#abandon thyself

[sir-yeehaw-paws]

A man turns the wrong way for five seconds-

#mgs #mgsv #metal gear solid v #kazuhira miller #big boss #nate vids #nates mgs play #as per my last post #SRSLY WHERE ARE YOU GOING #kaz sqwakin like im about to abandon the mission post haste #I TURNED THE WRONG WAY ROUND DEAR CALM THYSELF

[the-consortium]

Physician heal thyself.

I am currently not feeling well, so my blogs look rather abandoned. I am trying my best to at least get some posting done, because it's fun and better than doing nothing at all and having a go at free black-spiral-nosediving.

But it's slow and hard and so far no land in sight.

Patience.

#warhammer #fabius bile #the consortium #roleplay #my blogs #state of the mind

[srbachchan]

DAY 5500

Jalsa, Mumbai                  Mar 8/9,  2023                Wed/Thu  2:46 AM

🪔 .. March 09 .. birthday wishes and affection to Ef Altaf Ali Kondkar from Riyadh - KSA 🇸🇦 .. and Ef Misti Das from Assam .. 🌿

And the greetings of togetherness to our Mili from Bangalore - Ef Mukherji Ratna .. for her 43th marriage anniversary .. happiness .. 💍💕

And happiness to the Ef twinning in their wedding anniversary date .. Ef Manoj Lahoti and Ef Amit Lahoti .. both completing Sizzling Sixteen years of marriage .. on March 8 .. 💍💕

One can sit back and lament lost opportunity .. or get up, retrieve it and beat it .. 

Yes .. defeat loss suffering is painful .. but the body mechanism heals as rapidly as it injures .. get up , get going , and get it .. 

.. no philosophy here .. no grand proclamations of adamant bravery .. or the incline to demonstrate line of work for praise and will .. those for whom work brings fresh start , shall ever do , in the interests of the self .. teach yourself a lesson .. doing it to reflect in teaching to others is a fake .. a falsehood that needs to be abandoned .. it is my body , my mind , my will , my desire .. 

For this once the ‘me’ is deliverance .. selfish to thyself .. deservedly and in compliance with what you will decide .. not any other .. the ‘other’ is after all just another ‘other’ .. 

he may not have been translated into this .. but changes do occur .. and once they do , the ‘other’ moves behind opaque glasses .. seen to be there .. but not .. 

Your own limits of physicality .. limits of your cerebrum .. shall ever remain as the build on birth .. what we treat it to, is the condition that we build for ourselves .. indulge in the unwanted and be prepared for the dive .. indulge in the wanted and be prepared for the dive to swim out .. 

Tough ..

But there for us all ..

 I have known not peace .. there be some shortcomings within , some without .. but I have determined myself to rid me of both ..  shortcomings .. in both  .. for I have not known peace and quiet .. 

proclamations are worthless .. proclaim and be defeated because they were not fulfilled , is a head down embarrassment  ... 

say yes .. but to thyself .. do yes , but for thyself .. repair yes , but for thyself .. for when the ‘thy’ thrives, so does the rest .. 

I thrive because I wish you to keep in my join ever .. 

.. life is but a pierced arrow ..a disturbed mind .. a quivering , shuddering , trembling  bod ..  this be the truth .. does it deserve the need to bring it to proof  .. its is pain pain pain ever .. pull the arrow out first from the body .. who did pull the bow to work the arrow , why  did he do it , these are questions to be dealt with later .. take the arrow out first  .. 

Amitabh Bachchan

[eglerieth]

On the Fëanorian accent

There is a great deal of fandom content on the subject of people like Elrond being said to have a “Fëanorian accent” which is based solely on use of the Thúlè. This is a bit ridiculous, as that is the deliberate pronunciation of a single letter, and therefore hardly an accent.

However, I do think that the Fëanorians probably did have their own accent, one that had nothing to do with the Thúlè and everything to do with the fact that they spent thousands of years exploring Valinor with only each other for company, and hundreds more years in Beleriand more or less shunned from other elven peoples. That’s literally how accents form, people.

the list of people who spoke with a Fëanorian accent is as follows:

• Fëanor

• his sons

• (nerdanel?)

• celebrimbor

• the people who followed Fëanor the closest in the flight of the Noldor

• the people of Himring

• Elrond and Elros

• Aradhel. It was a quirk that her many fans easily accepted while in Valinor; in Vinyamar and Gondolin, people diplomatically pretended not to notice

• because of that, Maeglin had a Fëanorian accent when speaking Quenya when he first arrived at Gondolin, but he quickly picked up on how it made people uncomfortable and learned to speak in a Gondolinian accent so as not to associate himself with their bad memories.

• Fingon is an interesting case. He speaks with the most classically mainstream Noldorin accent imaginable. It’s more perfect and precise than even that of Finwë or Fingolfin. His accent is the one actors study when they want to play a Noldo; you know the type. But when he spends too much time around Maedhros, their accents sort of meld into a weird mainstream/Fëanorian hybrid. No one else experience this. Whenever they returned home after time spent together, there’s a lot of drama, especially in the Fëanorian household. Fëanor freaks out every. Single. Time. “WHY DOST THOU SPEAK IN THE SUBPAR MANNER OF HE WHO IS MOST CERTAINLY NOT MY BROTHER?! HAVE I RAISED YOU TO SULLY THYSELF IN SPEECH?! WHY DOTH MY FIRSTBORN REJECT HIS FAMILY SO?!” And then poor Maedhros is like, “Sheesh, Atya, I just spent some time with my dear friend and cousin. I’m not abandoning our family!” The accent wears off a few weeks later anyway. Every time. When the Ambarussa were innocent little elf-lings, they used to tease Maedhros about it, mocking him in an awfully exaggerated Nolofinwëan accent. He would generally slap them upside the head for it, but he took it in good fun. But after a while Fëanor got more obsessive and the twins got older and wiser, and they stopped. Soon after it became a moot point anyway, as the lies of Melkor had started sowing discord and Maedhros stopped spending time with Fingon. Later, in Beleriand, they never resumed teasing him even after Fëanor died and Maedhros and Fingon reconnected, because after Maedhros’s time in Thangoridrim, no one, not even his brothers, dared tease him about anything to his face, partly out of pity and partly because he was now terrifying. But he and Fingon still had that weird hybrid accent every time they spent time together, which is why Thorondor’s first exposure to Quenya was with an accent that only two people in the world had only some of the time. Much like with Aradhel, the people of Gondolin diplomatically overlook the faint Fëanorian accent the King of Eagles occasionally speaks with.

whoever wants to add, feel free!

@nerdy-catfish, @rouxelf

#eglerieth #lotr #tolkien #silm theory #silmarillion #silm #feanorians #feanorions #sons of Fëanor #quenya #accents #fan theory #Shibboleth of Fëanor

[miss-lynn-updates]

Anything for the Lord? Abandon thy sinful relations with the mother of Nicole. Abandon thy quest for relationship with any person of thy sex. Commit thyself either to a relationship with a man, or none at all.

Anything except that. I love her with my whole being. 💗

#co09 rp accounts #class of 09 miss lynn #class of 09 #co09 #class of 09 the re up #class of 09 game #class of 09 the reup #class of 09 rp #rp account

[hs-repaint]

Reveal thyself.

Your name is FEFERI VANTAS and today is a most glorious day. A day in which you carved through the disgusting, incestuous slurry to achieve the coveted construct of existence. Although, this is hardly a feat as thousands of ALTERNIANS have endured such fates as well. 

