#sometimes shipping culture is a scam

[reallyneedsalife]

"there's no platonic explanation for this" is coward talk

let people love each other in new ways, let characters love each other in news ways.

putting your life on the line for someone doesn't mean you're romantically in love with them, that's feeble at best. sure, maybe they're locking lips, but until it's canon and happens on screen they're best friends in my heart.

#maggie bell #oa zidan #yes this is about them #idc if you ship them #but #there are always platonic explanations for things if youre willing to look past basic assumptions about relationships #sometimes shipping culture is a scam #shipping culture #fanfic #fandom #also #uhhh #fbi #spiderverse #miles morales #gwen stacy #criminal minds #doctor who #unconventional relationships #relationship anarchy #aromantic #asexual

[councilman-horsemeat]

The Greatest Star Trek Characters, Ranked

I was recently reading a few articles ranking the various Star Trek characters and got really infuriated. I started punching my solid wood table until my fists were blooded and filled with splinter. Kirk, Spock, Picard- who gives a shit? There was no flavor, no spice to these lists. After taking a long walk and eating some meal, I decided I oughta make my own. Here it goes; In no particular order, so they're not actually ranked at all.

Sylvia Tilly Star Trek: Discovery is full of people whose lives have sucked, in a way which reflects their outlook on life. Some are hardened, some burdened, some both. Sylvia Tilly offers a delightful contrast to these characters. I’m not through the first season of Discovery yet, but I hope she and Michael Burnham become best friends forever.

Mobar (Fake Tuvok) Part of a criminal group that travels the Delta quadrant scamming various strangers through various schemes. Mobar and his friend Dala ended up acting as Tuvok and Janeway, fooling hapless aliens into joining the “Federation”, which meant little more than handing over their starships or cargo. Mobar ended up getting WAY into character, oftentimes chastising his fellow criminals for not adhering to Starfleet protocols. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to make him not a criminal, and in the end he went down like a chump. RIP to a legend. I don’t think he died but whatever.

Dax (Jadzia, Ezri and Curzon/Odo) Jadzia Dax, our first true look into what trill really are. The fusion of Jadzia and Dax created a woman with wisdom far beyond her years, enough to make her approach life in a very confident, laid-back way. This, along with her highly analytical mind and charm, would have made her a perfect ship’s captain. Gone too soon.

On the other hand, I really liked Ezri Dax too. I’m conflicted, because seeing what it’s like for an unprepared, naive trill to be joined (despite never training to) was really interesting, and I even wish we got more than just the one season with her- but I also wish Jadzia could have been around for the finale.

When they were temporarily joined in a trill ritual, Curzon brought a certain down-in-the-dirt, slob attitude to the usually uptight Odo. I really liked him. He could have been less of a pervert.

Bearded Geordi LaForge Beautiful. Majestic. Just a touch of rogueish charm. Too bad he only had it for two episodes and like some movies or whatever.

Mirror Sarek I understand WHY he has a goatee. They needed to make him visually distinct from normal Sarek and it’s an homage to mirror Spock from way back when. The problem is that the homage only works if you didn’t already think mirror Spock’s goatee is funny as hell. They also call him the prophet for some reason. All in all a weird guy, which means I like him.

Neelix He brought a genuine heart of gold to the crew of the voyager when they needed it the most. A rock, a true friend and a shoulder to lean on. His friendship with Tuvok allowed him to occasionally bring out a different side of the indomitable vulcan. I also liked that his eye color randomly changed with no in-show explanation.

T’pring Spock’s almost-wife T’pring probably has the quickest turnaround from “WTF why is she so needlessly brutal” to “she’s a genius and she’s so logical” of any Star Trek character. She will always have my respect.

Sela It’s just really funny to me that she had all that buildup on top of already being the return of a written-off main character’s actor. And then like, nothing happened.

Kai Winn Opaka There’s something so incredibly about Louise Fletcher’s performance as Kai Winn in the later seasons that I sometimes have a hard time putting into words. She just captures the self-righteous, holier-than-thou, but also absolutely desparate character in such a captivating way- while also maintaining this underlying confidence and power.

“Klingon Chef” Deep Space Nine’s resident Klingon chef/opera singer showed a side of Klingon culture we don’t often see - the civilian side. He truly made the most of his few appearances, and I will always love him for it.

Seven of Nine (Possessed) Maybe it’s because of Seven’s usually stoic, reserved demeanour, but seeing Jeri Ryan take on the exaggerated personalities of a Klingon warrior, a Ferengi DaiMon, and the EMH of the USS Voyager amongst others, was one hell of a lot of fun. Enough fun to end up on this list! Unfortunately, not enough for that Oscar nom. Next time!

Dr. Michael Dingo Dingo’s brief stint as nurse aboard the Enterprise-D established him as little more than a grumpy old man, but he really shone after his promotion to main cast member and CMO of the USS Pioneer. His usual snarky personality being torn down upon meeting his long-believed-to-be-dead wife went down as one of my favorite moments in all of Star Trek. His refusal to poison the crew on behalf of his madly sick captain gave me goosebumps.

Lwaxana Troi She started out as no more than “Deanna Troi’s Annoying Mom” but evolved into so much more across her many appearances. Absolutely wonderfully played by Majel Barrett, the writers explore many facets of sorrow, motherhood, and what it means to grow old. I also believe that she should have ended up with Odo instead of Nerys, but whatev.

Falow The leader of the Wadi, a gamma quadrant species that value various types of games above all else. He and his entourage visit Deep Space Nine and end up throwing the main cast INTO a highly-advanced video game where they think they’ll actually die, but it’s actually just a game. What I like most is that he truly looks like the Most Advanced Gamer. If I was a highly advanced space-gamer this is what I would want to look like.

Riker Picard’s number one actually features on a lot of these lists. They usually list his loyalty or how cool he is or whatever. I’m mostly interested in his absolutely off-the-charts adventurous spirit. He was the first starfleet officer to serve aboard a klingon ship and was GLAD to eat gagh. When he learned that a trill symbiont needed a new host he practically jumped at the chance, despite the fact that no human had ever hosted a trill symbiont before. And he had absolutely no shame in wearing his slutty outfit in ‘Angel One’. There’s many similarities between Riker and Kirk, but Kirk would never have worn it so proudly.

Horny/drunk-ish Picard Patrick Stewart’s performance as a pseudo-drunk and very horny Jean-Luc Picard in The Naked Now has seared itself into my mind forever. It’s like he’s screaming, but also whispering, and sort of putting on an accent? Deciding just how to portray the usually stoic captain so completely out of his element must have been quite the challenge, and Patrick Stewart ended up making some very inspired choices.

Alyssa Ogawa She may not have done much more than help out in medbay every now and then, but the conversations between her and Crusher were the first to show that the main crew actually DO have friends outside the “inner circle”. Does that truly earn her a spot on a list of the greatest Star Trek characters of all time? Probably not but I don’t really care and neither should you.

Grand Nagus Zek Every time he got more screentime I remembered how much I loved his dumbass voice. His shrill bleating is hilarious, and every time he shows up I can’t wait to find out what his latest scheme is. His behavior towards women is regrettable, but that’s true for a lot of Star Trek men and unlike most of them, Zek actually sort-of changes.

Ishka And who is Zek without Rom and Quark’s moogie Ishka? Despite the usual underestimatable Ferengi personality traits, I genuinely believe Ishka could have one of the highest power levels in all of Star Trek canon. Women not even having the right to wear clothes has been a part of Ferengi culture for centuries and she managed to turn it around COMPLETELY in a handful of years. If she put her mind to it, I genuinely believe she could have brokered peace between the Cardassians and Bajorans, and that’s on the prophets.

Jae Yeah, I got a bit of a crush on this frankly random Enterprise-D crewmember. I think she’s friends with Picard? She sat next to him at a poetry reading once. I’m not sure if she even had any speaking lines.

#Star Trek #Deep Space Nine #Voyager #TNG #VOY #DS9 #iprixtwt

[renaissancefailmarriage]

i know it's late gjrjg but 🔥🌹✒️ for the ask game??

thank you!!

