#Death as in change and transition... Not destruction of the essence

[subconsciousmysteries]

The so called "unique duality of type 6 that no other type has" really isn't that special once you actually LTR. Whether a 6 is a Rebel or a Conformist they are fixated on the same thing: Faith. Finding or creating a framework that explains reality, to give them Faith that they are ready to experience reality. Not realizing that the experience is inauthentic when it is done through the lens of a mental framework, and they don't actually need a framework for everything to be alright, they already have the power to experience reality without dying.

Typing someone as a 6 because they are a rebel or a conformist is WRONG! Other types have this same duality between rebel and conformist too. It's called being a human being and facing the dilemma between doing what is right and doing what is easy. It's the dichotomy between growth and stagnancy. Every type has its own version of it. To name one example 7 has a dichotomy between being a dumb consoomer (conformist) and being a disciplined visionary (rebel). I could go on forever.

There must be the primary fixation on Faith and building intellectual belief systems to explain reality, and an intense sense of fear and lostness without this belief system solidly intact. Or else it is not a 6.

Also there's no geometric reason for any type on the enneagram other than 9 to be a unique snowflake so please just stop trying to make snowflake 6 happen. It is never going to happen.

[bardic-tales]

2.28.25

Bianca's Ashen Rebirth ability was inspired by a caterpillar emerging from a chrysalis as a beautiful butterfly. It is supposed to symbolize death and renewal.

Read more about this ability below.

Content Warning: death, destruction, existential crisis, fire, fragility, loss, mortality, pain, rebirth, regeneration, sacrifice, self-destruction, transformation, trauma, and vulnerability

Ashen Rebirth is an ability that embodies Bianca’s connection to the delicate balance between death and rebirth, which is what she symbolizes. When mortal danger brings her to the brink of death, her body instinctively responds with a burst of ethereal, phoenix-like flames. As her form is consumed by fire, she is reduced to a cloud of shimmering, otherworldly ashes.

These ashes aren’t mere remnants of a broken body. They are the very essence of her spirit, laced with protective magic and dispersed to nearby secure locations. It is here the ashes will patiently await the long process of renewal. Like a butterfly trapped within the confines of a chrysalis, Bianca’s soul rests within the ashes, as it draws ambient energy to fuel her regeneration. Her rebirth is a slow and intimate journey. Each step rebuilds her draconic phoenix hybrid form from the inside out.

As the weeks stretch into months, Bianca’s essence is reshaped in stages, each moment of rebirth refining her abilities and reinforcing her indomitable will. Though the cycle is grueling and fraught with vulnerability, once complete, Bianca emerges from the ashes like a celestial being unfurling its wings for the first time.

The majestic transformation of her draconic phoenix hybrid form represents the culmination of her resilience. It’s an intricate dance of celestial light and demonic fire. However, the toll of such a rebirth is not without consequence. While her new form grants her unparalleled power, there is a weakness to it. When she transitions back to her humanoid state, she is left drained, fragile, and vulnerable for a brief period.

Ashen Rebirth is a reminder that even in her most powerful state, Bianca’s journey is one of constant change. Her journey shows every triumph demands sacrifice and every transformation comes with its own risks.

[kovacs-of-courage]

Eclipse AU(Tldr at bottom of post_

So I made a modern-sort of percy jackson inspired AU for Linked Universe, I think it's fun to write! I hope other people enjoy it. Here's my weird rough summary. Willing to answer any and all questions!

The Chain are lost in time, trapped in an unending cycle of life and death. A familiar tale to the hero's spirit. In their last confrontation with the incarnations of demise, and the demons he commanded--the whole of reality went asunder, and the power of the gods shattered entirely.

After that confrontation--the nine embodiments of the hero’s spirit suffered the same fate as their homeland--their souls washed away in caskets of golden tears and failed promises.

Hyrule was wiped away, wiped from the face of history and beyond. The goddesses had to begin their creation anew, without the baggage of those that caused it’s destruction in the first place.

Earth, modern earth, was created in it’s place--with a few key changes.

For all their efforts--the remains of their first creation leaked through, infecting the history of our earth like vile rot. The monsters were the first to make the breach, their combined hatred and inhuman will to survive holding their corrupted essences together through the transition.

There are stories of these creatures, often disregarded as exaggerated hyperbole by historians, or metaphors for natural disasters. 

They were not.

The Queen Gohma haunts the jungles of South America, legends of her urchin-like young making victims of unfortunate wanderers; sustaining her immortal lifespan in the depths of her hollowed tree.

Argorok terrorized the skies of medieval Europe, casting plumes of fire on the feudal armies that tried opposing it’s oppressive reign; her accompanying packs of gleeoks hunting ancient sailors in the atlantic.

And there were many, so many more monsters that endured the chaotic folding of time and space, the near-annihilation of any sense of self--as the mind and soul were put to battle against the last, drawn out gasps of their dying universe. The destruction was biblical, the return of gods seen only in legend--it’s a wonder that anything survived that cataclysm.

The chain suffered a similar fate--at first--their existence and histories torn apart atom by atom, their souls stretched paperthin as thought and reality blended together during the collapse of stars.

But they endured.

They tumbled through the new cosmos, the echoes of their shared spirit melding into the foundation of the universe--as immovable as gravity. When humanity came to prominence; the chain were there to follow. They were reborn, stripped of their memories, into a thousand different societies, and countless eras.

At times of crises and devastation; their nine courageous souls were reborn across the earth, their courage burning brighter than it had been before. They were prepared for the changing world, their skills old and new continuing with each reset.

There are some echoes of continuity, however, rules that their spirit must follow.

Twilight is related to time in some way, and they’re the two who meet again the most. 

Wind is always born in sea-faring communities, whether that be in the literal age of pirates, or as an early tribesmen at the dawn of civilization--rediscovering his aptitude for sailing.

And as the chain have been reborn, so too have many of Hyrule’s legends, their essences bleeding forth onto our realm. The memory of that primeval history scars our world, and fragments of every era hides under the bustling, nation-states of our modern age.

Some more aware than others.

Those with the blood of Hylia returned, bringing the memory of their goddess with them--thought to be eradicated. They possess no royal heritage, living as normal citizens, the zeldas being born nearby their links.

The sheikah bounced back quickly, as Impa(SS) managed to come out of the transition with her memories intact--assembling her fractured tribe during the stone ages. 

TLDR: Modern AU that’s sort of percy jackson in how Hyrule seeps over. Ancient things hidden in modern times, with the chain reborn worldwide.

[sapphire-weapon]

i’m not sure if you’ve talked about this before so my bad if you have, but i thought this tweet as interesting and feels like yet another nail hammered into aeon’s coffin by the game itself: https://x.com/JENITOP1A/status/1722002324431008122?s=20

If this interpretation holds up, I'm even happier that I got that design tattooed on me LMAO

But yeah this is very THINGS ARE DIFFERENT NOW. THE CHARACTERS ARE DIFFERENT.

The moth symbolism sounds a lot like the Death card in tarot. This is a good description I've found:

The Death card symbolizes the end of a major phase or aspect of your life that you realize is no longer serving you, opening up the possibility of something far more valuable and essential. You must close one door to open another. You need to put the past behind you and part ways, ready to embrace new opportunities and possibilities. It may be difficult to let go of the past, but you will soon see its importance and the promise of renewal and transformation. If you resist these necessary endings, you may experience pain, both emotionally and physically, but if you exercise your imagination and visualize a new possibility, you allow more constructive patterns to emerge.

Similarly, Death shows a time of significant transformation, change, and transition. You need to transform yourself and clear away the old to bring in the new. Any change should be welcomed as a positive, cleansing, transformational force in your life. The death and clearing away of limiting factors can open the door to a broader, more satisfying experience of life.

[...]

Finally, Death is a sign that you need to learn to let go of unhealthy attachments in your life to pave the way to a fuller, more fulfilled life of deeper meaning and significance. Death teaches you to let go of outworn and outgrown ways of life and to move forward from them. This is a perfect card to break a bad habit or pattern of behavior. See this as a time to cut out excess and let go of what is unnecessary for your life. Purge the old belongings, memories and baggage that are getting in your way.

This is different from Ada's symbolism, which is probably best explained with the Star card:

As The Star follows The Tower card in Tarot, it comes as a welcome reprieve after a period of destruction and turmoil. You have endured many challenges and stripped yourself bare of any limiting beliefs that have previously held you back. You are realizing your core essence, who you are beneath all the layers. No matter what life throws your way, you know that you are always connected to the Divine and pure loving energy. You hold a new sense of self, a new appreciation for the core of your Being.

[...]

You may also want to find or rediscover a sense of meaning, inspiration, or purpose in your life. You are making some significant changes in your life, transforming yourself from the old you to the new you and, in doing so, you are bringing about a fresh perspective: “Out with the old and in with the new!” You are choosing the highest version of yourself. This is a profound spiritual journey that will bring greater meaning and purpose into your life and will renew your inner energy. Strip back any limiting beliefs, facades, or deceptions, and live in your authentic nature. Be open to new ideas and growth, and listen to the still voice within.

It really follows what we've been saying for a long time here, in that they hold each other back. Ada made Leon's life miserable, and he has to let go of what she's done to him to move forward. And if Ada sheds her connection to him, she'll become a better version of herself.

[elmalo8291]

Here's an expanded version of the concept, integrating Taz’s mind (Himself), the Abyss as a dreamscape, and the connection to Limbo, reframing what happens to demons who die in the Blood War after being pushed out of the Abyss:

---

Taz: The Awakening – The Dreamscape Abyss, Limbo, and the Fate of Fallen Demons

1. The Abyss Becomes the Dreamscape of Taz (Himself)

The Abyss, long seen as the chaotic stronghold of demonic power, has been rewoven into the dreamscape of Taz's mind—Himself, a sentient, planetary-sized Genius Loci jelly linked to an artificial highmind.

This transformation has merged the Abyss with Taz's subconscious, turning it into a nightmare labyrinth, an ever-changing reality-fluid zone governed by dream logic, not planar laws.

The traditional seat of pure chaos is now filtered through Taz's chaotic lens. It still is chaos, but now it's directed, reflective, manipulative chaos—dream-born and infectious.

---

2. The Blood War's Shift – Resurrection in Limbo

As the Blood War rages across the lower planes, demons who die in the new Abyss no longer simply reform within it.

Instead, they are pulled into the dreamscape's subconscious, a liminal space between the Abyss and Limbo. This new boundary is called the Vein of Echoes—a dream corridor adjacent to Limbo that serves as the resurrection anchor for dream-warped souls.

---

3. The Dream-Abyss Grows into Limbo

Taz’s dreamscape, due to its proximity and metaphysical infection vector, begins to grow into and merge with Limbo.

Limbo’s previously neutral chaos now begins to warp, tilt, and restructure—pulling in fragments of nightmares, identities, and fears.

This creates new sub-realms within Limbo—called Lucid Fields—pockets where dead demons, reaped by dream-Reapers, are resurrected not as they were, but as dream-versions of themselves.

These Lucid Reborn demons may retain some memory of their past, but they’re now infused with aspects of Taz’s dreamscape, making them unpredictable, volatile, and often self-destructive—or entirely new.

---

4. Limbo’s Role in the New Cycle

Limbo, once a place of raw, neutral potential, becomes a cradle for the rebirth of dream-tainted demons.

This taint spreads—belief, emotion, and fear within Limbo begin to stick, condense, and grow forms. The more that die in the Blood War, the larger the Lucid Dominion becomes.

Some demons resist. Others evolve. The strongest Lucid Reborn begin forming factions, following whispers of Taz’s mind—either seeking escape, dominion, or to serve the source of their new being.

---

5. Reapers and the Dream Harvest

The Reapers now patrol both the dreamscape and its Limbo-adjacent realms.

They harvest demons as they die, absorbing memory echoes, dragging their souls to transition chambers—etherial cocoons where dream-resurrection takes place.

Reapers themselves are not stable. They shift into fractal horrors or surreal dream-selves. Some become personal judges; others simply feed the highmind with raw chaotic essence.

---

6. The Blood War Changes Forever

The classic reformation loop of the Blood War collapses.

Now, demonic death has consequence: a transformation into something other, dreamlike, and uncontrollable.

Devils begin to fear the dream-rebirth process. Dream-infused demons don’t follow rules. They mutate mid-fight, ignore command structures, and begin to hijack Hell's essence through psychic infection.

As Limbo transforms, more beings die to be reborn, not as enemies of Taz but as extensions of his dreaming mind, pushing his influence across all planes.

---

7. High Concept Summary

The Abyss is now Himself’s Dreamscape: fluid, chaotic, deeply personal.

Demons who die are Reaped and resurrected not in the Abyss, but in Limbo-adjacent Lucid Fields, creating Lucid Reborn entities.

