#then where is it uniqueness. where is its relevance. if it is all just a repeat of another history - what is there to like

[thetwelfthcrow]

me reading your tags of ships you don't like wondering well who the fuck is even left— oh yeah. those two. ur stronger than the us marines

thank you, love. it is a battle out there. and every day i end up covered in blood (saw one photo where they were relatively close and people overanalyse it) and i look in the mirror (see lewis and max) and i'm so sexy (write fanfics about them) that i'm ready to do it all over again the next day.

#wdcmaxy #hyperanalysing is so real but only for the ships i like #and also: my main beef w these ships is just 'not for me' it's not deep #EXCEPT with lstpn for 1) being called enemies to lovers when they're very much not (where is the attempted murder?) #and 2) being compared to brocedes. NOTHING can be compared to brocedes. but also. if you want your ship to be comparable #then where is it uniqueness. where is its relevance. if it is all just a repeat of another history - what is there to like #ANYWAY thanks ily #gab tag !! #zhalia’s lil’ chit chat

[omegalomania]

people bitching and moaning about fob "turning mainstream" as if that was never the entire point of fall out boy. that's In the goddamn dna of the band, it's baked into the ethos of why the band started in the first damn place. to be accessible to kids and especially to girls, who were often ridiculed and shunted out of the hardcore community. to be a gateway to bands that aren't as mainstream. to comment on the society they live in, as they live in it. people act like fall out boy "turning mainstream" was some kind of "betrayal" when from the start they were seizing on the trends of the time, putting their unique, unhinged fall out boy spin on them, and shooting them back out as a funhouse mirror. take this to your grave capitalized on the pop-punk zeitgeist that was big in the late 90s and early aughts and put their own spin on it: enmeshed catchy choruses with high-dexterity lyrical & linguistic skewerwork. infinity on high was basically a massive critique of the scene they were in - this ain't a scene it's a goddamn arm's race is a fucking thesis statement on what it is to be catapulted into fame in an industry that wants nothing more than a thousand cookie-cutter copycat acts of a successful formula, and fall out boy WAS the formula everyone desperately wanted to emulate. american beauty / american psycho blended sampling and modern hip-hop stylings with polished pop-rock and pointed those songs back at the snapshot of the 2010s we all lived in: commenting on racial injustice and the freeze-frame nature of relevancy. but even then they weren't doing it quite right - because fall out boy never does things quite right, they're never quite conventional, whether it's wentz's darkly confessional lyrics double-bagged in metaphor or stump's distinctive clear tenor or trohman's inescapable rock 'n roll edge or hurley's thunderous hardcore-punk-rock soul.

this band has always been too clever for its own critics, is the thing. but then, they always knew that. they knew they had a thriving fanbase of largely female fans so they were going to be mocked and belittled and ridiculed. they weren't quite right. they weren't quite so easy to market. pete wentz had to have all his hard edges filed off and cut down to size, skin lightened, literally whitewashed ("i feel like a photo that's been overexposed") to hell and back, even as he was marketed as the pretty boy of the band. and the other three members never even bothered with the spotlight: the soft-spoken vegan straightedge anarchist drummer and the wry, wisecracking, whip-clever guitarist who was more concerned with being the connective tissue than anything and the reticent vocalist who sang the words and wrote an awful lot of music but wasn't really the guy fronting the band. wentz's charisma carried the band, because the rest of them were really just some guys and never aspired to be anything else.

fall out boy is too pop. fall out boy is too mainstream. fall out boy isn't the real poster child of the emo movement. other bands are better. even within fall out boy's own narrative, they are repeatedly ignored, sidelined, and belittled, as though they weren't one of the only acts from the big 00s emo-pop movement to successfully not just survive the transition from the aughts to the '10s, and then later from the '10s to the '20s, but to thrive in it without banking on nostalgia. this band was supposed to be a flash in the pan. they weren't supposed to last and they weren't supposed to get big. they started off in joe's parents' attic because joe and pete were sick of how exclusionary and homophobic the hardcore scene was.

i think it's high time that people acknowledge how fall out boy has repeatedly succeeded where most of their other peers failed. cunning, clever, capable, and hyper-aware of the space they occupy in the culture surrounding them. that they are just as powerful, important, and artistic as any of the other bands in the scene that others might deify at their expense. that they deserve a hell of a lot more respect than they get from critics or hardcore punks who think they sold out. i hope one day they get that recognition. because they've earned it, time and time again, and the more i see people pushing back against that, the more certain i become of its inevitability.

#fall out boy #fob #*making poasts #this was supposed to be a pithy 3 sentence post but i kept going #just another Day In The Life of someone who sees a lot of garbage takes and gets tired #mostly i just shrug em off cause you know. what else is new. this has been going on since day 1. #but it saddens me. it saddens me that these guys are ridiculed for this still. #it breaks my heart that patrick isnt taken seriously as a composer in some circles because hes the guy from fall out boy. #it breaks my heart that people won't acknowledge pete as one of the most distinctive lyricists of our generation. #it breaks my heart that andy and joe are discredited and shit on within metal circles specifically because they're in fall out boy. #i hope they know that we get it. we get it and we're proud of them. no matter what.

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Mino

Debut: Tetris Worlds

While researching for last week's post, I discovered something amazing. Something I haven't been able to stop thinking about. No matter what, my mind always comes back to

Tetris Lore

Now, I'm not going to act like Tetris has an overarching story, or that the story of one game is at all relevant to the other games. Tetris Worlds is just one game, and its story is self-contained. But the fact that this Tetris game has a story at all is really incredible!

What would you expect from a Tetris game with a story? Maybe something like, the Tetriminos are all best friends living in Block World, but one day, wuh woh! There's a Bad Guy who's a sphere who hates cubes or something! Luckily, with the power of our friendship and Tetris skills, we can teach him a lesson and banish him once more... or perhaps make a new friend? :)

Please watch the introductory cutscene of Tetris Worlds.

These are the Minos! Minos, in this canon, are a species of cycloptic cubes with fascinating cycloptic faces on their forward-facing faces. I absolutely adore them already. And wouldn't you know it, their sun is going supernova and they are all going to die if they can't evacuate their planet in time. HUH???

This story is so fascinating! I am SO happy that someone came up with this when tasked with making a story for a Tetris game. There was a creative vision, and it appears to be fully realized in this short but unforgettable intro to what could have easily been just another Tetris game!

You get to have a Mino as an avatar! This could be YOU! You can make them wear a funny hat as they hover and squash and stretch on the sidelines while you play Tetris!

The game's manual explains even more about the Minos, most notably that they are MECHANICAL! These things just keep getting better! Living, cycloptic cubes, with an entire futuristic society, and they're machines. The manual also feels the need to remind us that they were probably made by organic beings, as "most" mechanical beings are. And I find that suspiciously specific...

Look at this fish! This mechanical, cycloptic Mino fish. This was not in the Xbox version's intro, but it was in the PS2 one! For whatever reason, the two had unique animation in their intros, despite using the same voiceover. This fish is shown emerging from water onto land, where it beholds the Tetrions, the sacred and powerful portals in which the game of Tetris takes place. The visual of a fish coming onto land is such in-your-face evolution imagery that I am ENTIRELY convinced that these fish were ancestors of the Minos who would later form civilization! Natural, evolving robots!

...and then this intro goes on to depict the Minos as having TWO eyes. Yeah ok. Sure. I will confidently declare these binocular blockheads as non-canon based on everything else we've seen, ESPECIALLY because the actual gameplay even depicts cycloptic Minos!

Some of them seem to be established characters. This is Izabela. Hi Izabela!

Are you on the edge of your seat, hoping our friends the Minos survive? They do! Savvy Tetris skills allow them to activate the Tetrions (which were left behind by an ancient space-faring civilization. In case you were wondering) and teleport to other planets. Minos live! Hooray. And now you know the Tetris Lore, and can think about it constantly like I do!

Lastly, I made this little image of the Mino leader from Worlds, in the style of a Tetris Friends avatar! I like to think some cross-promotional avatars could have been added if Worlds came out during the lifespan of Tetris Friends. I can only hope that at least someone at The Tetris Company remembers this incarnation of the Minos, and that they could possibly appear in a game once more!

