#I wanted to include lesser-known deities too

[travelingthief]

Tarot Card Associations for Hellenic Deities

Fool - Dionysus, Hermes, Pan, Ate, Gelos, Momus, Horme

Magician - Hephaestus, Hermes, Hecate, Aristeaus, Circe, the Muses, Apollo

High Priestess - Hecate, Persephone, Hera, Circe

Empress - Hera, Aphrodite, Demeter, Hestia, Gaia, Rhea

Emperor - Zeus, Hades, Poseidon, Ares

Hierophant - Demeter, Persephone, Hecate, Hestia, Hera, Gaia, Rhea

Lovers - Aphrodite, Eros, Dionysus, Adonis, Hera, Philotes

Chariot - Hermes, Charon, Iris, Morpheus

Strength - Athena, Ares, Heracles, Nike, Bia, Kratos, 

Hermit - Hades, Hestia

Wheel of Fortune - Hermes, Tyche, the Fates, Zeus

Justice - Athena, Themis, Nemesis, Astraea, Apollo

Hanged Man - Hermes, Harpocrates, Prometheus, Psyche 

Death - Hades, Thanatos, Dionysus, Charon, Persephone, Ares

Temperance - Athena, Demeter, Artemis, Harmonia

Devil - Dionysus, Pan, Comus, Ate, Priapus

Tower - Ares, Poseidon, Deimos, Phobos, Eris, Moros, Enyo, Hybris

Star - Aphrodite, Artemis, Astraea, Urania, Hermes, Eos, Hesperus

Moon - Selene, Artemis, Hecate, Nyx, Hypnos, Erebus

Sun - Apollo, Helios, Hemera, Hyperion 

Judgment - Zeus, hades, Athena

World - Hermes, Demeter, Gaia, Hestia, Harmonia, Pan, Tyche

[crumblinggothicarchitecture]

Y'all wanna know about a gender-non-conforming knight from 13th century France? No? That's okay- I'm fine with talking to myself.

I'm obsessed with gender performativity in early medieval texts- so obviously I had to know everything about Le Roman De Silence.

To preface-

So, long before there was the Marvel Cinematic Universe- there was the interconnected works of the Arthurian Legends. The original superheroes- King Arthur, Merlin, Morganna le Fey, and the rest of the cast. However, one of the lesser known (only arguably canonical) interconnected texts of the Arthurian legend hails from France. People argue over whether or not to include these texts as part of the cannon of King Arthur because it's technically french- and the french-english divide between characterization of all the main players of Arthur's court is remarkably different. Much research on this suggests the discrepancy of characterization is largely due to distance between where the stories originate, and sociopolitical tensions between the French and the English. Either people were too far apart to share stories- thus too far apart to keep characterization uniform, or they fucking hated each other enough to mess up the characterization on purpose. For example, many of the French portrayals of King Arthur paint him to be a rather terrible person, where English portrayals are generally more kind to him.

All that aside- many people will disagree that Le Roman de Silence should even be part of the Arthurian legend canon anyway- because it only mentions Merlin at the end of the poem and because it's a super french poem.

The main storyline is about this character named Silence. From the Old French Poem- Le Roman de Silence.

Gender? No- Never heard of it.

The latter half of the story in this poem is predicated on a complex mediation of Nature vs Nurture. What happens is that a baby is born into a wealthy family, and for sociopolitical reasons, the family decides to raise the girl baby as a boy. They name this child "silence." Silence grows up with full access to an education, as was typical for the boy children of aristocratic medieval families- this education becomes important later as Silence wrestle with where they fit into the larger social structure after maturing into adulthood. Essentially, they find the idea of marriage too boring and would like to be a Knight or Explorer instead. (I love them.) Anyway, it's fascinating to me that the conceptual ideas of nature and nurture are personified into being something like "deities" which are overseeing the growth of Silence through the ages- and so we get these deities commentary.

Silence wants to be a knight- so Nurture brags about being right that gender is more performative than it is biological. Then, later Silence grows up to be remarkably "pretty" and according to the deity of Nature- they brag about being right that biology and gender are intrinsically tied. It's such a thought-provoking mediation on gender as either performance or pure biology that I forget it was written in the 13th century- long before Freud or Lacan or any of the others who became hyper fixated on human presumption of gender as either a social category or a biological necessity.

I argued in a paper, once, that the narrative itself does actually finally end on the note that Gender is a performance, and it is tied into social roles only so the ruling class can have control of the population. That is why the stories ending shifts into horror-genre-esque of Silence marrying into the upper-ruling class.

I also have a strong urge to write a Fanfiction of Silence as a knight- who does not meet a sad fate but rather lives happily as a knight and eventually marries a princess. Okay- Okay? fine I said it. I said it-

Social pressure to marry?

The story takes a dark turn, however- when the King demands Silence to reveal themselves in front of the court. Obviously, even the author of the story was aware that misogynistic social standards would not allow for people to ever really be free of gender stereotypes and roles. So, Silence is then forced out of the adventurous lifestyle of a knight and into a marriage. Also, this is the place in the story where Merlin makes an appearance (I have a theory that Merlin is representative of the devil, and the author really hated that all AFAB people were forced into marriage back in 1200's. So that's why the devil shows up when all the bad shit is happening to Silence).

Inevitability and dismay-

What I find particularly interesting about this poem is the fact that the end, as Silence is forced into marriage and back into "proper" social roles for their assumed biological characteristics, is the fact that it is written like an early attempt at gothic horror!

So, one of the stipulations for something being a "gothic horror" is 1.) old, archaic, twisted buildings. (this blog is indeed named after my fixation with gothic horror elements, it's interplay relation to social reform, as its emphasis on decay as the tonal necessity for social indemnification). Anyway, the other most important aspect of gothic horror- is an overwhelming sense of desolation, isolation, and loneliness.

Sure, Silence is forced into marriage- but even with the forthright writing style of the author, we, as readers, are struck by Silence's loneliness. Thus, the "happily ever after" part of the storyline wherein the characters get married, as it traditional to chivalric romance, is recriminated against in subtext. Now, we have a moment in which the "happily ever after" is a creation of horror rather than peace.

Ending the narrative with marriage as equivalent to a loss of freedom and a sense of evermore-present loneliness, cumulating in the edifice of horror-struck fear in Silence at their own new future, is a remarkably bold social statement coming from a 13th century author.

I just think it's a really interesting text on the thematic points of negotiating Gender identity, in broader terms of performance and social roles, as much as it is a critique on the total social control that the monarchy held over the people of 13th century France.

Edit: I need to add that Silence themselves consistently rejects the idea that they are AFAB and instead only ever refers to themselves as "Silence" or "the knight"

[khaire-traveler]

Hi! Sorry, if it's not in your field, you can ignore it otherwise.

Do you have any advice for someone, who is got interested in very unpopular God to worship? Like, there is no temples, no hymns, no prayers, and, in my cases, even no myths. I would say the God is semi popular, like, people know Him, but don't worship. I already checked most popular websites. In my case it's Erebos, but, really, a lot of God's I want to worship and work with in future fall under this problem.

Hey, Nonny, thank you for the question!

Most deities I worship have myths of some kind that feature them, but some are simply mentioned by name, and that's about it. It can be frustrating and confusing to not find any information about a deity at all.

When it comes to this problem, the best thing to do, in my opinion, is look at general historical offerings for Chthonic (or Ouranic, but I believe Erebos would be considered Chthonic) deities. Most of what was offered to them was buried to return it to the earth, and when praying to Chthonic deities, ancient Greeks would sometimes knock or pound on the ground to "get their attention", as it was believed they lived below the surface of the earth. Burning offerings are more for Ouranic deities, as the smoke would travel up to Olympus, but I would say that if that's common for you, you're still welcome to do that. You obviously don't have to do things the exact same way as in history, but if you want to, the option is at least somewhat there. If you're going to throw away an offering because it's not safe for the environment to bury, just let the deity know that you're not doing it out of disrespect; that's typically what I do, and that seems to work fine.

Some common general offerings in ancient Greece include (but are not limited to): incense, honey, olive oil, water, flowers, herbs, fruits, grains, wine, and milk. You're more than welcome to give other offerings based on your own personal feelings and experiences (UPG)! For example, I like to give Loki (I know he's not a Hellenic god, but the example still applies) butterfly-related things as offerings because I have a UPG association of butterflies, despite the fact that's not historically verified. Your religion is your own, and especially with deities who are not mentioned often, you will have to base a lot on your own personal gut feelings.

As stated above, a lot of what you'll end up practicing will likely be rooted in UPG. Unfortunately, there aren't many sources for Erebos, so a lot of your practice may be based on general Chthonic deity worship in the past. My advice - and what has done me a lot of good personally - is establishing a reliable means of communication with Erebos. When you have a question or concern related to his worship, you can communicate with him directly and ask him what he'd like you to do! You can even ask him what symbols he would like you to associate him with, which he might express externally through signs and omens or through your dreams (that's based on my experience of asking the same of other deities). I personally find communication to be essential when it comes to worshipping lesser known or "unpopular" deities, as it has helped me countless times.

Deity communication doesn't have to be anything fancy, by the way; it can literally just be you praying or generally asking for a sign from the deity. I personally tend to pray and use tarot decks the most, but I've also found pendulum, ancient Greek runes, self-made runes, and shufflomancy to be helpful! Meditation is helpful, too, but I don't do much of that anymore because it's very difficult for me. There are endless ways to communicate with your deities, so just experiment, see what forms of communication work best for you, and utilize them however you see fit. Deity communication can be somewhat trial and error, so please don't feel discouraged if you don't immediately understand every single thing your deity is trying to communicate. It often takes some time and practice, and that's both entirely natural and completely ok.

When creating an altar for Erebos, I would stick to the typical way you'd make an altar for any other deity (if you want/are able to have a physical altar at all). For me, that looks like this: a candle to burn as a means of communication and offering in honor of the deity, imagery/statues of the deity, imagery/trinkets/etc of the deity's symbols (if any), imagery/trinkets/etc of symbols I personally associate with the deity, poetry/writings/drawings I made for the deity, devotional jewelry, and anything else that I see fit. Since he doesn't really have much you can associate him with historically, I would focus on creating your own associations with him. What are symbols you notice throughout your day that, for whatever reason, just remind you of Erebos? What are symbols he's sent to you in dreams or communications with him? What immediately comes to mind whenever you think of Erebos? These are some good questions to consider if you're having trouble finding things to associate him with!

Something else that can be helpful is finding or reaching out to others who worship the same deities. This can be really difficult, especially since the whole point of a "lesser known deity" is that they're lesser known, but sometimes you can get lucky and find other worshippers or even stumble across another worshipper's UPG/experiences with the deity. I would say that isn't super common, so I wouldn't stress it if you're unable to find others who worship Erebos; it can just be sometimes helpful to have that sense of community if you are able to find others. Even if you are the first to post or talk about a deity, I think that could still be helpful to you or others in the future because other interested people may reach out to or follow you, and that can be a great way to connect. That's entirely up to you and your comfort level, though, as it can honestly be really difficult to post about deities sometimes, even ones that are more well-known.

