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smoft-demons · 2 months

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About pacts

The game is kinda ABOUT the pacts, but somehow I feel like the concept is not fleshed out enough in canon. So I’m fixing that! I am making them so fluffy, I am developing them into the magic QPR bond of my dreams lol

(Brief mentions of blood and sex under the cut, be warned)

Ok so. In the game, the pacts have four key functions: 1, allows the human to give the demon binding orders. 2, gives the human a way to amplify the demon’s abilities and strengths. 3, implied, gives the demon a way to do the same thing for the human, to lend them their own strength. 4, allows the human to summon the demon basically for free. Have him on speed dial, I suppose. Summon with no ritual, no spell components, no nothing except an incantation.

That’s cool, I like that. But like,, iirc the game says nothing of the mechanics of this, or how the pacts feel!

I think pacts should be a mildly psychic connection. Nothing like what Beel and Belphie have going on, and no actual ability to put words telepathically in your demon’s head (and vice versa), but like… an Awareness of each other, muted and vague when you’re not actively reaching out through the pact, but just enough that like,, you can feel them vaguely in the back of your mind. You know they’re alive, and you can mentally reach for them if you want to.

When you ARE using the pact, it doesn’t HAVE to be for one of the aforementioned four functions. It can also be… just a mild mental ping, like tugging on a string or tapping them lightly to get their attention. When they reach back, the bond opens up a little bit more, to allow the passage of emotions, flashes of memories, even awareness of about how far you are from each other and what direction you’re in. All entirely voluntary, no invasive mind-reading, but you can mentally share what you want with each other.

I feel like the pacts don’t have to imply romance. But, they DO imply partnership—not necessarily exclusive partnership, in fact probably it isn’t an exclusive sort of thing by default. Plenty of demons have multiple humans, and plenty of humans have multiple demons. The sort of partnership that doesn’t really have a standard box to fit into by average human reckoning. Queerplatonic partnership. Close, emotionally intimate, committed, devoted. But not necessarily having anything to do with attraction, romance, any of that.

These pacts can be purposely strengthened, to make communicating with each other like this easier. Strengthening the signal, if you will.

The key to that is two things: emotional intimacy/trust, and sharing vitality (or however you wanna phrase it. Vitality, life, essence, soul, etc. I mean this to encompass a few different things, and none of those words is a perfect fit for all of them. Let’s say there’s an untranslatable word in infernal that fits perfectly). Specifically, the human and the demon make mental contact through the pact with the intent to strengthen the bond, then do whichever of the sharing vitality/essence/life/soul things that they feel like doing.

For example:

Kissing. An emotionally intimate thing to do that involves sharing fluid. DNA counts as essence, and this is a way of combining it. A textbook, effective way to reinforce a close bond. Doesn’t even strictly have to be romantic! It CAN be for sure, and usually is, but like… you can also kiss the homies out of platonic affection if you want to. Especially if the homies in question are demons in a pact with you. This is normal and chill to them.

Also, simply sharing the same air! Pressing foreheads together (think keldabe kiss minus the helmets), noses touching (i think this is called kunik). Sharing breath. This absolutely counts as sharing vitality. Also, afaik this is a thing people would only have the instinct to do with someone they really love. It’s such a soft, peaceful thing that doesn’t make sense in any other context but trust and devotion and emotional intimacy. Super good way of reinforcing a close bond!

Obviously sex works for this too. Obviously. It ticks all the boxes: reinforces a close bond, combining vitality/essence, can be very emotionally intimate. Probably the most textbook option.

In the other direction, possibly not quite as expected but totally works if you think about it: bloodshed. I’m sure it’s common enough in the ritually combining blood sort of way, but also… think about fighting at your pacted demon’s side, or getting wounded and then being rescued (seems more likely, especially in part 1), and both of you bleeding. Physically supporting each other, spilling your vitality onto each other, each wiping blood off of the other and patching each other up in the aftermath of an altercation. Really, you can’t get more devoted and trusting than that.

Food, as well. Taking a bite of something, then feeding a bite to your pact partner. Your food is the source of your vitality, in a similar way to breath. It’s your life. Sharing food with this intent absolutely works. It works even better if it’s food you made, and/or familiar food that you love in such a way that it’s part of your identity. That way, it works twofold. The physical effect of metabolizing the food is your vitality, and the identity aspect—feeding a loved one something that resonates with who you are—is sharing your essence/soul.

