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hadesoftheladies · 11 months

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So I’ve been working on an epic fantasy series for the past four years, and this JK Rowling thing has honestly made it real for me.

I’m trying to break into a male/white-dominated genre as a black, feminist woman. Whatever few advantages I do have (my voice, perspective and style being unique as an East African for example, or getting special spotlight from liberals who want to “celebrate poc authors” just because they’re poc) are thrown into complete uncertainty because of my beliefs.

For one, I’m a radical feminist. So I’ve already pissed off white liberals and white conservatives, which, let’s be honest, are the largest contributors and consumers to and in the fantasy sphere. Looking at what’s happening to Rowling and even Chimamamanda, I have no confidence people will be normal about my beliefs. For example, everytime I criticize gender, even online, white liberals accuse me of being pro-colonialism and imperialism, despite me literally growing up in a neocolonial state, having a national independence the same age as my dad, and having grandmothers and grandfathers who were slaves, and the children of people thrown into concentration camps. I’m talked over by white liberals and the moment they can successfully label me a terf, I’m successfully censored as a small artist and critic of oppressive systems. They are so willing to put down pocs that don’t agree with every little thought because their anti-racism has been solely performative.

And I am a feminist, which is high on the list of “most likely to piss off white man.” The increase of anti-woman propaganda, the increase of violence in that propaganda, the virtual and social “witch-hunting and burning”, the insane vitriol spewing from the mouths of men who only wanted a socially acceptable target to spill all their hate on: Brie Larson, Amber Heard, Joanne Rowling, and all sorts of female artists and professionals.

And what about my gay/lesbian/bisexual/transsexual characters and complex egalitarian/matriarchal societies? My books would be banned by my own government to the jubilation and relief of its majority Christian and Muslim population. In East Africa, homophobia is on the up and up. So what I’m looking at is virtually no support.

Unless I keep quiet about everything I believe about the world and myself. But how do you do that? How do you tell yourself “I’ll set aside the very urgent activism that needs to be done for the sake of profit?” How do you feign silence on the oppressed communities and the mistreatment of their humanity? For profit? It would be like cutting off my arm.

But I can’t not make my art. And I can’t not give it. And I can’t not live my life according to what I believe. I am passionate about justice and social change as I am passionate about my craft. How can I give either of them up?

Anyway, I’m gonna do it. Of course. Sales be damned. I doubt I’ll go with a pseudonym, because my books are mine, and my ethnic name is a rarity and victory in itself in the genre. I can’t give that up. I’ll have to be strategic but I have to live my life independent of the world’s regression. How else am I supposed to create a sanctuary for myself and other’s like me? I cannot wait for oppressors to grow a conscience.

Nevertheless, I’m gonna have a lot of banned books and in just my 20s! The amount of censorship will render me a literature outlaw all over the world! :)))) If I ever get a Wikipedia page, it’s going to be hella exciting and one helluva cautionary tale.

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lyraoctaviawrites · 2 months

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Welcome to the Octaviaverse!

This is the side blog for @lyraoctavia and I will be posting everything relating to my writing, artwork, music, games, etc here from now on. I thought it would be better to split the two to keep things more focused on the ridiculously expansive interconnected universe I’ve created over my many years as a human being, featuring literally dozens of ideas because I am a slave to my own creativity and my work is never finished. Sound good? Of course it does!

What kind of stuff do I do?

Writing: I like to write stories, usually fantasy, with epic, sprawling worlds, intricate magic, sarcastic and often completely ridiculous humour, identifiable characters with a ton of emotional development and campy ass villains who will entertain you so much that you’ll want to grind them into a fine paste with a large boot. However, I wouldn’t be adverse to also writing some slice of life stuff too. I am a certified Alice Oseman fangirl after all. I tend to not shy away from commenting on certain serious issues (e.g. abuse, death, self harm, attempted suicide) as well, so a lot of my works contain trigger warnings. However, I don’t enjoy writing explicit sexual content or stuff with a ton of blood and gore so don’t expect any of that.

Games: I am currently a game design student so most if not all of my game ideas are just that. Ideas. Ones that I will undoubtedly be crafting into the incredible experiences I know they have the ability to be. Most of my ideas are for platformers or RPGs with very little in-between and will all have, hopefully, perfect blends of story and gameplay. I personally hate when a story based game is bogged down by too many cutscenes, especially if the gameplay isn’t really that interesting (Xenoblade) so I’ll always try and strike a balance or find a workaround. My games all have amazing stories to tell but a story ain’t all a game is. Might as well make em fun first, right?

Music: I got a little less to say about this one. Most of my music writing is for my games that don’t exist yet, so I literally have hundreds of tracks just kinda sitting around waiting for me to use them. Sometimes I make other music but that’s rare. Most I’ve for for now are a couple remixes and the score concepts I’ve made for an animated series of Into the Phantasm (please gods let this happen, it would slap so dang hard).

Art: I draw cartoon characters and that’s about it. I am not a professional artist by any means, but my silly little guys can’t just stay sitting in my head forever, sometimes I gotta put ‘em on a page, even if I ain’t some modern Picasso. (Also, I’ve tried to make backgrounds and do actual shading a few times and it ruined my mental health for a while, so… I’ll stick with the glorious cartoonyness that I’m good at.)

Current WIPs

Into the Phantasm (epic fantasy 5 part book series)

Finished works

A Penguin’s Tale (stop motion movie)

News

Some Into the Phantasm content might be releasing soon, idk

I’ve started working on two other ideas that I’m hoping to make into fully fledged stories. I’m in really early development for now so I’ll just call them Project Kelly and Project Cosmic. Might post some art about them at some point, idk.

#writeblr #writers of tumblr #writerscommunity #queer writers #Lyra Octavia #Octaviaverse #female writers #introduction #writeblr intro #writers on tumblr #writing #writing community

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kossamer · 3 months

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Piece: Sleepwalking - Chain Gang of 1974

- Choosing Oliuss as an apprentice seems like a stupid choice, mainly because he does not care for the empire nor the politics. The only thing he has is that he is very strong in the force – stupid strong.

- Some believe this strong atonement to the force is due to his Mirialan origin. Perhaps it is also because of this he is a good judge of character, able to foresee his master’s impending betrayal (and how dull his job will be, successful at it or not).

- With his potent lightning as a risky bargaining chip, Oliuss was able to negotiate his resignation and roam as a free man, just in time for the new batch of slaves to arrive and take his place. Now you can find him wandering among the flora and verdure of many planets, studying and crafting with nature like he once loved.

- That said, many in Dromund Kaas still thought he was a Sith, perhaps because they have suffered his thunderous wrath, or maybe because he could sometimes be seen with [REDACTED] becaWhy?? ⍰pity orHelpiNgofW⍰⍰arnING⍰⍰⍰

- Note: forgive me for being half as good a writer as I am an artist, im sure it couldve been shorter. Anyway this guy is 192cm so do with this information what you will. Also the art style might look different starting from there, because i will be posting my art from this year :D

#do people read these anymore #it was fun writing it tho #which sounds ridiculous coming from me #digital art #digital illustration #procreate #star wars #star wars oc #star wars the old republic #swtor #swtor oc #swtor sith inquisitor #swtoroc #oliuss

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amaranthsynthesis · 6 months

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Hey um, if its not too much trouble (I get sometimes a character is trans and that's not the big part of his story) would you mind talking about that for Ballard?

