#Thing to Do in Egypt

[sforzesco]

AKHENATEN

uhhh let's see. I combined some sketches I did of Nefertiti and Akhenaten and ended up somewhere here for an Akhenaten design. in my heart, it's for a comic but there's so much visual research I'd have to do before I could even think about approaching a comic. oof.

anyway moving on: Akhenaten was a childhood obsession! and then I moved onto other things, as one does, but then a couple months ago I decided to check out some books and now I have a headache.

Akhenaten, Ronald T. Ridley

[my-name-is-apollo]

Why is Hera so hostile to Leto in a manner that she isn't with the other lovers of Zeus? I can't think of any other woman who was targeted so much by Hera. One could say she didn't want Leto to give birth because her children would be a competition to Hera's children, but why bother her even after she had already given birth? Is it because Leto herself is also a threat to Hera?

Sort of I guess?

I don't think Leto would ever be a threat to Hera's role as the queen of the gods but Hera might see her as a competitor for Zeus' affection, even though I think Zeus would not marry someone else and replace Hera.

The twins are definitely a big reason why Hera begrudged Leto - it is outright stated in the Callimachus Hymn to Delos that the reason Hera especially targeted Leto was because she was told that Apollo would be dearer to Zeus than Ares is. Zeus is very proud of Artemis as well. As he himself puts it, he doesn't mind facing Hera's wrath for children like her.

But the continued hatred even after the birth of the twins (like sending Tityus to rape Leto) could have been for different reasons. This wasn't like one of those affairs Zeus would have with mortal women where he'd leave them behind once the child is conceived. Neither could Hera, despite her many attempts, get rid of Leto like she did with the other lovers. Not only did Leto give Zeus children that he loves dearly, she also stayed on Olympus despite Hera's hatred towards her (which isn't directed to any of Zeus' other divine mistresses, btw). It might have also been because Leto herself is dear to Zeus, if the way she's treated on Olympus is any proof. In the Homeric hymn to Apollo, Leto stands next to Zeus - in the Olympian assembly - to welcome their son. Hera is completely absent from the scene, as if Leto had taken her place even if temporarily. Now you could say this is because Apollo himself is such a powerful and glorious son in a way that no other son of Zeus is, so of course Leto would get such an honor (the hymn itself presents it this way).

But here's another instance - in the Iliad, when Hera goes to seduce Zeus, he is obviously very smitten but before getting into the action, he lists some of his lovers (I believe these were his favorite lovers, as a lot of others are not mentioned):

"for never has such desire for goddess or mortal woman so gripped and overwhelmed my heart, not even when I was seized by love for Ixion’s wife, who gave birth to Peirithous the gods’ rival in wisdom; or for Acrisius’ daughter, slim-ankled Danaë, who bore Perseus, greatest of warriors; or for the far-famed daughter of Phoenix, who gave me Minos and godlike Rhadamanthus; or for Semele mother of Dionysus, who brings men joy; or for Alcmene at Thebes, whose son was lion-hearted Heracles; or for Demeter of the lovely tresses; or for glorious Leto; or even for you yourself, as this love and sweet desire for you grips me now.’ (Book 14, trans. A. T. Murray)

Notice how when talking about most of them, he also mentions the children they bore to him but when Demeter and Leto are mentioned, he doesn't bring up their children at all despite them being some of the most accomplished kids of his. What's more, he takes Leto's name just before Hera's. I mean, this is an interpretation but it looks like not only did Zeus love Leto the most out of all his mistresses - giving her a place second to that of his wife, but also his love for her wasn't necessarily only because she gave him two amazing children.

Nonnus does something similar in the Dionysiaca (but this time Zeus is enamored with Persephone instead of Hera) but more notably, when Typhoeus attacks Olympus and Zeus is discouraged, Nike takes the form of Leto to encourage him and it's pretty telling of what Leto meant to Zeus.

One interesting similarity between Hera and Leto is that they both had a giant try to rape them. Porphyrion tried to violate Hera (Zeus inspired him to do this) and Tityus tried to violate Leto (upon Hera's order). Though both of them were killed, only Tityus got an eternal punishment in Tartarus of having his liver/heart eaten out by vultures so Zeus seems to have taken a greater offense at Tityus trying to assault Leto.

Again, I don't think Zeus would ever take anyone other than Hera as his permanent wife - she is irreplaceable to him. There's an entire myth about Hera leaving him and Zeus winning her back. Their relationship is obviously complex and involves all kinds of emotions including love and hate. But Leto is continually dear to him as well and that's something Hera can't do much about.

