#Book of the Damned

[youchangedmedestiel]

What if Charlie talked about Cas with Dean after she met him in episode 10x18 "Book of the Damned".

What if after eating their dinner she grabbed him and told him she noticed a thing going on between them.

What if Dean denied it first (because it's Dean) but then admitted what he felt for Cas (because it's Charlie).

What if Charlie encouraged him to talk to Cas.

What if Dean said he was scared to lose him, either because Cas wouldn't feel the same way or because Dean thinks he loses everybody he cares about (maybe both).

What if she sort of convinced him to do something about it anyway.

What if her death just proved him right, that indeed he loses everyone he cares about, so he never said anything.

What if then?

[bloodydeanwinchester]

✨10x18 || Book of the Damned✨

[arcanespillo]

"Book of the Damned"

SPN S10E18

[samepisodebracket]

Round 1; Group 5

[dailycharacteroption]

Deity Drop 6: Daclau-Sar

We’re back with more deities, and we’re starting off with another lesser divinity in the form of our first nascent demon lord!

With extremely rare exceptions, demon lords do not emerge fully-formed from the Abyss. Usually, such paragons of evil arise over time, though the starting point may vary. Some demons spend millenia rising through the ranks of their kind, while some mortal souls were so wicked that they immediately ascended to nascent status immediately upon entering the abyss.

No matter where they start, however, nascent demon lords have become powerful enough to take on a unique form separate from the rank and file of demonkind. Such a form may be influenced by who they were in life, or the circumstances of their ascension or the forms of evil they favored. However, they are not quite as powerful as true demon lords, and not strong enough claim an abyssal realm of their own. Instead, they lurk in semi-private corners of individual layers of the abyss, including those ruled by true demon lords, whom they live in concealed fear of, hoping to grow in power enough to ascend before they decide that the newcomer is a threat to their power.

In any case, that brings us to today’s subject: Daclau-Sar, the Lord of Carrion!

Long ago, the demon lord Lamashtu tricked the god Curchanus into a trap and slew him, taking his dominion over beasts, an act which fueled her ascension into true, terrible godhood, leaving the slain deity’s carcass to rot.

From his defiled corpse, however, arose a new demon-lord-to-be in the form of Daclau-Sar, the patron of carrion, the scavengers that feed on it, and the defilement of corpses. However, unlike other demons of his status, he has no interest in subtlety or politics, and if he has any plans of ascending to become a demon lord in his own right, it is through the gradual process of continuing to indulge in his foul hungers and gather worshippers until he accumulates enough sinful power to do so.

While not spawned by Lamashtu, Daclau-Sar has an appearance befitting the Mother of Monster’s progeny, resembling a six-legged hyena with two heads and a pair of vulture’s wings on his back.

As mentioned above, Daclau-Sar has no realm of his own, and instead dwells in the Xorian Mountains, a region on the border of Lamashtu’s realm of Kurnugia, where he rules over the lesser monsters there and feasts upon their slain.

Like all of his power level, Daclau-Sar has few worshippers, but he does have notable followings among some remote tribes of the orcs in the Holds of Belkzen, who emulate their Lord of Carrion by picking battlefields of corpses for use as trophies, as materials for undead war-beasts, or as the main course in their rot-blighted feasts. It is likely they and other such worshippers believe they gain some power over death by utilizing mortal remains, as well as demonstrating their right to survive by consuming those who failed to.

As a nascent demon lord, Daclau-Sar doesn’t quite move in the circles to have a lot of relationships with other powers, not that he has much interest in other powers unless they get between him and a meal, or look like they’d be appetizing once bloated and rotting to perfection. It can be assumed, however, that he has a wary fearful respect for true demon lords and deities, especially Lamashtu, and does not care to know or learn about non-evil entities beyond their role at the dinner table.

High in the Xorian Mountains, the Lord of Carrion rules over a petty court of monsters and lesser demons on the outskirts of Lamashtu’s territory, though calling it a court gives it far too much credit. In truth, Daclau-Sar makes the rounds bullying the other denizens of his territory, giving them full knowledge that he will devour their corpses when they are dead, and that will be very soon if they do not obey. Only the knowledge that his target is a servant of the Mother of Monsters might give him pause, the emphasis being on “might”.

As a creature barely above a beast himself, it only makes sense that Daclau-Sar favors the Animal domain, as well as Destruction, and of course Chaos and Evil. Meanwhile, he favors the subdomains of Demon (by way of Chaos or Evil), Feathers, Fur, and Rage. All of which reflect his nature as a master of the corpse-devouring beasts and his viciousness.

Sadly, nascent demon lords have not been given the deity treatment in Second Edition, so we have nothing much to go on here.

