#larval wizards...

[freaklets-daily]

DAILY FREAKLETS

[thecreaturecodex]

Ungumani

"Possessed Wild Boar" © Antonio J Manzanedo, accessed at his ArtStation here

[The ungumani is a legend from the Piedmont region of Italy, said to be created by the shed evils of pilgrims traveling to a shrine in Lerma. This plays in nicely to some of the stuff I've written before about alignments acting like bioaccumulation. But it wasn't until a recent screening of Razorback by my friend @bowelfly that the gears on this entry started turning. One of the most stylish monster movies of the 80s, and the titular Razorback in the movie does seem to be as much an incarnation of violence as much as it is an actual animal. The stats themselves are intended to be easy to use in encounter building with boars (CR 2), dire boars (CR 4) and my own feral hog troop (CR 8).]

Ungumani CR 8 CE Outsider (native) This bestial humanoid has the bristly hide and head of a giant boar. Its shoulders are stooped, but it still stands taller than a man. Its tusks are curved and it has blade-like teeth in its too-long jaws, and its beady red eyes gleam with malevolence.

Ungumani are horrible creatures that combine aspects of humanoid and boar, and are the culmination of a complex life cycle born of sin. When a powerful evil soul atones for its sins before death, the sin itself is expelled but still seeks quintessence to bind to and drag towards the ravenous Abyss. Possibly because of their omnivorous scavenging, and possibly because of their association with uncleanliness, pigs are some of the best receptacles for this loose sin. A pig exposed to such sins mutates into an enormous, carnivorous boar (use statistics for a dire boar with the man eating template), and after consuming enough sapient, and thus sinful, life, metamorphoses again. The back of the boar splits open like the skin of a dragonfly nymph, and an ungumani emerges.

All ungumani are the epitome of wickedness, and all of them seek to indulge their sins and prey on sapient creatures. Each ungumani is tied to one of the seven deadly sins, and each ungumani has a variety of magical gifts it can use to protect itself, hurt its victims, or go undetected. These spell-like abilities are tied to the schools of sin magic practiced by Thassilonian wizards, and some sages speculate that the ungumani’s origins date back to that wicked empire. As such, different ungumani may have radically different tactics depending on their spells. Slothful ungumani are the only ones likely to withdraw from even a losing battle; the other sins typically fight until slain.

Ungumani still feel affinity for their porcine origins, and so often keep boars and dire boars as livestock and hunting companions. When seeking the company of others of their kind, some are drawn to members of their own sinful lineage, whereas others (especially envious or greedy ungumani) seek out those of other sins to broaden the skills of the band. Ungumani cannot breed among themselves but are disgustingly cross fertile with boars. The children of such unions are born as man eating dire boars, each one an ungumani “larva”.

Statistics for adult and larval ungumani are below the cut.

Ungumani CR 8 XP 4,800 CE Large outsider (native) Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low light vision, Perception +16, scent, sin-scent

Defense AC 20, touch 10, flat-footed 19 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +10 natural) hp 103 (9d10+54) Fort +11, Ref +7, Will +7 DR 5/slashing and good Defensive Abilities ferocity

Offense Speed 40 ft. Melee gore +15 (2d6+7), bite +15 (1d8+10) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Special Attacks powerful blows (bite) Spell-like Abilities CL 9th, concentration +12(+16 casting defensively) 3/day—scorching ray, sound burst (DC 15) 1/day—fire shield

Statistics Str 25, Dex 12, Con 21, Int 10, Wis 19, Cha 16 Base Atk +9; CMB +17 (+19 overrun); CMD 28 (30 vs. overrun) Feats Combat Casting, Dazzling Display (B), Improved Overrun (B), Improved Initiative, Intimidating Prowess, Power Attack, Toughness Skills Acrobatics +10 (+14 jumping), Climb +16, Intimidate +19, Perception +13, Stealth +6, Survival +13 (+17 following tracks); Racial Modifiers +4 Survival following tracks Languages Abyssal, Common SQ porcine empathy +12, sinful soul (wrath)

