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sealrock · 4 months

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the order of saint jehanne ; a look into the past

motto: rage of the fury, temperance of the maiden

active: c. 1410-1558 (148 years)

the order of saint jehanne, sometimes known as the blue sorority, was an officially endorsed ishgardian military order comprised of female knights and were active participants in the dragonsong war. fighting alongside their brothers in arms roughly 150 years since they've been founded, the order set an example for coerthan women everywhere.

rich or poor, young or old, the order accepted any who would answer the call. the knights that joined the order, known by the commoners as 'swordsisters', served for life. taking a strict vow of celibacy and following the creed of the order's patron saint, the swordsisters dedicated their waking moments to honoring the fury, helping the destitute, and striking down the dravanian horde at any cost.

history:

'the blessed one, jehanne tarc' (c. 1340) painted by beittent de tofaux (1276-1356), oil on canvas

jehanne tarc (c. 1154-1173), once a poor farmgirl in the coerthan lowlands, lived a short but illustrious life that propelled her to sainthood two hundred years after her death. hers is a tale that's been spoken by bards and idolized by the smallfolk long after she returned to the earth: guided by visions from none other than the fury herself, jehanne led a campaign of victorious battles against the dravanian horde, only to fall in a fiery blaze by her archenemies.

purportedly the third daughter of eight children, jehanne lived a simple and uneventful life. she was fourteen when she received her first vision of halone, surrounded by her valiant knights in resplendent golden armor; it was said she wept for days afterward for that she could not believe the fury would reveal herself to such a lowly servant. the visions continued soon after that, but instead of being fearful, jehanne fully embraced her visitations—even if no one believed her.

around this time, rumors of a prophecy descended from the highlands about an armored maiden would come forth and strike a grievous blow against nidhogg's horde. lady reinette also lived in the same period as jehanne, but she had already put down her lance to devote herself to the church after avenging her beloved.

at sixteen, jehanne's family was killed when the village was razed to the ground by amelth, a fiercesome and high-ranking dragon with impenetrable scales that has already devastated the armed forces of the holy see's temple knights. believing the prophecy to be true and seeking revenge, jehanne rode to the capital and demanded an audience with the archbishop of the period. backed by her visions of the fury, jehanne was given the archbishop's blessing to fight. with no military training or skills in weaponry, jehanne quickly proved herself to be blessed by the fury. her arrival bolstered the moral of the troops no one has seen before or since her death, and with her leading the charge the holy see managed to drive back the horde at a pace no one could believe.

at eighteen, jehanne struck down amelth; for three days and three nights, they fought a bitter battle that ultimately ended with jehanne as the victor. with so many battles won, the people of ishgard viewed her as the fury reborn. but with all good things, they must come to an end. a year later, jehanne was nineteen years old when she was killed in retaliation by amelth's brood. facing death unflinchingly, jehanne's life was snuffed out by dragonfire.

surprisingly, the church was slow to canonize jehanne as a saint, much like they did saint reinette, despite her glories and virtures. in 1309, jehanne was beatified and canonized as a virgin saint to the cheers of the lowlands who had venerated her. it would take another century before the military order would be founded in her name. with much of her life embellished by folktales and song, jehanne continues to inspire many of the commonfolk.

during her life, jehanne never wavered in her faith and maintained her maidenhood when many men wanted her hand in marriage. she devoted herself fully to halone, and in death her virginity was recognized as her most admirable trait. this sentiment was followed by the order to the fullest, its swordsisters vowing to never fall in love with anyone, for their mission would be compromised by mortal desires.

insignia:

the order's coat of arms was humble in design; its chequy pattern of white and blue was not meant to be excessive or ostentatious, much like the order's patron saint. the white symbolized the swordsisters' unwavering and unsullied purity, while the blue represented the fury's grace and divine favor to her knights.

attire:

the order, being both a military unit and a community of religious sisters, has two modes of dress: combat and clerical.

the order's combat uniform consists of the medium armor variety—a mix of leather, metal, and chainmail. the tunic worn by the swordsisters consists of the same chequy pattern as their coat of arms, quickly distinguishing themselves from temple knights and dragoons alike. the helms worn by the order offers protection in close-quarters combat: while other knights wear enclosed helms in battle, the order opted to use a crowned mail coif with an open, but barred, visor to improve vision.

