#i’m talking about the 3rd year not the evil sorcerer

[journey-to-the-attic]

3rd anni req 4: [RPG AU] solomon / past life

ao3 link

note: i really enjoyed writing this one! i've been meaning to do more for this au for ages, it's just such a fun concept to work with, but i just never get around to it

brief context if needed: fantasy rpg au setting, solomon is a reincarnation of the evil sorcerer solomon who was trying to evade persecution, and in his new life he is best friends and travelling companions with young hero ik, and here he finds out the truth about himself

∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎

This place feels more like a mausoleum than a house.

The reports say that the owner died decades ago, and that the house has lain undisturbed ever since - up until recently. That isn’t the story Solomon’s seeing here, though.

It’s dusty, but it doesn’t feel like a place that’s been abandoned for eighty years. Try five, maybe.

He brushes a finger through a thick layer of dust on a shelf. These odd contraptions littered around the place - cogs and glassware with no rhyme or reason - aren’t ancient by any stretch of the imagination. He picks up something that resembles a wind-up toy and turns the key. The wheels still spin smoothly.

Welcome home.

He jumps. “...IK?”

No response. He listens hard - he can hear footsteps coming from upstairs. But that voice came from just behind him - surely she can’t move that quickly?

“That wasn’t funny,” He calls, attempting bravado.

Really? I thought it was hilarious.

He manages not to jump this time. He swings around and presses his back to the wall, hand falling to the knife at his hip.

Hey, there’s no need for that, says the strange voice, amused. I’m a friend.

“A friend,” He repeats warily.

Quite an intimate friend, agrees the voice, and he hears the groan of wood from just around the corner. Come with me. I have something to show you.

Don’t bother, it adds as he makes for the hallway, to call IK down to join him. There’s nothing here worth the little girl’s attention.

“Don’t call her that,” He grunts with a spark of indignation. “And—”

I daresay what you’ll find would only hurt the youngster, adds the voice, and at this he pauses.

“...fine.” His mouth feels dry - he hears the irregular pattern of his own breathing as if from miles away. “What do you want to show me?”

Follow me, croons the voice, and something shimmers at him from around the corner.

Let me show you something remarkable, it tells him. The brightest mind in any generation. The most prolific mass murderer this land has ever seen. There’s plenty to learn.

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” He growls. “But I don’t want any part in it.”

And yet he finds himself following the voice anyway.

Aren’t you just a little curious?

Wouldn’t you like to just take a little peek?

So close now. What a shame it would be to miss out.

And what a shame it would be to not know more. How close-minded!

Sharp pain lances through his temples - he stumbles, catching himself on a red velvet curtain, gripping the side of his head with a groan. “What— what are you playing at?!”

Side effects. Don’t mind those.

“I…” He can hear colours, taste sounds - feel as he’s never felt before, like millions of icy needles drawing fire from his skin. “...this…”

Why don’t you take a look behind the curtain? The voice whispers.

His mind feels in free-fall - he shakes his head blindly, but he finds himself reaching forward. He seizes a fistful of cold velvet and pulls.

Everything around him seems to shrink to a point. His own pale face stares back at him through the mirror.

“Is this some sort of joke?” He mutters.

His reflection grins back at him. “Welcome home, Solomon. It took you long enough.”

“What…” He tries to step back, but his feet feel anchored to the ground. “...I don’t understand.”

“Of course you don’t! Poor, gullible human that you are.” Mirror-Him laughs. “How cute. Did you have fun living with the mundane, at least?”

He tries to find words, but the reflection doesn’t wait for an answer. “I suppose I don’t need you to tell me. I’ll know soon enough. Now, come here. It’ll all make sense in a moment.”

He doesn’t move. His reflection frowns at him.

“Slow on the uptake, aren’t you?” Mirror-Solomon presses a hand against the glass. “It’s me - I’m you. I’m the part of us that had to die so that you could walk free. Me and you - two pieces of a glorious arcane puzzle.”

He feels his own hand moving to meet his reflection, and fights to keep it still. “That’s ridiculous. I’m not—”

“Not a sorcerer?” Mirror-Him sighs. “I’ve got news for you, cupcake. You wouldn’t be able to see me if you did.”

His head thumps. He says again, lost, “I don’t understand.”

His reflection’s expression softens a little. “I told you, didn’t you? We are the brightest mind any generation has ever seen. Before I died, you prised secrets of life straight from time’s mouth. We unlocked it together - in death, you would be reborn.”

“And when we reunite, I will be whole,” He recites, then claps a hand to his mouth. He doesn’t know where the words have resurfaced from.

His reflection grins at him. “Now you’re getting it. Come on, Solomon. Set us free.”

I know you.

I’ve felt the weight of your sins everywhere I’ve gone. Every place you’ve touched, people have died. Every time I bring your face somewhere new, it’s as if the land itself remembers what you’ve done. I hated it.

Now I understand. I feel it now - your hatred. My anger.

IK is upstairs. I can’t let you hurt her.

“Worried, are you?” His reflection leans closer, dropping his voice to a whisper. “I’ve got a secret to tell you. Once you remember everything, you won’t care.”

That’s exactly what I’m afraid of, he thinks, and the pain in his head suddenly intensifies. It’s all he can do to keep himself from crying out.

“You’ve been waiting for me - you just didn’t know it.” Mirror-Him doesn’t sound surprised by his disobedience. Perhaps that’s the worst part.

A thought, a foreign memory - he’d known this would happen, and that he wouldn’t be able to resist it. He’s a weak-willed mortal, after all.

He moves before he can stop himself. His hand meets the reflection - the cold of the glass cuts into him, and in one silent instant, everything ends. And everything begins.

He feels his legs collapse beneath him - he lands against the wall with a cough, heaving for air as if he hasn’t tasted it in years. Indeed, half his soul has starved in that mirror for the past five years.

Solomon stares down at his hands and sees blood. His fingertips buzz - warm sparks dance across his palms, as if the magic itself rejoices to be reunited with his mortal body. He feels himself smile.

He stands up. His reflection moves with him now. To be honest, part of him had been worried the mirror wouldn’t hold up for long enough - but he hadn’t exactly had time to seek a crystal looking-glass. Oh, that’s new. I remember…

“Oh, how I’ve missed you,” He says to himself.

He imagines this is how the man in the desert must feel - who finally finds water after hours in the scorching heat. How clever he is - a lesser being wouldn’t be able to cope with even a fraction of this operation.

His two sets of memories melt into each other easily. Like simply adding water to a jug. And—

“Solomon? I think we should get out of here.”

He whips around, and immediately knows he’s made a mistake. IK blinks at him from the end of the hallway, clearly unnerved by how quickly he reacted.

“...I think we’re dealing with magic scraps here,” She says after a moment, still eyeing him warily. “Some kind of crazy wizard or something. We need to get someone who knows about that kind of thing to look at it.”

“Crazy wizard?” He repeats almost incredulously. He’s blinded fools for lesser insults.

“I’ve never seen some of the stuff upstairs.” She grimaces. “The shadows were all moving - I swear one of them had teeth.”

Her left arm is dangling uselessly at her side, and he suddenly registers the dark red stains on her sleeves. He feels a familiar rush of worry, and hurries forward without thinking.

“You got bitten?” He reaches forward to inspect the wound, then thinks better of touching it just yet. “Are you alright? How do you feel?”

“Just stings like hell. I’ll probably live.” She attempts to make a thumbs up with the injured arm, then sucks in a breath and shakes her head. “...I’ll ask Luke to look at it later. We should really get going - I don’t think it’s safe here.”

He thinks about telling her that this house is under his control - that the shadows she saw were likely the remnants of failed experiments, that they’re some botched form of life that didn’t know how else to play. He thinks about telling her that that bite might well have been venomous, and that only he knows how to prevent the toxins from rotting her arm from the inside out.

He thinks about telling her that it’s all been for nothing - all the times she’s had to defend him from mobs, everyone from royal guards to fruit vendors, who’d seen him for what he was and rightfully spat at his feet. He thinks of telling her that there’s no need to shield him like this as they leave the house.

He thinks about telling that he knows fifty ways to kill her right there without leaving a trace, and hundreds more that would leave some far worse than a corpse.

But he doesn’t. He lets IK take his hand and lead him down the hill.

He can’t seem to smile now. His hands are clean, and yet he tastes iron each time he tries to speak.

What happened? What happened, Solomon? How did your master plan go wrong?

There was one contingency he didn’t plan for. He’d known he wouldn’t have the power to reject his old self - but somehow missed that, equally, he couldn’t simply abandon his new life, either.

Solomon realises now that his plan had been spoiled from the moment IK helped him out of that pit. The sorcerer, in all his wisdom, had failed to consider this - that he could love and be loved in that next life.

It feels as if the earth should swallow him whole, and yet nothing seems to have changed. The local lord greets him cheerfully when he rides past on a hunting expedition. He remembers poisoning that boy’s father.

New knowledge supplanted by the old, and memories from both past and future in tandem. What could he possibly do now?

#3rd anni event #rpg au #obey me #writing #obey me solomon #jtta ik #jtta aus

[reefer-reelz-n-reviews]

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010)

 

Smoking: Papa Smurf {I had attempted to rolls some jays for the movie but for some reason they wouldn’t stay sealed 😥}

 

Here is the little description from Disney+ “A modern-day sorcerer must make his seemingly average recruit into the ultimate apprentice.” I feel it sums it accurately. Now for my high mind to write this week’s entry 😊

We start off with a background on the 3 sorcerers that worked under Merlin, James A Stephens, and the evil Morgana, Alice Krige. We have Nicolas Cage playing Balthazar and Alfred Molina playing Horvath the dueling for good and evil. Then we get a glimpse a little more into the future of a young boy named Dave who is found out to be the Prime Merlinean.

Now we go 10 years later and adult Dave is played by Jay Baruchel. The voice of Hiccup in How to Train Your Dragon. I love the relationship Dave has with Bennet, played by Omar Benson Miller. Bennet wants to help him not be by himself and spend time with friends so he doesn’t get stuck in his science projects alone.

Nicolas Cage coming into save the day by turning wolves to puppies while riding a giant metal eagle. I mean can you talk about an entrance!

One of my favorite parts is coming up. The fight in China Town, and on top of that during a festival! We have the fight between Balthazar and Sun-Lok played by Gregory Woo. He has this really cool power where he turned one of the festival paper dragons into a real dragon and chase Dave around. I love how they use the confetti. Its just floating down gracefully, and then they use magic to manipulate it as well.

