#NO ONE EVER EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION

[juniperjellyfish]

[cipheramnesia]

They say no one expects the Spanish Inquisition but I think being Jewish you're kinda always low key expecting it. Like just a little bit braced for it, kinda expect that sorta thing by now. But I'll tell ya what, you know what the Spanish Inquisition isn't ever expecting?

Land mines.

[kingdoms-and-empires]

I like to think my princess mc is a good big older sister to her little siblings: I mean she taught her little siblings that if they ever got kidnapped which may or may not ever happen in their lifetime to remember their three main things.

One: if they are kidnapped make sure that the kidnappers are bargaining for a good ransom number. If they say thousands, they mean millions ect. Remember their worth especially (since mostly mc, father, grandfather, mother are probably not going to care about the ransom but more focused on finding the kids and getting some sweet justice)

Two: DISRESPECT YOUR SURROUNDINGS 😈😈😈 the more the kidnappers are distracted by them making a ruckus the less likely are they prepared for an invasion. Because no one expects the Spanish Inquisition and mc and grandfather boss music is very intimidating and imposing so no one is running 🌝

Three: MAKE CONNECTIONS: if you see any minions be nice to them especially if they are useful or friendly. Never know when you can use some propaganda— I mean very clearly helpful advice that keeps the minions alive when the army comes because nobody will be able to tell who friend or foe, and Hey! They'll be alive and don't matter more despite the entrapment?

Ngl, with Remiel's reputation the kidnappers would probably shit themselves once they take a good look at our eyes if they didnt know before hand. If they did, you'd be treated like the royalty you are and be handled super gently, you and your siblings lmaooooo

[streetkid-named-desire]

Through the Years: Vincent (V) Guerra

template by @arcandoria

btw we are never talking about the 16 yo appearance ever again.

Vincent Guerra comes from a long line of Sephardic Jews. His family escaped the Spanish Inquisition in Spain and fled to Mexico in the 1600s. Nobody expected the Spanish Inquisition to come to Mexico. Local vintners gave them work at a winery that produced sacramental wine where they learned about distilling alcohol. Eventually, they settled in Guerrero, Mexico and established Guerra Mezcal. The distillery burned down in the 2040s and his grandparents and his mother moved to Southern California, where his mother met his father.

He was born on Valentine's Day in 2052. His mother adored him and his father loathed him. In 2053, his father moved them to Night City in the hopes of building them a better life., eventually settling down in a megabuilding in Heywood that would be his home for the next 12 years. During his Bar Mitzvah on February 14th, 2065 as he was reading his Torah portion to a nearly empty synagogue, his father murdered his mother and then himself. V refused to go with the social worker to a group home and chose to become one of the many orphan sons of Heywood.

He had a natural aptitude for netrunning and admired Spider Murphy. At age 16, he and Jackie met when V returned to Night City, after unknowingly throwing in with a Raffen clan out of Arizona when he ran from Netwatch during a ransomware scheme. From there he slowly and thanklessly worked his way up the merc ladder until a funny little parasite flipped his world upside down.

More details two more of the pics under the cut!

2072, 20 yo; some corpo's yacht

During V's "pass around party boy" days. Those knee pads are for exactly what you're probably thinking they're for.

2076, 24 yo; Afterlife

After doing a few gigs with Jackie he finally got to step foot in the Afterlife for two hours.

[auroraphantasma]

Danny Fenton was three things, according to Casper high.

A snarky sassy gremlin,

a coward with a psychic ghost predicting bladder,

and fucking sleep deprived.

Anyone who ever just glanced at the boy knew that. The bags under his eyes were the envy of every racoon in existence! So it wasn’t a weird sight to see the boy spacing out in class.

Glassy eyes struggling to stay open, the lights on but nobody's home. Though this time, he wasn’t the only one, guest speakers in class do have that tendency to cause that effect in teenagers, especially when the speaker is as unrelatable as the town mayor, millionaire Vlad Master.

Don’t get the class wrong, money was interesting! An oldman trying to suave instead of full of his own ego was less so. Good thing that was the time Danny Fenton gave up the ghost and let his head hit the desk with a thud, perfectly interrupting the never ending monologue of the man.

A few chuckled, a few sneered and as funny as the little break from the “enlightening” speech seemed the Mayor seemed to take it personally as he strolled over the boy’s desk-

and grabbed his shoulder…

Let it be said, one probably shouldn’t poke the metaphorical bear that the local insurance companies have clauses against their parents, and like the Spanish inquisition, Casper high also never expected Danny Fenton with the steel framed school chair.

Neither did Mr. Master nor his face as the impressively sturdy chair, made specifically to survive ghost attacks, collided with it in a feat of impressive flight or fight reflex of a spooked half awake teenager.

But hey! The kid only got two weeks of detention for breaking the Mayor’s nose and calling him a “Son of a Fruit Loop!”.

[zero-is-nebulous]

Uuuh here's my art dump for the reverse omens au I made

I can't remember which artist came up with the moth demon Aziraphale but credit goes to them, I just liked it and decided to run with it (I'll see If I can find them to drop a name sometime l8r)

Text ver under the cut

Aziraphale - really a quite terrible demon (original temptor)

Moth broach

Walking stick

Same outfit p much

Hair pattern silly

Majic man style coat

Eyes...

Moth antenna

Raphael - bored Archangel, human expert and healer (Crowley)

Outcast Archangel

Azi's pocket watch

Moth pendant

Devious smirk

How 2 draw skinny jeans?

Shoes...

Snake tattoo

(Text pages at the end, typed out below)

The story goes like this...