I'm trans and its been really nice seeing all the trans Tavs/Durges. Ballard is my fav. :3

hi anon it is not too much trouble at ALL, I have a lot of thoughts about trans characters in fantasy in general and Ballard in specific because I am incapable of being chill even for a moment. THANK YOU for asking and for saying he's a fav <3 <3 <3

Quick disclaimer: Like. A trans character (either hc or oc or canon) is never gonna be something I don't love; I remember when this just wasn't something you saw in fandom spaces at all, let along in actual media. I remember reading Khaos Komix in 07 or 08 and getting to Tom's story and feeling so strange and overwhelmed in a way I genuinely did not understand for another decade, bc I didn't even know it was an option, let alone one that I was identifying with--and I didn't encounter it again for fucking ages! But we're here now!! That's exciting!! That being said: I don't really get a ton out of settings where it's normalized and perfectly accepted and easily obtainable, the kind of toothless fantasy escapism that just tacks it on like it changes nothing about that character's childhood or adolescence or relationships or ability to connect with others. I'm not saying every setting has to be violently transphobic (although there is a kind of validation to that kind of story!), but the opposition to/hostility to/ignorance about transness is such an integral part of my experiences that I don't connect without those elements. So all of my trans characters (which is most of them, at this point) are very deliberate in how I conceptualize their gender and how it affects their story.

So to Ballard specifically! Backstory dump et all below the cut, this turned out.... rly long. I'm doing an ask game as well, feel free to send some questions in :3

Ballard grew up in Menzobarrenzen, fostered into House Halvyriin after the Matron received a dream from Bhaal about the baby he made and just kind of dumped on the side of the road (thanks dad). Drow society is matriarchal, and he was raised as female with the intention of taking a leadership role in the House and in Menzobarrenzen in general--his education consisted entirely of martial skills, diplomacy and communication, oration, discernment, etc. He wasn't permitted to learn any of the arts, or to really associate at all with anything 'frivolous'. Getting a beautifully crafted knife and just wishing for it to have been a necklace, or a doll, or a lovely tunic. I think he understood even at the time that this wasn't even a standard all girls had to meet, or even all presumed-heirs, but because of his nature he had to be the best weapon possible, without weakness or flaw. They do not hide it from him that he's Bhaalspawn, and in fact make it very clear that he was a gift to them from Bhaal and he has a grand purpose to achieve, but in the House and in the world outside.

His training was accelerated, and very intense, because the first time the Dark Urge came for him he was six years old and took out a a dozen or so people in the House before anyone thought to be prepared for a two foot tall murder machine--mostly servants or slaves, so the Matron was able to take it in stride easily enough, but after that he was very closely monitored and controlled, and severely emotionally repressed. This is the first time Sceleritas Fel showed up, after the bloodbath when Ballard was alone again. He offers some amount of advice and comfort, and indicates he knows much that Ballard does not: "You are ahead of schedule, my lady--no, that's not right at all, is it? Worry not, my lord, and know that your father has a plan for you. You must focus on your lessons, for now, and we will meet again in time."

(I think if you have a demonic butler who can die and be resurrected with zero difficulty or complication he SHOULD have some weird timeline powers, imo. Love Sceleritas as comedic relief, but also as the first and only genuine care even approaching parental feelings that Ballard ever had.)

He's six, so he fuckin forgets, and the urge is quieted enough that it doesn't trouble him for another ten years; so he very dutifully allows himself to be pruned and shaped into a perfect female heir and a perfect tool. At 16 he has his first period, and that, combined with the effects of puberty he is already having, drives him into a rage he cannot define the source of. He is in the process of destroying his room to the stonework when Sceleritas comes back--he only doesn't immediately kill him because he's so surprised to see this person he had assumed was a figment of his childhood imagination. They go through this whole exchange of 'my lord', 'why are you calling me that', 'I'm not wrong, even if you don't see it yet', 'well I don't have time to deal with this right now do I so (chucks it back in the vault)'. And then Ballard only interacts with the concept of his gender very intermittently and with both hands over his eyes for the next twenty years. Sceleritas is very firm in only calling him 'my lord' and 'young master' as he teaches him knives, poisons, etc but he simply does not address him in mixed company, which is not very often. Everyone else finds him deeply disturbing.

Only two other people ever know, while he still lives in the underdark. The first is Imton, a follower of Loviatar who is brought in as one of Ballard's many tutors to teach him a) 'to teach him stoicism in the face of pain' and b) to teach him how to apply violence and brutality without killing. (He is based on every fat drag queen I have ever fallen briefly in love with from the audience seating--super pretty, gorgeous, draping clothing, tons of jewelry--very sparkly shiny). Imton is known as 'the Jeweled Whip of Menzobarrenzen'--he is a very highly regarded sex worker, as much as anything else, and he ends up being Ballard's first lover. He has a lot of feelings about his first time, since Imton was still teaching as much as he was fucking and Ballard was somewhat infatuated with him, but he has such a bad physical reaction of disgust and shame afterward.

That's the final nail in the coffin for 'ah, I cannot keep ignoring this, can I' and he ends up having a bit of a breakdown trying to explain it to Imton without having any of the necessary vocabulary. Imton, being a worldly and reasonable guy who interacts with people who are not just Lolth and Bhaal worshipers, is like 'Ah! Ok. I can work with that. Let's get you some information.'

(Imton gave Ballard his dagger earrings he wears most every day and is also who the Emperor sniped it's dream guardian look from, fun little facts that don't make me upset at all.)

The second person to know is the Matron Halvyriin, and it is not until the second time Ballard tries to challenge her when he is 36. (A 'challenge' being my way of reconciling WotC 'elves reach social maturity at 100' with the actual timeline in BG: drow are expected to mature faster, and can prove their growth by besting their head of house in combat in order to be treated as full adults). His first, a decade prior, he failed; it's not expected that this time he will succeed either, as most don't until their 50s. He does manage to beat the Matron, however, to everyone's surprise including his own. She expresses the first pride she ever has in him, and says he will be the best Matron the House will have seen in generations when he takes the position from her.

Ballard confesses that he cannot be the Matron, and reveals himself to be a man to her, and it all goes to shit very rapidly after that.

He explains to Gortash later than any other Matron would most likely have killed him for that, and that she would have, too, if she had not loved Bhaal more than Lolth. She tried instead to banish and disown him. "Her mercy was her own ending," he says. He killed her and most of her guard and then everyone between him and the exit, and he burned House Halvyriin behind him when he fled. Later he finds out hardly anyone survived, and the house itself is no more--he still uses the house name so other drow are occasionally surprised to find some far-flung male of the lost House Halvyriin.

