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Feel free to reblog to have more people to vote. Feel free to explain why you voted the way you did. DO NOT SENT ANON HATE FOR HOW PEOPLE VOTED.

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“Am I invited to live in a moment of great history? Am I invited to live in a moment of upheaval and turmoil where my club might be called upon? Are there battles for the fate of the world at hand? Do not live in fear. Smell the sweet honey of purpose you are called to. Yes, I get to live in a time that matters. Let us tell, as we did in ages long ago, a great story written by our actions.”

—Brennan Lee Mulligan, Fireside Chat 54

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Just for the aesthetics

Babble of thoughts under the cut ;)

It's a ramble, fair warning

I love the concept of an eventual Ghost King Danny, simply because there are so many questions you can ask for the whys of it and then build up endless answers in a cosy lil sandbox. I love the themes of Space and becoming an Ancient that many folks tie into Danny as well. It's just fun! I'm a real sucker for space aesthetics.

The first obvious question is why does the Infinite Realms have a King? Why does it need one?

I like to dabble in the concept that the state of the Infinite Realms just about runs its own sentience. It's so big and so expansive and so vital to everything it touches that it very well behaves as a being in its own right. And the reasons to have a king is actually to let something as far reaching as the Realms have any ability to focus whatsoever.

(Also the Infinite Realms is the place of everything inbetween. I'd refer to the Ghost Zone as being a territory within that space!)

If you embrace the concept of ghost cores, you could expand on this further. The structure of a Realms Being could be a reflection of the Realm itself – if they function by having a core, it's because they are following the design of the Infinite Realms in the first place (meaning: the Infinite Realms has its own core)

Take a core as being the center of a ghost's everything. Its thought, form, emotion, memory, everything that makes them functional. It lets them exist and it focuses all that energy into something comprehensible. A core is a ghost's stability.

Then give the Infinite Realms the concept of a core – something that provides it a point of focus that lends stability and structure to itself. It lets it tick along without a rampant kind of chaos to its energy that would see realms torn apart as fast as they are made. Having a core to the Infinite Realms provides a coherent consistency. (And thus the ability to reside in it with relative safety)

So here, the title of King could actually be assigning oneself as the Infinite Realms' functioning core. But that's a big ask, taking on something of that much energy and being something like a conduit. Infinitely huge, even. Takes a lot of willpower and strength to maintain without fracturing oneself in the process.

And that could lead us to why ancient artifacts such as the Crown of Fire and Ring of Rage exist in the first place. Why would something like that be made, or need to exist at all?

The Crown and Ring are a combo deal – its only together that they expound one's power 'infinitely'. That's a pretty intense thing to make for the hell of it. But if the reason was because a king needs to be able to cope with the demand of their role, to actually stand up to the task long term and provide that existence-maintaining stability for all, then maybe that was worth the risk to create them.

I like the idea that Danny isn't someone who wanted to have the Ring and Crown, ever. Nor the Ghost King title tbh. I also like the idea that he's already an insanely willful and powerful ghost in his own right by the time this entire concept becomes a tangible issue – enough so that when the Realms began to really need a replacement actually after Pariah Dark, and the purpose of the role is actually made clear to him, and that not just anyone can withstand it frankly, Danny did stubbornly uphold the title without the Crown and Ring for a time! An unintentional display to the public of just how insanely beefy he is by ghost standards (of which perhaps he wasn't actually aware of that doing. He took the title bc someone had to and just… got mad amounts of respect about it??? Crazy).

But even he has his limits, and though exceptional, eventually has to cede to accepting the Crown and Ring if only so he doesn't shred himself completely and fuck up a lot of people in the process. Bc that's a yikes on so many accounts.

Obviously, the entire inner workings of the role is not widely known. There's so much room for the ideas to be skewed and mistranslated and understood in very different ways that you get a thousand different interpretations and every one is just slightly wrong. But you kind of want it that way. Don't think too hard about the inner workings of the universes. It's not good for your health.

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Artwork for recent music releases by Scuba

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do you think if a vulcan ate any food available at the indiana state fair, they would die instantly? do you think amanda ever used this as an opportunity to bully her husband? [ID in next reblog]

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i think that every child should have unrestricted access to thick blackberry brambles or some other delicious fruit that grows encased in a painful fortress. i think wading through thorns to reach the cluster of shining ripe berries you spied through a gap between the tangled vines teaches you something important. not sure what though

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I don't mean this in any jokey or disrespectful way; is there any truth to the alchemy in say, the Full Metal Alchemist anime? The symbols or transmutation circles?

Actually the author of FMA did a ton of research into historical western alchemy. The whole law of equivalent exchange is a real alchemical concept from hermetica, and one that sir Issac Newton expounded into the law of thermodynamics.

The elrics dad, Van Hoenhiem, is based on a real alchemist named Theophrastus Bombastus Von Hoenhiem. At one point Pride even references the real alchemists name.

Basically everything about alchemy in FMA is taken from primary sources, down to the symbology of transmutation circles to the color scheme of Edwards design.

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these human creatures have strange customs. some are nice tho

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Translators: Apoptosis & HouseofGlass

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“How fared you on your first day?” Éowyn asked kindly; in the crook of her arm she held a rugby ball, for she desired to be able to palm it.