Ecology Environment temperate or tropical land Organization solitary, pair or band (1-6 plus 2-4 man eating dire boars and 0-2 feral hog troops) Treasure standard

Special Abilities Porcine Empathy (Ex) An ungumani can influence the attitudes of porcine animals and magical beasts, as per the druid wild empathy class ability, except that this can affect any such creatures with an Intelligence score below the ungumani’s. Sin Scent (Su) An ungumani can detect and pinpoint creatures through scent at double their usual range if those creatures are prone to the sin of the ungumani’s sinful soul (GM’s discretion). Sinful Soul (Ex/Sp) Each ungumani gains a bonus feat and spell-like abilities based on the sin from which its line originated. Two of the spell-like abilities are 2nd level spells usable three times per day, and the third is a 4th level spell usable once per day. The abilities granted by each sin are as follows: Envy—Improved Disarm as a bonus feat; resist energy and thought shield I 3/day; freedom of movement 1/day Greed—Improved Steal as a bonus feat; alter self and disfiguring touch (DC 15) 3/day; strong jaw 1/day Gluttony—Great Fortitude as a bonus feat; command undead (DC 15) and pox pustules (DC 15) 3/day; enervation 1/day Lust—Persuasive as a bonus feat; rage and unnatural lust (DC 15) 3/day; charm monster (DC 17) 1/day Pride—Lightning Reflexes as a bonus feat; blur and paranoia (DC 15) 3/day; rainbow pattern (DC 17) 1/day Sloth—Iron Will as a bonus feat; glitterdust (DC 15) and swipe 3/day; dimension door 1/day Wrath—Improved Overrun as a bonus feat; scorching ray and sound burst (DC 15) 3/day; fire shield 1/day

Ungumani Larva CR 6 XP 2,400 Man eating dire boar CE Large magical beast (augmented animal) Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, Perception +12, scent

Defense AC 17, touch 9, flat-footed 15 (-1 size, +8 natural) hp 57 (5d10+30) Fort +9, Ref +4, Will +4 DR 5/slashing Defensive Abilities ferocity

Offense Speed 40 ft. Melee gore +10 (2d6+6), bite +10 (1d8+9) Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft. Special Attacks powerful blows (bite)

Statistics Str 23, Dex 10, Con 21, Int 4, Wis 17, Cha 12 Base Atk +5; CMB +12; CMD 22 Feats Improved Initiative, Skill Focus (Perception), Toughness Skills Perception +12, Survival +8 (+12 following tracks); Racial Modifiers +4 Survival following tracks Languages Abyssal,Common (cannot speak)

Ecology Environment temperate or tropical land Organization solitary, pair, or herd (3–8) Treasure none

[grouper]

types of wizards:

larval stage: apprentice ("eevee" of wizard eeveelutions)

⬇️through specific circumstances can adapt into

mage

warlock

shaman

druid

alchemist

mad scientist

sorcerer

necromancer

[veilk]

[ID: Two lineless, digital drawings of fan obesk from corru.observer. The first is a once-vel with long, freckled receptors, two cousinly eyes, long hair, and a floor-length robe. Surrounding his left eye are four additional eyes, extending off his face. The second is a tall once-jut with a thin, diamond-shaped body, divided into two sections by a magenta bar. They have long hair, four floating hands, two brightly colored belts, and a single eye in the center of their face. They have several more eyes in their hair, and one on each hand. /End ID]

i have not yet posted these gamers here yet... behold, my silly little corru ocs, zakri from translation (miserable and reckless vel) and kelzil from materials (self proclaimed "innovator"), two of the three members of what i have declared The Side Plot Crew

assortment of doodles featuring them under the cut

[ID: The two obesk described above, along with a third: A vel with very thin receptors, several large eyes and a body made of many floating pieces. They are wearing a skirt with a diagonal stripe across it. They are noted as being unnamed. /End ID]

