes, and the tailoring doesn’t stop there. You choose both a division that your character belongs to, and then one of three mechs within that division, allowing players to share similar fighting styles but differ in weapons. You can also modify your basic frame, adding general modular systems alongside systems and armaments that can come with your mech, making character creation and progression exciting for folks who love tweaking and tailoring to their heart’s content.

If you’re a fan of Armored Core or Battletech, you’ll want to check out Apocalypse Frame.

Here, There Be Monsters!, by wendi yu.

No matter what they tell you, there’s still weirdness and wonder everywhere. You just have to know where to look. At the edges and cracks of ‘normal’ life we exist, we persist, and we resist: the monsters, the magicians, the anomalies, the freaks, and the outcasts. We gather in the shadows, trying our best to live our lives in a world that, when it doesn’t exactly fear or hate us, doesn't even believe in our existence.

here, there, be monsters! is a rules-lite response to monster-hunting media from the monsters' point of view. It's both a love letter and a middle finger to stuff like Hellboy (and the BPRD), the SCP Foundation, the Men in Black, the World of Darkness games and the Urban Fantasy genre in general. It is an explicitly queer, antifascist and anti-capitalist game about the monstrous and the weird, in any flavor you want, not as something to be feared, but to be cherished and protected.

Here, There, Be Monsters is a love-letter to anyone who has been made to feel monstrous, as well as an homage to media such as Hellboy, the SCP Foundation, and Men in Black. It’s urban fantasy meets organized power structures, and as the monsters, you’re here to burn those structures down.

This game uses descriptive tags to slap onto your characters to represent what they can do. You can choose from a number of different monster character backgrounds to give you guidance towards, and there’s plenty of monsters both in the base game and in the game jam wendi ran back in 2022. If you want a game of power, anti-capitalism, and punching up, this is the game for you.

Pale Dot, by Devin Nelson.

Pale Dot is a collaborative storytelling game for 2-5 players about a crew of non-human cosmonauts leaving their planet to explore a strange solar system, finding threads to unravel the unknown along the way. It is fantastical, surreal, and perhaps very unlike humanity’s own ventures in space exploration. Though one thing is universal: leaving home is terrifying, dangerous, humbling, and a catalyst for changing one’s perspective. 

Pale Dot is a GM-less game where players work together to create an alien setting and subsequently envelop it in cosmic mystery, embodying cosmonauts called Dustlings, as well as one of 5 different settings. During their journey they will be able to travel to 24 different locations within their solar system, each with several prompts for improvisational scenes. Each player will also have to manage the integrity of their cosmonaut and their shared ship while avoiding space's many perils.

The cover for Pale Dot gripped me the first time I saw it; a tiny creature in an astronaut suit, looking up in fear at something in the sky, as vegetation blooms inside their helmet. You play as the Dustlings, non-human but sentient species exploring the Cosmos, a strange, horrifying and wonderful universe that changes those who venture into it.

Mechanically, Pale Dot uses a GM-less structure similar to Dream Askew, but there feels to be a much bigger emphasis on the setting your cosmonauts explore, rather than the cosmonauts themselves. Your characters are assembled traits, drives and equipment, almost all of which can be expended to cause or solve problems. Each player is also responsible for at least one setting element, such as The Cosmic Wilderness, The Wondrous Endeavour, or The Omnipresent Danger. As you visit locations, different elements will be prompted to influence the scene, while your cosmonauts try to navigate the scene and try to finish the mission. If you want a game that is collaborative and evocative, I definitely recommend Pale Dot.

Fractal Romance, by Ostrichmonkey Games.

A never ending abstract landscape of rhythm and soft glamour. Wander the halls, rooms, and chambers. Encounter strange Denizens and get to know them better; befriend them, fall in love, just chill. Try and fill out your own blurred edges. Fractal Romance is a tabletop role playing hangout. You will pick up a character to play and explore the Fractal Palace, generating its infinite sprawl and the Denizens that inhabit it, as you play.

Fractal Romance is all about searching; for something you need, something you want, or even for who you are. It feels rather surreal, perhaps like a dream dimension that you are moving through. The game uses a deck of cards to generate rooms, as well as the denizens of this gigantic, dream-like palace. This game uses rather simplistic playbooks, each asking you to choose three descriptive words, and then uses cards to fuel your character’s actions: you have things you can always do, things that cost a card to do, and things that you must do in order to draw another card.

If what you want out of a game is a chill time with friends, moving from one vibe to another, and generating emotional stories for your characters, you might want to check out Fractal Romance.

Himbos of Myth and Mettle, by huge boar.

You are big. Big arms, big tits, big thighs, big brai- you're big where it matters. In addition to a heaving, throbbing body, glistening lightly with a thin sheen of pleasantly fragrant perspirant, you have one singular unifying trait  - come hell or high water, you are going to help.

Himbos of Myth & Mettle is a high fantasy, high camp role playing game of epic proportions (of body), for 2-5 players, one of whom will act as Game Guide.  The rules center around a simple roll under mechanic and prioritize narrative flair and cinematic descriptions. Himbos is inspired by many classic fantasy properties (and could be considered OSR adjacent) , but leans towards a more garish, salacious and queer (gay or odd, pick your fighter) style of play. It is designed with comedy and flamboyance in mind, but is not without it deeper and darker touches. It's definitely not grimdark, but there will probably be blood. Think classic fantasy pulp in style, but contemporary sensibilities, modern rules-lite mechanics, and a player philosophy centred in helping, kindness and being fucking hot.

I’ve heard rave reviews for Himbos, and I think the idea of leading an entire group of well-meaning but possibly over-ambitious adventurers is a great set-up for a game full of laughs. Himbos is very much designed for a light-hearted evening of fun, flirting, and fucking up (but in the best way).

Other Games from the Bundle I've Recommended:

Space Taxi, and Creation Myths, by GothHoblin.

Caltrop Core, by Titanomachy.

Souvenirs, by Rémi Töötätä.

Thunder in Our Hearts, by Marn. S.

Eldritch Courts of Some Repute, by AlanofAllTrades.

[astra-ravana]

A Dive Into The Dark Feminine

The Dark Feminine is not the same as the Wounded or Shadow Feminine energy. No. She is deeply misunderstood because society represses her into shadow. She is liberation, rage, pleasure, and intuition. She is not a manipulation or a repackaging of the male gaze.

She is fierce grace, wild liberation, the sword of truth. She is blood, sex, and earth. The Lover and the Whore. She shakes the cage of "Good Girl" conditioning to unleash the full spectrum expression of woman.

She is Hekate, Kali, Lilith. The Creatrix and the Destroyer. She is the Shamaness, the Wild Woman, and the Wise Crone. Once a woman awakens to her there is no going back.

"Your rage is sacred.

Your grief is a holy gift.

Your full-spectrum depths,

hold your greatest power."

Dark Feminine Energy is:

Self sourced power, sensuality, chaos, devotion, magick, passion, rage, transformation, internal safety, fearlessness, sexual liberation, the unknown, regeneration, wholeness, sisterhood, authenticity, death

Checklist

• Cut off toxic people.

• Practice shadow work.

• Prioritize self-care.

• Healthy communication with loved ones.

• Practice manifestation.

• Try things out of your comfort zone.

Essential Dark Goddesses

• Lilith

• Hekate

• Morrigan

• Nyx

• Persephone

• Morgan le Fay

• Erish Kigal

• Baba Yaga

• Sekhmet

• Freya

• Circe

• Oya

• Hel

• Medusa

• Eris

• Kali

• Melinoe

• Angrboda

• Tiamat

"And in the death of her reputation,

She felt truly alive."

Pre and Post Patriarchy Views of Women and Sex

Pre-Patriarchy

• Sexuality and divinity were one; sex was seen as divine.

• The more sexual a woman, the more holy.

• Priestesses that were initiated into the highest Mystery (womb magick) were seen as livinf goddesses.

• The worth of a woman was inherent.

• Sacred priestesses in tune with their sexuality, having mastered the power of their bodies (Kundalini) were revered as a direct portal to spirit and the Gods/Energies of the Universe.

Post-Patriarchy

• Sexuality being taboo, seen as profane, filthy, even evil.

• The more sexual a woman, the more vulgar and profane.

