#Twisting Tree Ancestry

[twistingtreeancestry]

Day of Commemoration for the Acadian Expulsion

Image Description: A black and white portrait of the Ovillier Guillot and Eve Vice family, circa the early-to-mid 1900s. Top (children), left to right: Eunice Guillot 1922-Dec; Joseph Guillot 1926-2014; Lenus Guillot 1923-1960; Beulah Guillot 1918-1991. Bottom (parents), left to right: Ovillier Guillot 1897-1967; Eve Vice 1897-1950.

The two daughters wear similar dark, button-down dresses with white doll collars. The mother wears a dark, button-down open-collar blouse or dress. The two sons and the father wear white dress shirts covered by fastened suit jackets complete with ties.

Image by [[TBD]].

— — — — — — — — —

Pictured above is my 3rd great-uncle Ovillier Guillot and his family. He is the 4th great-grandson of Jean Baptiste Guillot.

Today is the Day of Commemoration for the Acadian Expulsion.

While I have quite a few direct ancestors who lived in Nova Scotia and ended up in France at the time of the expulsion, there's only one family unit that I have been able to confirm was expelled.

That was the family of my 8th great-grandfather Jean Baptiste Guillot, born in Acadia in 1720 with his body given to the Atlantic Ocean in 1758. His family was expelled from Cobequid, Acadia, Nova Scotia to France during the brutal "Great Expulsion" by the British, who wanted to squelch any potential threats from the Acadians and the Mi'kmaq during the French and Indian War.

His son (my 7th great-grandfather) Charles Olivier Miquel Guillot was only 13 in 1758 when they had to take the long, arduous 75-day journey to France. His father Jean, along with 4 of his brothers, never made it off of the ship.

Charles grew up in France where he married and had 3 children of his own. They left France in 1785 to board one of the seven ships paid for by Spain, Le Saint-Rémi, to take them to Lafourche Parish, Louisiana.

Many members of the Wabanaki Confederacy (I believe predominately it was the Mi'kmaq militia), in addition to other affiliated Indigenous tribes and Acadians, who rallied a resistance were slaughtered or expelled. They refused to swear loyalty to the British crown and surrender to British colonists, refused to convert from Catholicism to Protestantism, and refused to allow themselves to be displaced without a fight. Numerous battles took place to stop the deportation with wins and losses across the board.

While no one has one lineage, I was raised as a proud Cajun despite having often felt ashamed of being Cajun for various reasons (like my accent). I even tried my hardest over twelve years to banish anything that could link me to my roots, not knowing the history behind a part of my ethnicity and culture.

Digging into my ancestry has been a wild ride, and there were many things found within my lineages that were not honorable in any way, but this chunk of my history? This has made me proud to be Cajun again.

I wish I had respected it more when I was still able to be immersed in it. I wish I had asked my pawpaw to tell me more stories. I wish I had kept up with Cajun French (AKA Louisiana French). I wish I hadn't let my cultural heritage fall through my fingers.

Many blessings to those who fought and lost their lives against the British colonists in an attempt to secure the freedom of not only themselves but of future generations to come.

[Disclaimer: I am still only beginning to educate myself about this event and am utilizing my current understanding of how events unfolded and who was involved. I apologize in advance for any misconceptions or misinformation regarding the historical accuracy of my comments.]

[sweetaprilbutterfly]

How did a small girl from the North of the Lands of Sunset, come to the Palace of Pearls and become from slave to concubine, to lady of the Empire and then Empress of Valyria? All for the love of a dark, twisted man dead once already.

“A mother dreams for glory for all of her children - she murmurs - but I, I dream only happiness for you” she adds. It has a tone of finality, like a dismissal.

Jaehaerys does not reply to it. Not immediately.

He turns and looks at her long and hard. He looks like her, but there is a softness in his features, less pointed than hers, that speaks of his valyrian ancestry.

“Then pray, mother” he murmurs, then he turns, slams the door open and leaves, the door open in his wake “maybe your Tree Gods are less cruel than mine” he murmurs as he leaves. […]

As long as I know who I am, I cannot be broken. As long as I know who I am, I cannot be broken. As long as I know who I am, I cannot be broken.

She murmurs it in the night, before falling asleep. Like a promise. Like a prayer.

Empress of the World by @reginarubie

[echo-bleu]

I got it in my head for some reason to do a series of Finwëan portraits. The original reason was to figure out Elrond and his children's appearances through their ancestry, but it quickly devolved into "let's do a family tree". Six hours of drawing over five days later, I am reconsidering my whole life.

Anyway, here's Anairë (because I had to start with a character mentioned once, of course), Fingon and Fingolfin.

