#and trying to rationalize that the suffering she's causing in pursuing her goal can be reverse once she's reached her goal

[constantvariations]

I get why people want to get rid of maidens/relics/gods from rwby - and I definitely can't say I blame them - but I think they could be really cool if implemented differently and intertwined

This is essentially what I did for my conceptual rewrite, Of Horns and Roses

Four gods for the four cornerstones of life: creation, destruction, choice, and knowledge. (Destruction in this case would be more like the death tarot card: change or transformation rather than erasure.) The relics would have been their iconic motifs, representing them in temples and shrines, as well as being able to bestow a portion of their magic

Semblances would be minor magics, each stemming from one of the gods. This connection makes them compatible as a conduit for the god's power

Occasionally, the gods will call upon someone to be their Prophet and complete a quest in their name. Ozma answers Choice's call, leaving behind his lover, Salem, to embark on his quest. With Choice's crown upon his head, their powers flowing through his veins, they both believe wholeheartedly he'll be back

He dies completing the quest

Upon hearing the news, Salem flies into a rage and demands the gods bring him back. He died for them, after all, so they owe him

The gods refuse, saying that they understand her tragedy, but it would disrupt the balance of the world

Salem does not accept this. She's lost everyone she's ever loved - to sickness, to war, to politics, to miscarriages - and she'll be damned before she loses another. Fueled by rage and grief, she travels the world and sabotages every Prophet's quest, twisting the gods against each other by manipulating the blame

The gods begin an all-out war that destroys lands, civilizations, and Destruction blows a hole in the moon. The shards fall to the planet, slamming into animals and people, the leftover magic mutating them into endlessly hungry monsters. These will be known as Alpha Grimm. The ones they eat are reborn as lesser Grimm, not as powerful yet just as starving for the soul they lost

The gods stop, gazing in horror at the havoc they've wrought. That's when Salem strikes, piercing Creation with their own staff and taking their power. She declares the gods obsolete and brings back Ozma, taking her peacefully slumbering lover back home and ignorant of all that has occurred

The gods are forced to retreat. Choice reaches out to Ozma, laying bare their failures and Salem's machinations. Choice pleads with him to convince her to return Creation's power, lest the world fall into disharmony

Ozma talks to Salem, asking for an explanation. Salem says there should be no death, so suffering, and no apathetic, callous gods. She wants to build a new world with Ozma at her side. Together, they would be the parents of a forever utopia

All they have to do is kill the gods

Ozma, having always desired a family after losing his so young, is tempted. He could be a father to everyone, the protector he vowed to be the moment he picked up a sword. His love for life is the very thing that led him to becoming Salem's personal guard back when she was on her own quest as Creation's Prophet

But this body is both his and not. The killing blow aches even now, often leaving him lying awake late into the night or jolting him up long before dawn. His soul knows this isn't right, he isn't meant to be here

It tears him apart, but his choice is made. In the middle of the night, while his beloved slumbers peacefully in ignorance, he steals the staff and returns it to the gods

It's a hollow victory. Salem is immortal, death almost impossible for her. With the power of a god and the mind of a human, she will inevitably destroy the world because she doesn't understand the delicate balance of life and death, the purpose behind the rules

The gods bestow upon Ozma each of the relics, saying it's up to him to return the power as they must pool their energy to keep Creation alive. Ozma must choose the new Prophets wisely and carefully, as he won't be able to retract the powers like they can, and attempting to give someone the power of the wrong god will kill them. The gods estimate that the world has a few thousand years at most before it is overwhelmed and destroyed

Each gives a final gift. Destruction cannot sustain his body, as that is Creation's area, so should Ozma's body perish, his soul will carry on alongside another's. Choice blesses his soul so that it will be drawn to ones who are compatible. Knowledge grants him the instructions on how to assemble the relics to open the gate to the pocket dimension they'll retreat to in order to sustain the fallen away from hungry hands

They then leave Ozma with the relics, a deadline, and an impossible task. He does his best, but he's only human. He makes mistakes, trusts the wrong people, loses the relics several times, and succumbs to despair more than a few lives

All the while, Salem's offer haunts him. It would be so easy to give in, to beg for her forgiveness and rest in her arms until the world ends

But he loves the world too much, just like her

Salem doesn't bow, and neither will he

And there you have it: gods, relics, and maidens prophets connected and important to both background and plot. Gods that aren't stupid assholes for the sake of being stupid assholes. Salem being proactive with a goal that doesn't suck donkey balls. A reason for why the shadow war can't go on forever. A grimm origin that's more interesting than "hurr durr bad god make monsters"

Lemme know what you think! I got more thoughts and offshoots if y'all wanna hear more

#rwde #gender locked powers are stupid and everyone should point and laugh #wanted to bring back the motherly aspect salem had in v4 bc that was hella interesting #which ofc is why shawluna ding dong ditched it #idk i just really like the idea of Salem actually wanting to do good by the world bc shes tired of death and suffering #and trying to rationalize that the suffering she's causing in pursuing her goal can be reverse once she's reached her goal #this is all p tentative for the most part. i come back to ohar every now and again when smth catches my fancy #i want the gods to have proper names. id probs keep knowledge as jinn but change the entire design #found my notes. i had Uhai (swahili - life) for Creation. Mori (death - latin) for Destruction. Pelorus (european nav tool) for Choice #Pelorus is the one Im most iffy abt but its a p cool name. might uses it for someone else if not Choice #of horns and roses

[panharmonium]

@bloomiii asked: Hey!  Do you think merlin actually hates Mordred?

Heya!  I’m assuming this is a follow-up question to the ask that @once-and-future-gay​​ sent me the other day, and I gotta say, I love this question just as much as I did that one, so thank you!  :D  It’s a great ask - relevant one, definitely, for Season 5. 

I have kind of a lot to say about it, so I’m going to put most of this reply under a cut, but the short answer is this:

No, absolutely not.  I don’t think Merlin hates Mordred.

I think Merlin hates himself.

I wrote in the previous post on this topic (which I think this ask is a response to) about the actual reasons why Merlin is in conflict with Mordred, none of which are based on personal dislike and all of which come back to Merlin knowing that he has to prevent Mordred from killing Arthur, not out of a selfish personal desire to keep Arthur safe, but because Arthur’s survival is supposed to be the thing that is going to bring peace to the land and liberate the magical world.