He does, however, have an obedience, albeit granting only a few spells. In exchange for eating a pound of carrion each day, the worshipper becomes more resistant to disease, and can cast magic to devour the ebbing life of the dying, spread disease, and take on powerful beastial forms.

Daclau-Sar hasn’t been mentioned in Starfinder, so he might have been slain, ascended, or remained as he was. He might have an influence on any world or civilization where it is considered unclean or taboo to devour the dead.

In any case, that does it for today, but the week is just beginning, so look forward to more as the week progresses!

[hitchell-mope]

It’s useless. It’s always been useless. And it will all BE useless.

[winchestress]

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

In Hell's Bright Shadow - Book of the Damned by Shen Fei

[deansamnatural]

[endusviolence]

Rowling isn't denying holocaust. She just pointed out that burning of transgender health books is a lie as that form of cosmetic surgery didn't exist. But of course you knew that already, didn't you?

I was thinking I'd probably see one of you! You're wrong :) Let's review the history a bit, shall we?

In this case, what we're talking about is the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, or in English, The Institute of Sexology. This Institute was founded and headed by a gay Jewish sexologist named Magnus Hirschfeld. It was founded in July of 1919 as the first sexology research clinic in the world, and was run as a private, non-profit clinic. Hirschfeld and the researchers who worked there would give out consultations, medical advice, and even treatments for free to their poorer clientele, as well as give thousands of lectures and build a unique library full of books on gender, sexuality, and eroticism. Of course, being a gay man, Hirschfeld focused a lot on the gay community and proving that homosexuality was natural and could not be "cured".

Hirschfeld was unique in his time because he believed that nobody's gender was either one or the other. Rather, he contended that everyone is a mixture of both male and female, with every individual having their own unique mix of traits.

This leads into the Institute's work with transgender patients. Hirschfeld was actually the one to coin the term "transsexual" in 1923, though this word didn't become popular phrasing until 30 years later when Harry Benjamin began expanding his research (I'll just be shortening it to trans for this brief overview.) For the Institute, their revolutionary work with gay men eventually began to attract other members of the LGBTA+, including of course trans people.

Contrary to what Anon says, sex reassignment surgery was first tested in 1912. It'd already being used on humans throughout Europe during the 1920's by the time a doctor at the Institute named Ludwig Levy-Lenz began performing it on patients in 1931. Hirschfeld was at first opposed, but he came around quickly because it lowered the rate of suicide among their trans patients. Not only was reassignment performed at the Institute, but both facial feminization and facial masculization surgery were also done.

The Institute employed some of these patients, gave them therapy to help with other issues, even gave some of the mentioned surgeries for free to this who could not afford it! They spoke out on their behalf to the public, even getting Berlin police to help them create "transvestite passes" to allow people to dress however they wanted without the threat of being arrested. They worked together to fight the law, including trying to strike down Paragraph 175, which made it illegal to be homosexual. The picture below is from their holiday party, Magnus Hirschfeld being the gentleman on the right with the fabulous mustache. Many of the other people in this photo are transgender.

[Image ID: A black and white photo of a group of people. Some are smiling at the camera, others have serious expressions. Either way, they all seem to be happy. On the right side, an older gentleman in glasses- Magnus Hirschfeld- is sitting. He has short hair and a bushy mustache. He is resting one hand on the shoulder of the person in front of him. His other hand is being held by a person to his left. Another person to his right is holding his shoulder.]

There was always push back against the Institute, especially from conservatives who saw all of this as a bad thing. But conservatism can't stop progress without destroying it. They weren't willing to go that far for a good while. It all ended in March of 1933, when a new Chancellor was elected. The Nazis did not like homosexuals for several reasons. Chief among them, we break the boundaries of "normal" society. Shortly after the election, on May 6th, the book burnings began. The Jewish, gay, and obviously liberal Magnus Hirschfeld and his library of boundary-breaking literature was one of the very first targets. Thankfully, Hirschfeld was spared by virtue of being in Paris at the time (he would die in 1935, before the Nazis were able to invade France). His library wasn't so lucky.

This famous picture of the book burnings was taken after the Institute of Sexology had been raided. That's their books. Literature on so much about sexuality, eroticism, and gender, yes including their new work on trans people. This is the trans community's Alexandria. We're incredibly lucky that enough of it survived for Harry Benjamin and everyone who came after him was able to build on the Institute's work.

[Image ID: A black and white photo of the May Nazi book burning of the Institute of Sexology's library. A soldier, back facing the camera, is throwing a stack of books into the fire. In the background of the right side, a crowd is watching.]

