#I think that the notion of

[twilightichor]

𝐂𝐋𝐗𝐈𝐈. Concerning the insurrection in Khaenri'ah by the military faction and the citizens that were brave to join the cause to put a stop to the deplorable situation the kingdom was facing because of the people that obsessed too much over the Abyss, Dain was one of the Black Serpent Knights that fought for the improvement. Being in constant touch with royalty and aristocracy and his own observations as a knight made it difficult for him to not realize that something sinister was boiling down in regards of the Abyss, and to have suspicions that certain events that jeopardized the citizens' safety were directly related to those who tampered too much with the Abyss. To him, everyone was a Khaenri'ahn no matter if pure-blood or not, as his last order during the cataclysm was to protect everyone at all cost, no matter if royalty, nobility or otherwise.

[framblebee]

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE 1x2 After the Phantoms of Your Former Self

—You should just throw me in the incinerator, make another one. —Hm. And what a waste that would be.

[rikublivion]

Dysphania Militaris—more commonly known as the 'False Tiger Moth'—is often mistaken for a butterfly due to its bright colours.

[joy-jpg]

justice design concepts

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girl found dead in a hidden room.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[serpentface]

Here's what typical vestment for The Odomache looks like.

The pelt of the lion that was originally sacrificed and worn raw for her incarnation is retained throughout the years of service, preserved and fashioned into a headdress and cape (obscuring a helmet). This can get dreadfully hot in the summer but no one ever said that being a hollowed out pathway for God's spirit was easy.

The body is always obscured near completely, barring the hands, feet, and parts of the face (philosophically, these are the body's least vulnerable parts as its modes of Action, though this is in large part a practicality). This is partially a matter of psychological enforcement that this person is not Just a human, and partly a matter of protecting the part of God's living spirit that's in a wholly human body. Conceptually, the Odomache Enables tremendous power rather than being intrinsically powerful in of herself, so all manners of protecting the metaphysically vulnerable human body are of tantamount importance in her case.

The complete obscuring of any identifiable feminine form is also notably important to the underlying philosophies and biases involved. It is necessary that she is female, a condition ascribed a unique malleability to change and transformation (for good or harm), but the act of female/non-male sex and gender assignment also serves to uphold an underclass in a patriarchy that she By Necessity must be distanced from. This extends beyond the masculinized social and dress performance of Odonii to a masculinized social performance with dress that utterly obscures any part of the body that could be gendered, and dress that is not gendered in of itself (women do wear less revealing clothing than men and skirts of similar length, but the act of Fully covering the body in this form exists outside of the bounds of gendered dress).

[[It should be noted that on a historical level, this role is largely a descendant of a variety of 'celibate and/or masculinized female religious authority' figures in pre/proto-Wardi societies stretching back centuries, rather than an emergent property of contemporary religion and philosophy. This is an adaptation of older roles and worldviews to securely fit the contemporary zeitgeist, and that's part of why many aspects of this role Superficially clashes with said zeitgeist.]]

The relatively undecorated white cloak and robes in comparison to culturally favored displays of color and opulence further emphasizes a sense of the Odomache's separation from humanity. The Wardi image of God is not a human lord, but rather the world itself and the functions of the world distilled into the forms of animals. Human hierarchies exist Within God rather than God having a place within human hierarchies, so in this philosophy it's natural for this particular person of high authority to not closely resemble a Human Authority.

This is still ultimately a human body existing at the top end of a human hierarchy (and in the dimension of religious thought, it a human body holding aspects of God most specifically concerned with maintaining concepts of 'right' civilization and hierarchy), so public-facing garb like this will still include a few mundane trappings of lordship such as this fancy gold khattanocuy displaying an image of an enemy being trampled by the Face Odomache as the guardian lion. Purely ceremonial garb for the Odomache hides the body in its entirety beneath the white cloak and forgoes all decoration save for the obligatory weaponry.

A sword and dagger is worn at all times as a matter of being the ultimate physical bastion of her society's military might, and she is always accompanied by a retinue of 'lieutenants' (Extremely elite servants/squires) who carry whatever other elements of her perpetual armament are not currently in use. These weapons are Completely ceremonial in nature (to the point that they're made or plated with gold rather than anything like, durable) and there is absolutely zero expectation that the Odomache will ever directly engage in combat (the times this has happened historically have been when things have gone horribly wrong).

Her face is usually masked in public, though this is not a strict necessity of the role and is forgone for some ceremonial purposes. On these occasion, it's standard to paint the face red to still partly obscure human features in the same fashion of battlefield Odonii. As the color of blood, it positively evokes bodily vitality and strength, the living spirit of the world itself and the mode of connection to God (and will also be reminiscent of the rite of incarnation during which she is Actually covered in blood)

[gaywarcriminals]

The soggier a Bingge is, the better. Bingges looking "cool" is actually a sign of distress. A happy, healthy, and properly resocialized Bingge must be a a pathetic creature with mop-like quantities of water dripping from his fur.

