#mos: worldbuilding

[minecraftbookshelf]

MOS: Specific Breakdown of Language Barriers Between Couples

So I do have the posts on what languages everyone speaks, grouped by Oceanic, WRA, and Fae squad and about 98% of that is still accurate, I just kind of wanted to do a post that summarizes how language plays a role in each marriage/relationship within the AU.

In Chronological Order:

Lizzie & Joel: At the time of their initial marriage they had absolutely zero languages in common. They are one end of the language barrier spectrum. Joel began learning to understand (even if he couldn't really speak) Oceanic out of pure self-preservation. One of the early overtures in their marriage was actually Lizzie chasing down Pixlriffs and demanding he teach her some Mezalean. (Pix has been way more involved in several relationships than he was ever really interested in, send help.) By the time it gets to "current day" they are both fully fluent (within physical capability) in each others' native languages and also share several other languages in common. They absolutely use these powers for evil.

Joey & Xornoth: At the time of first meeting, they didn't have much in common linguistically. Joey was fresh out of isolation with only a few words of Mythlandic that he'd picked up from his first encounters with Fwhip and Xornoth had no knowledge of the language of the Lost Empire. Joey basically force-formed a sort of pidgin of mostly Mythlandic and his own language for them to communicate in, though as time goes on it acquires more Elvish words and structures. He mostly flirts in his own language, which does mean he can get a bit more...graphic in public than he would otherwise be able to be, because most people don't speak it outside the borders of his empire. Xornoth is suffering. They're learning each others languages but also this is a pretty new relationship so they are still very much in the learning stage. Joey does also struggle with Xornoth's accent in particular.

Jimmy & Scott: Technically they have a language in common, as both of them have at least a decent fluency in Mythlandic. However they learned their Mythlandic in very different ways. Scott has learned his entirely from reading books (with occasional help from Xornoth on pronunciation which means some of his words have a bit of a Helianthian twang to them) so he tends towards more formal speech and has a very strong accent on top of that because he hasn't interacted with native speakers and is guessing half the time. Jimmy had a little bit of a formal education in the language when he was small, but most of his fluency comes from border trade, border skirmishes, and yelling threats back and forth with Sausage (and Fwhip). They'll get there eventually, but it'll take them a bit.

Katherine & Shrub: Shrub is a completely blank slate, linguistically, when they first arrive. Zero languages in common with anyone. They meet Joey and Katherine and begin learning. Katherine, in addition to teaching Shrub both Silvan and Mythlandic, is also learning Gnomish from her. By the time they start tentatively approaching a relationship, the language barriers are mostly gone. It just means they have to focus on some new vocabulary they hadn't really had a reason to encounter before.

#rain rambles #marriage of state au #shadowbeans #jornoth #flower husbands #nature wives #smallishbeans #ldshadowlady #xornoth #joeygraceffa #smajor1995 #solidaritygaming #katherineelizabeth #shubble #shrub berry the gnome #linguistics #mos: worldbuilding #mos: shadowbeans #mos: jornoth #mos: flower husbands #mos: nature wives

[wangxianficrecs]

Follower Recs

~*~

Hello!!! I don't know if this series already recommended in this blog. This series is so good. I like how the author include an outsider POV. It's a light hearted and funny story (for me). Slow update so read at your own risk

The Concubine Mo Chronicles

by Enigmatree

T, 79k, WIP, series, Wangxian

Summary: An AU where the Lan Xichen is the Emperor; Lan Wangji is the Crown Prince; the Jin, Jiang, and Nie are Dukedoms; and even 13 years dead, Wei Wuxian is still the most feared man in all of China. Newly resurrected, Wei Wuxian would love nothing more than to cultivate a core and go become a rogue cultivator. Except, there's something very suspicious going on in the Imperial Palace, and while Wei Wuxian might not be able to help Lan Wangji in solving it, the unassuming and soft-spoken "Prince-Concubine Mo" sure can.

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.

#Wangxian Fic Recs #follower recs #mdzs #the untamed #follower rec #I HAVEN'T READ THIS YET #But I've read some of Emi's stories before and she's amazing at worldbuilding! #The Concubine Mo Chronicles #Enigmatree #Teen #Series #WIP #long fic > 50k

[thisisallthehattersfault]

MDZS Sect Location Map

There are other MDZS maps out there but they either only have the major sects or, if they have any other information, they’re super blurry and basically unusable. So I’m making my own. Here’s the general locations of every named sect, plus a version where they’re color-coded -- Green is for sects that are exclusive to the Donghua, Pink sects are exclusive to the Audio Drama, and Blue is exclusive to The Untamed. Obviously the sections of Gray, Yellow, Blue, Purple and Red denote the territories of the Nie, Jin, Lan, Jiang and Wen.

