#Precursor Monk

[elise-the-blind]

So I’ve seen some artists show their idea of the next generation of Jak and Daxter aka the future kids Jak and his friends might have. Have you ever had thought about or drawn Jak and Keira kid and Tess x Dax kid?

ok, imma gonna have to admit something since this isn't the first times I've been asked this, but I actually have never made or had much interest in making fankids. I honestly dont know why I lack this brain chemical, with the amount of headcannons I come up with this should be right up my alley, but no.

But whatever, I'll think up as much as I can for this, just know that for my AU, its very unlikely these characters will be a part of any of it.

Damascus (son of Jak and Keira)

Named after Damas (because I think its funny). Grew up copying his dads constant scowl, but has never had an angry thought in his life. Took up his mums love of gadgets, focusing on precursor tech and will sneak around the monk temple for info (the monks are aware of this but dont mind, alittle confused on why he insists on sneaking in). Even though not mute he's still the least likely to speak out of all four. Was told a story about lurker sharks (probably told by Daxter) and now has a fear of the ocean.

Jak is very, VERY careful with what stories he tells his son and what lessons he might take from them and gives evil eyes to anyone who tries suggesting Damascus does the same hero stuff Jak did as a kid. Bro knows how badly all of that can go and does not want any of that for his son. A result of that is Damascus doesn't have a lot of experience with eco, only what he knows from Keira's family (green eco for first aid). He's only heard about light eco from the monks and he DEFINITELY doesn't know nadda about using dark eco. Damascus has only rarely seen the dark Jak, and always when he's in danger, so thinks of it just as "man my dad is so cool he can kick the butt of anyone that messes with me".

Has any of Jak's dark eco been passed on to Damascus? Something to ponder, I'm sure it wont affect him too badly.

The Triplets (Tess and Daxter's kids)

Cally (bow), Cash (piercings), Cade (gloves): They're the offspring of a sarcastic ego-filled furball and a gun manic bossbitch, you think any of them would be normal? no. All three are all different levels of shitshow, and are determined to make that everyone else's problem.

Cade is the honorary 'nerd' of the family, fixated on studying precursors and the worlds inner workings. Had an existential crisis at age 6 after thinking about whether or not they had any sort of human DNA from both their parents not being born an ottsel. He always follows Damascus around when he's snooping, making their own sworn oath of secrecy. Cade will sometimes ask his dad about dark eco which all of the time loops to "shit stings, stay out of it son." Once asked uncle Jak, got shut down real fast (bro you're giving your uncle Gol and Maia flashbacks pls stop he's too old for this).

Cash took the love of demolition from Tess and spends alot of time hanging around uncle Torn and aunt Ashelin learning about military mechanics and tactics used by the guard. She gets super hyped when hearing battle stories and sometimes pesters Damascus about anything his pa might have told him about metalheads. Because of the closeness Cash has with the leaders of Haven, she's one of the only kids that know in more detail about Jak's dark side and see's her uncle as a much more intimidating figure. She doesn't plan on telling Cade any of that despite his studies, she's alittle worried he'll get himself into trouble.

Cally got all the showboat center stage child energy from her dad, serving as the distraction for when the trio are doing crimes. Cally acts alot like 'Precursor Legacy' Daxter, always talking, always going for everyone's attention. Alot of that's an act of course, and Cally is often stuck running around making sure her siblings aren't caught in any mess or that the blame of any damage is shifted from them to someone else/her. Cally makes sure to involve Damascus in the chaos the three get into occasionally, even if he doesn't act interested. She once tired racing with Keira for the sake of fame, and while racing was dropped because of a fear of crashing, Cally is very skilled with vehicles and can speed across the city if she ever needs to get anywhere. She knows all secret paths in Haven and Spargus, if you're a target you will never get away, she will catch you.

Everyone takes part in keeping an eye on all of them (especially the triplets) but Sig makes sure that Damascus gets home safe each night, wouldn't want the past to repeat itself would we.

Pretty sure that's all I got. Maybe I'll do more with these guys if there's enough interest. Otherwise I'm back to comic stuff.

[wordsandrobots]

While watching the sub of 08th MS Team over on Gundam Info's YouTube page (sans episode 12 because they are cowards), the thought suddenly occurred that you could move those characters into another of the shows with minimal effort, mostly because they are fairly stock and also because they're enough of a good unit dynamic to work elsewhere.

Obviously, because this is me, I was imagining them in Iron-Blooded Orphans, either as a Gjallarhorn squad in some dismal backwater (with Shiro eventually realising being a member of the colonial police kind of sucks) or as some unaffiliated mercenary group, with Aina perhaps being from Gjallarhorn and that making for a conflict.

And since I'm rubbish at AUs but always need a ready source of OC inspiration for my style of fic-writing, that got me wondering who else you could readily transpose into the Post Disaster timeline.

Obviously the Shangri-La kids from Gundam ZZ are a freebie since they're the most clear-cut precursors to Tekkadan as a concept. You'd barely have to change anything about them except removing the newtype abilities.