I’m watching the movie right now on Disney+, but I also have the DVD as well. In the special features they go into details about how they made the Merlin Circle because they didn’t want it to be put in but have it be real. Now I don’t remember a lot about what was said, okay okay, any of what was said ahahah, but I remember thinking it was interesting lol.

Watching Jay try to make a plasma bolt is hilarious! It’s like a whole training sequence where he is basically failing, and failing hilariously.

Now we have Horvath trying to get some more help by reaching out to Drake Stone, played by Toby Kebbell. He uses his sorcerer abilities to be a magician and make money by doing shows. Very good looking and killer accent 😍

There is a Star Wars reference in this movie. Thinking about it. I wonder if in some how Disney new that 2 years after this movie came out they would take the Star Wars franchise?

Then they is the wonderful scene where Dave leaves his lab to be cleaned by his magic. This scene was done with a lot of people in green outfits being different kinds of cleaning supplies. It is an ode to the scene in Fantasia where Mickey Mouse puts on Merlin’s hat and does the same thing with the brooms and mops. They did a REALLY good job putting it all together.

And I just got a 10min interruption by a cat. Calcifur apparently needed my attention for a little while lol.

Snack Break!

I got this way too huge slice of cake. Its soooo good and coconutty 🤤

Can’t believe I’ve gotten almost 600 words in and haven’t even mentioned Dave’s love interest Becky, played by Teresa Palmer. They have a very cute relationship that buds throughout the movie.

Now we get to the last battle. Morgana has been brought back through the 3rd sorcerer Veronica, played by Monica Bellucci. Morgana’s soul is connected to Veronica’s and she is trying to complete the ritual she was stopped from in the beginning of the movie.

We have Balthazar and Horvath battling each other while she is shooting fire balls up in the sky and no one in New York is paying any attention to it. Nor was I for the last 5 mins lol. I got distracted on my phone for a minute there.

Dave gets to battle Morgana in the end, and you know, stuff happens. Once again, trying not to ruin stuff here lol!

Hope you enjoyed this week’s review! Till next time ❤

 

-RRR

#james a stephens #alice krige #nicolas cage #alfred molina #jay baruchel #omar benson miller #Gregory woo #toby kebbell #teresa palmer #monica bellucci #the sorcerer's apprentice

[s1lver-soul]

kamo noritoshi is criminally underrated😪

#kamo noritoshi #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #noritoshi kamo #i’m talking about the 3rd year not the evil sorcerer

[aelaer]

Gonna send this separately so you can choose which ask to answer first and when. So the sorcerers have four main HQs in four different time zones and countries, all of which they can easily travel to in seconds. What do you think that means for the masters, their sleep schedule, and their nationalities? Like, do they have a fairly distributed postings (x number of masters are posted in London and must stay awake when London is, etc)? Or do they just sleep whenever they want?

This is a great question and one I’ve considered it while building out my headcanon for the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj. Here’s something of an excessive essay through a history of building out the four areas, which I think can help establish what goes on in modern day.

Because I’m a Tolkien nerd, I go overly deep into thinking about how languages come into play. Not only that, but I’m also a huge history nerd *and* I adore geography, so this gets very long and unnecessarily detailed. Regardless, I hope you enjoy it.

Hypothetical Early History - Kamar-Taj:

The films established Agamotto was the first Sorcerer Supreme and so he must have established the Sanctums and Kamar-Taj. It’s likely he was either from or very familiar with the Nepal area to establish Kamar-Taj in Kathmandu– but Kamar-Taj may not have necessarily been there since the first Sorcerer Supreme. The Sanctums protect the Earth, but Kamar-Taj is more of a headquarters, and those sort of places can move. I like to think that the first Kamar-Taj in the MCU was actually in Tibet like in the comics and had to be moved centuries ago due to Reasons. However, there is no evidence for this currently and simply remains a headcanon.

A lot of the books Stephen gets are in Classical Sanskrit, according to Wong, once he finishes several books in English as a novice (called The Book of the Invisible Sun, Astronomia Nova, Codex Imperium, and Key of Solomon). Classical Sanskrit’s more recent than Vedic Sanskrit, but it’s still a very old language. It came around about 2500 years ago and was widely used until the beginning of the dominance of Islamic societies about the 13th century. It spread all throughout Asia in its near 2000 years of prominence in learned, literary circles as well as in several vernacular circles. This includes both Nepal and quite a bit of China.

So with Kamar-Taj within Asia (there’s no reason to believe otherwise) the primary language both studied and spoken across several different cultures would have certainly been Sanskrit until the end of the first millennium AD. For any newcomer who was illiterate (of which there likely would be many) it would be the first language they were taught to read and write (and speak as needed). It would serve as the lingua franca across all four locations. But naturally each location would have picked up the vernacular languages in their region as well as other elements.

So let’s take a look at the actual Sanctums and how they would differentiate between each other before going further into how the lingua franca would change over time.

Hypothetical Early History - The London Sanctum

Let’s look at London first. London is a very old city that has history to the Roman era (called Londonium then), established by them in 47 AD. Apparently it had a population of 50,000 by the 3rd century AD, which is nuts; remember that the historical City of London is only about a square mile wide, but in modern day about 500,000 people work in that square mile. So 50,000 people can live in that amount of space easily. It only really started spilling out in the 1600s, too.

Why am I saying all this? Well, I looked up the filming location from the very beginning of Doctor Strange, where Kaecilius runs out of the library to the London Sanctum and to the city. That was filmed on Whitehall Court, which is located in Westminster and about a kilometer away from the borders of the classic City of London.

This means that the London Sanctum was not considered a part of London for some time. Indeed, Agamotto likely established it several hundred years before the Westminster Abbey and the predecessor to the Palace of Westminster were established in the 10th and 11th centuries. Before that? There was no reason for anyone to be there. So for several centuries the London Sanctum was in the middle of nowhere. There was likely an illusion spell over it to prevent any random passerbys from over the centuries to find it unless they were “meant” to find it, or whatever. You know, magic stuff. They’d probably disguise it as a small servant’s house once the village around the abbey and palace started developing (with some sort of suggestive “do not disturb” spells of various strengths depending on the political/religious climates of the decade).

The facade would change with the changing architecture in the village and likely would remain generally undocumented until Westminster became an official borough in the 16th century. With houses getting much closer and less easily able to completely hide their presence, even with subtle “look the other way” spells, this is when I really think they’d have to set aside actual budget for whatever property taxes were set by the Crown. You can hide a building in plain sight with magic if there’s enough empty space, but I don’t think you could hide it if you have buildings on each side of it unless you do the Harry Potter trick of squeezing the space out of existence for all non-magic folk. They clearly don’t do this in the film, and they wouldn’t want someone to try and build something on their very not-empty lot, thus needing to pay property taxes. But generally they’d otherwise be left alone.

Despite it not being part of London until the Greater London area was established in the 20th century, due to its closeness to the City of London I think it would have been called the London Sanctum from a very early point. London/Londonium had been around for a millennium longer than Westminster, so I don’t see them changing the name just because they’re suddenly in a village called Westminster now.

The vernacular language of the Sanctum (not to be confused with the literary language and worldwide language of communication, Sanskrit) would shift with the centuries. First it would be the Common Brittonic with Latin after the Roman invasion in order to do any business in London (which was only a kilometer away, though distance naturally wouldn’t be an issue with a sorcerer). This would eventually shift to Old English at the Roman Empire’s decline, and Latin would be put on the backburner for some time. Old English turns to Middle turns to Early Modern (which is Shakespeare), and Latin’s revival with the Renaissance does spread into the Sanctum if they pick up any well-read, learned individuals in the 16th to 18th centuries.

Hypothetical Early History - The Hong Kong Sanctum 

The Hong Kong Sanctum was built on a set for a street that doesn’t actually exist in Hong Kong so we can’t use the same trick we did for London on precise location. But like London, the area has been inhabited for millennia, with it becoming part of one of the Chinese dynasties (Qin) in 221 BC. It was difficult to find dating for the history of its name and what it was called before it became Hong Kong. From what I can find, the British, once they received the island to colonize in the 19th century, gave the whole island that name, which was the phonetic translation of “ 香港 ”, or “fragrant harbour”.

It’s very unlikely that the Hong Kong Sanctum was actually called Hong Kong for most of its history unless it was directly within the village that bore that name on Hong Kong Island. But we don’t know where the Sanctum is supposed to be; it could be on Hong Kong Island (the original British territory), the Kowloon Peninsula (in the second growth of the colony), or on Lantau Island, another island, or one of the other New Territories north of the peninsula, gained by the British in 1899. Its original name probably reflected whatever area it’s historically located in and it would not have been changed to “Hong Kong” likely until the 20th century.

The vernacular language of the Hong Kong Sanctum would have started with the Chinese/Sinitic language groups of Yue and Hakka (which are considered Cantonese by non-linguists), specifically with dialects local to the area. It looks like another dialect from the Min family also lived in the area, so that could be sprinkled in as well. I would think that sorcerers based within the Hong Kong Sanctum would be expected to speak at least two local Chinese dialects to be able to communicate with as many newcomers as possible, and that the common language across language barriers for all the hundreds of variants of Chinese would be Sanskrit, as that would be the literary and formal language used to talk with people from all around the world. The literary language would eventually change, of course, but we’re not quite there yet in this ridiculous meta.

It’s possible that, since the area was generally not very populated until the 19th century, that the Sanctum was a lot more open in its existence (with less concealment spells and the like) and that they even allowed rumours of its existence to leak out to the local villages for anyone who was looking for greater spiritual enlightenment and knowledge. They may set some sort of obstacles on the way to find the Sanctum, but it wouldn’t be completely off the map like London would have to be for most of its existence. I don’t see anything in Taoism, Buddhism, Daoism, or Confucianism that would mark the magics of sorcery as “unnatural” or “evil” as many sects of Christianity would have in Europe, but I may be wrong on this topic.

They’d not have to worry about an increasing populace until the 19th century, since Hong Kong Island only had 3,000 people when the British colonized it. The population got a huge influx of people from Canton/Guangzhou once the British took over, which would eventually shift the vernacular from several dialects of Chinese to the one the people of Canton brought with them: Cantonese. Along with Cantonese, there definitely would be an increase in English amongst those speaking the vernacular in the Hong Kong Sanctum from the 1840s onward, just as there was with the rest of the population of Hong Kong. We’ll get more into this development in another part, but first we need to cover America.