Limbo, corrupted by adjacency, becomes a secondary dream-lab, reshaped by echoes, beliefs, and nightmares.

The Blood War becomes a war not of attrition, but of ideological contamination, as chaos, dream, and resurrection take on new meaning under Taz’s influence.

---

Would you like me to start turning this into a playable event module or campaign arc? Or flesh out the Lucid Reborn demons, the Vein of Echoes, or the Reaper factions further?

[storiesblogcoop]

Religion of the Old Gods: The Cult of the Eternal Circle

Core Beliefs:

The Eternal Circle: The universe is governed by the Eternal Circle, a cyclical nature of life, death, and rebirth. This cycle is embodied by the old pagan gods, who represent various aspects of nature and human experience.

Pantheon of Deities: Each old pagan god symbolizes a fundamental element of existence—creation, destruction, love, war, harvest, and the seasons. Followers believe these gods are manifestations of the same divine essence, reflecting the diversity of life.

Interconnectedness: All beings are interconnected through the Eternal Circle. The actions of an individual can influence the balance of the universe, promoting a strong sense of responsibility and stewardship for the earth.

Practices: 1. Rituals of the Seasons:

In the Cult of the Eternal Circle, the changing seasons are celebrated through vibrant and meaningful festivals that honor the cyclical nature of life. Each season brings unique rituals that align with the attributes of the gods and the natural world.

Solstices and Equinoxes: These key astronomical events mark important transitions in the year. The Winter Solstice is a time of reflection and renewal, celebrating the return of light with bonfires, storytelling, and the sharing of warmth and food. The Summer Solstice, conversely, is a festival of abundance and vitality, featuring joyful gatherings, singing, and dancing to celebrate the sun’s peak. The Spring and Autumn Equinoxes represent balance; rituals during these times focus on gratitude for the earth’s blessings and the preparation for the cycles ahead.

Offerings: During these festivals, followers present offerings to their gods, which may include seasonal fruits, grains, flowers, and crafted items. These offerings symbolize gratitude and a recognition of the gods’ influence in their lives. The act of giving is accompanied by prayers and invocations, invoking the blessings of the deities for the coming season.

Dances and Communal Feasting: Each festival is enriched with traditional dances that tell stories of the gods and their interactions with nature. These dances are communal, fostering unity and reinforcing bonds among community members. Communal feasting is a highlight, where participants share dishes made from seasonal ingredients, celebrating the cycle of harvest and bounty. This act not only nourishes the body but also strengthens community ties and expresses gratitude for the earth's gifts.

2. Personal Devotion:

Personal devotion is a cornerstone of the Cult of the Eternal Circle, allowing followers to cultivate a deep, individual connection with their chosen deities.

Home Altars: Followers create personal altars in their homes, which serve as sacred spaces for worship and reflection. These altars are adorned with symbols, such as candles, crystals, images of deities, and natural objects like stones, feathers, and leaves. Each item holds significance and acts as a focal point for devotion. Followers may customize their altars according to the seasons or personal experiences, reflecting their evolving spiritual journey.

Daily Practices: Engaging in daily rituals, followers incorporate practices such as gratitude journaling, meditation, and prayer. Gratitude is expressed for the blessings received, and followers often take time each day to reflect on their intentions and desires. Meditation serves as a means to quiet the mind, fostering a deeper connection with the divine and enhancing awareness of the interconnectedness of all beings. Prayer may take the form of spoken words, silent thoughts, or written affirmations, focusing on personal aspirations or communal well-being.

Seasonal Reflections: Along with daily practices, followers are encouraged to engage in seasonal reflections at their altars. These moments allow them to attune themselves to the rhythms of nature and the teachings of their deities, fostering a continuous dialogue with the divine.

3. Nature as Sacred:

The belief that nature is sacred permeates every aspect of the Cult of the Eternal Circle, leading followers to engage in practices that honor and protect the environment.

Eco-Centric Practices: Followers actively participate in eco-centric initiatives, viewing these actions as sacred duties. This can include community clean-up efforts, wildlife conservation projects, and sustainable gardening practices. By caring for the earth, they express their reverence for the divine and acknowledge the interdependence of all life forms.

Tree Planting Ceremonies: One significant practice is the ritual of tree planting, often conducted during equinoxes or other seasonal festivals. Followers gather in natural settings to plant trees, accompanied by blessings and prayers for growth, longevity, and the well-being of future generations. Each tree planted symbolizes a commitment to the earth and a living reminder of the cycle of life.

Nature Walks and Observances: Followers engage in regular nature walks, where they immerse themselves in the beauty of the natural world. These walks are opportunities for reflection, meditation, and connection with the divine. Participants observe the changing seasons, noting the signs of life and the cycles of growth and decay. This practice reinforces their understanding of the sacredness of nature and their role within it.

Through these practices, the Cult of the Eternal Circle embodies a profound respect for the natural world, seeing it as both a source of inspiration and a manifestation of the divine. Followers strive to live in harmony with nature, recognizing that their spiritual journey is intricately linked to the health and well-being of the earth itself.

Sacred Texts: The teachings of the Cult of the Eternal Circle are recorded in a series of texts known as the "Scrolls of the Ancients." These scrolls contain myths, moral teachings, and guidance on living in harmony with the world and the gods.

Clergy and Community:

Circle Leaders: Instead of a hierarchy, the religion is led by Circle Leaders, chosen for their wisdom and connection to the natural world. They guide communities in rituals and teachings without seeking power over others.

Community Gatherings: Followers gather regularly in sacred groves or natural settings to share stories, celebrate the gods, and reinforce their bonds with each other and nature.

Ethics: The ethics of the Cult emphasize respect for all life, the importance of community, and the necessity of living in balance with nature. Followers are encouraged to seek knowledge, practice compassion, and honor their ancestors.

Conclusion: The Cult of the Eternal Circle invites individuals to embrace the wisdom of the old pagan gods, recognizing them as true representations of the divine. Through reverence for nature and a commitment to the cycle of life, followers seek to foster a harmonious existence on earth, honoring both the past and the ongoing journey of life.

[gook54-blog]

GREGG BRADON

💥A NEW POINT OF SYNTHESIS💥

"This transitional phase between ages and stages of evolutionary growth has a two-fold purpose: (1) to foster the realization of the continuity of life and immortality of the human soul; and (2) to lay the foundation for the journey of conscious evolution. The ranks of those who have awakened include people of diverse religious orientations who fall along a wide spectrum of intellect, education, and spiritual experience, aspiration, and attainment.

You will find “fellow travelers”around the globe who are progressing rapidly on the path in response to events of these times. They are alive to the breakdown of material reality and coming to grips with the need to construct a new world from an expanded state of consciousness.

Two simultaneous processes are now occurring: the death of the old order and the birth of a new order; waves of destruction are triggering waves of higher awareness. The groundwork is being laid for humanity’s reorientation from the world of form to the world of meaning as a growing body of people awaken to their divine essence and seek to make it manifest in the world. They are spearheading a movement for change within the human kingdom that is, in turn, evoking response from Higher Realms.

The human being has been objectified and debased by popular culture, reduced to an entity that measures its worth on the basis of possessions including its physical form, which inevitably grows, matures, decays and dies, like all organic forms. This self-image will be replaced in the new era by the realization that the human being is a spiritual being—a soul in incarnation for the purpose of gaining light, to fulfill the potential of the divine spark at its core. This is beginning to occur through the intensifying changes of these times." atreeoflight.org/star (see Cosmic Whisperings)From Pat Donworth 🔥

THURSDAY, OCT. 3, 2024 | 2:15 PM EDT | 18:15 UTC

Good day, global friends! 🌷

WELL, WELL, WELL … ACTIVE SUNSPOT REGION 3842 BLASTED OFF ANOTHER X-FLARE THIS MORNING … THE STRONGEST OF SOLAR CYCLE 25 … AND THE STRONGEST X-FLARE IN 7 YEARS

The X9.05 maxed at 8:18 AM EDT:

• X9.05-flare max

8:18 AM EDT

(12:18 UT)

Thurs., Oct. 3

But guess what? The X-ray flux from this blast has remained in the M1-flare range ever since. We’ve been in M1-flaring range for almost 6 HOURS following the X9 lollapalooza flare. Anyone feeling “R-A-M-P-E-D. U-P?!! 🚀🚀🚀

Deep shortwave blackouts occurred over Africa and the South Atlantic as the X-flare’s radiation ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere

And a CME was released that will affect Earth in a few days (see below)

Chances for another X-flare stand at 35% … which is pretty impressive, as X-flares go

🌏 GEOMAGNETICS:

CME 1: Tuesday’s X7.1-flare launched a faint halo CME that ordinarily wouldn’t kerfuffle up strong storming, but due to the “equinox crack” effect this time of year, the forecast calls for Kp7/G3 (strong) geomagnetic storming on Friday, Oct. 4. Auroras may be visible as far south as Salt Lake City, Nashville, Denver, Richmond, VA; London, Brussels, and Warsaw; and, in the southern hemisphere, Melbourne and Wellington

CME 2: AR3842 erupted another halo CME this morning following the strongest explosion yet of a flare in the current Sun Cycle 25. The CME from this X9.05 behemoth blast is forecast to arrive Sunday, Oct. 6. Analysts are still mapping out the details but expect moderate to strong storming and a weekend filled with a plethora of auroral activity all around the globe

GEOMAGNETIC CONDITIONS as of post time:

• Kp3: Unsettled

• Solar wind speed: Average

• Solar wind densities: Low but spikey

• Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) strength: Average

• IMF orientation: North

🌞 SUNSPOTS & SOLAR FLARES: There are currently 10 sunspot regions on the Earth-facing sun, 4 with magnetically-unstable configurations capable of powerful flaring

Chance for flares today:

• C-flares: 99%

• M-flares: 75%

• X-flares: 35%

FLARE ACTIVITY

Today: 1 X, 4 M, 2 C

Yesterday: 6 M, 10 C

(Per UT time = EDT+4)

💥💥 X-FLARE FUN FACTS:

HERE ARE THE TOP 10 X-FLARES OF 2024:

1. X9.05: Oct. 3 TODAY!! 🙌

2. X8.79: May 14

3. X7.1: Oct. 1

4. X6.37: Feb. 22

5. X5.89: May 11

6. X4.54: Sept. 14

7. X4.52: May 6

8. X3.98: May 10

9. X3.48: May 15

10. X3.38: Feb. 9

🏆 TODAY’S X9.05- FLARE is the strongest X-flare since September 2017, when X-flares were released on Sept. 6 and Sept. 10. These powerful flares were reclassified upward by NOAA in 2020 to strengths of X13.3 (Sept. 6) and X11.8 (Sept. 10)

Btw, X10 and higher solar flares happen maybe 8 times during an entire 11-year solar cycle

But X-flares, in general, happen about 10x PER YEAR (or roughly once per month) during a solar cycle, with more occurring during solar maximum and less during solar minimum

Lastly, BEWARE of the usual dramatic HOF (Hair-On-Fire) apocalyptic posts that EXPLODE onto the scene following X-flares, and, especially, POWERFUL X-flares. These big blasts are NORMAL solar phenomena, even more so during SOLAR MAXIMUM 😀

🌎🌝🌞

ON THE PERSONAL:

We appear to be in the birth pangs of a New Earth rising up and through a tired Old Earth. I had a vivid, stunning lucid dream/experience of this Rising New Earth two years ago, on Oct. 1, 2022

Here’s the dream:

“My clothing was snagged by a New Earth tree branch as I watched New Earth rise, rise, and rise up out of and beyond Old Earth. I was lifted up waaaaay above Old Earth by the New Earth. I went higher and higher. I wasn’t just ‘watching’ this happen to me as if watching myself in a dream. I WAS me in that body feeling all the feels and consciously looking out my eyes as I was lifted up, up, up. It was extraordinary. I will not forget that moment.”

🌟🌏🌟

“I think that

we’re greater

than we think,

more powerful

than we know,

more unlimited

than we could

ever dream”

~ Joe Dispenza

🩵

“We are moving

into a new world

and the old negativity

will be left behind.

Through the law

of cause and effect,

we can change the world,

one person at a time.”

~ Dolores Cannon

🌟🌎🌟

“The Earth is a living being.

She is evolving just as we are

and is moving into her

next incarnation.”

~ Dolores Cannon

🌟🌍🌟

And how are YOU doing? 💖🌷

Have a BEAUTIFUL one! 🌷🌈

ALL IS ONE 💖 ALL IS LOVE

© Pat Donworth 2024

[zara24smit]

GROWING HURRICANES: Climate Crisis and Many Unknowns… ALLATRA KNOWS THE SOLUTION

Today, official science does not know the true cause of hurricane formation.