[twifairy]

"Barok van Zieks is absolutely covered in scars from all his years being attacked" is like, pretty solidly in fanon at this point but I hope the other results of this constantly happening is that he fights dirty. No amount of being a respectable, well-trained gentleman who fights with honor is going to matter after a certain point.

I hope he bites people. I hope he spits blood onto the ground. I hope he has broken bones and left men bleeding in the street while he himself has to limp back to safety half alive. He may have never taken a life, but I hope he's come close.

[iteratorsex]

I believe in a world where fp and moon can ascend and not rubicon style no

[witchlingcirce]

I DONT THINK CLACE IS GONNA NAME ANY OF THERE FUTURE BABYS AFTER DEAD FAMILY MEMBERS OR PAST HERONDALE NAMES

[musubiki]

random limochi doodle

[thousand-winters]

My unpopular opinion is someone should have slapped Alastair for the "you keep me human" line. Shut the fuck up, Alastair, you're already human and wonderful, a white man of all people (kind as he might be) is not going to come and give you your worth. Let's get you some sense of self-worth.

[shouyuus]

sometimes i forget that not everyone is a freak like me and obsessively close tabs, clear notifs, and make sure that there are zero icons on my desktop bc i dont like the look of it u__u

[serpentface]

Faiza performing the Kagnoma Odo (pretty literally 'lion dance'), a weapons dance and one of the more important ritual duties of Odonii priestesses. A relatively new addition to this traditional dance involves the musket as the primary weapon, which is fired mid-twirl into the ground at the climax of the dance. Faiza is experiencing an 'oh fuck' moment because her shot is more than ideally diagonal, but she’s being so cool with it.

This is a wholly ceremonial performance at the onset of the pilgrimage, performed in full regalia and lion skin (of the small, semi-domesticated strain) but no armor. It’s also distinctly a display of political allegiance between the powerful and beloved Odonii priesthood (and its loyal military) with the increasingly reviled and destabilized imperial family, with Faiza prominently wearing a bracelet of the royal serpent, which was gifted (along with the musket) by the usoma Stavis Amanti himself (Usoma is the Wardi word for king, which has been retained in the context of emperors).

The Kagnoma Odo is the ultimate demonstration of the Odonii as an embodiment of the Lion Face of God and living vessel of military might and sovereignty, demonstrating her fitness and proficiency with weapons and as a spiritual unifier for soldiers. It is accompanied by drumming and occurs in stages, running through the three keymost weapons used in war- the spear, the sword, and the musket. The musket is of the most significance, given the weapon has developed a particular esteem as the ultimate embodiment of might and superiority. Assistants (almost always other priestesses, occasionally high ranking soldiers) load and prime the musket to be fired at the climax of the dance, where it is shot into the ground as the priestess leaps out of range of the shot. The firing signals the end of the dance and the rite itself.

While not the utmost exemplar of trigger discipline, only fully inducted and senior (and therefore very thoroughly trained) Odonii are permitted to perform the dance, and injuries during actual performances are quite rare (though are known to occur during training, more than a few Odonii have burns and wounds on their feet).

The most important renditions of this dance are performed upon declarations of war and before battles (in this case, generally done in full armor along with the lion pelt). It is also done during some trainings (while a dance, it is carefully choreographed to include naturalistic maneuvers of the weapons involved and helps soldiers limber up and learn to move their weapons). It is regarded as an impressive and motivating sight and a morale booster, and, seen at a distance, potentially intimidating to enemies.

A special variant of this dance is performed as means of fully incarnating the Odomache, which is done in full nudity with the body covered in the blood of the freshly sacrificed lion and cloaked in its raw pelt (the lion has become the corpse of Odomache in the moment of death, as part of its recreation of God's sacrifice). Her public, full nude appearance once (and only once) in this act is what allows the Lion Face of God to incarnate within her. Those in attendance see the spiritually vulnerable, naked human body obscured with the sanctified and deified blood and cloaked in the sanctified and deified skin. It is a merger of the contradictions of mortality and divinity, the boundaries between the two indistinct in flickering firelight and the flash of musketfire. She is witnessed by her people, dangling in between humanity and divinity and leading them in dance, and and is thus transformed.

[ingravinoveritas]

Michael straight up writing erotic gay fan fiction about Lucian and Aro in a 2012 interview and I am losing my mind...

[mscaseys]

the thing about the takes concerning mark needing Consequences for severing is that you can't use that logic if you're not going to apply it to Every Single Character in the severance universe. mark severing because lumon staged his wife's death and manufactured his grief then sold him a quick-fix for it is like... pretty tame compared to all the other stuff the other characters do but no one ever wants to talk about the consequences they need to face. it's always "they were a victim" until it comes to my friend mark scout.