#so we resort to the ancient methods of man

[karoochui]

He is just so cray-cray

#don't have my laptop to draw rn bc its getting fixed!! #so we resort to the ancient methods of man #bless the LEDS in my room for making this look so fuckin cool #fnaf daycare attendant #fnaf security breach #fnaf sun #sundrop #binary resurgence #binary resurgence: round 2 au #sun x yn #sun x reader #mikas stuff

[laughingsour]

The (Laugh?) Sad Tale of Joy Boy

(Spoilers ahead, don’t read if you haven’t caught up with the manga)

This analysis came about from me remembering the ending of Wind Waker and the line from Amphibia’s true colors: “That’s the thing about friends isn’t it? The more you love ‘em the more it hurts when they go”

I don’t think a lot of people have caught on to the truly heartbreaking irony in the title of Joy Boy. That, despite his cheery name, his story did NOT have a happy ending.

We already know that the 20 kings (and Imu, most likely) won 800 years ago and destroyed most of what Joy Boy and his allies and friends accomplished.

This not only means that the many races of the world were doomed to persecution and racism by humans but it also means that the technology of the world was regressed to the point that they can only begin to catch up after 800 years (and largely because the man responsible is said to be 500 years ahead of his time) and the people don’t even know what they have lost.

Think about it, in the Jaya arc Robin examines a skull from the fallen galleon and deduces that they medically relieved him of a tumor by making a hole in the skull, without anesthesia. It’s a forgotten practice by the present time, but it still proves that medicine had to evolve to resort to less gruesome methods. And in the East Blue they mentioned that scurvy was only recently fully understood. None of these things are an issue for us because of current medical knowledge.

Of course not every technological advancement is good and some of them have actually caused horrific results both in the One piece world and real life. But people have an unfortunate tendency to take for granted the good things science has given us.

Back to the original topic though, if the Ancient Kingdom had won the One piece world would be unrecognizable to the one we’ve come to known. We don’t know how much for the better, but the 20 kings were very much afraid that such a world could have existed and of a man who‘s implied to have had a pretty innocent dream

When someone who doesn’t make sense to the rest of the world appears there’s two things that can happen with them. Either the world destroys them and who they are at their core, or the world is forced to change to make sense of them.

Joy Boy was definitely one such person in the past like Luffy is in the present. But unlike Luffy, when met with the violent nature of the world, he couldn’t beat it because of some cruel twist of fate. (Or perhaps betrayal? I think Imu knew the first Joy Boy or they wouldn’t keep the frozen straw hat).

Even if (when) Luffy wins and fulfills the original Joy Boy’s dream, the original Joy Boy didn’t, no matter how hard he tried.

But the 20 king were still unable to destroy who Joy Boy was at his core: a dreamer. The very reason that he had friends who loved him. And because of that, Joy Boy had to dream even further than thought posible and imagine that someone else would appear in the future who was like him. Surprise, surprise, that came true.

But he still died without fulfilling his promise. And he and his friends, like all people eventually do one way or another, had to part ways.

But no matter how much Joy Boy may think he failed his friends, they love him no matter what and believe in him. And go on to make sure Joy Boy’s dream of a new person like him appearing comes true. (And adopt the name D. as one of their methods?)

Even so, Joy Boy himself lost and his loss is felt by all who knew him because he is no longer there. Which isn’t the same as the memory of a person. Luffy may be the heir of Joy Boy, but he isn’t Nika (or whatever his real name was).

Imagine if Brook didn’t have the Revive fruit. Laboon would have kept waiting for someone who wouldn’t come back; and even if Luffy gave him a new reason to keep waiting, it still would be a very different person than the perverted-dad (skull?) joke telling-musical gentleman that Laboon knew, wouldn’t it? In this regard Brook is luckier than Joy Boy was.

That always was one of the most horrible things about the World Government, thinking people are expendable. They are not. Galley-La couldn’t make a new Going Merry even if they had the original blueprints because the crew that sailed her would notice small things that are not there anymore.

Although his memory and dreams for a new Dawn in the world are very much alive, the fact he lost so long ago after giving it his all cannot be undone. Similarly the 800 years of abuse the Government, the Celestial Dragons and Imu have inflicted cannot be undone either and many people who dreamed to see themselves free did not live to see it happen.

Is it any wonder then that a piece of the Rio Poneglyph, one of the only means of the Ancient Kingdom to communicate and perhaps the most crucial historical document in the One Piece world, is an apology letter from Joy Boy?

His dream will come true after all in such a way that will be mind-boggling to the point of it being funny, no matter what the world has thrown his way, which may be why Roger laughed.

What I mean to say is that I’m sure Joy Boy’s story will be extraordinarily tragic and yet triumphant somehow. And in line with who Luffy is, he’s not unbreakable.

But he’s not finished yet.

#One Piece #joy boy #op spoilers #gear 5 luffy #egghead arc #Luffy #Imu #sun god nika #op brook #As King Daphnes said “This is the only world your ancestors were able to leave you” #“Please…forgive us” #op theory #ohara #gol d. roger #one piece analysis

[anonymous-dentist]

Inmate Crucifixion Day!!!

So it's no big surprise that the QSMP has some religious imagery going on, and today's supposed conclusion to the Prison Arc is no exception. Today, the inmates are going to be crucified, and we all know what that is.

Right?

Well, hi, I'm A.D., I'm a historian, and today I'm going to teach you all about crucifixion!

Now, crucifixion is a longstanding execution method that dates back way before Jesus was even thought of. We've got accounts of crucifixions dating back to the Persians under Darius I, and we've got even more accounts from all over the place in the ancient world.

Now, let's go over some history real quick, shall we?

~522 BCE: Polycrates, the tyrant of Samos, is crucified postmortem by some pissed-off Persians. Maybe.

We don't actually know if this one happened or not, but we do know that he was assassinated. That much is true. The crucifixion part is what's up for debate, but, if it is true, then Polycrates here has the privilege of being the first ever victim of crucifixion. Lucky him!

~519 BCE: Darius I orders the crucifixion of something approximating 3,000 political opponents in Babylon

See, the thing about Persian crucifixions is that the prisoners weren't usually nailed to the cross shape we all know. Nah, they were tied up with their hands above their heads, strung up on a single pole. This way, their death would take a lot longer, and the prisoner would suffocate under their own weight. This would last for days, usually with the prisoner being left up to be humiliated even after their death.

~417 BCE: Persian general and tyrant Artaÿctes is crucified by Athenians in a rather uncharacteristic act

But also take this with a grain of salt because this account comes from Herodotus, and I don't trust that dude with much more than a fun story.

The Greeks didn't really think much of crucifixion. They were like, "We're above this. We are civilized", but also. They did not like the whole "Persian Invasion" thing, and so sometimes they ended up resorting to measures they weren't too happy with. Such is war!

~332 BCE: Speaking of war, Alexander the Great supposedly had 2,000 survivors of his siege of Tyre crucified.

The thing with Alexander is that a lot of what people say about him is probably bullshit.

~88 BCE: Ancient Judean king Alexander Jannaeus supposedly had 800 Pharisees-slash-rebels crucified in the middle of Jerusalem

And now we get to the Romans, who kinda perfected the whole thing. They were super into crucifixion. They were so into it that they had a bunch of different ways of doing it!

Getting impaled on a stake

Getting tied to a tree

Getting tied to a crux simplex (see image below)

Getting stuck to a cross

The whole crucifixion thing was seen as a way to deter people from doing the same crimes that the crucified people did. It was all about torture and humiliation. We have reports of people being crucified for days, and of people having to carry their own crucifixes (see: Jesus Christ.)

Sometimes people were tied to their crucifixes. Sometimes they were nailed to them. It varied by region and by criminal and by executor. Criminals were generally stripped completely naked (again, humiliation), though, again, the position depended on the region, criminal, and executor. The way Jewish people were executed was different than how, say, slaves or renegade gladiators were executed.

I'm not going to get into the whole process because that's very long and yucky. But I will repeat just how popular it was! Because MAN, the Romans LOVED it! Crassus ordered the crucifixion of at least 6,000 rebels and followers of Spartacus after the Third Servile War (but, then again, he was a piece of shit.)

Of course, we can't forget about the most famous crucifixion of all:

~32 CE: Jesus.

Jesus of Nazareth remains the most famous victim of crucifixion, and it's because of the nature of his particular crucifixion that everybody thinks of crucifixion as The Thing With The Cross.

And this is probably what everybody's thinking of when they're talking about the QSMP inmates being crucified today.

But he wasn't the only religious figure to be crucified!

Cut to:

Either 274 CE or 277 CE: Mani, the Parthian Prophet and the founder of Manichaeism, is crucified in a way super similar to Jesus

Tbh we don't know when he died, but his followers purposefully compared his death to Jesus' despite there possibly being literally no crucifixion involved at all.

But, you know what? Crucifixion happened all over the place!

Islamic territories had crucifixion going on simply because they lived where crucifixion had been taking place for centuries, and there was a lot of debate surrounding crucifixion in relation to the various rules and regulations surrounding criminality and the potential justification of execution.

Japan, interestingly enough, also has a pretty long history of crucifixion. Supposedly, it was introduced in the 15th century by pesky Christian missionaries, but the Japanese had had a similar tradition going on before that. But Japanese crucifixion, called haritsuke wasn't really like the kind we're familiar with. There was water crucifixion (mizuharitsuke) reserved for Christians, and there was upside-down crucifixion (sakasaharitsuke.) Fun!

(There is photo evidence of this even up on the Wikipedia page, but you can find that on your own. I'm not putting that on my blog, thanks.)

As the years continued, crucifixion became a bit less widespread, though there is photo evidence of its use in Japan up through the 19th century, and then reports of it being used in World War One by the Germans and then in World War Two against the Germans.

Unfortunately, it's still a practiced tradition in a few parts of the world. Saudi Arabia and Sudan still have crucifixion as an execution method, and it's still a reported method being used by certain extremist factions in Syria, Iran and Myanmar.

So... yeah! That's crucifixion for you! It's a truly terrible fate, but not an overtly religious one. It only really became religious when Jesus ended up getting killed, and, even then, it's only seen as such by groups of people steeped in Christian culture (such as many countries and cultures living in what people call "The West".)

I can only imagine that the religious aspect is what's going to come into play on the QSMP, because I doubt that this literal Minecraft Roleplay Series will employ actual literal torture and execution methods live on Twitch.

#a.d. talks history #qsmp #i guess! i talk about it! #anyway all my sources are basically from my head and from some quick research #can you tell i was raised catholic? #and that i took a class on ancient persia last year? lol

[t00thpasteface]

dude i am THINKING so HARD ab when lucien DOES have to stop an assassin from touching martin. idk how the assassin even gets that far but lucien is like, a last resort most of the time (mostly bc he always makes such a MESS)

the only thing that can counter an assassin as another assassin who is never gonna let you touch his man

ooooh i love blade!lucien... i really wanna write something about it... i think it's the most feasible endgame for marcien; lucien still gets to make good use of his "talents" but in a way that's permitted within the emperor's inner circle.

lucien probably doesn't see a lot of action because he's usually the guy who's Right Next To Martin, so any would-be infiltrator has to get past several levels of increasingly tight security to even come close to lucien's range. so whenever he actually has an opportunity to go beast mode, he's like "hehe might as well enjoy this" and just. draws it out. he would get so disturbingly messy with it that martin would have to intervene and order a mercy kill.

the other blades take issue with his methods of course. lucien IS that dril tweet where it's like "i spent four years getting my torture degree at torture university and now everyone's like 'ohhh torture is bad it's ineffective' fuck off"... but we all know the blades are a bunch of amoral imperialist freaks who aren't above shit like imitating an ancient prophecy just to colonize a foreign nation so honestly if they have beef with lucien then they're hypocrites LMAO

#shebbz shoutz #marcien #THEMMMMM #ask

[reginrokkr]

...This was the only method to which I could resort in order to preserve him. What if he cannot be restored? I'm scared... This is different from that time with Cater, but... No, I must be calm. Rene needs my help, now more than ever... What is the most reasonable course of action he would take at this time... I need to first keep his condition under wraps so that the Ordo will not collapse... I need to come up with some reasonable pretense, though I'm not sure how long it'll hold... We need to at least ensure the Tower of Gestalt's completion...

...The stark contrast between how he'd always say so much to me and the present is utterly heart-wrenching... There should still be hope. According to our research, if we can further break down and purify... Director Lyris's essence... Perhaps with the principles behind the ancient golems... If all goes well, we should also be able to cure Cater...

...In the end, Ann departed in great sorrow. I should not have lost my temper so, but I did not know how to answer her, and I did not wish to deceive her. Alain is through with us — I do not wish to lose her too... But as long as Rene is restored, surely, she and Alain will...

...I've been interpreting the data in search of a solution and sharing the results with Rene. There has still been no response, but I can already envision his response with perfect clarity: criticizing the Universitas Magistrorum for putting the cart before the horse, neglecting the fundamental principles underlying everything, and diving straight the details of how to put those techniques to use... How they inverted even the alchemical stages for other purposes...

...I have successfully re-extracted that part of the persona and stored it in the Orthants, at least... The connection with the primordial waters... I've penned research notes like a man possessed. Rene will be quite surprised when the time comes...

...It seems that there was an alchemist from Khaenri'ah named "R" who joined a secret order. From what fragmentary records exist, it appears that they made significant headway. But the available materials are scarce... If Rene doesn't recover, the Ordo will slowly dissolve. And if we were all mistaken, and the colossal beasts and apocalypse are false, will there be others who shall research the trail left behind, as I am now...?

...This idea needs to be tested on someone else first. But that means... ...I'm afraid there's no other way. No other way out...

...The conscious creation that arose from this... showed great promise. Perhaps I've finally found the right approach... ...Placed in the silver basin, gleaming. I taught them language and natural philosophy... ...I've decided to teach them how to paint, which could help exercise their newly grown prosthetic limbs... ...Generated a near-identical persona... Dissolved and dispersed. It saddens me somewhat, but I believe...

...The ones that ultimately survived were unstable blobs of water with rudimentary human forms. It seems that relying on the sword and Lyris's nature alone is insufficient... did think of Cater's remains. I have a few ideas...

...With these, along with some of the leftover material from Cater's current state... I'll use the pocketwatch Alain gave me as the cornerstone to construct Rene's form. I've never dared part with it, as it represents all the time Rene and I had shared. We were much luckier than those who dream still in those circular ruins... Reconstruction according to my design should be possible...

...I have named him. All that remains is to implant... He will not remember his two previous failures— these setbacks could obstruct his path to transcendence. He shall become our ideal Narzissenkreuz. He shall take long strides and walk far ahead of me once more, casting his slender shadow in the sun. He shall guide us in shaping a new future, one in which there will be a place for Alain and Ann...

...What remains of them can be used as material for other experiments. For example, we can graft them onto those who have lost their intellect...

                                                                                                           —Log.