Hypothetical Early History - The New York Sanctum

Like Hong Kong, this name is more recent, though not as recent as its sister sanctum in China. Before New York City was colonized, it was populated by the Lenape people, who called their territory Lenapehoking. I imagine that the New York Sanctum was once called the Lenapehoking Sanctum, assuming that the Lenope people were able to hold that territory for the several centuries before the Europeans came over. There’s no recorded history that I could find, so we cannot be certain on that account.

Unlike the London Sanctum (and possibly the Hong Kong Sanctum), it is also possible that the religion of the Lenape people and other local tribes were open to the idea of some individuals having a greater natural connection and unusual, great powers. I think obstacles would be set for those of the Lenape who wanted to leave to find this spot of enlightenment, but at the same time I do not believe it would be viewed necessarily as a negative thing.

If they drew recruits from the local populace, the vernacular would have been largely from the language spoken by the Lenape of what is now called New York City, which is called Munsee (and sadly has only two living native speakers left). They possibly also spoke Umani, the language the Lenape south of New York spoke.

This would have all changed with the arrival of European colonizers. The Dutch bought some of the area in modern lower Manhattan in 1626 from one of the Lenape groups, but the territory only extended to Wall Street; Bleecker Street is about 2 miles north of that, so they’re still in Lenape territory. However, the next 100 years dramatically shifted the landscape. New Amsterdam became New York (and transferred back, *then* back again), and inter-tribal warfare combined with the lack of immunity from the diseases the Europeans brought over cut Lenape populations dramatically in the modern New York area. I could see a potential influx of Lenape individuals who wanted nothing to do with the business of war and disease and looked for the mysterious building that no one could ever map in their territory for sanctuary. And from there, a lot of Lenape sorcerers in the 17th century.

Greenwich Village (which is where Bleecker Street is) started as farmland with some of the Dutch in the 1630s onward. The first black Dutchmen were freed a decade later and given parcels of land there, as well. Who knows: maybe one of them, or their children, became the first black sorcerers as I’m uncertain if such an opportunity would have presented itself earlier in London and I’m not sure if they would pick up random folk who didn’t come directly to Kamar-Taj or one of the three Sanctums. That said, I don’t know what travel from Africa looked like (outside of the countries on the Mediterranean) before the slave trade really got going from the age of exploration onwards. It’s hard to say what the sorcerer recruiting process would be like, especially with the language barriers. And I’d rather not magic all language barriers away, they’re interesting to keep around.

Anyway, the area was first designated as a hamlet on paper in 1713 (as Grin’wich); by the end of the century it was a decent-sized suburb that absolutely exploded in population throughout the 19th century. It would certainly have been during the 1700s that they would have had to established a visible building on record so no one tried to build on top of them (and start paying property taxes on that, too, haha); they probably expanded their property throughout the 1800s as smallpox drove people out of south Manhattan to the fresher airs of Greenwich, then with the immigration and building booms of the rest of the century.

By the 18th century English would have entered the vernacular of the sorcerers residing in the New York Sanctum and would remain the primary vernacular language until modern day. It would likely be renamed sometime in the 1700s as well with the expansion of New York City and the further decline of native settlements.

Hypothetical Early History - Mingling With the Normals Around the World

One reason I favour Kamar-Taj in a more remote region in its earlier years rather than Kathmandu would be for sorcerers from all around the world to easily mingle outside without worry of some central Asian villager getting spooked out of his ever-loving mind for seeing his first European. And it makes sense to me that Kamar-Taj would have a large community of farmers, herdsmen, and the like doing basic things to keep people fed and shod while more experienced sorcerers did the reality protecting part of the job. They simply wouldn’t be able to do their job if they didn’t have people who were keeping the community running. And I don’t think they’d outsource it for much of their existence. I really see Kamar-Taj as a very self-sufficient society that keeps away from the rest of the world as much as possible. That would take a lot of room, and you’d need a lot of land for that. So yeah, I’m favouring Kamar-Taj as a “hidden land” in Tibet as it was in the comics until the world began to enter the modern era. And here they could mingle with anyone they wanted.

When it came to going out to the rest of the world, however, I would imagine caution and secrecy was of ultimate importance. Again, you don’t want to spook the western European villager with seeing a black person for the first time some 2000 years ago. So basically sorcerers avoided any locals as much as viably possible.

On that note, until the age of exploration I imagine that each Sanctum would be very strict with who was allowed outside of the Sanctum to their immediate surroundings. They don’t want to draw too much curiosity and scrutiny lest rumours travel to those with considerable power. This would be especially important in London after the rise of Christianity and the distrust in anything seen as magical. People that didn’t look like you appearing in your little village? Don’t want to scare the illiterate locals.

So for the majority of the Sanctums’ histories, only sorcerers with backgrounds that were native to their location would actually go outside if they needed to and there was a chance they’d come across someone. America would be the most lenient while London the strictest. These rules would be in place for precaution and secrecy.

Even when the age of exploration begins in earnest and you actually start seeing traders from Asia, Africa, and the Americas in London as the centuries pass onward, minority sorcerers still may not want to travel the streets of London due to the possibility that they may be mistreated. I’m not greatly familiar with the history of diversity and how minorities were treated in London, but if it’s anything like the rest of the world, it probably wasn’t great. And the last thing anyone before the 19th century would want is to show magic and be accused of witchcraft. I imagined they just avoided the possibility of problems happening altogether by limiting who went outside the Sanctum in certain parts of the world.

It’s not really until the 19th century that you see stringent rules start to relax a bit; Hong Kong has several European traders and New York and London have turned into much larger melting pots. By the time WWII comes around, these old rules about where people can travel directly from the Sanctums are dropped as the world has become a melting pot.

Hypothetical History Up To The Modern Era

As established, the main language of literary and cross-cultural communication would start with Sanskrit due to its prominence in Asia as a writing system first and foremost when the Sanctums were established (presuming that they were established a few centuries before or after the BC/AD shift; I don’t think the MCU uses the comic canon for Agamotto’s age). Using it for spoken language afterwards just makes sense with so many cultures present.

The lingua franca of Sanskrit wouldn’t change until Sanskrit’s decline; I don’t see it happening immediately, either. Sanskrit started declining in the 13th century, but I think it would remain the lingua franca until sometime during the Renaissance and the years of colonialism that follow. I believe there would have been a large push for Latin to be the main language of literacy and communication between the 16th to 18th centuries, primarily from the sorcerers from Europe. A good number of more complex texts from the London Sanctum would have surely been translated into Latin at this time (while the idea of writing in the vernacular, as spread with the printing press, has certainly caught on and beginner texts there are starting to be translated into early Modern English).

The Ancient One, who is now Sorcerer Supreme at this time, isn’t quite sure yet of that change. She’s getting a lot of resistance from Hong Kong in particular who think Sanskrit has served fine for well over a millennium and can serve just as well in the next. Instead she encourages more translations of beginner books into the vernacular and encourages those in the other Sanctums to learn other vernacular languages of other Sanctums as she can see the world is beginning to shrink and more places are being mapped. She, of course, can speak several languages fluently so she can talk to as many students in their native language as possible. Because the Sanctums are not within Spanish-speaking or French-speaking territories, these two languages are acknowledged as wide-speaking and at least a couple sorcerers learn the languages if there are no native speakers, but they do not come into the running as a lingua franca (just as Mandarin does not, either, as no one near Hong Kong speaks it).

Things remain in flux for the next 200 to 300 years until the New York Sanctum is largely populated by those who immigrated recently to the English colonies. And then the request starts to change: make the lingua franca English. London largely agrees with this (though things get a bit salty between a couple English natives and a couple pro-Independence colonizers at the end of the 18th century) but by the time the 19th century rolls around, there’s a lot of support for this from both New York and London.

Hong Kong doesn’t see why it should change at all, and then the Opium Wars come around, and by 1850, there’s quite a bit of English being spoken by newcomers in their area and almost everyone else is speaking another dialect of Chinese rather than the vernacular they were familiar with. They agree, albeit a bit reluctantly. English becomes the vernacular in the latter half of the 19th century and any starter books that haven’t been translated start to be translated into English.

The Hong Kong Sanctum also works on translating several starter books into Cantonese as they still want to draw from the local populace who don’t speak English; they still have plenty of the local Yue and Hakka dialects made over the last thousand years (with updates made every couple hundred years with shifting languages).

France’s fall from power with the removal of their monarchy and the defeat of Napoleon, alongside the continuous British colonization efforts and the growing prosperity from the new county of the United States, remove French from potentially becoming a lingua franca and solidify English as a worldwide language. This only increases in the 20th century after the Allied success in WWII, even with Britain giving up/losing their colonies throughout the next thirty years. English is still spoken in those territories, after all.

Hypothetical History: The Modern Era

The twentieth century saw the most change in the shape of the world than all centuries previous, and this change is reflected in policy with the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj. Before the twentieth century, the sorcerers that resided/worked in the various Sanctums were very homogeneous. London was staffed by Europeans and Hong Kong by Asians, especially of southeast descent. New York was the most lenient due to the low population in the area that was constantly moving, though individuals who looked like the indigenous peoples were certainly preferred (no blonds here). Everyone was welcome in Kamar-Taj as it was a completely closed off, secluded community and everyone was used to a very mixed population. As mentioned earlier, while London and New York saw different ethnicities, especially after the Renaissance, I don’t think a lot of people would really want to go out and about in those areas due to the prejudices of the era.

It is possible that some sorcerers came with prejudices as they were introduced to Kamar-Taj, but the amount of discipline and the ability to work together was so imperative to Agamotto, the Ancient One, and other Sorcerer Supremes (however many there were) that anyone who didn’t shed them simply wouldn’t be permitted to continue. Their tight-knit society wouldn’t be able to function if some sorcerers refused to work with other sorcerers because they looked different, practiced a different religion, or was a woman. The Ancient One being a woman of ambiguous religious practices helped get rid of a lot of people.

But as mentioned, a lot of things changed with the twentieth century. Prejudice still existed, of course, as it does today, but it was significantly less than when the slave trade was legal around half the world 200-300 years ago. The invention of photography, radio, and TV alongside WWI and WWII made the world smaller than it ever has been. And as the three Sanctum cities were much more heterogeneous than in centuries past, who presided over what relaxed.

In the 21st century, sorcerers come from all around the world over. Because their numbers are small I think recruitment still remains largely out of being lucky enough to come across a sorcerer who thinks you may be a good candidate, or to hear about Kamar-Taj through word of mouth and travel to Kathmandu (where it eventually permanently located as need for fields and fields of space became unnecessary). Anyone who doesn’t know English well (or at all) is taught to read, write, and speak the language during their novice days. As English is the lingua franca of the business world right now, no one in their right mind would turn that down, either; right now, English remains the most desired language to learn in the majority of non-English speaking countries.

