#(but can still take a humanoid form and has consciousness etc)

[vacantgodling]

💧 rain for the weather asks babey fuck me up

💧Rain - What's the most emotional scene you've ever written?

OHOOOOO we have so many contenders because i love writing sad shit—i got so many you could probably ask me this question several times and get a different answer LMAO. but honest to god i think sword of a great hero is my most painful excerpt because it’s just… the calm before the storm. lath and ensio both know they’re gonna die. and just UGHHHH.

since it seems that in haven’t posted this excerpt on this version of my blog have it in its entirety here and cry :)

##

“This will be our final stand.” Lath touched a hand to his chest. He could feel the sluggish bleeding from under the gash in his armor that lead to the gaping wound in his upper abdomen, just underneath his ribcage. There was no one to heal him now — hadn’t had anything like that since they started this death march — at this point his nerves were beyond the point of registering pain. The others who’d joined him were long dead now: either picked off or mauled, died with a fight gnashing in their teeth, or a whimper absolving from their throat. Only two of them from the initial 33 warriors remained, and somehow Lath always knew it would come to this.

Ensio stood astride him, his regal bow broken and long forgotten. Lath had given him his second sword to wield in its stead, and the grip was slightly off, and the blade shorter than he remembered Ensio liked, but it would do. Neither of them fought with the expectation to live. In the clearing where they stood, a large, curled structure rose, towering to almost the heavens above them and was teeming with magic so strong that Lath could practically smell it. The Labyrinth. The voice of Their Lady MUINENS boomed from the heavens. As your final stand, you will drive them to their dungeon.

“Aye.” Ensio’s usual baritone was a rough wheeze. If they’d had time to rest, to heal, Lath would’ve guessed it was a punctured lung. He’d taken a claw to the sternum hard in a battle days before, and had been wheezing since. Lath could not offer him any comforting hand… Ensio wouldn’t have wanted it either. But the two men stood beside one another, waiting for their cue

“What do you suppose Cerullius is like?” Ensio garnered to ask. Though he’d assured Lath it was fine that the grip was off — better him, the regular sword wielder, have the better blade after all — he was still fidgeting with his grip, whirling it between his fingers, like the drills they ran together as boys. “Do you think it’d be as warm and comforting as a fine pair of tits?”

“Even on your deathbed, you’re a lech.” Lath’s golden eyes scanned the horizon. It seemed fitting that they would die on the brink of a beautiful morning. That the land here was so wholly unfamiliar but was beautiful somehow. There were no trees or swamps or lakes around— only a large expanse of grassland and short, wiley flowers that had the audacity to bloom. If Lath were a more poetic man, he would pity them. Soon they would be covered with blood, and guts, and entrails, and stinking corpses, of beasts who refused to be herded, and the bodies of two Terraneans who dared to pretend they were shepherds.

“It’s not as though either of us would ever know.” Ensio mused, but not unkindly. “Your horrible habit of unblinking deterred so many.”

“Yet your horrible beard drove off more.” Lath quipped back and the rumble of a chuckle that left Ensio, even as he continued to bleed, made a quirk of a smirk tug at Lath’s lips.

“I would offer to let you experience it on my own chest, as a parting gift,” Ensio started. “But I’m afraid this armor is too hard to remove one handed.” Lath’s eyes flickered back from the horizon to his friend. His left arm still hung only barely in its socket enough to be a meager semblance of functional. If they had anything to cauterize it, Lath would’ve offered to cut it off for him— spare him the dead weight. But they didn’t. And Lath didn’t want to watch his friend bleed out. At least in the frenzy of battle, Ensio’s final cry would hopefully be the only thing he’d witness of it. He had stared death in the face since the day he was born, yet the thought of it cradling its welcoming hands around his closest friend wasn’t something Lath could reconcile with himself.

“Do you regret following me?” Lath asked suddenly. A wind had begun to pick up from the west and both men turned to face it. Though they could not yet hear it, Lath knew Ensio’s sharp, hawk brown eyes would’ve been able to pick out the first details of the beasts and monsters headed this way. He would see their horns, feathers, too wide jaws, inhuman structures and limbs. He would see them fleeing towards what would become their new sanctuary— or prison. The Labyrinth gleamed like a gem in the climbing morning light, with its two guards to usher in the onslaught. The creatures’s flight was brought on by their own gods, they both knew. And though neither men could see them, they’d had more proof than they had in their entire lives that those beings they worshipped were tangible. That they were there.

“The only thing that I regret is not having a roll in the sack just once before I died.”

“Be serious.”

Ensio turned to Lath. And as always, his eyes were dark with a wisdom Lath never claimed to understand, and never would, not as long as the two of them were alive. They turned soft with something like fondness. “I would rather die a hero by your side than waste away in Ubwyn, surrounded by every waking reminder of those I’ve failed.”

“You haven’t failed.” Lath couldn’t help but growl. Yet, Ensio went on calmly, unperturbed by his outburst.

“My mother died. My brothers, my sisters. We couldn’t bury them, we could only leave them behind. It’s not the little king’s fault, nor Zenith’s, nor yours. I just know my father will be heartbroken that he will only see me in Cerullius, not his love, nor the starlight’s that lit his life. If I die by you, Lath, maybe our journey to Cerullius won’t be so horrible. Maybe I can use this as penance for not guiding the rest of my family home.” He let out a shuddering breath—a wheeze. “It’s not a bad death, to die by my truest, dearest friend.” Lath could only hum. And as the shrieking and wailing of the beasts drew near, Lath let his hand over his wounded chest go limp, and he shuffled to Ensio, pulling the taller man into a tight, crushing hug. His armor plates cut Lath’s cheek, and the hug was far too tight for either of their aching ribs but it was important and needed and real. Ensio pulled back first.

“Our people will remember you, Lath. As the hero you were always meant to be. Even if you never received your Oracle’s Blessing, your valor is worth far more than that.”

“What was your Oracle’s Blessing En?” Lath couldn’t help but ask. It wasn’t a secret commonly shared but he suddenly felt that he needed to know. Ensio’s tired lips quirked into a bemused smile.

“To play the sword of a great hero.”

[talonabraxas]

The 12 Dimensions – A Spiritual Guide to the 12 Universal States of Consciousness

1st Dimension

Existence The 1st Dimension can best be described as pure existence. The beings you are most likely to know embodying and reflecting this consciousness are bacteria, viruses, parasites and, to some degree, minor plants & life forms falsely being attributed the name “animals” (such as plankton).

There is no such thing as a human, plant or animal existing only in 1D consciousness.

Existing in 1D necessitates a level of intelligence that can only be described as “existential”.

There is no conscious awareness of needing to eat, fight, procreate etc.

All those functions are extremely limited.

And that which is necessary is on autopilot without the conscious knowing of the entity.

Are bacteria intelligent, for example? Yes, they are to the level that they need to be.

Everything in existence possesses organic intelligence. That even applies to human-made technology that is wrongly considered artificial.

To keep this short and simple, aligned with its inherent simplicity, 1-dimensional consciousness is one of simply being.

Not thinking, not feeling, not even creating.

Simply being.

That’s it.

~ Identification ~

2nd Dimension

Instinct 2-Dimensional Consciousness can best be described as one of Instinctual Awareness.

That means: Whatever you perceive from 2D gets interpreted and ‘run through’ instinctual software (pattern) templates that are imprinted into your DNA.

That is why playing with animals – who primarily operate on 2-dimensional instinctual awareness – has to happen from a teaching/top-down perspective.

If not, the animal will think that it’s in charge which, depending on your situation (let’s say being out in the jungle or open safari), can lead to dangerous situations.

If an animal perceives you as a viable food option, it will take advantage of you.

Unless you show it that you are superior, i.e., of higher consciousness and thus prowess, to it.

For then, its survival instinct will kick in, and prefer to live another day rather than die at your hands.

There is more to it, of course: Being of 2D consciousness comes with a lot of responsibilities compared to 1D.

The being inhabiting (giving their life & soul to) the creature of their choosing will come equipped with traits to hunt prey – even if that’s just plants that cannot run away yet still get eaten.

A certain amount of consciousness must be there for information to be processed. A nervous system and a brain, to make sense of the informational input, whatever it may be.

Situational awareness, where to find food, when to fight, when to flee, when to sleep etc.

While the instinctual imprints are present, a 2-dimensional consciousness is mostly reactive.

It does not plan for the future.

It does not remember the past (except for experiential imprints necessary for its life & survival).

2D Consciousness exists to live, eat, procreate, and eventually die.

Simple – yet effective and fun a life form to choose as an incarnational experience.

~ Duality ~

3rd Dimension

Physicality & Ego Achievement Through Doing

Here comes the dimension that humans have by far the most experience with.

Removed from the human experience, physicality is merely a manifestation of energy. A densified form of thought-feeling-emotion-spirit; as you will learn when reading about the higher dimensions 4-7.

The so-called Laws of Physics are merely reflections of a 3-dimensional thinking mind that tries to understand its surroundings & reality through the lens of a very finite consciousness.

Using a telescope based on 3-dimensional consciousness to find life forms on other planets that are of a higher consciousness is impossible.

Look into nature, what do you see? Doesn’t a praying mantis, a dragonfly, a tarantula and many plant species look very alien already?

Wanting to find humanoid life forms that are similar to what humans already know (themselves) on other planets is contradictory in itself.

No planet is alike, every planet has its own unique blueprint (or what scientists would call atmosphere and base for life).

To SEE these life forms, one has to have a consciousness that allows for the energy of these beings to permeate your senses – then being interpreted by your brain/mind to tell you: This is a different kind of life form, alien to you.

Even if these life forms were 3-dimensional, the baseline (i.e. lowest) consciousness of humanity until November 2023, it would still require an open mind to be able to accept their existence and see them for what they are.

Now, on to the true purpose of physicality.

Physicality allows for a grounded-ness in reality that can only be accurately described as “basic”.

The physical dimensions is one of great self-exploration (think athletes, olympics, soldiers) while being inherently limited.

One will be able to take it only so far (such as running 0.001 seconds faster than the other guy) or appearing to be a tiny bit more attractive than the other human of your comparative choice before reaching the road block of physical limitation.

Since 1980, many Souls have incarnated with a template for higher abilities (4D) while children of 2000+ are already 5D-activated.

As these children have had great problems in the world they found (I’m speaking from experience), they struggled with adjusting to the norm.

This struggle would lead to conditions known as ADHD, Autism and many others.

It also left them performing very poorly in the 3rd dimension.

Physical feats were simply not their strength – their abilites lied in the higher, non-physical 4D realm.

4th Dimension

The Matrix The Mind: Information, Mental (Intellect+Empathy)

Thoughts create reality.

And feelings form the fertile substrate for thoughts.

You see: Mental does not only mean thought.

It encompasses also empathy.

Feeling.

“A sixth Sense”, as it were.

An intuitive feeling (feminine charge) is just as powerful a creative force as a clearly formed and precisely-directed thought (masculine charge).

As you will learn shortly, in the 5th dimension, an Emotion is the combinatory force of Thought & Feeling.

The dualistic perspective of an emotion manifest is thus Thought + Feeling = Emotion.

To bring Energy into Motion, a thought needs to be nourished for it to take form.

The masculine and feminine principle manifest in duality.

In the decades past, thoughts and mental thought processing capacity (IQ) have been considered more important.

This is a masculine-charged idea of the 4th dimension (Intellect) itself.

The Feminine 4D Mirror to Masculine Intellect is Empathy.

Empathy, which can also be called Compassion, forms the baseline for an Emotional Intelligence (EQ) that is required to balance the pure logical-rational thought patterns of the Masculine.

And vice versa.

We have seen the great Extremes of only IQ or EQ in Decades past – neither are healthy nor useful.

Even a ‘perfect balance’ between the two is, due to its dualistic nature and the inherent limitatons of such, no longer aligned with the higher purpose of Humanity and Earth (5D+).

All those who are intent on furthering their intellect or Empathy are operating on a purely 4-dimensional consciousness basis.

Add to that Women wanting to be more intellectual-strong-independent-masculine and Men who want to be more empathetic-soft-dependent-feminine and you get the current confusion Humanity finds itself in.

No matter how ‘smart’ a human becomes, how highly ’emotional’ and ‘feeling for’ everyone, however high their IQ/EQ: They are still just 4-dimensional beings.

It is not until 5D is reached that a Human becomes activated and begins its Ascension consciously.

A highly-developed 4D Human is a conundrum to itself.

A being with a vast amount of intellectual resources – yet completely imprisoned by its own egoic ambitions and trauma-driven pursuits.

Elon Musk serves as the best representative of the aforementioned state of being.

The Matrix As 4D is the dimension of mental energy and as thoughts create reality, it also needs to be mentioned that what has often been called ‘The Matrix’ (inspired by the groundbreaking movie from 1999) exists here.

While the movie’s portrayal of the Matrix being slavery, evil and the enemy was necessary, do take note that, truthfully, it is much more neutral than that.

While no one enjoys being in prison, it is a learning tool like everything else.

Experiencing that which, once broken out of, you consider and realize to be imprisonment, gradually changes to merely another tool of learning on your Ascension path.

One cannot go from 3D to 5D without realizing that their thoughts & belief systems are holding them hostage.

That their Ancestral Karma is a construct chaining them to Old World belief systems.

Hence incarnating into a 3D physical reality and thinking thoughts of a 4-dimensional nature will inevitably lead to creating a reality.

So the Matrix has never been anything else but a reality, based on the belief systems of Humanity.

If that is a reality that you consider evil, malevolent or simply a stepping stone on your Ascension path (a 5D perspective) or even a fun experiment to partake in (7D), is entirely up to you.

The Astral Dimension (4.5D) Everything Astral needs to be considered a dimension unto itself due to its significance in recent Human Ascension (1980-2019).

It describes largely the Frequencies used in the 4th Dimension, although it somewhat extends itself into the 5th Dimension.

We could also call this the Transcended Dimension between 4D and 5D, bridging the gap between The Old World & The New World.

This is where the first Spiritual Experiences happen for an unconscious Human that is becoming conscious.