#The Untamed #MDZS #grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation #mo dao zu shi #Worldbuilding #??? #reference #writing reference

[recurring-polynya]

I have to say that one of my favorite little aesthetic details in Bleach is the Lieutenant’s Badges. The captains have haori, this entire extra garment, which completely sets them apart immediately from other shinigami by shunting them into negative color space. A haori is also very widening, which I think really helps out guys like Byakuya and Gin who are naturally kind wispy. Its got their number on the back, which is almost like a joke, because if you’re seeing the back of a captain, it’s most likely that you’re lying on the ground in a pool of your own blood, and which one did it to you is a bit of a moot point.

Lieutenants, on the other hand, get armbands, which not only have their number, but also their squad flower. They come in one size, which is “burly dude who never skips arm day.” They are required for certain official business, like Emergency Vice Captains Meeting and...um... it’s incomprehensible, actually. Kubo absolutely does use the wearing of them for symbolism, for example, Kira and Hisagi pointedly did not wear theirs to the Battle at Fake Karakura Town, although the lieutenants who had not been betrayed by their captains did...and so did Hinamori. 

It also seems to be the case that you can wear your badge whenever you want to. It seems to be mostly the women vice-captains that do this, which is sort of funny to me, because they are enormous, and Rukia and Momo in particular look constantly in danger of getting theirs caught while trying to go through a doorway. I imagine this is because guys like Omaeda and Iba and Renji (king shit of not wearing his badge) are used to establishing authority through their physical presence and general volume, whereas lieutenants like Ise and Kotetsu prefer a more tangible symbol of their command. (I think that Rukia just wants everyone to know she’s a lieutenant 100% of the time). 

You don’t even strictly have to wear them as an armband. Matsumoto clips hers to her sash (which she ties in a non-standard knot) and Akon wears his on a fucking lanyard (I can only imagine he keeps his access card for swiping into the Squad 12 computer lab in a little pocket on the back side)

Anyway, none of it this is actually what I wanted to talk about. What I wanted to talk about, is what are the badges feel like. What is their heft, what is their texture? Going into this, I thought they would either be made of metal or wood, but in the course of doing this, I think Kubo original intended for the badges to be soft and then changed his mind. 

The first time we see the badges is the aforementioned Emergency Vice-Captains Meeting during the Soul Society Arc. I am very fond of the little character beat where Momo goes to Renji with her concerns about her captain, but look at her badge. It does not appear to have any discernable thickness, and the top actually seems to wrap into the armband. I was surprised by this, because when I think of the badges, my mental image is of this big, solid plate. 

In the next few panels, we can clearly see both Renji’s and Momo’s and they both look distinctly flexible. 

The next place I wanted to check was the scene Momo and Izuru find Renji’s badge after he took it off because was mad at Byakuya acting without orders. I wanted to see what a badge looks like when it’s not actually attached to an arm. 

So, to be honest, it wasn’t particularly helpful. The face-on perspective doesn’t give much idea of depth, although the hashing does give the idea either woodgrain, or embroidery, like a big-ass patch you could sew onto your Girl Scout sash. Note that in the above panels, Momo’s is still definitely wrapping over the top of her armband. Izuru’s is more ambiguous, but it has the same texture. 

I flipped through, trying to find more appearances in chronological order. This is the phase of the manga where we were being introduced to the Gotei for the first time, and there were a lot of splash pages of important characters. Look at this one for Matsumoto. Her badge definitely seems rigid, but it’s very thin, and it does appear to be curved. If I had this picture to go on, I would think it was a thin, metal clip.

This one, of Yachiru (OG of ‘you really couldn’t have offered these in two sizes??’) is the first one where I really get the sense of solidness that we’ll see later on.

Anyway, back to actual panels, here’s Nanao. Much like Rangiku’s, it now looks stiff, but still pretty thin. The side shot is very nice, because it gives the distinct impression that it has a lip at the top that loops over the armband.

Now, I want to contrast all these to the shots we see during the Battle at Fake Karakura Town. Kubo has finally gotten these down to a consistent style which is thick and without that little clip at the top. In fact, they actually seem to protrude out and away from the armband, notable at the top, which you can see clearly in many of these shots.

At this point, I was almost wondering if it was sort of an intentional change, an update. So I took a few looks into flashbacks. 

Here’s the oldest one: Aizen in Turn Back the Pendulum, and sure enough, it’s both thin and loops over the top:

Next up, Everything But the Rain-era Rangiku, with some very clear badge shots. I don’t think I had previously picked up on the fact that she used to wear it on her arm! I am so, so sorry for the part that’s in Isshin-Pervo-Vision, but you can see the top of the badge really well here, and it is both chonky and with top-clip. Hrmmmnh.