However, you do have a variety of INTERESTS that set you apart from the rabble of this contemptible SOCIETY. Such as your intense fascination with all things COOKING. Yes, at any given moment, a RECIPE can viciously invade your mind like an ethereal worm, ravaging your sacred thoughts and leaving a trail of INGREDIENTS and MEASUREMENTS in its wake. A particularly nasty habit when plans for RIGHTEOUS UPHEAVAL should be the focus. When the smell of BAKED GOODS slathered in GRUBSAUCE isn’t interrupting your humble attempts at SOCIAL REFORMATION, you are instead accosted by a multitude of QUOTES from various SHOWS and MOVIES you enjoy. Too bad most of your FRIENDS barely watch the content you enjoy, but you can hardly blame them when most of this media hasn’t been regularly enjoyed in sweeps. As a member of your planet’s UNDESIRABLES, you are distinctly aware of the bitter truths that pervade your culture and have made it your mission to right those wrongs alongside your group of FREEDOM FIGHTERS. Yes, as an ambiguously omnipotent being is your witness, you will see Alternia abandon its hostile ideologies and become a place of PEACE NO MATTER THE BLOOD.    Most of your life has been an independent one, but thanks to your CLOSEST COMPATRIOTS, you’ve been introduced to the world of TROLLIAN and made new bonds. Some less desirable than others. Your trolltag is avantAgnathan and you speak in a manner that is certain to krill the depressive thoughts of any and everyfin, you are nothing if not cheerful. In a matter of time, you are certain to play a game with 5 other friends and go on a grand adventure with them. Paradoxically, such a game does not exist YET.  In the meantime, what will you do?

> Feferi: _____

#homestuck repaint #homestuck #homestuck au #homestuck bloodswap #bloodswap #repaint page #feferi peixes #feferi vantas #fanventure #homestuck re:paint #homestuck fanart #homestuck fanventure

[talonabraxas]

AKHENATEN AND THE HYMN TO THE SUN Akhenaten, also known as Amenhotep IV, was a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt. He ruled for 17 years and died in 1336 BC or 1334 BC. Akhenaten transformed Egypt when he abandoned traditional Egyptian polytheism religion and introduced a monotheistic religion that centered on the worship of the Aten or the Sun. Akhenaten’ s name means “Effective spirit of Aten” or “Spirit of the Sun”. Thou appearest beautifully on the horizon of heaven, Thou living Aton, the beginning of life! When thou art risen on the eastern horizon, Thou hast filled every land with thy beauty. Thou art gracious, great, glistening, and high over every land; Thy rays encompass the lands to the limit of all that thou hast made: As thou art Re, thou reachest to the end of them; (Thou) subduest them (for) thy beloved son. Though thou art far away, thy rays are on earth; Though thou art in their faces, no one knows thy going. When thou settest in the western horizon, The land is in darkness, in the manner of death. They sleep in a room, with heads wrapped up, Nor sees one eye the other. All their goods which are under their heads might be stolen, (But) they would not perceive (it). Every lion is come forth from his den; All creeping things, they sting. Darkness is a shroud, and the earth is in stillness, For he who made them rests in his horizon. At daybreak, when thou arisest on the horizon, When thou shinest as the Aton by day, Thou drivest away the darkness and givest thy rays. The Two Lands are in festivity every day, Awake and standing upon (their) feet, For thou hast raised them up. Washing their bodies, taking (their) clothing, Their arms are (raised) in praise at thy appearance. All the world, they do their work. All beasts are content with their pasturage; Trees and plants are flourishing. The birds which fly from their nests, Their wings are (stretched out) in praise to thy ka. All beasts spring upon (their) feet. Whatever flies and alights, They live when thou hast risen (for) them. The ships are sailing north and south as well, For every way is open at thy appearance. The fish in the river dart before thy face; Thy rays are in the midst of the great green sea. Creator of seed in women, Thou who makest fluid into man, Who maintainest the son in the womb of his mother, Who soothest him with that which stills his weeping, Thou nurse (even) in the womb, Who givest breath to sustain all that he has made! When he descends from the womb to breathe On the day when he is born, Thou openest his mouth completely, Thou suppliest his necessities. When the chick in the egg speaks within the shell, Thou givest him breath within it to maintain him. When thou hast made him his fulfillment within the egg, to break it, He comes forth from the egg to speak at his completed (time); He walks upon his legs when he comes forth from it. How manifold it is, what thou hast made! They are hidden from the face (of man). O sole god, like whom there is no other! Thou didst create the world according to thy desire, Whilst thou wert alone: All men, cattle, and wild beasts, Whatever is on earth, going upon (its) feet, And what is on high, flying with its wings. The countries of Syria and Nubia, the land of Egypt, Thou settest every man in his place, Thou suppliest their necessities: Everyone has his food, and his time of life is reckoned. Their tongues are separate in speech, And their natures as well; Their skins are distinguished, As thou distinguishest the foreign peoples. Thou makest a Nile in the underworld, Thou bringest forth as thou desirest To maintain the people (of Egypt) According as thou madest them for thyself, The lord of all of them, wearying (himself) with them, The lord of every land, rising for them, The Aton of the day, great of majesty. All distant foreign countries, thou makest their life (also), For thou hast set a Nile in heaven, That it may descend for them and make waves upon the mountains, Like the great green sea, To water their fields in their towns. How effective they are, thy plans, O lord of eternity! The Nile in heaven, it is for the foreign peoples And for the beasts of every desert that go upon (their) feet; (While the true) Nile comes from the underworld for Egypt. Thy rays suckle every meadow. When thou risest, they live, they grow for thee. Thou makest the seasons in order to rear all that thou hast made, The winter to cool them, And the heat that they may taste thee. Thou hast made the distant sky in order to rise therein, In order to see all that thou dost make. Whilst thou wert alone, Rising in thy form as the living Aton, Appearing, shining, withdrawing or aproaching, Thou madest millions of forms of thyself alone. Cities, towns, fields, road, and river — Every eye beholds thee over against them, For thou art the Aton of the day over the earth... Thou are in my heart, And there is no other that knows thee Save thy son Nefer-kheperu-Re Wa-en-Re, For thou hast made him well-versed in thy plans and in thy strength. The world came into being by thy hand, According as thou hast made them. When thou hast risen they live, When thou settest they die. Thou art lifetime thy own self, For one lives (only) through thee. Eyes are (fixed) on beauty until thou settest. All work is laid aside when thou settest in the west. (But) when (thou) risest (again), [Everything is] made to flourish for the king,… Since thou didst found the earth And raise them up for thy son, Who came forth from thy body: the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, … Ak-en-Aton, … and the Chief Wife of the King … Nefert-iti, living and youthful forever and ever.

[the-chronicle-of-holy-days]

Day 15

Liber Cheth

vel

Vallum Abiegni

sub figurâ CLVI

A∴A∴ Publication in Class A

1.

This is the secret of the Holy Graal, that is the sacred vessel of our Lady the Scarlet Woman, Babalon the Mother of Abominations, the bride of Chaos, that rideth upon our Lord the Beast.

2.

Thou shalt drain out thy blood that is thy life into the golden cup of her fornications.

3.

Thou shalt mingle thy life with the universal life. Thou shalt keep not back one drop.

4.

Then shall thy brain be dumb, and thy heart beat no more, and all thy life shall go from thee; and thou shalt be cast out upon the midden, and the birds of the air shall feast upon thy flesh, and thy bones shall whiten in the sun.

5.

Then shall the winds gather themselves together, and bear thee up as it were a little heap of dust in a sheet that hath four corners, and they shall give it unto the guardians of the abyss.

6.

And because there is no life therein, the guardians of the abyss shall bid the angels of the winds pass by. And the angels shall lay thy dust in the City of the Pyramids, and the name thereof shall be no more.

7.

Now therefore that thou mayest achieve this ritual of the Holy Graal, do thou divest thyself of all thy goods.

8.

Thou hast wealth; give it unto them that have need thereof, yet no desire toward it.

9.

Thou hast health; slay thyself in the fervour of thine abandonment unto Our Lady. Let thy flesh hang loose upon thy bones, and thine eyes glare with thy quenchless lust unto the Infinite, with thy passion for the Unknown, for Her that is beyond Knowledge the accursèd one.

10.