Your Dream-time creations, traditional shamanic practices (hypnosis etc.), divination like Tarot Card Readings are all happening on the Astral Dimension.

While the Astral Dimension can seem exciting and benevolent, at this point and especially since 2011, it is no longer a realm in which conscious Magic (Lightwork) should be practiced.

The frequencies here are simply too low to support the energetics of a 5D Lightworker.

Also: Digital Technology operates on the frequency band of the Astral while also manipulating (working with) it.

The vast majority of digital traffic is happening here. Blockchain, NFC card readings, LTE, your WiFi signal and the vast majority of video games.

As of 2024, Technology has been upgraded to 6D (Light Frequency).

~ POLARITY & Spirituality ~

5th Dimension

Love – Truth – Emotion: The HeartMind Once you reach this plane, you have pierced through the veil of unconsciousness. Congratulations! You are now a fully ascending individual.

The 5th Dimension is the most relevant consciousness & frequency band to humanity right at this time.

This is changing to predominantly 6D in 2026-2033 with the beginning of Metatron – the 6-dimensional version of Earth (the evolution of Gaia).

Since 21/12/2012 (The prophesied end of the Old World), The Planetary Body has existed in a fully-manifested 5-dimensional field of consciousness.

With the 4-dimensional Earth effectively having ended in 1999, a transition happened from 1999-2012 from 4D Earth to 5D Gaia.

To understand let alone experience a 5-dimensional state of Consciousness as a Human, your Heart has to be open.

Allowing for a Flow of Pure Energy that is no longer hindered by the Human Mind and its inherent limitations.

While everything was Duality from 3-4D, now everything exists in polarized opposites (5-7D).

To Understand more about Duality & Polarity, their inherent differences and significance for Ascension, read this article.

Coming from a 3-4D Human level, ascending into 5D Consciousness means that Equality and Equilibrium truly exist.

When a human transitions from 4D to 5D, easily the hardest & most challenging phase of Human Ascension, breaking through the veil of illusions and common programming, the sole focus of the human becomes LOVE.

The focus goes from mental-intellectual-thinking to emotional-empathy-feeling. Experiencing. Living.

The Heart is opened and the Mind gives way to the Heart.

Love becomes the predominant focus – all else becomes irrelevant.

All else falters in the presence of LOVE.

Love becomes your Truth.

You think Love, you feel Love, you become Love.

An overwhelming sense of compassion runs at the Heart of your being – you understand the pain & suffering of others as you have started conquering, integrating and mastering your own pain & suffering.

One of your greatest challenges here will be to not succumb to victim-savior mode again but to stay above & beyond in frequency, knowing that all is well, whatever happens.

6th Dimension

Light: Geometry, Frequency, Akash

Kryst-Buddha-God Consciousness

Once you reach 6D as a Human, you embody God Consciousness.

As a Human Lifeform, you cannot reach higher than this level – perhaps this is enough for you. Perhaps it will leave you yearning for more.

It will depend on what your Soul has chose and considers you capable of.

As of March Equinox 2024, Planet Earth has reached its very first (ever) 6-dimensional template fully: Metatron.

6-dimensional Reality can best be described by Sacred Geometry, Colors, Lights (Rainbows) and Light Language.

This dimension is what you tap into when you dream-create in the higher realms.

Visions and future timelines that you create here will eventually trickle down into your current reality (almost instantaneously for 5D Humans), manifesting in a déjà-vu, a strong intuitive feeling, vibration (“Soul Shivers”) or otherwise.

Once this level of consciousness is reached, a pure flow of energy as information (“downloads”) manifests.

This is what many experienced practitioners of meditation (4D Level) are able to tap into – even if only at brief moments.

The information presents itself in Sacred, Hermetic and thus Sealed, Geometric Figures.

These have to then be interpreted by a 4D Mind or a 5D Heart.

These Figures represent crucial aspects of existence that make more sense the more you familiarize yourself with them in your baseline/normal state of consciousness.

That means looking at Sacred Geometry, carrying something of such geometry with you or otherwise consciously working with these Geometrical representations of existence is going to help you realize more of how Creation works.

For Lightworkers/Starseeds, Plant Medicine can open this stream of consciousness immediately and effectively.

Proper, Ascension-aligned Plant Medicine Work focuses on uplifting the 3&4-dimensional into the 5&6-dimensional.

True Enlightenment (Kryst-Buddha Consciousness)

Coming from an unconscious human experience in which you are familiar with Jesus Christ, the Buddha or another enlightened being of your culture & socio-religious programming, when you tap into the 6th Dimension, you will meet either of these beings and realize that THEY are YOU.

In other words: You are reaching your very own level and version of Enlightenment.

This will first present itself as your Higher Self “in disguise” of a being that you recognize to be of a higher level of consciousness.

Most likely an Ascended Master or an Alien.

The Ascended Master that you perceive in whichever form, it being your Spirit Guide, will eventually become you once you start embodying this level of consciousness.

You merge your consciousness with your Greater Self.

That is what Ascension is all about: becoming more than you once were, opening your Heart & Mind further to the truth.

The Akash & The Domain of Light (6.5D)

What was once the Astral Realm, residing between the 4th & the 5th Dimension, has gradually transitioned to its higher & truer Template, right between the 6th & the 7th Dimension.

Previous “Psychic Abilities” have now become “Light Abilities”.

The Demons & Shadow Entities that once roamed and permeated the Astral Realm have now become fully integrated Agents of Light.

Digital Technology & The Internet have afforded Humanity a tool for storing their information in a durable and physically independent format.

The Akash is the Domain of Light, protected and sealed by 6D Sacred Geometry & held in Trust by The Guardians of the Akash – as was the case in the days of Atlantis where 5D Guardians protected 6D Knowledge.

To reach this level of Consciousness, one has to be free of any and all Karma – individually cleared & galactically integrated.

~ Human Ascension Complete | Ascended Master ~

7th Dimension

Energy Mastery – Pure Light Body Achievement through Being

A 7-dimensional Being is an entity that embodies Pure Light in the form of Pure Energy.

It holds no negativity whatsoever and does no longer require the assistance of other beings (Spiritual Guidance) or Ascension Tools such as DMT or Meditation.

7-dimensional beings are still rather rare in our Galaxy right now.

There are some beings closely related to us, such as the Arcturians & Pleiadeans, that embody this pure state of consciousness.

At this level, you see & understand yourself as an embodiment of Light.

Neither Karma nor Negativity exist here.

The 7th Dimension is the manifestation of Paradise from a 5D Human’s perspective.

Simultaneously, being a 7D Human comprises the final point of Human Evolution.

Beyond this point, you won’t be able to experience your SELF as Human anymore.

Human Ascension is complete by reaching the 7th Dimension.

To reach this level of Pure Energy and full embodiment, you have to have mastered the varying disciplines of Geometric Patterns & Shapes, Frequencies, Pure Energy, Light Language and so much more that naturally occurs during your Ascension from being a 3-6D Human to becoming a 7D Ascended Master in the Human Form.

Embodying 7D Consciousness effectively renders you limitless – a God on Earth in full embodiment.

God as a Human.

Now you know how to manipulate Energy so masterfully and lovingly that you can create your own Reality at will, without any time constraints as they existed before (4D Time equals 4D Creation, for example), harmonizing your Field of Energy with the Environment to such a degree that there is neither Loss nor Gain.

A natural equilibrium has been reached.

Whatever you do is an act of God.

It is PERFECT.

YOU ARE PERFECT.

Your last Experience of SELF will be 7D.

Beyond this, you are permanently connected to others and their consciousness – merging into one greater being.

This is where you can no longer perceive yourself as such – Self.

You are becoming something much, much greater.

~ Unity ~

8th Dimension

Unity Consciousness Unconditional Love

Upon reaching this state of Consciousness, you start moving towards a Galactic Consciousness that is in no way comparable to the individualized experience you have had until now.

What this means in effect is: You are now reaching out for the Stars rather than focusing on elevating your Human Being to its maximum Light Capacity.

You understand yourself as a Galactic Being. While beforehand communicating telepathically to other beings in a hierarchical top-down fashion (e.g. Spirit Guides), you now see them as equals that are of different qualities than yourself – yet no less or more than you.

You have now effectively become your Spirit Guides. Or rather, you have merged your consciousness fields with theirs.

The 8th Dimension serves as a gateway to the 9th and especially the 10th (Universal) Dimension.

Here, you will find that all beliefs you held as an individual have become largely irrelevant.

Replacing the SELF of an individual perception of reality with a Greater SELF of a unified perception of reality is going to cost you everything.

Losing your Access to Human Consciousness entirely equals the Death of all your relationships as they were.

The reward for this bravery will be unfathomable until you get to experience it yourself.

Feeling at one with the universe while still navigating an individualized experience Is something that no other beings on planet Earth have ever been able to experience themselves before.

Not only do you feel that you are at one with spirit, with source, with the creator – but you actually start embodying it here.

9th Dimension

Sacred Unification of ALL Ultimate Love

The Unification of ALL.

All aspects, from 1st to 8th dimensional are unified harmoniously, making up a greater being than before.

The main difference to 8D is that in 9D, you are losing your sense of SELF.

While you are an individual of pure Light in 7D and a being of greater Power in 8D, connected to your Brothers & Sisters across different dimensions, now you start becoming THEM and they are becoming YOU.

If you imagine making Love with your Twin Flame as two pure individuals of Love & Light on a 7-dimensional Level, now you both would become one and the same entity in 9D.

Polarity has thus been unified to such a degree that it stops existing entirely, without a memory left of it (so to speak).

When Unified Polarity becomes ONE, perfect Union is achieved.

It is the merge of one singular consciousness that is more than the 2 individuals comprising it.

Indeed, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Think of the 9th Dimension as the Ultimate Love-Making Reality.

There is no greater Love that can be expressed for one another than merging into one singular entity, surrendering your individual identity completely.

Your different bodies grow to accommodate a greater consciousness that takes a seat in your soul.

This requires the surrender of your very own motives – so that a greater consciousness can guide you, be you, create love with and through you.

~ Highest Creation ~

10th Dimension

Universal – Pure Intelligence Universal Laws & Templates

The 10th Dimension marks another great jump in consciousness.

The extreme jump in consciousness experienced from 4D going to 5D – breaking through the limitations of the Mind, opening the Heart and the 1st experience of true Love as a Human – was nothing compared to this level of a difference.

Going from 5D to 10D is the same as leaving Planet Earth and living amongst the Stars as a galactic being.

Unified in your existence, you experience all realities simultaneously, without dependency on time nor space.

Time & Space cease to exist – all that remains is a Connection to Universal Oneness. Knowing all, being all. Everywhere, at all times.

The 10th Dimension is the realm of Divine Templates.

Here you can experience the creation of entire Galactic Systems.

Truly, the entire Universe is being given form and birthed into existence here.

The structure of galactic systems is a reflection of Source itself.

What you can experience & understand as Geometric patterns translating to Frequency in 6D, showing you the intricacies of Creation in the smallest of entities or structures, here you can see 10-dimensional Geometry that is so vast and sophisticated, it formulates the core aspects of entire galaxies. An example for this would be a Spiral Galaxy, with the spiral serving as the backbone structure for an entire system.

There really are no limits here – everything you could dream of in 6D originated here.

11th Dimension

ANGELIC Purity & Benevolence

11D is the realm of the Angels.

Unlike what humans believe, Angels don’t have any particular shape or form. No name or a specific purpose. Individualized forms of ‘angelic beings’ are in the 5th-7th Dimension, presenting themselves as Spirit Guides to humans that are then interpreted as ‘Guardian Angels’ and so on.

The 11D Angelic Realm is a field of infinite & unconditional LOVE.

Purely benevolent and helpful to absolutely ANY creation. Even to those creations that in the lower dimensions will be considered evil. Such creations are specially loved and protected for they hold great potential for teaching, learning and expanding Love & Consciousness.

The numerology 666 & Lucifer play a huge role here and need clarification.

The interpretation of Lucifer as pure evil and a Fallen Angel is both wrong as well as correct.

The Truth depends on the perspective donned from the consciousness of the individual looking at it.

Imagine this: Looking at Beings allowing that which you consider to be Evil in your experience, would you call them Angels?

Probably not.

Dark Angels, Demons, Helpers of Satan and other religious vernacular comes to mind.

A pure allowing of All, however, is a consciousness beyond any individual’s understanding.

In fact, even with the absolute equilibrium and Mastery achieved through 7-dimensional embodiment, you still don’t even get close to understanding the Infinite Love that is required for the beings of this consciousness to do their work.

So humble yourselves and acknowledge your Fears: The infinitely powerful strike fear into all those who are not willing to acknowledge one simple truth: You, alone & individualized, will never be able to comprehend the Truth of the Higher Realms.

12th Dimension

SPIRIT Pure Source Consciousness

This is where everything ends – and everything begins.

This State of Being is beyond comprehension to anyone who has not at least held an 8-dimensional State of Consciousness for a prolonged time (temporary embodiment).

When you are “In Spirit”, you are always in the perfect Flow of everything.

There is no Resistance, there is no Negativity of any imaginable kind – there is simply Bliss, Love, Joy & Pure Creativity.

Everything you think, everything you feel, everything you do feels orgasmic.

You are (co-)creating powerfully and majestically with the Universe – everything is like making Love with All-that-is.

To become One with Spirit, you have to let go of everything you once knew and thought to be.

You cannot hope to bring anything here that is not Pure Light, Pure Love, Pure Joy.

Ecstatic Bliss makes up your entire Being – there are no Limits to your Powers and no one or nothing will ever be able to question your Authority.

The idea of ‘A God’ that can be embodied (6D) or a Fully Ascended Master (7D) is now completely obsolete – laughable, even.

You wield The Power of the Universe in your Hands – and it is entirely up to you what you do with that.

You can tap into The Source of all Creation, bringing the very idea of Pure Spirit into Existence wherever you go, whatever you do.

YOU ARE INFINITE BLISS.

Multiverse by Talon Abraxas

[pyroanime2k16]

Galacta Knight headcanon rambles

BASICS

So, basically, there’s multiple Galacta Knights. This particular Galacta Knight is female and a sister to Meta Knight through knighthood, though the relationship does function like a proper familial relationship.