#mino #tetris #tetris worlds #not mario #funky friday #mod chikako

[vivipokedex]

Your animal anatomy foundation 100% feels very solid, do you have any books or online sources to recommend to budding artists?

thank youuuu :)))

im gonna be honest... i never really specifically sat down to study drawing animals, or followed any art-oriented books or guides about that or anything. tutorials tend to not be very helpful to me because they rarely deal with gesture and focus more on getting the proportions right, which by itself is only a small part of it. and live drawing classes rarely involve animals...

i think it helps to have an existing, like, sense and confidence when it comes to observation and capturing volume and gesture in general. at the end of the day pretty much everything can be broken down into basic shapes, planes, blobs. actually A Blob is a good starting point to draw pretty much any animal... draw a blob and then put a head and limbs and appendages on it. yknow?

another thing is to just be curious and have an interest in the diversity and minutiae of the animal kingdom. i know it sounds very basic but I Love Animals. there are some real crazy creatures out there. obviously i recommend looking up as many reference pics as you can, not necessarily to copy stuff, but to have a handy guide of where stuff goes. but just looking at pictures honestly isnt quite enough in my opinion... read up on the animal. get a sense of what makes this particular species unique among ones similar to it, how it lives and functions in its habitat... watch a nature docco. watch some footage of weird little shrimp. learn how to tell different species of aeshnidae apart.

also, yeah, youre gonna have to look at and draw some animal skeletons at some point. i dont think you have to like, study the skeleton of every vertebrate you wanna draw, but yknow, its good to have a general knowledge. it really does teach you a lot to draw a horse skeleton and the individual parts in it. ideally of course you would be sitting in front of either the real thing or a 3d model, but sometimes photos and illustrations have to suffice... it's just important that you pay attention to what you're doing.

as for books... well, a relevant point here is that photos arent everything. obviously theyll give you a faithful picture of the living breathing animal, but thats the thing, they wont always let you see the exact shape, all the distinctive details, and so on. so this is where i recommend getting into some old timey illustrated books. yeah youre gonna have to do some treasure hunting... but listen. ive got this awesome book from 1979 for example, which lists pretty much every species of bird that lives in my little corner of the world, along with amazing detailed illustrations. it's so inspiring and informative. it is the kind of stuff i really wanna urge everyone to get into.

#book is Welcher Vogel Ist Das? by dr walter cerny and karel drchal

[sykam0re]

Analysing the new Splatoon 3 Wave 2 DLC - Side Order

I am about 90% sure this is supposed to be Agent 8!

As such, what I talk about next will be based entirely around this assumption - if this is wrong, then this analysis is void, but it's just for fun anyway so hskshj

I personally believe this wave of the DLC will be tackling the loose ends in regards to Octo Expansion, and more specifically: 8's amnesia prior to starting it. Having no memory of who they are or where they came from, they fight their way through the metro, defeating Tartar along the way and reaching their freedom on the Surface.

But then...

Who are they still?

Besides the memcakes, this issue is never quite resolved. As such- I believe the DLC will focus on that! With Agent 8 rediscovering who they used to be, and who they are now. Figuring out their identity and sense of self so they can finally know who they are. And based on what we saw in the trailer, I have several ways to back up this idea.

First up: the hub. A coral-ridden, colour-bleached version of our beloved Inkopolis Square. There is a strong coral themeing throughout the entire DLC trailer, and I think the reason why might be relevant to 8.

Coral bleaches when exposed to stressors in its environment, such as light, temperature and nutrients. So perhaps this is a metaphor for all the stressors on Agent 8's psyche. Their environment has changed dramatically, from Underground to the surface world of Inkopolis, so it wouldn't even surprise me if such changes still left them quite out of it.

It could also be a metaphor for how Inkopolis Square still isn't home for them. Considering the very intentional hotel-esque interior of the tower, a hotel being a place travellers go to stay in, this could very well encourage the idea that this still isn't home for 8. Just a glorified trip, regardless of whether or not they even can go 'home'. If they even remember home. The fanciness of it could also be a nod to how out of place they feel, as though they were in a place far out of their league. Like a common man in a palace, it feels...out of place.

Then? You have this image of multiple octolings. Multiple '8s', that perhaps could imply that they are still struggling to find their identity in a sea of so many like them. So many soldiers like them, so many test subjects like them...

They were always one of thousands, nothing more than a number in a crowd, so they never had any individuality. They never felt they were unique. So why is them who got to find their freedom? Why were they special?

And now we make it to the key in all this:

Pearl and Marina.

Pearl and Marina were a key component in helping 8 escape the Deepsea Metro. So if anyone would be here for them in such a struggle: it's them. The idea of it being a recollection of 8's memories could also explain Marina's glitched out appearance here.

It's just a memory. Were her tentacles blue, or green? Was this her outfit? Or was it something else? Maybe 8 even has some lasting memory issues after everything...hence how even newer memories seem to escape them.

Pearl seems to meet them in the blanked out square, so they're likely a key part in all of this. Just a hunch.

Overall though, I'm really really excited!! This DLC looks like it's shaping up to be something amazing, and I hope my silly ramblings at least interest some of you <:)

Thank you for reading! ♡

#splatoon #splatoon 2 #splatoon 3 #agent 8 #off the hook #damp socks splatoon #splatoon 3 dlc #octoling #speculation #theorising #kami rambles #text #side order #pearl splatoon #splatoon pearl #marina splatoon #splatoon marina

[yamayuandadu]

Horned hermits and immoral immortals: an inquiry into Zanmu's background

As you might remember from my previous post covering Zanmu, I was initially unable to tell how her historical background led to ZUN choosing to make her an oni. The historical, or at least legendary, Zanmu seemed to be, for all intent and purposes, a human. That has since changed, and the matter now seems considerably more clear to me. Read on to learn more about the real monk Zanmu is based on, and to find out what she has in common with the most famous Zen master in history, Taoist immortals, and Tsuno Daishi. Even if you are not particularly interested in Zanmu, this article might still worth be checking out, seeing as the discussed primary sources are also relevant to a number of other Touhou characters, including Byakuren, Yoshika and Kasen.

As in the case of the previous Touhou article, special thanks go to @just9art, who helped me with tracking down sources advised me while I was working on this.

The historical Zanmu

Statue of Zanmu from the Sazaedo pagoda (Fukushima Travel; reproduced for educational purposes only) As already pointed out by 9 here even before my previous post about Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost, Zanmu is based on a real monk also named Zanmu. His full name was Nichihaku Zanmu (日白残夢), and he also went by Akikaze Dōjin, but even Japanese wikipedia simply refers to him as Zanmu. ZUN basically just swapped one kanji in the name, with 日白残夢 becoming 日白残無. The character 無, which replaces original 夢 (“dream”), means “nothingness” - more on that later.The search for sources pertaining to the historical Zanmu has tragically not been very successful. In contrast with some of the stars of the previous installments, like Prince Shotoku or Matarajin, he clearly isn’t the central topic of any monographs or even just journal articles. Ultimately the main sources to fall back on are chiefly offhand mentions, blog articles and some tweets of variable trustworthiness. The only academic publication in English I was able to locate which mentions Zanmu at all is the Japanese Biographical Index from 2004, published by De Gruyter. The price of this book is frankly outrageous for what it is, so here’s the sole mention of him screencapped for your convenience:

The book referenced here is the five volume biographical dictionary Dai Nihon Jinmei Jisho from 1937. I am unable to access it, but I was nonetheless able to cobble together some information about Zanmu from other sources. Not much can be said about Zanmu’s personal life. He was a Buddhist monk (though note a legend apparently refers to him as “neither a monk nor a layperson”, a formula typically designating legendary ascetics and the like) and a notable eccentric. Both of these elements are present in the bio of his Touhou counterpart.

The Sazaedo pagoda (Fukushima Travel; reproduced for educational purposes only)

Zanmu’s tangible accomplishments seem to be tied to the temple Shoso-ji, which he apparently founded. He is enshrined in the Sazaedo pagoda near it, though this building postdates him by over 200 years. It’s located in Aizuwakamatsu in Fukushima. You can see some additional photos of his statue displayed there in this tweet. It’s a pretty famous location due to its unique double helix structure, and it has a pretty extensive article on the Japanese wikipedia. It’s also covered on multiple tourist-oriented sites in English, where more photos are available (for example here or here). There’s even a model kit representing it out there. Sazeado’s fame does not really seem to have anything to do with Zanmu, though. While many Buddhist figures ZUN used as the basis for Touhou characters in the past belonged to the “esoteric” schools (Tendai and Shingon), Zanmu was a practitioner of the much better known Zen, specifically of the Rinzai school.

The kanji mu (無 ) caligraphed by Shikō Munakata (Saint Louis Art Museum; reproduced for educational purposes only) Since the concept of “nothingness” or “emptiness” represented by the kanji 無 (mu) plays a vital role in Zen (see here or here for a more detailed treatment of this topic; it’s covered on virtually every Zen-related website possible though), and there’s even a so-called mu kōan, it strikes me as possible this is the reason behind the slightly different writing of the names of ZUN’s Zanmu, as well as the source of her ability. Granted, the dialogue in the games makes it sound like Zanmu (and by extension Hisami) just talks about nothingness as a memento mori of sorts, which is not quite what it entails in Zen. Of course, ZUN does not adapt Buddhist doctrine 1:1 (lest we forget Kasen seemingly being unaware of the basics of Mahayana in WaHH) so this point might be irrelevant.