Aziraphale, thinking that keeping the diffrent between right/wrong from life is silly. He believes it's the right thing to do to introduce it to the humans. He is past looking to the all-mighty for morality, and really just does what he thinks is right. He disguises himself as an angel to offer the fruit to Adam + eve, and then discorporates the angel of the Eastern gate (unnamed angel, soon to be demoted for being bested so easily) to give the humans their flaming sword. He watches them go from the top of the Eastern gate, now non-disguised

Archangel Raphael is bored, hating how heaven is run but not wanting to ask questions after the fall of their last 'example'. He loves his stars, and wishes the world would be as interesting as them. He often visits the garden, so he sees Aziraphale on the wall and, bored, goes to be nosey

Crowley: the principality for this post taking a break?

Aziraphale: looks it, doesn't it? Whoever they were, they did quite an awful job. The humans are already a mile beyond the wall. Perhaps heaven is doing it all wrong then, hm?

It turns out, demons are quite talkative. And interesting

Crowley: hm, so you're saying you don't know what happened here?

Aziraphale: not a single clue. I suppose that's to be expected though, no?

Crowley: oh? What makes you say that?

Aziraphale: well, it's as she said. I'm not quite meant to ask questions. Her plan is ineffable, after all

Crowley: ineffable?

Aziraphale: quite. Silly, isn't it?

Crowley: I never said a thing, uh,

Aziraphale: Aziraphale

Crowley: Aziraphale

Crowley: how tf did u get captured by the Spanish inquisition?

(Dressed 2 the nines)

Crowley: I'm gonna myrical u outa this bc I have a heavenly duty but let it be known I think you're one of the dumbest motherfuckers I have ever met

Aziraphale: teehee

(No longer a fashion icon)

Crowley: dramatic ass demon

Sorry this is so terribly layed out tumblr kept changing it after I posted

[sexilydrawn]

NOBODY expects the Trevelyan inquisition! Always imagined Max and his fam. to have Spanish accents.

Also def not overdosing on serotonin from the feedback I got on the last comic for the first time ever since I’ve been making them. Def not brewing a second one that’s Dorian focused. 

[marta-bee]

Let’s talk about good and evil, Good Omens-style. 

Pressing on with reading the book, I’m maybe two-thirds or three-quarters through the first chapter. Still not through! But War has made her first appearance, Aziraphale and Crowley are finally sobered p and decided to be god-parents, and I think I’m ready for another mental break. It’s hilarious. It’s harrowing. I am marveling at the sheer genius of the writing. And feeling for Aziraphale being stuck in his own goodness. He’s a cheeky bastard what with the bible-proof pages and all, but still so hemmed in by what he’s defined himself to be. 

Mostly I think I need to take a break, because there’s some really interesting philosophy going on here and I need to unpack it a bit to really feel his weight. 

Last week I’d stopped with Crowley and the Spanish Inquisition. Still feeling the *oomph* of that passage; but this week starts out with its flip-side, which had such an aura of hope to it, for me.

And just when you'd think they were more malignant than ever Hell could be, they could occasionally show more grace than Heaven ever dreamed of. Often the same individual was involved. It was this free-will thing, of course. It was a bugger.

That’s one of my favorite things about humanity, how we’re capable of what my human-bound sense of morality connects with goodness. We’re both. We’re potential. And I think for Crowley, that potential is almost more important than what we potentialize into. Maybe it’s that humans have creativity and a spark that lets them do things stolid heaven and decrepit hell just can’t conceive of. But there’s something very attractive to Crowley about this ability change, to make a choice and not just do or be what they’re predestined to do or be, that’s very attractive to Crowley. If anything connects to what I think of as morality in this world, I think that ability for growth is it. A capacity to surprise and spersede your programming, for lack of a better term.

There’s actually a really delightful exchange I’d forgotten about, on the concept of free will, leading up to that snippet I quoted earlier:

Aziraphale had tried to explain it to him once. The whole point, he'd said-this was somewhere around 1020, when they'd first reached their little Arrangement-the whole point was that when a human was good or bad it was because they wanted to be. Whereas people like Crowley and, of course, himself, were set in their ways right from the start. People couldn't become truly holy, he said, unless they also had the opportunity to be definitively wicked.

Crowley had thought about this for some time and, around 1023, had said, Hang on, that only works, right, if you start everyone off equal, okay? You can't start someone off in a muddy shack in the middle of a war zone and expect them to do as well as someone born in a castle.

Ah, Aziraphale had said, that's the good bit. The lower you start, the more opportunities you have. Crowley had said, That's lunatic.

No, said Aziraphale, it's ineffable.

Aziraphale. The Enemy, of course. But an enemy for six thousand years now, which made him a sort of friend.

Crowley reached down and picked up the car phone.

Being a demon, of course, was supposed to mean you had no free will. But you couldn't hang around humans for very long without learning a thing or two.

Angels and demons can’t change; except of course they can. That’s the whole point of Satan, as Crowley points out later:

"What will happen to the child if it doesn't get a Satanic upbringing, though?" said Aziraphale. "Probably nothing. It'll never know."

"But genetics-"

"Don't tell me from genetics. What've they got to do with it?" said Crowley. "Look at Satan. Created as an angel, grows up to be the Great Adversary. Hey, if you're going to go on about genetics, you might as well say the kid will grow up to be an angel. After all, his father was really big in Heaven in the old days. Saying he'll grow up to be a demon just because his dad became one is like saying a mouse with its tail cut off will give birth to tailless mice. No. Upbringing is everything. Take it from me."

"And without unopposed Satanic influences – "

"Well, at worst Hell will have to start all over again. And the Earth gets at least another eleven years. That's got to be worth something, hasn't it?"

Now Aziraphale was looking thoughtful again.

"You're saying the child isn't evil of itself?" he said slowly.

"Potentially evil. Potentially good, too, I suppose. Just this huge powerful potentiality, waiting to be shaped," said Crowley. He shrugged. "Anyway, why're we talking about this good and evil? They're just names for sides. We know that."