Sceleritas guides him to Baldurs Gate, when he leaves the underdark, and he's able to use some of the information Imton gave him to pursue transition. I imagine that HRT isn't too difficult to find, given alchemy being so easily accessible, but it is a bit more specialized so not every shop will be able to help. Part of me wants to say Sceleritas helped with top surgery but we have seen his surgical skills and I do not think that wise! It's reasonably straightforward at this point, except that the combination of the dark urge, a lifetime of repressed emotions suddenly given the opportunity to express themselves, and the hormonal volatility of second puberty means that for a year or so Ballard has a really hard time maintaining control of the Urge, and does a couple of really badly managed murder sprees he doesn't remember well.

This is before he's able to take control of or clean up the remnants of the Bhaalist cult in Baldur's Gate, so he ends up commandeering like a single dingy cell in the temple to lock himself in werewolf-style whenever he takes the potion equivalent of his shot every couple of weeks. Once his body got used to the new hormones it settled down! And, freed from the expectations of the rigid society he grew up in, he experiments more with pretty things. Earrings, necklaces, costume jewelry just as much as actual gold or silver, beautiful and embroidered and sheer fabrics, growing his hair out, wearing makeup etc. He likes to be pretty. He doesn't let it impact his mobility or access to weaponry, and he has to be fairly practical about things getting ruined by blood, but he's never without some simply jewelry or makeup prior to the tadpole.

I imagine that trans people aren't common in Faerun, but they aren't super unusual either. Most of Ballard's lovers have been surprised to find that he doesn't have the equipment they expected, but are reasonably willing to adapt to the situation. Bottom surgery isn't something he is interested in, but there are certainly some options available for both sides of the fence, both in terms of actual surgery and in terms of augmentative devices.

After the tadpole, when Ballard doesn't remember anything, he doesn't even think to wonder about his body or top surgery scars--it registers as normal. If prompted he is able to retrieve the information, but it's also very funny to imagine the first encounter he has with Astarion has a brief moment of 'what is THAT' (local man has forgotten about penises).

This is such a ramble and I'm sure I will remember things I meant to include later, but yeah! There are soooo many trans tavs and durges and they have been nothing but a delight to see, I love them all and I love hearing everyone's interpretations.

#ask meme #bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #the dark urge #durge #my durge #Ballard #Ballard gets my transgay hypersexual trauma response bc: it is funny #trans character #trans hc

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tiodolma · 9 months

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The Hippocratic Oath Within the Context of BBC Merlin

Based on what is observed on BBC Merlin, the Arthurian mythos of the show seems to take place around a most probable early medieval setting in which the Old Religion still has sway. There are many things that are never explained within the show, which is understandable. But one of the things that has caused me curiosity are the medical aspects within that universe, specifically the roles Gaius and Merlin exercise. Both men have very important titles in court as they take care of the king and the royal household’s health. Gaius has the title ‘Physician to the King’, while Merlin most probably has the title of ‘Apprentice to the Physician to the King’ (Wikipedia contributors, 2023b).

Within those roles, both are bound by the Hippocratic Oath. The Hippocratic Oath is a very well-known Greek text that has influenced Western medicine throughout the centuries in terms of medical ethics (U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d.; Wikipedia contributors, 2023b). According to Michael North (2002), as cited in the U.S. National Library of Medicine (n.d.), the Hippocratic Oath states the following:

“I swear by Apollo the physician, and Asclepius, and Hygieia and Panacea and all the gods and goddesses as my witnesses, that, according to my ability and judgement, I will keep this Oath and this contract:

To hold him who taught me this art equally dear to me as my parents, to be a partner in life with him, and to fulfill his needs when required; to look upon his offspring as equals to my own siblings, and to teach them this art, if they shall wish to learn it, without fee or contract; and that by the set rules, lectures, and every other mode of instruction, I will impart a knowledge of the art to my own sons, and those of my teachers, and to students bound by this contract and having sworn this Oath to the law of medicine, but to no others.

I will use those dietary regimens which will benefit my patients according to my greatest ability and judgement, and I will do no harm or injustice to them.

I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion.

In purity and according to divine law will I carry out my life and my art.

I will not use the knife, even upon those suffering from stones, but I will leave this to those who are trained in this craft.

Into whatever homes I go, I will enter them for the benefit of the sick, avoiding any voluntary act of impropriety or corruption, including the seduction of women or men, whether they are free men or slaves.

Whatever I see or hear in the lives of my patients, whether in connection with my professional practice or not, which ought not to be spoken of outside, I will keep secret, as considering all such things to be private.

So long as I maintain this Oath faithfully and without corruption, may it be granted to me to partake of life fully and the practice of my art, gaining the respect of all men for all time. However, should I transgress this Oath and violate it, may the opposite be my fate.”

A summary of this is that the physician swears upon the gods that he and his teacher will be equals, as well as colleagues. Should the teacher be in need, the physician will help in anyway he can. Additionally, the trade is to be kept within a selected group of people: the former teacher’s children, the physician’s children, or any apprentices. The physician is to carry out his trade with purity of heart by helping the patient in any way possible without any intention to do harm or an injustice (e.g., not giving lethal drugs to anyone who asks; giving a pessary to a woman to cause abortion, sexual misconduct, etc.). Moreover, doctor patient confidentiality is to be kept and whatever is said is not to be shared with others. Lastly, in keeping this oath the physician will gain renown for eternity and if not, the opposite will happen (U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d).

If one does quick research of the period in which BBC Merlin takes place, the Roman Empire had a great influence upon their Britannia province centuries before. Not only did the Romans left buildings behind, but they also left knowledge of many things, as well as names (Wikipedia contributors, 2023a). In fact, Gaius’ name reflects the Roman influence left behind. Now, within show, there’s no mention of the Hippocratic Oath, but it is probable that Gaius knew about it and most probably swore by it. It is probable that Merlin as Gaius’ apprentice also swore by it. And if both swore by it, therein a dilemma. Because Merlin violated the Hippocratic Oath he was bound to.

He violated it in one of the important aspects of the oath, which was to do no harm or do injustice. For instance, he killed a lot of people, he poisoned Morgana, etcetera, etcetera. It is understandable why he did what he did and his reasons, but they are in no way justifiable. As a physician’s apprentice, he was bound to help people. Instead, he violated the Physician’s Oath many times over and in violation to the oath rather than renown, his name fell into infamy and his destiny remained unfulfilled.

References

U.S. National Library of Medicine. (n.d.). Greek Medicine - The Hippocratic Oath. https://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/greek/greek_oath.html

Wikipedia contributors. (2023a). Britannia. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannia

Wikipedia contributors. (2023b). Physician to the king. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physician_to_the_King

#bbc merlin #merlin bbc #merlin critical #bbc gaius #adventures of merlin #hippocratic oath #amazing essay #merlin meta #wandrenowle pointed out this fact to me #it was big oof #physicians violating ethics 101

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thetruearchmagos · 7 months

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Swatili Woodworking: A Brief History

Hey folks! Writing this post starting Wednesday, which oughtta make this my obligatory Wbw resource. As you may tell, this has not been published on a Wednesday! Hope you all like it nonetheless.