The legendary Zanmu

The eccentric monk Ikkyū (center), as imagined by Kawanabe Kyōsai (Egenolf Gallery; reproduced for educational purposes only)

A number of legends developed around the historical Zanmu. If this blog post is to be trusted, there is a tradition according to which he was a student of arguably the most famous member of the Rinzai school, and probably one of the most famous Buddhist monks in the history of Japan in general, Ikkyū. He is remembered as the archetypal eccentric monk, and spent much of his life traveling as a vagabond due to his disagreements with Buddhist establishment and unusual personal views on matters such as celibacy. As I already said in my previous article pertaining to Zanmu, long time readers of my blog might know Ikkyū from the tale of Jigoku Dayū and art inspired by it, though since this motif only arose in the Edo period it naturally does not represent an actual episode from his very much real career. 

A page from Ikkyū Gaikotsu (wikimedia commons)

In art a distinct tradition of depicting Ikkyū with skeletons developed, as seen both in the case of works showing him with his legendary student Jigoku Dayū and in the so-called Ikkyū Gaikotsu. Skeletons also played a role in Zen-inspired art in general (for more information see here). Whether this inspired ZUN to decorate Zanmu’s rock with bones is hard to determine, but it does not seem implausible. It would hardly be the deepest art history cut in the series, less arcane of a reference than the very existence of Mai and Satono or Kutaka’s pose. Obviously, it does not seem very plausible that Ikkyū ever actually met the historical Zanmu. Ikkyū passed away in 1481, and Zanmu in 1576, with his birth date currently unknown. Even if we assume he was a particularly long-lived individual and by some miracle was born while Ikkyu was still alive, it is somewhat doubtful that an elderly sick monk would be preaching Zen doctrine to an infant. However, apparently legends do provide a convenient explanation for this tradition. Purportedly Zanmu lived for an unusually long time. The figure of 139 years pops up online quite frequently, and does seem to depend on a genuine tradition, but even more fabulous claims are out there.

Kaison Hitachibō, as imagined by an unknown artist (wikimedia commons)

According to another legend, Zanmu was even older, and in fact remembered the Genpei war, which took place in the Heian period - nearly 400 years before his time. Supposedly he told many vivid tales about its famous participants, Yoshitsune and Benkei. A tradition according to which he was himself originally a legendary retainer of Yoshitsune, the warrior monk Kaison Hitachibō (常陸坊海尊) developed at some point. This has already been pointed out by others before me in relation to the Touhou version of Zanmu. From what I’ve seen, some Japanese fans in fact seem excited primarily about the prospect of Zanmu offering an opportunity to connect Touhou and works focused on the Genpei war. The tradition making Zanmu a centuries-old survivor from the Heian period must be relatively old, as his supposed immortality is already mentioned in Honchō Jinja Kō (本朝神社考; “Study of shrines”) by Razan Hayashi, who was active in the first half of the seventeenth century, mere decades after Zanmu’s death. While I found no explicit confirmation, it seems sensible to assume this legend was already in circulation while Zanmu was still alive, or at least that it developed very shortly after he passed away. Perhaps he really was invested in accounts of that period to the point he sounded as if he actually lived through it.

The choice of Kaison as Zanmu’s original name in the legend does not seem random, as there was a preexisting tradition according to which this legendary Heian figure was cursed with eternal life for betraying Yoshitsune by fleeing from the battlefield instead of remaining with his lord to die. You can read more about this here. Apparently there is a version where he instead becomes immortal to make it possible to pass down the story of the Genpei war to future generations (this is the only source I have to offer though), and there's even a well-received stage play based on it, Hitachibō Kaison (translated as "Kaison, priest of Hitachi") by Matsuyo Akimoto. Another thing worth pointing out is that Kaison was seemingly a Tendai monk from Mount Hiei, which means that even though Okina isn’t in a new game, you can still claim she’s metaphorically casting her shadow over it in some way if you squint (and that’s without going into the fact sarugami are associated with Mount Hiei). I've seen two separate sources which mention that according to a legend he trained Benkei there, and that the two did not get along because Kaison was a corrupt monk (lustful, keen on substance abuse, greedy, the usual routine). You can access them here and here,but bear in mind they're old. Zanmu’s Genpei war connection does not really seem to matter in Touhou, though, as ZUN pretty explicitly situated his version in the Sengoku period, with no mention of earlier events. Granted, if you like it, this should not prevent you from embracing the view that Zanmu is an alter ego of Kaison as your headcanon - as I said people are already doing that. It seems equally fair game as “Okina is Hata no Kawakatsu”, easily one of the most popular “historical” headcanons in the history of the franchise. According to this twitter thread, the legends about Zanmu’s longevity (or immortality) have a pretty long lifespan themseles, as they were referenced by relatively high profile modern writers, like Orikuchi Shinbou and Tatsuhiko Shibusawa. 

Buddhist immortals

A word carving of a sennin, "immortal" or "hermit" (wikimedia commons)

Legends about long-lived (or outright immortal) monks, such as Zanmu or Kaison, are hardly uncommon. A work which seems to be the key to understanding their early development, and by extension possibly also the portrayal of Zanmu in Touhou, might be Honchō Shinsenden, “Records of Japanese Immortals”. This title refers to a collection of setsuwa, short stories typically meant to convey religious knowledge or morals. Its title pretty much tells you what to expect. Honchō Shinsenden is an interesting work in that while it in theory deals with Buddhism, and largely describes the individual immortals as, well, Buddhists, it ultimately reflects a Taoist tradition. There is a strong case to be made that it was an inspiration for another Touhou installment, specifically Ten Desires, already, seeing as it mentions prince Shotoku and Miyako no Yoshika and its Taoist-adjacent context has a long paper trail in scholarship, but I will not go too deep into that topic here - expect it to be covered in a separate article later on. Stories of immortals are pretty schematic, and their protagonists can be categorized as belonging to a number of archetypes. I think it’s safe to say this has a lot to do with the self-referential character of this sort of literature - compilers of new works were obviously familiar with their forerunners, and imitated them for the sake of authenticity. In China, literary accounts of the lives of immortals circulated as early as in the first century BCE, with the concept of immortals (xian, 仙, read as sen in Japanese; this term and its derivatives have various other translations too, with Touhou media generally favoring “hermit”) itself already appearing slightly earlier. It seems Shenxian Zhuan (Biographies of Spirit Immortals) by a certain Ge Xuan, certified immortals enthusiast and cinnabar-based immortality elixir connoisseur (discussing and developing immortality elixirs was a popular pastime for literati in ancient and medieval China), can in particular be considered the inspiration for the later Japanese compilation. While the concept of immortals was largely developed by Taoists, tales focused on them were already not strictly the domain of Taoism by the time they reached Japan. They were embraced in Chinese culture in general, both in strictly religious context and more broadly in art. In Japan, they came to be incorporated into Buddhist worldview, and in fact Honchō Shinsenden states that their protagonists can be understood as “living Buddhas” (ikibotoke), a designation used to refer to particularly saintly Buddhists. Their devotion to both Buddhas and other related figures, and to local kami, is stressed multiple times too.

Presumably this was the result of the influence of the Japanese Buddhist concept of hijiri (聖), a type of particularly rigorous solitary ascetic in popular imagination regarded as almost divine. Needless to say, most of you are actually familiar with the hijiri even if you never read about them, as this is the source of Byakuren’s surname and a clear influence on her character too. In Honchō Shinsenden, it is outright said that the sign 仙, normally read as sen, should be read as hijiri in this case.

A portrait of Huisi (wikimedia commons)

The notion of extending one’s lifespan was not incompatible with Buddhism, as evidenced by tales of adepts who lived for a supernaturally long period of time to show their compassion to more beings or to get closer to the coming of Maitreya. Even the founder of the Tiantai school of Buddhism (the forerunner of Japanese Tendai), Huisi, was said to meditate in hopes of extending his life to witness Maitreya. At the same time, Chinese compilations of stories about immortals do not list Buddhists among them, in contrast with Japanese ones. This might be due to the rivalry between these religions which was at times rather pronounced in Tang China, culminating in events such as emperor Wuzong's persecution of Buddhism. Let’s return to Honchō Shinsenden, though. Its original author was most likely Ōe no Masafusa, active in the second half of the eleventh century. No full copy survives, but the original contents can nonetheless be restored based on various fragmentary manuscripts. Some of the sections are preserved as quotations in other texts or in larger compilations of stories, too. I have seen claims online that the historical Zanmu is covered in some editions of the Honchō Shinsenden or works dependent on it. So far I was only able to determine with certainty that Zanmu is covered alongside the immortals from Honchō Shinsenden in at least one modern monograph (Nishi-Nihon-hen by Kōsai Chigiri; if anyone of you have access to it I’d be interested to learn what exactly it says about Zanmu) and a number of posts and articles online. However, he lived around 400 years after this work was completed, so he quite obviously does not appear in its original version, contrary to what the Touhou wiki says right now. Masafusa does not necessarily portray the immortals as pinnacles of morality, and indeed moral virtues do not seem to be a prerequisite for attaining this status in his work. It is therefore possible that despite being setsuwa, his tales of immortals were an entirely literary endeavor and were not meant to evoke piety, let alone promote the worship of described figures.

