#Trans cult and weapons

[coochiequeens]

Martyr’s don’t kill innocents including children. Content warning: it’s about a school shooting and people posting pictures of themselves holding weapons.

Controversial group behind 'Trans Day of Vengeance' raised money for firearms training - as other trans protestors pose with guns ahead of march in DC on Saturday

The protest was rebranded before the Nashville tragedy from 'visibility' to 'vengeance' by the Trans Radical Activist Network

But some social media users appear to have taken the protest to another level and have posed with powerful firearms posted along with the hashtag 

Twitter has since removed more than 5,000 posts that have used the flyer for the event on April 1 

Despite three nine-year-olds being gunned down by a transgender shooter at a private Christian school in Nashville, activists are still rallying the troops to protest for a 'Trans Day of Vengeance' - months after raising money for firearms training. 

Transgender shooter Audrey Hale opened fire on the Covenant School in Nashville at 10.30am on Monday, killing Hallie Scruggs, William Kinney and Evelyn Dieckhaus during her rampage at the school.

But despite rising political tensions across the country, which saw a press secretary for Arizona Democrat Governor post a Tweet about shooting transphobes, the Trans Radical Activist Network (TRAN) is pushing forward with their protest in DC.

The Virginia chapter of the group held a 'dance party fundraiser' in Richmond 'benefiting firearm/self-defense training for trans-Virginians' on March 7, before the mass shooting had taken place. 

In statements, the group has taken pains to distance themselves from Hale, and her actions, and changed the name of the protest before the brutal slayings.  

The protest on Saturday was initially meant to be called a 'day of visibility' but rebranded before the shooting to vengeance because it means 'fighting back with vehemence' – though the group was quick to say they do not 'encourage or promote violence' when contacted by DailyMail.com. 

But one person posing as an activist appears to have taken the movement to the next level, posting a picture of a heavily armed person with an assault rifle and threatening to 'kill christcucks' - as Twitter removed thousands of posts with flyers for the event. 

Twitter has been removing the posts that could be deemed threatening or involve guns associated with the 'TransDayofVengeance' hashtag - but it is unclear exactly how many were others posing with weapons as they have since been deleted.

Ella Irwin, Twitter's head of trust and safety, wrote that the company removed more than 5,000 tweets that included a poster for the event.

She said: 'We do not support tweets that incite violence irrespective of who posts them. 

'Vengeance' does not imply peaceful protest. Organizing or support for peaceful protests is ok.'

Two other trans activists have since posted footage and photos of themselves with rifles, which appear to be in direct response to the Nashville shooting. 

One says that she will use the weapon for 'protection' against 'transphobes' who  target them. 

Kayla Denker, who describes themselves as a ‘communist, archaeologist and writer, posted the video of herself with her gun after the incident in Nashville – despite saying ‘advocating for trans people to arm ourselves is not any kind of a solution to the genocide we are facing’.

She is also appealing for help with the medical bills for her transition on her social media, which has now been locked down.

Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Green also saw her account removed after she launched several anti-trans attacks on Twitter.

Greene claimed that 'Antifa' was organizing the alleged event, and reposted a poster for the protest while complaining Twitter kept removing her posts before she was ultimately suspended.

Activists are being encouraged to 'bring a buddy' and wear a mask at the event outside of the Supreme Court in DC on April 1, and is billed as avenging a 'trans genocide.'

Organizers did not respond when asked questions about the safety of protests amid the increasing pressure between the two sides of the political spectrum.

Websites such as Etsy are still being used to sell pro-gun and trans merchandise, with stickers that say 'defend equality' with assault rifles on as well as t-shirts and other items emblazoned with 'Trans rights… or else' which also have the high-powered guns in pink, white and blue – the Trans colors – on them.

TRAN is run by three co-founders, one of whom is a former staffer for the Virginia Democrats and stepped down to work with the group.

Bo Belotti, the national recruitment director, is a 'trans masculine non-binary person' and helped the Virginia chapter of the group to raise money to go on guns and self-defence.

On March 7, the Virginia chapter held a 'dance party fundraiser' in Richmond 'benefiting firearm/self-defense training for trans-Virginians. Come boogie with us and defend trans life!'

Belotti worked as a fellow for Del. Elizabeth Guzman, and Del. Joshua Cole as a legislative aide and helped draft HB 145, which required the state to create model transgender policies for public schools.

His bio on the website adds: 'While working in their state's legislators they helped craft trans-affirming statewide policies.' 

Another co-founder is non-binary Tsukuru, who had been posting updates on the protest before locking down their account following the backlash in the aftermath of the mass shooting.

Their bio states that they were a 'graduate of a high school in Hiroshima where 350 young lives were brutally taken on August 6, 1945, Tsukuru is an anti-nuclear/anti-war/human rights activist.'

It adds: 'After his brief marriage to his best friend and the birth of his child, he first came out as lesbian at age 29 and as a transgender man at age 50.'

The final founder is Noah Buchanan who helped to set up Tran initially, writing on the website: 'Noah Buchanan; I am a transgender male and have been out since 2018. I have 10+ years of working in the mental health field.

'What motivated me to start TRAN was the fact I was bullied to the point where I attempted to end my own life. The person that bullied me was a fellow member of the LGBTIA+.'

In a statement to DailyMail.com Buchanan said: 'What I will say is that this protest was not about encouraging or promoting violence.

This protest is about uniting and letting people know that we are human beings, we exist, and love conquers hate.'

see whole article

[tealfruit]

sorry I'm just not gonna take you seriously if you say that terfs ONLY and PRIMARILY target trans women and will side with literally anyone to do so. they don't. that is their Big Target but do not get it twisted they also hate trans men. to them we are gender traitors and we apparently benefit from male privilege while also being ugly misguided Women who are ruining our Beautiful Feminine Bodies with Evil Man Hormones. we are Poor Innocent Women being indoctrinated into the Trans Cult and then doing violence on Good Natural Women. they are either erasing and misgendering us by calling us women or demonizing us bc of our manhood, sometimes both in the same breath. terfs do not ally with us, they actively hate us too and want us wiped out.

[ghelgheli]

Historians are rarely challenged just for applying words like ‘woman’ and ‘man’ to the past; it would not inevitably cause a backlash to say that a historical figure wanted power, or grieved, or felt anger. A trans historian, though, is caught in the double-bind of the DSM-5. Our experiences and our desires are quite literally mad. We do not have the social license to see ourselves fractured and reflected in historical figures; we are standing in the wrong place to write. Put simply, if you foreclose trans readings, you foreclose trans writing. When we reflect on the similarities between our lives and those of historical figures, we are accused of spreading our social contagion to the dead. To read our own anamorphoses in a text, to communicate that to a cis academic establishment who have rendered our unqualified subjectivities unimaginable, we are forced to accuse historical figures of transness. And then, of course, we are chastised for pathologising them. For a trans historian, it is not viable to simply universalise our experiences of gender. In order to relate to historical figures’ gendered experiences in our writing in a way that is legible to cis readers, we have to assert that those figures were trans. There is a gap to be bridged, and the onus to bridge it falls on us… Transmisogyny and anti-effeminacy were and are integral to the structure of patriarchy and therefore to cisness (or vice-versa). In ‘Monster Culture (Seven Theses)’, Jeffrey Jerome Cohen proposed a methodology for reading cultures: ‘from the monsters they engender’. In concluding this sketch of Byzantine cisness, I would like to attempt to apply this method. To monster a group or an individual is a violent act, and through examining the way transfemininity was monstered in Byzantium, we can begin to understand the shape of the violent regulation of gendered possibilities that constituted Byzantine cisness… Synesius [of Cyrene] did not simply compare the image of the elegantly coiffed effeminate with the shiny dome of the soldier’s helmet; he went one step further, proclaiming that pretty hair was the give-away for hidden effeminacy. He rails against ‘effeminate wretches’ who ‘make a cult of their hair’, who he suggests engage in sex work not out of economic necessity but as an act of sex and gender exhibitionism, to ‘display fully the effeminacy of their character’. Then, he goes on to say:

And whoever is secretly perverted, even if he should swear the contrary in the marketplace, and should present no other proof of being an acolyte of Cotys save only in a great care of his hair, anointing it and arranging it in ringlets, he might well be denounced to all as one who has celebrated orgies to the Chian goddess and the Ithyphalli.

The implication is clear: long, well kempt, perfumed and curled hair is not just hair, it is a signifier, one that signals total abnegation of manhood, and therefore of cisness. This demonstrates one of the mechanisms by which cisness was maintained and enforced in the Byzantine world. Relatively minor embodied gender transgressions, like too-long or too-pretty hair, could be linked to transfemininity and to sexual receptivity, the two farthest points from patriarchal manhood. That is not to say that this prevented people from committing such gender transgressions; rather that it made them risky, a weapon that could be used against you by anyone who wanted to do you harm. The other thing demonstrated by Synesius’ invective is the relationship between effeminacy, unmasculine vanity and presumed sexual receptivity. It would be tempting, based on the relationship Synesius draws between long beautiful hair and receptive anal sex, to suggest that the animating force of this antipathy is, if not homophobia, a narrower pre-modern equivalent. There is, however, a fantastically complicating detail in Synesius’ remark on the reasons such ‘effeminates’ engage in sex work: being sexually available is presented as an instrumental, rather than terminal value. In Synesius’ imagination, sex work is the means, but social recognition of the feminine gender of the sex worker is the end: to ‘display fully the effeminacy of their character’. The monster Synesius invokes to shore-up his own gender position, to guard his own cisness and his access to hegemonic masculinity, is an unambiguously transmisogynist fantasy. It is here that Byzantine cisness most sharply converges with twenty-first-century cisness.

‘Selective Historians’: The Construction of Cisness in Byzantine and Byzantinist Texts, Ilya Maude [DOI]

[reinekes-fox]

Interactive WIPs w Demo

Grey Swan I - Birds of a Rose

The Divine Flock. Some call them crazy, some even dangerous. Some even say the cult is hiding dark secrets. But, in all your life you have yet to find one. After all you should know should there be any dark secrets: you are a member after all! A member, not only of the Divine Flock, but also of the Avis Academy, the best school the cult has. Your life is quiet and follows a strict routine, at least until two Strays from the outside, the normal, world are allowed in the normally so closed off grounds and as a newly appointed Wing it is your job to keep an eye on one of them. With their arrival some of those dark secrets may finally come to light…

You ARE not playing as a BIRD!!!

DEMO https://dashingdon.com/go/13119

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Dark Academia.

Moniker for MC: Wing MC.

Genderselectable MC: cis male or female, trans male or female. However due to growing up in a cult, MC wont know that trans is a thing/what it means, this is something MC can learn about. The same goes for sexual orientation: play as gay, bi, straight, aroace or ace, but be prepared for consequences.

Pick your level of devotion: be a devout follower of the teachings of the Divine Flock, reject it partly or wholly, or simply not care. All of it will have consequences.

Choose one of various school clubs, your volery, and get an unique storyline. Ranging from dance to school security, to managing your social media page.

Important people: Your flock, a group of younger pupils you were responsible for before the Strays arrived. You may not be their Wing on paper anymore, but you still hold a special place in their heart! They do miss you and are looking forward giving you a present on your birthday!

Your volery: whichever volery you joined, you are going to met pupils that are just as enthusiastic about your chosen interest as you are! Some more than others.

Your parents. It’s another question if the relationship between you is good, but important it surely is!

ROs: Fuchsia King

Chase Watson

Wing Droznik Juschka

Wing Astoria Rapace

-only for Peacocks: Marter

-only for Swans: Elrond/Estelle Falkenflug

-Vampire route: Sebastian Voss

-AMAB Raven RO: Marcel Rabenschlag

Grey Swan II - Hawks and Doves

Unless otherwise stated you are playing as a normal human! Two legs, two arms, internal organs, hopefully a brain too. We will see how much of this organ stays intact after state propaganda, will we?

Someone once said that you were the most happiest youth in the world after the Great Heartbeat, that had shattered the old world. Earlier you would have agreed in a heartbeat, wearing the light green uniform of your state youth organisation. But now? When war has come to Avistrions shores and news reels show only destruction ?

Choose your gender, way of thinking and stance while growing up in a religious dictatorship on the giant island Avistrion. Be a devout follower of the Divine Flock, the only thing that survived the earthquake that devastated the earth. Or be the Vulture, trying to rip it to shreds, while wearing the badge of youth leadership… where will you be when war strikes your so closed off country? Which side will you be on when it ends? Will you even survive long enough to see the outcome?

Moniker for MC: Fugol MC.

ROs

Agon Falkenflug Adler/Weihe Habichtklau

Johanna/Nikola Arra

Grey Swan III - Wisteria Birds

Wisteria Birds (fantasy, drama, angst)! Currently on pause.

You are beautiful, trained in art and music. You are deadly, trained in the unique weapons that no one except you can use. You are dying. Kept alive by the very same thing that keeps you save from others abusing their power over you… You have no rights. But you can do whatever you want, even kill, without having to fear any consequences. You are the most pleasant death that anyone can wish for. You are an artwork. And all you are supposed to be is look pretty, show of your owners wealth. But oh, you could become so much more…

You play as a highly specialised trained entertainer… an Artwork, expensive companion to the rich and noble ones in Aklant, a country with rigid rules and unspoken laws, strict class divide and obsessed with anything that shows how rich they are… or at least let them appear rich. Artworks themselves are outside of this all, freed from all those social chains, but not seen as human… maybe its time to change that? Or leave the status quo as it is, up to you!

Moniker for MC: Artwork MC.

ROs:

Fauconniers, your potential buyers:

Chevalier Armand Sanson Alexandre Desrosier Others, you may work together with one or more of them? “Mouette” Sanglant du Verdier

You have been a Hound, the human companion of a vampire, for years.

Until you find yourself among the undead and masterless after a night where everything went wrong… leaving you with no other choice but to move back in with your parents.

ROs (will expand)

Theo Grimm

Agent Rosa Caleb

Marian Viorel

Ghibli inspired! Mainly Howls moving castle.

You play someone from our world who ends up in another world! Since this is an aspect I greatly enjoyed in the book and was really sad they didnt include in the movie, there will be chances of jumping between the worlds (and of course becoming a magician too!).

