#✿ verse; chthonian QUEEN;

[ofviolentdeathmuses]

name: Melinoe

what: Goddess of Ghosts

age: Appears mid 30’s

birthday: October 31

occupation: Minding spirits, instilling fear and madness in mortals

location: Tartarus

faceclaim: Amy Lee

status: Single Verse

relationship: Complicated with Ikelos

parents: Persephone and Zeus(biologically), raised by her mother and Hades so she sees Hades as her dad

siblings: Macaria, Zagreus

kids: Katina

Special Note: Mel is rather unstable mentally and it presents almost like schizophrenia. She is seldom lucid and when it happens, it is very short lived.

MELINOE was a frightful underworld Goddess who presided over the propitiations offered to the ghosts of the dead. She wandered the earth at night with a retinue of ghosts, striking fear into the hearts of mankind. Her limbs were black one one side of her body and white on the other, revealing her dual chthonian and heavenly aspects.

Orphic Hymn 71 to Melinoe (trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.) : “To Melinoe, Fumigation from Aromatics. I call, Melinoe, saffron-veiled, terrene, who from Phersephone dread venerable queen, mixt with Zeus Kronion, arose, near where Kokytos’ mournful river flows; when, under Plouton’s [Haides’] semblance, Zeus divine deceived with guileful arts dark Phersephone. Hence, partly black thy limbs and partly white, from Plouton dark, from Zeus ethereal bright. Thy coloured members, men by night inspire when seen in spectred forms, with terrors dire; now darkly visible, involved in night, perspicuous now they meet the fearful sight. Khthonion queen, expel wherever found the soul’s mad fears to earth’s remotest bound; with holy aspect on our incense shine, and bless thy mystics, and the rites divine.”

Mels is not, in any manner, someone to mess with. She carries the ability to summon and control the spirits of the dead. She has no respect for anyone who does not, in her opinion, deserve it. At least, when she's lucid. Things are a lot dicier when she's not.

Other Info Threads Face Drabble

[pcrsephcne]

“I can’t believe that I’m doing this.”

+ soultraded

❝What?❞ Lilac lips turned upward, her pearly whites on full display. ❝Marrying a demi GOD? Don’t wooo~rry ‘bout it! We’re just like everybody else! Well, ‘cept for the powers, crazy family, & immortality.❞ Pausing a beat, Persephone’s eyes widened once she realized what she’d said. ❝Oh, actually! You don’t have to worry about that. Herc-y forfeited everlasting life for YOU. Aren’t you special. Guess that means I’ll see both of ya downstairs someday soon, huh? I’ll be sure the honeymoon suite is ready upon your arrival.❞ She winked. The goddess’ morbid humor was indeed an odd way of offering support to one of Hades’ past pawns...but it was HER way. Perhaps she felt some pity for Megara. Of course, she had heard the story. Aphrodite sure loved to gossip. None of that mattered though, for the past was the past, & soon she would be wed to Zeus’ very own son. It was I M P R E S S I V E, to say the least. Sympathy aside, the goddess of the UNDERWORLD held an utmost respect for the mortal woman.  ❝Y’know, you’re not half bad, Meg.❞

[kore-eleusis]

Evidence from both the Orphic Hymns and the Orphic Gold Leaves demonstrate that Persephone was one of the most important deities worshiped in Orphism. In the Orphic religion, gold leaves with verses intended to help the deceased enter into an optimal afterlife were often buried with the dead. Persephone is mentioned frequently in these tablets, along with Demeter and Euklês, which may be another name for Plouton. The ideal afterlife destination believers strive for is described on some leaves as the "sacred meadows and groves of Persephone". Other gold leaves describe Persephone's role in receiving and sheltering the dead, in such lines as "I dived under the kolpos [portion of a Peplos folded over the belt] of the Lady, the Chthonian Queen", an image evocative of a child hiding under its mother's apron. (source)

[booksandwords]

Instinct by Sherrilyn McQueen

Series: Chronicles of Nick, #6 Read time: 2 Days Rating: 5/5

The quote: You were kind to me and I don’t believe in repaying kindness with cruelty. — Xevikan Daraxerxes

God Xev breaks my heart. A whole lot of the support cast in CoN are heartbreaking but there is something else about Xevikan that is just something else. He is pain, PTSD and power. “To give you an inkling, Gautier, I was the only ancient god born who could kill a Chthonian.”, look he is terrifying powerful and I adore him. I love Caleb I do but his inability to listen to Xev's side of the Liliana disaster makes me want to cry, slap him and then say 'what would Liliana say to you now'. Xev is tortured by that moment and we see it, I want to see more of it because there is trauma there that needs to understood. His reaction to Aeron says a lot. Oh and I'm so pleased with how we've met Aeron, I knew of him but not his story. Though there is something truly musing about seeing Xev as an Egyptian Mau nicknamed Mr. Fuzzy Boots., of course, Xev hates the name. Nick and Xev have one of the best relationships in the series. Nick is the only person who sees Xev. I know that was an unusual start, I needed to get it out of my system.