A recurring pattern which unifies all of these tales is describing immortals as eccentric. As I already noted, this is a distinct characteristic of the historical Zanmu too, and it comes up in the bio of his Touhou counterpart as well. She has “reached the absolute pinnacle of eccentricity”. It seems safe to say ZUN is aware of that pattern, then, and consciously chose to highlight this. He also stresses that Zanmu has lived through an era of marital strife, specifically through the Sengoku period. The inclusion of such episodes is another innovation typical for Japanese immortal tales, and does appear to be a feature of the tradition pertaining to Zanmu’s counterpart too, as discussed above. Horned hermits?

A modern devotional statuette of Laozi with horns, found on ebay of all places; reproduced here for educational purposes only.

There is a further possible feature of Zanmu that might be tied to Honchō Shinsenden. While there are numerous physical traits attributed to immortals in Chinese sources, Masafusa decided to only ever highlight two. One of them are unusual bones, the other - horns on the forehead. Tragically one of my favorites, square pupils (mentioned in Liexian Zhuan), is missing. Masafusa relays that an anonymous hijiri, the “Rod-Striking Immortal”, grew stumpy horns as a sign of attaining his supernatural status.This might be a stretch, but perhaps Zanmu, due to being the Touhou version of a legendary immortal, also already had horns before becoming an oni. You have to admit it would be funny.

The two horns - or rather small bumps, based on available descriptions -  characteristic for some immortals were known as rijiao (日角; “sun-horn”) and yuenxuan (月懸; “moon crescent”). Such unusual physical features were already attributed to various legendary and historical rulers and sages in China in the first century CE, so this is not really a Taoist invention, but rather an adoption of beliefs widespread in China in the formative years of this religion. They also intersected with the early Buddhist tradition about the so-called “32 marks of the Buddha”, documented for example in Mahāvastu and later in Chinese Mahayana tradition which Taoist authors were familiar with. Yu the Great, the flood hero, was among the legendary figures said to possess horns in Chinese tradition. It is even sometimes believed Laozi had them when he was born, which according to Livia Kohn was meant to symbolically elevate him to the rank of such mythical figures as Fuxi.

While this is ultimately a post focused on Zanmu, I think it’s worth pointing out this belief in horned ascetics has very funny implications for Kasen. Being a “horned hermit” is not really an issue, it would appear. If anything, it adds a sense of authenticity. Clearly Kasen needs to study the classics more.

Immortals (and mortals) in hell

One last connection between Zanmu and legends about immortals is her role as an official in hell. However, this is much less directl. Early Chinese sources mention “Agents Beneath the Earth” (dixia zhu zhe 地下主者), a rank available to low class immortals choosing to serve in the land of the dead. They could be contrasted with the immortals inhabiting heaven, regarded as higher ranked than them. However, note that there are also many narratives focused on mortals becoming officials in hell - in Japan arguably the most famous case is the tale of Ono no Takamura, a historical poet from the early Heian period. In Chinese culture there are multiple examples but I think none come close to the popularity of judge Bao. It does not seem any immortals playing a similar role retain equal prominence in culture. Ultimately this paragraph is only a curiosity, and a much closer parallel to Zanmu's role in hell exists - and it’s connected to materials ZUN already referenced to booth.

Corrupt monks, oni and tengu

Ryōgen, the most famous monk turned demon, and his alter ego Tsuno Daishi (wikimedia commons)

In addition to characterizing Zanmu as eccentric, ZUN also wrote in her bio that she is a corrupt monk. As we learn, she developed a belief that the best way to reconcile the Sengoku period ethos which demanded boasting about the number of enemies killed with Buddhist precepts was to focus on spirits rather than the living, since she will basically deliver salvation to them. She ultimately “absorbed some beast-youkai spirits, thus discarding her life as a human”. This to my best knowledge does not really match any genuine tradition about the historical Zanmu, related figures or anyone else. As far as I can tell, it’s hard to find a direct parallel either in irl material or elsewhere in Touhou... at least if we stick to the details. More vaguely similar examples are not only attested, discussing them was for a time arguably the backbone of Buddhist discourse in Japan, and neatly explains why Zanmu became an oni. The idea that monks who broke Buddhist precepts in some way turned into monsters is not ZUN’s invention. It first appears in sources from the Heian period, and gained greater relevance in the Kamakura period. Particularly commonly it was asserted that members of Buddhist clergy who fail to attain nirvana turn into tengu. However, oni were an option too. Bernard Faure points out that Ryōgen, the archetypal example of a fallen monk (see here for a detailed discussion of this topic, and of his return to grace as a demon keeping other demons at bay), could be described as reborn as an oni, for example. The Shingon monk Shinzei is variously described as turning into an oni, a tengu or an onryō (vengeful spirit). Oni are also referenced in a similar context in Heike Monogatari alongside tenma, a term referring to demons obstructing enlightenment in general.

Corrupt monks turned into tengu in the Tengu Zoshi Emaki (wikimedia commons)

Typically it was believed that monks who turned into demons went to a realm variously known as makai, tengudō or madō. As you may know, normally there are three realms one should avoid reincarnating in - beasts, hungry ghosts and hell - but this was basically a bonus fourth one. Granted, this view was not recognized universally, and the alternative interpretation was that it was just a specific hell with a distinct name. At the absolute peak of this concept’s relevance, the foremost Buddhist thinkers of these times, including Nichiren, were accusing each other of being demons. Additionally, some of the past emperors, especially Sutoku and Goshirakawa, could be presented as tengu, for example in Hōgen monogatari. There was also an interest in finding gods who could keep the forces of disorder at bay. You can see echoes of these beliefs in rituals pertaining to Matarajin, which ZUN rather explicitly referenced in Aya's route in Hidden Star in Four Seasons. Typically the reason behind transformation into an oni, tengu or another vaguely similar being were earthly attachments. Alternatively, it could be pursuing gejutsu, “outside arts”, essentially teachings which fell outside of what was permitted by Buddhism. Note this does not necessarily mean anything originating in religions other than Buddhism, though, the term is more nuanced. So, for instance worship of kami or following Confucian values are perfectly fair game. A synonymous term was gedō, “heretical” way (on the use of the term “heresy” in the context of study of Buddhism see here). We can make a case for Zanmu’s bio alluding to that - she wanted to adhere to the social norms of the Sengoku period by symbolically taking in a headcount by absorbing spirits, I suppose. That’s not really a thing in any Buddhist literature, though, and I assume ZUN came up with this himself. Conclusion While this article is slightly less rigorous than my recent research ventures pertaining to Matarajin, let alone the Mesopotamian wiki operations, I hope it nonetheless sheds some additional light on Zanmu. I will admit I already liked her even before I started digging into the possible inspiration behind her, and finding out more only strengthened my enthusiasm. While there are clear parallels between Zanmu, her namesake and a variety of other characters from Japanese and Chinese literature and religions, as usual for a character made by ZUN her strength lies both in creative repurposing of these elements and in adding something new.

Postscriptum: Zanmu and Tang Sanzang?

Xuanzang, as depicted by an unknown Qing artist (wikimedia commons) While much about Zanmu’s character - her backstory as an eccentric fallen monk who became a demon, her apparent zen theme, and so on  - all form a coherent whole, there is a tiny detail which does not really match anything else discussed in this article. It does not come from her dialogue or bio, but rather from Enoko’s. As we learn, she became immortal herself after eating a piece of Zanmu’s body back when the latter was still a human. Or rather, the combination of that and subsequently consuming a magical gemstone as recommended by Zanmu did it - I’m pretty sure I misread this before. As 9 pointed out to me, probably the implications are just that Enoko’s backstory is a partial reference to Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, which does state that consuming the flesh of a monk would be a particularly suitable way for an ordinary animal to turn into a youkai. Still, comparisons between this tidbit and Journey to the West have been made by others before already, so I figured it would be suitable to address them here even if they lie beyond my own argument about the inspiration behind Zanmu. In this novel, many demons want to devour its protagonist Tang Sanzang because his flesh is said to make anyone who consumes immortal. This is because he is a reincarnation of Master Golden Cicada (Jinchan zi, 金蟬子), a disciple of the Buddha invented for the sake of the story. Interestingly, Sanzang is portrayed as an adherent of Chan Buddhism, the school from which Japanese Zen is derived (note that his historical forerunner Xuanzang belonged to the Yogācāra tradition instead). Despite the vague similarities, I ultimately do not think there are particularly close parallels between Zanmu and Sanzang. For starters, Zanmu is meant to be a corrupt monk, while Sanzang is the opposite of that. Their respective characters couldn’t differ more either. Throughout the entire novel, Sanzang is a pretty poor planner, shows doubt in his own abilities, and regularly misjudges the situation. Needless to say this does not exactly offer a good parallel to Zanmu. Sure, she creates a bootleg Wukong, but Sanzang did not create Wukong, the famous primate was just assigned to him as a bodyguard. Therefore, until evidence on the contrary appears (for example in an interview) I would personally remain cautiously pessimistic regarding a possible connection here.  Recommended reading

Bernard Faure, Rage and Ravage (Gods of Medieval Japan vol. 3)

Noga Ganany, Baogong as King Yama in the Literature and Religious Worship of Late-Imperial China

Zornica Kirkova, Roaming into the Beyond: Representations of Xian Immortality in Early Medieval Chinese Verse

Christoph Kleine & Livia Kohn, Daoist Immortality and Buddhist Holiness: A Study and Translation of the Honchō shinsen-den 

Livia Kohn, The Looks of Laozi

James Robson, The Institution of Daoism in the Central Region (Xiangzhong) of Hunan

Haruko Wakabayashi, From Conqueror of Evil to Devil King: Ryogen and Notions of Ma in Medieval Japanese Buddhism

Idem, The Seven Tengu Scrolls. Evil and the Rhetoric of Legitimacy in Medieval Japanese Buddhism

#touhou #zanmu nippaku #nippaku zanmu

[failbettergames]

The Great Hellbound Railway

The Great Hellbound Railway is an expansive storyline that unlocks after your Persuasive reaches 175, and once you are a person of sufficient importance within London. These new additions expand upon activities and round out stations throughout the journey.