Now, here is the flashback where Momo and Izuru come to give Renji news of his promotion and...uh... it’s very clearly the protudes-over-the-top style. DOUBLE HRMMMNH.

If the Gotei actually wanted to do a badge update, the real time to do it would be during the 17-mo timeskip, so let’s move on. As it turns out, Rukia is the only one who wore her badge to the Fullbringer arc. There are lots of good shots of it, and it’s the thick, tall version everyone had at Fake Karakura Town. The coloring on this cover also suggest that it’s metal, rather than wood.

Badge-etiquette was all over the map during the Thousand Year Blood War, but it generally appears to be in the latter day style. I flipped through so much of the TYBW, looking for examples that weren’t Rukia, and I think Kubo was honestly just tired of drawing badges, because mostly whenever you can see them, they’re at weird angles or drawn in ways that you can’t discern much about their geometry. 

One thing I have noticed is that instead of the old hashing texture, Kubo has started drawing these sort of wavy, watermark-looking things on them. I wonder if they are supposed to indicated that they are shiny? 

Oh, here’s one I found of Yachiru’s badge, which like Renji’s earlier, is very hard to parse when it’s just sitting there, without a person’s arm for contrast.

So, what if any conclusions I have drawn? I do think they are metal, although I love the idea that they were supposed to be cloth for, like, half a day, and then Kubo changed his mind. I think they used to be thin and the top hooked over the arm band, and now they are thick and stick up over the top. I think that one flashback with Kira and Hinamori was just a mistake. I can offer no possible explanation for why they changed the badges after the Ryouka Invasion, but before the Winter War, but it looks like they did. Three captains betrayed the Soul Society and murdered our government and all I got was this updated lieutenant’s badge (and then Kira and Hisagi won’t even wear theirs).

BONUS: Here’s Mashiro’s Super Lieutenant badge, which I am 100% sure is not street-legal, but it is very shiny!

#lieutenant's badges #bleach worldbuilding #gotei-13 #i have been planning to do this post for about 3 mo #but it felt good to finally get around to doing it #peak polynya content #i feel like myself again

[amaiguri]

CalmWriMo Day #1

Did I write in my journal? ✅️

Did I make some progress on my writing? ✅️

Thus, I am WINNING. But my sleep schedule is soooo screwed up and I'm fatigued all the time... it sucks. So, my writing today may be a little incoherent!

In this segment of RPG script, Senator Diacaius helps his traumatized adopted daughter discover "having a hobby."

Di: What’s on my darling daughter’s mind then? What has her brow so furrowed?

Ar: …Lucienne said I need to get a hobby.

Di: Well… she and I can agree on that.

Ar: But I don’t know what I want to do.

Di: What did you do for leisure growing up?

Ar: …I… I didn’t have unguided leisure time.

Di: No wonder you’re always on edge…

Ar: I… I liked going to Trialhalls with Gil. I would make him take me so I could look at all the old buildings…

Di: YOU did?

Ar: Mm! …he liked to collect things. But I just liked to look.

I played with my necklace.

Ar: I… like to feel like people will last longer than me.

Di: You like archeology.

He said it in Telethenian and then Nouveau Thuillean. I nodded.

Di: That’s a wonderful hobby. I know I won’t be able to get you out of the city much but I can see what the library has on the topic.

Ar: …I’ll go on your date if you get me a book.

Di: You don’t— Nevermind. You have a deal. I smiled.

Edits that this needs:

Dialogue is clunky and too direct. Not voicy enough.

More narration overall

More lead in narration

Tie in the last chapter where Arlasaire had her first kisses with her actually not-toxic new girlfriend

Next steps is writing this "date" she's using to negotiate!

#writeblr #fantasy worldbuilding #writing #fantasy writer #nanowrimo #fantasy writing #fluff #calmwrimo #calm wri mo #yssaia #amaiguri

[poorlittleyaoyao]

Forget personality types and horoscopes. The REAL measure of a person is which barely-seen character with almost no canon information you choose to obsess over.

#this was almost gonna just be a meme captioned with SHUT UP ABOUT MO XUANYU SHUT UP ABOUT MO XUANYU #but I have my own cipher of a character I obsess over so I thought this would be more charitable #(mine is Meng Shi) #(the logical progression from getting brainworms about Andromache from the Trojan War at age 15) #(and concocting multiple pages of backstory and worldbuilding for Annie Cresta in my Hunger Games era over a decade ago)

[savrenim]

.