Merry took thought before speaking, but his face told clearly the tale of woe.

“I hope it was not so bad as that!” she said, and laughed.

“Not so bad,” said Merry. “But the people of Rohan High are unkind to a stranger – in the distant Shire, we are, I think, more welcoming.”

“Perhaps,” said Éowyn. “But you are younger, too, and youth is often kinder than age.” And she reached down and tousled Merry’s curls.

*

And in Gondor over the plains, Pippin too struggled. He had sung well, he thought, in auditions for the chorus, though Denethor the Vice-Principal had watched in stony silence.

(“Vice-Principal?” he asked Beregond, the only friendly face in the crowd.

“Ay,” he responded, “for in this school he can never be Principal, though the true Principal left on vacation nigh on ten years ago.”)

But he found the people of Gondor to be as hard as the massive stones of which the school was built – proud of their long history and of their low admittance rate.

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so I’m looking at short story publishers (fantasy)

Tor, cream of the crop. 25 cents a word. Stories can be read for free (YES). Slowish response time at ~3 months. Prefer under 12k, absolute maximum is 17.5k. Don’t bother if it’s not highly professional quality. SFWA qualifying.

Crossed Genres. 6 cents a word. Different theme each month (this month’s is “failure”). Submissions must combine either sci-fi or fantasy with the theme. Response time 1 month. 1k-6k, no exceptions. SFWA qualifying.

Long Hidden, anthology from CG. 6 cents a word. 2k-8k, no exceptions. Must take place before 1935. Protagonist(s) must be under 18 and marginalized in their time and place. Must be sci-fi/fantasy/horror. Deadline 30 April. Response by 1 October.

Queers Destroy Science Fiction. Sci-fi only right now, author must identify as queer (gay, lesbian, bi, ace, pan, trans, genderfluid, etc, just not cishet). 7.5k max. Deadline 15 February. Responses by 1 March. You can submit one flash fiction and one short story at the same time. (My network blocks the Lightspeed site for some reason, so I can’t get all the submission details. >_>) Probably SFWA qualifying?

Women in Practical Armor. 6 cents a word. 2k-5k. Must be about 1) a female warrior who 2) is already empowered and 3) wears sensible armour. Deadline 1 April. Response within three months.

Fiction Vortex. $10 per story, with $20 and $30 for editor’s and readers’ choice stories (hoping to improve). Speculative fiction only. Imaginative but non-florid stories. 7.5k maximum, preference for 5k and under. (I kind of want to support them on general principle.)

Urban Fantasy Magazine. 6 cents a word. 8k max, under 4k preferred. Must be urban fantasy (aka, the modern world, doesn’t need to be a literal city). 

Nightmare. 6 cents a word. 1.5-7.5k, preference for under 5k. Horror and dark fantasy. Response time up to two weeks. SFWA and HWA qualifying.

Apex Magazine. 6 cents a word. 7.5k max, no exceptions. Dark sci-fi/fantasy/horror. SFWA qualifying.

Asimov’s Science Fiction. 8-10 cents a word. 20k max, 1k minimum. Sci-fi; borderline fantasy is ok, but not S&S. Prefer character focused. Response time 5 weeks; query at 3 months. SFWA qualifying, ofc.

Buzzy Mag. 10 cents a word. 10k max. Should be acceptable for anyone 15+. Response time 6-8 weeks. SFWA qualifying.

Strange Horizons. 8 cents a word. Speculative fiction. 10k max, prefers under 5k. Response time 40 days. Particularly interested in diverse perspectives, nuanced approahces to political issues, and hypertexts. SFWA qualifying. 

Fantasy and Science Fiction. 7-12 cents a word. Speculative fiction, preference for character focus, would like more science-fiction or humour. 25k maximum. Prefers Courier. Response time 15 days.

Scigentasy. 3 cents a word. .5-5k. Science-fiction and fantasy, progressive/feminist emphasis. Fantastic Stories of the Imagination. 15 cents a word. 3k maximum. Any sci-fi/fantasy, they like a literary bent. (psst, steinbecks!) They also like to see both traditional and experimental approaches. Response time two weeks. 

Beneath Ceaseless Skies. 6 cents a word. 10k maximum. Fantasy in secondary worlds only (it can be Earth, but drastically different—alternate history or whatever). Character focus, prefer styles that are lush yet clear, limited first or third person narration. Response time usually 2-4 weeks, can be 5-7 weeks. SFWA qualifying.

Clarkesworld. 10 cents a word up to 4000, 7 afterwards. 1-8k, preferred is 4k. Science-fiction and fantasy. Needs to be well-written and convenient to read on-screen. Appreciates rigour. No talking cats. Response time 2 days. SFWA qualifying.

Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show. 6 cents a word. Any length. Science-fiction and fantasy (along with fantastic horror). Good world-building and characterization. Clear straightforward prose. Response time three months. Yes, OSC is editor-in-chief. SFWA qualifying.

Interzone. Sub-pro rates if anything (but highly respected). 10k max. Short cover letter. Science-fiction and fantasy.

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hope is a skill

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hidden messages in electronic boards

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hc that adaine and riz have joint custody over an ace pride hoodie and it’s just. horrifically coffee-stained.

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This was in Sioux Falls South Dakota! The green sky is caused by large hail stones within the storm refracting back green light to the observer.