[ID: A comic featuring Zakri and Kelzil. Kelzil, holding up one of their hands, says: "zakri look at my cool hand eyes they are so useful". Zakri responds with: "why did you put them there are they not going to be covered when you are actually using your hands". An arrow pointing to him is labelled "hater". Kelzil then holds up all four of their hands and says: "this is why i have four". Zakri says "that sucks", and Kelzil stares silently. An arrow pointing to Kelzil is labelled: "thinking evil thoughts". /End ID]

[ID: A drawing of larval Zakri, holding a hand up and saying: "it is always 'zakri at least try to be careful' and 'zakri you are going to die' and never 'how was the surface zakri the surface looked fun did you have fun'. There is a small doodle of unnamed vel in the corner, labelled "live unnamed vel reaction", thinking: "this guy is either a wizard or the biggest idiot on obeski... woah!". /End ID]

[ID: A relationship chart, featuring Zakri, Kelzil, and the unnamed vel. Zak's thoughts on unnamed vel: "guy who won't leave me alone". Unnamed vel's thoughts on Zak: "science experiment". Kel's thoughts on Zak: "faithful assistant (and the only guy who wlil tolerate me)". Zak's thoughts on Kel: "the only reason i am still your assistant is because i think watching you fail is funny". Unnamed vel's thoughts on Kel: "mostly intersted in their relationship with Zak". Kel's thoughts on unnamed vel: "potentially very useful (unsure)". /End ID]

[ID: A short comic featuring Zakri, Kelzil, and Akizet, titled: "Zak and Kel in the collapse". Akizet explains: "and so we believe it may have something to do with the groundsmind" as Zak and Kel listen. Kel points and says: "wow that is interesting and sounds true", while Zak loudly says, tilting his head: "so it was not kelzil's fault?". Zak continues to explain that he and Kel thought Kel had caused the collapse through a failed experiment as Akizet looks horrified. Kelzil talks over them to say: "please stop talking". /End ID]

[tyrantisterror]

Wizard School Mysteries: Book 2 Side Characters

Ok, the supporting cast expanded a lot in this book because of the tournament arc, but let's see if I can account for them all.

Actually, shit, first I have to go with two I forgot to add to the last batch, and pretty important ones at that. Zebul Blaa, the Dökkálfar/Dark Elf extra who ends up being part of the villainous plot in the first book. Dark elves in Norse mythology were born from the maggots that ate the giant Ymir's body, so in Midgaheim they're basically fly-people. Zebul himself is still in his maggot/larval stage of his life cycle at the start of the series, but as this concept art shows, that will change. He's got more to do in the overall story yet, so keep an eye out for him.

Laurel Creusa, meanwhile, is the student whose disappearance sets James on his whole mystery solving path. I tried to set up a red herring with her as well - James drops the word "tower" is his one conversation with her, which, given how the arcana are revealed in book 1, could have been taken as a hint that she was the final ally James needed to make in that book. But, alas, twas not to be - and I'm not sure if anyone fell for my ruse to this day.

Ok, back to book 2 proper. Professor Prospera Bubos and Professor Heka Tlancheb are the two teachers who are most responsible for the tournament at the center of the conflict in Tournament of Death, and it's fun because they're kind of polar opposites from the magic end of things - a professor of healing magic vs. a professor of combat magic - yet they both ultimately prove to be reasonable authority figures who protest the school turning an blind eye to how the students get hurt. Professor Bubos is loosely based on an alchemist character I drew ages back - mainly the big, pointy shoulders with prominent stitches. Meanwile Heka is just me being horny on main making fun of my own fondness for terrifying witch women.

We also get to see Professor Kobut Nyftek, who I think was mentioned in book 1 but not actually seen. They're one of the nicer teachers in the school, and costume-wise I took a lot of inspiration from Dr. Maruki's supervillain get up in Persona 5 Royal. There is... so much Persona in Wizard School Mysteries's DNA, way more than there is Harry Potter, and yet I know Harry Potter is the only thing it'll ever be compared to. A tragedy.