That's all the information I can think of off the top of my head. I hope that you find this all to be helpful in some way and that it can maybe help you get started. Thank you for the interesting question, and I hope you have a great day/night. 🧡☺️

[em-dashes]

09.04.2024 - Long Time No Update

Hi hello I miss doing writing updates 🥺 so here I am!

I've been hesitant about sharing specific details about New!Aphelion until I get a solid first draft. But I also want to document my progress so far because I KNOW future!me would like it.

FIRST OFF! Lots have changed. I kept a few characters and the basic framework, but that's about it. I kept Shelby and Rian, but added some new characters so I could have a more fun and interesting crew dynamic. (Previously it was just Shelby and her much younger friend Idan.)

The new members of the pirate crew Teng-She include:

1. THATCHER: Shelby's partner (in what sense? who's to say 😏) and co-captain. Her addition gives Shelby someone of equal footing to bounce off of and talk to. Playing with her and Shelby's relationship gave me so much insight on the war and how people feel about it and lets me play with the tension between the two (hehe).

2. NELL: (aka Charmer, though she doesn't go by that anymore) I kind of split Idan into two characters. One is Nell, who the youngest human member of the crew. She is a prodigy in a lot of things, including neuroscience and computing, which led to the creation of:

3. TAO: an artificial intelligence who lives in the ship's mainframe. He is based on a preexisting operating system called Asteria, but Nell modified it to actually have thoughts of its own instead of blind obedience. Together, he and Nell form a dynamic duo and are very useful when it comes to breaking through high tech security systems. Perfect for a pirate gang!

The crew is bound together by one thing: the desire to get the heck off of the planet Erebos before the war starts again.

As for the ship itself, Teng-She is named after an asterism. It means "soaring snake".

ALSO. Planet names. I was not liking the previous names I had for them, so I looked into some lesser known Greek deities / concepts and came up with:

Erebos (previously Es)

Hemera / Bi-Xing (it was called Bi-Xing before too, but now it also has an alternative name, the way countries irl often have different names between languages)

Aether (previously Yleron)

ANYWAY. The reason I'm making this post is because recently I've had some new revelations that I wanted to document.

1. Came up with a way to connect Nell with the main antogonist Dr. Scott. Previously I had no plans to make a connection, but I think this makes the drama so much spicier.

2. TAO's relationship with Rian. TAO is the first crew member to empathize with Rian because he understands the pain of not being quite human and not being fully accepted because of it. This was not my intention when I split Idan into two and created TAO, but it flowed so naturally out of the story that I had to keep it.

(I think Nell and TAO have accidentally become my favourite characters to write.)

That's it for now! Here is an excerpt from TAO's perspective. Context: TAO usually takes the form of a hologram in the shape of a cartoon bird.

[borldwuilding]

I want to info dump about some of the gods so I’m going to queue some of those up I think!

Starting with Oreik, the Annasolish/Common pantheon God of Treachery, Ambition, and Betrayal.

The original dark elf, Oreik was built from the spilled blood of the first Moon God, Morden Oeru, after he was slain by his companions Yalidil Rana and Ineyal Phor. Moon Elf/Yuenhüuian legend says that Oreik was born of Morden’s betrayal to the other two, but Dark Elf/Annasolish would say that Yalidil and Ineyale were the ones to attack Morden first.

Regardless of which is true, Morden’s death caused his moon, Honuon, to crumble and collapse into the world’s atmosphere. With the help of the warring exiled moon elves Iuin and Zhün, Oriek was able to save some of the Honuon natives before the moon became too unstable to return to, including Morden’s secret daughter, Ua. Oreik took the surviving population and fled with them to the world’s underground tunnel system, where neither moon could see them. There, he found them safety and a new start, and turned those who chose to follow him into the dark elves known today.

(Cont. under the cut)

Oreik is a controversial figure in history and legend. Annasolish culture follows Oreik as a savior and a hero who protected the people of the god he was born from in his stead, though they often leave out the rest of his domains when they worship him. For others, Oreik’s hand in the corruption and destruction of empires is impossible to overlook. Needless to say, as the god of betrayal and treachery, his role in the stories of some of the most villainous and nefarious figures in history is well known.

For most, Oreik’s teaching encourages striving for power regardless of the cost. Friends and family can be expendable, and others are merely pieces of the game you must learn to control and dispose of as it best serves you. He offers boons for those foolish enough to follow him that may aid in their goals, but Oreik is rarely one for favorites - as easily as he aids you, he may be aiding your foe to do the same.

He is a deity well known for showing up in person, a fan of conversing and toying with his friends and foes alike. If it’s not him, he often sends his close student Uzuenshai Ueltohüon, the Lesser God of Shadows and Assassins, to do his bidding for him.

For the Annasolish people, Oreik will always be their savior. Though his atrocious acts (often above ground) are impossible to ignore, they try their best to see the best in him. If he is to favor anyone, it’s the dark elves - his own creations and the descendants of the ones he originally saved thousands of years prior. Annasolish followers consider him their chief deity, and will defend him to the best of their ability from those who would only see Oreik as a villain. Because of that, Annasolish practice is often banned outside of the underground, and viewed as purposefully malicious and antagonistic - even if that’s not their intention.

For the few that manage to get close to him, Oreik is a deeply troubled individual. Torn between Morden’s desire to help his people and his inherent nature as the god of betrayal and treachery, Oreik is known for having hard streaks of mercilessness and unusual amounts of heart. In the same breath he works to ensure the safety of his people, he brings the end to others. His existence is a battle between what he is and what he wants - revenge and retribution for what Yalidil Rana did by turning on Morden, a reality he has been cursed to never speak of and that nobody believes in anyways. 

In the end, Oreik’s goals stretch far beyond what he expects for his own existence, fighting to cultivate the most capable heroes to face a evil far stronger than he is, so that maybe his people may some day know peace.... even if he knows it will cost the life of him and many of his closest companions.

[cutiesforsale]

Hello, smaller cuties. <3

First, I would like to quickly mention the fandoms I have ideas for already...

- Genshin Impact

-Naruto

-JJK

- MID (My Inner Demons)

- KNY/Demon Slayer

- Greek mythology.

(Always feel free to suggest others)

================================

First post: Welcome, vocabulary, ideas so far, and rules. :)

1. Welcome! I am now your mom-dad who will give cuties as nutrients.

2. Vocabulary

Don't worry, you'll pass this test.

Demon: When I mention a demon idea- usually for the reader- I mean KNY's idea of demons. ╰⁠(⁠ ⁠･⁠ ⁠ᗜ⁠ ⁠･⁠ ⁠)⁠➝ (Super strength, regeneration, special abilities, craving for human flesh, almost immortality, can only die from the sun or nichirin blade to the neck)

Isekaid: I'm sure you may know this one, but let's not be asumers. Isekaid means to magically drop into a fictional/alternate universe after being ran over by Truck-Kun. <3

Eldritch: Usually a being beyond comprehension that does not have human features, or may have the basis of a human body but have mythical/animal features. (Horns, tentacle mouths, wings, multiple eyes, animal arms, etc.)

Oracle: An Oracle is a person or thing that provides wisdom and insightful counsel or prophecies and predictions.

Foreigner: Maybe you do or don't know what this means, but a foreigner is someone who is from another country. (A popular example for this with my ideas is a foreigner reader who wakes up in, usually, Japan or Teyvat)

Nymph: A nymph is a mythological nature spirit/lesser deity. They originated from Ancient Greece and are usually portrayed as beautiful maidens.

Reincarnation: Being born again after death, at least, for my writings that is.

And last but certainly not least,

3. Rules

I know I mentioned ideas but this is already long for an introduction. So next post. :)

> I. No hateful comments or tones

Obviously that is a rule, one that I expect to be followed if you're going to interact with anyone. Especially with how toxic fandoms and fanfiction can get, I think it is even more important to be considerate on this app and my page. (Please, we all like fanfiction, don't ruin it for others)

That would include...

- Mocking, making fun of, or bullying people unironically. If you want to be sure others know you're just joking, add the /j. Please. It's not hard and will save you effort of explaining yourself.

- Harassment, stalking, threatening. Nope, none of that. You should absolutely know what that would look like. No excuses.

> II. Others

- Spamming. I get that if I do write often here, or if you think of something from my posts, that you might want to see it written. Please don't harass or spam anyone because they won't write what you want. It's not your page/blog.

- Please don't compare writers or reblog without making it known that I'm the writer. I don't mind if people reblog or translate things, that's fine! And I don't mind if you mention a writer similar to me/similar thoughts as me. I love finding new authors! But comparison is not something I enjoy, and neither would you.

- Patience, please. I'm doing this for fun and for the health of my over-creative brain with too many ideas floating around. This is not a job and I have a life. Thank you.

Ideas will be posted next and I will love to share them with you. :))

Have a cutie. 🍊 <3

[theoi-crow]

This is a bit of an odd and much more theoretical type of question, but I saw your recent post on lost Gods and Goddesses and thought of this. Do you think there's ever a chance in the future that we may reconnect with or reestablish the presence of certain lost gods and goddesses?

Personally, I think it's pretty unlikely for that to happen, but let's just say that, hypothetically, information resurfaces about a Deity. Do you think that Deity would be welcomed into the community with open arms or that They'd simply go ignored by the majority of Hellenic Polytheists?

Or, hypothetically, what if one of these lost Deities reaches out to modern followers and makes Their presence known again? Do you think there's a potential for that to happen, or do you think that these Deities have truly been forever lost to the sands of time, having given up entirely on a resurgence? These are definitely more depressing questions, but I'm curious to know your thoughts and opinions on this matter.

Man, reading that post, too, really made me realize why it's so important to draw attention to lesser known Gods and Goddesses, as well just advocate, as you said with your examples, for Those who are having Their domains absorbed by Others.

Hi Bunny! 👋😄

These questions are great! I love hypothetical discourse! I really want to answer all of these questions to the best of my ability so in order to make sure I answer them all, I'm going to quote the questions I got from your ask and then answer.

"Do you think there's ever a chance in the future that we may reconnect with or reestablish the presence of certain lost gods and goddesses?"

Yes!

Thanks to archeology, protection efforts trying to decipher ancient languages, and technology used to read sensitive documents we were previously unable to access, we are finding the names of gods whom we had previously lost. In some cases we are finding their temples first but over time as our methods and technology get better, the name of the gods who used to reside in these temples might eventually be revealed to us, as well.

". . .hypothetically, information resurfaces about a Deity. Do you think that Deity would be way welcomed into the community with open arms or that They'd simply go ignored by the majority of Hellenic Polytheists?"

This is a bit more complicated and really depends on the person because the Hellenic Polytheist community is not a monolith.

