#Exile and Return

[compassionmattersmost]

Ramayana No. 2: Ayodhya—The Unsubdued Kingdom Within

Rama’s Exile and Our Spiritual Journey: Reclaiming the Pristine Mind As I sit with the first chapter of the Ramayana, I find myself drawn to the idea of Ayodhya—the city that cannot be subdued by war. This simple yet profound description speaks to something deeper, something within each of us that remains untouched by the chaos of the world. Ayodhya, the capital of King Dasharatha’s kingdom, is…

[teaableu]

Cringe duo

Me🤝 somni

One SHOULD fight Usagi

Bonus future Usagi with future Raph:

[louvaints]

George Seferis, tr. by Edmund Keeley & Philip Sherrard from, “The Return of the Exile.” [ID in alt text]

[ask-the-pioneer]

Why weren’t you and your sibling born into a colony?

"I… don't know… I never asked. I was young and just accepted everything at face value. Hell, I didn't know slugcats live in colonies until much later in my life".

"Why did mom decide to raise me and my sibling outside of one... I will probably never know, even if I wanted to".

With a defeated look on her face, Marbles' eyes drop to the floor. A big part of her still misses her mother and sibling, but secretly she dreads to find out the family's true fate. If they really are gone for good... the pain of knowing would be too much to bear.

[gingermintpepper]

There are many things people expect from one called 'God of Blood'. Always, the first thought is the blood of war, the blood of violence, the blood of the weak shed for the goals of the strong. Ares doesn't think of the blood of battle at all. When he thinks of blood, he envisions the many tied knots of blood bonds and bonds forged in the blood of battle. Blood sons and blood daughters, blood brothers and battle sisters, blood oaths and blood vengeance - he watches over them all and keeps close each one of these bonds.

One cannot begrudge his displeasure then when he realises he cannot tell Leto's offspring apart just by looking at them.

It was easier when it was just Artemis. Dark hair curled about her shoulders, a fierce mien whenever Father summons her to the mountain, a scattering of bones and blood shed whenever she was disturbed; the eldest child of Leto was a wild thing, sharp toothed with sharper claws always at the ready. There's whispers of her being a twin, of her other half being made to crawl on their belly as penance for their sin of god-slaying but Ares pays it little mind. What twins look alike among their number? Even dog litters are born distinct with all their unique markings inlaid in their fur. Artemis' twin too would be much more than their sister's mirror image.

Pouring over his list now, he wishes anything about Phoebus Apollo was that simple.

Mirror image did not begin to describe it. The twins were the same height, the same build, had the same colour and texture hair, ate the same raw food and drank the same amount of nectar. There was no difference in how they dressed, no difference in the company they kept, no variance in the weapons they used. There are some days Ares still cannot believe Phoebus will grow into a man and not some nymph with the way his ears have that slender point. He watches them now, sitting together beneath a shady palm and stringing their bows in an uncanny unison and curses because he still cannot tell them apart. What use is his skill in knowing blood when they both have the same damn blood running through their veins? What bond is there to sense when they are tied so tightly together, Ares can scarcely tell brother from sister?

He sighs. Unadorned and completely alone, the only way to know who is who is to speak to them. He'll have to find more ways to tell them apart from a distance. Surely they cannot stay this similar all the rest of their immortal lives.

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I Can and I Will

Source: I Can and I Will

[crowhoonter]

KotOR's Sith vs SWtOR's Empire

It's rather interesting to look at the "True Sith" as described by Kreia in KotOR 2 vs the Sith Empire we got in SWtOR. Back in KotOR, the True Sith were implied to be something near cosmic horror. Beings that had been changed by the Dark Side beyond any convention of human understanding, things that could no longer be reasoned or compromised with in any fashion, and would very possibly pose a threat to all life when they returned. Granted, what we know of them from KotOR is part conjecture and most of it comes from Kreia, who is an untrustworthy source at the best of times.

Then SWtOR roles around with the Sith Empire and they are... very much not that. They are a functioning, if dystopian, society with actual values and culture. They have wants and desires, goals outside just blind slaughter and killing. Y'know, like real people. Granted, I suppose the threat to all life did carry over with Vitiate and his whole deal, but he hardly is representative of everyone in the Empire. He is just a freak like that.

This drastic change in portrayal does make sense when you look at the writing teams goals with the faction. Obsidian and Chris Avellone in particular wanted to make a major big bad for what they thought would be the upcoming KotOR 3 (may it rest in peace), and wanted that threat to be something different than the typical Star Wars fanfare. As we know however, KotOR 3 never got made and instead became SWtOR, and Bioware wanted to make it palatable to more general audiences so they copy-pasted the Galactic Empire over into the past with some minor changes.