As the Holocaust went on, the homosexuals of Germany became a targeted group. This did include transgender people, no matter what you say. To deny this reality is Holocaust denial. JK Rowling and everyone else who tries to pretend like this isn't reality is participating in that evil. You're agreeing with the Nazis.

But of course, you knew that already, didn't you?

Edit: Added image IDs. I apologize to those using screen readers for forgetting them. Please reblog this version instead.

[enki2]

Sketches for Book of the Damned. A collection of scenes plus character and room designs for Hikari and Akiko (who I had such trouble getting a feel for)

Kinda spontaneously, Hikari is trans & I'll have to figure out how to handle that. That just sort of came out of the brainstorming process that produced a coherent aesthetic and vibe, the same force that gave Akiko a blonde crew cut

The grotto also spontaneously became an Ishtar shrine, which works

Big chunks of this story are finally slotting together in my mind. Imagery is developing and, for the most part, happy to come out of my pen. I may be impelled to actually progress the game

[liopleurodean]

Season 10, Episode 18: Book Of The Damned

Is that a sword?

Charlie!

Whoa. Funky

This is spooky

That doesn't sound good

Charlie!

Oh boy

He turned it off because you like it

I got confused for a second

Buddy. You've been human for all of two seconds

Does he ever shut up?

Ew

Please?

Yay

Exactly

That was satisfying

Dude. Shut your trap

Thank you, Cas

A lot of things

Oh yeah, Sam doesn't know 😂

Maybe

Dean.

Oh, Charlie

Well that's comforting

I did know that, actually

The bunker is as safe as it gets

Good for Charlie!

Hunches are good

Like a curse

That's a lead

Their tracker probably doesn't work past the bunker's wards

That's less than a day's travel by interstate from Lebanon

Absolutely

Nice!

HECK YEAH THIN LIZZIE

Aw, Dean

Sam! How dare you turn it off

He's hopeful

Sam, don't be mean

That's true

Unfortunately not

Ah, yes. The beach dream

Great question

That's a horrible feeling actually, but I agree with the sentiment

Seriously? You gave him waffle?

Shut up, you narcissistic pathetic excuse for a celestial being

Dude.

Not really

Absolutely not. Cas is nothing like him

Never.

But you didn't know he would be!

Sic 'em, Cas

Suck it up, buttercup

Don't fall for it

Uh oh

Same

Sleep is good

Darkness, huh?

Ooh, fun!

Dean. Are you okay?

Maybe someone else should take the book

Yeah...

Good idea

Ew

What happened to him?

Yikes

Interesting...

Of course

Research time!

Something like Navajo code?

Hah!

Cheerleader Dean

That was weird

Yeah...

Uh oh

This is concerning

That's just sad

Scary

Okay then

Scavenger hunt!

No, you may not

Fall in love?

So, Metatron's favorite books: a title about madness

Dean...

So he found it

I didn't want to think about it

Sam, you have no idea

That's freaky

They're not gonna do it

That's debatable

Until he goes insane

This sounds familiar

Oh, Dean...

He shouldn't have left. Something's wrong

Not really

Nope

With celestial intent

He's a Winchester.

Probably a lot

Why do you care?

Well that's fantastic

I wanna punch him in the face so bad

Don't open that can of worms, Charlie

Got it on the nose

Oh, Charlie...

She had a whole future ahead of her

Heh. That didn't happen

Yeah, something like that

Do you?

So do you understand now?

Death and taxes.

That's not good!

Hey!

Nope

Tilt at windmills?

He's back!

His wings...

Uh oh.

Here we go

This is not gonna end well

Pocket change!

Crazy coincidences

Oh, buddy, you have no idea what you've just gotten into

Dean's not a friend

Gummy bears!

What makes you think he'll spill?

Crazy coincidences

Does it?

Not really

Dean...

That won't work

Get him in the head!

Well crap

Unfortunately

Great question

He's gonna burn the book

He's not gonna do it

Oh no

Go for the head!

Come on, Sam

Sleight of hand

I'm surprised that worked

Hmm.

That's still a win

About that...

Fangirl moment

Everyone thinks that. He just spends most of his time with giants

Unfortunately not

Probably

I think they did

Pizza!

Right...

Guys. Don't lie to him

I'm sorry, what.