I have a lot of hair braiding headcanons for the Noldor but I regret everything.

With bonus sketch and flat colours pictures.

[ID: three digital portraits. Anaïre is a black elf with long black hair in cornrowed twists and golden loop earrings. Fingon is a mixed race (black/white) elf with long (and very thick) black hair in cornrows and braids in a high ponytail, decorated with golden ribbons and beads. He has a golden loop earring and several ear and eyebrow piercings. Fingolfin is a white elf with long dark hair in a complex braided hairstyle with blue beads, with the length loose, wearing a silver circlet with a blue stone, and several ear, eyebrow and nose piercings. They all wear blue tunics. The second and third picture are the same as a pencil sketch and flat colour drawing.]

[weavemasters]

TAV Appreciation Post

Name: Eol'wyn Gender: Female Pronouns: She/Her Race: High Elf Sexuality: Pansexual Age: 104 Height: 5'1'' Hair Color: Auburn Eye Color: Brown Scars/Freckles: Light freckles on her face and shoulders. A small scar on her right cheek, and a larger scar on her jawline. Class: Sorcerer Alignment: Lawful Neutral About:

Eol’wyn, is a sorcerer from a long line of sorcerers. She was born with a strong connection to the weave given her fae ancestry. Her relationship with magic is like her relationship with breathing oxygen. It surrounds her at all times and ebbs and flows (and sometimes explodes out of her with no warning when she’s fighting). She finds comfort in the chaos and has grown comfortable wielding the beautiful but unpredictable weave. The first spell she ever learned was Fiat lux - her mother taught it to her as a small child because she was afraid of the dark. That gentle compassion and using the weave to help others is what inspires Eol’wyn to love magic. When she was younger Eol’wyn served as a magic user with a squad of Harpers as a consultant when traversing the Shadow Cursed lands. They were grossly underprepared and their squad fell to the curse. She watched in horror as nearly every single of the Harpers were taken, twisted, and began to attack each other. In order to survive Eol'wyn had to do the unthinkable and kill them all. Her friends. She was found days later clinging to a weakening light spell, huddled in the hollows of a tree. This experience left her scarred both physically and mentally, leaving her with occasional debilitating and violent night terrors and waking flashbacks. If I had to pick a handful words for her relationship with Gale they would be: Compassion, patience, empathy, and support. She tries to help him see the worth in himself, to support him through his journey, and provide a gentle unconditional love even as she deals with her own personal demons. Act 1, 1.5, & 2 Appearance:

Act 3 Appearance:

RP Rules/Requests:

My DM's are open for RP requests. Please be: Over 18 (Over 25 preferred but I'm flexible) Please provide a screenshot of your TAV and a short biography (if writing your TAV). Please provide a writing example Please be prepared to write at least 1-4 paragraphs, shorter posts are acceptable in certain situations. Please write in 3rd Person, Past tense POV, NO EXCEPTIONS (Ex:"He walked down the road")

Looking for: TAV/TAV or Gale Dekarios

[rpgsandbox]

Ryoko’s Guide is a 350+ page book bursting with incredible kaiju, inspirational player options, and game-enhancing mechanics that revolutionise Gargantuan scale combat in D&D 5e. Stories and folktales of yokai paint a vibrant, dangerous world, giving GM’s the power to breathe life into any setting. Inspired by ancient mythology through to contemporary popular culture, enhance your game and expand the 5e system with Ryoko's Guide!

Kaiju Battles

Conjure stratospheric levels of excitement and panic as players scale, leap, and desperately battle rampaging kaiju. Totally transform combat with a rules expansion to 5e, as adventurers exploit unique vulnerabilities, adapt to chaotic, changing behaviours, and utilise ingenious ninja prosthetics to overcome unbelievable odds.

New Class: Element Bender

Harness elemental forces! Wield pillars of flame, redirect torrents of icy water, and surf on a storm of rising winds. 

The bender class allows you to mix and match elements as you progress in levels. You can specialise in one element or dip into them all to become a master of earth, water, fire, and air!

New Spells! Master over 40 new spells! Enhance your abilities with the full versatility and power of raw, primordial magic.

Immersive Subclasses

Become a master of shadows, stealth, and silent warfare as a shinobi wizard, a living weapon as bones burst from your flesh as the skeletal blade fighter, and Wild Shape into mysterious, spellcasting creatures as the circle of yokai druid. Or embrace any of the other 12+ subclass options for established 5e classes…

Vibrant, Playable Races

Invoke your yokai ancestry, combining blade with spell as a hanataka-tengu. Skip across lakes and oceans as a blossoming fuyo-ren,  or channel the colossal strength and frigid resilience of mountains as a hulking, ape enkoh. Become one with the yokai realms as any one of 10+ races (14 subraces total!).