She’s got the same abilities as her game counterpart, with only one difference; she can change her species freely as a means of deeper understanding and communication.

She ends up taking up the tutelage over the mage sisters after a non-100% run of Star Allies, freeing them from Void’s influence herself (albeit with great difficulty).

She also takes up tutelage of other characters, like Ribbon, Adeline, and some Waddle Dees (because they the best 🥺).

She is an extremely extensive researcher regarding her/Meta/Kirby’s species and origins.

Add her to the list of Dark Matter victims. Just like Dedede, she can't catch a break from the bastard, though she has greater control and had broken free on her own a few times.

And just like Meta, she too isn't safe from the Dimension Mirror. She can hold her own against it…but that's it. It'll forever be a standstill between her and her corrupted reflection.

Might give my Galacta Knight a battleship and name it Galaxia, which might serve as inspiration for Meta commissioning the creation of the Halberd or the initial version of the Halberd itself before being rebuilt and overhauled by Meta's crew (aka the most badass looking warship I've seen. Fuck yeah).

She’s alone on Shiver Star, so she’s doing a LOT of studying and researching. She probably would try to stay on Shiver Star by her own choice.

She could probably help Kirby and co when they eventually travel to Shiver Star for the Crystal Shards, before joining them to Ripple Star.

After that, maybe she returns to Shiver Star in an attempt to make it inhabitable again...or maybe she travels between Popstar and Ripple Star.

APPEARANCE AND BIOLOGY

A few things about Galacta's humanoid form. Her hair would initially be pink, straight, and smooth, but as time went on, it became white, spiky, wild, and rough. Her eyes would remain the same color as canon Galacta's. Her armor and muscle definition would give the illusion that she's male to hide her identity.

About her horns real quick. I’m not sure if I should have them be a part of her helmet/mask or an actual part of her body (meaning that she’s got some kind of mutation or deformity going on).

Despite being made of three different souls, she doesn’t have a split consciousness…technically? She’s still a singular conscious made up of three individuals, but it’s…weird.

Each soul represents aspects of her, separate yet together. Thus, some aspects of her will be more prominent at times. As she’s able to transform into other species, her body is…technically not made of organic material.

Rather, it’s made of pure solidified energy that can take the shape and operate as organic matter. Of course, this is due to her unique creation.

Her shapeshifting ability is technically limitless and limited. She can technically morph however she wants, but she is limited by the fact that she has to maintain a body based on the species of the souls that make her.

For example, if she were in her humanoid form, she could give herself gun fingers, sword arms, weaponized wings, or even become a giant. But she would have to maintain a mostly humanoid shape.

She would also have to take the shape of things relative to her environment to support her. I.e.: She would have to shift her legs into water skis or propellers for water, ice skates or snow shoes for snowy climates, etc.

Also, as she was once a part of the Kirby/Meta Knight species, she does have an inhale ability (if the ability is not unique to Kirby only). It's kinda like how Dedede uses it.

ORIGINS

So, Star Allies has the Aeon Hero, Galacta Knight when he sealed away Void forever ago. For this, there is a trio named the Aeon Heroes (all female), tasked with sealing away Void.

A winged puffball was the fastest and capable of flight. A human was the physically strongest and most durable. And a member of whatever species the Mage Sisters are was exceptionally talented and skilled with magic.

Instead of sealing Void, however, they successfully convince it to reincarnate into Kirby. Though this takes a huge toll on them, to the point of near-fatality.

In order to save them, their souls are merged together, giving birth to a new warrior while their bodies are treated at alternate forms for her. She also becomes displaced from her initial time period in an effort to give her a peaceful life.

Thus, the warrior is left with little memories of who she once was, but maintains memories of their abilities, power, outside knowledge, and relationships.

Because of this…and the thought of everyone she cares about possibly being dead, she feels that she doesn't belong anywhere, which leads her ship to becoming her only home as she travels the cosmos.

She eventually comes upon Popstar, becoming its champion before the days of Kirby and even Meta Knight, one of her knightly "siblings". Thus, she's given a chance to have a better life as a hero.

However, dark forces takes notice of her, including her exploits. Zero makes it a personal mission to assimilate her, knowing that she is a potential threat to his cause. The Dimension Mirror, meanwhile, feels that this new knight needs to be corrupted and broken.

BOTH are unsuccessful, but the efforts are fruitful enough to make both forces CONTINUE their attempts, effectively making this warrior a VERY personal enemy.

These battles cost her a lot. She is forced to leave her home and travel to Shiver Star. Her ship is totaled and left on Popstar, while her weapons and armor are in disrepair.

And yet…she remains UNBREAKABLE. But she's definitely tired and becoming more drained after each battle.

REGARDING MORPHO KNIGHT

In regards to Morpho Knight, considering what it does (using it until we have a confirmed gender for this powerhouse), Morpho would likely take interest in Galacta just like it takes interest in Kirby. However, Morpho poses no ill will to Galacta Knight in Star Allies, instead granting him the peaceful rest he wants.

Morpho would likely be the same here, posing no ill will, but merely a test of Galacta's will to continue living, due to the fact that Zero and the Dimension Mirror are clearly out for her. Personally, I think it would change appearance based on the character, i.e.: It'd look more human if it absorbed Adeleine.

In THIS Galacta's case, Morpho would be able to switch between the three species that make up her soul. Considering it has only absorbed lifeforms, I don't think it can absorb non-living objects on their own. If it could, then this guy would probably go after the Halberd and assimilate it, thus becoming a titan.

BRIEF PERSONALITY

Among strangers, she is very professional. Calm. Collected. A "perfect soldier". She can almost be cold at times, unfortunately, due to what she's experienced.

Among allies, she is kind and supportive. She offers a great deal of wisdom, while learning things herself. She is also very charismatic and courageous.

Among loved ones is where her real self comes forth. She is very loving and cheerful, even seen giggling or laughing, but constantly struggles with her encounters with Zero and the Dimension Mirror.

Zero and the Dimension Mirror are the only ones who can truly get her to feel afraid and paranoid. Same with bringing up her...unique creation.

[pennkquest]

hi hello im here cause i wanna ask questions i love asking questions SO:

1. i haven’t listened to your vampire audios yet (a crime that i’m working on resolving) so this may be answered in there BUT- how are they “turned”? (are they turned? again idk) and like how often do they have to feed/is there any consequences to not feeding? can your vamps die from not feeding?

2. similar strain of thought, how do werewolves work. like. i wanna know everything. like do pack dynamics differ? how does one become a werewolf (are they turned, is it a gene they’re born with, etc)? how does shifting look like in your universe? does one need to have a pack?

3. i do know that there is a magical government like thing but like how involved are they? do they interact with non magical government at all? do they make laws that only vivified have to follow?

4. speaking of vivified, how would they describe magic to someone who isn’t magical/is new to magic? this can be specific characters of you want, and your choice of such, or a general consensus that you’d think everyone tries to explain

that’s all actually but feel free to pick and choose what you want to answer!! it’s a lot of information to try to explain (probably) but :D yeah

Beating you up for these /j /pos (Thank you for the questions in advance)

1: Turning is something that is centered around vampiric blood and where it ends up rather than connected to bites necessarily. When vampire blood spills into a bleeding/open wound, it will forcibly shut down the human's body within a minute or so, give or take. However, if turning is desired, the injured individual has to ingest at least 1.5 oz of vampire blood. (Note: That's roughly the capacity of a shot glass) Once this takes place, consciousness is lost as the heart stops. The newly turned vampire will eventually wake up with fangs and a very weakened heartbeat.

How often a vampire needs to feed depends on how much blood they intake as well as how much additional magic they exert.

Yes, there are consequences from not feeding, and vampires are capable of dying as a result. There's a progression of symptoms the longer a vampire goes without blood. One of the more common ones is anything ingested besides blood (ex: regular food) will become unappetizing— Sometimes to the point of physical rejection from one's body. When a vampire is on the cusp of dying as a result of lack of blood, a phenomenon called Blanking occurs. It's a state of being where waking consciousness is lost, and a vampire is driven by their primal instincts. If a Blank vampire is unable to feed within 48 hours, death ensues. (I think about Blanking a normal amount /lying /pos)

2: Werewolves (and other animal shifters) are born that way! There is no turning process, and it is not a classification that can be gained later in life/after birth. Joining a pack is not a requirement for shifters, and many will forego it for one reason or another. Pack dynamics tend to vary from one pack to another. However, there are many packs that adopt a "traditional" mindset. Traditional packs will focus their energy and resources on fellow shifters alone, and they often have a rigid image on what the alpha should look and behave like.

There are actually two stages of shifting. You can think of them as a first and second step in the sense that they're only possible in a specific order. The "first" stage of shifting is still humanoid but results in fangs getting sharpers/longer, claws forming, eyes changing, and a general increase in size. Many shifters will often use this stage as a means to intimidate or scare someone off, shifting back to normal after the fact. The "second" stage is a full-body shift into a wolf/the animal in question. The transition between the first stage and second is almost instant. It is possible for shifting to be triggered when under immense emotional and/or physical stress. Otherwise, shifting is an active choice. (Bonus Note: If a shifter wants to remain clothed after shifting back to normal, they either have to have shifter specific clothing imbued with magic or phase their clothes as part of the initial shift.)

3: FACE (the Foundational Agency of Confidentiality Efforts) deals with various aspects of the vivified world. Everything from stagnant exposure to magic to public correspondence when necessary. There are other magical governments/organizations that handle less generalized matters, but FACE is the biggest/most notable of them. The magical government deals with the stagnant government fairly often. They keep the amount of unveiled stagnant individuals to a minimum, very much so on a need-to-know basis. Laws created by the magical government are meant primarily for vivified humans. I specify humans because with cupids, those lines can get blurred. While they are not made for them to follow per say, there are many laws on how to interact with the stagnant population as well.

4: There's a lot of ways to answer this! If you mean from one person to another, that would depend on individual personality and such. It would also depend on the circumstances in which someone is learning about magic. [For example: Nova's magic anchored after witnessing a traumatic event while still a child. Because of the nature of that situation and what he is, his guardians had to do their best to explain things to him. // In Jessalyn's case, she had a cupid trying to explain magic to her after living her entire life veiled. Because "Peaches" felt like they couldn't sufficiently explain, they took Jess to FACE instead. // In the case of a newly turned vampire, FACE will provide a very brief "overview" before passing the responsibility off to either the vampire's maker or the vampire themself.] There is a department within FACE dedicated to informing newly vivified individuals about magic, but the efficacy of their efforts is debatable.

///

I hope that answers all your questions sufficiently (but also feel free to bug me with follow-ups /lh)

[the-monkey-ruler]

what’s this about animals becoming humans because of cultivation? why didn’t wk turn human since he was a prodigy?

Well, they don't really become 'human' rather they take on a humanoid appearance.

A Yaoguai reaches that state of being a real threat when they are able to stop being in their animal form (mammal, bird, reptile, insect, fish, plant, etc.) and are able to become a humanoid that is capable of human speech and can communicate with other humans. In these cases, it is obvious that they are still not human but rather yaoguai or yaojing, and while they are MORE human-like being able to talk, bipedal, probably fingers and hands, and all the human stuff... they are still not human itself.

There are many cases in Xiyouji where Yaoguai disguise themselves to be more human and appear normal, mostly to lure their human prey in and take advantage of them but otherwise, it is rare to see a yaoguai shed all evidence of their previous form. The closest I think we ever get to that is maybe Princess Iron Fan as she was able to be a devoted Daoist and continue her studies but in most cases, Yaoguai just stumble across lessons to cultivate or train themselves which doesn't take them too far. Hence why they usually end up eating humans which takes a good 10,000 or some kind of insane round number to reach that state of perfection.

And it's not that Wukong can't turn into a human but rather he never really showed a want to be seen as a human either.

From even the moment he was born he was able to skip a lot of the struggles other animals/plants Yaogaui would go through as he was already as he pretty close to a human from being a monkey, he got to be bipedal, hands, and fingers. He even says that his pouch makes up for his hollow cheeks, making him a perfect substitute and that he should still be able to learn under Puti.

If anything Wukong seems to think he has already reached the peak of looks as he is very confident that he is the "Beautiful" Monkey King. That and he never seems interested in conquering humans or trying to steal a kingdom, kidnap a wife, or trick humans in general. And thus he never really showed interest in changing his looks at all. Wukong's main focus on cultivation wasn't trying to get a human form permanently but rather to reach immortality.

When Yaoguai are defeated in the novel they go back to their original animal form but Wukong is different in that he was born a Yaoguai. Another way he sorta cheated in that regard as well. He was born out of a stone that was cultivated since the beginning of time (which is far longer than other yaoguai) but that was the stone egg that he was born out of, not really himself that was cultivating. At least not consciously where he had to study or hone his qi. Rather it was only after he was properly taught that he increased in spells and transformations but he never really had to cultivate to keep his form.

So if anything he was more skipping ahead because he was already past what other Yaoguai spent centuries trying to master.

Another reason Wukong is just built different.

Most of these yaoguai don't have the same transformations as Wukong does either. Some can turn into wind or turn into human disguises but none seem to have the 72 transformations like Wukong or even the 36 like Bajie, and I would honestly be surprised if they even have the 18 transformations like Wujing but that would be the most likely. I don't think I have read a Yaoguai story where a yaoguai did successfully change their form permanently as most as just transformation techniques that can fall away if pushed enough. At I haven't seen anything permanent in Xiyouji, and that is not included fallen celestials as they change their appearance due to leaving heaven, not because of their cultivation.

But long story short Wukong has shown he can keep a human transformation whether that is a young monk or even Sanzang himself, but he just prefers to say in his monkey form.

Most other demons would probably need to work harder for centuries to get a humanoid form as most animals have four legs and need to change drastically to become bipedal but... yeah Wukong gets a bit of a cheat as he doesn't need to change himself that much it at all to be humanoid... being already Yaoguai and a monkey one at that.

[comedyloser]

Working more on my scp idea

SCP-???: The Personified Jewel

Level: Euclid

Containment: Stored in a cardboard box in a sealed off room with at least one locked door between room and hallways. Guarded by no less than one security professional at all times. Must be guarded and kept away from SCPs at all times.