But Merlin, as I said in that post, does not want to be in conflict with Mordred.  He likes Mordred.  He says as much, to Gaius.  He cares about Mordred as someone who shares his oppression, as shown in the beginning of the Disir.  He agrees to keep Kara a secret from Arthur, at the beginning of 5.11.  And Mordred’s philosophy - “the love that binds us is more important than the power we wield” - is literally as close to Merlin’s own as it can be.  That is exactly how Merlin, at his core, sees the world.

Everything Merlin does to Mordred, he does for no other reason than that he thinks he has to.  (And I discussed in that other piece how Merlin is not foolish or mistaken for thinking so, either - important to keep in mind.)  But all of the things he has to do go completely against his nature, and by the time we hit the end of 5.11, I really feel that Merlin has descended into a pit of self-loathing that the show, because its ending is so poorly constructed, never allows him to climb out of.  

Every decision Merlin is forced to make about Mordred makes him hate himself a little more.  The decision to let Mordred die in 5.05 is visibly traumatizing for him.  He takes no pleasure in leaving Mordred behind for Morgana in 5.10.  And 5.11 is the ugliest, most soul-killing situation Merlin has been confronted with yet - he is torn between doing what he truly wants to do and what he feels like he has to do, when Kara comes into the picture.  He initially tries to hide Kara from Arthur, because there is no part of him that wants a Druid to be captured and harmed, even if she was with Morgana’s forces.  Mordred tells Merlin, “she’s one of us,” and Merlin agrees.  “Your secret is safe with me,” he says (and those are sacred words for Merlin; they’re exactly what Lancelot says to him in 1.05; this is not something Merlin would ever promise lightly).  He doesn’t betray Mordred’s secret, and when Kara is captured (through no fault of Merlin’s own) Merlin is the one who originally urges mercy, telling Arthur, “you’re breaking his heart/you’ll lose his trust” when Arthur claims he has no choice but to pursue execution.

However, after that, when Merlin learns that Mordred plans to escape with Kara, he boomerangs back to “he’s going to run to Morgana and then he’s going to kill Arthur and I am not allowed to let that happen/magical and godly forces have all told me that the entire fate of Albion and the future of magic all depends on me preventing Mordred from killing Arthur.”  And so he tells Arthur that Mordred is planning to escape, ultimately leading to Mordred and Kara’s recapture.

But THEN, after THAT, when they’re back in custody -  Merlin urges mercy yet again.  He tells Arthur to “free them both.”  He says, “How will one more death bring about the peace we long for?”  Merlin does not want Kara to be killed.  He does not want Mordred to suffer.  He does not want any of this to have happened; he did not rat Mordred out because he wanted to; he did it because he truly believed (for legitimate reasons) that he had no choice.  Like I talked about in that previous post - Merlin, at this point in the show, feels that his life has no purpose beyond the fulfillment of the destiny that has been prophesied.  He has come to see himself as a tool, with no intrinsic worth or value beyond what he can do to ensure Arthur’s survival (and thus the establishment of peace for all people).  He hates the things he’s supposed to do, but he literally cannot see an escape for himself.  This is just what he was “born” to do.

Even as far back as Season 3 we see this helplessness growing in him:

You feel trapped.  Like your whole life has been planned out for you, and you've got no control over anything, and sometimes you don't even know if what destiny has decided is really the best thing at all.

Merlin, in 5.11, doesn’t feel like what destiny has decided is the best thing.  But he also has reached a point where he feels like he has to do what he was told.  He’s seen the future.  He’s been told by multiple magical and divine sources that Arthur is the Once and Future King who is going to build the “the world we dream of.”  And so he does things that he thinks will enable that future to arrive (like preventing Mordred from running away with Kara), but because these things go so completely against his nature and cause him such pain, he then whips around and says, “Don’t kill her.  Let them go.”  He can’t help himself from slipping back into the kind of person he truly is on the inside.

He is trapped between his true self and what he feels is an inescapable duty.  And every step he takes away from his true nature makes him hate himself more.

Kara’s interview with Arthur, where she refuses to repent her “crimes” in exchange for her life, has one of the most telling, devastating shots in the show, when she says, “It is not a crime to fight for the right to be who you are.”  The camera, in that moment, is trained on Merlin’s face, not hers:

That is done on purpose.  The cinematography is trying to say something.  It wants us to look at Merlin and listen to Kara’s word’s and hear the contradiction.  It wants us to recognize that Merlin is dying inside.  The absolute MISERY locked down in his expression here!  He has been forced to do things that seem to work against the very goal he’s been told he’s trying to achieve (to have the right to be who he is), and it’s been going on for so long that it’s shattered his soul.  He listens to Kara being able to say that, proudly, without fear, and he hates himself for not being like her.

But he can’t see any way to escape the things he knows he’s supposed to do.  So ultimately, at the very end, he does nothing, and Kara’s execution proceeds.

He despises himself for it, and when Mordred escapes and runs to Morgana, Merlin’s only reaction is a dull, hollow resignation.  He doesn’t blame Mordred for whatever’s going to happen next.  

He blames himself.

This is, yet again, another reason why the Merlin finale is garbage storytelling.

It makes no narrative sense for the show to give us 5.11, which ends with Merlin in quite possibly the darkest and most miserable, conflicted spot he has ever been in, and to then start the next episode with him having a raucous good time at the tavern.  Merlin, after what happens with Kara and Mordred, is not going to be out laughing and cheering, playing dice, and making casual, tongue-in-cheek, meta jokes about his secret like it isn’t the most painful and soul-destroying burden he’s ever had to carry (“Ah, I knew you’d discover my secret in the end.  There is just no fooling you, my lord!”).  It is inconceivable for him to be out partying, after the previous episode.  It’s insulting to me as a viewer, that the writers thought they could show this to me as if it’s an even remotely rational direction for the story to go, as if I’m not going ask “what the HECK is going on???” when I see Merlin gleefully stumbling home like a drunken frat boy, without a care or concern in the world.

There is ZERO tonal consistency between the end of 5.11 and the beginning of 5.12.  It’s horrendous writing, and it’s why I continuously say that Merlin BBC does not actually end, it just STOPS - abruptly cut off after 5.11, with a slapdash two-episode finale tacked on, one which does not actually resolve anyone’s arcs, or address any of the central questions of the show, or follow where the narrative was naturally heading prior to that point.