These lore-rich race options allow the creation of NPCs and player characters that seamlessly blend into any setting.

Dynamic Combo Attacks

How does the world’s biggest collaborative TTRPG not have combo attack mechanics?

Act simultaneously with the rest of your party to unleash devastating combo strikes! Hurl allies through the air, enhance their weapons with bursts of magic, bolster an ally with a defensive charge, and shift the tide of battle as your sword falls in a dazzling strike of flame and steel.

A Full Bestiary of Mighty Yokai

Surprise your players with unfamiliar creatures, where every stat block tells a story, and danger lurks behind every corner... 

Populate your landscape with the magic of tricksy and dangerous yokai, with incredible twists and original mechanics in every stat block. With more than 50 creatures, this book is a bestiary unto itself!

A Menagerie of Cute Familiars

What’s better than defeating a kaiju? Biomancing its blood into an adorable yokai companion that follows you around! Even better, each of the 10 new bespoke familiars comes with a unique tech tree compatible with the Tamer class (first introduced in Heliana’s Guide). Choose your upgrades and craft your ultimate companion to become the very best that no-one ever was.

A Hoard of Magic Items & Prostheses

Unlock your imagination with over 80 new pieces of incredible adventuring equipment, magic items, and Sekiro-inspired prostheses.  Swing, grapple, and launch yourself through the air with a plethora of exciting new gear to expand your combat proficiency.

Harvest and craft using a versatile and deep crafting system first introduced in Heliana's Guide. Transform the remains of defeated kaiju into a vibrant arsenal of magic items, or craft their soul into a living companion. 

Free Playtest Materials!

Dive into the yokai realms early! Explore pre-released player materials or take on a kaiju in the epic adventure: The Ascendant Cascade.

Playtest the Tengu and Atatsu races here!

Playtest the Dodomeki and the Onryo here!

Playtest the Ronin Ranger and the Spirit Caller Sorcerer here!

Playtest The Ascendant Cascade Kaiju adventure here!

Kickstarter campaign ends: Thu, October 12 2023 3:59 PM BST

Website: https://linktr.ee/dnd_shorts

[agentrouka-blog]

Do you think Jonnel/Sansa marriage remaining childless and GRRM having Jonnel remarry after Sansa's death, signals bad things for Jonsa? Also what do you think of Sansa's sister marrying Jon Umber and Edric Stark? Jonsasource apparently considers it to be Jonrya foreshadowing

I do think that Jonnel/Sansa is meant to foreshadow Jonsa (I mean, whatever else for, ffs) but at the same time it's a Bad Precedent that jonsa is meant to subvert.

Jonnel marrying his half-niece Sansa the Elder to absorb her claim when she should have ruled in her own right is pretty awful. That's basically Cregan and Alys Karstark. Her early death is awful. He remarries but also dies childless. They contributed nothing to the ancestry of today's Starks. (Neither did her sister Serena who married Jonnel's brother Edric, though they had many children.)

That scenario is obviously not the future of House Stark, okay?

GRRM put both of these people into the Stark family tree so they could be found by the curious. The give us a married couple by the name of Jon and Sansa, which is significant, and they also give us a Big Reminder that the North has never had a Queen of Winter or a ruling Lady of Winterfell. Just as the next Sansa with a claim is rounding the corner. Whose claim was pitted against that of a Jon. Auspicious timing.

Will history repeat to prevent the rule of a woman by tying her to a man through a marriage of convenience? Or will there be a twist?

Given how Jon loudly said "Nope, Winterfell belongs to Sansa." and how he reacted to Cregan Karstark's attempt to pull a Jonnel on Alys, I have a strong suspicion that he's not going to go down that route with Sansa at all.

If this Jon(nel) and Sansa marry, it will not be to absorb her claim. It will not be some loveless marriage of convenience, nor childless and thus inconsequential for the continuation of House Stark.

No one will ever marry me for love. (ASOS, Sansa VI)

You don't write a line like that unless you intend to disprove it.

I think of it the same way as I think of the two historical figures named Daenerys Targaryen. Both touch on themes at play with current Dany, be that peace and children or sexist succession conflicts and Targaryen exceptionalism. Both contain foreshadowing and set up subversions.

(As for Jonrya, I can only keep chanting "She is eleven in TWOW" and point out that GRRM is not going to leave the future of House Stark an open question when succession conflicts have been at the heart of the book from the start. When these books end, we will know how their line continues, and not in a "the girl who probably got her first period in the final book will marry her favorite brother and they will have six children somewhere down the line" kind of way. I mean we will know. Because we will see it happen.)