Of course, in doing this, they could no longer follow with the original idea of the True Sith. Making an entire society innately evil and desiring to wipe out all life has some... icky implications. So instead we got the Sith Empire, a still terrible and evil state, but one that is an actual society. The True Sith of KotOR were just made into one man, Vitiate, and everyone else in the empire is a mostly normal person, or as close as they can be to being normal.

While I would have loved to see the original vision of the True Sith, I can't help but believe the Sith Empire is the better than what we would've gotten. Vitiate, being honest, sucks as an antagonist. He's boring, uninspired, and lacks the charisma that made Palpatine fun. He got a bit better in Knights of the Fallen Empire, but still was overall underwhelming. I can't imagine something where legions of people like him are the main antagonist. The conflict would probably be reminiscent of the Fate of the Jedi books once Abeloth got introduced. Boring, impersonal, and just tedious to get through.

Granted, a villain like that can be done well, as exemplified by KotOR 2's own Darth Nihilus. He works because he is completely void. Nihilus' discerning feature is his lack of personality, being subsumed into his own hunger. Power has destroyed and reduced him, but even in such a state, you can make out the faint outline of the man he once was. His last shred of humanity showing through when he spared Visas Marr. A twisted sense of compassion, but compassion nonetheless. He is tragic, but still thoroughly inhuman and evil. The problem would arise in trying to make legions of characters like this. It would wear thin fast.

Side tangent aside, I really love the Sith Empire we got. It is, as of now, maybe the most complex view we have gotten of the Sith outside of books. They are still thoroughly evil, but it gives some insight into what made them into that. Whether it be trauma, ambition, grief, or even a sense of duty, the Sith have actual motivations besides kill and rule. It demonstrates that at their core, they are still people, not just evil caricatures.

This got longer than I expected, sorry about that. Just have a lot of thoughts about these fellas.

[mossy-chaos]

Everyone is finally out of exile

Grian realized that it went too far (but only AFTER everyone was exiled)

And cub was not letting anyone have peace (even tho that was kinda the point of exile)

And now Grian has lost his job again (this time permanently)

The permit office is closed for good.

SO NOW WE CAN GET MORE SNAIL SILLINESS WOOOOOOOOO

[animatedjen]

They say a blind Jedi haunts the ruins of Jedha. [part 1]

[vertigoartgore]

Scarlet Spider/Ben Reilly by artist Steven Butler. From the cover of 1994's Web of Spider-Man #118 (turning 30 today, feel old yet ?).

Web of Spider-Man Vol.1 #118 release date : September 6 1994

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I Can and I Will

Source: I Can and I Will

[etirabys]

three posts exiled to drafts in a row, that means it's time to log off

[dawntread]

when you come to take my soul, take it, take it far away

[thedragonagelesbian]

the anderfels should be like that one town in curse of strahd that's holding non fucking stop festivals. there's at least one holy day every week, birth & ascension & death days for all the divines, and you would not believe what they've done with the herald of andraste up here. if in the year 9:44 your chantry doesn't have at least one hand relic can you even really call yourselves andrastian.

[snowquills]

proseka dump for the bday <3

[eri-pl]

So, Vanyar are the good guys, right?

The boring, faultless Elves?

...except that part where Ingwë (that's the Vanyar king, right? I tend to mistake him with the Teleri one) plays matchmaker so that his sister could marry Finwë despite the fact that Finwë has a wife (who is dead but anyway) and we all know how it ended.

Seriously. In one of the alternate tellings of the story, he knows Indis loves Fnwë, he invites Finwë for a visit and tells Indis to go sing on (the mountain? a balcony? anyway somewhere) and Finwë falls in love and this looks very much planned.

Which is just

just

it was even before the Valar said that Finwë can divorce, that this is even a possibility.

Since I learned about that I have a strong hc that many Vanyar are very "letter of the law", "if it's not forbidden, it is ok" kind of persons, while simultanously blaming the Teleri for not going to Aman fast enough and the Noldor for leaving (I'm not even talking murder, just leaving would be enough) and if they got whatever terrible order signed by the Valar, they would do it without question.

[local-limebug]

i hate MANY things about how angsty the s'chn t'gai family's canon is but i think my main issue with it is that it really makes a "jim meets spock's siblings" scenario impossible because of the timelines

(p.s. if you know any fics of jim meeting spock's siblings, send them my way pls)