while most can identify the order's offensive soldiers, those who wield swords, lances, and maces, the order carries defensive swordsisters who are the healers and mages of their units. they wear the same uniform as the offense.

when not in active duty, members of the order fulfill their daily tasks around their convents in their clerical dress. more ornate (and at times offensive to the more conservative members of the church) than a simple nun's habit, it follows the same pattern of elements with the tunic, coif and veil, but decorated with stripes and jewels.

internal organization:

the order has a hierarchy like any other order in coerthas. while it's easier to refer to everyone in the order as swordsister, they are organized by 'levels':

quaternaire: aka the reverend mother. an elderly head of the order usually elected with votes after serving half of her life to the organization. like her name suggests, the reverend mother runs the convent much like a parent would, with a strict no-nonsense attitude. she received the vows of the swordsisters, admit new candidates, or send them out on missionary work or to the battlefield to offer aid.

tertiaire: after a certain amount of years have passed, or if the younger sister excelled in her work, she'll graduate to become a tertiaire, or 'older sister'. these swordsisters are most common in the field as their survival skills, discipline, and dedication lead them to confront dragons head on. besides combat expertise, some older sisters are more adept to administrative work, performing religious rites, and overlooking the younger sisters and novices.

secondaire: primaires who pass the training are officially initiated into the order, thus becoming secondaires. they are called 'younger sister [x]' as a form of address. contact with the outside world would be cut off from this point forward. the initiate would then receive a new name chosen from the church's beatified saints or known virtues to signify her 'death' to the world. these new sisters continue to receive training from the higher-ups, and their responsibilities are given based on skill. they apprentice under the older sisters in the field and in the convent.

primaire: fresh faces to the order who must undergo a rigorous, and often torturous, physical and mental training initiation that last for one year. during this period, novices are not addressed with special titles, they're allowed to maintain contact with family and friends, and if they choose to, leave the order if they're not capable of enduring the training. novices endure no penalty.

the training initiation does not spare bright-eyed girls and women from its wrath; most novices leave after 3 months of training. only the resolute and pious souls of halone are able to suffer through it. it was modeled after the trials of saint jehanne to bring those closer to the tribulations she once did.

even after becoming a swordsister, one must continue to prove their worth to the saint and to grow closer to the fury through mortifying their flesh (abstinence, self-flagellation, wearing a chain cilice, steam baths as penance). to know what the patron saint went through, the swordsisters put aside their apprehension to train both body and soul in the ways of the maiden. their faith makes it so they can stare down the enemy with no fear.

the end of the line:

once a woman is initiated, she cannot leave under any circumstances. to serve halone is to serve for life, and that means laying down your life in the name of the fury without fear. a swordsister renounces worldly pleasures in the name of her patron saint, and to consider leaving is akin to heresy in the order, often punishable by death.

alas, their mission was cut short by one of their own. the order was destroyed from within by someone whose heart was anchored with mortal desires and temptations. none survived except for the traitor.

older sister tauvane, now tauvane the godless, turned her back on her swordsisters. once a bastard babe born in the sins of her parents, she was given to the care of the swordsisters who treated her as one of their own. while society didn't accept her, the order saw her as who she was: a lost lamb needing guidance. but she committed the ultimate form of treachery in the act of love.

a young temple knight, a heretic injured in battle and nursed back to health by sister tauvane, lured her away from the order. justice was wrought on the nonbeliever, but tauvane retaliated in the most horrific way imaginable: aligning herself with the enemy. the order of saint jehanne was wiped out by tauvane, once a beloved sister and friend, in the year 1558. she nows leads a crusade of her own—a war with the holy see in the name of her beloved.

may the fury receive her flock with open arms and cast down the wicked.

#meta.#trying something different don't mind me #some tauvane backstory :]#this is so long holy shit. my longest meta post yet #but i actually like how tauvane's developed to this point. it finally makes sense now that she wants to see ishgard burn #all of this to say that tauvane did Not feel accepted by the order at all and was worse off there than back home #she went from a warrior nun to an (exonerated) enemy of the state #mygposes.