Anyone can now be posted anywhere due to the heterogeneous world. Sleep schedules correspond with the local time of the location; as each Sanctum has an alarm system that goes to Kamar-Taj (and I imagine Kamar-Taj has its own), it would be easy enough to get sorcerers who are wide awake to help with an emergency. There’s probably someone keeping an eye on all locations when the locals are sleeping, even if they’re not physically there.

The majority of sorcerers who don’t have assignments that correspond with the Sanctums would remain in Kamar-Taj, and if they needed to go to any old Sanctum, it likely would be Hong Kong as Hong Kong is only two hours and 15 minutes ahead of Kathmandu. (China is one time zone when it should be at least three, but that’s another conversation altogether). That said, even if the local residents of the Sanctums are asleep, I view the Sanctums as facilities that are open twenty-four hours to the people of Kamar-Taj if they need to reference something that lives within one of the other Sanctums.

I don’t think the permanent staff of the Sanctums in the modern era would be overly large, either; there’s the Master, of course, probably another person to see to the Sanctum’s day-to-day tasks, and maybe a handful of acolytes and apprentices making a certain study of something that lives within the Sanctum or prefer to be within that time zone for some time while doing another job that they could do anywhere (such as the translations I mentioned). But because they do have that nifty alarm system, and the world is much more heterogeneous than it once was, the desire to keep sorcerers assigned to certain parts of the world appearing like people locally from there so as to draw less attention from locals is a custom that has more or less died out. And that has made the assignments much, much more flexible.

So yeah, I think in the modern era there is a bit more flexibility that wasn’t present in former eras because the world is smaller. With the alarm system connected to Kamar-Taj, which would have traffic 24 hours a day more than likely, you have a worldwide system of sorcerers with an eye on each Sanctum as well as a worldwide system of sorcerers that can go wherever they need to go to take care of dimensional issues as they come up.

#jim-hopper-superhero #doctor strange #history #kamar-taj #the sanctum #mcu #fictional history #long post #very long post #ask #answered #aelaer's stephen headcanon #headcanon

[dfroza]

people point fingers by their judging thoughts

sometimes, to turn around and do the very things that they criticize.

and this is not the way of Love.

but we see it, how True Love is patient & kind, and at the same time seeking to correct us of our wayward behavior in the way Paul wrote his Letters that have been conserved in the Scriptures, to point us in the direction of spiritual truth, to point us to God our Creator.

A point seen in Today’s reading of chapter #2 of the ancient Letter of Romans:

So you can see there are no excuses for any of us. If your eyes shift their focus from yourselves to others—to judge how they are doing—you have already condemned yourselves! You don’t realize that you are pointing your fingers at others for the exact things you do as well. There’s no doubt that the judgment of God will justly fall upon hypocrites who practice such things. Here’s what is happening: you attack and criticize others and then turn around to commit the same offenses yourselves! Do you think you will somehow dodge God’s judgment? Do you take the kindness of God for granted? Do you see His patience and tolerance as signs that He is a pushover when it comes to sin? How could you not know that His kindness is guiding our hearts to turn away from distractions and habitual sin to walk a new path?

But because your heart is obstinate and shameless, you’re storing up wrath that will count against you. On the day of His choosing, God’s wrath and judgment will be unleashed to make things right. As it goes, everyone will receive what his actions in life have cultivated. Whoever has labored diligently and patiently to do what is right—seeking glory, honor, and immortality—God will grant him endless joy in life eternal. But selfish individuals who make trouble, resist the truth, or sell out to wickedness will meet a very different fate—they will find fury and indignation as the fruit of living in the wrong. Suffering and pain await everyone whose life is marked by evil living (first for the Jew, and next for the non-Jew). But if you do what is right, you will receive glory, admiration, and peace (again, first for the Jew, then for the non-Jew). God has no favorites.

If one lives life without knowledge of the law—the teachings of the Torah—he will sin and die apart from the law. If someone else lives life under the law, his sin will be judged by what the law teaches. Here’s my point: just because a person hears the law read or recited does not mean he is right before the one True God; it is following the law that makes one right, not just hearing it.

For example, whenever people who don’t possess the law as their birthright commit sin, it still confirms that a “law” is present in their conscience. For when they instinctively do what the law requires, that becomes a “law” to govern them, even though they don’t have Mosaic law. It demonstrates that the requirements of the law are woven into their hearts. They know what is right and wrong, for their conscience validates this “law” in their heart. Their thoughts correct them in one instance and commend them in another. So this judgment will be revealed on the day when God, through Jesus the Messiah, judges the hidden secrets of people’s hearts. And their response to the gospel I preach will be the standard of judgment used in that day.

The Letter of Romans, Chapter 2:1-13 (The Voice) 2:14-16 (The Passion Translation)

and seeking spiritual truth certainly matters. such as seen written down in Today’s paired chapter with Romans 2 of the 3rd chapter of Malachi:

[The Master You’ve Been Looking For]

“Look! I’m sending my messenger on ahead to clear the way for me. Suddenly, out of the blue, the Leader you’ve been looking for will enter his Temple—yes, the Messenger of the Covenant, the one you’ve been waiting for. Look! He’s on his way!” A Message from the mouth of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

But who will be able to stand up to that coming? Who can survive his appearance?

He’ll be like white-hot fire from the smelter’s furnace. He’ll be like the strongest lye soap at the laundry. He’ll take his place as a refiner of silver, as a cleanser of dirty clothes. He’ll scrub the Levite priests clean, refine them like gold and silver, until they’re fit for God, fit to present offerings of righteousness. Then, and only then, will Judah and Jerusalem be fit and pleasing to God, as they used to be in the years long ago.

“Yes, I’m on my way to visit you with Judgment. I’ll present compelling evidence against sorcerers, adulterers, liars, those who exploit workers, those who take advantage of widows and orphans, those who are inhospitable to the homeless—anyone and everyone who doesn’t honor me.” A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

“I am God—yes, I Am. I haven’t changed. And because I haven’t changed, you, the descendants of Jacob, haven’t been destroyed. You have a long history of ignoring my commands. You haven’t done a thing I’ve told you. Return to me so I can return to you,” says God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

“You ask, ‘But how do we return?’

“Begin by being honest. Do honest people rob God? But you rob me day after day.

“You ask, ‘How have we robbed you?’

“The tithe and the offering—that’s how! And now you’re under a curse—the whole lot of you—because you’re robbing me. Bring your full tithe to the Temple treasury so there will be ample provisions in my Temple. Test me in this and see if I don’t open up heaven itself to you and pour out blessings beyond your wildest dreams. For my part, I will defend you against marauders, protect your wheat fields and vegetable gardens against plunderers.” The Message of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

“You’ll be voted ‘Happiest Nation.’ You’ll experience what it’s like to be a country of grace.” God-of-the-Angel-Armies says so.

[The Difference Between Serving God and Not Serving Him]

God says, “You have spoken hard, rude words to me.

“You ask, ‘When did we ever do that?’

“When you said, ‘It doesn’t pay to serve God. What do we ever get out of it? When we did what he said and went around with long faces, serious about God-of-the-Angel-Armies, what difference did it make? Those who take life into their own hands are the lucky ones. They break all the rules and get ahead anyway. They push God to the limit and get by with it.’”

Then those whose lives honored God got together and talked it over. God saw what they were doing and listened in. A book was opened in God’s presence and minutes were taken of the meeting, with the names of the God-fearers written down, all the names of those who honored God’s name.

God-of-the-Angel-Armies said, “They’re mine, all mine. They’ll get special treatment when I go into action. I treat them with the same consideration and kindness that parents give the child who honors them. Once more you’ll see the difference it makes between being a person who does the right thing and one who doesn’t, between serving God and not serving him.”

The Book of Malachi, Chapter 3 (The Message)

for One day it is promised that the whole earth will be filled with the True knowledge of Love.

[tumblunni]

OKAY SO THIS IS GONNA BE A LONG

Man it REALLY sucks that the only place you can’t take screenshots is in the cutscenes. SO MUCH GODDAMN PLOT HAPPENED!! I’m gonna try and sum it up! basically ORESHIKA GOT REAL

* Okay so to recap what’s happened before: we’re a magic cursed clan of zombie doods who need to defeat Abe No Senmei to break the curse. We can each only live for two years, so the game is built on hundreds of generations of this family marching into death over and over again until eventually some great great grandkid might get a normal life back. But oddly enough it isn’t actually as super dark as expected, cos you dont really have any personality or bonding scenes with the family members. I kinda stopped getting very upset after the first three generations, now theyve just become a bunch of numbers that i have to selectively breed to make a better next generation. Seriously its been OVER 150 CHARACTERS SO FAR and I’’m only around 2/3rds through the game! And like the plot also seemed super simple and it didn’t feel like anything was gonna happen to anyone outside of the backstory?? I DIDNT EXPECT IT TO GET SO REAL

* Abe No Seimei is a cool smarmy ass jerk villain with a neat design and a weird ancient japanese hand puppet. like this really funky cool wooden mask thing with a giant wig that I legit thought was an actual demon attatched to his arm until it started having clickitty clack face animations. I got REALLY UNUSUALLY SAD ABOUT THAT! Cos seriously abe no seimei is just.. weirdly.. nice...? He keeps telling you how to defeat him, he waits to do all his evil plots when you’re there to watch him, he literally sends you letters to come to his grand feasts celebrating each evil plan. And its so fuckin mysterious and getting to know him is really the only thing driving the plot forwards, cos none of your characters have actual voices. And like.. he’s this immortal guy who seems like he wants to die, and he’s deliberately playing the villain so you guys will be motivated enough to find out a way to do it. And like HE HAS ONLY ONE FRIEND and its HIMSELF DOING A STUPID PUPPET PAL VOICE. i’m really abnormally upset that onigashira isn’t really alive! His cute comedy sidekick doesnt exist! MR SERIOUS VILLAINMAN IS DOING THAT VOICE ALL ALONE IN HIS STUPID SAD HOUSE why do i want to hug this horrible jerkface

* Okay but then the other mystery we have is the character Nueko, who’s a weird demigod of some sort who can reincarnate in human form. She’s the one who gave us our magic zombie powers in the first place, she’s got the power to DIE HORRIBLY REPEATEDLY AND FEED PEOPLE HER BLOOD in order to cure them of deadly diseases and bring them back to life and stuff. And this actually becomes a gameplay thing! You can repeatedly bring her back as a new human reincarnation, and then her special skills let her shield allies from damage at the cost of basically going poof back to the heavens again. Its a really useful relief from the punishing permadeath! While not being overpowered cos she can only save one person per dungeoncrawl, and you cant reincarnate her again for a while afterwards. Anyway she keeps popping up every now and again like ‘hey guys i slept off that last death’ and being a super helpful badass team mom and such. But then THE PLOT STARTS HAPPENING EVERYWHERE Cos it turns out she’s got ~magical anime amnesia~ and doesnt understand her demigodness any better than we do. But wtf why does this evil sorcerer man keep implying he knows some secret about her...?