Thou hast love; tear thy mother from thine heart, and spit in the face of thy father. Let thy foot trample the belly of thy wife, and let the babe at her breast be the prey of dogs and vultures.

11.

For if thou dost not this with thy will, then shall We do this despite thy will. So that thou attain to the Sacrament of the Graal in the Chapel of Abominations.

12.

And behold! if by stealth thou keep unto thyself one thought of thine, then shalt thou be cast out into the abyss for ever; and thou shalt be the lonely one, the eater of dung, the afflicted in the Day of Be-with-Us.

13.

Yea! verily this is the Truth, this is the Truth, this is the Truth. Unto thee shall be granted joy and health and wealth and wisdom when thou art no longer thou.

14.

Then shall every gain be a new sacrament, and it shall not defile thee; thou shalt revel with the wanton in the market-place, and the virgins shall fling roses upon thee, and the merchants bend their knees and bring thee gold and spices. Also young boys shall pour wonderful wines for thee, and the singers and the dancers shall sing and dance for thee.

15.

Yet shalt thou not be therein, for thou shalt be forgotten, dust lost in dust.

16.

Nor shall the æon itself avail thee in this; for from the dust shall a white ash be prepared by Hermes the Invisible.

17.

And this is the wrath of God, that these things should be thus.

18.

And this is the grace of God, that these things should be thus.

19.

Wherefore I charge you that ye come unto me in the Beginning; for if ye take but one step in this Path, ye must arrive inevitably at the end thereof.

20.

This Path is beyond Life and Death; it is also beyond Love; but that ye know not, for ye know not Love.

21.

And the end thereof is known not even unto Our Lady or to the Beast whereon She rideth; nor unto the Virgin her daughter nor unto Chaos her lawful Lord; but unto the Crowned Child is it known? It is not known if it be known.

22.

Therefore unto Hadit and unto Nuit be the glory in the End and the Beginning; yea, in the End and the Beginning

art credits: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/DANmBy

#thelema #thelemic holy season #argentum astrum #holy days #silver star #tarot #the chariot tarot

[magpiefngrl]

You know the square people use to decide what fics they’d take with them to a deserted island? I was thinking about it and I sat down and wondered what my top fics were from the HP fandom specifically. When I boiled it down from the hundreds I’ve read, 9 1/2 Days tied for first place with Heal Thyself by astolat. (Just after those two was The Miseducation of Draco Malfoy so I suppose you can tell that I love character development in fiction.)

What I love about your fic in particular though was that you didn’t shy away from the not-so-nice aspects of Draco’s personality, such as how he used to bully Neville or play tricks on Dobby. You addressed the more difficult aspects of his personality, implied strongly that it was in no small part, because of how he was raised, BUT at the same time, you did not reduce him to victimhood and I really really liked that.

A trope that comes up a lot in fiction (in general, not just fanfiction) is making a villainous character into a victim. It seems to be the fastest and easiest way to get the audience to root for them.

But that doesn’t always sit right with me, because sometimes it feels as if the writer is trying to get the audience to side with a particular character without any actual growth from that character. I think there’s a fine line here because an explanation for why a person is the way they are should not be used as a justification or an excuse for the harmful things they do.

That’s why I really really loved your fic. I loved that you used World War II and the Holocaust as a vehicle to help Draco address his own bigotry. That being lost in the world with Harry helped him to confront and struggle with the things he had taught to believe as opposed to what he was actually experiencing for himself. The romance between Harry and him was believable and breathtaking and didn’t take away from Draco’s journey. In all my years of reading, I’ve noticed that this is a very very hard balance to strike. One that even very successful, seasoned writers struggle with and you pulled off so gracefully! I’m in awe.

I’m sorry for the long comment and for rambling I just think you really need to know that your story was wonderful and I’m so glad, so thankful you wrote it.

Gosh. What a lovely and thoughtful ask 💗💗

I'm really happy to hear that you enjoy my fics, esp. 9 ½ Days, and I'm thrilled beyond words that you enjoyed the way the romance unfolded side-by-side with Draco's unlearning. It was indeed very hard for me to write a convincing romance which evolved little by little with Draco slowly changing at the same time. I banged my head on my desk so many times while writing the fic and it's a significant reason it took me 5 years to write.

I hear you re: Draco's growth and portrayal. One of my (many) pet peeves is fics portraying Draco as a victim who only got into the DE because he was being forced but in his heart he was an innocent baby. I find that this, besides being inaccurate, also strips Draco of all agency. It makes him nothing more than a puppet, which in turn makes him very boring. I find canon Draco fascinating. I like the idea that yes, he happily joined the magical equivalent of KKK and he used the equivalent of the n-word with abandon (while also being a bully and a rich toff that looked down his nose on people), and that later he saw some atrocities and realised the true meaning of belonging to a hate group. The cost of it. I imagine the enormity of his guilt and how hard he works in order to change himself, and all this is what makes him such a thrilling character. For me, anyway.

Heal Thyself deals with all this so well! I absolutely adore this fic. It blew me away when I read it. I kept pointing at the page and going "Yes! THIS!"

Look, I don't expect every single fic to make a song and dance about his redemption, sometimes a girl just wants to read a 3k PWP, you know? But when I come across a story where I can tell the author relishes in Draco's complexity, I sure do appreciate it.

I'm very pleased you liked the way I explored this side of him in the fic. Thank you for the very kind message! My fic being one of your desert island fics is so, so touching! I'm all emotional now 💗

#inbox #cornwall fic #draco malfoy

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Andrew Doyle

Published: Dec 12, 2023

Towards the end of Christopher Marlowe’s play Tamburlaine Part Two, our marauding anti-hero burns a copy of the Quran, along with other Islamic books, as a kind of audacious test. “Now, Mahomet,” he cries, “if thou have any power, come down thyself and work a miracle.” Two scenes later, he is dead.

We might see this as a cautionary tale for our times. After all, it isn’t only Turco-Mongol conquerors who find themselves punished for Quran-burning. Last week, the Danish parliament voted to ban the desecration of all religious texts following a spate of protests in which copies of the Qur’an had been destroyed. Inevitably, the new law has been couched as a safety measure. This burning of the book, claims justice minister Peter Hummelgaard, “harms Denmark and Danish interests, and risks harming the security of Danes abroad and here at home”.

He has a point. Even unconfirmed accusations of Quran-burning can be sufficient to prompt extremist violence. In 2015, being accused of defiling the holy book, Farkhunda Malikzada was beaten to death by a ferocious mob in Afghanistan while bystanders, including police officers, did nothing to intervene. Many filmed the brutal murder on their phones and the footage was widely shared on social media. In 2022, a mentally unstable man called Mushtaq Rajput was similarly accused and tied to a tree and stoned to death in Pakistan. Earlier this year in Iran, it was reported that Javad Rouhi was tortured so severely that he could no longer speak or walk. He was sentenced to death for apostasy and later died in prison under suspicious circumstances.

But while we might anticipate that the desecration of the Quran would be proscribed in Islamic theocracies, it is troubling to see similar laws being passed in secular nations such as Denmark. The government had not been so faint-hearted when faced with similar problems in 2005. After cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed were published in Jyllands-Posten, a global campaign from Indonesia to Bosnia demanded that the Danish authorities take action. The government stood firm and the judicial complaint against the newspaper was dismissed.

In a free society this is the only justifiable response, albeit one that takes considerable courage. And the climate of intimidation that has descended since is a product of our collective failure to defend freedom of speech against the demands of militants. When the Ayatollah Khomeini pronounced his fatwa on Salman Rushdie for his novel The Satanic Verses, one would have hoped for a unified front on behalf of one of our finest writers. Instead, much of the literary and political establishment abandoned or even censured him. In the Australian television show Hypotheticals, the singer Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, implied that he would have no objections to Rushdie being burned alive.