Likewise, the antagonistic characters from Gundam Wing swap over with ease because Gjallarhorn is just OZ if it won and then became entrenched for 300 years. Treize, Une, Noin and Zechs just need new uniforms and we're done. You could probably fold in the Gundam boys too, and likely with minimal reworking at that. Heero probably wouldn't be augmented in the same way, but make him a space rat and we're laughing. Quatre can be from the upper classes/colony company side of things, Trowa's human debris, give Duo a spacer/pirate origin and Wu Fei . . .

You know what, Wu Fei as the scion of some kind of warrior monk group that's been maintaining a Gundam since the Calamity War could have legs as a concept. Maybe I should file that one away for later use.

Kudelia already retreads a lot of Relena's schtick in a more pragmatic/cynical manner. Dorothy, however, would make a perfect member of Gjallarhorn high society and Sally can be another disgruntled soldier who comes to realise the money isn't worth it any more.

Gundam 00 is hit and miss. Setsuna is superseded in every way by Mikazuki in terms of character concept. The Innovades and super soldiers are right out. I already kind of imagine Gundam Flauros' original pilot as a variant of Neil!Lockon, though, and Graham is the kind of lunatic who can go with anything if you're not afraid of fun.

Gundam and Zeta Gundam . . . nah. They're just too tied into that original conceptualisation of what the series is about. I don't think the White Base or Argama crews really belong anywhere else. And I feel somewhat similarly about G Fighter, although maybe you could redo some of the stuff with the Devil Gundam to relate to the original IBO Gundam development process?

'Tis an interesting game at least and if anyone else has thoughts in this direction, I'd love to hear them.

[whencyclopedia]

Tea in Ancient China & Japan

Tea, still probably the world's most popular prepared beverage, was first drunk by Chinese monks to aid meditation and those who valued its medicinal qualities, but it quickly grew in popularity, spreading to other East Asian cultures, especially Japan. An elaborate ceremony for its preparation and consumption developed which sought to foster the appreciation and beauty of life's simple luxuries. In addition, tea drinkers were able to discreetly display their good taste and wealth not only by serving what was a relatively expensive commodity but by reserving their very best porcelain for drinking it.

With books written by tea experts on how to conduct oneself and appreciate the tea fully, along with poems eulogising the beverage, tea drinking was developed into an art form. The tea ceremony, thus, became a simple way to escape for a moment the tribulations of one's often hectic everyday life, a function drinking tea still has for many people today.

Tea in Mythology

In both Chinese and Japanese tradition, the discovery of tea is credited to the Indian sage Bodhidharma (aka Daruma), the founder of Chan Buddhism, a precursor of Zen Buddhism. Bodhidharma, travelling to spread the word of his new doctrine, founded the Shaolin temple in southern China (Shorinji to the Japanese). There he meditated while sat facing a wall for nine long years. At the end of that period his legs had withered away and, just on the verge of reaching enlightenment, he fell asleep. Enraged at missing this last step, he ripped off his own eyelids and threw them to the ground. From these a bush grew, the tea plant.

Continue reading...

[radioactivepeasant]

Snippets: Free Day Thursday

As per the poll results, we are giving Damas stress via Just Plain Silliness. It builds character. Not that I needed an excuse to Inconvenience Characters in the first place 😆 it's become my favorite way of writing anything. Not Angst or Adventure, but Aggravation of Character in ridiculous ways 😂

This falls into the Trespasser au (last "episode" of that found HERE) a bit before the second Arena fight in the game.

The king of Spargus, Jak decided, was a killjoy.

For a city where strength and survival were supposed to be the most important traits, he sure didn't like any of Jak's demonstrations of strength or survival.

"You can't race Leapers in the middle of the market."

"Don't swim over the reef."

"Stop antagonizing the monks."

"You can't race Leapers on neighborhood roofs, either."

"If I told you not to swim over the reef, why would you assume I'd be okay with you feeding the sea monster?!'

It was like he was vehemently opposed to the mere concept of fun.

Jak folded his arms and tried not to roll his eyes while Kleiver complained about the scuffed up suspension and undercarriage on the Dune Hopper. Sure, he'd cut it a little close on the broken bridge, but he'd gotten away with the artifacts and left the Marauders in a two car pile up, so who was the winner, here?

Not Jak, apparently.

Damas listened to Kleiver yell about how he'd have to redo the entire suspension -- a gross exaggeration -- and how there was half a metalhead stuck in the undercarriage. Now that, Jak hadn't known about. When had he run over a metalhead?

"Hey! We didn't do that!" Daxter protested, "How do we know you didn't put that there last time you drove?!"

"Because I don't take the Hopper if I plan to do a run down Turquoise Canyon!" Kleiver snapped.

Damas steepled his fingers in front of his mouth and examined the damaged vehicle.

"One of these days, kid, I swear to Volcan-"

"What?! I got the job done, didn't I?" Jak protested indignantly. "Did you want the Marauders to get their hands on a functioning power cell?"

Damas’s jaw tightened so much that his mouth appeared to be folding inward. He inhaled slowly, and let it out again, ears twitching while he was very obviously counting to ten.

"There are no jumps in the canyon," he said slowly, "So how did you manage this?"

Jak shrugged nonchalantly. "The 'rauders chased us out to the ruins," he explained, "Ran out of turbo, so I had to get creative with the jump."

Kleiver started swearing very creatively under his breath. Damas turned an interesting shade of red.