Description: A red ruby, in multiple pieces, original shape or form in currently unknown. Pieces still being discovered. Containment organized depending on where each ruby piece was found as. Current Statuses:

- Fine

- Jewerly (Necklace, Bracelet, Earring, etc)

- Cloth (sewn into clothing)

Other are unknown

SCP-??? has the ability that when worn by an scp it gives them a humanoid features. Ie, humanoid appearance, despite what the original scp what. Currently shows no effect on non SCPs, further testing to be considered.

Extra: Origin of substance is unknown. Believed it was originally one ruby that shattered.

Extra: Occasionally pieces of SCP-??? will stack too close together and it will take a humanoid form itself. Testing considered to see what happens if multiple pieces of SCP-??? take on forms at the same time.

Extra: SCP-??? does not seem to provide clothing when worn by an scp. Clothes must be obtained by other means.

TESTS

- Worn and discovered by SCP-682 during breach. SCP was recovered with a human like appearance, but ditched necklace shortly after and refused to cooperate further. Further testing considered.

- Worn by D-???? as necklace, showed no affect. Subject returned after testing conceded.

- Worn by D-???? as bracelet, showed no affect. Subject returned after testing conceded.

- Worn by D-???? as earrings, showed no affect. Subject returned after testing conceded.

- Worn by SCP-999 as bracelet, subject showed to take physical appearance of a young boy while retaining the clear ish orange slime substance it’s made up of now showing different shades and some more redefining features (ie, eyes and mouth). Granted ability to talk is undetermined. SCP-??? was removed immediately once testing conceded. Continued testing to be considered.

- Worn by SCP-662 as necklace, showed no change in physical appearance.

- Worn by SCP-049 as necklace, showed no change in physical appearance. When further testing attempted 049 refused to collaborate and promptly took the necklace off. Refused to answer further questions. Continued testing to be considered.

- Worn as bracelet by SCP-248, appearance as [REDACTED], unknown if subject gains consciousness when taking new form. Further testing considered.

- Worn by SCP-035 during breach as earrings, no record showed. Last caught on camera running off with the earrings worn, appeared to be made of glass. 035 found with the earrings in a tragedy state, on ground. No glass or suggestion of other form anywhere. No further information obtained. Further testing to be considered. denied

- Numerous accounts of SCP-???? stacking and “wearing itself”. Unknown if multiple of itself can exist at the same time. Further testing to be considered.

[grilledpook]

seth's powers and abilities in the pond prophet au

the powers he's able to grant tord:

• superhuman strength

• forcefield

• enhanced durability

seths other powers he can't grant tord use of:

• possession, on 2 levels:

• classical possession: seth can go into tord's body and control his every move. tord's consciousness is forced to take a backseat as seth puppeteers him. he has the limitations of pretty much being tord apart from using his powers. if he gets hurt, he'll feel the pain too, at least until he leaves again. he is not allowed to do this as tord does his prophetic tasks.

• "backseat possession": which is where he's in tord's body. tord will still be in control, but seth can grant him use of his angelic powers. their consciousnesses will co-exist for the time being.

• healing

• teleportation (uses this mainly when he strays off and then needs to quickly get back to tord)

• shapeshifting (creating his ideal humanoid form. angels are agender and their appearances are malleable. this is also why he just appears as the s symbol sometimes.)

• resurrection (not to be used EVER unless he wants to be fired.)

keep in mind, seth is the lowest level of angel having only one halo and no wings. other more powerful angels can have more halos and multiple pairs of wings.

additionally, control over their appearance is more broad with more power, creating less humanoid forms with eyes, floating limbs, halo formations, etc.

[tearlessrain]

Giant Masterlist of Cathar Facts (that I completely made up but nonetheless rigidly adhere to)

I am an unstoppable force and disney should have killed me when they had the chance (that chance was splash mountain when I was seven and as you can see I survived).

Under a break because it is way too long and covers really quite a lot, much of which I will probably never even need. But researching and writing this kind of thing is what I consider a fun afternoon so here we are.

General basic stuff

Cathar are basically felids evolved to fill a similar evolutionary niche to humans in the absence of any viable apelike species on their native planet, in the same way hyenas evolved to fill a niche normally occupied by canids. 

They are pursuit predators but not terribly efficient ones outside their home planet. In terms of both speed and strength they can outperform humans on average in the short term, but have noticeably less stamina especially when it comes to running or walking long distances. They greatly outmatch any quadrupedal felids for stamina, however. (Mandalorians are an invasive species)

They run hotter than humans, around 100-102F.

Though height varies quite a bit, cathar are taller on average than humans and build muscle easily, making them extremely formiddable opponents in hand-to-hand combat.

The average face/skull shape of cathar is largely based on assumptions that they evolved under weirdly similar conditions to humans evolving from early hominids, aka shortening of the face, larger cranium, smaller mouth, etc.

While they are obligate carnivores and do have elongated canines, their teeth are more even in size than wild felids, and while they do still have barbed tongues, the barbs are relatively small/soft and more similar to a housecat than anything of comparable size (aka they won’t literally take your skin off if they lick you).  They also have somewhat thinner skin than wild cats, though they are still more damage resistant than humans.

They do not have retractable claws because that’s not how fingers work, but they do have narrow, naturally pointed claws rather than humanlike fingernails. Many cathar choose to either dull them or file them down for convenience, but losing/damaging them, as per that one ambient dialogue on Dromund Kaas that I can never find when I need it, is extremely traumatic for them. 

They have tails because I want them to, used for both balance and communication. Cathar tails are approximately lion-like, thin with a coarse tuft at the end regardless of markings (ie. a cathar with stripes won’t have a tiger tail), with the tip the same shade or a few shades darker than the darkest part of their coats. occasionally those from colder regions will have longer fur over the whole tail, or look like they don’t have a tuft due to longer fur overall. 

Variation and a lot of bullshitting about genetics

Wookiepedia describes Cathar as “a planet of savannas and rough uplands” but I refuse to believe that all these habitable worlds are all one consistent climate/temperature across the whole globe. The weirdly ubiquitous infrastructure/cultural info I can kind of forgive since 90% of them were wiped out by Mandalorians and the rest left, and I’m charitably assuming there were a lot less than 7 billion cathar to begin with, so a lot of smaller or more isolated cultures across the planet were lost entirely. 

They have less sexual dimorphism than SWTOR implies, though females are a little smaller on average and tend to have shorter/finer manes that are closer to their base color. In terms of relative strength/mass the difference is minor and female cathar are still very capable of fucking you up (the conventional assumption in the Empire that females are weak/docile and males are too uncontrollable to enslave is not remotely true in either direction). 

Variation in fur/metabolism/ear and nose shape depends on which region/s of Cathar they come from (or their ancestors come from), but they don’t recognize different “races” the way humans do, particularly in the wake of the Battle of Cathar. 

On average, cathar originating closer to the equator have shorter, finer fur, larger and more tapered ears, a tendency toward slender, lanky builds, and coloration that leans more toward golds/reds and higher pigment density. whereas those closer to the poles are much stockier and can be extremely fluffy, sometimes with an undercoat, with paler colors and less vivid/extensive markings. None of the above is universally true and cathar didn’t necessarily always stay in the region where their ancestors come from (and thus sometimes you get people like Riska, who is all limbs but has fairly northern features and entirely too much fur)

Cathar mostly left their planet in groups, so in some parts of the galaxy you’ll run into whole colonies that originate mostly from one part of the planet and have distinct appearances/cultural idiosyncrasies from other colonies.

They mainly follow the same general rules that apply to most felids in terms of coloration/pattern.

Markings can be stripes, spots, or less commonly rosettes (definitely some version of Taqpep variants) and mostly lie along Blaschko’s Lines, though it’s more obvious on some individuals than others and it isn’t always perfectly precise. Even spotted individuals usually display some striping on the tail and around the eyes, though not always. 

“Default” coloration is black-based, with dark markings on a greyish or brownish base. 

Countershading falls pretty much along patterns you’d expect and usually lightens the chest/stomach, lower face, palms/soles, and inner thighs. Specific distribution and patterns vary quite a bit, and sometimes express in odd ways (hence whatever is going on with Khatte). Darkest points tend to be the tail tip, nose bridge, and mane.

Genetically solid cathar are incredibly uncommon; much more common are genes that affect the appearance/distribution of markings, sometimes rendering them almost invisible. Even ones who appear mostly solid (aka Khatte) usually still have some faint striping around the face and/or tail.

Khatte is basically some loose equivalent of ticked tabby, which mostly just looks like weird countershading but leaves some faint striping on his face and tail.

Jial-ro’s coloration is the result of a gene that suppresses all eumelanin production, and a sepia-like form of partial albinism. 

Riska has something similar, along with something that reduces the size/spread of spots.

Food 

They’re mainly carnivorous and have different nutritional requirements from humans (similar but not identical to those of a cat), which can be a problem in places like the military where standardized rations are the norm. In the Republic a cathar can usually put in a request for rations designed to accommodate carnivores (or supplements, failing that), though they might have some trouble on more isolated or undersupplied planets. The rare cathar in the Imperial military have to procure supplements out of pocket, though it’s technically possible to get reimbursed for it if they’re willing to wade through the bureaucracy.

Cathar are perfectly capable of eating raw meat with few to no ill effects, and have a subgenre of cuisine centered around it (and while they didn’t invent sushi, they have enthusiastically embraced the concept). They also have plenty of ways of cooking meat and readily adopt any new ones they come across. 

Their “natural” diet apart from meat mainly consists of fruit, root vegetables, and eggs, though the closer to the poles you get the less likely you are to encounter fruit in a dish. Cathar never cultivated grain and it holds no meaningful nutritional value for them, so bread, rice, and similar products simply do not appear in traditional cuisine. This does not stop some of them from eating grain products in small amounts, as they can still enjoy the taste, but it isn’t any healthier than processed sugar is to humans and they have a high rate of gluten intolerance as a species.

All cathar have a heightened and refined ability to detect savory/umami type flavors, but around 30-40% of cathar, and the vast majority of those from colder regions, have no taste receptors for sweetness at all. This has resulted in the cathar equivalent of the Cilantro Debate centering around desserts, even though they’re all perfectly aware that it’s genetic, and some who can’t taste sweetness still enjoy some desserts for the other flavors present. Those who do have sweet taste receptors are about as sensitive to it as humans, but it tends not to have the same addictive quality for them and a lot of them don’t like processed sugars in anything but small doses. They would appreciate a lightly sweet creme brulee but most of them would find soda absolutely disgusting.

Citrus is right out.

They suffer no more ill effects than humans from drinking alcohol, and due to generally having a fair amount of mass they can usually drink a lot of it.

Social minutiae

They use a fair amount of feline body language, particularly with others of their own species. While facial expressions play a part and they do smile, scowl, and generally express broad emotions, they have a reduced range of facial mobility compared to more humanoid species and no eyebrows to speak of, which leads to a lot of them having what humans perceive as resting bitchface. It also results in humans underestimating the range and depth of their emotions, and can be a problem in the medical field with human medics/doctors who haven’t been trained to work with less humanoid aliens and won’t necessarily recognize severe pain or distress.

Their ears are less articulated than a cat’s but still have some degree of mobility that serves more of a social function than a practical one. They also express a lot of emotion through their tails, to the point that it can be a detriment in some situations if they haven’t practiced consciously keeping control of it.

Bumping foreheads is a common way to express platonic/familial affection, or can be the equivalent of a chaste kiss between partners. They also squint and slow blink, though it doesn’t always translate clearly to other species.

They have a wider range of vocalization than humans; while their voices are often humanlike and they’re just as capable of articulate speech, they can also growl, purr, and make sounds outside human hearing range. Those raised among humans or near-humans tend to do this less, if at all, while cathar raised in more insular communities of their own kind can come off as very taciturn due to heavier reliance on nonverbal communication.

Sense of smell is much stronger and more refined than a human’s and plays a more significant role in how they perceive and navigate the galaxy. They can occasionally be mistaken for Force-sensitive by humans due to their knack for picking up on emotional distress or the presence of particular species/people by scent. This is more true with people they’re familiar with; they won’t pick out distinct members of the other species by default but will eventually be fairly reliable in identifying the scent of a friend or anyone else they spend a lot of time around.

The exception to the above is other cathar, who they can easily tell apart on an individual basis. They have scent glands around the jaw/neck that come into play for identification, conveying broad emotional states, in some situations can aid medical diagnoses, among other things. They also play a part in building connection and familiarity between friends, family, or romantic partners.

The ~horny section~

Cathar don’t really kiss the way humans do by default, but they can, and usually do so unless they’ve somehow had no contact with any near-human species at all. Their equivalent is gentle biting around the neck and jaw, which is another situations where the scent glands are relevant, and when aroused that whole area becomes an erogenous zone for the vast majority of cathar. 

Plenty of humans (particularly if they don’t encounter a lot of aliens day to day) will avoid kissing cathar anyway because they have sandpaper tongues and dry mouths and fangs, and it feels fucking weird if you aren’t prepared for that. 

They tend to be very bitey in general unless specifically asked not to. It only becomes a problem if the cathar in question is inexperienced with humanoids and hasn’t figured out how much bite force is acceptable for a species with thinner, more sensitive skin.

Their dicks are fairly humanoid in size and shape, though somewhat more conical at the head, but they do have a sheath rather than a foreskin. after maturity they don’t actually retract into the sheath more than about two inches when flaccid, and tend to be slightly less sensitive than the average human (same keritinization factor that affects circumcised humans). It also makes them more vulnerable to damage, but since it’s customary to wear pants on most civilized planets, that never really becomes a problem in the course of a normal day. The base of the shaft that’s usually covered has noticeably higher sensitivity. There are probably individual exceptions to most of the above.

Conventional understanding is that cathar don’t have barbs, which is true the vast majority of the time, though about 60% of them have some amount of vestigial non-keratinous bumps over their head that have no noticeable affect on anything aside from occasional increased sensitivity in that area. Rarely an individual might develop a few actual barbs at the onset of puberty, but they have no practical function and pose a risk of discomfort and injury, and can easily be removed via a fast and mostly painless medical procedure, so the number of adults who have them is close to zero.