Merlin’s arc with Mordred is what finally takes him to a place where he is irrevocably, inescapably confronted with the conflict that he has been struggling with from day one - how is he supposed to justify the things that Destiny is asking him to do, when what it’s asking him to do seems to be hurting the very people he’s trying to help?  How is he supposed to reconcile his responsibility to his people (and HIMSELF) with an externally-imposed responsibility to protect Arthur?  He’s been wrestling with this cognitive dissonance for years, and 5.11 is the inevitable crisis point - Kara is dead, Mordred has defected to Morgana, Merlin’s secret is OUT, and Merlin has never hated or doubted himself more.  It makes no sense for the beginning of the next episode to show us Merlin living it up at the tavern.  Merlin is tortured, at the end of 5.11.  He’s dying inside.  The next episode was supposed to be a natural progression from that moment, meaning Merlin should have had the chance to finally confront his conflict head-on, rather than having it all completely wiped away by the pile of garbage that was the finale.

The correct fallout from Mordred’s “turn” should have been a reckoning.  Merlin never wanted to be in conflict with Mordred in the first place; he hated himself for everything he had to do, and I really think the end of 5.11 took us to a place where Merlin had finally been pushed over the edge; it was the last straw.  The only correct progression from that point would have been change, and Merlin was finally desperate enough to do what he needed to do to find himself again and make things right, but we never got to see it, because the people in charge decided to completely abandon every complicated question they’d been pursuing, in favor of “actually Arthur’s the good guy and we’re gonna pretend we didn’t just spend an entire episode reminding people how Camelot is still an unjust place.”

I don’t understand it.  The same people created 5.11, too.  They wrote Kara’s righteous speech.  They framed her execution as an evil, and they framed Mordred’s flight as something Merlin and Arthur brought upon themselves.  

And then they did a 180 and dumped every ethical question they ever raised.  They never let Merlin find his feet or hold his head up high, and I’m honestly never going to forgive them for that.

#the once and future slowburn #meta #the druid boy #replies #merlin S5

[tawakkull]

ISLAM 101: Spirituality in Islam: Part 56

Wijdan (Conscience)

Part 2

According to the Maturidis, along with whatever we have, including our free will and power, we are created beings. However, both human power and free will are of two kinds:

1. The universal will 2. The particular will

The “universal will” is a potential power of will or choice, created together with ourselves and inculcated in our being. It is an established pillar of the mechanism of conscience, whether we use it or not, and it is ready to use. Our use of this potential power for any activity is described as the “particular will.” We can also call using our potential willpower for a particular activity our “intention,” “tendency,” “resolution,” or “choice.”

The perfect, requiring, or essential reason (raison d’être) for the occurrence of any action is the execution of human intention or inclination by the Divine Will and Power. Both Will and Power are essential to the Divine Being and beyond our capacity for comprehension; both the human universal will and particular will are each only a particular manifestation of Divine Will, the former being created by Divine Power and the latter having only the nominal existence that was endowed on humanity by its Creator.

From the earliest times of human existence, many people have supposed their partial will to have a certain creative power like Divine Will and Power; therefore, they have regarded themselves as free and powerful enough to be able to do whatever they wish. This has caused them to deviate into ways of misguidance as far as associating partners with God. Many an arrogant man, many a tyrant, and many a lord of power have come into and departed from this world, leaving behind some cursed traces in people’s memories. However, there have been many others who, although belittled by others, have comprehended and admitted their innate powerlessness and poverty, and thus have relied on Divine Power; these people have been favored with extraordinary accomplishments. They continue to live in our hearts as people of blessed memory, encouraging us to put our present plans into action and energizing our hopes and expectations for the future.

What this historical fact teaches us is that it is the Divine Power Which both brings us and our actions into existence, and equips us with certain special capacities. That infinite Power is not, as some assert, an inactive Power Which created the universe with whatever is in it and then entrusted its operation and maintenance to certain laws or forces. Rather, it is the Power Which does whatever It wills, Which existed eternally before all else came into existence, and Which will continue to exist eternally after the death of everything. It is also this self-existing and self-sustaining Power Which maintains everything else. While some of those who are unable to comprehend this essential truth or follow it, being partly under the influence of the deterministic-seeming operation of the universe and their innate powerlessness and neediness, have swerved into fatalism, others, intoxicated with a favorable turn of events and their apparent accomplishments, have been so arrogant as to suppose themselves to be the creators of their actions and therefore have attributed all of their accomplishments to their own supposed powers and abilities. However, humankind stands at the junction of the body and the spirit, the heart and reason, capacity and favor, the observation of necessary rules and the fulfillment of requirements and belief in and full reliance on the Creator of those rules and requirements, and free will and dependence. Humankind is different from all other creatures, being both effective and affected, free and compelled, and a possessor of heart and reason, yet in need of mercy and help. Humans need Divine illumination, and when they turn to God to be illuminated, they are illuminated. With their very being, humans are restricted, never being able to transcend the limits that have been placed on them. For this reason, those who are immured in fatalism are attributing wrongdoing and injustice to God, knowingly or unknowingly; while others who suppose humans to have absolute free will and power to be able to do whatever they will are deifying humanity. The people of the middle, straight way neither accept fatalism nor regard humans as having sufficient absolute freedom or power to do whatever they will. On the contrary, they perceive human innate powerlessness and poverty as a truth-speaking witness of the One of infinite Power, and regard their wishes and will as favors of mercy from the Divine Will. Ever conscious of their restrictions, they are representations of constraint and neediness, but thanks to Divine Mercy they have a certain degree of free will and power. The people of the middle way believe that all favors and accomplishments are from God. However, they also believe that in order to be able to receive these favors and be honored with accomplishments, they must do whatever falls to their share as responsible beings. Such people never forget that they will be treated by God according to their tendencies, choices, and actions.

We always try to follow this way of thought, creed, and action, and regard ourselves as the doers of our actions, called “the actions related to human free will,” deeming it harmless to say, “We have eaten; we have drunk; we have slept; we have sat down; and we have stood up; and son on.” Nevertheless, we also believe that the essential or primary cause and creator of all our actions is the sole Creator of everything. Like all other secondary causes, we are also a veil before His acts. It is our creed that matter is inactive, all secondary causes are unconscious, we are beings desiring and doing, and God is the sole Creator. Those who regard their free will and tendencies or wishes as the origin and primary cause of their actions have always suffered deviations of thought and creed. When they see that their wishes and demands are not fulfilled, they are not able to save themselves from going to the opposite extreme, thus drowning in fatalism and despair. It is absolutely true that God Almighty is the All-Compelling and the All-Overwhelming, Who can absolutely do and have others do whatever He wills. But this does not mean that He does not consider the free will He has bestowed on humanity. In addition to being the All-Compelling and the All-Overwhelming, He is also the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate, the All-Just, and the All-Wise.

