#His species are all both male and female so. It’s lore correct

[bookshelfpassageway]

managed to get some loose doodles in during D&D tonight, on a topic that’s been conceptually bouncing around my brain. Tumblr probably murdered the quality in the dashboard view hhghhhhh…

what if the creatures of Hunters Unlucky had Shelts (faunlike creatures) in the style of Wefrivain/Panamindorah?

First one’s a possible version of the Telshee, Keesha. Probably being a nosy nuisance on purpose to an offscreen Arcove. Long white hair on this species seems fitting, they’re sirens after all, as does the beard for someone who is the eldest waking Telshee. Big pupils for underwater eyesight, and a slightly greyer skintone like a seal’s. Clothes omitted because I can't think of any that wouldn't get in the way of swimming good, and it fits the mythical creature feel.

Second one’s a foraging Ferryshaft. Probably pretty thin and leggy fauns, even if a bit small. They’d make a weird faun that’d be hard for people to categorize, with their animal counterparts being omnivores that hunt and having the more wolfish tail. Braid for practicality, and loose simple clothes that allow for a good range of motion, and running. I started coloring him and then realized due to palette and clothing choices they accidentally look exactly like one of my own characters, so I just leaned into that. Their name is Virgil.

[chattercap]

Kanau Postmortem!

​Hello everyone, it’s Chattercap!

Thank you to everyone who played Kanau! I’m really grateful that you gave it a chance 😭 since it is quite different from Karamu in terms of content and tone! Note that I’ll be spoiling Kanau in my thoughts/reflections below, so be careful if you haven’t played it! 

(Spoilers below!)

When I first conceived "Karamu," it was just going to be a short, one and done mystery for Otome Jam—a simple story centered around a couple interesting twists. However, when I was done with it, I found myself still interested in the story of Raku and Nelli, and I wasn't quite satisfied with where I left it. I kept thinking about why exactly they did the things they did, and what kinds of experiences would lead to such twisted adults.

The story in Kanau is actually one that I describe in Karamu, hinted at in vague descriptions. In Karamu, Nelli briefly reminisces about her childhood - finding solace in the fact that one day her father left and never returned. Raku also recounts an instance where Nelli showed kindness to a spider missing three legs. Nelli doesn't remember the incident, thinking that it happened in the last couple years, but in reality it happened QUITE a long time ago - 11 years, in fact.

Kanau is (for better or worse) Raku's "coming of age" story, haha! Both literally (as he undergoes his family's "ritual of adulthood") and metaphorically. Throughout the story, Raku struggles between his own identity and the "Kumode" identity. At the end, he finds a compromise, and this compromise is both a triumph and a tragedy - he makes his own decision, but it’s a decision that brings him right back into the arms of his abusers. I hope that after playing Kanau, it’s a bit easier to see how Raku and Nelli evolved into the adults they become in Karamu - and why they chose to do the things that they did.

The title, "Kanau," refers to the word 叶う in Japanese. It means "to come true/to be fulfilled" - as in "a wish or prayer coming true/being fulfilled." It's a reference to Raku and Nelli's parallel wishes/prayers - to be free from the abusive households that they're trapped in. Ultimately, Raku is unable to fulfill his own wish—to break free from his abuse. However, he still finds comfort in being able to fulfill Nelli's wish, the prayer that she thought that no one could hear (now...whether he went about that in the CORRECT way is, uh, up to interpretation). 

(For anyone that wants more details on the spidey lore - in the Karamu universe, there are no males other than Raku in the main line of the Kumode family! The females seduce human males and eat them after the deed is done. This is based both on jorogumo lore - where the spider demons seduce and then eat their human victims - as well as regular ol' spider lore! In some spider species, the female consumes the male after procreating. This is actually the origin of the name "black widow spider," although a lot of species of black widows don't actually practice sexual cannibalism.)

Regarding the topic of child abuse, I hope that I tackled it with sensitivity. I knew going into it that this was going to be a sensitive subject, moreso because the main overarching theme of the trilogy is trust and healing from trauma. Above all else I really wanted to avoid using child abuse for “shock value.” Hence why a lot of Nelli’s abuse takes place completely off screen, and you only see the effects it has on her. This is also why the few instances of abuse that do happen on screen are portrayed in silhouette (with the only really graphic image being an abuser’s comeuppance). 

There’s one more installment planned in this series! Hanasu (the third and final entry) will take place a few months after the events of Karamu (canonically, after the events of Ending D)! I think that Kanau is actually a decent standalone story, and, when viewed through this lens, the ending is happy; Raku and Nelli are free from their abusers, immersed in a world full of “color.” However, that ending is a sweet lie. It’s the ending that Raku wants to believe—that he “saved” this girl. But, of course, if you’ve played Karamu, you know that isn’t really true. After all, healthy people don’t do the things that Nelli does. Regardless of what Raku wants to believe, killing her father didn't "fix" Nelli. He freed her from the shackles of her abuser, but not the shackles of her abuse. The ghosts of her experiences haunt her into adulthood, tainting her view of her world, her relationships, and herself. And, of course, Raku is still under his family’s thumb, and he has lingering issues of his own. You can expect to see the resolution to these threads in Hanasu! (Will that resolution be sweet or bitter, I wonder?) 

I was originally planning to jump straight into Hanasu after developing Kanau, but after some consideration, I decided to let it cook a little more. I’d like to take my time with this project, both in terms of script and art—it is the last time I’ll be seeing these characters, after all, and I’d like to give them the resolution that they deserve. I’m currently tackling my biggest project (a fantasy/mystery story—with one love interest that’s pretty similar to Raku *wink wink nudge nudge*), and while I planned to develop the titles concurrently, I don’t want to divide my time and attention. I currently plan to finish the script for Hanasu this month, and I’ll start working on it in earnest later this summer. 

If you’re interested in seeing updates about Hanasu (and my other projects), I post most of my major announcements on here and Twitter. I also post frequently on my Patreon with sketches, writing snippets, sneak peeks, high resolution art, and weekly devlogs.​

Chattercap

[leafy-ocean]

GUIDE TO QUABBI!

Hello!

You may have been browsing my blog so far, and have noticed that my species of fursona isn't a common one. You would be quite correct! Here is a huge dump of info on my fursona, his species, and his lore, thus far:

You see, my fursona is something I made up myself. The original species I came up with is called the Quabbi, or individually, a quabbit. Their species resembles a cat, rabbit, dolphin and human hybrid, but in the lore I have created, they in fact come from a close galaxy nearby, the Andromeda galaxy. They live in a galaxy similar to ours, with one sun, a few planets here and there. Right in the sweet spot is a planet called Deheldio. On Deheldio, the quabbits thrive as the main species of their planet. Their culture centers around agriculture, peace, and have been fascinated by space since their species gained sentience. The quabbit species have a lifespan of slightly double a human's, ranging 200-250 years, but their way of aging is much different to ours. They reach maturity around age 18 like humans do, but then they don't begin to show signs of aging til the late 200's. This makes innovation a whole different level of complex; you have minds aged decades upon decades working on the same ideas of those born in the last two. It made progression much more dramatic, yet streamlined between the best connections. In this universe, it is a parallel universe of Futurama. In the year 3069, Rio Geo's grandfather, who was the president of the planet of the time, made a peace treaty between Earth and Deheldio; By throwing the largest orgy in human history. Initially, humans discovered Deheldio and wanted to claim the planet as their own, but Rio Geo's grandfather convinced Zapp Brannigan himself to throw such a historical orgy. Rio never met his grandfather because he was born in the year 3399, but learned about him in school growing up and idolized him. Since quabbi breed so much, living in families of 3-5 adults and 5-12 children at a time, it was common to be related to historical figures.

In this lore, Rio exists in the year 3420. He works at "Space Amazon," ran by the head in a jar, Elon Musk. The head of Jeff Bezos sold it to him in the year 3402, and ever since Elon has made it a requirement to post updates and selfies to twitter, to make sure you are at work doing your tasks. At space amazon, you are assigned a one-man delivery ship to do your daily tasks and deliveries, and though it may be full time and a pain in the ass, Rio accepts it. Better pay than his planet, he always says. Since he began working there, he was able to save up for his own ship, complete with a kitchenette, full bathroom, living room with a huge TV, and 3 bedrooms, which is like heaven for a quabbit. Here he resides with his partner, Jak Rue, traveling space together. While Rio works, Jak works from "home" as a interstellar web designer. He designs and presents websites, programs, games, training exercises, and can facilitate 3d simulations and more from his own high-tech holo-top (like a laptop but its phone sized and projects the screen and keyboard and mouse) without needing to move. However, this doesn't stop him from being active; He is the most neat and articulated quabbit Rio has ever met. When Jak is not working, he's cleaning, cooking, exercising, gaming on the 3d-rig, or working on anything the ship may need working on. Without Jak, Rio couldn't have gotten this far, and vice versa. Their companionship is stronger than gravity in a black hole.

Quabbits have a unique set of reproductive quirks. All quabbi are born with both a vagina and penis. the only defining characteristics that a human could catagorize as male or female would be that "females" have breasts to feed their young, but other than that there is not a huge difference between the defined sexes. On Deheldio, gender is a much more nuanced concept, and much less important to consider in daily life. It's more about comfort and expression to the quabbi. Quabbi also lay eggs every month or so.

Quabbi also have several different traits that can be seen as "rare," as shown in this chart:

About 80% of the population is shown in green, 10% in yellow, 7% in orange, and 3% in red.

Here are two reference sheets that show these traits highlighted:

I hope this was helpful with explaining how my fursona works! if you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an ask, and I'll reply and/or update this post accordingly! Til then, Thank you for reading and I hope you make a quabbit of your own! (tag me if you do!)

