#and another Kendal and Void interaction

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Thinking about her* again

*aurora arc 2 chapter 3 Torrent

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How would Aurora characters translate into D&D characters? I haven't had the chance to play the actual game too much so these are based on species/class lore and such, not balancing, also I don't know the new 2024 rules too well so I won't really be using them.

Kendal would be a scourge aasimar, oath of redemption paladin Aasimar are characterized by their divine origin, fitting for a man living as a god's incarnation. He'd be a protector aasimar if it weren't for the wings. Maybe a functional scourge with protector lore? Or using the new rules for this specifically? Being a paladin would be fitting to his role, being so closely tied to a god. Celestial warlock class might also work, but the oath of redemption feels almost made for him.

Alinua would be a high elf, circle of the land druid I think Cloud Elves would translate pretty well to high elves. Circle of the land druid is also a natural (ha) class choice for Alinua. This one just feels pretty clear all around.

Erin would be a human, evocation wizard* Human of course. In terms of magic, my understanding of his power is that it's a natural ability, like a sorcerer's would be, but because of the way he uses it, he functions more like a wizard. He could also have a level in another class, given his interactions with the Void Dragon in ch22. Probably warlock, maybe great old one or celestial pact.

Falst would be a tabaxi, scout rogue Cat. Rogue feels a pretty clear class choice for him given his combat role, the scout subclass in particular fitting him very well. Tess would be a juggernaut warforged, storm sorcerer She metal. She lightning. The sorcerer class makes sense for her given how she acquired her powers, and those being storm-related. I'm not sure how well warforged works for her, maybe she'd be a custom lineage or something, but it's at least close. Dainix would be a human, storm herald barbarian Human of course. His demon form bears similarities to a barbarian's rage. Combined with his combat role, the class feels a suitable choice. The storm herald subclass happens to have a suitably fiery desert variant.

[toucan-rede]

Ok, Theory

Ok so in the webcomic Aurora, the “main” character Kendal is an entirely new uncategoriseable entity, a god’s incarnation that survived the god leaving it and developed its own mind and personality. 

Now the god that this happens to is the hero god of the city Vash and, like the Ancient Greek Eros or Nike is named after his domain. So what we know about Vash is that he cut his teeth in this god business by defending his city from and defeating the storm god Tynan, the way he does this is explained here with an in universe telling of the story. What we know is that an alien metal and jewel was worked into an incarnation of Vash at a thematically appropriate moment and became an extremely effective power up, enabling Vash to defeat the hitherto undefeated Tynan. 

Now how this works in the world built magic system of Aurora is really interesting. So in Aurora it appears they're are two (or eight depending on how you count it) fundamental substances of magic, the elements and soul energy, now we know where elemental magic comes from as a central piece of lore in the main storyline so far has been about the ancient war between the elementals and a Void Dragon and how the elementals died defeating this Void Dragon and their bodies meshed together supplying the materials as the world, but the elements still count, and can be persuaded to act, as one body essentially unique to the other elements and so because they belonged to a living entity with a soul can exist in two states, the material element and a sort of potential/soul element held in other materials or channeled by mages to enact elemental effects.

 Now soul energy is something very different and despite the excessive amount of time I've spent explaining the elements, is what we’re focusing on here. Soul  energy is what living things are “made of” being literally the material of souls, now I could be wrong but from I can figure out everything alive contains and in someway uses soul energy, and soul energy has a connection with other soul constructs allowing for an in any capacity uniform group of living things to develop a larger social soul that becomes a god. Vash for instance is a city of people and so through the interaction of their soul energy, construction of early incarnations, and people assigning these incarnations personality or motivations became the hero god the city imagined, as the god itself is made up of the whole cities population who once saw incarnation interpreted them a certain way and influenced some of their aspect. Basically, because the god is their domain how they are viewed by the creatures in their domain effects their personality and most comfortable form. 

So what does this really have to do with Kendal. Well if Vash’s sword was constructed from an alien metal, a solid substance, which issomething almost impossible to make without an elemental, after Vash worked his soul energy into like soul shaper monks do with human prosthetics, which would more than likely work some of this starmetal soul energy into his own soul lattice. Then its likely that Kendal’s soul is made of what little of soul star metal was in the solid material of the meteor. And it’s not just background lore magic systems backing this up.

In the series of pages telling the mythical story of Vash’s Sword we find out that it’s being told through the framing device of the smith god who forged it, to a similar style god to Vash of the Fire influenced race of Ignans. Now while why they're talking and what this incredibly effective smith who uses the arcs and emotional journeys of the wielders of his weapons in his smithing process is doing with a god of fire and fire people directly related to one of our adventuring party is incredibly plot important and personally intriguing, there is something else I wanted to focus on here.

