#...Which might be a form of immortality; or a form of death. It's a mix of both.

[thanergetic-hyperlinks]

I know we had a convo over whether or not Harrow saw the body/was « insane » and having just finished the htn reread, I’d like to reopen this discussion. I truly believe she saw the body (she was being haunted ffs) but I don’t believe she had (« other ») hallucinations. This is based off of her conversation with Ortus in the bubble when she’s lucid. Anyways, would love your opinion on that, and also, what do you think happened to Harrow?? I think she completely switched places with Alecto, creating the opposite of harrow in control with Alecto latched on.

Yeah, I agree with you on almost everything. Some of it is only fully confirmed after Nona (I will annotate those clues at the bottom of the post under a cut, to avoid Nona spoilers), but this is the way I understand it, and I'm going to detail it all in case anyone finds it interesting to compare notes:

I think the conversations about spirit magic in Harrow are key. HtN tells us in detail about thanergetic links and revenants and the River, which is vital to the River bubble plotline and the revenant Wake plotline. But we also learn among other things that Harrow kissed Alecto as a kid and her lip froze at the touch and they mixed blood. Alecto then shows up in Harrow's childhood hallucinations.

Harrow is in a really bad mental health state after her parents' death. This triggers her psychosis. By which I mean, Harrow does have schizophrenia, and it works the way the illness works in real life—trauma can lead to really bad episodes. Ortus later suggests “the mind forms indentations” due to trauma (he mentions his own PSTD flashbacks about his father being an abuser, hearing him when he was already dead) but he's not saying that her illness is solely PTSD after her parents' suicide or the Canaan events. And ultimately, Ortus is just suggesting one read of the situation. He isn't an authority on whether Harrow had a preexisting condition. Abigail will kindly to tell Harrow that she is being haunted, but that doesn't mean she's not also insane. Harrow's experience is only her own to define. None of these conversations confirm or deny that Harrow's only being haunted. However, the fragility of her state is implied to make her more likely to see what isn't there… and what is. Madness bringing you closer to What's Beyond The Veil is a common trope in horror stories, too. Abigail is a medium, she'd be unsurprised by this.

The Body in many ways acts like a total hallucination—she seemed to have different personalities depending on Harrow's age—but then we learn that in the Canaan bubble the ghosts had to improv over a certain script/situation, so spirits definitely can show different sides of themselves according to the limitations or needs placed by the summoner. Harrow also only hears the Body speaking with other people's voice and sees her eyes as Drearburh black but that's logical given she never heard her or saw her eyes.

The Body, like most of Harrow's experiences in this book, is carefully written to have multiple readings, for instance as a red herring for Gideon: is she dreaming bits of Gideon through the vessel of the Body, which now has suspiciously golden eyes? Even some of the stuff that only the Body could know, like “I died once… no, twice” could be attributed to Gideon by a determined reader on first read. In the end, however, it doesn't hold up, because later we

learn Gideon has already been poking out through the narrative voice,

see Gideon doesn't think of herself as having died more than once (she hasn't figured out that being God's daughter makes her immortal and brought her back during Avulsion, etc.)

discover that Alecto's eyes were really gold in life, which means this time her hallucination might be even more real than in Harrow's childhood, if there's a difference,

(1. Nona spoiler, check at the bottom).

So my take is that the Body really is Alecto's spirit/consciousness, venturing a little outside the Tomb through the thanergetic link established by Harrow's kiss (2. Nona spoiler, check at the bottom), that she nevertheless is summoned with certain limitations (her own dead/dreaming state, Harrow's knowledge of her appearance and voice, Harrow's needs) and that she finds Harrow available as a conduit because/while she's having psychotic breaks.

Now, did Harrow have other hallucinations? I think she might. The main one is Cytherea's body! Mind you, most of the time we see Wake-in-Cytherea, she's legitimately there, I think. Like the scene in which she walks in a terrifying way towards Harrow's door, like someone who doesn't know how to pilot a corpse yet (but will eventually). No, I'm thinking of the scene with Cytherea's corpse under Harrow's bed. Yes, the one Gideon is mad about, because she saw it through Harrow's eyes and brain. But you see, it's the one appearance of Cytherea that makes no sense whatsoever: she's under Harrow's bed, non-animated, not having triggered any of Harrow's wards, and then after Harrow locks her with bone, when Ianthe looks, the bone is still there and Cytherea isn't. This makes no sense. Wake is not an adept, cannot move Cytherea's body through the River, cannot cross Harrow's bone or blood wards, or leave behind perfectly intact bone cuffs. Ianthe was right: there was nothing there. (There's a post somewhere I tagged as #Ianthe where someone explained Ianthe's psychology in this moment.)

Now, the end scene. It's narrated in a very confusing way cause our three POV protagonists are kinda rubbing souls as they change bodies (that's why, later… (3. Nona spoiler, see at the bottom), but what happens is:

Harrow decides she won't go back to her body cause Gideon might be piloting it.

Harrow takes a Third Option and travels to what looks like the Tomb—but Harrow travels there *in spirit*.

Traveling along the same thanergetic link Alecto rode to her body, Harrow goes to the Tomb—or rather, to the River Bubble of the Tomb where Alecto has been, sleeping—remember, Harrow has no body so she can't be physically travelling through or out of the River. The Tomb is Alecto's own bubble. That's why the chains are broken and the Body is gone, even if in real life Alecto is still there bodily.

In this mind-version of the Tomb, she sees a trace of Gideon represented by a magazine—this Tomb might have been where Gideon's soul was *literally* resting while lyctorized, or it might simply be a representation in Harrow's mind of the fact that Gideon was inside Harrow and she left a bit of herself behind.

Harrow swims to the center moat and lays on the stone bed. By placing herself in the same equivalent space of the bubble where Alecto's body is in the actual Tomb, we're being told she fully inhabits Alecto's body (4. Nona spoiler, see at the bottom). She is, as you said, haunting her back. Because Alecto isn't there but inside Harrow, however, and because River pressure briefly killed Harrow's body until Alecto got in, Gideon is unfortunately yeeted out to the spirit realm, or possibly even back to her own uncorrupted body.

… I am a little concerned I've written all this from memory.

(1) We learn in Nona from Crux that Harrow used to “go away” as a child and claim not to be Harrowhark, so we get confirmation that her psychotic breaks from childhood were real and not just a post-lobotomy new memory—and also possibly she was being possessed then too?

(2) Alecto pledged some kind of vow to Anastasia, and part of it is that Harrowhark is a direct descendant of hers. Alecto realizes this in the Nona epilogue simply from “kissing” Harrow and tasting her blood a second time. Could Alecto have partly awakened, and therefore found a way to haunt Harrow in childhood, precisely because she already exchanged blood with Anastasia in preparation for her needing to haunt her way out of the Tomb in the future through one of her descendants?

(3) Nona regularly dreams of seeing herself come to Harrow's body through Gideon's eyes, but also possibly is mixing it with the Pool Scene?

(4) Alecto describes the stone bed as comfortable when remembering her first lying down on it, because she finds it very hard to have a spine (as I lay in bed with a TENS machine on, I fear this is very relatable). Harrow experiences the stone as infinitely confortable, like a welcoming bed. This is because she's connecting to Alecto's psychical body's perception, I think). Of course, in the John chapters of Nona, we see that Harrow is accessing Alecto's dreams. In these dreams, John seems to be not a fiction but the real bit of soul he put in Alecto. The dialogue is devoid of quote marks when the memories play as they originally went, but quote marks appear when John and Harrow break the script to have impromptu digressions, with John seemingly confused about who he's talking to in a sort of dreamlike way, leading to the “J+H” moment, and the final chapter happens on the River bank exiting the dream, in present time, no longer inside Alecto's mind.

[dxxtruction]

I do wish there was a bit more good faith discussion to talk about the phenomenology of IWTV vampires as vampires and how being a vampire does affect one's conscious understanding of their own world. It's a drastic point of view shift from being human.

Things such as:

Their baseline for the violence needed to survive starts at drinking blood to live, and most beneficially by killing humans. Which they also once were. It can really only go up from there.

Not getting blood in the beneficial way can be likened to an eating disorder based on being hung up on the morality of your own survival.

Escalation to inhuman levels of violence is something that's comprehensible to think of, since it's possible to do to someone else, or yourself, and to some minds it's hardly of any consequence or difference.

Question of what to do with one's immortality when stuck in this necessitation for violence. Occupying all that time. Confronting vampiric existentialism. Doing what one can to not be driven mad or disparaging by it.

In living forever all such violence risks becoming inconsequential to the conscious mind in how you outlive all of its importance. If not because of death taking it, then because time will simply weather it away. For the same reasons most things can end up carrying very little significance. Making one increasingly apathetic or nihilistic.

Because of above, enacting laws with consequence, even of death, naturally leads to some not really caring about them. Making them more useful as a means of power, threat, or as a way of committing suicide, than as something morally binding. If used in moral ways at all.

Those who survive the longest have to necessarily take on being okay with a level of violence that is incomprehensible to human scales. Necessitating that often the most violent, or accepting of violence, tend to become those who withstand the test of time.

Those fitting into this category extends fairly naturally towards walks of those accepting of or that act out other forms of immorality, dehumanization, and antisocial behaviors.

Your community is small and made up of violent killers. Developing paranoia or hostility towards violent killers is self preservation. You are also a violent killer, and take any hostility towards your person as an offense or threat. Without some kind of love, compassion, or trust in the mix, your community would quickly destroy itself.

Because of above vampires enter to greater degrees unfulfilling, pragmatic, or socially contractual relations with others they may dislike, or be indifferent to, and often might resolve interpersonal issues with fake shows of affection or remorse.