"I suppose it's got to be worth a try," said the angel.

Satan can change. Satan did change. And Crowley, too, in the first passage; he decided to make a choice when that’s supposed to be very much a human thing. Even Aziraphale shows a real capacity to, not change his mind perhaps, but let himself be swayed, certainly That whole conversation between Aziraphale and Crowley over what to do about the antichrist reeks of motivated reasoning on his part.

"That's it, then," said Crowley, with a gleam of triumph. He knew Aziraphale's weak spot all right. "No more compact discs. No more Albert Hall. No more Proms. No more Glyndbourne. Just celestial harmonies all day long."

"Ineffable," Aziraphale murmured.

"Like eggs without salt, you said. Which reminds me. No salt, no eggs. No gravlax with dill sauce. No fascinating little restaurants where they know you. No Daily Telegraph crossword. No small antique shops. No bookshops, either. No interesting old editions. No" – Crowley scraped the bottom of Aziraphale's barrel of interests-"Regency silver snuffboxes . . . "

"But after we win life will be better!" croaked the angel.

"But it won't be as interesting. Look, you know I'm right. You'd be as happy with a harp as I'd be with a pitchfork."

He’s supposed to want good. He’s with heaven, that’s the definition of being heaven-aligned, to want good; and taking better as a synonym... yeah, probably if the win the Apocalypse (which they probably would), life would be more good. And that thought makes Aziraphale desperate; he’s croaking the words there, see? He’s torn between what he’s supposed to want and what he actually wants, and it’s all coming to a head. 

Then Crowley said it won’t be as interesting, something else entirely, from the heaven- or hell-aligned, and that’s when he starts to crack. It’s a rebellion, or at least a falling (sauntering vaguely downward, if you prefer); because he’s choosing something here too outside what he’s supposed to be working toward: not better, but more interesting. And thank Someone for that.

Let’s go back to that first exchange, though, where Aziraphale and Crowley are discussing free will. Because Crowley makes a really interesting point, both narratively and in terms of real-world philosophy.

Hang on, that only works, right, if you start everyone off equal, okay? You can't start someone off in a muddy shack in the middle of a war zone and expect them to do as well as someone born in a castle.

Ah, Aziraphale had said, that's the good bit. The lower you start, the more opportunities you have. Crowley had said, That's lunatic.

Aziraphale’s line is one I heard often enough from the Protestant-Christian side of my upbringing. Blessed are those who suffer for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And Crowley’s right: it’s nonsense to think people who are fighting all day every day to survive will ever be able to do as well at this free choice sanctification scheme as people who have the luxury of a bit of breathing space. Free will, for one thing, is meaningless if you don’t actually have two options to choose from; and the space (mental and otherwise) to actually make a decision.

Personally this isn’t the interpretation of Christianity I’ve found most useful, or consistent with the way I read the (Christian) Bible. It’s not that suffering gives you more opportunities for growth; there’s a sense of to-whom-much-has-been-given-much-will-be-expected shot through so many of Christ’s parables (the Five Talents, for instance), and of course there’s the line that it’s easier for a rich man to pass through the Eye of the Needle than to get into heaven; if you know your Biblical archaeology, that’s essentially saying you have to be stripped free of your baggage, which is the one thing rich people won’t be able to do.

Put another way: those who suffer, those who are poor and week, are blessed not because their suffering lets them achieve more heaven-points, but because they don’t need them precisely because they’re small. Whereas those given more resources, more is expected of them. I don’t think Crowley would approve of that kind of valorizing of smallness, but intellectually at least it makes more sense than what Crowley’s been twisted to think is correct.

I’m more a fan of the Aristotelian approach, myself. There are virtues that ought to motivate actions, but at the same time it’s all tied up in what’s possible for an individual. So a person who’s, say, OCD and deals with excessive anxiety might show more genuine courage in crossing the street than someone without that psychology would need to run into a burning building. Of course there’s certain maladies that make it impossible to exercise true virtue and we should feel pity for those people even if we don’t think of them as virtuous. But at least within certain limits, courage isn’t just about doing the most extreme thing, even necessarily what the situation demands, because courage is being guided by fear in the right way so we behave courageously; and if you’ve got more fear to navigate you need better courage than most to do the navigating.

That’s a much better way of thinking about things to me. Afflicted people aren’t better than those with a better starting out point because they get more heaven-points (whatever form that takes) or reach some better external state than people with a more favorable starting point; it’s that to even get to the same result as other people, they need more oomph, more grace, more whatever, because of all they’re pushing back against. It’s not fair, but it seems at least a more generous interpretation of the reality we’re all trying to struggle through.

Getting back to the book, though, I find it really interesting that Aziraphale and Crowley think of good and evil in these terms. It’s a sign of the headspace Heaven and Hell drive them toward, I think; to the point Crowley says they’re just labels for our side, those words don’t actually mean anything. 

But he’s still shaken by Barcelona. He’s still begging with Aziraphale- test them, sure, but not to destruction. He doesn’t want humanity to be ended, and it’s not for the more self-centered reasons that drive Aziraphale here, those lovely little bits of life on earth he finds so enjoyable. There’s a sense that he shouldn’t allow that to happen. There’s a should, an ought, a moral imperative still, even for a demon who’s been trying to tempt humanity toward his side for six millennia here. And while I don’t want to indulge on simple moralizing, there’s something at his core that won’t let him just let history do its thing. It may not neatly align with what heaven or hell is pointing for, that’s really the point, but there’s still an ought in play that’s somehow independent of all that.

Frankly, I find all that fascinating, not to mention a damned compelling narrative.

And War’s up next, I see. I need a readerly break, but when I get back, I think things are about to get fun.