• Priestesses turned to sex slaves, "prostitutes" for men to release upon their repressed sexualities and sexual tension.

• The worth of a woman is now in relation to a man; her value is in her chastity. The more lovers she has, the more worthless she becomes.

• The word "whore" is used as an insult for women who were comfortable with sexuality.

• The more a woman is sexual, associated with the taboos and repressed instincts of the collective, the less she is respected, seen as "not respecting herself", "being cheap", "easy", or "giving her most sacred possession away".

• Women with high sex drives said to have "fornicated with the Devil".

Someone who has a lot of sexual energy can also possess a powerful healing energy. This is because sexual energy IS healing energy at a spiritual level. The best healers have big sexual energy.

VINDICA TE TIBI - "Claim yourself"

The Secret Power of Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th is actually good luck as it is associated with the 13 cycles of the moon in a lunar year, this is why a woman has 13 cycles a year, and ovulates on the 13th day. In 1487 free thinking and Divine Female Energy was suppressed and labeled witchcraft by Heinrich Kramer, who went forth to burn many healers on the stake due to forced ignorance and hatred for powerful female leaders. This is why Friday the 13th is actually a spiritual day of enlightenment, divine/dark feminine energy, and healing that should be sacred instead of hated.

Black Moon Lilith

In astrology, Black Moon Lilith plays the role of 'Guardian of the Threshold'. The term indicates a spectral image which manifests itself as soon as the student of the spirit ascends upon the path into the higher worlds of knowledge. Lilith, representing the testing of the feminine oracle, comes with temptations and promises for the ego, forcing the seeker to meet their own shadow.

"Darkness is the fertile soil of the feminine. Discomfort is the birth place of our shadows. Wild chaos catalyses true leadership. Raw emotions teach us how to feel. The deep void of our sex holds our primal hunger. So, what powerful darkness do you feel is wrong? "

[someone-will-remember-us]

Elton John and David Furnish have done it, and so have Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.

There’s a bloke from Essex who recently joined the club via an undisclosed overseas location and a 72-year-old Scotsman has just been recognised as the legitimate owner of an American one he bought back in 2020.

What we are talking about here is surrogacy: the incubation and effective purchase of babies after the careful selection of their component parts.

The global market – already worth almost $18 billion (£14 billion) – is projected to rise to $129bn by 2032, according to the research firm Global Market Insights, with anywhere between 5,000 and 20,000 babies incubated to order annually.

This covers the whole caboodle in which you can DIY things with a friend at one extreme, or go for the full Lamborghini treatment where, in some countries, an agent will help you shop around the globe for the finest sperm, eggs and wombs money can buy.

For those opting for the international pick and mix route, there are BOGOF deals (two implants for the price of one), the option of sex selection and a pay-as-you-go plan.

And that’s because you, the customer, are always right. As one agency, New Life Conceptual Limited, based in Lagos, Nigeria puts it: “…it takes four ingredients to make a baby: an egg, a sperm, a womb to grow in, and a family to go home to. You have the last ingredient, but you need a place for your baby to grow, and that’s why you’re here.”

Some companies even offer legal guarantees around defective foetuses that have to be aborted.

If you think I’m making this up, think again.

In the UK, where commercial surrogacy is banned but international imports are not, there are now between 400 and 500 new surrogate-incubated babies registered each year, while globally the business is more than doubling in value every two years.

Some call it a “miracle” and point to the invisible hand of the market creating a profitable multi-billion dollar industry in which everyone wins; a benign system of supply and demand the libertarian economist Leonard Read might have called I, Baby.

And while there is no suggestion that the multi-millionaire celebrities who have used surrogacy, like Elton John and the Kardashians, have exploited the surrogate mothers who bore their children, for others – including feminists like myself – the global surrogacy trade reeks of false entitlement.

It has been sanitised by the liberal “rights” agenda and the same self-serving logic that brands prostitutes “sex workers”. If it brings to mind a book or essay, it is Brave New World, Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel about social engineering and evil hiding in plain sight.

To what extent, for example, is the lack of regulation around surrogacy driving impoverished women into unsafe and unconsented arrangements, as it once did so extensively with domestic and international adoption?

And what do we really know of all those hundreds of Brits now shopping for children around the world.

Can it really be right that you can effectively buy a baby overseas but raise it in Britain where commercial surrogacy is supposed to be banned?

Just as in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s, when we thought of adoption as a favour to unsuitable mums whether they be “wayward” teens or impoverished Mexicans, surrogacy is being sanitised.

Delve into the subject on the Internet and you will find that almost everywhere you look, it’s celebrated. These babies, magicked into welcoming arms, are seemingly a modern miracle for childless couples of every stripe. TikTok is full of it.

Here in Blighty, we have only “ethical surrogacy”, says Surrogacy UK, a leading non-profit “providing a safe, supportive environment for surrogates, intended parents and families”.

Such organisations emphasise the benefits to infertile couples, and the “great gift” bestowed by women (aged 16 or older) who are happy to “altruistically” lend their womb to another for nine months.

Whilst such arrangements do work for some, there is no reliable data on what is really going on in the UK. This is because the sector is governed by a bizarre mish-mash of statute and common law, and because regulation, where it exists at all, is opaque.

Echoing the words of a Tarantino script, surrogacy is legal in the UK but not a hundred per cent legal.

It’s legal to enter into an agreement with a surrogate, it’s legal to pay her “reasonable expenses”, and, if you’re the owner of a womb, it’s legal to grow a child (made with your eggs or someone else’s) and give it away once it’s born.

But it’s illegal to advertise you are looking for a surrogate in the UK or solicit for business if you want to become a surrogate. It’s also an offence to arrange or negotiate a surrogacy arrangement as a “commercial enterprise”, but that doesn’t really matter because, get this: “reasonable expenses” can stretch beyond the average annual wage.

If money is still an obstacle, you can always rent a womb from a woman in a country like California, Cyprus or Greece where for-profit surrogacy is legal, before bringing the child back home to the UK.

Another oddity of the UK system is that, while it is a criminal offence to advertise surrogacy services, there are “some exemptions for not-for-profit organisations”. It is not clear how these agencies are selected but they are organisations that officials at the Department of Health and Social Care deem trustworthy. It is how agencies like Surrogacy UK and Brilliant Beginnings are able to proactively recruit and advertise a willing pool of surrogates in Britain.

“All our surrogates benefit from being a part of our thriving community and can enjoy a range of events and gifts along the way,” says the Brilliant Beginnings website. “Surrogate retreats” and “milestone gifts” such as chocolates, flowers and even bellybuds - speakers that allow mothers to play music to babies in the womb - are all part of the service.

Brilliant Beginnings says “expenses” payments to surrogate mothers in the UK typically range between £12,000 to £35,000. It is not known how well off the typical UK surrogate is in relation to the intended parents check, but there is potentially a stark economic divide.

“For surrogates who receive means-tested state benefits, it is important to be clear about whether benefits might be affected by any expenses received,” says the Best Beginnings website. “We would always recommend surrogates are upfront with their benefits office”.

Evidence for the benefits and harms of surrogacy in the UK are almost entirely anecdotal.

Disputes do occur but no one really knows their frequency or what they entail because they are heard in the secretive Family Court, which sits mainly in private and from which detailed reporting is banned.

An obvious problem in the UK, is that the flash point for disputes typically arises after the fact - that is, after a child has been born. This is the point at which the intended parents (or parent) must apply to the Court for a “transfer of legal parenthood” and, in most cases, will be the first time the state even becomes cognisant of the surrogacy arrangement.

An application for such a transfer can only be made with the surrogate’s consent but the decision hinges on what the Court considers to be in the best interests of the child, not the surrogate mother.

“The parental order process takes place after birth and involves the family court, and a court-appointed social worker,” says the DHSC website. “This provides a valuable safeguard for the best interests of the child”.

There is a growing recognition that the regulation of surrogacy in the UK is inadequate but the agencies who run it want legislative reforms that favour the would-be parents rather than the surrogate mothers.

They are especially exercised about the fact that written agreements between surrogates and intended parents are ultimately unenforceable in the UK courts.

Others, including myself, want the practice banned – as it is in many countries across the world. Miriam Cates, the former Conservative MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge, caused a storm in January when she said surrogacy was “just ethically not acceptable”.