That a work of fiction such as The Satanic Verses could not even be published today gives us some indication of the extent to which we have forsaken the principle of free speech. If we are so squeamish about the burning of Qurans, why were so many of us indifferent to the burning of Rushdie’s book on the streets of Bolton and Bradford? Yusuf Islam’s remark about the author’s immolation might have been flippant but, as Heinrich Heine famously wrote: “Where they burn books, they will in the end burn people too.”

The ceremonial burning of books in Germany and Austria in the Thirties has ensured that the act will always have a unique charge, and a disquieting, visceral effect. It is why, for instance, the most memorable scene in Mervyn Peake’s Titus Groan is when the villain Steerpike sets fire to his master’s library. It is a gesture designed to repudiate the very heights of human achievement, to hurl his victim into a spiral of despair. When Rushdie saw his own novel publicly incinerated, he confessed to feeling that “now the victory of the Enlightenment was looking temporary, reversible”.

The burning of the Quran leaves many of us similarly troubled. We do not need to approve of the contents to sense that the destruction of a book is symbolic of a desire to limit the scope of human thought. When activists post footage of themselves gleefully setting fire to copies of Harry Potter, one cannot shake the similar suspicion that they would happily substitute the books with the author herself.

But while many of us find the burning of books instinctively rebarbative, to outlaw this form of protest is essentially authoritarian. And to reinstate blasphemy laws by specifying that only religious books are to be protected is fundamentally retrograde. Of course, such laws already exist in most Western countries in an unwritten form. In March, a 14-year-old autistic boy was suspended from his school in Wakefield, reported to the police, and received death threats after he accidentally dropped a copy of the Quran on the floor, causing some of the pages to be scuffed. He may not have committed a crime, but many people behaved as though he had.

And the same unwritten laws are in force in the fact that few would be brave enough to publish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed after the massacre at the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in 2015. Five years later, the schoolteacher Samuel Paty was beheaded on the streets of Paris simply for showing the offending images during a lesson on free speech. Closer to home, a teacher at Batley Grammar School in West Yorkshire is still in hiding after showing the images to his pupils and stirring the ire of a righteous mob.

The failure of the school’s headmaster, as well as the teaching unions, to support this man against the demands of religious fundamentalists is revealing. Why must those who claim to be defending the dignity of Muslims treat them as irascible children? At the same time, as Sam Harris recently pointed out, there is an oddity in the fact that so many Muslims do not appear to be alarmed that “their community is so uniquely combustible”.

The bitter reality is that terrorism works, particularly when so many governments across the Western world are seemingly willing to fritter away our bedrock of liberal values. This has been actuated, in part, by an alliance of two very different forms of authoritarianism: ultra-conservative Islamic dogma and the safetyist ideology of “wokeness”. The latter has always claimed that causing offence is a form of violence, and the former has been quick to adopt the same tactics. This is why protesters outside Batley Grammar School asserted that the display of offensive cartoons was a “safeguarding” issue, and the Muslim Council of Britain criticised the school for not maintaining an “inclusive space”. The same censorious instincts have been updated, and are now cloaked in a more modish language.

In a civilised and pluralistic society, the burning of a holy book might provoke a variety of responses — anger, disbelief, or just a shrug of the shoulders — but it should never lead to violence. Back when The Onion still had some bite, the website satirised this “unique combustibility” through the depiction of a graphic sexual foursome between Moses, Jesus, Ganesha and Buddha. The headline said it all: “No One Murdered Because Of This Image”.

Freedom of speech and expression still matters, and if that means a few hotheads and mini-Tamburlaines might burn their copies of the Quran then so be it. It is unfortunate that we have reached the point where Islam must be ring-fenced from ridicule or criticism, whether due to fear of violent repercussions or a misguided and patronising effort to promote social justice. But for this state of affairs we ultimately have only ourselves to blame, and in particular our tendency to capitulate to religious zealots when they seek exemption from the liberal consensus.

==

#Andrew Doyle #blasphemy #blasphemy laws #quran burning #quran #islam #islamic authoritarianism #authtoritarianism #i'm offended #offended #religious authoritarianism #free speech #freedom of speech #freedom of expression #criticism of islam #religion #religion is a mental illness

[butterflydm]

wot reread: the gathering storm (chapters 7-16)

spoilers for the gathering storm

1. So, the themes of the previous PoV chapters centered around duty, and what you need to be willing to sacrifice for your duty. I’m kinda curious if this theme continues!

2. Nynaeve is worried about the approaching storm and being reminded of Moiraine by the Aes Sedai who is currently with her (because the woman is wearing a kesiera). Ah-HA. We learn here that Cadsuane DID steal the male Choden Kal and is still keeping it herself. I wondered at the end of Winter’s Heart if she was planning on keeping it after she stole it from Rand, and am not surprised at the answer. Anyway, Nynaeve is practicing for the Aes Sedai test and she’s doing her best not to worry about Lan - she’s done everything that she can to help him on his self-imposed task, and there’s no good in dwelling.

3. Corele was the one who essentially talked Nynaeve into doing this (by arguing that it would be a favor for Daigan, the Aes Sedai teaching her, who is grieving over Eben dying during the cleansing) -- Corele has been doing ALL the heavy lifting in terms of actually being able to get through to Two Rivers’ people so far in this book. Literally has been SO much more useful than Cadsuane at this point (she’s one of Aes Sedai who Healed Rand after the Fain attack too) - at this point in the story, bringing Corele into Rand’s narrative is the most useful thing that Cadsuane has done.

4. Oh! Nynaeve is thinking about the wrongness of the Might Equals Right system of the White Tower hierarchy. Haha, I love her comparison here -- “She herself was so strong in the Power - one of the strongest alive - that she often took little thought for her ability. It was much as a very tall man rarely paid attention to other people’s heights; everyone else was shorter than he, and so their different heights didn’t matter” (lol, mildly shading her boy Rand). I love this because Nynaeve is, Power-wise, at the TOP of the hierarchy (or will be once she’s accepted as a full Sister by everyone) and she’s looking at Daigan and thinking, it’s not right that she has to show deference to everyone else simply because she’s so much weaker in the Power. So true! It’s a BAD system, Nynaeve. Okay, Nynaeve is feeling invested in Tower Reform. That’s good! I will tuck that information away.

5. Nynaeve thinks of Mat as “Matrim” here but I will allow it, because it’s in the context of remembering him as a youthful prankster. This “Matrim” is in character. Haha, though, Nynaeve remembering Mat and Rand pulling pranks together. Sorry, Third Friend Perrin, lol. But Nynaeve thinking here about how SHE will always think of Rand as the village boy that she once knew and not of the fearsome Dragon Reborn is very sweet (though this thought is heavily tested during the upcoming conversation). That said, worry about Mat! You left him behind in Ebou Dar, Nynaeve, and then NEVER TOLD RAND ABOUT IT. grumble, grumble. Technically, I think Rand vaguely implied last book in a big group of people that included Nynaeve that HE knew Mat was alive and well, but I’m still annoyed that NO ONE EVER actually TOLD Rand that Mat got abandoned at the end of A Crown of Swords. Communicate using words, people! (hilariously, not thinking of communicating with people using words is explicitly one of the things that Nynaeve is annoyed with Rand about in this section; Healer, heal thyself)

6. Anyway, the Aiel have officially arrived at the manor. lol, “Min was in the tent [with Rand], of course” yes, god forbid the umbilical cord be stretched too far, lol. Honestly, it was such a relief to get Rand without Min glommed onto him in his last chapter, but I guess it couldn’t last forever. Though, as is tradition, she is just here to be Rand’s therapy plushie and doesn’t actually contribute to the discussion. It’s so weird here that Nynaeve thinks about how Rand is being silly for refusing to marry Min and yet DOESN’T think about the love confession that she literally witnessed between Elayne, Aviendha, and Min towards Rand back in Winter’s Heart. ??? (tongue-in-cheek theory: Nynaeve used SO MUCH of the Power during the cleansing that it impacted her memory and she no longer remembers that Mat was left behind in Ebou Dar, that Aviendha, Elayne, & Min confessed their love to Rand in front of her, and has lost all knowledge of the sul’dam secret)

7. Nynaeve thinks that Semirhage should have been stilled as soon as she was captured. YES. Great way around Rand’s stupid “we don’t kill women even when they are among the most dangerous people in the world and we would have absolutely have killed a man if he’d done the same things that she’s done” policy and would have been a good way to try to create some HARM REDUCTION. And they can even heal stilling... if they want to... so it wouldn’t even be as permanent as Rand losing his hand, if they didn’t want it to be.