[bobbile-blog]

Okay so considering the end of Il Siracusano, I wanted to put together a list of floating plot threads that might lead to future events, just to get my brain in order. This will be a list of the events and characters involved, as well as a general summary of where things are in these plots in Global.

So, we have:

(Minor spoilers for a lot of Global under the cut, but specifically for some bits at the end of Il Siracusano)

- The main story, obviously, counting both Reunion and Dublinn/Kazdel stuff, as well as stuff like What the Firelight Casts and Vigilo. Not sure how relevant this will be to future side events because it’s already the main plot, but who knows.

- The Feranmut plotline, encompassing Ancient Forge(?)/Who is Real/Invitation to Wine/Where Vernal Winds will Never Blow, featuring Nian/Dusk/Ling/Chong Yue. Updated pretty regularly as the CN new year event. Haven’t been keeping up with this one so I can’t say where we are rn but we’re about to get Vernal Winds anyway so it doesn’t matter much. The short overview is that Yan used to be populated by godlike beings called Feranmuts. Feranmuts fought a war with people, which concluded when a Feranmut named Sui betrayed his people out of a selfish desire to be the only being with the kind of power that Feranmuts possess. When he was discovered, the emperor of Yan (China analogue) split him into 12 fragments which eventually developed their own identities and personalities - these are the Sui siblings, i.e. Nian, Dusk, Ling, Chong Yue, etc. Once all twelve of these siblings meet again, they will reform back into Sui and he will be reborn, and probably take over the world. As such, the current goal is to find a way to prevent the siblings from all waking up and getting back together, and hopefully finding a larger way to prevent Sui’s resurrection.

- Abyssal Hunters and Seaborn, with Grani and the Knight’s Treasure/Under Tides/Stultifera Navis/Mizuki and Caerula Arbor, featuring Skadi/Specter/Gladiia/Kal’tsit. Was updated pretty frequently as an anniversary event, but they seem to have thrown us a big lore dump with Caerula Arbor and left it at that for the time being, which is understandable. The state of the plot at the moment is the Abyssal hunters we have are back together, Specter is back to her old self, they’ve met Ulpian and established an uneasy truce with the Iberian (Spanish analogue) Inquisition, and we’re starting to understand just what Ishar-mla is. Iirc the alternate timelines we see in IS3 are actually shown to the Doctor by Mizuki, so that may play into future events as well.

- Kazimierz, with Maria Nearl/Pinus Sylvestris/Near Light/Obscure Wanderer, featuring Blemishine/Zofia/Nearl/The Followers/Flametail/Ashlock/Fartooth/Wildmane/Justice Knight my beloved/Młynar. This kinda shouldn’t be on this list, because it’s mostly wrapped up, and I don’t expect any more Kazimeirz events for a while. It’s still probably important to summarize though so: Margaret Nearl won the 24th Major and became the Grand Knight, and has since stayed in Kazimierz (Poland analogue) to improve living conditions for the infected and push back against the General Chamber of Commerce. The Armorless Union has mostly been decapitated - the Platinum defected, the Lazurites have disappeared and taken on new identities, and the Darksteel has promised to stay away from Margaret and Rhodes Island. Pinus Sylvestris and most of the rest of the Nearls are now on the landship, working for Rhodes Island.

- Rhine Lab, with Mansfield Break/Dorothy’s Vision/Lonetrail/the second Records of Originium comic (which has an official translation that you absolutely should read it’s really good), featuring Silence/Ptilopsis/Saria/Ifrit/Dorothy/Mulesyse/Ho’olheyak/Kirsten. This is one of the newer plotlines, and my personal favorite. Kirsten Wright, founder and head of Rhine lab, wants to go to space. Ever since her parents were killed in a plane crash, she’s looked at the stars as a goal for humanity and a symbol of the power that science and technology can give us. Unfortunately, in pursuit of that power, she believes the end justifies any means, and the Colombian (America analogue) military-industrial complex definitely isn’t helping things. Kirsten’s disregard of human rights has pushed away the people closest to her, most notably Saria, who left the company after discovering how Ifrit was abused. At the moment, the relationship between Rhodes Island and Rhine Lab is becoming more adversarial because we keep poaching their directors when they see the horrific human rights abuses that they’ve committed. Saria left after the Diαbolic incident, Dorothy left after site 359, and now the Doctor even has Mulesyse thinking about leaving. In addition to that, Saria has finally confronted Kristen and told her in no uncertain terms that she is done working with Rhine lab, which Kristen previously hadn’t fully accepted. Unfortunately, all this has only served to drive her deeper into “the ends justify the means” - rather than accept that she might have been wrong, she’s doubled down on the idea that if she can just achieve her goal and make it to space, they’ll all see how right she was and come back.

- Wolf Fangs, with some hints in the earlier chapters of the main story and being explicitly confirmed in Il Siracusano, featuring Texas/Lapland/Projekt Red/Lunacub. This is the newest of these plots, set up in Il Siracusano and presumably proceeding from there. The Feraerus are supernatural talking animals that we’ve encountered a couple of times throughout the story, like the High Priest or the Emperor. They are connected with the land and are almost akin to guardians of it. They don’t need Originium for their magic, and are tied to the setting in ways we don’t quite understand yet. More importantly to us, though, they’re involved in their own power struggles and contests among each other. This underscored the drama in Il Siracusano - the whole Bellone family was propped up by the wolf Feraerus Zarro as part of an ancient game in which the wolves pick champions, called Fangs, who fight each other in a Battle Royale to decide the pack’s next alpha(debunked study, I know, just roll with it). We know a couple of the fangs - Lunacub is one and Bernardo was another before his death, but Projekt Red is also a Fang, as well as Crownslayer’s mentor, so we’ll probably be coming back to this conflict in the future. Judging by Bernardo’s story and Lunacub’s files, the implication is that a lot of this story is going to revolve around breaking free of these old traditions and systems.