Females do have (mild, easy to suppress if desired, and mainly not at all disruptive) heat cycles. Other cathar can generally tell by scent, but not to a distracting degree, and it’s considered rude and inappropriate to point it out with anyone but a close friend or partner. It should go without saying that males don’t have heat cycles, but I’ve gotten enough weird DMs about this to know that I need to say it. Unless said male is trans, and not on any sort of HRT, that’s not how that works. 

They kind of have breasts but unless actively nursing they’re barely noticeable if at all, especially under clothing. Cathar have much fewer hangups about going topless regardless of gender than certain human cultures do.

[emptymanuscript]

The breath of life Part 1.

Not really, I just wanted to say something dramatic and I’m looking at breathing systems now.

Humans breathe like so:

You breathe in through the nose, mouth, or both into the trachea. At more or less the same time they contract the diaphragm, a dome-ish shaped muscle that divides your stomach from your chest. By contracting the diaphragm it flattens and so both lowers its top and pushes out its sides, opening the thoracic cage (the ribs) wider, which creates negative pressure on the lungs, causing them to expand. That in turn causes negative pressure inside the lungs which pulls the air from the trachea into the lungs to balance out the pressure. Inside the lungs the 48 million or so Alveolar Sacs bulge with the air and shunt oxygen (and some other stuff) into the blood vessels they’re woven together with, while taking back the Carbon Dioxide (and some other stuff) from them in return. The diaphragm relaxes, squeezing the lungs like they’re bellows, shooting the air back into the trachea which you breathe out through the nose, mouth, or both.

This is called exchange tidal flow. Because it works like the tide of the ocean. Air comes in, air goes out, you make the gas exchange at the peak, where the air is all the way in but hasn’t gone out yet.

Like the tide though, there are inefficiencies in the system. Two of interest. If you’ve ever looked at the tide you’ll have noticed that as one wave comes in, the dregs of the previous wave are still trickling out. There’s an overlap. This happens in breathing as well. Which is why breathing exercises are all about exaggerating the points in the cycle. Breathe in more than you do naturally, hold longer than you do naturally, exhale longer than you do naturally. You are, in essence, controlling the tide to decrease overlap. It’s also part of the reason that when you do all that you breathe in through the nose, the narrower aperture, and out through the mouth, the wider aperture. Because you’re trying to flush as much of the outbreath tide out as possible.

Most bodies are fairly well adapted at getting as much oxygen as they need. And they have a natural enforcement limit. If you can’t get enough, you just can’t keep going. You get tired and you fall over. So the inward tide full of Oxygen is absolutely necessary but it is the tide of lesser concern.

The old truism of death by fire is that the fire’s smoke, the waste product of its chemical reaction, is more likely to kill you than the fire’s flames. Carbon Dioxide is the smoke in this simile. CO2 is one of our bodies’ fundamental waste products and the one we can tolerate the least of. Too much in our system at a given time and it makes it so we can’t get enough oxygen because there isn’t room for the exchange and it poisons us.

CO2 eventually leads to panting for more oxygen that you can’t get, a racing heart rate, arrhythmia so your heart can no longer steadily pump your blood, and “impaired consciousness” like difficulty thinking and being able to move. Concentrations of greater than 10% may cause any or all of convulsions, coma and the big D.

So as important as it is to get Oxygen in, it’s extra important to get that CO2 out. That’s also a part of why long term meditators and conscious breathers tend to feel healthier. They literally do have less toxic material in their bodies.

The second feature of interest for me is dead space.

Not that dead space.

This dead space

Dead space is the amount of space given over to breathing where no gas exchange takes place. Which for us is the trachea, oral cavity, and nasal cavity. If you snorkel, you add in the snorkel because the length of the tube is always used to move the air while having no role in making the breath pay off. It just helps you get the air where it is going. It’s easier to understand with the snorkel because without it, you don’t breathe at all. Necessary, not wasted.

And our natural dead space is much the same. It performs vital functions besides gas exchange. Mostly adjusting the temperature of the air toward our internal body temperature so it’s easier to deal with and the amount of moisture toward where it is easiest to perform a gas exchange.

And another benefit of exaggerating the tide of breath is in there as well. By dividing the air ways, breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth, you can dedicate a short portion of dead space to a particular part of the exchange, allowing for less overlap of the tides and less mixing of CO2 and O2.

But depending on where you put lungs or whatever breathing apparatus they have in a Centaur, there’s the issue of either having a LOT of dead space, too small lungs, or too far to carry the oxygen, or etc. etc. etc.

If there is only one set of lungs. The human lungs are small and there is a lot of body to cover that is very far away from the lungs. So picking that set has issues. The ungulate lungs have a giant dead space though. Way too large. So that’s not great either.

So, is it two sets of lungs that each work that way. I’m not sure that isn’t worse instead of better. Because you would still have the dead space of both. The anterior humanish lungs would have what all mammals do. The posterior ungulate lungs would have what more extreme mammals like giraffe’s have WITH THE ADDITIONAL DIFFICULTY or sharing part of that space with the other lung set. And they’re both using the same set of apertures designed essentially to feed just one set. Unless you do a full redesign and add a second set of intakes for the second lung set. There is apparently a book somewhere out there that has a nose in place of where the humanoid naval would be. Which just doesn’t sit right with me for no particularly good reason. Other than it adds to the pressure problem.

If the lungs aren’t synced right, then you might have the pressures from one set of lungs interfering with the other set. If you modulate the anterior lungs to talk because Centaurs talk like people, then you’re altering the airflow without there necessarily being regard for the posterior lung set, which would up the pressure, forcing an exhale instead of speech. You might get little snippets of talking but unless you exactly sync the lungs will interfere with each other. Worse, if the larger anterior lungs purposely hold their breath because they don’t want to smell some stupid scented perfumery, with it deflated and held, you’ve got a low pressure force pulling on the anterior lungs, keeping them expanded, which is going to make it darn hard to breathe, even once the posterior lungs give up, because the anterior lungs have formed a high pressure block in response, and somehow they would have to force that to deflate before you can rebalance the system. So, all in all, mammalian style lungs just aren’t sounding great to me for Centaurs.

But, thankfully, while mammals are all pretty much the same as people, that’s not the only type of pulmonary system that there is. And some pulmonary systems work much better than ours. So that’s part 2.

Edit: *sigh* respiratory systems. Not pulmonary. RESPIRATORY.

[monstersandmaw]

If you’re still doing OC asks: 33, 44, 6 and 1 for Tokis?

Tokis! Everyone’s favourite cinnamon roll ooze friend :)

Content: mention of egg laying in the first answer - I know that’s not everyone’s cup of tea, so I’m putting a little warning up. Nothing explicit (egg-splicit??? I’m so sorry), so don’t worry.

This whole post is basically me just waffling on about my own personal universe-headcanons of oozes and slimes. I’d forgotten how much I actually like them! I should consider writing another ooze/slime story after this bout of commissions is over!

33. Concept of home and family?

Oozes in my headcanon reproduce by laying eggs (I think D&D has them reproduce by splitting, but they’re also not sapient in D&D (correct me if I’m wrong), so I figured I could do what I like with them here). Tokis’ father isn’t in the picture any more, but he’s very close with his mother and his siblings - of which I think he has six!

44. Religion? 

He’s quietly very devoted to the deity which many slimes and oozes revere, but keeps his faith very private. You could definitely ask him about it, but he’s shy and won’t really open up about it.

6. Eating habits and sample daily menu

*rambling headcanon alert*

Oozes in my universe can consume nutrients in a number of different ways, but usually either through their mouths (if they have one), or by soaking them up from a liquid (like a sponge) through their outer membrane, which is usually impermeable unless they choose otherwise. Some slimes and oozes can only live in certain habitats, otherwise their internal equilibrium can be upset and they can dry out or become poisoned etc. 

Tokis is able to keep his form together by consciously creating an impermeable and intert barrier around his outer extremities. This stops him from collecting all the dust and grime and rubbish when he’s out and about. Oozes can ingest basically anything because of their highly acidic composition, but not everything is necessarily good for them. They have a bad reputation as garbage disposals, and some work in environments that are really hazardous to other life forms because they can just break toxic stuff down into harmless compounds, but not all of them can do this. There is a huge range of species of oozes and slimes.

Tokis himself has a mouth though, which is usually hidden inside his black goop (this is why his reader in Part One didn’t know he even had a mouth until he had to go to the dentist!!!), and teeth, which indicates that his kind used to be more actively predatory, rather than passive. He really enjoys crunchy foods like cereal, crisps and chips (not a big fan of fruit except strawberries. Can’t get enough of strawberries), but his favourite food of all time is buttered toast with marmite.

He hates imbibing fluids because they make his insides more liquidy, which means it’s harder for him to hold a shape, and he takes pride in his humanoid form. Not all slimes/oozes are able to mould their bodies into anything other than an amorphous blob. Having said that, he does enjoy being able to let go of his form at the end of the day :)

1. What does their bedroom look like?

Usually quite tidy. He doesn’t like accidentally having things stick to him if he’s not being careful about maintaining his form, and he’s definitely consumed his own maths homework on more than one occasion, so he needs to try and keep it tidy, but he’s not naturally a tidy person, so it’s hard.

___

Thanks for asking! I hope you enjoyed hearing more about Tokis and my take on oozes!

OC ask meme

[valhahazred]

I wrote a whole-ass essay on how ghosts work in my version of the Cthulhu Mythos. So if you’re planning on doing a Call of Cthulhu campaign inspired by the Ghostbusters crossover (like I am) or you just like ghosts, maybe you’ll find it interesting!

Souls

Before we examine ghosts and the many forms they take, we must first define the soul. Known as the “astral information shadow (AIS)” to those who take a more material view of the phenomenon, the soul is a parallel memory imprint stored within the akashic layers of subspace. Every part of a person is recorded from mental development to cessation of self and stored eternally in the akashic library. An astral conduit connects the individual and their soul self through the pineal eye and is responsible for the transmission of data.

The soul is the means through which Yog-Sothoth perceives the multiverse and through Yog-Sothoth the multiverse has a single shared “oversoul”.

Ghosts

The term “ghost” commonly refers to spirits in the image of a diseased person. To be more accurate, a ghost is the ectoplasmic manifestation of an astral information shadow projecting into physical space. The exact mechanism that changes an AIS from a passive recording to a self-aware entity is unknown. 

Most ghosts require a weak point in the fabric of reality to cross over, such as a convergence in astral currents, the gaps worn by other spirits and even the astral conduits of the living. A manifested ghost never fully leaves subspace, instead the ectoplasmic form serves as an avatar for the soul still within the akashic layers.

Ghosts may also be created or summoned by practitioners on the material plane through the use of various rituals and tools, such as the Silver Key or Essential Salts.

The form of a ghost is highly dependent on both their psychokinetic weight and on their own self-image. A ghost with neither will not be able to reproduce their living appearance with accuracy. Without frequent reinforcement a ghost's appearance will change over time, altering to fit their new perceptions and prone to subconscious self-caricature.

Most ghosts don't have any kind of conscious control over their forms but that is far from universal. A ghost that learns to control its own form can become a potent shapeshifter.

Non-human spirits

Humans are far from the only mortal beings to have a soul. Any ontological being of sufficient complexity to be of worth to Yog-Sothoth will have an information shadow and therefore have the potential to become ghosts.

It is also worth noting that many spectral entities were never “alive” in the first place. Countless individual consciousnesses and even entire species have been born out of nothing but random fluctuations in sub-dimensional energy states interacting with ectoplasm.

Ectoplasm

Ectoplasm is the matter of subspace, most frequently appearing in the material world as a thick slime, vaporous ooze or as a strangely coherent fog. Even solid ectoplasm has a strange plasticity to it.

It has a very weak interaction with gravity but can absorb phenomenal amounts of energy. This is the reason for the cold spots and battery drainage commonly reported in relation to spiritual activity. 

Contrary to popular belief, ectoplasm actually does interact with physical matter. When a ghost passes through a solid object it's actually moving “around” it by partially retreating back into subspace.

Auras

Ghosts are frequently luminous, as their ectoplasm releases their stored energy as light. However they are often accompanied by far more dangerous radiance, the Aura of the subspace realms they are projecting from.

Auras are also known as T(illingast) Radiation, after Crawford Tillinghast, the “mad” scientist who discovered how to harness them in the 1930s. Aura at first appears to be an intense ultraviolet light but rapidly expands into other, less definable colours with continued exposure. This is a result of the pineal eye opening, leading to increased subspatial perception. In high enough doses it can even cause a full awakening to the Beyond. 

Intense, long term exposure to T-rays has a more pronounced mutagenic effect and can lead to a horrible corruptive death as the body overloads on subspatial energy. Ghosts rarely emit enough T-rays to cause more than a slight sensitivity to further spiritual encounters but it is important to keep in mind nonetheless.

Sothic Energy

There is a paranormal energy field that suffuses subspace and extends into realspace through astral cords. It is known by many names; Sothic Energy, Psychokinetic Energy, Magic, Psi, and even simply as “Power”. Whatever you call it, it reacts to thought and through Sign and Ritual can be guided into creating all manner of esoteric effects. There is some speculation that the PKE field is an energy state of Yog-Sothoth, acting unconsciously but directed by the minds within it.

Whatever PKE’s properties, what is important to this discussion is that spirits can use this energy to form their ghostly bodies and project them back beyond the veil. Not all ghosts are created equally and the level of PKE they can manipulate varies across individuals. Because ghosts need so much PKE to manifest and hold their ectoplasmic forms together, they have an exponentially higher PKE field than a living being or even other forms of ectoplasmic entity. 

Those who study ghosts place them on a seven point Psychokinetic Energy Category scale. Class 1 to 3 are partial manifestations, capable of little more than intermittent visibility. Class 4 ghosts tend to be fully formed and have a limited ability to affect the material world. Class 5 and up can be very powerful, capable of manifesting at will and altering the world around them with all manner of psychokinetic effects.