#◟༺✦༻◞ fragments of light from the roots of truth ┊reference.┊ #◟༺✦༻◞ memories are all but forgotten in the river of time ┊queue.┊

[lunarsilkscreen]

Jesus and the Law

At some point, I'm going to turn into a hippie youth pastor if I keep talking about Jesus, and I should probably stop but here we go.

Evangelicals turn away, this is gonna be an alternate interpretation you're not ready to hear. I'm not quite ready to say either. But no doubt, will regret saying anyway.

Jesus noted something important in his days. He was one who spoke of the invisible guiding hand, the machine that controls humanity, the system of which to rage against.

He was a child of God. And God was not the law.

A child born against the law, however you wish to interpret that. Rape, incest, premarital. The Bible never quite explains, but if we're thinking realistically, he calls God "The god of those Alive, not the god of the dead" the living word, the living God. And he stands law and God side-by-side.

He says that God doesn't care about the laws of man and will do as he pleases. And if not for that creation, Jesus would neither have lived nor died.

If humans were lawful, Jesus wouldn't have existed. And if they listened, Jesus wouldn't have been crucified.

He routinely talks about the things that humans were doing to each other, that society had agreed were shitty things to do, but did them anyway. Broke commandments and laws, and nobody bats an eye.

But you call people out on their transgressions, and everybody loses their mind.

The gist is this: when you give people no choice but to break the law in order to survive. Even if you offer them a livelihood through a system that makes them burnout, or a lack of freedom of thought and desire, or a lack of being able to pursue their dreams.

Then they'll pursue that which gives them that hit of dopamine their body should be giving them for free.

Think about it, you get dopamine from eating, creative thought, sex, solving problems, and exercise in moderation.

What happens when you restrict freedom? Give people too much stress? They resort to other methods in order to get the dopamine they need to get through the stress.

I can't get through the morning without coffee.

So if you take away freedom of expression, of thought, of sex, force them into hard not-moderate exercise, restrict their food intake to protein powder and water.

How do you think they're gonna get that dopamine?

It's not by wanting to keep working that's for sure.

"man cannot live on bread alone."

What kind of people resort to hard drugs? Depressed people, who don't want or can't afford children, who eat a diet of whatever is cheap and sodapop when they're feeling like splurging, who couldn't break free from the grind to do something that was actually meaningful, and was told they'd have to jump from one shitty know nothing boss to another ad-infinium until death.

Sisyphus pushing that rock up the Hill. A perpetual motion machine for others to profit from.

It's right there documented in our historical texts, that which still happens. And people at the highest level of powers have decided "you know who had It right? The ancient Egyptians, whose workers were so tired of their shit, THAT THEY DECIDED to go on strike in the middle of the desert FOR FORTY YEARS."

They went on strike for so long, their descendents still carry the stigma of being lazy to this very day, by people that keep trying to reinvent the slaver wheel.

That cycle repeats, even by people thumping Bibles, that definitely should know better had they thought to open the book.

Jesus was a lazy hippie, leader of the feral hippies, and probably hosted the first burning man festival before it was called burning man. Literally fed a bunch of unemployed lazy good for nothing's when he did that one sermon on a mount.

Jesus proved it was possible to feed a lot of people at once, that it was possible to have wine aplenty after it had all been drank, and was a carpenter, all the way up until he wasn't allowed to be anymore.

[kxlinthesky]

EPISODE 4 LIGHT NOVEL Chapter 3-5 English Translation

When the light finally faded away, the chapel was dark and silent once more, save for the sound of a woman sobbing. Gone was the jet-black Queen of Demons – Eliza had returned, and the gorgeous snow-white bride clung to Jack’s body, tears streaming down her pale face. Anastasia, awake and alert once more, stood by her sister’s side.

 “Jack, I’m sorry... please... come back to me.” Eliza clutched Jack closer as she bawled her eyes out.

Owl heaved a heavy sigh, his eyes sliding from the sorrowful bride to his gun. “... The disassembly... worked,” he muttered to himself. He glanced back in Eliza’s direction. Ellie stood over there as well, though she seemed barely conscious. “Ellie... who are...?”

His question went unfinished as another voice rose nearby. “Master Tristan! The spell...!”

“I’ve halted it for the time being. It’s just a stopgap measure, but it’ll buy us some time.” Tristan gritted his teeth, turning a baleful glare on Cain, who was still cowering in the corner of the chamber. He hadn’t yet regained the strength to stand. The trembling man-child ducked his head under the gentleman’s cold stare. “But I can’t return his soul to his body – there’s a lock in place,” Tristan continued, still glaring. “The ancient alchemy isn’t compatible with modern techniques, apparently.”

“Not compatible?” Owl echoed. “What do you mean, Tristan?!”

“Jack’s soul was ripped from his body using old alchemy,” Tristan replied, “so modern alchemy won’t be able to put it back where it belongs. The very foundations of the two systems are completely incongruous with each other.”

Owl stiffened. “So then... there’s nothing we can do for Jack?”

“Not quite.” Tristan tapped the butt of his cane to the floor again, and with a flash eight soldiers appeared surrounding Cain – pawns, the infantry of chess. The armor-clad warriors drew their swords in unison and held them at his throat. The man curled up even tighter, a reedy high-pitched scream issuing from his mouth like a kettle. “Why don’t we ask Mr. ‘Ancestors Reborn’ himself about the forbidden technique?”

“Wha...?!” Cain sputtered.

“Cain.” The man’s jaw audibly clicked shut at Tristan’s firm voice. “I highly suggest you confess before I am forced to resort to more extreme methods. I am not above torture – I will keep you on the very brink of death. I will make you suffer. Even if you beg me to end your life, I will not free you from your torment. Because, Cain, despite what you might think, I am not the bigger man here.” Not even a speck of warmth or mercy flickered on Tristan’s face. There was only cold fury.

Cain positively shook with fear. “I-I don’t know!” he screamed.

“There’s no way you don’t know, not when you were planning on removing your own soul and transplanting it into Jack’s body. You have to know how to implant a soul into a body, right?”

“U-Uh...?”

Tristan paused for a second. With one eyebrow raised, he dryly said, “You can’t possibly be suggesting that you thought you could take over his body as a soul, right? You would need a proper ritual to secure your soul in place.”

“I what?”

 The phrase.

“Star of the land of the living. The shortcut to heaven. Four magicians commanding the elements. With this power, rotate the sky in the black goddess’ night.”

The phrase was a set of instructions on how to remove a living person’s soul. During a lunar eclipse, four alchemists layering four differing elements of techniques together at the same time could complete a soul removal ritual.

But if there was a soul removal ritual, there had to be a soul restoration ritual, too. Plus and minus, shadow and light, everything in this world had its opposite.

 Cain turned a sickly shade of white. One trembling hand slowly rose to clutch at his heart. “W-Wait, so then I – I could’ve died...?”

“... So you really thought you could take his body without the proper spell.” Tristan clicked his tongue so hard his teeth audibly clacked. “You utter buffoon.” There went their one lead. At this rate, they wouldn’t be able to put Jack’s soul back where it belonged. He’d contained it in the chapel with his alchemy for the time being, but he couldn’t keep it up forever. Once the spell ran out, Jack’s soul would ascend to Heaven, leaving his body to rot away.

He would die.

“No!” Owl whirled on Tristan, panic shining in his gaze. “Tristan! There has to be something else we can do!”

Tristan merely shook his head sorrowfully. “... I’m sorry,” he murmured. There was probably something around here somewhere that could tell them the ritual for restoring souls, but they didn’t have enough time to track it down and decipher it.

Eliza’s head rose. She’d heard their conversation. “Sir Tristan... that can’t be...!”

Tristan ducked his head, avoiding her pleading gaze. His face twisted with regret. There was nothing he could do.

Right then, however, a new voice piped up. “Star far removed from the land....”

“Ellie?”

“When the time comes to shine your light upon your home once more....”

It was Ellie. Owl whipped around to find her standing before the pedestal holding the fallen model of the solar system. She still looked like a faint breeze could knock her over at any minute, but she was fixated on the script carved into the base. “It can’t be,” Owl gasped, rushing over to her side. “Ellie, can you read this? I can’t believe it...!”

The girl swayed. Owl hurriedly grabbed her shoulders, keeping her upright. A tiny voice whispered in his ear. “... Discover the lost god of healing... destroy the order of twelve... in the black goddess’ night....” As the last words fell from her lips, her head lolled to the side. She had passed out standing up.

“Ellie!” Owl kept her from toppling to the floor. However, as he did, he spotted Cain creeping toward the door to the chapel. The despicable wretch was trying to escape. The detective saw red. “Don’t you dare run away!” he roared. “You tried to kill my friend! You won’t get off that easy!”

“N-No, I wasn’t – I didn’t think I was trying to kill anyone!”

“Save your excuses for the police! And don’t bother with keeping your mouth shut, either – once this is over, I’ll expose every dirty little plot you came up with!” Owl declared. He shot a meaningful glance over to Ralph, standing by Tristan’s side, who gave a polite bow in return before quickly striding up to block Cain’s exit. Owl handed Ellie off to Hannah before stalking toward the conniving bastard.

As the detective approached, Ralph informed Cain, “I do believe the only right you have left is to pay for your crimes.”

“Wait! Stop!” Cain was white in the face now as he yelped. “If you do that, your standing will go down the drain!”

“Our standing?”

“Yes! I-I’m friends with someone in the secret service! You’ll have to redo the wedding from scratch, and my brother doesn’t have long either – I’ll be the only one left who can succeed the family! The government won’t let anyone get in my way!”

The corners of Owl’s eyes twitched in fury. Tristan mirrored his son’s expression. “If you throw that agent’s name around like that, I hope you prepared yourself accordingly,” the latter warned. “They have no problem with eliminating any inconveniences.”

“E-Eliminating –” Cain’s voice rose sky-high with panic. A cold sweat broke out along his forehead. His eyes darted around at a dizzying pace before locking onto the man standing in the corner of the room. “Th-That won’t happen, right?! I’m valuable to you!” he yelled.

His imploring eyes sought out the other man –

“Right, Mr. Mastema?!”

Mastema had been silently observing everything that had happened in the chapel from the start. All eyes swung to him. He seemed rather dismayed by having the spotlight suddenly thrust on him, refusing to speak a word.

“You won’t... throw me away, right?” Cain continued, disheartened by Mastema’s silence. He geared up to plead his entire heart out, but –

“Haah, how boring. So this is the fullest extent of your villainy, hm? Really, there is nothing quite so unpleasant as this.” Mastema’s reply was impossibly cold, piercing through Cain’s whining like a knife. “Aah, and here I thought I would get to collect some superb azoth. What a waste.”

“Wha...?”

“If a body has failed to yield azoth once, it cannot be farmed again. And the younger sister has already had some strange sort of protection cast upon her, so making her take that drug would be utterly pointless. And to think, after so many decades the McCreeches had produced two daughters! Coming here was a colossal waste of time!” Mastema sighed long and loud, his shoulders slumping almost dramatically.

There was one person in the room who could possibly understand what he was saying. But unfortunately, it was that very person who spoke up next. “Mastema, what are you talking about?” Tristan all but demanded.

Mastema tilted his head. “Alas, Tristan, it would seem that I will no longer be able to enjoy a game of chess with you. A pity, that.”

Tristan unthinkingly took a step back. The politician’s eyes were darkening to a deep crimson, shining with a dull, oppressive light.

“But right here, right now, I have found it – such great joy, along with my faith!” Mastema’s mood switched on a dime, his tone brimming with delight as he raised his arms over his head. “The Lost Flask is here! The time has come where I might rise to God’s side!!!”

No one quite knew what to make of his little speech. For a moment, everyone was still. Then in the next instant, everyone began to doubt their own eyes.

Because in that moment, a pair of gigantic wings spread behind Mastema.

The sheer impossibility of the scene before them robbed each and every person of their speech. The wings were not alchemical in nature – they were genuine. Bona fide. Real, actual wings, white and feathered and huge and powerful, almost like –

“... An angel...?!” someone gasped.

Mastema muttered, “It is vexing that I should show these in front of children of man, but....” He spread his wings wide. “Bow down before me, humans!!”

Mastema’s wings flapped behind him. He began to rise into the air almost gently. Gusts of wind accompanied each flap, powerful enough to nearly knock the others off their feet. Owl and the others lowered themselves closer to the ground to weather the gales.

“Now, let us return to where we belong,” Mastema whispered.

Owl glanced up at that, and what he saw was Hannah... and Ellie in her arms. By the time his brain registered what he was seeing and he realized just how bad that was, it was already too late. Without giving anyone time to blink, Hannah let out a shrill scream as a hurricane of wind rocked the chapel below. A CRASH! echoed through the chamber, followed by a hailstorm of glass shard clattering to the floor in a glittering waterfall. In the midst of all the chaos, Mastema vanished – and so did Ellie from Hannah’s arms.

“Ellie?!”

They’d lost sight of them in the span of a second. The group had no time to process the situation before they turned their gazes up toward the shattered skylight.

“I bid you farewell, detective. I will be taking the flask.”

Mastema stood in midair above them, a wicked smile slashing his face. Ellie was in his arms, still unconscious. The unbelievable scene unfolding before their eyes left Owl trembling.

“You don’t need to respond, by the way,” Mastema added, his smile widening impossibly further.

“You bastard!” Owl desperately wanted to chase after them, but he didn’t know any techniques for flying through the sky. Mastema continued to rise higher and higher into the air while the detective stood below, powerless. “Ellie! Open your eyes!!” he screamed.

But his efforts were for naught. Ellie’s eyes remained closed.

Mastema was taking Ellie away.

Owl’s heart pounded against his rib cage in horror in time with phantom alarm bells ringing in his ears.

He had to do something. He had to do something!

But he couldn’t. His mind whirled at the speed of light, but a solution wouldn’t come. His vision grew blurry at the edges as despair clawed at his throat.

 But just then, a new voice shouted from atop the bergfried.

“I won’t let you take her!”

 With his white cape whipping in the wind, the man hurled a silver rope toward Mastema. The end wrapped around his ankle, halting his escape.

“Hude Lou?!” Owl screeched. It was indeed the infamous phantom thief, pulling a rather uncharacteristic move that left the detective reeling below. “Why are you –?!”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not doing this for you.” Hude Lou yanked on the rope, pulling Mastema closer. “I just need her, too! Now get over here, you damn Demon!”

“Demon? Me?” Mastema scoffed. “You honestly think a filthy little rat like you can keep me down?” A single flap of his magnificent wings summoned a gale storm that slashed the silver rope to ribbons, the pieces transforming into mercury as they plummeted to the ground.

Hude Lou managed to withstand the fearsome wind, however. He pulled several more cards from his pocket, each packed to the brim with his alchemy, and spread them out before him. “You won’t escape me...!” He waved his cane, activating the spell his cards had formed. “Glacier Road!!”

