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inhumansforever · 6 years

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Inhuman of The Day

July 18th - Luna

Luna Maximoff-Amaquelin is the daughter of Crystal of The Inhuman Royal Family and the Mutant speedster known as Quicksilver. Luna was the first child born on Attilan following the city’s relocation to the Blue Area of the Moon and was named after Attilan’s new home. She is additionally the first recorded offspring of an Inhuman/Mutant pairing.

Despite her parents’ lineage, Luna was born a seemingly human infant with no mutant powers nor pre-established Inhuman abilities. Luna’s mother, Crystal, was not concerned with her daughter being born a human. Her father, however, was incensed. Quicksilver saw himself as the son and heir to Magneto, the long-heralded figurehead of Mutant supremacy. Quicksilver looked down on regular ‘flatscan’ humans as inferior to Mutants and he was outraged and embarrassed that his own daughter, the granddaughter of Magneto, should be born a human.

So intense was Quicksilver’s consternation over this matter that he attempted to take his infant daughter to the chamber of Terrigen Mists so to have her mutated by way of Terrigenesis. He was stopped by Lockjaw along with The Thing of The Fantastic Four. The Thing dissuaded Quicksilver from exposing his daughter to the mists. The Thing had spent much of his life alienated from society due to his monstrous appearance. Terrigensis could render young Luna into a similar form and The Thing convinced Quicksilver not to take this risk and threaten his daughter’s chances of a normal, happy childhood.

Her humanity notwithstanding, Quicksilver soon came to love his daughter as much as her mother did. Unfortunately, being the human granddaughter of Magneto put her at considerable risk. Exodus, the powerful Mutant leader of the Acolytes (a Mutant supremacy sect), set out to abduct Luna as a means of consolidating power. After realizing that Luna was human, Exodus declared her an abomination and attempted to kill her. Exodus was defeated and Luna was saved by her parents along with the assistance of The Avengers and The X-Men.

Luna’s parents eventually separated and they worked out a joint custody arrangement whereby Luna would spend half her time with her mother on Attilan, and the other half with her father, residing on Mount Wundagore (home of the High Evolutionary). It was a happy childhood and Luna made many friends, both among the Inhumans of Attilan as well as the evolved animal beings of Wundagore.

Luna had two nannies while living on Attilan. First there was Maya whose powers enabled her to project pockets of swirling air. Black Bolt had chosen Maya to look after Luna because her powers allowed her to protect Luna from the polluted air of earth. Maya was later replaced by Marilla, who had been the nanny to Luna’s mother and aunt. Tragically, Marilla was killed by Iron Man whilst under the mental control of Kang the Conquerer.

Some time later, Luna’s father lost his mutant powers in the wake of M-Day (where roughly 90% of the Earth’s Mutant population were mystically de-powered). Desperate to regain these powers, Quicksilver snuck into Attilan and exposed himself to the Terrigen Mists. Terrigenesis imbued Quicksilver with the ability to travel short distances through time. He then stole a large cache of the crystals and coerced his daughter to return with him to New York.

Hidden away in an apartment in Manhattan, Quicksilver outfitted a device that allowed one to breath in the Terrigen Mists through a retrofitted oxygen tank. He used this device to have Luna exposed to the mists. Terrigenesis endowed Luna with the ability to see and read the emotional auras of others. Hoping to further augment his daughter’s powers, Quicksilver had Luna breath in the mists successive times. This indeed acted to enhance Luna’s abilities, making her a functional empath, able to read and manipulate the emotions of others; yet it additionally left her effectively addicted to the Terrigen Mists and being denied the mists caused Luna to experience severe withdrawal pains.

Unsure how to handle the addiction he had unwittingly subjected his daughter to, Quicksilver took Luna back to Attilan and left her in the care of her mother, Crystal. Inhuman physicians were able to cure Luna of the addiction, although she maintained some degree of her heightened powers. Karnak helped to train Luna to utilize her abilities to read auras as an asset to her skills as a combatant.

Being able to read and understand the emotions of others seemed to accelerate Luna’s psychological maturation. She became a much more serious and solemn child, very compassionate and kind, but no longer as happy and carefree as she once was. It was as if the exposure to all of the different emotions of others caused her to know and understand things well ahead of other children her age; and this enhanced knowledge has essentially robed her of the joyful innocence of childhood.

Maximus later tricked Luna into using her newfound powers to undo the mental shackles that suppressed his own manipulative powers. Freed from these bonds, Maximus staged yet another coup in an effort to dethrone his brother, Black Bolt, and take the crown for himself. Angry and remorseful over being tricked in such a way, Luna attempted to make amends by using her abilities to help the king’s son, Ahura, gain grater control of his mental abilities and thus cure him of his alleged madness.

Following his theft of the Terrigen Crystals, Luna’s father was dubbed a traitor of the highest order. After the events of the Skrulls’ near-successful invasion of Earth, Quicksilver returned to Attilan and explained to the Royal Family that he was innocent. He stated that the being who stole the crystals was actually a Super Skrull imposter who had taken on the guise of Quicksilver as part of a plot to cripple the Inhumans capacities for Terrigenesis. Many Inhumans had been similarly replaced with Skrull imposters, including Black Bolt himself, and Crystal and the others believed Quicksilver’s claim. With her abilities to read emotional auras, however, Luna was able to tell that her father was lying. Luna whispered to her father that she knew the truth, that he had never been replaced with a Skrull imposter. She added that she would keep her father’s secret, but that it would forever cost him the respect of his daughter.

Quicksilver later admitted his false claims and recanted this tale of being replaced by a Skrull. Although this made Quicksilver a pariah once again on Attilan, it won him back the love and respect of his daughter.

Luna was a student for a short while at The Future Foundation. While with The FF, Luna made a dear friend in Adolf The Impossible Boy who shared in her love of Shojo Anime. Luna assisted The Future Foundation in a battle against Doctor Doom, piloting a Thing-suit android via remote control alongside Adolf and the other FF students.

Some time thereafter, Luna decided to spend time with her father in his duties with the latest iteration of X-Factor. She had visited her dad without her mother’s consent and, at first, Crystal was worried that Quicksilver had once again abducted their daughter. Gorgon was sent to take care of Quicksilver and return Luna to Attilan. This resulted in a short battle between Gorgon and X-Factor which ended when Crystal arrived and Luna explained that she had come to see her father of her own volition.

Luna was enrolled in the prestigious Braddock Academy of the United Kingdom, a boarding school for students with extraordinary gifts and abilities. Her parents had believed that such a school located in England might result in fewer threats to safety as so frequently bedevil similar institutions, such as The Xavier School, The Future Foundation and The Avengers Academy. Yet it turned out that The Braddock Academy was no different and the students and faculty had to contend with all manner of threats and subsequent perilous adventures.

Luna did not care for the academy, she dropped out and had Lockjaw take her aboard the RIV where she was just in time to help set up a surprise birthday party for her mom. Luna remained on The RIV until its destruction during the initial salvos of the Inhumans/X-Men War.

Luna was later seen living on New Attilan following the war. Her mother, Crystal had decided to venture off into space with the other Royals in search of a new source of Terrigen to secure the future of their people and way of life. Luna was left in the care of Lockjaw and told to seek out her Uncle Karnak if ever she needed assistance (a terrible idea).

Fortunately, Lockjaw was able to keep Luna safe and prevented her being taken into custody when New Attilan fell at the beginning of the Secret Empire ordeal. Luna was most recently seen back in her mother’s care on the new Inhuman city of New Arctillan on the dark side of the moon. She has also made a brief appearance in the Quicksilver miniseries.

What the future holds for young Luna remains to be seen.

#Inhumans #Inhuman of The Day #Luna #Crystal #Quicksilver

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ka-mai · 6 years

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Death of the Inhumans Epic Rant

I hate Donny Cates' work and I must RANT. Profoundly.

1. The premise of this comics is weak and the exposition is wrong on many levels.

It retells us the origin we already know leaving behind the stuff important for the actual plot: namely, thinking behind Kree's decision and creation of “super inhuman” (SERIOUSLY, that's your name for a new race? a 4-year-old named it or what? don't even get me started on this Vox being a pimp rip-off of Black Bolt's image and the Latin name 'cause apparently Kree just love Earth Latin, like Black Bolt loves Rome, yeah, that's a thing, they are all so inhuman!).

2. And you got that origin wrong, it IS stupid but no that stupid, no one would just leave a part of Prophesied Menace people alive and well, that was sabotage.

3. Does anyone remember primagen? The uber-important stuff the previous series was all about? No? There must be a bucket of it somewhere on Arctilan. Do Kree care? Do they care about the defeated Progenitors sent to harvest the Inhumans? Do they think it's a solid tactical decision to wage war with the Inhumans who defeated freaking nigh unstoppable Progenitors? OK, maybe this could be viewed as a point when the Inhumans are weak from the recent attack - but we don't see Kree reasoning at all.

(Wouldn't it be cool to show how differently new Supremor thinks? It's kinda based on two psychopathic megalomaniac Reeds Richardses who had been originally captured by the Inhumans in question, and I say that's a hell of a missed opportunity for a captivating plot-line.)

4. Considering primagen, Medusa was exposed to it, so why the hell is she so ineffectual and basically put out with a single teeny-tiny blade to the gut? Did the author need the cheap drama so much that the Woman in Refrigerator seemed like a good idea?

4,5. Still, Medusa is lucky, the other wives are plainly murdered. I understand that no one, not even Hickman, it seems, knew what to do with the four queens but this is just killing off - without ever creating any attachment to these characters.

(And in my opinion they would never ever choose surrender over their “celestial messiah” husband, that's simply not how this works!)

5. You know who else was exposed to primagen? Maximus. Who's had a genius-level intellect and tech skills even before that. AND psychic powers. So why he's just sitting idly with a huge gun (not overcompensating for anything, no, sir) and simply shooting Vox - and not executing a genius plan? ANY PLAN?

The gun was funny, yes, but incredibly stupid. I don't like stupid. Maximus doesn't like stupid.

6. And that bucket of raw primagen is still somewhere outta there!

7. How and when did Gorgon return from the deep space? He was last seen surrounded by hostile Progenitors and no means of transportation in the galaxy far, far away. His family members mourned him! What the heck.

8. Also, does Medusa remember she's kind of in love with Gorgon? There's no reason for her to suddenly be all mushy towards Blackagar, they are divorced in all but name and their relationship is bittersweet and complicated (Inhumans - Judgement Day depicts it in a touching and interesting way, all to be blatantly ignored here).

9. Black Bolt never used a sign language, just the occasional signs and mostly with other people, not his family. Except in the TV show... And I know Anson Mount was the only good thing there but that does not mean it should influence comics Black Bolt. The lack of communication is symbolic, for fuck's sake. There's no good reason why he doesn't use a bloody smartphone to communicate. It's a metaphor. The writers usually get this.