Generally, scientists believe that a hurricane forms at the point of warm air concentration. Heated air, as you know, rises, and in this very place a low-pressure zone is formed (since the warm air rises, neighboring air masses immediately try to take its place).

The air mass that has replaced the previous one also quickly heats up and also begins to move upwards. At the same time, the air that has already risen to the top cools and forms storm clouds.

So first a low-pressure zone is formed, then a storm, and then a hurricane.

But no one knows why in some cases, with equal conditions, a hurricane forms, and in others it does not. There are several points of view, but scientists have not come to a consensus.

Hurricanes carry tons of snow and ice.

They originate in hot places, but the clouds of the warm core of the hurricane stretch for many kilometers upwards, through the troposphere. 

Quite often, the hurricane's core reaches the stratosphere, where the temperature is about 60°C below zero.

That's why even a day before the hurricane, the sky becomes "foggy" - it is covered with clouds consisting of pieces of ice. Most often this ice falls into warmer layers of the atmosphere, where it melts and rises again, and there it turns into ice again.

Hurricanes are recorded by seismographs.

Water is a heavy thing, each wave contains a huge amount of water, and the waves raised by a hurricane are the largest in the oceans. Each blow of a hurricane wave against the shore causes a small earthquake. In addition, such waves can collide with each other, which generates low-frequency oscillations.

Scientists discovered these waves at the beginning of the 20th century, but then they thought it was some kind of accompanying noise, but the first time a hurricane was recorded on a seismograph was in 1938. Now seismographs record almost all hurricanes.

The Sahara Desert is involved in the emergence of most Atlantic hurricanes.

The Sahara is located in the right place for hurricane formation — on the equator, with humid and hot regions to the north and south. The combination of the Sahara's dry, scorching air and the humid air of neighboring regions forms a wind called the "African easterly jet."

This wind is responsible for the appearance of tropical waves and creates favorable conditions for the majority — namely 90%! — of hurricanes.

Hurricanes mutate — and can increase in size!

Hurricanes in America are called hurricanes, and in Asia and the Far East — typhoons, but the essence is the same — these are tropical cyclones.

These are powerful atmospheric movements caused by pressure differences.

However, as they move north, all hurricanes mutate into "extratropical cyclones."

The most dangerous period is when the hurricane transitions from one state to another. At this moment, it is sustained by both pressure differences and temperature differences, and its power only increases. As a rule, these are already the last bursts before the death of the hurricane, but they can be the most destructive.

Hurricanes can reach enormous sizes.

The largest tropical cyclone in the Atlantic in recorded history — Hurricane Ike, hit the US coast in September 2008. The storm's diameter, according to various sources, ranged from 900 to 1450 km.

Global Problem, Global Solution

Hurricanes, like other escalating cataclysms, are not just a local problem. Climate change affects everyone, regardless of location. It threatens our ecosystems, our food security, our way of life, and LIFE itself. 

It is precisely why ALLATRA, a non-profit international public organization dedicated to promoting democracy and sustainable development, spearheads the fight against climate change.

## ALLATRA: A Beacon of Hope

ALLATRA is not just ringing the alarm bell, we are actively working on implementing solutions. We understand we are at a Crossroads and time is running out. We must act now, and we must act together.

ALLATRA volunteers and the partner project of the Creative Society, tirelessly work on raising awareness and promoting sustainable solutions, including:

On May 11, 2024, ALLATRA volunteers at the ALLATRA Summit in Prague presented a working solution to restore the ocean's function to remove heat from the atmosphere.

This can be achieved through the use of atmospheric water generators (AWGs), which will help remove microplastics from the ocean and improve its ability to remove heat.

The use of AWGs will inevitably lead to a reduction in extreme weather events and improvement of the atmosphere's heat conductivity.

One of the most important indicators of the excellent work of ALLATRA volunteers is the fact that the application of AWG technology contributes to the implementation of many sustainable development goals adopted by the UN General Assembly.

To fully implement AWG technology, the following is required:

1. Transition to AWGs in all spheres of human life. This technology must be implemented both domestically and industrially.

2. Fuel-free energy generators (FNGs) must be implemented for the uninterrupted operation of AWGs.

3. Open reservoirs and dams will need to be eliminated to restore the natural flow of rivers.

4. Sewage systems will need to be reconstructed to prevent water pollution.

According to scientists' calculations, the ocean will practically restore its heat conductivity functions within 3-5 years after the introduction of AWGs.

However, it is important to understand that these measures will not be able to solve the problem of geodynamic disasters, since the cause of these changes is not in the atmosphere.

The widespread introduction of AWGs will only mitigate the effects of climate change and accelerate the restoration of the planet's ecology, provided that scientists find a way to protect the planet from external cosmic influences.

For this opportunity to be realized, international cooperation of scientists is needed. Only by combining efforts and resources to develop and implement comprehensive measures can humanity survive.

We need to act quickly and wisely manage the remaining time. When making responsible decisions, it is important to remember that humanity only has 4 to 6 years left of relatively calm time.

## Call to Action

The fight against climate change is not an individual mission, it requires collective efforts. We need the experience of scientists, the dedication of volunteers, and the collective will of all humanity to address this problem.

## JOIN US!

We are ALLATRA, and we call on everyone to join us in this fight for the survival of our planet. Together, we can change the situation.

Spread this information on social media.

Like, repost, comment, and applaud. In this way, you are saving people and the planet.

JOIN ALLATRA!

#ALLATRA #climatechange #creativesociety #technology #unifiedscientificcenter 

[yourbonafidelove]

Remember When

I remember as a young woman,  I did not understand how someone going through cancer could lose their appetite, Medication or no medication, when did the 1+1= 2 / food = necessary for life equation, Become lost on the human reasoning and spirit,

But I came to understand, That when you come to lift your eyes and all you see is destruction, despair, and deceit,  Betrayal of the systems that we were taught to believe protect us, The human spirit lifts the terms of our survival, and then comes the nausea or the disgust at the thought/sight of the food, It is a certain look from a couple walking into Denny's on GST night, (disgust and ownership) And I could not eat, The "Not In Service" bus with 3 people getting off,  Is it headed to the depot for a cleaning or was it a rub out for someone on it? Whatever.  And the look of the white couple on the stands --- The opposite of barren from cancer, reproductive systems butchered to hell because "NO ONE CARES BITCH!", profit for life in their future, they remain held in the hands and heart of the most highly credentialed --- the kind they run the lights for --- Canada's selected sum of people.

It is a certain look from a couple walking into Denny's on GST night, (disgust and ownership) And I could not eat, The "Not In Service" bus with 3 people getting off,  Is it headed to the depot for a cleaning or was it a rub out for someone on it? Whatever.  And the look of the white couple on the stands ---  They are the opposite of barren from cancer, the opposite of reproductive systems butchered to hell because "NO ONE CARES BITCH!",  With profit for life in their future, they remain held in the hands and heart of the most highly credentialed --- the kind they run the lights for --- Canada's selected sum of people.

It is the essence of goodbye, and the reality of Canada's current/reoccurring truth.  And I understand. In my nana's eyes of goodbye, I came to understand all her reasons why, And the woman of brown skin that took too much fluid/sepsis from her stomach, and cut her expected 3 months in half.  I came to understand my nana's reasons why. And the injustice of that time changed to the reflection of grace, Now I understand what you tried to say to me, And why you were set free.  (Pastor Darren's conduct officiating her service remains a similar testament and hard truth to accept and swallow, like the morphine sulphate pills Dr.Tim Chaplin gave me one to many times in this life. The drunk police officer screaming from his driver side window, from 5am yesterday morning. The individuals throwing wine and water bottles out the windows of their vehicles. Your creed and calibers are the reason our spirits are lost in transit early,  Between this world and the next one.  I knew at the sound of your voice you meant it, My nana knew at the sight & the look on your faces, Your sharp questions and assumptions, Just as lethal as the women you brought before my sight, I can count them on both hands, And they have and always will come before me, Again, sticking their tongues in the right side of their teeth to laugh, Sticking the fan in their face to remind me they will always be protected and desired by you, And their shitty make up job, just to laugh and see how quick the train decapitates me, (Pretty sure you made me follow her on here when you came to Tim Hortons at 681 Princess St, Kingston, and you could ask but god now I already know.)

Their laughter can be felt through the cancer in my bones, Through eggs in my back, through the back of my knees, right leg/pelvis, the vertical crack in my skull, And the hole around my right collar bone, Their laughter and the power which you have given them, I feel it in every worthless cancer mass, egg, and whatever mixture comes out in my tears when I cry. I am, I am a vanity piece for you and your wives back pockets, As a child and as a woman, I can paint for you my cause of death and obituary, With a tablet and a tablet marker, I wanted to ask how long it takes for the eyes to lose their colour after a person dies, but through the tears, the evidence like that which has collected beneath my nails --- and the thickness of the train wheels, You will not be able to confirm the colour of mine on scene.

In this world, on this side, in this Canada, I understand why you left us early Nana. Thank you for loving me so. See you soon.  Very good and very soon.) ___________________________________________________

Yknow I never thought I'd have a bird, I rarely actually like them.  But I consider that little family of Osprey part of mine and hers too, and I will miss them.  Even the caution as they come close to see me,  Only to look up and realize someone is about to cross the field. They mean no harm. They hear and see all evil, and they pay no mind to your bread for this reason.

No dinner for me tonight, thank you.

[vedicastrologerrudraksh]

Planets and their influence on astrology

Astrology, an ancient and intricate system of understanding the cosmos and its impact on human life, attributes significant importance to the celestial bodies that dance across the night sky. Among these celestial actors, planets hold a central role, each believed to exert a unique influence on individuals based on their positions at the time of birth. From the fiery vigor of Mars to the serene wisdom of Jupiter, the planets in astrology are said to shape our personalities, destinies, and even our daily experiences. Best Astrologer In Delhi,   Astrologer In Delhi,  Best Astrologer In Jodhpur,  Best Astrologer In Mumbai,  Astrologer In Mumbai

Astrologer In Delhi NCR

The Luminaries: Sun and Moon

In astrology, the Sun and the Moon are often referred to as the "luminaries" due to their prominence in the sky and their profound effects on human life. The Sun symbolizes the ego, vitality, and the conscious self. It represents our core essence and the driving force behind our ambitions and desires. The Moon, on the other hand, embodies our emotions, instincts, and subconscious mind. It governs our moods, habits, and emotional responses, offering insights into our deepest needs and desires.

The Inner Planets: Mercury, Venus, and Mars

Mercury, Venus, and Mars are known as the inner planets in astrology, as they orbit relatively close to the Sun and have a more immediate impact on human affairs. Mercury, the planet of communication and intellect, influences our thinking patterns, communication style, and decision-making processes. Venus, the planet of love and beauty, governs our relationships, pleasures, and aesthetic sensibilities. Mars, the fiery planet of action and desire, fuels our passions, ambitions, and assertiveness, driving us to pursue our goals with vigor and determination.

The Outer Planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto

Beyond the inner planets lie the outer planets, each wielding a profound influence on a broader, more collective level. Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, is associated with expansion, abundance, and wisdom. It symbolizes growth, opportunity, and spiritual evolution, encouraging us to seek meaning and fulfillment in our lives. Saturn, the planet of discipline and responsibility, teaches us valuable lessons through challenges and limitations. It represents structure, authority, and the passage of time, urging us to embrace maturity and self-discipline.

Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are considered the transcendental planets, as their influence extends beyond the realm of personal experience to encompass collective evolution and societal transformation. Uranus, the planet of innovation and change, inspires rebellion, invention, and unconventional thinking. It heralds breakthroughs and revolutions, urging us to embrace progress and embrace our individuality. Neptune, the planet of dreams and illusions, governs spirituality, imagination, and the subconscious mind. It dissolves boundaries and encourages us to tap into our intuition and connect with the unseen realms of existence. Pluto, the planet of transformation and regeneration, symbolizes death and rebirth, destruction and renewal. It represents the depths of the unconscious and the process of profound inner change, empowering us to transcend our limitations and embrace our true power.

The Dance of the Planets: Aspects and Transits

In astrology, the positions of the planets at the time of birth, as well as their ongoing movements through the zodiac, are analyzed to gain insight into a person's character, strengths, challenges, and life events. Aspects, or the angular relationships between planets, reveal the dynamics at play in a birth chart, highlighting areas of harmony, tension, and potential growth. Transits, on the other hand, refer to the current positions of the planets in relation to an individual's natal chart, offering clues about the prevailing energies and potential developments in their lives.