If you do happen to find a real relationship, the violence you enact out in order to survive can't ever enter into that relationship, without it becoming abusive. But the lines between those two can blur easily when you consider again how nurtured one has to be into violence to begin with.

Survival instincts look different based on their background for survival. And surviving as a vampire takes on different concerns for safety and endurance. How you survived being human is how you'd think to survive as a vampire, and those who had very little to survive through would lack a level of survival skills necessary to take on this kind of life.

Once you've seen a bunch of how this life is going to be you tend to take on a level of 'this is just how things are'. Since they can't place themselves in time, they can't place themselves properly in a forward progression. Those who last tend to develop a superiority on how to last through this the right way, or make judgments on who will or should be allowed to.

To make a vampire at all you have to actually decide on this last statement that there is anyone deserving of this life, and that it's a life one deserves.

You are stuck always in the bodily age of when you died. General feelings of stuckness are encompassing, as you're bound by your immortality, and often can only survive through those who are in it with you. Anyone and anything you knew in mortal life will be gone one day, and what you're left with are only those of your own kind.

In having such a substantially focused relationship to violence. One has to always make a hyper-conscious effort not to be violent, for the wrong reasons. Or just simply have a good conscience about such things. (some combination of the two)

One's life and culture as a human bleeds into who they are as a vampire. Even in rejecting humanity completely, they carry those ideas and understandings around with them. Including prejudices, ideologies, and sensibilities. Vampires lack a distinctly separate culture from that of humans, and instead live alongside it at perpetual outsiders. Only loosely being effected by it, and able to choose removing oneself entirely if they're white, or otherwise not subject to prejudice based on appearance. Vampiric alienation and loneliness is perhaps fairly common, and at a certain point this outside position lends indifference about the human condition and whats happening in the world.

Due to this, certain cultural shifts might take far longer to ever reach vampires, than it would in our naturally generative, and transformative human society.

Due to this as well though certain human hold ups about things such as homosexuality aren't very present in vampires.

The more vampiric you are the more it puts you into the throes of violence, while falling back into your humanity puts you at face with the qualms of your own morality.

Vampires have to find some way of justifying this existence has true worth to it despite such violence, and what it's done to their life, or simply abandon all sense of such morality, or care. Otherwise this fact of violence, and reminders of it, drive them to the flames or otherwise an all consuming resentment of all this.

The only ways you can die is suicide and being killed.

In trying to bring greater meaning to your violence you end up making a spectacle about it. Which fosters a manner of self importance, and egotism, about being violent. Or equally making it into a performance or ritualism.

BDSM is arguably a great way to contend with the fact you are violent, or can be subject to violence, in a controlled and consensual setting. It can be almost therapeutic, like taking power back from all the violence you can't control.

These sorts of things are interesting to think on when you don't have someone else making it apologia for abuse and egregious acts of violence. Because while they are violent by nature, they don't lack a consciousness about it. They have minds which can actively choose not to be violent, choose different paths to violence, etc. They're able to make decisions, and regret those decisions. And also, just like anyone in community with others, or in respect to themselves, have good reason not to be. They may possess inhuman abilities and understandings, but they don't possess inhuman feelings and are capable of being physically, emotionally, and mentally harmed or harmful.

And actually, given the fact they can take this to vampiric scales, is by scale, worse, not somehow made diminished by fact one can come easily to a conscious idea nothing has any real consequences when confronting one's own immortality. This inconsequentialness is a lacking and false understanding of immortality anyway.

Immortality can equally be about a constant uplifting of the present and future into something better, confronting their own impact on the world and those in it to generate some new way of living as a vampire, as opposed to stagnation, or depravity into cycles, and pits, of unnecessary and avoidable violence. Or just inevitable boredom.

A lot of those within this vampiric culture, don't necessarily foster well a society dedicated toward being as non-violent as possible. (I account for all forms of necessary violence, like self defense, as being non-violent.) Some might even find such an idea they could move in the direction of non-violence to be self hating. But the very fact they can be non-violent, choose that, and separate that for compassion, and love, and righteousness means their consequences and morality do end up mattering necessarily. If there's choice in that there's a way to effect things. An upstanding vampire, who's not just surviving through this, would have to dedicate themselves to consequences and morality as a good in itself, I'd think, to do right by others and themselves. To not give in to evil/violence as their only true condition. And somehow synthesize that information with how they can never be moral by a humanist standard, but those such standards are by nature more moral than their own. They can't fall into vampiric exceptionalism, but do have to accept the fact of themselves as vampires has special other conditions to it.

[ceo-draiochta]

Hey there, this might be silly question, I have been trying to find a path/belief system that works for me. And I was wondering what is Gaelic polytheisms main worldviews? How are the Tautha de danann or other gods treated? Are they seen as representations of something? How important is praying to them? How does Gaelic polytheism interact with the divine?

Thank you!

Hello! Sorry just saw this now. Sorry for any wait. Thank you so much for your question, I will try and answer as best as I can. While a lot of this does apply to Scottish and Manx polytheism as well, I will be focusing on Irish polytheism as that is what I practice. Please note that everything I say is inherently going to be coloured by my experience and practice and that many people practice in ways completely different to this.

Uncertainty

Ok first things first, Gaelic polytheism is a modern attempt to reconstruct the religion that was replaced with Christianity in the Gaelic regions, this is a religion that for all intents and purposes died off, aspects of these belief systems are however present in the writings of christian monks collectively known as Irish Mythology. This of course means that many stories have inserted christian elements.

This basically means that there is no one right way to do things, and no exact step by steps like you'd find in other religions. Its more of a hot and cold thing. As such the answers to most of your questions cannot be exact "this is what all Gaelic polytheists do and don't", There is however answers that seem more likely and more accepted.

Worldviews

Important to note that there is no creation myth known. Generally beliefs include a certain level of animism, honouring spirits, honouring ancestors, immortality of/renewal of the soul, and the belief in the Otherworld (an t-alltar/an saol eile).

Worship

Honouring of spirits, ancestors and gods is a fairly combined procedure, the exact delineation between Aos Sí (fairies) and gods is blurred. There is also evidence to suggest that the gods Tuatha dé may have been viewed as divine ancestors so quite mixed up. (UPG alert) I would generally consider the Tuatha Dé the most powerful, the most prolific of the Aos Sí rather than something entirely different. (UPG end) Generally offerings are made to known/named gods and the Aos Sí collectively. Offerings to gods is usually something connected to their known attributes, such as a poem for one connected to poetry or alcohol etc. Aos Sí usually get some form of food, traditionally butter and milk. Historically worship would have been done at certain locations, usually a liminal space often involving water. This includes Holy wells, bogs but also megalithic structures and focal points in the landscape such as hills. However the modern pagan generally just has a little corner as an altar.

Death

It seems likely that after death it was believed that the soul crosses into the otherworld and into a place known as Tech Duinn, the home of the first milesean (basically ancestor to irish people) to step foot on the island. Transmigration of the soul (also known as reincarnation) is heavily implied to be a belief amongst pre christian irish people and so it is generally believed that the soul will transmigrate after an indetermined time in Tech Duinn.

Otherworld (an t-alltar/an saol eile)

The otherworld is a world either parallel or below ours (think parallel dimension ig?) where the othercrowd live, a lot of different attributes have been given to the Otherworld but generally time works differently and it is overall abundant. It can connects to ours at certain times of the year and at certain locations. There are those who believe you can visit there through out of body experiences though this is a more recent belief.

Treatment of the Gods and interaction

You will find many different attitudes to gods throughout pagan communities, some of which are uh bad ideas. Generally the attitude taken towards gods is respectful, like how you would talk to your landlord. Generally worship is done in a respectful manner.

Some people believe themselves to communicate with gods through dreams, meditation and various forms of divination. This can change how you interact, if they want to be more casual be more casual, if they like the respect be respectful. That being said communicating to gods like this is not a necessity of paganism only worship. You can just offer gifts and prayers and never speak to them ever if you want. I would say praying is reasonably important, at least try to do the 4 festivals at least. You really can set your own rules. One thing I will say is don't make empty promises, like don't say "I will definitely pray everyday for 2 months" and then don't. Just do what your able and be honest about it.

Representations

Generally they are more so seen as people with particular skills and abilities rather than embodiments of a particular element or force.

Sorry that was really long, I hope this was helpful to you in any way, even if you don't end up with gaelic polytheism good luck. One thing I will say is if you live in Ireland, maybe look up local legends and see if there are particular Sí or gods associated with your area, that's usually a good start. I would recommend Morgan Daimlers Irish Paganism for further reading.

If anyone else has other things to add to these questions please feel free to add on

[ryin-silverfish]

Chapter 11: Taizong's trip to the Underworld

-Fun fact: "Taizong's trip to the Underworld" is actually a tale that predated JTTW, and its earliest surviving form could be dated to a book called 朝野佥载.

-Another late Tang version could be found in the Dunhuang collections, in which Taizong's bargain with Cui Jue was a lot more complicated. In JTTW novel proper, Cui Jue/Ziyu was just another high-level official who took his work into the afterlife, but in the Dunhuang version, much like Wei Zheng, he was a living person working part-time for the Underworld.

-However, his position in court was nowhere as high as Wei Zheng's, so he took the chance to blackmail Taizong into giving him a promotion, and the whole exchange was full of subtle psychological warfare——Judge Cui offhandedly mentioning "Hey, you heard the ghosts crying next door? That's your dead brothers (whom you totally didn't murder in a coup)", Taizong being scared out of his mind but also trying to keep up appearances while figuring out the appropriate bribe for this guy…

-Fun Fact #2: Dead People Lawsuits were a common trope in Tang legends and folklore, where people explained sudden deaths as the dead getting a summon to the Underworld courts, or, in slightly more fortuious cases, appointed as ghostly officials.