Simeon Helmschmied isn't a terribly complicated teacher concept - I just wanted to make him look like a badass, grizzled wizard blacksmith. D&D really popularized the idea of wizards not being armored and, like, I get it for mechanical reasons, but also I think some wizards deserve to also be heavily armored tanks.

Lacey Spidergrin is part of my ongoing attempt to sexualize Slenderman, and I think it's working gang.

As I said in the last post, before I enacted the grand plan to create a vast reserve of Spare Wizard Students, I plotted out a few supporting cast students based on alternate names for the Major Tarot Arcana. Godfrey Lionhardt and Columbina Paggliacci are based on alt names for The Magician - the Magus and the Juggler respectively - and loosely embody the traits of that card in turn, with flavorings based on the alt names they're given. A Magus is a more respected, princely equivalent of a magician - "Gift of the Magi" and all that - so Godfrey has a princely look about him. His last name, Lionhardt, marks him as being part of one of the noble houses in his home country of Bretonce, so he may well actually be a prince for all you know. Meanwhile, Columbina obviously takes the clown associations with "The Juggler" and plays them up to the hilt - which also allowed me to emphasize the fact that clowns are a monster species in my setting rather than just a job strange weirdos take.

I've mentioned how Joan Tatou is basically a collection of traits that Margot and Gretchen lost in the prewriting stages of the series, so I won't go heavily into that here. She's the Papesse, i.e. the High Priestess if she was more imperious and French. Wiglaf and Wagner, meanwhile, represent The Road and The Victory, which are alternate names for the Chariot - and also words that are used in a lot of descriptions of the Chariot, which makes them both feel like incomplete versions of it. That is to say, if you substitute The Road or The Victory for The Chariot in your Tarot deck, you're kind of specifically simplifying the meaning of the card. Which is why Wiglaf and Wagner are, like, just Margot's soccer hooligan fans - an extension of the Chariot, if you will.

Tinnea Lunae's prompt was "vampire who's primary animal form is a moth instead of a bat." She's trans, too, even if it hasn't come up yet. She, Titania, Sadie, and (eventually) Zebul work on the school's Newsparchment, What's the Buzz?

Grammy Crumblebuttons played a valuable role as a red herring in book 2, but her part in the narrative isn't over yet. Demented old women are too fun to write.

The Great Nyaa and Ursula Cobb are both animal-themed gag characters, but I like to think they're pretty distinct outside of that. Not that we'll know very much about the Great Nyaa given, you know, what happens in book 2.

Ok I think we can actually get to the contestants in the tournament now. Aldonza Dulcinea's outfit is specifically based on the movie outfits for Professor Umbridge. Her earlier designs were less good more generic wizard outfits, but by this point the "Let's spite the Terf Queen" streak in me was strong, and I thought it'd be fun to have a plus size character who's into pink and "girly" stuff not only be a hero, but an explicitly kind and beloved one.

I think my original concept for Breowyn was "what if a studio head forced me to tone down Margot's character concept to be more easily marketable." She's a warrior girl but, like, in the "kind of a tomboy" way that's socially acceptable instead of being a giant with a fucked up arm who looms over everybody. Ironically, I ended up really liking her design - I guess even a watered down Margot is still a fun character for me to work with.

Waldorf Brimli is, like, a wizard in the vein of the evil cult leaders in H.P. Lovecraft's stuff, and a student in the vein of those specific kind of nerds/geeks who are deeply misanthropic and antisocial under the excuse that they assume everyone hates them so they might as well hate everyone back. So, like, the kind of person who'd update the Chris Chan wiki, basically.

Gyrion Clodson is part of the "LOTR Gang," a subgroup of the Spare Wizard Students comprised entirely of Midgaheim versions of various sapient races from LOTR. Gyrion is our dwarf, though in Midgaheim dwarves are synonymized with gnomes.