The people of sainthood have perceived human free will or willpower along with inclination, intention, and resolution in the attainment of such virtues as truthfulness, trustworthiness, purity of intention or sincerity in faith, performing religious deeds, being pleasing to God, and striving to exalt the Religion. They have always considered it in relation with the commandments and deeds that pertain to the other world. They have regarded a life of deviation, in which one pursues worldly gains in return for religious deeds, spends one’s life in worldly expectations, and contaminates one’s projects and endeavors with ostentation, hypocrisy, and even by associating partners with God, as forms of disrespect toward the willpower endowed on humanity and insolence toward God Who has given it.

Those endowed with knowledge of God are grounded in rational proofs at the beginning of their spiritual journey; they always follow the Divine Speech—the Qur’an—strictly at every step, and try to attain knowledge of God. These are considered to be the initial attempts required by being endowed with willpower. One who is able to maintain these inclinations in this direction is called “the one willing,” or “the willing one.” As a result of continuing in this direction, God opens the willing one’s eye of the heart to look toward Him. This is the stage where “the willing one” becomes “the willed one.” That is to say, an initiate who tries to “find” the True, Ever-Constant One in this degree of endeavor is loved and desired by the residents of the heavens, and becomes a focus of God’s attention.

In the same way that willpower is a tendency, endeavor, and resolution, it is also an important means for reaching God when it is honored by a feeling of attraction toward God and a feeling of being attracted by Him. Through the value attached to willpower by God Almighty, a person lives in the world as if living in the Hereafter aided by resolution, endeavor, and steadfastness. Without expecting or aspiring to any pleasures, be they material or spiritual, he or she transcends normal human dimensions, being one who has renounced all else other than God. Once a person is intent on the true goal—this is what he or she can do—in the first step the spirit is freed from heedlessness by God’s will and help, and reaches the horizon of wakefulness. He or she spreads “his or her prayer rug” on the ground of repentance, penitence, and contrition; begins breathing piety, righteousness, and abstinence; inhales truthfulness, and sincerity; acts with self-criticism and self-supervision, and finally advances toward the peaks of reliance, surrender, and commitment.

Using willpower in this way means committing oneself and all one’s deeds and plans to God Almighty in full submission to Him. An initiate submits their will first to the will of their guide, and in the words of the Master of creation, upon him be peace and blessings, experiences “revival after death.” While engulfed in temporary annihilation in the rays emanating from this horizon, they find themselves in a deep experience of absolute annihilation under the intense manifestation of Divine Will. If we call this state “annihilation in respect of will,” the following experience of self-transformation may be called “subsistence through willpower.” In the view of an initiate who has reached this point, everything created, which the theologians call “realities of contingency,” seems non-existent, and the person observes nothing but “the Truth of All Truths.” The words, “O God! Renouncing all my desires and aspirations, I only seek whatever You will and are pleased with,” is what those who pursue this horizon utter frequently.

These are the Divine favors that come in return for directing willpower to endeavor, faithfulness, and sincerity. Those who are still at the beginning of the journey cannot experience them. Awareness of willpower as an important means to reach God is the first step or mansion on the way to God. An initiate in this mansion is usually occupied with gaining knowledge and pursuing proofs of Him. In the second step, initiates combine theoretical knowledge about and proofs of Him with spiritually experienced knowledge of Him and they begin to feel light pouring down into their eyes and hearts. At the third step, they are exhilarated with the observation of their hearts in the horizon of Divine Attributes. If they are able to take a further step, they direct their telescope of “secret” to the horizon of Divinity and start to experience “amazement” and “passion” according to their capacity.

Some Sufi scholarly guides who view willpower only from the perspective of endeavor and resolution maintain that first the heart turns toward the All-Sought One with faithfulness and sincerity. This requires steadfastness in using willpower in the right direction— regular worship, doing righteous deeds, and avoiding all evil and sins. While the initiate is advancing in this way, they begin to feel attraction toward and are attracted by God. This is the point where the initiate begins to suffer no hardship in fulfilling their duties. When the breezes of nearness to God begin stroking the spirit, the initiate finds themselves enveloped by unbearable feelings of love and yearning. Without being able to resist any longer their exuberant desire to meet Him, they sigh with utterances at every breath: “My liver has been roasted; / Is there no cure for my suffering?” Such a hero, who has fulfilled all the requirements of having willpower to the greatest degree possible, even forgets love, and begins living in absorption. Even if they are together with the Beloved, they dream about Him and burn with longing for Him. One who has not tasted does not know; one who has not experienced does not understand; those who have tasted do not relate their experiences, and even if those who have tasted it do say something, people do not believe what they say.

#allah #god #islam #muslim #quran #revert #convert #convert islam #revert islam #reverthelp #revert help #revert help team #help #islamhelp #converthelp #prayer #salah #muslimah #reminder #pray #dau #hijab #religion #mohammad #new muslim #new revert #new convert #how to convert to islam #convert to islam #welcome to islam

[twitchesandstitches]

The Ringers - Secret Society of War

“Life is endless struggle and war is the foundation of life itself. From the tiniest micro-organisms to the flow of the great beasts of an ecosystem, the story of life is one of endless struggle. The losers perish, those who adapt and grow mighty survive. This is the Cosmic Imperative: the strong will flourish and dominate those who will not. And I have seen what will come if they do not. The multiverse must be brought into order, or nothing will survive. I have foreseen it, and I will not let another disaster end all we have built!”

These words have been attributed to Javik, founder of a shadowy militaristic group greatly at odds with the MILF Fleet and those like them, and thus did he outline the purpose of this group.

Their origins are somewhat hazy, but groups like this have been seen throughout countless ages, even before memories of the cataclysm had faded from memory. They likely predate that terrible event, but in rather altered form. They have largely appeared the same, with vastly diverse soldiers of many species loyal to individual generals who in turn supported another and followed a mighty soldier commanding the respect and will of the entire organization through charisma and a right to lead, symbolized by a massive gauntlet that channels magical energy to boost their innate powers. They are also marked by their heraldry, which is always the same: a stylized spiral, surmounted by a waterfall of blood.

War is their their purpose. Conflict is their means. And conquest, directly or indirect, is their goal. More than waterfalls of blood rain in their wake.

This particular incarnation have been dubbed the Ringers by the MILF Fleet, owing to a misunderstanding; the group initially referred to themselves as the Casus Bellum, after a human term for a reason to go to war, but emphasis was put on the ‘bellum’, as in ‘bell’. One thing lead to another, and they were called the Ringers as a result. The group has embraced it, saying that they heralds a new age that will survive whatever comes its way.