Classifying spiritual entities

Terminology

Anchored – An entity that is tied to a single location within defined boundaries.

Animating – Entities capable of entering and moving physical objects.

Corporeal – A spirit with an unusually tangible form. Most ectoplasmic constructs are gaseous masses held together with PKE and thus easily disrupted by physical objects. This is not the case for Corporeal entities.

Ethereal – An intangible spirit with no ability to manipulate physical reality. These entities are stuck in the fringes of subspace and are not fully present. A potential witness usually needs to already have some sensitivity to subspace phenomenon to even glimpse an Ethereal spirit.

Free – Entities capable of moving without regard to physical or spiritual boundaries.

Full-torso – A humanoid ghost with a full body, including arms and legs. Most ghosts are indistinct below the chest.

Inhabiting – An entity bound to an object.

Possessor – An entity that can enter a living host and influence or control their actions.

Repeater – A haunt characterised by repeated behavior, often but not always a sign of a residual haunting.

Residual – Also known as stone tape hauntings and pseudo-ghosts, a residual spirit is one where past (or more rarely future) events have been burned into the psychic ether and repeat without change under the right circumstances. If the ghost can react to outside stimuli, it is instead an anchored-repeating entity.

Sarchromatic – An ectoplasmic entity emitting a high degree of auric radiation. Characterized by unrecognizable colours and a dizzying change in perception.

Shadow – a ghost that is composed of negatively charged ectoplasm. They appear in the material world as light sucking voids in vague silhouette.

Telekinetic – Entities capable of projecting their PKE at range and exerting force without ectoplasmic contact.

Vapour – A particularly ill-defined ectoplasmic form.

Common types of spirit

Aeiirii and Saiitii – Elemental spirits that not only animate and possess, they are able to infect solid physical matter in order to anchor themselves in our reality. The Aeiirii are limited by volume and density but the Saiitii are able to spread their influence much further, if not infinitely. They are only slightly visible when manifesting in this universal layer, appearing as faint blots of darkness and an oily sheen on infested matter. Once present only destruction by high energy matter (fire, plasma) can break their grasp on space-time.

Beyonders – A subspacial ecology that exists in the universal layers just beneath the subspace boundary in what is commonly referred to as “The Beyond”. The most common beyonders resemble jellyfish and long, many-winged insects.

Deadite – A warped and partially ectoplasmic host seized by certain strains of demonic possession.

Demon – A malevolent non-human spiritual being. Note that while many versions of Hell exist in the nightmare realms of Dream any “demon” born of them is likely to be as material as any small god of earth.

Devourers/Ectovores – Predatory Elementals that have developed a preference for the particular ectopattern and energies of ghosts. They normally dwell deep in the netherealms, carving twisted mazes their ghostly prey have difficulty escaping. Sometimes they can be drawn to the living world by particularly intense hauntings.

Doppelganger/Fetch – There is nothing stopping a soul from becoming self aware prior to cessation of the physical self, although it is significantly less common. When this occurs the ghost sometimes become resentful of their living selves and may even begin to sabotage them.

Elemental/Ectobion – Entities native to subspace. They are completely unrelated to human (or any other mortal) souls. They are not avatars and being “internal” to Yog-Sothoth makes them beneath its notice.

Faerie/Little People/Good Neighbors/etc. – The elemental beings native to Deep Dendo. They are sometimes also known as “the Voor” in certain occult circles although this is likely a misinterpretation of ancient Hyperborean lore.

Grudge – Revenge is a common motive for a spirit to return to the world of the living but some have been treated so poorly in life that they become particularly dark and violent ghosts. While Gruges can sometimes be laid to rest by the resolution of their vengeance, they are just as likely to continue their vendetta against any living person that catches their attention. The ectoplasm of a Grudge is curiously thick and dark, resembling tar.

Orbs – The faintest physical manifestation possible, orbs are shapeless blobs of low-energy ectoplasm and usually aren't even visible to the naked eye. Orbs encompass at least 99% of all spiritual activity but are still relatively rare. Most reports of Orb activity are mistaken, with illuminated dust particles and reflections being the most common sources.

Poltergeist – A psychokinetic energy vortex. Poltergeists have no agency or intelligence of their own but they can attach themselves to a human and act upon their subconscious thoughts. Poltergeists don't tend to last very long outside of subspace and burn out after a few months.

Projection – Some occult practitioners can transfer their consciousness into their astral selves and use it to travel through subspace and physical reality as a ghost would.

Shade – A ghost with a poor connection to its source life. They are usually free-roaming vapours of class 2 or 3 and are characterized by particularly aimless behavior.

Tulpa – An ectoplasmic entity that takes form through the interaction of the netherealms, the dreamworld and a disciplined psychokinetic or occult practitioner. Although Tulpa can appear human and even like a specific person, they are never the result of an active soul and cannot be classified as ghosts.

Visions – A very short lived ghost that usually appears to loved ones soon after the death of their physical selves.

[dragon-fics]

DOS: Secret to Not-So-Secret {pt. 3} (Ugauc X Male Elf/Reader)

Chapter summary: Eda and Ugauc finally meet. But how long will it be sefore anyone else finds out about your secret...

pt. 1, Pt. 2, pt. 3 pt. 4, pt.5

N/T: New Trade (Blacksmithing, carpentry, writing, sculpting, etc.)

“Who is that?!” Ugauc and Eda exclaimed in unison.

I froze, glancing from one to the other.

Eda scowled and placed her hand on the hilt of the sword she carried. “Get away from us!” She warned, removing the blade from its scabbard and stepping in front of me.

Ugauc’s lips lifted as he growled, sharp canines flashing. He looked from me to Eda, unsure what to do.

“Eda! Wait! Please,” I pleaded, stepping in front of her.

“(Y/N), what are you doing?!” Eda called.

I stood firmly between her and Ugauc; I couldn’t let them hurt each other.

I gave Ugauc a small smile and his stance slowly loosened, but he didn’t take his eyes off of Eda.

I looked to Eda; she was still gripping onto her sword. “Ugauc won’t do anything, I promise, so please, put down your sword, Eda,” I begged.

Eda looked from me to Ugauc. “If I do, you need to explain everything.”

“I will, I promise.” I glanced to her hand. “Please, just put it down and give it to me.” I held my hand out to receive the sword.

Eda looked away and drew in a breath. She put her sword back in its scabbard and slowly removed it. She looked to Ugauc as she held the scabbard between both her hands. “You better not try anything,” she warned. Ugauc didn’t respond. Eda finally placed the sword in my hand.

“Thank you,” I whispered, feeling somewhat relieved she had handed it over. I took a step away from them both.

“Ugauc, this is my sister Eda,” I gestured to her. Ugauc inclined his head. “Eda, this is—“ I caught myself, unsure what to tell her. “This is my soulmate, Ugauc.” I gestured to him this time. He smiled.

I looked to Eda as a wave of emotions contorted her face. Surprise, confusion, anger and fear were some I saw.

She stayed quiet for a long time, trying to hide her emotions as much as possible.

I backed up towards Ugauc, perhaps out of fear. He moved towards me and put an arm and wing around me.

“How are you so sure?” She asked.

I explained to Eda about the ‘invisible bond’ that led Ugauc here, how we met and  our secret meetings—which happened to just spill out of my mouth.

Eda sat down on the bed of animal hides. She sighed and put her head in her hands.

“This... explains a lot, like where you were during the hunt and why you didn’t come home, why you haven’t been focused on (N/T), and why you disappear for so long every day.” She sighed again.

The wind howled outside. I sat down beside her and shared the bison hide on my shoulders.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you, but Ugauc really cares about me.” I held his hand as he stood beside us. “And I really care about him.”

Eda smiled softly and tugged on the bison blanket. “I won’t tell anyone, I promise, but people are noticing your disappearance. And soulmates are such a huge thing among our people. You’re going to need Mama and Papa soon before they push you to find someone you’ve already found.”

“That’s not going to be for years. But if I do that...” I started. Ugauc placed a hand on my shoulder.

“How about we just survive this snowstorm first, and think about that later,” he suggested. I smiled softly and nodded.

Our father had been one of the fiercest hunters for many years for our clan. If I told him about Ugauc, he wouldn’t live to see another sunrise—and he knew this.

Ugauc gathered the wood he had dropped and set up a fire. Once he had built a pyramid shape, he shifted to his beast form. Eda was taken aback and almost reached for her sword. I took her hand in  mine, reassuring her it was alright.

Ugauc blew a small yellow flame onto the pyramid of sticks. They caught fire after he held the flame for a few moments. He studied the flames before shifting back to his humanoid form and settling on the hides beside us.

Eda slowly relaxed and focused on the flames.

“Let’s just hope we don’t run out of firewood,” Ugauc whispered, running his fingers through my hair.

*-*-*-*

No POV

“Where do you think you’re going?” Eda asked (Y/N) as he walked passed her in the streets, heading towards the woods. It had been over a week since the blizzard and most of the snow had yet to melt.

“Mama needs some apples to make a pie, so I said I’d go,” (Y/N) replied, tapping his satchel.

Eda sighed. “We both know you’re not just going to do that.”

(Y/N) sighed. “Of course I’m going to see him,” he replied, agitated. He and Eda walked towards the woods together. “He’s my boyfriend, and I enjoy spending time with him.”

Eda sighed this time. “You’re going to get caught, eventually.”

“That’s why I’m visiting him as much as possible.”

“No, I mean... Someone might follow you, and you know how people feel about—“ She looked around and lowered her voice, “—his kind.”

They stopped in front of the line of trees.

“I know, that’s why I take a route no one will ever find, or be able to follow.”

Eda was now extremely agitated at her brother’s cheeriness, and quite possibly, idiocity. “Just... make sure no one follows you.”

(Y/N) smiled. “I’ll be fine, Eda.” He placed a hand on his sister’s shoulder and walked off.

Eda watched him leave before starting back towards their house.

***

All the while, Bracken had been listening.

His kind? Is (Y/N) seeing someone from a different clan?

With his new trade, perhaps he wanted to meet someone from the (N/T) clan from the south?

But he’s supposed to be training here, as Fírning’s apprentice. So why contact that clan?

And father has never been keen on their leader. Perhaps this is an act of vengeance for abandoning him during the hunt.

But if he’s doing that, he’d be a traitor to the clan!

He needs to be stopped.

Bracken nodded his head firmly and followed (Y/N) through the trees, shouldering his crossbow and griping the hilt of his sword.

*-*-*-*

Y/N’s POV

I hummed softly as I picked apples from one tree. I often hummed while doing tasks; it was just my way of getting through them.

As I put another apple into my satchel, I heard wingbeats above me. I looked up to see Ugauc hovering over me. He landed softly beside me.

“Good morning, little elfling,” he hummed, planting a kiss on my forehead.

“Good morning, fierce dragon,” I replied, testing out a new nickname for him.

Ugauc chuckled and held me in his arms. “I like that one.”

“You say that every time,” I said, smiling.

“That’s because I love everything your creative little mind comes up with and everything you say.”

My cheeks flushed bright red.

“Ugauc!” I scolded, hitting him on the shoulder.

“But it’s true,” he said defensively. I shook my head and went back to picking apples.

“So, why do you need so many?” Ugauc asked, picking apples from a higher branch and putting them in my satchel.

“Mama is baking today, so I’m here to collect apples for her pies. They’re delicious,” I added.

Ugauc smiled. “They don’t sound very appealing to my tastebuds, but to each his own.”

“I could bring you some tomorrow... if any survive that long.”

“All right, I’ll give it a try, if you can save it from the savages you have as a family,” Ugauc joked.

I laughed. He smiled.

But then his face dropped, and he whipped around, his face hard and his eyes scanning the bushes behind me.

Before I could ask anything an arrow came from the shadows and hit Ugauc in the shoulder. Another one came from the same spot, but he caught it just before they embedded a second one in his thigh.

My breath hitched; someone had found us.

Ugauc growled and shifted to his beast form, emerald scales glistening in the sun. The arrows that had been embedded in his flesh fell from the wounds onto the ground as he shifted.

“No!” I shouted as he shifted. I heard a crossbow being loaded again, but with a different arrow; a slaying arrow. An arrow that could kill a dragon if aimed correctly; usually for the artery in the dragon's neck

“Don’t!” I called, but they had loosed the arrow. Time slowed down as I saw the four-pointed broadhead arrow slice through the scales on Ugauc’s neck. Navy blood spilled from the wound as the arrow embedded itself in a tree behind Ugauc.

Ugauc fell to the ground with a heavy thud(i). I rushed over to him as blood trickled around the front of his neck.

“No. No. No. No. No!” I begged, frantically thinking about what I could do. Tears spilled from my eyes, I had to stop the bleeding.

I lifted my knee-length grey tunic off my body and wrapped it around his neck.

As I studied where the wound was, I knew the arrow had missed the major artery to the brain, but there was still so much blood and I had no way to heal him quickly.

“Just hang in there, ok, Ugauc? Please, just hang in there!” I pleaded, putting pressure on the wound, my tunic already turning navy.

“Fraternising with a dragon. Who knew you would be the one to do such a thing?” Came a male voice, one I knew.

“Bracken,” I seethed, whipping my head around to him.

“You were supposed to kill the dragon! Not kiss him! How could you betray your own clan like this?” Bracken yelled.

I wiped away my tears and got to my feet. “I didn’t betray anyone, and he has done nothing!” I yelled back.

“If we thought like that, and waited for them to attack us, we wouldn’t be standing and our village would be ruins!” Bracken stepped closer to me and punched me in the nose. My head exploded with pain as I fell to the ground.

“Bracken!” Called Eda’s voice. “Step away from him!” She ordered. But before he could move, Eda hit him across the head with the hilt of her sword, knocking him out.

She rushed over to me. “(Y/N)!” She shouted as I lost consciousness.

Here’s a meme for y’all that inspired a line in this.

[gear-project]

Are Vampires Youkai and Tsukumogami? I ask since it makes me wonder if wonder if hearsay/stories/etc may have influenced Slayer in some way if he is a Youkai. Sorry if I'm misunderstanding.

This is a difficult question to answer because really it depends upon the origins of the Tsukumogami in question.