"That does it."

The king grabbed Jak by the channeling ring and near dragged him out of the garage before Kleiver could clobber someone with a wrench.

"One more stunt like that out of you," Damas threatened, "and I'm entering you into an apprenticeship. Let's see you foment chaos with an actual structure in your day."

"You're not gonna do that," Jak scoffed.

Damas’s eyes narrowed. "Try me."

Jak did not take this nearly as seriously as he ought to have. In fact, he seemed to regard the threat as more instances of Damas "worrying too much". Damas did not worry too much! If anything, he wasn't worried enough about the insanity this young unknown relative had brought into his city! More than one advisor or guildmaster had been privy to the king muttering darkly, "I'm either going to kill him, or start training him myself. I'll let you know when I've figured out which."

And of course, Jak kept being Jak. Climbing the Arena walls because he saw a Precursor orb someone had dropped. Messing around with some kind of evil alien satellite on the beach. Inciting other inhabitants of the youth barracks to join foot races in the barrack halls in the dead hours of night. And he seemed to regard all of this as perfectly normal behavior. It was like all the impulses he'd had to shove down in Haven, all the ways he'd had to be perfect to fit under the yoke of that terrible word, hero, everything came crashing down in Spargus. He had almost no limits here, and that kind of freedom seemed to awaken a wildness that was above the paygrade of the dorm supervisor.

It came to the point where Damas was actually allowing the kid to go out into a sandstorm, just to get some of that boundless energy out! It wouldn't have been his first choice. Or even his tenth. But the storm rolling in was much larger than anything else they'd seen that summer. And for all his recklessness, Jak was their fastest driver.

"Four scouts have not reported in," the king told Jak and Daxter. His face was grim. "Two just set off their emergency beacons. At the rate this storm is going-"

He shook his head, cutting off his sentence.

Daxter had worried that Spargus would be another Krew situation at first. But here was the king of the cranky lizard-riders, flipping out because a handful of scouts -- one of the lowest ranks in the city -- weren't accounted for before a deadly storm.

In Haven, their absence wouldn't have even been noticed until roll call.

The old timers in the market were right, weren't they? "King's eyes see all." This guy watched everyone like a hawk, didn't he? Daxter wasn't sure if that bothered him, or if it just reminded him of Jak.

He supposed that was fitting, considering the two were probably related, no matter how in denial Jak seemed to be about being an Heir of Mar.

"Where's the Crawler right now?" Jak asked.

The mobile sandstorm shelter wasn't invincible, but it could take a lot. That would be the scouts' best bet.

Damas looked out the windows, glaring at the dark clouds as though he could hold the storm back by sheer force of will. It took a moment to hear his voice over the water.

"The Crawler is in the steppes at the moment. She's not a fast vehicle, Jak. I need you to get those scouts to either the Crawler or the city."

"I will."

Damas turned a stern look on them both.

"No stunts. These are people's lives we're talking about."

"I know!" Jak sputtered, a little offended. "And I won't bust the car up this time, so Kleiver can give it a rest."

"No. I'm serious, boy," Damas warned, "If it comes down to abandoning the car for shelter or trying to drive in the storm, you leave the car. Do you understand?"

Jak huffed. Damas had seen him outrun sandstorms before! What was so bad about a slightly bigger one?

"I got it, I got it," he grumbled.

Damas glared.

"No. Stunts. You get back here in one piece."

"Okay, I got it already!" Jak groaned.

"Jak-!"

"I know, Dad!" Jak complained.

An instant later his eyes widened.

The water suddenly seemed much louder than usual.

Daxter wasn't even sure any of them were breathing.

Three pairs of dramatically widened eyes darted back and forth between them as silence built up like steam under pressure. It was going to erupt sooner or later, the question was how.

Damas made a very small, strangled noise in the back of his throat.

Jak snapped out of his moment of horrified realization.

"Uh. I'll let you know when everyone is accounted for!"

He pivoted and bolted for the elevator before Damas could see his entire face burn crimson.

A guard at the back of the chamber opened his mouth to comment and in one rushed tangle of syllables Jak hissed,

"Youdidn'thearanything!"

Damas didn't blink for a good two minutes after Jak had left.

He didn't move for a good two minutes.

He stood exactly where he'd been, staring blankly at the empty elevator shaft.

The captain of the tower guard, an older man named Cephus, left his place by the windows to lean into Damas’s peripheral vision. He waved slightly, and the king finally blinked.

"Are you alright, sire?" Cephus asked.

Damas made a curious wheeze before speaking through a groaning inhalation.

"Oh no."

"Hm!" Cephus stroked his long beard. "Guess the wild one imprinted on you! Do I offer congratulations or condolences?"

Damas nodded slowly and stiffly.

"....help."

There could not possibly have been a worse time for the monks to finally send him the results of the blood test.

[boyslit-moving]

ok so i was working out princes -> mortal sin

but there's eight 'princely' options... and apparently there's no modern 8th deadly sin. but Dia isn't really a prince, is he? and he's from Akedia ...