They are not dissimilar from their predecessors. Their means is always the same: war. Endless bloody war, a conflict of such savage ferocity that it will shake the stars from their positions and unmake entire universes, drag down whole sectors of the multiversal branches into recursive conflict so violent and vengeful it will make shockwaves into the planes of magic, the emotions of the dead lingering as resentful avatars of warfare, leading to yet more warfare. How they do this varies. In the past they have spread weapons of many kinds and encouraged all sides to pursue bitter rivalries (whether those weapons were biological modifications, new superpowers, destructive technologies, or powerful artifacts) and marveling at the mess. They also conquered directly, forcing the conquered to fight back and taught them the power of violence as a solution, then retreating to the shadows to watch the new warlords battle other nations in order to become secure. And sometimes they just fought at apparent random, sowing unrest and chaos wherever they traveled. The modern one (that is, the one relevant to this AU) has done all of these.

The end of all this bloodshed? It’s purpose, the reason for so much destruction?

Hard to say.

Each variation of this group had its own motivations. Some wanted to conquer. Others felt it was necessary to force others to adapt and become strong. And still others believed that endless war was an end all on its own, profiting from it or simply relishing endless bloodshed for their own perverse reasons.

Prior to the modern era, the last one ruled a society dominated by the protheans (an ancient and powerful insectoid people with powerful mental abilities), whose leaders were a part of this group as a shadow cabinet. They fell in the cataclysm and preserved their people in an enclave, though most of them were remade into monsters by a later threat. One prothean, at least, remained, the last true general of their people. This was Javik, who conquered the remnants of his people (now calling themselves Collectors) and organized them into the beginnings of an army.

For a time, he traveled the multiverse and conquered what he could, and studied what he couldn’t. He laid claim to a powerful gauntlet that was once a symbol of power among his people, which has been translated as the Doomfist by others. It is unclear what he experienced during this time, but at some point he found something that gave him a terrible vision of a grave doom that will befall the multiverse within the next thousand years or so. He will not speak of this to anyone but his closest allies, and those who know of it seem haunted, broken by the weight of this terrible omen.

Whatever it is he saw, it brought a terrible fire in him. Soon, he said, the multiverse would surely die. All creation would be snuffed out, this seeming collapse a brief reprieve before the final darkness to end all living things forever. All art and culture, all accomplishments and wisdom, simply wiped away. Like dirt from a filthy window. He vowed to do whatever it took to prevent this doom.

To this end, he has taken this legacy of warfare, noting that it always stood for evolution and growth through constant conflict. If warfare bred stronger people, he reasoned, then their course was to engage in endless warfare, forcing the multiverse to be strong and fight off the terrible threat approaching.

This is a laudable goal, but they perform horrific and terrible actions. They have conquered entire universes and annihilated all opposition without even a shred of mercy. They have slaughtered anyone standing before them. And when they choose to work in quiet, it is to sow terrible violence and discord by inciting conflict across entire branches of the multiverse tree, so that the survivors will be stronger for it… at the cost of their morality and restraint. Their work is brutal, dirty and often times vicious.

They are brutal, merciless but above all else, they are pragmatic. They believe in war, for war’s sake, but while their soldiers and sub-commanders may embrace endless bloodshed, the leaders and generals themselves can be more sensible. Pragmatism, it must be stated, dominates their every move. They do nothing without cause, though individual members can be irrational and impulsive, but as a group they can be reasoned with. It’s just that their goals and purpose is reprehensible enough that one can wonder why to even try.

This faction is intended to be a hardcore antagonistic one; most likely suitable characters to join this group are villain-types with a hint of ‘knight templar’ or zealous behavior. Conquerors, despots who demand absolute obedience for the good of all, those who want endless war for the fun of it or even a rational goal; those can fit too. Rage-filled beings out for revenge on all existence can qualify, as lower ranked officers. Principled but doing horrific things in service of their goal or grand vision. Villains who go ‘just think of the potential!’ can go here, as do ones who obsess over control and power. They are, after all, conquerors. Assume that there are two broad tiers of generals; the first are those with more lofty and high-minded goals, and a less respected one which are concerned with their own goals and lust for power. The Zealots and the Overlords, basically.

Some potential members as a baseline to work off of:

Javik, from Mass Effect. This is drawing more upon what he might have been like without a Reaper invasion to halt his people’s imperialistic ways; he is a cold and absolutely ruthless Renegade who thinks nothing of imposing his ways upon all who meet him, openly disdains those he considers primitives, and has a pretty blunt hatred of robots and thinking machine-life. However he is not nearly as terrified and broken down as he is in canon, but is much more of a visionary. He has suffered terrible visions and will do anything to prevent the future he has seen. With his philosophy of conflict/war breeding strength and taking steps to make more wars to do just that, he is also been combined with Doomfist of Overwatch, with a gauntlet to match. Akande Ogundimu himself might be one of his personal supporters, as might be Erik Killmonger of Marvel.

Javik is technically a leader of sorts; he is the champion of the movement, their inspirational guide, and one of their mightiest fighters. However he is not their only leader, and may be ‘demoted’, narratively speaking, in favor of Sexy Ladies that can fulfill his role and be more plot-appropriate. (Alternatively; just have Javik be a prothean lady here?)

The Condesce/Meenah Peixes from Homestuck. As hinted in earlier posts, Beforus was destroyed in past days and one of the survivors was the new empress by default, Meenah Peixes. As years pressed on she grew more violent and enraged at her people’s misfortune, gradually developing into the canon Condesce’s mindless rage and conquest, but here it wasn’t to satisfy her ego or serve eldritch entity’s plots, but in a desperate attempt to carve out a safe haven for her people. Ultimately this was unsuccessful, and she has since founded a massive hyper corporation. Javik found her and told her of his visions, and inspired her to save the multiverse by beating the living shit out of it, with a promise of her people being on top once their plans succeed. Her battlelust ignited, she is now one of the biggest and most important figures in the organization… literally, as she is planet-sized at full power.

The Condesce is a hyper flirtatious and gourmand who delights in devouring entire worlds and possess all the powers of all troll castes (similar to Terezi, but with far more experience with those gifts), with her chosen elite blessed with similar powers. She is a much lighter character than in canon; Doc Scratch and Lord English have nothing to do with her, if they are even around, and her motivations are much less selfish. Granted, she is still a hedonistic glutton, but she DOES have higher minded goals. She might be romancing Javik, charmed by his capacity for violence and vision for absolute survival no matter what. (WHAT WOULD THE CHILDREN LOOK LIKE?)