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lazaruspiss · 2 months

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america raised the legal smoking age to 21 in 2019 and i just found out bc i needed to buy a lighter (for candles) and had to give my bday for it

#ramble tag #fun fact! the 21+ stuff in the US is all bc of high schoolers #it started w drinking age but now its anything they could use to get high. including like. cough drops apparently?#high schoolers. my new mortal enemy.#anyways the lady didnt properly ID me bc holy shit im an adult and its for candles who cares

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cortinate · 2 months

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need somebody to make me a pumptini and listen as i infodump about why vanderpump rules deserves to be preserved by the library of congress for its cultural significance

#the way this hyperfixation is grabbing me by the neck and threatening to suffocate me holy shit #like i NEED to explain how with the context of scandoval the first three seasons are INSANE to rewatch #the men on this show? evil. genuinely so evil.#and alex baskin is my new parasocial enemy!!!! i WILL fight him for trying to give tom sandoval a fucking redemption arc #vanderpump rules

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dirtytransmasc · 1 year

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I have this headcanon about instead of Quaritch finding his old body at the shack with the AMP suit, he finds a proper grave when the recoms are sent to the now abandoned Hell's Gate.

(Like the humans who stayed likely abandoned it when the RDA returned)

They find a grave for everyone of them (and Paz) in the big area just within Hell's Gate's fences. They all have little grave markers, some are crosses, and others are stone or metal, but all have their names and death dates plus little symbols for their respective faiths if they had one.

(You'd find most of this on dog tags)

There's little epitaph's on each marker, all simple and suited for soldiers.

I'd imagine it's jarring to see your own grave, but the conflicting emotions of knowing the Na'vi had to have helped with giving the soldiers a proper burial, and Quaritch knows that Jake had to have been behind it because who else would have made sure to give them proper human burials?

It'd be made worse (or just angstier) if it was clear that despite the compound being abandoned, someone is still coming down to care for the graveyard despite the risk.

I feel like it'd complicate a lot of feelings for the recoms, knowing that their enemies went through the trouble of giving dead soldiers proper funeral rites. They didn't do a mass grave or leave the bodies where they died, they buried them individually with care and respect.

And the recoms know if the roles were reversed, the RDA wouldn't have done the same. They wouldn't even consider it.

this... this hurts.

I feel like humans lost their humanity and decency so long ago, that you stopped expecting basic decency from anyone. I think this was especially true for members of the RDA; when was the last time any of them had truly been treated with any sort of basic human decency? when was the last time any of them were treated with softness or kindness? had they ever experienced it in their new lives, did they have any actual memories of being cared for? Cause the RDA clearly treated them like assets, replaceable in every way. they treated themselves like they had no value, like they were born and raised to die. Humans themselves had become so destructive and bloodthirsty that they killed their own planet, each other, a whole new world, and its people out of greed.

So to stumble across not only you're grave, but a show of remorse and kindness would be a lot. it would be so foreign, but also so... right?

none of them would know how to feel knowing their enemies, the people they tried to slaughter, people of the same people they did in fact slaughter, took the time to treat their bodies with care, and they continued to care for them long after their deaths. for 16 years, they were being cared for, and now they're back to do it all over again? to wage war on those who couldn't even bring themselves to disrespect the bodies of their aggressors?

I can only imagine quaritch hunting jake down just to ask "why?" cause like you said, he knows enough to know jake was involved. he wants to know why things are so different here, why the people are so good-natured even to those who don't deserve it. part of him wonder's if he is capable of that.

#holy shit this hurt #give the recoms ever worse crisis's its kinda fun #quaritch #recom squad #jake sully #it's been a long time since I want to a military funeral #I was only like 5 or 6 when my great grandpa died so I don't remember all the details and parts #but I can imagine jake doing his best to send them off correctly #because to him quaritch would always be a brother in arms even if on opposing sides #it doesn't matter that they're enemies #they respect that about each other #avatar 2 #avatar the way of water

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brineffxiv · 1 year

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I arrive on the Moon.

Emet-Selch's voice informs me that this is where Zodiark is imprisoned (and reminds me that both of our star's moons were prisons for gods. WTF, did the Allagans know He was here?) and where the souls of those sacrificed to give Him life still slumber.

Uh... speaking of??? That's an Ancient.

There's a disembodied voice calling to me. Is it that person?

They spawn anguish monsters when I interact with them, and disappear when I go to touch them. The disembodied voice tells me not to do that, a little bit late...

Somehow I failed to notice this palace(?) immediately.

Hey look, that aetheryte is in the style of the ones from Amaurot! I wonder...

Oh. Oh my. Hello.

Are you like the shades from Emet-Selch's Amaurot? A memory? Or are you a completely different kind of arcane construct that just happens to resemble them?