#gods staring at The Crane And The Knife #and every concept just Fucks So Hard #like I figured out one of my big plot questions in book 2 to 3 and just #it required an element of worldbuilding that is So Fucking Cool in hindsight #gotta say even though it's kind of opposite of my usual MO #really REALLY love the degree to which this writing project is 'okay what do I need to be true about the world for this to make sense' #instead of starting with the thing and going 'what are the consequences' #and every single time the thing I come up with fucks so hard #[housemate] if I haven't already told you by the time you see this ask me about Heralds #and also how batteries work

[ketavinsky]

prayers, monologues

#in the old world the stars spoke to each other #writing progress as i uhhh scramble to fix some really fucking obvious lot holes #day #dusk #desert death song #i jus want more stuff in their tag. ive been thinking Bout them a lot #dawn and night have their whole divorced husband bullshit in mo(u)rningstar but what about the uhhh. the yearning #what in the fuck is a lot hole #*plot holes #anyways. revamping 10 years of worldbuilding huh #and i realise more and more that these two kind of get mega fucked over by everybody #day sits in the core of the earth stewing in resentment. dusk brings back all her pantheon's deceased and receives nothing for it but lies #'yikes dawg' < the voice of someone who is going to put the rest of the pantheon through absolute apeshit hell to balance it out #at some point i will make some serious posts w actual writing but most of my plotbuilding is in one chat w/ jae and a few journals

[oneiriad]

In a modern cultivation AU, I wonder if articles from the journals about demonic cultivation/necromancy would be catalogued in PubMed. Would articles on spiritually healing and qi-affecting music from the Lan sect. About the ongoing treatments of the Nie sect's degenerative qi rage issues.

I mean, I assume anything involving combat and flying swords land squarely in the sports corner of the world...

#mo dao zu shi #worldbuilding

[minecraftbookshelf]

Marriage of State: The King of Rivendell

Xornoth only really has one look throughout the AU, with a few minor variations and, of course, The Armor Edition TM.

Once again the primary sources for inspiration are the skin for the character in question and the architectural style of their home empire, in this case, Rivendell. Rivendell also draws (canonically) on Tolkein's elves, though only incidentally. I've opted to take that and run with it so the original Rivendell, and other elements of Lord of the Rings, both elvish and mortal, are incorporated. The other major contributors are viking-era Scandinavia, and Rohan, also from lotr.

The Elf Xornoth skin is a recolored version of Scott's base Rivendell skin with a few other minor changes (one shoulder cape, long pants)

Technically speaking the Demon Xornoth skin isn't super relevant to their design for the AU, but I wanted to throw it on here anyway, as something to keep in mind.

So the easiest way of doing this is going to be top to toe I think so we'll start with the antlers!

There are three main points (no pun intended) regarding Xornoth's antlers.

They are probably not as big as you think they are, because Xornoth has only had two or three sheds. They are adult antlers, but young adult antlers.

For antler design I've based them off of Scottish Red Deer.

They are made of obsidian and have been ever since Xornoth first allowed Exor into their head.

Under the antlers, Xornoth has magenta hair (just past shoulder length with the slightest bit of curl) and eyes, though the eyes tend to be a bit pinker when they are having A MomentTM

They do wear jewelry but its usually fairly simple. Earrings, an antler ring or two. They only wear their crown when they absolutely have to.

Their wings are Snowy Owl wings

specifically, snowy owl wings with a higher proportion of black on them, as in the images above, especially the one on the right.

-

Xornoth tends to dress relatively utilitarian as well, in dark colors that stand out among the blues most common in Rivendell, they usually wear black and autumn colors.

As far as style goes, the heaviest inspiration is the lord of the rings films, specifically simpler elvish styles, such as those worn by Legolas, especially in Rivendell or Lothlorien. (The main thing coming from the actual Xornoth skin is the single conclusion of "knee high boots") But with embroidery more akin to what you see in Rohan where it contrasts rather than blends in

Like so.

Rivendell has a lot of embroidery and knotwork incorporated into their clothes, a lot of it with gold-thread as well. Especially for royalty.

Xornoth does wear a cloak, it is designed to be fairly easy to remove for flying reasons, but is a sturdy and warm piece of clothing regardless, due to Xornoth being cold all the time.

Their armor is netherite, in style its basically just this

When Xornoth is older and starts wearing longer robes more often (currently only when they absolutely have to at extremely formal occasions) they will basically just be dressing like Elrond. Color pallet and style and all.

They also usually have at least one sword on them, often two.