He flicked the cards with his finger, and in the next instant a great slab of ice solidified in midair. More hunks materialized one by one in rapid succession, forming a clear path up to where Mastema hovered. Hude Lou dashed along the icy road, closing the distance in a flash. As he hurled another card, the thief shouted, “Sleep under the frozen earth forever!!” Silvery ribbons of light trailed the card as it hurtled straight for Mastema –

“Aah, this is boring.” Mastema twisted lazily in midair, his wing slapping the card away as if it was nothing more than a pesky fly. He lashed out with a single merciless kick that connected solidly with Hude Lou’s chest, sending the thief flying backward and knocking the breath from his lungs. His feet lost their purchase on the icy surface.

“Hude Lou!” Owl shouted desperately as the thief plunged to the ground. His words echoed through the dark chamber in vain.

 “Sit quietly, O livestock of God.”

 The flapping of wings grew further and further away, and the gleeful voice in the heavens grew deeper and deeper with their despair.

 “For the promised time has arrived!!”

 And with that, Mastema vanished, leaving a hopelessly weak detective to glare up at the sky.

 “No... Ellie....”

Owl stood still as a statue with no way to chase after them, drowning in his own helplessness. He had watched a young girl’s abduction before his very eyes, and he had done nothing to stop it. A dark void resided where his heart should be, devoid of even the faintest glimmer of hope.

He was powerless.

Completely, utterly powerless.

 There was nothing at all he could do.

 As the full reality of the situation hit him, Owl felt his gun starting to slip from his grasp. It wasn’t long before the rest of his body followed suit, and he crumpled to the floor.

  “It’s too soon to give up.”

The chapel doors swung open, revealing a lone stranger. He looked somewhat similar to Cain... but this person was older, with deep wrinkles and graying hair.

“We need to return Jack’s soul to his body. The lunar eclipse is nearly over,” the stranger declared, before swaying dangerously on his feet.

“Arby! You’re out of bed...!” Tristan hurried over to the man to lend a shoulder.

This man was the head of the McCreech family, Arby. He leaned heavily on Tristan’s arm for support, then turned in Owl’s direction and, to his surprise, lowered his head. “Mr. Owl. Right now, saving Jack is the top priority. His noble heart is a beacon of light for our family – we cannot see it extinguished. With the orrery in its current state, if we allow the eclipse to pass tonight, we will lose our one and only chance. Even Tristan will not be able to hold his soul forever.”

Owl glared up at the sky, where not even a few moments ago Mastema had been, before his gaze fell to the floor. His fingers tightened around the grip of his gun. For a few seconds, all was silent.

Then the detective rose and hurried over to Jack. “... I was asked to make Anastasia’s sister a happy bride! And that won’t happen if you don’t open your eyes!” he growled. “... If we’re going to put his soul back... what Ellie read has to be a clue.... How did it go...? Think, Owl...! Don’t let her gift go to waste...!!” His eyes slid shut, reciting the second phrase.

 Star far removed from the land

When the time comes to shine your light upon your home once more

Discover the lost god of healing

Destroy the order of twelve

In the black goddess’ night

 “Does ‘star far removed from the land’ mean the soul?” he mumbled. “So the ‘shine your light once more’ bit –”

Tristan perked up. “That must be the soul restoration ritual! Those words will tell us how to do it!”

“But what’s the ‘lost god of healing’ mean...? The black goddess’ night is probably the eclipse, but we have to figure out what the ‘god of healing’ is!” What did it mean? Was it meant to represent something?

“Hurry, Owl!” Tristan shouted. “We can’t use the model anymore! We have to rely on the real eclipse for this to work!”

Above them, the moon through the shattered skylight had mostly regained its former shine.

They had no time.

 “God of healing... of healing...!” Realization hit Owl like a punch in the gut. “A doctor...! Jack, you’re a doctor! Do you know anything?!”

So he screamed, but Jack was still unconscious. He couldn’t answer.

“Jack!”

Owl was at his wit’s end, impatience frying his brain as he desperately tried to come up with something, anything. He wanted to bring this man back to life, this impossibly kind, honest man. Eliza needed her husband. There was no way on Earth that Owl could let him die.

“You can’t die!” Owl shouted. His hands clutched the collar of Jack’s jacket. As he did, something shifted in Jack’s breast pocket. It was a white handkerchief – no, it was a pair of gloves. The gloves that Jack said Eliza had sewn for him.

Owl froze for a few seconds, his eyes locked on the white fabric. “This is....”

 Realization struck again.

“The Rod of Asclepius!”

 Owl released his collar to frantically dig the gloves out of Jack’s pocket. He spread them wide. There it was – the quick cast formation carefully sewn on the back of the hand, bearing the mark of the Rod of Asclepius.

“Asclepius – the God of Healing!”

Asclepius was a Greek god of medicine. His signature item, always depicted as a snake entwined around a rod, was a widely recognized symbol of medicine as well.

“Owl?” Tristan called out.

Owl thrust the gloves out for his father to see. “This is it!” he yelled. “Asclepius used Medusa’s blood to revive the dead! And that’s why Zeus killed him, but later he became a constellation!”

“A constellation.... I see!”

“Right, but even though it crosses the ecliptic it’s not a part of the twelve zodiac signs! So it’s the ‘lost god of healing!’ The thirteenth zodiac!!”

Next to Owl, Anastasia gasped and leaped to her feet. “— Ophiuchus!”

“Exactly, Anastasia!” Owl turned to the girl. “Tell us where Ophiuchus is!!”

Without hesitation, Anastasia pointed into the horoscope. “Between Scorpio and Sagittarius!”

No one doubted the astrology expert in the room for a second. “Thank you, Anastasia!” Owl lifted Jack’s body and carried him to the center of the horoscope, then made a mad dash for the circles lining the outer edges of the diagram... specifically the ones marked with the emblems for the Scorpion and the Archer. He knelt in between them. “I destroy the order of the twelve zodiacs!” he shouted, then slapped his palms in between the Scorpio and Sagittarius signs. “Tristan! Release Inescapable World, the chessboard’s in the way!”

“I won’t be able to hold Jack’s soul if I do!” Tristan shouted back. “The eclipse is ending – this is our last chance!”

“I know! I swear I’ll put it back in his body before it can get anywhere!”

Tristan gave no further argument. He released his alchemy, and the chessboard disappeared from around his feet. Owl raised his head to the shattered skylight. The eclipse was about to end.

“Disassembly formation!”

An alchemical formation dazzled to life under Owl’s hands. The circle emanating from his palms widened, tracing the path of the horoscope below. However, the solid foundation of the ancient alchemy didn’t show even the slightest hint of letting Owl’s magic in.

“Damn it – this is one hell of a spell,” Owl muttered. He pulled his gun out of his breast pocket, mind working overtime. “Look like I have no choice but to break it....”

“You don’t have any disassembly bullets left!” Tristan yelled.

Owl screamed back, “But this is the only option!” He tightened his finger on the trigger.

But before he could fire, something clattered to the floor in front of him with a faint but audible clink. He jolted and glanced up to see a tiny shard of a red stone just tumbling to a halt before him.

“A fragment of azoth...?” What was it doing here?

A face flashed in the recesses of Owl’s mind – one clad in a black-and-white mask, wearing a white top hat.

“Hude Lou?!” He glanced around wildly, but there was no sign of the infamous thief. “... Damn him.” This had to be the other half of the azoth he’d pulled out of the tiara. He didn’t have any idea why the thief would hand it over to Owl, but.... “No time to waste,” he decided. He had seen it with his own eyes several times over – he knew what kind of phenomenon this stone could create. There was only one course of action he could take now.

Owl scooped the azoth up and the circle under him instantly expanded. A colossal surge of energy welled up from his hand. The air crackled around him like lightning. The power he was putting out now was leagues beyond what he could normally pull off. He was, for lack of a better word, awestruck. “The stone can amplify alchemy this much...?!”

But he could marvel later. Owl raised his gun, aiming through the layers and layers of golden transmutation circles, and fired.

BANG! The gunfire reverberated in the air. The vibrations spread throughout the entire horoscope, and as they went, the blue and white tiles began to crack and split apart, almost as peeling a mask away.

And then, from underneath the crumbling tiles, a brand-new horoscope appeared. There were two of them now.

Anastasia gasped, “A new symbol...!”

She was right. Nestled between Scorpio and Sagittarius on the second horoscope was a new mark – the sigil of Ophiuchus.

“If the lost god of healing is here, then the order of twelve is destroyed!” Owl yelled. Hanging above them in the night sky... the final traces of the black goddess remained. “It’s broken! Bring him back!” he screamed to the last dregs of the eclipse.

And then, within the ring of thirteen signs, the ancient pattern suddenly began to twinkle. The circle flashed with a brilliant white light. An even brighter, more massive pattern began to spread.

It was the soul restoration ritual.

“The horoscope itself was the alchemical tool?!”

The light swallowed Jack’s body. Standing above him, Owl quickly screwed his eyes shut as the light threatened to swallow him, too.

 “Inescapable World!!”

 CLACK went the sound of a cane striking the floor. At the very edges of his vision, Owl could see Tristan activating a new technique.

“King of Time...!!”

In an instant, the colors around him inverted. Everyone trying to rush over to Owl froze in their tracks. The world had gone completely still.

There was only one man in the world with the power to control time itself, and that was Tristan.

 “That move of yours... should really be against the rules,” Owl mumbled, even as his consciousness slipped away from him.

original written by Nagaya Kawaji here

#kotonoha project #one bit of dialogue here is actually from file 22! #not exactly the same though -- it's been retranslated to better fit the context

[osiristhehermit]

LIBER SCRIPTUM

» LIBER SCRIPTUM «

Aleister Crowley

The Scientific Solution of the Problem of Government

by Comte de Fénix

First published circa 1937 EV in London.

(It is referred to in the introduction to the 1938 EV edition of The Book of the Law.) Crowley's pseudonym here, "Comte de Fénix" is a play on "Phoenix," his secret name as head of O.T.O.

[ Published in The Revival of Magick, edited by Hymenaeus Beta & R. Kaczynski (1998 ev.) ]

Theorem.

The scientific solution of the problem of Government is given in AL (Liber Legis). This Law supersedes all the empirical theories hitherto current.

Quotation.

Chapter I.

3. Every man and every woman is a star.

10. Let my servants be few & secret: they shall rule the many & the known.

40. Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

41. The word of Sin is Restriction.

42. thou hast no right but to do thy will.

43. Do that, and no other shall say nay.

44. For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect.

57. Love is the law, love under will.

Chapter II.

19. Is a God to live in a dog? No! but the highest are of us. They shall rejoice, our chosen: who sorroweth is not of us.

20. Beauty and strength, leaping laughter and delicious languor, force and fire are of us.

58. Yea! deem not of change: ye shall be as ye are, & not other. Therefore the kings of the earth shall be Kings for ever: the slaves shall serve.

Chapter III.

4. Choose ye an island!

5. Fortify it!

6. Dung it about with enginery of war!

7. I will give you a war-engine.

8. With it ye shall smite the peoples; and none shall stand before you.

58. But the keen and the proud, the royal and the lofty; ye are brothers!

59. As brothers fight ye!

60. There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt.

Demonstration.

The average voter is a moron. He believes what he reads in newspapers, feeds his imagination and lulls his repressions on the cinema, and hopes to break away from his slavery by football pools, cross-word prizes, or spotting the winner of the 3:30.He is ignorant as no illiterate peasant is ignorant: he has no power of independent thought. He is the prey of panic.But he has the vote.

The men in power can only govern by stampeding him into wars, playing on his fears and prejudices until he acquiesces in repressive legislation against his obvious interests, playing on his vanity until he is totally blind to his own misery and serfdom.The alternative method is undisguised dragooning. In brief, we govern by a mixture of lying and bullying.

This desperate resort to archaic weapons is the heritage of hypocrisy. The theories of Divine Right, aristocratic superiority, the moral order of Nature, are all today exploded bluffs. Even those of us who believe in supernatural sanctions for our privileges to browbeat and rob the people no longer delude ourselves with the thought that our victims share our superstitions.

Even dictators understand this. Mussolini has tried to induce the ghost of Ancient Rome to strut the stage in the image of Julius Caesar; Hitler has invented a farrago of nonsense about Nordics and Aryans; nobody even pretends to believe either, except through the "will-to-believe."And the pretence is visibly breaking down everywhere. They cannot even be galvanized with spasms of pseudo-activity, as still occasionally happens with the dead toads of superstition.

There is only one hope of uniting the people under intelligent leadership; because there is only one thing in which everyone really believes. That is, believes in such a way that he automatically bases every action of his daily life on its principles.(This is true of practically all men, whatever their race, caste, or creed.) This universally accepted basis of conduct is Science.

Science has attained this position because it makes no assertion that it is not prepared to demonstrate to all comers. (This part is so well understood that all the "false prophets"—Spiritualism, Christian Science, ethnological cranks, Great Pyramid puzzle-mongers, and the rest of the humbugs—all pretend to appeal to evidence, not to authority, as did the Kings and the Churches.)The problem of Government is therefore to find a scientific formula with an ethical implication. This formula must be rigidly applicable to all sane men soever without reference to the individual qualities of any one of them.

The formula is given by the Law of Thelema. "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law."[1]This injunction, in one sense infinitely elastic, since it does not specify any particular goal of will as desirable, is yet infinitely rigid, in that it binds every man to follow out exactly the purpose for which he is fitted by heredity, environment, experience, and self-development.The formula is thus also biologically indefeasible, as well as adequate, ethically to every individual, and politically to the State.

Let this formula be accepted by every government. Experts will immediately be appointed to work out, when need arises, the details of the True Will of every individual, and even that of every corporate body whether social or commercial, while a judiciary will arise to determine the equity in the case of apparently conflicting claims. (Such cases will become progressively more rare as adjustment is attained.) All appeal to precedent and authority, the deadwood of the Tree of Life[2], will be abolished, and strictly scientific standards will be the sole measure by which the executive power shall order the people. The absolute rule of the state shall be a function of the absolute liberty of each individual will.

#aleister crowley #thelema #occult #magick

[theexodvs]

Biblical answers to MRA’s questions

Q: What is the appropriate response to a woman beating her male partner?

A: Eye for an eye (Lev. 24:19-20) is the maximum appropriate response regulated in Scripture. Remember that this works both ways.

Q: What is the appropriate response to a woman accusing a man of sexual violence or misconduct?

A: The same for any accusation by anyone of any gender, towards anyone of any gender, for any kind of act: presume innocence, according to Deuteronomy 17:6. Remember that this works both ways.

Q: What is the appropriate response to a woman falsely claiming a man is the father of her child?

A: The ninth commandment.

Q: What is the appropriate response to a woman misusing child support money provided by who is assumed to be the biological father of her child, conceived in intercourse rather than IVF, etc?

A: The mother and father should have been married before considering intercourse (Genesis 1:28, 2:24). If the woman is, in fact, misusing the money in this fashion, she is violating the eighth commandment.

Q: What is the appropriate response to women taking everything from their ex-husbands during a divorce?