Post-Finish Author's note: Holy cow I am not cut out for social history! Tried my best, and I can only hope you might find something interesting here!

@athenswrites @caxycreations @hessdalen-globe @theprissythumbelina @avrablake @enne-uni @pluvia-b @thatndginger @the-stray-storyteller

Lost Art, Stolen Art

The Art of the Sabto was at that kingdom's height was as great and grand as the product of any great state of such stature. In those olden days before their conquest - by the Commonwealth calendar some fifty years before that polity's own formation - the highest craft of the Sabto people was woodworking, which was for generations the adored symbol of kingdom, crown, and people.

Woodworking took on many forms, from the great city gates of Hurhamba with their hand-etched calligraphics stretching two storeys, to simple tokens or household furniture. The trade was a multi-generational one then, passed on within lineages of royally appointed Artisans who apprenticed for years in service to the court before admission into commercial guilds or private practice. Art was, thus, a closed off affair to the majority of the Sabto public, which gave individual pieces a special place within the social fabric. For newlyweds, for example, families who could afford to pooled their wealth into commissioning hand carved doors the couple's new nests.

The rich history of traditional Sabto woodcraft stretches into the mists of the past, by all accounts before their kingdom itself ever was. The near-golden age of Sabto state and culture, however, would not last for long.

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Revival

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The Kingdom of Sabto's conquest by the rising power that was then known as the Sultanate of Merkat was a tragedy in a thousand ways, and the wanton eradication of all that was good and great of the Sabto way of life ranked among them. For over a century under the yoke of the newly declared Fuhrati Empire, every temple, every palace, every sacred place which bore the memory of that peole was burned to ash in the wind, and peasant and artisan alike turned into the slave markets or traded as 'gifts' at the Emperor's whim. What small, flickering remnants still existed of those memories of old fled as far as they could, or found bare refuge in the 'stray Princedom' of Upepwani province.

Then, war came to the Fuhrati Empire.

The five-year long conflict fought between the United Commonwealth and the Fuhrati Empire was long, violent, and cruel, and under shell and gas much of the continent would lay in tatters when the Fuhrati state finally choked out its last breath. For the now-freed Sabto people, it was a time of immense remorse for those lost in the brutal violence meted out in the Empire's death throes, but also one of immense oppurtunity. Finally, it seemed, the time had come for the soul of the Sabto people to breath freely once again.

The Great Restoration was an affair as complex and multifaceted as the war that had preceded it, and a thousand stories could be told of those who lived through those early years of the young Republic of Swatili. Whether freed from bondage or descended from those who'd long ago found refuge in the province of Upepwani, those who felt themselves to be 'Sabto' could now make for themselves a life free from the now broken chains.

The revival of Sabto art would first grow its roots from Upepwani, once the last 'safe' haven for that culture. Its capital of Hurhamba, once the Kingdom of Sabto's greatest city, was now the elevated to the centre of the Republic, and from there the Sabto dormant enclave had slowly worked to preserve and accumulate what knowledge it could before it was lost to time. With their liberty born from victory, a veritable explosion of this pent up knowledge spread itself across the continent, a wave which could not be stopped.

The once forbidden works of every kind of Sabto artist from their Kingdom's height would be the first to come back to life, followed just as swiftly by the craft of a new generation born from the intervening century. For all that was remembered, much was forgotten, or more accurately lost to the acts of an Empire which sought the destruction of their knowledge as surely as it did the subjugation of their humanity. And yet enough remained for the living to make use of it, and the Sabto Revivalists would make for themselves an art and identity all their own, but whose roots would be well remembered.

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From Small Things Grow Great Ones

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The business of rebuilding a continent and creating a state left little time for art, yet there was plenty of Art all the same. The Woodworks of master artisans were studied intensely, but little of their methods survived the fall. Some in Upepwani, those descended from crafter stock, tried their hands at their ancestors' trades, but mimicry would not be enough.

One of the stranger elements to come from the Revivalist schools was the practice known as 'Miche', or 'Sapling'. It appears to have had its roots in the pupils of Mwajuma Tumaini, who upon their induction into her school were given a block of wood the size of a fist, by some tellings cut from Madam Tumaini's own sizeable palm orchard. From this they would be asked to cut anything at all they saw fit, with the strict instructions to work on it only once a day, for a minute at most. So many of Swatili's finest future woodworkers would come through her school, that this peculiar tradition would become as much a ritual to that craft as the honing of tools and the instruction of one's progeny.

Some, indeed many, who carry on the daily ritual have taken from it a moral lesson, often on the nature of art as a continuous process. Whatever Madam Tumaini's true reasons, her school and her teachings would carry on long after her death, and Miche was one of the most widely known. It created for itself a sort of social institution, a shared routine amongst these artists, and the best would claim to have kept at their first saplings to their deathbeds, making one final chip or cut to say farewell to their art. The vast human tapestry of Sabto art is as long as it is tragic, but woodworking, and Miche, have already made their place in it well known, threads in the cloth that will last for a long while yet in some form or another.

#worldbuilding #writeblr #worldbuilding wednesday #my worldbuilding #my writing #writing #my wips #writeblr stuff

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josiebelladonna · 1 year

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a little collection, all one right after the other, picked up last week, not sure why i didn’t post it then 🤷🏻‍♀️

i also saw a tweet saying that it shouldn’t even be called “art”, which… yeah, i agree. it’s scraping art and treating it as if it’s gum on the bottom of a desk and throwing it into a blender at a whim when it should’ve been put to good use and made a natural evolution of digital art—i keep saying it but it’s the biggest missed opportunity in the history of missed opportunities. ai had the potential to build upon digital art and to be worked with, but that’s not what’s happening, though. moreover, way too many people are doubling down and supporting it, often knowing the nefarious nature of it, which makes them complicit in the abuse of hard-working artists and their life’s work. i’ve also been seeing accusations of ableism against human artists—these comments are often oblivious to the fact that disabled artists have existed for centuries (look no further than frida kahlo)—even accusations of racism and sexism.

excuse me, but taking the art from a black artist or a female artist or a transgender artist or a guy who paints with his feet and using it without their consent in your k00l ai app is a million times more discriminatory than anything any artist has ever done (bonus if you know about all this but keep contributing to it—if anything, that’s worse).

even if you aren’t active in the art world, all this alone should piss you off.