* THE PLOT TWIST SHE’S HIS MOM HIS MOM and seriously I LOVE ONIGASHIRA SO MUCH its like Nueko: What did you say?! Onigashira: *literally looks out the fourth wall* Did you hear it, kids? He totally said “waaaah, mummy, I missed you so much”, right! Literal actual player prompt: Yes/No Bunni, of course: SLAM THAT YES And oh god its just so extra funny cos Seimei actually doesnt even deny it?? He cracks a semi genuine smile and just looks embarassed, its so weird cos its like the only time he hasnt been all smug grumpy asshole. And I mean if it is indeed true that Onigashira is just a puppet, then the whole thing was his genuine feelings from the start.. ... though also DOES THAT MEAN SEIMEI CAN SEE THROUGH THE FOURTH WALL its weird how thats MORE SCARY than the literal demon doing it! like i feel like the game wants me to be scared of onigashira but he’s just SO CUTE AND FUNNY and I really dont want him to be imaginary okay. can we adopt him after we defeat seimei :(

* BUT ANYWAY UMM Yeah, Nueko is actually his mum despite looking younger than him! He kinda inherited her reincarnation power in a broken way, cos he’s half human. Instead of experiencing multiple lives whenever he chooses it, and getting to nap in the clouds in between, instead he just CANNOT DIE NO MATTER HOW MUCH PUNISHMENT HE TAKES. Seriously he introduced himself by setting himself on fire, burning to a crisp and then growing back his skin right in front of us, just to prove it! I can honestly relate to this guy going mad if he’s had to put up with this super crappy immortality that he never even asked for. And also its gotta sting to see that his own mum gets to stay more youthful looking, lol. i mean he’s pretty bishie too right now, but I’m assuming he’d actually continue to age and thats gotta suck!

* Oh and there’s this really cool element that all the bosses that Seimei summons to figth you become new powerups for Nueko! Its an early clue about their connection- at first she’s like WTF WHY IS THIS HAPPENING, but then it turns out these bosses actually originally were her familiars and she left them to look after her son. So they’re still loyal to her original command until she defeats them in battle. Also the WAY these familiars get used is EXTRA SUPER COOL! They’re sealed in magic tattoos all over her body, so she gets more sweet ink every time you reach a storyline milestone. And then she doesn’t just summon them or just boost her stats, she friggin GROWS MASSIVE MONSTER ARMS ALL OVER THE SHOP! Like I was so worried when her design looked all fanservicey at first, but then she’s never degraded in any way and she gets this super disservice power lol. I can’t imagine any smut fanfiction with her! “Yes hunny i will take off my bra and then BRING OUT THE CRAB ARMS” She grows fuckin CRAB ARMS! And snake heads for legs! She can shoot different demons out of all of her limbs and grow giant horns and wing hair and breathe fire and holy fuckin shit yo. And she’s really fuckin terrifyingly stoic badass even before she unlocks her powers! She could probably crush your head in her palm and not even need the crab. basically I Love Strong Mom

* Oh and apparantly Nueko’s husband was another god who got erased from history? Literally nobody is able to say his name, it comes out as garbled scribbled out text. And at the moment its ambiguous what happened, but it might be possible that he was actually sniped out by his fellow gods for being TOO GOOD. Like, he wanted to make peace with demons and give a bigger share fo divine power to humans, and everyone else was all ‘BUT THE STATUS QUO’ and stabbed him in the back. possibly? Maybe? ITS ALL SO MYSTERY!!

* so ANYWAY ANYWAY a required other thing for explaining the EMOTIONALLY DESTRUCTIVE MOMENT is that there’s this duo of minor helpful npcs i never mentioned before, cos i honestly didnt think they were gonna be important there’s this justice-powered cute princess who’s determined to do political stuffs to clear your clan’s name and let you back into your former land, though all you really see of it is that she makes a few sentences of progress every time you get back from a story dungeon. And then there’s her grumpy ass bodyguard who’s kinda your rival? he’s always hating on you while she always supports you, and its like he’s jealous cos he has a crush on her and doesnt want commoners talking to his precious princes. And blablabla ‘i am the only one strong enough to protect her GRARR i need to get stronger how did you defeat me’ yadda yadda. Except you dont even get to fight him, again its just like one sentence every story dungeon where he says he was totally gonna rescue the magical artifact you beat him to. Even tho he doesnt do it no matter how many years pass, lol So yeah we like.. didnt really even know them very well, but also they felt like this comforting constant that would never leave? GuesS WHAT THE EMOTIONALLY DESTRUCTIVE BIT WAS

* Okay so HEY SEIMEI KIDNPPED PRINCESS LADY HAHA JUST AN ORDINARY DAMSEL IN DISTRESS PLOT we’re TOTALLY gonna successfully get her back, this is probably just filler... HA... HA... HA...

* The rollercoaster of emotions begins! Hey onigashira might actually really be alive! Apparantly this puppet mask is haunted, or something? like onigashira is the name of a whole set of masks that give you super power if you wear them, but turn you beserker loopy demon man. Though they dont seem to be sentient or anything and also like nobody else seems to be able to wear them without losing their humanity?? So like did seimei escape the curse by wearing it as a hand puppet instead? or is the puppet not connected to the masks at all? Or is it gonna be something lame like seimei was never in control of his actions and the puppet is sentient and is the real baddie? COS I LIKE HIM BEING THE CUTE COMIC RELIEF YO Oh, wait, like.. maybe its something like seimei is possessed by the mask but the mask isnt really alive and like.. doing ventriloquism is just his random symptom of this ambiguously defined madness? Like instead of going beserker it made him ‘give in to his instincts’ in a different way, so he stays mostly in control but involuntarily expresses his true hidden feelings through the puppet. Hence why it is the best and cutest goofball who encourages him to be honest and hug his mom. OR JUST I DUNNO I JUST KNOW I HAVE MY FAITH SLIGHTLY RESTORED THAT CUTE SIDEKICK MIGHT BE REAL AND I CAN ADOPT HIM

* but hey guess what happened right after that happy moment of wow cool yay in the middle of me being like ‘yay seimei is so cool yay onigashira is actually gonna play a bigger plot role than just a sidekick and may actually be his own separate character’ SUDDENLY THEY KILL THE SAMURAI And like OHHH NO they dont even JUST kill the samurai I was still thinking the moment was cool!! Seimei throws a second mask on him and curses him to fight the party and i was just like WOW YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD and WHAT A COOL BOSS FIGHT CONCEPT And like I was proud of myself for sweeping the fight super quickly?? I just thought he’d be fine once we got the mask off??? BUT NO HE’S FUCKIN DEAD WE COULDNT UNDO THE CURSE WE JUST HAD TO KILL HIM AND THEY SHOW HIS VERY GRAPHICALLY BLOODIED CORPSE and like his whole plotline got cut off with no resolution?? he only existed to die here?? THE WRITERS NEVER HAD ANY INTENTION OF LETTING HIM CONFESS HIS PRINCESS LOVE. AND HE ALSO NEVER MADE UP WITH US AND LEARNED FROM HIS RIVAL PLOTS he just died really sadly and then like FOR THE SECOND TIME ONLY IN THE ENTIRE GAME we had an actual dialogue choice to decide the personality of our hero first time: lol onigashira mommy jokes second time: pick one of three ways to try and soften the blow as you tell the rescued princess that her childhood friend and crush just died horribly :(

* :(

* the one I picked was telling her he died saving her, not that he was the one being mind controlled to threaten her. :(

* I DIDNT EVEN LIKE YOU GRUMPY DUDE BUT YOU DESERVED BETTER THAN THAAAAAT

* look can i just headcanon that he became a guardian spirit like my characters can do if they get that rare random event. or like.. geez.. why couldnt nueko use her ressurection powers on him if she could do it for us?? they should have at least had a line of dialogue saying something like ‘it cant be done cos his soul was corrupted by the demon power’ or something...

* MAY YOU RESOLVE YOUR DAMN PLOTLINE IN THE AFTERLIFE, GRUMP FRIEND

* also seimei I am fuckin pissed. you have been promoted from trash boss who i kinda wanna give a hug to the same thing but without the hug now. you dont even deserve your sweet sidekick! IM TAKING YOUR DAMN PUPPET PAL, SHITTY POOP MAN i fuckin SWEAR if this game doesnt end with me ripping that puppet out of his hands i am gonna throttle a bitch

* ALSO I FUCKIN SWEAR IF THEY PULL A ‘PUPPET PAL WAS THE REAL VILLAIN AND SEIMEI WAS BRAINWASHED’ I AM GONNA DOUBLE CHOKE YA inm gonna fuckin build my own puppet with animatronic stranglin’ hands

#bunni plays oreshika #I WILL NOT CEASE IN MY ENDLESS BELIEF IN PUPPET PAL

[tokupedia]

Kamen Rider 45th Anniversary File: Gaim

*ominous chimes sound followed by the sound of marching drums* ♫ Got it, Move~ Wooow~ ♬

2013

After a long hiatus with clipshow series to tide fans over, Tsuburaya finally creates a brand new Ultraman Series and Ultraman to celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary: Ultraman Ginga

Neo Ultra Q bring the original Ultra Q concept into the modern day as its “second season” and airs on satellite  TV.

Kyoryu plus Humans! After almost a decade, the fandom’s favorite motif of Dino Sentai returns! HEAR OUR ROAR! The invincible superstars of the 37th Sentai, Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger debut! Perfect-de gozaru!

DokiDoki! PreCure runs alongside the Strongest Braves and Armored Riders as the Pretty Cure series of that year.

Garo: Yami o Terasu Mono debuts on TV and stars a new Makai Knight: Ryuga Dougai.

Kouga returns for one last outing as the original Garo in Garo: Soukoku no Maryu. This film takes a more dark fantasy approach akin to 1980s Jim Henson as it is less about the scares and boobs and more of a gothic Wizard of Oz/Alice in Wonderland tale that the whole family can enjoy with only a little blood here and there.