[eloarei]

The possibility of sexual reproduction in super mutants (Fallout essay, 1669 words)

The goal of this essay: to support my hypothesis/headcanon (and fanfic plot, *cough*) that super mutants in the Fallout universe (primarily Fallout 3) would be capable of sustaining romantic/sexual relationships, and may be able to sexually reproduce. The TL;DR of it? Fallout is sci-fi, crazy science is a mess, and life finds a way.   Fallout is a popular video game series which has undergone multiple development and management changes since its inception, and therefore has varied lore, which sometimes contradicts itself from one game to the next (or even within games). Furthermore, though many aspects of the lore are well accepted by the community, much of it seems to have been designed to be ambiguous, lending the world a sense of realism, and safeguarding the writers from having to retcon (as much of) their previous work in the next installments.   Chief among ‘well-accepted’ lore are the details about the super mutants. Generally large, green, and violent, super mutants were created by exposing humans to the FEV, or “Forced Evolutionary Virus”, or a derivative of it. They completely lack sexual dimorphism (meaning that males and females appear the same), and are sterile. 

  Many fans (including myself) have not played the original pre-Bethesda Fallout games, so I will be focusing primarily on the mutants from Fallout 3, the “Vault 87 variant”, but addressing how previous and subsequent games’ lore might tie in. All knowledge of previous games is pulled from Wiki.   My hypothesis (headcanon) is that some mutants (among them Fawkes) would be capable of sustaining romantic/sexual relationships, and possibly producing offspring.   The commonly accepted reasons why mutants (especially Vault 87 mutants) cannot reproduce: 1. Scientific notes found in Vault 87 detail the process of transforming a human into a mutant. They state that the subjects lose “most of their visible female/male indicators”, “transforming them almost to an asexual state”. 2. No evidence for super mutant reproduction has ever been reported or rumored. 3. According to the Wiki, “Mariposa mutants” (from the earlier Fallout games) are stated to be sterile.   This leads to the reasonable conclusion that “V.87” mutants are not capable of reproducing. But let me state several more pieces of lore: 1. Vault 87 did not use the same strain of FEV (the original strain) that Mariposa used (in previous games). They used a variant for their EEP (“Evolutionary Experimentation Program”). They also used a different method of introducing the virus. While Mariposa apparently dipped their subjects into vats, Vault 87 exposed their subjects to an aerosolized virus. 2. Mariposa mutants are said to have retained primary sexual characteristics (penis/testicles, vagina/uterus), and are implied to be as interested in sex as normal humans are. 3. The FEV virus supposedly works best on human subjects with the least amount of radiation damage. (4. Related to a tangent, but V.87 mutants are said to continuously increase in size and decrease in intelligence as they age, resulting in dangerous super mutant behemoths.)   Now let us look at the specific example of the mutant character Fawkes, from Fallout 3. LW (“Lone Wanderer”, the player character) finds him in Vault 87, where he has been imprisoned for some time. He begs you to release him in exchange for his assistance. Fawkes (a name he gave himself) is unique in his interest/ability to speak properly, and in his lack of aggression. He claims that the other mutants imprisoned him for his differences, and that he trained his mind by reading on a computer console. He wears a tattered vault suit, and mentions a vague memory of seeing Vault 87 when it was still clean and full of humans in vault suits, indicating that he has lived there since before the vault’s failure, which is implied to have been fairly early on. It is generally accepted that he was born before the bombs fell, making him over 200 years old.   This brings me to my tangential ‘lore point 4’, which says that old super mutants become large and dumb. Fawkes is of average size (for a mutant), and above average intelligence, though he is likely one of the oldest mutants in existence. Therefore, the lore about behemoths cannot be entirely true, rendering much of the other lore less reliable. Alternately, both points can remain true if we take into account ‘lore point 3’, which says that the “best” super mutants (the most intelligent, most correct mutants, made as they were apparently intended to be) come from subjects without radiation damage.   If this is the case, and Fawkes was born pre-war, it explains his intelligence and lack of aggression, as well as his stable size. It does not, however, explain why supposedly all of Vault 87’s initial experiments turned stupid and hostile, creating a potential plot hole. We may then have to accept that too much is unknown (and was unknown by the scientists as well) about the entire process, and what exactly about the EEP virus differed from the initial FEV.   Returning to the argument about why super mutants cannot reproduce, let me address the ‘commonly accepted reasons’: 1. Subjects lose “most of their visible female/male indicators”, “transforming them almost to an asexual state”.   ---The issue here is largely in wording. First and foremost is “visible indicators”. Humans have something called “sexual dimorphism”, which means that you can tell male and female apart visually, without looking at genitals. Things like breasts, facial hair, basic body shape, and even voice are indicators, differences which many species do not have. Losing visible indicators most likely means this loss of sexual dimorphism. Furthermore, the note says “most”, implying that some visible indicators remain. The remaining indicators are likely to be genitals, as nothing else seems to remain.   The phrase “asexual state” is complicated, but the most important part is “almost”. To say that they have transformed to seem ‘almost nonsexual’ is not a very scientific statement, and probably not backed up by any further research. The fact that the scientists could barely get the subjects to cooperate (to the point where most of their subjects were euthanized) implies that they were unlikely to do any careful study of the subjects’ genitals, let alone their hormonal state or sexual inclinations.   Furthermore, even scientists are capable of making mistakes or failing to properly understand the complexities of the results of such experimental efforts. The few paragraphs of data to be found on Vault 87 terminals is by no means a comprehensive report of a wide clinical study. 2. No evidence for super mutant reproduction has ever been reported or rumored.   --- Frankly, there isn’t much to say about this. A lack of anecdotal evidence certainly implies that such a phenomenon would be very uncommon, but not that it is impossible. 3. According to the Wiki, “Mariposa mutants” (from the earlier Fallout games) are stated to be sterile.   --- According to the Wiki, “FEV perceives gametes as damaged DNA and corrects them”, gametes being reproductive cells such as sperm and eggs. “Correcting them” likely means returning the ‘missing’ chromosome, to return the haploid gametes to a regular diploid cell. If sex cells were diploid, that would result in an offspring with 92 chromosomes (if both parents were mutants; 69 ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) if one was human), which would “probably die” before birth. It can be assumed that this is true for Mariposa mutants, who were apparently otherwise capable of romantic/sexual relationships, and likely would have reproduced if possible. However, due to the unpredictable and unknown nature of the EEP virus, it is possible that this does not apply to mutants who originated from Vault 87.   Even if V.87 mutants do have diploid sex cells, it is not completely impossible that reproduction could occur. Rare cases have shown supposedly-sterile mules to be able to reproduce, because their gametes decided to contribute only the chromosomes received from one of their parents. While a ‘properly functioning’ FEV should stop such randomness from occurring, the experimental nature of the virus does not necessarily guarantee such an outcome.   Ultimately, the answer largely comes down to that: the unpredictability of the FEV virus. The FEV (and its EEP variant) have seemed to produce consistent, hardy, and homogenous results for over 200 years, but the existence of several unexplainable outliers (such as Fawkes) heavily implies that it is not immune to failure or change, for any of a variety of reasons, including but not limited to: human subjects’ natural immunities; improper administration of the virus; or the virus’ natural evolution. After all, if FEV is truly a virus, then it is a living thing, and living things naturally desire to propagate.   The fact that Fawkes is already an outlier compared to his V.87 brethren makes it statistically likely for any other FEV deviations to occur in him as well. Such hidden deviations may already be contributing factors to his uniqueness (and the uniqueness of the few other non-aggressive mutants).   In conclusion, the extremely experimental nature of the FEV and EEP virus (and the relative lack of scientists able to continue study as time passed), as well as the chaotic nature of the Fallout universe, make it difficult to say that any scientific or biological feat is truly “impossible”. The hardiness of the wasteland’s mutant creatures combined with the standard biological imperative to survive and to propagate paints an optimistic picture for the possibility of reproduction for any creature, and the many remaining “human” qualities shown by Fawkes and other non-aggressive super mutants could potentially indicate those subjects’ likelihood of advancing their species through natural means.   Most notably, the possibility of such a thing remains especially because of the sci-fi sandbox in which they live, where rules are at most implied, and often changed for entertainment purposes. But even within the constraints of what we know of the Fallout Wasteland, super mutant reproduction stands a slim but non-zero chance, and mutants conducting romantic/sexual relationships is not at all improbable (only statistically unlikely).  Thanks for reading! Have a shameless plug: I write sappy Fawkes/Lone Wanderer romance fics on AO3! 

[simulacrumcfp]

CALL FOR PAPERS: MYTHS

Two mermaids, from Apocalypse, Prophecy of the Tiburtine Sibyl, Harley MS 4972 f. 20r, 1275-1325.

He placed one hand upon my shoulder and, holding me tight, bared my throat with the other, saying as he did so: “First, a little refreshment to reward my exertions. You may as well be quiet; it is not the first time, or the second, that your veins have appeased my thirst!” 

Lucy’s eyes were unclean […], instead of pure.

Poor Lucy finds herself tainted by the bite of Count Dracula, an aristocratic Transylvanian vampire that is thirsty for blood, out to export his barbaric ways to Victorian England. In his Dracula (1897), Bram Stoker utilises the myth of the vampire to warn the Victorian reader of the Eastern threat, by portraying Eastern Europe as a place of backwardness and barbaric – vampiristic – rituals. Myths about vampires have been around since the medieval period, when they were commonly linked to profanity. Stoker’s Dracula is the resurrection of a mythological figure, one that can be guided in all sorts of directions, for what was once the myth of the undead has come to represent the fears and threats of the time in which they are resurrected. 