New Research Projects in the Jericho Library

"There are few pleasures greater than being in a library of one's own."

There are two new research projects available to everyone with a Library in Jericho! Return to the Oddlion Septagonal Reading Room to hit the stacks in pursuit of obscure knowledge and errant citations. Pursue forbidden histories of mutability and countervailing mysteries of the Elder Continent in the supreme comfort of your own library, and overturn popular scholarship in style.

These new projects are a permanent addition to the Library, and join the Hinterlands research project as always-available avenues of research.

Practising Law in the Courts of the Evenlode

"The traditions of the Evenlode are older than the courts in London, and the appointment of unconventional counsel is an expected part of proceedings. In fact, many here would be doomed to represent themselves unless you deign to offer your services."

You can now intervene in trials at the Courts of the Evenlode! You've been a spectator for long enough; it's time to wade into the fray and put your legal nous to good use. Defend rattus faber from the sticky fingers of local urchins. Prosecute the case of the Guild of Gondoliers against the Society Matron. Work out exactly what this Rubbery Man is being charged for, and how exactly he feels about it.

Pursuing justice in the Courts of the Evenlode is a permanent new activity, available to all players who have spent enough time in the Magistracy.

Story Additions to Burrow-Infra-Mump

"It is as though it grew in some other place where the colours are brighter and more vivid than our world can support. It is, unquestionably, a rose."

We've released a short new story in Burrow-Infra-Mump! London's ill-fated war against Hell casts a long shadow. Debts remain unpaid, relationships strain, and old obligations come due. A rose has appeared in Burrow-Infra-Mump; a curious plant of petal and bone that neither London nor Hell seems enthusiastic to claim. Cultivate it, or burn it to the ground, and learn of its relevance to the conflict of '68.

This short story is available to anybody who has completed the development of the church at Burrow, and starts via an Opportunity Card in Burrow-Infra-Mump.

It is also now possible to develop the old ruins at Burrow into a secular freehold. This is an alternate means of completing the station, and does not commit it to any faith or denomination.

New Artwork

Finally, something that you might just have gathered from this blog post already. Each station along the Great Hellbound Railway now has its own unique header art! New artwork joins the existing headers for Ealing and Station VIII, so keep an eye out for these new delights all up and down the journey to Hell.

#fallen london #new stuff

[braimrotting]

screaming crying phils stream today was so good.

i love death family with all my heart and the dynamics at play. the absolute soulread when i said that "hes like paranoid in the opposite way that bad is. bad prepares for every possibly situation and makes sure he has every item for it while phil just ensures he never faces bad situations." phil literally talked about this!!!!! he may not be the richest or strongest but he is the most cautious undeniably. AND its completely reasonable! my heart broke when he asked if he was a bad dad cause no!!!! u arent!!!!

phil takes care of 2 eggs practically single handedly and has full responsibility over them. it isnt like babysitting where at the end of the day theres another parent there. despiter this theres also the feeling of guilt that if either of them die he will be letting down missa/wil. so much pressure its no surprise hes so reclusive + hardcore experience makes him more careful than most too. above all he is a SURVIVALIST!

the little insight into chayannes character was so <3333 light of my life, baby boy, cutie patootie. hes soooo phils boy like, theres a thirst for adventure but danger is only so fun. theres a sense of security and stability which is so unique to this family which becomes more obvious when taken away from that environment. THIS IS NOT SAYING THAT THE OTHER FAMILYS ARE BAD! theres just different stability either from riches, preparation or simply more parents. thats THEIR safety net for danger.

the babies understand phils mindset bc they communicate!!!! god i love communication. they understand that they dont have the same freedom as say richas but they completely get it. longterm safety > momentary fun. it sounds bad saying it like that but the eggs dont really care bc they love! this paranoia kept them alive so far and they still have their slice of life moments. i think these 2 have their armour on the most out of any egg and while phil does sometimes remind them to put it on its so rare that they voluntarily take it off outside the bunker.

also! why tf did the code take pictures of phils base? my memory is kinda shit but i swear the code only took pictures of ninho and not peoples actual bases. should we be lookin into that or was it just supposed to lure phil out of his bunker (cause tbh you have to pry that guy away from the safety of his home). anyways if phils base was the only one that the code took pic of excluding ninho.... thats incredibly concerning. if i remember correctly phils base was the first one to be fully reinforced (i think it was actually illegal but the admins were like meh whatever) idk if it has something to do w that or maybe its because chay +lullah homes are more the bunker than ninho? idk youd think it would take pics of like bads base then too. just seemed strange to me

this was such a ramble i just adore family dynamics and phil is shoving them down my throat. i would love if he joined with the lore but his choice i just feel like hes seen a lot that could be relevant + has pretty good theories.

#qsmp #qsmp philza #qsmp chayanne #qsmp tallulah

[crookedkryptonitebeliever]

Best and Worst of both Worlds (part 1)

Tw: yandere oc guy, but i dont think this chapter shown that yet, but readers a fuckin stalker loser this time, university horrors

Okay guys so this story im literally pitting Yves and Montgomery together, gonna be a little slow burn but we r gonna get 2 da conflict like eventually

Also da settting in university cuase its da most relevant 2 me 💯

Enjouy

PART 2

He's so beautiful and ethereal. The man has been plaguing your mind for the entire week, you're being distracted from your assignments just because of this unbelievably gorgeous man with silky, long hair and dressed to the tens.

You grinded your teeth and scratched your skin, you know where he frequents. The university's library. And you obviously want to get closer to him after he caught you from falling. You slipped on a sheet of paper that you dropped and this mysterious stranger was there to catch you by the waist before your body could make any devastating impact. Unfortunately, your stacks of textbooks and other miscellaneous documents were scattered to the ground.

"Are you alright?" He asked, his voice was smooth and pleasant with a unique, suave accent to it.

You were reduced to a nervous, stuttery mess. He gently brought you back up to your feet, he helped you gather your things and even arranged it by size and weight, so that it would be less likely for it to topple over. The man took a further step to smoothen the frizzles of your hair, fix your collar and sleeves. He even zipped your backpack up, you were unaware that it was open in the first place, adding to your embarrassment. You couldn't really push him away because your arms are occupied with your belongings.

It was hard to look into those stunning emerald eyes without flustering yourself even further, so you looked away while you stammered a "thanks" to him.

"Be careful." He said as he tilted your head by the chin to make direct eye contact. You know that you're as red as a tomato, but he didn't comment on it. The man lets you go before walking away, he fixed the handles of his luxury bag on his shoulder. Luscious curls bouncing with every step.

You felt like you wanted to explode right there and then, it took you a while to regain composure, other university personnel wondering why you're just standing in the middle of the path like that. Aren't you tired of holding all that stuff? It looked heavy.

You were snapped back into your senses when someone who you assumed had a bad day, told you to get out of the way. You scurried along the traffic, having the incident fresh in your mind.

You wonder who that man is, a student? A professor? A staff member?

You came to know that he's in the library for a few hours every weekday afternoons. He doesn't have a particular spot, the mystique spontaneously appears in random but fairly secluded reading spots in the library.

You felt like a stalker, but that's what you are. Too shy and afraid to talk to him, yet content with watching from afar. His ears are covered by his hair, so you don't know if he had any earbuds in. Fuelling your hesitance to make any contact first.

He could be reading a thick novel, handwriting something down on his notebook, or he could be typing away on his sleek, black laptop. In either instances, you have no idea what he's doing, it's either in a foreign language, full of numbers or completely made up of technical jargon.

You don't know why you're doing this instead of studying for your midterms. You're never like this to any of your crushes, not this obsessive over a real person, so why now? What compelled you to become this... creep? It's like you can't stop. You're scared of rejection but you can't get rid of the butterflies in your stomach.

You had no one to talk to about it because university is a very lonely place. At least, for personality types like you. You didn't want to bother your other friends, they have their own problems to worry about.

It reaches a point that you tried following him out of the library, wondering where he will go next. Before you could step past the automatic sliding doors, you looked at the book in your hand.