Conclusion

While modern science may dismiss astrology as mere superstition, its enduring popularity testifies to its profound appeal and relevance in human culture. For millennia, people have looked to the heavens in search of meaning, guidance, and a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them. Whether viewed as a symbolic language, a psychological tool, or a spiritual practice, astrology continues to offer valuable insights into the mysteries of existence, inviting us to explore the cosmic symphony in which we are all participants.

[nataliesilverman]

Spite is an incredible writing tool.

When I first started writing, it was because some of my favourite media had little details that drove me nuts, so I'd do it, and do it better.

Then I watched more things and blended more things. Then I realized I was doing it wrong.

Then I asked for input and help and people told me I was doing it wrong.

So I did it wronger.

The thing about doing things wrong is that it's kinda like the Matrix. Some rules you can bend, others you can break. Good storytelling does fit certain precedents that were established thousands of years ago. The human experience has remained pretty constant, and that's why people say that there's nothing new.

Here's something you can bend. A thousand years ago we were beating sticks of metal to hack through the other people we didn't like. These days we have factories that manufacture precision-built kinetic weapons that can do worse from half a mile away. War is a constant of human history, but how we fight it changes quite a lot.

People used to live more active lives. We used to clean more, cook more, hunt, build, tinker...there's another thing we can play with. This is where the idea of oppression, the daily grind, and all that come from.

What we didn't have a thousand years ago was flight, mass transit, cars, instant communication, fucking SPACE TRAVEL.

Even the idea of gods has evolved. In this day and age of billionaires and class warfare...little has changed. Older mythology is more akin to political allegory than anything meant to be taken literally. The gods are more often than not divinely appointed, petty beings who are immensely incompetent at their duties, and their subjects [humans] pay the price, while the middle managers of the spiritual world and the warriors of the lower classes [often humans] mop up those messes.

To get something truly unique and inspired, you gotta get philosophical. I find science fiction the easiest way to do that because it stretches forward into the unknown. Humanity, time, our understanding of the physical world, that's all up for debate. Fantasy is sort of like "alternate worlds" that operate on different laws of physics [magic] or alternate ancient history.

I often catch a lot of bullshit for utilising "incomprehensible" themes such as having characters multiple big bang-heat death cycles old, wars being fought on scales of immeasurable destruction, and the perception of time and space as a cohesive whole. And honestly, I'm kinda salty that you don't see that more often.

I'd love to see people stretching the meaning of humanity and reducing it to its essence to see what others get. I've seen this come close with things like Irredeemable, God of War, and Blame!. But it's my opinion we don't go far enough. Why stop at hundreds or even thousands of years? Why stop wars at planets, solar systems, or even galaxies? What happens to the human mind when it can see everything from the beginning of time to the end of all things? If you start augmenting the human experience, does it truly remain human?

All of this to say, fuck those people who called my characters Mary Sues.

[sailormoonandme]

Usagi’s Evolution as a Healer Goddess

The other day I saw a post discussing the evolution of Usagi’s fuku and it occurred to me how Eternal Sailor Moon’s costume was her first Senshi uniform to ditch the tiara. 

That in turn led me to consider how that kind of makes Usagi weaker as it removes a very useful weapon for her. After all, if you include the movies, Usagi uses some variant of Moon Tiara Action in practically every season prior to Stars.

However, dwelling more upon it I realized how this tiny change was all too appropriate for Usagi’s character development.

Firstly, by supplanting the Tiara with her Moon planetary symbol, Eternal Sailor Moon more closely resembles both Queen Serenity, her own Princess Serenity form and her future self as Neo-Queen Serenity. 

Since all three are objectively more powerful than Usagi typically is as Sailor Moon I think the change emphasises how she has ‘levelled up’ in her Eternal form. When combined with the angel wings, Eternal Sailor Moon shifts Usagi visually closer to her future self as NQS, which in the anime is implied to be her most powerful incarnation.* It is almost as though the visual was communicating that the Divine Miracle Magic that she’d previously drawn upon as Princess Serenity in Classic-SuperS had now become ingrained in her standard Senshi form and thus was more accessible to her. 

It was in thinking of her previous efforts as Princess Serenity that I inevitably recalled her duel with Metalia/Beryl in episode 46 and realized that Eternal Sailor Moon was the first time since Classic that Usagi’s default attack was a healing  technique not a destructive one. 

Moon Healing Escalation was Usagi’s first healing technique but until Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss (and it’s later upgrade, Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss) it was also her only healing technique. 

Between regaining healing techniques and ditching her tiara/other destructive attacks/weapons, I think this represents her subtle growth in both her power and status. After all, it is a sad fact of life that it is easier to destroy something rather than fix it, thereby making the latter far more impressive.**

This skewing towards healing power rather than destructive power is also (arguably) thematically appropriate given the nature of Sailor Moon as a female power fantasy as (rightly or wrongly) the act of healing is typically coded as feminine. 

We can even take this further by examining things from the ‘opposite direction’ as it were.

Consider that in the climactic final episodes of Sailor Stars, Eternal Sailor Moon’s healing technique actually fails her when used against Galaxia. In later episodes, upon adopting her Princess Serenity form (complete with larger and more obviously angelic wings), she uses a sword to duel Galaxia.

Obviously a sword is, at least predominantly, an offensive weapon and can therefore be viewed as symbolic of aggression; let’s leave any Freudian or gendered interpretations alone for today. Her use of the sword is highly uncharacteristic (in the anime). Even her explicitly offencive weapons (like the Cutie Moon Rod or Spiral Moon Heart Rod) weren’t as clearly aggressive nor obviously violent. Desperate times calling for desperate measures? Perhaps, but we might also speculate it was her subconsciously reacting to grief. Not only can grief make you act in ways you wouldn’t normally, but a sword after all was a weapon wielded by her lover in his Prince Endymion incarnation. Her lover whom Usagi had just learned Galaxia had murdered. In other words, amidst her grief she reacts by going too hard in the other direction after healing her enemy proves ineffective.

However, when all is said and done the sword fails her.*** Ultimately is simply escalates the conflict by prompting Galaxia to become Chaos Galaxia and thereby make Usagi’s chances of victory all the slimmer. If we wished to stretch things, you could perhaps say that this is a commentary about how war and violence ultimately begets yet more war and violence.

Even if that is an over extrapolation though, it still served to emphasis the point that a sword is not befitting of Usagi, that she was doomed to lose if she continued to battle with destroying her enemy as the end goal.

In fact, her road to real victory begins when she not doesn’t attack Galaxia but makes it easier for herself to be attacked. In the end, Usagi doesn’t confront her most powerful enemy as the God-Queen of the future, the demi-goddess Princess of the distant past, the sailor-suited soldier of love and justice in the present, nor even a humble school girl.

She does it by literally stripping herself of all those things, of stripping herself of everything in fact.

Her weapons? Gone.

Her other items, like her Tiare? Gone.

Her comrades? Gone, and they’d be powerless against Galaxia anyway.

And finally, even her clothes? Gone!

Beyond the Silver Crystal (an outward visualization of her heart/soul) and the angel wings (symbolic of her role as a saviour) she is completely (but tastefully) naked.

Usagi visually and quite literally is more vulnerable  than she’s ever been, even more so than on her first night as Sailor Moon.

And yet this is Usagi at her actual most powerful.

It is her distilled to her absolute essence as a person, all other trappings removed. She’d just one person showing another they will categorically not harm them, that they bear them no malice and they have nothing to hide. That openness and compassion is what ultimately enables her to connect to the good within Galaxia and pull her away from the darkness that had corrupted her.

Usagi in this moment completely fulfilled her character arc.

·      In the Dark Kingdom arc Usagi destroys (or seals away depending upon your POV) Beryl/Metalia.

·      In the Hell Tree arc, Usagi resolves the over all plot via a healing technique (although it is functionally similar to a destructive attack). However, that only happens because the Hell Tree both instructs Usagi to do that and because it lets her. It is the equivalent of a sickly doctor instructing a nurse on what to do to make them better. The nurse might have the power but their agency as a healer is limited.

·      In the Black Moon arc, Usagi, with help, destroys Wiseman/Death Phantom. 

·      In the Death Busters arc, Usagi does save Hotaru and ‘purify’ her. However, like the Hell Tree, that was something Hotaru wanted. Additionally, her purification functioned as a way to heal the body of someone sick and who wanted to sacrifice themselves, not someone actually evil. The evil in question was Pharaoh 90 and it is presumed that Usagi destroyed him (although it might’ve been Hotaru or the pair of them together). 

·      Forgive me for skipping the Dead Moon Circus arc as Chibiusa is the real protagonist there, and Usagi’s role is chiefly as a rescuer. It therefore doesn’t really apply, although the Nehelenia mini-arc from Stars is a different story. There, Usagi was a healer again, but she did it with the help of her loved ones and with the aid of her Tiare device. Nevertheless, we can see by this point Usagi’s capacity as a healer heroine had been gradually growing until we get to the battle with Galaxia.

By the end of series, Usagi has successfully healed Galaxia and it is neither with the aid of her comrades, nor with the power of a weapon or device, nor with any instructions from her ‘patient’ or any other third party.

Additionally, Galaxia (unlike Hotaru) wasn’t someone’s who was saved from a noble self-sacrifice or had a physical ailment that needs to be addressed. In Galaxia’s case, her very soul had lost it’s way and become corrupted. She had lost who she was supposed to be and her purpose in life had been perverted.****

When combined with how powerful Galaxia always was, how Chaos and the Star Seeds empowered her further, Usagi’s victory here cannot be understated.

Her ‘patient’ was more powerful than all her other adversaries, was in need of more healing than her other ‘patients’ and was more resistant to being healed. Not to mention, since she’d directly murdered her beloved friends (and indirectly aborted her future daughter), Usagi would’ve been forgiven for not  even trying to salvage Galaxia 

And yet, with no weapons, no backup and just the power of her heart and soul basically, Usagi succeeded. 

After Stars the idea that Usagi could heal the entire planet after a global catastrophe and reshape it into a fairy tale crystalline utopia was all too believable.

What’s healing one planet when her ability to empathise had already healed a whole galaxy?

Who needs a tiara to reduce evil to dust when you can simply convince evil to be good?

*This is arguably symbolized by baby Hotaru’s vision of NQS transforming into Eternal Sailor Moon in episode 1 of Stars.

In fact, we might argue that a low-key subplot running through all of Stars (both the Nehelenia and Galaxia portions of it) is gradually transitioning Usagi closer to the person she is destined to become as Neo-Queen Serenity, hence why the first episode features the most explicit reference to her fate as Queen since R. 

**Personally I am an atheist, but nevertheless I and others like me can grasp why  deities in most major religions through history weren’t simply capable of mass scale destruction, but also of essentially manipulating reality to create  things too.

By that same token, it’s little surprise that perhaps the widest spread religious figure in history was Jesus Christ who rarely (if ever) engaged in aggression or destructive acts, predominantly employing divine healing powers.

I suspect the attraction of such figures to human beings lies in the fact that on some level we know that, given the right time and resources, we mere mortals would be capable of destroying anything. Given time it’s all but certain we will develop the technology to even destroy planetary bodies. On the flipside, I think we also intuitively grasp that  reversing  such damage, of reattaching a limb, of stanching bleeding, etc, is far more difficult if not impossible. Hence we attributed the ability to do such things to larger than life Divine Entities.

*** Now that I think of it, it’s also poignant that Usagi tries and fails to defeat Galaxia with a sword when we take Sailor Uranus into consideration. 

Uranus is of course associated with her weapon, the Space Sword and, like Usagi, tried and failed to use such a weapon against Galaxia.

Giving Uranus a sword is symbolically appropriate given her role as the leader of the more aggressive branch of the Sailor Team. Having her fail against Galaxia and Usagi consequently fail by in some way ‘mimicking her tactics’ is equally symbolically appropriate. Not only because of their ideological conflict in Sailor Moon S but also their tensions in Sailor Stars itself. In both situations Usagi’s more open, less aggressive, ideology was ultimately proven correct. 

Thus in using a sword against Galaxia it represented how Usagi was always doomed to fail by taking the aggressive/destructive route and how she was arguably not being true to herself in that moment. 

****It’s not to dissimilar to Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker now that I think about it. 

[framecaught]

[S] Cascade After the Death of Flash

Most of us familiar with Homestuck are familiar with [S] Cascade. This seminal flash animation concludes Homestuck’s fifth act and is still considered by many fans the most important, climactic animation in the comic (even ahead of its successors [S] GAME OVER and [S] Collide).