🔥 another hot take...i have a lot of takes but idk that any of them are particularly hot? hmmm i think it's weird when people insist on strict top/bottom designations for ships. i can see characters having preferences but always in one position 100% of the time? nah. or if they are, it's usually indicative of....Something Else going on.

related to this, i don't always agree with "well they're immortal so why would they care about gender/sexuality norms!" i think it's complex. their immortality (and sterility imo) does give them some freedom in this regard. there's no reason for them to settle into a nuclear family or marry to produce an heir or whatever. living multiple centuries you will probably unavoidably have some gay sex. but at the same time, i think most of them would be very bound up in their culture's ideas about sexuality/gender and would accept or reject them on their own terms. it's not as easy as them being immortal and shedding human norms just for that reason.

🌹 HMMMM very attracted to hungary.....regrettably to antonio sometimes, sadik does not get enough hottie appreciation (he's a hottie and a sad old man he can do both) aaaaaand very specific takes on nyopru

✒️ a headcanon i love that directly contradicts canon is VENEZIANO AND ROMANO ARE NOT BABIES IN THE RENAISSANCE. tbh theyre probably some of the older characters of the medieval generation. vene is 6th century at least and romano might even be a little older depending on if you see him as naples specifically or all of southern italy. theyre older teenagers by the renaissance along with everyone else, scamming and flirting and murdering with the best of them.

#ask box games #memes #text #my headcanons #hws veneziano #hws romano

[dbunicorn]

When Amit from India calls you in the most unprofessional way. This is not how people act, or conduct business. Totally unprofessional.

Increased GDP is fantastic. Clean up your business practices Amit. This is not how people commit to transparency.

Pettiness, questionable behavior irritates me in the "WEST" as well as anywhere else. The lack of transparency is not productive.

I can't even pin this on Modi. It's a cultural artifact that needs to die in order for Indians to prosper.

Clever clever.

I hate it when people underestimate my intelligence or make presumptions without respecting boundaries.

Clean up your own fucking house first.

That's incompetence on 2 ends. In Canada and India. More than that it's counterproductive to a flourishing cooperative society.

Perhaps your brilliant billionaires should be planning for the future. Or maybe we can talk about Caste/women's rights with idiots.

Sometimes Paranoia is healthy. ❤️😘

#men are idiots #corruption #economics #financial fraud #indigenous

[icarusthelunarguard]

This Week’s Horrible-Scopes

It’s time for this week’s Horrible-Scopes! So for those of you that know your Astrological Signs, cool! If not, just pick one, roll a D12, or just make it up as you go along. It really doesn’t matter.

Aries 

The vast majority of humans have ten fingers - five on either hand. Why does music tend to be broken up into groups of four, three, or some combination of the two? There is something fundamentally strange about this and you need to break out your old psychology, music history, and music theory textbooks from college and do a research paper. No idea if you’ll get an honourary doctorate for it, but it’ll keep you busy at night.

Taurus 

Here’s a little bit of irony for you. Czechoslovakia born Miroslav Šatan played professional hockey for 20 years, and not ONCE did he play for the New Jersey Devils. Here’s another one - until you open the “Fail Whale” application, you’ll have no way to know if your account is still alive or dead. Just like Dr. Schrödinger’s account. 

Gemini  

You may not be a meteorologist but even you can watch weather satellite loops and see patterns of cloud motions forming. You don’t need to explain about Millibars of Pressure, or percentages of moisture capacity of the atmosphere to be able to tell people, “Ice Slippery… NO GO DRIVE!” This week stay indoors so all those people who decided they could drive in this snow don’t hit your car.  

Cancer Moon-Child 

Your spirit animal is drunk. Doesn’t matter if it’s a hog, squirrel, or camel. Funny thing, though… that’s how horses were invented. Alcohol is a natural diuretic, meaning you excrete water faster. So when camels were being shipped to the cowboys in the wild west, all the sailors had to give the camels was rum. After such a long trip and so much rum being consumed the sailors noticed that all they had in their holds when they made port was horses. According to “Shadowmant” on “R Slash ShittyAskScience” at least.  

Leo 

On Babylon 5, the Narn mentioned how every galactic species independently created what they call “Breen” - “Swedish Meatballs” to Terrans. Well, on Terra many cultures have created  what the Germanic peoples call “Schnitzel”. Around the world it’s known as “Escalope” in France and Spain, “Tonkatsu” in Japan, “Cotoletta” in Italy, “Milanesa” in Argentina, and “Chicken-Fried Steak” in America. Meaning your excuse for not traveling because you don’t know what to eat is bunk. Stop procrastinating! 

Virgo 

It’s time to plan ahead for the summer weather. Do your family a favor and buy a couple box fans to put in your house’s windows to circulate the air. Remember: in at the bottom, out at the top. Yes, this ‘Scope was for the Virgos South of the Equator. You Northern Hemispherians can just check your privilege at the door. 

Libra 

Heavy snowfalls will make travel difficult; not just for cars but for the poor shopping cart pushers. Don’t make their jobs harder than they already are. Put your cart back where it belongs when you’re done with it - and take one extra if it’s near. Santa will thank you for it later. Because, remember… Santa is real!

Scorpio 

On the main Google website there’s a button labeled, “I’m Feeling Lucky”. Trouble is when you mouse-over it, it changes to something else. Maybe it’ll be “I’m Feeling… Generous” or “I’m Feeling… Funny” or “I’m Feeling… Curious”. This week hit that button a few times because you need some spontaneity in your life.   

Sagittarius 

Have you actually listened to the lyrics from the songs you love to sing along to? Some of them are actually protest songs, or songs about sex, sometimes about relationships… And sometimes they’re about getting your name in the credits of an instrumental song as the lyricist so you can get paid performance royalties. Yeah, we’re looking at YOU, Gene Roddenbery! This week, don’t be petty.   

Capricorn 

There are scam products out there that you shouldn’t consider buying, no matter how good the premise seems. A security enclosure for your wireless router seems like a great idea; keep people in an office from walking away with it, right? Only to find out it’s just a Faraday Cage, preventing the Wifi signal from working correctly. Everything’s working fine - stop throwing money at the little stuff.

Aquarius 

Making cornbread in a cast iron pan is a great idea, but there are a couple trick you need to know before you do it. First, put the pan on the stovetop so it heats while you mix your batter. Second, drop a stick of butter in the pan so it melts and boils before you add the batter. Third, add one small can of Creamed Corn for every portion you’re making. And last, take the whole thing and pop it in the oven, adding 25% more cooking time. Once it comes out, you’ll thank us. This week, enjoy your comfort food.  

Pisces 

If you’ve been fortunate enough to plug in a USB cable the right-way up more than seven times in a row, you might be ready to explain the topic of Quantum Spin. The short version is, “fermions” have half-integer spins while “bosons” have integer spins. Obviously you already know the rest of the equations, so we’ll just leave you to it. Have a great lecture.

And THOSE are your Hobble-Scopes for this week! Remember if you liked what you got, we’re obviously not working hard enough at these. BUT! If you want a better or nastier one for your own sign or someone else’s, all you need to do to bribe me is just Let Me Know! These will be posted online at the end of each week via Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook and Discord.

#horrorscope #hororscope #parody #humor #funny #where my hits at people

[weeklift4]

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[punkclowngod]

Hi, i’m Nyx and this is my blog!

i use they/it pronouns and my gender is clown :•). i’m autistic and have adhd as well as multiple other disorders including C-PTSD and cluster b disorders. i will not provide a list of all i have. some are self-dx and some are professionally dxxed.

i struggle a lot with answering DMs so if you want to talk to me your best bet is through asks!

Sideblogs: @come-on-and-skin-me (vent blog) • @ifellinthepit (dc blog)

this blog is safe for all ages and all kinds of creatures, so please refrain from directing anything nsfw or harmful to this page

best stim board ever right here🎠

i sometimes post about things that can be triggering, and don’t always tag it, so if you are sensitive to violence/mild nsfw*/blood/homicidal ideation, i wouldn’t recommend following. i also reblog trauma-related content so please be careful if you proceed!

i am also okay with ‘ask to tag’ so if you want a specific tag on a post, don’t be scared to ask, i’ll be happy to oblige!