8. Rand is trying to figure out how to bring peace to Arad Doman. That is exactly the thing that Moridin has tasked Graendal with preventing him from doing. Ironically, this is actually the thing she was ALREADY doing before Moridin pulled her away to tell her that he’s her boss now. She was already creating chaos in Arad Doman.

9. *resigned sigh* honestly, so sad that Rand is approaching this situation in terms of “how can I STOP Ituralde from defending his homeland so that I can make nice with the invaders?”. Depressing! Ituralde is literally working WITH Dragonsworn right now! I wish that Rand had been able to approach him from a “let me help you defeat the Seanchan so that you can help me in the Last Battle” stance. And Rand is just so... idk, weirdly certain that the Daughter of the Nine Moons is a person that is open to compromise, given that his latest intel on the Seanchan is that his OFFICIAL ENVOY to their ‘capitol’ to request an official meeting ending up being answered by one of the Forsaken. Why would he assume that the Daughter of the Nine Moons is even still alive at this point?

10. Ah, Siuan. I do have complicated feelings about Siuan. Or, I guess they aren’t that complicated -- I dislike the romance with Gareth Bryne, and wish I could have the rest of Siuan’s storyline but have the romance snipped out. I am hoping that the show will grant my wish. *fingers crossed*

11. Siuan is very proud & pleased of Egwene’s progress as Amrylin (even as she worries over Egwene in captivity), particularly of all the novices that Egwene has brought into the Tower with her policy changes. Over a thousand! Another thing that will inevitably have an impact on the shape of the White Tower to come, no matter what. All that fresh blood, all those new ideas. Siuan thinks here about how the world & the White Tower needs Egwene to be Amrylin. Also: important world-building note here, I think, is that though many Aes Sedai WORRY that the ability to use the One Power is being culled out of the species, we can see that this is straight-up untrue as the series progressed. It was never that fewer people can channel; it’s that fewer channelers are ending up at the White Tower as Aes Sedai. As soon as Egwene relaxes the parameters of recruiting, the numbers step WAY up even just in this swatch of space in-between Salidar and Murandy before they Traveled to Tar Valon (the same with Taim being able to locate men with the potential).

12. Anyway, though I don’t like the Siuan and Gareth relationship overall, I appreciate this conversation here where they actually talk to each other like grownups. That’s something of a breath of fresh air. Sanderson often approaches romances as... things that sensible people work out in conversation, lol, which is also not always to my personal tastes (...I like messiness), but it’s much less frustrating than Jordan’s Women And Men Just Can’t Understand Each Other approach (I don’t like stubborn miscommunication and silence). Which tends to mean, overall, that I feel less passionately about Sanderson’s romances that I do like, but I also have a much lower amount of annoyed frustration with his romances. NEITHER of them are what I’d call romance writers though. (my favorite fictional romance in a non-romance book for me is probably... ah, I am fond of Aral and Cordelia’s romance from the Vorkosigan Saga.)

13. Hmm. Perrin. When last we spent time with Perrin, he’d decided that slavers were okay as long as they helped him get what he wanted. I wonder if he’ll decide he has time for morals again now that Faile is back in his life. Ah, Perrin is trying to focus on simple, straight-forward work not to think about ~unreliable men~ like himself. Okay, let’s see where this train of thought goes. The question I have now is what, exactly, Perrin is blaming himself for. Is it what I would be blaming him for or will be it something out of left field? Hmm. Perrin thinks about how he should be thrilled to have Faile back, since she’s literally EVERYTHING to him, but something still feels wrong.

14. Did I know before now that Berelain’s main commander was named Bertain? It’s almost the exact same name, this is so distracting. Is there a law in Mayene that everyone must be name Ber_ain? Apparently he was first mentioned back in A Crown of Swords, per the wiki.

15. Balwer tries to point out to Perrin his flaws in selling the Shaido Wise Ones into slavery, a decision that pissed off all the Aiel traveling with him. He points out that even in this brief time, he’s already learned that the Wise Ones had been at odds with each other in the Shaido camp and that they’d been in contact with a mysterious figure who’d offered them objects of Power from the Age of Legends, which might be information useful to people, such as, idk, the Dragon Reborn. Perrin... does not care. He thinks of the Wise Ones as “given over to the Seanchan while unconscious, to do with as they pleased”. Yikes, Perrin. Yikes. Sadly, in character per Knife of Dreams, but big yikes. Yeah, so Perrin has completely written off the, you know, two hundred women that he sold into slavery. So... that’s a ‘no’ on getting his morals back.

16. “He wasn’t stupid, he just liked to think about things.” Perrin Aybara, you have spent this entire chapter doing makework to AVOID thinking about things. “liked to think about things”. HA!

17. Anyway, Faile has returned from murdering Masema scouting. Perrin just kinda watches her from afar for a moment. Then Tam arrives to talk to him. Perrin was kinda a total asshole to him last book so, uh, let’s see how this conversation goes. lol, wow, Perrin is still a complete ASS to Tam when talking to him about his son. “[Rand] seems to like scooping up kingdoms. Like a child playing a game of wobbles”. wtf, Perrin. That’s his DAD. First he doesn’t ever bother to tell Tam that his son is the Dragon Reborn and then once Tam finds out from someone else, Perrin just uses him as a dumping ground to whine about Rand.

18. Ah, Perrin has finally figured out that he’s a bad leader (not in the “oh no please don’t call me lord” way but in the “abandoning everything else and throwing away his people to chase after a selfish goal” way). ...and immediately tries to distract himself from the thought by throwing himself into more carpentry work. lol.

19. ...Perrin is under the belief that his wolf nose can sniff out ~noble heritage~. lol, okay, bro. If I recall correctly, you didn’t pick up on Faile being noble until she flat-out told you, but okay. You still haven’t figured out that Morgase is a former queen, but, sure. You can sniff out nobility. That’s definitely something that you can smell. Anyway, he figures that it’s finally time to head to Rand. He doesn’t think about Masema, his actual reason for coming out here, a single time (except to note that Aram’s ~heart~ was poisoned by him, but he doesn’t think about him in the context of Masema being the WHOLE REASON that he’s in this country to begin with). He managed to distract himself so much from his purpose that he has completely forgotten it. Amazing. Good thing Faile was there to actually do something useful, I guess.

20. Rand makes Ituralde give up his noble fight against the slavers invading his homeland. 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 Honestly, Ituralde was one of the very few high points for me during CoT & KoD, so this is extremely upsetting. Yes, Ituralde is working with very few resources and is stretched way too thin and every battle had the chance to be his last, but it just PAINS me to think of what he could have accomplished against the Seanchan if Rand were coming here to help him instead of divert him. Even now, he’s being clever by hiding in a stedding to blunt the possible attacks of damane against him. “The young Ituralde had often dreams of wars, of glory in battle. The old Ituralde knew there was no such thing as glory to be found in battle. But there was honor.” I’m feeling an emotion. Feeling kinda choked up tbh. I don’t blame Ituralde for taking Rand’s deal, but I wish that Rand were offering him a different one. Ituralde DOES get Rand’s guarantee that he won’t let the Seanchan have Arad Doman.