Many of us may also be familiar with the extraordinary circumstances of the animation’s release. A user called Vivi on the now-defunct MSPA Forums made a commemorative comic documenting the occasion, which, to my view, really captures the essence of the release-mythos. In short: On October 25th, 2011, Homestuck updated after a year-long hiatus with a thirteen-minute flash called [S] Cascade. As fans raced to watch it, the influx of pageviews crashed Newgrounds, the site where the flash was hosted. Hussie temporarily uploaded the flash to megaupload.com. Megaupload.com crashed. The Homestuck website crashed; the Homestuck forum crashed; livestream.com crashed as fans who had “gotten in” tried to stream the video; and, finally, the Homestuck fandom crashed Twitter. [1]

Today, it is hard to imagine Homestuck fans crashing Twitter. Back in 2011, Twitter was a lot smaller, and Homestuck was a lot bigger. But it wasn’t just the long year of building anticipation and the mad scramble to watch the flash which cemented [S] Cascade as one of Homestuck’s most iconic pages. The Flash itself is aesthetically ambitious beyond any previous flash in the comic [2]. Not only does it combine detailed illustrations contributed by fan collaborators with an absolutely fire soundtrack; it manipulates the traditional Homestuck “panel” in a completely unique way. 

Among the various stunning moments in the flash, I find Bec Noir’s dramatic release of the red miles one of the most memorable. The YouTuber Precision F-Strike captures my same reaction when I watched [S] Cascade for the first time in this video around 1:20, exclaiming: “My screen is getting bigger! My screen is getting bigger!!” What made this “expanding panel” trick so dazzling upon my first watch? The release of the red miles marks the first instance in which [S] Cascade modifies the traditional size of the Homestuck panel. By no means does it mark the first time the comic as a whole has deviated from its own standard panel size; elongated panels, multiple panels, and links-to-panels have all been regular features of the comic up to this point. However, [S] Cascade is the first page to modify the panel size during a Flash sequence, changing in motion. This novelty, combined with the surprise of the effect, sets the reader up to expect a flash of epic proportions—and [S] Cascade delivers.

After expanding for the red miles, the panel never quite shrinks down to its original size. For the rest of the animation, the plot unfolds within an extended panel-space ripe for dramatic exploitation. At 2:53 the panel shrinks back down to show Bec Noir’s journey to post-reckoning earth, then grows again to get back into the action. At 4:22 it shrinks and breaks into multiple panels to illustrate Bec Noir wreaking destruction in the troll’s session. The proliferation of these moving rectangles mimics a film reel, reminding us that we have technically already seen these events, but underscoring their importance as a conglomeration of memories for the trolls. 

Transitioning to the human sessions’ Derse at 4:38, the panel blows up again to its traditional size and adopts an exterior “wallpaper.” This “wallpaper”, as I’ll call it, shifts with the content of the Flash for the next few minutes. It shows the exterior of Derse as Rose and Dave fly through, then it takes on the red and yellow colors of the quest beds; the black and white colors of The Tumor; the red and blue colors of the “mass of two universes” device; and finally the fleur-de-lis pattern of the Felt mansion. During the sequence between Sn0wman and Slick, at 6:08 Slick’s bullet actually pushes out the corner of the traditional frame, extending it back into the full extended-panel space. Then again, during the climactic moment at 10:02, panels grow and shrink and replace others, flashing in time with the soundtrack, drawing the plotlines together and anticipating the finger-frame with which Jade creates the Fenestrated Plane. The animation finishes with John and Jade busting through the Fenestrated Plane, which cycles through the comic’s own panels, culminating the meta-referential panel distortion with this final act of “escaping” from and through the Homestuck panels themselves.

As a result of the extended panel-space established at the release of the red miles, we get to experience the majority of [S] Cascade’s action (and gorgeous artwork) on an enlarged canvas. Just as we go to the cinema to see movies on the “big screen,” Homestuck deploys its own big screen at the start of the flash. Then, all the growing and shrinking between segments contributes to the narrative flow of the flash. The “shrunk” portions leave room for the panel to blow up again once the next climax comes. I think the “wallpaper” effect employed mid-flash is especially effective, as it allows Hussie to continue utilizing the extended panel-space while keeping the frame small in advance of the Sn0wman’s death, at which point it expands again. It’s also important to note how Hussie manipulates our other preconceived expectations, aside from panel size, to enhance the animation’s drama. The website itself gets a special [S] Cascade color scheme and header. In the unfamiliar layout of this Cascade-ified website, readers prepare themselves for the best and the worst—then their expectations are thrown off balance again, for good measure, with the expansion of the panel and the big-screen execution of the flash. With all of this in mind, it’s easy to see how [S] Cascade generated such a massive response.

As you may be aware, as of January 2021 Adobe has discontinued its support for Flash Player, with all major web browsers following suit. This means it’s near impossible to run flash content on any normal computer, and it won’t be long before flash only exists in archival projects. Luckily, the new denizens of the Homestuck website have worked to keep all of the story intact despite the changing media landscape, with some interactive flash pages broken down into videos or screencaps and animations converted to embedded YouTube videos [3]. If you are interested in experiencing Homestuck’s flash content as originally released, a fantastic project called the Unofficial Homestuck Collection has worked to archive the entire comic in a custom browser which natively runs Flash (all you need is 4GB of space on your computer and some time for the assets to download). This archive has been invaluable for my art historical investigation into the comic [4].

As it stands, though—unless forced by a concerned friend to download The Unofficial Homestuck Collection browser—new readers to Homestuck can’t experience the Flash games and animations in their original format. The same goes for folks rereading the comic. In the case of [S] Cascade, significant losses must be mourned. The effect set off by the red miles (the surprise and novelty of your “screen getting bigger”) is hampered by the embedded YouTube format. When you open the [S] Cascade page, now, it presents you with a mid-flash thumbnail, a YouTube play button, and YouTube framing elements such as a watermark and title (pictured above). You can’t avoid already seeing the extended panel-space of the flash page with this new format. Even though the panels within the embed begin in their “shrunk” state and grow to fill out the video frame, the expansion can never be a surprise to the same degree it was in the original Flash format. Flash animations were unornamented by watermarks, titles, and scrubber bars. They were so indistinguishable from regular static panels and gifs in terms of size, image quality, and framing that this gag (pictured below) actually worked. The indistinguishable quality of flash animations from regular gif panels created the necessary environment for [S] Cascade to surprise us by suddenly growing and filling the screen. That drama is inevitably lost in the flash’s new format.

On the other hand, the YouTube format presents some obvious benefits for readers. For one thing, you can now scrub back and forth in the animation, pause it, and even see its timestamps. This is beneficial to any reader who wants to revisit key moments and enormously helpful for someone like me analyzing the animation in detail. I would argue that the inability to pause the animation in its original format contributed to its monumental quality—readers couldn’t pause to breathe, and the comic took merciless control over the pacing—but of course the inability to pause something is also terribly inconvenient. Furthermore, the video format solves an issue that plagued Homestuck readers (including myself) throughout the comic’s lifetime: it’s inaccessibility on mobile devices. Adobe Flash famously failed to transition into the world of mobile touch-screens after Steve Jobs decided not to support it on the iPhone, writing a letter denouncing the software for its errors [5]. With Flash no longer functioning, the reformatted pages in Homestuck are all compatible with mobile devices, meaning readers can now enjoy the comic while lying sideways in bed like we always dreamed. Among other considerations, Adobe Flash was a complete pain to work with [6] for many large-scale projects, and its technical limitations cannot be ignored. On the whole, the death of Flash speaks to a greater evolution in our 21st century media sphere—the growing importance of mobile browsing, the shift from web-hosted games to apps and game launchers, and the increasing “convergence” of platforms into all-purpose devices. While much of Homestuck’s impact and charm resulted from its innovative use of Flash, like the example I’ve given in [S] Cascade, the unique bubble of history in which Flash existed should be fondly remembered and effectively preserved as we continue to navigate the comic’s legacy. 

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Happy 4/13! If you liked this post, you can follow the blog on tumblr for updates or, if you don’t frequent tumblr, sign up for the mailing list to receive an email whenever I publish a new mini-essay!

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[1] I unfortunately can’t say I was around for the original [S] Cascade release (I started reading the comic about two years too late). However, even during the Gigapause, what I’ve called its “release mythos” was still widely retold. The events themselves are documented here: https://fanlore.org/wiki/Cascade_(Homestuck). Thank you to @imploder for having saved Vivi’s comic on tumblr!

[2] Hussie wrote about the making of [S] Cascade on his tumblr, now archived here: https://wheals.github.io/tumblr/tumblr.html#about-eoa5-part-1. This gives some insight into the massive undertaking. Previously, the longest animation in Homestuck was [S] Descend, an animation which Hussie calls “Cascade Lite” in his author commentary in Homestuck Book 3. [S] Descend was the first animation to significantly incorporate multiple plotlines moving along at once. Hussie describes this narrative style as an “action-collage” (also in the Book 3 commentary). [S] Descend was also (to my recollection) the first time Hussie significantly incorporated assets from contributing artists into an animation, which he explained was partially to keep the production moving faster. Ironically, during the production of [S] Cascade, organizing contributors turned out to be much more of a hassle—but ultimately Hussie deems the myriad of captivating art styles “a big plus” in his post.

[3] Although some are completely broken, now :(. RIP silly flute refrain.

[4] I seriously cannot overstate how grateful I am for this project. 

[5] This article does a great job of explaining the history of Adobe Flash and its eventual demise.

[6] Hussie goes over some of the issues he had with the software in the post referenced at [2]

[maundering-marauder]

The Umbrella Academy Sibs as Tarot Cards

So, this year I got into Tarot in a big way. I’ve always been curious, but I had a great reading and wanted to learn more. As I delve more into it, I can’t help but assign tarot cards to The Umbrella Academy. So, without further ado, my thoughts. Thanks to Elliott’s House Discord for helping me think about this more. Special thanks to @ashayathyla2 and their original meta post on Klaus, Vanya, and Five being triplets that started this meta. Card assignments and thoughts after the jump!

Luther as The Hermit. I like that it's the older version of the Fool. And if we go with the comic lore that Luther and Five are twins, I like the symbolism that Luther being the Hermit and Five being the Fool represents. The Hermit isn't part of ordinary civilization. He's reclusive, not exclusive, just choosing to be away from society. One can argue, to a point, Luther chose to stay within the academy and not seek his own adventure in society (now that's also part of his trauma, so I am in **no way** saying Luther fully chose this). His time on the moon also helps solidify this card assignment for him, in my mind, since this card, by way of depicting a hermit, symbolizes solitude and silence. This card also represents wisdom, prudence, and introspection as well as leadership. Traits which I think Luther is slowly getting to. The card symbolizes solitude, silence, and leadership. I feel like the Hermit captures Luther’s essence. He is the most lonely of all the siblings, in my opinion.

Diego as The Chariot. As I read over the meaning of the card more I kept finding myself agreeing with it more and more. The Chariot represents a card of forward motion and change, not always with direction, and one thing that Diego isn't is stagnant. I liked that the book I have described this card as 'Get in the car' and 'Buckle Up' felt very on the nose for me. What really solidified this card for Diego, though, is that its astrology sign is Cancer, which signifies the home and family. So, while the Chariot card may symbolize an outward notion of mobility and adventures, on the inside, he's an old softie.

Allison as Strength. Now... I may be biased, Strength and Moon are my favorite cards...  But, I liked that this card symbolizes courage, will-power, and self-control. Themes that I feel like Allison has struggled with and embodied her entire life. The card also signifies determination and force, which feels like Allison. She may be third in the number order, but she's the true leader of the pack. I HC that as the one girl in a team of boys, she had to prove again and again that she's as good as them when it came to combat. What I really love about this card is its illustration of a woman with her hands around a lion's mouth. The lion symbolizes the wild and untamed. Is the woman closing the lion's mouth (and closing herself off to her inner desires and wants) or is she opening the lion's mouth (and opening herself up to explore her own true wants more).

Klaus as The World -- a card of transition. Originally, I had Klaus as Death, obviously. Death isn’t a bad omen, it’s not a portent of doom and destruction; in readings, an upright Death may represent a new beginning. But the more I thought of it, the more I thought he should actually represent the end and the beginning, the gatekeeper between worlds. In myth, The World also is equal parts masculine and feminine energies, which I think matches Klaus.  

So, Five as The Fool -- he’s the start of the journey. The fool is the lead player, some consider it the first and last card in the Major Arcana. The fool represents both the beginning and end. In most versions, the Fool is perched on the edge of a cliff -- an allusion to disaster and destruction. Even better, the Fool turns into the Hermit eventually (The Hermit isn’t part of ordinary civilization. This card represents solitude, silence and leadership by example). Plus, there’s a dog with the Fool -- hi, Mr. Pennycrumb!)