A: Divorce should be a method of last resort, when absolute push meets absolute shove, for reasons relating to adultery (Matthew 5:31-32, 19:9). The Bible has no direct teachings on division of goods as a result of divorce, but Biblical divorce is subject to strict legal processes and permits a divorced woman to marry, suggesting the intent of Biblical divorce law is to ensure the woman survives (Deuteronomy 24:1-4). It is arguably appropriate, then, for a man to pay his ex-wife alimony as long as she does not remarry. Jesus tells us to seek out-of-court settlements, and to be on guard for being deprived of all our wealth if we proceed with a lawsuit (Matthew 5:25-26). This is a complicated issue that is to be resolved on a case-by-case basis.

Q: What is the appropriate Biblical response to intercourse between a female teacher and her male student who has not achieved the age of majority?

A: The Bible rejects any concept resembling an age of accountability (Psalm 51:7, Romans 3:23, Ephesians 2:3). Before we concentrate on the teacher, we need to concentrate on the young man. His parents were responsible for teaching him (Proverbs 22:6), and that includes the seventh commandment. So if he has intercourse with someone to whom he is not wed, both he and his sexual partner are guilty of violating the seventh commandment; if this is in violation of his parents’ clear instruction, he is also guilty of violating the fifth commandment. If, however, we was not instructed to pursue his personal purity, it would have been better for his parents to be tossed into the sea with millstones around their necks (Matthew 18:6).

Q: What is the appropriate Biblical response to young men conceiving children before the age of majority, borne and birthed by women above the age of majority, and being required to pay child support?

A: Fathers have a primary duty to ensure the survival of their children (1 Timothy 5:8). Notice, it says, “And whoever does not provide for relatives and especially family members has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever,” rather than, “And whoever has not achieved a certain age to be arbitrarily defined 2000 years after this writing does not provide for relatives and especially family members has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” Even the controversial laws regarding slavery in the Bible, found in Deuteronomy 20, are to ensure the survival of POWs, war widows, and their children. If a father cannot find a means of employment, then the child’s grandparents, who should have instructed the father on proper conduct, would be responsible.

Q: What is the proper Biblical response to male-only conscription?

A: The Bible is actually more vocal on which men shouldn’t go to war than should (Deuteronomy 20:5-8). It is worth noting that after the Conquest of Canaan, ancient Israel never fought a war of choice unless it was in a state of mass idolatry. If conscription constitutes chattel slavery, as has often been argued, it violates Exodus 21:16. Thus, regardless of what’s between a soldier’s legs, there is nothing in Scripture to support conscription, and plenty to suggest that conscription and the sociopolitical situation which usually belies it are transgressive.

#men's rights #men's rights activism #men's rights activist #men's rights activists #mra #mras #mrm #men's rights movement #muscular christianity #muscular christian #muscular christians #eye for an eye #presumption of innocence #Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor #Cultural Mandate #And they shall be one flesh #Thou shalt not steal #Sermon on the Mount #Divorce #Age of accountability #Christian ethics #Teacher student relations #Honor thy father and mother #Thou shalt not commit adultery #Train up a child #Child abandonment #Slavery in the Bible #Conscription

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Why do religious people (Christians and Muslims are main culprits that I’ve seen though) so dedicated to the idea that so—called ‘scientific miracles’ exist in the Bible and the Quran respectively? By the internal logic of religions, wouldn’t this defeat the entire point of faith as it is thought about in them?

100% correct. It's really weird.

They act like faith is a valid alternate form of knowledge production. They say things like "science can't know everything" and "god is beyond human conception" and "it's arrogant (or sometimes, sad) to think there isn't anything other than what science can find."

And then they torpedo the whole thing by saying things about "scientific miracles," things that science has (supposedly) verified. Which is another way of saying "yes, my god can be tested and verified" - if not the god, then at least its footprints on our reality.

These are two completely contradictory claims. They defend the absence of their god by saying it's undetectable, then insist it has been detected.

What's also true though is that it makes their scripture and their god subservient to the scientific process. That is, the bible and quran are not authoritative. If they were, then you could reliably derive divine truth through the scripture without having to "resort" to validating it with mere human science.

It's therefore an admission of the worthlessness of "faith." If "faith" was epistemologically (how we decide what is true) valid and reliable, why would anything held through faith need to be scientifically accurate?

Religious scholars insisted for centuries that the Earth was flat because their book said so. It was the Truth™, and those who said otherwise were blaspheming heretics and liars. Now religious apologists try to pretend that their scripture knew it all along, such as pretending that a circle is the same as a sphere (or spheroid), or that "spreading" the Earth out means stretching it like an ostrich egg... despite the Earth being an oblate spheroid, not a prolate spheroid (egg) anyway.

What this means is that humans can't derive knowledge from scriptures. It means their god doesn't know the shape of the Earth, or can't communicate it accurately. It means divine knowledge must be adjudicated by human knowledge. Worse, it means divine knowledge is altered by human knowledge, since it means that, like divine morality, what "god" knows is beholden to, and changes based on, what man knows.

Whenever "scientific miracles" comes up, I like to refer to the following lists:

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Biblical_scientific_foreknowledge#Criteria_for_actual_foreknowledge

In order for a statement to be Biblical scientific foreknowledge, it must fit five criteria:

1. It must be correct. A statement cannot be scientific foreknowledge if it is incorrect, because the scientific method necessarily eschews incorrect data. 2. It must be in the Bible. A statement cannot be Biblical scientific foreknowledge if it isn't in the Bible, because the only possible source of Biblical scientific foreknowledge is the Bible. 3. It must be unambiguous. A statement cannot be scientific foreknowledge if it is ambiguous, both because science is necessarily precise and because ambiguity allows modern science to be shoehorned into ancient religion when none is present. 4. It must have been outside of contemporary knowledge. A statement cannot be scientific foreknowledge if it was already known, because this makes the "foreknowledge" into merely "knowledge" and makes divine intervention unnecessary. 5. It must have been outside of contemporary technology. A statement cannot be considered scientific foreknowledge if it was knowable with the technology of the time, because this makes divine intervention unnecessary.

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Qur%27anic_scientific_foreknowledge#Criteria_for_scientific_foreknowledge

For a statement to be Qur'anic foreknowledge, it must fit all of the five following criteria:

1. It must be accurate. A statement cannot be Qur'anic foreknowledge if it is not accurate, because knowledge (and thus foreknowledge) excludes inaccurate statements. TLDR: It's true. 2. It must be in the Qur'an. A statement cannot be Qur'anic foreknowledge if it is not in the Qur'an, because Qur'anic by definition foreknowledge can only come from the Qur'an itself, rather than modern reinterpretations of the text. TLDR: It's in plain words in the Qur'an. 3. It must be precise and unambiguous. A statement cannot be Qur'anic foreknowledge if meaningless philosophical musings or multiple possible ideas could fulfill the foreknowledge, because ambiguity prevents one from knowing whether the foreknowledge was intentional rather than accidental. TLDR: Vague "predictions" don't count. 4. It must be improbable. A statement cannot be Qur'anic foreknowledge if it reasonably could be the result of a pure guess, because foreknowledge requires a person to actually know something true, while a correct guess doesn't mean that the guesser knows anything. This also excludes contemporary beliefs that happened be true but were believed to be true without solid evidence. TLDR: Lucky guesses don't count. 5. It must have been unknown. A statement cannot be Qur'anic foreknowledge if it reasonably could be the result of an educated guess based off contemporary knowledge, because foreknowledge requires a person to know a statement when it would have been impossible, outside of supernatural power, for that person to know it. TLDR: Ideas of the time don't count.

I've never seen anything survive past #3 in either case. And that's even with being extremely generous about #1 and #2.

Every single time you can tell it's some kind of metaphorical or poetic re-interpretation with 20/20 hindsight.

What's more troubling is that the "scientific miracles" claim always reveals a profound lack of understanding of how science works. Science must account for all the data, not just the "hits" but the "misses." If it’s going to ignore something, it must explain why, or build into the theory the limitations of the particular principle. If we found a single Precambrian rabbit, theists would be on the warpath that evolution is wrong. And they probably should be.

But what's abundantly clear is that they deflect, distract, make stupid excuses, or just don’t care about the many, many misses in their own scripture. Okay, so the bible/quran says the Earth is "round" - they don't, and insist it's flat, even though this was already known among the Greeks - but let's push past that. Jesus thinks that disease is caused by demons, and Allah thinks that sperm comes from between the spine and the ribs, and both books insist that the Earth was formed before the stars, including the sun, and that the moon is its own source of light.

https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/the-texas-sharpshooter

Those are metaphors, we're told. Except that once again, we can only know that by judging the divine knowledge through the authority of science, and only after the fact. If you squint. And don't take it too seriously. Or literally. Or misrepresent a complex principle in overly simplistic terms, Or take statements that aren't prophecies and pretend they are.

It's all very tiresome, and it all comes back to the same problem, as you said: recognition that science is how we accurately describe the world, but all they have is faith.

#ask #islam #quran #christianity #bible #science #science vs faith #faith vs science #faith #faith is not a virtue #scientific errors in the quran #scientific errors #scientific errors in the bible #religion #religion is a mental illness

[sheriff-caitlyn]

I started this blog in 2014, as the first Caitlyn on tumblr, and obviously I’ve been through a lot of retcons and changes myself, not only adapting to Riot’s own public retcons (from the minor, like her aesthetics, to the major, like the removal of the Institute of War as an integral part of their lore) but also to my own. That’s the thing about playing a character as complex as this, is that you learn more as you go. In your interactions with others and the creation of backstory, history, and other bits of worldbuilding to better understand the world you’re in, a character goes from a handful of images and some in-game voicelines to a fully-fledged person with a complex narrative. Sometimes things change, and that’s fine. But there are some changes which... aren’t. 

For all the fingerprints I’ve put on her, she is still not my character. But I care. Sunk-cost fallacy, maybe, but I care about this character I have been involved in and I care about the direction she has been taken. So, without further ado, I’d like to delve into:

The Recent Caitlyn Update In Piltover’s New Context or, We Gotta Fetishise Police Violence, I Mean, Look At Her, She’s So Hot

Back in August 2015, I went, ‘Oh No, they’re going to try to turn Piltover into Gotham City, aren’t they?’, and lo and behold, suddenly we have Poison Ivy now. But I will get back to that, later. In this particular thread, I noted that many of the characters in Piltover seemed destined for a revamp that would rob them of what originally drew us to them in the first place, and that Piltover seemed destined for a rework that would wash out much of their character. Piltover and Zaun were always meant to be polar opposites, but suddenly we were seeing glimpses of Piltover being ‘not as good as everyone thinks’, which hinted that Piltover and Zaun were destined not to be polar opposites in the future, but indistinguishable from each other. It worried me that the only thing telling these two fascinating cities apart would be the sunlight.

So, when we have so much potential for a clash between Zaun and Piltover, between ‘Science No Matter The Cost’ and ‘We Must Advance The World With Care’, why change Piltover to some murky middleground, turning peace and security into wartime capitalism? A world where the people are shitty, where weapons and profit come first, and the only ones making a stand are the ones who are so embittered they have nothing better to do?

Because it has to be ‘interesting’. We’re going to lose bits that we like, that we’re familiar with. And that’s why I’m concerned.

This was before Piltover and Zaun were squished together in an ugly - and utterly ham-fisted - method of showing How Complex The Future Is. There’s layers, guys! Literal layers to this one single city! That means it’s deep! But when I say ‘bits that we like, that we’re familiar with’, I’m not clinging to a fanon interpretation. I’m saying the things that drew us to the world and to the characters to begin with. I could adapt from Caitlyn turning from brown-haired and brown-eyed to black-haired and blue-eyed, because even through I had been doing art, at that point, the change gave me an opportunity to express and discover more about her character (her eye colour being influenced by her mother’s magic, for one). But some of the more stark changes - to family, to job, to personality, to the city of Piltover itself - these result in a character changing completely. I was worried that the cool detective who literally made the world a better place would be chopped and changed into something unrecognisable. I even expounded on my concerns in November 2016, where I could see some of the ways the writers at Rito might make adjustments in the direction of their lore updates.

All this to say, I’ve been working on her for a while, and I was bracing for some bad news. This? This is kind of the worst.

Caitlyn has always been the Sheriff of Piltover, an authority figure, a representative of the law and order that Piltover is famous for. Piltover’s peace and financial prosperity has been directly linked to Caitlyn’s concerted effort to eradicate crime (not criminals, crime! Which, as I have mentioned particularly in this post from 2014, means she upended and reformed the justice system, from the legal process to the prisons to how people are treated as citizens). The city is safe, people have greater access to personal wealth and development, classism is erased, society is flourishing. Zaun, as Piltover’s polar opposite, is a corporate nightmare, with ‘do as thou wilt’, private bodyguards for the rich and powerful while the poor scramble to survive in a system that barely treats them as human. Vi, as a Zaunite, brings a lot of her ‘violence as a problem-solver’ methodology to Piltover’s law-enforcement, though she seems to have no intention of returning to Zaun and seems to have bonded with Caitlyn (‘teamwork!’) to Get Shit Done. And, apparently, there is still shit that needs to be done, though nowhere near as much as there had been in the Bad Old Days.

Vi was, at the time, the awkward-grit-teeth-grin-ha-ha-um-yeah representation of police violence. ‘Resist arrest’, she cries gleefully, as she beats people and breaks down buildings, and we are supposed to go ‘ha, isn’t that funny’ with varying degrees of sincerity. Of course Piltover is going to have problems: anywhere that has wealth and stability is going to be targeted by the envious and the needy. Peace needs to be protected. The problem lies in how that protection is enacted.

So now we have the recent Legends of Runeterra update to Caitlyn, an update which looked at the context of Piltover needing protection, as well as the modern context of Riot’s California location in the Years of Our Lord 2020-2021, and then decided ‘you know what we need? Police violence, everyone loves police violence’.

MAN I thought the stripper-cop skins were bad but here we go!

Her Yordle Snap-Traps (which I envisioned as from the Yordle Military, rather than a racially-profiling weapon as, y’know, they work on human-and-larger-sized people as well) have now been replaced by electroshock grenades, the intent gone from incapacitation and observation to outright paralysis and destruction. Her net-short is now apparently electro-conductive (admittedly, I have had one (1) single RP where that happened, but it came at both a cost to Caitlyn and to her weapon’s efficiency as a result, a last-resort against a dangerous opponent). Caitlyn’s cards in LoR take her from being a detective coordinating ideas and people and putting together a case to a SWAT team leader. This might be the biggest problem in working for a non-combat-oriented character in a MOBA, or in any fighting game: the game needs to find rationalisations for all of their characters being there, being combatants, being able to kill (even if, as Riot says, the lore is separate from the game). We have monsters and soldiers and ancient powers who of course they know how to spill blood and relish in doing so. But pacifists, like Karma or Bard? Explorers like Ezreal? And a sheriff, a peacekeeper, a law-keeper, someone mindful of responsibility and the importance of saving every life possible, like Caitlyn? They’re stripped of that depth and complexity in-game, but there was always the lore that backed them up. But they’ve done away with that completely. Caitlyn was never special operations. She was never military. But now she is, because she had to be changed to fit better into a fighting game. They had to make her violent, and as a result, they have undermined not only everything about the character that made her interesting to begin with - turning her now into a representative of police brutality, but with long hair, pouty lips, and a thigh gap - but they’re also re-writing the context of Piltover. It was bad enough to squish Piltover and Zaun together. But now, Caitlyn’s update is proof that Piltover has gone from a steampunk utopia to a violent, oppressive and cynical post-industrial world. The depiction of Caitlyn as a SWAT team leader (complete with special-forces beret, because hat! Caitlyn wears a hat! Nevermind the fact that she’s no longer wearing a distinctive tophat but instead a symbol of extreme state-sponsored force!) shows us that Piltover’s ‘army’ is not designed as a defence against outsiders, but as an offensive force against their own people. Caitlyn is supposed to be the representation of how peace and order is maintained in one of the largest factions in League of Legends, and if her method of maintaining order is straight-up police violence against their own citizens, then it’s not really peace and order. It’s authoritarianism at best, and facism at worst.