In these panels Tahraim appears to be talking about Dainix, a character Kendal is currently imprisoned with and who are jelling suspiciously well. Now we can see that Tahraim is using his Xanatos gambit forging technique of social engineering to forge out a weapon and fighter for Caliban (probably to fight the fire demon from Dainix’s backstory (who is probably another elemental emissary for Fire (like two other characters currently being heavily associated star metal soul Kendall (I see you Red, with each subsequent layer of brackets I get closer to the truth, witness as my bracketry grows)))) and describing some of the forging fires he’s using fo this weapon (who is probably Dainix, if not definitely)calls one of them “the divine blade”, referring to Vash’s starmetal sword currently held by Kendal, but the blade its self is isnt world shaking, its been around for millennia and everyone is very familiar with its power and prowess as a sword because Vash is an incredibly well known god. But that’s only as a sword, and we know Kendal is world shaking after his discussion with Ilia here where he is told explicitly that the gods fear what he represents but respect the fact that he is an incredibly powerful being with all the strength and ability of a godly incarnation but with no responsibilities of upholding a domain or the limits of staying within they’re domains range. And so the theoretical soul that is Kendal in this incarnation must be made of whatever remainder of star metal soul is left from the solid  star metal in the sword. That had been given the shape and properties of a human/incarnation soul by being weaved into and by Vash and then had the Vash soul ripped apart from they’re shared incarnation leaving the star metal soul to have to develop as its own being in this body

And if all you wanted is proof of this theory you can honestly stop reading here. So far this is dense and a lot and I wanna run through some stuff with this head cannon to nerd out. So if you don't wanna have to read anymore, my argument for this theory is basically through

Kendal being the star metal soul can provide a reason for, guess plot dent instead of plot hole? when Vash takes Kendal to where he is being held by the Collector. The reason this could be a plot dent is that one of the working theories for why Kendal exists can be found in the Sentinels. Essentially building sized stone statues animated by a god semi incarnating in them, its hard to explain so if your interested read here (Also read the comic, it’s really, really good. Like really good. If you get into the extra lore on the website and then scroll through Red’s Aurora Tumblr answers you get to appreciate how truly spectacular her worldbuilding and magic systems are. I mean clearly they’re cohesive and well thought out enough that just off of the magic system you could make a (if I don't say so myself) well reasoned prediction for a major character reveal.) the theory being that because these Sentinels can develop these echoes after being un-possessed by a god over time, the unique way Vash was taken out of his incarnation without dis-corporating it that the body developed a similar echo and is now ambient soul energy drawn into the empty body. However, this wouldn't make sense with Vash taking Kendal to the Collector’s hideaway in his sleep, as if Kendal is made of ambient soul energy he has no actual connection with Vash’s soul and so Vash shouldn't be able to bring him to the crystal he is being held in. But, if Kendal is in fact the star metal soul then he would still have that connection with Vash, as they are the same soul but different parts made of different materials, and so ca operate separately whilst still being so intricately connected.

On one final note, there is one character that already seems to know all this, Tahraim. That Kendal in everyway is the weapon he forged, that they're is a capacity for new elements and therefore different soul energies, that Erin has been possessed by the Void Dragon, and that the Collector has revived life, who has taken Alinua as an emissary, and is using this information not for his own divine or dastardly machinations but on commission. Which is A) a potential threat if Tahraim turns out to be a tad more amoral than he first appears, working as effectively for the next customer instead of esoterically guiding events for the cause of good and B) show cases an incredible mesh of world building and character work with gods being influenced by how their perceived and a god perceived and heralded as an unachievably proficient smith knowing more than any other character or entity we’ve ever seen before and doing exactly what is necessary to forge his commissioned weapons into the most powerful and effective instruments they can be almost only because of how in the magic system some gods are made from ideals and interpretations instead of groups of living things and actually fits the way they are most commonly perceived

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The Shirley Chisholm Monument in Brooklyn Finds Its Designers

During her long political career, Shirley Chisholm became famous for firsts: In 1968, as the first black woman to serve in Congress, she represented a district that encompassed Bedford-Stuyvesant, the neighborhood where she grew up. Four years later, she ran for president, becoming the first black woman to seek that nomination from either major political party (and the first woman to pursue it among the Democrats). Ms. Chisholm retired from Congress in 1983 and died in 2005. But next year she will once again pave the way, becoming the first female historical figure to have a public monument dedicated to her in Brooklyn — a 40-foot-tall likeness in steel that will rise at the southeast corner of Prospect Park.