-

Lizzie || Jimmy || Joel ||

-

Art

Lizzie || Jimmy || Jimmy Eeveelution

#rain rambles #marriage of state au #xornoth #look what i found! #thats one thing checked off the list of 'lost and found in the drafts folder' #mos character designs #empires smp #empires s1 #next up is pixlriffs #also really wanna write a my immortal style description for Xornoth now #mos: worldbuilding #mos: xornoth

[blconnoisseur]

Oh delicious self sacrifice and mutual destruction I LOVE IT

#mo-an is such a creative worldbuilder bc like THIS is her first work?? it’s so interesting #and dreadful night too I’ve never heard of that premise for BL b4 it’s so unique #heat and love #ch. 35

[doufudanshi]

ON GHOSTS AND DEMONS: Wei Wuxian's "demonic" cultivation?

There are a few big misconceptions I have repeatedly seen in English-speaking fandom about things that are fundamental to the story of MDZS. One of them is this—

Wei Wuxian is not a demonic cultivator.

To prove this, let's take a deep dive into the original Chinese text of MDZS.

(Adapted from my original gdoc posted on Twitter on May 27, 2022. All translations my own unless otherwise stated.)

Demon vs. ghost

Let's start from the very basics. In addition to orthodox cultivation using spiritual energy and a golden core, there are two other forms of cultivation that are mentioned in the novel:

魔道 (mó dào), or “demon cultivation/path.”

鬼道 (guǐ dào), or “ghost cultivation/path.”

To be clear, 魔 mo "demons" and 鬼 gui "ghosts" (and thus their respective cultivation/paths) are not interchangeable because of the in-universe worldbuilding within MDZS. Using the characters in the term 妖魔鬼怪 "monsters," MXTX created four distinct categories of beings, each of which has a strict definition in the novel. From chapter 4 (jjwxc ch 13):

妖者非人之活物所化; 魔者生人所化; 鬼者死者所化; 怪者非人之死物所化。 Yāo (妖) are transformed from non-human living beings; mó (魔) are transformed from living people; guǐ (鬼) are transformed from the deceased; guài (怪) are transformed from non-human dead beings.

And of course, WWX hoards all the ghost-type pokemon monsters at the Phoenix Mountain tournament, and he only exerts control over corpses, spirits, and the like (aka people who have already died). (As opposed to Xue Yang, who appears to have been actively trying to make 魔 "demons" out of living people with those "living corpses" of his, perhaps.) (And, ironically, in order to avoid showing necromancy / zombies on screen, CQL technically does show WWX practicing demon cultivation because everyone is "supposedly alive" even when they're corpses? Which is, funnily enough, far worse morally in the MDZS universe, lol.)

So, intuitively at least, we know that WWX must be practicing ghost cultivation—now let's look at some concrete examples from the book.

Running the numbers

1) 魔道 (mó dào) means “demon cultivation.” As such, it must use living humans.

魔道 appears one (1) time in the novel.

Yes, once. The only time it appears is in the term 魔道祖师 modao zushi, or the namesake of the novel, in chapter 2. This is a title the general public has given him through rumors:

魏无羡好歹也被人叫了这么多年无上邪尊啦、魔道祖师啦之类的称号，这种一看就知道不是什么好东西的阵法，他自然了如指掌。 Wei Wuxian wasn’t called titles like “The Evil Overlord,” “The Founder of Demon Cultivation,” and so on over the years by others for nothing—he knew these sorts of obviously shady formations like the back of his hand.

2) 鬼道 (guǐ dào) means “ghost cultivation.” As such, it must use dead humans. 

鬼道 appears 12 times in the novel.

Here is the first instance that 鬼道 appears, which I believe is the first time Wei Wuxian's method of cultivation is properly introduced. From chapter 3 (jjwxc ch 8):

蓝忘机 […] 对魏无羡修鬼道一事极不认可。 Lan Wangji […] had never approved of the fact that Wei Wuxian practiced ghost cultivation.

Here's another quote from chapter 15 (jjwxc ch 71) for funsies:

蓝忘机看着他，似乎一眼就看出他只是随口敷衍，吸了一口气，道：“魏婴。” Lan Wangji looked at him as if he saw through his half-hearted bluff. He took in a breath, then said, “Wei Ying.” 他执拗地道：“鬼道损身，损心性。” He stubbornly continued, “Ghost cultivation harms one’s body, and harms one’s nature.”

3) 邪魔歪道 (xiemowaidao) means heretical path/immoral methods/evil practices/underhanded means/etc—e.g., lying, cheating, stealing, bribery, and so on.

It appears ~24 times in the novel.