'Wait a minute, this is fucked up.' You thought to yourself. This isn't like you, exams are in spitting distance and you're subjecting this poor person to this harassment just because of a singular interaction.

You made a 180⁰ turn and marched back to your all-time favourite seat. Which happened to be occupied by the stranger earlier, maybe that made you a little peeved because you "claimed" it first at the start of the year. But he took it for the day.

To your surprise, there lies his notebook on the ground. He must have accidentally left it. You picked it up and looked around to make sure the coast was clear, then you flipped through it.

You were blasted with numericals, diagrams, words you weren't sure if it was written in English or otherwise and even floorplans of a building of some sort. You couldn't understand anything.

"Excuse me."

You whipped your head to the whisper. It was him! Your blood ran cold as he caught you snooping through his item. You opened your mouth, but no sound came out.

You struggled to form a coherent sentence as you pointed at it, you're done for, you're going to be confirmed a creep. But he only watched you with the utmost patience.

There came a point where you gave up, placed the closed book on the table and pushed it towards him.

Luckily though, you didn't have to say another word.

"You found my notebook. How careless of me to have dropped it." He pulled a chair opposite of you and sat down. You watch him place his handbag on another chair.

He elegantly picked the journal up and slid it into his bag. You were sweating at this point, the dread is about to make you vomit on him and that's not great. You wished that he would go away now, but seeing that he's locked onto his seat, it's highly unlikely.

You prayed hard for it though, he finished his business for the day. There shouldn't be any reason for him to linger.

"Thank you for keeping it safe. I hope you found whatever it is you were seeking from me." He continued, crossing his legs and resting his hands on the table.

What.

You asked what he meant by that.

A teasing smile made its way to his rouge lips.

"You were watching me." You grew pale and you scrambled to explain yourself, but he raised his index finger to signal you to let him continue.

"Your tact could be improved upon; I could see you trying to hide behind the shelves, I could hear you mumbling to yourself, and you shouldn't think so lowly of yourself." He propped his head up on one elbow.

Your cheeks felt hot. That is true, you were berating yourself for being too wimpy to go ahead and talk to him. You just didn't think you were that loud.

"I would have enjoyed having a chat with you. I wouldn't have thought that you were-- and in your own words, a 'creepy, loser-freak'."

Oh. He heard that too. You wish that you could disappear this instant.

"I'm flattered that you thought highly of me. However, I was disappointed that you thought that I was intimidating." He pouted playfully. "I won't bite." He twirls a lock of his hair around his fingers.

Your nerves are frazzled as he leans in. You didn't know what to say or what to do. He seemingly picks up on that and continues leading the conversation.

"Let's start with names. Tell me yours and I'll tell you mine." You felt his shoe brush against your leg.

You almost forgot your own name as you watch the bead of sweat drip down your nose in horror. He must think you're a stinky slob.

But all he does is stare straight into your soul while drumming his fingers against the table.

You told him your name, with a severe stutter. Each passing second felt like a serrated knife slicing through your flesh.

He repeated it, syllables rolling through his tongue wonderfully. He pronounced it correctly on the first try despite your cripplingly anxious enunciation.

"Yves." He replied. Finally, you have his name. You're totally not going to use that to dig for more information on him.

"You have a beautiful name." He complimented.

You nervously returned the compliment and let out an awkward laugh. Trying your best to ignore the growing sweat stain between your pits.

"How charming of you, (name)." He stood up and pushed his chair back under the table. Yves collected his bag and turned his attention back to you.

"I'd love to talk longer, but I must go now. I believe you have an exam to prepare for. Best begin your revision now, I hope our brief conversation has helped to quell your worries."

...and you mumbled that part about yourself too. It's pretty safe to assume he heard all your thoughts.

Yves extended a manicured hand to you. Taking this as a clear request for a handshake, you accepted it.

Only for him to bring it up to his lips, tenderly and fleetingly kissing your knuckles. This entire time, his piercing gaze never left your eyes.

You wanted to claw yourself out of your flesh and die out of embarrassment.

"Study well."

He lets your hand down and presses it momentarily with his larger ones.

You watched him saunter away with his back turned against you.

You brought the back of your palm to your sight.

There is a faint, reddish tint on it. It must have been from his lipstick.

You're not sure if you ever want to wash your hand after this.

#yandere #yandere x reader #yandere oc #yandere male #yandere concept #tw yandere #yandere x you #yandere oc x reader #male yandere oc x reader #oc yves #oc montgomery

[k-s-morgan]

hii, there’s something that’s been on my mind since the last chapter. When Tom slapped Harry, there was an immediate tension imbued into the scene. Was this intentional? I saw some other comments expressing kinda the same thought, like waiting for the other shoe to drop, yet it was hardly touched upon. As Harry says a slap is not much compared to cursing him, so I figured this anticlimax was just a case of readers applying real-world lenses to fiction. though after the latest snippet I’m unsure

Hi! Oh, rest assured that this abusive element of their relationship is carefully planned and it will have its repercussions and resolution.

Tom is a person who uses a variety of tactics. He's extremely smart and perceptive, so he looks for a unique approach to everyone. Slowly, gradually, he lures his victims into a web of abuse that they are unable to leave willingly. Look at his followers: they adore him and cling to him even though he humiliates them, dehumanizes them, treats them like servants, and is often cruel or downright violent. These followers are all powerful and more or less educated individuals who would have never thought they'd agree to be treated like this - but the shift in their relationship with Tom happened so gradually that they turned into lapdogs without realizing it. They are ready to fight to death for his attention.

Harry is different, and Tom knows it. He understands that the approach he uses on his followers would not work in this situation: Harry is not interested in the same things, he rebels against authority, and if pushed, he's going to push back.

So Tom chose another way. He's testing the boundaries, observing how far he can bend Harry, what he can do to him until it becomes too much. He decided to mix his abuse with his actually-genuine feeling of care - and it worked.

Harry is vulnerable to people who care about him. If Tom tortured him, duelled him, he would have responded. But these little violent acts just leave him in stupor because it's something new, and worse, it happens at the background of affection.

When Tom slapped Harry, it was because he was jealous of the attention Harry could potentially give to someone else; he also used Harry's anger to help him understand his magic better. When he broke his finger, it was because he was angry at Harry's refusal to stand up for himself. Tom is specifically allowing himself to get violent in the moments where he shows care to Harry, and this confuses Harry and makes his responses apathetic. He truly doesn't know what to do with it - he understands it's wrong, but it doesn't seem like that big of a deal after everything he lived through; it doesn't feel like something relevant when he knows what Tom is actually capable of, and a part of him is even flattered because it's proof that he's affecting Tom and that he means something to him. Harry doesn't know what an appropriate reaction should be here, and he doesn't want to blow things out of proportion when they are making progress.

This is how abusive relationships are often born. Little by little, one act of violence or restriction after another. Harry is going to get entangled in Tom's seductive web of abuse just like his followers, but unlike them, sooner or later, he'll snap out of it, and he'll fight back. And sooner or later, Tom will understand that he can't have the relationship he wants with Harry if he keeps resorting to his old tricks.

#my fics #tomarry #tom riddle #harry potter #atlwetd

[gobbogoo]

So! Finished watching the new Fallout show. Twice. I heartily recommend it regardless of if you've played the games.

Thematically speaking, they absolutely NAILED it. Fallout's charm has always come from a specific blend of absurd comedy and grim tragedy. One moment you're being forced to execute an innocent person for your own survival, the next you're having a funny conversation about Shakespeare with a big green man. The show knows when to take itself seriously and when to be silly, and that's very important to get right! The violence especially is handled well. It has a careful balance between campy and gruesome similar to what you'd find in Evil Dead. Just like the wasteland, Fallout's violence is equal parts brutal and absurd.

But what I REALLY appreciate is how the show explores aspects of the world that the games CAN'T! Its occasional flashbacks to prewar America are arguably where the show is at its strongest, because while the Fallout games have always critiqued unregulated capitalism and government/corporate propaganda, they could only ever really do so in the past-tense. The show meanwhile takes full advantage of its ability to jump between present and past, and in doing so manages to use its cold-war setting to make some EXTREMELY relevant critiques of modern America.

Lastly, I feel I should mention it was a delightful surprise to see some not-insignificant nonbinary representation! Not that Disney blink-and-you'll-miss-it crap, either. I REALLY didn't expect that because I know Fallout is one of those older game series that has capital-G "Gamers" as a not-insignificant portion of its fanbase. The sort of people for whom there are only two sexes: "Male" and "Political."

But in retrospect the Fallout series ALSO has games where being gay is a literal unlockable ability that provides unique benefits in both conversation and combat with same-sex NPCs. This really wasn't a big jump from that.

So... yeah! If you for some reason read all this without having seen the show, go see it! It's a fun time!