Since ancient times, myths have spoken of the how’s and why’s located at the limits of human understanding, designating that place where intellect fails. There, where knowers stop knowing, we story. In The World of Myth (1990) David Leeming writes that ‘human beings have traditionally used stories to describe or explain things they could not otherwise,’ pointing to the timeless human tendency to grapple with the unknown through story. The myth functions as the means by which we relate to the unknown, embodying our wonderings of the worlds beyond human ratio. 

These stories are then conveyed through artworks, literature, history, or religion. Myths, however, do not just function as a source of inspiration for the arts, but often find their origin in art, spreading, evolving, and growing with different art forms and styles. The Venus Anadyomene, for example, first emerged from the sea in the Theogony – a poem by Hesiod from the 8th century BC. This specific depiction of Venus, daughter of Jupiter and Dione, as birthed by the sea was then made famous by the painting by Apelles (4th century BC). Although this painting has long been lost, it was described by Pliny in his Naturalis Historia (1st century AD), which served as an iconological guidebook for artists. From the orators who tell and retell their stories throughout generations, to the poets who write them down, to the sculptors who carve them out, stories are kept alive. To this day, Venus is most commonly known as the goddess who rose from the sea. 

In the Danish fairytale Den Lille Havfrue (1837) by Hans Christian Andersen, sea foam is not where love is born, but where love goes to die. In the Walt Disney adaptation of the fairytale, The Little Mermaid (1989), mermaid princess Ariel, daughter of king Triton, falls in love with a human prince and gives up her tail to be with him. In the original, quite grim, fairytale by Andersen, the little mermaid finds her prince lying with another. She refuses to stab the lovers to death, as her sisters urge her to, and as a result of her broken heart she dissolves in the foam of the waves. 

In Japan, ancient folklore is being retold to a modern audience through the films by Hayao Miyazaki. His Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away, 2001) animates kami, spirits, washing themselves in a bathhouse as a result of pollution and human activity. This mirrors the Shinto belief that both gods and nature have to be respected and kept clean, and serves as a modern warning. Their demonic counterparts, the oni, take form in the character of Yubaba, who is based on the archetype of the mountain witch, or yumuaba. By taking Japanese mythology as a starting point, Miyazaki is able to create a fantasy-scape: a place where the unthinkable becomes possible. 

Perhaps our first association with mythology brings us back to Ancient Greece. But for them, μῦθος simply meant a story – whether a true or false one, gossip, a historical tale or one of faeries, even a dream. Mῦθος and λόγος, two seemingly opposite terms, fantasy and reason, come together in mythology: the analysing and explaining of stories. There are several ways in which a myth can be explained, and therefore one can also speak of several mythologies. In Creative Mythology (1968) for example, American mythologist Joseph Campbell describes how literary figures such as Thomas Mann or James Joyce managed to make themselves into “living myths,” by translating individual experiences through the correct signs. Shakespeare, with his plays, even managed to create myths around historical figures such as King Henry IV, attracting audiences that were eager to learn about history. History has made other figures into myths as well, such as Louis XIV, known as the Sun King, or Marie Antoinnete.  

In his Mythologies (1957) Roland Barthes explains the creation and circulation of myths through signs and language. According to Barthes, myths are a societal necessity created on the basis of contemporary social value systems, whereby myth formation should mainly be seen as a semiological process, partly as an ideological one. In the essay “Myth Today,” Barthes examines French bourgeois myths that are deeply rooted in society, yet often go unnoticed or taken as fact. By deconstructing modern myths that are spread through advertisements and propaganda, Barthes is able to get to the core of the societal value system of his time. Most famously, he deconstructs the myths around France’s two national products: steak frites and red wine. Both serve as metaphors for blood which, in French society, equals vitality and virility, which equals masculinity, which equals superiority. Equating France with steak frites and red wine then means equating France with virility, masculinity, superiority. 

In “The Double Standard of Aging” (1972), Susan Sontag tackles another modern myth that is deeply-rooted in society, concerning women and age. In the essay, she explains how and why women “of a certain age” are deemed physically undesirable, noting that this differentiates per country. She explains that urbanised societies allow two standards of male beauty, the man and the boy, but only one of female beauty: the girl. This societal judgement of beauty mirrors the evolutionary myth that the value of women is based on their ability for procreation. As a woman’s fertility decreases with age, so does her societal worth.

As the myth moves beyond the human, outside the world as we know it, it writes a strange universe.  It points to that which is not completely explainable according to our current structures for categorising the world. The enchanted world of the supernatural, with its gods, witches, and vampires, perhaps writes of a darker, less knowable reality. Their magic, spells, and strange rituals trouble the disenchanted story of Enlightenment, which tells of reason, control, and certainty – a myth in itself. But even though these supernatural entities tell of the incredible and unbelievable, they remain somewhat explainable. Vampires, gods, and witches, for example, are familiar figures based on a set of commonly understood fictions, differing ever so slightly from the human. ‘In many ways, a natural phenomenon such as a black hole is more weird than a vampire,’ writes Mark Fisher in The Weird and The Eerie (2016). We understand where to place and how to interpret the vampire as a fictional entity. A black hole actually exists, yet we do not understand its strange ways of bending space and time. Science Fiction balances on this thin line between fiction and reality. Perhaps the biggest myths, strangest entities, and weirdest monsters are not necessarily found within the fictional realm of the supernatural but right here in ‘the natural.’ 

‘Coral reefs are monsters.’ In the Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet (2017), Anna Tsing equates this natural phenomenon to the supernatural. Like the mythical chimeras of ancient Greece – beasts made up of the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a snake – coral reefs are made of mismatched parts. They embody a strange species encounter as their polyps grow from both animal, plant, and more. Symbiosis, the interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association, might point to some monstrous truth essential to our current epoch of living with the world. In all our vulnerable entanglements with more than human life – we humans too are monsters. 

There are literary differences to be found between myths, fairy tales, sagas, lores, fables, and legends. Fairy tales, for example, often take place in a fantastical world, in which magical creatures roam, and battles between Good and Evil take place. Myths, on the other hand, often have a basis in religion and tell stories about gods or divine creators. Both contain supernatural elements, sometimes these have a basis in history, sometimes in religion, and sometimes in fantasy. For this issue of Simulacrum, we have therefore chosen to soften the boundaries between these ways of storytelling, in order to be open to multiple mythologies, their meanings, and interpretations.

Fancy yourself a modern mythologist? Write an article of 1.000, 1.400, or 1.800 words for our upcoming issue, Mythologies. The deadline for first drafts is the 15th of November, 2020. Would you rather write a column, an interview, fiction, poetry, or do you know an artist whose work fits with this theme? Email us at info@simulacrum.nl. Please send articles as .doc or .docx and portfolio’s as PDF.

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CALL FOR PAPERS: Mythologieën

Hij legde een hand op mijn schouder, hield me stevig vast, ontblootte mijn keel met de andere en zei daarbij: ‘Eerst een beetje verfrissing om mijn inspanningen te belonen. U kunt net zo goed stil zijn; het is niet de eerste keer, of de tweede, dat je aderen mijn dorst hebben gestild!’

Lucy’s ogen waren onrein [...], in plaats van puur

Lucy wordt gebeten door de bloeddorstige Graaf Dracula, een aristocratische vampier uit Transsylvanië, die er op uit is om zijn zondige en barbaarse levensstijl naar Victoriaans Engeland over te brengen. In zijn roman Dracula (1897) zet Bram Stoker de mythische vampier in om de Victoriaanse lezers te waarschuwen voor de opkomende ‘dreiging van het Oosten’ door Oost-Europa af te schilderen als een plek van barbaarse – vampiristische – rituelen. Mythes over vampieren gaan al rond sinds de middeleeuwen en werden toen vooral gelinkt aan godslastering. Met Dracula wekt Stoker dit mythologische figuur op uit de dood en blaast deze nieuw leven in. De vampier, eens de mythe van de ondoden, vertegenwoordigt voortaan de angsten en bedreigingen van de tijd waarin ze herrijst.

Sinds de oudheid gaan mythen over het hoe en het waarom. Daarmee bevinden ze zich aan de grenzen van het menselijk begrip – daar waar het intellect faalt, wordt er verhaald. In The World of Myth (1990) schrijft David Leeming dat ‘mensen van oudsher verhalen hebben gebruikt om dingen te beschrijven of uit te leggen die ze zonder niet zouden kunnen,’ duidend op een tijdloze menselijke neiging om door middel van verhaal door het onbekende te navigeren. Zo functioneert de mythe als het middel waarmee we ons verhouden tot het onbekende, en belichaamt deze onze verwondering over de werelden buiten de menselijke ratio.

Deze verhalen leven vervolgens door via de kunst, literatuur, geschiedenis of religie. Mythen gelden echter niet alleen als inspiratiebron voor de kunsten, maar vinden ook vaak hun oorsprong in de kunst, en verspreiden, evolueren en groeien met verschillende kunstvormen en -stijlen mee. Zo verrees de Venus Anadyomene voor het eerst uit de zee in de Theogonie - een gedicht van Hesiodus uit de 8e eeuw BC. Deze specifieke weergave van Venus, dochter van Jupiter en Dione, als geboren uit de zee werd vervolgens beroemd gemaakt door het schilderij van Apelles (4e eeuw BC). Hoewel het schilderij verloren is geraakt, werd de Venus Anadyomene door Plinius beschreven in de Naturalis Historia (1e eeuw AD), dat diende als iconologische handboek voor volgende generaties kunstenaars. Van de redenaars die generaties lang hun verhalen vertellen, tot de dichters die ze opschrijven en de beeldhouwers die ze uithakken, worden verhalen levend gehouden. Zo staat Venus tot op de dag van vandaag bekend als de godin die uit de zee verrees.