Piltover was different from every other nation in Runeterra because it didn’t have a military. It had defenders, and it had a powerful economy, and it had a democratic political system. But the Piltover update retconned Caitlyn’s hard work. The gangs were back - though now they’re big powerful families like Clan Ferros - and Caitlyn has been de-aged so that she’s still new to the force, that she hasn’t even had her chance to change anything. Her importance to Piltover is minimised... and why is Vi even there? (Oh boy I guess you’re going to have to watch Arcane to find out! Coming to a Netflix near you soon!) With a younger Caitlyn in a violent society, she has no choice but to be violent herself... even if that undermines everything previously established about Piltover and about Caitlyn. This update has made Piltover just as ugly and oppressive as Demacia, Noxus, and Zaun. It’s just another army equipped to do violence, but now that violence is turned inwards. This isn’t protection, it’s control. It’s fear. It’s oppression. Caitlyn is no longer a peacekeeper. She’s a monster. Chopped and changed, as I feared, into something completely unrecognisable from how she began in a world that no longer looks like what it had been... or should be.

It’s hard to tell what came first, the change to Piltover or the change to Caitlyn. Either way, the changes are inextricably linked. Caitlyn was integral to Piltover’s modern state, and Piltover is integral to Caitlyn as a character. Her (original) drive was to make the city and all its people better; Piltover was a utopia because of the effort of Caitlyn, and of people like her, people who wanted a better world. This new iteration of Piltover - full of fear and violence and hypocricy, layered over Zaun in such a way that makes ham-fisted commentary about the wealth/class divide - undermines the value of the individual. It removes agency. It removes hope, which had been integral to Piltover. Piltover is no longer the CIty of Progress... it’s the City of ‘you better be rich and pretty if you want to progress’. And Caitlyn is no longer a force for good or a representative of responsibility, because those things don’t exist in Piltover anymore. Legends of Runeterra has turned Caitlyn into a bitch, someone to hate. She has a marked lack of respect for people, as demonstrated in her new character traits of ‘casually-racist’ (her lines to Veigar), ‘condescending’ (her lines to Viktor), with some added pride in her violence (’here’s my calling card *shoots gun*’ and ‘I aim to win and my aim is excellent’). She is a representative of her city, and she is a terrible person now. Piltover is terrible. Piltover is ugly. 

But Caitlyn avoids that last part. And she’ll get away with it, because she’s a hot twenty-something.

In 2015, I drew Caitlyn-as-Swain, as an AU for what might have been. The overwhelming response at the time was ‘aaa she’s so hot I’d follow that leader of Noxus’, prompting a good friend Swain RPer to comment that Swain - who was, at the time, the withered man in green and gold who needed a cane - was just as smart as Caitlyn if not more so, a proven capable leader, but when it comes down to it, sex-appeal will always trump characterisation and storytelling, and that’s disheartening for someone who puts so much work into stories, to context, to something deeper than ‘Just another MOBA’. And here I am, in 2021, looking at how Caitlyn has been stripped of her fascinating and complex characterisation while maintaining her long legs, long hair, and corsetted figure. Now, I do appreciate the fact they’ve given her a better costume than miniskirt and boobtube. She deserves so much better. I even commissioned back in 2015 for a Better Look for Caitlyn; Tom aka FaerieFountain went on to make her new look canon. But she’s supposed to be a detective. She’s supposed to be careful and methodical and mindful of her status and power. Instead, she’s been made gleefully violent, leaving a lot of depth behind in order to become just Hot Cop With Gun. (As an aside, was anyone else uncomfortable with Caitlyn’s high-school skin? Especially when the writer actually tweeted ‘step on me’? Hello? Ma’am? That is a high school student, that is a CHILD you are talking about? But Caitlyn is hot so it’s fine! Sexualise a child! it’s fine, she’s hot, it’s fine!) Almost everyone who has contacted me about Caitlyn’s LoR cards has been excited to see her. Good! She’s a great character! Or, she was. But the enthusiasm about her is tied to how she’s so violent, how she uses her power to abuse those who don’t conform. But she looks great, smoking hot, you know? And when she’s smoking hot, her dangerous and abusive behaviour and attitude are completely excused. An update to a character needs to take into account characterisation as well as the visuals. Her update, sadly, has focused on the all-too-prevalent problem of the viciousness of state-sponsored violence, rather than the complexity of detective work, of puzzle solving and intellectualism, but because she looks hot and speaks in that British accent, no-one’s going to care. Hot ladies can get away with so much, because legs and pouty lips, but I guess she’s also a cop or whatever.

And, as a momentary aside, why is an eco-terrorist suddenly Caitlyn’s longtime foe? It makes zero sense for Piltover and for Caitlyn that someone who plant-based powers is her biggest rival and the city’s biggest threat. Zero sense, until you take into account that Piltover has been stripped of its character and made into something more aligned with modern authoritarianism than the hopeful vibes of steampunk. Environmentalism? Not on my watch! Deploy the police (the good guys!) to silence the protesters (who are obviously the bad guys becase they’re protesting)! Because Piltover and Zaun are one city now, and therefore indistinguishable, we have a fucking Poison Ivy character causing enough trouble in Piltover to warrant entire fucking SWAT teams opening fire within the city limits and around peoples’ homes! Not Zaun, which is the environmental nightmare, but Piltover! With its fresh air and open skies! Yes, that’s a great place for an eco-terrorist to blame and/or try to fix! The whole thing is honestly so backwards! Like they’ve decided to make a cool character in the form of Corina and just shove her into the story, rather than finding a place in the narrative that suits her. The idea that Corina is C makes no sense. Caitlyn vs C is supposed to be Sherlock versus Moriarty, Ganimard versus Lupin, ACME versus Carmen Sandiego, world’s greatest detective against the world’s greatest thief. It focused on the intellectual battle, the need for self-improvement, and - most importantly! - that this was a fight that didn’t result in gunfire or people being put in bodybags. But we can’t have that in our fighting game! We can’t have people thinking, because that’s not the kind of game we have, it’s left-click-shoot out here on the Rift or in the cards. So now we have a woman with plant powers bombing Piltover, and a policewoman kicking down doors and opening fire. And she’s right there, in Caitlyn’s new splash art, within reaching distance of the sheriff!

She’s right there! In hot pink with a flower in her fucking hair! And Caitlyn doesn’t even notice? Looks like one of my major gripes about Caitlyn being updated - Incompetence - is rearing its ugly head. She cannot even see someone not five feet from her. Oooh, look out, Piltover, no-one can figure out why this single eco-terrorist is causing problems for years, but Caitlyn will figure it out! With her gun! Because she’s a cop with a gun, and cops with guns never cause more problems than they solve, right?

Look... I know. I know she’s not my character. I know that everything I’ve done is fan-interpretation. But I’ve worked for so long and hard and done so much research, and things I’ve done have even been seen by - and used by! - the company itself (not just in the ‘oh what a coincidence’ sense, either, I know my link on Hextech as a form of magic made it to several of the writers, some of whom later contacted me). I might be too jaded by all the disappointment to take it personally anymore, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still happen. We know Riot Games could be and should be better. So many people in this community - and people who have since moved on - put so much love and effort into the characters and the world, building up from scraps and guesswork and extrapolation. It wasn’t our world, but we enjoyed playing in it. We enjoyed struggling in it, because it pushed us to be thoughtful, creative, to be engaged and interested. Critical Theory doesn’t have to be negative... but this recent update to Caitlyn’s character and to Piltover as a whole is... it’s a step backwards. They’ve gone for the ‘ooh isn’t this gritty and dark’ approach, and swept away so much of what made the original so interesting, creative, engaging to begin with. They’d rather have controversy than people genuinely enjoying the thing that they’re opening their wallet for. 

Caitlyn was a detective who focused on responsibility, intellectualism, and care. What she is now is not the same Caitlyn they started with, and expresses a set of values that I do not support. This blog will continue to be focusing on the old lore, on what Piltover has been and what it should be: a hopeful utopia, a place for people to grow and be responsible and thoughtful and mindful of their place on the world stage. It’s not going to be perfect, but there’s hope, and there’s people here who want the world, and everyone in it, to be better than it is. I hope you join me, no matter who you are.

#oops I essayed again #Not Your Piltover #caitlyn #riot please #character development #piltover

[fantasyinvader]

Beat Binding Blade tonight

So, right off the bat I'm going to admit. I abused the arena and save states. This is a really, really hard game. And while I enjoyed it, I'm going to give three things I didn't like about it.

1)Enemy reinforcements arrive at the end of the player phase, and can attack during the enemy phase. That is unfair, especially when I assume that parking a unit on the spawn point will prevent them (It doesn't) or my healer just happens to be in the area. I like difficult games, but when I fail at something in those I want to feel like it's my fault for doing so. When I die in Bloodborne or lose a unit in Fates Conquest, I'm willing to accept it because I felt it was fair (plus I'll just restart the chapter in Conquest anyway). I could have not died if I had played a little better. This game was not fair when it did that.

2)The supports. A lot of the stuff about the characters is locked away in their supports, since this is one of the old Fire Emblems where it throws units your way because it's assuming you didn't reset the game when one died. They don't get cutscenes to be important, and with only five supports per character (barring if one dies, then any unit that had supports with gets those supports back). And even then, getting an A rank doesn't pair up any units except for Roy. So you don't get to play love doctor here, it's only really there for the stat boosts. But in the case of my boy, he needs those supports in order for his character to fully come through.

3)I can take 8 units into the final battle, and they're the only ones who get full ending cards. Everyone else just gets a single line. Kinda weak if I use someone like Fir for most of the game, but bench her at the end to give Rutget Durandal.

Even with my cheating, I still enjoyed this game. Mostly for the story. When Fire Emblem first appeared in Smash Brothers Melee, as a kid it instantly caught my attention. Roy and Marth just looked so cool with their swords and armor (true fact: My favorite design for Link is the Skyward Sword design, simply because it has chainmail under the tunic. I get it, the tunic is iconic but SS's Link just looks practical), and I preferred Roy because I though his fully-charged shield breaker hurting him was cool. I even keep a Cipher card of his in my wallet for good luck. I wanted to know what Fire Emblem was, what kind of game it was. My friend showed me a screenshot of the upcoming GBA game in Nintendo power, which I got for the following Christmas (sadly, I didn't get Sacred Stones as I got a PS2 the following year). I loved that game, but the idea that I was playing as Roy's father always was a bit of a sour point for me. It's because of that game when I got a 2DS a decade later, because I wanted to game but kept getting pulled away from my console, I eventually went back to Fire Emblem.

And, I'm going to admit, Binding Blade hurt me because I played Blazing Blade first. It really did. I mean, Hector dies early on, Lyn is presumably dead hell a lot of my old comrades probably died in this war, Eliwood's wife dies shortly after they are married while Eliwood is more useless than ever, the kid I saved in Bern becomes a genocidal maniac, and the fact that the characters of Blazing Blade kinda caused this to happen by releasing the seals on the Legendary Weapons in their own quest... It kinda bugs me that the Legendary Weapons I used in Blazing Blade are in their trap filled storage places. Like, who returned them there? And if I have characters from that game returning in Binding, I find it strange they don't comment on needing them again. But this is a case of the game trying to be a prequel to a story that wasn't written with it in mind.

But at the end of the day, one thing just kept popping up in my mind. Binding Blade is the antithesis of the Crimson Flower route from Three Houses. I know they said Genealogy of the Holy War was an inspiration, but I can't help it. I've seen so many people try to praise that said route as some sort of denouncement of the rest of the franchise. That it's about putting power in the hands of the people (it's not) instead of having some Lord be the good king. Granted, the Mandate of Heaven seems like it's a running theme of the series, so without understanding what that is I can understand why people don't grasp what that part of the message. But Binding Blade, it just hit so many things on the nose that I needed to say something.

So without further adieu, I'm just going to bring up a few points.

With Regards to Humanity

It's interesting how both Zephiel and Edelgard come at this from different angles. Sure, they both lead wars of conquest across the entire continent, and I'm guessing Zeph didn't tell his troops what he was planning on doing once he won so there's likely a level of deception going on there as well. He really doesn't care for his fellow man, and the game goes out of it's way to show us why. Hatred, greed, or even selling out your people in the name of self-preservation. The game doesn't shy away from showing us any of this, saying that it's wrong and thus why Roy has to kick some guy's arse. Zephiel knows this, but in Edelgard's case? She's out there fighting for absolute power, destroying anyone who won't bend the knee to her while those who do out of self-preservation like House Gloucester are rewarded for it.

In essence, Edelgard is everything Zephiel saw wrong with the human race, she is why he felt we needed to go extinct. The very things he condemns humanity for are the things she reward. Zephiel would have actually handed over power to those he felt deserved it if he had won, whereas Edelgard is demonstrably shown to hold onto power until near the end of her life. One wants humanity dead, the other wants all the dragons. They even oppose each other in their classes. Edelgard is based on the red emperor archetype, she wears red, her class is the heavily-armored Emperor and her weapon of choice is an axe. Zephiel is a king, armoed but wearing purple and he uses a sword in battle.

Even if they both have screwed up history with their family's due to their father's inability to keep it in his pants, they're both presented as villains despite being ideologically opposed which goes to show with Fire Emblem the method IS the message.

Ancient Wars, Super Powered Weapons and Lies.

War of Heroes vs. The Scouring. The former is an event where the full details are shrouded in mystery, up to the player to piece together the clues and figure out the truth for themselves...or in Crimson Flower's case, ignore the truth and act out in your ignorance.With Binding Blade though, when the truth starts coming out, it hits hard. I mean, right from the beginning of the game we're told man was the one who broke the peace by attacking the dragons, but then we learn that those legendary weapons messed up the environment, resulting in dragons needing to use human forms only to be slaughtered by man. Dragons were blamed for the environment, the people who used those weapons were revered as heroes. We don't know why mankind launched their attack, but we do know that they weren't able to slay the Demon Dragon, one who had her soul destroyed in order to control her, because the Heroes felt sorry for her. It's making dragons out to be the victims here, much like the dragons in Three Houses. But Crimson Flower only serves to demonize them, acting like they can't understand humanity when the dragons in that game are a lot closer to humans emotionally than the ancient dragons in Elibe.

