cinnamonalchemy - Tumblr blog

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Hi everyone - not dead, I swear. Just sorting things out.

/waves at tumblr-verse!

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Max Revin

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“"What was long united must be divided; what was long divided must be united" —the first sentence in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, by Luo Guanzhong

What is this “Three Kingdoms”?  

The Chinese Three Kingdoms refers to a sixty years era from 220 AD to 280 AD between the end of the Han dynasty and the Eastern Jin dynasty when China was divided into three kingdoms: Cao Wei, Shu-Han and Eastern Wu (Dong Wu). It also refers to the wider stories—part historical, part folk tales, part fiction—that came out of the events during that era and around 20 or 30 years immediately before it. 

For a relatively brief era in an otherwise long Chinese history, the stories based on the events and characters who lived during this era have captured the imagination of many people across time and space. You might have heard of the names Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi, for they have been immortalised in East Asian culture and frequently referenced in today’s pop culture. They were but four of the many amazing legendary figures who made up the Three Kingdoms era.

TK is full of events and tragic heroic figures choked full of tropes that Tumblr would love. I guarantee that it has many things worth writing long meta tags for, and also, most importantly, it is full of very close intimate male-male relationships that have long formed part of Chinese culture, and which modern audiences can easily interpret as queer.

“"Only in times of chaos can heroes rise”—Cao Cao. 

What is the Romance of the Three Kingdoms?  

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms (ROTK; 《三国演义》 sanguo yanyi) is a novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong that was written more than half a millenia ago, and is one of the four Great Classical Novels of China. It is, as its name suggests, a romanticised retelling of the Three Kingdoms era that is “seven parts facts; three parts fiction”. It is incredibly influential in how most people understand the three kingdoms period, and for good reason too: even until today it is still a gripping read of war, politics, virtues, brotherhod and heroism.

Most retellings of the Three Kingdoms are usually largely based on stories from ROTK. 

How do I start with this Three Kingdoms thing?  

Read More

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Now that I've finally beat DA:I... after putting it off for days because I didn't want it to end... *crawls back onto the internet*

Some spoiler-free screenshots - serious on the top, some funny moments on the bottom.

If anyone else has recently beat the game and wants to talk about it, message me. No one I know has finished it yet and I'm sitting here ready to burst! It's been a long time since I was so into a game; it felt like I devoured it. I even forgive the bugs that prevented me from 100% completing things because I was so into the story. (But, seriously, fix that stuff. It's a completionist's nightmare.)

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Hair beads by Jaime Jones

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Mads, I need your beautiful face on my blog, please. <3

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Reblogging for the evening because I'm really happy with this! :D

These two are Feyman (my thief who spent most of his life in prison falsely accused of murder, and who now owns The Golden Bounty winery) and Tsura (my friend Jonali’s bardess who lost her first love to trolls.) Both of them had amazing emotional journeys in our D&D game this summer, which resulted in pages upon pages of character building side-RP, a 50 page short story on my part, and single-handedly giving my creativity a jolt of life. It was a climb out of darkness for these two, and for me, too, in a way.

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These two are Feyman (my thief who spent most of his life in prison falsely accused of murder, and who now owns The Golden Bounty winery) and Tsura (my friend Jonali's bardess who lost her first love to trolls.) Both of them had amazing emotional journeys in our D&D game this summer, which resulted in pages upon pages of character building side-RP, a 50 page short story on my part, and single-handedly giving my creativity a jolt of life. It was a climb out of darkness for these two, and for me, too, in a way.

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Hey, look! I'm trying the ArcheAge beta, and I made Zack into the douchiest elf that ever elf'd. They have a slider to control the pointiness of the nose... slid that alllll the way to the right.

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This summer has been the biggest dose of eye-opening "you can do it" that I could have ever imagined. My creativity exploded in unexpected ways, something that felt INCREDIBLE after so many years of frustration. It was this outpouring of... compounding enlightenment that was... I don't know. It was like I could BREATHE again. I'm afraid it will leave again now that the summer is over - I don't want it to. I'm hoping this is an upsurge over this hill I feel I keep climbing and falling back down. 

I didn't expect it to be writing that would bring me back to life (or maybe I did?) but I NEED to keep this going. SO much support everywhere I look, it's been overwhelming, unexpected, and... for the first time in a long time, I feel rebuilt. Or, at least like I'm rebuilding, finally. I only hope this keeps blossoming outward so that I can let this flow into my artwork, as well.

I realize a lot of the time I talk about how frustrated and sad I am, so I just wanted to share some joy. I'm amazed, I feel lucky, I'm fueled....

I'm happy.

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artist: Rabbit Eyes

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Really needed me some Peter Quill on my dash today.

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When you pour your creative soul into a D&D character and write a 50 page back story and spend days writing pages and pages of side RP and actually draw some pictures and feel your creative self reigniting only to have certain party decisions go sideways and then watching your personal campaign goal get flushed down the toilet....

*TABLE FLIP*

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JIE.L

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personal work

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http://petemohrbacher.deviantart.com/

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My D&D character is sad because we had a party death, and it was his best friend. :(