In het Deense sprookje Den Lille Havfrue (1837) van Hans Christian Andersen is zeeschuim niet waar de liefde wordt geboren, maar waar liefde sterft. In de Walt Disney-bewerking van het sprookje, De Kleine Zeemeermin (1989), wordt zeemeermin prinses Ariel, dochter van koning Triton, verliefd op een menselijke prins en geeft ze haar schubben op om bij hem te zijn. In de originele, aanzienlijk grimmigere versie van Andersen treft de kleine zeemeermin haar beminde in bed bij een ander aan. Ze weigert de twee geliefden dood te steken, zoals haar zussen haar toe aanzetten, en als gevolg van haar gebroken hart lost ze op in het schuim van de golven.

In Japan wordt oude folklore voorgedragen aan een modern publiek door de films van Hayao Miyazaki. De geanimeerde Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (De reis van Chihiro, 2001) brengt kami, geesten, tot leven. Ten gevolge van menselijke vervuiling moeten de kami zich wassen in badhuizen om zichzelf weer schoon te krijgen. Deze moderne interpretatie weerspiegelt het Shinto-geloof dat zowel goden als de natuur moeten worden gerespecteerd door ze schoon te houden. De demonische tegenhangers, de oni, krijgen vorm in het karakter van Yubaba, die is gebaseerd op het archetype van de bergheks, de yumuaba. Door de Japanse mythologie als uitgangspunt te nemen, is Miyazaki in staat een ‘fantasyscape’ te creëren: een plek waar het ondenkbare mogelijk wordt.

Wellicht brengt een eerste associatie met mythologie ons terug naar de Klassieke Oudheid. Voor de Grieken betekende μῦθος echter simpelweg een verhaal – of dit nu een waar of een onwaar verhaal was; roddels, geschiedenis of een sprookje, zelfs dromen werden gezien als mythe. Mῦθος en λόγος, twee ogenschijnlijk tegengestelde termen, de fantasie en de rede, komen samen in de mythologie: het analyseren en verklaren van verhalen. Er zijn verschillende manieren waarop een mythe verklaard kan worden, en daarom kan er ook sprake zijn van meerdere mythologieën. In Creative Mythology (1968) beschrijft de Amerikaanse mytholoog Joseph Campbell bijvoorbeeld hoe literaire figuren als Thomas Mann of James Joyce erin slaagden om 'levende mythen' van zichzelf te maken door individuele ervaringen met de juiste tekens te vertalen. Shakespeare slaagde er met zijn toneelstukken in mythen te creëren rondom historische figuren zoals koning Hendrik IV, en trok daarmee een publiek aan dat graag over de geschiedenis wilde leren. Zo ook zijn andere figuren zoals Lodewijk XIV, beter bekend als de Zonnekoning, of Marie Antoinette, binnen de historie tot mythen geraakt.

In Mythologies (1975) analyseert Roland Barthes het ontstaan en de circulatie van mythen aan de hand van semiotiek en taal. Volgens Barthes zijn mythen onmisbaar in de maatschappij en baseren zij zich op hedendaagse sociale waardesystemen, waarbij de formatie van de mythe voornamelijk gezien moet worden als een semiologisch process en deels ideologisch. In het essay “Myth Today,” onderzoekt Barthes diepgewortelde Franse mythen die nochtans onopgemerkt blijven of als feit worden beschouwd. Door de deconstructie van moderne mythen, verspreid door reclame en propaganda, komt Barthes tot de kern van zijn eigentijdse sociale waardesysteem. Meest bekend is de deconstructie van de mythe rondom twee nationale Franse producten: biefstuk en rode wijn. Beide dienen als metafoor voor bloed, dat in de Franse maatschappij rijmt met vitaliteit en moed, die rijmen met mannelijkheid, dat rijmt met superioriteit. Het gelijkstellen van Frankrijk aan biefstuk en rode wijn betekent het gelijkstellen van Frankrijk aan moed, mannelijkheid en superioriteit.

In The Double Standard of Aging (1972) pakt Susan Sontag een andere diepgewortelde mythe aan, een omtrent vrouwen en leeftijd. In haar essay zet ze uit een hoe en waarom vrouwen vanaf een bepaalde leeftijd fysiek niet begeerbaar worden geacht, en merkt hierbij op dat dit per land verschilt. Ze legt uit dat verstedelijkte samenlevingen twee normen voor mannelijke schoonheid kennen, die van de man en die van de jongen, en maar een voor vrouwen, die van het meisje. Dit maatschappelijke schoonheidsoordeel weerspiegeld de evolutaire mythe die stelt dat de waarde van een vrouw gelijk staat aan haar voortplantingsvermogen. Net zoals de vruchtbaarheid van een vrouw  verminderd naarmate zij verjaard, verminderd ook haar maatschappelijke waarde. 

Naarmate de mythe de mens passeert, buiten de wereld zoals wij haar kennen treedt, schept ze een vreemd universum. Ze wijst naar dat wat we nog niet kunnen verklaren met onze huidige structuren voor het categoriseren van de wereld. Het betoverde rijk van het bovennatuurlijke, met haar goden, heksen en vampiers, schetst wellicht een donkerdere realiteit die zich minder goed laat kennen. Hun magie, spreuken en vreemde rituelen zetten zich af tegen het onttoverde narratief van de verlichting, welk van rede, controle en verstand spreekt – een mythe an sich. Maar hoewel deze bovennatuurlijke entiteiten verhalen vertellen over het ongelofelijke, blijven ze enigszins verklaarbaar. Vampiers, goden en heksen bijvoorbeeld, zijn vertrouwde figuren gebaseerd op een verzameling van collectieve fictie, die net afwijken van het menselijke. ‘In many ways, a natural phenomenon such as a black hole is more weird than a vampire,’ schreef Mark Fisher in The Weird and the Eerie (2016). We begrijpen hoe we vampiers als fictionele entiteit moeten plaatsen en interpreteren. Zwarte gaten bestaan echter wél, terwijl wij hun vreemde manieren in het buigen van tijd en ruimte niet bevatten. Science-fiction balanceert op deze dunne lijn tussen fictie en realiteit. Misschien zijn de grootste mythen, raarste entiteiten en meest vervreemdende monsters wel niet te vinden in het fictionele landschap van het bovennatuurlijke maar juist pal hier in het ‘natuurlijke.’

‘Coral reefs are monsters.’ In Arts of Living on a Dying Planet (2017), stelt Anna Tsing dit natuurlijke fenomeen gelijk aan het bovennatuurlijke. Zoals de mythische chimeras uit de Griekse oudheid – beesten met het hoofd van een leeuw, het lichaam van een geit en de staart van een slang – bestaan koraalriffen uit mismatched onderdelen. Met hun poliepen die zowel dierlijk als plantaardig kunnen zijn, belichamen ze een vreemde ontmoeting tussen de soorten. Symbiose, de interactie tussen twee verschillende organismen die in nauw contact met elkaar leven, wijzen ons wellicht naar een bepaalde, monsterlijke waarheid die essentieel is aan ons huidige tijdperk van leven met de aarde. In al onze kwetsbare verstrengelingen met meer dan menselijk leven, zijn ook wij mensen monsters.

Er zijn literaire verschillen te vinden tussen mythen, sprookjes, sagen, fabels en legenden. Sprookjes, bijvoorbeeld, vinden vaak plaats in een fantasiewereld, waar magische figuren rondzwerven en een strijd tussen goed en kwaad plaatsvindt. Mythes, aan de andere kant, vinden vaak hun oorsprong in religie en vertellen over goden en hemelse scheppers. Beiden bevatten bovennatuurlijke elementen. Soms ligt de basis daarvan in geschiedenis, soms in religie, soms in fantasie. Voor deze uitgave van Simulacrum hebben we er daarom voor gekozen de grenzen tussen deze literaire genres te vervagen, om ons open te stellen voor verschillende mythologieën, hun betekenissen en interpretaties.

Waan je jezelf een moderne mytholoog? Schrijf een artikel van 1.000, 1.400 of 1.800 woorden voor ons komende nummer Mythologieën. De deadline voor de eerste versies is op 15 november 2020. Schrijf je liever een column, interview, fictie of poëzie, of ken je een kunstenaar wiens werk in dit thema ligt? Email naar info@simulacrum.nl. Voeg artikelen s.v.p. bij als .doc of .docx en portfolio’s als PDF.

[obviouslyelementary]

They Them, Captain - DaForge

Summary: Geordi wants to tell someone about their gender identity. Data suggests the captain.

Warnings: none

Tags: non-Binary Geordi; supportive Picard; coming out; Data POV

-------------------------------

Data had been noticing an increasing comfort in Geordi's personality related to their newly found gender identity. Of course, it was still limited to the both of them, with Geordi being highly uncomfortable with other people knowing about their discovery, but Data realized that sooner rather than later, his partner would be open for discussing this with other people. They had been hinting towards it in their conversations, adding questions like 'what do you think the captain would say' or 'do you believe Deanna has seen similar cases', to which Data answered to the best of his abilities, based on what he knew about his crew.

He could not give completely accurate responses, but he believed that apart from an initial awkwardness, no one in their close group of friends would take offense in Geordi's gender identity.

"Of course, I could be wrong. Humans tend to be... extremely unpredictable" Data said once Geordi brought that up again, and the engineer looked at him, nodding slowly.

"Yeah we can be... but I mean I've been getting used to it for three months and like... it feels good. It feels right" they said, and Data nodded. "I know you are the only one that treats me like a gender neutral person, but I think I should begin to tell other people. At least, you know, the important ones."