The Elites in comparison weren't heroes, and that lie has been confirmed as Rhea trying to make peace.

The good ending for Binding Blade is being able to save the dragon whose soul was destroyed, whereas Crimson Flower ends with slaying a dragon after you've spent the entire game triggering her (and is the ending that leads to oppressive rule under Edelgard, in addition to the only ending without sunlight. What? You thought you'd get the good ending when her final boss theme was playing on the last stage?). Also, you need all the Legendary weapons in order to unlock the final stages, which all play into the big mystery. Crimson Flower requires the player to not understand that the world-building was done to support fighting against Edelgard instead.

Merits of a leader

Let's not beat around the bush here, Roy will not carry you through Binding Blade. His bases are low, and while he has good growths he is unable to promote until the very end of the game. Even then, you need to save the Binding Blade's usage to ensure you get the good ending. Roy is also very unsure of himself, thrust into a position of leadership despite his young age. But look at what happens when he succeeds, he manages to overcome the odds and take down the mightiest army on the continent. At the end of the game, he's shown himself as more than capable of leading. Not to mention, he also believes that humans and dragons can live together, even seeing this in Acadia (and if Ninian was his mother, he's unknowingly proof of this as he is 1/4 dragon himself. May explain his poor bases). If he marries Liliana, he even becomes a King for likely much of the same reason Byleth does in SS/VW (most leaders are dead following the war, plus combining his territory with Ostia which had already taken over Lyn's land after she abdicated/married Hector). Roy learns the truth as already established.

Compare this to Crimson Flower Byleth. Byleth leads the Black Eagle Strike Force, but credit for it goes to Edelgard. Byleth never gets any recognition for this, no position of authority despite proving themselves, instead that goes to Caspar Jenkins of all people, and ends the war continuing to fight TWSITD from the shadows to support Edelgard's regime. And if you read between the lines, Edelgard is NOT a good leader, resorting to bribes, threats, cronyism, secret police, propaganda, and even TWSITD's support and later stolen tech in order to maintain her rule. Byleth lost whatever emotional development they got from White Clouds during this route, once again becoming the Ashen Demon, and is even willing to let themselves die if they can't keep their “humanity” in check showing a distaste for their own draconic heritage (showing humans and dragons can't live together in this timeline). They didn't grow into being a leader, they devolved into being Edelgard's unthinking muscle. Byleth never learns the truth in this route, falling for Edelgard's manipulations resulting in them losing Enlightened One/Nirvana status.

Not to mention, Heroes Relics have really low weapon levels. In theory, they can be used by anyone but only safely by those with Crests and most fully with a matching Crest. Legendary Weapons, on the other hand, can be used by anyone with an S rank in their type. Your characters have to EARN the right to use those things and you'll need them to deal with all the Manaketes during the final level, whereas Relics aren't exactly that level of broken.

Honestly, seeing the ending of Binding Blade and Idunn recovering put at least one tear in my eye. Crimson Flower's just made me feel like the game was calling me an idiot (which considering the Nirvana/Enlightenment thing, it kinda was). I would love if Binding Blade got the Echoes treatment, or even if they just did a GBA collection for the Switch. But after all these years, one thing is as certain now as it was when I was a kid.

In this house, ROY'S OUR BOY!

[lailoken]

“Ash (Fraxinus excelsior).

In the nineteenth century it was believed that if ash trees failed to produce fruit — keys — disaster was foretold.

In Yorkshire:

Some people every summer examined the ash tree . . . to see whether or not they had produced any seed; for the barrenness of the ash was said to be a sure sign of public calamity. It was a tradition among aged and thoughtful men, that the ash trees of England produced no seed during the year in which Charles the First was beheaded. [Jackson, 1873: 14]

In East Anglia:

The failure of the Crop of Ash-keys portends a death in the Royal Family . . . The failure in question is certainly, in some seasons, very remarkable; many an old woman believes that, if she were the fortunate finder of a bunch, and could get introduced to the king, he would give her a great deal of money for it. [Forby, 1830: 406]

ROWAN Or mountain ash, an unrelated tree which has leaves similar to those of ash, was widely considered to provide protection. Occasionally ash itself was also believed to be protective.

Rowan and ash sticks were used to drive cattle . . . believed to be 'kindly' and both trees were believed to be endowed with properties that ensured no interference from harmful influences. [Larne, Co. Antrim, October 1993]

In rural areas 'even' ash leaves-those leaves which lack a terminal leaflet and therefore have an even number of leaflets-were used in love DIVINATION. In Dorset:

The ash leaf is frequently invoked by young girls as a matrimonial oracle in the following way: The girl who wishes to divine who her future lover or husband is to be plucks an even ash leaf, and holding it in her hand, says:

“The even ash leaf in my hand, The first I meet shall be my man.’

Then putting it into her glove, adds:

‘The even ash leaf in my glove, The first I meet shall be my love.'

And lastly, into her bosom, saying:

‘The even ash leaf in my bosom, The first I meet shall be my husband.'

Soon after which the future lover or husband will be sure to make his appearance. [Udal, 1922: 254]

According to a 52-year-old woman who described how she used ash leaves for divination during her childhood:

Start at the bottom leaflet on the left-hand side and say:

“An even ash is in my hand

The first I meet will be my man.

If he don't speak and I don't speak,

This even ash I will not keep.”

As each word is said, count a leaflet around the leaf until the rhyme is completed (this probably entails going round the leaf several times). When the rhyme is finished, continue by reciting the alphabet until the bottom right-hand leaflet is reached. The letter given to this leaflet gives the initial of your boyfriend. Two or three leaves may be used so that you get a greater range of letters. [Thorncombe, Dorset, June 1976]

In many parts of northern Britain ash was known as esh. In north Lincolnshire:

There is a widespread opinion that if a man takes a newly-cut 'esh-plant' not thicker than his thumb, he may lawfully beat his wife with it. [Britten and Holland, 1886: 170]

Burning the ashen faggot — a faggot made from young ash saplings — was a widespread Christmastide custom in Devon and Somerset during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. According to a late nineteenth-century writer, it was:

an ancient ceremony transmitted to us from the Scandinavians who at their feast of Juul were accustomed to kindle huge bonfires in honour of Thor. The faggot is composed of ashen sticks, hooped round with bands of the same tree, nine in number. When placed on the fire, fun and jollity commence-master and servant are now all at equal footing. Sports begin-jumping in sacks, diving in the water for APPLES, and many other innocent games engage the attention of the rustics. Every time the bands crack by reason of the heat of the fire, all present are supposed to drink liberally of cider or egg-hot, a mixture of cider, eggs, etc. The reason why ash is selected in preference to any other timber is that tradition assigns it as the wood with which Our Lady kindled a fire in order to wash her new-born Son. [Poole, 1877: 6]

Ashen faggots are still burnt in a few West Country pubs, and miniature faggots are occasionally prepared for burning on domestic hearths.

On the evening of January sth ('old' Christmas Eve) at Curry Rivel, a Somerset village situated on the southern edge of Kings Sedgemoor, the wassailers go visiting' around the parish with their wassail song and the ashen faggot is ceremoniously burned at the King William IV public house. The faggot is made from young ash saplings and bound with bonds ('fonds,' 'fronds,' 'thongs,' or 'bonds') of withies (osiers); bramble has been used occasionally in the past. The number of bonds is variable but since the bursting of any one during the burning is a signal to ʻdrink up,' decency and country logic demands a 'reasonable few'. Either five or six are normally used. At the appropriate moment the faggot is placed on the fire, traditionally by the oldest customer-one villager can recall the fag- got being brought in a wheelbarrow as was 'right and proper'-and as each bond bursts there is much cheering and a general clamour for drink. The landlord, Mr John Cousins, prepares a bowl of hot punch for the occasion to augment the barrel of beer usually provided by the house Brewery. Until quite recently cider was consumed in large quantities; the 'brew' of cider and perry donated by the (Langs) Hambridge Brewery in 1957 is particularly remembered. [Willey, 1983: 40]

In the first half of the nineteenth century:

Some towns in Somerset held 'Ashen Faggot Balls'. The one in Taunton on January 2nd, 1826 was 'most respectably attended by the principal families of the town and neighbourhood'. It was still held twenty years later, but by then the event was losing its appeal. [Legg, 1986: 54]

In some parts of southern England ash twigs were carried by children on ASH WEDNESDAY.

In villages around Alton in Hampshire, and as far away as East Meon, near Petersfield, at Crowborough in Sussex, and doubtless in other places, children pick a black-budded twig of ash and put it in their pocket on this day. A child who does not remember to bring a piece of ash to school on Ash Wednesday can expect to have his feet trodden on by every child who possesses a twig, unless, that is, he or she is lucky enough to escape until midday. [Opie, 1959: 240]

I was born and lived as a child in Crowborough . . . On Ash Wednesday it was always the custom to take a piece of the [ash] tree around with you. The piece had to have a black bud, without it it was void. If you were unable to produce the piece when asked the rest of the children could stamp on your toes. I remember one day whan I was playing about with it in school and was told to take it to the front and leave it in the waste- paper basket-and all the way back to the seat had to dodge the stamps! Ever prudent I had another piece for play time! This all stopped at 12 mid-day. [Pershore, Worcester shire, October 1991]

[At Heston, Middlesex, in the 1930s] on Ash Wednesday we all took a twig of ash tree to school and produced it when challenged or risked a kick-and we had to get rid of it at 12 noon. We even risked the wrath of the teacher by rushing to an open window to throw out our twigs as soon as the mid-day dinner bell rang. [St Ervan, Cornwall, February 1992]

A widespread cure for HERNIA involved passing the patient through a split ash sapling, preferably one which had grown naturally from seed and had not previously been damaged by man. The tree was then tightly bound up and as it grew together so the patient would be healed. A full description provided in 1878 by the wife of a Sussex clergyman demonstrates how this cure, which required communal cooperation, was considered to be quite normal:

A child so afflicted must be passed nine times every morning on nine suc- cessive days at sunrise through a cleft in a sapling ash tree, which has been so far given up by the owner of it to the parents of the child as that there is an understanding that it shall not be cut down during the life of the infant that is passed through it. The sapling must be sound of heart, and the cleft must be made with an axe. The child, on being carried to the tree, must be attended by nine persons, each of whom must pass it through the cleft from west to east. On the ninth morning the solemn ceremony is concluded by binding the tree tightly with a cord, and it is supposed that as the cleft closes the health of the child will improve. In the neighbourhood of Petworth some cleft ashes may be seen, through which children have very recently been passed. I may add that only a few weeks since, a person who lately purchased an ash-tree standing in this parish, intended to cut it down, was told by the father of the child who had some time before passed through it, that the infirmity would be sure to return upon his son if it were felled. Whereupon the good man said, he knew such would be the case; and therefore he would not fell it for the world. [Latham, 1878: 40]

Similarly:

A remarkable instance of the extraordinary superstition which still prevails in the rural districts of Somerset has lately come to light at Athelney. It appears that a child was recently born in the neighbourhood with a physical ailment, and the neighbours persuaded the parents to resort to a very novel method of charming away the complaint. A sapling ash was split down the centre, and wedges were inserted so as to afford an opening sufficient for the child's body to pass through without touching either side of the tree. This having been done, the child was undressed, and, with its face held heavenward, it was drawn through the sapling in strict accord- ance with the superstition. Afterwards the child was dressed and simul- taneously the tree was bound up. The belief of those who took part in this strange ceremony is that if the tree grows the child will grow out of its bodily ills. The affair took place at the rising of the sun on a recent Sunday morning, in the presence of the child's parents, several of the neighbours, and the parish police-constable. [Bath and Wells Diocesan Magazine, 1886: 178]

An example ofan ash thus used can be seen in the Somerset Rural Life Museum at Glastonbury. A similar practice could be used to overcome IMPOTENCE.

In Wales the similar ritual was to split a young ash or HAZEL stem and hold it just fastened at the top. This made a symbolic vulva into which the impotent male introduced his recalcitrant organ. Binding up the tree again enabled it to heal, during which the impotence faded. [Richards, 1979: 13]

In Cheshire a cure for WARTS

was to steal a piece of bacon and push it under a piece of ash-bark. Excrescences would then appear on the tree; as they grew, the warts would van- ish. [Hole, 1937: 12]

In Wiltshire sufferers seeking a cure from NEURALGIA were advised:

Cut off a piece of each finger and toe nail and a piece off your hair. Get up on the next Sunday morning before sunrise and with a gimlet bore a hole in the first maiden ash you come across and put the nails and hair in; then plug the hole up. [Whitlock, 1976: 167]

In many areas 'shrew-ashes' were used to cure lameness in cattle and other illnesses. In a letter dated 8 January 1776, Gilbert White of Selborne, Hampshire, wrote:

A shrew-ash is an ash whose twigs or branches, when gently applied to the limbs of cattle, will immediately relieve the pains which a beast suffers from the running of a shrew-mouse over the part affected . . . Against this accident, to which they were continually liable, our provident fore- fathers always kept a shrew-ash at hand, which, once medicated, would maintain its virtue for ever. A shew-ash was made thus:- Into the body of the tree a deep hole was bored with an auger, and a poor devoted shrew- mouse was thrust in alive, and plugged in, no doubt, with several quaint incantations long since forgotten. [White, 1822, I: 344]

In the nineteenth century a particularly well-known shrew-ash in Richmond Park, Surrey. According to the park-keepers' tradition ʻgood Queen Bess had lurked under its shade to shoot deer as they were driven past’ [Ffennell, 1898: 333]. This tree was closely observed by Sir Richard Owen (1804-92), first director of the Natural History Museum in London, who lived near the tree, at Sheen Lodge, from grew 1852.

Either the year he came to live in the park or the year after . . . he first encountered a young mother with a sick child accompanied by 'an old dame', 'a shrew-mother', or, as he generally called her a 'witch-mother'. They were going straight for the tree; but when they saw him, they turned off in quite another direction till they supposed he was out of sight. He, however, struck by their sudden avoidance of him, watched them from a distance, saw them return to the tree, where they remained some little time, as if busily engaged with it; then they went away. He was too far off to hear anything said, but heard the sounds of voices in unison on other occasions. He heard afterwards from the keeper of Sheen Gate... that mothers with 'bewitched' infants, or with young children afficted with WHOOPING COUGH, decline, and other ailments, often came, some- times from long distances, to this tree. It was necessary that they should arrive before sunrise . . . Many children were said to be cured at the tree. The greatest secrecy was always observed when visiting. This was re- spected by Sir Richard Owen, who, whenever he saw a group advanc- ing towards it, moved away, and was always anxious that they should not be disturbed. He could not tell me in what year he last saw a group approach the tree to seek its aid. He could only say he had seen them often, and thought they continued to come for many years. [Ffennell, 1898: 334]

During a recent survey [of Richmond Park] the site of the old shrew ash was identified. This proved to be . . . the spot where an ancient ash still stood in 1987. A sucker from its roots was still alive, although the tree itself was passé. The storm of autumn brought the trunk down. A railing has now been erected around the remains, which are to be left in the ground, and a young ash is to be planted alongside the stump. Presumably it will eventually replace the old tree, but it means that the site at least will remain identifiable. [Kew, Surrey, February 1994]

There uses included curing EARACHE, RINGWORM, and SNAKE BITES.