“Of course adults have a strong desire to be parents, both men or women. Of course it’s a sadness if that’s unfulfilled for whatever reason – they can’t conceive, don’t have a partner, whatever it is.

“But to deliberately bring a child into the world in order to separate it from its mother at birth I think is just ethically not acceptable,” she said.

Alan White, chairman of Surrogacy UK, told a webinar hosted by the Royal College of Midwives in February that those of us who see the practice as unethical and exploitative were limiting choice and free will because we failed to properly understand the motivations of surrogate mothers.

“Surrogates don’t see themselves as mothers, they see themselves as extreme baby-sitters,” he said. “[They are] doing that wonderful thing of doing the part of having children women or gay men can’t do for themselves”.

To survive the psychological impact of giving away a child, there is little doubt that this sort of thinking helps.

As Helen Gibson, the founder of Surrogacy Concern points out, surrogates are encouraged to see themselves as a bystander – just the “the oven” or “the microwave”, as some describe themselves.

But this sort of psychological dissociation doesn’t always work, and perhaps seldom does.

I spoke to one UK woman who feels deep regret at her decision to enter into a surrogacy arrangement. Sandra, whose name I’ve changed, was 32 with two children of her own. She had escaped a violent husband, and was struggling to make ends meet.

A friend suggested she could make money by carrying a baby for an infertile couple. And, after approaching a UK agency she found via Facebook, she was told that in return for having the baby, she could enjoy “unlimited expenses, within reason”.

She was introduced to a gay male couple who wanted her to carry an implanted embryo, engineered with selected eggs to give them the best chance of a “tall, blonde child”. Sandra, by contrast, is short and dark.

The embryo transfer failed three times, and the IVF process made Sandra extremely sick. Eventually, the couple decided to go to California, but not before admonishing her for wasting “their time, and a lot of money.”

“I felt like a broodmare,” she told me.

If the UK surrogacy market is a classic British muddle, the global market is the wild west.  

And because no UK Court or Home Office official can possibly check the provenance of all the elements that go to make up a child (the sperm, the eggs, the IVF, or, crucially, the free agency of the surrogate mother), anything goes for the unscrupulous.

Although most countries around the world still ban the practice, there are more than enough who don’t.

In Greece and various US states including California, Washington DC and Arkansas, commercial surrogacy is fully legal. In many other countries it is either unregulated or very lightly regulated, enabling the trade to flourish. Countries in this bracket include Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Argentina, Guatemala, Iran, Kenya, Nigeria, the Philippines, Russia and Ukraine.

WFI Surrogacy, one of America’s biggest providers, offers its customers what it calls a “live birth guarantee” – the promise that a birth will occur once the process is underway.

“The high quality of our egg donors and surrogate mothers enables us to make this type of guarantee”, says WFI. “Our live birth guarantee programs are available for either: singleton or twins [or] one specimen source or two specimen sources”.

“All our surrogate mothers are medically and psychologically screened,” it adds.

This is Big Fertility, whose business model relies on the commodification of every aspect of pregnancy.

A healthy overall budget for a Brit using the US surrogacy route sits between £250,000 to £320,000, according to the UK agency Brilliant Beginnings.

Often freelance agents or “fixers” will shop around the world for their clients to increase choice and reduce costs. A surrogate mum in Los Angeles, California costs a whole lot more than one from rural Mexico, for example.

Denmark has long been prized for its sperm, its tall blond donors making the most of their viking heritage.

For eggs, there are also options galore – and all pushed with a good dose of fairy tale genetics.

Egg Donor number “241222_01” on the World Center of Baby website (motto: every person deserves to be a parent) conforms precisely to the modern notion of female beauty as defined by Instagram.

Weighing in at just 66kg, she’s also “an artistic soul with a flair for creativity”. If you would prefer a sporty one, just go for donor number 241222_02 – “an athletic enthusiast, deeply engaged in fitness and sports”.

Embryos can be made up from the customers chosen eggs and sperm in any number of IVF labs around the world. They are then frozen and shipped to wherever the chosen surrogate may be. Fixers facilitate the entire process, including the negotiation of complex legal agreements and the careful arbitrage of international and domestic laws and regulations.

The wording of commercial surrogacy contracts is telling, the text reflecting the economic disparity between carrier and client.

“If Gestational Carrier suffers a loss of her uterus as a result of the performance of her obligations under this Agreement, she shall receive $5,000.00 from Intended Parents”, stipulates one contract.

It continues: “If Intended Parents jointly request Gestational Carrier to terminate the pregnancy because of the Child’s medical condition(s), she will do so promptly. If Gestational Carrier refuses to terminate, Gestational Carrier will have materially breached this Agreement and Intended Parents’ obligations under this Agreement shall cease immediately”.

Natalia Gamble, a director at Brilliant Beginnings, says the agency made an active decision “to only facilitate people going to places that we felt were ethical, secure, and safe”.

Although Ms Gamble is adamant that her approach is ethical, she helps clients go to Nigeria, Cyprus, and Ukraine, where commercial surrogacy flourishes.

“We made the active decision at Brilliant Beginnings to only facilitate people going to places that we felt were ethical, secure, and safe – we have very much focused on the US, but through our law firm (NGA Law) we have helped people go into places like Nigeria, Cyprus, and Ukraine because our role is much more not to help them do it in the first place but to help them bring their children home and resolve all the legalities afterwards,” she said.

Northern Cyprus even allows sex selection, with several clinics there advertising the service on their websites.

“The cases that are happening in Nigeria or Cyprus where it’s very unregulated and there’s no legal framework are a very, very small percentage of the overall international surrogacy landscape,” she said.

“We do need to be very alert to the risks of exploitation and those risks are greatest in places where there is no legal framework regulating how surrogacy is run [...] but, it’s about not overinflating those risks when the majority of people are going to what you might call ‘good surrogacy destinations’.”

Ms Gamble is pushing for a change to UK law that would grant commissioning parent(s) legal rights to the child (embryo) at the point of conception.

“It’s in the best interest of the child,” she says. “If you speak to any surrogate mother they will say ‘Look, I am not the mother of this child, I’m always very clear that it’s someone else’s child that I’m carrying’ – no one wants the surrogate mother on the birth certificate, including her.”

But is that really true – are surrogate mothers really so detached?

I spoke to Liane, who said her own experience of surrogacy caused “a huge amount of grief and hurt”.

She described the market as being infected with a sort of “toxic positivity”.

She added: “It’s painted as a wonderful thing to do, a beautiful selfless act which can only bring joy when for me, I felt used, manipulated, and devastated”.

Ms Gibson of Surrogacy Concern says cases involving “coercion and regret” are not uncommon, even within the UK’s surrogacy model.

“Surrogacy prioritises the wants of the adults ahead of the needs of the child, and creates a societal sense of entitlement towards women’s bodies,” she said.

The practices of single men buying children abroad, white couples using black surrogate mothers, and the growing trend towards using cut price surrogacy destinations such as Mexico, Colombia, Kenya and Ghana are all on Surrogacy Concern’s radar.

Physical harms to surrogate mothers are real. Carrying a baby always involves serious risk but, for surrogates, those risks are often greatly magnified.

Linda Khan, an epidemiologist based in the departments of Paediatrics and Population Health at NYU, says surrogates run an “increased risks of all kinds of pregnancy complications, which lead to adverse outcomes for women and children”.

One factor, she says, is that the embryo is not biologically related to the woman and implanted via IVF. Another is that “many women are carrying multiples because it’s so expensive. They want two for the price of one”.

“Twinning is not safe, even when it occurs naturally. It is a huge burden on women’s bodies, it gets all the risks of complications sky-rocketing.”

Whilst it would be difficult (though not impossible) to ban or abolish surrogacy entirely – changing laws to ban the ‘womb traffickers’ as many campaigners refer to the brokers, should be a priority.

The marketing of surrogacy should also be made subject to tougher regulation, say some experts, although many others favour a blanket ban.

“Surrogacy is a trade that makes commodities of children, of embryos and of eggs, and reduces women to being seen as machines,” said Ms Gibson. “It should not masquerade as a progressive solution to the problem of infertility.”