[oceankat8]

I don’t have the ability (or Time) to do a whole month long challenge for Funguary but I did wanna draw mushroom people so here’s a family of panellus stipticus with a Ghostly twist! (this fungus glows in the dark!)

Ten of Pentacles Meaning:

Ten of Pentacles Keywords

UPRIGHT: Wealth, financial security, family, long-term success, contribution.

REVERSED: The dark side of wealth, financial failure or loss.

Ten of Pentacles Description

The Ten of Pentacles shows an old, white-haired Mushroom sitting by the base of a tree. A younger couple stands nearby along with two children. The Old Mushroom is a powerful patriarch who has achieved a great deal during his life and is immensely gratified that he can now share his wealth and abundance with his loved ones. His successes and accomplishments are now providing financial security and certainty to his family. He can already see the legacy he has created.

The Old Mushroom and his family gather in the forest. The trees are marked and covered in non-sentient mushrooms as a symbol of their history and ancestry. Their wealth goes way beyond material comfort; the man and his family have a deeply rooted connection to their lineage, home and community.

[tommarvoloriddlesdiary]

Tom is not nervous; that would be ridiculous.

He has been waiting for this moment for years. It is now so close—literally in the palm of his hand—so he is not nervous. Still, he takes a deep breath, suddenly lightheaded, and reminds himself to continue steadily breathing.

Much to the insistence of his peers, when Tom turned seventeen last December, he quickly took advantage of the remaining holiday break and apparated to Gringotts for a Blood Inheritance test. Upon discovering his ancestry (unsurprising, but the confirmation was most definitely appreciated), he read through the dusty old grimoires left in his family vault and catalogued the sparse artefacts.

Most were utterly destroyed with time. Whatever charms had protected each item had long since wavered, with no one to recast them. However, he was able to salvage one.

He admires the dull shine of the golden band and the gleaming black stone of the Gaunt Ring. This heirloom, his heirloom (and isn’t that still a thrilling thought), has been a welcome companion these past several months. And now, on this cool Samhain night, it awaits his command.

The grimoires had no recent entries. Most seemed to stop well before this century, but what remained still gave startling insight. So as written, Tom twists the ring once, twice, and on the final spin, he watches as a faint light starts glowing and growing in intensity.

“This is it,” he shudders. The ring gets colder and nearly unbearable to hold. “I finally get to meet-“

Suddenly its light dims to something not much more substantial than a Lumos, and—he’s taken aback because surely not—classical music plays from the ring’s stone. It’s a quiet and peaceful melody that he swears is coming more from his head than anywhere else.

“We’re sorry,” A deep guttural and grinding voice speaks out, causing Tom to flinch and cover his ears. A terrible mistake, he quickly realises, as the ring presses the words louder and closer into his ear. “But the deceased you are summoning is currently unavailable.”

Unavailable?

Bewildered, Tom asks, “What?” But the voice carries on without pause.

“Your reunion is important to us. Please hold while we connect you with the next available Master of Death.”

“What?!” Panicking as the stone grows brighter than it ever had, Tom throws the ring some meters away, reflexively shields his head with his arms and waits for some sort of impact-explosion-something because what bloody else would be happening-!

Everything is eerily quiet for far too long until he hears soft footsteps snapping the fallen twigs littering the ground and a susurration of robes over leaves, their sound coming steadily closer.

“For someone who has done the unimaginable and gone out of their way to escape Death’s inevitable clutch, you are a sorry sight. Definitely not what I was expecting.”

Tom peeks through his arms. He first notices stars on a black so dark he is sure he had fallen over and was now staring at the night sky from his attempt to brace himself. His eyes follow the trickling pattern, nearly alive with movement until it stops, a sharp divide against the smooth column of a throat.

The celestial embodiment of the Black Family Tree continues, “You look like a rollie pollie. Do they have those in this dimension?”

Embarrassed, Tom realises he hadn’t fallen. No, he only tucked into himself much like he used to do at the orphanage long before he came into his specialness, his magical-ness, and figured out how to fight back.

He stands quickly, brushes his shoulder, casting a wandless cleaning charm with the movement, and looks up, only for his words to die before he can even open his mouth.

He never knew eyes could be such a beautiful shade of green.

[tickledpink31]

Continuing off of my first introduction of my LMK/JTTW oc, I realize that I should give her a second introduction expanding on her character as well as a summary of a story concept I had in mind. It still won't leave my head. Forgive me as I tend to ramble a lot.