I mention this last term because it is often used to refer to Wei Wuxian's cultivation, but as a pejorative. Every instance of 邪魔歪道 is said by or to quote someone looking down upon Wei Wuxian’s cultivation (Jin Zixun, Jin Ling, etc.) and referring to it derogatorily, whereas every instance of 鬼道 guidao/ghost dao is said by someone discussing it neutrally and/or factually (Lan Jingyi, Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian himself, random cultivators at discussion conferences, the narration, etc.). Here is a pertinent example with Jin Ling (derogatory) and Lan Jingyi (neutral) in chapter 9 (jjwxc ch 43):

金凌怒道：“是在谈论薛洋，我说的不对吗？薛洋干了什么？他是个禽兽不如的人渣，魏婴比他更让人恶心！什么叫‘不能一概而论’？这种邪魔歪道留在世上就是祸害，就是该统统都杀光，死光，灭绝！” “We are discussing Xue Yang,” Jin Ling said angrily. “Am I wrong? What did Xue Yang do? He’s scum that’s lower than a beast, and Wei Ying is even more disgusting than him! What do you mean ‘don’t make sweeping generalizations?’ As long as those practicing this kind of demoniac, heretical path are alive, they’ll continue to bring disaster. We should slaughter all of them, kill all of them, annihilate them once and for all!” 温宁动了动，魏无羡摆手示意他静止。只听蓝景仪也加入了，嚷道：“你发这么大火干什么？思追又没说魏无羡不该杀，他只是说修鬼道的也不一定全都是薛洋这种人，你有必要乱摔东西吗？那个我还没吃呢……” Wen Ning shuffled around. Wei Wuxian gestured at him to stay still, only to hear Lan Jingyi also cut in loudly, “Why are you getting so riled up? It’s not like Sizhui said Wei Wuxian shouldn’t have been killed. All he said was that people who practice ghost cultivation aren’t necessarily all like Xue Yang. Do you have to go around breaking things? I didn’t even get to eat any of that yet…”

Tl;dr—Wei Wuxian does not 修魔道 practice demon cultivation. When Wei Wuxian’s craft is discussed in a neutral and factual manner, it is referred to as 鬼道 ghost dao. 

In fact, Wei Wuxian’s imitators are also referred to explicitly as 鬼道修士 ghost cultivators.

魏无羡早就听说过，这些年来江澄到处抓疑似夺舍重生的鬼道修士，把这些人通通押回莲花坞严刑拷打。 Wei Wuxian had heard a while back that over the past few years, Jiang Cheng had gone around snatching any ghost cultivator suspected of being possessed or reborn, detaining them in Lotus Pier to interrogate them using torture.

So why the confusion?

Of course, there is the matter of the novel's title, which I will get into in a second. But the real issue is a matter of translation.

The idea that WWX uses "demonic cultivation" is a misconception in English-speaking fandom due to issues with the translation of terminology. Of note, EXR actually did translate 鬼道 guidao as "ghostly path" most of the time, though there were at least 3 instances of "demonic" and 1 instance of "dark," especially regarding the first few.

However, this misconception was perpetuated (and arguably worsened) by 7S's official translation, which not only mistranslated additional terms as "demonic cultivation/path" (at least in book 1), but also consistently mistranslated every instance of 鬼道 as "demonic cultivation/path."

So why is this book called 魔道祖师, commonly translated as "Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation?"

One possibility is one posed in Chinese-language meta online, which often cites that WWX himself is a sort of 魔 demon. While this may be true—after all, he can hear the voices of the dead—it doesn't quite explain the fact that the title sets him up to be the 祖师 or "founder."

My take is that this novel is very much concerned with hearsay vs. truth. This is one of the many monikers WWX is given by the public, who collectively view him as evil. (Also of note is that the non-cultivator public is not aware of all the nuances that cultivators learn re: distinctions between the 妖魔鬼怪 monsters.) In the quote from earlier, note that the first title we're given is actually 无上邪尊 “The Evil Overlord,” then 魔道祖师 "The Founder of Demon Cultivation." Like, what can that be other than MXTX telling us, "please take both of these with a HUGE grain of salt, lol."

(And not only the title, but the very first line—"魏无羡死了。" / "Wei Wuxian is dead."—is a lie.)

I think the title is genius, honestly. It intentionally makes readers come into the novel with preconceived notions that Wei Wuxian practices 魔道 demon cultivation and evil techniques—just like the public in the novel. What better way to tell a story warning about the dangers of how easy it is to fall for misinformation and jump to incorrect conclusions?

(Though, in our case, perhaps it worked a little too well.)