This one’s a bit of a reach, but I think it still works—tears. Experiencing something that makes both pact partners cry, be it a sad story, an emotional conversation, painful events, etc. Supporting each other through that, feeling compassion for each other, comforting each other. There’s no shortage of intimacy, devotion, and trust in this. On both an emotional and physical level, this counts as sharing soul/essence/life.

Sharing soul/vitality/essence/life (whatever the fitting word for this in infernal would be) on purpose like this would absolutely bring pacted partners closer together. Strengthens the bond between them, helps them understand each other, reinforces the love. Strengthen a pact enough and eventually you won’t even need the incantation to summon that demon.

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(I am planning to put this in my rewrite of obey me season 1 with my own MC, of course. Once I progress enough to start posting it, that is lol)

(but also, maybe, if I find the inspiration, I might write gn reader!MC oneshots with these concepts. Pls let me know if you think I should try! Also, anyone is more than welcome to use this for your own writing if you want)

EDIT: I wrote a oneshot! The time when my MC found out that strengthening pacts is a thing, with Beel and Mammon. Here it is!

#obey me #obey me! shall we date?#obey me headcanons #obey me worldbuilding #obey me pacts #pact headcanon #adhara’s brainrot #obey me brothers #obey me mc #obey me writing #my writing #obey me brainrot #just concepts #i like it so much tho #QPR of my wildest dreams lol #queerplatonic relationship #quasiplatonic #queerplatonic #I am aroace and it shows im sure

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kiyoykin · 4 months

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Damn it came out so cool, I'd even try it. I don't know why, but that huge rifle of his looks a little too attractive *untranslatable eyebrow play*

Other "my bottle" cocktails are already on my blog ^_^

#star wars #commander wolffe #sw tcw #my bottle

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homunculus-argument · 7 months

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More on linguistic worldbuilding - you ever noticed how languages with a lot of Oddly Specific Untranslatable Words, and prefixes and suffixes that imply more context and tone to specific words, are probably a nightmare to learn as a second language, but are probably really damn efficient at communicating things in the smallest amount of words possible?

Like some languages have very distinct grammatical cases, various verbs for actions that one would think are identical but there's a tonal difference in the variation, linguistic indicators of the speaker's own opinion on the matter, and then there's the whole cultural-context-clue game of things like verbs that refer to a specific poem or folk tale that everyone roughly knows, even if they've never personally heard the original story.

So grabbing this concept and running with it, you could possibly come up with a language where you can put together a 15-syllable word, a prefix- and suffix-laden monstrosity of one, that sums up an entire paragraph. Which broken down would translate to something like "[person spoken of], whom I have no respect for, attempted to do the first action of [folk hero], and failed in doing so in a way that I personally think was entirely his own fault."

And then you need a native speaker to translate the translation, explaining that even in the original story, the folk hero's first quest failed miserably, but nonetheless earned the hero the local peoples' respect, so put together with the "failed" tonal indication of the word used, it translates to "this dipshit tried to play big hero and pull a cool stunt, and not only did he fail at it completely, he looked fucking stupid doing it and simultaneously shit himself."

An additional word would have been needed to clarify whether he literally shit himself. But there was no space for it.

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myceliumsunshine · 7 months

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humans are weird - callsigns

this one isn't as big a thing as some others i saw, but i thought it was a cool idea.

in the military people pick callsigns - a nickname or something unique to identify who is on the comms. i feel like if humans went to space, the military/government would run it, at least to begin with, so the people going into space for longer missions would be pilots or army members or be specially trained ect. who would have callsigns. human steve, callsign tigerclaw: oi lazar! human mary, callsign lazar: hows it going, tigerclaw xorphlax harfop, no callsign: what strange naming conventions humans have. human mary: lazar isn't my name, my callsign is lazar. my name is mary. xorphlax harfop: what the [UNTRANSLATABLE] is a callsign

#humans are space orcs #humans are weird #humans are deathworlders #callsigns #fanfic

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murmurmm00mm · 9 months

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riddle: to help control my anger chenya gave me this! :D

[ANTISTRESS SQUEEZE-HEDGEHOG]

ace&deuce: it's like

ace: pop it?

deuce: simple dimple?

*untranslatable disputes about the coolness of popit and simple dimple*

riddle: works !