-The novel sadly skips the courtroom scene and handwaves it with a "Yeah, the prosecutor had already been sent to reincarnation", which kinda defeats the whole purpose of summoning Taizong here, but whatever.

-On the plus(?) side, he got a free tour of the afterlife!

-I'm a big fan of Underworld tales in Chinese mythos, because, aside from all the brutal tortures and horrors, it can also be pretty damn funny.

-Like the Ten Kings asking Taizong for some pumpkins ("southern melons") just to complete their Directional Melons Set.

"Wait, pumpkins? Isn't that from the Americas? And aren't they still missing the 'northern melons'?"

-Precisely! This could actually give us some clue about when the book was compiled: pumpkins were most likely brought to Ming China in the 1520s by Portuguese ambassadors visiting Nanjing and Beijing, and the earliest JTTW novel was printed in 1592.

-So, when this segment was added, pumpkins were still considered a rare, exotic vegetable. Further research also suggests that, throughout the Ming and Qing dynasty, "northern melons" was just another name for pumpkins of lesser quality.

-How Taizong managed to find a pumpkin in 639 C.E. to give to our conveniently suicidal delivery guy is beyond anyone's guess. Hey, maybe the immortals of the eastern seas ran a cross-Pacific mailing service with their cranes or something.

-This is clearer in the Chinese version, but the law of Underworld's reality literally dictates that you cannot walk back from the way you come. So…does the road disappear behind you as you go? Are buildings in the City of the Dead constantly shifting and rearranging themselves like an Escher painting in Lego form? Or do you just have to go round in circles, a lot?

[A very rough map of Taizong's route through the Underworld, as I visualize it]

-In Buddhist canon, the Wheel of Reincarnation isn't like, a literal magical wheel. However, in JTTW novel and illustrations, this is very much the case, and might be a result of people mixing IRL scripture wheels (轮藏) with reincarnation (轮回).

-Personally, I'd like to see more creative reimagining of the thing; for example, a giant waterwheel on the Nai River that sifts through souls like droplets.

@journeythroughjourneytothewest

[novapark]

The Nova Family - Mainline Gen 7 (Background)

Okay let's talk about Bastian. His generation was a heavy mix of storytelling and gameplay so it's a bit of a mess. Especially because functionally gameplay wise he's sorta immortal? So he pops into later generations from time to time to help them with their problems. He has made a lot of mistakes in his own life so I like to think he does his best to help his kids avoid similar pitfalls.

Anyway, he was born in my game during a freeplay gameplay I did with his dad Maddox after I had finally given up on trying to fix my original save file. Oddly enough this loss of the original save file like ten years ago kinda led to a lot of the weirdness in my later generations since I don't play the family in a single save anymore. I tend to do multiple saves, either for one sim I'm stuck on, or a set of sims from the same generation. So explaining how the story went is a bit more complicated after this point cause there's a lot of mixed storylines and saves that come together weave together to form what I think is the definitive story of each generation. So with that said, let's get on to Bastian's tale.

So obviously his beginnings start with his father Maddox. Something I haven't brought up yet is my family (in sims 3) were witches with alien dna I called "Kasri" or "Kasari" in my older posts. There's a whole backstory to Cole and Ember but the short of it is, Cole was part of a culture that had a bad civil war and he used science to cut himself and his family from the majority of their power. He didn't want his children falling into the traps his ancestors did but a few generations in, my boy Maddox found out when he took over leading the town.

He was not happy about this so he immediately set to trying to undo Cole's work by doing DNA related experiments on himself. Then when that hit a dead end, he began working on his own personal breeding program. Ivy was the first result of that but after Allison died he went fully into it and got a job at a University as an excuse to do more research into occult DNA. There he met Petra, who's suspicious death paved the way for the first serious test of his new theories.

He created a "shadow clone" of her made mostly of the dark matter that gave his people their power (don't ask me how it works, *hand waves*) in order to produce a child with a much higher rate of alien dna (or in my speak voidcells). This pairing resulted in three children, Nova, Bastian, and Delora.

The oldest, Nova seemed to be just what he wanted. A high count and a natural aptitude for spells but unfortunately as she got older she started to display a common genetic instability that ran in his family they had nicknamed "Brielle's" because it first appeared with his older sister. He didn't get along with this sister and quickly gave up interest in Nova once he discovered this trait in her.

(Flashbacks to his sister's non stop teasing probably didn't help their relationship.)

Bastian was less promising to him, especially because he had some serious faults from the start. First, he seemed lazy and uninterested in his education at all which was a great insult to his genius father.

Second he struggled to sleep all night from day one which for someone that liked the privacy of night time studies but worst of all, he was disobedient and rebellious.

Maddox never tolerated people not listening to him or obeying well so he and Bastian had a lot of problems getting along while he was growing up. Even so there was one trait Maddox noticed as Bastian aged that might com in handy to his plans. He was absolutely obsessed with girls.

So when he found his younger sister Delora to be even less governable and irritating, Maddox settled on Bastian as the main topic for his newest research: Could exposure to more void cells increase his son's connection to power? He didn't know but his curiosity eventually got the better of him.

So soon after Bastian's 18th birthday he asked him to join him in the lab to help him with some experiments. This wasn't uncommon so Bastian thought nothing of it but after that day he'd never be the same.

[multifandomshorts]

Harry Transported into the World of Vanitas no Carte (Crossover AU/Fanfic Concept)

General Overview

To combine my current hyperfixation (Harry Potter) with one of my other long-term hyperfixations (Vanitas no Carte) my brain very frequently likes to put Harry through the MochiJun Experience (because he obviously hasn’t suffered enough)

Taking advantage of the Department of Mysteries’ endlessly ✨mysterious✨ nature, we’re gonna throw 15-year-old Harry, fresh from battle, into the world of VNC. Let me set up the small bit of background that I bothered with. A device constructed by a long-vanished vampire who ended up alone in the Wizarding world, whether by choice or exile, gets hit by the chaos of battle. Harry, the main character that he is, happens to be alone with it when it activates. He’s whisked away to the time of the interlude chapters, just after Noé and Vanitas have their attempted murder divorce (courtesy of my son, Misha).

Tada! Harry can add isekai protagonist to his resume now too. But he has to relearn how to use magic in a world with a different framework. A world where he doesn’t have so much weighing on his shoulders. He gets to be free from the prophecy, free from the Horcrux, and it makes sense that Vanitas would notice something off about his soul. I consider True Names and souls to be in the same realm of things. They’re a person’s essence, the shape behind their magic. “Dr.” (this man’s never been to medical school) Vanitas swoops in and gets Harry set right. To ashes and dust with the Horcrux. 

Throw Harry into the midst of characters who make him question the structures around him. He’s no longer in a school dividing its students by personal characteristics and life outlooks. Now, he has to keep company with a wide array of dysfunctional companions. They’re also mostly a few years older than him (in the case of the main cast), or a few years younger than him (in the case of Mikhail). Then there’s one who’s actually about his own age (Astolfo). He has to get accustomed to having drastically different people around him. But still, he can relate to them in ways he couldn’t with anyone in his own world. He especially empathizes with the Dhams because the social inequity they face is similar to the kind he understands from what he’s seen before. Sometimes, he feels guilty for appreciating being able to relate to characters like Vanitas. Of course, he misses everyone back home…but…it’s so nice to feel seen.

Harry’s similar to Vanitas in that he’d rather greet death than be transformed into an immortal being against his will. I’d like to make him suffer as Vanitas has. This comes in the form of Faustina marking Harry, taking his choice to greet death with open arms. The mark of the Crimson Moon and his eyes burn like the fire of a phoenix. It’s a horrifying rebirth, and he harbors the same anger as Vanitas over it. Of course, there are somewhat different feelings mixed in there. The vampire who marked him was an enemy rather than family, after all. Since we don’t know much about the fights to come in VNC, I’m keeping the conflict vague. There’s war again. Vampires vs. vampires, vampires vs. the Church, and whatever’s being set up with the Dhams right now. Harry’s there for five years, and it’s during the later stages of this conflict that he’s marked. The events of VNC have played out at the end of that time. Vanitas and Faustina have died, leaving Mikhail as the last to inherit Luna’s powers and Harry as the last to inherit Faustina’s powers.

This series of events will most likely be completely blown away by the canon timeline when it comes around (which I of course look forward to).

After all this, Harry returns home, back to the very moment he left. It was a toss-up whether the device would send him back to the time he left or if it would send him back with the same amount of time having passed in each world. It might depend on what the device’s user does. They’re still figuring out how it works. Naturally, Harry’s goal is to seek out the vampire who made it, and usually I make that vampire a de Sade. Now Harry has to figure that out in addition to the Voldemort shit. Not to mention the new personal issues that he has to work through.

Oh, to be changed and feel almost like a stranger when returning home. Five years have passed for Harry. The battle is the same as he left it. Will he try to hide the changes in himself to keep a sense of normalcy, the sense of nostalgia? He’s not quite human, and not quite a vampire just yet. I love the idea that he comes back wrong, returning to his world, but now with his very soul and magic rewritten.

If my brain’s craving a little chaos, then I’ll throw in some other versions of Harry Potter characters, whether displaced across time or worlds (or both!). They’re like dolls to me. It really depends how far from canon I want to diverge (usually not terribly far since I’m a bit of a stickler for it, at least in the case of characterization).