i’m also seeing more things about slurs thrown at artists (”paintpig”, “drawslave”, and “drawcel” being only three examples), and i’d say “you’re gonna have to do a lot better than that” à la cosmo kramer, but i don’t think that’d suffice, tbh—as i said before, they almost feel like compliments, like yes! i am a drawslave! i am a slave to drawing and my craft! 😂

and yes, ai replacing humans has already long begun: go read about disney, and also book publishers like tor books. replacing human artists and their digital art with soulless robotic ai with watermarks included has already whupped up and let a bunch of diligent people go on their own for the sake of $$$$ and mass appeal. it’s very quickly approaching the point where, unless you have a very distinct, visceral style that’s heavy on textures and just looks different like mine, digital art made by a human being and a digital piece by a machine will have no distinction between each other, and traditional art will be the only truly human art left. mind, every human alive is capable of making art no matter what the excuse is—there’s no excuse. if you’re human, you’re an artist. you can create something. it’s part of who you are, as unique as your fingerprint and your dna. “but i’m not an artist!” BULLSHIT. B U L L S H I T. you are as capable of making art as i am. if you can pick up a pencil with any part of your body, you can train yourself—go read about the guy who draws with his feet, he’s amazing. “i won’t be as good as you, though.” yeah, and? that doesn’t mean you can’t be good in your own way. i tried making tutorials or how to draw like me before and i wound deleting them because no one was willing to try it out, and i soon learned that it’s because my art is unique to me, as well as cop outs like “not an artist”.

the rise of ai art tells me that people are way too lazy and entitled for their own good now. our ape bodies are too reliant upon technology, and technology is advancing faster than any of us can keep up. it’s not only the biggest wasted opportunity ever, but it’s a sign of not caring about your fellow human and what they can make with their bodies and brains, especially with their hands. we have spent millennia using our hands to build the very advancements that brought us to this point in history… and we’re willing to throw it away, and what for?

bitch. my hands have used pencils, pens, paintbrushes, turpentine, metals, heavy machinery, wood, axes, hatchets, knives, ceramic clay, acids, bases, chemicals that can leave blisters on the inside of your lungs, literal fire, rocks and minerals, a fucking Geiger counter, soldering irons, welding torches, heavy tools like table saws and sledgehammers, bicycle chains, one of those old rotary telephones, typewriters, fucking floppy disks!!, all kinds of fabric, a drum kit, a piano, guitars, microphones, xylophones, baseball bats, hockey sticks, basketballs, volleyballs, and some of the most delicious food i have ever eaten… i got to touch pitchblende (uranium ore) with these hands. i got to touch lead soldering and broken glass. these hands have gotten to touch silver ore and 24-karat gold. i even got to touch things from the softest cat fur to the skin of a snake and the exoskeleton of a scorpion. these hands have shaken the hands of teachers, famous people, and people no longer with us. these hands have fired guns and shot arrows. these hands have helped me climb up hills and small mountains. these hands have been cut, scratched, burned by both fire and dry ice, stepped on, slapped, but also lovingly held and massaged. these hands have written millions of words of literature and poetry. these hands have written words in english, french, spanish, german, italian, danish, latin, japanese, russian, and most recently portuguese. these hands have fixed houses, planted gardens, even built a car from the ground up. these are working hands, and they always come back to art.

i have toiled in obscurity since 2006, and to a further extent, 1999. i refuse to ever work with art shops anymore because they continue to rip me off and take my money, and they’re making me vulnerable to scraping. i have had my art insulted, mocked, patronized, laughed at, called dumb or stupid, rejected from art competitions, lost out to trashy artworks that look like they were done in about five minutes in total darkness, soiled on, burnt (yes, for real), thrown in the garbage, and yes, even stolen, not once but twice—the second time around, the thief is still giving me shit two and a half years after i called her out on her bluff. yes, me. the person she took from. she is continuously giving me shit and being a bully—and, get this, two and a half years later, you can see how miserable she is from a mile away. so, let me ask you, ai people and those who (un)willingly support it: is that what you want? to become increasingly miserable as tech advances and you sit your own hands to the point you become so idle that your brains scramble themselves and you don’t even know how to function anymore? plus, you’re going to look at me dead in the face and tell me that i deserve to be shat on and everything my hands have done is all in vain all because i refuse to ever use any ai app for as long as i live because i know what the hell is going on?

have your fucking precious ai. play the victim and be complicit. if you don’t care, then i don’t care. but know what you’re doing. know that it all comes with a steep price and a dark side more foreboding than you can ever fathom. karma is a bitch, and a bigger one than i ever will be.

and this is not even touching on ai infiltrating fan writing or actual published literature, or music for that matter, but—i’m not even touching those ones.

#support human artists #fuck ai art #ai art theft #ai art debate #ai art is art theft #ai art isn't real art #ai art is theft #ai art is fake art #ai art is not art #ai art #support a small artist #support authors #text

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paganimagevault · 2 years

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Apollo entrusts his son Asclepius to the centaur Chiron by Christopher Unterberger 18th C. CE.

"The Hippocratic Oath (Ορκος) is perhaps the most widely known of Greek medical texts. It requires a new physician to swear upon a number of healing Gods that he will uphold a number of professional ethical standards. It also strongly binds the student to his teacher and the greater community of physicians with responsibilities similar to that of a family member. In fact, the creation of the Oath may have marked the early stages of medical training to those outside the first families of Hippocratic medicine, the Asclepiads of Kos, by requiring strict loyalty: 'I swear by Apollo the physician, and Asclepius, and Hygieia and Panacea and all the Gods and Goddesses as my witnesses, that, according to my ability and judgement, I will keep this Oath and this contract: To hold him who taught me this art equally dear to me as my parents, to be a partner in life with him, and to fulfill his needs when required; to look upon his offspring as equals to my own siblings, and to teach them this art, if they shall wish to learn it, without fee or contract; and that by the set rules, lectures, and every other mode of instruction, I will impart a knowledge of the art to my own sons, and those of my teachers, and to students bound by this contract and having sworn this Oath to the law of medicine, but to no others. I will use those dietary regimens which will benefit my patients according to my greatest ability and judgement, and I will do no harm or injustice to them. I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion. In purity and according to divine law will I carry out my life and my art. I will not use the knife, even upon those suffering from stones, but I will leave this to those who are trained in this craft. Into whatever homes I go, I will enter them for the benefit of the sick, avoiding any voluntary act of impropriety or corruption, including the seduction of women or men, whether they are free men or slaves. Whatever I see or hear in the lives of my patients, whether in connection with my professional practice or not, which ought not to be spoken of outside, I will keep secret, as considering all such things to be private. So long as I maintain this Oath faithfully and without corruption, may it be granted to me to partake of life fully and the practice of my art, gaining the respect of all men for all time. However, should I transgress this Oath and violate it, may the opposite be my fate.'"

-Hippocrates, The Hippocratic Corpus (Translated by Michael North, National Library of Medicine, 2002)

#apollo #asclepius #chiron #hippocrates #ancient greece #pagan #paganism #medical history #pro life #history #art #history of medicine #medicine #european art #18th century art #christopher unterberger

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nitewrighter · 2 years

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:OOO I am Intrigued. top ten weirdest craft beers you've ever had?

Honestly they don’t get that out there, and a lot of the time I’m also buying them based on how cool the label art is or how well they’d pair with my food if I’m ordering them at a restaurant. Recently had a coconut IPA but like… fruit flavorings aren’t that unusual. And again with the pandemic I haven’t been traveling as much so I haven’t had as much of a chance to get really indie stuff. Like a lot of different beers just kind of pick and choose from a basic flavor profile of that particular brew, so you can have IPA’s that range from citrusy to bright and fruity to a sort of angostura bitters woodsy sourness to kind of dank (people are brewing with hemp now so dank is very much a flavor profile—everyone who says ‘weed just smells like weed’ are ‘the curtains are just blue’ of weed smokers. My brother didn’t slave away in a nursery creating his ‘Benscotti’ cookies strain so you could say ‘weed just smells like weed.’) but I’ve had very dense malty/fruity Dutch amber ales—you know the kind they serve in tulip glasses? Those are deceptive little buggers. They’re so filling and yet you NEED a charcuterie board to balance them out.