ROs, some are locked into specific magic combinations:

Opera Job and changing into Animals: Santu Cajarin

Changing into Animals: Rosalind Eagledancer

[sleepnowmychild]

From no belief in particular to Helpol

Just because I find it interesting that so many helpol people and pagans in general seem to be ex-biblical religions, here’s a slightly different story for you.

I never grew up religious. My dad is actually very anti-religion because of the sheer amount of people who use religion as a weapon to discriminate, and the way many churches can become almost like a tiny cult. But my mums side of the family is Italian Christians (don’t ask me how my parents were even together at one point because I have no clue). So on one side I had my dad telling me to never trust a pastor and that he’d never let me set foot in a church and my Italian grandparents going all in on Christmas family reunions with the nativity scene set up and crosses on all their cards and church Christmas morning.

It made me very neutral. I didn’t care what existed, I was just a kid who was exited to pick grapes on our vineyard (which looking back, the fact I lived in a vineyard and made wine is very,,, hello Dionysus) and get days off school for Christmas holidays etc. I didn’t believe in the Christian god, but as a kid I did believe in an afterlife. I think because it’s easier to process that as a kid than death being just nothingness.

In primary school, we did a whole term in Greek mythology. My first ever myth was echo and narcissus and I still have the painted tea towel I made with echo on it for the art potion of that class. I got very obsessed, very quick, as undiagnosed autistic kids do. I loved mermaids and sirens, nymphs and the sailing part of all the war myths. I’ve always had this deep link to the water, not just the sea but rivers and lakes, any water you can swim in. You’d think I’d end up a Poseidon or Aphrodite devotee because of that huh? Point is I heard the Greek myths young, and because those myths also have Roman equivalents, when my Italian family heard I was obsessed I’d get the Roman version of the stories from them.

For years I was just mythology obsessed with no particular beliefs. I didn’t like how hardcore my Italian family was in their ‘everything is a sin’ mentality and I also felt it was a bit mean of my dad to say every single religious person is a monster. As I came to realise I was trans and bi at around 15, suddenly I was privy to the sheer amount of queerphobia in religion. Turned me away from most of them hardcore. But by the time I was 17, I’d stumbled on the reason those shops with the crystals and little mythology statues exist. Because the old gods of mythology were still worshipped.

I don’t actually remember when I got claimed by Hypnos, but he definitely claimed me. I’d always liked him as a concept because he’s much more chill than some of the more intense gods, but he slowly started creeping into my life when I’d see something and go ‘Hypnos would like that’ or I’d jokingly be like ‘I’m so tired, knock me out Hypnos’ and I WOULD fall asleep easier that night. I can’t exactly explain why, but I’ve got this deep connection to the river Lethe as well. Although not in the sense Lethe is a god, in the sense of its connections to Hypnos. Like there’s a siren of the Lethe inside me screaming to go back home.

In all honesty, there was never a solid moment I was like “I’m helpol now” it just kind of happened. The gods, especially Hypnos snuck into my life back in primary school and slowly made their presence more and more known over the years. And I was fine with that, because this is what my Roman ancestors would have been doing, and this is a religion that doesn’t hate me for being queer.

This got long, I’ll cut it short here. But that’s a perspective from someone who never grew up religious for you.

[heelycular-manslaughter]

I've been working on a ttrpg inspired by Hades and Kill 6 Billion Demons, modifying my Lumen game, Luminous Vein. It's definitely still early in the process, and I have so many projects that this one is a bit on the backburner, in part because I hate figuring out random generation and it'd feel more right to have a more official vibe to it with art & stuff. Anyway I do however think some of it is cool as hell so I put out a poll asking people what they'd like to hear about; you guys chose my problematic trans rep, who I dont have much to say about that I didn't already put in its description, so I'll just put it in full:

Hollow, Goddess of Rot

It/its, she/her, they/them

Feared among mortals to its elation, Hollow is a heavy shadow of positivity in the pantheon of gods. It loves trying to find new ways to disgust and horrify mortals, sometimes going so far as to create minor planes to trap them in and play with them. It, however, is not a real threat to anyone; her domain only ever affects those that have already died.

While plenty of wildlife loves her, human cults are rare to form, but those that do are often social outcasts, finding beauty in not just the way rot provides new life, but to death on its own merit.

Hollow is the shambling corpse of the first dead god, born in the abyss that could not be filled by anyone else. Its skin is grey and thin, tearing at the joints; its eyes have long been forgotten by physical existence; its form is too old and rotted to make out what the dead god once looked like. There's a gaping hole in the center of her neck, leaving its voice whispy, almost pained. They have a series of spindly, metal legs modeled by Eralth, the God of Craft, to support their slowly withering divine legs. Smaller beings of rot reside in the fungi and holes growing around their flesh. Hollow is extremely proud of the body they claimed, and, even as the gods respond to her presence with discomforted silence at best, they will all admit that she shows more joy than the first dead god ever did, or most other gods in the pantheon, for that matter.

Hollow loves dead things and is, therefore, happy to help runners escape hell so they can fulfill their full potential as dead things. She only shows confusion when asked for clarification.

Core Mechanic: Rot

When enemies inflicted with rot die, their bodies will remain to fight alongside you, becoming undead. Undead have the same actions made on the GM turn, but directed at enemies, and their health is based on how much rot you inflicted on them.

Boons of Hollow:

Rotting Wounds: Your weapon attacks inflict 1 rot

Trail of Death: Inflict 3 rot when you move away from an enemy

Decay: When you kill an enemy with an attack requiring 2 actions, they are given 1 rot

Spores: Your cast inflicts 2 rot to all enemies in Close range of the target.

Contagion: All undead attacks inflict 1 rot.

Self-Actualization: You can choose to target actions or casts on yourself, dealing harm but giving you any included rot effects as well.

Angry Dead: All undead deal +1 harm

Slough: Living targets inflicted with rot will take +1 harm.

Probably should've guessed the website with all the freak transgenders would vote for the freak transgender, now everything after her is gonna be a letdown. This is my best girl and also literally me so if anyone is mean to her I'll kill yo u

I'm not entirely sure how many possible boons I want the gods to have, Hades has a massive swathe of them but it turns out that can be kinda hard. I might add more mechanics to the core combat system to play with, the big issue I'll have to deal with is the randomness and the fact that the upgrades aren't weapon specific

Congrats! You read this far! or scrolled down and clicked words! You are now granted voting rights on what I should bring up next. if you want

[fave-fight]

ROUND 2, MATCH 2

NO MAGIC, POWERS, WEAPONS, OR ADDITIONAL HELP FROM OTHERS

vFlower:

“Androgynous ouple girl for the win”

“theres is nothing in that binery just look at them (okay canonically theyre a girl but look at them) looks badass as fuck i want their gender”

“I think that they can harness the power of trans swag in order to kill”

Rainhaze:

“He's a talking cat living in a multi-species death cult, his first on screen appearance that isn't a flashback shows him brutally killing and disemboweling a fox that tried to desert the death cult, just look at him!”