- The Sami Icefields haven’t technically gotten an event yet, besides that one story in Operational Intelligence, but I’m including it as an honorable mention because it looks like we’re going there for IS4. The Icefields are up north of Ursus, and they are terrifying. You remember the Emperor’s Blade, the one that kicks your ass in WD-8? Yeah we only see three of them in the game because the rest are busy fighting against the Eldritch demons constantly invading from the Sami Icefields. Let’s please never go there ever, thanks.

That’s all I can think of in terms of plotlines as of Il Siracusano in AK Global. If there’s anything I forgot or got wrong, tell me and I’ll add it in.

[gay-otlc]

Stellarlune Recap

You couldn't get your copy of Stellarlune yet? No worries, my summary will give you all of the relevant details and will definitely not be entirely focused on the gay side characters.

Diversity win! The ogre chemical thing is aromantic!

Gisela is still doing evil things but have you considered; she is very sexy while doing them. Gisela is a milf and I will die on this hill.

Amy! Amy is great. Very glad to see her again.

Obligatory scene where Sophie talks about how she's so much more comfortable when she's not wearing a dress. In a very gender confirming cishet way of course.

Fitz's reaction to Keefe running away was BULLSHIT and I do not accept it as canon. He had to care about his boyfriend- uhh, best friend- leaving and fuck Shannon for not giving us the Keefitz angst we deserved.

The Vacker accent sounds haughty :)

Glimmer is called Little Miss Neverseen now, and I think this means we need a Glimmer/Umber Little Miss Perfect songfic.

Shannon doesn't know how to spell bestie.

Linh and Wylie sibling fight??? Man instead of saying shit like that she should have just hit him with a broom like normal siblings.

Rayni is trans, for no reason other than her name reveal sounded exactly like a coming out scene.

Sophie's description of Rayni is incredibly gay, as expected.

Imagine talking about all the flaws with the matchmaking system and not even acknowledging it's messed up gay elves can't get married? Yeah, Shannon just forgot about queerness ig.

Wylie needs to stop being a council stan >:( please Wylie I know this isn't who you really are-

Pyrokinesis continues to be extremely queer coding- the pyrokinesis ban forces people to deny who they are.

Oralie has trichotillomania! Good to see BFRB rep, less good to see it immediately dismissed as a silly quirk.

Unhinged gardener Fintan! He's so weird and I adore him for it.

Pyrokinesis once again is queer coded. "I have the right to be who I am in the privacy of my own home," okay Fintan. that's gay.

Prentice! No actual thoughts. Head empty. Only Prentice.

Why does it actually sound like Kenric is flirting with Prentice though? He outright asked to be Prentice's partner, I cannot.

I will NOT make a joke about how "keeper and probe" sounds like an innuendo and Kenric called Prentice the most talented keeper while flirting with him. I am NOT. I'm better than that.

I'm extremely normal about the Endal family pre-mind break, I'm not crying, you're crying.

FORK MAN SAID THE TITLE???? You know shit gets real when a character says the title.

For many reasons, Ro deserves to be punched. One of those reasons is invalidating Sophie's trich.

Sophie has alexithymia, it's basically canon. The most honest thing she's ever said is admitting she doesn't know what she's feeling, I am blasting her with my alexithymia laser as we speak.

Also I did enjoy Sophie's "do I have a crush" on Keefe crisis. I honestly found it fascinating from an aromantic perspective.

Sophie is probably on the aro spectrum, by the way. I think allo people usually don't struggle so much with identifying whether or not their feelings are romantic.

Tiergan is "adept at misdirection" because he's closeted. Also he's not that good at misdirection, Sophie is just not very observant.

Sophie's description of Biana is so fucking gay I can't.

Marella reminds Fintan of himself?? Canon?? Time to be insane about their dynamic again.

The sweet and sour chicken monologue >>>

Tiergan has to be Sophie and Fitz's marriage counselor. Rip.

Nobody expects the Cognate Inquisition.

Seriously, why did Shannon call it that. She had to know we would all think of the Spanish Inquisition, right? Or did she... not expect that.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT LET'S GO (tiertice chapter)

Qualden will never get a happy ending. That sucks ig

Tiergan all but admitted to being in love with Prentice, they were almost cognates, and Sophie had a live slug reaction. 10/10 scene

Tiergan would rather die than hear about the Fitzphie drama. Also he still doesn't understand ship names. Iconic.

Alden... why do you know so much about the rules regarding cognates and dating... did you perhaps want to date your cognate?

Edaline wins all the mom points.

Alden and Quinlin are canonically divorced.

Tiergan canonically wants to marry Prentice.

HOW did Shannon not know what she was doing when she said cognates were like marriage??? How???

Additional training with Marella, Linh, and Maruca you say? That's gay.

Sophie has advised Wylie to fix every problem with the power of homosexuality.

Also, Sophie is trying to break the news to Wylie that his dads are gay for each other.

Dex is bad at picking up when someone is joking or exaggerating. He's neurodivergent your honor.

Keefe... why are you just taking your shirt off for Tam... he wasted NO time with that damn

I want more Keefe and Grady interactions on screen. For. Science.

Chapter 42. I enjoyed it more than I thought. The kiss was... whatever, but their dialogue was very nice and I appreciated the healthy communication. Also the touching foreheads.

Sophie is canonically polyamorous!

"Tiergan held them [Wylie and Prentice] both" I AM GOING TO BE THINKING ABOUT THIS FOR THE REST OF ETERNITY I AM SCREAMING SOBBING THROWING UP THEY LOVE EACH OTHER THEY ARE A FAMILY ETC ETC

Tiergan: Well no one in this group ever fucking listens to me so I might as well stay with my husband >:(

Prentice needs a hug. Tiergan is giving him a hug. Love wins.