"If you want an advice" Data started, and when Geordi didn't stop him, he continued "I believe the correct approach should be the captain."

"The captain?" Geordi asked, surprised, and Data nodded slowly. "But that is like... jumping all the ranks!"

"Yes... but the captain has proved many times before to be open for different species, ways of life, lifeforms and beliefs, more so than others in our crew. I believe he would be the appropriate choice."

"I thought about starting with Deanna. Don't you agree?" Geordi asked, and Data tilted his head.

"While Deanna is also open for different approaches, she is half Betazoid, and created with Betazoid costumes. In the Betazoid world, there are no registers indicating the possibility of a third gender, let alone any others. They are extremely connected to their gender, male or female, and the emotions and connections each gender can make with other people and other species. So I do not believe she would be correct approach."

"I see... I didn't know that Betazoids were so... gender inclined" Geordi chuckled and looked down, seeming nervous, playing with their food. "I thought... well doesn't matter what I think. So, the captain... okay. I think I can make myself comfortable with that."

"I can help you getting comfortable with the idea, by showing you many examples of previous encounters the captain has had with different species and lifeforms. In stardate 423-"

"Thanks Data but you don't have to" Geordi said, smiling at him, and Data closed his mouth. "I believe you. I just need... to calm down. Relax. Make myself comfortable. You can't really help. It's something very personal."

"I see" Data nodded and looked down before looking back at Geordi and tilting his head. "Perhaps I could help. Do you remember when Lore came over to the Enterprise?"

"Yeah it was ages ago, I remember" they said, and Data nodded.

"In that instance, before he had regained conscience, the captain kept referring to him as an it. Of course, he meant no harm, however calling Lore an it also implied that I was an it, an object, a machine. Even though I do not feel emotions, and therefore was not offended or upset with the usage of the pronoun, I also knew it was incorrect, so I corrected the captain, telling him that if he kept referring to Lore as it, he was indirectly referring to me as an it as well, and it was not correct for I am male. And he understood. Not only understood but apologized, and corrected himself, calling Lore by male pronouns even after he had bad actions towards us. Does that help you in any way feel more relaxed towards the captain?"

"Honestly? Yeah" Geordi chuckled and reached out, taking Data's hand on their own. "Thanks Data. You're... amazing."

"So are you" Data said, still as a matter of fact, but also softer, sweeter in a way. At least he tried to sound more romantic.  

The rest of the dinner went well, calm and relaxing, and Geordi seemed even more relaxed.

 Another two months passed before Geordi took their final decision. After a talk with Data, they decided they would tell the captain about their gender identity, but they needed moral support, so Geordi requested Data would stay with them as they talked to the captain.

And Data, of course, agreed.

During a diplomatic mission, one where Picard was not busy at all, Geordi decided to make their move. In a quiet, uneventful evening, they went to the bridge and called Data to their side, requesting to talk to the captain alone. With a nod and standing up from his chair, Picard turned to Riker and pointed to him.

"Number one, you have the bridge. Mister LaForge, Mister Data, to my ready room."

They followed the captain inside the room and got themselves comfortable, Data sitting on the couch while Geordi sat on the chair in front of Picard's table, and Picard behind it, face to face with the engineer.

"Permission to speak freely sir?" Geordi asked, and Picard gave him a confused but assertive nod.

"Of course commander. Always. Is there a problem at engineering?"

"No sir, this is a personal subject" Geordi said, and Picard moved his glance from them to Data, before tilting his head.

"Well considering both of you are here I thought... I'm not going to make any assumptions please continue" Picard said, shaking his head, deciding against trying to guess what the subject was about. Geordi sighed, then looked at Data, who simply gave his partner a firm nod. Then, the engineer turned back to Picard and fixed himself on the chair.

"Sir... I came here to talk about... myself" they said softly, looking down at their hands. "About something new I found out... about myself."

"Commander, you can speak freely" Picard said, and when Geordi looked up, he was smiling. "Don't be afraid. Just say it."

"Okay" Geordi sighed and looked at Picard firmly, chest puffed out. "Sir, I discovered that I identify with the non-binary Earth created gender."

Whatever Picard believed they were about to say had nothing to do with what Geordi said. His eyes widened, he blinked a few times and then looked at Data, clearly confused and surprised. He then coughed and crossed his legs, leaning over the desk between him and his commander.

"I... beg your pardon, commander?"

"I identify as non-binary sir. Most precisely, agender."

Picard furrowed his eyebrows and leaned back against his chair, rubbing his chin and watching Geordi calmly, before he let out a sigh and stood up. Geordi was nervous, shaking slightly, but Data did not move to assist.

"I see" the captain answered, heading to his replicator. "Earl grey, hot" he said, before getting the tea and taking a sip. He walked back to his chair, sitting down, and looked at Geordi over his cup. "Commander... since when you know this?"

"Ten months sir" Geordi said, and Picard nodded slowly.

"I see... close to our visit with the J'naii, no?"

"Yes."

"Commander... many people demonstrated confusion and even doubts about their gender after the visit to the J'naii. Most of which went away in around... two weeks. Are you absolutely certain that this... new discovery wasn't simply empathy? Something to allow you to relate to the J'naii better?"

"I... thought so sir but after reflecting for a long time I came to the conclusion that no, it wasn't. I truly feel this way captain. I am truly non-binary."

"I see I see" Picard nodded and sipped on his tea. "Well, I remember hearing about gender identity in the academy, during the twenty and twenty first century. But those genders were left behind..."

"Yeah yeah I know... but this... this is true captain it's how I feel. It is my truth. And I found out that non binary genders are still used in Earth and colonies, just not... openly discussed."

"Yes... I understand. Well, I am not person to judge others for their beliefs, their identities, or their culture. This is no different. I believe you and I am content you came and told me" he said, and smiled at Geordi. "I will tell mister Data to change your profile to desired pronouns and name-"

"Captain please no" Geordi interrupted, and Picard's eyes widened. "I mean sorry, sorry to interrupt but I don't want anyone to know yet. For now only you and Data know and I want to keep it like this until... I'm ready."

"... very well commander LaForge" he nodded and put his tea down. "So if you don't mind... how should I refer to you?"

"You can still refer to me with male pronouns, I don't want to make you uncomfortable or forget while we are not with other people. So you don't have to change anything captain."

"But commander... I want to. It will not be hard to remember to treat you as you wish to be treated whenever we are alone" he said firmly and leaned closer. "Tell me your preferences."

"Okay... I prefer to use they them pronouns and I would also appreciate if you referred to me by my rank, not by mister" they said, their voice hesitant, but Picard gave him a short nod and smiled.

"I understand. Very well commander LaForge. Tell when whenever you are ready to tell the others" he said. "You are dismissed."

"Oh... thank you sir" Geordi nodded and stood up, and Data did the same, but Picard raised his hand.

"Mister Data could you stay? There are some reviews I would like to make" he said, and Data looked at Geordi, who nodded and smiled. After a short squeeze of hands, the engineer left, and Data sat down in front of his captain.

"Yes?"

"Data... what is happening?"

"Sir, I believe Geordi was very clear" Data said, and Picard sighed, nodding slowly.

"Yeah yeah but... what? Is this truth or some... phase or-"

"Sir, I believe the term 'phase' related to human gender identity or sexual orientation hasn't been used in at least two centuries" Data said, tilting his head. "This is not a decision they made without thought. Geordi knows how they feel, and they know exactly who they are. I told them you would be the best person to tell this to, because you are open for new ideas."

"I am but... we haven't heard about non binary genders in centuries!"

"Sir, it was a political choice made by binary people. Do you truly believe it is fair?"

Data raised his eyebrow, and Picard pressed his lips together, nodding to himself slowly.

"You are right... I will make an effort to study about gender identities again, and talk to some of my friends about it. I will not reveal anything about commander LaForge, I just need more information."

"I will gladly provide it sir" Data assured, and Picard smiled.

"Please send them to me mister Data. And thank you for making Geordi trust me. I think highly of them, and I want them to trust me."

"They do. And they think highly of you too captain" Data assured and stood up. "May I be excused?"

"Of course... thank you again mister Data."

"You do not have to thank me sir. Just make sure you study, and respect Geordi, and anyone else that may come to you with the same requests."

"Right" Picard nodded and Data walked out to the bridge, seeing Geordi waiting for him by the turbolift. He walked over to his partner and made his way inside the lift, leaning down to press a soft kiss to his partner's lips.

Geordi blushed lightly and looked up at him with a smile.

"Oh... that was surprising."

"I am trying to be more spontaneous in my affection demonstrations" he responded, and Geordi smiled, leaning close to Data and closing their eyes.

"I love you Data."

"I love you too Geordi."

Maybe he truly did.

[dawnlion]

Here is a list I found on this website (check it out for more information on mythology and folklore!) with very brief descriptions of shapeshifters found in various cultures. Since the wolves in Twilight are actually shapeshifters, not lycans, and these are based on real life stories the Quileute tribe, I thought that in a similar fashion this could be a good start for anyone looking for OCs or AU verses ideas with different kinds of shapeshifters that would bring more cultural diversity to the rpc. Our world is so vast and rich, our fiction should be as well. I hope this helps!

The telling of shapeshifters in myth and legend have been present from as far back as is recorded. It is a common theme in almost all cultures and tales can be found every corner of the world. With that in mind, I have an ongoing list. If you know of something that I am missing, let me know! I’ll keep adding as I find new ones in the hopes of making it as comprehensive as possible.

Argentina : A fox-like werewolf Lobizón or Lobisón as well as Werejaguars know as Runa-uturungu

Brazil : Lobisomem. There are also Boto, a river dolphin that transforms into a boy, and a Uirapuru – a small brown bird that transforms into a boy.