Gatchaman becomes a live action movie....with disappointing changes made to the source material that upset the fans, resulting in a box office flop as it made it to #6 on the charts for only its first week and then fell hard straight to the bottom in the following weeks. Fans consider it one of the top 10 worst live action adaptations of an anime. 

Another dud was the film re-imagining of the 1960s hero Tiger Mask starring Eiji Wentz.

On the more raunchy side of things, Hentai Kamen debuts on the silver screen.

Koichi Sakamoto does two solo film projects: Travelers, a sci-fi action flick starring Nao Nagasawa and Ayumi Kinoshita and 009-1, a movie that commemorated the 75th anniversary of the birth of Shotaro Ishinomori (And haunts my nightmares!)

Nuligumar Z, something that slipped past even my radar. It is a film about a Magical Girl henshin superheroine who fights zombies!

When it came time to plan the next season, Producer Naomi Takebe had an interest in breaking away from the formula a bit as the Kamen Rider series had fallen into certain patterns such as only 2 or 3 heroes each season. The first idea that came about in the Toei studio was that there would be more Riders, akin to Ryuki. The next idea was that each would have a motif unique to each of them, at first the team passed around the idea of birds and insects but Bandai suggested something completely unorthodox: Fruit.

Naomi loved this idea as it was something that was never done before and would give a unique look to each Rider to match their personality. The Toei staff test marketed kids to find out what kinds of fruit they liked, with the most popular being oranges. So they decided to make an orange fruit samurai as the main lead! 

In terms of music, Avex got a band outside their record label, reggae group Shonan no Kaze, to perform some of the songs of the show and movies with the actors who play the main heroes doing their own themes. Ei Ei OH!

As for the trinkets, the staff wanted it to be like OOO where the device was easy to swap out. (And because OOO was the highest selling Kamen Rider toys on record to date and they kept trying to get those numbers again despite OOO being a lightning in a bottle happenstance.).

Naomi had one idea about “unlocking potential” and after some brainstorming, the staff came up with the idea of using padlocks as a gimmick and enhance it with the fruit motif. But the staff decided it needed a bit more pizazz so they chose to set the show it in a “Sengoku-like setting”, thus the concept of armors came about. To add more flavor, no pun intended, they chose not just armors from ancient Japan, but ancient China, European Knights, Norse Vikings, ancient Arabian archers and a Roman gladiator!

To add to the sheer bizarreness of this mixture they added a guy famously known for a show about killing young girls in a dark deconstruction of the magical girl genre as its head writer:

Gen Urobuchi, dubbed by fans of his work as “Gen the Butcher” or “The Urobutcher.” A self proclaimed nihilist in terms of his dark style of writing, Gen’s involvement caused quite a stir in the fandom and excitement built up. This happened because the voice of Kivat the 3rd from Kiva, Tomokazu Sugita, worked with him previously and introduced him to Naomi Takebe.

Despite seeming out of place for this type of thing, Gen was a huge fan of Kamen Rider, having read Ishinomori’s Black manga when he was a teen and favorites like Ryuki (which may or may not have inspired Puella Magi Madoka Magica) as well as universal fan faves like the Kamen Rider Black TV Show.

Gen also saw this as a challenge, as he had been in a rut doing nothing but anime for a while and needed a change of pace. He was instructed to make the series like “Early Showa Era” Kamen Rider, which only made fans want to see it more.

Then we saw the costumes.....and the fandom had a schism form as some thought Kamen Rider was “ruined 4everz”.

But Gaim is now one of the more highly praised Kamen Rider shows of recent memory. Many enjoying it for going into darker territory at times, having characters you root for, a few deaths and a genuine sense of danger if the heroes fail in the later parts of the season. Also, a plot that neatly threads together (more or less).

Granted, it also had a few hiccups, like the summer 2014 film that was more or less a forced tie-in to the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Kamen Rider Taisen’s plot and the awesome but forced and disrupting-a-story-arc Kikaider crossover episode to plug the movie Kikiader Reboot.

The praise was so high for the show that internet geek fan website Den of Geek proclaimed it as the best tokusatsu show in years. (I’d like to think Garo deserves that title at least once in a while and every toku franchise has its day when it hits it outta the park, but I’m just a Fox with opinion) I’d say go into Gaim with expectations leveled, as you are automatically setting yourself up for possible disappointment if overhype clouds your judgement.

If you think it is as great as everybody says, great! If you don’t like it, there are (currently as of this post) 27 other shows of varying styles and tone you can try out or other franchises of the toku genre that may be your cup of tea.

But enough yammering...It’s Lord Kouta’s stage now! ORAAAAA!

(Mr. Kazuraba circa 2013)

Real Name: Kouta Kazuraba

“Pluck the fruit of Heaven. That the world may be dyed in your image. Is that the glory you seek? Is that burden one you can bear? Know this. The lives of men are not ours to control, not even our own. We cannot defy the inexorable current of fate that carries us. But what if fate itself were to call you... To change the world? To turn the course of the future? You cannot defy your fate. But the fate of the world is in your hands!”

In a bustling planned community called Zawame City, the Yggdrasil Corporation provides everyday needs, from healthcare to housing to schools. Zawame used to be a small town, but Yggdrasil moved in and made it a pet project. With a large corporation running everything, people in Zawame feel it is like a “castle town” of the Sengoku Era of old.

And in this town, they call home, everyone hails to a Beat Rider song. Beat Riders are special dance groups that lift the spirits of the citizens. Beat Riders also engage in competitions for turf with other Beat Riders dance groups in Pokemon-like battles using Lock Seeds to summon monsters from another dimension called Inves. One former dancer is Kouta Kazuraba, who has given up his life as a member of Team Gaim and fun to basically adult. (I know that feeling all too well). This has caused a rift between his friends such as Mai as he no longer has time for them and after spending time with Team Gaim’s leader Yuya, goes back to his adult life.

Yuya later talks to a Lock Dealer named Sid, who offers him something to turn Team Gaim’s luck around after their loss to Team Baron...

Kouta later gets a text from Yuya, telling him he found “something good” with an image of a strange device sent as an attachment. Mai and Kouta then encounter a dimensional tear and go inside it, After Kouta picks some strange fruit from the dimension, a larger Inves appears and attacks Mai. They find the device lying on the ground and no sign of Yuya anywhere. Kouta puts on the device, as it looks like a belt buckle and it causes the fruit he was carrying to transform into Lock Seeds. The Inves finds them and chases them again back into their world, and after distracting it, Kouta uses the belt and a Lock seed to become what would later be dubbed an “Armored Rider”.

During his battle with the Inves, a mysterious blonde woman appears to warn Kouta that what he chooses next will determine the course of his fate. If he continues to continue, he will be forced to fight until the very end. Kouta kills the Inves and then goes down a winding path of mysteries, alliances, betrayals and revelations of the dark truth of both Yggdrasil Corp. and the Inves.

Looking back on it, that was when the gears were just starting to turn. But, we didn't realize anything at all. We didn't know that our fates were already written in stone. We just wanted the power to reach our dreams. We thought that helped shape us. That's what we all believed. In the endless war that was yet to come. We would discover that for ourselves.

-Kouta Kazuraba

During one adventure, he met his predecessor Kamen Rider Wizard, who bestowed the title of Kamen Rider to him and the two fought an evil sorcerer alongside the other Heisei Riders.

Gear:

Sengoku Driver

Lockseeds

Lockseed Holder

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Lock_Vehicles

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Armor_Parts

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Musou_Saber_Holster

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Musou_Saber

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Daidaimaru

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Ichigo_Kunai

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Pine_Iron

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Suika_Sojinto

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Sonic_Arrow

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Genesis_Driver#Genesis_Core_Unit

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/DJ_Gun

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Senyo_Joint

Powers:

Enhanced Strength from the various armors, skilled weapons user with various weapons at Gaim’s disposal which is further enhanced by his final form.

The Jimber Forms give Kouta a specific enhancement: Super Hearing in Jimber Peach, Super Speed in Jimber Cherry and Enhanced Power in Jimber Lemon. Kachidoki Arms generates fire from the war flags that Gaim carries and has an AWESOME Gun that turns into a Zanbatō!

When the “Madoka moment” happens in the show, Gaim basically becomes a demi-god. He has florakinesis, teleportation, spirit mediumship, telepathy, attack nullification, exorcism, healing powers, dream walking, reality warping, time travel (by way of the golden fruit), portal creation, resurrection ability and a healing factor. Kouta also possessed the power to terraform an environment as large as an entire planet.

Even if his Lockseeds are damaged, Kouta can regenerate them to working condition as long as he is alive and bears the power of the fruit.

Kiwami Arms can summon multiple Arms weapons which Kouta can manipulate via telekinesis to attack his opponents (as seen in the game All Kamen Rider: Rider Revolution).

Weaknesses:

Before the “Madoka moment”, all one needed to do to defeat Gaim was destroy his driver as he was an ordinary human or swipe away all his Lockseeds. He also was susceptible to mind control and “Dark Henshin-ed” once in to a black version of Gaim.

As a demi-god, it is shown that while Kouta is a formidable opponent, certain beings can drain his power away rendering him human again and thus able to be killed (Ex. Megahex). If the “back-up” of his genetic data inside the Kiwami Lockseed is destroyed, then Kouta would be dead and gone forever as he would have no means of reviving.

He also can be overpowered by stronger beings, though ones of such god-like cosmic threat level are few in the Kamen Rider universe.

Given his near God-tier status now though, it is a difficult task to even make a dent in him for the average Rider.

Enemies:

Inves

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Inves

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Advanced_Inves

Inves are beings from another dimension who at first are like Pokemon to the people of Earth, a fun harmless pet they could summon to fight battles in called the Inves Games from Lockseeds. However, it becomes apparent after the first episode that they are far from innocent, as they are wild beasts who feed on the fruit of the Helheim Forest/Lockseeds to grow even stronger and evolve into larger monsters and attack people. However, despite seeming to be mindless, there is a dark secret as to what exactly they are.

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Over_Lord_Inves

Some of the Inves posses sapient-level intelligence and these are classified a the OverLord Inves. They command the feral and savage members of their race.

Yggdrasil Corp.

(Riff: Yggdrasil, a subsidiary of EvilCorp Conglomerates United and Amalgamated Cheese.)

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Yggdrasill_Corporation

Yggdrasil is a major multinational corporation run by the Kureshima family. They set up their new HQ in Zawame seemingly out of interest in a city development project, but have a more serious ulterior motive in stopping a mass outbreak of the Inves that they believe will wipe out humanity.

Despite this seemingly noble goal of saving humanity, Yggdrasil’s means of doing so are morally questionable at best and outright horrifying at worst.