#draw #twisted wonderland #twst #art #heartslabyul #ace trappola #deuce spade #riddle rosehearts #i think popit won because i have one at home

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isaksbestpillow · 3 months

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Musashi's room #1 & #2

One of the many things Ossan's Love does so well is social media. Kurosawa has his own instagram account musashis_room (pun on Kuroyanagi Tetsuko's legendary talk show Tetsuko no heya/Tetsuko's room that has been airing since the 70s) where he posts funny diary entries about the show. Since I'm already fansubbing the show, I figured I might as well translate the posts too. A lot of the jokes don't really translate because they rely on the Japanese language to work, but I'll do what I can.

I'm done with work for today dao* 🦄

Greetings on the busiest time of the year

I am housekeeper Musashi-san

It's a new Musashi

dao*

I work at Bashauma** Cleaning Services

Like a horse, believe me

We are having a New Year's Campaign!

Introduce a friend and get three free sessions 💰

I await for your designation 🧳

Though in truth I would like to be summoned to your*** home

The genie shall return into the lamp 🪔

GoodNight 🌜

*untranslatable slang grammar meaning the same as dayo. He uses this in many of his posts but I'm only going to point it out here.

**carriage horse, I've translated this to Work Like a Horse in the subs because it's a reference to the idiom bashaumani hataraku, work like a carriage horse.

***kimi = Haruta

Merry Christmas everyone 🎄

The usual lonely Christmas 🐥

By the way, I found this

It says Musashi's room, right?

Should I enter?

Is it one of those things where you go in and there's a surprise Christmas party waiting for you?

The tape is poorly attached though?

I wonder what Harutan is doing ☃

I mean Maki is in Singapore

Is Harutan also having a lonely Christmas?

I could become Santa and sneak in no no no no no no no no no

Calm down, Musashi, keep your head cool, Musashi

Be a good kid

Then Santa ought to come 🎅🛷

#musashi's room #ossan's love returns #my translations

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firedjinni · 3 months

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what do u even call the slugcats cause they're "names" are fuckinfg BORING! "monk" "survivor" yap yap yap! thats why I call them flowerboy and ponyboy hunter is a cool fucking name but still WOLFBOY. is better I know theres... other slugcats the only ones ive seen are the fat one and the darker red one. and some weird... mutation looking slugcat... weird eyes... weird colors. whateverrrrrr ill enable the dlc after i do this damn wolfboy run 4 DAYs. LEFT.

okay, I understand this was probably not the intended point of this ask, but it is too late. you have activated my trap card. we are talking about Slugcat Worldbuilding Headcanons now.

(Spoilers ahead for… basically every campaign.)

For Hunter: I imagine "Hunter" is more of a nickname, and that NSH normally refers to them more as his courier or messenger. I tend to call them "Hunter" for writing convenience (even in their own POV, so far), but they don't really call themself that much. They have a lot of identity issues tied up in being created for a Very Specific Purpose and not really knowing how to think of themself outside of it; they're a divine messenger, but that's not really a name. Until their purpose is fulfilled, they don't think about themself as a person often enough to actually consider things like names.

For Survivor: I like the headcanon that slugcats (at least in Surv/Monk/Gourm's colony) are given simpler names as pups, and sort of "earn" a more descriptive title/adult name as they mature. In my usual read of them, they would have just been "white/pale one" when they still lived with their colony, and gave themself the name "Survivor" some time after their fall.

For Monk: their pup name, which they have during their campaign, is something like "yellow one", and they don't earn a title until later. Even then, they aren't ever "Monk" in-universe, as slugcats don't quite have an equivalent social structure or role for that term to translate directly. The name they take instead means something more like "pacifist" or "gentle/wise/peaceful one", though there are some loosely similar social connotations to early Ancient society's version of monkhood, with implications of spiritual attunement, insight, and vague otherworldliness.

For Artificer: I imagine this name to be a matter of in-universe translation jank. Their actual name is something closer to "crafter" or "clever one that makes things" (again, connotations are tricky to translate!), but those simply do not possess the same pizzazz. The Scavengers also call them "Red Death" or sometimes "Red Mother", which ends up becoming a sort of mythological figure later on, like a Scavenger boogeyman. Future slugcat colonies end up sort of adopting back the mythology of the Red Mother as a protective deity/spirit, so they mostly call her that in the future. "Red" was probably their pup name, too.

For Spearmaster: Seven Red Suns calls them "messenger" and "07" -- I like to think the former becomes a nickname (their character designer, Faeling, headcanons SRS calling them "Messy" as a nickname/diminutive which I think is adorable), but Spearmaster themself might have adopted the latter too at some point, maybe almost like a family name, because they like that it connects them to Seven Red Suns. I also figure that other wild slugcats might have various nicknames for them, especially since SM would have no easy way to introduce themself -- and the name "Spearmaster" might come from that, actually! But I also like the idea of a future folktale version of them similar to with Artificer, with various names depending on the opinions of the colony/culture in question: "Cousin Thorn-tail", "the Spear-sapper", "the Drinker", and so on.