The sap of a young ash sapling was used to cure earache. A sapling was cut and put into a fire so that when the stick started to burn the sap came out the end and was caught on a spoon. This could be put on cotton wool and put into the ear. [Daingean, Co. Offaly, January 1985]

Ringworm was more common in my childhood . . . a remedy resorted to was to burn ash twigs in a tin box or similar container and allow the smoke from the smouldering twigs to envelop the affected part—usually arms, neck or face. [Larne, Co. Antrim, October 1993]

Ash leaves are used to combat viper bites. When an animal has been bitten farmers boil ash leaves and give the animal the resulting liquid and place the boiled leaves as a poultice on the bite. Works on people too! [Dorchester, Dorset, February 1992]

Ash sticks were used as weapons.

The Joyces are tinkers . . . they are wary and row among themselves. They do have some fierce fights in which the women join in. When they have each others heads well cut with ash plants they settle down and are as friendly as ever. [IFCSS MSS 750: 242, Co. Longford]

Stories relating to Ireland's past tell of fair-day brawls where ash plants were used and blood flowed freely. [Ballymote, Co. Sligo, May 1994]”

—

The Oxford Dictionary of Plant-Lore

by Roy Vickery

#ash #Oxford Dictionary of Plant-lore #Roy Vickery #tree lore #plant lore #ash tree

[black-quartz-sphinx-judge-my-vow]

Exalted 3e Villain Analysis

When I was first going through the various Adversaries of the Righteous, I skipped right past Adeimantus, because I’m shallow. His art just isn’t evocative. But ho boy! Beneath that pale, bland exterior lurks a villain worthy of an entire campaign. So let’s talk about that.

Adeimantus is the ruler of a utopian City from the Shogunate named Beimeni-Ta. A city which was consumed by the Wyld ages ago. It now creeps into Creation like an infection transforming cities and slums into itself.

What a great freaking idea, wow. The sidewalks the towers, the people all transform into echoes of a golden age lost to time. Can’t you just see the brick back alley suddenly becoming a marvelous marble tunnel? The building torn halfway between one style and material and the next? The crowds of excited peasants waiting for their shacks to complete their transformation into mansions? Now that’s a threat! How do you even deal with something like that? Do you burn down the infected part of your city to keep it from spreading? Do you jail the new citizens to stop the from singing the praises of utopia, and converting more people to their cause? Or do you go after the Raksha that’s behind it all?

What I like most about Adeimantus is that he’s totally on the up and up, at least in my interpretation. He’s not doing this because he wants to eat every baby in Creation. He genuinely wants everyone in the world to live in his perfect city. So much in fact that he has a charm that not only changes the city to match the desires of an individual, but he himself changes to match that desire.

After the players have defeated Adeimantus and sent his city back to the mists: “That’s alright, we’ll start over as many times as you need. This is all for you.”

Which brings another terrifying aspect of Adeimantus into view. When he vanishes, so too does the city, and all of it’s people. Any buildings and individuals changed by Beimeni-Ta get whisked away to the Wyld, even victory can mean that a entire slice of a city is amputated. Spooky.

As far as a combatant, meh. If you’re using Adeimantus to beat people down, you’re doing it wrong. Although he does have a knife that can make you ugly to anyone who can read, which is fun. His main power in combat comes from his ability to summon battle groups of his followers to attack the pcs. Plus ya gotta involve the city itself in any combat you do. Potholes open up beneath your feet, shingles slide off the roofs onto your head, and other such irritants. Maybe give the city it’s own initiative, and stat block, why not?

His real strength comes from his ability to manipulate intimacies. Not only can he instill them in people through their dreams, but he can also make you disregard any that make you oppose him. Very fun, and could be interesting if you have players who are very dedicated to rp. Otherwise think of all the NPCs you can target, and turn against the players. Now that’s high drama. Solars want to live in Utopia too right?

Especially since as I said before Adeimantus is a chill dude. He doesn’t want to resort to violence, he rules a utopia, and wants to share it’s bounty with the world. Of course his Utopia ends up being pure madness when it returns to the Wyld, but no one seems to be dissatisfied.

So I’ve gushed on about this beautiful bald man long enough. What are some ways you can use him in a game?

1. A world saving device was once held in Beimeni-Ta, and it’s needed once more. Do you: look for a city infected by Beimeni-Ta. Crusade into the wild to reclaim the lost city. Or maybe infect a nearby city, long enough for the vaults of Beimeni-Ta to manifest.

2. Beimeni-Ta begins to arise within Great Forks. How does the city of a thousand gods react to such an intrusion? Is the draw of Utopia enough to tempt even a deity? Or do they hold firm as more and more of their followers join the cult of Adeimantus?

3. Every Winter Adeimantus visits a struggling village in the north, and provides them with supplies needed to survive the harsh winter. What scheme is he up to? It’s been generations since he started doing this, and no apparent harm has been done. The villages are convinced he’s a benevolent god of winter, how will they react when the players try to destroy him before he can corrupt their village?

4. Beimeni-Ta is ruled not only by Adeimantus, but also a Senate of Demons. So this Fair Folk, has an alliance with demons, as well as a permanent city in the Wyld. There’s something deeply interesting going on with Adeimantus. In his Stat block it does say the Senators are Raksha too, but I much prefer him being a complete weirdo. But as for plot hooks. A city has already fully fallen to Beineni-Ta. Now there is only one thing left to do. Characters must introduce a bill to the demon senate which will revoke the city’s hold on creation, at least this part of it. Can the pcs, get it through sub-committees, and over come a filibuster lead by a second circle demon?

5. Burns 100 Poets is a monk of the Immaculate order who has thrice vanquished Adeimantus from creation. He carries the weight of the many poets he’s killed to keep Adeimantus from spreading his corruption. He is retired now nearly 200, and works day and night to craft the poems which could have been were it not for his diligence. He may hold valuable information in how to stop Beimeni-Ta from spreading. However this gentle poet of an old man may suggest methods the pcs would consider frightful.

Finally let’s talk about a campaign that has Adeimantus as it’s big bad.

I call this one: Lookshy, Rise of The Shogun.

The basic premise of it being Beimeni-Ta was a city during the Shogunate Era, a pretty important one. Reclaiming it would finally give The 7th Legion reason to accept a new individual as Shogun.

Act 1

The Players, Dragon-Blooded protectors of Lookshy are tasked with looking into strange happenings around the city. The marching band plays a song hundreds of years out of date, a new building appears seemingly out of nowhere. Things escalate when a section of the city’s rampart’s becomes infected with shiny new lightning ballista. Suddenly the General Staff is torn on how to deal with the situation. with some opting to let the infection spread to access Beimeni-Ta’s ancient resources, to others wanting to combat the plague before it’s too late. The group is forced to navigate this tenuous situation, while beating back Adeimantus’ growing cult, and corrupted gentes. Culminating in the final confrontation with Adeimantus, and a member of the general staff he’s corrupted. Adeimantus vanishes with his pawn defeated, and takes however much of Lookshy he’s corrupted away with him, back to the wild. The walls are breached, the city is in ruins, the army is divided, and things are looking dire. Were The Realm not crippled by The Scarlet Empresses’ disappearance, this would be the end.

Act 2

After a brief recovery clarity comes to the surviving populace of Lookshy. The Shogunate Bureaucracy has records detailing this Beimeni-Ta many of the afflicted citizens were rambling about. It was once a seat of power for the Shogunate a place of immense importance, that fell into the Wyld never to be seen again, until now. Most importantly it was the final resting place of The Imperial Seal. The stamp with which The Shogun made words on paper law. With it, a simple document can be stamped and a new Shogun can be appointed, the shogunate will live once more. If only Beimeni-Ta can be dragged back out of The Wyld. If only... we could find it.

No maps of Beimeni-Ti’s location survive, only records of military assignments. Letters for a general to withdraw from the defense of the city, a general by the name of Tepet...

With the only lead they have the players are sent under cover to The Realm to find what they can about Beimeni-Ta from it’s ancient defenders. There’s investigation, spy work, a heist. All of which ends in a social confrontation with Tepet’s ruling Council which presents them with an offer: fulfill their oath to the Shogunate, regain their honor by retaking Beimeni-Ta.

Act 3

The impossible has happened. The players have convinced Lookshy to break with tradition, and march on the Wyld. House Tepet has given their only legion to the cause. The two armies of the Shogunate unite like something unseen in anyone’s time, and march through the river lands towards the end of the world. It’s a long grueling march, through an untold number of kingdoms. The centuries of Lookshy’s political favors, and military threats fray with each border they cross. Threats seeks to divide them with armies and from within. The Lookshy soldiers see their Tepet allies as traitors, and the Tepet aren’t too fond of the scavengerland barbarians either. The players must use their genius to get their army through in one piece. Until they reach, the border marches.

Act 4

From here on it’s all out warfare. The players and their small army must reclaim creation step by step enduring every machination the Wyld can through at them, from raining lava, to forests of grass as tall as a warstrider, and as sharp as a blade. All until they lay siege to Beimeni-Ta. At last the jewel is within their sight. They just have to overcome Beimeni-Ta’s endless militia of maddened citizens, their 100 Demon Senate, and of course Adeimantus fully empowered by the wyld and Beimeni-Ta itself. Who can with but a look, a touch, who’s very presence beckons you to join him in Utopia, in oblivion.

And what are the rewards for such an epic journey? A brand new city to rule over? The title of Shogun, and resurrections of the shogunate? An arsenal of first age weapons from the shogunate’s richest city? Who’s to say what dreams await you in Beimeni-Ta? 

Only Adeimantus knows.

Only Adeimantus can show you the way.

#ttrp #ttrpg campaign #exalted rpg #exalted #exalted essence #exalted 3e #campaign ideas #rp #rp ideas #rpg #onyx path #white wolf #lookshy #Adeimantus #adversaries of the righteous #plot hooks

[morsking]

i was told to come here for fate zero kotomine kirei questions? i was thinking about kirei in f/z and realized i don't think i actually completely understood his arc and specifically how it relates to his spirituality/belief in God? can you explain to me what happened to this strange knife-throwing man

i’d be VERY happy to, i love talking about kirei even if i don’t do it very often.

this is something that becomes a little more clear later on in heaven’s feel but the gist of it is that kirei has an inexplicably sadistic nature he does not understand where it comes from or why he has it. for the majority of fate/zero’s first part, he doesn’t even know it exists until gilgamesh slowly draws it out of him by making him deconstruct his own thought process and personal beliefs.

kirei was raised catholic and had a priest for a father, so kirei had catholic teachings of altruism and asceticism hammered into his young brain on top of risei’s, his father’s, expectations and desires for kirei to be “pure and beautiful”, just like kirei’s name suggests. 

kirei, however, secretly felt repressed by those teachings and expectations since forsaking personal happiness and helping others never brought him any joy, and because he never felt any joy in helping others, he reasoned that joy and pleasure were sinful indulgences that a believer, much less a priest, should never partake in. he therefore internalized displeasure and complete emotional detachment as a natural and righteous state of life. this, coupled with the catholic belief that selflessness in life would mean salvation in death, resulted in kirei becoming far too guilty to ever chase after pleasure because doing so would mean betraying not just the faith in his Lord, but also all the hard work and love his father had put into raising him as a pure and beautiful person. kirei respected his father’s ideal and tried his best to live up to it, but fundamentally could not understand it, and he could not love the man it belonged to. in response to these emotions, kirei resorted to grievous and deadly methods of self-harm to keep himself walking the righteous path.

nevertheless, kirei could not contain his curiosity (and unbeknownst to him, his yearning) for pleasure and travelled the world attempting to find meaning and enjoyment in different activities. he graduated top of his class, skipped grades as an exceptional student, worked diligently as an executor, and even ate some of the most exquisite delicacies known to man... and found them all tasteless and unfulfilling. kirei was a truly hopeless individual with no direction or sense of self and personhood. he had failed to find meaning in basic, and even some luxurious, delights every human being desires to experience.

in a desperate, final gambit to connect with the inner humanity he lacked his entire life, kirei attempted to fall in love with a woman called claudia ortensia. claudia was terminally ill, and was not expected to live for much longer. while she did love him, he could not bring himself to reciprocate despite his best efforts. they were together for two years and had a child, caren, out of wedlock. throughout his time with claudia kirei could only find salvation in claudia’s suffering. but claudia, an incorregible saint, was willing to suffer if it meant bringing him joy and salvation. claudia slowly died, and soon enough her time was at hand. kirei believed that as her husband it was his duty to at least say his farewells on her deathbed. as claudia lay dying, kirei relayed the simple fact to claudia that after all their time together, he did not love her. to prove him wrong and save him, she disconnected her life support machine. kirei cried at the sight of wife selflessly dying to save him, and claudia, with her fading strength, told him that those tears were proof that he did love her, and that love is proof of his humanity. 

unbeknownst to either of them, the true reason kirei cried was because he didn’t get to kill her himself.

kirei handed over his child to the church. if marriage did not save him, parenthood wouldn’t either. kirei contemplated suicide, but instead opted to return to his teachings and live as an executor, craving even the most artificial of purpose to justify his existence. 

we then reach fate/zero. kirei is at his lowest emotional point, and sensing the pit in his soul yearning for purpose, the grail bestows him with command spells. kotomine risei contacts his ally tohsaka tokiomi, and takes kirei under his wing as an apprentice in magecraft. 

kirei is a natural prodigy at magecraft, and is able to almost master every single discipline before abandoning it in frustration at his failure to find fulfillment and joy in it. (interestingly enough, he has a particularly high affinity for spiritual healing and surgery.) while kirei intends to follow tokiomi and risei’s orders to crown tokiomi as the victor of the grail war, he secretly begrudges being a bored pawn with no freedom and bears no actual loyalty to either of them.

in the world’s most bizarre boy-meets-girl scenario in the history of anime, kotomine kirei learns of emiya kiritsugu. kiritsugu is a mercenary employed by the einzberns to participate in the holy grail war. he has fought in countless battlefields, only joining the fight when combat is at its fiercest. he has killed scores upon scores of mages who deviate from the clocktower’s rules, and has been reported to have taken extreme measures in his assassinations such as bringing down an entire commercial airline just because his target was in it. kirei is mystified by kiritsugu’s lack of moral restraint, personhood, and regard for his own life. kirei immediately projects his own lack of self into kiritsugu and is desperate to understand him. he vows to meet kiritsugu in battle to finally grasp the answer to the question that is his existence.