*the nsfw stuff on this blog it is usually just edgy jokes or stuff like that.

but if you are a minor and me following you makes you uncomfortable, please tell me or just block me; your comfort is very important and in no way do i want to make you feel unsafe or uncomfortable.

i don’t use many tags, my blog is very disorganized (which honestly is a nightmare for me), but i do tag everything DC related as DC stuff and i also tag posts about my dreams as Nyx Dreams. if one day i’m up to it i might go back and re-arrange everything and add tags. if so, i’ll update this section! the tag i use to identify my posts about OSDD discovery journey are tagged Nyx’s OSDD discovery channel. i also now have A Histrionic’s Guide as a tag for my, well, guides on how i work to get the most attention possible in safe/healthy ways as someone with HPD

Some of my posts you should check out:

Cluster B Headcanons

My Thoughts about Harley in The Suicide Squad

Harley and her HPD in Suicide Squad

Pirouette by Black Mask Studios

the cat the dog and the rabbit

A Histrionic’s Guide On Dressing For Attention

Micheal Scott has HPD

Important posts you should take the time to read:

Every Important Post I found about Mental Illnesses and Disabilities

How to survive in an abusive household

Feminism and the illusion of choice

Shipping abuse victims with their abusers

Serial killing and police incompetence

To non-confrontational adults

Morality and Christianity

Trafficking scam

How to spot signs and symptoms of breast cancer

About men who like “low effort” women

Shaming girls into sex they don’t want

Setting boundaries with a toxic person

Forgiveness culture

About James Gunn

Abortion resources for Texans

You can do whatever you want surgery-wise regardless of gender

Seizure first aid

Kill the robot dog

Basic respect for cane users

Acceptable reasons to exclude someone from the queer community

About stalking

American undercover cops

“Smart” devices

Don’t let your cats outside

DNI:

transphobes of any kind, queerphobes, racists, misogynists, ableists, bigots and assholes in general (including those who demonize personality disorders, psychosis, etc)

pan/aro/ace/etc exclusionists

pro shippers/ anti-antis

if you think cringe culture is alive and relevant/if you shame people for doing harmless things like being themselves and having fun

neurotypical and able bodied cishets

pro-ED (people with EDs are free to follow, as long as you’re pro-recovery and don’t encourage EDs by posting/reblogging meanspo/sweetspo/thinspo/etc)

if you’re only here to mock people

endos/non-traumagenic “systems”

sam winchester fans/apologists

joker stans/ mad love shippers

harry potter fans/supporters (yes even if you don’t ‘support’ JK Rowling)

[azure-seadragon]

looking for rp partners!

(hey there!! new FFXIV Rp blog looking to get started!)

Solana Valerian

The Basics ––– –

Age: 22

Birthday:  14th Sun of the 2nd Umbral Moon  

Race: Au ra

Gender: Female (She/Her)

Sexuality: Bisexual

Marital Status: Single, no prior serious relationships

Server: Exodus

Physical Appearance ––– –

Hair: Golden blonde with died purple/blue streaks

Eyes: Gold

Height: 5'2  

Build: Slight with lean muscles

Distinguishing Marks: White freckles over entire body, Large back scar

Common Accessories: Tigerskin Tricorne, Gold jewelry (in art)

Personal ––– –

Profession: Pirate, bounty hunter (mainly plays as Ninja and Dragoon)

Hobbies: Blacksmithing, Fishing, Charcoal drawing, ‘Magic’, gambling, climbing tall objects, drinking

Languages: Common, Thieves cant

Residence: Apartment in Limsa lominsa

Birthplace:  unknown

Religion: None

Patron Deity: Menphina, the lover

Fears: Failure to protect those she loves, Loss of freedom, Large roaches

Relationships ––– -

Spouse: None

Children: None

Parents: Silas Valerian (Father, Deceased)  Kura Valerian (Mother, MIA)

Siblings: Unknown

Other Relatives: Unknown

Pets: Bourbon (oppo minion) Polaris (Chocobo)  

Traits ––– -

Extroverted / In Between / Introverted

Disorganized / In Between / Organized

Close Minded / In Between / Open Minded

Calm / In Between / Anxious

Disagreeable / In Between / Agreeable

Cautious / In Between / Reckless

Patient / In Between /  Impatient

Outspoken / In Between / Reserved

Leader / In Between / Follower

Empathetic / In Between / Apathetic

Optimistic / In Between / Pessimistic

Traditional / In Between / Modern

Hard-working / In Between / Lazy

Cultured / In Between / Uncultured

Loyal   / In Between / Disloyal

Faithful / In Between / Unfaithful  

Additional information ––– –

Smoking Habit: Doesn’t smoke, but likes the smell Drugs: HARD No for herself, not averse to associating with drug users Alcohol: Heavy drinker

RP Hooks ––– –

Masked carnival: solana acquired a blue mage job stone while assisting the immortal flames with a job tracking down a ‘scam artist’. she can sometimes be found doing shows at the masked carnival under a stage name for fun, money, and to show off.

Bounty hunter: as solanas favorite hobby and main source of income, it would be easy for her to meet others through being after the same target as, being hired by or even hunting other characters.

the rouges guild and Limsa: being the first people to take her in when she arrived, solana has a strong bond with the members of the guild and can often be found hanging around and hassling the new comers , or just around limsa in general causing mild mayhem and getting drunk.

Eorzean ninja: expanding on her training with the rogues, solana was mentored by a shinobi refugee while on her travels.

Pirate kidnapping: solanas first pirate experience was not positive or voluntary. She and her mother were kidnapped by pirates when she was but 6 years old. The pair was then sold to another crew for work, where they remained for quite some time. Raised to work the ship and care for its crew, solana originally cared for her captors and grew to love the sea- though she still loved mothers stories of escape and of freedom. Her mother disappeared one morning, and though it’s likely she was simply ‘disposed of’, solana has always believed she simply escaped without her. She waited for her mother to return for years, before giving up hope and finally escaping herself during a mutiny. The whole experience shaped her personality, mental state and view of the world; and she still struggles to reclaim lost time. She sometimes suffers nightmares, and has been known to be mercilessly brutal during hunts for slaver ships.

Gambling addiction: having a ‘fondness’ for gambling, solana also spends a fair amount of time playing games at the gold saucer.

Contact Information  ––– –

Tumblr: you are here~ Instagram: Frosted_Cinnagrifs Steam: The_Vampires_Wife   FFXIV: Solana Valerian (Exodus) Discord: given on request!!!

#ffxiv rp #ffxiv roleplay #roleplay intro #Character intro #ffxiv #final fantasy oc #final fantasy #open rp #solana valerian #rp promo #character promo #self promo

[jostenneil]

i know u don’t ship them but talina?

ok this is so funny bc a month ago i was like idk why these two would ever get along :/ and now i'm like the parallels. . . the contrasts. . . the unique experience of being a girl bruce feels compelled to save but bc of his unreliability they always end up saving themselves. . . there's so much potential there dc isn't using omg but ANYWAY

doesn’t listen to music. ever. / thankfully they're both cultured women who realize music is good for the soul and tag team to get bruce into impromptu dance parties held in his living room while they all get drunk on wine and eat those crackers with rich people cheese while laughing like idiots

has never had a pomegranate / selina asks talia if it counts if she's had pomegranate juice bought from the grocery store

is a tax evader / SELINAAAAA. she'll drop dead before she gives money to a government that doesn't give a damn about people like her and talia's story about how she fucked over lex completely in part due to some cleverly crafted tax evasions makes selina smile

is against legalizing marijuana / neither bless their hearts

gets computer viruses the most / these are smart women they know better than to indulge in the internet to the degree that something like this would actually happen and when bruce complains about damian learning to hack the batcave computers from his conversations with dick the two of them cackle

fell for an email scam and lost a lot of money / neither see above

hooked up with someone in a gas station bathroom / selina absolutely but she robbed the guy when it was over bc he was a dick and talia can't help but smile at the tale

has a peanut allergy / neither

has an account on reddit / neither that's stuff for babies

is sexist / neither

knows how cryptocurrency works / talia she's gotta know all about it if she's going to have any chance at destroying it after all!

seasons their food exclusively with salt and pepper / selina can deal with eating bland food like she doesn't care care but if she's not short on time or having an existential crisis she'll head over to the grocery store and make something fancy for herself so like. this is selina but not always

doesn’t remove the lint in the dryer before turning it on / neither

is a cheater / i mean we know both women know how to cheat the games they play and frankly i respect them for it! they know you have to get your hands dirty sometimes to reach the cleaner end goal and that's totally something i could see them acknowledging each other over

#selina kyle #talia al ghul #talina #dc #mine:miscellanea #asks #one day i'll get to writing that fic where they bond when bruce 'dies' one day!