“Well he already has a chokehold over like half of the Pinepaw Discord server including me so he certainly has something going for him. He's literally just a traumatized cat but issue 23 clarified that he is the one responsible for taking out animals trying to leave the murder cult he's stuck in and issue 24 goes into this so he certainly is dangerous. He's also just a cat. Like no super powers or anything. His nephew has implied supernatural powers while he just has trauma (his nephew has trauma too). Also I think it would be really funny if this guy breached containment enough to win at least one round”

“He was already a pretty good fighter but upon joining a death cult he was used basically for that purpose- and while he doesn’t quite enjoy it (we can say that he was sent to the battle via Ranger), he’s grown stronger with the purpose of one day snapping and releasing his inner bloodshed. Someone who’s used for the purpose of killing off traitors must be pretty strong, if a cat has been able to kill multiple different kinds of creatures!”

[bandofchimeras]

if we wanted to get very spicy and kick the discourse hornet nest we might assert that okay, if transandrophobia isn't a real thing (?) then you might say trans men experience transmisogyny. not indirect or falsely directed transmisogyny, but transmisogyny. as in misogyny specific to the general trans experience. how do you feel about that? if you feel that takes away from the language of trans women available to discuss their specific experiences, because transmisogyny is a term for trans women, then okay. what do you suggest for trans men to use to theorize our experiences?

anti-transmasculinity? is that fine? and why? /gen

part of the discourse here is a pushback on the infantilization and patronizing tone people take with trans men or talking over the transmasculine experience in general.

that's all. also for the record I am genuinely not emotionally invested in this issue or reactive about it. I hold a lot of grace for fellow trans people's emotions and general attitudes intercommunity cuz man, the community is dealing with a lot. and if something like "Baeddel" is a slur and not a term self-claimed by a group of anti-civ anti-social anarchist-leaning trans women that leaned into high-control cult territory then I'll stop using it. (edited to change language of similarity bc harm levels were different) there is also a lot of damage in the online trans community due to the "AFAB only" FB group cults run by trans TERFs in the last 5 years, who were responsible for the general reactive vitriol towards "theyfabs" my main issue with the Baeddels I interacted with is that they were mean, dismissive, and genuinely seemed to be involved in culty dynamics that lead to increased community strife & increased risk for interpersonal abusive behavior. I don't think they deserved high levels of vitriol, backlash, cancellation or other transmisogynist abuse that unfortunately only made those other problems worse and further fragmented the community.

I still am friends with a few trans women who philosophically remain in this camp, and respect their views even though we disagree. unfortunately, both of these women are susceptible to and currently in varying degrees of abusive/high control relationships. They have not asked for help or indicated wanting intervention so I stay in my lane and provide affirmation & warmth when needed, but it does confirm my biases there.

the AFAB TERF groups were actively harmful to trans women and trans men, due to the way they weaponized transmisogyny, manipulated, groomed and emotionally abused trans men, and contributed to the wave of de-transitioner narratives actively in use by cis power structures. so they're not equivalent. and I can see why people might suspect the axis of analysis of transandrophobia might be TERFy or something...its not IMO because those groups tended to endorse self-hatred and barely identify as trans, and still engage in high levels of man-hating and "androphobia"

WHICH BY THE WAY almost always comes back around to harm trans women as well as trans men.

reading bell hooks' The Will to Change on masculinity informs my position here. so if you're looking to pick a fight, meh. i'm open to good faith discourse oriented towards restorative justice tho.

[evilios]

There has been, indeed, a prominent cult of Apollo in Sparta - especially in the town of Amykles (Αμύκλες) with its Amyklaion, a cult center of Apollo’s worship. Around 6 kilometers to the South from the main Spartan settlement, described by Thucydides as a conglomerate of villages, there stood Throne of Apollo with a high wooden cult statue, now unfortunately lost.

Most of the imagery of its reconstructed glory comes from the descriptions by Pausanias who speaks on its alleged appearance and its creator, Bathykles (Βαθυκλής) of Magnesia.

Artistic depiction by Ludwig Ruhl.

Artistic depiction by Theodor Pyl.

Thankfully, some of the Ancient coins have preserved the approximate image of the cult statue at the site.

Depictions of the statue on Roman-era Spartan coins.

As the statue was said to have been set over the grave of Hyacinth, it thus served as both the pedestal for offerings and the altar of Apollo’s lover, celebrated during the festival of Hyacinthia (Ὑακίνθια). It lasted for three days, with the first day being devoted to the veneration of Hyacinth’s death; the second was spent feasting over his joyful rebirth, and the third one was the day of mysteries we have little record of. Xenophon, Athenaeus, Didymus, and others, such as Ovid (who calls it “the procession of Hyacinthia”), have noted the importance of the celebration to Spartans.

Here’s a quote about how vital the festival was to Spartans:

It was the unvaried custom of the men of Amyclae to return home at the Hyacinthia, to join in the sacred paean, a custom not to be interrupted by active service or absence from home or for any other reason.

— Xenophon, Hellenica (trans. by H. G. Dakyns)

Here’s description of the celebration: Day one:

<…> Spartans observe the ritual of the Hyacinthia for a period of three days, and because of the mourning which takes place for the death of Hyacinthus they neither wear crowns at the meals nor introduce wheat bread, nor do they dispense any cakes, with their accompaniments, and they abstain from singing the paean to the god, and do not introduce anything else of the sort that they do at other festivals. On the contrary, they eat with great restraint, and then depart.

Day two:

<…> in the middle of the three-day period there is held a spectacle with many features, and a remarkable concourse gathers which is largely attended. Boys with tunics girded high play the lyre or sing to flute accompaniment while they run the entire gamut of the strings with the plectrum; they sing the praises of the god in anapestic rhythm and in a high pitch. Others march through the theatre mounted on gaily adorned horses; full choirs of young men enter and sing some of their national songs, and dancers mingling among them go through the figures in the ancient style, accompanied by the flute and the voice of the singers. As for the girls, some are carried in wicker carts which are sumptuously ornamented, others parade in chariots yoked to two horses, which they race, and the entire city is given over to the bustle and joy of the festival. On that day they sacrifice very many victims, and the citizens entertain at dinner all their acquaintances and their own servants as well. Not one misses the festival; on the contrary, it so happens that the city is emptied to see the spectacle.

— Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae (trans. by C. B. Gulick)

The Amyklaion was not, of course, only “alive” during the celebration of Hyacinth’s death and rebirth. Offerings were given on other occasions too and included spearheads, swords, javelin heads, arrowheads, weapons, and inscribed armor and weapons for the God. The God Apollo of Amyklai was a war Deity, seeing that He was depicted armed and armored - an image of might of the state. It is possible that the Spartan processions were processions of armed men, in their full battle glory. Apollo had multiple other warrior cults across Laconia, and at the very least a few more major celebrations, aside from Hyacinthia, are recorded: Karneia (Κάρνεα), Maleateia (Μαλεάτεια), Gymnopaidia (Γυμνοπαιδίες).

Thucydides reports that upon signing a treaty called Peace of Nikias, the treaty that ended the first part of the Peloponnesian War, two stelas were to be established: one in Athens, and one near the statue of Apollo Amyclaeus. With that in mind, it’s important to remember that the festival of Hyacinthia bore political significance, too.