Most Youkai are influenced by stories/folklore surrounding their origins, or if they aren’t influenced by those, they are influenced by the human attachments to objects that are connected to their origins.

Slayer has not stated openly if he is connected to any such folklore... though he is deeply involved with conflicts related to Humanity’s past history involving Vampires.

Slayer is not by any means the OLDEST vampire in existence, or even the most powerful (or at least he makes no indication that that is the case).

As I said, there are different kinds of Vampires...

Even something like Flament Nagel... an axe influenced by Alchemy and Blood Rituals... is something “similar” to a Vampire in nature.  But unlike a normal Vampire, he does not have supernatural abilities and is bound (more or less) to his axe weapon-form and does not have a humanoid body.

Even something like Testament is “kin” to Vampires in some capacity, even though he is still technically a Gear.

Does being a Vampire mean they are Youkai?  Not necessarily.

The term “youkai” iself can mean many things:

妖 “bewitching, calamity”

怪 “mystery, apparition”

Wordplay is often tied to folklore, so you could say that any “ghost” born of a calamity or tragedy is a Youkai in and of itself!

Vampires by themselves are still something of a biological mystery... at least as far as human understanding of them goes.

To gain ludicrous amounts of power just from absorbing blood is almost unheard of, scientifically speaking.

Well, even so, much of what we know about Vampires... vague though that knowledge often is... is folklore just as you would expect of any Youkai.

But, in the realm of Guilty Gear, where the Backyard can establish Human Imagination as Reality... that sort of power is more legitimate than first glance would otherwise dictate.

The larger question would be: “where do Vampires end, and Youkai begin?”

Because of how supernaturally powerful Vampires are... they far exceed traditional notions of Youkai by leaps and bounds... so in that essential aspect, Vampires are a step beyond what Youkai basically exist as.

Are Vampires an evolution from Human Knowledge and Consciousness?  Again, that idea is very unclear.  Even Slayer has no immediate definition for what he himself is... and so he simply referred to himself as an “Ishu” (Outsider/Exception).

Vampires are by no means the “exceptions” to the rules of the many forms of life in this world, but they are just one of many possible beings.

Youkai, you might say, are just “other possibilities” that Vampires and other beings might take.

[entamewitchlulu]

Dimensions of the KingVerse Part 2

Part 1 is here!

So I planned on drawing scenery for each dimension, but honestly!! I’m exhausted!! And I can find photographs that capture the essence of each world easily enough now that I’ve hit most of the more ethereal dimensions, so I’m gonna do that instead for now, because mostly I just wanna talk worldbuilding! So in order to stop beating myself up for not being productive enough to paint eight huge background pieces, I’m going to just write the post lol

So during the last post, I discussed the top for dimensions of the KingVerse, my cohesive Yu-Gi-Oh universe in which a significant chunk of my fanfiction ideas take place.  We’ll be discussing the last eight in this post!

After the physical realm, the world that humans reside in, just beneath is a world that goes by many names.  Humans have referred to it as Mag Mell, Tír na nÓg, Emain Alblach, Elysium, Otherworld, and others.  But to the Shadow People, it’s most often called Faerie’s Peak.

Faerie’s Peak, being the closest shadow dimension to the Physical Dimension, is also the one that humans find themselves in by accident the most.  The thin spaces between these two worlds are remarkably frequent, and account for many human stories of traveling to faerieland. 

Faerie’s Peak is home to mostly fae- and fairy-type Shadow People, and while the majority of the land is made of endless, untouched rolling hills and mountains, there are thriving civilizations and deep forests here as well.  In fact, this is the realm that hosts the Ancient Forest, the home of Ancient Fairy Dragon and the place to which Luka found herself falling into in 5D’s. 

There is no outer space to this dimension, unlike in the Physical Realm, and it is bounded on all sides of its vastness by a roaring sea that is impossible to venture too deeply into; if you sail too far you simply disappear into the fog, and come back out of the fog heading back into the direction in which you came.  And as home to Shadow People, it is also a highly magically charged land that does not usually play by the same laws of nature that physical beings are accustomed to.

*

Beneath this world is yet another that has gone by many names in the human world: Asgard, Olympus, etc, but the Shadow People know it as Bifrost.

Bifrost is an ancient land full of abandoned places; while Neospace is widely regarded as being the remnants of the creation of the universe, and thus the closest thing to the “original” dimension, Bifrost is suspected to be the origination of sentient, soul-bearing creatures.  Scholars believe that humans were born in this realm first as spiritual beings, but due to war, were forced to flee, their souls being reborn into the physical realm.  It is often theorized that elements of a suspected human “collective consciousness” arise from latent soul memories of this dimension.

Whether or not this is true, Bifrost is an old, old place, full of the remnants of long-forgotten cities and ancient forests and plains.  Very few humanoid-Shadow People live here now, the dimension being mostly home to bestial and ancient creatures.  It is also, interestingly, a place where the divine tend to congregate, and it is suspected that stories of deities in many human culture originated from the time that humans lived among the divine in this realm.

*

Under the Bifrost begins a series of dimensions known as the Core, four middle dimensions that are each ancient and volatile in their own right.  The first is known simply as Air.

Air is a realm of endless sky and clouds, with absolutely no solid ground.  Due to this, the denizens of Air are mostly elemental in nature.  There are a few floating cities that have been built in this dimension, mostly by immigrant Shadow People from other dimensions, but the native peoples of Air would appear very alien to most humans.  The realm is often buffeted by torrential hurricanes and tornadoes, and it is never still or peaceful for long.

*

The second of the core dimensions is Strata.

Strata is the dimension of “earth”, as Air is, well, air.  Little to no humanoid Shadow People live here, this realm being the home of beasts and especially, dragons.  It is characterized by long stretches of barren earth, huge, mountainous canyons and caverns, massive underground tunnel systems, and thick, old jungles and forests.  Dinosaur Shadow People are very common in this realm.  

Similar to Faerie’s Peak, Strata also has no outer space past its atmosphere, not that there are any native spirits to this realm that would think to leave the earth.  A huge, impossibly complex range of mountains encloses the world on all sides, and like Faerie’s Peak, those who go into the mountains too deep will eventually be turned around back into the rest of the dimension.

*

The third core dimension is associated with the element of fire, but unlike Air and Strata, the connection to its element is less obvious.  It is known by denizens as God’s Keep.

God’s Keep is the most populated dimension in the universe.  It is the hub of most Shadow People, and even more populated than the Physical Realm.  It is a huge, vast world boasting both heavy development, old ruins, and untouched wilderness.  It’s thought that after the war that caused humans to flee from Bifrost, the Shadow People mostly emigrated here, to the dimension with the most diverse biomes and resources outside of the Physical Realm.

Like the Physical Realm, it has an outer space, and an associated galaxy and universe, with further civilizations on several nearby planets and thriving trade between them.  It’s definition as the “fire” of the four Core Dimensions comes from the fact that it is built around stars and molten planet cores, the basis upon which its entire structure thrives.  

It is both a scientific and magical hub, drawing millions of spellcaster and machine-type Shadow People.  Learning, academics, and study are huge among this dimension, and innovation is nearly constant. It is also the home of the major political center of the universe, hosting the Seat of the King, where the King of Light and Shadow convenes with members of the Council to keep balance in the universe, thus the name “God’s Keep.”

To a human, this dimension may seem immensely chaotic, as there are millions of different kinds of spirits, evidence of billions of cultures and ideas, and a vast, environment full of various biomes that, by Physical Dimension laws, likely shouldn’t be able to exist within such proximity together.  Despite this being the shadow dimension that is most similar to the Physical Realm, it is still very much a spiritual one, and the rules and laws of its functioning are nowhere near the same as the Physical Dimension.

*

The final of the Core Dimensions is associated with the final element of water, and, like air, is known simply as Ocean.

Ocean, like Air, is another endless dimension, this time of nothing at all but water.  Unlike Air, however, it’s significantly more populated.  There are a handful of natural islands, and thriving underwater societies populated by merfolk and other fish/water mammalian Shadow People.  Once again, this is a dimension that has no end, and no outer space, though unlike some of the other endless worlds, it is round -- sailing for long enough through the endless sea will simply bring you back to where you started.

*

Near the very bottom of the world ladder is the eleventh dimension, known to most as Dark World.

Dark World is thought to be one of the inspirations from the human concept of hell.  It is a place of eternal twilight, and ruled by constantly warring demons and fiends.  While there are some non-demon peoples living in this realm, they are often overwhelmed by the warring between demon nobles, making them few and far between.

Due to the warlike nature of this dimension, it is very volatile.  They are supposedly ruled by the Supreme King, the demon, fiend, or other ruler who is the strongest, but the competitive nature of many of this world’s denizens means that there is always someone new challenging for the throne, and few rulers remain for long enough to form any sort of order.  Often, Shadow People lawbreakers are exiled to this realm, furthering its warlike and dangerous reputation.

*

The final and bottom-most dimension of the universe is, like the Unknown, a difficult one to understand.  It is known as Endless.

Unlike the Unknown, those who go to this place can and do often return.  However, it is a place of eternal nothingness -- not darkness, but nothingness, and those who remain for too long may find themselves eventually simply ceasing to exist.

Shadow People do not die naturally, but if they are killed, this is where they end up.  They can be revived from the Endless, pulled back, or even fight their way out on their own after a time, but if they remain for too long, they are gone forever.  At least, this is the impression that many have.

However, some who study this place theorize that the Endless may actually be the universes’ “recycling plant.”  Excess magic and energy from the other dimensions finds its way here, and it appears as though it may be processed and returned to the dimension in other forms afterward, much the way that spirits are often returned naturally from the Endless after being there for some time.

And to those who may be curious, yes! This is exactly where souls go when they are stolen in Yu-Gi-Oh, unless they’ve been preserved in another way (e.g., stored in a card).  Stolen souls do not go to the Unknown, or they would not be able to come back -- stolen souls go to the Endless, where they can be retrieved...or they cease to exist.

*

And that concludes this much too long post about the 12 dimensions of my cohesive YGO Universe!  I have some other worldbuilding posts I would like to make, but if any of this interests you, don’t hesitate to ask me about it!  Yes, actually, I have assigned every single field spell in the yugioh trading card game to one of these 12 dimensions, and I would be happy to tell you where your favorite archetype resides among these worlds.

If you read all of this, I love you forever and you’re my favorite person, and thank you!! I hope you’ll look forward to more information about the KingVerse in the future!

[timeagainreviews]

Classic Baddies for the Thirteenth Doctor!

As a fan of classic Doctor Who, one of my favourite elements of the new series has been the anticipation as to which classic villains will make an appearance. Not only is it cool to see more of these older monsters, but it’s also exciting to see how they update their look. Some really nail it too. Keeping the classic design of the Daleks while making them look more tank-like and utilitarian in 2005 was a masterstroke. I liked that they embraced the Ice Warriors’ original look as well. While I may not be as hot on the updated Silurians, or Autons, it’s always fun to see classic villains regardless.

When Chris Chibnall mentioned that there would be no classic villains in series 11, my heart sank a little. Are they necessary for Doctor Who to be successful? Not hardly. But it’s fun dammit. Even if they were cameos like the Macra or the Movellans, these were moments I looked forward to. I have a sort of checklist I like to go through with each series of new Who. Are there classic villains? Check. Does the Doctor meet a figure from history? Check. Series 11 has one of those.

It’s been no secret that a major criticism of series 11 has been its lack of compelling villains. I myself have been vocal about this disappointment. So I thought I would make up a list of 10 classic villains I would like to see the Thirteenth Doctor go up against. I’m basing these off a few factors. Personal favourites, Jodie’s vibe, the era, etc. Enjoy! And feel free to add your own!

1. Autons

First Appearance: "Spearhead from Space" (1970)

I know they have already returned. I know I said I didn’t like their update. That’s exactly why they’re on this list now. I didn’t exactly hate the updated Autons when I first watched them. At the time, I didn’t have any classic villains to compare them to, as they were new to me. I thought they were pretty corny and not very scary, even as they did openly murder people in the streets of London. But when seeing "Spearhead from Space," for the first time, I was supremely creeped out. The newer Autons remind me of the movie theatre scene in “Human Traffic.” Just a bunch of dancers doing the robot. Not very scary. And turning the Nestine consciousness into a big vat of CGI goo, as compared to a giant plastic space squid seems like a crime. They’re due an update.

2. Voord

First Appearance: "The Keys of Marinus" (1964)

These guys creep me out. Their costumes are really stupid, and I still find them creepy. They’re like spiky fish men mixed with Egyptian gods. Ignoring the weird "Voord became Cybermen," storyline, and focusing on the fishman aspect would be the way to go. Could you imagine their costume if updated correctly? I picture a mix between Edward Scissorhands and a scuba diver. I’ve wanted to see Jodie encounter these guys ever since "The Ghost Monument," reminded me of "The Keys of Marinus." Something about First Doctor villains with the first female Doctor kinda works for me too. Speaking of First Doctor villains…

3. Zarbi

First Appearance: "The Web Planet" (1965)

Ok, so this one is a bit of a cheat. I know the Zarbi aren’t really a villain by their own doing. In many ways, these oversized ants are just dumb animals. But the biggest way this is a cheat is because I just want them so we can have the Menoptera! I love those stupid moth cuties. I think an updated one of them could look really fun. Think the aliens from the queue scene in the "Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy," movie. Something between realistic, and fantastical. They would also add a much-needed sense of levity to the Chibnall era.

4. The Dominators

First Appearance: "The Dominators" (1968)

The Dominators are a race of men whose name pretty much describes their modus operandi. Having long ago developed beyond the need for women, these guys seem an obvious choice to go up against a female Doctor. Their look is simple enough to update. They need only to look armoured and militaristic. Their robot drones, the Quarks, would be the real challenge to update, but I’m sure they’d nail it. I would be interested in seeing a more bureaucratic ruling class of Dominators as well. Perhaps instead of having a male and female population, they have the soldiers and the suits. Could be a really interesting way to talk about the insular nature of toxic masculinity. This would fit in well with Thirteen’s villains being chauvinistic shitbirds that don’t like women much.