Further, any legal protections introduced in the UK should be for the benefit of the surrogate mothers giving birth and the babies, rather than for the commissioning parents or agents, adds Ms Gibson. A commissioning parent should never have a legal right to remove a baby if a woman has changed her mind.

In March last year, experts from 75 countries signed the Casablanca Declaration, which calls for a global ban on all forms of surrogacy. And in April this year, an international conference was held in Rome with an aim to provide all States with a legal instrument banning the practice of surrogate motherhood.

Implicit within it is a rejection of the fanciful and dangerous notion that anyone, anywhere has an inalienable right to a child.

“The regulations of each country are not enough to stop human trafficking globally,” said Bernard Garcia Larrain, the Executive Director of the Casablanca Declaration for the Universal Abolition of Surrogacy.

“We need an international treaty to prohibit surrogacy because this is a global market that moves a lot of money and knows no borders,” he added.

[cambion-companion]

Hi, hope you're okay! Can I please request Thirst part 2 (it was simply outstanding🥵), or something like Raph and Tav trying for a baby, while Haarlep is being unhelpful and a menace ("You're having a sex marathon without me??")🫣🙏🏻

Yes, I am finally caving and doing this (rolls up sleeves).

Raphael x f!reader (recently had a baby and trying for another) | Smut

Part One here

Raphael stood in the darkened doorway, his eyes as molten magma, examining how you fed your baby.

The tender caress of a mother. Your hands holding the little bundle close to your chest.

It stirred something within him, something he'd buried and repressed until not a ghost of it remained. Until now.

"Come, I grow weary of waiting for you." Raphael curled his tail around your ankle, the possessive movement familiar in its demand. "Finish quickly with your child and return to me."

"Our child." You reminded the cambion, your tone holding a chiding edge. You were careful not to overstep, the fragile agreement of you keeping the baby here hung over your head like sword held by crystal thread.

"Now." Raphael tugged at your ankle before removing his tail and departing to the boudoir.

You shushed your child as they made a soft gurgle and coo. Knowing better than to test Raphael's patience further, you tucked your baby in and softly exited the makeshift nursery, walking on silent feet back to where you could feel him waiting.

It had been a shock when Raphael had allowed you to stay in his house after giving birth. However, he had become withdrawn somewhat, going out more than staying in and leaving you alone to fend for yourself and the newborn.

You entered the boudoir carefully, looking around at the dark room, the air a little too warm even in the night. Raphael stood at the arching window, looking out at the deep red landscape.

You could tell by his tense shoulders and the way he held his wings something was on his mind. You approached, laying a careful hand on his arm. "Are you alright?" Try as you might to fight it, the emotions you held for this devil went beyond fondness.

Raphael turned to you, encircling an arm about your waist and pulling you to him. He bent, his massive form folding around your much smaller body, and kissed you. It was demanding, his teeth and tongue pulling sounds of surprise and pleasure from your mouth.

With a click of his fingers, Raphael magicked away your clothing, his hands quickly covering where the fabric had been.

When he began backing you toward the bed, you found your voice. "Raphael, it's too soon." Your protests were weak even to your own ears, and Raphael pushed you onto your back upon his luxurious mattress.

He stood over you for a moment, his eyes raking from head to toe. "Months have passed wherein I have been denying myself the luxury of your body." He moved over you and peppered bruising kisses to your neck. "No longer."

"Raphael-"

"Hush." Raphael took hold of your hips and rolled so you were now on top of him, straddling his broad torso. He leaned up and bit at your shoulder, holding you between his teeth for a long moment. "You are mine." The growling sound he made sent a shiver of desire straight to your womb and sent fleeing any remaining reservations.

Your whimper was swallowed as his mouth slanted over yours again and Raphael kissed you with such fervor it stole your breath away.

When he withdrew, it was to see you panting with dilated pupils and heaving chest.

"Good." He murmured and trailed a single sharp finger down your throat, along your collarbone, to cup the swell of your breast. He squeezed gently, watching as the white milk pilled against his rich red skin.

Raphael's other hand tugged your hair back, bending you as he dragged his tongue up your navel and to the breast he held. You squirmed in his grip as he swirled around your nipple, taking it into his hot mouth and sucking down several languid mouthfuls of your milk.

"Hells." You moaned, beginning to rock your hips upon his ridged thighs. "Leave some for my baby."

"Our baby." Raphael corrected, sending another wave of pleasure straight through you. "I promised to keep you ripe and bare within my bed." He took your other breast into his mouth, his hands smoothing along your skin to support you by your upper back while he drank.

When his mouth came away, it was coated with a fine film of white liquid. He kissed you again and left the sweetness upon your own tongue as well. "And I always keep my promises."

[bucknastysbabe]

Can you make Maegor smut i can barely find any

I shall try my hand, I apologize for the 90 year wait. This was very fun and I hope you don’t mind the dark themes :) This goes out to you, dear anon, and Big Daddy fan #1 @fairysluna

And you sluts too: @borikenlove @aemondsversion @ilikeitbetterangsty @lovelykhaleesiii @godrakin @xfancyuu

Rating: EXPLICIT READ WARNINGS

Tags: TW: non-con, blood, knives, restraints, rituals and implied soul magic, background sacrifice, forced impregnation, dissociation, Maegor needs an heir still, black bride!reader, voyuerism, size kink, sex pollen/drugging, he’s a bit fond of her for now, Targs using old Valyrian magic, pnv!sex, creampie

Belly of the Beast

Huge armored Kingsguard drug you beneath the bowels of Maegor’s labyrinthian complex, your feet dragging along the ground. You’d ceased fighting two layers ago. Tyanna of the tower glared down at you, raven hair almost shining in the gloomy light. She was clad in a deep purple satin dress, pale face pinched. The rumored sorceress hummed, “You’ll do fine. We need an heir. Stop fighting it, I see it in those bovine eyes of yours.”

You whimpered in pain, feet and shins ragged from the rough treatment. Maegor was no where to be seen. You had only see him on your wedding night, the beast splitting you open and depositing his seed before leaving. When it appeared your womb had not quickened, the guards had seized you in the night. Which led to now. Something sinister curling in the air, the dark glow of the lanterns casting the halls in a murky bloody tint.

Tyanna took a left, disappearing. The guards dragged you onwards, pulling you into a rounded room. Your heart beat wildly with terror. What was this place? It reminded you of the paintings of old Valyria. Oily black stone fused by horrid magicks into bestial creatures. Tall columns twirled with blood wyrms, casting their evil gaze upon you. You cried out in fear, but your mouth was covered with thick bound rope, irritating and dry.

In the middle of the room lay an elongated stone plinth, blood smeared in unreadable lettering. Maegor waited like a hungry lion, huge muscles rippling with every movement. You could see his purple eyes dragging along your bound frame, obscene cock twitching at the site. He boomed, “Put her on the table.”

You stopped struggling again in a state of shock. You weren’t sure if they were going to kill you. Ser Darklyn and Bracken hauled you upright, placing your body on the bloody slab. Maegor shooed them off, locking each of your limbs in some sort of mechanism. He thumbed one of your teats, growling, “Such a fertile body, we’ll get a heir my littlest queen.” You gazed up at the gnarled ceiling, depicting unspeakable things and creatures. You whimpered softly as Maegor undid your gag, rumbling, “There, now they can hear your delightful crying.”

There was a balcony and there stood the dowager Queen Visenya and Tyanna. Visenya’s face was hardened, her hands covered in more blood. She called down, “Do not be afraid girl, this is a new beginning. You will give Maegor the dragon we so desperately need. Think of it as a gift.”

You nodded yes but your mind howled and tore itself apart at the seams. This was not a gift. This was an abomination. You thought of home, the seaside and the barking seals. Not this perverted facsimile of a sept. Visenya barked, “Give her the draught, my king.”

“With pleasure”, he smirked. The beast of a man stalked back to your side, a hand twice the size of your head caressing back your sweaty hair. He murmured, “Open up, you might be my true queen.” You did as so, opening your lips and drinking the thick liquid. It tasted horrid, you fought back a retch before Maegor’s hard lips forced it’s way on top. He smothered you, another huge hand squeezing the soft flesh of your hips.