(And he can be pretty expressive with his cowl on, so there's no reason for casually putting it off from time to time in the middle of war.)

10. Also, if Black Bolt whispered “shit” instead of “go” to hyper-jump, would their spaceship arrive to Arctilan in time? :D (This was also a metaphor but it doesn't work, if you think about it.)

11. Counting and identifying bodies that float in space is not the most effective AND respectful way of counting and identifying bodies. Maybe, I dunno, lay them down and use software recognition? You must have that. Moreover, that is not a ruler's job to do that, he should be creating strategy for the upcoming war. He can sulk later. He's great at multitasking!

12. I'm pretty sure I've read the “bury the good man, be the king” line somewhere - iic, it was said to T'Challa by his father in the Land of The Dead in Hickman's New Avengers.

Also, you announced democracy - well, okay, that was in New Attilan, let's have good old monarchy on this moon-based station. BUT Medusa was the last official ruler, Black Bolt abdicated the throne to her (or, rather, she announced him unfit to rule and then wiped said throne with him. I say this counts as legal demise).

13. God that was a long rant, I almost feel better, and oh! There was also no reason for Crystal to say “oh god”, they don't have religion and that is not a common phrase, the Inhumans usually swear “by Randac” and “by the mists”.

I am not mad, I am just disappointed.

#death of the Inhumans #Inhumans #fandomrant #donny cates #Black Bolt #Blackagar Boltagon #Medusa #medusa amaquelin #Maximus #maximus boltagon #kree #supremor #gorgon #vox #Attilan #arctilan #Marvel Comics #spoilers

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ninja-muse · 6 years

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Urban Fantasy Recommendation Masterpost

This is a list of the urban fantasies I’ve enjoyed most over the years, split down a few lines and to be updated as I discover new series. I’m also including contemporary fantasies because the lines often blur. Hope you find something you like on it!

$ for LGBT characters £ for characters of colour € for characters with disabilities * for potentially problematic depictions of the above ! for #ownvoices (all based on my slightly spotty memory, so feel free to correct if I’ve missed something)

World-Focused

or stories that spend most of their time steeping you in the magical world

American Gods - Neil Gaiman £

Shadow Moon gets out of jail and is hired by the cagey Mr. Wednesday to … he’s not really clear, honestly, but it puts him in the path of people who may or may not be gods. Multiple mythologies.

Among Others - Jo Walton €!

A 1980s teen flees her troubled home in Wales to get to know her birth father and attend an English boarding school. Is her mother’s family able to work magic or is it just wishful thinking? Reading science fiction might give her the answers. British folklore and faeries, and a very interesting take on magic.

The Boggart - Susan Cooper

A Canadian family inherits a Scottish castle inhabited by a mischievous boggart—who then stows away and finds himself in Toronto. Scottish folklore.

The Bone Clocks - David Mitchell £

The life of a woman from teen-hood to old age as she lives her life and occasionally intersects with an ancient war between good and evil, fought with telepathy and other things that look a lot like magic.

The Changeling - Victor Lavalle £ !

After his infant son is violently attacked, Apollo Kagwa, used bookseller, descends into the hidden world of New York in search of his vanished wife.

The City We Became - N.K. Jemisin - $ £ ! for race

New York City, newly alive, is being attacked, and six humans, no longer quite human, must do everything in their power to save their city.

the Dark is Rising series - Susan Cooper €*

A group of English kids—four siblings, a seventh son, and a boy who might be a reincarnated Arthur—versus the forces of darkness. Five books, only the last of which includes all the kids. Cornish and English folklores, Arthuriana.

Gods Behaving Badly - Marie Phillips

The Greek pantheon now lives in North London and is as dysfunctional as ever. Artemis walks dogs. Aphrodite does phone sex. Apollo is a washed-out TV psychic who’s just fallen, via Eros, for the cleaning lady—who’s trying to date someone else, thank you very much. Greek mythology.

The Golem and the Jinni - Helene Wecker £

A golem and a jinni both find themselves in turn-of-the-century New York, both literally and figuratively. A beautiful exploration of the immigrant experience, friendship, and identity. Jewish and Arabic folklore.

Good Omens - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

A mostly-good angel and mostly-wicked demon discover they’ve been training the wrong Antichrist days before the scheduled apocalypse. The real Antichrist wants a dog and to save the whales. Also features a legacy witch, a rookie witch-finder, the Four Horsemen, the Four Other Horsemen, Satanic nuns, and a Queen soundtrack. Christian mythology.

The Hunter’s Moon - O.R. Melling

A Canadian teen visiting her Irish cousin ends up mounting a cross-country road trip to retrieve her cousin who’s run off with the faeries. Irish mythology.

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London - Garth Nix $£

In the summer of 1983, Susan Arkshaw travels to London to find her birth father. What she discovers is a family of magical booksellers, and an Old World that’s very much alive.

Middlegame - Seanan McGuire

Roger and Dodger are exceptionally gifted, telepathically linked, and a little more than natural. James Reed will stop at nothing to use them, or people like them, to get ultimate power. Alchemy, time travel, and portal fantasies are involved.

Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman £

Richard Mayhew has it all: a good job, a hot fiancée, a nice flat. Then he helps an apparently homeless girl with the power to create doors and is pulled into the magical community below London. Nothing will ever be the same.

Of Blood and Honey and And Blue Skies From Pain - Stina Leicht

It’s tough, living in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, and Liam finds it harder than most. No one trusts him, he can’t find work, everyone wants him to choose a side, and to cap it off, he feels like a monster is inside him and knows something inhuman is stalking him and his. The war between the Fey and the Fallen is heating up, and the only people keeping peace are an order of priests—who also, surprise, want Liam’s help. Irish and Christian mythology.

The Sixth World series - Rebecca Roanhorse $£€ !

Maggie Hoskie is a Monsterslayer of Dinétah, but she’d rather not be. Even rescuing a kidnapped girl is supposed to be a one-shot deal. But the monster’s a new one, an apprentice medicine man’s attached himself to her, and Coyote’s around, so of course it’s not that simple. Navajo mythology.

Son of a Trickster - Eden Robinson £€ !

Jared’s life sucks. He’s sixteen, living in a crap house in a crap town with crap prospects. He’s paying his dad’s rent with weed money. His mom’s more interested in parties than holding down a job. His only friend’s a pit bull. And just when he thinks that’s as low as it gets, a raven shows up and say he’s Jared’s real dad. Heiltsuk (and other First Nations) mythology and folklore.

Sparrow Hill Road - Seanan McGuire

Rose Marshall, the Phantom Prom Date, the Ghost of Sparrow Hill Road, hitches her way from coast to coast while dealing with paranormal problems and route witches—and avoiding Bobby Cross, the immortal who killed her.

Sunshine - Robin McKinley

Rae is a baker. Tough and practical and smart, but a baker. Who’s just rescued herself and a vampire from captivity using magic she’d half-forgotten she had. Unfortunately, the master vampire’s still after them, the magical police know something’s up, and she just wants to keep being normal. Includes mild, realistic PTSD and a whole lot of delicious desserts.

An Unkindness of Magicians - Kat Howard

The Turning has started in New York and every magician in the city has their own reason for entering the tournament—power, status, acknowledgement, revenge, revolution. The high stakes would be enough for anyone, but it’s starting to look like there’s something suddenly wrong with magic, too.

Witches of Ash and Ruin - E. Latimer - $ £ € *

Dayna wants to be a witch, live her life, and block her OCD thoughts so she doesn’t have to deal with them. Then scary but gorgeous Meiner and her coven roll into town prophesying Bad Things, and a serial killer reappears who seems to target witches and shit. Meet. Fan. Themes of family and abuse.

Ysabel - Guy Gavriel Kay

Ned Marriner’s tagging along with his photographer dad to Provence when he begins to notice magic awakening around him. There’s an ancient love triangle that‘s repeated throughout history, using contemporary locals as proxies—and it’s very interested in Ned, his new friend Kate, and his father’s entourage.

Mystery-Focused

or stories that spend most of their time solving a magical crime

The Arcadia Project series - Mishell Baker $£€ !

Millie’s nearly broke, scarred, a double amputee, mentally ill, and Done with all the BS around that. She’s also despairing of ever resuming her directing career, so when a mysterious woman offers her a job with her temp agency, she’s intrigued. What wasn’t mentioned? She’ll actually be an immigration agent working with the Fae of Hollywood, and one of them’s just gone missing.

the Blood series - Tanya Huff $£€

Vicky Nelson is the pinnacle of the tough, no-nonsense PI—which poses a bit of a problem when she’s hired to catch a “vampire” on the streets of Toronto and then actually meets one. (He writes romance novels.)

the Felix Castor series - Mike Carey $*

Felix Castor is an exorcist. A hard-drinking, down-at-the-heels exorcist in a London brimming with ghosts and demons. Unfortunately, he never seems to get the easy cases where he can just waltz in and play a tune—and his past mistakes might be coming back to haunt him.

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and The Long, Dark Tea-Time of the Soul - Douglas Adams

Dirk Gently solves mysteries by wandering around, getting into strange situations, and then connecting dots no one believes even exist. Like time traveling robots and Romantic poets, or rampaging eagles and mold-ridden refrigerators.

The Grendel Affair - Lisa Shearin £

Makenna Fraser is a seer working for Supernatural Protection and Investigations in New York. “Seer” meaning she can spot the ghoulies and ghosties few people can, including her coworkers. When an off-the-books gnome removal turns into a blood-soaked crime scene, she and her partner are handed the case—but will her eagerness to prove herself just land her in hotter water?

the Greta Helsing series - Vivian Shaw $£

Dr. Greta Helsing serves the undead of London. Her best friends are vampires and demons. The boundaries between worlds are thinning, causing all manner of metaphysical trouble. Plays with 1800s horror classics; equal parts sensible, disturbing, and funny.

the Greywalker series - Kat Richardson $£

Harper Blaine prides herself on rationality and unflappability, but after briefly dying on a case, she’s suddenly wrong-footed and seeing ghosts everywhere. In the middle of all that, she’s hired by a mysterious voice to track down an organ that’s more than it seems, and suddenly haunted street corners are the least of her problems.

the Incryptid series - Seanan McGuire $£

Meet the Price family, a close-knit group of cryptozoologists whose mission is to protect and preserve endangered cryptids like dragons, gorgons, and the religious Aeslin mice from humans. They’re also hiding from the Covenant of St. George, a.k.a. why the cryptids are endangered in the first place. Technically paranormal romance.

the Iron Druid series - Kevin Hearne £

Atticus O’Sullivan is a herbalist and seller of New Age paraphernalia by day, two-thousand-year-old druid by night. He thought moving to Arizona would keep him safe from gods bent on revenge. He thought wrong. Multiple mythologies.

Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge - Paul Krueger $£€ !