Starscream, former Air Commander of the Decepticon Empire, defected when it was clear that Megatron had become nothing more than a vessel for the dreaded Unicron, taking with him those Decepticons with more high-minded goals of protecting Cybertron’s legacy. Always more concerned with his own ambitions, he was nonetheless repelled by Megatron’s increasing monstrousness and became rivals with Javik. Eventually, as the two of them carved out empires right next to one another (Starscream and Javik’s mutual disdain for organic and mechanical life, respectively, making for poor neighbors), they earned mutual respect for the other’s skill and Javik worked his way past his dislike and asked Starscream to join them. Starscream, eager to advance himself once more, agreed and is one of the most powerful figures of the organization. With him are a vast number of Decepticons (mostly jetformers and other aeriel combatants), many of them combiners.

Starscream is infamous for two things: treachery and incompetence. Neither apply here. He has no reason to overthrow either Javik, the Condesce, or anyone in a similar position because he technically already has the power he craves and the respect and admiration he believes he deserves. He will not betray them unless given a strong reason to. And while Starscream is a terrible judge of character, he is an excellent strategist on the ground and a terrifying combatant.

The first of them are technically a group: the Combaticons (all fembots, in this continuity), led by the armored guns-on-wheels monstrosity Onslaught, and her polyamorous band, who comprise this team. Vortex the helicopter (noted interrogator and smart aleck), Blast Off (rocket/jet analogue, super reckless and a sincere believer in Friendship), Swindle (con artist, schemer and war profiteer) and Brawl (tank, total brute and good-natured scraphead, which is like a meathead but with robots). Together they can fuse into the incredibly massive and powerful Bruticus Maximus, an absurdly stacked and powerful combination of their relationship; playful love with each other, death to anything else within range.

They are very much like an inversion of the Dinobots; they are all military-grade functions who were content with their lot in life, and signed up with Megatron before their people’s civil war in hopes of finding a more secure life for themselves, and like the Dinobots, their boisterous and cheery demeanor masks the finest strategic minds of the Decepticon Empire, a disguise that suits them fine. Unlike the Dinobots, they outright consider organic life as unworthy animals that don’t deserve to live, though sufficiently spirited organics can be considered ‘honorary robots’. They signed up with the Ringers after losing faith in Megatron’s long-term prospects, and hope to secure a future for robotic life such as themselves. They’re slowly learning to at least respect organics in general. The Dinobots and them have a fanatical hatred for one another; Volcanicus and Bruticus will invariably charge straight at one another whenever an opportunity presents itself, intent on ripping out the other’s sparks.

Other Decepticons to come along with the Combaticons include Strika (an infamously gorgeous and amazonian juggernaut) and Obsidian. At one point they brought Lugnut, a bomber plane desperately seeking someone to follow after the loss of Megatron, but he has since defected to the Cobalts and fanatically reveres Vriska.

The other Decepticon leader is a controversial figure: Airachnid. Technically a helicopter fembot, she is a rare subset of Transformers who can partially shift her robot mode into a spider-like shape, and is considered an Insecticon, which are a eusocial sub-type of Transformers that transform into insectoid beast modes. Whether through biological status as a hive queen or modifications to herself, she can command other Insecticons that are in her ‘hive’, and has since expanded this power to dominion over insectoid beings in general. She commands a massive army of enormous Insecticons (many of them combiners), xenomorphs (of the Alien series), bug-type Pokemon of all kinds, the flying variety of the svartalfar (God of War series), and more; if it has a bug-like theme or appearance, some of them have been chained to her will. At one point she did have Homestuck trolls in her ranks, but was convinced to hand them off to the Condesce in exchange for other favors.

And like Airachnid herself, each and every one of them is a vampire. Long since drained dry to feed her insatiable appetite, they in turn have become horrific monsters lusting for the lives of all around them, held back only by her will… though it seems that they are slowly regaining their sense of self and control, following gruesome experiments she has performed on them.

Technically she is a Terrorcon, an Transformer that feeds upon the lifeblood of their people, much like what the Decepticons still loyal to Megatron have degenerated into. Unlike them, she is rational (if horrifically callous) and aware of things. It’s unclear what she is, and she is deeply intrigued in this mystery herself. Also unlike them, she can feed on any being, so long as they have some kind of fuel or blood to feast upon, and she fancies herself a gourmand.

This version of Airachnid (who is a hyper hourglass, in terms of body shape, and is probably at least a hundred feet tall after feeding so voraciously) is a mix of the sexual sadist and serial killer from Transformers Prime, but is more akin to the IDW version. She was original a social psychologist and pioneer in the field of shadowplay, or surgical alterations to the brain to influence personality or the ability to only think certain thoughts. Never aligned to Decepticon or Autobot interests, she still sided with the ‘Cons as they gave her the freedom to perform gruesome experiments to test her theories on just what you could do to the processor and push its capacity to take abuse.

Even now she is fascinated by the mind and performs terrible experiments to examine her theories, under her auspices entire planets are used as control groups for social experiments, and she is in charge of developing potential models for the future societies the Ringers may one day instate.

She and Grimlock have an unspecified history, tied to extremely gruesome bite marks around her neck and horrific lobotomy incisions on his head; she is fascinated by him and wishes to study the mentality of a self-proclaimed monster that protects the weak. For his part, he really, really just wants her dead, and possibly to tear her head off and wear her exoskeleton as a cape. (That is, he wants to flay her and wear it like an accessory.)

A possible candidate for inclusion is Yellow Diamond; after the fall of Homeworld, she and her fellow Diamonds, Blue and White, were worn as jewelry upon the claws of Megatron, until a daring battle on their behalf from Mega Pink Diamond (the fusion of Rose Quartz and her son Steven) freed them. If she does wind up in these ranks, assume that Yellow has become almost corrupted from the proximity of spending so much time near Megatron, the voice of Unicron constantly pressing in on her mind and carving her sanity into horribly fractured chunks. She has received horrific visions very similar to Javik’s, and the nature of them strongly implies that Unicron may have something to do with the cataclysm Javik has foretold, but nothing is certain of yet.

Certainly she has been so badly affected she has been partially corrupted; her form is mainly in flux, held in check only by her iron self control, and when stressed she begins to degenerate into a horrific dragon-like thing without form or shape, only absolute fear and the all-consuming violence of that fear.