Inspired by @skittlescripts and @theweepingegg,

(Omg, I just noticed that I forgot to draw her freckles)

I changed her robes because I ended not liking the silhouette of the first one. And I gave her a butterfly brooch too instead of a pendant

She goes by many names depending on who is addressing her. She’s born as Marisol Orozco-Leong, although her obsession with butterflies earned her the affectionate nickname, Mariposa, by her relatives. Historians refer to her as the Butterfly Lady, Queen of Butterflies, or Butterfly Maiden… or just Sun Wukong’s wife.

Guanyin gave her the name Liang Xiaodie after she rescued and revived her. We’ll get to that in a bit.

Her farsightedness being used as an advantage in long ranges was an idea I got from Black Butler who has the gunslinging Mey-Rin, a maid who can see from miles away.

By the end of the journey she was rewarded with a pair of functional butterfly wings to symbolize her growth in character, or more so her metamorphosis.

Her wings are based off of the Asian Swallowtail. During her time as an unwilling host to Lady Bone Demon, her wings closely resemble that of a zebra swallowtail or a tree nymph butterfly

(Yes, you read that right: LBD chose her instead of the little girl. You know, to hit Wukong where it hurts.)

I’ve been researching a lot on butterflies in Chinese culture, and I hope my resources are correct. If not, please correct me:

One thing that often comes up is that butterflies denote romantic love. There’s also the Chinese folktale of Romeo and Juliet, “The Butterfly Lovers” (this loosely alludes to Wukong and Xiaodie’s relationship)

They can even signify longevity, rebirth, and good fortune

There were also a few articles that say there are legends that depict the Bodhisattva Guanyin as a butterfly.

Here are just some illustrations of Mariposa/Xiaodie. The goal was to depict her change throughout the journey, being sent back to her time right after, and her plan to reunite with Wukong going awry when LBD interferes.

Now, for the plot. Watch me ramble even more.

The whole concept is pretty much a time loop that circles back to LMK’s modern era, and Mari experiencing the 14-year journey that was actually condensed within her 2-week coma. That's the most coherent way I could word the situation.

In an ironic twist, Mariposa is not much of a social butterfly and is more of a shrinking violet, a cocooned caterpillar if you will.

Being born and raised in Singapore and her mother having Han Chinese ancestry, Mari and her siblings all grew up on the stories of Journey to the West.

Given the fact that demons roam around freely among humans, I like to think that the events of JTTW are treated like actual historical events in LMK and not just a legend.

Now, here’s where the time loop begins:

What kicks everything off was a college program that Mari joins where students get to spend learning for a semester at sea and travelling the world

By the end of the semester, however, the ship gets caught in the storm and Mari drowns in the event.

I don’t want to explain how she got sent back to the Tang Dynasty. I mostly just want to keep that ambiguous.

While Guanyin and her disciple are out looking for the scripture pilgrim, they came across a girl who was half-dead and washed up on a shore. They revive her and nurse her back to health and find out that she has no memories.

How she got the name Liang Xiaodie, Guanyin found her surname (or one of them), Leong or 梁, stitched into her bag, but to the Bodhisattva, it read to her as Liang. (It's Mari's mother's surname. Leong is the Singaporean transliteration of Liang)

Xiaodie was chosen as her given name for her butterfly brooch and the several butterfly embroideries on her clothes.

Xiaodie slowly begins to regain her memories, mostly for basic things on surviving in the wilderness and gaining muscle memory on how to use her bow and arrows again like a master, but not enough to remember her real name or her life before.

Like with the other Pilgrims, Guanyin suggests that Xiaodie should join the scripture pilgrim. Before Guanyin leaves, she gives Xiaodie's bow the ability to summon arrows of her own will so that she may never run out of ammo.

She ends up meeting Tripitaka and Sun Wukong a little bit before Ao Lie is introduced.

Xiaodie is a bit of an odd addition to the group mostly because of her amnesia. The rest of the disciples were sent on this journey to gain redemption and enlightenment. Xiaodie doesn't have a story about her past sins as far as she knew. She went on this journey because she didn't know what else to do. She's the only other mortal of the pilgrimage and the sole woman to boot.

Xiaodie did not physically age at all during the journey. At first, she believed that it was because of the manfruit from the Ginseng Tree that Wukong fed her, but it was actually because her actual physical body was in her time healing in a hospital. Each year that passed by during the journey, only a day passes by in the modern era.

That isn't to say that the manfruit didn't affect her. Her lifespan was still extended even after waking up

Her memories came back at a snail's pace. She has dreams of being in a hospital bed and people watching over (her parents and the doctors).

In spite of her amnesia though, Xiaodie was seen as the brains of the group. Bits of amnesiac resonance come to her that are often useful when it comes to survival, such as knowing how to filter water of bacteria to drink, making soap or shampoos for hygiene, and even remembering bits of Journey to the West whenever she gets a bad feeling about their environment that they're in.