[gahtheone]

I call this piece "b-bu-but we're j-just b-best f-friendssss! 😭😭🥱😤🙄"

[potato-lord-but-not]

Under discussed thing that means something to me: John said Oscar made a tourniquet that stopped most of the bleeding when he lost his aem. Yes anyone can do it but you typically have to be taught to make a good one. Oscar is a clergyman WHERE DID HE LEARN TO MAKE ONE?

no literally- I feel like there’s a lot of unexplained stuff surrounding Oscar, like sureee that could be explained in his note but also it’s feeding the delusion that’ll he’ll be back. like hey Oscar care to explain how you make a tourniquet so well? or how Arthur makes it a thing to point out how you knew to cut off your arm instead of cut it out but that literally never gets answered?? or how you’re just OKAY with the fact that strange eldritch beasts exist??? WHAT IS WITH HIM

[countlessofvoids]

Me somewhere in 2026 when a new God of War game is announced and instead of Atreus or Faye oriented game it's another Kratos prequel

[son-of-avraham]

How does conversion work for a trans person? I'm scared of being naked for the mikveh immersion and also the part about circumcision, I really don't want anyone to see my body naked

I feel you on that, anon. So, it will heavily depend on which branch of judaism you plan on converting to, but there will be trans-friendly and trans-unfriendly spaces within each branch. I think the best course of action is to ask around with rabbis which take in students - definitely ask rabbis what their expectations would be as a trans student. Honestly, the only reason I didn't disclose my transness immediately to my rabbi was because I could tell he'd be trans-friendly even through email.

Now, I don't know your specific circumstances, nor will I ask, but there are options depending on what you're looking for. I'm a trans guy - I don't have the obligation to go through bris, and I'm not really able to. However, I do fulfill many of the mitzvot for men, and that compromise sort of offsets the fact that I don't have any way to really go through with bris.

For the mikvah, I've heard some places will put a sheet barrier in the water so that your body isn't fully seen. From what I know, you just need people to witness (even for a split second) that you are fully immersed and not your body. This might be dependent on the movement, however.

Otherwise, the process is very similar if not identical to cis counterparts. You can fulfill a ton of mitzvot as yourself, and in general, transness doesn't really prevent you from doing that. I would definitely talk with your rabbi for any accomodations you might want in this process - it's imperative that you're able to trust your rabbi to be receptive and willing to hear you out or compromise or anything else. If you have follow-up questions, I'd love to hear them; I can only speak to my experiences, but I know that it can sometimes be comforting to know you're not the only trans convert in the world. Transsexuals have become jewish since the dawn of time; you have no reason not to be jewish if that is something you want.

[lilaccatholic]

I am once again thinking about the reluctant ruler whose arc justly and correctly includes assuming the throne and taking responsibility for the people set before them

[mmelolabelle]

Obi-Wan Kenobi: You need to kill Darth Vader! The very fate of the galaxy depends on it! He is pure evil. The source of all that is wrong in universe. Every bad thing that has ever happened ever is his fault - like on a personal level.

Obi-Wan Kenobi: You want me to kill him? Me? The master swordsman? The battle-hardened general? Arguably one of the greatest Jedi of all time? Oh no, I couldn’t possibly!

Obi-Wan Kenobi: No you don’t understand - I love him. Mind your fucking business.

[ifindus]

If you're still doing the ship opinions, what do you think of Egypt x Norway?

lol don't think I ever started doing ship opinions, it's just so happened that I tackled a lot of ship related asks after one another 😅 but always happy to contribute Norway related information regarding connections and relations to other nations! ✨

Can't say I've ever heard about Egypt and Norway as a ship before, so I'm starting all fresh with this one. Norway and Egypt don't really have a lot of relations with each other - most of the dealings between the two nations is regarding Norwegian ships and the Suez, as well as military collaborations, and some Norwegian companies have investments in Egypt. I won't say Egypt is a very popular tourist destination, but there are definitely Norwegians who go there on holiday. There's no major cultural links or other funfacts I can find about them in my very short time looking into this.

For me, I need a historical link or some other cultural bond to really enjoy ships, so I think I'll need a bit more convincing on this one ✨

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

Yo man what's going on with that Prince of Edgypt post??? That other guy fr just keeps going ON.

This is the PUNCH A NAZI website and PUNCH A NAZI people would rather keep digging rather than admit they might, might, *might* have said something that reflects some deeply rooted antisemitism lol

[tehcherrya]

"When you're going to change the world, don't ask for permission."

I was not ready for Arcane Season 2 to start off with Viktor becoming the Messiah, but I am not complaining. He was already my favorite character, he is now my coveted EXTRA favorite. I can't wait for more, and weather or not this goes in a good direction or Viktor still becomes very evil. Either way, put me in line to see when he parts the sea.

I also very highly recommend any Arcane fans out there to listen to the Prince of Egypt soundtrack if you haven't already-- it gave me a lot of good inspiration for this piece. Sincerely, me.