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odysseywritings · 1 year

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Runoff - Establishing the Cast

Sasha looked at a black liquid in a test tube as she wrote notes in a faded notebook. She was unaware of what the others were doing as she focused on the toxicity of the substance floating in the lake. Her pudgy fingers ran through her curly red hair as she scratched off one hypothesis and wrote down another.

Arie read a surviving scrapbook written in a language he did not understand and tried to decode. He saw smiling families from before the war, never again feeling that joy, and he rubbed his head in grief. His long black hair was showing signs of receding despite his youth, and his dark eyes were bloodshot from ongoing nights like these.

Aubrey finished constructing a thick knife that she placed next to Arie, smiling at her handiwork. She wolfed down the rest of some meat, burped, and moved on to paint a picture of humans warring with each other with blood and the red sky popping out. Her pale blonde hair showed traces of graying, and her green eyes intently focused on realism in her art.

Arie spoke up to break the silence as he held the knife comfortably.

“You’re getting better at crafting, Aubrey. Have you thought about guns yet?”

“I think about ‘em in my sleep!” she beamed. “It’s trickier, but if Sasha gives me some pointers, or if you find some old-timey schematic, I’ll be right as rain.”

“We’re not magicians,” Sasha said absent-mindedly. “We would need the right tools and to make sure you don’t blow off your hand.”

“No problem,” Aubrey affirmed. “Arie and I scouted out earlier and he said there’s an old shop full of tools. The more weapons we get, the safer we’ll be.”

“What we really need is better food, water, and shelter. No one will go after us if we mind our own business.”

“Bull-shit if you think we won’t be easy pickin’ for those creeps! I got a good mind to shoot that tattooed fuck and strangle him with his own scorpion flag. You’re smart. You know what that gang does to people just by being in their path.”

“We need both,” Arie chimed. “But we’ll do better if we have numbers on our side. The villages are more fortified than out here in the boonies. If we can find a group that shares our language, we can talk to them and ask them for help.”

“And then we get... What’s that word you used before? Subjugated. No freedom, little payment if we’re not already slaves, and forced to herded around like sheep.”

“I enjoy living in comfort over something as nebulous as independence. You can’t do much research with bullets in you.”

“We’ll be living too comfortably for our own good! Arie, you read history books. There’s always a struggle going on. A large place swallowing up everyone.”

“That’s simplifying it a lot. There’s patterns but it’s not easy to predict. Like if relations between lands grow cold, if the environment changes drastically-”

Aubrey yelled and stood up. “I am not letting any stranger control us, got it? If we need a community, then we’re doing it on our terms! They can join or leave if they want. But we’re survivors! Our minds, our blood, our pain shaped us! Everyone else is dying all the time when there used to be a much better world to live in. I’d rather mold the world than be molded by it!”

Her face wrinkled like a wild cat and she breathed quickly. Arie and Sasha worried for her and did not look away until she sat back down with her painting. Her body calmed as she drew more little men getting stabbed and screaming. Sasha went back to her studies and Arie hesitated before flipping a page in the scrapbook.

Sasha’s eyes darted to the window briefly but she saw something out of place. What looked like a bird shadow passing by turned into a more obvious shape. A head was trying to look inside. Sasha tip-toed away and whispered to Arie and Aubrey. They guided her to a room with a trapdoor to hide in. She shivered in fear as Arie went to the door with his knife sheathed. Aubrey grabbed a shotgun and waited in a nearby room.

“We know there’s someone in there,” a sharp voice yelled out. “I can hear and see from out here. We just want to talk. Census survey.”

Arie rolled his eyes and motioned to Aubrey with hand signal with his pointer high, middle finger outward, and ring and pinky closed. She nodded. He opened the door to reveal 4 leather-clad men with tire irons walking through. A bald man with stubble and piercing blue eyes examined the place.

“Nice place, Mister...”

“Santana.”

“Mm-hmm. It’s just you, then?”

“Yes.”

One of the thugs looked at the art and preceded to take it while crumpling it up. Another saw the test tubes and stuck his finger in the black toxin before tasting it. Arie shuffled around to make sure his back was near a wall.

“Decent place for just one guy. Now... My boys have walked a long way and we need to rest a bit. Say a day or two. Appreciate the hospitality.”

“I didn’t say you could use my home as a billet.”

“I don’t know what that word means, but you misunderstand. We need this more than you. We kindly avoided smashing in this place and this is how you owe us? Tsk tsk. But we’ll find a way to negotiate.”

Arie coughed in a distinctly clear way and stood stoic. “This is my last word to you: Leave.”

“I should’ve figured you wouldn’t know what was good for you.”

Arie saw a man to his right pull out a pistol and Arie coughed the same way again. Aubrey took the signal and shot the man in the head. A man to Arie’s left tried to strike him in confusion but Arie jumped to the right and slashed the assailant’s throat with Aubrey’s knife.

Aubrey gunned down the remaining goon down in his stupor. Out-manned 2 to 1, the man shook and got down on his knees begging for his life, offering both money or sex servants. They were indifferent. Arie cut the man’s sleeve to reveal a black scorpion tattoo on his muscled arm. Aubrey had hatred storming in her eyes, tempered only by Arie being in fine health.

“Well, Arie,” she said lowering her gun. “You’re the diplomatic one. What’s your Geneva Convention say about guys who piss themselves?”

“He can’t fight back. Let’s tie him up and see if he’s wanted. There might be reward money.”

“Hah! Smart thinking.” She then knelt and looked at the man dead in the eyes. Her voice was monotone and deep. “That man is the only thing stopping me from turning your skull into a soup bowl. I’d recommend treating him nicely.”

He blubbered and nodded excitedly.

///

Tagging for folks who said nice things about the first poem: @bloodlessheirbyjacques @pluttskutt @timisrecs

#writblr #wip: runoff #post apocalypse #post-apocalyptic #action #mywriting #njm #dunno if I'll continue #but this was fun

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the-crim-rat · 2 months

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obligatory goth oc because life is better with a goth oc

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histoireettralala · 2 years

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"In your life you have never seen the like"

We have many reasons to distrust what Louis Racine has said about his father. Only 6 when his father died, he could have had few personal memories of him, and no memories at all of his life as working playwright- which ended long before Louis was born. Being himself excessively pious and a convinced Jansenist, he was extremely touchy on the subject of his father's relationships with women, preferring to believe that his father "never was the slave of love", was never in love with Mlle Champmeslé, never wrote his tragedies "conforming to the style of declamation of his actress." Although it is easy to dismiss the sanctimonious Louis as a hagiographer, perhaps there is something to be learned from his insistence that Jean Racine felt obliged to give his actresses lessons in how to declaim his verses […]

According to Boileau, Racine also taught Mlle Du Parc the role of Andromaque and "had her repeat it like a pupil." Perhaps what these anecdotes reflect is Racine's desire to create a new style of tragic acting for plays that depended far more for their emotional affectivity on the appropriate inflection and melodious intonation of his carefully crafted verse than did the action-centered tragedies of Corneille and those who followed his prescription. The actor Jean Poisson supports this possibility when he notes that Mlle Champmeslé "sang a little" when she enchanted the court as Racine's heroines, but that "elsewhere she recited the Tragedies of the Celebrated M. de Corneille excellently & in a totally different manner."