This also depends on who the god being discovered is. This includes their associations (or lack thereof) with more well-known gods like the Olympians. For example, unless they are really into ancient information that changes the way they worship, a lot of Hellenic Polytheists don't seem to notice gods who used to rule very specific regions in ancient Greece where their role was limited to guarding that region, like a nymph guarding a very specific tree in Corinth.

There are just too many gods for Hellenic Polytheists to keep track of. Hellenic polytheism has hundreds upon hundreds of gods, so I can see the community adding the new god's information to the growing list of specialized minor gods and calling it a day.

This reaction could be completely different if the god being discovered reveals a connection to the gods that the people in the Hellenic Polytheist community already worship.

I would like to conduct a thought experiment to better explain what I mean.

Let's pretend we just discovered a new goddess named Rhode. She's a nymph and the goddess of a very specific location: the Island of Rhodes in Greece. So unless you live in this very specific area, chances are, you're not going to be working with her. In this case I don't really see the Hellenic Polytheist community getting too excited past the fact that "we just found a new god."

To continue our thought experiment, let's say we find more information on Rhode. We discover she is the wife of Helios and the daughter of Poseidon with one of three goddesses: Amphitrite, Aphrodite, or Halia (a sea-nymph near Rhodes).

Given the new information, I can see a lot of Hellenic Polytheists buzzing about the new goddess being discovered because those who work with Helios, Poseidon, Amphitrite, and Aphrodite now have new information regarding their own god.

Maybe they didn't know that one of Helios' marriages connected him to Poseidon.

Or that Aphrodite thanked Poseidon for saving her and Ares from being forever trapped by the net of Hephaestus, after he convinced the god of the forge to let them go, and gave Poseidon a daughter as proof of their temporary union.

Or maybe they are collecting as much information about Amphitrite and now realize she possibly had a connection to the ancient people who lived in Rhodes.

Judging by all of this, Rhode is no longer seen as just another regionally specific nymph, but her discovery now shines a light on different aspects of the popular gods she's connected with, thus helping the people in the Hellenic community who follow these gods, add to their form of worship.

In reality Rhode is an actual goddess we have records of, but I wanted to use her as an example because she's a goddess both tied to a very specific location and one who is also connected to well known gods in the community.

"Or, hypothetically, what if one of these lost Deities reaches out to modern followers and makes Their presence known again? Do you think there's a potential for that to happen, or do you think that these Deities have truly been forever lost to the sands of time, having given up entirely on a resurgence?"

NOTE: because I'm not a god, these are only my own theories on how the gods work so it's okay if what I believe is not what you believe. When it comes to the nature of how the gods function, all we have are beliefs and theories (feel free to ignore this if it does not align with your beliefs).

Have you ever watched Spirited Away?

There is a scene where Chihiro figures out Haku's real name and tells him. Upon hearing his real name, he transforms into his true form. But before he could turn into his true form, he needed to hear his real name first.

I personally believe the gods work in the same way.

I theorize the gods forget who they are and take on a new identity, but because everyone who knew their real name is long gone, they might never fully remember. They still might come back as a completely different god but, like I said, since I'm not a god, all I can do is theorize. Other people might see the gods as never forgetting and that's okay too, everyone has different beliefs!

WARNING: I do want to warn that people have used the idea of being the only ones to know the secrets of a very old undocumented god to start very dangerous cults so I suggest sticking to gods who have been previously documented as a safety measure to not fall victim to these cults.

". . .why it's so important to draw attention to lesser known Gods and Goddesses, as well just advocate, as you said with your examples, for Those who are having Their domains absorbed by Others."

This is why I make a point to make posts about Apollo being the god of knowledge, especially since I closely work with this version of him.

The best part about helping a god preserve their domain is how simple it can be.

You can honor the god in their domain

Write a post about a domain people keep forgetting belongs to a specific god. Even a tiny post reminding others about the god and their domain is enough.

At the end of the day, so long as the god has even just one person honoring them with their original domain, they are still the god of that domain.

Thanks to preserved documents, people still know which domain originally belonged to which god.

Remember, even the gods are not immune to being forgotten so enjoying posts about the gods, making art in honor of them, honoring and loving the gods as they are, in my opinion, is the best way to preserve them.

I hope this helps!

[uesp]

Theory: Todd is the sleeping Godhead that we all talk about. Also he achieved absolute CHIM

You're definitely free to come up with whatever theory on that you like, but if you're genuinely curious, I would say you're a bit off from the intended takeaway.

Trying to figure out who the Godhead is a bit of a self-defeating exercise. In fact, to get a bit ahead of the point I'm going to make, it's often easier to describe the One by what he is not. If you're looking at the rare in-series mentions of the Godhead (most of the uses of "godhead" are actually referring to more generic godhood, which is also a more modern form of "godhead"), you come up with two mentions of the Godhead, and only one of them describes the Godhead at all.

The eyes, once bleached by falling stars of utmost revelation, will forever see the faint insight drawn by the overwhelming question, as only the True Enquiry shapes the edge of thought. The rest is vulgar fiction, attempts to impose order on the consensus mantlings of an uncaring godhead.

From Waking Dreams of A Starless Sky

The Godhead is uncaring. And that is basically the depth of actual text on the Godhead. If you go with sources that did not appear in the game, you'll do a bit better, but not really to any satisfying degree. So how do we get a satisfying answer? We escape the confines of the rare and deliberately esoteric mentions of this part of the lore and look at its real-world inspiration. Speaking for myself, the best summary of this part of the lore I ever read is:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism

Sincerely, after reading that and its associated articles, I went from "wow this is all a bit complex" to "alright, this is surprisingly straightforward". To tangent slightly, while there are numerous fan writings that try to explore these concepts, and I do enjoy a lot of them, I find that some of them often have trouble expressing what it all actually means because they often restrict themselves to the trappings of TES. We're going to remove those trappings, and see if it helps.

If you want more help, here is how I mentally tie some TES lore topics to its real world counterpart.

The Godhead is the Godhead (Monad)

CHIM is Gnosis

CHIM has been described as the secret syllable of royalty. It is best understood as a state of being which allows for escape from all known laws and limitations. It is the process of reaching some sort of epiphany about the nature of the universe and one's place in it, leading to a simultaneous comprehension of the full scope of existence as well as one's own individuality.

Gnosis is the common Greek noun for knowledge. It is best known from Gnosticism, where it signifies a spiritual knowledge or insight into humanity's real nature as divine, leading to the deliverance of the divine spark within humanity from the constraints of earthly existence.

Amaranth is Emanationism

The Tower touches all the mantles of Heaven, brother-noviates, and by its apex one can be as he will. More: be as he was and yet changed for all else on that path for those that walk after. This is the third key of Nu-mantia and the secret of how mortals become makers, and makers back to mortals.

Emanationism is an idea in the cosmology or cosmogony of certain religious or philosophical systems. Emanation, from the Latin emanare meaning "to flow from" or "to pour forth or out of", is the mode by which all things are derived from the first reality, or principle. All things are derived from the first reality or perfect God by steps of degradation to lesser degrees of the first reality or God, and at every step the emanating beings are less pure, less perfect, less divine. Emanationism is a transcendent principle from which everything is derived, and is opposed to both creationism (wherein the universe is created by a sentient God who is separate from creation) and materialism (which posits no underlying subjective and/or ontological nature behind phenomena being immanent).

Anu and Padomay and their derivatives are Aeons

Lorkhan is the Demiurge

Lorkhan, the Missing God, is the Creator-Trickster-Tester deity present in every Tamrielic mythic tradition. He is known as the Spirit of Nirn, the god of all mortals. Names for versions or aspects of Lorkhan include Lorkhaj (the Moon Beast) in Elsweyr, Lorkh, the Spirit of Man, the Mortal Spirit, or the Sower of Flesh to the Reachmen, Sep in Hammerfell, Sheor in High Rock, Shor in Skyrim, and Shezarr in Cyrodiil. He convinced or contrived the Original Spirits (et'Ada) to bring about the creation of the Mundus, upsetting the status quo—much like his (figurative) father Padomay is usually credited for introducing instability, and hence possibility for creation, into the undivided universe (or the Beginning Place).

In the Platonic, Neopythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neoplatonic schools of philosophy, the demiurge is an artisan-like figure responsible for fashioning and maintaining the physical universe. The Gnostics adopted the term demiurge. Although a fashioner, the demiurge is not necessarily the same as the creator figure in the monotheistic sense, because the demiurge itself and the material from which the demiurge fashions the universe are both considered consequences of something else. Depending on the system, they may be considered either uncreated and eternal or the product of some other entity.

The word demiurge is an English word derived from demiurgus, a Latinised form of the Greek δημιουργός or dēmiurgós. It was originally a common noun meaning "craftsman" or "artisan", but gradually came to mean "producer", and eventually "creator". The philosophical usage and the proper noun derive from Plato's Timaeus, written c. 360 BC, where the demiurge is presented as the creator of the universe. The demiurge is also described as a creator in the Platonic (c. 310–90 BC) and Middle Platonic (c. 90 BC – AD 300) philosophical traditions. In the various branches of the Neoplatonic school (third century onwards), the demiurge is the fashioner of the real, perceptible world after the model of the Ideas, but (in most Neoplatonic systems) is still not itself "the One". In the arch-dualist ideology of the various Gnostic systems, the material universe is evil, while the non-material world is good. According to some strains of Gnosticism, the demiurge is malevolent, as it is linked to the material world. In others, including the teaching of Valentinus, the demiurge is simply ignorant or misguided.

I think that by seeing these concepts side by side it will help make sense of it all. You can definitely research this further, and argue that specific parts of the lore are more directly related to other concepts, but from my limited understanding of theology/philosophy, this is a framework for understanding what the lore was based on, and the ideas that might otherwise go unconnected. If you can do better than me here, by all means, be better than me.

But this takes us to the secret question within all of this: How does this effect the setting? The answer to that is that it really doesn't. Knowing that the setting of The Elder Scrolls is the material world created by the Demiurge, separating its inhabitants from the Godhead, doesn't really change anything. After all, you can literally say the exact same thing about our world. The presence of these concepts in The Elder Scrolls setting should change how you appreciate it in roughly the same way that this school of thought existing in our own world changes your view on our setting.

If you thought this was interesting, I certainly agree with you. If you think this is all a bit too much, and don't want to think about it anymore, you won't be missing out on much by ignoring it going forward. If you want to explore different theories on this, you’re definitely free too, I hope you enjoy exploring your own thoughts on this subject.

[noweyesee]

Let’s talk about •••

••• Spirit Work

Pt.2/2

You’ve seen it around and decided you want to try your hand at Spirit Work or you have had encounters and would like to take back some control by deepening your knowledge of this practice. So:

I. Where to begin

• First Step

Ask yourself and define this: What do you want to work with? What do you classify as spirits?

Ancestors and Known Deceased

— These tend to be the easiest to communicate and connect with, due to your shared experiences and energies. In this type of Spirit work most people tend to utilize divinatory instruments or the astral.