My goal with Serena, beyond simply homaging magical girl tropes, was to have her be a "badass" character who's explicitly feminine - all her kickass offensive spells use pretty shiny crystals, she loves pink so much that her hair turned that color, she's very much a girly girl. So when I picked her opponents in the tournament, I wanted them to be various shades of masculine to contrast her, with three of them specifically underestimating her because of her feminine traits.

Margot's opponents (Shere Statchell included but not pictured here since she's in the previous post) are meant to play on different traits she has - Shere is has a physical disability (even worse than Margot's, since she fully lost her arm), Chungo and Eruz are both inhumanly large and somewhat ostracized for the danger people fear they present, and Sarkani is a wizard whose powers are distinctly ominous, even if she revels in that rather than trying to hide and restraint it like Margot. Sarkani also has an explicit dragon motif to go with Margot's more subtle one.

Next: alternate outfits!

[tree-of-blue-squirrel]

I love how the puffer and osprey have pretty much the same color scheme. It makes it look like the puffer is a larval stage of osprey

Or was orbized by a wizard

mark.smith.photography

Osprey with a puffer

[sonicasura]

Something tells me Tiny and the souls he's made of is gonna get the cold sweat or the equivalent of it after the Iwi tribe tells Kafka that bit. I don't think they like that being revealed a bit too early.

Those names are pretty good names and fits Kafka's personality on how to name things. Bet some people found the names oddly fittig and cute somehow despite what the kaiju looks like.

Got to agree on the Elder Storm or Storm Kaiju fits the himbo pretty well as well. And match what I think Kafka would be like if he was a kaiju from the beginning thats lived for 400 years or so as well. And being able to actually ride stroms is pretty metal as well.

So is the fact that he is the biggest enigma for the Defense Force. It checks. Though I got to wonder how'd they react upon learning after gaining enough trust with the Iwi tribe that Kafka can infact be spoken to and speak back. That got be a shock at least and open up several intersting paths.

I can also see the first time a drone manage to get the whole kaiju family is some weeks after Kong joined. Kafka has taken all his kids out since the weather is nice and they all need to stretch their legs after being in the nest for too long. Maybe after a dangerous strom that lasted for some days? All are just chilling in a clearing when the drone finds them, with Kong keeping himself right beside Kafka as he is still unused to his new siblings and still very much sad about his loss. And the truma that comes with it making him unwilling to go far from Kafka to begin with. The times Kafka has to leave to get food for them not counting. Can see Mothra keeping her new brother in silent company too.

Meanwhile, Toto, Goji and Sol are playing rough games and having a good time. Kafka keeping a close eye on everyone. Even the drone thats recodring it all.

One last thing as well, cause I think I've taken enough of your time already, but do you think Skull Island is one of the very few places No 9 would actually not want to go to unless necessary? Feels like with all that happens there and all the dangerous kaiju that live there, can make even 9 decide that it might be best to keep a good distant from the place.

Though I also think he would be even more interested in Kafka should he get to know that the human survived that place for a good bit, depsite not being born there. Probably convinced that the Iwi tribe are an entirely different type of humans that pose a different type of danger to him than other humans given how long the tribe has lived on Skull Island. No doubt he tries to kidnapp a few of the members with little success.

I don't mind these asks at all. :)

They definitely sweated a bit as people who can form peculiar bonds with kaiju are legends of their own, ones much older than them. Kafka isn't given too much information, just enough to know that Tiny is not a threat. He'll learn the full truth once he learns to commune with the larval kaiju.

Kafka's naming skills are pretty simple or cute in nature. Silky because Mothra's larva form reminds him of silk moths and Rodan being Sol due to his bright fiery nature to name a few examples. A few names are situational like Toto responding to the name when Kafka was watching the Wizard of Oz movie.

Skull Island is a very difficult place to reach but there are ways to get in. This includes following a kaiju as their large bodies can shield those from the unique storm if one follows close behind. It's how the Defense Force manages to find the place.

After studying the unique family for some time, Okonogi notices strange discrepancies in Kafka's flight path. Thus two advanced drones was sent to follow him which leads to the discovery of the mysterious island. It took a while to find pilots who were willingly and skilled enough to follow the kaiju through the storm barrier.