For Gourmand: again, I imagine this as a case of translation jank, and whatever they're called has slightly different connotations, though I'm less decided on what it should actually be. "Gourmand" is just so… specific? I feel like whatever they've got going on should be equally untranslatable, though. It's something along the lines of "appraiser" and "crafter" and "skilled forager", with this implication of like… knowing about valuable/desirable things and how to find/make them, and also having a strong personal taste for them? "Connoisseur", almost? But not quite as fancy. Their pup name was just "big one", though -- pup Gourmie wasn't quite the absolute unit they are as an adult, but they were definitely always a big slugcat.

For Rivulet: I like the idea this really is just their name! Little-stream-of-water! It's actually their pup name, but they left their colony before coming of age (ran away to become an adventurer), and never really found a title they liked. They think Moon calling them Ruffles is cute, but it's definitely just a nickname.

For Saint: the name does translate directly, not because slugcats have a concept of sainthood, but because the title they gave themself is the literal term taken from the Ancients. I headcanon that they were raised by or around an iterator and know a lot of The Lore, and sorta borrowed some of these concepts for how they see themself… a sort of divine sufferer bringing peace to others, martyring themself for the sake of mercy. Their pup name was just "tongue" or something, though, if they had one at all.

#rain world #rw #asks #headcanons #not art

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yoyo-inspace · 1 year

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Name of Odin attested 150 years earlier than previously thought!

A really cool discovery made by Danish runic and language history researchers from a huge gold treasure which turns out to be the oldest attested mention of the god Odin not only in Scandinavia but in the world.

Two Danish articles that I translated below, but tl;dr summary:

A historical discovery made my Danish archeologist, runic researchers and language history researchers reveals that there's attestations of the old norse god Odin by name about 150 years earlier than previously thought (not just in Scandinavia, in the world). The translation of a runic inscription on a bracteate contains the phrase "he is Odin's man", and the bracteate is dated to the 5th century. This means that at least in Denmark, there is an attested belief in Odin (and most likely the other old norse deities) much earlier than previously thought, but it is generally the oldest attestations to the named deity "Wōd[a]nas" (Odin) thus far discovered (previously oldest attestation was from southern Germany and the 6th century. In Denmark the oldest previous attestation was 8th century bone amulet). The discovery has also opened up new ways of translating runic inscriptions this old, which could help with further research of older texts that have previously been untranslatable.

EDIT: Also English article https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/oldest-reference-norse-god-odin-found-denmark-treasure-97704339

Translation and Danish articles below, which also has images.

https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/guldfund-afsloerer-danskerne-troede-paa-odin-thor-og-loke-langt-tidligere-end-foerst?fbclid=IwAR0x2RkzqvGCVn87f_W5gBMcp9B8jbCWEiXV-JX2j4ZmOvRh_1XEWJ9hOkU

Gold find reveals: The Danes believed in Odin, Thor and Loki much earlier than first thought

Runes on a huge gold treasure from Jelling show that Odin is mentioned 150 years earlier than has been seen before. The discovery shakes the whole of Norse mythology.

When the two amateur archeologists Jørgen Antonsen and Ole Schytz made the spectacular gold find in a field near Jelling almost two years ago, they also greatly shook our knowledge of Norse mythology. It turns out that one of the gold pieces contains the world's first attestation by name of the Norse god Odin. The so-called Vindelev treasure was previously described as the most spectacular runic find since the golden horns. But the name of the god gives this one an extra edge: - It is the first time in world history that Odin's name is mentioned, and it takes Nordic mythology all the way back to the beginning of the 5th century. That makes the Vindelev find even more spectacular, says script researcher Lisbeth Imer from the National Museum. According to the researchers, this means that the gods we know from Norse mythology were already known at the beginning of the 4th century, which is 150 years earlier than previously proven.

The discovery was made after the researchers spent quite some time trying to decipher the runes and carvings on the 22 gold objects with a weight of around 800 grams, so-called bracteate. On one of the bracteates the sentence 'He is Odin's man' is included and refers to the bracteate's portrait of an unknown king or “great man”. And it is this sentence that shows that the belief in the Nordic gods was real, earlier than people have believed until now. However, deciphering exactly what the runes actually meant has not been an easy task.