Anyway! What I wouldn’t give to know more about what’s coming in VNC! There’s so much that’s up in the air right now. We know we’re in for a lot of pain soon, so maybe playing around with the possibilities is a bit of a comfort. What would a war in the setting of VNC do to Harry’s development? How would the different approach to writing affect him? How would he view the people he left back home after everything?

Those are some things I like to think about within the larger story. The larger plot itself is easy enough to change, but the little tidbits remain about the same. Each author has such a different approach to world and character building. I’m so fond of MochiJun’s writing (less so of Rowling’s), and I also appreciate Harry as a main character. It would be awesome to see how MochiJun would approach the story of Harry Potter, and playing around with the possibilities is a great deal of fun to me. Rewriting Harry Potter through her lens would be a much larger undertaking though. So, instead, I send Harry into her world.

Other Tidbits

1. I like the idea of Harry becoming good friends with Domi. She has an interesting mix of characteristics that would make it hard for Harry to view her through the house framework, and I think becoming friends with her would be a big part of him reconstructing his view of people. He shares some traits with her (and other characters) that would push him to self-reflect in interesting ways too.

2. Imagine Harry hearing about Luna and being reminded of his loyal friend by the same name (ough ough the angst)

3. Following that, I think he would understand her better now. VNC would have untethered him in some ways. In addition to more life experience, he would have grown to understand that which is outside of his view more than before.

4. Thank fuck he would be in a text that explores and criticizes abuse in a way that doesn’t echo Rowling’s weird dynamics that cast women as less capable of being perpetrators in certain contexts (namely those of relationships and sexuality). If there’s one thing I appreciate about MochiJun, it’s that her women can be awful freaks just as much as her men can.

5.  I like to think about the ways vampires get inside each other’s heads. They clearly have some supernatural mind abilities (like we see with the Archivistes, Naenia, and Ruthven). That could be interesting to explore in the context of Wizard mind magic, though I know Occlumency is often over-utilized in fanfiction. Exploring the variations of how the magic works is interesting. The Archivistes’ ability is similar to Occlumency in that you need more direct contact, though it’s a one-time use. However, we still don’t know much more about that clan’s abilities. Naenia/Faustina has far more open access to the minds of others. It seems like she needs minimal contact. Lastly, Ruthven’s is probably the most similar to Occlumency (if you threw in a little Imperio, yikes). I wouldn’t be surprised if we find out more in the future. (Fingers crossed)

6. I’m curious about Loki Oriflamme since we know so little about him. That makes it fun for me to play around with him as another character Harry could become involved with.

7. Also, I’m absolutely using the timing of this AU as an excuse to keep Sirius alive. It would be a lot of fun to explore their relationship after Harry comes back so changed. Harry would have become more reserved in ways that might be beneficial to Sirius, and help him grow as a person too. Harry’s a lot more understanding now.

8. I think it would also be fun to see how Harry handles interactions with Snape. At this point, he’ll have developed a much different management of his emotions and temper, so I think it could be fun to see them snipe back and forth a little, lol. Who knows, maybe he could have an effect on Snape too (albeit one Snape would find intensely irritating, lol).

9. I love the parallels of Harry’s rebirth with that of a Phoenix. See the burning colors of one in the signs of the Crimson vampire. Death as a human, slowly being born as a vampire. Reborn in body and soul. More than that, he’s changed as a person.

10. He would have grown into his trait of exceptional loyalty during his time in the world of VNC. More than that, it comes from love. A key point of MochiJun’s characters is that they’re deeply, deeply flawed, and love comes in spite of that. They have so much depth to them and they inflict a great deal of conflicting feelings on the reader. So, Harry would come to have more forgiveness to his loyalty, more tenderness. He still burns with it, but it’s a more controlled flame. He’s already canonically loyal to the people he cares about in spite of disagreement and anger, but after VNC, this trait reaches an even greater extent than before.

10. Lastly, I couldn’t go without mentioning my favorite Harry Potter blorbo: Dumbledore. Harry’s parallels with a phoenix and his growth as a person make him so much fun to play with regarding that relationship. Dumbledore is flawed, though not as much as some of the people Harry has grown to care for in the world of VNC. Harry sees the other people he cares about in Dumbledore and feels the need to comfort him. The self-hatred, isolation, and masks that Harry’s companions also share become visible to him now that he looks at Dumbledore through mature eyes. Regret. It’s something he’s seen countless times in the eyes of vampires, muggles, and magic folk alike. It’s what he sees when he looks in the mirror. If Dumbledore can’t forgive himself, then Harry will forgive him in his stead.

[dailycharacteroption]

Prestige Class Spotlight 13: Brightness Seeker

(art by Beaver-Skin on DeviantArt)

The Tolkien idea of elves paints them as nearly immortal beings of great wisdom but also unearthly grace and mind, and while Pathfinder’s elves don’t live quite that long, they certainly can cultivate that sort of air about themselves, especially those that follow the philosophy of brightness seekers.

Such figures believe that death is merely a step on the journey, and that reincarnating over and over again while learning from one’s past lives is the true path to enlightenment. Indeed, those that master this path may potentially reincarnate several times as animals or other beings before returning to their elven selves time and time again. What’s more, that experience gives them some familiarity with the threads of fate, giving them a talent for noticing useful threads in the futures of others, lending some certainty to their coming days.

This prestige class very much evokes the idea of naturally-magical elves that can be sought out for any problem, especially since it can work with any class, though as we’ll see, druid has the most natural synergy with it.

Additionally, this prestige class is another case of a pre-pathfinder option, so some slight conversion work is needed before using it, but it shouldn’t be too hard.

Keen perception, survival skills, and knowledge of nature and religion are all that are required aside from a strong will and elven heritage for this archetype, opening it up to nearly every class.

By spending time with another creature, these seekers can create a horoscope of the individual which will aid them in the near future, giving them advice that can bolster a single action or moment in their near future to strike true, act with surety, or avoid harm at the right moment.

As wizened elders of their kind, brightness seekers can count on other elves treating them more favorably as long as they value the same philosophy.

Drawing upon the memories of a thousand past lives as humble animals and other beings, these mystics can briefly manifest various physical traits to aid them, ranging from natural weapons, movement adaptations, enhanced senses, and so on.

Their natural tranquility and old souls makes them extremely resistant to fear, viewing such stressors as mere hiccups on their journey.

Their attunment to nature also gives them a druid-like ability to calm and commune with animals.

The druid comparisons don’t end there either, as they also learn the art of wild shaping, either separately or improving upon their druidic training into the art.

Brightness Seekers have such a strong bond with nature that they can meditate to make contact with the spirits of the wild to ask questions of them.

Later on, their tranquility is so potent that others find themselves calm in the face of fear as well.

Finally, the most powerful of these mystics find violent and unnatural deaths do not stick for them, as they can choose to reincarnate as an animal within a week. While weakened in this state and likely very noticeable as an elf-sized version of their current bestial form, this offers them another chance at life, allowing them to return to their elven form after learning a bit more in this form, or with the help of reality-warping magic.

This is one of those smaller prestige classes, only having five levels, but it offers a mix of druidic and almost paladin-like abilities, as well as passing out omen-based bonuses for allies to use at critical moments. While druid or shifter seems like the natural fit for it with their ability to synergize with the wild shape of those classes, in truth any class might benefit from this prestige class, be they skillful wise masters, nearly unkillable warriors, or mages whose wisdom transcends lifetimes.

While this prestige class is thematic for elves, they’re hardly the only ancestry associated with reincarnation and long lifespans in modern Pathfinder. I could easily see this being repurposed for samsarans or even a conversion of automatons and the like, changing a few abilities to match the themes of those ancestries.

They say a ghost haunts Beloc Keep, which has stood up surprisingly well despite being abandoned. The elven wanderer Yenva, however, knows better. The spirit in question is a dunagh, a kami devoted to warding the homes of family with strong bonds, and this spirit patiently waits for a Beloc to return and bring glory back to those halls.

Having seen many things throughout their long, artificial life, P-0109 is a Circuit Warden, a positively ancient android who’s body has undergone renewal with new souls and identities many times, but a shadow of those past lives lingers, making them an important shepherd of their people on the world of Crash, where the ship of the ancestors fell from the heavens long ago.

On the world of Meshannan, magic is slowly dying, and with it many wonders. However, some pockets of mystique still remain, such as the house of Tevas the Wise, last of the great elven lords. Those prepared for great and important tasks would do well to seek him out, for her advice has proven prophetic and and life-saving for as long as mortal memory persists.

[f4nd0m-fun]

So I've had a couple of AU ideas since I've gotten back into the fandom and I'm kinda curious on what people think about them.

Monster AU - Snake and Shifter

In which Ran is only half human and Shinichi is only partially inhuman. Shinichi is descended from a line of shapeshifters who have mixed with humans so long the shifting is more or less danger driven, so good deaging was more his subconscious trying to protect him than the actual poison, meaning AI also has something like this going on - what if all the Blacks are shapeshifters to some degree? Meanwhile, Ran's mother was a Naga while Mouri is a human. Not much going on here but Ran probably has a stronger sense of smell than a human but weaker than a Naga and eventually, tho it may take a bit, realizes that Conan and Shinichi have similar scents. If the drug/deaging changed his scent then maybe she doesn't notice until after he manages to temporarily return as Shinichi, and his smell is similar to Conan's. She joins in on trying to help him re-age or something. They also aren't the only creeches but I dunno what the others would be.

TLDR, Shinichi and Ai have shapeshifter DNA and Ran is half Naga, she realizes Conan and Shinichi are the dang person because of scent and starts helping him.