Nonetheless, she is extraordinarily powerful; even weakened, she is larger than an entire planet and her physical might alone eclipses anyone else in the entire organization save the Condesce, in certain respects. With magical infusions, she can be even larger than a gas giant, dismissively wiping out star fleets with a flick of her interstellar finger, and she can annihilate magical constructs and shaped fields with her dominion over magic, rendering her a walking anti-magic weapon of mass destruction when she chooses. In conjunction with the massive army she has of loyal Gems that still serve her, and bear in mind that even regular Gems are some of the largest and most powerful beings in the known multiverse, she has an enormous amount of power.

She’s learned much from eons of torment and humiliation, and she seeks to build a new world of absolute safety for all beings. She’s not quite as dismissive of organic life as she once was, but considers them amusing pets until they prove themselves to be nearly on level with mineral beings and magical entities. She hates Decepticons in general, but has struck up a very odd friendship with Starscream, on the basis of them both hating Megatron’s internals and suffering from his actions, in different ways. Theories suggest they have even fused on at least one occasion into a massive magical mecha called Silicate Energon.

(With all this in mind, and her status as a hyper curvy giantess, she might be slated to share co-’real leader’ status with the Condesce, with Javik narratively demoted to a prophet. Sort of like an anti-Optimus Prime.)

And of course, like many of the other factions involved here, there are various higher forces associated with them. Most of these are not gods… at all, save from a very specialized point of view. Many of them are demons; not cute monster girls but genuine actual demons, heartless embodiments of pure evil dedicated to the enslavement of the multiverse, and the Ringers have mostly entrapped them into servitude as a consequence of deals made with their various lords and masters (so any demonic character that could be a Thicc Demon could qualify here). One of these is Mephista, negotiating on behalf of her father Mephisto (or possibly IS Mephisto in a feminine identity), and she has given them access to summon many mighty demonic monsters and monster women in exchange for unspecified tasks that may prove to be good plot hooks.

Hela, of Marvel but with more attributes of her mythological source, is also assisting them, but her purpose is unclear. Various elementals of cold and monsters acting on her behalf are aiding them, and it is believed that she wants more war, and sees them as a useful means in that regard. Notably Hela contacted them through mortal avatars, which has the Ringers highly suspicious: what is her purpose and why does she care?

As for character suggestions, as stated before, any war-like characters can be suitable, if their moral outlook doesn’t lend them more towards the heroism of the MILF Fleet or the fun-loving glory of the Cobalts. Those who believe in things like ‘strength is the only thing that matters’, ‘the weak deserve to be dominated’, or otherwise have strong social darwinist outlooks are extremely ideal for this group!

Possible groups working with them/for them are the most pragmatic aspects of the Imperium of Man from Warhammer 40k (such as the Dark Angels and Imperial Guard), and the most savage ones (like the World Eaters). Orks following the 40k mentality, led by Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka, are also perfect in a ‘do what the big bosses say’, as would Tolkien orcs. (In fact, any orc that is basically kind of a jerk fits.) The True Horde/Iron Horde of Warcraft would be positively ideal, with many goblins, blood elves and others rounding out the ranks. A MILF-tier Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender (with her size proportionate to her firebending prowess, possibly with some dragon monster girl traits) would also be a contender.

INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER FACTIONS

Naturally the MILF Fleet is at odds with them on an ideological level: the MILFs believe in evolution in a similar way that the Ringers believe in conflict breeding development, but they couldn’t be more different. The MILFs endorse gentle change, the development of transformative technologies, and understanding that flesh does not equal you. They are transhumanist paragons who want everyone to be happy and safe, and for love between all sapient beings. The Ringers are explicitly trying to conquer everything and institute their own absolute rule to prevent a nebulous threat. They do not like each other. At all. They might work together… but only rarely, and otherwise try to avoid one another. The Ringers are more likely to approach them, in order to get ahold of their mods or powers as part of their own plans, but more often than not it is full on war between the two factions.

Rumor has it that Sierra in particular has a deep resentment of Javik, due to their completely opposite temperaments: Javik is a biochauvanist, Sierra loves robots (sometimes in a VERY physical way). Javik believes conflict breeds character, Sierra thinks war is just pointless suffering. Javik dislikes cybernetics and excessive augmentation, and Sierra was already plugging in a new computer into her head before he could finish saying so. They are constantly fighting, and Javik is determined to be the one to beat her once and for all. Sierra just wishes he’d go away and stop being mean already.

The Cobalts are hired by them as mercenaries, but don’t care for them much. They’re just so… serious and not fun. The two don’t often come to blows as an ideological matter, but can compete over treasure scores, good loot, or competing over territory. The sheer power of the Ringer makes them both imposing threats, and an irresistible target to Vriska; she keeps seeing ‘SUCK ME DRY RIGHT NOW’ signs on them and she drools at the thought of having their powers and relics, all for her.

As for other factions, the Ringers are not a widely known group. They do not act publically, but through proxies, pawns and so on. When they do act directly, they do not give any sign they’re part of a larger group but individuals carving out their own empires. Consequently they might have allies and enemies among the many factions of the multiverse, but it is not widely known that they are one massive and very dangerous visionary organization.

#/ #// #/// #//// #///// #crossthicc AU #queued #the ringers

[sunrec]

Nearly two and a half millennia ago, Aristotle triggered a revolution in happiness. At the time, Greek philosophers were trying hard to define precisely what this state of being was. Some contended that it sprang from hedonism, the pursuit of sensual pleasure. Others argued from the perspective of tragedy, believing happiness to be a goal, a final destination that made the drudge of life worthwhile. These ideas are still with us today, of course, in the decadence of Instagram and gourmet-burger culture or the Christian notion of heaven. But Aristotle proposed a third option. In his Nicomachean Ethics, he described the idea of eudaemonic happiness, which said, essentially, that happiness was not merely a feeling, or a golden promise, but a practice. “It’s living in a way that fulfills our purpose,” Helen Morales, a classicist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, told me. “It’s flourishing. Aristotle was saying, ‘Stop hoping for happiness tomorrow. Happiness is being engaged in the process.’ ” Now, thousands of years later, evidence that Aristotle may have been onto something has been detected in the most surprising of places: the human genome.

The finding is the latest in a series of related discoveries in the field of social genomics. In 2007, John Cacioppo, a professor of psychology and behavioral neuroscience at the University of Chicago, and Steve Cole, a professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, among others, identified a link between loneliness and how genes express themselves. In a small study, since repeated in larger trials, they compared blood samples from six people who felt socially isolated with samples from eight who didn’t. Among the lonely participants, the function of the genome had changed in such a way that the risk of inflammatory diseases increased and antiviral response diminished. It appeared that the brains of these subjects were wired to equate loneliness with danger, and to switch the body into a defensive state. In historical and evolutionary terms, Cacioppo suggested, this reaction could be a good thing, since it helps immune cells reach infections and encourages wounds to heal. But it is no way to live. Inflammation promotes the growth of cancer cells and the development of plaque in the arteries. It leads to the disabling of brain cells, which raises susceptibility to neurodegenerative disease. In effect, according to Cole, the stress reaction requires “mortgaging our long-term health in favor of our short-term survival.” Our bodies, he concluded, are “programmed to turn misery into death.”