21. Oh, no, it’s so cute that Aviendha decides that complaining MUST actually be honorable among wetlanders because Elayne does it too, that’s adorable. This whole ‘doing make work for the Wise Ones and not having enough honor to even talk to the guy that she literally is mind-bonded to’ remains such a silly silly thing though. It makes Aviendha being in Arad Doman feel as pointless as the ‘useless’ work that she’s doing for the Wise Ones. Literally they have a one-sentence exchange here and then separate again. This is the first time Aviendha has so much as said ‘boo’ to Rand since she arrived, so I also find it very out of character that he just walks off (she was literally JUST IN DANGER from the literal Dark One’s touch turning someone into a lump of tar that radiates unnatural heat so “I have to stay away from her to protect her” seems like a very stupid excuse right now, especially if he’s stalking off to go have sex with Min, who he constantly puts in danger despite her actually being much more helpless than either Aviendha or Elayne). Just... I am enjoying Aviendha’s narrative voice here but am so frustrated at Aviendha and Rand being kept separate for literally zero reason or point. But Aviendha calling him “Rand” and not “Rand al’Thor” does affect my heart.

22. Merise flirts with Aviendha. Or hits her up for the Aes Sedai. I’m going go with ‘flirts with’, because that’s more fun. She eyes Aviendha ~appreciatively~ and admires how Aviendha ~handles~ her ~weaves~. I actually do really like Melaine and Aviendha’s conversation afterwards, where Melaine is trying to get Aviendha to realize that she IS thinking like a Wise One and needs to be able to admit this to herself, but I think the Aiel’s teaching methods here are somewhat counterproductive. But honestly, I’m annoyed at this random roadblock of “Aviendha has decided she can’t sleep with Rand again Honor Reasons”. It just feels arbitrary.

23. A month has now passed, as we go back to Egwene’s PoV. A WHOLE MONTH? That seems like... way too much time. I feel like it’s about logistics, maybe? Anyway. A Whole Month Later. One minor thing that is interesting to me is that Egwene shows here that she has learned how to channel THROUGH having mild doses of forkroot, so it’s not something that can be used to permanently incapacitate channelers even if they keep being forced to drink it. Did we already know that?

24. Fast-forwarding a month does mean that we can see that the seeds of Egwene’s planting have taken root, and more and more of the Sisters are treating her as an authority instead of a prisoner. Meidani (after having been taught Traveling) is able to lead Egwene to the room where the Black Ajah Hunters meet (since her Oath to them prevents her from telling Egwene what happened), and Egwene has a frank conversation with them which leads to a tentative alliance of sorts (once she gets them to admit that since Siuan was deposed by the bare minimum of Sitters and they know for a fact that at least one of them was Black Ajah, then Siuan was unlawfully deposed).

25. Hmm, the way Gawyn talks about the world ‘compressing’ during fights reminds me of Galad in the KoD prologue & reminds me of Rand... reminds me of men who are in a pre-channeling state, basically. Gawyn as a potential channeler? I also like this conversation between Gawyn and Sleete, getting a different perspective on the split in the Tower, from the Warder of an Aes Sedai who isn’t one of the big dogs. “Nobody made any good decisions that day. There weren’t any good decisions to be made.” Oh! We also learn here that Hattori (his Warder) is the one who reported back to the Greens about Elaida’s secret true orders about Rand (so that’s likely how the rumors got into the Tower), because she disapproved.

26. Gawyn giving me Trakand family feels: “Gawyn’s mother had always taught that the workers were the spine of a kingdom; break them, and you’d soon find that you could no longer move. This city’s people might not be his sister’s subjects, but he would not see them taken advantage of by his troops”. Gawyn continues to question where his loyalty lies -- he’d never actually CHOSEN to follow Elaida, he just hadn’t trusted Siuan or the way she’d treated Elayne or Egwene. And Gawyn finally finds out here that a. Egwene is the rebels’ Amrylin; b. she’s currently a captive in the White Tower; c. she’s being tortured daily; and d. the rebel Aes Sedai have Traveling. This is what finally breaks him from wanting to try to stand on both sides -- the knowledge that Egwene is potentially going to be executed (he has no way of knowing that this isn’t in Elaida’s plan) -- and he packs up and abandons the Younglings on the hour, heading off to find the rebel army and Gareth Bryne.

27. Genuinely still do not care even in the slightest about Semirhage’s interrogation. Gonna skim to see if there are any mentions of Merise and Narishma’s relationship tho. ...nah, no mention of them at all this time. It does sound like Team Jordan genuinely forgot about all the copies of the black a’dam that were mentioned at the end of Knife of Dreams tho, because there’s only one here in Cadsuane’s box of Shit She Stole From Rand.

28. I can’t believe that Rand seriously just passively allowed a whole month to pass where Aviendha was avoiding him while they were living in the same place and he was just... sleeping with Min every night when one of the other women he loves was sleeping outside and that he never actively sought her out.

29. Anyway, he’s in a dreamshard and has a conversation with Moridin/Ishamael. Knowing that Ishamael has been brought back to life as Moridin makes Rand wonder if any of the other Forsaken that have been killed were brought back as well. Moridin mentions (a deliberate slip?) that only those killed by balefire are beyond the Dark One’s ability to revive in a new body. So if Rand wants to ensure that a Forsaken STAYS dead, he needs to use balefire.

30. Rand notices that he feels more emotionally stable here in this dreamshard than he has in the waking world recently -- he talks of Lews Therin as “I” without getting the intrusive screaming and memories. “The pieces of himself fit together better”. This conversation between old friends who are also old enemies... I am liking this a lot as well. Moridin-Ishamael-Elan is just so TIRED during this talk. He is EXHAUSTED and just wants everything to stop. And that makes so much sense -- he’s the Forsaken who was closer to the surface of the world than the others. The other Forsaken are ‘technically’ thousands of years old but he’s the only one who actually LIVED for a significant portion of that time period. I am imagining this conversation happening with Rand in the show and just... if we get there, this conversation would just have so much great old friend-enemies vibes, kinda similar to Charles & Erik from X-Men.

31. Rand is having his nightmare and Min just holds her breath and watches from a chair. Man, the thing that gets to me the most about Min being Rand’s emotional support plushie is that she isn’t even good at it. But she doesn’t do anything else! She sucks at the one job that she has assigned herself! She then thinks about how she -- the person who has been selfishly hoarding Rand’s time for MONTHS -- is uncomfortable with sharing. Then don’t get involved with a man that you KNOW is also in love with other people. YOU are the one who chased after Rand, even knowing that he already loved Elayne and Aviendha! YOU are the one who seduced him when he was vulnerable. That was you! Making a choice and blaming it on prophecy! Mat and Min, with that hands shaking meme, and the agreement they’re shaking on is “creating their own romantic misery while blaming it on prophecy and constantly whining about the inevitable consequences of their own actions”.

32. “She wasn’t Aes Sedai -- Thank the Light.” Um. WTF, Min. Literally ALL THREE of the people that you are in a sorta relationship with can all channel. Yikes, girl. “somehow she had bonded him”. Min has edited Elayne’s SELFLESS ACT OF ROMANTIC GENEROSITY entirely out of her memory and is pretending that her bond with Rand ~appeared from the ether~. SOMEHOW. It was ELAYNE, you selfish and jealous child. It was ELAYNE who bonded you to Rand, you ungrateful pain in my ass. I note that Min is happy to reap the rewards of ‘sharing’ Rand, despite her ‘discomfort’ with the idea. Min is the oldest of Rand’s girlfriends, but ~somehow~ also the least mature.

33. SOMEHOW. 😠😠😠😠😠

34. “She’d never thought that she, of all people, would become a fool for some man.” Literally your entire plotline in this book series has been about being a fool for a man. That’s your entire plotline. That’s your entire character. lol, she ‘of all people’. omg, I think that @markantonys mentioned this line when she got to it in her first read of the books, but I literally did just double over laughing - “that didn’t mean she was his pet, regardless of what some of the people in the camp said”. I was wondering last book or so what Rand’s other allies (who know about his and Elayne’s romance) thought about Min and, um, I guess that’s our answer. lol, Min thinks again about how she will ~suffer~ sharing him with others because she just loves him oh! so much! Comedy hours with Min, the ~long-suffering martyr~ who has caused all of her own problems.  At least the sex is good, I guess.