Bailey Chen is fresh out of business school, broke, and living with her parents. When a childhood friend offers her a job as a barback, she takes it as a stopgap—but then she discovers the secret cabal of bartenders who fight demons using magical cocktails and after that, there’s no looking back.

Moonshine - Alaya Johnson £

Zephyr Hollis, a charity worker and ESL teacher in 1920s New York, and therefore flat broke, takes a side job from a student, Amir, without asking questions. But will the vampire mob, the drug-crazed vamps, Amir’s literal smoking hotness, or her family history do her in first?

Night Owls - Lauren M. Roy $

Valerie is a vampire with a successful campus bookstore. Elly grew up fighting monsters and fearing for her life. When their paths collide via a book in Elly’s keeping, they must unite to prevent said monsters from unleashing hell and then some.

the October Daye series - Seanan McGuire $£€

Toby Daye wants sleep, coffee, and for everyone to leave her alone already—not necessarily in that order. Unfortunately, as a changeling Knight and PI with a knack of finding people and solving problems with maximum chaos, none of those things will ever be easy to come by. Multiple folklores.

the Olympus Bound series - Jordanna Max Brodsky $£

Selene di Silva’s been keeping her head down for a long time, shutting herself off not just from New York, but from the world. (Being a former goddess will do that.) But then she stumbles on the body of a woman who’s been ritually sacrificed and her past as Artemis comes rising up again. Greek and Roman mythology

the Rivers of London series - Ben Aaronovitch $£€

When Constable Peter Grant meets a ghost at a crime scene, it’s only logical for him to take a witness statement. When DCI Thomas Nightingale learns of this, he offers him a job as an auror the sorcerer’s apprentice a valued member of a magically-focused police unit. London, its river goddesses, various magic workers, assorted Fae, and the Metropolitan Police will never be the same.

the Shadow Police series - Paul Cornell $£

Following the mysterious death of a suspect, four Metropolitan Police officers are drawn into London’s sinister magical underworld in their hunt for a killer.

the Smoke series - Tanya Huff $*£

Tony Foster’s found his footing as a PA on a Vancouver-shot vampire show. Unfortunately, the paranormal weirdness that is his life continues and it’s somehow up to him to save the day.

Unholy Ghosts (and following) - Stacia Kane £*

Chess Putnam works as a Church exorcist, partly out of obligation and partly for the pay, which goes to fuel her drug addiction. Unfortunately, no ghosts are nice ghosts and her private life keeps intruding on her cases.

the Watch novels - Terry Pratchett

Ankh-Morpork is the citiest of fantasy cities. Its City Watch is a bunch of misfits. Sam Vimes isn’t putting up with any nonsense. Somehow, they fight crime.

Zoo City - Lauren Beukes £

Zinzi December is a con artist and occasional finder of lost things who lives in the Johannesburg slums with her sloth familiar. Her latest case? Find a pair of missing teen pop stars—before the apparent assassins do.

#book recommendations #masterposts #urban fantasy

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moondonky · 2 years

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Pegasus and chrysaor

The twins, the children left for dead, raised by the wild itself,, an unkown story that has repeated over and over in the ages in the times, the children of Medusa, fathered by posiden, decendants of chaos... when it comes to power those up on Olympus have there rules to protect it,, when immortals are born power is shifted... an immortal can have children with mortals, cuz that power dies with them, Medusa beautiful different than here sisters, a mortal born with immortals Gorgon's, and she was so beautiful she caught the eye of posieden,, and made Athena jealous,, she made it so no man could look at her, to turn to stone if gazed upon her,, and posieden fell in love with her,, came down, closed his eyes and put his seed in her, and when Athena found this out she sent persius to murder her... and when he cut off her head,, out sprang twins,, little pegasus, little chrysaor.. the shield and golden sword.. one glowed like the moon a steed he viewed as gift that he took and harnessed that he rode up to mount olympus,, the other glowed like the sun red marked evil and just left... but unlike the demi, they were born immortal.. powers stolen marked as sin.. one was turned slave to carry bolt up to zues,, the other hid and grew in hate and resentment... when pegasus stopped said no I will not work.. his wings were torn off and he was burned grey,, running away back into the wild crying never to be seen again, while chrysaor plotted in secret to destroy all of them, they were but children in the end,, both grew up they survived... and everything has changed,, chrysaor killed all of them, that golden sword, with his power he took olympus, even our father he slayed, even our half brothers the sons of Atlantis, every heir in his way,, only pegasus could stop him,, because they sprang out the neck of Medusas cut off head, pegasus came out first, and unkown order of power... now chysaor has his sights set on pegasus,, willing to kill his own brother, drunk on power.. but pegasuses shield cannot by peirced by him.. an old story that has yet to be conlcluded,, still to this day chrysaor still hunts him like the wild animal he had become making friends with death and karma and the spirits of nature,, while chrysaor surrounded himself with evil and demons, the enemys of olympus...

One follows God one follows satan in the end, and one day they will face each other again.. in many ways pegasus just wants to hug his brother again, like in the womb before they were separated... pegasus would never fight him,,, pegasus would never join him in what he does... pegasus knows what it is to be a slave,, chrysaor will learn this as well,, it is satan pegasus would fuk up.. for what he is doing to his brother

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martha-bowker-mars · 3 years

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Female Goddesses (deities)

Hera (Roman - Juno) : was the wife of Zeus, she represented the ideal woman and was the goddess of marriage and the family. She was known famously for her jealously and vengeful nature aimed mostly at her husbands lovers and their illegitimate children. She was one of the few who stayed loyal to her partner therefore she came to symbolise monogamy and fidelity.

In greek mythology Hera was the daughter or Cronus and Rhea, and mother of Ares, Hebe Eileithyia, all with Zeus. She also gave birth to Hephaistos however she threw him from Mount Olympus because of his ugliness. In other accounts he was thrown from the heavens. She constantly battled with her husband Zeus and often took revenge. Hera was responsible for some of the fierce monsters Hercules had to fight.

As one of the most important deities, Hera was, naturally, a prominent figure in ancient Greek art. However, without any specific attributes she is often hard to distinguish from other goddesses. She is most often seated on a throne and sometimes wears a crown, holds a royal sceptre, and wears a bridal veil.

In Roman culture the goddess lived on as Juno, although she principally represented the good family and faithful marriage attributes of Hera rather than the jealous avenger of infidelity.

Athena: goddess of war, wisdom and crafts. She was perhaps the wisest, most courageous and most resourceful Olympian Gods. Athena lived up to her characteristics and didn't indulge into illicit relationships with others. Athena is also associated with household crafts, giving mortals the gifts of cooking and sewing.

The goddess was not to be trifled with as her transformation of Medusa into a Gorgon demonstrates, and her sense of justice was such that acts of impiety were swiftly avenged.

Her adopted son Erichthonios, one of the first kings of Athens, is traditionally credited with inaugurating the Panathenaic festival, held every four years to honour the goddess.

Objects associated with the goddess include an owl - symbol of wisdom - and the olive tree. She is often depicted in art with armour, a golden helmet, a shield, and holding a spear. The most famous representation of Athena in the ancient world was undoubtedly the monumental gold and ivory statue of the goddess by Pheidias which resided in the Parthenon of Athens and was over 12 m high.

Artemis: greek goddess of hunting, wild, nature and chastity. The daughter of Zeus and sister of Apollo. She was regarded as a patron of girls and young women and a protectress during childbirth.

Artemis is associated with wild animals (especially young ones), forests, and the moon. As a goddess of chastity, childbirth, and fertility, Artemis Kourotrophos was the patron of young women, particularly brides-to-be, who dedicated their toys to her as symbolic of the transition to full adulthood and the assumption of a wife’s responsibilities. Finally, the goddess, as a dweller of wild nature, was linked to boundaries and transition, both in physical terms and the abstract.

A celebrated marble representation of the goddess is on the east frieze of the Parthenon where she is seated between Apollo and Aphrodite with Eros. The goddess is pulling up her robe to better cover herself, perhaps in reference to her reputation for chastity. A later and perhaps today more famous representation is as a huntress impressively grasping the antlers of a stag, a pose captured in marble by a Roman sculptor copying a lost Greek original attributed to Leochares.

Aphrodite:�� Greek goddess of love, beauty, desire, and all aspects of sexuality, Aphrodite could entice both gods and men into illicit affairs with her good looks and whispered sweet nothings. Worshipped by men, women, and city-state officials, she also played a role in the commerce, warfare, and politics of ancient Greek cities.

In addition, Aphrodite was honoured as a protector of those who travelled by sea and was associated with the brightest planet, Venus, and this, always a valuable navigational aid, may be another connection with ancient mariners.

She had to marry Hephaistos, the lame god of fire and crafts because of Hera. Aphrodite was less than faithful, having notorious affairs with the gods Ares, Hermes, and Dionysos. Aphrodite was considered the mother of Eros, Harmonia (with Ares), the Trojan hero Aeneas (with Anchises), Eryx the king of Sicily (with Butes the Argonaut) and, with either Dionysos or Adonis, Priapus (a gardener with huge genitals).

The goddess is often identified with one or more of the following: a mirror, an apple, a myrtle wreath, a sacred bird or dove, a sceptre, and a flower. On occasion, she is also depicted riding a swan or goose.

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lonely-void-flower · 7 years

Text

I had a dream..

I dreamt about a open world survival fantasy game.

World

The world was massive bigger than any game I've ever played, it was full of different biomes, floating islands that are chained to the ground,Huge volcanos that have blue lava, large forests and so on. It was truly enormous and beautiful.

Gameplay

You could pick your own race, you weren't limited you had a variety of them to choose from as well as hybreeds between races. The customisation was detailed as well you could truly make that character yours. In the game you can gather resources and build your home, you weren't limited at what style of walls and furniture you could make, there was so much you could build, you can pick professions, like you could specialise in building or black smithing or tailoring and so much more,build your own shop and sell your goods to other players and so on.

Mechanics

I've mentioned a few in gameplay but here they are again.

Build what every house style you want.

Specialize in any Professions(can be 1 or 3)

Build anywhere (Trees,cliff sides,on water,Etc.)

Players have a choice to be peaceful and will not be able to be attacked by others of be Griefed.

You can tame pets or war mounts

You can breed them and do selective breeding for colors or extra additions like genetic mutations that create new kinds of that breed.(sort of what humanity did with the first dog/wolf)

Hunt of buy food.

Players can make their own family(when two players decide to marry they have an option to have kids. Of course the kid will be an NPC but careful cross breeding can lead to horrific results and the mother has a chance of dying.)

Races

Antho animals ((all kinds of animal people))

Creatures of myths(like gorgons,Mer people, nagas,etc.)

Humans

Elves

Dwarves

Druids

Drow

And so much more.

The ability to pick which races where your parents.(for example you dad was a Draconian and your mother was a drow, your character would have a mixture of those two such as the small well blended patches of scales horns wings of your father the body skin color eyes of your mother and so on.)