Another thing about her amnesia is how much her dialect differs from everyone else.

As Marisol/Mariposa, Xiaodie grew up speaking and writing Singaporean Mandarin and Modern Mainland Mandarin while everyone else around her uses Middle Chinese. So, it's a bit of a struggle for Xiaodie to communicate with others properly and vice versa.

On top of that, Xiaodie was not aware that she was sent centuries back for the longest time. She doesn't get why her companions don't know what cars or airplanes are or why they don't understand the slang she uses

It wasn't until near the end of the journey did she regain all of her memories and finally understands her time travel situation. It ended making her more reluctant to stay in the past much to Wukong's dismay.

At the end of the journey, Xiaodie and Wukong planned to get married, but with Xiaodie's reluctance and homesickness lingering, a swarm of butterflies takes her away, and she disappears in front of the pilgrims' eyes.

Wukong, devastated, was quickly informed that Xiaodie did not belong to this century, and had to be sent back to her family. The best thing Wukong could do for now is wait for her correct era to come around, which will roughly be 1400 years give or take.

Back in the modern era, Mari wakes up from her coma thinking everything was just a dream, but something feels off...

Everything she felt—the pain, the joys, and the experiences she went through felt real. She feels as if she actually hadn't spoken to her family in 14 years, and she feels like an older person stuck in a younger body.

Most of all, she feels as if she's lost something, or someone.

It wasn't until the butterfly wings appeared on her back that gave her the confirmation that she really did go on the journey for the scriptures and that her feelings for Wukong were indeed real

So, off we go. Mari makes a plan to go to China and find Wukong herself, and she lands herself in the coastal city of Megapolis. There she finds out that the Monkey King has a successor.

However, life sure loves to throw a wrench in her plans when the Lady Bone Demon escapes her prison and takes Mari's body as a host

She was the perfect host. How could the Monkey King ever want to hurt someone he's waited for so long?

Will Sun Wukong go through with the pain of possibly losing his beloved? Will the Mari find a way to break free of her possession? Find out next time on whatever shit I post next.

[newaprilia]

Welcome to VIVARIUM (v1.0)

After weeks of hard work, it's finally ready.

VIVARIUM V1.0 - Official Release

Vivarium is my first attempt at sharing my weird stuff with the world, in the shape of an inhabited custom neighborhood for TS2.

It's inspiration comes from the movie of the same name, "Vivarium", as well as the popular TS4 100 Baby Challenge.

It was also born from my annoyance with Family Aspiration sims and their constant wants for MORE children. So, I did what any sane person would do, and pitted them against their own nature.

Essentially, the matriarch, Ms. Violet, plays the role of Birth Mother to an entire town of male baby daddies, except there's a twist! One of the baby daddies has alien ancestry. The player successfully wins the challenge if:

They reach the 100 baby mark, using whatever means necessary (except adoption, of course)

 They have an alien baby and therefore find out who the alien baby daddy is.

It is meant to be played like it's TS4 counterpart, with minimal tweaks to the rules. Kinda like, 100 Baby Challenge meets a Find The Alien in Disguise Challenge. The baby mama is also not allowed to have any sort of income, asides from child support! 🥵

Includes:

50 lots that look exactly the same, for insanity purposes. All baby daddies have the privilege of owning one, as Mr. Jack here is keen to demonstrate.

One very neat birthing station mommy homestead home for Mrs. Violet.

Including a real neat tree house in the back for your kids! Clearly, the children aren't the prisoners of this hellish experiment.

There are a total of 50 baby daddies in this challenge, 37 of which are normal sims, 3 are warlocks, 3 are werewolves, 3 are plantsims and 3 are vampires. It's up to you now to find out who the alien is!

Rules of the Challenge:

Please refer to the spreadsheet!

Mods & CC:

There are a number of Necessary Mods for this neighborhood to work. You will run into errors if you don't have these in your downloads folder. These are:

Custom Skintone Selector - You just have to keep this in your Downloads folder. It keeps the alien in his disguise.

No Sim Loaded

Smarter EP Check

Anti Redundancy

No Stray Respawn

No Townie Regen (search for "notownieregen.zip" to find it in the list)

The Necessary Mods in order for the challenge to be played, unless you want to play the challenge your own way! These are:

Child Support Controller v3.A - So that your birth mother can have a source of income while popping out all those babies

TeenStar PC / PC Omega 3000 - A PC that allows teens to move out on their own

Last Name Chooser (Baby) - So that you can choose the children's last name to be their father's. Note: Last Name Chooser seems to conflict with two Mods by TwoJeffs: "No Smart Milk Drag" & "Same Sex Marriage"

The following mods are Optional / Recommended, as well as some buy-mode cc included in the lots.