#魔道祖师 #mdzs #mdzs meta #mdzs translation #wei wuxian #wwx #demonic cultivation #ghost cultivation #mine #doufudanshi translation #crossposted from twitter #(sort of)

[whiteswarm]

TAGS (More TBA)

#into the air (ic) #on the ground (ooc) #mountain secrets (headcanons) #may the gods bless you (promo) #fire ice and nature in her face (visage) #confused moth noises (crack) #comet rider (cosmic au) #pinetree born (elderwood au) #mo ghrà (ships) #we're doing it? aye let's do it (nsfw) #beira guide me (self promo) #the last isøll (league of legends au) #amongst the northern lands (worldbuilding)

[tossawary]

I was thinking about Xie Lian being able to snap the Xin Mo sword in half with his bare hands again, and then I thought to myself... "Wait, Xie Lian and Luo Binghe interaction could be really cute, though?"

Like, let's say that Xie Lian, during his time as a wandering trash god, accidentally falls into an interdimensional rift and ends up in the SVSSS world. His luck is bad like that. But while this is weird, sure, it's not that bad! The worlds are pretty similar and he can still make his living! So, Xie Lian wanders along as usual, curiously learning about this new world, picking through trash, occasionally punching demonic beasts to death to rescue awed civilians.

And at some point, Xie Lian runs into a young Luo Binghe while he's living on the streets. Let's say that Xie Lian rolls into town shortly before the death of Binghe's adoptive mother, has a few sweet encounters with this cute and kind child who doesn't have much to spare for a trash collector, and is there to comfort his new young friend when Binghe's adoptive mother passes away. Xie Lian is still there when Binghe gets thrown out onto the streets and he agrees to help the boy travel to Cang Qiong Mountain Sect.

So, Binghe gets to spend a month or two as a trash-collecting god's apprentice! He doesn't know that Xie Lian is a god. He suspects that Xie Lian is just a very powerful rogue cultivator who is living very humbly for some reason. The time isn't entirely pleasant, because life is hard and Binghe is grieving, but Xie Lian understands pain very well and is an excellent companion. He sees Binghe safely to Cang Qiong.

At which point, clingy Binghe does not want to separate from this extremely nice person, but Xie Lian insists on it. He wants Binghe to have a better life. He's worried that his bad luck will somehow spread to this poor boy who reminds him of so many other people he's loved and lost. Xie Lian supervises the confusing entrance exam, while the adult Cang Qiong cultivators desperately try to figure out who this strange person is (Airplane Bro is going "???!!!"), and then leaves wistfully. Binghe will later look back on this particular period of his life very fondly.

Xie Lian can then go in and out of the SVSSS plot as a person pleases! I think it would be very funny if Liu Qingge ended up with an unwilling crush on Xie Lian as well, when they have a spar for some reason and Xie Lian handily SLAMS him into the ground. Xie Lian would probably end up running into Tianlang-Jun and Zhuzhi-Lang somehow, both of whom I think would end up being a little obsessed with him.

I think that the best place to bring Xie Lian and Binghe back together is maybe after Binghe escapes the Endless Abyss. So that Binghe can have a nice cry session on Xie Lian's shoulder. Xie Lian can possibly then introduce Binghe to Tianlang-Jun and Zhuzhi-Lang. Or else generally fumble his way through facilitating Bingqiu actually communicating and being less of a painful mess. Shen Qingqiu (Shen Yuan) is very confused by this character?! Where did he come from??? Who is he??? He's very nice, though, and Shen Qingqiu is feeling maybe a liiiiittle jealous over Binghe.

(I don't know how to handle the System in this AU, but I do like the idea of the System just... not being able to handle Xie Lian. Xie Lian is a god from a different worldbuild. He kind of just breaks everything.)

(If you want to get a little angsty and ghostly, you could have a plotline in which Xie Lian helps the ghost of Shen Jiu somehow. Qijiu resolution?)

Binghe would probably be open to the idea of getting together with Xie Lian as well as Shen Qingqiu. He has a type! He is full of love! But Xie Lian is definitely not interested and is very good at wiggling away from come-ons, so Binghe respectfully doesn't pursue that passing thought / childhood crush, no matter what Tianlang-Jun is saying about threesomes again.

Binghe ends up using the (tamed? broken?) Xin Mo sword to send Xie Lian (his "gege") back to Xie Lian's own world. (Or Mobei-Jun could maybe do it?) Xie Lian has been gone for years and wants to see how his world is doing. Binghe tearfully promises to visit him regularly and to come get him WHENEVER HE WANTS. Xie Lian pats his head and agrees to stay in touch.

So, then Xie Lian tumbles out back into his own world and into the start of the plot of TGCF. And at any point in the plot of TGCF, he's now able to summon a heavenly demon from another dimension (with a super powerful sword that can move mountains?) who would absolutely be willing to fight all of heaven for him.

Xie Lian generally isn't going to do this, because he doesn't want to involve Binghe in his problems, even though Binghe is CHEWING THE WALLS with the desire to help him in return. However, Xie Lian does really like to go out with Binghe and Shen Qingqiu (and sometimes people like Airplane Bro and Mobei-Jun and Liu Qingge as well) to nice restaurants every other week or so. "So, what's new?" "Oh, I've ascended to heaven again and it's a little troublesome, ha ha. How are you?"