Wait, I missed that first part.

Hydaelyn created the moon?!

Holy shit.

So our star has no natural satellites. This moon was created to imprison Zodiark.

On the topic of Zodiark, I am having difficulty parsing what I'm looking at exactly. I'm seeing... Man, I don't know. Wings, horns, big beefy arms? He's got a superficial resemblance to the trial boss Sephirot from the Warring Triad.

That's only a projection of the real thing, ensconced in the core of the moon.

There are six brands that bind Zodiark in his prison; five were broken in Fandaniel's attempted jailbreak. The Watcher has managed to repair one of them, and is working on the other four. But his attempts are being stymied...

By the souls of those sacrificed to summon Zodiark.

These... These are the people Emet-Selch wanted to save. To free. These are the people I condemned to a purgatory eternal by slaying him. These are the people who willingly gave their lives in the hope that their brethren could save their future.

The Watcher wants me to "expel" them. What does expelling them mean?

I... No. Please don't ask me to do that. I've already taken their hope. I cannot take any more from them.

Okay. That. That I can do.

The spirits are so fragile, so little left of them, that simply taking to them causes them to dissipate.

I am crying again.

Oh! Oh it's a dog! A sparkly dog! Hello puppy.

The dog leads me across the surface of Mare Lamentorum, from one brand to another, and on to more spirits. They all dissipate after saying their piece. Giving voice to their laments.

Until, quite suddenly, they don't. And there are more and more of them.

But someone...?

Saves me?

Hythlodaus?! Hythlodaeus!!

The real Hythlodaeus!

If you weren't a ghost I would hug you!

Ah! It's like meeting an old friend! It is meeting an old friend. Just like that, you confirm I am Azem's reincarnation. A question I'd had since your shade first handed me the constellation crystal.

But how?! The others, they're not... they're not "themselves"! How are you you?!

You. You... N. No. Why are you here...

You were sacrificed to Zodiark.

...And just like that, I understand Emet-Selch's pain, his drive, anew. To know that Hythlodaeus is... was? One of the souls trapped with Zodiark. Suddenly I can understand it, on a personal level. And he, Emet, he knew all of them. He knew them well enough to build an entire city populated with their souls. Knew Hythlodaeus well enough that meeting the real man is nearly indistinguishable from the shade.

On that topic...

Hythlodaus is adorable. He seems... happy. To find that the Emet-Selch he once knew had not changed, fundamentally, in all this time.

I must contrast that with the shade Emet-Selch had created, who seemed to think that while they were once close, they were no longer? I wonder if that was a projection of Emet's own subconscious dread that Hythlodaeus would dislike the person he had become?

That's fanfic fodder is what that is. God dammit why are you both dead?? I'm sad now.

Hythlodaeus tells me about what his time was like as a shade. How they know and remember all that had happened between their sacrifice and Zodiark's ultimate imprisonment. They know of the sundering and-

OMG.

You're not sundered, are you, Hythlodaus? No, you can't be. You wouldn't be you if you had been. Did being sacrificed to Zodiark ultimately save you from the sundering?! That's incredible.

Oh. Oh, Hythlodaeus, you don't know what that means to me.

Our lovely little chat is interrupted by the shattering of one of the two remaining brands. Hythlodaus identifies the two souls as Fandaniel and one he does not know, but who is "an unfamiliar but fearsome being." He promises to ensure that the shades will no longer hinder me by way of apology for keeping me from my duty, and urges me to protect the final brand.

The lustrous dog returns, and I ride it to the last brand...

But I am too late.

Fandaniel waxes poetic about Zodiark's power and potential; pointing out that without Elidibus, Zodiark has neither heart or will to guide Him. Which I hadn't considered. Elidibus was Zodiark. What's left down there... is a mindless being of pure power.

(Whoa, hey, wait. Does this mean... Because, Elidibus was already out of Zodiark when the sundering happened... Hydaelyn didn't actually have to fight a thinking being, She took advantage of Elidibus' absence! She didn't win a fair fight... That makes so much sense. I wondered how the most powerful primal, fueled by half-a-city's worth of lives, could lose to a primal fueled by a dozen or so. But the lights were on with no one home...)

Zenos is more to the point and challenges me to battle. We're about to beat the stuffing out of each other when Fandaniel third-wheel's his way in with an interruption: he's got something to say.