Unknown Human Deceased

— Just like the first example, these also are somewhat accessible, since their plane tends to be parallel with ours. Normally it requires more steps of protection and precaution, since you don’t know the spirit's temperament nor it’s signature.

Nature Spirits: elements, plants, animals

— These are at the same time the most common and the most difficult type - common because people tend to, unknowingly, communicate with them all the time and due to that their presence is quite naturalized, making it tricky for some to actively seek them out. Each of the subcategories also have their own language and means of communication.

*I’ve added elements, because honestly, ask any nature or green witch out there, elements are also spirits and have their own language, messages and signature.

Nature Spirits a.k.a Entities: angels, fay, demon

— Ah, yes. The coveted and honored. These are easy to connect to, but also are easy to mess up with. Each subcategory of entity has its own subcategory, and in those the methods of communication and connecting vary a lot, but are heavily influenced by two aspects: Respect and also Trying not to mess up and unknowingly sell yourself.

Divine Spirits a.k.a Deities

— Divine Spirits and Deities are the most popularized, since many these days are visited and maintain a tight relationship with their deities. Each deity or divine spirit has its own specificities when it comes to communication and connection, not to mention the UPG’s and particular experiences of their followers, worshipers or workers.

Thoughtforms a.k.a Tar Spirits

— This is a topic to debate, as I’ve seen thoughtform being used in various themes with different connotations, but to specify, this one is related to what the web has been calling Tar Spirits. I, particularly, don’t communicate with them because their egregore and existence isn’t really one amenable to cleansing, enlightenment or anything - but there are people who claim they do so, these two have their own way of being handled when doing Spirit Work.

Those were only some (yes, only some!) generalize examples, each one has its own subcategory. So you see, deciding what you want to work with, first and foremost, is the first step to begin practicing Spirit Work. Also, nothing impedes you from broadening your range of work with time, as long as you have a clear intention as to who and what you’re working with.

• Second step:

With that done, you’re ready for the part that many dread and others adore - Research.

Yeah, yeah, I know. People in the community are already tired of seeing research be always recommended, as if it is implicit. But hey, doesn’t hurt to comment about it once again, because it is true.

This practice, as any other can be done through the empirical way, but will you really put, quite literally, your life at risk?

If the answer is no, then a way to prevent that is to research. Understand the details and methods of the target audience you’ll be working with so that you can prepare and protect yourself.

• Third step:

You defined your target audience, you researched, so much so that you’re confident in yourself and have a certainty that you’ll be safe. Now what? Practice!

Finally the time to start acting and testing all the theory you went through, so… how do you begin?

I’d suggest here beginning in controlled environments with controlled methods. Those, different from just wandering around on energetically charged places (like hospitals, cemeteries and so on) are the ideal to at least not be straight up traumatized in the beginning. So, choose your method of communicating - will you use divination, herbs, meditation, trance, the astral plane, channeling, psychography (the spiritual one, not the study method)?

Whichever method you choose make sure it’s one you're well versed in interpreting, so the chances of having your leg pulled are lesser.

So, do a checklist

Target audience ○

Study and Theory ○

Confidence ○

Preparation ○

Protection ○

Plan and Method ○

Plan B ○

Checked all of those? Then you’re ready to go.

Always make sure to tell a friend who knows what you're doing before, so they can also serve as a second pair of eyes if anything goes haywire.

II. Getting Better

Now, that’s a complicated topic. One because the answer, as you have probably guessed, is to practice. But other than that, when doing Spirit Work you have some… branches of possibility you may choose to follow.

One is to master one technique, applying yourself to the specific type of Spirit with one specific method. Another is to branch out, try as many different Spirits and methods as you want.

So yeah, pretty contradictory, though nothing impedes you from mastering something and then branching out after, just a thought.

III. Instruments

Most Spirit workers do their practices alongside instruments, that of course is not an obligation and it doesn’t mean that if you don’t have one of such you won’t be able to do Spirit Work - but I can not lie, having at least an aiding instrument helps a lot, specially so that you don’t use all your energy up, specially in the beginning of your practice.

Okay, so, these instruments will include herbs and such because they work as an aid during spirit working and also methods of communication, because these too are instruments. With that said, here we go, yeah?

Divinatory Methods: Cards, Runes, Charms, Seashell, etc.

— Used for communication.

Smoking Stick, Candles, Crystals or Incense

— Used for either channeling, warding or intensifying. Can also be used for inviting.

Rue Broom

— Used for cleansing the space before the Spirit work session and after to get rid of any lingering negative energies

Wands and Blades

— Used for directing and controlling energy

Tibetan Tingsha Bells

— Used for attracting and Inviting

Tibetan Bell and Dorjee

— Used for cleansing and passing on the Spirit.

Bones, Remains and Plants

— Used for channeling and Inviting.

Rope and Vessels

— Used for binding.

IV. Interesting Readings

-> How to Communicate with Spirits: Seances, Ouija Boards and Summoning by Angela Kaelin

-> A Brief Introduction to Macumba - on The Culture Trip site

-> Features of Trance Mediumship in Tibetan Buddhism and Modern Spiritualism by Martha Maxine Meilleur

-> The State Oracle of Tibet, Spirit Possession, and Shamanism by Homayun Sidky

-> Buckland's Book of Spirit Communications by Raymond Buckland

-> Talking with the dead: Spirit mediumship, affect and embodiment in Stoke-on-Trent by Nadia Bartolini, Sara MacKian and Steve Pile

••••• 👁•••••

This is it, I’m happy I could approach this topic because it has been one that I’ve been wanting to breach for a while here on tumblr. The readings above are mostly easily accessible pdfs, so if you have time take a look at them, yeah?

Hope this somehow can help someone.

-Lou

( ・∇・)👇🏽

Etsy | Donations

[demonslayedher]

Ramble on the Limitations of Looking for KnY Interpretation based on Japanese Mythology

One thing I notice a lot in the Japanese side of KnY fandom theories is a lot of deep dives into religious and mythological reasons behind Gotouge's creative choices. It is super interesting stuff, and Gotouge borrows enough and does homage to enough that there is a clearly a solid knowledge base there. While I find historical details handy for interpreting the characters, ultimately, I find that the canon of demons and Breaths can be interpreted in a vacuum without relying too heavily on the uncanny coincidences lurking in deep dives. This isn't going to be a well-supported essay, this is going to be a ramble that may include a bunch of interesting nuggets. (And then she went on to ramble for 3249 unedited words...)

First things first: I'm a nerd. I like to say I broke the weeb scale a long time ago, but I'm not exactly a university professor or anything like that. That said, I do read a lot of stuff from experts who have jumped on the KnY trends to talk about how elements in KnY are taken from, say, the sword making traditions of the Okuizumo region that results in black swords or simply making comparisons to famous swords, or local legends of supernatural encounters that resulted in split rocks, or comparing specific oni with and the heroes who slayed them or at least comparing elements of specific characters to other famous oni legends, or that Hinokami Kagura is based on a specific Shinto legend and has 12 forms based on existing Kagura traditions, etc. And I love reading this stuff, because I wouldn't had learned about some of it without my interest in KnY leading me to those articles, or as I read it I cheer because they're making references to things I already (as a nerd) really enjoy and therefore it strokes my inner echo chamber bias, or I nod along and think, "oh, yes, why of course, that makes total sense, Hinokami Kagura must be based on the dance Amenouzume performed to enticed the Sun Goddess Amaterasu out of the cave, how silly to think it could be based on anything else" but I then also take a step back to think, "...but it also doesn't have to be." For as many similarities as there to existing legends, it feels to me that Gotouge made it a point not to make specific reference to any particular mythological or religious elements. As an example, Gotouge considered titles with reference to a Shinto fire god named "Kagutsuchi" but never made actual reference to any fire god (or sun god) by name in the finalized direction canon took. Granted, a lot of fan theorists have read into that, going so far as to say because Nezuko's fire powers she represents Kagutsuchi, Yoriichi represents Amaterasu, etc., but while I find the idea of borrowed elements makes for highly interested interpretation of canon, one-to-one comparisons really don't work for this series. By not invoking a name like Kagutsuchi in the title or otherwise, Gotouge succeeded in not being boxed in by the canon of any particular deity. (Granted, "canon" for mythology can vary significantly by whatever historical writings you're looking at, with standard interpretations going through many big changes throughout the centuries. It can be as loose as it is limiting, depending on what sort of historical/mythological/religious figure you're talking about.) I feel there's more evidence of this avoidance by never invoking Amaterasu as a deity, despite the emphasis on the power of the sun in slaying demons. Even looking back and trying to figure out who Akeno placed so much faith, it was only called a "god of sunlight" as opposed to a "sun god." It's as though KnY works with a generic approach to religion. Even if the use of Buddhist element, the Nenbutsu prayer is called such, and Himejima's repeated phrases are legit Buddhist practice, but there is a huge variety of Buddhist sects and practices and theologies, and throughout history, many of them didn't get along. Going back to Akeno and wondering if she might had been Buddhist, I went so far as to suspect she was influenced by Nichirin sect philosophy based on its emphasis on the "Nichi" (sun) representing Japan and incorporating Shinto gods into its philosophy, and for its likely influence in the Kanto area in Akeno's time period, and for its encouragement for the salvation of women and therefore popularity among women. I felt pretty satisfied that it was all lining up, but also, none of this is necessary for a quality interpretation of canon. If Gotouge wanted to say specifically what informed her religious conviction, then it would had been said. But that's not what was important, was it? What was important, and therefore focused on, was Akeno's feelings toward her son and wishes for his sake.