Sources:

🏺 Amyklaion: Amykles Research Project 🏺 Hellenica by Xenophon (trans. by Dakyns) 🏺 Deipnosophistae by Athenaeus (trans. by C. B. Gulick) 🏺 Sanctuaries and traditions in Ancient Sparta 🏺 The Peace of Nicias

[creature-wizard]

Yes, Gigi Young is literally just another conspiracy theorist.

Since I have this anon who's upset that I made a post awhile back criticizing some shit Gigi Young said, I figured I'd pop into her YouTube channel and see what she's doing these days.

I watched the video titled "The Occult Purpose of War & Satanic Super Technologies," which was uploaded in November of 2023, as well as the video titled The Esoteric Keys To Disclosure: 10.It's a Genetic Modification Cult, which was published back in September of 2023. So just to be clear, these are fairly new videos. This is basically what she believes and teaches right now, as of the time I am making this post. (December of 2023.)

Before I go into what she specifically says, I'm going to say right now that a lot of the stuff she's saying is basically the same stuff pushed by Fritz Springmeier, a far right conspiracy theorist with a history of extremely shady behavior and an undeniable mancrush on Dr. Joseph Mengele. (The guy really liked to talk about how handsome and irresistible this professional Nazi torturer supposedly was. I still feel queasy at the memory of reading what Springmeier said about him.)

Springmeier's work was influenced by the likes of Edith Starr Miller and Alexander Hislop. Edith Starr Miller was into all that Protocols stuff, and basically attacked anything that didn't conform to her ideals of what true Christianity was, claiming it was part of the Evil Conspiracy. Alexander Hislop was the Protestant dude who pulled a bunch of shit out of his ass about Roman Catholicism secretly being the continuation of an ancient Babylonian mystery cult.

Springmeier basically claimed that the world was under the control of thirteen Satanic bloodlines. In terms of what the conspiracy was supposedly up to, it was all a blend of the antisemitic hoax The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion with early modern witch panic and blood libel. He modernized it, of course. Springmeier claimed that the conspirators were experimenting with the creation of human/animal hybrids and developing advanced mind control technology.

It does not actually matter whether or not Gigi Young personally considers herself part of the far right in any sense. What matters - literally all that matters - is that she is spreading their beliefs and their rhetoric.

The impact and devastation is the same regardless of what Gigi Young personally considers herself.

She could hang a trans flag on her wall, wear an "I ❤️ Communism" shirt, spit on Hitler's picture in front of the camera, and it would not make a single iota of difference.

So in The Occult Purpose of War & Satanic Super Technologies, Gigi Young essentially proposes that a reason for Israel's assault on Gaza is that the satanic families supposedly controlling the world want to start World War III, for the purpose of conducting a massive blood ritual to summon the Antichrist. Here's a direct quote:

I absolutely think that they want to create World War III. World War III needs to happen for there to be enough blood in the soul for Ahriman to incarnate or for the Antichrist to incarnate. There needs to be a global war for the Antichrist to come into being.

The idea that there is a satanic cult that wants to bring about the rule of the Antichrist is basically the Christofascist conspiracy theory. The blood ritual element is another permutation of blood libel.

Young goes on to say that she believes that there's a faction within the dark elite that view nuclear bombs not as a weapon, but as an occult ritual.

She also makes indirect reference to the conspiracy theory that CERN was meant to open a portal to hell by claiming that particle accelerators tear a hole in the veil that allows demons to come through.

She repeats other common far right conspiracy theories, including the one where the conspiracy supposedly has Babylonian origins and practices dark rituals for the purpose of mind control over the populace, and that the conspiracy is genetically modifying plants and people for evil conspiracy reasons.

She also referred to elemental beings as "subhuman," which is a eugenicist term - literally a translation of untermensch. The fact that Young uses this word tells you something about the ideological bent among whatever people and literature influenced her beliefs.

In her video titled "The Esoteric Keys To Disclosure: 10.It's a Genetic Modification Cult," she talks more about this alleged satanic conspiracy. She claims that the conspiracy was told by demons and fallen angels that they were descended from alien gods, and that the conspiracy is all about genetic modification in order to become gods themselves.

So first of all, claiming that beliefs you disagree with came from demons and fallen angels is a move right out of the Christofascists' playbook. Normal people just accept and admit that people just come up with shitty ideas sometimes.

Secondly, Young's objection to the idea of alien ancestry and alien genetic modification in this video are very clearly part of her broader antivax and anti-GMO views. She believes that GMO foods are the work of the conspiracy, and that vaccinations were created by the conspiracy to modify people's genetics. She's literally an antivaxxer, y'all.

And like. The way to handle these conspiratorial alien origin myths isn't to reframe them in a slightly different conspiracy theory. The way to handle it is challenging and destroying the conspiracy theory altogether. It literally makes no different whether Young believes humanity is descended from aliens or not, so long as she's pushing this kind of conspiracy narrative.

Her views on GMOs and such this are pretty obviously informed by an attitude that natural = pure = good. What she's trying to pass off as anti-eugenics is actually a kind of belief in genetic purity, which is itself a form of eugenics.

She even claims that the downfall of Atlantis was caused by genetically modifying organisms. She claims that genetic modification actually "degenerates" the form. (For someone who claims to hate Nazis so much, she sure does use their language.)

She apparently believes that the conspiracy has a depopulation agenda. This one's been circulating far right conspiracy theory circles for decades.

She makes some bizarre claims about New Age alien beliefs. She tries to pin the whole thing on Scientology, which she claims was Nazi esotericism. While it's true that Scientology and New Age alien beliefs are similar, the latter were developing well before Scientology was a thing. Scientology, rather, was influenced by the ideas of its time. And while it's true that Nazi ideas have influenced New Age beliefs, Gigi Young cannot actually point to any specific cases; instead, she acts like the entire thing is ultimately a Nazi conspiracy, which is bullshit.

She also acts like New Age spirituality is extremely materially reductive. While I do think that New Age spirituality can be somewhat materially reductive, it's nowhere near to the degree that Gigi Young is describing. She seems to think that New Age ideas will somehow lead to people accepting DNA modification through vaccinations, which is just bizarre given how New Age is also rife with antivax conspiracism.

Her radfemmy gender essentialist shit comes back when she blames the world's condition on the overgrown and distorted male impulse that wants to control the feminine and take over creation, and says that if you're creating something in a petri dish, you're not allowing the holy womb of the woman to create life, which is what it's for.

So yeah, no, Gigi Young is not better than these New Age conspiracy theorists out there, not even a little bit. She's every bit as bad. Don't be fooled by the fact that she's dunking on people you hate; she's still pushing the same kind of conspiracy crap they believe in.