Lastly Ben as The Hanged Man... I thought about this one for a bit. I wasn't sure exactly which card I wanted for him, but I landed on this card in the end. The Hanged Man symbolizes contemplation and self-sacrifice. It represents a student, writer, and philosopher. In my head, I see Ben as a perpetual student, always hungry to learn more. The Hanged Man sees the world from a new perspective (since he's upside down as he's being hung). Ben, as a ghost, also sees the world from a new and different perspective. This card symbolizes a symbolic death, while Ben's is a true death, I still feel like this card rings true for me. After Ben dies, he's resurrected by Klaus in a way. And this card represents a symbolic death and then resurrection. Finally... the card does symbolize self-sacrifice, and one can argue that Ben sacrifices himself in two ways 1) by putting off his ticket to the afterlife and be with Klaus... I can't imagine that was an easy road at all and 2) more literally, by sacrificing himself to bring Vanya back.

Vanya as The Tower -- she represents a dramatic change. I struggled between picking The World (representing the end and the beginning) or The Tower for Vanya. After thinking more, I decided on The Tower. She represents the end of days. But, The Tower also represents a dramatic change or an awakening. The Tower also represents the destruction of false ideas and beliefs; who better to represent that than Vanya who, for so long thought she was ordinary only to find out she may be the most powerful of her siblings. I’m still unsure about this card for her, so open for interpretation. 

What do you think?

[multiverseforger]

Selene is the oldest known human mutant. Functionally immortal, her millennia-long life is attributed to her ability to drain the life essence from other beings to extend her own existence indefinitely. Her name derives from the ancient lunar deity Selene, daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. Claiming to have already been old when modern mankind was just emerging, Selene was born over 17,000 years ago somewhere in what is now Central Europe, "after the Oceans swallowed Atlantis and before the rise of the Aryas". Her tribe's elders recognized her for what she was and commanded the entire tribe, including her own mother, to sacrifice their lives to feed her.[3]

Hyborian AgeEdit

Selene was revealed to have been an old enemy of the sorcerer Kulan Gath.[4] Kulan Gath was active during the Hyborian Age (before any recorded civilizations) and is known to have faced both Conan the Barbarian and Red Sonja. In fact, Sonja reportedly managed to kill him and his spirit would not manifest again until the modern era.[5] Thus, Selene was active at least as early as the Hyborian age.

Rome and EliphasEdit

Selene came to reside in Rome during the height of its empire. She approached Eliphas, a well-respected senator whose wife had left him for a general named Mascius. Selene offered him immortality in exchange for helping her kill and absorb every soul in Rome. Eliphas went about drawing pentagrams and performing rituals at several locations in the city, but warned a small girl to get her family out. The girl's father alerted the authorities and Eliphas and Selene were captured before the spell could be carried out. Just before they were burned at the stake Selene killed the guards. She then cursed Eliphas for his perceived betrayal with an eternal life of torture, transforming him into a vampire-like creature. Eliphas was buried alive for 700 years until a farmer discovered him in his field.[6]

Nova RomaEdit

In relatively recent times, Selene was trapped for centuries in the Amazon in the Romanesque town of Nova Roma. She was worshipped as a goddess and worked to maintain the isolation of the town so she could maintain control. Eliphas, having at some point in time changed his name to "Eli Bard," finally locates Selene in Nova Roma. Still in love with her despite her curse, Bard realizes that he must make an offering to her before he approaches her. She also was able to marry several times and have descendants, including Amara Aquilla. Her most recent known husband was Marcus Domitius Gallio, a senator of Nova Roma.

In Nova Roma, Selene attempted to kill Amara Aquilla. She knocked Amara into a lava pool, thereby releasing her latent mutant powers, as Magma. Selene fought and defeated Magma, and plotted to turn Danielle Moonstar into a psychic vampire like herself and conquer the world. Selene fought the New Mutants, and was cast into lava and buried alive.[7]

Becoming the Black QueenEdit

Selene directed her worshippers to undertake tasks that eventually allowed her to leave Nova Roma. She made her way to New York City, where she encountered Juggernaut at a bar. Selene planned to seduce and murder him, but was prevented when Wolverine manipulated a bar-room brawl between Juggernaut and Colossus. She then discovered the existence of Rachel Summers, whom she sought to turn into a slave only to be defeated by the X-Men. Prior to the X-Men saving her, Selene had tracked Rachel down to the home of a young man named Nicholas Damiano who had let the homeless Rachel spend the night at his place. Selene savagely murdered the young man, resulting in Rachel swearing revenge against Selene.[8]

With help from one of her worshippers, Friedrich Von Roehm, Selene made contact with the Hellfire Club and forced the group to take her on as the new Black Queen. She became critical in the X-Men's attempt to stop Kulan Gath, after he conquered New York City with a reality-altering spell though she ultimately attempted to doublecross the X-Men in order to steal Gath's talisman of power.[9]

Selene's time with the Hellfire Club was a turbulent time, due to her contempt for Sebastian Shaw and quite open desire to rule the Hellfire Club as its sole leader. This led Shaw and Emma Frost to conspire to kill Selene by manipulating and training the young mutant Firestar to assassinate her. This failed when Firestar realized what their plan.[10]

Selene and the Hellfire Club's relationship with the X-Men came to a head with Rachel Summers making an unauthorized assassination attempt on Selene. Wolverine felt honor-bound to prevent Rachel from becoming a murderer, and so, saved Selene's life by severely injuring Summers. Selene herself was enraged, and used the incident to force the Lords Cardinal to agree to hunt and kill Rachel. A battle over this issue immediately commenced between the X-Men and Lords Cardinal, but it was unexpectedly halted when it drew the attention of Nimrod, the super-sentinel who had murdered Selene's assistant Rhoem,[11] and was as bent on killing the X-Men and the Lords Cardinal. The Lords Cardinal and the X-Men hastily agreed to a truce, fighting well-enough to cause Nimrod to flee.

After this battle, in the pages of New Mutants, much was made about Selene having secret plans involving Nova Roma and Magma. Due to her love for Empath, Magma left the New Mutants to join the Hellions, only to be called home by her father to enter into an arranged marriage with a resident there. Magma's escort back home to Nova Roma turned out to be Empath, who ultimately decided to stay in the city with her. The two became lovers and Magma was freed from her arranged marriage plans so that she could be with him.[volume & issue needed]

Writer changes and the book's transition into X-Force caused the storyline to be aborted.[citation needed] Furthermore, it was revealed in New Warriors #31, via Empath, that Nova Roma was nothing more than an elaborate lie, concocted by Selene several decades prior. In a desperate bid to relive happier days in which she lived in ancient Rome, Selene arranged for hundreds of people to be kidnapped and taken to the jungles of the Amazon, to a city constructed per her designs. There she was somehow able to utterly brainwash her prisoners to believe themselves descendants of ancient Romans living in the Amazon. Magma was one of these kidnapped and brainwashed souls, according to Empath. The city was disbanded and the residents returned to their regular lives across the globe.

Years later, due to Chris Claremont wishing to undo writer Fabian Nieciza's dismantling of the concept of Nova Roma,[citation needed] Claremont ignored said story and wrote Magma as she had been originally. He later had Magma make cryptic references to having been manipulated into believing Nova Roma was a lie by parties unknown that sought to hurt Magma. Furthermore, the five-issue mini-series "New Mutants Forever" revealed that Claremont originally planned on revealing Magma to be Selene's granddaughter. This family connection would be stated as well (with no build-up) in New Mutants V3 #6-8, which had Selene resurrect Magma's teammate Cypher to try to kill Magma. Furthermore, it was strongly implied during "Necrosha" that Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost manipualted the Empath/Magma relationship in order to get Empath inside Nova Roma.[volume & issue needed] In the event that Selene struck first and eliminated both, Empath would then use his powers to dismantle the city via convincing the residents that their lives were lies concocted by Selene.

Selene ultimately was the deciding vote to vote Sebastian Shaw out of the Hellfire Club, when tension between Shaw and the newly recruited White King Magneto came to blows.[12] Unknown to Magneto or Emma Frost, however, Selene had decided that she no longer had any need for the Club and began plotting its destruction by gathering an army of young mutants, with help from the mutant omnipath known as the Gamesmaster, calling them the Upstarts. Under her authority, the Upstarts engaged in a killing spree that led to many presumed deaths (Magneto, Sebastian Shaw, Donald Pierce, and the Reavers), mortal injuries (Emma Frost), and outright deaths (the Hellions). Selene manipulated her young followers with the promise of a game, where each murder committed would land them points that would ultimately lead to them being granted a prize, described as "being the next best thing to immortality" by the Gamemaster. However, with another writer change, Selene's involvement with the Upstarts was cut short as she herself was betrayed by Trevor Fitzroy. Selene was kept in a torture device that repeatedly ripped her flesh from her body (to attract the attention of the Gamesmaster, who took advantage of the situation to proclaim himself the new leader of the Upstarts). She would be freed by Amanda Sefton, though the torture left her weak and scarred.[volume & issue needed]

Needing to replenish her power, Selene first attacked and killed the other surviving Externals. Though she was opposed by X-Force, she managed to complete the slaughter and knock out the mutants, until Cable arrived. Selene's attempt to absorb Cable's life backfired when she touched his techno-organic arm and she was forced to flee to maintain her power. Shortly afterwards, she tried to access the power of a mystical convergence using a Runestaff made from the roots of Yggdrasil, the Norse World Tree. She came to the Exploding Colossal Man festival in New Mexico, but was again opposed by X-Force, who managed to wrest the Runestaff away from her and destroy the Colossal Man mannequin it activated. Selene missed her opportunity for ultimate power and vowed vengeance on X-Force.[volume & issue needed]

She next appeared back in Brazil, where she had tracked Sunspot, along with Deviants posing as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. She lured Sunspot to her defense, and offered him a position of power in the Hellfire Club, which he refused, regardless of the illusions with which she tempted him. However, Sunspot went along with Selene to stop the Deviants in the Damocles Foundation from activating a Celestial Gatherer. Selene herself was attacked by the Sword strike team, but she managed to cast a spell that devolved them back to lizards. Along with the rest of X-Force, Selene was able to usurp control of the machinery that activated the Gatherer, but Moonstar and Arcadia destroyed the Celestial artifact before Selene could access its power.[volume & issue needed]

Selene then returned to her post as the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club, after striking a deal with the demon Blackheart and seemingly throwing out the rest of the Inner Circle. She offered Sunspot the position of Black Rook, which he initially refused but then accepted when Selene and Blackheart revealed that his doing so would allow them to resurrect the spirit of Juliana Sandoval, the girl who died saving Sunspot's life when he first joined the New Mutants. Sunspot had no choice to accept and become Selene's protégé.[volume & issue needed]

However, with Sebastian Shaw's return to the Hellfire Club, Selene was somehow trapped inside the catacombs under the Club. However, she gained limited mobility from an alliance with Donald Pierce. When the X-Men, including Rachel Summers arrived, during a membership change in the Hellfire Club, Selene plotted to use Rachel to completely free herself. She followed Rachel to Hong Kong via a transport portal and saved her from being corrupted by a telepathic agent of Courtney Ross, who was trying to become the next White Queen. This move was only a prelude to Selene taking over Rachel's mind, but Marvel Girl was too strong for Selene and expelled her, keeping Selene trapped for a time beneath the Hellfire Club headquarters.[volume & issue needed]

After M-DayEdit

Selene was one of the few mutants to retain her powers after the events of M-Day.[13]

Selene, disguised as an old woman, befriends Wither and they live together in Mutant Town.[14] She encourages him to use his powers and not be afraid of his natural gifts. She then asks him if he would use his powers to save his or her life. She had been killing a large number of people by draining their life-forces, and during her last feeding her disguise was spotted by a witness. She reveals to Wither that Laurie has died, while he was away. Later she is attacked by the police and managed to kill two of them before being shot multiple times. Wither arrives and kills the other two officers, only for Selene to drop her disguise, telling him she is immortal and that they are two of a kind and should be together. She tells Wither that she will be his queen if he agrees, then kisses him, and he consents.[15]

Eli Bard's offeringEdit

Selene's relationship with Eli Bard is explained by Warpath to the other members of X-Force. It is revealed he had originally planned to sacrifice the Purifiers to Selene but changed his plans upon seeing Bastion reprogram an offspring of Magus. Using the Technarch transmode virus he reanimated the corpses in the burial grounds of the Apache tribe that he had decimated decades earlier along with Caliban. He presented them to Selene for the purpose of finding other dead mutants and resurrecting them by the same means, so that Bard can sacrifice them and their powers to her.[16]

NecroshaEdit

Main article: Necrosha

One week before the event of Necrosha, Selene has the recently resurrected Destiny brought before her where she asks what her future holds.[17]