Due to how dangerous Skull Island appears, the drones were destroyed by Skullcrawlers, only a select group was sent to explore while everyone else stays at temporary base camp. These individuals are Mina, Soshiro, Narumi, and Jugo. Soichiro alongside Eiji stayed behind to protect the camp.

Finding the Iwi Tribe was something nobody expected. Nor to be greeted by a few other civilians who had not only washed up on the island but survived for so long. One of these civilians acted as the group's translator for the native tribe.

This is where they eventually learn about the 'Elder Storm' and his nest on the island. Kafka will answer the rest of their questions once they reach his temporary residence. The path to the place can be identified by Skullcrawler bones lining it as after Kong's parents were killed, he left a reminder for the beasts to not fuck with him. Not even the ballsiest Skullcrawler dares set foot near this path.

The island is safe from No. 9 due to the storm barrier. If he did make it however then all of the residents would know something was wrong. Skull Island only has one core kaiju resident and that is Kafka.

This is because coreless ones i.e Titans can identify them immediately alongside the Iwi. Kaiju cores radiate a unique aura unlike the titans, one closer to the soul than nature. No. 9 is the embodiment of sheer death so everyone would be on guard if he ever made it to Skull Island.

His disguises aren't gonna work either due to the Iwi and Titans' unique senses. Attacks are imminent for him to the point that Skullcrawlers would even work with other species to get rid of the mushroom man. Nobody is having fun and it won't take long for Kafka to show up either.

[the-hem]

Who is Khepri? The Egyptian Beetle Headed God of the Rebirth of Creation?

Khepri, in ancient Egyptian religion and mythology, the god of the morning sun, representing its transformational power. Khepri was depicted in the form of a scarab beetle, specifically the Egyptian dung beetle (Scarabaeus sacer), or in the form of a human with the head of a scarab beetle. As the morning sun, he was considered an aspect of the sun god Re.

Khepri is Hebrew for "as a digger". Like the actual beetle, Kephri has larval form, a giant worm called Shai Hulud. "The Immortal Thing Within the Island of Rust."

Shai= He/She/It/Thing

H= God

U=Or

Lu=No

Ud= Ember

Most authorities agree Shai Hulud is the larval form of the Aeonic Being Kephri, who after the metamorphosis of the age, takes the form of a scarab beetle. The tendency of the god to burrow and then fly is represented by another Hebrew term, Gaddeon, "the gliding Gideon." His Number is 283, בח‎ג‎, "in the Holiday Festival."

Shai Hulud appears first as a giant worm whose mouth opens into a massive tea flower and from the flower emerges the new Aeon and its Angelic sponsor, the god Khepri, whose association with Gideon the Hebrew Judge cannot be ignored. When it is time, as stated above, Khepri appears as both a massive beetle and in anthropomorphic formats.

The Tea flowers called char, are a double entendre for noon, or "to praise God we are together".

Our verb χαιρω (chairo) originally described the formation of a social network, and expresses the security that comes from connectedness and diversity.

Nuclear fusion (the reason why the sun shines and why there are elements other than hydrogen) is all about sharing resources and extracting the subsequent surplus, which is exactly the reason why sufficiently compact societies can generate and store wealth. In fact, the more diversely intra-connected a society is, the more wealth it can release and the brighter its social "star" shines (hence MATTHEW 2:2, Genesis 15:5, Daniel 12:3; all those).

Our verb refers to social compaction, describes the opposite of social scattering (MATTHEW 26:31) and goes hand in hand with the adjective αγιος (agios), which is usually translated with "holy" but literally expresses social convergence. This adjective was also used substantively, in which case it denoted "the holy [place]" or temple.

Temples originated as storages of societal surplus, and were managed by the tribe's wizard (= wise-ard or wisely natured man). This wizard in turn guarded the tribe's wisdom — technology, science and history, commonly stored in lyrical prose — and if the tribe was large enough, this would grow out into a genuine school.