Bulgaria : Vrkolak is a Bulgarian Werewolf that after death turns into a vampire

Canada : Bear Walker is from First Nations folklore of that area. It’s an evil sorcerer who walks around in the form of a bear.

Chile : The Chonchon shapeshifter is a Kalku, or sorcerer that transforms into a mythical bird that announces bad luck. It has the shape of a human head with feathers, talons and big ears that it uses as wings.

China : 狼人 láng rén is the Chinese werewolf. 狐狸精 Huli Jing, a fox spirit which usually appears as a beautiful young woman; most are dangerous, but some are featured as the heroines of love stories.

Ethiopia, Morocco and Tanzania : The boudas is a sorcerer/blacksmith that changes into a werehyena. It often wears an ornament from its human form by which it may be recognized.

France : loup-garou is prevalent in France with the Beast of Gevaudan being the most famous documented case. Then there is the bisclavret which is a werewolf that cannot return to human form unless it can put its clothing back on.

Finland : ihmissusi

Greece : vrykolaka is a catchall word for werewolf, vampire or sorcerer. The word lycanthropy, from the ancient werewolf-king Lycaeon, originated here.

Haiti : loup-garou can change into anything, both plant and animal.

Iceland : A hamrammr (from old Icelandic literature) is a werecreature that shifts into the form of the animal it has most recently eaten. Its strength increases with each animal that it consumes. The current (and more correct) word for werewolf is varulfur.

India : rakshasa or raghosh is a shifter who can change into any animal it wants and is characterized by its large size and color of hair (red or blond). Ancient Indian mythology tells of Nāga, snakes that can sometimes assume human form.

Indonesia (Bali) : Leak or Leyak is a spirit that shapeshifts into humans, animals or objects and will cause mishaps, illnesses or even death.

Ireland & Scotland : The selkies are seals that take off their skins to become human. Dark-haired Celts may have their geneology explained via the selkies. Selkies are helpful creatures who watch over fishermen.

Italy : lupo mannero or licantropo s an Italian werewolf. The “Benandanti’ were werewolves that left their physical bodies behind to become wolves at which point they would go to the underworld to fight witches.

Japan : The most popular werecreatures in Japanese folklore is the kitsune (fox) and the tanuki or mijina (raccoon dog or badger). The kitsune is usually a female, and the tanuki, a male. Collectively, shapeshifters are called henge.

Kenya, Africa : The ilimu is a man- eating shapeshifter that starts out as an animal, but can shift into the form of a man.

Latvia : vilkacis, meaning “wolf eyes” or “werewolf,” is a shapeshifter that is usually evil, but occasionally offers treasures.

Lithuania : vilkatas is the Lithuanian version of the werewolf.

Mexico : nahaul is a werecreature that can turn into a wolf, large cat, eagle or bull.

Native Americans : Many different types of “skin walkers such as the Navajo Indians’ skinwalkers, the Mai-Coh and the Mohawk Indians limikkin.

Native Hawaiians : There are several shapeshifting legends out of the Hawaiian islands including the famous volcano goddess Pele who could shift into whatever appearance she wanted. There are also several shark-shifter legends.

Normandy, France : lubins or lupins look like wolves, but can speak and are very shy.

Norway & Sweden : eigi einhamir (not of one skin) has the ability to change into a wolf by wearing a wolfskin.

Norway & Sweden : Varulv (or varulf) is similar in looks to the traditional werewolf lore. However, the change is not brought on by a bite or blood. In many of the Varulv legends, the creature become a werewolf voluntarily. Usually with the use of a certain article of clothing, such as a belt, like the belt described in old 1582 werewolf story of Peter Stubbe and his Magical Belt.

Panama : Tula Vieja has been and continues to be sighted in Panama on a regular basis. The creature takes the form of a very, very old woman or witch (bruja) with a crow’s foot for a right hand. This child-eating shifter haunts all places dark and dismal, waiting to take anyone back to Hell with her that she can get her claw/hand on.

Persia : The Persians have a creature similar to the Indian rakshasa that pretends to be a harmless animal. It often attacks travelers.

Philippines : is a shapeshifting monster in Filipino folklore usually possessing a combination of the traits of either a vampire, a ghoul, a warlock/witch, or different species of werebeast, or even all of them together.

Portugal : The bruxsa or cucubuth is a vampire-werewolf that consumes both flesh and blood. The lobh omen would be your everyday werewolf.

Russia : There are two types of distinctive werewolves in Russian Mythology. The first, the wawkalak, is a werewolf who has been transformed as a punishment by the Devil whom they have angered. Recognized by friends and family, the wawkalak are not considered as evil or frightening. Unable to stay in any one place for long, the wawkalak are distended to roam from home to home and town to town searching out food, shelter and love.

Russia (Slavic) : Volkolak translates as lycanthrope. This is unusual in that the person can turn into a wolf or bear. Volkolak have been know to change willingly and against their will as a curse.

Russia, Central : The bodark is a Russian name for the werewolf. This type of Russian werewolf is actually a person that chooses to be one and goes through ceremony to force the change.

Scandinavia : The varulv much prefers beer to human flesh. Scandinavia is also home to the berserker (bearskin). There is also the ulfheobar (wolfskin), which is usually lumped in with berserker.

Serbia : The wurdalak is a werewolf that died and became a vampire.

Slovakia : The vlkodlak is transformed into a werewolf by the sorcery of another. It usually shies away from people.

South America : Kanima, a jaguar-shaped spirit that seeks and kills murderers.

Spain : The Spanish werewolf, or lob hombre, prefers pretty gemstones to human flesh.

United States : Native Americans and Native Hawaiians have many different types of “skin walkers” (see above). There are also wererats that are particularly rampant around Pennsylvania. The wererat skulks around at night, and prefers carrots with ranch dressing to human flesh.

[dfroza]

we, as children of Light are first chosen by God

who waits for us to respond to His call. this is the purpose of the preservation of the Scriptures, to conserve spiritual truth in Love, and God is Love.

and so we find our True identity in faith and in a promised hope of things to come, that will be...

to come to “believe...” in the heart and to speak as a mirroring of what is treasured (inside, Anew)

and so, the seed of faith is deposited within as a treasure that waits to be discovered, it is (already inside)

and we read of this faith and hope that includes Hebraic History in Today’s chapter of Paul’s ancient Letter of Romans with chapter 9 as translated in The Message:

[God Is Calling His People]

At the same time, you need to know that I carry with me at all times a huge sorrow. It’s an enormous pain deep within me, and I’m never free of it. I’m not exaggerating—Christ and the Holy Spirit are my witnesses. It’s the Israelites . . . If there were any way I could be cursed by the Messiah so they could be blessed by him, I’d do it in a minute. They’re my family. I grew up with them. They had everything going for them—family, glory, covenants, revelation, worship, promises, to say nothing of being the race that produced the Messiah, the Christ, who is God over everything, always. Oh, yes!

Don’t suppose for a moment, though, that God’s Word has malfunctioned in some way or other. The problem goes back a long way. From the outset, not all Israelites of the flesh were Israelites of the spirit. It wasn’t Abraham’s sperm that gave identity here, but God’s promise. Remember how it was put: “Your family will be defined by Isaac”? That means that Israelite identity was never racially determined by sexual transmission, but it was God-determined by promise. Remember that promise, “When I come back next year at this time, Sarah will have a son”?

And that’s not the only time. To Rebecca, also, a promise was made that took priority over genetics. When she became pregnant by our one-of-a-kind ancestor, Isaac, and her babies were still innocent in the womb—incapable of good or bad—she received a special assurance from God. What God did in this case made it perfectly plain that his purpose is not a hit-or-miss thing dependent on what we do or don’t do, but a sure thing determined by his decision, flowing steadily from his initiative. God told Rebecca, “The firstborn of your twins will take second place.” Later that was turned into a stark epigram: “I loved Jacob; I hated Esau.”

Is that grounds for complaining that God is unfair? Not so fast, please. God told Moses, “I’m in charge of mercy. I’m in charge of compassion.” Compassion doesn’t originate in our bleeding hearts or moral sweat, but in God’s mercy. The same point was made when God said to Pharaoh, “I picked you as a bit player in this drama of my salvation power.” All we’re saying is that God has the first word, initiating the action in which we play our part for good or ill.

Are you going to object, “So how can God blame us for anything since he’s in charge of everything? If the big decisions are already made, what say do we have in it?”

Who in the world do you think you are to second-guess God? Do you for one moment suppose any of us knows enough to call God into question? Clay doesn’t talk back to the fingers that mold it, saying, “Why did you shape me like this?” Isn’t it obvious that a potter has a perfect right to shape one lump of clay into a vase for holding flowers and another into a pot for cooking beans? If God needs one style of pottery especially designed to show his angry displeasure and another style carefully crafted to show his glorious goodness, isn’t that all right? Either or both happens to Jews, but it also happens to the other people. Hosea put it well:

I’ll call nobodies and make them somebodies;

I’ll call the unloved and make them beloved.

In the place where they yelled out, “You’re nobody!”

they’re calling you “God’s living children.”

Isaiah maintained this same emphasis:

If each grain of sand on the seashore were numbered

and the sum labeled “chosen of God,”

They’d be numbers still, not names;

salvation comes by personal selection.

God doesn’t count us; he calls us by name.

Arithmetic is not his focus.

Isaiah had looked ahead and spoken the truth:

If our powerful God

had not provided us a legacy of living children,

We would have ended up like ghost towns,

like Sodom and Gomorrah.