There was no more you could do as he climbed on top, muscled trunks of thighs splitting yours open, tongue probing your mouth. He grabbed at your hair, biting and sucking roughly down your neck. He murmured, “Close now.” Visenya began to chant in an abnormal sounding tongue of Valyrian. Your skin felt hot to the touch, the glyphs on the walls seeming to glow.

A wave of intense arousal flowed up from your toes to head, making you whine in anguish. The sensation so intense you wrapped your legs around the king’s scarred waist and thrust your profusely leaking cunt up. Locked under the arousal your ego stood trapped, screaming for help. Instead you moaned, “Breed me my king, please, it hurts!” Maegor’s hard set eyes rolled some, his beard scratching your bloodied neck.

He chuckled darkly, “I’ll give it to you little bride of mine, fill that tiny cunt of yours, not waste a gods damned drop.” Pale calloused hands wrapped around your waist, almost encircling you. You bucked underneath him, slick pussy dragging ever so again Maegor’s huge cock. From above, Tyanna and Visenya’s stark faces disappeared as you refocused on him.

Your king, your stud, the one to fill your womb up so you can give him baby after baby. Simply a broodmare for the taking. You arched your full tits against his impossibly built chest, whining at the drag across his body hair. Maegor nuzzled at your collarbones, humming, “It’s so…delightful to watch you squirm. I could break your pretty bones into dust y’know?”

Tears burned at your eyes, the ache between your legs becoming a heady burning. In a warble you begged, “Please, do anything my king, need it, wan’ your cock, pleasepleaseplease!” Openly sobbing now, the brutish king moaned in delight, cock swelling further from your pretty tears and swollen lips. He spanned a hand down your writhing body to land on the base of his cock. Maegor grabbed the Valyrian steel knife and nicked the thin skin of his cock, grunting in annoyance as it began to drip blood.

He tossed the knife callously aside and grabbed your wide hips, shoving his cock in to the hilt. The pair of you cried out, the loud howl echoing in the dim chamber. Maegor growled, “Fucking- fuck! Tight little bride you are, felt ya’ split. Bleeding pretty on my cock.” You weren’t even registering the loss of your maidenhead, hyperfocused on the wonderful feeling of your untouched walls accommodating and stretching for Maegor’s girth. He paused in awe, patting your lower stomach.

Maegor rasped, “Look at this, can see my cock through you. Fucking hell.”

He fucked like the bull they called the king, powerful thrusts sliding you through the tacky blood. Maegor grunted and cursed, muscles flexing and glistening. He panted, “It’ll take, it’ll take, good little girl.” You begged softly, “My arms, my King, please!” In a flurry of movement he unchained you, pulling your smaller frame onto those sinful thighs of his. You rolled onto him like a brothel whore, bouncing and humping, growling and scratching.

He pulled you into a kiss, snarling, “They always said the untouched ones were the hungriest for it,” his hand came down on your ass with a loud crack! Mewling onto his hard lips you embraced the sweet pain, body still on fire with need, need, need. Maegor cursed again and rumbled, unhooking your feet and manhandling you face down on the slab, jerking your ass up into the air.

Your fingers scrabbled as Maegor quickly reentered your pussy, groaning in pleasure. “See, please him, be the bearer of that strong seed,” said your addled mind. The claps of Maegor’s hips echoed against your softer ass, him swiping a hand across with a smarmy look. He cruelly cooed, “Yeah? You like your king stuffing your sweet cunt full of seed? Mmm, when you’re all rounded out I’ll fuck another into you right after. You’re mine.”

“Yours, yours,” you whimpered deliriously.

He pulled you tighter and drug his thick cockhead across a spot you didn’t know existed, eliciting a guttural moan. One big hand locked around your slim throat, the other sneaking to that throbbing bud between your legs. You squealed and squirmed, the nerve endings sparking like wild fire across your used frame.

“No, you take it,” he snarled.

And take it you did, crying and whimpering as your belly tightened and tightened, whole body erupting in goosebumps. Your legs gave out but Maegor kept you aloft moving his huge arm from neck to your tits. In a trembly caterwaul of his name you clamped down on his thick cock and gushed on him and the bloody mess below. Maegor gasped and stuttered, sharp canines locking into your shoulder. His strokes dug deep in shallow, sloppy thrusts.

He practically roared when the load of spend painted your overspent cunt. Load after load while he cooed praise and panted in your ear. The fervor that once gripped you had abated, leaving you a boneless mess, emotions comparable to a husk. Maegor felt around for something then bent you over, shoving in a plug of sorts as soon as his cock exited. He patted your ass and rumbled, “I’m feeling blessed by the Gods today. You shall come wash up with me in my chambers, littlest bride.”

Tyanna was gone.

Visenya called down once more, “Splendid. Let’s hope the seed takes, girl.”

Maegor proudly carried you through the underbelly and up to his quarters in the red keep, showing your mottled, blood soaked body off. You went to somewhere quieter in your mind. A seaside cliff. Salty air. Seals barking. Home.

[mariyekos]

I like to think that Dante and Vergil are basically made up of four halves of the same two souls, mixed and matched to make two people.

The idea is that in the womb, both a human and demon soul tried to develop, but since one being couldn't contain two souls, it split into two, resulting in twins. Yet since the genetic material was also made of both sides, rather than one twin getting the human soul and the other getting the demon soul, instead the souls themselves split in two, with each twin getting half of one. One half demon, one half human. By the time Dante and Vergil were born, the two half-souls each twin had had merged into single souls, so essentially they each have one whole soul, but those souls are blends of two half souls and match each other at that.

It ends up creating some interesting effects. Blood magic is something that sometimes works for both members of a set of identical twins- being most effective closest to birth and often lessening in effectiveness with age- but there are also magicks which resonate with the soul instead, and thus don't work for identical twins, who normally have independent souls despite shared blood.

Except they do for Dante and Vergil. Because even though they're separate people and should have different souls, they register as being the same.

Because they are, in a way. Two base souls, four identical halves, two once-identical people. With pure humans, the soul doesn't develop until much later in gestation, long after the zygote has split in two. This means that human twins have separate souls despite shared blood. But add a demon into the mix and things get funky, the soul beginning to develop almost instantly after conception. And while Dante and Vergil may have diverged appearance-wise with age and differences in life experience, their souls stay the same. So soul magic which should only work on an individual level works on both, which can be both a boon and bane. It all depends on the context.

[This is perfect for both fluff (Vergil can get into Dante's locked rooms because the seals think he's Dante) and angst (a spell meant to trap one either successfully traps the other, or manages to get both, pleasantly surprising the one who set it and proving bad for our protagonists who mean to fight them). Context!]

[daportalpractitioner]

cycle syncing guide: full moon in capricorn

the first full moon in capricorn this year will be on june 21, 2024 at 8:08 PM CST. because the moon will be at 1° capricorn, some themes we can see are: setting intentions for success, practical action, our attitude towards masculine energy, self-induced limitations, business ventures, taking life more seriously, and entering our boss babe era without compromising your femininity

bleed phase: red moon cycle sisters are reclaiming their power by removing and no longer applying outdated beliefs rooted in patriarchy to the life that they want. you are recognizing your magick and finally stepping into true godishood. removing this blockage will only give you more clarity and insight on your earthly mission(s). this is an opportunity to step into a cycle of preparation for being your lineage's next matriarch. honor your womb this full moon and pay homage to your matriline for they are empowering you with this liberating perspective on life. it is not slaving away, being drained, and working against your cycle that will make you successful — it's being in tune with your inner rhythm, honoring where your energy levels are at, giving yourself grace + not making life all about work that will.

follicular phase: this is a productive time in your cycle where you are being fueled with the potent energy of the full moon to pump the gas on whatever you are striving towards. if you have been struggling with motivation and discipline, now is the time to regain clarity on why you're invested in this endeavor in the first place. even as goddesses, its important that we know how to utilize our masculine energy to get what we want out of life. remove yourself from the energy of laziness + stop acting like you don't got a purpose here. i'd focus on solar plexus healing during the full moon so that you can be invigorated with the energy to get to the bag + live in your successful reality.

ovulatory phase: ovulating sisters are in sync with the full moon and can use this full moon energy to powerfully manifest nu beginnings in business ventures, becoming financially stable and independent, and just attract successes in anything they've been working hard for (emphasis on working hard for). if you're ready to be in your abundant reality where money is no longer a fear of a blockage to you living your best life, then this full moon is inviting you to timeline jump. this is a great full moon for a road opener ritual or steady income spell. use this full moon to take that first practical step towards manifesting a nu reality. if you're able, share your gifts/business, apply for that job, + stop operating in self-sabotage.

luteal phase: luteal sisters are slowing down and becoming more introspective, making this a full moon of revelations to promote shadow work. dark feminine energy has been a huge theme in recent years because of the shift thats taking place, moving us back into a feminine society. it's time to address the fears associated with dark feminine energy so that you can accept it into your being and free yourself from the psychological enslavement of patriarchal ideologies and lifestyles. it's time to be unapologetically selfish so that you can show up for you + what you love authentically and passionately. this full moon is calling you back into your innate power so that you can sustain yourself thru the revolution taking place today. no need to fear when change is already here.