While KnY's worldbuilding feels richer with all the clear religious influence, the details are not actually important. If anything, I feel like Gotouge dove into the heart of the elements of, say, Shinto mythology, and played those core elements up. It's different, yet still familiar, to take sun-associated elements and used them in a way that serves the story without being boxed into existing traditions. The sun is clearly important, and once you start looking for it, you find subtle recurring references to it. Like, Akeno's name? The "Ake" is one way of writing "red," and there are all sorts of uses of other ways of writing "red" throughout the series, in everything from the sand used for making Nichirin blades to the way that Haganezuka calls Tanjiro an auspicious "red" child with a very rarely used kanji. Our commoner main characters, though, just use regular old ways of saying "red" when referencing Tanjiro's appearance without thinking deeply into it, like there's something special right in front of them but they don't recognize it. Similar to how something as special as Sun Breathing was hidden right in front of them in Hinokami Kagura, with a name so generic and simple that it's entirely unsurprising that the Taisho era Kamado family would interpret it as "fire god." The very lack of limiting real-life details is what allows Gotouge to sprinkle these deep touches around, cover them up with branches and leaves, and then sit back and wait for readers to stroll through and invitingly pleasant looking field and then trip and fall down a rabbit hole. This is also what I think gives Gotouge the freedom and malleability to work with the sun in a way that serves the story, especially in ways that tie it to fire. While I don't think there's strong ties for this is general Japanese culture, the way canon is written implies a close tie between fire and the sun as being a very closely related element, hence the influence on the Kamado family, Tanjiro's appearance, his suitability for Sun Breathing based on a history of tending fire for careful charcoal burning, and Tanjiro and Nezuko capability as demons to overcome the sun. Here is where I go into a bit of a tangent about the purification element. This, again, is not strictly tied to any particular Shinto canon (and Shinto does place heavy emphasis on purification), but instead is an example of Gotouge getting to the underlying heart of a lot of common religious elements. Fire is associated with spiritual purification in everything from Buddhism to Catholicism, it's very easy to apply Nezuko's fire abilities as something which burns away something evil (demon poison) so as to purify something good (human flesh, or even other physical substances). Maybe lesser known, but very deeply entrenched in Japanese culture, is the purification element of charcoal. While it may be known around the world for soaking up undesirable elements and therefore used in everything from fish tank filters to treating food poisoning, in Japan, there's a bit of a spiritual side to it as well. For something so closely tied to the way of life for citizens throughout hundreds of years of history for everything from cooking to heating the home, it's unsurprising that quality charcoal would receive as much emphasis as good water and rice. Japanese charcoal is especially known for not producing undesirable smoke or odor, making it appropriate for use in a lot of settings. Charcoal farmers have often not just been that; they've been caretakers of the forest. Keeping the right trees, at the right sizes (both for use as charcoal and for how you pack it together when making charcoal), and in the right numbers to ensure you have stock for coming years, requires management of the forest. (Other tangent side note: many of the other names in the Kamado family are references to plants. Sumire both has the "sumi" sound of charcoal and is the word for violet, Kie is in reference to hollyhock, Nezuko is in reference to red beans (and the asanoha pattern of her kimono is in reference to hemp leaf, an

auspicious symbol of strong and quick growth), Takeo is in reference to bamboo (ironically bamboo can be a problematic plant for charcoal farmers, because it may spread too fast and take resources from other trees--stop stealing all the takuan pickles, Takeo!), Hanako is in general reference to flowers, Shigeru is in general reference to (plants) flourishing, and maybe by the time they got to Rokuta they gave up and said "he's our sixth child, let's just call him 'Six-Boy', lolz." BUT I DIGRESS.) That means the Kamado family not only had careful management of fire in the actual days of charcoal production, but of a wide variety of natural resources to ensure the trees were healthy. Natural weather phenomena, clean water, pest control, minerals from rocks getting into the soil, hmm, so many elements to pay attention to. Hmm. These sure sound a lot like other Breaths. And Breaths all stem from Sun Breathing. That means there may be certain elements of Sun Breathing that have been emphasized in each of them, but none of them encompass so many qualities of the natural world. The natural world which Yoriichi saw with such clarity than nature accepted him with open arms, practically, in how well animals took to him. Sun Breathing, while especially using that all-important purification aspect of sunlight which burns evil demons, is like an all encompassing embrace of nature. While being closely tied with fire is hugely important, there's more to it than just flames. While Shinto is very much so closely tied with nature (the extent to which this is emphasized may vary from shrine to shrine, scholar to scholar), what I see in KnY is a clever use of emphasis on spirituality in nature as opposed to emphasis on Shinto mythology. And I think that was a smart move. While stories based more directly on various theologies, mythologies, and religious ideologies often use those building blocks often wind up having very creative takes on them (even and especially with the confines of them), ultimately, the story of KnY is whatever Gotouge wants to do with it, and it does not seem guided by the specific conventions of more specific religious elements. But again, those deeper elements are still everywhere. You know what color Japanese charcoal burns? It's a gorgeous jewel tone red, spanning many of those rare shades of red Gotouge make reference to. And, in wider Japanese culture, red is the color of the sun (as opposed to how other cultures may represent it as yellow or orange or white or so on). (Not as exactly a KnY tangent, just personal: Japanese charcoal is so freaking pretty, I had no idea until I saw it used in the tea ceremony at parts when guests crowd around to enjoy the sight of it as the host prepares it for boiling the water. I can stare and stare and stare, it is so so so so so pretty, but also this element of the ceremony has gotten rarer both as many places have made a more practical switch to electricity, and tea ceremony quality has gotten more rare both due to fewer producers and due to beetle-related damages to the trees used, and I will always state HOW DISAPPOINTED I am that Kanata and Sumihiko are not out there raising charcoal, because charcoal is precious and I'm always so terrified of wasting charcoal in my practices because its so precious, but seeing the amazingly beautiful burn of the charcoal is absolutely one of my favorite elements of the ceremony and this of course gives me an extra soft spot for Kamado Tanjiro BUT I DIGRESS AGAIN, I TOLD you this was going to be a ramble, but SERIOUSLY IT IS SUCH A GORGEOUS RED).

So anyway. My point is, as interesting as incorporating outside elements may be, I don't find them necessary in interpreting KnY's canon. Even if it takes tons of Taisho Secrets to do so, Gotouge presents the details necessary, and that's more than enough to work with. After all, despite all the care taken in historical details in building the setting, KnY takes place in a fictional universe, it can make its own rules when it comes to things that don't actually exist in our universe. Demons, for example, follow a chronology and power system with sources and limits that is unique to a this universe, as tempting as it is due to general cultural familiarity, it does not call for a one-to-one comparison with existing demon legends. Breath as well, as a power system, is very interesting. Again, this is because it has a lot of basis in core concepts of real life physical and spiritual training. It's presented as a method available to anyone who can pick it up, not drawing on a mystical outside power or summoning the actual superhuman elements of nature. Other stories that present their power systems like that are well and fine, but when it comes down to it, this is a story about mere humans doing everything in their limited power to wave swords around and defeat creatures that seem so likely to outpower them. This is a common, relatable basis of stories throughout history, and a lot of analysis I've heard of KnY's success says that it shows how classic this story structure is. Many Japanese demon stories have their origin in epidemics, and some people suggest that the world looks for hope in stories like KnY in times of seemingly insurmountable crises like coronavirus. I think that's an oversimplification of KnY's success, but again, because of Gotouge's use of core cultural elements, it can be applied easily. OKAY BUT ON THAT NOTE we can do some really interesting digging if we want. : D Gotouge does make some highly specific references, included religious ones (granted, not in ways that impact the plot). The example coming to mind is the Seventh Form of Thunder Breathing, the "Flaming Thunder God." In Japanese, this is "Honoikazuchi-no-Kami," the name of a lightning deity who had a very, very brief mention in the Kojiki and who appeared among a handful of other lightning deities named in reference to other aspects/phenomena of lightning, like the sound or the rumble through the ground. Honoikazuchi is not so much the lightning itself, but the fires started by lightning. Stick with me a bit longer, I'm building up to something here. You've probably heard of the twelve animals of the Chinese (poorly translated as) Zodiac, right? Well, the system is way more complex than that, and really, if you want complexity, skip Japan and go dive straight into ancient China. I laugh and cry at myself for having a graduate degree in Chinese studies, the extent of my knowledge is is pitifully small, I know nothing, nothing. Suffice to say, China has its own five element system of water/wood/metal/fire/earth, it's more a philosophical application than a more physicality-based four element system popular in the west (fire/water/air/earth, why hello there, Avatar), with attributes of these elements assigned to every about anything through Chinese culture, from medicine to, you guessed it, the Zodiac animals. Japan saw all this and said "cool, we'll do that too" albeit their sort of mixed and matched a bit and made their own take on it in Onmyodo. An Onmyoji, who keeps track of, like, really any other-worldly matter you might have on your hands as a Heian noble, is someone who is paid to know all this stuff (it was very likely an Onmyoji who told the Ubuyashiki clan, "yeah, you got an evil family member to blame for your curse, squash him"). Yours Truly is not an Onmyoji and therefore will not attempt to go into more detail, save the one that a handful of Japanese theorists in the KnY fandom love to bring up: The Boar is a water sign. This means that, especially in Shinto practice, boars are considered an animal that protects against

fire, hence, a lot of practices to protect against fires were done on days of the Boar, in the month of the Boar, etc. So? So-o-o-o-o-o? You see it? You see it??? Boar = Water, Honoikazuchi = Fire, Inosuke and Zenitsu are basically foils to Tanjiro? Yes, yes, see it, yessss??? Deep dive Kamaboko theory, yes?????? Hahahaha. Naw. It's just a fun coincidence. ^_^ Again, I find these details completely unnecessary, for we are already given so many details in canon to work with on its own, and I think Inosuke and Zenitsu as foils to Tanjiro works entirely well simply based on their personalities, not because of any supernatural elements that require a high level of nerdery to have any hope of appreciating. Besides, once you start reaching too hard for cultural details Gotouge might have used and clinging too tightly to those ideas, there's likely something in canon to make it doubtful. For instance, Inosuke more widely presented as a king of the forest who wears deer and bear hide as well, and the fanbook state that Beast Breath is considered a likely offshoot of Wind Breathing. Even if we rely more strictly on historical detail, there's still the question of, say, what one of the basic Breaths, Thunder Breathing, even was when it was but a thunder inspired sword form not necessarily powered by Breath, you know, back when swords were longer and it would have been harder to make the fast draws katana would later be better suited for. Maybe they called it Thunder because it was practiced by swordsmen who stomped around really hard, and then when they added Breath technique, they figured out "oh dude, we can use our strong legs to go fast"??

Those are the kinds of things I find more fun to play around with in interpreting canon by bringing in little outside details, because as a work of fiction, there are already so many fun details to work with already even when treating it in a vacuum. But, giving Gotouge extensive and subtle use of cultural elements, especially core elements, it sure makes a lot of outside details applicable. Which is all to say, it's all super interesting, and I think the more people realize these things, the deeper they read into it, to an extent more than canon calls for. As much as I like it, and as much as I've enjoyed pulling outside elements in to fanfiction (like Kagutsuchi and lightning god tidbits), ultimately, if Gotouge thought these things were necessary, they'd have been included. Since they are not, I try to stick to canon details and Word of God-touge in answering Asks (lolz, I didn't plan on becoming a meta blog, it just kinda happened). BUT ALSO, JEEZ, I AM SO EXCITED IF PEOPLE TAKE A DEEPER INTEREST IN JAPANESE CULTURE BECAUSE THEY LIKE KIMETSU NO YAIBA, YOU CAN HAVE SO-O-O-O-O-O MUCH FUN PLANNING A TRIP TO JAPAN AROUND KNY THEMES, DO IT DO IT DO IT, GO TO YAGYU AND POSE IN A TANJIRO HAORI AND STICK YOUR SWORD IN A SPLIT ROCK, THE LOCALS THERE LOVE IT, DO IT but also like maybe learn about the tea ceremony and appreciate how beautiful the charcoal is with me k thx bye

[amalthea9]

So I had that great dream where Sean Gilder was playing the comedic villain in a 90s fantasy setting right? Well my dear @ariel-seagull-wings and I decided to add to the this dream, with Yonderland as our main inspiration!😁

It's been fun playing around with this world with her, and I owe a lot to her imagination and story telling! We used celtic mythology for the choosing of names and what kind of monsters there might be!☺

The plot we had was Morgan(self insert me) is a 36 year old woman who works as a groundskeeper at the Dallas, Texas Zoo. (much like Debbie of Maddox tehe!)