What you can do in the story

Oh yess there is a story. The story is kinda fuzzy i can only make out that after years of peace this world now faced danger from enemies of the world of darkness,their jealousy driven them here to take away the natural order and destroy the heart of this world mother Gaia.

Players have a choice to pick sides to be good or to be evil, of in between. Both good and evil have benefits to the player such as good gear, building material supplier and each can unlock the building style of the faction and places where the player could build. Im sure some of you out there would love to build in a dark scary forest where its always a full moon looming over you XD.

So yeah.

So yeah that's almost all of the dream...if i was a good game designer i would do my out most best to bring something like that to you guys. If you have any questions on it please ask me i wanna see how many would be interested.

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aspidities · 7 years

Text

Septhusana

There is a land, far beyond this bed, this room, and this house, my child.

Far beyond skies blue, and skies red as heart’s blood. It is a land of never-ending, whispering grass, thick as a man, with golden scimitar flowers that weep overhead, six stories tall. It is a land of great hairy, savage manticores, and trifold sphynx that lurk in the hollows where water collects in shallow pools. It is also a land of thundering oliphants, tall enough to eat the scimitar flower, and they are tamed and ridden by the people of the Ni Septh, the tribe of the Grey Skinned God.

In this tribe there was but one ruler, Septhusana, the warrior queen. When Septhusana was younger, she had three older brothers, each one wiser, more skilled, and more cunning than the last. Each of these brothers went into the grasses to prove their worth against the trials of the Grey Skinned God, but none proved worthy. The first stumbled back into the clearing, his hair bleached white, his golden skin sagging with scars and age, and he would do nothing but cry for his lost love, who had drowned in a summer flood. The second returned hale and healthy, and the tribe celebrated, but in time his eyes became thick black spirals, pools of never-ending hate and obliteration, and the tribe scattered in the wake of his wroth.

The third was the youngest, and he was the wisest of all, and he was Septhusana’s favorite. He did not go into the great grass, but instead used his cunning to create a reed-grass ladder, and with it scaled the tops of the scimitar flower. He chose to live there, high above the needs of his people but away from the madness that he feared in the grass, and his lover, a lion-headed man who could create fire in his palms, went with him. Their lives were happy and quiet, but many in the tribe cursed him for abandoning his destiny, if madness was indeed his fate. Septhusana did not blame him, but she did not follow his path either.

Septhusana was the last of her line. Her father was dead, and though his pyre burned on in the night fires, there was no one to lead the Ni Septh, no one save the youngest child, with eyes like a storm on a black sun day. She was small, and her name meant ‘least of us’ for she was born half the size of her brothers. She grew, though, and she was quick, with nimble fingers, and though her brothers were already wise, Septhusana was always learning.

She went into the grass willingly, and with her, the hopes of her people.

In the grass, Septhusana saw many things. A wild hart, black as night. A golden eye that spoke without a mouth. A weeping woman, her hands tangled in reeds. A pleasant, smiling man who spoke in riddles while his hands seeped with blood. A manticore with her brother’s face, the youngest, grinning with her head between his teeth. A grey wisp, coiled around the tusk of an oliphant, ancient and rheumy-eyed, with a hundred warriors armbands dangling from the ivory.

When she camped, at night the fire would sway and sing, and the animals she hunted turned to smoke in her hands when she tried to cook them on the spit. There was much in her that wanted to rage, to tear great stalks of grass from the ground and spread the fire until the charred remains gave her a path back to her people, but she did not. She held firm, and rationed her meager supplies, drinking and eating only when she must, sleeping almost never. The manticores roared, and the giant bird-snakes screamed from above, but she persisted, until her sword was more blood than steel and her body was sinew and stone.

Once, in the grass, a voice called her name. It was not a voice she knew, but it was familiar, and it made her ache in a way that lack of food and sleep and constant alertness had not yet achieved, but the ache was welcome, almost soothing. The voice was silvery among the green stalks, and it floated down with golden petals from the scimitar blossoms above. It told her to be patient, and follow no one but her own instincts, and she would find her path home. In the wake of the voice, she slept and felt safer than she had in weeks.

When at last the grass parted for her, and her eyes fell upon the proud form of her mother and beheld the cheering assemblage of her tribe, Septhusana was a woman grown, and she was mightier than all who came before her. She stepped into her leadership as was her right, and her tribe followed without question. The matriarch of the oliphant herd, old Ni Acutar, bowed to her, her massive tusks dipping into the ground below, adorned with the bangles of all of the ancestor warriors who had come before, all the way back to the first Ni Septh, a thousand years ago. Septhusana touched her head to the great broad forehead of the ancient matriarch, brushing against the ceremonial ochre, and then she mounted, climbing up a proffered massive limb. And Septhusana gathered her wayward people, guiding them North, to where their ancient migration paths led to the summer lands.

On the back of Ni Acutar, the great queen Septhusana earned the sacred armbands of her ancestors. She warred with the people of the Gorgon’s Mercy, the Ga Hazeth, who tore their enemies heads apart and fed their skulls to their stone idol god, and drove them back to the shores of the great grass sea, far from her vulnerable people. When the people of the Last Serpent came to terrorize the lands left behind from the Gorgon’s Mercy, she rounded upon them as well, until the Great Asp bowed his head to her blade. Ni Acutar’s tusks ran red with blood and the golden-skinned queen tattooed the names of her enemies until there was no room on her arms to spare.

She thought that was the last of her trials. But the Grey Skinned God was not done with her yet.

In the winter of the ninth year of her reign, when they journeyed to the Southern Swamps, the tribe was lean and hungry. It had been a poor year for their herds, and the oliphants did not calve as they usually did, which left young warriors without mounts to ride to their ceremonial first battles. Without warriors, they were defenseless. The people of the Sky Hawk were warring again in the East, raiding camps and villages up and down the winding Gorgon’s River, but the river refused to swell, and the reed grass didn’t blossom. And the clerics in Septhusana’s advisory camp were clamoring that the portents called for the queen to wed, and make fertile the land once more, or the grass would close in upon them and swallow their herds, and the Sky Hawk people would rule again.

There were many fine maidens among the Ni Septh; some skilled with blade, some skilled with bow, all as beautiful as the seven moons and deadly as night wraiths. Each demanded the chance to be courted by the queen, and preformed dances in the great temple before the idols of the god. But none of them made Septhusana’s eye fall upon her, and no matter how they whirled and leapt, the god’s statue did not move with approval. Only the god could permit a woman to be fertile with another woman, but the grey oliphant tusk, withered with age, did not rock upon its plinth. The tribe’s counselors despaired, and they wrung their hands in grief over the future of their people.

Septhusana had made her decision, however. The clerics cried out in alarm, and the warriors stiffened in their ranks as the queen made the announcement: she would return to the trial lands, and the great shifting sea of grass, to find her bride. She stepped into the wilds unarmed, and with little food, trusting only in herself, and learning much from day to day. For many nights and many long, blistering days, she roamed, and found no succor amongst the winding paths and many-headed scimitar stalks, but she had sought none anyway.

Eventually, she came upon a clearing, and there was a small pool, wreathed by nodding, welcoming edible reed grass. She fell to her knees to drink, and only when she looked into the water did she see a silver-haired girl, standing on the opposite bank, her feet bare, and her body adorned with tarnished bangles. She was clutching a bloody knife, and her legs were astride the kill of a fell deer, its organs displayed on the rock beside. Septhusana made the sign for friendship, but the girl only whirled, and ran into the grass, abandoning her meat.

Septhusana followed, swift as a summer rain, and without delay, she caught the girl by the wrist, disarming her. The girl did not cry out, but her silvery eyes were welled with pain and fear. She did not speak, but her lips moved and a white wisp emerged, light as smoke. The wisp moved between them, and it sunk into Septhusana’s golden warrior’s skin, making her shudder. A voice that she felt, rather than heard, in her head whispered: Don’t hurt me.

The warrior queen released her grip, but did not step back. “I am not going to harm you.” She answered, and placed her hand over her chest, to where the wisp had touched her skin.

I did not mean to trespass in your lands. The girl’s lips did not move again, and there was no second grey exhalation, but the voice remained in Septhusana’s head, regardless.

“So say all who cross my boundaries. But you are not like most.” The queen examined the silver-haired girl. “Where is it you come from?”

Far beyond the great grass sea. My people are all gone. I came here alone.

“And you live amongst the beasts?”

Not all are beasts. The silver eyes regarded hers, dark and unknowable as a forest pool. They were circling each other, as animals do, each well-matched in size and strength.

Septhusana had come to a realization. “I recognize your voice. You spoke to me, once before, in the time of my trials. You told me to trust myself, and I would find the path back to my people.” She lifted a hand from her chest and reached for the fingers of the wild girl, grazing their tips.

And did you? A warm hand curled around the palm of the warrior queen, and each stepped closer, as if drawn by quiet, inexorable force.

“I did. And now I return to the land of my trials, because I have determined to wed the owner of the voice who saved me.” Septhusana said this into the lips of the silver-haired girl, as their fingers entwined and the light died between their bodies as they blended. Golden mist threaded out from Septhusana’s chest and into the grey smoke wrapped around their joined hands, and each released a sigh.

I am not sure I am a thing to be wed, but I will follow your path, if that is what you desire. Her lips were the color of the ceremonial ochre used to dress the heads of the oldest oliphants. Her grey-shrouded body was slim, girlish, but her eyes were older than gods and time and Septhusana drew her in, caught in what man was never meant to know, but woman always accepts.

“I do not know if you are a woman or a creature from the Grey Skinned God, but I do not care. You are the one I choose, and your voice is the path I trust best.” Septhusana said, some time later, when they had finished their courtship beneath the falling blossoms of the scimitar stalks. Her lover said nothing, only smiled, and her silver eyes shone under the seven moons.

When the queen and her silver-haired mate returned from the trial lands, side by side, the tribe was at first concerned over the origins of their queen’s paramour. Many feared she was a spy, and the counselors warred amongst themselves. Septhusana gave it no mind, until the most severe of her counselors turned against the Silver Queen, as her lover was known, and tried to murder her. Septhusana rose in a blind rage and destroyed the conspiracy root and stem, and was forever after known as Septhuserrana, Lion of Ni Septh, or Lion of Us All.

She ruled fairly, and wisely, and her stern hand guided the tribe back to their former glory. The oliphants flourished once more, and the warriors put their handprint on the tusk of each new member of the herd, until there were as many hands as stars in the sky. The grass parted for them as it never had before, yielding unto the tribe secret oasis, hidden groves of fruit and cool water. And through it all their queen’s mate never spoke, but her voice was said to call out to certain warriors, letting them see through the grass, to find their way to new game, and, at other times, her voice was heard to warn certain beasts, who came away and did no harm after she spoke with them, in ancient and unknowable tongues.