as he attempts to meet kiritsugu throughout the story, kirei is approached by gilgamesh, the world’s most ancient hedonist. gilgamesh senses that kirei is repressing a fundamental part of himself, and that’s the true source of kirei’s unhappiness. gilgamesh attempts to make kirei realize that kirei has never lacked anything, he’s just tried to avert his gaze from the truth of his own nature. gilgamesh tells kirei that pleasure and joy aren’t things that are inherently sinful. human beings instinctively seek pleasure as and end in and of itself, and kirei is no different. because pleasure is a natural human drive, it can never be something unforgivable. to drive his point further, gilgamesh asks kirei that if he can’t see himself winning, then he should try to imagine a scenario where the war’s weakest combatant, matou kariya, does. 

kirei does try, but before he can tell kirei what he envisions, gilgamesh stops him. gilgamesh reveals that there was no point to engaging in speculation when kirei asks if there was one, but the fact kirei did anyway shows he found a meaningless notion entertaining, and therefore, fulfilling. this comes to a head when kirei decides to heal kariya’s burn wounds after his confrontation with tokiomi. kirei experiences a rush he’s never felt before. he hasn’t just helped kariya stay in the race for the grail out of his own volition, he has done it against his master’s orders and best interests. 

when risei is killed by kayneth, kirei finds his grief to be oddly forced and empty. surely, he must be devastated at the death of his father, the man who loved him, raised him, taught him, and made him who he is today. but strangely, his grief seems to be directed at something else. that’s when gilgamesh appears to him and tells him the reason why he’s sad isn’t that his father died, but that kirei didn’t get to kill him himself. this shocks kirei to his core, but he’s also forced to entertain that notion. once he realizes that gilgamesh IS right about what kirei really wanted out of his father, he’s ordered by tokiomi to leave japan and exit the war as demanded by irisviel if an alliance between the tohsakas and the einzberns against the matous is to take place. kirei secretly meets with gilgamesh, who is bored and frustrated with tokiomi, and they agree to partner up and kill tokiomi. kirei realizes that there was a satisfaction in killing tokiomi and having the last thing he ever saw be kirei betraying him and asserting his personal desire over his obligation to his teacher. 

kirei, now fully committed to discovering what he yearns for the most, tells kariya he will allow him to duel tokiomi once more in exchange for bringing him the container of the holy grail and the person closest to kiritsugu: irisviel. unbeknownst to kariya, tokiomi’s wife aoi has been summoned to the church by kirei. kariya finds tokiomi already dead, and aoi walks into kariya holding tokiomi’s corpse. aoi believes kariya has killed tokiomi, and angrily accuses kariya of never having loved anyone. kariya reaches the breaking point of his rage and suffering after being rejected by aoi, the person he was enduring torture and humiliation for, and asphyxiates her in madness. realizing what he’s done, kariya runs away from the church wailing in grief and guilt. kirei and gilgamesh had watched the whole affair, and kirei realizes that what he finds meaning and pleasure in is inflicting suffering upon others and watch them collapse under the crosses struggles they carry. while he does not understand why he is this way, he nevertheless wants to find out to feel complete and intends to use the grail for that purpose.

kirei meets with irisviel, and demands answers for his questions about emiya kiritsugu. irisviel reveals kiritsugu is not the heartless killing machine kirei believed him to be, but fundamentally an altruist who wishes to shower the world in peace and blessings and seeks the grail for that purpose. she condescends kirei by telling him kiritsugu is not like him, he is far better and that’s why kiritsugu will not lose. finally understanding the man whose nature has eluded him and finding where kirei’s karma stands in relation to him, kirei kills irisviel and vows to destroy kiritsugu’s dream with his own hands. 

when kiritsugu and kirei fight and the grail interferes by crowning kiritsugu the winner rather than reach a stalemate, kirei watches kiritsugu speaking with angra mainyu. he observes kiritsugu realizing that what he wanted all along was to live peacefully with his family even if it meant forsaking the world to a violent extinction. he is baffled at kiritsugu rejecting the cursed genocidal grail, and demands kiritsugu to hand it over if he doesn’t want it, because kirei has the need to find the defining principle of his own existence. after kiritsugu kills kirei and has saber destroy the grail, the curses that spill out of it engulf kirei’s corpse and resuscitate him. angra mainyu has declared kirei as the winner for the sake of using him as an anchor and a midwife for his eventual birth. 

upon seeing angra mainyu’s catastrophe, kirei concludes that the calamity he is standing over is what his heart has yearned for all this time. he laughs in shock, irony, and glee that despite kotomine risei’s righteous nature and teachings, kirei is simply a monstrous and heretical cur who thrives in the agony of mankind. when gilgamesh asks if the sight of angra mainyu’s birth has satisfied him, kirei replies that it doesn’t, because kirei has been shown the end result of his desire rather than the actual philosophical principle and logical process that guides to the outcome. so for the next 10 years, kirei wrestles with the fact that he still cannot abandon his teachings and his obligation to be somewhat helpful as a priest for the desire to reject and challenge god and allow angra mainyu to fully manifest in this world and engulf it completely to finally give his existence meaning and validity because he knows his impulses to be wrong and yet needs to know why he has them and whether he is still worthy of living while having them. he is willing to manipulate and kill and betray and curse and deprive and destroy the world just for that chance at redeeming his existence because not understanding himself and having denied himself joy for so long has utterly broken him as a person and this is all he has left after a lifetime of denying himself happiness, empathy, and understanding to work through his feelings. to bless angra mainyu’s birth as a man of the cloth would reconcile his religious principles and belief in a merciful all-loving god with his yearning to accept and comprehend himself, because if angra mainyu can be allowed to live and prosper in this world while being the unforgivable culmination of all sin, then maybe he can too. (this is also a powerful and intimate parallel to both shirou and sakura that deserves its own post that i may or may not write later.)

that’s pretty much his development throughout zero and his defining character struggle in fate/stay night. this is something that spring song will delve into further and it’s actually quite interesting how such a bastard of a man suddenly becomes so sympathetic towards the end of the entire game. 

grace if you ever have time for it i heavily encourage you to read through the heaven’s feel route whether through letsplayarchive or by playing realta nua yourself whilst we wait for a spring song release in the west because your perception of everyone will change drastically as you understand them at a much deeper level the movies could not show because of runtime constraints. i hope this explanation wasn’t too long or convoluted or raised more questions than delivered answers. three good friends of mine, thessaliah, kurozu501, and avicebro here on tumblr can probably elaborate further and offer more insight if you’re interested. 

[hecohansen31]

Michael Langdon One Shots (Masterlist)

“Heavy Is The Heart Of A King” (Hades! Michael+Persephone! Reader) (*).

SUMMARY: Your husband lately has seemed distant and you are unable to stop yourself from goin anything but pushing away. Not everything is easy when you are the ruler of the Underworld…

WARNINGS: OOC! Michael, Not Based Onto Actual Myths, Hadestown! Inspired, Anger Outbursts, Mention of Explotaition and Sex.

“Reaching Ecstasy” (Art Teacher! Michael+Student! Reader) (*).

SUMMARY: When the times come for your interview with Mr. Langdon, your art teacher, you can’t help but be rather confused by his requests.

WARNINGS: Oral Sex (Female Receiving), Compromising Situation and Slight Dub-Con (Michael using his position of power over Reader, although she is consensual to the entire thing) (also Reader is absolutely legal, since she is 20, in this fic!), Blasphemous talk about Ecstasy.

“Shameless” (Dance Instructor! Michael+Prima Ballerina! Reader) (*).

SUMMARY: Your dance instructor has always been an enigma to you, till a lone night in the dance-room, where dance and secrets ends up tangled together (exactly as you and Michael).

WARNINGS: Unprotected (WRAP IT UP KIDS) Sex, Dom-Sub dynamics (with change of powers), Fingering, Guided Masturbation, slightly Dub-Con, Vulgarities, Mention of Satanism and Supernatural Themes, Slight Angst, Slut-Shaming and Religious Fanatism.

(Kinktober: (17th) Breeding Kink) (Supreme! Michael+Alpha! Reader) (*).

SUMMARY: Michael’s desire for you is suddenly so unhibited and strange and you can’t help but wonder what has caused it… although you are not complaining about it

WARNINGS: Oral Sex (Female Receiving), Unprotected Sex, Breeding Kink/Creampie.

“Little Love Notes” (Outpost! Michael+ Ex-Secretary! Reader): (*).

SUMMARY: You have grown accostumed to leaving little cute notes on your boss’ desk, and this got you fired, as soon as Mr Langdon discovered the identity of his secret admirer… but appreantly it does’t end here…

WARNINGS: Rough (Unprotected: guys… please don’t do it withouth a condom, it does not only protect from unwanted pregnancies, but also it is against STDs) Sex (with things such as spanking and a lot of rough handling), Oral Sec (Female Receiving), Semi-Public Sex (Reader is on the phone at a certain point). “Sir” Kink, but generally BDSM relationship going on!

“Those Worlds” (Outpost! Michael+Reader) (*).

SUMMARY: When anything fails, Michael has to resort to those words..

WARNINGS: Just Michael Threateing People… and Mention of Depression and Anxiety.

“A Change Of (H)air & Other Things” (Outpost! Michael+Short Haired! Reader) 

SUMMARY: Life at the Outpost is pretty boring, mosty when you are separated from your love and waiting for him… and this prompts a little change with the help of a fellow survivor…

WARNING: Mention of Sex, and Hair Pulling… (also just Outpost! Michael being a little shit).

“The Magic Word Is” (Fire & Reign! Michael+Secretary! Reader) (*).

SUMMARY: Although you might be Michael’s submissive, he is completely wrapped around your little finger.

WARNINGS: Dom-Sub Relationship, Spanking, Punishment, Sexual Themes, Mention of Sexual SItuations, Nudity, Mention of Self-Harm.

“Preying On You” (Vampire Sojourn! Michael+Human! Reader) (*).

SUMMARY: What was supposed to be a girls’ night out turn out much more bloody than what ou expected, but there might be some advantages to meeting a vampire…

WARNINGS: Unprotected (DON’T FORGET CONDOMS, KIDS), Rough Sex, Dub-Con, Blood Consumption and Blood Kink (THERE WILL BE BLOOD, KIDS!), Oral Sex (Female Receiving), Kidnapping (and mention of sexual trafficking, alongside use of drugs to kidnap), Michael being a bit of a stalker…

“My Burning Sun Will Someday Raise” (Vampire Crimeboss! Michael+Human! Reader) (*).

SUMMARY: Your Michael Langdon’s little mouse: costantly searching for secrets for him, but once the truth is out, you might become more and more important to the cold-hearted man.

WARNINGS: Unprotected (WRAP IT UP, PLEASE!) Sex, Oral Sex (Female Receiving), Blood (drinking and blood play), Mention of Violence, of Slut-Shaming, and Usage of Vulgar Terms.

“In The Garden of Evil” (Borgia! MIchael+Servant! Reader) (*). 

SUMMARY: The oldest story of all, the little mouse caugh in its own trap, as she spies something much juicier than any apple.

WARNINGS: Male Masturbation, Voyeurism, Exhibitionism, Mention of Sex and Incest, Blasphemy and Renainssance mentions.

“Only Destiny Can Judge Us” (Supreme! Michael+Alpha! Reader) (*)

SUMMARY: The cycle that the prophecy spoke about is going to start again, and your nightmares are only the proof of how horrid it will all be again.

WARNINGS: Resurrection Talk, Violence, Non-Sexual Choking, Prophecy, AU; Unprotected (DO IT WITH PROTECTION, BABES!) Sex, Oral (Female Receiving) Sex, Fingering, Hate-To-Love.

“I Know The Science of The Ancient Flame” (Michael+Reader, Modern AU).

SUMMARY: Stuck in a tiny elevator with your ex-boyfriend, you suddenly discover that your story might be more classical than you thought.

WARNINGS: Angst, Past Trauma, Break-Up, Classical Annoying Things, Claustrophobia, Claustrophobic Spaces.

(Kinktober: (28th) Master/Mistress) (*).

SUMMARY: Your jealousy sometimes just gets the best of you

(Also this is inspired by a conversation I had with @/dyns33, so thank you, sweetie I hope you’ll like it, and alongside this… I have another idea for them).

Also this is based onto this.

WARNINGS: Bloody (I didn’t have a blood kink before this pairing…), Fingering, Oral Sex (Female Receiving), Squirting, Slightly Dub-Con (Vampire Mind Tricks), Master, Vulgarities, Mention of Drugs.

“A Cure For Unrequited Love” (Hawthorne Michael+Witch! Reader+Cordelia) (*).

SUMMARY; When your crush for the headmistress of Robinchaux, ends up badly, Michael decides to help you get over with it, with a rather “unorthodox” method…

WARNINGS: Rough Unprotected (as always wrap it up before doing the dirty; it will protect you from both unwanted pregnancy and STDs, be smart and safe, lovelies of mine) Sex (specifically we are talking about Hate-Sex, so be aware of that), Spanking, Slapping, Sir Kink, Degradation through harsh words, Oral Sex (Female-Male receiving) and  Magic involved in the bedroom (because that’s what I would do with magic, I am a hoe…). Also Angst, Heartbreak and Unrequited Love.

(Kinktober: (19th) Double Penetration) (Fuckboy! Michael+Reader+Incubus! Michael) (*)

SUMMARY: Michael can’t help but love your devilish mind, sometimes.

WARNINGS: Vaginal/Anal Sex, Unprotected (USE A PROTECTION KIDS, I LOVE YOU AND STAY SAFE)/Oral Sex (Female Receiving)/Incubus involved in sex/Double Penetretation.

“Terrible Thing” (Hawthorne! Michael+Scorned! Reader): (*)

SUMMARY: Boys will be boys, but then girls shall be girls and take their revenge and when one specific warlock we all know decides to do prank another witch… well he is about to learn that a scorned woman is the most dangerous beast of them all (Also, little suggestions: if you want to feel the full extense of this…listen meanwhile reading to “Terrible Things” by AG & Brad Gordon).

WARNING: There is no sex, but there is a bit foreplay and dirty talk, alongside a good amount of nudity so… you better read this in your room, alone…

“The Tomboy & The Model” (Model Michael+Tomboyish! Reader) (*)

SUMMARY: You and shy model Michael could be the most different people in the world, but somehow you end up working quite well together.

WARNINGS: Sub! Michael, Dom! Reader (also brief mention of Dom! Michael and Sub! Reader), Spanking, Oral Sex (Male and Female Receiving), Orgasm Denial, A Bit Of Dirty Talk, Use of the F-word, and Drunken Assault.

(Kinktober: (23rd) Model! Michael+Tomboy! Reader) (*).

SUMMARY: On a particular hard day Michael shows you how beautiful you truly are.

WARNINGS: Fingering (Female Receiving), Body Worship, In Front of A Mirror, Stress and Anxiety Mentions.

#Masterlist #Michael Langdon #Michael Langdon Reader #Michael Langdon x Reader #Michael Langdon Imagine #Michael Langdon Fic #Michael Langdon Moodboard #Michael Langdon x Female Reader #Angst #Fluff #Smut #AHS Writing #AHS #AHS Apocalypse