Sokeefitz can still happen. I refuse to give up hope.

IT/ITs Masteress Elysian. Elysian has the gender of all time.

If my summary somehow wasn't enough for you, you can read Stellarlune for free here. I gave you all the information you need to know though.

[lazywriter-artist]

My Roman Empire?

O-O” warhammer 40k-

Ironic as I’m not typically a huge battle tactics fan, but I’m a giant sucker for space, big men in bigger armor and death-

⭐️Commissar oc⭐️

No one ever expects the Spanish EMPEROR’S inquisition!

Finally a darling salamander space marine and some space marine rabies (the black rage)

[beevean]

Mactor + Escape :)

call me the spanish inquisition the way I pop up when you least expect it forgive me i have to physically brawl with my brain to get shit done

Happy birthday bestie <3

~

"Hector, come with me."

Mathias extended his hand towards his knight, frozen in surprise by his sudden request. Only the rustling of the dead leaves could be heard in the courtyard, but Mathias waited with all the patience that was necessary.

"Lord Cronqvist... You can't mean..."

"But I do. When the Count finds a way to send me back home... I ask you to join me."

A soft gasp escaped Hector's lips.

Perhaps he had expected him to propose to run away from the castle, like an eloping couple. Mathias had considered it, in the past days. But he was no fool: of the many, displeasurable things he had learned ever since he had been brought into the far future, the worst and most important one was that Count Dracula made fire and brimstone rain from the sky when something took his possessions away from him.

Only seeking refuge in another world would protect both of them from the monster's ire.

Hector, poor eyewitness and victim of said ire, still hesitated to respond, his gaze darting back and forth. Mathias held onto the thought that the knight was not rejecting him in full, ignoring what his racing heart was screaming at him.

"I understand your apprehension. To be flung in a different century, so far in time as to almost be a different world... It's disorienting. Nothing will be the same." He shook his head. "But surely it would be better than this life you're living."

Hector's fingers flew to hide the ugly purple bruise on his neck, hardly concealed by his uniform. His Lord was growing more shameless by the day - and it did not escape Mathias' notice how the vampire's nostrils flared like a hound's every time Hector approached him, and how he'd shoot a deadly glare at the younger Lord that nearly soured the sweet taste of Hector's lips on his.

Mathias had a tendency to keep his loved ones close to him, that was for certain, but it disheartened him to learn how petty he'd become in the future.

He no longer had the words to express the sickness that took his stomach when Hector returned to his quarters, pale as the undead creatures that roamed in the castle and with eyes just as devoid of life. There was only so much his embrace could do to soothe the shivering man.

They were both prisoners in that cursed castle, at the mercy of the Devil. But Mathias did not have the heart to seek freedom for himself, leaving the man that had captivated his soul behind.

A good Lord would do anything to protect his most important knights, and it was high time Hector learned it.

"I... It would be betrayal," the man finally whispered, in that tone typical of children terrified that their parents might overhear.

"Betrayal of what?" Mathias snapped. "Of a mindless slaughter of your own kind? Of a monster who only sees you as a meal to satiate his filthy appetite with? Do you truly want to place your loyalty in the claws of a creature who doesn't even deserve to gaze upon you?"

The Count's icy, cruel voice resounded in his head, cackling and wicked, that Mathias was not the one who saved the boy's life and thus had no right to claim him as his. What could he hope to achieve, after only a handful of months, while the vampire had years of time to shape Hector to his leisure and fill his mind with despicable lies, such as that he loved him?

But he could hope that he had done a good job as showing Hector what love truly was. The way the knight was balling his fists, instead of rebuking more, comforted him.

"Hector, please. You're too precious to waste yourself in a place like this. And you know it." Mathias refused to hold back: he approached Hector and put a hand on his shoulder, on the armor that marked him as one of Count Dracula's Generals. "You're one of the bravest, most noble men I've had the honor of meeting."

"Even if I'm a sinner rejected by your own God?" Hector asked with a wry smile, that Mathias reciprocated in full.

"Especially because you're a sinner, dear."

Count Dracula may have done his best to ensnare Hector's body and soul, but Mathias highly doubted that he had ever seen him with such warmth in his icy eyes, a deep sentiment that surpassed the mere loyalty of a knight. That sight was for Mathias and Mathias alone, and he nearly swelled with pride.

Hector's fingers brushed against Mathias' hand on his side. But still, he did not grasp it.

"Lord Cronqvist," he sighed, "you're asking me to live with humans. I can't do that. I do not belong with them, no matter in what time and place. I'm not a mere sinner: I'm a cursed being."

Mathias suffocated the wave of fury inside his chest. He wished he had crosses and holy water with him, to reduce the vile Count to ashes for what he had done to such a pure man, for the shackles he had put on his mind.

"I'm not. I'm asking you to live with me, my Hector."

The most he was able to do was to offer Hector the key to escape his prison.

The rustling of dead leaves was deafening, now. Hector looked at him, through him, eyes no longer warm but whet with sharp determination. Then, he took Mathias' hand with his ungloved, callused one, and placed his lips on its back, and took the key.

"Very well... my Lord."

[bigidiotenergy]

no one ever expects the spanish inquisition quinn p0rn

[wren-writes-things]

For the ask game:

🐰 What do you think says the most about a person?

🙃 What’s a weird fact that you know?

🦋 Describe yourself in three words.

🌴 Desert island item?

🎤 Is there a song you know all the lyrics to?

sorry to bother you, you don't have to answer

Ooh! I am very interested in this actually so don’t worry about asking at all.