Immortal AU - Don't trust magic

This one is both the least different and the most, in a manner of speaking. Shinichi, in an attempt to permanently reage himself, manages to succeed far longer than any previous attempts, and returns to Ran to try and salvage their relationship. Something happens and there's a backfire of sorts, not only reverting Shinichi back to Conan in front of Ran but unknowingly affecting her as well. It's not immediately obvious but, within a few years, it's noticed that doesn't really seem to be aging. Eventually, Shinichi returns to his age naturally or something, and realizes that Ran still hasn't gotten any older, when she should look at least ten years older, and soon he stops aging as well - they're stuck at the age Shinichi was trying to return to. They probably end up trying to reverse the situation, not knowing what would happen if they do, but if they fail at least they have each other. Speaking of which, I want to give them a supernatural ability thqt only works when they're holding hands or something but that might be too much.

TLDR, Shinichi tries magic or something to reage but indeed him and Ran are immortally stuck at the Shinichi's actual age and they're probably trying to find a counter spell.

Shifter AU - Cat to Kitten

Shinichi has always been able to turn into a cat, but it's something he hid from even Ran. But when he gets deaged, he becomes stuck in his cat form. Ran eventually finds him and takes care of him, naming him Conan after Shinichi's favorite author. Eventually he regains a partially human form, and Ran helps him hide the ears and tail. From here the story continues relatively the same, but with two secrets on the line. Also, beach episodes but instead of staring at Ran or something he's chasing birds and trying to avoid the water.

TLDR, Shinichi can turn into a cat and got forced into the form of a kitten, eventually the normal events of the show happen but with attempts to hide his inhuman features included.

Time AU - Physical Flashbacks

Ran is the reincarnation of a goddess or demigoddess of time, but she can't control her abilities. Mostly she gets visions, but sometimes she'll end up a few hours or so in the past in a bit of a time loop until she figures out why. This has allowed her to save Conan several times, but most of he times saving him were merely her own mortal skills. Eventually this fails. She's found out the truth, but Shinichi is dying, and she keeps trying to change things, and it's just not working. Somehow, the next time she goes back, she ends up at the beginning, after Shinichi has already been shrunk though, and has to figure out what to do in the past to prevent that death from ever happening, while also trying to decide if she should tell Conan she knows he's Shinichi.

TLDR, Ran is a reincarnation of some divinity tied to time but she can't control her abilities, she ends up in the past when Conan first showed up after Shinichi died and is now trying to prevent that death

[princessasmosprincess]

Lisette Beaufort

I wanted to introduce my OC Lisette. She pops up a couple of times in Charmed, I'm Sure as a side character. The first picture is from 1909 (I did my best) and the second is modern times.

Lisette is a witch and a former high society socialite and heiress. She originally summoned Kallios to help her get out of her engagement to her fiancé whom she didn’t love (he sucked, he only wanted her for her money and how many babies she could give him). She refused to give Kallios her soul in return for their pact, leaving him to figure out some other sort of payment. Along the way she and Kallios fell in love, and she married him and moved to the Devildom where she was able to pursue her dream as a fashion designer. She currently owns and runs Majolish and Devil Style magazine, and has done so for the past 100 years. She's a partier and is good friends with Asmo and Mammon (Mams says she's the only witch he can tolerate, probably because she pays him and not the other way around). She’s not exactly immortal, but her skill in magic combined with her bond with Kallios froze her at the age of 30 and extended her life. She is gifted in divination (mostly through tarot) and she receives prophetic dreams but she can’t control what she sees or when they happen. Kallios's death devastated her and she was only able to get through it because of her dear friends, she cherishes each and every one deeply but she hasn't ever loved anyone else the way she did Kallios.

For her character design I wanted her to be almost "perfect" but just off. She's slim and tall, and always fits the fashionable silhouette. But her hair is light, which wasn't the popular hair color when she was younger, and she has unique amber eyes some might find off putting.

I answered some Get to Know My OC questions too:

1. She likes champagne and overly sweet, fruity cocktails. For non alcoholic drinks, Coca Cola is very nostalgic to her, something that hasn’t changed that much in all the years she’s been alive. She also likes tea.

2. Favorite flavor: Sweet, mostly.

3. Favorite food: She likes food in general so she doesn’t have one set favorite but if you asked her she’d probably say chocolate ice cream.

4. Dinner is her favorite because it’s the best time to dine with her beloved and friends, and after dinner comes dessert.

5. Once again, she’s not too picky about food but she doesn’t like meat that’s too bloody or fish that’s overcooked or too fishy.

6. At first she had difficulty tolerating spicy foods but living in the Devildom for over 100 years has raised her tolerance.

7. Favorite animal: Birds, specifically parrots. Kallios gifted her a hell cockatoo that she named Adonis.

8. She wears a nightgown to bed, usually something silky.

9. She sleeps on her back but sometimes she’ll sleep on her side, clutching a pillow (she really misses sleeping next to Kallios).

10. She’s more of a night owl because she loves to party but once she’s woken up in the morning she becomes alert rather quickly.

11. She’s usually an average sleeper, but on nights she gets prophetic dreams, she sleeps heavy.

12. She likes to sew on rainy days, there’s just something so cozy about the sound of the rain mixed with the clicking of the sewing machine.

13. She loves the smell of white florals and vanilla, also fresh herbs

14. What does she smell like: In the past she would have worn Jicky by Guerlain. Now she still keeps it very classic, she wears Chanel No. 5.

15. If she had the time she would take a leisurely bath every day.

16. Her cooking skills are pretty decent. Not gourmet but she can follow a recipe. She loved cooking together with her husband, it was quality time for them.

17. She loves fall, the weather is perfect.

18. Halloween, but she also loves Jill’s day because that was the first time she visited the Devildom.

19. She prefers making gifts for her loved ones. Usually it’s in the form of clothing she designed just for them, with love in every stitch.

20. She’s 5’7/170 cm

[gangstalkerbarbie]

You're not a god, technically. A god is one of them big ones, the extraterrestrials, see?

You, like everything else in the world, were born here; your beginning is not before time and outside the world. Not a god. You're a daimon. It's a common misconception.

Still, in the space of that misconception there's honest work.

You're not sure the council upstairs (if it's even a council anymore) pays much attention to most of mortalkind, really, otherwise there wouldn't have to be witches to do work scholars are jealous of, but doesn't someone have to?

Sometimes the ones that do enough of it become angels. Sometimes the ones that do something better than anyone else become... well, just what is Silence, actually? Is that still what he goes by? When he was Death All-Devouring he had a few more teeth, you think.

Anyway: when official channels fatfinger a prayer, you have to know, and it's just sort of the case, ethically speaking, that you're to do something about it. Even if only to keep up the illusion that the world-machine works. That's kind of a duty incumbent on all of you immortals, these days. Just until the big boss ... well, the big boss cannot be said to ever be doing or thinking or going to do or think anything, so you're not sure where that was going.

And that's why you're here at this wedding — because a hundred, two hundred years ago they realised the big kahuna might not be listening, deep down, somewhere, and so now you are the wight of the marriage bed. Some say the angel. They're not sure. You're not sure either; you have perhaps a dot more free will than angels tend to, but you find yourself doing a lot of angelic kinda work.

Is the Immanence here, like She's supposed to be? Doctrinally (you are a daimon, you don't really care about doctrine outside the mechanics of your own existence) She doesn't fuck with mixed marriages, but She also conveniently is present every time two men talk about lofty matters, yes, even if they're talking objectively heinous anti-sense about women and children and beasts. So, you know. It's kind of touch and go here. Is mixed marriage more bad than womanhatred? Very important scholars debate the issue even now. Six thousand years of debate have yielded the answer 'yeah idk probably'. You cannot perceive the Immanence. You wouldn't know.

You do, however, know the future, and in the next thousand years, thankfully, they will perfect the shaping arts and learn to make men into women, and maybe they'll all be women then, what the hell. It's an optimistic thought. The other immortals kind of snicker at you and tell you to go look forward at what they do with chymics, self-made new forms of life, in that future, and what they themselves go mad with pain and grief and loneliness and do, for which reason you kind of don't want to.

You might go and listen in on some of those last debates instead, except, again: wedding.

To your profound disappointment, this wedding expects to make you co-in-laws, sort of, with a small unfriendly god, one of the daimons that really believes in it, waves their essence around. This is... about to get really annoying.

You actually don't even dislike Sowulo. Everything you know about them boils down to the fact that they've been experimenting with themself after their mortal followers degendered them — that's the trouble with the overreliant ones, the essence moulds to the understanding of the souls they shepherd and then you end up in no end of annoying circumstances. This would be why personally you've never investigated what gender you're supposed to be. Less for your people to contradict that way. Maybe you predate gender, how's that for a thought exercise? (You don't; you were born in the middle of the Age of Chitin; they don't have to know you're something smaller and duller wearing an old god's pelt.)

And, well, it's just... they're a little weird? OK. They're a lottle weird. You are pretty sure they are, like, super mega ultra weird. The situation is like this: their people, their little guys, they used to be these peaceful cattle nomads. Then the Aeon of Sails and the Great Industrialisation, and the dire circumstances that led them into the ghettos, and so on — and somewhere in that transition, the travelling spirit of the warmth of the sun that was their constant companion came into conflict with the new State doctrine that the stars are unfeeling miasmas of incandescent plasma. (Is that doctrine? That's how you understand most things. You're not sure of the semantics.)

So now: degendered, deprived of influence, a cold light, not a warm one. Invoked, at best, at afterbirth burials, confirmations, weddings, cremations, premarital haircuttings, housewarmings, slaughters, and for the end of winter when it dies under their hand. They're annoying and dangerous and haggard and raw-voiced as a hungry buzzard because they are starving, because they have lost themself, because they don't remember what they used to be and they don't know what they want to be now.