Its creators are the artists Amanda Williams and Olalekan Jeyifous, who won the inaugural commission for She Built NYC, an initiative introduced by first lady Chirlane McCray, Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen and the Department of Cultural Affairs last summer to correct the gender imbalance in the city’s public art and monuments, nearly all of which are devoted to men.

“Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm’s dynamic leadership and activism continues to inspire all who learn her story, and her service deserves public recognition,” Ms. McCray said in a statement. “This artwork will be bright, bold, and makes a statement — just like Chisholm herself.”

The pair’s design, called “Our Destiny, Our Democracy,” selected from five finalists, fuses the Congresswoman’s signature portrait with the silhouette of the United States Capitol and patterns of vines and leaves, a reference to the vegetation of the park. These images create a multipronged form that would rise to the height of nearby trees, over an amphitheater-style space, whose seats would be inscribed with the names of women who have followed in Ms. Chisholm’s footsteps.

“This becomes something that’s occupiable,” explained Ms. Williams, who is 44 and based in Chicago. “It allows you to be enveloped in a conversation about interacting and bringing others along. This approach to a monument is that it’s an invitation to participate.”

Kristina Newman-Scott, the president of the local arts organization BRIC and a member of the voting panel for the Chisholm competition, called it “almost like a visual hug.”

“I really feel like her arms are present, and her energy is present, and she is giving love to this community,” she continued.

[Shirley Chisholm is one of many exceptional women to represent New York in Washington.]

Ms. Williams and Mr. Jeyifous — yes, a man is codesigning the first She Built NYC project — have known each other since their undergraduate days at Cornell University. They collaborated years ago and have recently begun doing so again, winning a commission for the National Public Housing Museum in Chicago. Both have made art about and in public space, although their styles are different. Mr. Jeyifous’s work, such as “Protest!” (2017), four steel silhouette sculptures of people demonstrating, tends to be bold and bright. Ms. Williams’s is more conceptual and somewhat quieter; for “Color(ed) Theory” (2014—17), she painted foreclosed houses in Chicago in hues that were drawn from commercial products marketed to African Americans.

Notably, both studied architecture, not art — a foundation that Mr. Jeyifous, who is 41 and lives in Brooklyn, said gave them a “strong background in being very intentional about how one takes any idea and distills it down to a set of simple things that can be translated into a physical experience.”

Their training also helped in another, perhaps more unexpected way — namely, by loosening the grip of traditional sculptural conventions or preconceptions of what a monument should be. Mr. Jeyifous said he saw this as an opportunity to “challenge the lone-wolf male figure who sits atop a horse with a sword pointing toward freedom.”

Kendal Henry, the director of New York City’s Percent for Art Program, which is commissioning the work, said he was “very excited about having contemporary artists re-evaluate what it is to create a monument.” He added, “And this is just the beginning.”

Last month, the city announced the next four statues in the She Built NYC initiative, with one for each of the other boroughs, costing between $350,000 and $1 million apiece. The Chisholm monument, which is part of a larger capital project being undertaken by the Prospect Park Alliance, is slated for completion by the end of 2020.

In September 2017, Mayor Bill de Blasio convened a commission to review New York’s public art and historical monuments, especially those that have been sources of controversy. Following its recommendations, the city relocated a statue of J. Marion Sims, who developed a surgical gynecological procedure in part by experimenting on enslaved black women who were not given anesthesia, and then held an open call for a new work to fill the void on the perimeter of Central Park.

Ms. Williams said she has thought a lot about not just the particulars of Ms. Chisholm’s story, but about the significance of making a work dedicated to her right now, when Donald J. Trump’s presidency has intensified debates over both statues that mark public space and the democratic process. “What does it mean to offer public art in this moment?” she mused.

Receiving the commission has given Ms. Williams “the power of knowing that you’re contributing something,” she said. She described it as “a creative outlet to feel like you’re helping people think through” their reactions to the political situation, adding that “it opens and gives permission for any artist to say, ‘How can I contribute?’”

She noted that the work is designed so that viewers would see different images from different approaches, with Ms. Chisholm and the Capitol so inseparable that neither is ever wholly visible.

“That’s kind of how we feel right now in society, like we can’t quite see democracy,” she said. “So it’s the belief that it’s still there. As opposed to always having to be able to see it.”

Sahred From Source link Arts

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Album Review: Arcade Fire - Everything Now

The most troubling time in anyone’s life is adolescence. And often, insecurities born during this time are masked by either acts of defiance or retreat as a way of coming to terms with the transitional phase. It is important then to note that Arcade Fire released their debut, Funeral, 13 years ago.