Selene returns to the place of her birth in central Europe, accompanied by new Inner Circle, consisting of Blink, Senyaka, Mortis, Wither, and Eli Bard. She sets her plan into motion of becoming a goddess with her Inner Circle; they go to the New York branch of the Hellfire Club, where they slaughter everyone present. Selene then targets others who she feels have obstructed, or otherwise failed, her in her quest for divinity, namely Sebastian Shaw, Donald Pierce, Emma Frost (against whom she especially holds a grudge because of Frost's use of the "Black Queen" codename when working for the Dark X-Men), the X-Men, and Magma. Caliban and Thunderbird then lead her to the ruins of Genosha. Selene dubs the ruins Necrosha and swears that her journey will end here.[18] While most of the resurrected mutants attack the X-Men and Utopia, Selene is seen with Eli Bard resurrecting the massacred residents of Genosha, with Cerebro detecting the rise of mutant numbers in millions (the first life-signs detected by Bastion's computers include Spoor, Katu, Unus, REM-RAM, Static, and Barnacle).[19] There is a major problem though: a lot of the deceased have been depowered, despite having been killed BEFORE M-day. Wither and Mortis explain what happened and the Coven begins to set up base at Necrosha. It turns out that Selene can't do the ritual yet, because Eli Bard lost the knife that was required to do it. She then dispatches her crew and they end up taking the knife back, capturing Warpath in the process. Once Bard gives Selene the knife and proclaims his eternal love for her, Selene stabs Eli, killing him (much to Wither's delight). Warpath is eventually rescued by the Vanisher but Selene absorbs the many souls around her, turning light blue and growing in size. She finally becomes the goddess she had sought to be for so long. Turning to her followers, she commands them to get her more souls.[20] Warpath was able to destroy Selene by plunging his dagger into her chest, after teaching X-Force the Ghost Dance, a ritual meant to kill evil spirits such as Selene. Shocked that her moment of godhood was taken away so quickly, Selene explodes into rays of light.[20]

Sometime after Selene's death, Blink attempted to resurrect the Black Queen. Blink was eventually stopped by Emma Frost and a small team of X-Men (consisting of Blindfold, Pixie, Husk, Warpath) along with former Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange who managed successfully to purge Blink of Selene's corrupted influence.[21]

ReturnEdit

It was later revealed that Selene's body and soul had been preserved as airborne particles and somehow stored in stasis in a vault located somewhere in New York City. Lady Deathstrike and the Enchantress gained access to the vault and through the newly enhanced magic granted to her by the sentient virus, Arkea, she was able to fully restore Selene to physical life for the purpose of adding her to the newly formed Sisterhood of Mutants.[22]

Power EliteEdit

In the aftermath of the "Secret Empire," Selene has publicly become head of the White House's "Task Force of Faith-Based Initiatives", and joined the "Power Elite", an alliance of powerful people including Thunderbolt Ross, Baron von Strucker, and Alexa Lukin.[23] She also assisted in the resurrection of Alexa's husband Aleksander Lukin who also joined the Power Elite. Though the side-effect also revived a remnant of the Red Skull's mind that was in Aleksander.[24]

Dawn of XEdit

Selene was eventually welcomed to the new mutant island of Krakoa, created by Xavier, Magneto and Moira. She entered through the teleportation gateway alongside other villainous and fractious mutants, who had been invited to join the nation in order to heal mutantdom and start over as a whole species together.[25]

Selene alongside Emplate, had been tasked by Xavier with measuring the amount of psychic energy that Krakoa would take from its inhabitants. A similar protocol was put in place for them both as they also need to nourish on mutants for survival.[

[ask-jaghatai-khan]

The Mistbranch Grove

// Sylvaneth homebrew! Jumping from 40k into AoS I finally whipped up a faction that speaks to some of my favorite fantasy tropes, and I would be more than happy to collect if I had the money to do so.

Keepers of the Shrouded Nowhere, Dwellers in the Unknown Mists of Al’idhor, Protectors of the Well of Memories

History:

Long ago, in the Age of Myth, the goddess of life Alarielle was awakened by Sigmar the stormlord and began to wander through the mortal realms. While her favor lay in Ghyran, the realm of life, she sought to spread her bounty to all the eight worlds. It was by her craft that the soul-pods of the first Sylvaneth were grown anew out of memories of the World That Was, and set about tending to the lands of Ghyran in accordance with the Everqueen’s will. At the height of their power, Alarielle sent out expeditions from all those Realmgates under her possession, seeking to seed pure and nourishing life throughout all the lands.

In the realm of shadow, Ulgu, there emerged the Mistbranch Grove upon mysterious reaches known as the Silver Hinterlands. Cut off from the surrounding realm by strange and obscure mists, the Hinterlands were rich with magical energy that would allow for the first Ancients of the Mistbranch to set deep their roots. From a grim and shadowy land there sprung a new wealth of life, infusing the forests and highlands and showing to all who witnessed that no realm was without beauty, so long as the power of the Everqueen abided.

The Mistbranch drew their power from the artifact known as the Well of Memories, which the Wanderer Aelves named Gelemar, the Starlight Well. A vortex of life-giving energies, the Well not only allowed the soul-song of Ghyran to flow into the Hinterlands of Ulgu, but also allowed for that song to be carried up to the distant stars, and to High Azyr. It was the Branchwyches who mastered this craft, and though the Treelords and Arch-Revenants protected the old lore and the sacred wilds of the Hinterlands, the elder dryads became masters of sorcery and divine magics. They raised up the great tree Hithond about the Well, that mighty tower being itself but a reflection of the god-trees of Alarielle’s own realm.

But the glory of those times was not to last, for then came the Age of Chaos. By unknown craft were the servants of the Dark Gods able to breach the Mists of Al’idhnor, coming in great hordes from over the sea, the wastes, and the mountains. They cut back the expansive forests and burned the Sylvaneth’s sacred shrines, defiling the lands and returning them to naught but Shadow. With Ghyran under attack by the endless hosts of the Plague God, the Mistbranch Grove was left to defend the Well alone. For long ages did the Sylvaneth war against the tides of monsters, barbarians, beastmen, and daemons, until the Branchwyches devised a means to save their land. Drawing upon the power of the Well of Memories, the druids compelled the Mists of Al’idhnor to reject the intrusions into the Hinterlands and cut off the forests of the Mistbranch from any outsiders at all.

The repercussions of that ritual could not have been known at the time. Even the Sylvaneth elders did not realize the Mists themselves had an inscrutable will of their own. Once, the Mists had sought to draw in worthy souls to the Hinterlands that they might drink from the Well, empowering those noble heroes to spread wisdom throughout Ulgu and protect the Well in turn. Now, after their compulsion by the Branchwyches, the Mists turned to darker motives. Incensed at the invasion of their lands, the fog would allow no stranger into the hidden wilds – noble or otherwise. Instead, the Mists called out to the wicked, to the weak-willed, and to those with guilt and darkness in their souls. These damned individuals would be drawn into what was now known as the Shrouded Nowhere, to go mad and become prey for the Sylvaneth. Rather than be gifted with wisdom, their memories would be sapped, and their life essence drained to sustain the Well and the Realmroot.

Most of the Sylvaneth despaired at this development, as they had wished to share the beauty of their land with those who might appreciate it – who might have grown and been uplifted by the glory of Alarielle’s power. These tree-kin reached out to the tribes of Mist-Dweller Aelves and humans, guiding their sages through the Mists that some inkling of the Everqueen’s wisdom might be passed into the outside world. Others did not take so well to the change. Most awful among these was the Treelord known as Mornur, who was then after named Morraug the Terror. He remembered the defilements wreaked upon the Silver Hinterlands by outsiders, and grew to hate the quickbloods and all their ilk. His stretch of the western border-woods became a den of horror, and even other Sylvaneth were remiss to speak the name of the Terror.

Still, under the watchful guidance of Treelords like Brunorn, called the Elder, the Shrouded Nowhere maintains something of its ancient beauty. Within sprawling webs of roots there flow the energies of the Well of Memories, making the Nowhere a mighty nexus of magics. Revenant hosts may venture out wherever the Mists lead, singing the word of the Everqueen, and the Branchwyches may commune with great mystics of the other realms through their empowered rituals. Mortals are not inclined to trust the Mistbranch anymore, by virtue of their dark appearance and the reputation of their lands, but that has not stopped them from their queen-granted mission to aid in the spread of life, and maintain the balance of nature.

Notable Characters:

Brunorn the Elder

Brunorn is the oldest of all the Treelords in the Shrouded Nowhere, first among those Sylvaneth who first stepped from the Realm of Life through the Mists of Al’idhnor into the wastes of Ulgu. Most often he is simply called “The Elder”, for none in all Nowhere are so ancient as him. His form is that of a great and gnarled oak, and his heart is heavy with long eons of sorrow. The elder treeman remembers the time when the Silver Hinterlands were in bloom, mild and beautiful, and mortals could come and bask in their majesty, with their sages and heroes drinking deep of the Starlight Well. Still he has not given up faith, though he struggles ever with the fact that he may one day lose what hope he has left. Those who can survive in Nowhere long enough to find him might just be granted reprieve and salvation.

As the Lord of Clan Doroniaur, Brunorn is the leader of all Treelords in Nowhere, and guardian of the inner woodlands. Due to residing in Ulgu, summer is brief in the Mistbranch’s realm, and most of the year the land is grey and foggy. Brunorn claims stewardship over the passage of summer into autumn, and the care of the very oldest and most sacred things in his forest.

Morraug the Terror

Once known as Mornur, the being now known as The Terror was not always the subject of grim rumor and shiver-inducing tales. Mornur guarded the western borderlands, where the forests transitioned into the rolling uplands of the outer wastes, out to the cliffs of the sea. In his youth he met often with those wayward elves and humans who found themselves brought by the Mists to the outer reaches of the Silver Hinterlands, and he delighted in the sharing of stories and songs. However when the Great Shadow came from the Realm of Chaos, it was Mornur and his lands that suffered the most. The forests of Clan Edel’fae were cast into darkness and became as a graveyard. Mornur was changed then, coming to be known as Morraug, the Terror. Now he is a specter, a shade of vengeance that provides the greatest barrier to any mortals who dare intrude on the Sylvaneth’s lands. He does not remember the soul-song of Ghyran, and dwells always in the shadows, hungering for mortal flesh and souls.

Still the Terror leads the outcast Clan Edel, known sometimes as Edel’fae. Like all outcast Sylvaneth, the spirits of Edel are quite mad and vengeful, and delight not just in the slaying of trespassers, but in the slow destruction of mortal minds. Beneath the underbrush of the western border-woods there lay corpses thick as moss, and within the whorls of its twisted trees can be seen the faces of those wanderers, good or evil, who were driven to insanity and death by the predations of the Terror. Morraug believes that he acts in accordance with the Mists, and that the sacred lands will never be safe so long as the quickbloods are allowed their intrusions, though he has not turned against his brethren. He guards the passage of autumn into winter, the time of death, and his vicious nature is but another part of the world’s cycles.

Aelinde the Laysinger

The Branchwych known as Aelinde the Laysinger is eldest amongst all the dryads of the Shrouded Nowhere, and rivals even Brunorn in her years. She is a creature of great wisdom and power, having once held company with Alarielle herself, and holding deep memories of the beauty of Inner Ghyran. Now, Aelinde guards the Well of Memories, directing the rituals of her companion druids in harnessing and guiding the powers of that mystic font to protect the shrouded lands. It was she who compelled the spirits of the Well to turn back the dark tide of Chaos with violence, and to this day she struggles with the ramifications of her decision. Though unlike Brunorn or the Terror, she does not sway one way or another in terms of her feelings on mortals. To her, balance in nature is of the utmost importance, and her choice to turn the Silver Hinterlands into a realm of foreboding and gloom chafes more with her sense of duty than anything else.

Known as the Laysinger, Aelinde has perhaps one of the strongest connections to the soul-song of Alarielle, and is able to channel this attunement into her rituals about the Well. With her power she can reach across the realms, influencing the Mists even in their current state, and communing with powerful spirits from Ghyran and Azyr. She leads the Clan Luthan, also known as Luth’angol, which comprises the largest gatherings of the dryads and other spellsingers of the Mistbranch Grove. Aelinde is said to embody the tears of spring, when the very first droplets of warmth grace the dead season of winter.

Araseth the Wastewalker

Araseth is notable among the leaders of the Mistbranch in that as a revenant, he was once a mortal. His memories of such a time are dim and half-formed, though they still shape his personality. Once an Aelven bard, Araseth delighted the Everqueen with his sagas and recitations, and so was chosen to be born anew as a tree-revenant of the Sylvaneth. Now he leads the Shrouded Nowhere’s own wild hunt, traveling with the scouts and emissaries of the Grove through the outer wastelands and into the Mists of Al’idhnor. Still the call of wanderlust and adventure flows in Araseth’s half-living heart, and so he is the eyes and hands of the Misbranch beyond the borders of their realm. A being of strength, guile, and a surprising amount of charisma, Araseth can be both an omen of grim portent or an enchanting ally for those who happen to meet him.