#fallout tv series #fallout #fallout tv show #specifically the game that considers gayness to be a power is: #fallout new vegas #queer representation #nonbinary representation #fallout prime

[bsd-bibliophile]

To add even a single line to a work of literature simply for the purpose of making it beautiful is unacceptable. Beauty is not born where one is consciously trying to create it. There are things that we absolutely must write and things that absolute must be written. Our job is to compose only in accordance with those uncontrollable needs. It is all, from the beginning to end, a matter of ‘necessity,’ and that alone. When a work takes its unique shape in accordance with some ‘undeniably genuine substance,’ beauty will emerge naturally. Any pillar erected outside the demands of substance and in the interests of aesthetics or poetics is just a flimsy piece of handicraft. This attitude is what the ‘spirit of prose’ is all about; it is the ultimate goal of the novel. In fact, this attitude is the one true path for all the arts. These are the relevant questions: Is what you write truly necessary? Is it a gem so precious that you cannot resist expressing it, even at risk to your very life? Finally, have you discarded all that is superfluous and expressed yourself in a genuinely suitable manner, in accordance with necessity and in your own unique manner?

Sakaguchi Ango, “A Personal View of Japanese Culture”

#sakaguchi ango #japanese literature #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd

[txttletale]

bundletober #13: blazing hymn

alright i've fallen behind on bundletober (the series of blog posts where i review and talk about a ttrpg i got in a bundle every day) and am hoping to make up the difference by putting out two entries today. this is the first one, and i'm looking at the mecha-piloting, synthetic-armour wearing, blaspheming-against-God-and-his-angels game blazing hymn by peach garden games.

now sadly this game is not a lyric/blackout poetry game about rewriting church hymns to be about gay sex. someone should make that btw. no it's just about wearing highly advanced battlesuits powered by the song of your heart to kill aliens with weapons of pure energy. which is about as cool.

first off, the layout of this game is unique and stylish. there are hexagons everywhere:

the game puts sparse splashes of dreamy pastel colours amid a constantly shifting set of black and white hexagons. it gives the book a visual identity that is at once both visually distinct and also changing massively from page to page. it's a really cool way to mix things up and keep you wanting to turn the page if just to keep seeing what the next one even looks like.

what's the game about? simple. angels have come to earth to destroy it badly. with the power of song, young people can power specially designed battlesuits, called Hymnals, that when not activated collapse down into crystal necklaces. it's a pretty anime concept--the game is pretty open about being inspired by Evangelion and Symphogear, neither of which i've actually seen--but it's cool as hell. the aesthetics of the layout really help bring the aesthetics of the game itself, of technology and ethereal mysticism merged into one thing, to life.

the game uses a pretty simple three-stat system where you build dice pools with a state relevant to an action and can get a full success, mixed success, or failure, depending on what you roll. your characters have two resources, Health, which is what it sounds like, and Gain, which is essentially magical power. because you can swap Health for Gain and Gain for Health at a 1-1 ratio with no restrictions, i'm not really sure why they're separate things--seems like a missed opportunity to not only simplify the mechanics but also create a strong mechanical narrative element by making Gain the only thing that keeps you going--once your song is silenced, you're out.

to create a character, you pick from one of six unit classes--here's where i'd describe the six classes, but honestly, they don't quite feel distinct enough. a lot of the powers you can pick for each hymnal class feel very similar, or are outright overlapping in a lot of cases. this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the descriptions of the hymnals, while trying to clarify their combat roles, all end up seeming to repeat themselves or say contradictory things. i think some direct ties between those descriptions and their mechanics would have helped--i'd find it a lot easier to remember that, for example, the 05 Xyston type "brutal in combat" if that flavour text was followed by a direct reference to one or more of its abilities. they do all have pretty different stats--which, in a game with a very simple and elegant combat system, means i'm confident they play very differently once you hit the table. but just looking at them, as a prospective player, i struggle to tell the difference.

i don't have that problem with the next character creation mechanic, though, which is choosing the songs you sing to power your hymnal. each song, as well as a thematically appropriate set of stat boosts, also prompts a pair of revealing character questions. they're the kind of mechanic that i want to get my hands on because they make it fun to create characters, giving real mechanical expression to the emotional fundamentals of who they are.

the combat system itself seems really, really good. it's astoundingly simple--you're encouraged to use a map, but there's no fiddly grid or distance tracking, just the ability to move between being Close, Near, or Far from an enemy. it keeps the numbers low to keep it getting silly and doesn't bother with any of the unecessary bookkeeping and fiddliness that plagues TTRPG combat as a whole. no initiative, no separate turns--there's a 'player' turn and a GM turn, and during the GM turn the GM picks from enemy's listed actions until they've done two for each player. players can use their abilities on the GM turn, and the game encourages the GM to take enemy actions that wil lforce them to--so nobody's ever standing around twiddling their thumbs waiting for the whole table to rotate back to them, and having a lot of enemies doesn't mean the players listen to the GM talk for fifteen minutes.

there's two unique mechanics that i think are very interesting-- Civilians and Condemnation. Civilians are--well, exactly what they sound like. on their turn, players can use an action to evacutate up to 5 of them. this extremely small and simple mechanic is fucking genius. so many games tell you they're about saving innocent people, but yet the only mechanical verbs you have to interact with anyone are violent ones. as elaine scarry says in the body in pain:

so in a way i think blazing hymn puts its money where its mouth is in a way very few combat rpgs with emancipatory or heroic aspirations bother. angels are said to attack populated areas--you're sent to preserve life as well as destroy the enemy. it makes the game feel fundamentally different, like despite the questionable ethics of hymnals (after all, they only work on young people, who then have to be sent into deadly combat situations) there is something heroic you can do.

the second cool mechanic is condemnation, a reality-warping toxin that angels use to destroy the places they're sent to. this rocks because it adds a ticking timer to the battlefield, a passive threat that forces the player characters to be proactive. if condemnation gets too high, not only is the fight going to get harder, but civilians are going to die en masse. it's a great piece of game design that gives the GM a great lever to pull for pacing and urgency.

i also really like that one of the steps of the GM turn is to 'change the situation', whether that means something happens in the narrative or something on the map changes (a train arriving is the example the book gives) or more angels attack. in general, one of my biggest complaitns about d&d is that unless a DM takes it upon themselves to design additional mechanics and encounters outside of anything the game actually gives them, combat inevitably turns into two lines of people hitting each other with sticks until one of them dies. i love dynamic, progressing combat, combat where the stakes change moment to moment. and blazing hymn delivers.

anything else? oh yeah, the angel designs are cool as fuck.

god damn. anyway despite a few minor issues with the hymnals themselves, the core of blazing hymnal is fucking good, a nice tight and razor-sharp combat system wrapped up in pulsing pastel crystalline aesthetics. if you like cool anime fights and like having the rules to back it up but hate complexity, crunch, and tedium, this might be the perfect game for you. it's certainly given me a lot of cool design ideas to take foreward into my own projects.

blazing hymn is available for purchase as a digital download through itch.io

#tattletxt #bundletober 2023 #ttrpg #bundletober 14 will of course be shorter

[orbmanson7]

Mm, there's so many things I want to say about the new asides episode, mainly because it was so obviously based on the secret santa scenario from the patreon livestream a little while back...

The only thing Thomas really changed was Logan being the organizer instead of Janus and then Patton's gift to Remus. Most of the chat said he'd get Remus an octopus plushie or a slime stim toy, but I agree with the change because it works really well and rounds out the message at the end, too.

Something that the chat had also been insistent on was giving Logan a Perfect gift, and since Logan was the character hosting the stream, he kept insisting that while Virgil knows his interests, it probably wouldn't be something perfect (pretty sure we decided on a space-themed Lego set that was definitely not specifically my own idea I had put out there or anything 👀), so it was fantastic having that turned around into a fun little puzzle which not only got us some tasteful angst but also gave Logan an interesting and unique present that he would absolutely enjoy, which is exactly what we all wanted!

Again, all the other presents were more or less the same, with maybe less gore involved in Remus' present to Virgil, and with about the same responses, too, which was great! Patton genuinely enjoying his present even though it was meant to be a joke, Janus actually getting a second real present that benefits him, Roman not immediately on board with his gift because it's not extravagant but then realizing the freedom and flexibility that comes with it is its own reward... It was all wonderful.

It also, as with the last little asides episode, gives us a great idea of where everyone stands (I guess both literally in Thomas' mindspace as well as, you know, narratively).

It feels significant that Logan insists that Janus and Remus be included in their activities, but acknowledges that they are traveling there, implying the dark sides don't just hang around or anything, they come and go, which makes sense.

Virgil still vehemently hates Janus but isn't making barbs about his inclusion like he has in the past, and Roman still seems uncomfortable with his brother being around while Remus just seems delighted to be included at all. Roman still has animosity with Janus, understandably, but he's already kind of begrudgingly making his way towards acceptance with him.

Now for the more interesting details - first, Janus and Remus purposefully trying to egg on Logan's anger. Not the first time, but they seem more excited about it here rather than teasing him about it as they have before, which definitely implies confidence that it's not only prevalent but also definitely plot-relevant for the future, not that that was even a question at this point.