Temples were thus initially central banks annex academies, that as a side effect began to express tribal identities and thus their totems and ultimately their deities (see our article on ναος, naos, meaning temple).

Most of the other nations surmised that a nation's strength came from its government (Psalm 146:3), its technology (Daniel 3:19), or its army (Psalm 20:7), but Israel knew that the strongest and broadest networks are formed according to the laws of nature (ROMANS 1:20), and arise not from strong men teaming up but from weak people reaching out (1 CORINTHIANS 13:9, COLOSSIANS 1:24).

More than half of this verb's occurrences in the New Testament are in the passive voice, which has traditionally been deemed deponent (meaning when the form is passive, translate as active anyway) but here at Abarim Publications we surmise that the passive form is indeed meant to be passive and means to be "en-joyed", to be infused with joy, to be made (to feel) secure and widely connected. Hence JOHN 16:20 does not say that the world will rejoice, but rather that the world will be made secure, diverse and connected.

Likewise, the active voice describes to be, make or feel secure and widely connected. The nations mentioned in ACTS 13:48 were fully functioning cultures with their own wisdom traditions based on verified science and technology that was demonstrated to work. Upon their hearing the gospel (which is an insight into the natural world and not a religious manifesto as is commonly believed) they were making their nations secure, diverse and connected (compare LUKE 15:5 to Isaiah 9:6).

Our verb's imperative (resulting in the command: "rejoice!") and infinitive moods ("[in order] to rejoice") often serve as greeting, which quite literally stems from an invitation to bond and secure (MATTHEW 28:9, JOHN 19:3, ACTS 23:26, JAMES 1:1).

The verb χαιρω (chairo) means to be socially joyful. From our verb derive:

Together with the preposition συν (sun), meaning together or with: the verb συγχαιρω (sugchairo), meaning to jointly rejoice. This verb is used 7 times, SEE FULL CONCORDANCE, possibly most spectacularly in 1 CORINTHIANS 13:6: "Love rejoices not upon injustice, but jointly rejoices in the truth."

The noun χαρα (chara), meaning a rejoicing due to security, diversity and connectedness.

The transformation of Shai Hulud into His Scarab format is a sign it is time for the Age of Agony when all was rust from all the bloodshed to end and the Age of Mashiach is to begin.

There are more than a few Mishnah in the Talmud that refer to such an angelic being, a digger under the name of Ben Yohai, "the Son of the Name the Restores Life [to Israel]."

Kephri would not have emerged from the flower within the maw of Shai Hulud unless it was the Right Time. All of Israel must prepare.

[sleepnoises]

while I'm posting are there any like really little Clayfellows that people are hoping I'll have in the next store update? I'm susceptible to influence rn

[lachlanthesane]

I started having a look for BUG commanders (hahaha, it’s an appropriate colour combination for you because you like bugs, punpunpunpunpun), and while it does seem to be one of the less popular colour combos in Commander, there are some suitably gross characters who would also work at the head of a creature-focused deck.

Muldrotha is the living embodiment of a bog full of corpses, although she’s actually pretty chill. She’s a generic graveyard support commander.

Yarok is another living embodiment of a bog full of corpses. He has the ability to duplicate “enter the battlefield” effects, which shows up in a lot of combo decks.

Zaxara is an extremely poisonous hydra who other hydras love because they can take baths in its poison and become more poisonous themselves. It’s more on the spell-focused side of BUG, since it wants to cast spells with an X in their cost.

The Mimeoplasm and Volrath are both focused on copying other creatures, although with slightly different priority orders: Mimeoplasm can copy from any player’s graveyard, while Volrath wants to copy from creatures on the battlefield (worth pointing out that, if you put +1/+1 counters on your own creatures, Volrath can copy them too). The Mimeoplasm has little lore that you can’t figure out from its card art -- it is a shapeshifting ooze monster that eats dinosaurs. Volrath was a wildly ambitious human tribal chief who fell in with the Phyrexians (basically the MtG version of the Borg) and now uses their powers to constantly fake his own death.