[fangirlstarot]

SEVEN OF SWORDS

"Thieves and liars kill indirectly, unintentionally, and with no other weapon than their tongues and malice." - A.E.H. Veenman

This is often called the 'thief card' as it often points to someone in your life who is cutting corners, being sneaky or going to betray you. It can also sometimes point out some of your own negative behavior. There is some trickery and dodgy deals going on, so be careful of what might look too good to be true because it's probably a scam. It is also a card of careful cunning, reminding you to keep your wit sharp if you want that strategy to play out for you in the long run.

::Who's Who On This Card::

1. Coyote from Native American Mythology - Throughout many indigenous cultures, Coyote is a trickster god. His mischievous nature was often up to no good, and could be down-right devious. The coyote was often thought to be the most cunning animal too.

2. The Robber from Catan - When you roll a certain number on the dice in this game, you place this piece on someone's square to rob them of their resources. This is a decisive strategy, but can turn friends into enemies (at least for the duration of the game).

3. Saffron from Firefly - Saffron went by many names in Firefly because of her many scams and aliases used to trick others, causing Mal to eventually call her Yosaffbridge, an amalgamation of the three names he knew he by. She was overly deceitful, always had a scam she was trying to get away with and a story full of lies to act as a cover. The Seven of Swords reminds us to be wary of those Yosaffbridge's in our own life-- else we might find out they've taken off with our ship.

4. Autolycus from Xena - Autolycus was known as the King of Thieves on Xena. He was very cunning, possessed a quick wit and the resourcefulness to pull off all sorts of underhanded behaviour. He wasn't overly malicious though, which I think points to how the Seven of Swords can sneaky but is not always out to cause a great deal of harm.

5. Professor Harold Hill from The Music Man - A professional conman, Professor Harold Hill wasn't even a professor and arrived to River City, Iowa to try to swindle the good people of that small town. This card often reminds us that we have to keep our eyes open, which is always a good thing to do when a salesman like Harold offers things that seem too good to be true.

6. Honest John from Pinocchio - Honest John was not honest at all when he was trying to trick Pinocchio and eventually leads him astray so he could sell him to the highest bidder. This was not the first of his frauds and lies and this deception would not be his last. The criminal behavior that this card points to really needs to be guarded against so you don't get taken advantage of by those sly and sneaky foxes out there in the world.

#seven of swords #tarot #tarot cards #tarot readings #firefam #yosaffbridge #Catan #thief #robber #Coyote #mythology #native american #Autolycus #Xena #Professor Harold Hill #The Music Man #Honest John #Pinocchio

[brw]

GILGULES. GIGAHERC??? HERCAMESH??????? HERCULES AND GILGAMESH.

1) doesn’t listen to music. ever.

BOTH OF THEM TBH... gil more than herc tho, herc does listen to music bc he is a Music Player and i feel like u kinda have to listen to music to play it??? the two seem linked. anyway unless someone is playing gil doesn't listen he doesn't know what streaming is.

2) has never had a pomegranate

NEITHER OF THEM THEY ARE BOTH MEN OF CULTURE THEY HAVE EATEN POMEGRANATES.

3) is a tax evader

HERCULES.... hercules canonically is mega rich, he's LITERALLY olympian royalty and i don't think there's such a thing as taxes on olympus. athena probably tries to introduce it every few years and the answer is always no wtf. gil also probably doesn't have a legal american identity, but i like to imagine he sends like, a literal bag of gold to whoever every month bc he chooses not to pay attention to the way things have changed

4) is against legalizing marijuana

NEITHER OF THEM THEY'RE BOTH THOUSANDS OF YEARS OLD MAKING A PLANT ILLEGAL SOUNDS STUPID TO THEM.

5) gets computer viruses the most

BOTH OF THEM THEY'RE BOTH OLD... probably gilgamesh tho he still thinks laptops are made of stone bdfdfcbdffv and hercules knows enough to be on forums canonically...

6) fell for an email scam and lost a lot of money

HERC,,,,,, similar to reed he was like "oh no a dear friend lost money >:( i need to help!" and. yeah dcbhdfcbhdcbdc. but again he's like. a quadrillionaire it didnt bother him.

7) hooked up with someone in a gas station bathroom

HERC, HE LITERALLY SLEPT WITH JEN IN A CAR DFBDBDFB HE WOULD. generally he tries to be classy enough to find a hotel or smth but. he has. he will do so again. he's not proud of it. gil is too classy for that fnfdcbdfb

8) has a peanut allergy

neither of them they're both chads.

9) has an account on reddit

HERC... i just know this man helps mod a subreddit and is the owner of it's discord server, probably for like bisexual superheroes dhbbdhdh

10) is sexist

NEITHER OF THEM. they both have Misogynistic Vibes bc they're thousands of years old and herc is from ancient greece which was so misogynistic they were like "being gay is more pure than being straight" but. i like to think they're both respectful enough <3 especially gil he is just vibing he's polite and kind towards women. sometimes it seems like he thinks they're weak but thats a mortal thing not a woman thing

11) knows how cryptocurrency works

neither of them their asses are too fat their tits too swole.

12) seasons their food exclusively with salt and pepper

NEITHER OF THEM THEY ARE MEN OF CULTURE AND TASTE.

13) doesn’t remove the lint in the dryer before turning it on

:[

14) is a cheater

hercules cheats at games all the time, partially because he doesnt know how the rules work and doesnt care to learn and bc gilgamesh probably finds it charming in a dumb way dhbdhbdfbh

stupid shipping meme!

#GILGAHERC MY BELOVED!!!!!! #I LOVE THEM SM TYSM OMH <3 <3 #gilgaherc #ask games} answers #sol 🍋

[theorangestar]

So Skyward Sword!

Overall, I really liked it! The world is so beautiful to look at. Each area is so colorful and bright (with the exception of the Lanayru Mining Facility, but that changes when you use the timeshift stones). I enjoyed all the characters, and I liked all the different tools needed to solve puzzles and obstacles. The story was beautiful. Link’s smile is the best thing in the world. Groose’s character development, Sweet Hylia! Zelda’s genuine care for Link and Impa, and even Groose by the end. I love how the Gorons are scholars in this game, that’s so refreshing. Kikwis and the little robots are soooo cute. I teared up saying goodbye to Fi. THE MUSIC!!!

There are a few things that bugged me though. There’s a lot of “Your princess is in another castle!” stuff going on chasing Zelda. It was mentally exhausting constantly going back and forth from each section of the map back to Skyloft, back to another section, back to Skyloft, etc etc. It does feel sometimes like the story keeps stopping and starting because you have to keep restocking potions or find a Goddess Chest or fulfill a side quest every time you go to Skyloft. Also, I kept getting dragged everywhere for all these little pieces to find. Find Zelda. Find the three sacred fires. Find all these missing song pieces. No, we won’t actually answer any questions directly, why would we do that? There was a point I completely forgot my goal of finding the location of the Triforce. Like, you’re so focused on finding the pieces you lose focus as to why you need them in the first place. Also, time travel is confusing. Is this a time loop? Did we actually change history? I’m still not sure. Please, no more time travel. It’s too complicated and no one is consistent with their rules.