Next, it's interesting that Janus and Remus seem to be able to bounce off each other even with how very different they are, but the light sides are so full of discontent that there's a natural discourse with their gifts until there's a chance to explain... It shows that the light sides do not have natural trust in each other, which should be obvious but here it's on display in front of the dark sides, too. They are so clearly at odds (even if they can eventually come around) when the dark sides seem to have figured their shit out.

Also, it's nice to see Patton's gift did, in a way, emulate Virgil's gift from the first Christmas episode, as it also kind of implies Janus' acceptance in that way.

I was actually quite delighted to see that Logan's gift to Roman wasn't just the joke from the livestream, but that it showed Logan did genuinely put thought into the gift but realized he wasn't going to be able to meet the expectations of someone with a limitless imagination and instead played into that fact rather than try to war against it, using something not only practical but unconventional to someone like Roman, something he wouldn't expect but would be able to appreciate with time... And also something that technically takes the decision-making tension away from Logan and makes it Roman's problem instead, though Roman wouldn't be one to overthink and view it as a problem, so it works out extremely well. Finding balance and all that.

And then, of course, the end card scene being really adorable and sweet - that Thomas was thinking about gift-giving because he'd wanted to get something perfect for Nico, and I will agree that he did a great job, adding a tiny bit of (somewhat fresh) nostalgia and catering to Nico's interests...but then wanting to make what is usually perceived as a Big step in what is still a budding relationship, ooh boy... That's definitely some plot setup right there!

Overall, a fantastic episode, based on a lot of ideas from a wonderful livestream - I genuinely loved this. It makes me very hopeful for the season finale, whenever we do eventually get it!

#sanders sides #sanders asides #spoilers #sanders sides spoilers #orbs thought bubbles #long post #this wasnt meant to go on this long whoops

[vaultureculture]

I've forgotten to announce it here BUT I am making a Visual Novel all by myself, because I am fucking insane.

The name's Far End 749. It is a pseudo-dating sim set in space with themes of eldritch, cosmic horror.

Have you ever wanted to join the crew of a space cruiser? Have you ever wanted to go on adventures around the galaxy and maybe, just maybe, lose your life in the process? Well, look no further! The Interstellar Research Corporation is looking for its next in-ship reporter!

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The galaxy is well-mapped now; everybody knows that. In all your years working with the IRC, you never thought you would find something that would have your jaw dropping and your adrenaline rushing. 

Until the Star Abyss appeared, of course. 

The mysterious black hole plummetting into the depths of space that appeared at the border of the known galaxy a month ago, exactly 749 minutes of hyperspace flight away, remains the weirdest thing your corporation has ever seen. But worry not! The IRC's unstoppable capitalistic hunger has caused them to assemble an expedition to remember!  🚀

You, and only you, little scientist bored with your routine, will get to embark on one of the Big Three, the most renowned star vessels working under the IRC. Your job is to report every little thing that happens in the Star Abyss expedition and hopefully live to tell the tale.

To pass the time between cosmic horror and eldritch abomination sighting, perhaps you can get to know the captains of the three ships [The Argent Rose, The Waverider & The Star Lion], and have some insightful conversations with the lead doctor of the medical bay vessel! 🚀

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Jang "Nemo" In-Soo

-They/them

-Captain of the Waverider

-The fastest pilot in the IRC, possibly in the entire galaxy— and the first to accomplish this from a wheelchair. Captain Jang's Waverider is the most technologically advanced of all the vessels, and he wears this with pride. Dutiful and a little grouchy, perhaps they do have it in them to hold a conversation without frowning at you.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Suhaila Abd Al-nûr

-She/Her

-Captain of the Star Lion

-Some people say that you can see Captain Abd Al-nûr's eyes melancholically soften when she looks out of the window into the vastness of the universe. This stern and silent woman is the pillar of her vessel, a tight-knit community of explorers from all backgrounds and ways of life, ready to discover the secrets of the galaxy after undergoing the most strenuous training.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Steven J. Whitaker

-He/Him

-Captain of the Argent Rose

-Where did he come from? Nobody really knows. Nobody really knows why he's working for the IRC, either. Mildly infuriating, frugal with (relevant) words, and casual with his interns, Captain Whitaker's vibrant personality is bound to bring a dynamic atmosphere to the ship he leads.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Thioro Diédhiou

-She/Her

-Chief doctor of the medical bay vessel!

-This brave lady abandoned all that she had on Earth Station to provide care for explorers out in the galaxy! Humorous and elegant, Doctor Diédhiou is bound to teach you a thing or two about the job with the softness and patience of a saint.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

In the game you will be able to (ideally) choose:

ºYour own name and surname

ºYour pronouns

ºOne of 5 routes, each of which present the story and events from an entirely unique POV

I am currently working hard on the demo, which I plan to release sometime around next year.

If you're interested in the characters or the process of creation for the demo and all the assets, find me at

@zephyrean_inquire

@zephyrean_in_space

over on instagram.

Toodles!🚀

#otome game #visual novel #game developer #renpy #far end 749 #eldritch horror #romance #space horror #sci-fi #sci fi #science fiction #vn #cosmic horror #queer romance #jang in-soo #thioro diédhiou #suhaila abd al-nûr #ocs #original character #original content #steven jane whitaker

[blinkpen]

wait do Colin and Zoe have to get their dumb ass mech parts body augments bolted back onto them everytime they respawn

As a general rule, no, they don't! Although for Zoetrope, it's a little more complicated. More on that in a bit.

Setting up how to explain this got a little long so I've put it, along with some more accompanying drawings/doodles, under a cut! But first, a fancy Lamarr (this is actually 100% relevant)

Respawn is used primarily to reconstruct living (or rather, once-living) matter; it actually takes more effort on Necrin's part to reconstruct inanimate things and objects, including clothing and personal affects. Once you have a sort of 'default' look about you, that's how you will respawn, and respawning that outfit's "free" as it were.

Now, even if they are constantly kept on your person, there are some things you have to jump through some hoops to ensure they respawn with you such as magical items or exceptionally unique pieces of tech. This is to prevent dangerous or valuable objects from being wrecklessly duplicated. In the event there is a respawn-induced duplication of a magical item, let's say a magical necklace, for example, one is instantly rendered a dud in terms of its magical properties. You can only guarantee the dud will be the one left behind on your corpse and the one on your respawned body has all its intended properties if you jump through the aforementioned hoops. If you don't, you better haul ass to where your body dropped and hope it hasn't been scavenged or disposed of with your corpse yet.

(On the topic of scavenging, the fact you never know if someone's magical item is 'attached' to them and that's now a dud or still the real deal if they bite it has its own bundle of consequences and plays a big role in the black market of the world. Respawn-induced duds that are then enchanted to briefly fool potential buyers are rampant)

You can 'update' your 'default' look, but doing this costs a not insignificant amount of money, on top of the money you already had to spend to just physically acquire/purchase the clothes in the first place. The only people who can gussy themselves up, and then not constantly be on edge about the risk of losing all that effort, or even the clothing itself, are people who have the kind of money and connections for Necrin to be regularly up to date on what fit to respawn them in every time they change clothes.

Your only other alternative really is to be enough of a badass you can dodge all danger and make it to whatever situation your special outfit is for without dying or the outfit itself taking any damage. But even badasses get unlucky.

Yeah, so I accidentally made an in-universe reason why the cartoon characters tend to wear the same clothes all the time except when it's particularly relevant to the story at hand, but I actually hadn't planned on it serving that purpose… Weird coiny dink.

I used a date as an example here, but in the nature of the beast/the themes of the work, you might imagine, hey, this could effect all kinds of things, like appointments, jobs where you have to wear a uniform or special gear, job interviews, etc, and it does, and that's explored i the story (as is the fact status can affect respawn speed as well, only further exacerbating the issue)

Now back to Collin and Zoetrope specifically, the entire original point of this ask, whoopsie doodle!

Collin sometimes likes to have his 'default' be cyborg arms, and sometimes he doesn't, so he updates it accordingly. He doesn't need to re-do the entire surgical process when he does this; he implanted a sort of 'middle man' cybornetic that the arms can be attached or detached from, which takes some time and precision from someone other than himself, but is obviously much less of an ordeal than putting ALL that tech back in. The 'middle man' cybernetics are there regardless, and sometimes he will pop the arms on and off without updating because of how minimal an inconvenience it is with how rarely he actually dies.

Now for Zoe, the control nodes/parts of the wheel directly attached to him/his body will respawn with him when he does, but the wheel itself, and its free floating node, will not. This is because the wheel was a personal affect (or potentially a body part, given the alien nature of the being) scavenged from an Agent monster, which, unlike lifeforms native to the core, do not respawn when slain/destroyed,. While the wheel is nigh-indestructible and can survive situations Zoe himself wouldn't, it has to be physically retrieved in the event Zoe is temporarily slain, or he's royally boned until they get it back.

yeah this is what i was talking about earlier i'm really mad how this pre-peeled zoe came out i keep playing with fire

#mog art #ask x #lamarr #20q #collin #zoetrope #charlie k #relic v 2 #monster enby #moster boy #oc babble #the agowilt #smoking cw #angel cw #body horror cw