“Acedia comes from Greek and means ‘a lack of care.’ It sounds a little like today’s sloth, and acedia is indeed considered a precursor to today’s sin of laziness. To Christian monks in the fourth century, however, acedia was more than just laziness or apathy. It was more like dejection that made it difficult to be spiritual, avoiding ascetic practices, boredom that led to falling asleep while reading, and frustration with life in a monastery.” [x]

which of course none of the fellows are 1:1 on their 'deadly sin' but i thought it was funny that people considered acedia something that would lead monks to leave their lives of devotion to god and thus counted as a cardinal sin. and that little brat is always skipping class and sneaking out from under Jay's and Lou's noses to go look at mushrooms in the forest, and even tries to manipulate Lou to get out of remedial coursework if i'm remembering some of the story right

idk. just thought it was fun :) Acedia as a precursor to sloth (Lynt, well, I guess the whole country is obsessed with sleep but w/e) but originally as the sin of apathy and frustration that leads you away from your obligations. (and Dia's lineage is from a country that no longer exists, another parallel with the once-mighty 8th deadly sin that is no longer)

[craboon]

this was an experiment i wrote a bunch of random names and made a semi abstract map and then wrote lore of the places, not all there but might reblog or edit post with more later if you want to hear about one specifically let me know descriptions follow

The Vermin Wood is a place of towering snags, riddled with holes, carved with their own esoteric tongues, the the ground moldering with the burrows of insects, centuries ago a king had promised his people 100 years of prosperity, he kept his promise, so did the rot and it was patient The Incarnadine Vault A scholar became obsessed with hidden knowledge, but he feared something watching him, and so he had a vault made to protect himself, his research, and wealth, painted to hide him from the yellow watching eyes, the poison paint was his end, the pigment in its heart is rotting to yellow

the Scintillating Barrows are tombs filled with mirrors and crystal and once a year the sun hits them just right to make them all glow brightly, it is said that if you visit on that day you can see the spirits of the dead walk again ethereal

The Grave of the Flutists is a cemetery looking burial ground that actually has hidden winding catacombs beneath, the gravesite of a group of flute playing monks, even in death they have flutes pressed against their lips, no mater where you are in the tunnels you will always hear a faint playing, either from a high above shelf or within the heavy earth

The Isle of the Beast Cult is controlled by the eponymous cult they worship an ancient cave beast that lived among people there once they wear fabric cloaks resembling the fur of a beast complete with ears and tail and spots, they have their own breed of holy magic derived from their god

Village of Arsenikessers is a mining village built into mountains of toxic rock no outsider would dare touch, the miners are known for their strange vitality and slightly off appearances, but otherwise friendly nature, their minerals are known for their purity the land over

The Resounding Depths an outcropping permeated by deep bore holes, what created them is a mystery, ancient alchemist mining for materials?, or possibly legendary serpents of old? The only hint of their natures is a faint song half between natural and musical, as a crickets shrill cry from under creaking ice, a faint instrument droning. apothecaries come from far to lower jars and vials to the depths, and collect the fluid that distills therein. It imparts a soporific effect, and stranger still the memory of the song. The God Rot Field is a place where long ago a great hero learned gods could be wounded, even killed. Though they never truly stop existing at least not for an incredibly long time. Mold silver-gold spills out from the scraps of torn flesh and effluvia endlessly rotting and growing all the same. Occult tokens and wards have since halted the progress but not before it claimed a large swathe of land. The Silvering Fen was once the home of a powerful witch, upon death at the hands of a cruel hero, they cursed their lands: a denaturing and thinning of the world, a paleness. And every plant and animal therein would be shining a fickle silver, one that stained that hero as he left, leaving footsteps of blossoming silver leaf. When he arrived home, he was faint and weak, his shock of hair now silvered, and so none believed who he was. At the center still stand the shining ruins of a once great tower, some say there is still a relic of power there. Pool of the Legless Ones An old temple lays rotting, the entrance to an ancient flooded cavern, the water squirms and boils faintly with long slimy things said to be the precursors of all the beasts and all of man. It is said they will share their wisdom if provided with an icon of your devotion. Home of The Tallow Thief An unassuming shack stands perched on a crooked hill, home to the tallow thief, who once stole from the new gods themselves, now an aging mentor to those who move too quietly. His nickname came from his last heist, a cask of heavenly wax, boiled from the flesh of an old god, the very kind that forms the candles that light the halls of the heavens. The Caliginous Divide A great crevasse in which swirling dark mists rush forth blinding all but the most devout. an ancient bridge of peerless construction spans the length, part of a relic of a forgotten pilgrimage. Traders or other travelers have been exploring the route for centuries, they have found ways to honor to forgotten beings that allow them to pass without too much difficulty. The Point of Exaltation Rocky badlands of unparalleled splendor crowned by a grand mount. The winding pilgrims path climbs among the stones up to the peak. Against the view of the vantage, kneels a small stone figure, arms outstretched towards the sky as if receiving water. The figure is headless, though a heavy green star rests on its shoulders during the solstice. The Hungering Copse In the ages before the regal gods people were drawn to the hollow in the world at the center of the copse. They made yearly pilgrimages as birds should do, offering their company to the twisting trees. However, eventually their faiths found new paths and eventually they ventured into the forest less and less. Now any poor soul who wanders inside the shaded boughs becomes lost in faerie reverie, until they become thin and faint.