Hereditary Supernaturalism

Autonomous Casual Romance / ACR

More Realistic Genetics

Lot Imposter Lights

Thirstiest Bath Mats + Recolors

Maxis Match Wall Cabinets

I've also taken the liberty of including a spreadsheet for easy note-keeping.

Without further ado, happy birthing!

SPREADSHEET & DOWNLOAD

Please feel free to approach me regarding any issues you may find, here on tumblr or through discord @ yanna.psd

And keep me posted on the happenings of your save file!

Have fun, and enjoy.

- April / Yanna

[twistingtreeancestry]

Back to the Roots

Image Description: Many dark brown twisting branches of a strong and tall tree in Englewood, Colorado, USA splay starkly against a grayish-blue sky.

Image by Keekalee Photography.

—————————

I've been researching my genealogy on and off for over a decade but began earnestly working on my family tree four years ago.

Unfortunately, when I began this later leg of my journey in early 2020, I didn't know what doing my due diligence entailed. While I always intended to go back and verify entries, my passion and curiosity would often sweep me away before demonstrable connections could be made.

This unintentional messy start to my research created the unstable foundation upon which my current tree, consisting of 7,070 people and innumerable hours of research, is built.

My technique has thankfully improved tremendously over the years. What good is that, though, when I constantly need to go back and fix things when errors are discovered? I've deleted entire family units, such as discussed in my post Fallen Branches. I also have information in my tree from records that I never saved that are no longer available to me.

It's time to amend this lapse. I'm starting over.

So far, replanting my familial tree is slow going. I've been learning The Chicago Manual of Style for proper citations (which have never been a strong suit of mine). I already have thirty members meticulously entered into my new tree.

Every entry of information has a coinciding image of the original document as well as a citation. Any entry without an image of the original document is listed separately and isn't used to establish information, though I will add a note that the information correlates with other established information or may provide me with additional information upon further research.

While starting over is certainly intimidating, it'll ensure that my future research is sound and will hopefully stand up to recreation should others need to verify portions of my tree. It also gives me a great opportunity to revisit stories to share here.

Until one of those stories comes my way, I'm gonna get back to filling out these rascally branches and let you know when I find something interesting. Remember to give me a follow so you don't miss my new posts!

[inlibrariusvenefica]

Lunar Return May 20-June 15 2023

LR Moon in 4H

Focus on home, ancestry, mother/father/the more nurturing parent, who you are in private, inner foundation, your origins, lineage, elderly people, property. [Edit 5/19/23: I’ve been diving back into working on my family trees and gathering more information to add on to individual’s records. Also, the last of my mom’s paternal uncles passed, so we got a funeral to go to.]

Waxing Crescent Moon Phase

Growth and awareness. Overcoming obstacles

Aquarius Ascendant (Theme of the Month)

Ankles, batteries, broadcasts, leg calves, clubs, colleagues, electricity, electronics, friends, idealism, humanitarianism, inventions, legs, motion pictures, nerve specialists, organizations, new teachings and occupations, photography, progressive, psychology, radio, rebellions, reform, research, science in general, sociability, societies, phones, tv, Internet, social media, advanced or free thought, hopes and wishes [Edit 6/10/23: I twisted my ankle which took practically a month to heal.]

Ascendant Ruler in 4H

Again with home and one of my parents, private identity, property, elderly people

4H Stellium

See LR Moon in 4H above

Other Things

Area of life important for the month= Ascendant at 1°��Aries degree= Outlook on life, outward behavior, persona, self awareness, general health, appearance, individuality, skin blemishes, inflammatory diseases, the face, fire, hardware, hats, head in general/organs within the head, headaches, sharp/cutting instruments, military matters, surgical operations, sharp tools.

Cancer in 6H (where in your life you are able to work out some of your emotional challenges this month) = care and health of body, comfort, what you eat, illnesses, habits, routine, one’s capacity for service, work environment

Pluto conjunct AC= Personal transformation. Maybe personal crisis. Depending on past actions, you may get power and become a leader or lose your authority.

Uranus conjunct IC= Disruption and change in home life, parents. Home may need repairs. A need to change in your inner life. People may try to hold you back in your career, public reputation could suffer if people feel threatened by you.

Mars conjunct DC= Passion and conflict in one on one relationships. Could feel annoyed by other people. Natural enemies will become obvious. May have problems with men and dominant women. Maybe some outside thing makes you feel like  it’s thwarting your plans. [Edit 5/11/23]= YEAH it’s already shown up not just for me but for people I know. We’re all having problems with a shared obvious enemy]

Jupiter conjunct North Node= Positive and lucky. New people enter your life. Not the time for carefree decisions.