Hua Cheng is... nonplussed. On one hand, he's a little jealous. On the other hand, FINALLY, people can recognize that Xie Lian is the best person in the world. Luo Binghe has GOOD TASTE and is just some well-meaning kid whom Xie Lian likes a lot and who rightly thinks heaven sucks. Hua Cheng is determinedly shaking Luo Binghe's hand and giving him advice from a Ghost King to a future Demon Emperor.

(Tianlang-Jun CANNOT be allowed into Ghost City. He will NOT leave. I think that Hua Cheng is strong enough to throw him out if necessary, but Tianlang-Jun and Zhuzhi-Lang would just keep slipping back in somehow. Permanently banned from the gambling tables no matter what he offers, but Tianlang-Jun is still allowed to hang out at the Ghost City playhouse because he quickly becomes the favorite audience member of all of the ghost actors. He has AWFUL taste. Yin Yu hates them.)

(Also, I do think that Xie Lian would not really like the Xin Mo sword at all. E'ming is a beautiful baby boy made from and by Hua Cheng, who is Xie Lian's favorite person in the world who has never done anything wrong ever. Xin Mo is some random blade that destroys Luo Binghe's mental health and turns him into the worst version of himself! Xie Lian could and possibly should snap that possession sword like a twig.)

#tossawary svsss #tossawary tgcf #xie lian #luo binghe #fic ideas #xie lian and luo binghe au #long post

[nemainofthewater]

Fists raised, swords ready, it's time to fight-

Oh hold on. What's that delicious smell?

Can we call a meal break?

The contestants of this poll could probably open a restaurant. A couple of them have, before the plot dragged them back in. All I know is that watching them cook make me very hungry.

*a web novel with an English translation here. I recommend it wholeheartedly especially if you enjoy Guardian. (Modern with superpowers, danmei)

**the web novel that took over my life for the past few weeks. An English translation can be found here. I also recommend it wholeheartedly, excellent worldbuilding, plotting, and characters. (Xianxia, danmei)

Propaganda, examples, and write-ins absolutely welcome!

#poll #guardian #word of honor #nirvana in fire #sleuth of the Ming Dynasty #a league of nobleman #the untamed #mr melancholy wants to live a peaceful life #scum villain's self-saving system #the dumb husky and his white cat shizun #love me love my voice #送神 #sendoff

[lazysunjade]

story inspiration tag | age of arcanai

tagged by: @morrigan-sims

rules: write up a blurb or make a visual collage of the people or characters (from books, TV shows, movies, etc.) that inspired your story and/or OC, either visually, personality wise, or just a general vibe

Last time I did this tag I did character inspirations, which are less concrete, so this time I did story inspiration. I think by now most of these are pretty obvious and/or I've spoken about them at length over the years. AoA's origins lay mainly in the Tolkienian world. Of course my love of elves is legendary at this point, but I was always most fascinated with what was going on behind the curtain. What would daily life have looked like in Rivendell, Lothlorien or Silvermoon. What would it be like to grow up in a society where that larger than life elegance, beauty and magic was simply commonplace. What would it be like to live in the days of kings, in a world not yet broken but still deeply connected to its ancient roots. Worldbuilding has always been my passion, so, inevitably, I take most of my inspiration from history's best worldbuilder.

As for Yeryn's specific dynamic, it was most influenced by Kuroshitsuji, which was my favorite anime in my high school/college years. Though it's no longer my favorite, I still deeply love the connection between Ciel and Sebastian. And I find that my current favorite storylines follow this trope almost as closely (Devilman Crybaby, Tian Guan Ci Fu, Mo Dao Zu Shi, SpiritPact). But it definitely all started with Kuro (I even gave it a tribute naming Yehl and Taryn's son after Ciel). As I grew older, I shifted away from Japanese animes into Chinese donghua. I just find that the genre of xianxia more closely resembles that epic Tolkienian fantasy, but in an eastern backdrop. Its inspiring, mystical art style and the all around beauty of Chinese animation and storytelling is something I've really latched onto and have started leaning into in my own works.

tagging: @amuhav | @thesimperiuscurse | @keibea | @izayoichan | @mahvaladara | @lilypixels | @rollingsim

#jade babbles #tag game #I wasn't going to do this until I realized I made the damn tag fgjdk #embarrassing #anyways I found a fun format so I enjoyed doing it #I think I deleted my first ones and rightfully so #they were awful #I'll do this for cots ost:o or acv if literally anyone cares to see them