Damia is a Gorgon wizard/alchemist who doesn’t have much associated lore. She offers obscenely strong card draw at the cost of having an extremely high mana value.

Otrimi and Brokkos might not be quite gross enough for your aesthetic preferences, but they do both support the Mutate mechanic, which is at least thematically appropriate for a deck full of horrible monsters. The main lore interaction I can find for them is that Brokkos experiences time at a much slower rate than other creatures, while Otrimi is theorised to be a larval form of Brokkos’s species.

And finally, Archelos, who is definitely not gross enough aesthetically, but is absolutely horrifically gross from a rules perspective, and is guaranteed to infuriate everyone at the table.

I still haven't played magic the gathering since my whole original collection and decks disappeared around 2006 but I'm now making my first ever commander deck (on a budget)

Just wish Toxrill the Corrosive used black and green mana instead of black and blue mana, it is very unfair they made a legendary slug who turns other people into slugs but if I used him for a commander deck I'd be locked out of a ton of other things I'd want to use (in Commander you pick a legendary creature to be your main guy but the rest of your deck has to be based on the main guy's mana colors)

Grist is pretty great though because this part is her real self:

If there was a black, blue, and green legend I liked I could use both of them, maybe some day

[ulenehlervu]

rememberign how this game enables my ‘side profile’ drawing habit

[davidwfloydart]

What if a garden gnome is just the larval stage of a wizard? #craftingthoughts #gardengnome #wizardingworld #wizards #larval #larvalove #larvalamp #gardenlife #gardeningisfun #craftroom #craftingfun (at Catalina Foothills, Arizona) https://www.instagram.com/p/CPB9AEsLVDdFKIjz-h6Ghx2wDOjaFgNRLCeHaw0/?utm_medium=tumblr

[existential-squid]

Some honorable mentions:

Witches have a no-kill rule.

"One's a job, the other's a mental illness."

Wizards are clowns, witches are mimes.

They fulfill different ecological niches.

"How about you tell me the difference between a software engineer and a mycologist? Yeah, no differences there, are there?"

Their difference is in their developmental biology. Wizards start as gnomes, but shed layers of ceramic as they grow. Witches, however, start as a small, soft, larval form, and grow by slowly collecting layers of organic material, which add to their bodies.

Witches evolved to imitate wizards, who are highly aggressive and venomous. This deters predators.

Wizards don't seem able to recognize themselves in mirrors. They perform mating dances, or even challenges for dominance in front of mirrors. Witches, however, will recognize themselves, and if a sticker is placed on them, they will notice it in the mirror, and remove it from themselves.

They use different economic systems.

They are two different socio-political movements rising out of the thirty-second century, differentiated by their differing opinions on how magic should be used.

Wizards' hats grow from their bodies. Witches, however, line up on the beach to find old hats (left behind after the death of a wizard) that fit them, and protect them from predators.

Witches are goth.

One is poisonous, one is venomous.

Witches are evil. (Boring)

[randomitemdrop]

Item: the latest new Familiars from Insane Wizard Labs Inc.

Zibzub: a Mindflayer larvae engineered to never develop beyond its larval stage

Eyegore: chortling skull covered in tusks and eyes

Grimgrin: tick that has fed off the blood of an Archfiend

Optomon: ???????

Crawdaddy: oh good, they gave a Sea Scorpion venomous fangs

Fleepa: robot hoverfish with one red eye that can fire lasers

[jander-sunstar]

Having been observing wizards more closely, I have to wonder what stage in the life cycle the university is

Do universities simply attract wizards in their larval phases? Or is it that enough mature wizards in close enough proximity will spontaneously generate a university? Perhaps the university is the evolution of the wizard’s natural Tower habitat...

[incorrect-musketeers]

Porthos: What if a garden gnome is just the larval stage of a wizard?

Athos: I’m annoyed that I had to hear this, yet strangely intrigued