[lotsofdreamb0ats]

now for something entirely different that i will need everyone to have faith in their hearts and trust me on, okay? okay

my interpretation of joseph joestar (both pt2 and pt3) is, honest to god, i am not even joking, accurately described by this song.

if i say josuzi, caejose, avjose, and tomoko/joseph all at once, do we concur

[dylchillvill]

in case I forget to say it, saying it now happy early passover, early chag pesach sameach to Abraham "Abe" lure from oddworld. happy passover to little blue freak. had your own exoddus. you're trying buddy.

[tempestmothstorm]

hiya hi! i saw your DDLC rpg-au on my feed, and I want to say two things:

▪︎ THIS IS SUCH A COOL CONCEPT HELLO??

▪︎ post more about it or I'm hunting you down /j (but seriously, PLEASE tell more I'm so invested)

YESSS YEEESSSSSSDS PEOPLE CARE YESSSSSSSSSSS THANK YOUUUUU

Honestly I’ve been sitting around on this concept for so long so I have a bunch of assorted facts about it and also more details on the lore so I can do that

They all had different elemental affinities and fighting styles. Monika has light based attacks (she summons an energy spear since her old one broke). She’s generally a more physical attacker with good defence and stamina as the all rounder. Sayori has wind bard attack and mostly focused on stat buffs for her teammates. As a magic user she’d probably have lower stats overall but good magic and hp. Yuri is the mage attacker who learns a bunch of element types but has a focus on dark magic. She also sends stat debuffs to the enemies and has the stats you expect from a mage. Natsuki has fire breath and is the physical attacker. She hits hard with her comedically giant axe but is also inexplicably the fast attacker too. She makes up for this by being the biggest glass cannon on the planet so watch out for that

I imagine Yuri and Natsuki are more inclined to magic since magic is symbolism for how close they are to the 4th wall and how connected they are to the game’s universe. They were never in the running for the epiphany so they get more rpg tropes. I’d say both were born with a lot of magical talent because of their heritage (Natsuki’s dad also had fire magic which I totally trust him to use normally)

Over time the battle system would include more team attacks and attacks inspired by other party members to symbolize their growing bonds like as a reward for side story-like events (ex. Yuri and Monika do some light and dark elemental attack together or Natsuki learns her own healing spell from Sayori)

The stock rpg enemies are cursed creatures, constructs, and people and appear as glitchy sprites. The cursed seem to attack indiscriminately and has been slowly infecting the lands. As the start it’s some far distant problem, but by the end basically everywhere they turn there’s a dangerous amount of curse goop. Monika’s paladin oath gives her curse immunity but the rest are in danger. At least Monika can cure small scale/early stage curses

The curse affects the party differently than others. For most it makes them mindless attackers, as if they’re nothing more than npcs, while the party has their worst traits increased. Sayori becomes despondent and has all her stats lowered as she loses motivation. Yuri becomes kinda manic with higher attack and speed but dangerously low everything else, as well as the chance to not attack or suffer recoil damage. Natsuki is just kinda on edge and constantly in fight for flight, with each turn having the change of one random stat being raised with the rest lowered or no turn at all with her frozen. Monika is initially merely damaged by it, but after late game events shakes her spirits, the curse starts to affect her and she begins to hear voices and show symptoms of dissociation/derealization and cant attack. It’s questioned why they’re affected so differently, even assuming they’re in some prophesy stuff. It’s almost as if the curse is trying to make the world a certain way and that these four alone must be reverted to be part of the vision. Hm

This is also why I want isat style battle portraits because being able to show emotion is important for big battle scenes. I’m imagining so many sprites for them. Also play isat

I debated making the team a bunch of dnd races (Sayori as a saytr, Yuri as a tiefling, Natsuki as an maybe a Dragonborn idk, and Monika human because she is the closest to reality) but I opted to go for everyone being human because half of them would not be recognizable as the og characters or stand out from the more human passing characters. More importantly though it signifies the fact that they are different from the rest of the world, as if they were brought from somewhere else and don’t belong. Because of this most npcs would be some non-human dnd race to further that divide

I’d imagine the rpg starting with Monika seeking out some macguffin object that could contact a god that would help her on her quest to end the curse. She gets cornered by some enemies and begins to pray to a bunch of gods until her mind falls on a name she doesn’t recognize, calling for the god of ____________. This is where the game starts as the player is able to guide and help Monika under this new path.