[reallyhatethiswebsite]

BG3 Halloweek Day 2 Classic Horror Movie AU: Frankenstein

Full credit to @gufu-vire for this fun idea and all her help and encouragement ☺️

-

Fleagore wasn't very smart. He knew this because Master Mephistopheles told him often, and Master Mephistopheles was very smart indeed. It suited Fleagore just fine. He followed orders obediently: go here, fetch that. Easy. No real thinking required. Sometimes, though, Fleagore was given more complicated tasks - or, worse still, tasks he didn't like.

Deep in the bowels of Cania Palace, where even the most demented, tortured souls feared to linger, Master Mephistopheles’ creature lay tied down on the slab, as usual - being pieced together like a puzzle, its womb this secret laboratory of sinister science and Infernal ego. Inert, he said the creature was. Dead, for all intents and purposes, but Fleagore couldn't shake the feeling that the thing was more alive than Master Mephistopheles believed. Its large, piercing yellow eyes seemed to stare at Fleagore from the sunken sockets of its three twisted skulls, even if they didn't move. It was always watching. Aware of all the terrible things Fleagore was doing to it as Master Mephistopheles put it together. Brought it to life. Like snapping ribs of obsidian and fire to access the hollow of its chest cavity so that Master Mephistopheles could imbue it with his sickly green magicks. Or skinning segments of its long, whip-like tail so that Master Mephistopheles could shave and sharpen its bones.

Fleagore usually enjoyed tormenting things, especially things uglier than him, but the malice and intelligence he thought he could see in this abomination's eyes - like it was cataloging each iota of pain they were inflicting upon it with the promise of returning it all, tenfold - made Fleagore uncomfortable. But he wasn't very smart, so what did he know? Don't think. Just connect the contraptions of tubes and bronze and glass like he'd been taught and watch souls and electricity course through the creature's large body.

The thing twitched and convulsed. Flames erupted beneath its blackened obsidian flesh. Dim at first, steadily picking up volume. Master Mephistopheles watched with disinterest from afar - until something else happened. Something new. The creature made a sound. It began quietly, a rattling whine like metal scraping on stone, setting Fleagore's jaw after the brief shock wore off. Master Mephistopheles didn't seem at all surprised. His cold eyes gleamed with anticipation, a thin smile spreading across his face as that grating whine deepend into an unearthly bellow. So loud that Fleagore covered his ears. A truly terrible roar full of terror and rage.

“Master?” Fleagore queried, nervous as the beast began to violently thrash. The thick infernal iron restraints keeping it down creaked and strained against its strength. Screws popped and pulled and clattered to the floor. It was going to escape. “Should Fleagore get the prod, Master?”

“No,” said Mephistopheles. He didn't even glance at poor Fleagore.

Metal bent and gave way. The creature had managed to free one long, gnarled arm, clawing and ripping at the remaining restraints. Its tattered wings beat wildly. It shook its three skulls side to side, slobber drooling from its tusked maws, uncanny eyes rolling.

“Mmmmmaster,” stammered Fleagore, “shouldn't we -”

“I said no,” snarled Mephistopheles, and he frightened Fleagore more than the angry abomination, so he cowered obediently and watched with dread as the thing snapped its last restraints and staggered off the slab.

It stumbled, at first - it had never stood upright or walked before - but it found its balance quickly. Each thud of its big burning hoof-like feet were heavy. It collected itself, its bearings, breathing in slow growling pants. Its tail whipped madly. Then it turned its horrible heads to focus on the two watching it.

Focus on Fleagore.

In that moment he knew he'd been right. Fleagore felt the beast's hatred for him, its desire for vengeance. Felt its desire to hurt and maim him. Fleagore only had a few seconds to consider that, however, because the monster launched itself at him faster than something its size should ever be able to move. He had no chance to run.

“Master!” Shrieked Fleagore. He wriggled desperately in the thing's grip, but he was trapped. Its cruel claws sank deep, squeezed hard, cracking bones and tearing skin. It glared down at him, and Fleagore knew he was despised. The thing's hot fetid breath washed over Fleagore's face. “Master, help!”

But Mephistopheles was not going to help Fleagore. He was going to watch his fresh creation butcher an expendable minion. He was going to watch the first display of his creature's brutality with satisfaction, because this was what he'd built it for, after all.

“At last,” purred the Arch Devil, Lord Without Mercy. “He is alive.”

The creature roared, bursting Fleagore's eardrums, shredding and pulling his body apart as easy as it had its metal restraint. He had one final, resigned thought before he was destroyed.

'Why is it always me?'

Fleagore's blood and guts spilled out like worms from a corpse, but the beast wasn't done. It called on Hellfire, as instinctual and effortless as its creator, and incinerated Fleagore's messy remains. Only scorched jelly-fat stains and the stink of burned skin and hair remained.

The monster stared at his kill, somehow dissatisfied, and then swung his massive horned heads towards Mephistopheles. He was a little taller than the Arch Devil. He made gurgling, raspy sounds, as if he was trying to speak. Mephistopheles waited, curious. After a few tries, the monster croaked out something understandable. Something that disgusted and amused Mephistopheles in equal measure. Something that could hold a lot of potential.

“Fa…ther?”

[wulvercazz]

🎃Halloween Town, Act 11: Saving Bloodlines🦋

Back to Masterpost👻

Tags:  Oviposition, Lap Dance Extra Tags: Dubcon, Hypno, Temporary Body Mod

"You're not the only one with a little magick," was Aizen's last words to him before his world went dark. Aizen had calmly walked right into his home, ignoring the loud cursing from the witch, and with a simple ruffle of his wings Grimmjow's mind went cloudy. When he first came to Halloween Town, Grimmjow hadn't known much at all about his species in particular; the first time he saw him he deduced he was an old enough creature that he wasn't found in books anymore. He hadn't considered how terrifying his abilities could be, or that this was the whole purpose of that experiment Ulquiorra had kidnapped him for. And he wouldn't know until much, much later; months after the produce of that night would grow in the temporary womb he'd given him.

[skele-bunny]

Hello! I absolutely love the sfw and angsty stuff you have and how you write Phantom it's adorable tbh. I hope you can do this request as i got a lil curious tho it's okay if you can't, what would happen if somehow Phantom's old master were to creep his way into top side? How would the pack deal with that? Specifically Phantom, would the others even let him know or try to hide it? Sorry if it got lengthy haha brain did silliness. Keep up the great work!

Anon...... I have plans I cannot reveal in full. BUT GOOD THING THATS FOR A SIDE STORY LINE!! Thank you so much for your kind words, and like usual LONG POST

(cw for mild descriptions of slavery, light with sa, and abuse)

Let's put it on my main "story line" I have-- you can read some of Albus/Phantom's backstory here! A little details on Albus for it to be fully understood:

Phantom's master's name is "Albus." He's an old guy, in humans standards would count as a salt n pepper. He's not connected to a pack specifically as he's involved with many and isn't tied down. He's what some would call a medicine man, knowledgeable on heavy spells and castings, even the ancient magick that he refuses to share on how but will do... Unless, of course, there's an exchange.

Albus had been wanting a mate for a very long time, and that's how he got Phantom! He was a sadistic motherfucker, loved toying with Phantom's mind and keeping him so weak and dumbed down. He was always stuck in chains and collars, claimed in every aspect by Albus. Sigils are covered on his body all the way from his mind to his womb. Albus owns him.