35. The contrast between Aviendha firmly thinking that it was HER choice to love Rand, not Min’s viewing, and Min’s thought here that it WASN’T her choice to love him, that was it literally anything BUT her choice (her ‘heart’, the Creator, the Pattern, etc).

36. Anyway, Rand wakes up and he and Min talk, and Min shares the ~news~ that Rand needs to break the seals on the Dark One’s prison. She’s figured out that’s what Herid Fel’s note meant! It’s also... literally what Rand himself said at the start of Lord of Chaos, before Min ever returned to his life. lol. I feel like this is an artifact of the series getting stretched out so long -- that we have to re-introduce this idea that Rand had back in book six.

37. I can’t believe that we cut from ever-jealous Min snuggling Rand in bed, like she’s gotten to do for MONTHS, to Aviendha standing outside the manor alone, and yet MIN is the one whining about her ~constant suffering~ over how she has to share Rand. The contrast is so glaring! Aviendha has to mute the bond so that she can avoid feeling Rand have sex with Min while she feels honor-bound to avoid him, but MIN is the one whining.

38. Man, I feel so much sympathy with Corana here: “These Seanchan have given [Rand] reason to declare a blood feud, but he simpers and panders to them. I feel like a trained dog, sent to lick the feet of a stranger.” That has been the EXACT mood I’ve had since the start of Crossroads of Twilight. She tells them that the Seanchan have leashed Wise Ones in their camp as damane. Aviendha and Amys agree that, for now, peace must be sought in order to fight the greater enemy, but that their spears should be turned on the Seanchan after the Last Battle.

39. Egwene has a conversation with three White Ajah Sisters over the issue of Rand al’Thor, the Dragon Reborn, and lays out what she would have done differently -- mostly pointing out Elaida and the Tower’s mistakes:

Trying to force someone who is both powerful and stubborn instead of trying to persuade him (aka the abduction)

Raising a Red Sister as their replacement Amyrlin, even though that seems very likely to come across as a threat to a man who can channel

Attempting to pretend that they had any high ground to tell him that they knew best when they were dealing with a divided White Tower themselves. “Can a cracked stone be a good foundation for a building?”

40. After Egwene gets assigned to permanent work detail (no more lessons with Sisters) to try to break her spirit, Laras tries to help her escape the White Tower but Egwene refuses to go, saying that her fight is inside the Tower.

41. Egwene is ordered to serve Elaida at dinner again, but this time there are several Sisters of various Ajahs there, including Sitters, and during the dinner, it feels to Egwene as if Elaida is deliberately insulting them and attempting to bully them to her will. “Prying the Ajahs even further apart”. When the subject of the Seanchan comes up, Elaida tells Egwene to tell the Sisters there that she has been spreading lies about them and that the Seanchan are working for “al’Thor”. Instead, after considering her options, Egwene tells the truth. She tells them that she has Dreamed that the Seanchan will attack the White Tower and that they are incredibly dangerous and their threat should not be ignored. Elaida really does set up an impossible situation for Egwene here -- back down, and she loses the respect that she’s built. Stand up, and she may get locked in a cell (or even executed) unable to continue her fight.

But, of course, pushed to the limit, Egwene does stand up for herself and for the White Tower against Elaida’s demands. “I dare the truth, Elaida.” Oh, I actually love this confrontation, exposing what Elaida has become in such full detail that none of the Sisters witnessing it can deny it (though I feel a pang of sorrow for who Elaida once was, before she was corrupted by Fain & the paranoia of Aridhol, which is on full display here as well). 100% want to see Madeleine give this speech.

Okay, that’s a good place to end. Very satisfying chapter!

#wot reread #the gathering storm #wheel of time #wot #wot book spoilers #wot spoilers #egwene al'vere #nynaeve al'meara #perrin aybara #aviendha #rand al'thor #gawyn trakand

[nervous-leader-idv]

"WAAAAAUGHHH!!!" *thud*

"O-Owww... Ugh, my hips...! W-Wait a minute..."

"What... What is this place...? And what's this contraption...?"

Oh Dwight, how easy it is to be abandoned like a lost puppy... But this time it's different, this time you're somewhere unexplored. Maybe you'll put your leadership skills to use with your new game life here!

~~~ BLOG INFORMATION:

~ This is a blog based of the Dead by Daylight survivor, Dwight Fairfield! All information will be regarded on his Wiki page for those who are interested! As a side note, this is a mix between canon elements (mostly) and some headcanons!

~ An individual who's used to hiding and becoming invisible, is surprisingly a well adapted leader when it's his turn to shine. Despite his anxieties, Dwight has faced harsher trials and understands the true extent of teamwork and efficiency.

~ Dwight is 21+

~ Dwight's identity is known as "Director". Despite travelling into the past, Dwight retains knowledge from the present. Curious to learn new things.

~The Entity is displeased with Dwight's shortcomings, as a result, It will disguise itself as Dwight's pet; observing his behavior through out his stay.

x.

- This blog will (for the most part!) be a text blog consisting of written responses. (Bc outside reasons / other blogs! :>)

- IDV characters (Canon, OC, Crossover, AU, etc.) are free to interact.

- The mun has a hard time typing / getting things done, please be patient with me. TT-TT

- Separate mun/mod as individuals, if you don't know Dead by Daylight, dark themes WILL take place on this blog. The warning tag #//dwight's dilemma will be used for more serious and sore topics. This is the first and final warning. Viewer discretion is advised.

Below is the reworked version of Dwight's DBD Perks into IDV's External Traits. Please note that these traits are a WIP and may be reworked in the future!

"Director's" External Traits

Calm and Collected - He carries a notepad with his trusty pens. He can keep track of his teammates decoding and kiting, if they are doing well, he can give them a boost on such skill or aid one they need help with. He is able to check cipher progression for 10s before putting the notepad away.

Blue Pen: Used for Kiting, if a survivor kites for an extended period of time, Survivors highlighted in Blue will gain a movement speed increase of 15% (60s-180s) / 25% (181s-360s) / 35%. (+361s). This trait deactivates once the survivor is out of the Fear Radius.

Black Pen: Used for decoding, if a survivor reaches certain progression on a cipher machine, Survivors are given a decoding speed increase of 5% for each complete cipher. (The buff negates if things like specific External Traits or Hunter Webs afflict other survivors.)

Red Pen: Used for negating either the Blue or Black Pen highlights if not required. (Notepad cooldown for 25s.)

~

Bond - The "Director" has picked up on previous trials to know his team's whereabouts. Survivor outlines are revealed to him for 5s for every 120s.

Prove Thyself - As a leader, one must know how to lead down a road to victory. For every other Survivor decoding a cipher within 4 meters, Prove Thyself increases his decoding speed by 10%, up to a maximum of 30%. Survivors can only be affected by one instance of Prove Thyself at a time.

Leader - Increases the Action speeds of other Survivors in healing, rescuing, and opening chests by 15% while they are within 8 meters of his location location.

~~~ RULES:

1. No sexual NSFW asks. You know what to ask and not to. Suggestiveness and flirting is fine.

2. Hate the character, not the mun/mod. Under no circumstances should the mun/mod's backgrounds make a fellow viewer uncomfortable with the blog.