Sometimes a ship launches from the harbour of this city, and you are there because you have one of your people to look after, and they look out at you from shore, forlorn, jealous, abandoned, so hungry. So hungry. Mourning something they half remember, something they are convinced you have. That's why they incite their sophonts to kill yours, maybe. You wouldn't know. You've never asked. You're busy doing your job, keeping those sophonts safe.

They envy you your vitality. They wish they knew what they were. They think you know what you are, and they want you to get off your inconceivably tall high horse.

You're not on a high horse. You just are, and you try to make sure your sophonts can just be, too. But Sowulo doesn't know that.

Sowulo knows that their people are small and broken and scattered, and that each wedding with any other people weakens them — weakens the people and weakens their god.

Sowulo hates you.

And, like, you don't really play favourites, all mortals are the same to you deep down, but you understand that there is a Teensy Weensy little problem, perhaps, with the favourite son of their most warlike clan's Great Chanter running away from home to elope with a witch-midwife from beyond the Pale. Not because she's yours, but that doesn't make it better. Her own huntedness and fear and old pain doesn't do anything for the situation either. Sowulo doesn't understand yet that suffering is a universal condition of settled life.

Your marriage priest, a jolly little roundish woman in veils against the interference of spirits with her work, pounds her cowhide drum and begins her chant. Sowulo's shakes his solar rattle, completely unaware that his god is seething in the rafters of the fane. Are you going to have to save his life, then, before the sun is up? This is going to be a very long, unnecessarily laborious, and probably also very interesting night.

You are a god whose most devout follower is marrying your rival God’s follower. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem except you both are asked to bless the union, and for that both of you must attend.

[capstoneyap]

Week 4 Oct 2nd 2024: POV Soul

I recently had a pretty deep conversation with my mom about the nature of ghosts, spirits, poltergeists, and souls. The debate came up about whether these entities are all essentially the same thing or if they’re distinct from one another. My mom, with a mix of excitement and confusion, admitted she never fully understood the difference and wondered if there even *was* one. We both started thinking about the technical differences that people often make between these concepts, but the more we talked, the less sure we were about whether those distinctions really matter. 

From my perspective, I think there’s a strong case to be made that all of these things — ghosts, spirits, poltergeists, and souls — are variations of the same underlying essence. The soul, in many spiritual and cultural traditions, is the non-physical, immortal part of a person. If we think about that in the context of these supernatural beings, it’s possible that ghosts, spirits, and even poltergeists are simply *different manifestations* of a human soul, or any living soul for that matter. It seems reasonable to think that, if every living being has a soul, that soul might transform or behave differently depending on its circumstances after death. 

Take ghosts, for example. In our discussion, my mom and I talked about the possibility that a ghost might just be a lost or wandering soul — one that hasn’t quite crossed over, so to speak. Maybe it’s stuck in our physical plane for some reason, whether due to unfinished business or emotional attachment. Then there’s the poltergeist, which could be thought of as a more chaotic or even corrupted version of a soul. Instead of being a passive observer or a quiet presence, a poltergeist might be a soul that has become disturbed or malevolent, causing mischief and creating disturbances in the physical world.

Then we got into the whole thing about spirits and how people often use the term interchangeably with ghosts. It’s interesting because, from our conversation, it seemed like “ghost” and “spirit” are practically the same thing in the way most people use them. Maybe the difference is in how they interact with the living — ghosts are often associated with hauntings, while spirits might be more neutral or even protective. But even with that distinction, it still feels like they’re all just different expressions of a soul’s existence beyond death. After all, if we’re comfortable saying that ghosts come from souls, why shouldn’t the same be true for spirits?

The more I think about it, the more it feels like these technical differences between ghosts, spirits, poltergeists, and souls are just that — technicalities. When we get down to it, all of these beings could theoretically be tied to the same source: the soul. Whether a soul becomes a ghost, a spirit, or even a poltergeist might just depend on its circumstances after death. My mom and I both feel that they are essentially the same thing, just experienced in different ways. Maybe the way these entities manifest reflects the state of the soul after death, whether peaceful, lost, or chaotic.

Of course, this is all based on personal opinion and interpretation. We didn’t come to a final conclusion, and I’d love to explore what other people think about this topic when I have more time. But for now, my mom and I are content with the idea that ghosts, spirits, poltergeists, and souls are probably more alike than they are different — just different forms of the same essence.

[cagemasterfantasy]

Dnd Monsters explained: Lich

Liches are the remains of great wizards who embrace undeath as a means of preserving themselves. They further their own power at any cost having no interest in the affairs of the living except where those affairs interfere with their own. Scheming and insane they hunger for long forgotten knowledge and the most terrible secrets. Because the shadow of death doesn't hang over them they can conceive plans that take years decades or centuries to come to fruition.

A Lich is a gaunt and skeletal humanoid with withered flesh stretched tight across its bones. Its eyes succumbed to decay long ago but points of light burn in its empty sockets. It is often garbed in the moldering remains of fine clothing and jewelry worn and dulled by the passage of time.

No wizard takes up the path to Lichdom on a whim and the process of becoming a Lich is a well guarded secret. Wizards that seek lichdom must make bargains with fiends evil gods or other foul entities. Many turn to Orcus Demon Prince of Undeath whose power has created countless liches. However those that control the power of Lichdom always demand fealty and service for their knowledge.

A Lich is created by an arcane ritual that traps the wizard's soul within a phylactery. Doing so binds the soul to the mortal world preventing it from traveling to the Outer Planes after death. A phylactery is traditionally an amulet in the shape of a small box but it can take the form of any item possessing an interior space into which arcane sigils of naming binding immortality and dark magic are scribed in silver.

With its phylactery prepared the future Lich drinks a potion of transformation a vile concotion of poison mixed with the blood of a sentient creature whose soul is sacrificed to the phylactery. The wizard falls dead then rises as a lich as its soul is drawn into the phylactery where it forever remains.

A Lich must periodically feed souls to its phylactery to sustain the magic preserving its body and consciousness. It does this using the spell Imprisonment. Instead of choosing 1 of the normal options of the spell the Lich uses the spell to magically trap the target's body and soul inside its phylactery. The phylactery must be on the same plane as the Lich for the spell to work. A Lich's phylactery can hold only 1 creature at a time and the spell Dispel Magic cast as a 9th level spell upon the phylactery releases any creature imprisoned within it. A creature imprisoned in the phylactery for 24 hours is consumed and destroyed utterly whereupon nothing short of divine intervention can restore it to life.

A Lich that fails or forgets to maintain its body with sacrificed souls begins to physically fall apart and might eventually become a Demilich.

When a Lich's body is broken by accident or assault the will and mind of the Lich drains from it leaving only a lifeless corpse behind. Within days a new body reforms next to the Lich's phylactery coalescing out of glowing smoke that issues from the device. Because the destruction of its phylactery means the possibility of eternal death a lich usually keeps its phylactery in a hidden well guarded location.

Destroying a Lich's phylactery is no easy task and often requires a special ritual item or weapon. Every phylactery is unique and discovering the key to its destruction can be a quest in and of itself.

From time to time a Lich might be stirred from its single minded pursuit of power to take an interest in the world around it most often when some great event reminds it of the life it once led. It otherwise lives in isolation engaging only with those creatures whose service helps secure its lair.

Few Liches call themselves by their former names instead adopting monikers such as the Black Hand or the Forgotten King.

Liches collect spells and magic items. In addition to its spell repertoire a Lich has ready access to potions scrolls libraries of spellbooks 1 or more wands and perhaps a staff or 2. It has no qualms about putting these treasures to use whenever its lair comes under attack.

A Lich often haunts the abode it favored in life such as a lonely tower a haunted ruin or an academy of black magic. Alternatively some Liches construct secret tombs filled with powerful guardians and traps.

Everything about a Lich's lair reflects its keen mind and wicked cunning including the magic and mundane traps that secure it. Undead Constructs and bound Demons lurk in shadowy recesses emerging to destroy those who dare to disturb the Lich's work.

[lorelylantana]

Hi! You may have found your own answer to this question since you posted this but I'm rereading the trilogy and have recently formed Theories so I thought I'd take a crack at these questions. Also I read the English translations so our names might be a tad different.

First I think the prophecies are only semi authentic. While the Count can't see the future, he can join his own Lodge under a different identity, which would enable him to write letters to his past self upon reaching the title of Grand Master. I think the 'secret writings' are a mix of information fed to him from the future and attempts to influence the lodge from the past. These writings are often observed as obscure and unreliable (One of the Count's prophecies is that Gwen will die for love, a thing she Does Not Do). When Gwen first meets the Count he asks what 'the magic of the raven' is, while we the reader know this includes the ability to see ghosts, the Count assumes in Emerald Green that this is a reference to her immortality, which he likely discovers after Lord Alastair's failed stabbing.

I think the question of the Chronograph is a much more intriguing question, and the mystery surrounding its origin and functions is likely the consequence of excluding women from participating in/collaborating with the Lodge. My current theory is that the Chronograph was created by someone from the female line of descent, most likely Cecilia Woodville or one of her female relatives.