When Phantom got topside, those sigils never went away - they only got weak. If Albus got topside and in the clergy, Phantom wouldn't have a clue as Albus would immediately be put to work as personal assistant for the higher-ups. He's charming, he's gentle, he's very manipulative to get his way and get trust. Not to mention, he is attractive. This is already a problem, Albus is trusted extremely, he's knowledgeable, and has shown no reason to be considered a threat. Got them wrapped around his finger.

The pack would find out when Albus is ordered to deliver a message to Copia during practice. Phantom just shuts down. They keep eye contact and Albus just grows this demonic smile, and the pure scream of terror that Phantom gives has his pack jumping up in an instant. Dew is at the front, not understanding what's happening but he's not about to question his mate's fear.

Copia is trying to diffuse the situation; dude has his entire pack about to go feral on this equally teetering Quint. Albus is eventually shoved out and attention goes back on Phantom while Cirrus stays near the door in full instinct mode. Poor bat is in hysterics, clinging to Dew like no tomorrow, unable to make a clear sentence as he cries. When he's able to just yell "That's Albus!" It clicks.

Phantom has told his pack about what he's experienced, about who his master was. They're more furious than ever before, looking at Copia with such a hard glare before even Aurora is hissing. "Do something before we do."

Papa Copia is now going head-to-head against the entire higher ups, explaining how Albus threatens the literal life of one of his ghouls, and it's met with a "Then maybe we need a new guitarist, no?" But he doesn't stop there. He's fighting, and fighting. He's gets Special involved, whispering quietly--which gets the Doves involved. They like Phantom, he's another ghoul with wings and is Special's friend. You don't wanna piss off the missionaries which Albus has now successfully done.

In the mean time, Phantom is just locked down in the den, always with someone but he's so... Gone. His eyes are dull, not responding to his pack talking, won't eat, refusing to get out of bed. He can feel his body burning as he has more frequent night terrors, his trauma touch coming back and screaming in the night as he thinks Albus is on top of him again. It doesn't help that Albus does get in his head eventually. They were mated, he has a link.

Whispering to Phantom how "we'll be home soon"/"I missed you so much"/"feel that? That's our bond"/"why don't you make this easier for both of us? Come to me, parum vespertilio."/"I still own you."

His pack is doing their best to take care of him, spoon feeding and even Aether blocking certain memories and keeping him clouded so Albus can't invade. Phantom is tired all the fucking time now, and slowly going back into his old slave behaviors. Everything the pack worked to fix, to heal, to improve. Gone. He's back to keeping his head down, hiding under tables when he has moments of clarity, presenting himself when his mind deems it as "calm xyz down."

LUCKILY... The Missionaries are good at what they do. They don't work with just humans.

Albus waking up so deep in the ministry, strapped to a table, even past the catacombs. The stench of death is everywhere, specifically ghoul death. See! The fun thing about Special, is Sister loves him. All he has to do is ask, and he can do whatever the fuck he wants. No one can go against Sister.

All Albus sees is five very tall, very pissed off Ghouls with a smaller one in the middle holding a syringe of blue liquid.

It's not quick. It's not merciful. Even Copia gets to make an appearance!

Phantom is woken up by a knock on his door, Swiss instantly getting up to answer it. Special is there just smiling, the rest of the pack slowly filling in as he holds a box out that stinks. "For you. Sarra said to see him later for your sigil removal." And he leaves.

He's just so confused, slowly opening the box and face going pale as Albus' horns are sat inside carefully, as well as his heart.

[orionsangel86]

The Problem With Thessaly

I’m sure plenty of fans would agree with me that there are certain elements of the Sandman comics that are going to be very difficult to adapt for television. I don’t envy the mammoth task Neil and the creative team on the show have ahead of them. But one element in particular which has been on my mind frequently is how they are going to introduce Thessaly to our screens.

It’s not just that she’s a TERF. It’s that she’s a cold, cruel, selfish, and inconsiderate bitch who only ever thinks about herself. Oh yeah, and she’s a huge TERF. There isn’t a single likeable element to her.

And yet.

We are supposed to somehow believe that our main protagonist, idiotic as he may sometimes be, depressed and seriously down on his luck as he is, will fall head over heels in love with her.

Sorry. But it ain’t happening. Something has gotta change. So here are my thoughts on how they could fix the Thessaly Problem.

Under a cut for comic spoilers (and its a bit long)

I kinda get the reason it happens in the comics. Kinda. I can’t remember the exact quote, or where I read it, but Neil explained it as “two people who you know are absolutely not right for each other and no one who knows them can understand why they are together.” He purposely wrote it to be a really weird match that didn’t make sense.

From Dream’s perspective, at this point in the story he has just had some of his biggest romantic disasters slapped in his face (at one point literally) all within a very short space of time for an entity as long lived as him. First Calliope, then Nada, and then Alianora, and he is hurting from all of them. Having to face his romantic failures one after another within the space of a few years AFTER having to go through 70 odd years of relentless suffering trapped in a glass prison has GOT to mess with your head. So I think Thessaly is basically the worst rebound in history. They are only canonically together for a few weeks but he somehow falls head over heels for this plain, dull, horrible person. 100% this is a rebound. He’s messed up. So yeah, I kinda get it.

From Thessaly’s perspective it seems she just really liked the idea of being the object of someones attention and desire even though she never returned his feelings and left him the minute he stopped devoting all his attention to her (god she really is a bitch).

So why don’t I think this will work in the show?

Because the show is a kinder universe than the comic. Dream is different in the show. He is already more thoughtful, warm, compassionate, and has a better self awareness when it comes to his shortcomings. He’s also a far more romantic character in the show, which is probably thanks to Tom Sturridge’s excellent performance and likeability and absolutely maddening sexual chemistry with literally every character he interacts with (his pretty face doesn’t hurt either). You just have to look at his scenes with Calliope to know that they are playing up the romance and kindness there when in the comics Dream is extremely cold to Calliope throughout their very short interactions.

Given the news that the writing team on Game of You will include trans writers specifically to cover the sensitivities of honouring Wanda, I don’t know how they will adapt the transphobia she suffers at Thessaly’s hand, or whether they will include that at all - personally I think they should remove it. Not to make Thessaly more likeable, but because it reinforces a really wrong view of witchcraft and magick that modern witches and pagans are working extremely hard to reject. Not to get too deep into these topics, but transphobia is a fucking plague in those communities and the last thing we need is more people thinking everyone who practices witchcraft is a fucking TERF. The comic even goes so far as to imply the actual MOON is transphobic. Like WTF? The moon isn’t fucking transphobic and “womb magic” is stupid. If I ever have to read the words “divine feminine” in a witchcraft FB group again I’m gonna scream.

Anyway my point is that I don’t think those scenes in the comic are necessary and there are plenty of other ways to adapt that story without resorting to transphobia.

The other issue is that if they do keep it in, they somehow have to deal with the fact that their protagonist is seemingly totally cool with dating a transphobic murderous bitch. Um. Yeah, not cool Dream. I think the show is going to do everything it can to make Dream MORE likeable and based on what we have seen so far I definitely think that’s the route they are taking.

So yeah Dream won’t be falling in love with a TERF in the show, that I am sure of.

The thing is, the best way they can deal with the Thessaly problem is also the simplest - Don’t include her. Just don’t write her into the show. Simples.

Because we already have a character in the show universe who technically doesn’t exist in comic canon, who knows magic and the occult, and who is MUCH more likeable and kind whilst still being a bit messy and selfish and totally a terrible match for Dream... Oh, and who also happens to be played by possibly the most well known actor on the shows main cast list.

Johanna Constantine.

Jenna Coleman is a fairly big name and one of the primary stars for the show. At least Netflix seemed to think so since her face was all over the marketing and she was included in basically every cast interview, even though her character only turns up in 1 and a half episodes. She is also playing a new version of an already well known character in pop culture and I am convinced Netflix is already considering spin off options for her. So there is no way they aren’t going to include her in future episodes of the Sandman.

Except thats where Netflix has a problem if it wants to stick to comic canon. Lady Johanna Constantine only turns up in one more Sandman story, and John Constantine doesn’t show up again at all in the comics.