The Grey Skinned God blessed the match, and they had many children. Their first was a fine and fierce daughter who was destined to rule the tribe, the second a brave and worthy son who would be her greatest counselor, and they were blessed with two wise and powerful twins, born a male and female, who shunned their restraints of sex to become the strongest of the shamans, genderless and all-knowing. Septhuserrana named her children Septhuhasa, Acutar Nir, Ya Nir and Ya Fhy, and their names, along with the name of their illustrious mother, were told over the fires, again and again. Once in each generation of their line, and forever after, a child was born with silver or gold hair, and the clerics knew that child was born unto greatness. They were warriors, kings, queens, shamans, and scholars.

Septhuserrana’s reign was long, bountiful, and if not entirely peaceable, then at least unhindered by chaos. When at last the great queen laid upon her pyre and closed her eyes for the final time, her silver lover stood alongside, and though she looked no older than the day she had joined the tribe, her eyes were oceans of sadness, in which the worst of time could not hold her grief. Her hand held her lover’s even as the fire crackled with blue flame, and a golden light could be seen wrapping around her flesh, protecting it from the searing heat.

The Silver One continued, ageless, and she was no longer a queen, but her presence helped guide each new ruler, be it king or queen, with a hand on her chest as her voice sang into the grass of the trial lands, finding those worthy of the Ni Septh people. The ones her voice found were often from the line of Septhuserrana, but just as often it would be some common child, a beggar boy or an orphan daughter, and they would rule just as Septhuserrana had, with grace and humility.

On the rise of every night, when the great moon towered in her journey across the black sky, followed by her six slender sister moons, and the scimitar stalks bowed with the winds from the South, the silver-haired girl would go into the great green sea, bangles dangling from her arms and ankles, hands open to the grass. She would stand, ageless and unbending as the stalks of grass. A grey mist would rise, and her heart would call, and the voice she would hear in return was as golden as the setting sun.

“I choose you, and your voice is my path. I am never far from it.” ____________________________________________________________________________________

#original work #original fiction #original short story #lesbian fiction #lesbian folklore #lesbian short story #lesbian writer #lesbian fables #Septhusana

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nicoleaviles-blog1 · 5 years

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The Gordon's Head

Perseus is sent to kill the Gorgon Medusa. The Gorgons are three sisters too terrifying to behold. Their hair is made of living snakes, and to look at them is to turn to stone. Perseus sets out on his journey and is blessed. CHARACTER AND CHARACTERISTICS PERSEUS Perseus beheaded the Gorgon Medusa and saved Andromeda from the sea monster Cetus. Perseus was the son of the mortal Danae and the god Zeus. THE GORDONS The Gorgons are monstrous creatures covered with impenetrable scales, with hair of living snakes, hands made of brass, sharp fangs and a beard. THE GRAY WOWOMEN The Graeae were probably three monstrous sisters with the names Enyo (“the shocking”), Pemphredo (“the horryfying”) and Deino (“the dreadful”). They were the sisters of the Gorgons. The Graeae had grey hair and the form of old women since their birth. The possessed a total of one eye and one tooth, which they shared among each other. The Graeae were living close to Hades, the god of the underworld, and probably therefore they had never seen the light of the sun and the moon. MEDUSA A monster, a Gorgon, generally described as having the face of a hideous human female with living venomous snakes in place of hair. Gazing directly into her eyes would turn onlookers to stone. DICTYS AND POLYDECTES Polydectes was the ruler of Seraphos and fell in love with Danae. He was killed by Perseus by showing him the head of Medusa. Dictys was a fisherman and brother of King Polydectes He discovered Danaë and Perseus inside a chest that had been washed up on shore He treated them well and raised Perseus as his own son. After Perseus killed Medusa, rescued Andromeda, and later showed Medusa’s head to Polydectes turning him and the nobles with him to stone, he made Dictys king. KING ACRISIUS Acrisius was the king of Argos. He was warned by an oracle that he would be killed in time by a son born to his daughter Danae. So he promptly locked her up in a tower and threw away the key. But the god Zeus got in, disguised as a shower of gold, and became the father of Perseus. DANAE Was a daughter of King Acrisius. She was the mother of the hero Perseus by Zeus. ANDROMEDA On the way back to Seraphos Island, Perseus stopped in the kingdom of Aethiopia. This mythical Ethiopia was ruled by King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia, having boasted her daughter Andromeda equal in beauty to the Nereids, drew down the vengeance of Poseidon, The oracle of Ammon announced that no relief would be found until the king exposed his daughter Andromeda to the monster, and so she was fastened naked to a rock on the shore. Perseus slew the monster and, setting her free, claimed her in marriage. ZEUS Zeus is the god of sky and thunder and the ruler of the Olympians of Mount Olympus and the father of Perseus HERMES Hermes was the son of Zeus, the messenger of the gods and protector of the travelers. He gave Perseus a magnificent curved sword. ATHENA Was the Greek virgin goddess of reason, intelligent activity, arts and literature. She was the daughter of Zeus; her birth is unique in that she did not have a mother. Instead, she sprang full grown and clad in armour from Zeus’ forehead. She gave Perseus a bright shield to look unto it so that he will not turn into stone. SUMMARY Acrisius, King of Argos received a dreadful oracle from Delphi. According to the priestess of Delphi, he will not have a son but a grandson from whose hands he will be killed. Frightened, King Acrisius hid his only daughter Danae from the sight of all men. Danae was locked up inside a house of bronze sunk underground. Zeus entered into the underground chamber in the form of the shower of gold through the roof partly opened. He appeared in front of Danae and in an instant Danae conceived a baby. Later, Danae had given birth to a boy named Perseus. She kept her baby a secret from her own father. But days have come and King Acrisius learned about her secret. The King ordered his people to have a chest built for Danae and child Perseus. Danae and her child were put inside the chest and sent adrift the sea. It bobbed in the waves until it reached the Island of Seraphos where a fisherman named Dictys noticed the chest and took it. When he opened, he saw Danae and Perseus. The kind Dictys let them in their house to live together with his wife. Dictys’ brother, King Polydectes was captivated with Danae’s beauty and married her. Polydectes felt jealous over the love that Danae was giving to Perseus. To get rid of Perseus, Polydectes sent him to a dangerous adventure that put his life in peril. The mission was to kill Medusa, one of the three Gorgons. She has snaky hair and metal-scaled skin. Looking straight in Medusa’s eye can turn mortals into stone. Despite the danger, Perseus agreed to embark on the adventure in order to get his own name a glory. Hermes gave him a sword. He was also given a shield by Athena. Hermes added that Perseus needed also the winged sandals, the helmet of invisibility, and the magic wallet. Those three essential things were all in the possession of the Nymphs of the North. Getting there was not easy. In order to get to the Nymphs of the North, Perseus has to go first to the Gray Women who only could tell the direction. Perseus went to the Gray women, he snatched the eye of the women and threatened not to return it unless they give him the direction pointing to the Nymphs of the North. As soon as the direction was given, Perseus headed to the Island of Gorgons. He was instructed by Athena, telling him that Medusa was the one lying closest to the seashore. With one swift of his sword and with the help of his shield as mirror, Medusa was beheaded and her head was put inside the magic wallet. While Perseus was making his way back home, he noticed a beautiful lady chained on the cliff. He asked her name and why she was hanged. No reply was given by the lady. Perseus insisted the lady to respond. She said her name was Andromeda, daughter of Ethiopian King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia. Andromeda told Perseus that her mother boasted that she was the most beautiful than 50 lovely daughters of Nereus. As a revenge to her mother Cassiopeia, Andromeda suffered the punishment. At any moment, then, the serpent was on its way to devour Andromeda. Perseus told Andromeda’s parents that he would save their daughter on a condition that they will allow him to marry her. The king and queen agreed at once and Andromeda was saved from death. He took Andromeda to his homeland. At that time, a discus-throw competition was going on at Larissa. Perseus joined in and when it was his turn to throw the discus, he threw it mightily and accidentally hit an old man in the audience. It was learned that his grandfather, King Acrisius, was the one hit by the discus. https://youtu.be/_htpiyRkooY

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rosenfey · 7 years

Note

Periwinkle, pastel, rainbow ;3

Aww, bless u, Lara! ♥

Periwinkle

| songs that make you calmok so this will basically be a list of my fave tracks from the witcher 3 OST, and I’m not even sorry

The Witcher 3 OST : Kaer Morhen

The Witcher 3 OST : The Fields of Ard Skellig

The Witcher 3 Blood and Wine OST : The Musty Scent of Fresh Pâté [all time fave, this one ♥]

The Witcher 3 Blood and Wine OST : The Banks of Sansretour [I often play BaW when I feel down, because the music is so soothing]

The Witcher 3 Blood and Wine OST : The Moon Over Mount Gorgon

The Witcher 3 Blood and Wine OST : Wind in the Caroberta Woods

The Witcher 3 Blood and Wine unreleased OST : The Slopes of Blessure Alt.

The Witcher 3 Blood and Wine unreleased OST : Beauclair Palace

Przemysław Laszczyk : Clever Clogs (feat. Percival)

Red Dead Redemption OST : Far Away

Lee DeWyze : Blackbird Song

Nothing But Thieves : Lover, Please Stay

Pastel

| songs that describe your past/childhood a.k.a the list of songs that define my past or I was listening to them a lot in the past

Hurts : Somebody to Die For [this song is like 100% about me tbh]

Hurts : Wonderful Life

Hurts : Rolling Stone [I was listening to this one when I was planning on killing myself and it helped me pull through; it means a lot to me]

Hurts : Weight of the World

Gabriella Cilmi : Sweet About Me

Duffy : Mercy

Vance Joy : Riptide [this one makes me want to cry and also smile at the same time, because it describes that one time I was in an awful state and I wanted to kill myself, and then I met a “friend” who seemed to care; long story short though, he ended up abbandoning me]

Tribe Society : Ego

Robert DeLong : Long Way Down

Zack Hemsey : I Can Get It Back

Rainbow

| songs that describe your present a.k.a the songs that describe me as a person I’m now, or the songs I’ve been listening to in the past days

Halsey : Gasoline [this song is basically 100% about me tbh]

Marina & The Diamonds : Outsider

Bishop Briggs : The Fire

Bishop Briggs : Dark Side

Bishop Briggs : The Way I Do

Lorde : Yellow Flicker Beat

Florence + the Machine : Shake It Out [acoustic version]

Nothing But Thieves : Itch

#ask #ask games #ambie's tunes

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inhumansforever · 6 years

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Inhumans: Judgement Day Review

spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers

The inhumans face off against the Progenitors in this grand finale, from the creative team of Al Ewing, Kevin Libranda, José Villarubia and Mike Del Mundo; cover by Daniel Acúna. Recap and review following the jump.