AND OF COURSE, the same thing I’ve been complaining about since the beginning, the motion controls. I was partially right in my very first post, in that a lot of it is something you just get used to. Yes, you do frequently have to “Reset Gyro” to get them working right, but it’s not usually too much of a problem. Flying got way better the more I did it. The biggest problems I had were with the bow & arrow and Skyward Strike. I felt like the bow & arrow shifted when you needed it most (the gust bellows did this to me a lot too, but rarely was it a time sensitive issue). And I always need to reset before a Skyward Strike. This wasn’t a problem when finding Goddess Cubes or sacred symbols or whatever. But when you have to rely on it in a boss battle, this gets super frustrating super fast. Granted, there are only two boss battles you need the Skyward Strike for, but it’s so exhausting. You really work up a sweat with those battles. And that last battle with Demise is a Doozy because of that Skyward Strike (don’t get me started on the fatal blow thing, just don’t). It took me two days to beat him (that’s probably  more of a sign of how bad I am at video games than anything else) but my arm was really in pain by the end, and even the next day my shoulder is still sore. I don’t know if anyone else had the problem or if I just suck, but it did make it hard to bask in the glory when I finally did beat him.

But would I play this game again? Absolutely! But next time, I think I’ll try using the normal controllers instead of the motion controls. Will it be easier? I don’t know, but it will at least be less painful.

Other things to note:

- I was right about Karane and Pipit, I was right! >:D I did look up online about the toilet ghost choice after I gave Cawlin’s letter to Karane, and I’m glad I didn’t. As funny as the toilet ghost falling in love with Cawlin is, I’d feel bad for cursing him with nightmares forever, even if I don’t like him.

- So apparently the remlits aren’t evil? I only found this out after I finished the game, because according to the internet, it’s finishing the Batreaux side quest that stops the evil influence, but since finishing that quest was the last thing I did before I went to get the Triforce, I didn’t see the remlits become good again.

- I gave Fledge his self-esteem!! Mission accomplished!!... And then he uses that self-esteem to scam me out of money with that pumpkin shot game with that dreaded bow & arrow, and then passive-aggressively criticize my marksmanship. Excuse you, I made you!!

- UNPOPULAR OPINION!!! I kind of ship Link with Peatrice. I think her crush on him is really cute, but he’s just a little dense to get it. (Also her dad is a little creepy to me. Just a little). Of course, Link and Zelda in this game are clearly meant to be, and they absolutely love each other, but Peatrice is still cute, and she never used me as a tool against a god of evil. So you know, she’s got that going for her.

- In the end credits, we do get to see snippets from Zelda’s part of the journey. No dialogue, but it was really nice to see. She looks so nervous and scared, but also determined, carrying her harp into the wilderness. But seriously, did Old Lady Impa not think to give her a weapon of some kind on her journey? The girl’s all alone and Ghirahim is after her, some means of defense would have been appreciated, I’m sure!

- Zelda’s loftwing just abandons her, by the way. We see it fall with her below the clouds, but it doesn’t come back until the after credit scene. Coward.

- Speaking of the loftwings, I was surprised at how under utilized they are. In the beginning, they talk about how loftwings are the other half of your soul, and how important your bond is with your loftwing, but after Zelda falls through the clouds, the loftwings are basically just glorified horses. They don’t hold any weight within the story. There’s lots of bird statues and engravings EVERYWHERE, so culturally they did hold importance even before the war, but they have no direct influence on the story except as transportation. Missed opportunity.

- The Lanayru Desert fascinates me. It’s never explained how the timeshift stones actually power things, but it’s such a cool game mechanic to hit a stone and suddenly you’re in the past. It also makes me wonder what happened between the war and Link and Zelda’s era. How long was it between these two places in time, because it would take a lot of time and some major events to change a grassland and a sea into a desert. And this means all those little robots are still there after all this time, it just makes me so sad! :’( I really want to know all that history of what was before the war and the time between the war and Link and Zelda. Also, the Lanayru dungeons have that same piano tinkle as when you chase Vah Rudania with Yunobo in BOTW, and that music. Stresses. Me. Out.

- So of all the different species and peoples of Hyrule, the only ones that survive through all 10,000+ years of the timeline are the Hylians, Sheikah (I’m not sure if they count as a separate species from hylians, or they’re just a different tribe), and the Gorons. The kikwis, the mogma, the robots, and the parellas never show up in any other game, so I guess they all just died out before the next Hero rises. That’s really sad!! (I don’t know if the parellas eventually evolve into zora, but the rest are still sad).

- The Imprisoned looked so much scarier in Link’s vision. But when he first emerges and he has no arms, he lost all that intimidation. Even when he grew arms and started flying, he wasn’t that scary. A pain in the butt to deal with all three times, but not scary. Then we just dropped a building on him Wizard of Oz style. Wow, Demise, you suck. If it wasn’t for Ghirahim’s stupid dance ritual, he really wouldn’t have been a threat.

So yeah, there are my thoughts!

#skyward sword spoilers #skyward sword #link #zelda #i had such a fun time and i'm sad it's over #but my shoulder is thankful

[reginaldqueribundus]

Not Quite Star Trek

was digging through some old text files and found the notes for what was basically me and my friends’ version of The Orville, 7 years before The Orville existed. It was basically Star Trek with the serial numbers filed off (“Federated Systems Union” and all that).

The basic premise was “hey since the Enterprise is a ship full of superstars then statistically there must be a ship out there full of people who just like, really suck, and all ended up in the same crew through some kind of clerical error or cosmic fluke” 

The captain was some ungodly mixture of Zap Branigan and Michael Scott who somehow saved his ship every time by being so bad at his job he blew right through incompetence and came out the other side

The first officer was this April from Parks and Rec type who would do shit like ignore people and steal their lunch and say it was part of her alien culture

The chief engineer was legitimately good at engineering but had such crippling ADHD she couldn’t fix the warp drive without trying to rewire every toilet on the ship first

Instead of an android character there was this dude who just really, really badly wanted to be an android so he acted like one all the time and pretended he couldn’t understand emotions. He was like a weeaboo for androids.

The communications officer was always falling for email scams and had the computer skills of a 70-year-old Amish lady

The ship’s computer perved on everyone constantly

The doctor was always drunk as hell and prescribed everyone whiskey and/or amputations (and was ordered to undergo sensitivity training a lot)

The head of security was this angry space orc viking guy who was 4 feet tall and suggested immediately firing phasers at everything they met

There was a cadet who was supposed to be a parody of the Wesley Crusher type. He kept accidentally saving the ship and everyone hated him for it. He couldn’t order breakfast without accidentally inventing a revolutionary new waffle synthesizer.

A helmsman with an accent no one could understand who insisted he was “best driver in galaxy” (he was very wrong) and no one knew where he came from or if he even worked there

The wise/comic relief cook/bartender/weed dealer character was this ugly cockroach thing with a long unpronounceable name and all the advice they gave was weird and gross

There was a counselor but she was never around and if by chance someone caught a moment with her they’d either be worse off than when they started or she’d be like: “I diagnose you with gay”

Also there was a cat person who made everyone uncomfortable, a redshirt who narrowly averted death every episode, and a recurring admiral character who went mad with power every few days

The uniforms were ridiculously sexist and they were constantly catching exotic STDs, contaminating alien cultures and getting made fun of by the crew of the not-Enterprise (i.e. the ship full of superstars who saved Earth every other week). There were aliens: 

the Bulcans, who claimed to worship pure logic but really just used it as an excuse to be a dick to people

the Vykons, who were sometimes good guys, sometimes bad guys, and mostly went around fighting everyone and setting shit on fire

the Meticulans, who were always setting up needlessly overcomplicated evil plots that got so convoluted they ended up backstabbing themselves

the Hardassians: fascist snake people constantly hampered by their lack of arms

the Bored Collective, who were constantly looking for more mindless entertainment to consume

the Mirror Universe versions of the crew, who all had beards and spelled their names backwards and did whatever dumb shit they thought was the exact opposite of what the main characters did

#star trek #star trek parody #the orville #a post by me™ #sam rambles about star trek again

[lotusglass]

So about the ships, is it okay if I ask about headcanons about the ships and how they got together? Thank you!! The ocs are really intresting and I love the ships so I’m very intrigued lolol

 Absolutely! I live for questions like this <333 this is very long so I’ll be putting it under read more. Small warning: a little spicy in some parts ouo;;; and I do apologize if they seem out of character

Leona and Anyu 

They met during a maglift(magical shift? please correct me if I’m wrong;;) practice match, NRC against DCA(Belongs to Phoenix-Manga/phnxart!).  One of the Savanaclaw students on Leona’s team were cheating and Anyu was REALLY not having it;; so of course he confronted him about it, but afterwards it kept happening and then everything went uh...downhill;;;

Since then they became rivals and Anyu swore that she’d beat him in maglift fair and square! The again, she managed to beat him a few times when they spar?? //sigh this girl asks for too much;;;

Though, she can’t help but appeal to his cunning and arrogant behavior, but does her best to deny it when someone brings it up. Like yeah, she thinks he’s cute, but he’s mean!

no chance, no way, I won’t say I’m in love

Even if they’re not dating, they bicker a lot and argue A LOT, but they still care about each other nonetheless, it’s a matter of patience and loyalty mostly patience though

Considering how witty they both are, they subconsciously flirt each other whether it’s one the mag lift field or in their respective dorms, they always have something to say to each other. Even Ruggie can feel the tension before calling them out on it.