First I'd like to rule out the possibility of the Count or Lodge inventing the Chronograph. Consider the language Mr. George uses when explaining things to Gwen;

"(. . .) The count himself used to travel every few hours as a young man, two to seven times a day. You can imagine what a dangerous life he lived until he finally understood how to use the chronograph." (Ruby Red, 133)

This to me suggests that the Count either found the first Chronograph by chance or, more likely, inherited his family's Chronograph with incomplete/damaged instructions. There's a good 20-100 years between the death of one time traveler and birth of the next one, which tells me that the earliest generations likely didn't see a need to pass on whatever knowledge or experience they gained over their lives to their children beyond an anecdote or two. It's possible the count interviewed them, however it's worth noting that the earlier generations weren't nearly as closely recorded as those who came after the Lodge's founding, so we can't say for certain how much they knew and shared with him.

Furthermore, if the Count and his Lodge truly understood how the chronograph worked they would be able to create their own and losing a chronograph would be a nuisance rather than a potential mission ending catastrophe. Even after centuries of study the Lodge can't replicate a chronograph, which goes against the assumption that the creator was a Lodge member. This is where the Count's misogyny starts to cost him. On top of being a straight up liar when it suits him, his views on women has caused him to make errors in judgement.

Let's take a closer look at how the Count describes his acquisition of the second Chronograph;

"' . . . But back to dear Jeanne. Did you have to use force? She wasn't very cooperative with me.'

'So she told me,' said Gideon. 'As well as the way you talked her into handing over the chronograph.'

'Talked her into it! She didn't even know what a marvel she'd inherited from her grandmother. The poor device was lying around unused, unrecognized, in a dusty chest in an attic. Sooner or later, it would have been entirely forgotten. I rescued it and restored it to its former glory. And thanks to the figures of genius who will enter my Lodge in the future, it is still in working order today. That is little short of a miracle.'

'Madame d'Urfe also thought you were prepared to strangle her, just because she couldn't remember her great-grandmother's maiden name and date of birth.'

. . . 'What's more, I[the Count] shared my chronograph with her in a truly fraternal spirit. (. . .) Sometimes a whole month would pass before she disappeared." (Ruby Red, 219-220)

The existence of multiple chronographs carries certain implications. Rather than assume the inventor had a near impossible memory I think it's safe to assume they/she created some form of schematic for reference. With this in mind it makes sense for there to be two chronographs, one for each time traveling family. If we consider that someone in the female line created the chronographs, it explains why the Lodge doesn't have access to the schematics or notes surrounding their creation. In denying access to women they lost the chance to access that information. Before the Count and his Lodge the chronograph probably wasn't a means through which to gather influence but rather a matter of convenience, the second one granted to the de Viliers family in good faith.

Given how quick the Count is to strangle Gwen I think it's safe to assume he did the same to Jeanne while interrogating her about her predecessor Elaine. The Count isn't subtle in his disdain and I think his 'popularity with women' is less to do with genuine admiration and more to do with how aggressively we socialize women to smile through there discomfort. I think Jeanne had the information the Count wanted but deliberately kept it hidden either out of spite or fear for Elaine. I think it's more plausible that her chronograph was stolen under threat of further violence.

Now let's address the idea that Jeanne is a 'poor time traveler' who rarely travels back in time. The Count is shown to be definitively incorrect when he says that women just travel less often. The fact that he says that Jeanne 'disappears' after months implies that he wasn't as free with his chronograph as he claims, but I still think she traveled semi regularly and her disappearance is a slip up through either extenuating circumstances or just not elapsing long enough.

"While observations of Count Saint-Germain led him to conclude that female gene carriers travel back in time considerably less often, and for shorter periods, than their male counterparts, our experience to date does not allow us to confirm his findings. The duration of uncontrolled time travel episodes has been shown, since observations were first made, to vary from eight minutes, twelve seconds(the initiation journey of Timothy de Viliers, 5 May1894), to two hours, four minutes (Margaret Tilney, second journey, 22 March 1894)" (Ruby Red, 160)

The Count's disdain of Jeanne de Pontcarre and women in general prevents him from connecting some dots. It's not that female time travelers do so less frequently and for shorter periods of time, nor was the chronograph forgotten in her house. Jeanne simply prefers to elapse at home in her attic. If we go so far as to assume that Jeanne has access to the notes/schematics left by the chronograph's inventor, possibly her great grandmother Cecelia, she may have made another one after hers was stolen and didn't tell the Count but if that is the case it isn't present in the book's events.

Who made everything?

Just finished a reread of the Edelstein Triolgie and something that was bothering was that I don’t know who actually like made the Chronograph? 

I’m not sure if I accidently skipped over the explaination but who actually wrote the prophecies and made the chronograph. We know the Graf made the organization but its not like he could see the future so how did he come up with all the propecies that happen? I get the whole Newton calculating their birthdays thing, sure whatever, but the rest?? 

I thought maybe there was someone like Tante Maddy in the past and he used them but idk. Also my only guess for the Chronograph is that either he went into the past and had all his smart friends to build it or like after he made the Organization build it. 

He did also talk to that one girl he impregnated all about everything he knew which included the whole “Stein der Weisen” meaning he had the Prophecies as a younger man? 

If anyone knows please help!

[underscorewriting]

Happy moments are the saddest

Ivar Ragnarsson x Reader

This is pure fluff mixed with a little angst, nothing to worry about tho :) (I uploaded the same oneshot on Wattpad!)

1326 Words

Soft crackle of fire was heard in the middle of the night in Kattegad. It was quiet, it wasn't a usual night. It felt like something big was about to happen. Quiet giggles were shared in the comfort of the night. The sureness that the gods were admiring them was in their hearts. 

A few hours ago anger was poisoning their hearts, which now are filled with so much love and ecstasy. Love for one another, not fearing what was about to happen, not fearing death sneaking up on them and inviting them in like an old friend. An old friend that would take them to Valhalla to dine with their gods. They couldn't find it in themselves to care. Not about something that seems so far away from now, they felt immortal. 

They simply didn't feel human, their love made them feel like nothing could kill them, not the war that is soon to happen nor anything else.  A laugh rips out of the girls chest as the king pulls her into his chest away from the flame and into the comfort only a loving husband can show to his wife. 

The girl only gave him a playful glance before pulling out of his embrace, walking backwards closer to the fire again, shooting him the smile that made him fall for her. Made him believe that she was blessed by Freyja herself. In his eyes there was so much admiration, he felt like he should ask the gods if she was a cruel hallucination, if they made fun of him for praying for a beautiful wife that would love and cherish him the way he was born. A girl that was able to see past what he was, a crippled and broken boy. 

"Be careful, my love. The fire might not feel as pleasant as you think it is." He smirked sarcastically as she rolled her eyes, sticking her tongue out at him. "Do not worry, I don't think I would ever be happy or blessed enough to try  to hug the flames, my dear." A giggle escaped her as she turned away, only to start dancing around the fire with no care in the world. Feeling Ivars eyes on her the entire time, she couldn't hide the grin forming on her face. 

She enjoyed moments like this, moments in which Ivar isn't angry or in terrible pain. She hated when she couldn't help him weaken the pain, even the smallest comfort she would give him sometimes even hurt him. Ivar always assured her that everything was alright, that he could deal with it, but she couldn't hide the hurt and panic in her own eyes thinking she hurt him. At nights sometimes she would cry, not because of the cripple she married, no, she loved him for how strong he is and for who he is, but she would cry for the pain the gods put him through each day. 

Ivar caught her like this once and apologized for being crippled. She hated every minute, no, every second he thought she cried over not having a husband like his brothers. That night she held him, just like he held her every other night because of her nightmares. But this wasn't a nightmare, this was real. She wanted to show him how much she loved him, how much she admired him the way he is. 

A sadness build on the kings face watching her. He couldn't dance with her, even if he wanted to deeply. "What is it, Ivar?" Worry was clear in her voice as she kneed down in front of him placing a hand gently on his thigh. He looked away. "Stupid fucking legs..." There it was. the self-hatred he felt. "My love..." A gasps escaped her as he looked her straight in the eyes, his ocean blue ones filled with tears. Tears out of anger. He couldn't give her anything, except worries. "I can't dance with you. Who knows if I will be able to put my child in you. I can't give you anything except worries and pain. Do you think I don't see you praying to the gods every night?" A single tear drops from his eye as he angrily spat the words. 

The girl was taken aback, she didn't expect the night to turn out like this. "Ivar, I don't know how many times you need to hear it, but I am willing to spent every breath I have to make you understand that I love you, deeply. You're all I want, I don't care about your legs. I pray to the gods, because I want to keep you safe each time you leave, I want them to weaken your pain each time you wouldn't be able to leave our bed." Ivar did believe her, he just couldn't find the reasons why she would stay with him. 

She didn't address the worry he has about putting a child in her. A knowing smile was on her face as she admired him quietly, brushing hair back behind his ears, noticing that he needs new braids soon. "I love you, Ivar the boneless. I always have and always will. You have my heart in your palm." She placed a soft kiss onto his cheek, watching him closely. He calmed down, she could tell. His breathing became normal again and a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "I love you too, my dear. I don't deserve your heart for I can not give you a child, but I am selfish enough to keep your heart to myself." 

The small knowing smile slowly turning into a bright grin. Ivar looked at her confused, but had a shine of joy in his eyes, enjoying seeing her so happy. "I am with your child, Ivar..." She spoke quietly, seeing his eyes widen. "W-what? Please repeat yourself, I think I misunderstood you." A chuckle left his lips as he watched her. He felt like he couldn't breath, like his lungs were already filled to the brim with air. 

"Ivar, I am with your-" Before she could finish her sentence Ivar had her pinned underneath him, his hand on her cheek and the other on her stomach. She was already a little further into the pregnancy and with his gentle touch he could feel a short kick from inside her stomach. A gasp escaped him as he looked back up from her stomach into her eyes. "When did you realize?" He was in disbelieve. How? It never worked but now it does? The gods meant good with him, he was sure of it.