Word eventually gets leaked that they were going to let 6 billion humans die as they could only save 1 billion in the event of mass outbreak if the Helheim Forest spread. They are then labeled as terrorists by the UN and after a domino effect, including a siege of the Zawame Branch by the Inves, the company went into bankruptcy.

However, its former CEO does try to repent for his company’s sins by helping rebuild Zawame and protecting it in Kouta’s absence.

(Though the Melon Lord wasn’t a bad guy to begin with, just a bit arrogant and misguided in believing there was no other way to save humanity and things went out of his control as the series progressed. Kouta eventually got through to him and the two became friends.)

That’s all for now, I leave you to bask in the metal mustachioed glory that is Kachidoki Arms!

#RiseUpYourFlag!

#kamen rider #45th anniversary #kamen rider gaim #fruit #samurai #2013 #tokusatsu #kachidoki arms #fruit basket #dai dai dai shougun #soiya #this is our stage now #dancing #dj gun #sengoku driver #lockseed #gen urobuchi

[keptin-indy]

Exalted: The Saigoth Gates

This game has been going on for more than a year now, so I’ll be posting writeups twice a week to try and catch up; one on Wednesday (during the actual game) and one on Friday (when I finish that week’s writeup).  As before, feel free to ask questions or clarifications.  Like most tabletop gamers, I love talking about systems, campaigns, and characters.

Setting

Creation is in the Age of Sorrows.  The decadent First Age fell thousands of years ago, the villainous Solar Anathema who had stolen the power of the sun god brought down by the righteous Dragonblooded, people empowered by the elemental essences of Creation itself.  Or was it that the glorious golden age of the Solar Exalted, chosen by the Unconquered Sun for greatness, was usurped by the jealous Terrestrial soldiers?  Regardless, it was followed by the fractious Dragonblooded Shogunate which was later ravaged by a worldwide plague and subsequent invasion of the Fair Folk from beyond the edges of the world.  All of Creation owes its continued existence to one Dragonblood woman, the Scarlet Empress of the Realm, who dared the defenses of an ancient superweapon and used it to destroy the invaders and declare herself the ruler of the largest and most powerful nation the world had seen since the First Age.  The Empress ruled with an iron fist and the core of her Realm on the Blessed Isle grew prosperous while her satrapies in the Threshold variously suffered and/or grew civilized under her legions and the great houses her descendants established.  A powerful sorceress, the Scarlet Empress ruled for more than 700 years and intended to rule for many more, but she mysteriously disappeared a few years ago, leaving the Realm in a crisis of succession and giving the Threshold the first possibility of freedom it had seen in centuries.  Even worse, the Solar Anathema, locked away for millennia and fiercely hunted on the rare occasions they appeared, suddenly began to come back in larger numbers than before, just when the Realm was least able to deal with them.*

*Exalted is a very in-depth setting.  Like my Dresden Files writeup, I’ll try to link relevant wiki articles when something is too complicated to explain during the game.  That said, I highly recommend checking Exalted out if you like high fantasy with moral quandaries and diverse cultures.  The third edition corebook has just been released and this campaign is set in a slightly hybrid 3rd/2nd edition setting.

Characters

Unquenched Ardor (Dawn) was the bard and standard bearer for a war band in Medo in the North, a satrapy of the Realm.  During a surprise attack of the undead on her band, she rallied her troops and turned the tide and was noticed by the Unconquered Sun, who appointed her one of His generals.  Fearing that her clan would be killed if her Exaltation were known about, she changed her name and traveled south, following the dream the Sun had sent her. (Scottish-equivalent, medium height, brown hair, App 3)

Mazatl Quetzal (Zenith) was the appointed king of a small city-state far in the East which won its right to freedom from the Fair Folk every ten years in a grand ball game culminating in the sacrifice of the losing team.  A rival city-state betrayed them to the Guild, who enslaved them and left the city to be eaten by the Wyld.  The devastated Mazatl followed their trail on foot, travelling west across seemingly endless desert.  His dedication to his people touched the Unconquered Sun, who gave him the ability to withstand all hardships in his quest and appointed his one of His priests. (Aztec-equivalent, short, black hair and eyes, wears a cloak made of magical hummingbirds, App 4)

Watcher of the West (Twilight 1) was, at the start of game, a conman and would-be sky pirate travelling with his companion Shashaka and thunderbird familiar Force of the Great Typhoon.  Whenever questioned about his origins, he spun a new lie and evaded any straightforward answer.  What was definitely true about him was that he was a craftsman and sorcerer-engineer, always building something and happy to explain his plans to resurrect the lost art of airship-building.  (dubiously English-equivalent, tall, white hair, blue eyes, very pale, exceedingly well-dressed, App 4) (actual spoilery backstory for the curious) (Yours truly, so sort of the POV character)

Jeweled Krait (Twilight 2) was a slave to House Ragara in the Lap on the Southern Threshold.  He secretly studied the books of his master and initiated himself into sorcery, winning both an escape and an Exaltation.  A self-taught genius, Krait suffers social anxiety and a complete lack of mental filter as well as a suspect idea of morality.  He’s far happier with his alchemy and demons than he is with people (and the feeling is often mutual). (Afro-Caribbean-equivalent, lavender hair, dark skin, App 5)

Shashaka Yadibatu (Night) was a scout in the Haltan army in the East before rescuing a Linowan child from the Fair Folk (and being Exalted for her self-sacrificing righteousness) then subsequently being literally branded a traitor by her own people and exiled.  She roamed westward trying to find a purpose and freeing slaves where she could until she was apprehended by the Wyld Hunt near the city of Thorns.  Past that, she never explains, but she somehow ended up partnered to West and making their way south in order to rob Gem. (Indian-equivalent, very tall, green hair, App 3)

Naran Bataar (Eclipse) was a native to Chiaroscuro, born to one of its rich merchant families.  He hasn’t shared how he Exalted, but his role as diplomat and entrepreneur was a natural fit for his caste.  Naran never lies and is still somehow able to make friends everywhere he goes.  Naran is the glue that holds the circle together and an excellent swordsman in addition to his other qualities. (Arabic-equivalent, short, dark red hair, App 5-6)

(Fun fact: in the Dresden Files game, Ardor’s player is Murchah and Mazatl’s is Sam.  And y’know, I’m West and Baz.  If you happened to read the Sidereals writeup, this was all the same group with the addition of Shashaka’s player.) (Also, for people not familiar with Exalted stats, App means Appearance and the scale is 1-5.  This party is so absurdly pretty.)

Session 1

On their way to Gem, West and Shashaka found themselves in the port city of Chiaroscuro.  While stealing supplies from the marketplace there, the disguised Shashaka noticed inexplicable cold spots scattered around, recognizing them as the hallmarks of dematerialized demons.  She and West went on the alert, quietly readying their weapons, and noticed another very pretty, lavender-haired man draw out a shuriken.  The blood apes took this as their cue to manifest and begin attacking bystanders in the crowded market.  Unsurprisingly, a riot began to break out as everyone attempted to flee.  As suddenly as it started, however, a Northern woman turned it into an orderly evacuation by playing a steady drumbeat and calming the crowd with her voice.  Two other men ran against the crowd toward the demons, one drawing a sword of the local magical glass, the other’s magnificent feathered cloak dissolving into countless shimmering hummingbirds which improbably swarmed one of the demons like bees.  The fight now joined in earnest, the blood apes pounced on Shashaka, West, and the lavender-haired man while the man with the sword almost literally bounced between them, trying to get the demons off.  The Easterner with the hummingbirds suddenly manifested a red and white jade daiklaive and cut the demon fighting him in half, much to everyone’s surprise.  The lavender man claimed to be a servant of Octavian to prevent his blood ape from ripping him to pieces, and when that only briefly worked, abruptly sucked the demon into what West assumed was either a yasal crystal or another Twilight’s anima banner.  Shashaka and the swordsman killed the one pinning her to the ground, and the Northern woman changed her rousing battle-song into something discordant and terrifying, making the ape on top of West dematerialize to flee.  The hummingbird trainer, his daiklaive suddenly nowhere to be found, demanded that the demon come back.  West scoffed at this attempt and suddenly found himself face to face with the materialized blood ape, whereupon he shoved his lightning gun down its throat and electrocuted it to death.

Brushing themselves off, the odd collection of people variously attended to wounded bystanders or harvested demon parts when an old woman asked if they would come with her so they could discuss what had just happened.  The native Chiaroscuran was extremely deferential and the others followed for their own, largely unknown reasons.  For West and Shashaka, it was largely curiosity.  Along the way to their destination, the group all introduced themselves (Shashaka unfolding herself from a pale, unremarkable woman to all of her 6'4" Haltan glory), though not much more information was given than names.  The old woman said that she was Grandmother Bright, a name which West recognized and treated with much more respect, though he refused to call her Honoured Grandmother.  The goddess took them to her outdoor temple/cafe in the Plaza and told them that evil forces were afoot in Chiaroscuro and that she needed help tracking down the perpetrators.  There had been several similar demonic attacks throughout the least fortified parts of the city at the same time, though none so quickly dispatched as this one, and she had had other indications of something working against the local people for some time.  She offered the group housing in the prestigious and well-appointed Plaza while they assisted her, but it was the offer of access to an alchemical workshop that convinced Jeweled Krait and West, with Shashaka shrugging and going along with her partner.  Naran and Mazatl volunteered immediately upon hearing about the problem, but Unquenched Ardor was reluctant, confused, and very far from home.  Grandmother Bright assured her that she was free to leave when she wished, and Ardor tentatively agreed to help.  

The group was shown to an apartment suite with magical amenities, which West was terribly pleased about, having not seen indoor plumbing in far too long.  Krait shyly bargained with the local alchemist for some equipment of his own, which he set up in his room so he wouldn’t have to talk to anyone.  At dinner, the subject of the missing blood ape came up and West explained that it was in a yasal crystal, thinking he was protecting Krait’s secret of being an Anathema and feeling surprised and slightly guilty when it really was in a yasal crystal.  Krait asked his captive who had summoned it, but the demon only knew that its master was a robed and hooded human who had bound it to do whatever it wanted for a year and a day.  When pressed, it agreed to lead the group to the place it had been summoned in exchange for its freedom (but not its life, which it later regretted). Setting out on its directions, the group unhappily found itself in the sewers beneath the city.  West passed out perfumed cloths to fight the unpleasantness a little, and followed the cloaca until the three people who could see dematerialized spirits caught sight of a waiting tomescu.  As the only one who could both see it and speak Old Realm, West tried to negotiate getting past it, which failed, but did reveal that the summoner had pledged their soul to Sondok, She Who Stands in Doorways.  It also agreed to pass a message to its master requesting a meeting.  The rest of the party was having none of this, and decided to kill the tomescu instead.  This accomplished, Krait freed the blood ape and the party killed that, too, so Krait’s yasal crystal would be free to capture another demon if needed.  After all this slaughter, they went through the door the tomescu had been guarding.  On the other side was a horror house of gutted sacrifice victims and half-finished sorcerous equations written in their blood.