“The runic inscription has been the most difficult to interpret in my 20 years as a runologist at the National Museum, but the discovery is also absolutely fantastic,” explains Lisbeth Imer.

According to the researchers, the discoveries are important because they contribute to Danish history being rewritten.

“I have not seen such well-executed runes and such a long text on a Danish find from this period since the golden horns,” says Lisbeth Imer. “It could become a key to understanding other prehistoric runic inscriptions that we have not been able to read so far.

Krister Vasshus, who specializes in ancient language history in Scandinavia, is also pleased with the new finds. “We have found the proof in black and white, and it is a huge discovery. I can't put my arms down in pure ecstasy,” he says. According to the researcher, it is very rare that researchers even get the opportunity to examine similar material. “This type of inscription is extremely rare, we find one perhaps every 50 years, and this time it has turned out to be world history,” explains Krister Vasshus.

The Brakteaten is currently on display at the National Museum.

https://videnskab.dk/forskerzonen/kultur-samfund/verdens-aeldste-odin-fundet-i-vindelev?fbclid=IwAR366iLS8MWtkeWTrrqlIbMxygGlZ-tAWG9FJXFsqDRIabHh3o5LgMphBzo

The world's oldest Odin found in Vindelev

Ancient gold medallions found by amateur archaeologists turn out to be the oldest examples of the god Odin's name in the entire world.

In December 2020, two old friends and amateur archaeologists go for a walk with a detector in a field in Jelling. Little did they know that with the findings from this trip they were writing the history of Denmark - and gave us the most difficult task we have ever faced as runologists and language experts respectively. The Vindelev treasure, as the find has been called, with its 800 grams of real gold, is one of the largest gold treasures found here in recent times. It fascinates not only because of the red ancient gold, but also because of the bracteates - i.e. gold medallions - with runes found in the treasure. They write the history of Denmark.

100 years older than the earliest find so far Two of the bracteates have some very long inscriptions in which the name of the supreme god of the Æsir, Odin, appears. The bracteates are dated to the fifth century and are thus the oldest examples of the god Odin's name in the whole world - at least for now. The oldest inscription previously in which the god Odin appears is from the southern German area. At a large burial ground near Nordendorf, the god's name was found scratched on the back of a suit buckle dating to the second half of the 6th century. In Denmark, we have to go back to the first half of the 8th century, i.e. on the threshold of the Viking Age, before we have Odin's name represented on a piece of a human skull from Ribe. Here, Odin is invoked as one of three gods who will help the owner of the amulet from illness. Odin's name is a well-known runic inscription from all over the world and is found, among other things, in a number of continental and Old English written sources, for example 'Origin of the Langobards', 'Sächsisches Taufgelöbnis' (the Old Saxon baptismal vow) and 'Nigon Wyrta Galdor' (The formula of the nine herbs). In this article, we will talk about why the Vindelev treasure is completely unique, and why the runic inscriptions on the old bracteaters have been one of the most difficult tasks for us.

Gold pendants Excavations carried out by the Vejlemuseerne showed that in the area where the treasure was found, there had been a farm consisting of several longhouses and fences. The treasure therefore presumably belonged to the local magnate or king, who buried it inside the house or near the house. In the 5th and 6th centuries, rich magnates or minor kings used gold pendants to show off their status and wealth. The motif on these pendants, called bracteate, was inspired by the Roman imperial medallions. Many bracteates show a male person seen in profile, possibly in the company of a four-legged animal, which is probably a horse.

Is it Odin? For many years, researchers have debated whether the people depicted on the bracteates are the god Odin, or whether they are kings, princes or magnates. The runic inscriptions on the Vindelev bracteates mostly indicate the latter. Perhaps bracteates were given away to important alliances. Saxo Grammaticus writes about the legendary king Frode that he had a gold necklace that could be used as a reward. This chain was composed of different links, which alternated with images of kings. Such chains with bracteates have been found in several places in Denmark.

Long runic inscription with the name Odin One of the bracteates from Vindelev is very special and very valuable for research. It has a long runic inscription which is particularly well-formed and which makes linguistic sense. The inscription runs in a circle around the motif of the bracteate, which shows the face of a king seen in profile and with a nice hairstyle. In front of the face is a swastika and a semicircle - perhaps symbolizing the sun and the moon. Below the face stands a four-legged animal, probably a horse, with a marked harness and something sticking out of its mouth. The horse's ear points towards the king's open mouth.