The Narrow Dens long ago beasts gathered in the shaded valleys, but as soon as the first god of dawn shined, the creatures were forced to refuge in the crags. They slid so kindly through the crevices, and overtime became accustomed to the tight spaces. One such beast, the thin wolves are recognized by their eerily long legs. Ages ago, a lone hermit frequented the area, he learned to get them to favor him, so that he may walk in peace and without fear in his heart. The tranquility found him completing his great work, and after he died and was recognized as a prophet, the thin wolves always accompanied him in carvings.

The Crawling Bog An uninhabited bog, soft wet mossy earth, gives way to shaded groves, all held aloft the eye of an old god of fervor, ever staring at the sky. The perimeter is marked with numerous stone and wooden arches worn. and through compulsion of tradition, a funeral procession must pass consecrating the ground around it. They drive a great charnel-hearse, and carry bushels of bronze blades or other items, which at intervals, are plunged into the earth with fastidious devotion. Some brave members seek to retrieve them after centuries, blessed by the gods emanations, that verdigris of unearthly temperance.

[monsterblogging]

How Pacific Rim gives the finger to the Catholic Church

Another interesting thing that many people miss about Pacific Rim is that it has some... things to say about religion, especially the Catholic Church. It can be easy to miss because it's not all spelled out for you, but once you see it, you'll never unsee it.

First, let's take a look at Raleigh's speech from the beginning of the film:

There are things you can't fight, acts of God. You see a hurricane coming, you have to get out of the way. But when you're in a Jaeger, suddenly, you can fight the hurricane. You can win.

This speech here establishes that when you fight kaiju, you aren't just fighting monsters. You're defying God himself.

"You're reading too much into it!" some of you might say. "'Act of God' is just a legal term for massive disasters."

Ah, but I'm not reading too much into it. Because this line was originally found in the draft script, which was way more explicit in linking the Precursors with the divine.

In the draft script, the Precursors aren't just some random alien invaders. They're actually the creators of our universe, and we're just a pesky little accident that happened on the planet they want to live on.

The character of Ivo Czerny, who had drifted with a kaiju brain, was given this dialog:

I looked into the abyss. I’d been infected with the truth -- that this is the end of us. We are the vermin of the gods. There’s no point in putting up a fight…

A different character, Commander Kaz Takada, says:

We call the enemy the Precursors… I may as well tell the world the gods want us dead.

The character of Newt Gotlieb is given this dialog:

I don't care if they are the creators of the universe. I like the universe.

And I'm not a creationist.

So, Raleigh's line wasn't just a careless reference to a legal term. It was introducing the story's thesis.

In the final version of the film, we don't have all of this explicit dialog. And yet, the sentiment is still there. How do we know this? For one thing, the Precursors are modeled on Catholic clergy. Pacific Rim: Man, Machines, & Monsters, quotes Guillermo del Toro as saying:

We gave the Precursors elements of ecclesiastical royalty, dividing them into cardinals and bishops.

Fun fact: If we go to the old Art of Pacific Rim page on The Internet Archive and check the filenames, we can see that this Precursor - the one who stares up at Lady Danger as it goes 'splodey - is a Precursor Bishop.

(Screencaps from quiteunlikely.net)

Further establishing the link between the Precursors and the Catholic Church are the costumes of the BuenaKai nuns:

(Screencap from movie-screencaps.com)

A better picture of the costume can be found on PropstoreAuction. If you want to see the whole thing, go there; because I'm going to crop it because the whole thing's pretty big. Anyway, you can see that their costumes include cornettes and stoles.

(By the way, there are also kaiju monks. This isn't a girls-only club like the Netflix cartoon would have you think.)

Now, forget everything you know about Uprising or The Black, and consider all of this in the context of the anti-authority themes in Guillermo del Toro's other work. This casts the nature of the Precursors and the hivemind in a somewhat different light than many of us are used to. These aren't just scary aliens. This is a civilization built on ideals of rigid hierarchy and total dominion. And they're also essentially theocrats.

What's also really interesting is that when you take all of this together, it means that the kaiju spiritualists aren't actually wrong in regarding the kaiju as divine beings sent by the gods. They're just assholes for aligning themselves with a malefic divine.

[adhdavinci]

Veager was actually hated by everybody on the council, and Baron Praxis only let him live and stay on the council because he had connections to the Precursor Monks.

If he found a suitable replacement, or if Vegar never even had connections to the Monks in the first place, he'd be found dead in a ditch in the Slums long, long before the events of Jak 2

sounds about right 🤔 that man was somehow more hated than errol, the known loose cannon. at least you could point errol at enemies like a rabid dog with a gun. veger meanwhile had the consitution of a wet noodle

[journeytothewestresearch]

Great Sage Emperor

Those who have read Journey to the West (1592) will remember that it is Tang Emperor Taizong (唐太宗) who sends Tripitaka on the quest to India. Well, I was interested to learn that the monarch's historical posthumous title includes "Great Sage" (Dasheng, 大聖):

Wenhuang 文皇 (The August Cultured [Emperor]) ... is the original posthumous title given to Li Shimin following his death in 649. The title was expanded to "Wenwu Sheng Huangdi" 文武聖皇帝 (The Cultured Military Sagacious August Emperor) in 674 and was later again changed to "Wenwu Dasheng Daguangxiao Huangdi" 文武大聖大廣孝皇帝 (The Cultured Military Grand Sagacious Grand Extensive Filial August Emperor) in 754 (Jiu Tang shu, 3.62-63) (Nienhauser, 2010, p. 202 n. 34).