Prior to the release of Everything Now, the fifth studio album from the Canadian band, they engaged in several viral marketing campaigns, each news story or act as incredulous as the last, all garnering substantial media coverage. It began with a fake Twitter profile presented under the guise of a Russian spambot, and was  followed by fake, premature evaluations and reviews of the record constructed by the band. Then came various fake news stories leaking apparent strict dress codes and restrictions for their shows. Finally, with the release of a new record spawns a cycle of new merchandise, in Arcade Fire’s case fake merchandise, naturally. A  parody of the infamous Kendall and Kylie Jenner t-shirts, special Everything Now fidget spinner-USB hybrid containing the thirteen new songs retailing at $109 were created along with fake cereal produced to coincide with the release of ‘Creature Comfort’. A joke was created, the media were sucked in and an album just happened.

Considering the exploitation of the fake news phenomenon, and Arcade Fire’s #quirky way of interacting with media and fans, there is nothing to prevent us then from assuming that Everything Now is nothing more than a culminating factor of that campaign; a fake album. There are several reasons why someone could be forgiven for thinking that Arcade Fire are turning their music into a joke. It has all the hallmarks of a hoax when you listen to the lyrics and arrangements and see that there are three song titles that are in essence the same, as well as couplet sharing one title. The formatting of song titles bearing similarities is not uncommon (think of the ‘Neighbourhood’ series on Funeral or ‘The Sprawl(s)’ from The Suburbs). Listening to this album it is almost impossible to recognise this as the same group that wrote songs like ‘Rebellion (Lies)’, ‘Wake Up’, ‘No Cars Go’, ‘Ready To Start’, and ‘Reflektor’ though. The differences between the new material and everything before is so vast that any semblance of a comprehensive excursion of musical experimentation on their behalf comes off as dull and false. Upon first listen, songs like ‘Peter Pan’, ‘Chemistry’ and ‘Infinite Content’ are baffling. Aurally abrasive, and not in the good way. Not at all.

Each of the aforementioned cuts are awful for different reasons. ‘Chemistry’ takes us on a Jools Holland Hootenanny style walk through bad ska (what I’m choosing to call ‘Dap Pop’) that veers, for a moment into the same kind of guitar “rock jam” that is eerily similar to Britney Spears’ pointless cover of Joan Jet’s ‘I Love Rock and Roll’.

‘Infinite Content’ is a definite contender for the most nonsensical and irritating track of the year. Thrashing guitar, unapologetically raucous drums (again, not in the good way) and a shrill violin add to the annoyance of Win Butler shouting the words “infinite content” sixteen times amidst his “clever” wordplay turning the song’s title into an assertion of being “infinitely content.” The use of the word content is another indicator that this album is comprised of satirical jibes at the current culture of everyone thriving on churning out content, infinitely. Get it? The harsh rhythm of the latter transforms instantly into ‘Infinte_Content’, where we get to hear those two magical words repeated a further seven times to a lilting arrangement that could easily be heard on a Wilco album.

Taking on the persona of an established band is not limited to an impressive interpretation of Jeff Tweedy. ABBA are reborn on ‘Put Your Money On Me’, just imagine ‘Lay All Your Love On Me’ mixed with ‘Voulez-Vous’ and you have Butler venturing into unsettling territories. It’s strange that a band previously championed for their individuality and inventive compositions, beloved for the swell of intricate musical patterns and textures and sincere, intelligent lyrics, have become so utterly void of individuality here. There is scarcely a pillow up-turned or corner searched that doesn’t expose more robbed, contrived ideas. All of that nuance has disintegrated into a body of work that is challenging to process, listen to or appreciate.

Musically, Everything Now is without hesitation Arcade Fire’s worst album, the vocals from both Win Butler and Régine Chassange are grating and require patience if you are willing to wade through its 47 minute duration. Moverover, the lyrics throughout are equally, if not more, troubling. There are pleas for fame, references to assisted suicide, substance abuse, self-harm and eating disorders in ‘Creature Comfort’. All extremely serious aspects of life that Arcade Fire are, perhaps, not entirely qualified to sing about, especially if one is to assume that this is an album built on parody. There are countless lines that make you feel embarrassed to listen to this album; “Be my Wendy, I’ll be your Peter Pan”, “I can feel you making eyes at me / Baby you can try, but you can’t deny.”, “Love is hard, sex is easy.”

There is a line from ‘Electric Blue’, one of the album’s singles, that is one of the only resonating moments in the wake of listening to Everything Now and evaluating Arcade Fire during this point in their career: “I can’t get my head around it.” The joke isn’t funny anymore and it’s unfortunate that a band with such talent have reduced themselves to a joke in a bid to provide a sort of social commentary that has manifested into an atrocious album waiting to be forgotten.

This review was originally published on The Thin Air’s site. 

http://thethinair.net/2017/08/arcade-fire-everything-now/