Erased and written out in one go Although the runes are very well formed and immediately easy to read, we have problems understanding the text. This is due, firstly, to the fact that the bracteate is very worn, so that the runes in important places are almost completely gone. Secondly, the inscription is written out in one go. That is, there is no pause between words, nor are there any signs showing where one word ends and the next begins. In addition, the language on the bracteate is more than 1,500 years old.

On the trail of a hunter The first part of the text of the bracteate is particularly difficult, because there are partly words we do not know from other sources, partly words which do not seem to fit with the developments in the history of the language. The inscription possibly begins with the word hostiōz, which can mean 'sacrificial animal' (in the plural). In that case, it is a Latin loanword, which would mean that the word hostia was borrowed from Latin and embedded in the Old Norse language. In the long sequence that follows, there is probably a declaration that someone is helping a hunt or a hunter. We may also encounter a personal or nickname Jaga, which may even have been perceived as a pun on the verb 'to hunt' (“at jage”).

A king's locket? We are most certain of the last part of the inscription. It says iz Wōd[a]nas weraz, which can be translated as 'he is Odin's man'. But who is this man of Odin? It must be the hunter who may have had the (nick)name Jaga. And who is the hunter or Jaga? We know that Saxo calls the images on bracteates kings, and we know that the bracteates imitate Roman emperor depictions. We must therefore interpret the inscription as a presentation of the depicted person, who is the king. The king is referred to as Odin's man, which points to his divine legitimacy, and perhaps also tells us that he is the supreme cult leader of that society.

Another Odin inscription in Vindelev The long inscription appears to have been copied on one of the other bracteates, but in a much more poorly executed reproduction. This bracteate also shows a king seen from the side with a nice hairstyle above a horse with its ear pointing towards the king's mouth. In front of the face are the same symbols as on the first bracteate and in addition three dots which perhaps symbolize the stars. The inscription runs in a circle around the motif, and some of the characters are clearly runes, while others just look like or are blurred long lines. It seems that whoever made the inscription in the matrix did not fully understand the text, but copied the appearance of the characters as best they could.

Is there perhaps a holy text with the same meaning? The meaning of the inscription has clearly been the same as on the first bracteate, but there is a detail which means that it cannot be interpreted as a direct copy of the first: the name Odin is spelled in a different way, and also it appears that the scribe has exchanged two runes. Where he actually wanted to write woþanas, he has written þowa(nas). The two runes, which represent the sounds /w/ and /þ/, are almost identical, which makes them easy to confuse - especially when the runes are only 2mm high. This means that there once existed a third inscription with the same content as on the two bracteate. It must have been a very important and perhaps sacred text that many have been interested in copying. There could be many good reasons for being filled by Odin's power and magical abilities as a king.

The solution to an old riddle The long and complete inscription on the bracteate from Vindelev is the key to a number of unsolved riddles in the Iron Age. It shows that Odin is a very old deity, who was already known in the 5th century, and that the images of the bracteates should rather be interpreted as kings than as the god himself. And so it is the key to understanding how illegible bracteate inscriptions originally made sense.

A funny detail is also that the bracteate with the poorly executed text from Vindelev has a stamp-identical twin from Bolbro on the outskirts of Odense, made with the same pattern. The Bolbro bracteate was found in 1852 and has since then been in the National Museum's collections. There has thus been an ancient Odin inscription in the National Museum's exhibitions for the past 170 years - but no one knew that until the Vindelev treasure was found. Lisbeth M. Imer and Krister S. K. Vasshus will publish a scientific article about the runic bracteates from Vindelev in the international journal NOWELE (North-Western European Language Evolution), which will be published in April-May 2023. The Vindelev treasure can be seen in the National Museum's Danish exhibition 'The Hunt of Danish history' for the rest of 2023. The Bolbro bracteate is part of the permanent exhibition at the National Museum.

#odin*#odin #heathenry #norse mythology #forn sed #runes #archeology #asatru #danish history #old norse history

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cerealandchoccymilk · 11 months

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Trigun Bookclub: Trigun Vol.1, Chapters #00-01

all | next

lets fucking do this

I'm annotating every chapter of trigun, both the Japanese original print (reread) and Overhaul 1.0 (first read). Literally just writing down everything I notice about details, version differences, translation notes, etc. and also being gay about the characters. happy pride month

I had other stuff to do today yesterday so I only got through a little bit but pace will pick up tomorrow today (1 volume/week is faster than i thought...)

Here are the beloved non-analysis sillies...