Turns out she's the chosen one of Hopefool, a fantasy realm in another dimension. It's up to her and her companions, to gather the pieces of a sacred spear. This spear belongs to the warrior goddess, Maeve, who has been in a 55 year slumber she must take. The sacred spear will wake her and bring her power back.

But there's a lesser deity, Dethor of the lightening, who wants to steal the spear and become a king of gods. Ruling the land of Hopefool in tyranny and darkness.

Dethor has been accumulating an army under him, including mercenary warriors with resources. Like Cillian the Red(Sean Gilder).

It's up to Morgan and her companions. The elven bard Lut, the blacksmith Bowain, and his husband, healer Gawain. They must stop Dethor from collecting the spear shards.

And beat men like Cillian and his goons to getting the shards.

Too bad Morgan thinks Cillian is handsome as hell upon first sight. And Cillian can't get her out of his head either.

😏🤭🤣

If only the oracle hadn't said her Fate lies in a kiss(thank you especially to @ariel-seagull-wings for this idea huehue🤭🤭🤭😏😏😏)

Our cast list!

Maeve: the warrior and wind goddess of Hopefool who has been in an induced slumber for 55 years. Awaits the day when her sacred spear is reforged and brought to her mountain. Shards of her spear are scattered in sacred places and need to be collected by the chosen one.

Played by: Erika Alexander

(Casting by @ariel-seagull-wings )

Dethor : Minor deity wishing to conquer the land of Hopefool. Has had an increase in followers by visiting overlords and promising them riches if they worship him and help him get the shards of the spear.

Played by: Georges Curraface

(Also casted by ariel!)

Bowain: A blacksmith and warrior. Skilled in both crafting weapons and wielding them.

Played Ioan Gruffud

Gawain: Bowain's husband, a healer and herbalist. Specialty in potions of healing.

Played by Jamie Bamber

Cillian: A mercenary warrior. Has sought power and wealth all of his life, abused and neglected as a child. Sees the world as dark and ruthless. Until Morgan comes along to make him question his viewpoints.

Has a good heart but has been very hurt and has not known kindness or love.

Below I've drawn Cillian, Bowain, Lut, and Gawain!

(Still learning Ioan and Jamie's faces argh)

(Close ups of Lut and Cillian cuz I extra proud of them lol)

And here's Morgan (and some steamy almost kissing sketch hoho)

@superkingofpriderock @ailendolin

Not sure who else to tag😅

[ammocharis]

Avvar History Reconstruction, Part 2

In this part, I’d like to pose a couple of questions: where exactly did Tyrdda’s tribe live? Why did she decide to break away from the Alamarri? Where did her people go? The answers are not as straightforward as it may seem.

The Seven Magisters weren’t the first people who tried to get into the Golden City.

Read >Part 1<

The next major event in the timeline was the separation of the Avvar from the rest of the Alamarri tribes.

-1815 Ancient: The Alamarri living near Lake Calenhad break away, becoming known as the Avvar. The two groups war with each other for centuries.[1]

The reason why Tyrdda chose to break away from the Alamarri was a conflict with Thelm Gold-Handed, a chieftain who subjugated multiple lesser tribes.

(As a side note, Lake Calenhad obviously wasn’t known as such in the times before Calenhad, who lived during the Exalted Age - some 2300 years later. I’ll continue calling it Lake Calenhad so as not to cause too much confusion.)

“Thelm Gold-Handed, fingers greasy, jeweled rings with glitter shone,

Took in tribes in times of trouble, fed them fat to weaken bone.

Warriors great and great in number, sun-kissed swords to fight his wars

Drake-scaled shirts their bodies covered, heart-wine stained the salty shores.

Told his tribes a tale of treasure, over sea to north it gleamed,

Whispered words to drive the droves to golden city where he dreamed.

Counseled quick in dreams alone,

Voices wiser man ignores,

Pushed the tribes until they screamed,

Heed the dreams and cross the Waking.”[2]

As we can see, Thelm wished to cross the Waking Sea and collect a treasure within the golden city he had been promised by mysterious voices in his dreams. It appears that he controlled a large territory lying by the sea.

Personally, I subscribe to a theory that Kirkwall was the place where the Magister Sidereal breached the Veil to get to the Golden City. I won’t elaborate on the details here, but it’s a widely popular theory so I invite you to read about it on your own, if you haven’t come across it already. I mention it here because I believe that Thelm was one of the first people who were influenced by whatever is lurking inside the Golden City, and he was being prompted to follow the same steps as the Seven Magisters, which includes finding an entrance to the Fade -  an it just so happens that a there’s a suitable location, atop the Primeval Thaig, near the place where the City of Chains would once be built. Kirkwall is located north of the Fertile Valley, across the Waking Sea. Perhaps Thelm was contacted in his dreams because the area he controlled was located in the vicinity of a possible Fade entrance.

I’d also like to point out that Tyrdda was aware that the gilded city was nothing but a lie, a trap for the greedy. She received a warning from the Lady of the Skies.

We’re told that prior to the separation movement, Tyrdda’s tribe lived near the Lake that is now known as Lake Calenhad, but that’s the extent of the information we’re given. I want to propose a somewhat counterintuitive idea and say that Tyrdda’s tribe inhabited an area to the east of the Lake, not west.

Figure 3. Green area - tribes led by Thelm Gold-Handed Blue area - tribes led by Tyrdda Bright-Axe (Disclaimer: All maps included in this write-up are meant to represent only rough estimations of areas that might’ve fallen under the influence of various tribes that belong to the Alamarri cultural group. These are not firm borders.)

Firstly, the Saga of Tyrdda mentions that:

“Tyrdda Bright-Axe, bold and bloodied, took her tribe from placid plains Tribes with blades by farming blunted chased and fought, their parting pains.”[3]

Which makes me think that her tribe lived in the Fertile Valley proper. West of the Lake is already a mountainous region, judging by the way it’s depicted on Thedosian maps.

Figure 4. Lake Calenhad and the surrounding area on the Inquisition map

Furthermore, it stands to reason that the region controlled by Tyrdda was adjacent to the lands under Thelm’s rule, which, as I explained before, appear to have been located in the northernmost part of the Fertile Valley. Thelm was aiming to gather a massive number of warriors in order to cross the Waking Sea and claim the riches of the Golden City for himself. Naturally, he would first look for “allies” in the neighbouring tribes.

And so Tyrdda abandoned the other Alamarri tribes and led her people away from the plains.

“To the mountains, shorn of shelter, snow-slicked peaks gave wind its bite”[4]

Here I’d also like to pose another theory - Tyrdda didn’t lead her tribe west, to the area that’s considered the Frostbacks in modern Thedas. Instead, she took them south, following the shores of the Lake, until they reached the place that is now known as the Hinterlands. Let me explain why.

In Dragon Age: Inquisition, we explore a mountainous region called the Hinterlands, specifically the part that surrounds the settlement of Redcliffe. A storyteller encountered in the village describes it as such “Even before the sky fell open, this was a land of spirits and demons. Magic grows wild in the hills of Redcliffe.” During the exploration, we can find landmarks that reveal the Saga of Tyrdda Bright-Axe. After discovering all stanzas, a war table mission becomes available, titled “Locate Weapon of Tyrdda Bright-Axe”. Sister Dorcas Guerrin, a Fereldan scholar, explains that:

“The rich oral tradition of the Avvar has been largely lost, leaving only these rune-marked fragments. [...] Based on marker runes left at each of these locations, I may be able to find the site where Tyrdda’s legendary axe is located.”[5]

So it appears that there are Avvar marker runes sprinkled around the Hinterlands, which point to a place where Tyrdda’s staff, along with her other earthly possessions, were stored. It leads me to believe that the Avvar had presence in the Hinterlands after they separated from the Alamarri, since the Saga of the Avvar-Mother describes events from Tyrdda’s life up until her death. When Tyrdda died, her tribesmen (perhaps with the help from dwarves, as Tyrdda had allied with prince Hendir) installed marker runes in the Hinterlands that if combined together would reveal a path to the site where Tyrdda’s relics had been safely put away. This vault was located in another part of the highlands, but it’s unclear where exactly. In my mind, it just makes sense that the marker runes would be left in the place where the Avvar tribe settled after they separated from the Alamarri.

(As a side note, the Avvar do cultivate their oral traditions. Tyrdda’s identity as a mage wasn’t a shock to them - “the Avvar were completely unsurprised by Tyrdda being a mage. While it was lost to Fereldan history, it was evidently taken as an unspoken truth among the Avvar.”[6])

Figure 5. The region where the Avvar might’ve settled after separating from the rest of the Alamarri

Another argument for why the Hinterlands were the place the Avvar relocated to is the tree dedicated to Tyrdda’s lover, which can be found on Dennet’s horse farm.

“The farmers remember the old ways and the old blood, and we’ll honor that [...] If the farmers want to leave that tree to honor Tyrdda’s leaf-eared lover, we’ll let it be, and whatever we lose from the land, we’ll gain in loyalty.”[7]

The age of the tree in question is unknown, I would assume it’s not from Tyrdda’s time since it’d have to be over 2500 years old (though it’s possible, the oldest known tree on Earth was almost 5000 years old) but it’s still a sign of the Avvar beliefs being present in the area for a substantial amount of time. Admittedly, the Alamarri also believed in the Lady of the Skies, though in this case, the importance seems to be attached to the deity being Tyrdda’s lover specifically, not the goddess of the skies.

In Jaws of Hakkon, Scout Lace Harding mentions that when she was a little girl “a lady in our village used to tell me Avvar tales” which is yet another hint of the Avvar influence on the Hinterlands, as Harding was born and raised in a settlement located near Redcliffe.

I imagine that for the Avvar lore to become so ingrained in the Hinterlands, the Avvar had to be present in the area for a long time, well after their separation from the Alamarri. I theorize they held it at least until the times of chieftain Morrighan’nan who lived around -355 Ancient (more on her and the area she might’ve controlled in Part 4).

To sum up - I think that “Frostback Mountains” used to refer to a much wider area. The highlands located west and south of the Lake were all included in its definition, while “Fertile Valley” was the name of the lowlands east and north of the Lake. When the Alamarri tribes first crossed the mountains, they settled in the Valley, and the Frostbacks remained largely uninhabited until the Avvar took them as their home.

Figure 6.

Redefining regions Blue area - Frostback Mountains Green area - Fertile Valley

Next up - did the Avvar completely disappear from the Fertile Valley?