Let’s set the stage… The inhumans’ powers and culture are derived from the mysterious, mutagenic substance known as Terrigen. Millennia ago, the space-faring Kree had come to earth and conducted experiments on a group go prehistoric humans, altering their DNA so that they could be changed by way of exposure to the gaseous rendering of Terrigen Crystals. The subjects of these experiments would go on to found Attilan and call themselves Inhumans.

Central to their customs was that each Inhuman would undergo Terrigenesis, transformation by way of the Terrigen Mist, at the time of their adolescence. This continued on for thousands of years as the Inhumans remained isolated and sequestered from the human world.

Only the kings and queens who ruled Attilan knew the secret truth that there were many other Inhumans living amongst the humans. Numerous Inhumans had left Attilan over the years, integrating into human society and quietly passing along the genetic potential for Terrigenesis.

When the world was threatened by Thanos and the cascade of encroaching alternate realities, King Black Bolt opted to take a drastic course of action. All of the Terrigen was made into a bomb that, once detonated, created a set of Terrigen Clouds… clouds that would flow over the earth and would trigger transformations among a legion of new Inhumans all about the globe.

It was a decision Black Bolt had made without his wife’s consort or consent. Since childhood, Medusa had been much more than Black Bolt’s friend and later wife… she was his confidant, his voice. Yet he took her for granted, keeping her in the dark over his ongoing affairs with The Illuminati and the dire threats they were seeking to address. It took its tole on their relationship and his disappearance following the Infinity Event proved to be the final straw. Medusa was made the new queen of a new Attilan and by royal decree she annulled their marriage.

Catastrophe was ultimately averted, but a new peril soon came to pass when it proved that the Terrigen Clouds were deadly poisonous to The inhumans’ cousin race, The Mutants. So to prevent the genocide of all Mutants, Medusa was forced to destroy the Terrigen Cloud, ridding the world of the last of the Terrigen… saving the Mutants but, in so doing, dooming the future of Inhumanity.

In the wake of her actions, Medusa chose to abdicate the throne and dissolve the Inhuman Monarchy; selecting Iso as New Attilan’s leader until democratic elections could be held. Medusa’s final order as queen was that the treacherous Maximus being exiled… not just from New Attilan but from Earth itself. Maximus was to be sent to an ancient prison located on the far side of the galaxy. Yet Maximus’ cleverness was once again his salvation. Through trickery and guile, Maximus orchestrated matters so that it was his brother, Black Bolt, who was sent to the space prison whilst Maximus remained behind disguised as his as his brother.

Noh-Varr, a Kree adventurer from another universe sought out The inhumans, informing them that all was not lost. The Kree Empire that he hailed form was far more advanced, more knowledgeable over their own origins as well as that of the Inhumans. He possessed an understanding over Terrigen that could be used to attain a new supply… a new future for Inhuman-kind. A pilgrimage was set out on as Medusa led a team into the cosmos to obtain this new salvation. She was accompanied by Noh-Var, her sister, Crystal, the empath Swain, the geokinetic Flint, and Medusa’s longtime friend and protector, Gorgon. Black Bolt joined this mission as well, but it wasn’t long before his true identity was revealed and the team discovered that had unwittingly brought along Maximus the Mad on this most crucial of missions.

A new development occurred that forced them to shelve the matters of dealing with Maximus and rescuing Black Bolt. Medusa divulged that has recently discovered that she was dying. Her strength had been waining ever since she destroyed the Terrigen Cloud, then her hair began to fall out and she could put the matter off no long. Death was near.

Noh-Var’s efforts to identify the etiology of Medusa’s illness proved to be just as quixotic, bizarre and difficult to understand as his explanation of what exactly Terrigen is. Science, magic and poetry are not disparate entries in Noh-Varr’s philosophy, rather they are puzzle pieces that fit together to create a grander gestalt transcending the confines of conventional thinking. The Terrigen was not sentient per se; yet also not completely without a sense of self agency. It was Medusa’s hand that destroyed the Terrigen and now that Terrigen that remained within her was bringing about this terminal illness as a kind of ’poetic revenge’ ,,,a death by metaphor.

Stubbornly, Medusa refused to die quietly and was intent on going out on her feet. She led the team to Hala, the former home planet of The Kree, as well to NovaHalla, the new refuge for The Universal Inhumans. Throughout their adventures they gathered the clues ultimately that ultimately led them to powerful race of space demigods known as the Progenitors. Just as the Kree had utilized Terrigen to alter the evolution of The Inhumans, so too did the Progenitors done the same for the Kree, changing them from a primitive and savage race to a highly advanced and space faring peoples; although not with Terrigen but rather with the purified Primagen from which Terrigen is merely a diluted derivative.

Although an unwanted stowaway, Maximus proved to be very helpful throughout this endeavor. Maximus was aware of this mysterious Primagen. It is what his parents considered the ‘Prima Materia,’ the key to understanding and obtaining the true destinyy of their people. As well as the reason why both Maximus and his brother were exposed to an ultra-purified strain of Terrigen when they were both still in the womb.

The team ultimately made their way to The World Farm, the strange home of the Progenitors. It was an unwelcoming world, a manufactured solar system where robotic-like beings cultivated mutated amalgams of science and nature as a means of furthering the advancement and of their own quasi-evolution. Here the Primagen was shown to be The Progenitor’s life-blood, a complex compound of organic material infused with billions of microprocessors facilitating its mutagenic properties.

The Royals arrival on the World Farm was viewed by The Progenitors as little more than an infestation of pests… inferiors beings who needed to be eliminated so to ensure the clockwork functioning of the farm. The Royals had to battle off these beings in a desperate effort to obtain a cache of the Primagen and escape with their lives.

They were no match for these awesome beings, yet managed to discover a weakness in them. The Progenitors synthetic minds worked on a level of pure logic and rationality. As such these beings had no concept of emotion, sentimentality and affect. Swain and Maximus combined their powers to flood their attacker with intense emotional sensations, befuddling its circuits and left it vulnerable to being destroyed. They Royals ultimately succeeded in fleeing the planet, but it came only through the noble sacrifice of Gorgon who remained behind to fight off the attackers whist his colleagues escaped.

In the midst of trying to discover a means of returning home, Medusa granted Maximus permission to touch the Primagen. Doing so acted to supercharge his mental powers, allowing him to experience his past, present and distant future all in the same moment. As such he was able to gain access to his experiences some five thousand years in the future. To this end, he came to realize the ultimate folly of The Royals’ actions.

Thieving the Primagen, holding their own against The Progenitors merely acted to pique these beings’ curiosity… to view The Inhumans as possessing the potential for raw material that could be harvested, assimilated and utilized to further their own advancement. The Royals had not only doomed themselves, but all of earth as well. The Progenitors would return and the result would be the destruction of the planet and all life thereon.

A desperate plan was devised once the Royals returned home. The Progenitors were coming and they could not be allowed to set foot on earthly soil. To this end, the battle station of New Arctillan was built on the oxygen rich Grey Area of the moon, located on the satellites’ dark side. There the Inhumans would mount their defense against the Progenitors, doing all they might to prevent these nigh-powerful being from reaching earth.

The task before them seemed all but insurmountable, yet Maximus had a plan. The Progenitors had demonstrated an Achilles heel once before in their vulnerability to human emotion… perhaps once more this might be utilized to obtain victory.

To this end, Maximus had assembled a crack team: Swain, who can wield and manipulate affect; Panacea, Swain love and anchor to keep her balanced; Frank McGee the detective whose analytic mind might compensate for the illogicality of emotion, Noh-Varr, the Master tactician; Crystal, whose abilities to harness and control the elements could loan itself well to the same flowing nature of emotion; and Reader, whose reality warping abilities will prove key to entering into a realm where the Inhumans and Progenitors might be on equal footing: The Astral Plain.

Maximus’ mind bending strategy makes little sense to the others, especially Reader who insists that this is simply not how his powers work. He can make real what he reads, but he has the actually understand such words… it needs to be a real world that his mind can truly comprehend.

Maximus counters... summoning his inner-Jacques Lacan, he explains that words are inexact stand-ins, mere approximations of thoughts and feelings… notions that at their heart defy the limitation of speech or writing. Maximus creature the nonsensical word, ‘floob’ presenting it as a shorthand for the neitherworld of thought and emotion. He’d written this term on a Braille tile, insisting that reading this tile will succeed in allowing Reader to transporting them all to this conceptual plain.

Reader remains unconvinced. He’s not sure it could work and, more importantly, he has grown weak from using his powers to teleport to the moon. He is going to need rest and recuperate his strength if he is to transport the entirety of the team to this Ill-defined realm of Floob.

Yet such time doesn’t exist. The Progenitors have arrived, laying siege to New Arctillan. Overlord Class and Exterminator Class Progenitors attack and it will only be a matter of moments before all of Arctillan and it’s inhabitants are eliminated.

Maximus and Reader have to act quickly… there is only enough time and energy to transport one Inhuman to Floob and Maximus makes his decision in an instant, instructing Reader to send Medusa. Before she can object, Medusa finds herself relocated to a mysterious and ethereal plain somewhere between thought and feeling (breathtakingly depicted by Del Mundo’s magnificent illustration).

In the desert like atmosphere of this strange realm Medusa views the decrepit statue of her former husband, Black Bolt, looking down upon her, as well as the ruined stature of her one time lover, Gorgon, at her feet.

Medusa is confused that Maximus had chosen her as the sole combatant sent into Floob... surely she is the least optimal candidate. All that has transpired has been her fault. She destroyed the Terrigen, she has suffered its revenge; it was her folly that brought earth into the crosshairs of The Progenitors, she who sacrificed Gorgon to facilitate their cowardly escape. All of this guilt and self condemnation has hardened her, making her feel her heart has been rendered little more than a dead stone.

Exposure to the Primagen had supercharged the abilities of her colleagues, but for her it had no effect. She sees her gift, her very Inhumanity, as dead and gone and hence the Primagen can and has offered her nothing.

Medusa has little time to wallow in her self doubt. This realm is not without predators and a blackened serpentine energy ensnares her like a python, curling about her legs and pulling her toward a certain demise.

She struggles against this force and as she dose her mind drifts to the man whom she had once so depended on, who in the past would always come to her aide when facing such dire circumstances. As she does, the statue of Black Bolt begins to stir, fissures cracking over its surface.

Medusa’s desperation grows and acts as a kind of beacon, a doorway that invites in a new presence.

The figure of Black Bolt bursts forth from the innards if the statue... leaping to action and coming to his love’s aide. Fighting another’s demons can be much easier than facing one’s own and Black Bolt is able to make short work of the parasite of doubt and remorse that had so threatened Medusa.