And there are just so many annotation images so I just put the rest under the cut <3 read my notes boy

[edit: why aren't the images not being side by side like i want them to i hate this. here's the url for my blog page with correct formatting] [edit 2: i guess it's only on desktop, not on mobile. so that's good]

First thing I noticed was the difference in the number of volumes, or the number of chapters in each volume. In my JP copy, volume 1 ends at Chapter #07: Rem, while Overhaul (and I assume every version after the first JP print) ends at #12: River of Life.

Anyways onto the actual images

21st of July - !! didn't notice [that the July incident actually happened in July] during 1st read b/c months are only numbers in Japanese 11 hours after destruction - July incident was 2am

For some reason I thought he was standing this whole time. unneccesary details georg

Estimated age: 24 - Official age for his appearance? dang he's young Appearance - "Place of origin/birth," not "what he looks like" The worst kind of outlaw, and an unrivalled killer. - Added in a later version? (not in my JP copy but the phrase is familiar)

This blank space originally had the Japanese translation for the board.

We see his serious expression already! I don't remember '98 doing so this early on so it's pretty notable to me...

Just thinking about how Vash counted each individual gunshot being fired during all that chaos... dear god.... During my first read/watch I thought it was just silly Rule of Cool protagonist moment but not really. This guy actually has Insane perception, either from being a plant or sheer practice. Or both.

Also immediately after all that, I really love the way the aftermath is shown here. The only things you can hear are the creaks of the light and the crying boy. It really brings out the tension in the atmosphere.

Finally, something other than unneccesary bits! If you look at the flooring under the toy gun, the perspective lines are pointing SW-NE. This corresponds to the flooring on Vash's right, whose right arm is also suspiciously out-of-frame... This is definitely the moment he took the toy gun. I can't express the amount of Holy Shit I felt when I realized this. The detail!!!!! man!!!!!!!!!

There's a little translation error here - it should be something like "Even if he were still alive, he wouldn't be able to move an inch!"

One of my favorite Vash moves with one of my favorite Tumblr heritage posts.

This is not really based on any drawn details, but I think this is the moment that Vash readies the toy gun, puts it in his pocket, and picks up the ketchup. Do Not trust this man when his arm is not visible. Also finger still in gun <3 doing his part blocking one bullet at a time

And here we have Vash's first COOL cool moment!!!!!! cue my homo screaming. goddddddddd im so mentally unwell about him. agh I also absolutely love when Nightow does that thing where he screen-tones a character's skin just because. It pops!! It's unique!! I love it!! I eat it up every time!!!

Here's where I realize that Vash's hair antennae are pointing straight up. I should be on the lookout for when he makes the transition to the M-shaped antennae we know and love.

Also, a little untranslatable joke from the Japanese version. In Japanese, this guy calls out at Vash like "And you, don't provoke him!" except it's written with the kanji for "Hunter" (狩人 karyūdo), with a ruby pronunciation note saying "you" (おまえも omaemo). These kanji/ruby mismatch jokes are never not funny and it's so sad that there's no way to keep them in without doing...this lol

The "I counted!" reveal never fails to get me. holy shit. I love the little boy's expression when he gets his gun back :) You helped!!! and you don't have to have the real deal to be cool as balls!!!

Just lumping this with the previous two because it's a tall image, but another small translation error. Rather than being about doing harm, he's talking about recieving it (～～はゴメンだ is a hard-to-catch phrasing/idiom; it's already been discussed with the translator on a different instance). It should be more like "[...But] nobody likes getting hurt, right?"

THE GIRLIES YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not including the dialogue because. y'know. At least they get (accidentally) Bonked by Millie :) get their asses

Here, the order suggestion is made by somebody off-screen, but in the first edition, it was made by the cook himself. (left image annotation says "the storekeeper(cook) is so nice!")

That's it for chapters #00-01! I'm going to keep having Category 5 Autism Events every day aren't I.

It's literally 1:20am as of finishing this post because my computer won't stop crashing. Posting this first thing in the morning tomorrow <3

Also, the Japanese copy of the annotations will be in the reblogs for anyone who wants to see them. The emotions are Rawer and they're phrased way less awkwardly... if you can read them lol

#trigunbookclub #trigun annotation #i guess?#trigun #trigun manga

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bearborg · 7 days

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Heya, I saw that rb on my Metroid logo - I appreciate the insight regarding the Chozo glyphs! 👍

After your comment I did a bit of additional searching, and it doesn't seem like the interchanging is absolutely consistent across the Dread media, is that correct? More for tessellating opportunities than an exact rule, perhaps.