#exalted #tabletop rpgs #livejournal replacement #game #exalted: saigoth gates #actual play

[metaphysicalmatter]

Discussion: Dimensions

Now feels like a good time to chat about spirit dimensions/realms, especially since I recently brought up the stage of Caleb’s energy beginning to burn off. As you can imagine, this subject is so vast and complicated, but there can also be a level of simplicity to it. And, like everything else we talk about, in the grand scheme of things, there is so much more than what I include here but at least we can touch on the basics.  

Simply put, the universe has 12 general dimensions of consciousness, with the spirit world consisting of dimensions 4-9. Although, scientifically, I’m sure there are far more dimensions, both prior and after. The 1st dimension consists of atoms, molecules and minerals; the 2nd dimension is the plane for plants, trees, animals and insects; and the 3rd is what we’re physically living in now.  But here’s a synopsis of the spirit world’s five (thanks to postings from Conscious Awareness, Illuminology and Patrick Crusade-although truncated and blended):

Fourth Dimension – The Astral Plane This plane tends to be polarized, housing both light and darkness, leaving forces to battle ‘good vs. evil’. Beings retain consciousness as feelings and thoughts based on feelings. Many guides, angels and Ascended Masters impulse those of us in the 3rd dimension who are receptive and ready for spiritual growth. Beings are also impulsed by the dark counterparts that also exist here. The dark ones are able to match the lower-vibrational frequency negative thoughts, repressed emotions, unhealed shadows, etc. of humans and are able to pull them into the dark side, controlling and feeding off of their pain and fear. As humans develop higher-vibrational qualities of being, thinking, doing and feeling they are magnetized into the 4th dimensional light impulses and pulled free from the dark control. The astral plane is where time travel, karma, mind reading, astral travel and others of the like exist, as well as “hell” and purgatory. This dimension (no surprise) is where nightmares take place.  (*this is the plane that Caleb initially entered, as we all would, but he did not want to leave – for personal, earth-bound connection reasons).

Fifth Dimension – Plane of Light (also known as “Heaven”) This plane also has dark and light polarities but the refinement and freedom to alter these forms is at will.  The lights aspect of this realm contains most personal spirit guides, serving and guardian angels and Ascended Masters. Flying and lucid dreams, and dreams of healing, higher experiences, and teachings occur here.  And there are also dark angels, sorcerers and rulers of the underworld and lower dimensions in this realm.

Sixth Dimension – Realm of Geometry This plane is mental in nature and based on the ideas of information. Thoughts first take form in this dimension before they manifest on the astral plane. Ideas, language and symbols take “shape” here. All Akashic records are housed here, which are the complete files on everyone and everything.  From this level on up, the dimensions are exclusively of the Light.  Our Higher Self communicates with us on a soul and spirit level in this realm.

Seventh Dimension – Realm of Cosmic Sound The dimensions beyond the sixth have the loss of shape and form and become more abstract, such as colored energy or ribbons.  The colored energy is an ‘atmosphere’, as opposed to a ‘planet’, and spin like vortexes to retrieve information.  Communication between beings in this realm is done by combining sounds, blending colors and creating understanding.

Eighth Dimension – Oceans of Light This plane consists of a group soul, a collection of entities that work together as one unit.  Group soul members can channel into other forms in other dimensions to function and communicate. Beings in this dimension exist as self-aware consciousness emitting color, light and movement. This is also the realm of the Void.

Ninth Dimension – Pillar of Light This is the last dimension in which a Light Being has the capacity to experience consciousness and the only form here is the parallel strands of refined light. It is said that this is the farthest the human consciousness can go, dimensionally, without the body being vaporized.

Ok, now, let’s be serious. I started trying to put this information together thinking that, because I’d previously learned about it a bit, it would be easier to write up. No way. The number of times that I wrote/delete/repeat is more than I am used to. There is SO much information out there and SO many different variations, close enough to make my brain bleed. But, I wanted to include it and felt it necessary for where we’re at in these postings.  Circling back to the classes that Caleb was attending, I’m sure it comes down to ‘the more you learn, the more you grow, the more you can expand your consciousness and the higher you can escalate because of it’.  I should ask my main guide, who confirmed me with that she’s in the ninth dimension, how long it took her to get there – in human years…if there is such a calculation on her end.  

See, the information spiral into the black hole continues and I have far too many questions. I could drill down and keep going.  Luckily, my guides aren’t going anywhere and I can merely add it to the list of requested answers.  

*flips through twelve pages to find a new line to write on*

Aloha.

[irmaretna]

(Q&A) Get to know yourself

1. What’s your philosophy in life? A. The one with which I can fully being present; practicing acceptance, compassion and patience.

2. What’s the one thing you would like to change about yourself? A. Vocal chord. It is said that our vocal range is fixed at birth. I wish I could hit high notes naturally and have no limitation in singing my favorite songs 😩

3. Are you religious or spiritual? A. Spiritual?

4. Do you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert? A. 50:50

5. Which parent are you closer to and why? A. Either none or both

6. What was the best phase in your life? A. I can’t recall the memories

7. What was the worst phase in your life? A. I can’t recall the memories

8. Is what you’re doing now what you always wanted to do growing up? A. I ain’t sure

9. What makes you feel accomplished? A. Being true to myself

10. What’s your favorite book/movie of all time and why did it speak to you so much? A. Perhaps, Spellbound. Korean movie. Starring Lee Min Ki and Son Ye Jin. The female character is kinda introvert, striving to live a normal life alone, she is lonely for some reason. The male character is empathetic, quite humorous but still a little bit shy. Okay, then I have Harry Potter the series (books and its movies), including its brother, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Then again, I have Lord of the Rings and its brother, The Hobbit. And of course The Pirates of the Caribbean the series! I love Disney Princess’ Stories, too. Well you know, like Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast 😁 And Lion King the series. What else, Alice in the Wonderland, Charlie and Chocolate Factory 😂. I don’t really into thriller movies, but I can rewatch Constantine (Keanu Reeves 😍) time after time, nice one! May I mention manga/animes? I like Inuyasha, Ranma Half, Hunter X Hunter, Cardcaptor Sakura 😅 I watch many of Jet Li’s movies, too: The Bodyguard, Taichi Master, Once Upon a Time in China, The Sorcerers and White Snake, The Evil Cult, many more 😩. Okay, I also like Red Cliff. Why did they speak to me so much? I’ll tell you why… I don’t know why 😂 Perhaps, they teach about bravery, loyalty, kindness, forgiveness, uniqueness. Take the courage to stand up for yourself and to forgive. Be adventurous! Pursue your passion but don’t neglect those who you love. And always be loyal and be true, be your authentic self. The last but not the least, find humor in each situation, live and laugh the life to the fullest

11. What is a relationship deal breaker for you? A. I ain’t going to maintain a relationship with someone who already in a committed relationship with another woman. And I don’t believe a healthy relationship can be reached by dating multiple partners

12. Are you more into looks or brains? A. I am more into him 😋

13. Would you ever take back someone who cheated? A. *sigh* That was alright, because I love the way he lied, I like the way it hurt 😭. It was back then. I don’t think I’m going to take whatever I don’t deserve anymore.

14. How do you feel about sharing your password with your partner? A. I feel like not doing it

15. When do you think a person is ready for marriage? A. When a person loves himself/herself fully. I believe we need to first love ourselves before being able to sincerely give and receive love to and from our life partner.

16. What kind of parent do you think you will be? A. A parent who listens well to their children’s need

17. What would you do if your parents didn’t like your partner? A. I would make an effort to gain clarity about what my parents didn’t like in my partner.

18. Who is that one person you can talk to about just anything? A. Me myself

19. Do you usually stay friends with your exes? A. I am not good at staying friend with people who don’t want me in their lives.

20. Have you ever lost someone close to you? A. Yes, I have lost myself once.

21. If you are in a bad mood, do you prefer to be left alone or have someone to cheer you up? A. Let’s go to eat something 😊

22. What’s an ideal weekend for you? A. Stay at home with the wise man that I love. Just the two of us enjoying the day.

23. What do you think of best friends of the opposite sex? A. Is that even possible?

24. Do you judge a book by its cover? A. I don’t think so

25. Are you confrontational? A. Please don’t confront me, just.. love me 😁

26. When was the last time you broke someone’s heart? A. Please kindly ask those people in my life

27. Would you relocate for love? A. Please make sure I’ll be able to visit my parents and sisters at least twice a month 😊 Well, let’s compromise, once in a month, okay, call?!

28. Did you ever write a journal? A. Yes, I did. In elementary school days

29. What are you most thankful for? A. A friendly universe in which I have supportive parents and sisters and you. Please come in ☕

30. Do you believe in second chances? A. Yes and No

31. What’s the one thing that people always misunderstand about you? A. They say I am savage. I ain’t savage, I am just simply sweet and sexy 😭

32. What is your idea of a perfect vacation? A. Go shopping together, on the way home drop in at a park and buy ice cream, then go home and cooking together

33. What did your past relationship teach you? A. Listen, listen, listen. Be a good listener to your lover.

34. What are your thoughts on online dating or tinder? A. I’ll say NO

35. What’s on your bucket list this year? A. Get a fulltime job

36. When have you felt your biggest adrenaline rush? A. I can’t recall any specific moment

37. What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done and would you do it again? A. Hey, I’ve just met you and this is crazy, but here’s my number.. so call me maybe?

38. If a genie granted you 3 wishes right now, what would you wish for? A. 1st. Long happy healthy prosperous lives for my parents and sisters. 2nd. Please go ask my parents’. 3rd. Please go ask my sisters’.

39. What’s your biggest regret in life? A. Do not listen fully and attentively to his voice

40. What do you think about when you’re by yourself? A. Thinking about feeling. Thinking about thinking.

Questions - source http://thoughtcatalog.com/rania-naim/2016/02/40-deep-questions-to-ask-if-you-really-want-to-get-to-know-someone

[s1lver-soul]

i <3 kamo noritoshi and i don’t speak about it enough😮‍💨

#i’m talking about the 3rd year not the evil sorcerer #toshi <3 #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #kamo noritoshi