The predator defeated, Medusa and Black Bolt are unsure what to do and find themselves trekking through the etherial desert landscape for what feels like a veritable eternity. Soon they come across another decrepit statute, this one of Crusher Creel, The Absorbing Man. A one time foe of the Mighty Thor, Creel was Black Bolt’s cellmate and eventual ally whist he was incarcerated in that terrible space prison. Creel helped Black Bolt, sacrificing himself to save Black Bolt’s life and bring about an end to the oppressive and despotic Jailer.

Just as Medusa feels remorse and regret over Gorgon’s death, so too does Black Bolt feel similarly over Creel’s death. They had both been leaders of their people, bared the overwhelming responsibilities of the welfare of others. And both are bereft over the terrible decision of having to sacrifice their friends.

Here Black Bolt realizes that he can speak in this strange realm, that his sonic powers have no effect and he and Medusa can communicate through words. As they continue to trek onward, they talk about all that has transpired and how the two had grown apart. Black Bolt pushes down his jealousy that his former wife had found comfort in the arms of their friend, Gorgon; though he also must come to terms that she sought out this comfort because he had for too long denied it to her. Medusa had turned to Gorgon not because she had carnal needs but rather emotional needs… the need for comfort and security, the need to be treated as an equal and a partner. Whatever envy or anger Black Bolt feels over the matter is pushed aside because he knows that she is right. He hadn’t treated her as an equal, he treated her as a child who needed to be shielded and keep int he dark of terrible truths. Might she forgive him? Does she still love him?

Medusa isn’t ready to say, but does admit to missing him; missing the partnership they had, how they completed each other and how Attilan prevailed when the two worked in concert. But they haven’t the time or luxury to dwell on the past, they must move forward into an uncertain future… a future that may very well entail a rekindling of what they once had.

The two are attacked before they can discuss the matter further… The Progenitors have finally navigated their way into this strange realm, intent on eliminating this new a threat. A maw opens up in the desert floor with the Overlord Progenitor within it, reaching up with to grasp Medusa with an intense gravity wave pulling her down.

Black Bolt desperately holds onto Medusa’s arm, keep her from falling into this terrible pit. Medusa struggles to keep her grasp, but she is still overwhelmed by her guilt and regret. Suddenly she realizes that in her other hand she holds the Primagen Crystal, the crystal that failed to work for her. In that moment, Black Bolt fades away, drawn back to his own demons of the trauma bestowed onto him by the sadistic Jailer.

Medusa is left alone still grasping onto the seemingly useless shard of Primagen. This powerful substance had not worked for Medusa… did not work because she would not let it. She doesn’t feel she deserved it. She brought ruin onto her people, banished her husband to a terrible fate, engaged on an odyssey that brought the Progenitors to Earth, sent Gorgon to his death. In the moment of sadness and regret, Medusa finally lets in all of the feelings and emotion that she has tried so desperately to keep at bay. She didn’t see herself strong enough to cope with these emotions and cut herself off from them, thinking that stoic repression was her only course of action. In this moment, however, when all appears as lost, she lets those feelings in. The emotion washes over her… she allows herself to be human as well as Inhuman, vulnerable as well as strong… and doing so facilitates the activation of the Primagen.

Her body is infused with the mutagenic properties, enhancing and augmenting every fiber of her being… Her illness abates in an instant and her hair grows back in red, flowing torrent.

Suddenly, Medusa finds herself back on Ariclan. Her hair has returned, longer than before so that it sweeps over the others like a flood of locks and curls. It felt like she had been gone for centuries, but in reality the whole affair had transpired in a mere instant.

In its wake, the marauding Progenitors had been reduced to destroyed empty shells. The onslaught of pure affect and emotional catharsis that Medusa had experience in astral realm overwhelmed the circuits of pure logic possessed by The Progenitors. It was too much for them, it did not compute, and resulted in their destruction.

The world had been saved, the terrible future that Maximus had foreseen had been avoided. Whether or not the stolen Primagen might indeed be utilized to create new Terrigen remains to be seen, but there is great optimism that The Inhumans have won themselves a new lease on a future.

But what of the Progenitors?

Back on the World Farm, The Analytic Class Progenitors monitor the feedback coming from their fellow units who had traveled to earth. The data suggests that a power was encountered that is antithetical to The Progenitor’s base philosophy. It is a power that cannot be defeated, it is too dangerous a threat, and the Analysts make the prudent decision that the best course of action is to avoid Earth at all cost.

A voice bellows out from off page, demanding that the threat cannot be avoided; for it is already here. And the final page shows a Primagen-empowered Gorgon, still alive and ready to destroy these enemies once and for all. And it is here that the tale, and the story of The Royals comes to to its final conclusion.

Wow. This was intense!

I had been expecting an all-out fight with the full forces of all The Inhumans doing battle against a legion of Progenitors. And I was surprised to find that instead we got an emotional journey where Medusa and Black Bolt battled their inner demons and doubts so to unlock the only thing that could possible defeat these godlike beings. And though I was a touch disappointed not to see many of my favorite Inhumans in action, this narrative decision makes a great deal of sense. Medusa and her journey has been at the heart of the series from the beginning and it’s a suitable decision that she should be the focus of its conclusion. …and it certainly helps that the other-worldly battlefield of this ordeal is so beautifully depicted by Mike Del Mundo’s peerless skill.

Emotion, poetry and magic are matters that defy rationality. Such matters can be understood, but only in a peripheral, idiosyncratic sense. No one poem effects two people in the same exact way. It’s a fundamentally human quality and a matter destructively foreign and unknowable to nigh-logical beings such as The Progenitors.

Such a thing might seem a bit corny on its surface, but is also the central crux of outré fantasy fiction. One must leap outside of the realm of logic into the loosely defined confines of madness and magic.

It’s a bold and risky move for Mr. Ewing to choose to have ‘feelings’ be the ultimate weapon that defeats these Progenitors… and some might find it unsatisfactory. Yet it is in absolute accord with the themes that have coursed throughout The Royals form the first issue. The Inhuman are not Mutants, fictional outgrowths of the theory of evolution. Nor are they characters of super science, engineered by far-out ideas over the outer limits of technology. They are something in-between. Science, mixed with evolution, mixed with magic, mixed with poetry… something just outside of the mind’s ability to comprehend. They are ‘floob,’ a nonsensical word meant as a stand-in for a concept that simply cannot be accurate explained via the limitations of words.

As a psychologist, and fan of the works of authors such as Frank Herbert, Michael Morecock and Ursula le Guin, this sort of stuff is right up my alley and I kind of love it. Although I also appreciate that that this might not be the case for other readers… that some might find Ewing’s venturing into the land of the unexplainable uncanny to be something of a cop-out, denying them the standard issue knock-down, drag-out battle that these finales more often entail. Still, The Royals has very much not been your standard issue super hero comic book, and an wild unconventional conclusion actually fits quite well and makes a great deal of sense.

So where does the story go from here? We still have at least three more issues of Ahmed and Ward’s fantastic Black Bolt series… and the solicitations for issue 12th issue suggests that we will get further resolution on what the future holds for Medusa, Black Bolt and their relationship. Perhaps this will also touch on what the future holds for The Inhuman as a whole. Will they relocated to the moon city of Arctillan, or will they remain on New Attilan on Earth? Will Iso remain the leader, or will the people reelect Medusa and Black Bolt as once more their queen and king? Time will tell. The important thing that this is not the end. There is a new future in store for The Inhumans, a future not steeped in the past, but rather one whose trajectory is moving forward.

Kevin Libranda, José Villarubia both bring their A-game for the sections they illustrate, depicting the less fantastical scenes with verve and electricity, and wonderfully lively facial expressions (especially Maximus who seems to be enjoying the prospect of total annihilation just as much the prospect of salvation). Mike Del Mundo, meanwhile, absolutely excels in creating the weird netherworld where the action takes place. I do miss Javier Rodriguez’s terrific work, but none can beat Del Mundo when it comes the impossible landscapes of a realm between science, magic and poetry. It’s just a marvel to behold.

As a franchise, the Inhuman failed to capture that sense of popularity and mainstream acceptance enjoyed by other groups like the X-Men or The Avengers. And this one-shot aptly demonstrates exactly why that has been the case. The Inhumans are weird. Their stories are the essence of strange, they don’t always make sense and require readers to make leaps into the unknown that not everyone is capable of or comfortable with. The effort to make The Inhumans more mainstream, more popular has already been abandoned and this offered Ewing and company free license to go all in, embracing the weird with both hands and offering up a finale that is… well, that is quintessentially inhuman.

Of course recommend; Five out of five Lockjaws!

#Inhumans #Inhumans Judgement Day #Al Ewing #Mike del Mundo #Kevin Libranda #José Villarubia #spoilers #review

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weownthenitenyc · 7 years

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Spring Awakening Music Festival (SAMF) just released the full 2017 lineup, including artists playing on each of the six Branded Stages, the day-by-day breakdown and a limited supply of single day tickets! Over 80 artists will perform across five unique stages, demonstrating a dynamic variety of genres within the electronic music spectrum.

In addition to Phase 1 and Phase 2 artists performing on SAMF’s two Main Stages, the three-day festival will also feature two Branded Stage takeovers each day. On Friday, June 9, the first two Branded Stages will be hosted by acclaimed music publication Dancing Astronaut and React’s simmering house event series, Body Language. Headlining Dancing Astronaut’s takeover will be one of dance music’s most celebrated artists Benny Benassi. Alongside him, Sander van Doorn, Bingo Players, Audien and Party Favor are all set to unleash from the stage. Meanwhile, fans of the Body Language series will get down to a diverse assortment of artists with a headlining performance by Thomas Jack, the saxophone-playing champion of tropical house, along with Route 94, Felix Da Housecat, Billy Kenny and Gene Farris.

Saturday, June 10 will see SAMF’s Branded Stages transformed by Above & Beyond’s smooth and sultry deep house imprint Anjunadeep and the return of React’s veteran Trance Arena series, featuring its own euphoric atmosphere. The Anjunadeep stage will feature a headlining guest spot by RÜFÜS DU SOL, one of the hottest indie dance groups out of Australia. Joining RÜFÜS will be Anjunadeep labelmates Lane 8, Moon Boots, Jody Wisternoff and Yotto. Leading the Trance Arena stage will be legendary Grammy Award-Winning DJ, producer and musician, Paul van Dyk. Alongside him, Paul Oakenfold, Andrew Rayel and MaRLo will mesmerize fans with nonstop melodic thrills throughout the day. The Trance Arena will also be graced by a very special guest appearance, which will be revealed in the coming weeks.

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Topping off the weekend on Sunday, June 11 will be hosted takeovers from React’s longstanding Bass Kitchen series, known for its unmistakably brutal bass carnage, and Sunday School, a longstanding series known for its “festival within a festival” atmosphere. Headlining the Bass Kitchen’s takeover will be an undisputed member of the Mount Rushmore of modern dubstep, Snails, backed by a staggering roster of additional talent including Kill The Noise, Hucci, Spag Heddy and Barely Alive. Over on the Sunday School stage, the action will be headlined by famed North London duo Gorgon City, as they return to Chicago for a raucous set for all to enjoy. Rounding out the stage’s roster will be Eats Everything, Victor Calderone, Steve Bug, and J. Phlip.