I don’t have colour palette picked out but Monika’s big ass cape is white and it is so important to me. Not only is it an allusion to her big ass bow, having a white cloak tells so much about a character. Because a white cape would be so hard to keep stainless, especially if it’s used in battle. Because of this fact, lighter character designs give the impression that the person either is perfect, sees themselves as perfect, or holds themselves to the standard of perfection. I think this would be really fitting for Monika, and during certain scenes I would plan for her cape to get damaged and burnt to symbolize her crumbling self esteem but that’s its own au spoiler post

Speaking of character design everyone besides Sayori has gloves, because symbolism and the fact that they’re all allergic to being vulnerable. Monika just isn’t used to having her gauntlets off since she was trained to be a knight since childhood. Yuri hides her self harm scars with her gloves (so like every Yuri design with gloves). Natsuki has the most scars around her because of edgy tragic backstory reasons but her gauntlets specifically hide burn scars because guess who else I mentioned had fire powers. She just doesn’t like to think about those ones

For similar reasons Yuri and Natsuki also have big scarves (they fit their roles of mysterious coven member and former thief trying to look bigger than they are) (they are also anti talking about their feelings) (I also like big scarves) (I also considered giving them masks for similar reasons)

Sayori’s big coat and Natsuki’s fireproof scarf are from their parents for very different reasons.

Actually I should just make a character design process post later. I like talking about character design.

I imagine yuri’s self harm could be justified as magic techniques in this universe, but it’s really just a bad coping mechanism and a bad way to suppress or release her uncontrolled magic. Everyone is concerned about it, and it isn’t even a necessary way to draw magic, she just learned it because it was one of the methods her family tried to suppress her uncontrolled magic

^^^Also that whole plot line is like a conversation therapy metaphor. It honestly fits with her whole trying to suppress the weirder sides of herself thing. She has that one trope where her powers go out of control with high emotion so it goes well with this(also ftlt fic I love you)

Natsuki is wanted in several towns

Actually I do have some plot line idea about some bounty hunters and knights hunting her down since she used to be a well known thief before becoming a mercenary. They only know her for her mask tho so it isn’t that bad. But in the whole Natsuki hometown plot line I imagine some old supportive friend from her childhood sees her with her mask on and assumes she’s a thief. After trying to apprehend her they finally recognize her and are like “oh that sad kid from 10 years ago and the infamous thief are the same person oops” and they might have given her a panic attack

Also everyone in this au is slightly more distant mostly because of their backstories being kinda isolating and traumatic because rpgs can’t let people be happy. Other slight differences is that Monika has way more sheltered child social awkwardness and that Natsuki is a bit more aggressive and less cutesy leaning since she had to act tough to make it in the mercenary world and be appealing to hirer. Basically she’s compensating for being short and scrawny. Yuri is also more into magic and history books instead of fantasy since. Yknow.

Honestly Sayori’s is the only untouched one. Her essence transcends the ages. She truly is the heart of ddlc

Monika is the only orphan without known parents because base game leaves her as the only one without a defined backstory besides ‘leaving the debate club’(which is paralleled by her leaving knighthood). She’s also the only one without a last name because of that (the others are Sayori Sakura, Yuri Ishikichi, Natsuki Kisaragi)(I just kinda picked the most generic and alliterative names) (also ftlt mention)

She also does not comprehend how her upbringing might have messed her up. Like Yuri and Natsuki know they’ve got issues because of the past and Sayori is worried about all of them, but when Sayori includes her in that worry she’s like “wdym?” “You were an orphan????” “I mean I was a famous knight” “did anyone raise you??” “Is that bad?”

Sayori’s family are fishermen because her name is a type of fish

I do have pretty detailed ideas on how the game would end but I’m gonna put that in its own post because it’s take away the focus here. But it is my favourite part of the au. So I will do it. It’s very isat to me.

[son-of-avraham]

I love that the people in my shul talk about being a mt. sinai and leaving egypt like, "well, I was in egypt and I saw you at egypt and we were..."

[bugwolfsstuff]

My grandmother: Well my god (actually she said daddy but she meant god) did more for me than your gods have ever done for you

Me, a pagan with religious trauma who just referred to Jesus as JC for short in a completely un-insulting neutral conversation with my mom: .....okay then....

Like.....first off that is by far the least offensive thing ive said/thought about your man, you're lucky I hold back around you, second off.....WHERE DID THAT EVEN COME FROM??? WHO EVEN TOLD YOU I WAS PAGAN? MOM SAID TO NEVER BRING MY RELIGION UP SO SHE DOESN'T HAVE TO 'DEAL WITH' THE CONVERSATION ITLL CAUSE???

Third off, shut the fuck up about my gods its your god's fault our country's culture and gods are almost unknown

For once i held my tongue and this only brought on an hour long stewing in silent annoyance instead of the usual day long emotional wreck of grief, anger and replaying events in my head that usually happens when religion is brought up

(this happened awhile ago but its still fucking irritating)