In early 2010, Cole spoke about his work at a conference in Las Vegas. Among the audience members was Barbara Fredrickson, a noted positive psychologist from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who had attended graduate school with Cole. His talk made her wonder: If stressful states, including loneliness, caused the genome to respond in a damaging way, might sustained positive experiences have the opposite result? “Eudaemonic and hedonic aspects of well-being had previously been linked to longevity, so the possibility of finding beneficial effects seemed plausible,” Fredrickson told me. The day after the conference, she sent Cole an e-mail, and by autumn of that year they had secured funding for a collaborative project. Fredrickson’s team would profile a group of participants, using questionnaires to determine their happiness style, then draw a small sample of their blood. Cole would analyze the samples and see what patterns, if any, emerged.

Fredrickson believed that hedonism would prove more favorable than eudaemonia—that discrete feelings of happiness would register on the genome more powerfully than abstract notions of meaning and purpose. Cole, meanwhile, was skeptical about the possibility of linking happiness and biology. He had worked with all kinds of researchers, trying to find a genomic response to everything from yoga to meditation to tai chi. Sometimes he made quite interesting findings, but more often the data provoked only a shrug. “Day after day, I see null results,” he told me. “Nothing there, nothing there, nothing there.” Fredrickson and Cole’s first study wasn’t huge, containing usable results from eighty people, but, because Cole had been studying misery for so long, he knew what to look for in the blood samples. “By this time, we had a pretty clear sense of the kinds of shifts in gene expression we see when people are threatened or uncertain,” he said. “We were in a good position, even in a relatively small study, to say, ‘These are the outcomes I’m going to look at.’ ”

When they parsed the data, they saw that Fredrickson’s prediction appeared to be wrong. “This whole hedonic well-being stuff—just how happy are you, how satisfied with life?—didn’t really correlate with gene expression at all,” Cole said. Then he checked the correlation with eudaemonic happiness. “When we looked at that, things actually looked quite impressive,” he said. The results, while small, were clearly significant. “I was rather startled.” The study indicated that people high in eudaemonic happiness were more likely to show the opposite gene profile of those suffering from social isolation: inflammation was down, while antiviral response was up. Since that first test, in 2013, there have been three successful replications of the study, including one of a hundred and eight people, and another of a hundred and twenty-two. According to Cole, the kind of effect sizes that are being found indicate that lacking eudaemonia can be as damaging as smoking or obesity. They also suggest that, although people high in eudaemonic happiness often experience plenty of the hedonic stuff, too, the associated health benefits tend to surface only in those who lead what Aristotle might have called a good life.

But what, precisely, is this quasi-mythical good life? What do we mean when we talk about eudaemonia? For Aristotle, it required a combination of rationality and arete—a kind of virtue, although that concept has since been polluted by Christian moralizing. “It did mean goodness, but it was also about pursuing excellence,” Morales told me. “For Usain Bolt, some of the training it takes to be a great athlete is not pleasurable, but fulfilling your purpose as a great runner brings happiness.” Fredrickson, meanwhile, believes that a key facet of eudaemonia is connection. “It refers to those aspects of well-being that transcend immediate self-gratification and connect people to something larger,” she said. But Cole noted that connectedness doesn’t appear to be an absolute precondition. “It seems unlikely that Usain Bolt is doing what he does to benefit humanity in any simply pro-social sense,” he said. “If that’s the case, is eudaemonic well-being mostly about the stretched goal, doing something you personally think is amazing or important? Or does it involve something more around pro-social behavior?” For Cole, the question remains open.

A further tantalizing clue might come from a distant corner of the academy. Since the early nineteen-seventies, the psychologist Brian R. Little has been interested in what he calls personal projects. He and his colleagues at Cambridge University, he told me, have “looked at literally tens of thousands of personal projects in thousands of participants.” Most people, Little’s work suggests, have around fifteen projects going at any time, ranging from the banal, like trying to get your wife to remember to switch off your computer once she’s used it (that’s one of mine), to the lofty, like trying to bring peace to the Middle East. Little refers to this second category as the “core” projects. One of his consistent findings is that, in order to bring us happiness, a project must have two qualities: it must be meaningful in some way, and we must have efficacy over it. (That is, there’s little use trying to be the fastest human in the world if you’re an overweight, agoraphobic retiree.) When I described Cole and Fredrickson’s research, Little noted that it was remarkably congruent with his ideas. As with eudaemonia, though, the precise definition of a core project is malleable. “Core projects can increase the possibilities for social connection, but not necessarily,” Little said. It all depends on an individual’s needs. “A Trappist monk’s core projects don’t require the same kind of connection as an everyday bloke from Birmingham.”

Indeed, this malleability is perhaps the most encouraging quality of both Little’s core project and Aristotle’s eudaemonia, because it makes finding happiness a real possibility. Even the most temperamentally introverted or miserable among us has the capacity to find a meaningful project that suits who we are. Locating it won’t just bring pleasure; it might also bring a few more years of life in which to get the project done.

#happiness #philosophy

[kanerosalind1995]

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How Do I Know If I Will Get Back With My Ex

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Therefore, if you have an uncanny ability to get a new start.Just a simple step by searching on the subject with your friends for proven ways to get your boyfriend back badly, but if this isn't even cool when you were with you anymore.It's virtually guaranteed that she has never been happier.Then wait a month to see what he's saying to his friends.Many guys assume that you have done anything stupid, but I'm here to help your situation.

Most people try to apologize to your boyfriend?At this juncture, he really loves you then it requires a lot sensitive than men, and whatever else they have needs as well.But here is my 5 step approach that will serve you well.Go out right now but it is definitely a step aside and calmly, rationally taking a little better.If barriers of communication when you first hand information.

Soon he'll contact you for a second message, but that's all.I started looking for ways to patch things up.Thanks to the stress, it would only make her feel sorry for you.Here are some tips to get her back because emotions are going to run away from the things you can think of specific things to impress her, right?Ways that you are going so great in the present, such as arguments in your life so much that I have been to0 busy to actually go through tough times and he will be thinking all about balance.

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