Check Out The Full Single Day Lineup For SAMF 2017 HERE.

Single Day, 3-Day and VIP tickets are now on sale at springawakeningfestival.com!

The 2017 edition of Spring Awakening Music Festival takes place June 9 through 11 at the beautiful Addams/Medill Park. Don’t miss a beat and follow Spring Awakening on Facebook and Twitter for the latest news and announcements.

The Full Lineup for Spring Awakening is Here! Spring Awakening Music Festival (SAMF) just released the full 2017 lineup, including artists playing on each of the six Branded Stages, the day-by-day breakdown and a limited supply of…

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inhumansforever · 7 years

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ABC’s Inhumans ‘The First Chapter’ review

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The first two episodes of Marvel’s The Inhumans has been loosely edited together to create a makeshift movie now playing in selected Imax theaters. It is not very good. Yet it is also no where near as bad as some of the early press and reviews may lead one to believe. It’s mediocre… not the Inhumans movie these great characters deserve, yet by no means a complete train-wreck.

There is a lot of room for the series to grow. Many of the best television series out there often require a few episodes to get its footing. Some of my all-time favorite shows, like The Wire, The Sopranos, Better Call Saul, and Fargo each needed four to five installments to get going and I would have missed out on a lot of good watching if I judged these programs solely on their first two episodes. Still, ‘The First Chapter’ is being presented as a movie and can be evaluated on such grounds. The Inhumans series may end up rather good, yet The First Chapter is quite far from a good start. Full review following the jump.

The movie introduces us to an Attilan and its Royal Family that is in many ways similar to their comic book counterparts and many (significant) ways different. Attilan is located on the dark side of the moon where a group of Inhumans live in seclusion under the rule of a rigid caste system. Terrigenesis, the process through which Inhumans are transformed and bestowed their powers, is not offered to all of Attilan’s citizens, but rather is used as a means by which the haves and have-nots are kept separate and unequal. The aristocracy is allowed Terrigenesis and those who receive impressive powers retain their lofty status. The lower-caste subjects, meanwhile, are denied Terrigenesis and are forced to toil as laborers and servants.

Attilan is ruled by Black Bolt (Anson Mount) whose voice can shatter mountains. It’s a power so awesome as to make his rule unquestionable yet is also something of a handicap in that he cannot speak without releasing terrible destruction. Hence he must rely on a unique brand of sign language that is interpreted and relayed (not always accurately) by his wife and queen, Medusa (Serinda Swan).

The king’s brother, Maximus (Iwan Rehon) had also gone through Terrigenesis, yet it apparently has had no effect on him. He seems to be no more than human, but as the king’s brother retains his status as royalty nonetheless. The alienation Maximus experiences as a human in an Inhuman realm has left him bitter. Bitter, but also very much attuned to the harsh, unfair conditions that the lower castes of Attilan must endure. Maximus petitions his brother to allow the non-transformed Inhumans to go to earth where they might find a better life among the humans, but the king will not allow it. Secretly, Maximus rallies the underprivileged behind him, engineering a coup in which the monarchy is overthrown.

The Royal Family attempt to evade the revolt and ultimately are banished to Earth, specifically the island of Hawaii, transported their by the kings’s giant, teleporting watchdog, Lockjaw. Fearing his brother’s eventual return, Maximus dispatches his assassins to earth to seek out the Royal family.

This is essentially the crux of the first two episodes and it is not a particularly bad plot. Unfortunately, the narrative is quite muddled by poor execution, flat dialogue and stifled performances. ‘Rushed’ is the word that best describes the execution. Way too much is forced to take place all at once and there is little time given to allow the story and character development to unfold in an organic fashion. The show would be much better served if the entire seasons was based around what occurs in just the first episode.

At the same time that the story is rushed it also wastes a great deal of time. There is a huge amount of dialogue-based exposition that is repeated over and over again. The notion that Maximus feels looked down upon due to his lack of powers will certainly not go unnoticed, it is repeated several times in the wooden dialogue.

This is all especially disheartening in that there is actually some rather good story beats in the narrative. The ritual of Terrigenesis is well depicted and pulls no punches in showing off the transfixing weirdness of subjecting children to a mutagen as part of a quasi-religions practice; and doing so in a fashion that offers a stirring sense of parallel to real world examples of cultural and spiritual indoctrination.

Presenting Maximus as a charismatic schemer who rouses the disenfranchised working class against the lofty elites is also a pretty clever and topical take; as well as a matter that I’ll be very interested to see how it further pans out. As it stands, however, Maximus is very much the ‘good guy’ of the first two episodes. The hierarchical situation on Attilan is deplorable and, though his methods are harsh, Maximus’ goals are fundamentally much righteous. I know full well who the real Maximus is in the comics, that he is not a good guy; and that it’s quite likely to be revealed that he secretly does possess super-human powers after all (and these will be the same powers that he possesses in the comics: the ability for telepathic manipulation). For the time being, however, Maximus is the one I’m rooting for. Of course this may have as much to do with Iwan Rheon’s superior performance as it does with the script.

The poor dialogue and rushed character development notwithstanding, the cast does give it all their best. Each are able to shine at one point or another and it easy to see these characters as really blossoming under better production-based circumstances.

Again, Rheon laps the whole group. His wild expressiveness and crackling energy is extremely well served for the character. He’s given some pretty tough lines, villain monologuing 101, but Rheon chews it up with aplomb. His accent slips in several occasions, but once more this can be chalked up as the fault of the ultra-rushed production.

Anson Mount’s turn as Black Bolt is adequate and his outfit is much better looking on the big screen compared to the small-screen/computer screen previews. This is an especially difficult role and it’s tough seeing an actor of Mount’s calibre so boxed in to the confines of the story. Black Bolt cannot speak, and he is also a rather secretive and repressed individual… as such, Mount has little to rely on than his ability to offer up an angry glare.

Still, I have faith in both the character as well as the actor and I’m looking forward to hopefully seeing Mount get a bit more elbow-room to do his thing.

Serinda Swan’s Medusa is equally hampered with having to deliver some rough lines of dialogue (and a truly awful wig). Still, there’s some moments where Swan is able to take over her scenes and really channel the best of her comic book counterpart. The special effects used in animated her hair is actually pretty good… and I imagine quite expensive, which may be why the screenplay opted to have Maximus sadistically shave off all of her living locks after she is captured.

As much as I hated seeing Medusa lose her hair, the loss of it seemed to liberate Ms. Swan’s performance. There’s some mystery to Medusa’s character in the show, Her past is a bit shrouded and she seems to know a good deal more about the human world compared to the rest of the Royal Family. She also gets the best fight-scene, kicking some serious butt in the third act.

Ken Leung’s turn as Karnak also has many a good moment. It’s never quite clear if his stone-faced, deadpan delivery is meant to be sardonic or serious… which actually works pretty well for the character.

Karnak’s story has changed somewhat from his comic book counterpart. Here his supremely tactical mind and ability to perceive flaws are not the result of an ardent study of esoteric martial arts, but rather something granted to him by way of Terrigenesis (in the comics, Karnak has never been exposed to the transformative Terrigen Mists). All this aside, Karnak’s powers are demonstrated in a really neat way wherein he can see the results of various flawed paths of action ahead of time. It’s pretty cool, although unfortunately the choreography of the actual hand-to-hand combat is rather tepid (basically on-par with that from Netflix’s Iron Fist; only with the added obstacle of it all being lit by unforgiving florescent lighting).

Eme Ikwuakor as Gorgon doesn’t get as much screen time as some of the other players, but he makes the most of it. He does not look very much like his comic book counterpart, but does an excellent job of effectively channeling the essence of the character, mixing boastful pride with a more sensitive side.

His rapport with his best friend, Kanak, is a highlight and some the best laughs come from the scene where he is marooned on Hawaii and is discovered by a group of surfers.

Of the entire cast, Isabelle Cornish as Crystal looks the most like her comic book analog. It’s kind of remarkable; she looks taken right from the page. Yet that’s where the similarities end. At this early stage of the narrative, Crystal is not an especially likable character. She’s naive, privileged and aloof and makes a lot of poor decisions (although many are made in the service of speeding forward the already too fast plot). Ms. Cornish is likely the least seasoned of the actors composing the cast and hence the most needing of a patient director and show-runner. In that both director, Roel Reiné, and show-runner, Scott Buck, are both clearly more interested in getting things done as fast as possible, Cornish performance really suffers.

The rest of the cast are either absent in these first two episodes or only appear for short moments. Mike Moh’s Triton only gets a slight appearance. His make-up and dialogue are both unremarkable, but like Cornish turn as Crystal, there’s likely to be time in subsequent installments for Moh to better flesh out his character.

Alas the same will likely not be true for Sonya Balmores take as Auran. This version of Auran is nothing at all like her comic book counterpart. There is nothing the two have in common other than a name. This Auran is Maximus’ chief enforcer and assassin and Balmores is tasked with portraying her as a one-dimensional psychopath. It’s a waste of both a fine actress as well as a fun character.

Which brings us to the best of the best and the main reason why I trekked to my local Imax theater in the first place. I knew this was likely to be my only chance to see Lockjaw on the big screen and I wasn’t going to miss out on it. ...and I wasn’t disappointed.

Lockjaw, the Royal Family’s ginormous teleporting watchdog, is entirely facilitated by CGI. It’s far from the best CGI out there, but serviceable enough… which does not really matter, because he is adorable and awesome and steels every scene he’s in. He’s the best. Sadly, he’s also likely quite expensive and we don’t get to see much of him following the first hour.

The final analysis is that ‘The First Chapter’ is far from good, but not the atrocity that some reviews would have you believe. It’s rushed, the story unfolds way too quickly, and the dialogue is often hackneyed and uninspired. What it does succeed in, however, is lay the foundation for what could be quite a good show. The elements are all there. The story is interesting, the characters are fun, and the cast is definitely capable. If the series can be able to slow things down, diminish the pace and let things unfold in a more organic fashion, The Inhumans could very well end up living up to its source material.

While The Inhumans very well could end up a good show the movie made up of its first two installments is not that good. Lots of neat ideas are jammed together and forced to unfold too quickly. It opts to be the hare when the tortoise would have so obviously won the race.

Whist I definitely recommend checking out the show when it aires later this month, seeing it in the theater is not necessary, nor especially recommended. The Imax formate is nice at showing off Lockjaw, the grandeur of the big island of Hawaii and the finer details of the costumes, but that’s about it. That and the diminished expectations that the various negative reviews out there will likely to result in watching the television show being a rather fun experience.

Two out of five lockjaws.

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