[13reasonstoeatthatcake]

Fourth Wing's Worldbuilding

I'm currently reading Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros and I adore the concept of the world, but so far all of the crumbs of worldbuilding I've been given only make me want more. I've heard that apparently she doesn't get much into it in the first book, but I love worldbuilding and I have a lot of questions I'm sure she's not going to answer so I've written them down for myself for later (hopefully) fanfic worldbuilding instead. These are very much not in order.

how is general sorrengail allowed to place violet in a quadrant made up of volunteers in the war college she's the general in charge of and kick her out of the scribe quadrant without a valid reason, is that not some sort of preferential treatment?

what is the rough technological advancement of the world, are there mass-produced weapons or singular smiths? why is not metalwork a course in the war college/another college? do they use ppl with metal bending signets instead?

is the person with the make-small-things-big signet able to do that with food? is that food nutritious? what is the common diet of the navarre and is it different between what violet as a highclass general's daughter (albeit one w a disability as opposed to a soldier) is used to eating?

how does trade work when navarre is allegedly ignoring the fuck out of the literal apocalypse happening outside its borders? are there other continents that saw the venin invasion and were like 'fuck nah, we're bailing' and just. wrote the whole damn continent off??

does the whole, brutal darwinist society mentality affect anything else in the country?? like the characters admit basgiath is brutal yes but they also talk about removing the weak for the good of the wing a lot, is this also common in other spheres of life? is infant mortality relatively high because if they have a visible disability they're seen as lesser? what does this mean for violet, does she feel the priviledge of being alive as a high-class military family member, since she has obvious internalised ableism or is she stubbornly refusing to see herself and any theoretical disabled children as one and the same in order not to think too deeply abt it (she never sees herself as explicitly disabled as far as i've read, just 'broken'); what does the theoretical darwinism of the society mean for healthcare and its accessibility? are only 'badge-of-honor' disabilities (like lost limbs or other permanent damage from battle and such mental illnesses like PTSD) valid, or are they also looked down upon? what does the existence of menders mean for healers? birth control is obviously not an issue, how are periods treated? are there mental health experts?? if a mender were to 'mend' the battle wounds of a trans man who's undergone gender-correcting surgery, will the gender-correcting surgery also be undone???

how does a culture predisposed to short, practical hair for all genders view hair-care? there's a precedent for hairdye and funky modern-world punk hairstyles in the riding quadrant, but how do common ppl see it? what haircare products and hairstyle trends are there, do high-class ppl imitate riders?

how do newbies deal with watching their comrades being burnt to ash? is there a disdain for ppl who refuse to eat meat because it seems like having a weak stomach not to want to eat cooked meat after watching your friends be cooked to death? does that mean there's a portion of ppl learning to shovel food in their mouths without tasting it in order to get nutrition and/or not look weak, which in turn makes them easier to poison? how does that intersect with probable religious cults/sects where there's food restrictions?

how come there’s 171 first years but 5-6 ppl in a squad and three squads per squadrons? am I just bad at math?

why does a dragon bond with jack who tried to kill a dragon baby? is there a possible larger disagreement in how to choose a worthy rider in the empyrean, and are Sgaeyl and Tairn on the more or less popular side with their opinion kindness is important?

why is Violet, the daughter of a war general whose siblings are soldiers actively fighting a war, so against taking a life? is it something religious, done to spite her mother, a gripe because of the way her scribe father raised her, a distaste for death? is it because they're on the same side/she wouldn't have an issue killing ppl if they were in an official skirmish?

how widespread is the erasure of culture and language after the unification?

how many languages on average should one learn if they’re a soldier, a scribe, a normal civilian? are there multiple scripts being taught or just the cyllian(?) one? how do spies and information gathering work if the larger public isn't supposed to know about venin?

what do civilians think of the 600-year war they’re supposedly leading against Poromiel, are they dissatisfied Navarre isn’t winning yet? What are they being told is the reason they're not allowed to cross the ward-borders of the country (if they're allowed to leave at all)? Does Navarre have somebody with a signet like Imogen's and are deleting/rewriting memories instead? Does Navarre even know Imogen has a signet like that at all, or is she lying about it?

the scribes have apparently been hiding the truth of the world for centuries, but as violet’s dad says history survives in folklore; does that mean there’s a sizeable portion of Navarre that remembers venin because they can’t murder every single superstitious villager? does that mean settlements around the borders are discouraged bcoz that means there’s a bigger chance of someone seeing smthn, or are border villagers discouraged from entering the army? surely talking abt myths like venin isn’t forbidden but maybe military families keep silent bcoz of class loyalty and not let common-born up the ranks but use them as canon-fodder against venin to make sure the info isn’t leaked to the civilians?

what is the common level of literacy in this society anyways?

if assassins can volunteer to come to the rider’s quadrant to take out their targets, how do they leave or get paid?

are there inside assassination jobs, like if somebody is conscripted as a punishment for a crime like the Marked Ones as a method of execution but ends up surviving, can someone be ordered to dispose of them? in that case is it an official execution or is it an illegal assassination?

why did nobody react to andarna being yellow if there’s no yellow dragons, did they just think she was a mega-weak orange??

why does dain know abt the empyrean and mentions it to violet but professor kaori the dragon expert is excited abt learning more, shouldn’t they already be aware of it?

why does the common misconception that dragons despise weaklings exist, why do the dragons not correct it or confirm it?

how do religion and dragons intersect if dragons canonically aren’t impressed with human gods? does that mean that once upon a time bonding with a dragon meant being the fantasy equivalent of a satan worshipper? if every single god has a separate temple like it’s said Amari has a temple in Aretia then does that mean that, just like in Ancient Greece, every kingdom-now-province had a separate patron god? if yes, then were they a pantheon from the beginning or were they monotheistic religions that merged together after the unification, does that mean there’s separate cults for every god, traditionalist and reformist worshippers? can you tell from what province someone is by which gods they call upon, do they have different hymns or prayers, does every god/cult/province have different superstitions and attitudaes towards different tyopes of dragons or signets, what was the historical attitude towards inntinnsics, were they priests, demigods, cursed?

do dragons know when their next bonded human will be their last, is it something to do with their power level, the closeness of their bond, and (i forgot this question but it was smthn to do w signets?)

do they or do they not use saddles and if not then what is the purpose of the pommel thing on top of the dragon they hold onto that I keep reading about?

if tairn and sgaeyl bone so fucking much then why haven't they had a hatchling yet? is there a dragon contraceptive???? is it some sort of magical 'i'm not getting pregnant if i don't want to'? is it some sort of mystical 'only on the first blood-moon in february and after we murder three virgin goats together' type of deal???

[multiverse-fandoms-2001]

My Original Female Character:

Full Name: Eileithyia

Nickname: Leithyia, Lei, Thyia

Born: 685

Age: 1338 (25 physically)

Gender: Female

Pronouns: She/Her

Status: Alive

Origin: Earthrealm (Island in the Mediterranean)

Resides: Earthrealm

Specie: Human

Height: 5’8” (172 cm)

Hair Color: Silver

Eye Color: Gold

Skin Color: Pale (with grey tattoo)

Weapons:

- Two Chokutō

Hilt: 11.4 inches/29 com

Blade: 57.08 inches/145 cm

Total: 5 feet 8.5 inches /174 cm

- Two Ninjatō

Hilt: 5 inches/14 cm

Blade: 2 feet 4.3 inches/72 cm

Total: 2 feet 9.8 inches/86 cm

Affiliations:

- Yeborath Clan/Cult

- Emperor Jerrod (formerly)

- Lin Kuei (formerly)

- Shaolin Monks

- White Lotus Society

Likes: Knitting, cooking, reading, tea times with Liu Kang, teaching Rhea, hunting, piles of hugs, training with Kenshi, night movies.

Dislikes: Sindel, Rhea getting hurt, her loved one in danger, not being able to use the full potential of her magic.