3. Common courtesy. Please keep it civil between each other! We're all here to have fun anyways! ^_^ <3

~~~ MISC:

Mun's Blog: @justmandika

#nervous leader idv #// dweet's tweet: rp #//dwight's dilemma #dead by daylight #identity v #// mod mandika #// here I am. back again :skull:

[orthodoxadventure]

Prayers to the Most Holy Theotokos for Every Day of the Week By Schema-hieromonk Nilus of St Nilus Skete (+187O)

Thursday

Who can worthily bless thee, All-holy Virgin; what lips are capable of hymning thy majesty which surpasseth all conceiving? Most glorious are all the mysteries fulfilled in thee, O Theotokos, loftier than thought and word. At the beauty of thy virginity and thy most radiant purity the cherubim did marvel and the seraphim were struck with awe; for the miracle of the Childbirth without corruption neither human nor angelic tongue can tell. For from thee the Ageless and Only-begotten Son of God, God the Word, ineffably took flesh, was born and lived among men; and thee, as His Mother, hath He greatly magnified, revealing thee as the Queen of all creation and for us the signal refuge of salvation. Wherefore, all that flee under thy protection, being assailed by various sorrows and afflictions, receive from thee consolation and healing in abundance and by thee are saved from dangers. For thou art truly the Mother of all that sorrow and are heavy laden, the joy of the grieving, the healer of the sick, the preserver of youths, the staff of old age, the glory of the righteous, the sinners' hope of salvation and guide to repentance; for thou dost ever help all with thy protection and dost intercede for all that flee to thee with faith and love, O thou all-good one. Do thou also help me who am in despair over my deeds, O fervent Mediatress for the Christian race: Intercede thou for me, that I not perish until the end in sins; for I have no other refuge and protection, but thee, the Mistress of my life. Abandon me not, despise me not, but by thy judgements that thou thyself dost know, do thou save me, for blessed art thou unto ages of ages. Amen.

#Theotokos #Blessed Virgin Mary #Christianity #Orthodox Christianity #Prayer

[michyeosseo]

2022 creator wrap

favorite works

bringing back a love thyself tag thing-y from two years ago to fill up an otherwise empty yearend queue

january - all i ever wanted was a sister as far as i could remember. therefore, the way my brain has been wired... it’s no surprise to combine the jazzy vocals of luisa (from encanto) with chungmuro’s finest showing of sisterhood in recent memory. 

february - hongxue, my beloved. anita yuen hitting a corporate prick in the head, in cheongsam, is ~magnificent~ let’s not mince words. to my delight, i discovered she’s also been taking on roles checking the kissing women requirement all the way back to the early ‘90s. good for her.

march -  an entry for kww featuring kang malgeum. have you ever been personally changed by the nation’s unni and her ghost smile or are you normal?

april - moran × oksun. i even assigned the invu album to their dynamic only to be immeasurably disappointed.

may/june - here’s the latest in the never-ending law of the lady shoutouts. i was provided, bombarded even, with so much jiejie crush material. (warning: wetv subtitles were just a grade above machine translation.) xu jie assuming the role of chen ran’s baby daddy – putting their “partnership” full circle – i dunno where to begin to thank cdramas for them.

july - it is Not Perfect nor was it archived here but ‘twas my humble offering for queen moon’s birthday [ofc it was going to be a sehwa fancam to the kpop milf anthem wooah hip].

august - do mob bosses gently ask to have dinners with their indentured servants? as per the miniature hell in my head, chairwoman kang insook certainly seems convinced that’s how it works with her secretary kim yoonjae. and if my takeaway from that terrible movie is a positive reception of the dismembered wrist marked with her tattoo and totes not leaving her for dead, so be it.

december - meet jin hwayoung, the youngest daughter of a conglomerate. fashionista, my meow meow, achieved having a purse-carrying malewife. (the last bit representing actual affection is very notable, considering everyone else in show-window marriages.) dad, ily, but we both know why i picked this drama up. long after the faux chaebol revenge fades from the limelight, the general public will continue to owe kim shinrok for refusing her talent to be boxed as merely garnish/‘only daughter amongst many sons’ and for her commitment to having maximum fun on set for us. give her a worthy slice-of-life next.

if you’ve read up to this point, i just want to express my sincere thanks for following me/my crazed hyperfixations ♡ 

sideblog stuff under the cut

special mention

this is the (half-)year i kinda leaned into vidding. with encouragement from dear friends, here are some archived because twtr video compression is absolute dogshit fruits of those late nights. i wanna try to do more next year, maybe revisit old ideas, while not abandoning my main bread and butter, gifs. here’s to hoping the quality of the two modes of output will be honed closer.

feeling each other’s ribs that are protruding

ok i lied, i’m not a ‘little bit’ in love with gwendoline christie; i want to sell my soul to her

#unsure if these are insightful to my 'creative' process but these surely are my thoughts alright #the plan is to start the year filling up the lack of jin hwayoung gifs #next capcut-ing project: hwachang #the monotony of pandemic times has been broken #only to be displaced by chronic fatigue #melting smiley has never been more relatable #that said i am so glad tumblr continues to exist #and so does my handful friends i love you i really do #i feel like i am actively missing a chunk of the year #all those complex giffing techniques i see lately ;~; #but i guess missing on that's just part of the sacrifice i chose (which i'm praying goeswell)

[naluwalker]

If I ever make a Suzalulu fanfic, I'd definitely like a Suzaku that matches the level of feralness of the Suzaku from Sajuno's "Abandon Thyself"

#code geass #code geas r2 #suzaku kururugi #fanfiction #ao3 fanfic #I honestly don't know if I could reach the level of that Suzaku #but it's worth dreaming #I long to reach that level of obsession of a character #there are only two chapters and it is the Suzaku that I would like to be able to create

[bylertruther]

sends you this post and thinks about will byers along with it long n hard

oh dear lord in heaven not frankenstein . i clicked and saw that and immediately exited the tab in a panic bc hello. the extreme psychic damage of will AND frankenstein. i literally keep tht book on my nightstand. every character i've ever loved has had a piece of the creature inside of them, which is precisely why i love them. you are trying to KILL me................... god . okay i'm putting my big boy pants on to actually Look at the post brb trembling shaking sweating—

FUCKING CHRIST NOT THE I WILL DEFEND IT QUOT E FACK I LITEARLLY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YOU GET IT.... will byers whose mother and brother love him so very much but had a father that wanted nothing to do with him. will byers whose father helped create him and brought him into this world lonnie who made a child and then decided he hated it. that it was subhuman that it was not worthy and would never be worthy bc what it is is isn't Good or Normal. the creature and will byers 🤝 persevering despite it all, wanting love despite it all, being Other, being treated as Subhuman, being denied by their creator, not being allowed a place in the world

also, these quotes which make me insane, too:

Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition; for often, like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy rose within me.

When I looked around I saw and heard of none like me. Was I, then, a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned?

Remember that I am thy creature: I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed. Every where I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded.

I cherished hope, it is true, but it vanished when I beheld my person reflected in water or my shadow in the moonshine, even as that frail image and that inconstant shade. I endeavoured to crush these fears and to fortify myself for the trial which in a few months I resolved to undergo; and sometimes I allowed my thoughts, unchecked by reason, to ramble in the fields of Paradise, and dared to fancy amiable and lovely creatures sympathizing with my feelings and cheering my gloom; their angelic countenances breathed smiles of consolation. But it was all a dream; no Eve soothed my sorrows nor shared my thoughts; I was alone. I remembered Adam's supplication to his Creator. But where was mine? He had abandoned me, and in the bitterness of my heart I cursed him.

If any being felt emotions of benevolence towards me, I should return them a hundred and a hundredfold; for that one creature's sake I would make peace with the whole kind!

Have I not suffered enough, that you seek to increase my misery? Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it. Remember, thou hast made me more powerful than thyself; my height is superior to thine; my joints more supple. But I will not be tempted to set myself in opposition to thee. I am thy creature, and I will be even mild and docile to my natural lord and king, if thou wilt also perform thy part, the which thou owest me.

#will #asks #will being a horror gay is jus the cherry on top #shaking ur hand but SIKE i have super glue all over my palm and now we are stuck like this forever. hi