Anyu likes to run her hands through his hair when they cuddle, or rather whenever Leona drags her away from studying to go AND cuddle. 

Like a lot people, he calls her herbivore, but also princess while Anyu calls him a fur bag or kitty~ 

He carries her like a fucking potato sack, it makes Anyu Angry, but Leona still does it to push her buttons. 

There’s a decent amount of PDA, but behind closed doors, it’s more...ravenous ouo;;; just don’t be surprised if Leona has hickeys on him or anything 

They playfight A LOT especially after a fight and Anyu is always the one starting it

neither of them know this but their older siblings are already planning their arranged marriage due to politics 

Overall, it’s push and pull between these two!

Azul and Pearl

Ah yes Ursula and Ariel 

Pearl was actually childhood friends with Jade and Floyd so when they visited each other in their first year, she was introduced to Azul.

At first she was pretty neutral about him, but after she heard about his contracts, she had to distance herself a bit, but still remained good friends!

Out of kindness, she dotes on him lot, but Azul’s expecting something out of it, and Pearl always gets upset whenever he asks her

Although she does her best to be more understanding oh him, and ever since his overblot, she’s more doting and more open with him.

Their love is playful, tender, and surprisingly conniving! Being that Pearl is a matchmaker, she likes to ask her octo-baby for some help in pairing couples(aka getting Floyd and Jade to intervene), but in exchange she has to help him out as well whether it’s finding gems to see or sing at the mostro lounge. It’s an equal share between the two!

She lets Azul pull out scams and sometimes gets involved with them, although she pretends that she doesn’t know what’s going on when really, she KNOWS what’s going on, girl wants to make Azul look like an idiot for scamming her one time!

Pearl loves ballroom dancing and sometimes she would get Azul to dance with her, even though he tends to trip on his feet a lot hahaaaa!

They like to make inside jokes and they flirt with each other, although Pearl has a bad habit of getting too friendly with her male clients, which leads Azul having to lecture her about personal space. If it’s the male clients getting too friendly, it’s a whole different story, a scary one actually;;;

Azul tried to kiss her once in the VIP room, but alas Floyd and Jade ALWAYS cockblock him which then leads to Azul lecturing them, and Pearl scolding him for being rude to the twins. he just a kiss from his gf that’s all he asks

shalalala my oh my it’s like the boy’s too shy he’s gonna kiss the girl

Pearl knows what it’s like to be ostracized and bullied. Every so often, she pampers Azul after a hard days work and when he’s upset, she’s very patient and listens to his woe constantly, even if he doesn’t say anything, she’s there

Trey and Clarice

Met during a visit from NRC! Clarice was in the middle of sewing up her gowns on a mannequin and Trey and Cater walked in on her. Trey and her talk a lot about their crafts and of course Cater was just there to take pictures of it, not that Clarice didn’t mind!

Literally husband and wife  

Trey is the kind of guy who’s an ideal boyfriend, constantly helping her with designs and encourages her. While Clarice helps him in the kitchen and whatnot!

But most importantly. she pulls him back from overworking, being vice dorm leader is never easy. Of course she’s no better, Trey can tell when Clarice hasn’t had enough sleep, or when he fingers are sore. Thus, Trey would have to pry her hands off the sewing machine and into a comfy chair

They play around in the kitchen a lot! She purposely puts icing on his face and he chases her around for it. There was also an incident where they played around too roughly and Clarice knocked a bag of flour onto the floor. Needless to say, Riddle was NOT happy when he saw the whole mess

They tend to feed each other sometimes and go as far doing the pocky game. Of course Ace ruins the moment by telling them to get a ROOM.

PDA? They always have their hands somewhere on each other, Trey’s arm over her shoulder, and Clarice’s hand on the small of his back hood boy

Kingsley and Riddle

Kingsley met Riddle when he was a wee first year! He always so obedient and being the dick the Kingsley was, he REALLY tried to influence him. However, Riddle was stronger than that and didn’t buy into his shenanigans like the good boy he is!

Before I go on, I headcanon that Riddle is bisexual or pansexual.

As mentioned, Kinglsey does flirt a lot with Riddle, and it goes as far as calling him pet names and compliments. 

The result it either Riddle storming off with rosy cheeks, or “OFF WITH YOUR HEAD”.

He does care about Riddle’s well-being and has to remind him to take breaks. When there’s a fight going on and Riddle is too busy, he takes care of it for him. He treats his queen like no other.

If they were dating, I’d say he’s one for PDA and will deliberately fluster him in front of other people

Promised himself to tone down his playboy attitude for the sake of his beloved. The last thing he wants to upset Riddle.

They tend hedgehogs and paint teacups together, sometimes have private tea time when they get the chance!

Kingsley is also very much down to punch the daylights out of anyone who dares to hurt his Riddle, not on his watch!

Jamil and Elena

I feel they met during the school festival at DCA. She’s part of cultural dance club and happened to be performing with her dorm leader. Kalim and Jamil were both intrigued and after the performance they managed to talk to her

Elena knows when Jamil is pulling back and she LOATHES that, so often times she pushes Jamil to the point where he’s really showing his bets efforts and only then would Elena be satisfied.

Elena may be a tough girl and rougher than most, but she can be just caring as the next. She would always check on Jamil after he takes acre of Kalim, he works so hard has no acknowledged this??

They have this habit of dancing together during the more quiet hours of the dorm, whether it’s in Scarabia or Magiaoasis(Phoenix-manga/phnxart), they’re moving together. However, Kalim tends them about it, so before they do anything like that, they have to make sure the coast is all clear.

If it’s not Kalim, then Elena is always the first to taste his cooking. Also she’s a horrible cook so sometimes Jamil would help her out, even if it gets a little frustrating

PDA? It’s more private, they only hold hands or Jamil has an arm around her, nothing more or less. But in private? You can bet that Elena is showering him with lovebites and hickeys. Occasional praises, but nothing too far from it. Unless Jamil says, well you know how it goes 👀

The tension between those time is thick enough to cut through. Even if they walk past each other in the halls, their eyes says it all when they gaze at each other.

#[answers] #I'm so sorry if it too long I had so much info but I had to condense it #leona kingscholar #azul ashengrotto #trey clover #riddle rosehearts #jamil viper #anyu zhang #clarice bellerose #pearl salacia #kinglsey princeton #elena #twisted wonderland #twst #twisted wonderland oc #twst oc

[script-a-world]

hello. i want to write a story set in a very religious place. like fanatic level of religious. in my mind, this place is ruled by what the church says but has a "cover" figure to "connect" with the people. the people of this place are devoted to their religion, meaning they know passages, go to mass, and shun those who don't support it. here is my question: how does one go about creating a religion that feels real? what do i need to take into consideration (i'm not religious myself).

Mod Miri Note: At the same time this came in we also received from the google form the question “How do I world build a religion?” I can’t confirm they’re the same anon, but we’re combining them for the answer.