If Racine took it upon himself to reform acting, this could have made him unpopular with some actors. Raymond Poisson may have had Racine in mind when he created his Poète basque in 1668, a few months after the great success of Andromaque. Among Poisson's provincial poetaster's ideas for improving the Hôtel de Bourgogne is the following:

I am going to read it [his play La Seigneuresse] to you presently, And this reading will be like your musical score. I will mark there all the tones and the mutations, The facial expressions and the actions: When I’m not speaking observe my face, You will see me pass from love to fury, Then, by marvelous art, in a surprising return, I will pass from fury to love. In brief, I am going to show the right way to satisfy, And what a great actor must do to be great. Don’t miss my least movement, For even the least is worth applause.

Of course, Racine may not have been the only playwright who thought he was a better actor than the actors.

From the audience's point of view, there seems little doubt that Mlle Champmeslé, whether because of or in spite of Racine's tuition, was considered the finest actress of her day even by those, like Mme de Sévigné, who preferred Corneille's plays to Racine's. In January 1672 she wrote to her daughter that Mlle Champmeslé:

"seemed the most marvelous actress that I have ever seen. She surpasses la Des Œillets by the distance of a hundred leagues; and I, who am thought rather good on the stage, I am not worthy to light the candles when she appears. She is nearly ugly, and I am not astonished that my son was suffocated by her presence; but when she speaks, she is adorable."

She is speaking of Mlle Champmeslé’s performance as Atalide in Racine’s Bajazet. Giving the lie, however, to Louis Racine’s remark that the actress was never as good in other playwrights’ plays, Mme de ́Sévigné reserves her most effusive praise for Mlle Champmeslé's appearance in the title role in Thomas Corneille’s Ariane. The actress is “so extraordinary that in your life you have never seen the like; it is the actress one goes to see and not the play; I saw Ariane only for her: that play is insipid, the actors are damnable; but when Champmeslé enters, there’s a murmur; everyone is transported, and we weep at her despair.”

We also owe Mme de Sévigné for our reasonable assurance that Racine was in love with Mlle Champmeslé. Writing about Bajazet, which she liked, although not very much, she added: “Racine writes plays for la Champmeslé; it is not for the centuries to come. If ever he is no longer young, and ceases to be in love, it will not be the same thing.” If fact, she was absolutely right. He grew older, grew disenchanted with the theatre, lost Mlle Champmeslé to other lovers, and reinvented himself, but not before he had written for her Monime in Mithridate and the title roles in Iphigénie and Phèdre.

By “for her” I do not mean to suggest that Racine wrote these plays either because he was in love with her or because he wanted her to love him. Rather, I want to underscore once more the likelihood that because he knew what she could bring to a role, both as an artist and as a stage persona, he chose certain stories and developed them in certain ways. This might be especially true of Iphigénie and Phèdre.

From the beginning of her career as Racine's leading actress, Mlle Champmeslé was known for her ability fo bring an audience to tears. Forestier quotes a British diplomat, Francis Vernon, who wrote that "all the entertainment of the town are the two new plays, both of them called Bérénice… of which that of Racine seems to take much, and the ladies melt away at it and proclaim them hardhearted who do not cry, so much they are concerned for the unfortunate Bérénice." This ability was nowhere more famously employed than in Iphigénie […]

As Boileau later reminds his readers, it was with the help of the actress that Racine achieved his effects on the audience:

How well you know, Racine, with the help of an Actor, How to move, astonish, delight a Spectator! Never did Iphigénie sacrificed in Aulis, Cause as many tears to flow in the assembled Greece, As were at the hapy spectacle to our eyes unfolded Caused to flow by la Champmeslé…

Even when Ariane was reprised at the Guénégaud in 1679, Donneau de Visé was moved to write in the Mercure Galant that "Mademoiselle Champmeslé, that inimitable actress who haas transferred to the Faubourg Saint-Germain troupe, on several occasions drew tears from many of her spectators."

Virginia Scott- Women on the Stage in Early Modern France: 1540-1750.

#xvii #virginia scott #women on the stage in early modern france #jean racine #louis racine #la champmeslé #nicolas boileau #madame de sévigné #madame de grignan #pierre corneille #thomas corneille #francis vernon #donneau de visé

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punkylilwitch · 2 years

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What do you think of Joyofsatan.org? They claim to follow the Sumerian God Enki-Satan and they’ve become the largest Pagan group in the world.

Enki in relation to Satanism and Christianity is a sort of complex situation to my understanding. From what I've read, Enki loved the humans and Enlil did not. Enki used his cunning to help the humans attain knowledge and to find independence. Enlil used the humans they created as slaves in the Garden. In this way, Enlil did not want humans to rise up, which is how the two are associated with their respective Christian sides. Enlil's role in the mythology of Mesopotamia is based on his power and authority, which makes sense if one were to relate him to the Christian god, but that does not mean he is in any other way similar to the Christian god.

Enki is a god of wisdom, freshwater, intelligence, trickery and mischief, crafts, magic, exorcism, healing, creation, virility, fertility, and art. He is the original inspiration for the modern astrological depiction of Capricorn.

Anyway, why I am saying this is because I'm not sure if Joy of Satan truly follows who they think they do. I don't know them very well and can't find these particular claims, but if true I think there's a misunderstanding. They say on their website that they follow Satan/Lucifer, but to say that either of them(Enki or Enlil) are Jesus, Satan, or any other Biblical figure, is a bit short-sighted. As said here on this Reddit comment (https://www.reddit.com/r/Sumer/comments/prweyt/enlil_and_enki/), "Judaism borrows heavily from Mesopotamian religion, but the gods and goddesses honored by the peoples of Mesopotamia were far more complex and nuanced than such a claim would lead you to believe. If anything, the account in Judaism is the pale imitation of the tradition from Mesopotamia."

In a way, I understand why they may associate the two with each other, as both entities are associated with siding with humans and satan worshippers believe heavily that satan was on the side of giving freedom from god to humans, I get where the two concepts collide. Personally, though, this is the first I've heard of them and I had to do a fair bit of research on both gods as well as their relation to Satan.

As for Joy of Satan itself, I don't personally trust them. I am agnostic, but they feel off to me... perhaps because they say on their website: "We know Satan to be the True Father and Creator God of humanity." despite this whole situation mentioned about their worshipping of Enki as well. Not to mention the part of their website that boldly claims that "Satanism predates Christianity and all other religions."