~

Sources:

[1] Dragon Age: The World of Thedas, vol. 1, p. 13

[2][3][4] Codex entry: Saga of Tyrdda Bright-Axe, Avvar-Mother

[5] War Table mission: Locate Weapon of Tyrdda Bright-Axe

[6] War Table mission: Send Relics of Tyrdda Bright-Axe

[7] Note: Tyrdda's Lover, written by Elaina to her husband, horsemaster Dennet

[e-one-seven]

I did some researches on the Beholders because of Lucien's eyes and I found out about the existence of the Beholder's god, an entity known as The Great Mother. Please click on Keep reading to lose your sleep as I did.

This is the personality of the Great Mother as described in the Forgotten Realms Wiki:

Those that studied the Great Mother typically concluded that she was completely insane, lacking in the ruthless logic possessed by mortal beholders. In truth, she was dangerously intelligent, the method behind her madness simply being beyond the ability of most beings to understand. Ironically, her mind wasn't even divided into two halves, like most beholders. Still, while not crazy or mindless, the Great Mother was a creature of utter chaos and capricious whimsy, acting primarily on instinct and impulse. Often times, the Great Mother philosophized to herself about the nature of chaos and evil and was rumored to be the greatest sage on the subjects. She was said to be omniscient and did possess exclusive hidden lore, but seemed to be so knowledgeable that she was incapable of sharing it with any but the most intelligent entities, much less inferior beings. Some scholars speculated that she was not unable to convey such knowledge, but simply wouldn't provide it to lower-lifeforms, and indeed the Great Mother was a jealous and egotistical intellectual that refused to acknowledge even the notion that she could be mistaken. Befitting the deity of eye tyrants, she was said to have her own strange standards for her creations and would destroy or devour any that she found displeasing.

The objectives of this entity and hers followers are described as such:

Aside from birthing more beholders, the Great Mother's only other activity was drifting enigmatically in solitude throughout reality, particularly in the darker planes. She inexorably cruised through space deep in thought, always incomprehensibly gibbering in an alien protolanguage while experiencing bizarre visions. The purpose of her aimless journey wasn't to gather knowledge or magical secrets since she believed that she already knew all that was worth knowing.

The Greyhawk Wiki gives this description of her dogma:

The Great Mother exists to remake the multiverse in its image by filling it with its spawn, replacing all forms of life with monsters that resemble the Mother itself. It does not bother to acquire knowledge, because it has always known all that it could ever need to know. However, it cannot or will not communicate this knowledge to lesser beings, including its own offspring. It neglects its children, not bothering with omens or portents. Sometimes it will allow beholders to be entirely wiped out on a given world, while other times it will become enraged when even a small beholder community is threatened.

1d4chan.org gives us this about the Great Mother not-beholder followers:

Ocular Adept is a prestige class for humanoid followers of the Great Mother. To become one, they first have to approach a Beholder and convince it not to eat or disintegrate them. After the hard part is over they enter into a surgical pact, where a Beholder-kin eyeball is implanted in their forehead. This provides them a link to the Great Mother's power and allows them to perform eyebeam attacks similar to true Beholders. [...] Ocular Adepts have a separate divine spellcasting progression up to level 5 spells, which is in line with that of a Cleric. However, the Great Mother grants more low-level spells than a Cleric and only a few high-level ones. This is because while the Great Mother is "happy" enough to accept followers from non-Beholder races, she prefers to reserve high level spell power for those who really deserve it.

I know the Somnovem is a hive-mind created by nine ancient wizards, but beside that, the similarities between what it is implied being their purpose, how they act and how they give powers to the mortals are too many to be ignored. After all, if Lucien's abilities are really inspired by Beholders, why can't the Somnovem being inspired by the very being behind the creation of the Beholders in the official D&D lore? Which is not a group of deranged philosophers, but an actual god? If that's the case, it means that Lucien is not as unique as he believes, and the Somnovem actually wants to create more beings like him, just like the Great Mother wants to create more Beholders to shape her ideal vision of reality.

This is my theory: the Somnovem is a hive-mind, and they give eyes to the people who read into their scripts or got touched by their stream of consciousness. But some people are strong enough to retain an autonomy and freely use the powers of the hive, and they have the potential to become a Nonagon, a sort of Avatar of the Somnovem. Strong of will or powerful enough to retain their full autonomy is hard to tell for now. Those who can't retain the autonomy become part of the mind-hive, sleeping agents for the Nonagon and the Somnovem to be used as they please. They retain autonomy most of the time, but they are mentally conditioned to execute the will of the Nonagon in case they need their help. But if a person strong enough to resist, they can decide to try and murder another Nonagon to have that power for themselves, like Vess DeRogna did. If this is the case, when a Nonagon dies the Somnovem doesn't even care: the previous Nonagon comes back to be part of the City, and the new, more powerful one executes their will just like the previous one did. But when Lucien died it was different: Lucien was willing to spread their knowledge and add more minds to their hive, but Vess DeRogna wasn't. She just wanted to reach them into the Astral Sea and that was it. So they decided to guide Cree and bring Lucien back to life once that Mollymauk Tealeaf died. They gave him the chance to get his revenge and complete his mission.

Vess DeRogna killing Lucien might be circumstantial, but it might as well be a side effect of the wish of the Nonagon to join the perfect mind of the Somnovem: a person able to retain autonomy might corrupt the Somnovem with their imperfect human mind who was graced by a power they can't comprehend, and therefore they need to be destroyed. This would be just like when two Beholders meet each other: they see themselves as perfect beings and the other as a loathsome impostor who needs to be eliminated. This only if they retain autonomy: if they are a part of the hive-mind they are nothing more than an extension of themselves, therefore there is no danger into letting them live.

What does that mean for Beau and Caleb? That they might be the Somnovem's plan B in case Lucien fails. One of them might be forced to become the new Nonagon unless the Mighty Nein don't stop the process in time (and Artagan confirmed that there is a way to invert the process, but they were not able to access it at Level 13). And they will have to do it: have you read the part above about the Ocular Adepts? What 1d4chan doesn't say is that the Great Mother can Disintegrate an Ocular Adept at any moment through their third eye if they displease her. But the Somnovem and the Nonagon seem to prefer blasting the brain with psychic energy, so probably if they have a way to kill someone from a long distance it might not be a potential permadeath. And it might not be activated until all the nine eyes will be implanted, which is unlikely to happen before the battle with Lucien in Aeor.

(If this fail-safe exists, why did the Somnovem let Vess DeRogna live if she was unworthy? Because if she died at the wrong time the book would have been lost, and there were no other Nonagons in charge because the Somnovem cult is so little known. They needed Lucien to be alive again to retrieve it and go in with their plan. And suddenly her dying from a single attack makes sense: that neck-lift blast is not powerful enough to kill a person unless something already weakened them before. It was Lucien and the Somnovem who killed her.)

[antiquitiesandlabyrinths]

Akhenaten

The name Akhenaten is rather well known as a Pharaoh of Egypt. Like Ramesses II, Hatshepsut, Cleopatra, and Tutankhamun, Akhenaten won the popularity contest of modern society through defining himself as far different from most other Pharaohs. With Akhenaten, however, he’s not even like the special Pharaohs.

Let’s look a little at his life and the history of the time period he ruled over. He was in the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom, from 1353-1336 BC. Like most Pharaohs there are a few different pronunciations of his name, including Akhenaton, Ikhnaton, Khuenaten, all meaning of great use to Aten, which leads into his conversion into the cult of Aten. Before the conversion his name was Amenhotep IV, son of Amenhotep III. His mother was named Tiye. Later on in life he married Queen Nefertiti, fathering two children, one from his wife Nefertiti and one from his lesser wife, Lady Kiya, having Ahnksenamun and Tutankhamun to each wife respectively.

Before we get into the whole mess of his religion and the ‘revamping’ he did of ancient Egypt, let’s recognize the other things he did for or to the country.

You’ll recognize the vastly different art style between Akhenaten’s rule and the history of most of Egypt. In art that depicts Akhenaten, he was shown as long and spindly, a style that carried into his family. Some people believe that this was because he and his family suffered from Marfan’s syndrome, a disease that caused the elongation of bones and skinniness. A more likely explanation stems from the Pharaoh’s religious beliefs, which as you know, was vastly different from other Pharaohs. This theory is a little more likely because there was no reason for the queen Nefertiti to have the same condition as her husband. Instead, it was probably because their status was far different from the other Pharaohs, as they were moved into a genuinely god-like status for their worship of Aten.

The part of Akhenaten and his rule that interests me the most is the way the royal family was presented in art, despite the style. Like many parts of Akhenaten, it’s entirely different from other Pharaohs (though, whether that’s good or bad is up to you).

Now, most Pharaohs presented themselves highly in art. They could do that, so why not? If I had the guts and the money I probably would too, but my point is that essentially all Pharaohs depicted themselves alone on stelas, engaging in hunting or other activities that strengthened the image of themselves that they wanted to show the world. Usually they were masculine tasks that could be done only by those with great strength and great riches. Akhenaten went in an entirely different direction; he depicted himself with his family. In the stele of Akhenaten, he is shown in a private way, the scene being him with his family, enjoying themselves together.

While we can’t say the definitive reason for him presenting himself as this, the most logical conclusion has to do with, again, his religious beliefs. In his mind, the Aten was held above all else, even the Pharaoh. With Aten as the highest consideration, the Pharaoh and his family enjoyed their lives under the influence of the Aten’s love and grace.

Now that we have a little insight, let’s get into the whole mess of his religion that died immediately after he did.

Akhenaten originally reigned as Amenhotep IV, a reign that lasted around five years before he switched religions. Changing his name, he converted to a cult that worshipped Amun to that of Aten, abolishing the ancient rites of those before him, and instituting what is believed as the first example of monotheism state religion in the world. His rule as Akhenaten lasted 12 years, during which he was labelled as the infamous ‘heretic king’, so that should give you some insight into how people felt about him. 

Before his rule, the cult of aten was a cult like all others in Egypt. It was a bit like choosing your favorite God – find the one you like most, and join that cult. For example if I were to join a cult, I would join the cult of my favorite God, Ma’at. I mention this because before the change, the Aten was shown in inscriptions of Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV at that point), represented by the sun disk. It’s also important to note cult doesn’t carry the same meaning as it did then, and each cult shared the same goal: balance and eternal harmony.

At the time of Amenhotep IV’s rule the Amun cult (where the Aten is from) held incredible power. Their power had been growing for a long while, and by the time of his rule, they held nearly as much power and riches as the Pharaoh himself, and actually owned more land than Amenhotep IV. The fifth year of his reign he switched everything; this was when he abolished the practices of the previous religion of Egypt, and proclaimed himself the “living incarnation of a single all-powerful deity known as Aten,” (Joshua J Mark), and by the ninth year, he closed every single temple, prohibiting all the old practices and devotion to the many Gods the people of Egypt worshipped.