Brainstormed: You seem to have a very… narrow perception of religion? If you aren’t religious yourself and you’re (presumably) from a Western culture, it makes sense that the Christian church and more specifically Catholicism are your go-to images of hyperreligion. Saying “mass” and “church” and “passages” kind of gives away the fact that you’re trying to base your religion off of at least your idea of an Abrahamic religion, but I’d ask you to reconsider. Right now it sounds like you’re trying to create a negative critique of these religions, and even if that is what you’re going for, you need to do a lot of research on their theology, history, and practices before you can do so with any competence.

I’d suggest doing some basic research on types of religions, like animism, pantheism, polytheism, general superstition, etc. There are plenty of spiritual worldviews that you might consider way over the top, but whose believers find it more bizarre when people don’t follow their teachings. Fanatics are never fanatics in their own mind, and especially among their own people, but also… fanatic might be a relative term. If you’re approaching this from a nonreligious background, then you might consider X-amount of religion in one’s lifestyle to be fanatic-level. Whereas a person who actively practices religion would consider X-amount to be perfectly normal, and only folks who take it to XX-amount plus some shadier practices are the true fanatics.

Remember, religions start because people want to make sense of the world. There is a deeper feeling of wonder and personhood and power, both within a human being and in the whole world around us, that drives spirituality and generates superstition. Religion, at least to start, is beneficial to people, otherwise no one but sadists would follow its teachings. Now, like anything else, religion can devolve into a means of power hoarding and control of a populace, but only because of the people in charge getting greedy. The vast majority of religions I’ve studied have had radical, freeing, empowering teachings applicable to everybody when they first sprang up, and only later did adherents twist those teachings into societal oppression. If there is no satisfaction or benefit in your religion, there won’t exactly be any incentive for people to follow it so closely, aside from whatever negative consequences occur for those who fall away. And negative consequences aren’t often enough to keep people in a religion. If following religion is more painful than the consequences of leaving it, plenty of people will jump ship.

Religion can also show up in every single part of life. According to Wikipedia:

A religious experience (sometimes known as a spiritual experience, sacred experience, or mystical experience) is a subjective experience which is interpreted within a religious framework. The concept originated in the 19th century, as a defense against the growing rationalism of Western society. William James popularised the concept.

You look up and see a cloud, a spiritual person sees a portent, or a spirit, or a castle where the gods live. You take a break from work for a minute, a spiritual person now has time to mutter a prayer, or observe the mood of the world, or dedicate their work to their god. A person doesn’t have to be anywhere near a fanatic to have their religion be in every part of their life. Especially if they adhere to a more lax spirituality or superstitious worldview instead of an organized religion, the central spiritual experience of religious belief alters the perception of self and surroundings. It isn’t only a set of rules to follow.

It can even help areas of society that modern Western society considers nonreligious! Historically, medicine has always come under religion. Witch doctors, medicine men, witchcraft, even the hygiene laws laid out in the Christian Bible. Physical health has often been considered a reflection of spiritual health, which, in a way, is true! The placebo effect means tending to one’s mental and emotional health with the reassurance of religion will improve one’s physical health as well. Not only that, but the power of a “spiritual experience”, regardless of if you believe the supernatural is real, can cause religious ecstacy, something you might perceive as a serious psychological problem but those who experience it consider to be a deep form of spiritual expression to be treasured and sought after. The spread and preservation of information is also often aided by religion, even though that can change should those in power want to change history or obscure truth for their own reasons. Just look at the history of the printing press and how that was driven by the need for Bibles. Many cultures, most famously Australian Aboriginal peoples, have oral histories thousands of years long that tie in closely to their spirituality.

You also might be confusing religion with cults. If you think all religion is predatory, playing on people’s weaknesses and fears in order to coerce them into a miserable lifestyle of following strict laws and living under control of those in power, you definitely have conflated “religion” and “cult”. If you’d like to worldbuild a cult, go ahead! It’s likely to be smaller and less acceptable than an established organized religion, not very transparent to the outside world nor its members, and have a spirituality that is in fact just a veneer over gaining power, instead of genuine belief and devotion, and may in fact require people to murder or commit suicide. Just look at Scientology, or these, or even Jared Leto, and a more in-depth look from this organization covering many different kinds of cults.

On a more worldbuildy note, are those who practice this religion correct? Does their god(s) exist? Is the supernatural real? If yes, then are they really fanatics if they’ve been right all along? Even if they’re incorrect, the dedication and deep-held beliefs of religious people shouldn’t be mocked wholesale, in my opinion. Make sure to keep some genuine three-dimensional development for characters who are part of this religion, or include other religions with different practices, or the only thing you’ll accomplish is “waaaa religion bad believers dumb”. And if that is the story you want to write, feel free, but I can’t help you there.

Feral: What makes a religion feel real? Sincere faith.

Specifically among the leaders. I mean, sure, those lemming-like peasants who actually believe that superstitious nonsense will have sincere faith, but honestly? There is going to be a higher percentage of people faking it among the masses than among the clergy. Clergy members are generally required to go through rigorous studies and often take vows that can cause great discomfort. I am sure there are those who did it for the power - there are in atheist organizations as well, humans can be crap - but if you actually read the writings of important Church leaders of the past, not to mention rabbis, imams & mullahs, and archakas, you’re going to find that they have sincere faith.

Something you should always keep in mind when developing pre-modern religion in a Western context is that before the advent of modern scholarship, which starts to become a thing in the West during the Renaissance, all the important scholars were clergy. And again, those learned people either had to be really, really dedicated to their power-hungry ambitions or had to have sincere faith.

That does not make religions perfect by any means nor does it mean that the god they have sincere faith in is omnibenevolent (though the qualities of an omnibenevolent god will be strongly dependent on the culture that worships it). And religious leaders are absolutely capable of doing terrible, terrible things even if they profess to worship an omnibenevolent god, and politicians can definitely twist things around to suit their needs (again, this is not exclusive to religiosity). But your ask has this weird given that a major religion (on par with Catholicism/Christianity) in your world is a scam, and while yes, that happens in cults and alternative religions and in splinter groups*, as Brainstormed pointed out that’s just not how, at least, the four major religions of our world got started.

Yes, it’s true that bureaucracies of a certain size and age will inevitably begin to change focus to protecting its own existence. And yes, it’s true that ambitious sociopaths will be drawn to places of authority even if they are difficult to achieve. And yes, it’s true that an individual entering a toxic environment is more likely to be changed by the environment than to change the environment. But guess what! That has nothing to do with whether the organization is religious or not.

Why does a religion exist in the first place? It explains the universe in a pre-modern world; it provides organization and structure for community focus - in other words, many social programs have historically been run through religious organizations and leadership. And it provides hope and comfort in a very scary world.

Some clergy might be able to fake all of that for a little while, but a large bureaucracy with many clerics who are all in on the fake? No. Allow me to rephrase: hell no. People are not dumb. Maybe you believe that of all religious people, but you are wrong and they are not. The people in your world, if they’re anything like the people in our world, are gonna sniff out the bullshit if none of their religious leaders believe what they’re selling. There is a reason Scientology has to keep blackmail files on all its adherents, and I promise you, the Catholic Church does not do that.

*A note on cults, alternative religions, and splinter groups: Cults and alternative religions (their PR friendly name) are “religions” that are scammy and/or actively dangerous to the participants or others: People’s Temple, Branch Davidian, etc. Splinter groups are congregations that start as normal members of a large religion or denomination but its insular culture creates a divide that just takes things a little too far even for the most fanatical of the main sect (think terrorist groups that link themselves to religions). These types of religions might be what you are actually asking about. Groups like these can be highly, highly influential but in a very contained area. What cults often do is the leader settles in an area and buys property and builds a church and maybe a school and then encourages the members to all move either onto the plot of land if it’s large enough or to buy up surrounding land and homes and push out all the non-believers. That area can then be fortified or just have a de facto boundary with the rest of the world. Sometimes a group like this can become large enough to constitute an entire town, but rarely a city - groups that large will more often have centralized compounds but with the members living scattered among non-believers, as Scientology does. Obviously a group concentrated like that will have an impact on local politics, if they are allowed to participate, but it’s not going to go farther than the county line, so to speak. As we all know from the news, splinter groups like ISIS can become very large and globe spanning, but those types of groups have within them splinter groups and factions, and I don’t think that’s what you’re asking about anyway, so I’m just going to leave it there.