Either way, I don't necessarily mind this logo being 'incorrect' in that regard - I've had in mind that the Chozo sometimes use a 'simpler' form of their language specifically for ease of translation, so maybe this can coincide with that as a happy accident on my part. Plus, I have an alternate version of the logo which the interchanging glyphs would work better for, so I may apply it to that one and use both logos! Nonetheless, it's a cool detail about the language I hadn't noticed :o

Glad to know you've been digging the Samus design so far :)

it doesn't seem like the interchanging is absolutely consistent across the Dread media, is that correct?

I'm pretty confident that it's 100% consistent. What you might have seen is an example like this, where characters on the same row aren't tessellated:

But the tessellation is still being applied here, the text is just written vertically. You could argue that the tessellation is actually even more important here, since it indicates the direction that the text should be read in.

I've had in mind that the Chozo sometimes use a 'simpler' form of their language specifically for ease of translation, so maybe this can coincide with that as a happy accident on my part.

Definitely plausible! The square glyphs seen in Zero Mission (and several other games before Dread) are essentially just a blockier non-tessellating version of the Dread glyphs, which could be a modernization or an attempt at making them more legible to other species. Prime 1 also has a separate, scratchier looking alphabet of rune-like symbols (sadly untranslatable), so there's clearly diversity in the Chozo's written language.

Nonetheless, it's a cool detail about the language I hadn't noticed :o

Dread has quite a lot of those! If you're interested in diving all the way into Chozo language research, I'd highly recommend checking out @ChozoCourse on twitter, where you can find a nicely-packaged fan document detailing everything we know about the language right now.

#metroid #chozo

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limesonspecial · 4 months

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When I watch non-English film & tv, there's nearly always a moment when something in the translation feels...flat. Like there's some nuanced word in the original language that is being abbreviated to the simplest, most direct equivalent. Not exactly an untranslatable word, but something with a cultural context that you just don't get in translation. The only example that's coming to me is hiraeth, which you can simplify to longing or homesickness, but only by stripping out that very specific Welsh-ness (which, as a USian, I will never fully understand, but I believe Welsh folk when they say this is so).

Anyway, when it happens, when I get that curious flatness, I always wonder what it is I'm missing. What are the implications? What would a native speaker understand here that I'm just not able to grasp, coming at it as I am from a sort of linguistic telephone? It enhances the experience for me, hammers home that there are complexities of the human condition to which I am not - and will never be - a party. A reminder that even though my country likes to think of itself as the default, it really, really isn't (nor should it be). I think those moments are neat, and I hope I never lose them.

All of which is preamble to what I actually want to comment on, which is this: Blue Eye Samurai, despite being a show written by Americans in English (and animated by a French studio, but *dismissive gesture*), gave me this feeling. Granted, Amber Noizumi is biracial, so there's a leg up there, but the care and detail work everyone in production put in is extraordinary. I'm no expert on Japanese history, language, or culture, so I can't really weigh in on how accurate it is, but what I can say is that it felt like a foreign country. Like I was learning new things, and recognizing the bits and bobs I've picked up across the years in their proper contexts.

And there's something about how the various characters use the word great that pings that little "lost in translation" alarm in my brain, even in the absence of translation. It came on slowly, though. When Ringo wants to be great, he really wants to be recognized as having value (dovetails nicely with his "See? Useful." to Mizu). When Taigen wants to be great, he wants to be so accomplished that no one cares that he was a fisherman's son and has climbed up the caste ladder to a loftier position. Both of these are easy for an American audience to grasp (we're big on individual exceptionalism over here).

By the time the characters have all rolled up in Edo, however, the meaning has shifted. When Mizu tells Akemi that Taigen isn't a good man, but he could be great...there's a hint of some other meaning. It isn't about recognition or accomplishment, but something more like virtue. And when Taigen and Akemi meet on the bridge, there's the sense that they're using two different meanings - Taigen no longer cares about being a status-rooted great (or now prioritizes it below happiness); but the greatness that Akemi wants...that's a bird of a different color. Something about how she says that one sentence brings in all the different ways people have meant "great" throughout the season, so that when she uses that same, single-syllable word that people have been applying to a variety of simple desires, it feels...flat. It makes me want to look up what she said in the original Japanese and compare it to the other instances of 'great'...except there is no "original Japanese," just some really tight English writing. Which is cool as hell.

#caesar gets philosophical #thoughts on translation #blue eye samurai

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