That claim... I could talk about all day, but in a nutshell, Hinduism is believed to be the world's oldest religion, and I'd love to see some sources proving Satanism is older... unless they are suggesting that satanism is born from them or vice versa?

Additionally, this group is unapologetically a group of neo-natzis. They publically support Hitler.

In conclusion, I'd love to see legitimately any sources, and they seem uncomfortably cult-like for my religiously-traumatized tastes.

Tell me though, if you have more info about Enki and Enlil, I just did some brief research so I would love to hear more and become educated on the topic! I'm surprised I hadn't heard of them before now

#joy of satan

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nihonvisual · 3 months

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2/9 Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

I have been meaning to watch this show for a while now and I am super glad that I finally got an opportunity to. I didn’t want to skip episodes so I binged through episode 9 and will finish the show over the weekend. Not gonna lie, probably one of the best animated shows I have seen recently. It was so much fun watching the fluid transitions and movement, it brought me back to when I first watched Demon Slayer years ago. Definitely a nice change of pace compared to the media that we usually consume in this class. But, with this I wouldn’t be surprised if the animators for this show went through some similar work conditions that Akira deals with in the first episode. With all of the animator strikes that have been going on in recent history it’s evident that the problems we see in this show aren't things of the past but still ever present.

The show’s art style starts off fairly simple with Akira being fresh out of college and joining a production company as a salaryman. This quickly develops into a grayscale or monochromatic as we see Akira become a “zombie.” Through his three years working for the company we see Akira lose his vitality and will to live. He becomes a slave to the company and works mindlessly. Vibrant color returns to his world with his first encounter with a zombie. This apocalypse which usually marks the end of the world is the beginning of his, it’s what buy’s him his freedom from the cycle he is stuck in. The genuine desire to live life with no care is crafted so perfectly, I felt like I was stuck in that cycle with him and when he broke free I felt like a child with no responsibilities. The show also provided commentary on family life which I really liked and somewhat related to. Just like Akira I feel like I haven’t really made enough of an effort to keep in touch with my family, being away at college and using that as an excuse to not have time to call. Throughout the show, there is a constant reminder to value your relationships with others and to not let something like excessive work get in the way of that.

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lipsticksamurai · 3 months

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1. Meet Life with Full Presence & Power

Avoidance may be the best short-term strategy to avoid pain and conflict, but it is also the best long-term strategy to ensure suffering.

In any given moment we can play a combination of vital roles:

• Observer - the default viewer

• Director - us in control

• Guardian - to our mind, body & soul. Protect what we eat, what we listen, what we read etc ...

• Warrior - fight for something we believe in

• Lover - who are we fighting for?

• Leader - provide vision & discipline to others so they can achieve their dreams

No matter the role we should never detach from our daily lives. We must choose to live in reality.

2. Reclaim Our Agenda

• On one hand we are becoming slaves to our own tools, especially our mobile phones. We must understand that our time can be spent meaningfully or wasted. But in order to spend it mindfully we need to clarify our needs & desires.

• On the other, we are under the pressure of social obligations. We have to reply artfully & forcefully to those who are always demanding of our time. We can not subordinate our agenda to those whose lives are not in order.

Only then we can live a purposeful life and be free. If you want to live a life of purpose you need to be spending your time on your own adventure.

We spend more time checking our stats than our souls.

- BRENDON BURCHARD

You are not responsible for the happiness of others

The demands of the whimsically needy or the terminally ill-prepared are not our issue. Their lives are NOT our responsibility. This idea is freeing:

I am not in charge or responsible for the wrecks others have created in their lives and I don't need to save everyone in my life.

3. Defeat your Demons

We all host a 3 serpent head demon which makes us miserable:

• Doubt - questions our worth & course of action.

• Delay - use our fear to stop us from doing anything

• Division - we feel everyone around us is an idiot or unworthy of trust.

We are able to beat the demon back with

• Faith - “I believe in my ability to learn & figure things out.”

• Action - "I will move fwd in spite of my fear"

• Love ❤️ - "We are all made of the same purity, all fighting our own demons"

4. Advance with Abandon

We must believe that we can bend reality to our own preferences, crafting the lives we desire through disciplined learning. And we must ACT.

The issue is we have been conditioned to believe the opposite. Instead of bold action we have to be cautious and follow the rules. Instead of ambition we are thought to ask for permission. Instead of being proud about our success, be ashamed of it.

These assumptions come from an unenlightened mind blinded by scarcity and jealousy. However, progress is good. And we should be proud of our success.

5. Practice Joy & Gratitude

A great tidal wave of cynicism & pessimism has washed ashore and drowned the dreams of our people. The emotional energy of the world is flatlining. We risk turning into a culture of slow-moving, low-aiming, negativity-spewing brats and blamers.

We will swim away from whirlpool of negativity & rekindle the magic of life. We will act like happy children again & again:

• Be curious.

• Release expectation.

• Take pleasure in small things and expect good things.

• Cheerfully engage the moment.

Let this become our practice, our mastery, and our art.

6. Do Not Break Integrity

In our darkest hours we compromise on who we are, what we believe in and we act against what we know to be true. Most of these breaks are small in scale but they compound.

We should commit to the 6 practices of integrity:

• Think before we act

• Never commit to anything we lack passion for

• Keep our word

• Always treat others with respect

• Tell the truth

• Always favour action

These emotions are usually when we compromise: impatience, disappointment, desperation, aggression, hurt, loyalty & power.

7. Amplify Love

Love is our origin & our final destination. But we stop giving it or receiving it because we were hurt & we don't feel safe doing it.

Hurt has nothing to do with love, and love is unaffiliated with and unaffected by pain.

8. Inspire Greatness

We no doubt live in a noisy, numb, narcissistic age. The talents and attentions of the majority are not invested in personal mastery and social responsibility but squandered on games, voyeurism, and base sensationalism.

As leaders, we will ask for more from those around us. Let us demand:

• Honesty

• Responsibility

• Intelligence

• Excellence - strive for the highest level in everything

• Courage

• Respect for others - fairness, empathy, love

• Vigilance - "Know what stands in our way"

• Service - "Make a difference"

• Unity - "We are in this together"

9. Slow Time

We are not supposed to miss this moment. Awareness is humanity’s best weapon against time. So let us always remember our capacities to be gifted time benders.

To slow down the moment, we must heighten our senses. To feel something more, we must either take more in, or more deeply sense that which is already here.

• Touch more things around us. Feel the textures.

• We should love the sounds in our ears: the car driving by; the house finch trilling in the birch tree; the beautiful, unique voice speaking to us.

• Appreciate the food

• Look at things like for the first time

• etc ...

2 beats longer

We can train our awareness with a practice called 2 (heart) beats longer:

Do not breathe so quickly. Take in air for two beats longer. Do not scan the room. Sense the room by gazing into each shadow and corner for two beats longer. Do not merely glance at her. Look into her eyes and hold them for two beats longer.

In time the practice becomes stronger and, over time, more automatic. This is how you slow down time.

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