"I wasn't sure for a while until I talked with Helga a few days back, she noticed it immediately." A soft smile was on his face. Of course Helga noticed. "And you're sure this is -" She smacked him on the chest making him chuckle and drop his smirk as he pulled her closer. "Don't you dare finish that sentence, Ivar Ragnarsson." Her voice was playfully threatening and Ivar nodded bowing his head slightly. "Anything you please, my Queen." 

Rolling her eyes she pulled him back up into a kiss, going with a hand through his hair. His hands quickly found her cheek and hip again pulling her more into him. This was it. This was all he ever wanted from the gods. A loving and beautiful wife and a child, a child hopefully not with the same condition he had, he wouldn't be able to see it in so much pain. 

Pulling away they both were breathless. Ivar was already ready to continue what they started but she pulled him back up by placing a finger on his chin. "I'm already pregnant, my beloved." Ivar smirked and started kissing her neck. "And I was on my way to celebrate it." Both of them giggled and spent the night in each others arms, warmed by the fire and pressed against one another. 

[aziraphales-library]

Hello, I'm not sure if you've been asked this before, and if you have, forgive me. But do you know of any fics that expand on the body swap part of the good omens story? Like the missing scene where they swap and practice being each other, or switch again, or something of the sort, in the context of comedy? I'd be absolutely delighted to read some more of those. Thank you for all your work, this blog is phenomenal!

Hi. We have been asked this before, a few times! You can find our previous recommendations on our #bodyswap tag. Here are some more lighthearted ones to add to the collection...

Mixing and Mingling by thundercrackfic (G)

Armageddon wasn't the only time Azirapahale and Crowley shared corporations, just the first. They don't realize the effects are visible until tea with Anathema and Newt.

Actually, Really, For Real by EdnaV (T)

Aziraphale and Crowley need to learn how to move in each other’s bodies. It’s Sunday morning, the clock is ticking, Aziraphale’s waistcoat and Crowley’s hips (or lack thereof) are getting in the way...

Angel of the Century by asideofourown (T)

“Oh, hey,” Crowley said.  “Uh.  So you know the butt-ugly wallpaper in your cubicle, the glowy cherub-patterned one?”  

“Standard issue,” Aziraphale murmured, his eyes far away.  “Whichever angel has been voted employee of the century gets their face on each cherub.  What about it?”  

“Weeeeell, apparently Gabriel was this century’s big winner, which seems rigged, honestly, he probably voted for himself ten million times— anyway, I might have... drawn a bit?  On the wallpaper?” Crowley said with a wince.  

Aziraphale’s eyebrows went up.  “Oh, did you, now?”  

[Crowley vandalizes Heaven's wallpaper]

When It Comes to Fire by fits_in_frames (T)

How to fulfill a prophecy in 5 easy steps, or, Bodyswapping for Dummies.

A (Divine) Comedy Of Errors by WyvernQuill (T)

One (1) restaurant (see Ritz) Three (3) supernatural beings: - One (1) angel (see celestial) - One (1) demon (see occult) - One (1) another angel (see third wheel) Three (3) courses at a very reasonable price (see Valentine's Day Special, "Two Hearts For The Price Of One"), ×2 Twelve (12) red roses (see love) Twelve (12) yellow roses (see friendship) Two (2) tables, not within sight of each other Two (2) separate dinner dates

One (1, but feeling like a good deal more) disaster.

(Or, alternatively: a story of body-swapping, misapprehensions, various shenanigans, and love, in both its truest and most misguided form.)

Obligatory body swap fic but the labyrinthian nightmare tracks of their trains of thought make the trolley problem look like child's play by CardiacCrisis (T)

It's the night after the failed Apocalypse, and the two occult/ethereal beings responsible (?) for it are left with a single clue from a long-dead witch. It's the only thing between them and what's likely to be a very permanent death.

But Aziraphale and Crowley can't stay on topic to save their conditionally immortal lives.

- Mod D

[worrywrite]

To be clear, I am spit balling what-ifs here.

But I do have some ideas because of this response.

So, what Harrows parents did isn't siphoning per se. Siphoning extracts thalergy (? I get them mixed up every time, I might mean thanergy here) from a living creature with consent. But the neurotoxin killing cells (because it is living cells dying that produces it, not specifically people) produces thanergy which is much wilder and harder to harness when released and so you either need an insane level of mastery to harness it or an absurd abundance of it to harness what you need to do something like making a fetus a necromancer. So what I'm actually positing here in my what if is less "what if they just siphoned Gideon" and more of "what if they scarred Gideon for life, physically, and made her an immortal thanergy tap for their daughter." The 200 other kids died too, they got fated into Harrows life. But the reason it worked is because the volume of thanergy was so absurd. 200 kids on its own produces a lot, way more than enough if you have insane levels of control and mastery. But Gideon is also straight up at least 50% immortal and her cells don't die like they should (or if they do they regenerate at a stupid rate, which I feel like is more accurate based off of the few times we see her fight with serious wounds). That's fact. But exposing her to neurotoxin still might have released thanergy, and I'm saying it was likely well in the range of 100x what they were expecting.

Now, what necromancy actually is, is not well known for us as readers. I personally think it's a combination of biological mutation to be able to detect thanergy and thalergy (like a mutation in the optic nerve) combined with a certain sort of spiritual corruption or mutation that allows for the direct manipulation of those energies. And that's why you can get situations like Pyrrha, Nona, and Camilla who have varying degrees of mismatched bodies and souls with limited capacity for necromancy.

Anyway, what I'm saying is that Gideon might well have a recessive gene for the physical mutation because she's descended from a first generation necromancer, and she may well have the complete (and probably enhanced) spiritual mutation. And normally this wouldn't work, but she also has a few things going for her. Namely, she's John and Wake's kid. So the mismatching wouldn't harm her as much or at all due to her physical resilience.

I have a theory that the sicklyness of the nine houses is less to do with them being able to do necromancy and more to do with them being exposed to the undead sun. They live in an undead solar system, thanergy is leeching into everything. It's the essence of death and dying and decay. It's going to make them physically weaker. Not all at once, of course, but gradually over the course of the many generations of the myriad. They're not getting that same vitamin d anymore. They're getting the solar radiation form of mountain dew.

But Gideon is essentially a genetic foreigner. No generational deterioration. If anything, she's the most human human in the universe by modern standards. No one in her family line was ever reincarnated with necromancy (ish, im iffy on if John ever really died in a literal way, since it wasn't required for his lyctorhood even if it's sort of symbolically implied), or lived among the nine houses in proximity to the undead sun.

And, you know. The more I think about it. The weirder it is that the sun is relying on John's power to keep on. Because the sun doesn't have living cells, not in an organism or a planet way. The sun is a dense pocket of gasses that has stuck together to the point of creating a self sustaining fusion reaction (primarily hydrogen, helium, and argon? I think? Actually I've checked and it's mostly just hydrogen and helium, and some other elements). Anyway it's weird that the sun isn't self sustaining anymore. If the physical elements to make a star are still there in enough volume to be a star it should be self sustaining. So... Maybe it isn't actually a star anymore? Maybe it's just sort of a glowing mass? Like a really big and heavy grow light. Just dense enough to keep the gravitational forces of the solar system in check, but no longer sustaining nuclear fusion reactions and emitting the proper life giving spectra.

That was a detour. Sorry. What I'm saying is, generations of no real sunlight have caused genetic degradation in the nine houses. Gideon does not have that. Gideon also can't see or sense thanergy and thalergy, which would be a problem, except that you kind of need both the physical and the spiritual change for either to work.

I'm going to continue my scar theory here and say that a traumatic enough wound, even when healed, could have been enough to alter Gideons body to the point where she could no longer perceive or benefit from the mutation that allows necromancer to detect life and death energy. If she has it at all, that is. Being the daughter of John, I'm confident she has whatever spiritual changes needed to do necromancy, but she doesn't exhibit any of the physical changes needed. Maybe the low physical health is part of it, maybe it isn't, but whatever physical thing sets necromancer apart Gideon doesn't have it (at least anymore). I guess the short of this theory is "what if she had it, but the neurotoxin incident damaged her to the point she lost it."

Man I could have said that a lot more efficiently. Wild, though. Right?

What if Harrow is, not just a powerful necromancer, but a necromancer at all because her parents actually successfully drained it off of baby Gideon while she was being exposed to neurotoxin.

What if Gideon was or was supposed to be a necromancer. And they took that from her and gave it to Harrow.

What if Harrow has been living off a small and quiet siphon of her horrible situationship her whole life. Not just making her suffer because they're stuck together in a small dying colony, by because it is part of her nature.

What if the 200 other children did next to nothing, but a sliver of Gideon made all the difference. Harrows parents wouldn't have been able to do anything at all without that sliver, it should have been impossible. They were deranged. They were insane and desperate in the way that only religious zealots can be. But they just so happened to accidentally be in possession of a portion of their gods power made flesh.

Or, maybe the worst possible theory of the neurotoxin incident. What if the neurotoxin didn't make it through the vents at all. The aunts did it wrong, and most of it blew back at them. But the reverend father and reverend mother didn't know that, how could they have, they expected there to be a large explosion of thanergy, and it was just Gideon. Just Gideon, nestled up right next to the vent where only a gasp of toxin came through and went right to get her and her alone. And, like some natural reflex, she sucked dry the life force of 200 children to survive. And the reverend father and mother just sucked on the dregs of that. They didn't actually succeed at anything. Harrow was never the product of a small genocide. It was just Gideon. Just a child with godly power sleeping, blissfully unaware they were a monster the whole time.