5. Axons

First Appearance: "The Claws of Axos" (1971)

I’ve heard the Axons get a bit of flack in the past, which is bananas to me. There’s so much potential there. They have a rather psychedelic look, and then they get super gross. I’ve always seen them as very retro style monsters. Jodie’s costume has a real 1970’s "Godspell," look about it, so I always picture her going up against monsters that look the part. They wouldn’t be hard to update either. I would make the golden lines on their humanoid forms slightly raised, like a system of fibres across their skin. And of course, their squidgy red form could be a tangled mass of CGI that kinda bubbles up from the gold lines. The transformation scenes could get very visceral. They’ve got a sneaky nature about them. Like anglerfish, their beautiful golden appearance conceals a horrific monster. They’re known for making Faustian deals with people fool enough to believe their lies. How could we resist?

6. The Mara

First Appearance: "Kinda" (1982)

Many people love the Kinda/Snakedance storyline. I wasn’t sure what to make of either serial, as the quality of both waivers. Over time, though, I’ve come to really appreciate them as stories. I have a love for characters that exist as a sort of gestalt. There’s something very unsettling about a hive mind. As The Doctor has three companions this time around. There’s lots of room for one of them to go off and become possessed by an evil snake god for a while. Either Graham or Ryan becoming hosts for the Mara could be an interesting way to explore their relationship. While the DVD release saw an updated version of the Mara’s snake form, I’m sure the modern show can do one better. They’ve already done giant spiders, now let's see them do a giant snake!

7. The Rani

First Appearance: "The Mark of the Rani" (1985)

While I am aware many people dislike the Rani, and the idea of Chris Chibnall choosing a character created by Pip and Jan Baker is unlikely, I still don’t care. Any character can be made good in the hands of a competent writer. All it takes is one good idea. Personally, I’ve never really gotten the guff she’s been given. As a woman capable of cruel scientific experiments, the Rani is a ruthless Time Lady with more guile than the Master. People want to see Thirteen with Missy because they’re both women now, but we’ve had an evil Time Lady for years, and I’d be interested to see what regeneration might bring for her… or him?

8. Rutans

First Appearance: "The Horror of Fang Rock" (1977)

First Mentioned: “The Time Warrior” (1973)

The Rutans are long enemies of the Sontaran race. I would love to see them amp up the danger by getting stuck in the middle of a skirmish between the two races. I would like to see the Sontarans presented as formidable once again. The Doctor Who video game "The Gunpowder Plot," did update their look, to a decent degree. Either way, modern Who could make a Rutan look much more imposing with CGI, or even practical effects. I’d imagine something like a green man o’ war. Jodie’s Doctor’s tendency to mediate during conflict could land her trying to broker peace between the two races. Could she be successful or would she have to count her losses?

9. Drashigs

First Appearance: "Carnival of Monsters" (1973)

Here we have yet another Robert Holmes creation! (The other two being the Autons and the Rutans) While mostly just mindless monsters that can eat through anything, I’ve always loved these horrific beasts. With heads the size of a Volkswagen bug, and an appetite for anything in their way, these guys could really add in a danger element. I doubt they could really carry an episode by themselves, but they’d make a great threat! They may be alien snake monsters, but you may have a creeping familiarity when looking at them. This is because the puppets used were constructed around the skulls of real dogs! While I’m sure these pups died of natural causes, the information has always given them an air of creepiness and realism. As Third Doctor era baddies go, these toothy terrors were some of the more believable creatures yet! They wouldn’t need much of an update, looks wise. Part of me would still want them to be puppets. I’d imagine Thirteen’s compassion for misunderstood creatures would send her on a danger defying attempt to save their lives!

10. The Scorchies

First Appearance: "The Scorchies" (2013)

Ok, so this one is another cheat. Technically these aren’t "classic Who" villains. They come from the audios, but I’m counting them because they’re from a Third Doctor era storyline! If you count the mention of the Rutans in "The Time Warrior," this marks the fifth baddie from the Third Doctor era. What is it about that period that is so mineable? Originally a species with bodies, they lost their corporeal form when their planet was invaded and they were transported to safety via television broadcast waves! In their new puppet bodies, they go from planet to planet hypnotising their inhabitants and burning them! Why? Because they’re salty. So why them?  Well, for starters, look at these guys! Jodie’s Doctor has always reminded me as a bit of mad kids’ show presenter, with her bright colours and friendly appearance. Seeing her with puppets almost feels natural. I love the idea so much that I photoshopped it! It would also make Doctor Who history. While the Eighth Doctor mentioned his audio companions in "The Night of the Doctor," no audio characters have ever made an appearance in the show (at least to my knowledge). Appearance wise, they’d be easy to create. If they wanted to go the extra mile, they could partner with the Jim Henson Creature Shop for an added distinction. I feel like no matter what you do, these little critters could draw a crowd. People would watch just to see if Doctor Who has lost its damn mind! If done right, it could be a fun romp! Who says Doctor Who villains always have to be serious?

Well, that’s it for my list! Did you agree? Do you think poor Natalie needs to get her head checked out? Feel free to reblog with your own additions! I’d love to read what you think! Expect the review of this weekend’s Doctor Who either Sunday or Monday. I’ve not yet re-watched Marco Polo, which I might actually do today, but it’s on my list to write it next week! It’s going to be the first reconstruction I’m doing, so it should be interesting! I’m not sure if I will supplement any of it with the Target novelisation, but I am thinking not. We’ll see! It’s still early into the series!

[welcometoyouredoom]

Here then is my current provisional list, from most to least realistic, where 10 is the real world, and 0 is total cartoon nonsense, with especially emphasis on spaceships and space opera:

10. The real world. Science is explained, no handwavium. Also, Non-Fiction. As TV Tropes puts it: “The Apollo Program, World War II, and Woodstock fall in this class.”

9.6. to 9.9 Technothrillers and Futurology. Technothrillers take place only a few years in the future, with only a few plausible near future tech projections. This category overlaps with Futurology which includes, as explained in TV Tropes “stories which function almost like a prediction of the future, extrapolating from current technology but do not assume or invent any important new technologies or discoveries.”  Quite likely some of the more rigorously and scientifically realistic of the ultra hard space exploration categories of the following category actually go here.

8.6.to 9.5 Ultra Hard Science – only extrapolation from known laws of physics. In TV Tropes this is called Speculative Science. In contrast to the previous categories, the science is “genuine speculative science or engineering, and the goal of the author to make as few errors with respect to known fact as possible.” Interplanetary vessels have milligee thrust. Rockets have to choose between high thrust low isp, or high isp low thrust, you can’t have both. Adherence to thermodynamics, real science. No torchships. Preferably no aliens, if there are, they are limited to the same physics we are, and also must justify in terms of Great Silence (Fermi Paradox). Greg Egan, Kim Stanly Robinson Mars Trilogy, Arthur C Clarke 2001, Asimov The Gods Themselves, GURPS Transhuman Space, Andy Weir’s The Martian, the first two books in Robert L. Forward’s Rocheworld series and Robert A. Heinlein’s The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress fall in this class. 9.5 is the most realistic, with only plausible near future tech projections.  For some excellent examples on Ultra Hard SF ships in fact and fiction, with authentic rocket science, see Winchell Chung’s Atomic Rockets website, a resource that I simply cannot recommend highly enough.  For tabletop spaceship combat game, see Ken Burnside’s Attack Vector: Tactical (although this also has less realistic FTL as a background explanation for why the battles are not in our solar system). John Lumpkin’s Human Reach series features similarily authentic spaceships, although the setting includes wormholes which pertain to one or two realism grades down.

7.6.to 8.5. Very Hard Science – extrapolation from laws of physics, with minimum handwavium for story purposes. Basic torchships (high thrust high isp), interplanetary vessels average around 0.3 gee thrust or less. Adherence as much as possible to thermodynamics and real science. Interstellar, non-relativistic travel. In TV Tropes this is called “One Small Fib”, “stories that include only a single counterfactual device (often FTL Travel), but for which the device is not a major element of the plot.” Some alien or posthuman handwavium / unobtanium allowed. Big Dumb Object without handwavium. Preferably have an explanation for Great Silence (Fermi Paradox). Arthur C Clarke Rama novels, Gregory Benford, Bruce Stirling Schizmatrix, Stephen Baxter. Many Hal Clement novels (e.g. Mission Of Gravity, Close to Critical) and Freefall belong here.

6.6 to 7.5. Hard Science – extrapolition from laws of physics, plus some handwavium for storytelling purposes. In TV Tropes this is called “One Big Lie”. “Authors invent one, or, at most, a very few, counterfactual physical laws and writes a story that explores the implications of these principles.” Tech otherwise consistent and explained. Interplanetary vessels average around 1 gee. Relativistic travel. May have reactionless drive but must be realistic, say exotic matter or singularity or other unusual tech. FTL only if plausibly explained, otherwise relativistic travel. Includes thermodynamics, rocket science, etc. Aliens with realistic-seeming biology, non-humanoid only. Token explanation of Great Silence (Fermi Paradox). Most works in Alan Dean Foster’s Humanx Commonwealth series, the Ad Astra board games and Robert A. Heinlein’s Farnham’s Freehold fall in this category, as do many of Vernor Vinge’s books. Also Haldeman Forever War, Niven Mote in God’s Eye, Greg Bear various stories, Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space/Galactic North Universe, Posthuman Studios Eclipse Phase (everything else very hard, say 9 out of 10, but “sleeving” consciousness with its associated cartesian ghost in the machine implications, also alien wormholes that are pure unexplainedium). John C. Wright’s The Golden Age probably would go here as well (say 6.7)

5.6.to 6.5. Firm Science – with handwavium and unobtanium, but these reasonably explained in the context of the setting. Torchships rather than reactionless drive, but absurd acceleration given energy allowance (fudging the figures). Token thermodynamics only. FTL with reasonably plausible explanation. Ignores Fermi Paradox. Niven’s Known Universe, Peter Hamilton, James Corey’s The Expanse, a lot of space opera in general.

4.6.to 5.5 Physics Plus (to use the TV Tropes moniker). “Stories in this class once again have multiple forms of Applied Phlebotinum, but in contrast to the prior class, the author aims to justify these creations with real and invented natural laws — and these creations and others from the same laws will turn up again and again in new contexts.” Some Science. Reactionless drive ships easily pull dozens or hundreds of gees. Doesn’t explain why relativistic reactionless drive ships aren’t used as doomsday devices to annihilate whole planets, or as perpetual motion free energy devices. Differs from Token Science in that there is still some rocket science. Heinlein Citizen of the Galaxy, Starship Troopers, Brin Uplift universe, Iain M Banks Cultureverse, Schlock Mercenary, David Weber’s Honor Harrington series, David Brin’s Uplift series, and Battlestar Galactica (2003) fall in this class.

3.6.to 4.5 Token Science. Some real science, but only because this is “science fiction”; the science is there only for storytelling purposes rather than realism. For the most part handwavium and unobtanium with little or no explanation. Ignores thermodynamics (no radiator fins). Reactionless drive, agrav, forcefields, tractor beams, stealth, some aliens look like humans, others very different. FTL with arbitrary explanation.  Consistency in worldbuilding, in contrast to the Pure Technobabble category.  Frank Herbert’s Dune, Dan Simmons Hyperion Cantos, Firefly/Serenity, maybe Eve on line.  Babylon 5 may belong here, although humanoid aliens belong to the next category down, and conversely fighters use vector thrust and larger ships generate artificial gravity by centrifugal spin, which put them in at least the 6 or 7 out of 10 category.

2.6 to 3.5. Technobabble and Handwavium. Differs from Science Fiction In Name Only in that at least there is some attempt, no matter how poor, at a rational explanation. Or in otherwords, to quote TV Tropes: “Phlebotinum is dealt with in a fairly consistent fashion despite its lack of correspondence with reality and, in-world, is considered to lie within the realm of scientific inquiry.” So for example the Enterprise cannot land on a planet, showing that large ships are outer space only. Even so, this is still full of sillytech and inconsistent worldbuilding. Because of handwavium and phlebotinum, anything can be explained. You can have ST style matter transportation because it is assumed all the technical problems were solved, most aliens are humanoid, many identical in appearance to H. sapiens, human and aliens can interbreed, and humans live in similar environments can eat same food etc, because it is assumed there were humanoid progenitors. At the same time, there is serious worldbuilding incompatabilities e.g. if you have ST matter teleportation otherwise you could easily drop a nuke in an enemies lap, have immortality, limitless clones, etc. But it is never explained why this never happens. Star Trek is the classic example, but also included here is E. E. “Doc” Smith’s Lensman series, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Warhammer 40k, the Star Wars Expanded Universe novels (now called “legends” and considered non-canon) which at least make some attempt at explanation over the totally unrealistic canonical movies, Cowboy Bebop, and StarCraft.

1.6 to 2.5 Artistic License. Although unambiguously considered to be “Science Fiction”, there is no actual science to be found. Rather, the story follows what looks good artistically from our contemporary early 21st century perspective. Ships wheel and bank in a vacuum, blaster bolts move slower than tracer rounds. Battles directly mapped from WW II naval engagements. Lantern-jawed heroes and busty maidens, or scary monsters, or both. More realistic than comic book superheros only in that it’s assumed you need a spaceship to travel through space, and there is an attempt at a consistent plot. Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy, Dr Who, Red Dwarf, Farscape, Space Battleship Yamoto. Some Star Trek movies, e.g. Star Trek out of Darkness has worldbuilding inconsistencies  that are if anything even worse, e.g. Transwarp allows teleporting across interstellar distances, but it is never explained why people still use spaceships

0.1. to 1.5 Comic books. Only token attempts at explanations – Marvel and DC superheros, e.g. superpowers because from a planet with a red sun, Genetic mutation, or Peter Parker bitten by a radioactive spider. Sometimes not only that, so that, to quote TV Tropes: “Green Rocks gain New Powers as the Plot Demands”. The DC and Marvel superhero universes belong here, along with Futurama, manga and anime like Dragonball Z and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and humorous aspects of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

0. Cartoons that are not meant to make sense, e.g. Marvin the Martian