My own clunky translation for the latter is the "Great, Universally Filial Emperor and Great Sage of Civil and Military Affairs." [1]

His title is interesting because, as I've mentioned elsewhere, Taizong bestows Sun Wukong's literary precursor, the "Monkey Pilgrim" (Hou xingzhe, 猴行者), with the name “Great Sage Steel Muscles and Iron Bones” (Gangjin Tiegu Dasheng, 鋼筋鐵骨大聖) at the end of the 13th-century JTTW (Wivell, 1994, p. 1207).

Note:

1. The guangxiao (廣孝) of Wenwu Dasheng Daguangxiao Huangdi (文武大聖大廣孝皇帝) means to be filial to everyone, so I went with "Universally Filial."

Sources:

Nienhauser, W. H. (2010). Tang Dynasty Tales: A Guided Reader. Japan: World Scientific.

Wivell, C.S. (1994). The Story of How the Monk Tripitaka of the Great Country of T’ang Brought Back the Sūtras. In V. Mair (Ed.), The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature (pp. 1181-1207). New York: Columbia University Press.

[churippu]

ohohoho HELLO THERE friend - i believe i am about to open up a delightful can of infodump-related worms here, but i'm new in Monk Town and am very very curious 👀 am i right in understanding that Tony Shalhoub played Ian Stark in 'Stark Raving Mad', a precursor to Monk...but he doesn't play a character with OCD? i'm fascinated by the lore implications here and would love to know more ✨

Asdfjkl;

Yes! Tony played Ian on the very short lived show Stark Raving Mad - opposite of Neil Patrick Harris, whose character DOES have OCD. (I feel like they mostly drop it after the first few episodes, however.) So it’s odd to see the dynamic of him and NPH.

As an autistic person - I do HC Ian to be on the spectrum though. He has his routines, he’s very particular about his environment and DOESN’T LIKE TOUCHING (in most circumstances 😅) He’s got a different kind of autism than Monk 🤣

I got this clip to better illustrate this -

After watching Monk it is so very interesting seeing Tony play (pretty much) an “Anti-Monk” character. He’s very grumpy and I love him lol

(Plus he’s an horror author and funny and cute and…🧍)

[fluffypotatey]

Macaque Book Club AU

He’s the only one asides from Tang probably who has read JTTW. So in his little book club because let’s be honest, between the theatre and the graffiti lego set, he seems like the kind to have a couple modern day hobbies in the arts like your grandma who has a bunch of friends to gossip with at the knitting meet or the greenhouse. He’s the only monkey actually using his human disguise actively so, I imagine they get together at the local library, someone brings refreshments Macky is allergic to by virtue of being a monkey but they get him addicted to (insert snack/drink of your choice) and he gets into fandom discourse at the book club with someone whose like “the 6EM from the book was a one off villain who died ages ago, get over it” but to him, on the worst nights it all comes back. (And maybe this is recently right after Shadow Play so.) oh wait pff, we’re going to need a new recent trigger I forgot he gets kidnapped right after 😭 okay so maybe this person is what pushes him to write the play. I hope you know the exact like of fandom discourse I’m talking about bc I’m really pulling from people who are like??? why are you hyperfixated on this one thing? And maybe Tang eventually puts the pieces together about who this guy is. I also can’t help but start thinking about how lonely Macky might actually be, because you’d THINK he’d be the anti social one but Wukong is the one isolating himself for a thousand years with 13 cats, I mean a bunch of baby monkeys. Meanwhile, Macranberry is out there in Six Earred Hearing Hell in the city and super chatty whenever we see him. He wasn’t as chatty around the Brotherhood. Only with Wukong as needed who was full out dancing on the tables lol, things change eh? Even defeating the smoke monster feels like an attempt at catching up to your friend who got a real job while you’re just starting college. (Aka when Wukong and his shiny new hero legend status sealed the Bull King.) He says there was nobody who could stop the two of them in the Celestial Realm or on earth but we know that 1) Macky doesn’t like the Celestial Realm. 2) They definitely weren’t spending all day there back then with the overthrowing plotting and also got defeated hard. 3) They weren’t actually vigilante heroing back then if Wukong picked up his demon defeating status after the journey. 4) Would Macky ever do that on his own or was it always with Wukong until he tried it out post-resurrection like everything else presumably new about him. He probably meant “nobody could stop Wukong’s mischief that I helped him out with but he mostly did all the big things like immortal peach stealing and the book of the dead himself and I was there for uh, moral support. And baffled that he did that. But I’m going to pretend to MK that we were a cool team and equals and this wasn’t just a precursor to our eventual fall out. Sorry Mr. “yeah you always did have a sidekick kinda vibe.”

careful, anon, he could hear you 👀

but lmao i love this au!!!! also, since Tang is in the same book club as Macky (and i kinda want them to always get into “scholarly” debates when it comes to jttw because it’s Tang’s favorite book and….well, Macky has a monkey problem…..), Tang is invited by Macky to the shadowplay, so end of 2x07 is basically