🐰 Probably how they treat animals, specifically wild ones since it runs into that area where there isn’t necessarily a societal expectation to act in any certain way.

🙃 So there is the breed of chickens known as the White faced Black Spanish, nicknamed the clown faced chicken, and it’s theorized that they might have influenced Salvador Dali’s paintings. They were also one of the smartest chickens I’ve ever owned aside from the Sumatra.

(Left photo taken from the internet because I never had a rooster of the breed. Right one is a hen I used to own though.)

🦋 Inquisitive, distractible, creative

🌴 If I take Marcy’s journal would it seem like I have a problem?

🎤 Honestly most songs I’ve listened to. I sing a lot while listening to music to calm myself (honestly it’s probably a vocal stim at this point). So I have the lyrics pretty well stored. Off the top of my head though? Marcy’s theme song takeover, King and Lionheart by Of Monsters and Men, Stayed Gone from Hazbin Hotel, the extended version of the Phineas and Ferb intro, Better by Cavetown (actually I know most of his songs), and The Archer by Taylor Swift (though my roommate was just singing that one so its fresh in the brain). Plus any song on my Marcy playlist.

[nongenderbentanimeneilarmstrong]

Early Honkai Impact manga are extremely fascinating to me. I would say anything released before Elan Platinus (Purple Kite Tales in case you're ever looking up volume release order on mangadex) is early Honkai to me since that all came out before there were a number of retcons regarding certain characters.

Another notable thing is that the artists basically didn't know how to draw boobs like at all. They look like gelatinous spheres attached to characters chests. Yeah sure this isn't probably that interesting but it really just gave honkai a different tone when there were flacid scuppernong grapes smushing into each other every page.

What may be the only official de-canonized part of honkai is the mystery of the stigmata arc. I'm not sure if later changes to the plot influenced this decision or not since I have commonly heard it was removed due to depicting the yellow emperor as an anime girl. Regardless, the main antagonist of this arc is Walter, the 1st herrscher, sovereign of AE, and also secretly Himeko's father. If you ever see anyone crawling out if the woodwork taking about Welt being Himeko's father, this is why. While we don't know what his powers were, the rebirth dlc GGZ character named Walter who was also the 1st herrscher and sovereign of AE had gravity powers. The Joyce clones and Welt seemed to have gravity powers in AE invasion/moon shadow so I feel fairly comfortable in saying that the 1st herrscher used to have gravity powers. However Walter was retconed and now we have Welt who is basically just a totally different guy (and now he doesn't even have gravity powers). Also here's the first image we get of Walter.

And here's a Canon image of the Joyce clone from Moon Shadow.

Himeko's first appearance in the escape from nagazora manga is also really, really bad. That's not how you put on armor, please don't do that. I genuinely don't want to post an image of the page I'm referring to because I don't feel comfortable inflicting this onto others I'm pretty sure this is soft core porn.

On a lighter note I want to show people Otto Apocalypse's first appearance in Honkai Impact.

As far as I can tell, since Otto is never actually seen in Theresa's chronicle chapter, this had to be his first appearance in the story. The translators of this game chose to introduce the English speaking fan base to this guy with a "nobody expects the Spanish inquisition" joke. I'm not sure if he was supposed to the the main antagonist when this was published, but regardless, someone consciously chose to draw this guy like this and someone decided to add in a month python joke. Old Honkai was just, extremely horny (though it is important to note that female characters were sexualized to a far greater degree).

Anyways regarding the original main antagonist, I'm pretty sure it was Cocolia to at least some extent. She was the main antagonist through the moon shadow arc, though Otto Apocalypse was pretty evil in that one so it's hard to say anything with a ton of confidence. Regardless, that's probably part of the reason why Cocolia AE was the main antagonist until she suddenly wasn't. Though the whole AE fracturing and Einstein/Tesla making a deal with Theresa was a pretty significant plot point in AE invasion so technically it wasn't entirely something that came out of nowhere, but really how many people would be reading the manga at that point in the story.

But yeah, here's some notable events from early Honkai manga that I think are pretty interesting. This post kinda ended up being a collection of some of the more salacious images I want to forget about so in general it's actually a pretty mixed bag. Azure Waters is really really good and I definitely enjoyed parts of AE invasion and moon shadow regardless of some scenes that I did not enjoy and would not recommend. Also I find it hilarious that Otto's introduction is like that. I cannot take him seriously at all in that arc or kinda in general whenever I'm reminded of that scene.

[motheatenscarf]

Almenor D&D went very well tonight and was intensely fun and memorable, the whole party managed to kill a god and we're not even at endgame yet.

So much backstory, but the shortest version is thus;

Our DM has established that some of the gods are mortals who used HORRIFYING fanes of immense and profane power to ascend to godhood, essentially merging themselves with the natural divine power of a concept given form. These gods are generally more powerful and less changeable than the naturally occurring ones who shift with mortal expectations and belief, and they also hate each other and have vendettas against one another. One of these bad dudes is a mortal once named Istaphon who merged with the concept of Corruption/Ruin and has been manipulating the Sun Goddess, the Sun Pope, the Sun Religion, and now there's a big war between the gods that's spiraling out of control onto the material plane causing untold destruction and their followers are deciding now's the time to be crazed zealots about it. I mean, they were before, but now even moreso to the tune of a full on siege and straight up plagues of Egypt type shit going on.