How can we sum this up? All those people who didn’t seem interested in what God was doing actually embraced what God was doing as he straightened out their lives. And Israel, who seemed so interested in reading and talking about what God was doing, missed it. How could they miss it? Because instead of trusting God, they took over. They were absorbed in what they themselves were doing. They were so absorbed in their “God projects” that they didn’t notice God right in front of them, like a huge rock in the middle of the road. And so they stumbled into him and went sprawling. Isaiah (again!) gives us the metaphor for pulling this together:

Careful! I’ve put a huge stone on the road to Mount Zion,

a stone you can’t get around.

But the stone is me! If you’re looking for me,

you’ll find me on the way, not in the way.

The Letter of Romans, Chapter 9 (The Message)

and Love indeed includes pure and righteous Judgment that will cleanse all things to bring about a rebirthing of the heavens and beautiful earth at some point, just as seen in the global Genesis flood because of all the evil that existed upon earth by the free will given to people who chose to rebel against Love.

but it is promised that in A grand end of time it won’t go astray again in the rebirth that takes place, for God will be here with us to establish a Kingdom of peace. and we have to trust this, all the waiting in the meantime and the insanity of this world and its deceptive forces.

and so we have the Spirit here within those who believe to give us hope, to comfort and gently correct in the truth of Love. and the decision is up to us in how to behave while we’re here, for better or for worse. either to walk in fear or in Love. in truth or in a lie.

the paired chapter with Romans 9 of Genesis 6:

[Giants in the Land]

When the human race began to increase, with more and more daughters being born, the sons of God noticed that the daughters of men were beautiful. They looked them over and picked out wives for themselves.

Then God said, “I’m not going to breathe life into men and women endlessly. Eventually they’re going to die; from now on they can expect a life span of 120 years.”

This was back in the days (and also later) when there were giants in the land. The giants came from the union of the sons of God and the daughters of men. These were the mighty men of ancient lore, the famous ones.

[Noah and His Sons]

God saw that human evil was out of control. People thought evil, imagined evil—evil, evil, evil from morning to night. God was sorry that he had made the human race in the first place; it broke his heart. God said, “I’ll get rid of my ruined creation, make a clean sweep: people, animals, snakes and bugs, birds—the works. I’m sorry I made them.”

But Noah was different. God liked what he saw in Noah.

This is the story of Noah: Noah was a good man, a man of integrity in his community. Noah walked with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

As far as God was concerned, the Earth had become a sewer; there was violence everywhere. God took one look and saw how bad it was, everyone corrupt and corrupting—life itself corrupt to the core.

God said to Noah, “It’s all over. It’s the end of the human race. The violence is everywhere; I’m making a clean sweep.

“Build yourself a ship from teakwood. Make rooms in it. Coat it with pitch inside and out. Make it 450 feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. Build a roof for it and put in a window eighteen inches from the top; put in a door on the side of the ship; and make three decks, lower, middle, and upper.

“I’m going to bring a flood on the Earth that will destroy everything alive under Heaven. Total destruction.

“But I’m going to establish a covenant with you: You’ll board the ship, and your sons, your wife and your sons’ wives will come on board with you. You are also to take two of each living creature, a male and a female, on board the ship, to preserve their lives with you: two of every species of bird, mammal, and reptile—two of everything so as to preserve their lives along with yours. Also get all the food you’ll need and store it up for you and them.”

Noah did everything God commanded him to do.

The Book of Genesis, Chapter 6 (The Message)

my personal reading of the Scriptures for Sunday, february 2 of 2020 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible accompanied by reading from the Psalms and Proverbs

[bedlamgames]

Q&A #21

Lots of questions answered under the break. Also check out the last post with the commission as I really like it. There will probably be a stream at the usual time later. 

xcomcommander12: Do the Percents go into the . System? I have 0% disaster ratings on some assignments and no matter what I always see disaster, and I lose some of my most experienced slavers. Oh and also, I'm trying to break a slaver but no matter what I send them to do they always accept (I learned they were sub, does that have anything to do with it?) And will there be a developer mode? (Sorry if this has been asked before, I've been off tumblr for a long, long, long time.) Also love the game! \○~○/ woo!

First I am far too amused that someone called xcomcommander is digging this game given some very similar complaints I get every so often :D 

That sounds like a bug as the only assignment that should hit 0% is recapturing slaves. Any in particular it’s happening on?

Only assignments slavers have a chance to turn down for now based on traits is pillow talk though that’s being expanded on to others where it makes sense. 

No developer mode for now. I need feedback from people playing the game not cheesing their way through all the content. Sorry, but yeah. Still glad you’re digging it!

Anonymous: Re: Basic Dominance Training et al issue attempt to recreate; ...

Thank you, I worked out the issue based on that.

Anonymous: a question from my last run on 0.703 : the basic bj and les training got minor effects in the examination of a slave and for ongoing training, standard ob pushes the trait you get via advanced ob training, now: whats the crit effect of advanced bj and les training? so far i ve only seen slt gain and rvd remove, also cslut crit looks different in the end but doesnt feel like a %-improvement

That’s it on advanced BJ along with increasing slave value and unlocking Expert Cumslut Training. Advanced Les does the same, though that also makes them less likely they’ll be abused so much by your male slavers. An equivalent expert lesbian training will be coming down the line.

Anonymous: any hints on the next new race you introduce? seen the kreen and thought about some egypt/pharao look a likes. but in the end i think humans actually got enough sub species xX how about an encampmentjob that uses the guard mechanic to seperate a slave from the rooster and do some "daily training" so the slaver pushes the will and condition of his "plaything" down to a certain spot so its easier to handle the status of slaves? in lategame it just gets difficult to manage them on 90/30

Kreen I’d say already cover that niche, like Cathayans cover pretty much all fantasy asians. If you want hints read the lore pages as there’s some races in there who will be in the game who aren’t in there yet. Yeah I think I can do something with that. Good idea!

Anonymous: on 0.703: had a disaster run on scour the taverns, general orders on only accept the best: game completely ignored the result, stated the text of a critical success and let my slaver return unharmed.

Cheers I’ll check it out.

Anonymous: so sometimes you get a bonus via corruption or via some of your slaver jobs or PC events, do these actually pus down your critical% for more success%? in lategame it feels like you have to try to avoid them because they mess with the % you got without them, also it feels strange to have slavers/slaves to pick just because you are not looking for success and crit % but for crit and failure % to push down success and max crit%? is this intentional or was it fixed for the newer builds?(running0703)

The corruption one is extra crit though yeah some of them are extra successes. Success should be pushing fail down first then disaster but yeah if you’re doing super well then yes it would then bring down success. I can see a case for them not applying if you’re already past a certain odds threshold will look at it.

Anonymous: so you mentioned vampires as potential race in the future, are they going to be a high tier species like legion? any hints on their race inherent traits? some possible race related trait like bloodkiss to improve some slave or slaver at the cost of some side effects? possible playable race? affinity to corruption or a different magic/element?

Higher than legion I’d say. I want to do them justice so even recruiting one is going to be entirely different than for most other slavers. Main thing I need to do first is the events system so once that is done I can look into adding them so don’t want to talk about them too much yet. I’ll just say I’m looking to put a spin on them while keeping their need to feed along with the enthralling of others to serve their whims.

aoifster: Thank you for all of the work you've put into this fantastic little game! I'm rather a fan, and I'm excited to see future releases (and of course, more subby slaver stuff!) Also, if it's worth chiming in, I wholeheartedly agree with the person who was asking about being forced to wear outfits. I'm just curious - does having an outfit on your slaver affect anything (rolls, etc), or is it just flavour? Either way, I do like the idea of my slaver trying to do her job in maid attire, so I'm happy!

Thank you! More subby stuff is coming along with more dom stuff too so hopefully everyone will be happy. Being forced to wear outfits is definitely going to be a thing. They have a couple of effects currently. Clothing and armour more so of certain quality helps protect against wounding/removal. It increases slave value and a couple of assignments check against them for odds of success. More content as well is coming later like for example trying to intimidate someone while wearing a maid outfit.

Anonymous: In reference to the recent mention of mounts; they seem to me more like equipment than a trait, so you should be able to buy, steal, and reassign them. I'd like to see an assignment that lets you buy specific mounts (for a suitably hefty price), plus a few assignments where you have a chance of stealing a random mount from someone that has one. In terms of distinctiveness, I envision a range between strong mounts (loot bonus), fast mounts (scout bonus), and aggressive mounts (combat bonus).

Agreed they will not be traits outside of fleet/flying and would instead provide bonuses. I don’t want them to be completely interchangeable to represent that some will have bonded with their previous owner and run away or need a real knack to ride. Definite next update though there will be an assignment with the chance of unlocking a mount for you or one of your slavers.

Anonymous: on 0.7032: slave status on bottom of the screen says 6/10 slaves, but after counting all slaves and having not a single assignment its only 5 slaves. one slave escaped earlier, not sure if its just a bug on the screen or if the game really counts my slaves as 6 instead of 5.

Was that still within the three days? As until then they’re not fully gone from the encampment.

Anonymous: Hey! Great job fixing those bugs:) Thank you for your hard work

Thank you, that’s really appreciated!

Anonymous: Slave escaped! I've captured it with my main character but assignment to recaptured the slave still there.

Which version was that on? The 8 hours, two days, or three days version?

Anonymous: Ladies are still recommended for supervising Advance Blow Job training

Dang really? I put a really major, major minus on their calculation rating for the recommendation for that one. Will check it out.

Anonymous: Game text: "You spent some time watching Candi writhe hard against against their bonds which made quite the sight." But I've untied Candi. Does it suppose to be like that?

...I honnestly never thought of correcting that bit of text re: the new bondage changing options. That’s quite the oversight and thanks for pointing it out to me.