MK: uh…so that’s Macackle— Tang: MY BOOK CLUB NEMESIS WAS FHE SIX EARED MACAQUE THIS WHILE TIME??? MK: yeah, he— sorry, book club? Tang: THAT BITCH HE FUCKING LAUGHED AT MY ANALYSIS ON THE MONK AND WUKONG!!

and then you’ll just have Tang screaming at Macky throughout s3 about how he must answer for his “crimes” of withholding valuable academic information (3x08 is just them arguing about the content in jttw but it’s not actually about jttw rather about Macky himself and his blind anger obscuring his memories. they just use the book as a cover for the true conversation)

[mikamikapodcast]

Black Hundreds (Чёрная сóтня)

The Black Hundred was an extreme nationalist group that had influence in Russia in the 20th century. The group supported the Russian Empire. The group was a counterattack to the prevailing revolution in Russia. The key themes of the ideology were the indivisibility of Russia and the Orthodox faith, as well as autocracy.The Black Hundreds were mainly made up of the nobility, landowners, clergy, and bourgeoisie. There were also working class members in the group.

The Holy Brigade, which was influential in the 20th century, was a precursor to the movement.The organization was at the height of its power in 1905-1907.

The organization was involved in attacks against the revolution. It was also known for spreading anti-Jewish propaganda.

The most prominent leaders in the group were Alexander Dubrovin, Vladimir Purishkevich, Nikolai Markov, Pavel Bulatzel, Ivan Vostorgov, A. I. Trishati, the monk Iliodor, M. K. Shahovskoy.

Mustat sotniat oli keisarikuntaa tukeva järjestö 1900-luvulla. Järjestön "huippu" vuodet olivat 1905-1907. Järjestöön kuului niin attelisia kuin papistoa, porvareita sekä työväkeä. Järjestö oli mukana suunnittelemassa iskuja vallankumouksellisia vastaan. järjestö oli tunnettu juutalais vastaisen propagandan levittämisestä.

Kuuluisia ryhmään kuuluvia olivat Alexander Dubrovin, Vladimir Purishkevich, Nikolai Markov, Pavel Bulatzel, Ivan Vostorgov, A. I. Trishati, the monk Iliodor, M. K. Shahovskoy.

järjestölle oli tärkeää yhtenäisen venäjän säilyttäminen, sekä ortodoksisen uskon vahvistaminen, sekä itsevaltius.

[getvalentined]

Has anyone asked about Seem for the character ask game?

HIGH PRIEST SEEM OF THE GOLDEN ORDER

🎟️ SEXUALITY HEADCANON: Seem is completely and totally pansexual. Sex and gender don't matter to her at all.

⚧️ GENDER HEADCANON: This depends on which version of her I'm working with, but generally I read Seem as some flavor of nonbinary. The devs refer to her with she/her pronouns, while the only pronoun ever used for her in-game is they, which is pretty distinct—particularly for a game that came out in 2004.

💕 A SHIP: Jak/Seem is my #1 top favorite pairing in the entire series. The progression of their canonical relationship is one of my favorite things, because it takes the entire game to get to the point where they admit any kind of reliance on one another, and at that point they're so comfortable with each other that neither of them question the other—I don't think it's much of a jump to assume that could develop into something other than a platonic relationship with more time.

🖇️ A BROTP: In canon, Seem+Daxter for sure. The idea of the two of them taking turns dragging Jak away from his more self-destructive behaviors, conspiring with each other to make sure he eats and sleeps and slows down is one of my favorite things. In a different world, I love love love the idea of Seem and Gol Acheron getting to know each other. I've RP'd and plotted out multiple AUs with this concept, generally resulting in Gol referring to Seem as "the little Light Sage." She's studied his research for her entire life, so she has a healthy dose of respect for him, megalomania notwithstanding.

🚫 A NOTP: Would you believe people used to ship Seem with Veger? Not like...a lot. But it happened. That one gets a yikes from me.

💭 A RANDOM HEADCANON: Seem is Onin's granddaughter; Onin was the leader of the Order when Praxis had the Precursor monks banished from Haven following the fall of the holy district, but she apostatized in order to be allowed to stay and continue to provide guidance to city leadership—because that's what she was supposed to do, Onin is omnipresent in time due to overexposure to light eco in early adulthood, so this wasn't an act of selfishness but an acceptance of fate. (Y'know Everything Everywhere All At Once? Onin is kinda like that, but it's less of a constant jumble.) Seem was obviously very young at the time, but given that her mother died in the aforementioned destruction of the Sacred Site, that made her the next in line to become High Priest; regardless of her age and inexperience, not to mention the fresh trauma of her mother's death, Onin allowed Seem to be thrown into the wasteland to die along with everyone else. The fact that she not only survived but thrived, reuniting with Damas and reclaiming the Order's oldest temple, is irrelevant to Seem with regard to her feelings on the situation. She's never forgiven Onin for this, and she never will.

🗣️GENERAL OPINION: Favorite character in the whole series. I named a cat after her. I love her more than I can express.