Around then was when he moved the royal seat of Egypt from the traditional house of Thebes to a city of his own creation, a city named Akhetaten, and with that he changed his name to Akhenaten. Here he earned the name the Heretic King, earning the ire of some historians and the admiration of others.

Despite the fact that Akhenaten’s influence completely destroyed worship of the Gods many Egyptians loved, one of the main problems with his rule was that the Old Gods of Egypt instilled harmony and order in the citizens, ultimately helping to create a country that lasted over 4,000 years. Without these Gods, things got a little wonky.

Religious tolerance was allowed with the many Gods, emphasizing peace to the point where religious intolerance wasn’t even an issue. Unfortunately, for monotheism to work, there has to be something inherently wrong with the other side, which made Akhenaten’s work a lot harder, and its’ effects much stronger. It led to the intolerance of other beliefs and some severe suppression, and if you look at the monotheistic religions of today, you can see the same sort of pattern. With intolerance comes hatred and war.

“Dating to this point in Akhenaten’s reign was a campaign to excise the name of gods other than the Aten, especially Amun, from the monuments of Egypt. This was done with violence: hieroglyphs were brutally hacked from the walls of temples and tombs. This was probably carried out, at least in part, by illiterate iconoclasts, presumably following the orders of their king. [Akhenaten] carried out a religious revolution the like of which had never been seen before in Egypt.” (Zahi Hawass, 42-43).

There were priests of Atum who attempted to hide religious artifacts, storing statuary and texts away from the soldiers ordered to destroy them. The priests, with nothing left to do, were forced to abandon their temples. In response Akhenaten either hired new priests or forced the other ones to obey him, proclaiming him and his wife once more as Gods on earth.

Now you can see how Akhenaten kind of sucks. Let’s talk about how he sucks even more.

His foreign policy.

With his ego inflated to the size of the sun, Akhenaten thought himself above interactions with foreign powers. He left his duties to spend more time on himself and his family, ultimately leading to a severe neglect.

You might be asking, “didn’t every Pharaoh have a super-inflated ego?” and yes, you’d be right, but no Pharaoh before Akhenaten had genuinely claimed themselves to be a God. As a self-proclaimed incarnated God, he must’ve thought such affairs beneath him.

Discovered through letters of the time, several (former) allies of Egypt had asked for their help several times with various affairs. At the time Egypt was wealthy, prosperous, and strong, a state that had been slowly growing before halting at Queen Hatshepsut’s reign. Hatshepsut and her successors employed a strategy of actually doing work, by working out when to approach with diplomacy, and when military action was required. Akhenaten on the other hand, ignored everything outside of his palace at Akhetaten. 

The uncertainty of Akhenaten’s rule, along with letters of correspondence between the city of Amarna, the Pharaoh, and foreign nations, led to this era being called the Amarna period. These very letters were proof of the Pharaoh’s negligence. However, the letters also show his keen eye in foreign diplomacy, if the situation interested him so. It was a whole thing with the Hittites, but since this is chiefly about Akhenaten, I’ll leave that topic for later. All you really need to know is that he only tended to issues that affected him directly, and through the Amarna letters, historians can see how poor of a King he was, as well as how deeply many of his subjects disliked or despised him. 

Essentially, the main reason this mess didn’t work out was because it brought about something new: exclusivity. And the Egyptians did not like that, believing that the world needed to have a balance in order to stay away from slipping into chaos. In the end monotheism didn’t last; hell, it was ended basically the second Akhenaten’s son took the throne. Tutankhamun, originally named Tutankhaten, changed his name to reflect the return to polytheism. His successors tore down the reminders of Akhenaten’s reign, removing him and his adoration for the Aten, eradicating his name from the record.

There’s no saying he didn’t affect the world – he did, a lot. Whether that affect was good or bad is up to the interpreter (personally I don’t like it all that much). By Freud’s thinking (hear me out, I know he sucks) Akhenaten’s rule inspired the ancient world, leading others to copy his ideas and theology, eventually snowballing into our modern world, where there are essentially no polytheistic religions. You have to give him credit – he was the first person of the ancient world to dream up monotheism, changing what had defined humanity for so long.

With his name stricken from the books, historians only discovered him upon finding his city Akhetaten. In the records, Horemheb is labelled as Amenhotep III’s successor, skipping over both Akhenaten and Tutankhamun’s rule. Later when Tutankhamun’s tomb was found as one of the very few graves still filled with treasure, interest spiked in Tutankhamun’s life, eventually leading back to his father Akhenaten. 

[mythoughtsaretroubled]

self appreciation tag off

tagged by @greygullhaven and @cookiedoughmeagain

RULES: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your up to 10 favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works.

1. Why sleep when you can dream?- A dream Trouble piece that’s just smut and some angst of the threegulls. This is my first smut piece and my longest piece to date and I’m still shocked I was able to write it!!

2. And he called him Nate- A pre canon look at Duke x Nathan’s relationship. I really love writing from Nathan’s pov and this is the first chaptered thing I wrote, and the longest at the time I started it. Still unfinished but it was a solid start in the Haven fandom.

3. I'll try and be your family- This little fic is about Duke and Beattie’s relationship post 1x05 and how it might look and what bond they might form over the shared trauma of sexual assault (I think of Beattie as a victim as well) and losing a child. It was very emotional and I’m proud. 

4. but I love it when you try to save me- My Jennifer x Jordan rewrite of s4 and I am going to finish this simply because I have too many scenes written to abandon it but I jut don’t have the focus or drive. But it has made me realize how much I like plotting and planning my writing!!

5. Haven Pride- A series of aesthetics filled with various queer headcanons of Haven characters. I think doing all of these throughout June really helped me with the ones I made in the future and play with fun color schemes. Some also sparked some good ideas for fics in the future!!

 6. Haven Characters as Greek Gods-  I really loved this idea and learning about lesser known Greek deities. Comparing characters to older, established characters is that often were at the beginning of certain tropes that have reoccurred throughout the history of stories. It was very rewarding to do and I don't know if I am finished with it. (I'm cheating, this is from this year, mostly at least, I think)

7. What could have been- a collection of ficlits that depict scenes that I feel like should have been included in canon. (I don't feel like linking it, sorry)

Tbh I'm drawing a blank on what else I created last year but a lot of these were multi part things and I think we can round it up to 10 lol. I am very proud of how much content I produced last year and the quality of it as well.

Tagging: @iamtheholyghost @logarithmicpanda @aceemilythorne and anyone else who sees this consider yourself tagged!!

[feygana2]

morgana as an entity, or morgan of the faye, is linked heavily to the goddess matrona of celtic mythology, and also to a goddess specifically known for the ulster cycle as of her involvement in la morte de arthur,  written in 1470.   while i will have a much, much longer headcanon dealing with her link to matrona, especially being that the same deity was linked to be a protector of modron,  or mordred....     i specifically wanted to talk about her similarities with the another goddess of irish mythology known as the morrigan. the goddess is more of a primordial force than a ‘god’ by conventional means, and is known more by her moniker ‘the phantom queen’. while she is linked heavily to the outcome of battle and bloody war, rather than being wholly associated with the actual fighting of a battle, she has more to do with the fate of those in and after a clash and the gruesome deaths that follow. but instead of acting as a means to transport someone to the afterlife,  they were simply a symbol of death on the battlefield to some lesser extend.  

A huge part of the Tuatha de Danann, the Morrigan was also known to have been made up of three distinct goddesses known mostly today as the maiden, the mother and the crone. All of which have a link to Morgana in one of the many stages of her life and to goddesses such as Ceredwen,

The morrigan would often appear in the form of a black crow, which happens to be morgana’s symbolic familiar, and upon seeing one on the battlefield it was believed to mean that death would befall that person imminently. this aspect of the morrigan made her popular for worship by those going into battle. interestingly, in most forms of media that portray morgana, this also links to her being used as an instrument of war, offering her services to the queens and kings of the north in exchange for shelter and safety, or for troops to fight of camelot and the rest of growing mercia.

but the morrigan also has in-depth protective qualities that enable her to protect her people. namely those who were worshipers of these ancestral gods and practitioners of magic, which also directly aligns with morgana’s personal interests. morgana le faye was a symbol to most practitioners of witchcraft and druidism of this time as a pariah that fought against the Anglicization of what would become albion. remember that at the time of her life (presumed to be around the timeperiods of 400-600 ad, respectively) it was when the heavy Catholicisation of what is now great britain, had begun. uther pendragon, and later the knights of the round, had pushed those that they had deemed uncivilized (magic-users) into areas in and north/west of lothian, gaelic and pictish lands.  

BECAUSE OF THIS, TOO,  morgana can be seen as a protector of those who were like her, especially if we bring popular canon such as bbc’s merlin into view, which i take some inspiration from in terms of magic being ‘outlawed’ at the time through penalty of death. fighting against the oppression of pagan ritualistic practitioners all over briton,  as well as the druids of the dal riata alike, she was turned into a martyr of sorts and later demonized to the point of gaining a status of ‘evil’ ...  while the kings who had oppressed or slaughtered these people (particularly the druids, like uther pendragon or his son in historic canon, not in the case of bbc) were instead built of as heroes to the people of albion for ridding them of the ‘evil’ pagans that had previously (as termed by uther) ‘infested’ their lands. propoganda against them surmounted and the britons and anglo-saxons continued their territory war, until separately the battle of camlann occured              [ where king arthur had lead his knights of the round table into a war that would have claimed most of the northern territory in the name of camelot against the anglo-saxons, which had currently belonged to several albic tribes including that which belonged at the time to his nephew, gwaine of loth. ]

almost ironically, this battle is what enabled the bernicians to take even more land for themselves, creating the kingdom of deira (which, in my canon is what pushed morgana even further north of lothian, into the lands of the gaels). the reason i bring up this battle is because the morrigan is famous for taking part in the battle against the fomorians. the  morrigan did naught at first but speak in chant, which caused the fomorians to scatter in fear until they fell into the seas.

another story she is involved in is that of Cú Chulainn, who threatens the morrigan when she releases his cattle back into the wild, only to realize who he has angered and explain his misdeed. when the morrigan prophecies ill-tidings for him on behalf of his threat, he tells her that she has no power over him. as we would expect,  Cú Chulainn is given numerous chances to mend the relationship with the morrigan and botches it every time, eventually leading him to his inevitable death with the morrigan, as a crow, standing atop his dead body as a means to confirm his death. interestingly, morgana was also present at the battle of camlann, which i mentioned earlier, when both her nephew and her half-brother (mordred and king arthur) were slain by a single blow from one another’s enchanted blades.

so why bring up the morrigan at all?                   in my canon/headcanon, morgana didn’t just receive simple ‘fae’ powers from becoming the high priestess of avalon. i believe she drank from the proverbial spring itself when there was nothing more to learn from merlin and nimue and was granted similar powers to the three major goddesses, including the ability to dictate fate - albeit with a price she was not ready to pay. morgana in general is almost always seen as both a victim and chooser of fate, so i felt this was a very nice way to tie these figures together.