Backstory: Eileithyia was a young matron from a warrior clan native to an island in the Mediterranean. She watched as her husband and clan were slaughtered by the sorcerer thirsting for their souls, and had to give a quick and painless death to the few who survived but had their lives by a thin line. She would have joined her husband, sisters, and brothers if it weren't for the Lin Kuei and their lifetime debt...

She lies for more than a thousand years freezing, where once was her home, now it was a tomb, her clan has been erased from history, forgotten, or so she thought... Waking up in what was said to be the 21st century, with no knowledge of the modern environment in which she found herself, Eileithyia starts a new life in a village, decides to leave her past behind but her plans go down the drain when a certain Fire God and Protector of Earthrealm shows up at her favorite teahouse…

Personality: Eileithyia is wise, attentive and kind to those she considers family but is highly cautious, suspicious and critical of outsiders. After the massacre of her clan, she turned dark and bloody, resorting to even darker magic than she was used to in an attempt to avenge her clan.

After starting visiting Madam Bo's Teahouse and start a friendship with Raiden and Kung Lao, her behavior changed slightly, losing interest in killing and leaving behind his path of revenge, preferring to incapacitate his opponent without seriously injuring him. Many villagers in Fengjian describe Eileithyia as cold, aloof, lonely, and silent, refraining from showing her softer side, being reserved only for children, Madam Bo, Kung Lao, and Raiden. And despite her cold exterior, everyone in Fengjian knew that they could trust Eileithyia with their children, many speak and praise warmly about her fierce protection.

She has a slightly dark sense of humor in combat, often joking that she needs certain parts of her opponent's body as a sacrifice to the Elder Gods or for some dark ritual. She also has some sadistic tendencies, such as liking to give a slow and painful death to a person who she fully believes to deserves it, she also finds it satisfying to take a person to death with her own hands, reaching the point of healing all the wounds that she caused and repeating everything again.

Author's notes: Hello, how are you guys? I hope you liked the character I created. I used Merrin from Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor to be the face of my character, I may be a passable editor but not the best artist. 😅 I also wanted to say thank you to @lynn-w3st 😘 for helping me develop the character as well as ideas for developing the story.

I'm still thinking about whether or not I should make a prologue, I already have the first chapter in mind and maybe some intros but I'm still writing other information about my original character (brutalities, fatalities, fatal blow)… please be patient with me, I'm very nervous about this. And sorry if there were any spelling mistakes, English is not my first language and I am using the translator to write the parts where my English is not that good.

[rivetgoth]

The weaponizing of detransition / detransitioners as political ammo by the anti-trans crowd genuinely blows my mind. I’m kinda stunned that so many people are stupid enough to fall for it honestly. How is this relevant to anything? People choose to modify their bodies and end up regretting it, this is proof that people should be denied autonomy of their own bodies? To whom is this fearmongering targeted? How are so many self-identified pro-choice feminists able to sleep at night pushing the idea that one’s personal regrets about the choices they made that 9 times out of 10 had no long term negative effect but aesthetic masculinization or feminization that they realized did not suit them means that people should be given less right to their body, less medical autonomy, less choice in how they present and the shapes their bodies take on? So many of these stories—if they are even true and not entirely fictitious, which many of them are—are comprised of detransitioners listing either well known and DESIRED effects of HRT & SRS that any actual trans person openly wants and does not feel the same way about as these people who found it wasn’t for them (ex. FTM detransitioners talking about how “disgusting” their bottom growth is, an extremely highly desired effect for the vast majority of transitioning trans men), or well known side effects that actual trans people have long since learned to manage and mitigate and/or find worth enduring for the other benefits of their medication, a choice that anyone on any medication will make (ex. vaginal atrophy, which has an extremely simple treatment process if it even gets bad enough to need it)… Like, characterizing these things in such a way means nothing to any actually happy transitioning trans person and the entire argument relies on the complete and total suppression of our voices. Ntm all of it is deeply rooted in furthering disgust of sex nonconformity that impacts all people, cis and trans, though arguably especially intersex people. To characterize the great risk of detransition as “being a woman with the effects of heightened testosterone” or “being a man with the effects of heightened estrogen,” like this is a fucking world-ending, society-shattering risk that must be ceaselessly warned about so that the trans cult doesn’t RUIN your body by enlarging your clit or giving you more body hair… insanity. Even the “side effects” they cry on and on about are natural bodily functions—atrophy treatment was developed for menopausal cis women. The ideological dissonance, the authoritarianism, the paternalism, the willingness to evoke disgust response at the idea of having the right to autonomy over your own body and the natural variation and nonconformity of the human body. Women shouldn’t have to shave but women’s bodies are being ruined by their 2 years on low dose testosterone causing them to develop some chest hair. What a fucking joke.

[aloeverawrites]

Yeah nah I am def pro censorship in some cases. Yes it can overcorrect and harm innocents and we have to be careful of that.

So can almost anything.

With the way hate speech and content that validates abuse has spread online and had people join actual like hate groups and cults, yeah sometimes information needs to be curated.

Your post on how masks and vaccines were actually invented by Joe Biden to sell autism doesn’t need to be seen by bored grandparents who believe everything they see online.

Your antisemitic conspiracy theory does not need to be seen by that teenager who wants someone to blame his problems on and who has already been exposed to antisemitism by *gestures to society as a whole.

Censorship especially by organisations is a tool and it can be misused. I think instead of banning the tool entirely we need to focus on who wields it and how they wield it.

If a site is using censorship to ban trans people then they would be hurting trans people in other ways if that option censorship of wasn’t there. The tool is a symptom of the problem and taking away that tool doesn’t actually fix the problem. And refusing to use that tool doesn’t help you, it just means that the people who hate you now have a weapon that you don’t have.

Keeping up posts that encourage abusers or posts that incite violence against minorities in the name of being anti-censorship is not going keep you safe.

It’s just going to create more people who will want to use any tool they can find to hurt you.

You can give terrible people all the benefit of the doubt and all the freedom you want and they will never give you that same respect in return. They’re just going to build their weapons in peace to hurt you with and then take those same freedoms from you the minute they have a chance.

[cedar-sunshine]

Hey man I was thinking about that Really Cool Social Group/Totally Not A Cult that you've been telling me about. I'm kind of interested! I think I might join, can you remind me how all that stuff works?

of course!! (For context to others this relates to the cult in Star)

Prerequisite 1) be a hardcore extremist Christian who thinks all non-christians and queer people/poc/disabled people should die a violent death

Prerequisite 2) have been in the cult before the apocalypse happened, preferably born and raised in it but if you convert completely and give the church all of your belongings and money and give up your identity and individuality they might be chill with that

Prerequisite 3) be willing to violently murder anyone who disagrees with you/watch the priest violently murder anyone who disagrees with him/be violently murdered if the priest disagrees with you (or if you get sick)

Prerequisite 4) think chasing a couple traumatized trans guys around the wood with weapons is a really cool way to spend multiple years (god stuff yk)

Have fun!