[tenjin-no-shinja]

Chapter 3: The History of Hie Shrine

The Folly of Hie

Tensions between the shrine priests, and the Tendai monks surface in the historical record for the first time in the 1600s. The immediate stimulus appears to have been the Tokugawa sponsored rebuilding of the seven he a shrines at that time… Sacred objects representing the kami were ritually returned to the sanctuary of each of the seven shrines… but the pre-subjected to the monks behavior on this occasion. They complained… that… Shunkai had insulted the reinstalled kami by placing before them not the water and rice they needed, but carvings of wood (Myōhōinshi 1976: 349)… impossible to imagine the same monk, placing wood offerings before the spirit of Ieyasu enshrined at the Hie Tōshōgū… also filed a complaint that the monks had…been stealing their firewood from the woodland on Mount Hachiōji… In 1674 Tendai monks tried to enter the Ōmiya sanctuary to. Place three wooden statues of monkeys there… origins… Sannō cult… presumably seeking to assert their dominance over the shrine… The priests barred their way… fierce arguments ensued…matters reached a head towards the end of 1683…

That action began… late autumn of 1683, when priests… gathered by the main gate of the Ōmiya Shrine… proceeded to each of the seven shrines in the complex… finally up the mountain to the Hachiōji and Sannomiya Shrines. At each shrine, they entered the sanctuary, forced open the tabernacle doors, and removed the sacred objects contained therein… mostly Buddhist statues… replaced these with boxed heihaku, wands with strips of paper attached representing a kami. One of their number gathered the statues in a cart, wheeled them off to Kyoto and burned them to cinders (Satō 1993: 122-3). This action was… obviously designed to challenge the wisdom that the Hie kami all had an original Buddhist “grounding.” It is tempted to see here an early modern precursor of the Shinto-Buddhist violence that was to strike the Hie Shrines in the revolution of 1868, but this was different: it was an act of priestly defiance against their allotted place in the early modern order.

—Pages 94-96

Fascinating bit regarding how Shinto and Buddhism were viewed during a period where they were practiced together. I think a lot of people think that all shrines naturally merged with Buddhism without issue… but this shows that there was definitely discontent over the treatment of shrines vs temples.

The Hie Shrine and the Early Modern Sannō Festival

From the end notes: "The ritual calendar operating at the seven Hie Shrines was entirely separate from that of the Hie Tōshōgū. Shrine priests served at the Tōshōgū, but the site was cultivated primarily by Tendai Monks." I thought this diagram from the book was particularly interesting.

Shrine priests were involved with all three [days], while the monks’ involvement was confined to the monkey-day events. In his studies of Japanese festivities, the great folklorist Yamagata Kunio proposed a critical distinction between “sacred rite,” or matsuri, and “public and festive event” or sacred (Ynagita 1969: 176-92)… For Yamagata, the critical distinction between the two was the presence of the spectator’s gaze. Whereas sacred rites (matsuri) are performed by ritual specialists and take place within the sacred confines of the shrine, often at night, the festival (sacred) is defined by public spaces, daytime, and above all the spectating presence of men and women not connected to sacred ritual performance. At the heart of festivals… are processions.

—Page 100

[sonicasura]

So what will Frontier be doing when ever Jak and Daxter have too go out on a mission for the Underground or Krew. I imagine it will be dealing with other Missions from Brutter and forming a partnership with Sig after there meeting at Brutter's which eventually leads too the Tomb Of Mar

Frontier will help Jak with some missions but otherwise they help Brutter and Sig the most. There's one task in particular which eventually leads to a trip to Spargus. It includes hijacking a transportation carrier as it is the only vehicle that can bypass the City shield.

Despite Frontier's help, Jak will need assistance from the Precursor Monks to truly handle his Dark Form. Especially due to the bias he'd been fed about Dark Eco being instead of ancient energy. Plus the Kid's dad has been worried sick and it's best not to keep him waiting any longer.

[septembersung]

“In the Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola (Rome) there is a huge statue of St. Ignatius standing tall looking up to heaven. In his hand is a book with the words “To the greater glory of God. Constitution of the Society of Jesus.” Beneath him is Martin Luther with a closed Bible. St. Ignatius has his foot on Luther’s neck and Luther is biting the back of his own hand.” (x)

“To the right of the altar (in the Church of Gesus, Rome) sits Pietro Le Gros’ sculpture entitled The Triumph of Faith over Heresy. This sculpture depicts Mary casting Martin Luther and his precursor, Jan Huss, out of heaven. An attendant angel (lower left) rips their translations of the Bible and their writings to shreds. The militant nature of the Jesuits and their mission to spread the faith and reassert the power of the church is clear in this dramatic work.” (x)

St. Ignatius of Loyola tramples Martin Luther, St. Nicholas, Prague.

“‘Der Teufel mit der Sackpfeife' [The Devil playing the Bagpipe], [Nuremberg], 1535. The Nuremberg artist Erhard Schön (1491–1542) was a pupil of Albrecht Dürer. When he adopted Lutheranism in the 1520s, he began designing woodcuts for anti-Catholic books and broadsheets. This is one of his most well-known satirical efforts, the devil playing the monk – with bagpipes (wind) featuring. Like cartoons today, this rather grotesque image was designed to amuse and enrage.” (x) The image has since been adopted by Catholics who have dubbed the pictured monk, Martin Luther (x)