#Citadel

[wizard-scribble]

Hang on, are you telling me THIS is the ship that came to pick up Suvi at Port Talon too??!????? And Suvi still managed to stand up to Steel?!

Suvi, my beloved, you’re so brave, I’m sorry for ever doubting you

Seriously, though, never have I EVER clenched my butt so hard at a lore dump.

Plus, the Citadel has me in a chokehold right now, so I’m only allowed to make propaganda art 😶😶

[milkywayes]

worlds away

my art contribution to the mass effect big bang!

[illustratus]

Watchful Peace, The Return of the King by John Howe

[onetruechromosome]

It’s funny when doing the pull up challenge, there’s Paragon and Renegade options. Like some of the pull ups are evil.

[tastytofusoup]

Mass Effect (2007) ↠ Citadel Presidium

[adalindofcabinsix]

actually never moving on from them

[helaenarts]

Blind he may be, but Aemon knows what he's about.

[balkanparamo]

The Dark Tower: Citadel

[sherbertclown]

Half Life 2 inspired monument poster we had to make for my illustration class

[peachxmoons]

idk if this is good or not but i just finished me1 again and this was on my mind

[daimiyamoto]

VARUN DHAWAN

CITADEL: HONEY BUNNY Dancing and Fighting

[sopaiby]

Lawyer Morty!

[shaimaafekry]

Beautiful morning 🌻☀️

Cairo, Egypt 🌿

[bettydice]

Citadel in watercolours

[thebardbullseye]

The Thesis of Citadel Wizardry

I have been banging my head against the metaphorical wall for a while now trying to figure out what it is about Wizardry and the Lingua Arcana that resonates with me deeply. It goes far beyond the set dressing of the story (which I also love deeply). It is the core, fundamental idea of What Wizardry Is.

Wizardy in Umora is IRL philosophy and metaphysics: which are concerned with the study of the fundamental nature of reality and knowledge. (NB: there are many ways To Know outside of formal philosophy education.)

Wizards are the only Intelligence based casters in D&D, and in Umoran history did not exist until a couple hundred years ago. There is a lot to be said about what that means wrt Empire and the imagery and consequences of that, which are beyond the scope of this post.

Three concepts emerged in the founding of Wizardry: the Lingua Arcana (language of magic), one specific kind of magic: Conjuration (helpfully also a school of magic in D&D), and the idea of the Greater Binding and the Binding of Spirits. Why these three ideas in particular and what do they mean for the Philosophy of Wizardry?

Wizardry is to take that which is Formless of Spirit and thus unknowable, to give it Form, to give it meaning and understanding. To Summon it, to Conjure it, and to Bind it to the Real, yet also to Know and Understand its Nature.

Citadel Wizardry is to give it a Name, to add to Language in order to further define, refine, restrict, control, and diminish it from its Unknowable and Formlessness. To Bind a Great Spirit is to Know and Understand something Great.

Citadel Wizardry was combined with and furthered through Empire, and this has brought about great harm to the Spirit and knowledge-gathering itself.

(NB: much of "modern" science is deeply entwined with the imperialistic and colonialist tendencies due to the historical foundations upon which it was built. IMO, science/bio-"ethics" does not do enough to recognize nor address this fundamental problem. This is a much more complicated idea than can be untangled here, but I thought it worth mentioning as an IRL parallel.)

So, this begs the question: Does knowing this damn the pursuit of knowledge obtained through imperial means to always be harmful? Remember to be wary of questions that provoke binary responses.

Instead, there is a better question to ask: How do you, as an individual, right the wrongs of a broken system? Look at Suvi as a character and at her story. It is plain as day. Clearly written in the Sky.

Here's the common thing among the many different ways To Know and Understand: there are some things that you know and understand both deeply and innately but cannot put into words. Perhaps these are one's values or philosophies or ideals; whatever you call them, these things are Formless. But there are some things that you understand facets or pieces of that you name and point at to be able explain and bring about and manifest that deeper understanding. There is connective tissue here; this idea that Reality is simultaneously and paradoxically made up of individuals and groups (particles, atoms, molecules, chemicals, organs, people, groups, (eco)systems, the world, the universe), and that reality is Beyond Number; it is both Formed and Formless.

This is why it has taken 46 episodes and as many or more hours to take the implicit and make it explicit in this thesis of the show. It must have the slow, methodical study, space, and time to breathe: to examine and understand the facets of the diamond, all of the moving parts, to see the shape of the diamond itself, and to stop the machine of war.