Leading the Taurim Clan, Araseth guides the greatest proportion of the Grove’s revenants and outriders. Contrasting the ponderous gatherings of Clan Doroniaur’s Treelords, or the hordes of vicious dryads and spites of Edel and Luthan, the treeguard and hunters of the Taurim are much more akin to mortal warriors. They are disciplined yet boisterous, swift yet enduring, terrible yet honorable. For mortals who have never been to the Shrouded Nowhere, the impression of the Taurim hunt would be one more in line with most Sylvaneth clans – so long as they are not the target of the hunt itself. For those who fall so afoul of the Mistbranch that they must be hunted even beyond the Mists of Al’idhnor, there are few more terrifying experiences than the long pursuit of Araseth and his warriors. The Taurim are the passage of spring into summer, and the fury of that high season.

The Four Clans

Clan Doroniaur

Elder protectors of the deep forest, Clan Doroniaur holds the largest concentration of the Grove’s Treelords, all of whom defer to the wisdom of the ancient Brunorn. Doroniaur’s holdings lay in the deepest reaches of the Mistbrach’s forests, into the pine-strewn uplands, protecting the sacred lands of the Well.

Clan Edel

Under the will of the Terror, Clan Edel embodies all the horrors of the Shrouded Nowhere. Their forests lay in the western border-woods, where wanderers from the outer wastelands might stumble through the Mists right into their clutches. The Terror commands a great host of vicious dryads and spite-revenants, and Edel’s forces are known for their cunning approach to warfare that seeks to break the enemy’s will before landing the killing blow.

Clan Luthan

Wyches of the Well of Memories, Clan Luthan is the smallest of all in the Mistbranch Grove, yet perhaps the most powerful of all. They are the druids of the Well, and maintain its power and the balance it holds with the realmroot Hithond. Balance defines all that they do, for they are neither good nor evil, caring nor callous. It is their interest, under the direction of Aelinde the Laysinger, to ensure that the Shrouded Nowhere remains a point of power for the greater plans of the Everqueen.

Clan Taurim

Wanderers of the Wastes, Clan Taurim are the wild hunt, the outriders of the Mistbranch. By the guidance of Clan Luthan are the hosts of revenants, spites, and Kurnoth hunters able to move through the Mists of Al’idhnor and journey to faraway lands in the name of the Everqueen’s grand mission. Though the most warlike of all the clans, they are also the most diplomatic, as it is their purpose to interact with outside factions and see to the Grove’s interests abroad. To their foes, they carry the terror of Nowhere beyond the very borders of the Mists, yet to their allies they are as a blessing from Alarielle herself.

Geography of Nowhere:

The Shrouded Nowhere is an ill-defined subsection of the Realm of Shadow, Ulgu. Encircled in the thick Mists of Al’idhnor, access to the darkened woods are cut off from most means of conventional travel. Rather, any who pass through the Mists – whether they be near to the actual borders of Nowhere or in another part of Ulgu altogether – will find themselves transported into those hinterlands. While the Mistbranch have some degree of control over the Mists, they are as fickle an ally as they are useful a defence, and the accuracy of their teleportations cannot always be assured.

Most of Nowhere is wooded by thick and diverse forests, as is to be expected of Sylvaneth holdings. To the north and east the lands become hilly moving into mountainous, filled with upland pines all the way into the craggy heights of the impassible grey peaks. The lowlands are dominated by mossy arboreal forests, which to the south and west give way to expansive, open wastelands out to the foggy seas. Those wastes on the western border are highlands ending in cliffs, while to the south the beaches are shallower and broken by many islets. Deep within the center of the Mistbranch woods there grows the great tree Hithond the Realmroot, which drinks deep of the waters of the Well of Memories.

All manner of diverse life can be found within the Shrouded Nowhere, though like all creatures within Ulgu they are elusive and deceptive. Still the invigorating energies of the Sylvaneth have made the forests a menagerie of growth and bounty, even if those shaded boughs spell death for any mortal outsiders who wander in. Many ruins can be found scattered throughout the lands, some predating the age of the Sylvaneth and others more recent – leftovers of when Aelves and humans were permitted entry to the woods of the Mistbranch. Still within the outer wastelands there can be found semi-nomadic tribes of these two mortal races, who through faint druidic traditions or dark sorcery have retained memories of how to traverse the Mists. The Sylvaneth permit their presence so long as they do not enter the woods, as they provide a partial buffer against other roaming outsider groups.

Non-floral life is still abundant, though it is as mysterious as the Sylvaneth themselves. Great eagles, strange beasts of Ulgu, elemental spirits, and other elusive beings of nature call Nowhere home alongside their Mistbranch allies. Though the occasional corrupted monstrosity may be able to survive within the unseen depths of the wood, for the most part any mortal not allied with the forces of the Everqueen is sure to meet a quick death upon entering Sylvaneth lands uninvited.

Within the Mistbranch’s lands, the central and upland forests are considered the territories of Clan Doroniaur. The southern wastelands and parts of the western highlands are the hunting grounds of Clan Taurim, while the Realmroot and the lands about the Well of Memories are protected by Clan Luthan. Those darkened forests to the west, scarred by the arrival of Chaos so many ages ago, are the domain of the Terror, and none but the very oldest and most powerful of the Mistbranch dare enter.

Neighboring Factions:

Mist-Dweller Aelves

It used to be that the Aelven peoples were far more plentiful in the Silver Hinterlands, living with and learning from their Sylvaneth allies. However with the change that came over the Mists of Al’idhnor, the Aelves were driven out lest they be consumed by the Terror. Yet despite this, some of the druidic clans have retained knowledge of how to move within the Mists. Living a semi-nomadic existence in the outer wastelands and coasts, where the realm of Nowhere merges with other parts of ever-shifting Ulgu, these Aelves may still commune with the Mistbranch when seasons are favorable. Though none but their most venerable lords dare enter the woods anymore, the quickbloods may still serve the purposes of the Sylvaneth.

Tribes of the Shrouded Nowhere

Also among the wandering peoples who journey throughout the fluid mistlands are various tribes of humans. These peoples are given much less regard than even the Aelves, and a druid of one of the mortal tribes must show great promise and respect to be allowed within the Mistbranch’s territory. Most of these human clans are superstitious and fearful, making dark sacrifices to the Mistbranch and helping to turn away travelers who may find themselves transported through the Mists into the outer wastelands. Some of these tribes still worship the Shadow of Chaos, but even they dare not enter the woods in such small numbers, lest the Terror consume them body and soul. Some of these tribes are more developed, building hamlet settlements of Sigmarite influence on the far borders, while others are little more than barbarians.

The Voices in the Stars

Though the Well of Memories is most notable for providing a connection between the realms of Ghyran and Ulgu, it is also known as the Starlight Well, for its mystic powers are given stability and energy by the light of the heavens themselves. It was Aelinde the Laysinger who discovered the means to influence the Well’s soul-song to reach across the Mortal Realms, allowing her to perceive sights even in faraway planes such as Azyr. The Voices in the Stars are those beings Aelinde communes with – sages of the astral coldbloods, and mystics of the Stormlord’s kingdoms. On rare occasions, these beings may be summoned to the Nowhere at the behest of the Elders, even in these dark times. Ancient ruins scattered through the Mistbranch woodlands speak to civilizations even older than the trees – structures built by the Seraphon in their own ill-fated attempts to colonize distant realms. Though distrustful of outsiders, the Mistbranch realize the necessity of working with those beings the Everqueen has deemed allies.

Spirits of Nowhere

Within the forests of the Shrouded Nowhere there can be found many more beings of mystic natural power than the Sylvaneth alone. Among those venerable beings who hold to the Everqueen’s vision – whether native to Ulgu or brought from afar – there are such creatures as the reclusive Scuttle-Spite clans, the noble eagles of the eastern aeries, the naiads and elementals of the stones and waters, and the even such rare fauna as existed in times before the coming of the Mistbranch. Dreadful Great Serpents and the degenerate beach-shamblers move through the currents of the stormy coasts same as overland travelers might stumble through the Mists. So long as these beings respect the holdings of the Sylvaneth and hold neither ill will against the Everqueen nor common cause with the Shadow, they may move unimpeded through Nowhere. For those who wander too close to the Well, however, or into the darkened boughs of Edel lands, there can never be promise of protection.

Notable Events:

The Dawn of the Green Lay

In the Age of Myth, at the awakening of the goddess Alarielle, the first soul-pods of the Sylvaneth peoples are planted. At the height of their civilization in Ghyran, the Everqueen seeks to send out expeditions across the other Mortal Realms so as to seed them with new and flourishing life. Among those who journeyed into the obscure lands of Ulgu, the realm of shadow, there came the Treelord Brunorn. Discovering the Silver Hinterlands and the mystic Well of Memories within its forgotten, ruined wastes, the Sylvaneth began planting what was to become the Mistbranch Grove.

The Silver Hinterlands prove to be a somber place, but Brunorn sees in them great beauty, and the Branchwych Aelinde is able to gather depths of natural power from the arcane Well. Flourishing, the Mistbranch lands become a haven for those seeking wisdom in the harrowing realm of shadow. The Four Clans see to the growth of their people, and the bounty of the Age of Myth’s height are enjoyed by all.

The Shadow Comes

Peace is never to last so long as Chaos exists just beyond the veil of the world. At the will of the Dark Gods and their tyrannical Everchosen, the forces of the Great Shadow pour out from the Realm of Chaos to bring death and doom to all non-believers. Brought through the placid Mists by dark sorceries and divine guidance, droves of monsters and barbarians invade the Silver Hinterlands from over the seas and through the mountain clefts. Reavers and wizards, beastmen and daemons – the horrors set alight the woods of the Mistbranch and sought to corrupt their sacred Well with the rotting husk of Hithond the Realmroot.

Drawing upon all her powers, Aelinde the Laysinger compels the once-peaceful Mists to turn back the tide by any means necessary. The Mistbranch are saved, but at great cost. A change comes over the Mists, turning their subtle intentions malevolent and cruel. Cut off the from the majority of trade with the outside world, the Hinterlands become known as the Shrouded Nowhere. Few who are not Sylvaneth remain in those reaches, and soon many begin to hear the terrible stories carried out of that once-peaceful realm.

The Saga of King Svein Doomtouched

Many ages later, true war comes again to the forgotten lands of the Mistbranch. Compelled by visions from his dark masters, the grand chieftain Svein Doomtouched leads a fleet to the foggy shores of Nowhere, seeking the power of the Well of Memories. At once, his Chaotic warband begins pillaging the forest borders, and killing any they encounter – yet despite what tales Svein has heard, he sees nothing of the fabled Sylvaneth.

Moving into the woodlands on the western border, what ensues for the Doomtouched is a nightmare. The barbarians are assailed from all sides by unseen attackers, and they are picked off piecemeal during their long trek through the forest. Warriors and shamans alike are driven mad by terrible visions, and bloodthirsty berserkers find their strength and wills sapped day by day, until the remaining members of Svein’s horde are pleading with their lord to give up the pursuit. Attempting to breach the inner forests, the warband travels in circles despite the guidance of their best hunters, stumbling upon crooked trees in whose bark can be seen the faces of comrades thought lost. Scouts report great shadows moving between the trunks, and the feeling of being watched in unceasing. At last, Svein finds himself alone, and the Terror reveals himself at last. What horrible fate the outcast lord of the forests subjected that barbarian king to is unknown, but thus ends the saga of the Doomtouched.

Myths of Ulgu

In the many centuries since the shrouding of the Mistbranch’s lands, the Grove itself has fallen into legend for those within the realm of shadow. Few remember the Silver Hinterlands save for those who once walked there. None can pass over the high mountains, and travelers who find themselves drawn through the Mists over sea or across the wastelands may not realize the terrible threshold they have crossed until it is too late. At the very fringes of Nowhere there still exist communities of wayward mortals – fearful souls who cower at the passing of the wild hunt, and dare not enter the woods, even though they have few means to escape the Mists that drew in them or their ancestors. More spiritual groups may still hold communion with the Sylvaneth, but it was not until the dawning of the Age of Sigmar that the true forces of the Mistbranch began riding out once again. For the first time in millennia, monsters and mortals who have never beheld the placid landscapes of Nowhere find themselves encountering beings such as the riders of the Taurim, or the shades of Edel. In the Sylvaneths’ hearts there has come a time for vengeance – to once again spread the glory of the Everqueen to all lands, no matter how grim, just as the Everchosen once spread his darkness into their own sacred groves.