Anonymous: Not really a bug so much as an odd pairing of traits. Got a female Nethemir 2IC with both Reserved and Seductive. So avoids having sex, but suggests she's up for it? Kind of a tease maybe?

Pretty much, exactly that. Happy to exploit others, but not planning to ever follow through.

Anonymous: Forage for Supplies under Encampment Missions cannot be started. You click on it and it simply displays the relevant picture but nothing else

Is that just on day one or in general?

evelelf: Hello there! Great game so far! Really excited about it! And I want to ask your permission to share its public builds with russian community. With all links to your pages, offcource (both patreon and tumblr) Hope it will encrease your auditory and, who knows, maybe add patrons to your сreation? )) W8ing 4 yr answer. Best wishes!

Thank you for both your kind words and your offer! If you’re talking about the version that’s currently uploaded to my tumblr here then sure go right on ahead. I’m always happy for people to mention my work in places where others may not have heard of them as long as they’re not spammy about it and do so in a reasonable manner.

Admittedly I may not read the comments in certain specific places due to some very hard lessons about why not to in the past, but I really wouldn’t want to ever stop other people talking about my work.

[jansegers]

Simple English Word List

SIMPLE1540 : a simple English wikipedia word list based on the XML export of all articles related to the nine major groups: Everyday life, Geography, History, Knowledge, Language, Literature, People, Religion, and Science and retaining all word forms appearing 7 times or more in this corpus. The total number of words in this corpus is well over the 100.000 words. a A.D. ability able about above absence abstinence abstract academic academy accent accept access accord account across act action active activity actual actually ad add addition adherent adjective adult advance advice affect after again against age agnostic agnosticism ago agree agreement agriculture air alcohol all allow ally almost alone along alphabet also although always amateur amendment among amount an analysis ancient and angel animal annals anonymous another answer anthropomorphism any anyone anything aphasia appear apple apply approach archaeology architecture area argue argument around arrange art article artificial artist ask aspect associate association astronomy at atheism atheist atomic attack attempt attribute audience author authority available average avoid award away B.C. baby back background backpack bad bah balance band baptism base basic basis battle BCE be bear beautiful beauty because become bed bee before begin behavior behind being belief believe believing belong below best better between beyond bias biblical bibliography big billion biological biology birth bit black blind blood blue body book born both bottom boundary box boy brain branch bring brown buffalo build building bull burn business but by c. ca. calendar call can cancer canon capital caption car carbon card carry case cassette cat category cathedral catholic cause cell center central century cerebral certain change chapel chapter character chemical chemistry child china China choice choir choose chronicle church circumcise circumcision cite citizen city civil civilian civilization claim clan class classical cleanup clear clergy click climate close closer clothes clothing coast coauthor code codex cognitive col cold collection college colonization colony color column com come commentary commission common commonly communicate communication communion communist community companion company compare competition complete complex compose composer computer concept conception concern condition confuse confusion congregational connect connection conquer conquest consciousness consider consistent constitution construct construction contain contemporary content context continent continue contrary control convention conversation conversion convert cook cooking copy core correct could council country course court cover covered create creation credit crime critical criticism crop cross crust cultural culture current currently daily damage dark data date day dead death debt decadence decadent decide declaration decline deconstruction deep define definition deity demonstrate denomination department depth describe description design detail determinism developed development device devil diagnosis dialect dictionary die difference different difficult difficulty diphthong dipstick direct directly dirt disagree disambiguation disbelief discipline discover discovery discussion disease disorder distance distinct distinction distinguish distribution divide divine do doctor doctrine document dog don't door down Dr. dream drink drown druid due during dynasty each earlier early earth easier easily easy eat economic economics economy ed edge edit edition editor education effect eight either electric electricity electronic element elevation else emperor empire encyclopedia end energy engine engineering enlightenment enough enter entertainment environment environmental epic episode equal era error especially establish etc. etymology even event eventually ever every everyday everyone everything evidence evil evolution evolve exact exactly example except exchange exist existence expansion experience experiment expert explain explanation express expression external extinct face fact failure fair faith fall false family famous far fast father feature feel feeling female feudal few fiction field fight figure file find finding fire first fish fit five fix flow folk follow food for force foreign foreskin form formal former fortune fought foundation founded four fourth frame framework free freedom frequently friend from front fruit full function functional further future gas general generally generation genre geographer geographic geographical geography geology geometry germ get give glass global go god gold golden good government grammar great greatly green ground group grow growth guide guillotine hair half hall hand handbook handicap handle happen happens happiness happy hard have he head heading health hear heat heaven help hemisphere her here heritage hero high highly him himself his historian historical historiography history hold holy home homo hope hot hour house how however human hundred hunter hypothesis hysteresis I ice icon idea identify identity if illiteracy illiterate illusory image importance important impossible improve in inc. incense include increase indeed independence independent indigenous individual industrial industry influence information inquiry inside instead institute institution instrument instrumentation intellectual intelligence interlinear internal international internet interpretation into introduce introduction invent invention involve iron island issue it IT itself job join journal journalism judge just keep key kill kind king kingdom know knowledge la LA label lack lake lamp land landlocked landscape language large last late later law lead leader leap learn learned least leave legacy legal legend let letter level lexeme library life light lightning like likely limited line linguistic linguistics link liquid list literacy literary literature little liturgy live local location logic logical long longer look lord lore lose lot love low lower mac machine magazine magic magnetic magnum mail main mainly major make male mammal man mankind manuscript many map march March mark market mass material mathematical mathematics matter may May me mean meaning meant measure measurement meat median medical medicine medieval mediterranean medium meet member memory men mental mention mercury message metal method mid middle might migrate migration military millennium million mind minister minute misconception miss model modern modernism modernist moment money monologue monophthong month monument moon moral morality more morning most mostly mother mount mountain mouth move movement much museum music musical musicians must my myth mythology name narrative nation national nationality native natural naturalism naturally nature near nearly necessarily necessary need negative neither neologism network neurogenesis neuron neuroscience never new news newspaper next night nine no non none nor normal normally not note nothing noun novel now nuclear number object objective objectivity observation observe occupation occur ocean octane of off offer office official officially often oil old older on once one online only open opera opposite or oral orbit order org organization organize origin original originally orthography orthology other others our out outer outside over own oxygen p. pack pagan page paint palace paper paradigm parent parish park part participant particular particularly party pas pass past pasta pattern pay peace peer penguin penis people per percent percentage perception performance perhaps period peroxide persecution person personal personality perspective persuasion pet phenomenon philosopher philosophical philosophy phoneme phonetic phonetics photo phrase physic physical picture piece pilgrimage place plan planet plant plat plate play please poem poems poet poetry point pole police policy political politics polytheism polytheistic popular population position positive possession possible possibly post power powerful pp. practical practice praise pray prayer precise predict prediction prehistory present preserve press prevent priest primary principle print printing private probably problem process produce product production professional program project pronounce pronunciation proof property prophet propose prose proselytism protection protein provide province psychological psychology public publication publish publisher publishing punishment pure purpose put pyramid quantum question quickly quite quote race racial rack radiation radio rain range rate rather read reader real realism reality really reason receive recent recently reclamation recognize record recreation red ref refer reference referred reform reformation regard region reign rejection relate relation relationship relatively relativity reliable relic religion religious remain remember remove renaissance replace report republic request require research researcher resource respect response result resurrection retrieve return revelation revert review revision revival revolution rhetoric rich right rise ritual river rock role room royal rule ruled ruler run rural sacred sacrifice safe saga sage saint salad same sample satellite saw say schizophrenia scholar school science scientific scientist scope sea search second secondary section secular see seek seem selection self sense sent sentence separate sequence series service set seven several sexual shall shaman shape share she short should show shrine side sign significant silence similar simple simply since single situation six size skill skin slavery sleep slightly slow small smell smith snake so social society sociology soft soil solar soldier solid soliloquy some someone something sometimes song soon sortable sound source space speak speaker special specie specific speech speed spell spirit spiritual spirituality split sport spread square st. stage stain standard star start state statement station statistic statistical statue status stick still stone stop story strange strap strong structure struggle stub student study stutter style subject successful such sugar suggest sun sung sunlight superior superiority supernatural support suppose supreme sure surface survey surveyor sushi sustainability sustainable sweat symbol symbolic system table take talk tam tan task teach teacher teaching technique technology tectonics teeth tell temperature template temple ten term terminology territory tertiary test testament text textual than thank that the their theism them themselves then theology theoretical theory therapy there therefore thesaurus these they thick thing think third this those though thought thousand three through throughout thumb thus ticket tight time title to today together toilet tolerance toleration tongue too tool top topic total towards tower trade tradition traditional train translation transport travel treat treatment tree trench trial tribe tried trig true truth try turn twentieth twenty two type typical typically ultimate ultraviolet under understand understood union unit united universal universe university unknown unsortable until up upon upper urban urbanization usage use useful usually valley value van vandalism various vassal vegetable verb verbal verse version very video view violence virgin visit vitamin vocabulary voice vol. volume vowel vs. wale wall want war warm warmer wash waste water wave way we weak wealth wear weather web website weight well what when where whether which while white who whole whom whose why wide widely wild wilderness will window wisdom wise witch witchcraft with within without witness woman word work worker world worship would write writer writing wrong yam year yellow you young your

China, March and May made this list because china, march and may are on it and I didn't want to decide in favor of the common noun or the proper noun; all other proper nouns have been omitted (even the ten other months that met the criterium of appearing more then 6 times). #SimpleWikipedia #SimpleEnglish #wordlist #English #words #level1540 #Inli #nimi #selo1540