(To be clear I don't think badly of Christians in general I'm just not in favor of organized religion in general if you don't think Christianity is the most likely religion of a religious apocalyptic cult please. Go touch some grass for me)

[nonbayanary]

Teenage Mutant Mystic DEMONS AU

(TMMDemons AU)

MUSASHI

[ Subject MAOU-011. The Powerhouse. One of the eldest twins. ]

Transmasc.

Pronouns: He/Him.

Demon mutant. Half-demon, half-human.

Mutated from a cult organization's human experiment, called Project Maou.

One of the eldest twins. (The other one is Hiruma).

Musashi's father Hanzaemon worked in his construction. Hanzaemon's team all tragically died in a construction accident. As Musashi had no other parent, as his father was single, Musashi was then sent to an orphanage.

Kidnapped by traffickers while he was walking home alone from school. Since Musashi was just a kid, he could not overpower his abductors.

He loathes his deadname, so he just goes by the name "Musashi." He picked that name because he admires Miyamoto Musashi, the most revered and celebrated swordsman in Japanese history.

Kurita and Hiruma call him by that name, while Sena calls him, "Musashi-nii," or "Musashi-niisan."

Musashi often collaborates with Hiruma to make holographic screens for their family's shared use. Hiruma makes the trackers, and Musashi makes the tech.

He's the engineer / mechanic / builder of the family. His interest in construction stems from his desire to continue his late father's legacy, and to provide for his new found family.

As Musashi's legs are strong, he often kicks his weapons, like this:

"Musashi usually takes charge, along with Hiruma. They both look after Kurita and Sena, the younger ones, together." (Taken from Hiruma's Character Sheet)

As a result, both Hiruma and Musashi have somewhat developed "Eldest Child Syndrome," as sometimes, Doburoku is too drunk or depressed to look after them.

This version of Musashi is more proactive in taking charge, especially when Hiruma is feeling silly (and itching for property damage).

Musashi has spikes on his knees. His feet are clawed, and he has flaming hair and horns. (Hiruma is dead jealous of the horns.)

He has three tails, just like Kurita and Hiruma. However, Musashi's tails are black spider legs that are tipped with sharp claws. These extra legs can lift him off the ground so that the rest of his body looks like it's floating. It looks like this:

Like the other members of the Maou trio, Musashi also has markings of a giant cross on his chest.

His spider-leg tails can morph into actual, gigantic wings that are powerful enough to make him fly.

Musashi's fighting style utilizes his legs, just like Sena. However, Musashi's style is different from Sena's in that Musashi relies on (you guessed it) the strength of his kicks.

Musashi's quite similar to Sena when it comes to their feet. Musashi's feet are constantly covered in hellfire. Sena's feet, meanwhile, are constantly covered in ghost fire.

(Yes, their feet glow in the dark. Yes, they find it inconvenient when trying to hide in the dark.)

Musashi can also use his spider-leg tails to launch heavy objects at enemies, and they also function as extra hands—that are really sharp.

When Musashi isn't in battle, he fits the tips of his tails with hand prosthetics so that he doesn't accidentally injure his siblings.

Two years after the four kids' adoption, Musashi's body dysphoria started getting harder and harder to ignore. So with Hiruma's help in the area of research, Musashi set up a sacrificial ritual. In exchange for Musashi's body parts (he very happily sacrifices his breasts and ovaries), his own mystic powers will morph into something different—something more powerful. (Yes I am projecting my hopes and dreams here. Musashi is really out here living the Trans Dream.)

What Musashi doesn't know is that the ritual was absolutely hellish to witness. Thinking he was alone, he activated the ritual himself. Musashi didn't know that Hiruma was watching from afar. Even when unconsciousness took Musashi, he thought he was the only person in the area.

Musashi was still unconscious when Hiruma quickly called Kurita and Sena over for backup, and Musashi was still down under when his three siblinga horrifically saw that parts of Musashi's body—more specifically, parts of his chest and womb—were disintegrating. They watched as the skin sealed itself back together with markings, and they watched as Musashi crackled with newfound power that surged within him, even as he lay unconscious.

When Musashi woke up after the ritual, he found that one of his eyes was now a different color. Completely black, instead of demon-red. He also noticed that he now has additional, diamond-shaped markings on his chest, as a result of sacrificing his breasts. It's reminiscent of top surgery scars. Plus, he has a scar on his womb as well. He and his siblings find these new changes on his appearance cool as fuck.

Although, the consequences of witnessing the ritual were heavy on Musashi's siblings, who have become more protective of him as a result.

Among other things, researching on the materials for the ritual also sparked Musashi's interest in chemical engineering. It's something that he and Hiruma bond over, besides mechanics.

Musashi tends to lean towards civil engineering, as he wants to study infrastructure in honor of his late father. Hiruma, meanwhile, leans more towards ballistics, which is the science of projectiles and firearms. Although, the two work together when it comes to soldering, metallurgy, and reverse engineering.

MUSASHI'S MYSTIC POWERS

Transmutation. (Get it? Because he's trans? Eyyy) This includes the construction and deconstruction of objects.

These mystic powers are the result of Musashi's and Hiruma's sacrificial ritual. Musashi's original mystic powers will now forever be a mystery, as the ritual has morphed his powers into transmutation instead.

Musashi's mystic powers were actually dormant before the ritual, so he will never know what his original powers would look or feel like. It doesn't really bother him, though. The gender ecstasy is worth it, babyyyyy

Musashi is the only one most in-sync with the element of earth, because of his interest in construction and metals.

As a result, his mystic powers are a manifestation of his desire to create things. With only intent, he can create a summoning circle when his skin touches an object. And instantly, with a flash of light, the object breaks down, and contorts itself into the shape Musashi desires. Like so:

Musashi can also use his spider-leg tails to transmute objects.

This can also be used in battle. As long as Musashi is close to an object, he can transmute it into something else.

With this power, Musashi crafts his siblings' weapons out of high-grade titanium. If ever his siblings run out of weapons on the battlefield, he can just transmute them new ones. And with Sena's help in teleportation, the weapons can be delivered to the others in a blink.

Musashi is even more dangerous on land, because he can destroy the whole terrain by doing shit like this:

Even with only scraps and debris at his disposal, Musashi can create dangerous weapons

Musashi can transmute his weapons into different things, even when he is mid-combat. He could be wielding a scythe, and then in a flash of light, he'd be holding a katana. And in another flash of light, he could turn it into a spear.

He loves transmuting his current weapon into either a pair of twin katanas, or a big, cross-shaped spear that he can kick.

He also has a knack for using chained weapons in combat. He infuses these weapons with hellfire when his foot makes contact with the weapon, and kicks them toward his opponents.

Musashi also finds out only much later that with his summoning circles, he can also create a portal—something which everyone, including Musashi, thought only Sena could do.

Musashi's ritual rendered him the most powerful of his siblings. This is why Hiruma calls him, "The Powerhouse." It's both an intimidation tactic, and a fact. Musashi can keep using his mystic powers long after his siblings have exhausted themselves.

This mystic power is also the reason why Musashi can easily renovate their family home to his family members' tastes.

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Feel free to write or make art of this AU. But please credit me, and send me the link to what you've made! I'd love to see it!!!

This AU was based on Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (ROTTMNT), and further inspired by RWBY, The Locked Tomb, Honkai Impact 3, Fullmetal Alchemist, Solo Levelling, and Genshin Impact.