But frankly, your ask reads to me as “how do I create a fantasy!Catholic that is secretly evil and will show the audience how evil religion is in the real world? Opiate of the masses!” And my advice is… don’t. Because it lacks compassionate understanding of people of faith (many faiths), it lacks a factual understanding of how world religions differ and function, it totally lacks nuance, and finally, because it is absolutely, monumentally, extremely, really, very cliche.

Maybe the way your ask is coming across to me is totally not how you intended it. Maybe you only used the jargon you used because you assumed we wouldn’t know any other terms and maybe your understanding of world religions is actually quite sophisticated. Maybe you really do have this insanely clever way to spin a tired cliche into some new and original. In these cases, we strongly encourage you to come right back with as jargon-full and specific an ask as you can write, use our submission google form to do it. Otherwise, give our responses some thought and if after you’ve developed your religion, you want to come back with a specific ask other than “how do I world build a religion?” (which is a little too broad), please feel free.

#pylons #religion #Anonymous

[galmaborn]

𝙻𝙰𝚈𝙴𝚁 001:   THE OUTSIDE.

𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄:    Myla. 𝐄𝐘𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐑:    A striking, inhumanly bright blue. 𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐑 𝐒𝐓𝐘𝐋𝐄 / 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐑:    Medium brown with some lighter streaks due to being exposed to batuu’s three suns so often.  It’s thick & wavy & mostly an uncontrollable mess unless it’s tightly braided, but she only rarely makes the effort to do so.  Primarily, it’s left loose, reaching a little past shoulder length, or thrown up in a messy ponytail/bun. 𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓:    5′6″  /  167cm. 𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐓𝐘𝐋𝐄:    Super practical & pretty in line with Batuuan fashion styles.  Cargo pants, pretty standard hiking or work boots, woven scarfs and loose blouses.    She usually sticks to blues, browns, and other natural colors other than her light yellow helmet & wishing tree ribbon tied around her arm.  She does often wear a leather jacket, which is considered to be super fancy by Batuuan standards.  Only Oga’s lieutenants, Varg, some of the gang leaders, & primarily off-world smugglers can afford them, & every one is customized to represent its owner’s allegiances.  Myla’s has a patch of the symbol for Black Spire Outpost on one shoulder & one with Dok-Ondar’s signature logo on the other. 𝐁𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐏𝐇𝐘𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄:    Personally, I like her floofy hair the most, but I’ll go with her eyes just because they’re the most unique & noticeable thing about her.

𝙻𝙰𝚈𝙴𝚁 002:   THE INSIDE.

𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒:    The Force, or what she only knows as the terrible feelings she occasionally gets.  Losing Varg or Tohago.  Oga Garra.  Zygerrians.  Never leaving Batuu.  Never escaping the crime syndicate. Death. The Naklor returning.  Batuu being destroyed by the war.  Batuuan braga bears.  Medical droids.  Bounty hunters discovering that she’s an escaped slave. 𝐆𝐔𝐈𝐋𝐓𝐘 𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐄:    People watching in the space port & thinking up her own make-believe life stories for each person. 𝐁𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐏𝐄𝐓 𝐏𝐄𝐄𝐕𝐄:    Anyone who doesn’t pay their debts, double-crossers, & people who look down on her, or any Batuuan really, for being from a backwater planet that has a lot of criminal activities. 𝐀𝐌𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐔𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄:    See the galaxy & actually be able to experience the different cultures, climates, & everything about other planets rather than just hearing stories.  Have a little antique shop of her own that doesn’t have ties to any criminal organizations.  Have a family.  Find out who her parents are & what happened to them.

𝙻𝙰𝚈𝙴𝚁 003:   THOUGHTS.

𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒 𝐖𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐔𝐏:    There’s always a brief moment every morning when Myla wonders if she could manage to get away from Oga if she tried to leave again, now that she’s a lot older & more experienced.  It never lasts long, but that little sliver of hope that she wakes up to really keeps her going throughout the day. 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓:    Work.  Sometimes, Myla wonders if she even really has a life beyond being ordered around by Dok all day & sometimes all night, too.  There’s always a mental list of all of the people indebted to Dok running through her head or concerns about smugglers attempting to scam them when they bring in kyber crystal shipments.  She also thinks about the other kids that were on the Zygerrian ship, the ones that she never saw again, & wonders if they’re off living comfortable lives on some Core World.  She likes to make herself believe that they are. 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐃:    Usually it goes one of two ways: Myla will either work herself up worrying over work-related problems, the general unsafe & unpredictable nature of Galma, & bad memories or she’ll be imagining what other planets might look like based on the stories she’s heard.  If it’s the former, then she likely won’t sleep & will climb a nearby broken spire to watch the stars all night. 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐑 𝐁𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐐𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐈���:    Reliability.

𝙻𝙰𝚈𝙴𝚁 004:    WHAT’S BETTER ?

𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐋𝐄 𝐎𝐑 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐏 𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐒:    Single. 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐎𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐃:    Myla would say respected if asked, but really she’d rather be loved. 𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐘 𝐎𝐑 𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐒:    Brains. 𝐃𝐎𝐆𝐒 𝐎𝐑 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐒:    Dogs.

𝙻𝙰𝚈𝙴𝚁 005:   DO THEY  . . .

𝐋𝐈𝐄:    All the time, but it’s more rare outside of her work & she’d never lie to someone she’s close with. 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐕𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐕𝐄𝐒:    It depends.  In a fight she’s prone to overconfidence, but in most other aspects Myla doubts herself to the point of it being a detriment. 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐕𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄:    Maybe.  She’d really like to, but due to the sort of crowds she hangs with, Myla hasn’t seen it in action for herself very often.  She believes it exists somewhere out there in the galaxy, but not necessarily that it’s in the cards for her. 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐎𝐍𝐄:    Oh yeah. She’s a horribly lonely person.

𝙻𝙰𝚈𝙴𝚁 006:    HAVE THEY EVER  . . .

𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐄:    No... Unless climbing on the R-3X’s DJ booth in the cantina while she was drunk counts. 𝐃𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐃𝐑𝐔𝐆𝐒:    No. 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐅𝐈𝐓 𝐈𝐍:    Yes.  Myla was actually a pretty quiet kid full of bright optimism & love who only wanted to help people, but those aren’t exactly traits that would help her survive or make Oga money.  She toughened up fast & there were a lot of times before she started working more for Dok when she was absolutely ruthless with no remorse.  She’s been allowed to soften back up a bit since she’s been working in the antiques shop, but a lot of times she does put on a rougher front to fit in with the criminal crowd.

𝙻𝙰𝚈𝙴𝚁 007:   FAVOURITES.

𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐑:    Blue. 𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐌𝐀𝐋:    Pipa birds, but also specifically Dok’s baby sarlacc named Simpi. 𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊:    The Mysterious Island or really anything by Jules Verne. 𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄:    Any of the Uncharted games.

𝙻𝙰𝚈𝙴𝚁 008:   AGE.

𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐑 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐁𝐄:    Excellent question.  Myla doesn’t know what day she was born on so she usually just adds a +1 at the end of every year.  In modern verses it’s on December 31st. 𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐁𝐄:    23.

𝙻𝙰𝚈𝙴𝚁 009:    FINISH THE SENTENCE .

𝐈 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄:    The stars. 𝐈 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐋:    Alone. 𝐈 𝐇𝐈𝐃𝐄:    My past. 𝐈 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐒:    My parents. 𝐈 𝐖𝐈𝐒𝐇:    We’d escaped.

𝑻𝑨𝑮𝑮𝑬𝑫 𝑩𝒀:    @solereus, thank you so much this was super fun!! 𝑻𝑨𝑮𝑮𝑰𝑵𝑮:    @baarur​ / @korkie,  @kwentos,  @niteowcl,  @peacesought,  @aniimvs, & anyone else who wants to do this!!

#long post // #alcohol mention // #slavery mention // #∘⡊☆˚⊹ ABOUT ⊹ —⋟ she was the finest arranged stardust #it took me a while to sit down and actually do this #but it was worth it