While Illusion helps the readers understand Kody and her parentage and family, Instinct deals as best as it can with Calebs. But Caleb's family is, at best, complicated. And this entire book is essentially done with Caleb absent due to the monster of the week. That monster of the week was someone I had not even thought of. I'm not sure entirely where this fits in. At times it feels like it follows on almost immediately from Illusion, at times it feels like some time has passed. But there is one line I found interesting "He’d only known it existed for less than two years." between Infinity and the end of Instinct is less than two years, and there is a year-long gap in there somewhere. There is a lot to digest coming out of this. All the characters in play, the changes in the world in dynamic and the new pieces of lore to deal with. The plot boils down to Nick working with his allies to save Cherise and Caleb and deciding whom he can trust. CoN books seem to have simplistic plots but the plot is not the point of them, they are character and lore driven. And the plot does well to display the characters in different lights. It gives some idea of where this might be going and Ambrose's shocking appearance was not a good sign. I really enjoyed this it moves at a good pace and doesn't try to do anything too smart. But I really wish there were family trees for some of these characters somewhere. That conversation between Xev and Mennie gets complicated fast even knowing the players. That said the ignorance is in line with Nick's knowledge base so it does fit.

All right have a dump of notes because otherwise, this review becomes obscenely long.

The six generals of the ušumgallu. Grim, Bane and Laguerre who live permanently earthside. The others who had to be called, Xevikan, Livia and Yrre.

The six primal gods. Those of the light; Razer, Cam and Verlyn. Those of the dark; Noir, Azure and Braith. Braith is complicated, while she aligns to the dark she is more grey. Two of the primary gods are missing; Razer and Braith. Verlyn was captured.

It wasn’t easy being Death. Made it hard to make friends. Harder still to keep them. No one was ever really happy to see you. Being around anyone tended to make them nervous and jumpy. Really sucked most days." — Being is Grim's head is something different. That is where we spend the prologue.

Braith got screwed by her siblings. I don't blame her from hiding from them for such a long time.

Zeitjägers. That's Germanic and German is a constructive language. Zeit is time. Jäger is hunter. Zeitjägers are entirely Sherri's creation as far as I can tell. But German is an interesting choice linguistically.

“Believe it or not, he can be quite charming when he’s not psychotic. And Hekate has always had a thing for bad boys.” — This about Noir. This is right after we meet Dagon, their son.

“That was you what done that with Zeus and them Arcadians and gots into all that trouble? Ooo, I remember that. That was so bad for you, but so nice for you to do! You the Simi’s hero.” — mine too Simi queen, mine too. Long story short Dagon helped Lycaon create the Were-hunters. I didn't know we knew him. And with his parentage, I'm not surprised he's willing to rebel.

Oh Noir, how did you get that body?  And can please gtfo so we can have it back?

I knew Aeron was going to be important but I didn't understand why.

“But be warned with that lineup, Malachai, you have chosen one of the most powerful groups ever assembled. Together, they could wield enough power to one day kill you.” — Damn Nick that is a smart play. It's an insurance policy. Also good choices, they are all super intelligent in their own fields too.

As an aside. I can't remember another character like Liliana. A character with a shattering impact who is never met. She feels like more than Caleb's wife at times, she feels like an anchor for him. As Nick points out other characters in Sherri's verses have this but we spend substantial time with them in flashbacks. That is not the case with Liliana.

Am I the only one reading this series that feels like there is a book missing? When did Nick find out about Mennie/Ma'at, Nashira, his brother, Monakribos (well his name), in some ways even the names of the 6 source? These aren't just important to Nick, they are important to US. While I do read the Dark-Hunter novels as well and am aware of some of the surrounding lore the primary intended audience of the CoN series would not be. The DH novels are aimed at adults and contain content as such, the CoN novels are aimed at those in their teens.

I want to add this too... this is what an Egyptian Mau looks like.

And when you know Xev has an attitude (for a reason) this is perfect.

[idumean-archive]

@dragontold​: okay but can show verse jon speak demon languages since he was in edom lmao (not asking bc jace would find it weirdly hot af ALL XD)

yes! I actually had written this up to respond to this ages ago, then never posted it so I’ll just snag from his headcanons on the blog:

Jonathan can speak several languages fluently, including several mundane languages - FRENCH, ITALIAN, RUSSIAN, GERMAN, & some ROMANIAN. in terms of ancient languages he's need to know for the more technical side of shadowhunting, he can read & fluently understand LATIN, ANCIENT GREEK, & SUMERIAN - the latter of which he learned under Lilith in Edom.

in terms of demonic languages, he can speak & understand CHTHONIAN, PURGATIC, TOLOMAEAN, & CAÏNAN. this qualifies him to be considered an expert in languages by way of the shadowhunter codex.

To expand this marginally further: in later verses, Jonathan will also start picking up & studyng some of the various Fae languages given his exposure to them through his son & his connection to the queen.