Notably, there is no gate or bulwark or veil or ANYTHING that can physically separate the gods from the material plane in this setting; they can come down whenever they want. The only thing that was ever stopping them was mutually assured destruction and the threat of the Material Plane's destruction meaning no more followers meaning no more power. The ascended mortal gods don't have to worry about that as much though, and ever since the Sun Goddess took her own life rather than allow Istaphon's corruption to reach her, her Pantheon and church started getting more paranoid and zealous, and her divine sidekick god, described as an archangel, went BERSERK in her absence and apparently had a semi-mortal daughter, whom we... y'know, killed, because she was full on Spanish Inquisition evil, so he went insane and tried to kill us, and then the divine balif god showed up to try and drag the archangel home, but he got ganked, and then the archangel's equivalent in hell went, oh sweet, no cops to stop me now! And then archangel killed HER before our lich god came to stop him, and then every other god went, fuck it, everyone else is doing it, and now there's a godswar, and we're in it, and it's... insane.

So, we're trying to pick up the pieces where we can, and currently in this session the Sun Pope was leading a siege against the city we'd JUST freed from the Sun Emperor (who was the husband of the archangel's lunatic daughter whom we murdered, so he's not happy with us either) and was vowing to make us pay for our apostacy. We brought the Orcish god of ass kicking, Sun Pope called down the god of Civilization, they duked it out in a field while we fought off hordes of angels and pitted straight up dragons against each other.

We're level 18, insane shit is happening!

We're only fighting HERE instead of being at any of the other like, FORTY places that are about this awful, because the Sun Pope has an artifact we need to forge a godkilling weapon designed by our lich-god buddy named Bel-Katash, whom we call B-Kats, because 1.) we have to break the fanes that turned these mortals into gods in the first place so no more can be made and also so that they can't be used to summon the WORST of the asshole gods, an ancient primordial being of chaos who takes on the form of a dragon, a reinvented Tiamat, and 2.) it would actually be great to have something to threaten these assholes with so they stop fucking up our material plane! We should maybe kill the gods, actually!

Anyway, B-Kats only designed this weapon because he was a mortal himself once, but he made a baaad deal with, essentially Istaphon, out of desperation to escape execution at the hands of his enslavers. B-Kats isn't a GOOD dude, he only ascended to godhood by snorting the souls of his empire of descendants like a line of coke after a thousand years of lichdom to gain enough power to kill the previous god of undeath and steal his job, but he isn't the WORST dude because at least all he wants is never to be a slave again with no one holding power over him or his soul. He doesn't want the world to be plunged into perpetual chaos and he has no interest in the petty wars raged by the other gods so... fine, we'll work with that!

Back to the present, we manage to finally punch a hole in the Sun Pope's defenses and incapacitate her in like 2 rounds with some of our hardest hitting tricks, and she calls upon her angelic guide to help her. And he answers!

Except her angelic guide is Istaphon, who wants to brag about his evil plan and thank her for starting his mission of ruin so thoroughly. Then he casts a plague on all of us because he also means ruin and corruption in the form of DISEASE and PESTILENCE, so that's fun! We've all got like maybe 10 rounds at most before this plague kills us if we run, and we have maybe ONE round before he obliterates us if we stay; what are we gonna do?

We all say fuck it, hail mary, go down swinging!

Sorcerer starts it off by using her 9th level spell slot to cast Wish and try to break the strands of weave stitching Istaphon to Ruin. She makes some STUPID high save to succeed and then another so as not to die immediately. She succeeds on both, but is knocked down to 0 hp and has her strength reduced from trying to control THIS much magic around, y'know, RUIN HIMSELF. My Warlock sees this and is close enough that he can try some insane bullshit, making a grab for the successfully untethered essence of Ruin and casting Plane Shift to banish it to the depths of the Abyss where Tiamat is still trapped. The hit lands, the thing is banished, but my boy fails his Con save and instantly dies from, y'know, Plane Shift being a melee spell and having to PHYSICALLY TOUCH the IMMATERIAL CONCEPT OF RUIN in order to banish it from the Material Plane.

With Istaphon momentarily weakened, our Cleric casts HIS hail mary and casts Gate, trying to call forth Bel-Katash so he can have his revenge. Bel-Katash comes through and is like, HELL YEAH, and restrains Istaphon, freeing up our Rogue to grab the artifact off the Sun Pope's rotting body and assemble the final piece of the blade before landing a fucking crit and shattering him on impact, the blow rupruting out and killing basically everything below a certain HP threshold in like a mile radius and instantly killing our unconscious Sorcerer and almost killing our Cleric and Rogue, who are still plague stricken and fucked up.

Bel-Katash says good job, I know you still need that blade to finish destroying the fanes, but that blade is a loaner and I'll be coming back for it. Ominous shit, but COOL, thanks, we'll burn that bridge when we get to it, I guess.

Cleric now only has like 3 rounds before he dies, and our DM just asks what he does. Thirty seconds of panicked spell scrolling and spell slot availability checking later, he can, in order, cleanse our Rogue, revive me and our Sorcerer, and then DIES, with like... one level 2 spell slot left and nothing else. Sorcerer and I wake up just in time to see him gurgling on his own diseased blood as our Rogue begins to panic because he thinks he's the only survivor. Rest in-

Just kidding, Death Ward kicks in and he's at 1 hit point! Fuck yeah, Clerics!

We head back to our headquarters in the recently liberated palace over a mile long march of corpses and we are all FUCKED UP with several levels of exhaustion and over the trek realize that my boy has a withered and nonfunctional main hand that he can barely cast spells with and is definitely cursed as fuck, but we did it!!... for now.

There is... so much else to do, but we assembled the god killing blade and it is OPEN SEASON NOW, BABY! Curses be damned!

It was a very cool moment where everyone got to show off and do what they do best, and it was very fun. I'm still super hype about it and this was like 4 hours ago. My Warlock is definitely getting a new fucked up looking cursed arm out of this and GOD, I wish I wasn't broke from Christmas shopping, I want to commission art of this new look so badly, my poor Warlock boy is like if Tyr were a stringbean nerd, sacrificing his arm to delay the fuckin wolf time and give the world time to prepare.