This is nice

He's talking to Rowena

I knew it

Dang it, Sam

Yeah

Called it

They're lucky this aligns with her own ideals

[pinespittinink]

got thoughtful about opinions on bad books so here’s an inverse: what’s a book you had to read for school that you actually enjoyed/have grown to like? mine is Lord of the Flies

[lunian]

made a couple of posts about Astarion being hilarious gremlin but never made a collection of Gale's silly talks?? I should've fixed it

[miracumess]

i don't think some of y'all understand how significant it is that annabeth chase, the leading lady in an IP/brand as big as percy jackson, is played by a black girl. she is not some sidekick or comic relief. THEE annabeth chase, one of the wisest, intelligent, brave demigods and love of percy jackson's life, is played by a BLACK GIRL!!

but you're so hateful and caught up with book inaccuracies and changes that you can't even offer a sliver of hope for things to improve in continuing seasons, and instead immediately resort to wishing the show gets cancelled because they didn't do that specific thing in that specific scene in the books. makes me think there might be another underlying reason as to why you want it to fail.

and before someone starts, this isn't to say you can't have criticism, but if you really love percy jackson, why wouldn't your hope be for things to get better?

"i hope this show gets cancelled" yeah girl fuck you

[dailycharacteroption]

Deity Drop 5: Aroggus

With today’s entry, this week’s special continues to be about the lawful evil side, but unlike yesterday this one does not seem to be any reference to any real-world mythology as far as I can tell.

Today, we are looking at our first velstrac demagogue, in fact, today’s subject is in fact the first of the demagogues, and is also the first velstrac period!

Originally called Kyton Demagogues before Paizo renamed kytons to velstracs for legal reasons and retconned kyton to a misnomer meaning “grand master”, demagogues are powerful demigods among their kind, truly worthy of the title of “kyton”

Aroggus, along with all velstracs that came after, were originally from Hell, but left it when Asmodeus and his devils colonized the plane, immigrating to the Plane of Shadow where they could hone their pursuit of blood-drenched perfection in relative peace.

According to velstrac lore, Aroggus was born from the depraved thoughts of mortals long before Asmodeus ever set foot in Hell, and when the gods realized his power, they bound him in chains and left him to rot. Eventually he tore free, but was bound again. The next time he broke free, he accepted his chains as part of himself, making them his own, unable to be bound by them again. He then created his lesser kin from the very flesh of Hell itself, and when the Asura Rana Geryon betrayed his own kin for Asmodeus, Aroggus took his kin with him into the shadows rather than be subjugated by the ruler of devils (with a little help from Doloras, one of the Queens of Night). There in the shadows, he shed his physical form to become one with the abbey fortress he built.

All of these events taught Aroggus lessons which have become central to the worldview of all velstracs, that pain is a reward, willpower makes one strong, and that perfection must be forced upon those that lack the understanding to chase it willingly. You can probably see how they became the sadistic monsters they are today.

Aroggus long ago shed his physical form to become one with his realm, the Abbey of Nevers. However, he can inhabit a suit of armor as a shadowy mass when he needs to leave for whatever reason, wielding his mighty warhammer that he took with him in the exodus from Hell.

The Abbey of Nevers itself was a shadowy parody of a temple with an ever-shifting interior that Aroggus created to hide his people from devilkind. While most velstracs have left now that they no longer fear devils, some remain, as does Aroggus, having transcended his material form to become the Abbey itself, always being a safe place that the velstracs can return to. There, he broods and plans his revenge against Asmodeus, Geryon, and all devilkind.

With his focus on revenge, the Abbey Maker attracts faithful that are consumed with thoughts of revenge to the point of being willing to use any tactic no matter how depraved. He offers protection to those seeking such revenge, giving them time to plan and plot until they are ready to enact their vengeance. As such, the only long-term cults of Aroggus are composed of member whose revenge has no clear defined goal or is targeted against entire demographics.

As the first velstrac, Aroggus hates Asmodeus and Geryon in particular, though her perhaps may have mixed feelings towards Doloras. Meanwhile, he likely holds disdain towards more chaotic gods, and malicious indifference towards goodly gods.

Futhermore, as the first of his kind, the Abbey Maker can command the loyalty of nearly every velstrac, and at least expect the other demagogues to hear him out when he requires something of them.

Naturally, Aroggus holds sway over the Evil, Law, Protection, and Trickery domains, with the Deception, Defense, Fear, and Tyranny subdomains, all reflecting his role as the father and protector of the velstracs and the cunning planner and ruler of his domain.

Aroggus hasn’t been focused on in Second Edition, so sadly his domains aren’t detailed in that system. More time is required.

As a lesser power, his obedience only grants minor powers. In this case, the devotee must list every person that ever wronged them until the page is full and then consume the page. In return, they gain resistance to magic that compels behavior. Additionally, they gain a handful of spells, namely magic to hide themselves from magical detection, trap foes in magical force, or even imprison a target within the earth.

Aroggus has been mentioned in Starfinder, as his teachings are heavily detailed as part of the Signal of Screams AP. In that era, he acts much as he always has, though his followers benefit from all sorts of technology in their plots to enact revenges reflecting the thousand fantasized revenges that Aroggus indulges in.