So my piece of speculation that I’m almost 90% certain will happen, is that they will bring back modern Johanna Constantine in an extended or adapted role based on another character.

My money is on Thessaly. Remove Thessaly, replace her with Johanna.

I’m not just saying this because I think Johanna and Morpheus hooking up will be hot (it will be, don’t deny it. My bisexual ass knows a hot couple when I see them). But because it makes sense.

Yeah okay we have that pesky little rule about the Endless not dating mortals - but that rule currently doesn’t exist in show canon either, so theres no reason why they can’t just also scrap that for the sake of some sexy, messy, and definitely disastrous bi4bi action.

All jokes aside, with only a few tweaks to the story in a Game of You, you could seemlessly fit Johanna into it. She can be in New York for a specific case, hell, maybe Barbie and the sudden appearance of Martin Tenbones on a busy New York street IS the case she’s investigating? She can still find a way to break Hazel and Foxglove into the Dreaming AND when Morpheus shows up they can have another tantalising showdown like they did in episode 3. It works better with Johanna tbh. She actually cares about people, the motivation is there for her to want to save Barbie and protect people from supernatural sources. We can just make the storm and the collapse of the apartment block be caused by George or the cuckoo or something (or not have it happen at all since I am also practically certain that Wanda is NOT going to die in the show).

This ALSO means that much later on, when Lyta is having her breakdown and destroying the Dreaming, having Johanna being the one to protect her from Morpheus rather than Thessaly also adds a more human element to it. Morpheus has never been a killer, but sometimes his duties demand it. He goes to kill Lyta to prevent the Kindly Ones destroying the Dreaming. If it is Johanna blocking him instead of Thessaly, their motives align. Johanna would protect Lyta for the simple fact that she won’t let a supernatural creature harm a human (as much as she can - sorry Kevin), and Morpheus, being hesitant about killing anyway, would be easily talked out of it by Johanna. “Find another way to save the Dreaming, I won’t let you harm her.”

It just adds an emotional weight that isn’t there with Thessaly, who only protects Lyta because she made a deal with the Kindly Ones in exchange for more centuries of life - an ironic request when Morpheus (and Death) are keeping Hob Gadling alive simply so he can be Dream’s BFF.

It just works for me. Scrap the “no mortals” rule and you can have them have the messy disastrous relationship that doesn’t work out. It is far more believable that Johanna Constantine could break Dream’s heart - she’s already a known heartbreaker in the show (sorry Rachel). It’s a doomed love story a modern audience can get behind, makes sense, the actors already have insane sexual chemistry, and it could definitely hit all those story beats needed to get the show to a version of the Kindly Ones whilst also actively improving it.

I may first and foremost be a Dreamling shipper, but talking in terms of canon I very much want Morpheus to have a passionate short-lived heart breaking affair with Johanna. Fuck Thessaly. Keep her relegated to comic canon. Morphanna all the way.

And THAT is how we fix the problem with Thessaly.

[theresattrpgforthat]

my girlfriend really wants a game that is "crunchy" about how you build a whole character, ie. having "mechanics" for the fantasy of said characters. an example would be spheres for pathfinder or 5e. we're just looking for other ideas! we both love pbta and we both love 5e, but sometimes you want to chew on the system a little.

THEME: Mechanically Dense Characters

Alright, so let’s see what I can recommend that I haven’t recommended a lot yet. I’m going to try and approach this with a few different genres, as well as a few different systems. There will also be links to related rec posts at the end!

Into the Black, by Monkey’s Paw Games.

INTO THE BLACK is a sci-fi roleplaying game where one or more players take on the role of Management and presents a futuristic universe of corporate oppression and class warfare, while others take on the role of Freelancers and create characters to struggle and survive in that universe. Players must navigate and explore a strange and wondrous galaxy while deeply indebted to an interstellar corporation. Life among the stars, then, is about treading the razor's edge of struggling for survival and finding joy and love where one can.

Into the Black is built on the Into the Odd rules system, created by Chris McDowell. This places it into the OSR family of games. Now, OSR games are typically pretty lethal at low levels, and Into the Black is no different, but I know that 5E has the same kind of problem, to the point that many people will skip first level altogether.

In Into the Black, your character starts with an occupation, a background, randomly rolled abilities, and some gear. Once you advance to your first level, you take one of two classes, and customize from there. Technicians learn new occupations while Specialists take on new Kinesis Abilities, which are paranormal abilities that fit the space setting. You’ll chew through characters pretty quickly here, but I think that finding a character that does survive past the first few levels might be akin to a Nuzlocke run in a Pokemon game - you care a lot about the person who survives past a certain point, and your investment will help you generate this character’s thoughts, feelings and reactions in the game.

Gubat Banwa, by Makapatag.

GUBAT BANWA is a Martial Arts Tactics and War Drama Tabletop RPG where you play as martial artists poised to change the world: Kadungganan: the cavalry, the wandering swordsmen, the tide turners, the knights-errant, the ones to call in darkest night in a world inspired and centering Southeast Asian folklore.

Witness, grand warriors, honorable gallants that trudge and toil under kings and haloes. Witness, KADUNGGANAN, that refulgent name. That blasted name: WITNESS NOW. The end of days is upon us: and the new world MUST BE BORN. Bear your blades, incant your magicks. Cut open your tomorrow from the womb of violence. Inscribe your name upon the very akasha of this world. 

There are plenty of mechanics to immerse yourself in when it comes to the Kadungganan of Gubat Banwa. You have a homeland, a social class, defining life events, a profession, a religion, and a specialization. These choices give you pieces of your backstory, but they also give you skills. You’ll also choose a Discipline, a martial art that your character is currently practising, which defines your character’s philosophy and the way they carry themself into battle. Various cultures have collections of different disciplines, with each flavour receiving special abilities, as well as thematic advice on how they present themselves in battle. If you like games that give you extremely cool abilities and badass weaponry, and tie everything in your character to integral pieces of the setting, then Gubat Banwa is for you.

Neon Nights, by EfanGamez.

In Jeriko City, everybody wants to be somebody. Who do you wanna be?

Neon Nights is a cyberpunk/dystopian tabletop RPG set on Earth after a nuclear war devastated the entire planet. After hundreds of years of thousands of people roaming the desolate, irradiated Great Wastes, megacities emerged from the dust of deserts. Where there was once crumbling roads and dancing dust devils now stand skyscrapers towering over hundreds of thousands of roaming pedestrians walking the streets of Jeriko City, located on the East Coast of the once powerful United States of America.

Neon Nights uses a point-buy system to increase parts of your character sheet as you like, which gives you a lot of flexibility when cobbling together a concept. You use points to increase traits, which seem to affect your rolls, perks, which are special abilities used in specific situations, and World Stats, which determine how your character is seen by the rest of the world. How famous are you? How feared? How much respect are you granted? At character creation this may be a guide for the GM as to how your character is received by different elements of society. And these arenas will change depending on what you do in the game. You’ll also choose Occupations which give you pre-determined modifiers and skills that make your character unique. Finally, there’s your gear! Biotech, consumables, and weapons all give your character tools to use in whatever situations you find yourselves in.

Mutants in the Now, by Julian Kay.

In the ‘80s and ‘90s, they ruled the streets, kick-flipping off of villainous faces and slipping into the shadows. Then, they vanished from the world of tabletop gaming.

But they’re back. And ready to KICK BUTT.

Mutants in the Now is a retromodern retake on the mutant animal role-playing games long past and left behind by licensing. Mutants fight to survive, thrive, and make the world better for themselves and humanity.

If you want unlimited options, Mutants in the Now has options. Over 130 animal species and over 200 mutation traits are in the basic book, along with fourteen combat styles, psionic powers, and detailed rules about combat, allies, villains, and more. You can roll randomly for your animal, and spend points to improve them via mutations, combat styles etc.

There’s a lot of pieces that you can look at and then generate a backstory based off of the character you’ve created, and the setting is high action, Saturday-morning-cartoon in theme, but the details are up to your play group. If you like limitless possibilities for character creation, you should check out Mutants in the Now (and it’s expansion, Mutants in the Next!)

Other Posts To Check Out

All The Dice

Branching Out From D&D

Character Customization

Echoes of D&D

Tactical Combat

Rules-Lite Systems with Classes