Venus trine MC= Getting opportunities for career growth through colleagues and bosses. Public image improves. [Edit 6/10/23: I got asked by my manager to be on a hiring committee for a new job in our department. Same manager has helped me with applying to a master’s program that will either advance me in my profession or will be a safety net if I get laid off]

[votaryoftheseven]

Hierei crawled into the treeshrine he'd upkept in remembrance of his Sorrel's parents. It'd slowly grown into a little shrine in the limbs of the tree to kaldorei ancestry as a whole, with a tiny statue of Ashamane, a small owlkin figurine, and a hollowed stone.

He was mostly here to reflect. In the relative quiet - compared to the city - and noise - compared to Alor'thalas - he found a balance, able to sort out some of the thoughts and feelings he'd struggled with over the past couple days.

Upton. Upton O. Goode. Why the fuck did he think that was a good name to give himself? It was funny, for a bit, and never was meant to be anything else. But why -- or how could they ever be separate? Hierei was Upton! None of it made any sense.

His ears flicked as he got situated in the pile of leaves he'd gathered for himself, aching in his limbs and joints. If Upton could be separated, could any of his personas? At what point could they become separate people? Were they already?

Hierei picked up and thumbed at the owlkin figurine, tracing claws over the wood carving.

The mantid said that the Sha he'd raised, Mr. E, had taken something from him. But what could he have taken? Memories? If he did, then why did Upton not remember his death? Anything afterward?

He frowned. He hadn't really been Upton since. Hadn't even thought about it in any true capacity, other than the time he spoke with Minnow. And even then...

He furrowed his brow further, eventually closing his eyes. He held out his hand, focusing inward on his soul. He'd not become very attuned with it, but using the methods he'd learned that day with his grandfather Jarisold, he touched his own soul, examining it.

It felt off. Different, somehow. Twisted. Yet smaller than he remembered. Could Mr. E have--?

Hierei opened his eyes, gasping for air, not having noticed he'd been holding his breath for so long.

Was Upton truly, thus, his own being? What were his values? Did they line up with Hierei's own? What was the body made out of, if not Sha? If he could blaspheme their God, then was he no longer bound to Him?

Hierei had so many questions, but only so much energy. After giving a lecture and sparring with Vess, after climbing up and down the treeshrine... he was tired.

So he rested.

[doubleddenden]

Another pokemon game idea I had that I'm probably sure others have thought of already:

Dinosaur region

Not one set in pre history (although if they made it work that'd be neat), but something sort of inspired by Jurassic Park and Fossil Fighters.

The region is based somewhere near the impact of the meteor that killed off the dinosaurs. The entire region is somehow inhabited by pokemon inspired by extinct animals- this includes things like a regional Tyrantrum and Aumarus, both with their rock typing removed, and stuff like a giant sloth, saber tooth, etc. In fact you'd find all the past fossils here but with their rock types removed because of a more advanced revival technique, and complete versions of the Galar fossils.

In fact, your starters are revived from fossils you help dig up. The entire region is filled with these things that escaped a lab long ago and adopted super duper well, and sometimes you can dig for ores and find more fossils to revive.

I imagine it'd be super cool, you're traveling the region and see some gargantuan dinosaur pokemon past some trees, there's humongous pokemon from the sea that easily dwarf you, huge bug pokemon, really strange mammalian pokemon, maybe evolutions to past pokemon that bring them closer to their ancient ancestry, or convergent species that make some more dinosaur like.

And as another twist to the fossil tradition- *mechanical* pokemon. Think of future Paradox Pokémon but they're new and obviously robots. Like a robot dog that's electric/Steel type based on idogs, or a robot spider that's bug/Steel type and based on those mechanical bugs, and a mechanical fish for similar reasons.

Legendaries could be based on something like the megalodon and patagotitan mayorum.

[unhingedwomandiaries]

I can't stop having these dreams about my dead aunt lately. Night after night, I see her standing there in the same outfit she always wore, motioning for me to come closer like she's got some huge secret to spill. It's weird and kinda creepy, but I'll admit there's an undeniable intrigue to the mystery.

When I wake up, my sheets are soaked through like I just ran a marathon in my dreams again. Even though it leaves me feeling unsettled, I can't help but be consumed by curiosity over what it all means. Because the dreams seem to be dredging up something that happened at my wedding of all times.

Out of nowhere, my aunt started telling everyone she was actually Italian. Which seems completely insane because our family tree has its roots planted firmly in Western Europe - Dutch, Irish, German, Austrian, even some Ashkenazi Jewish thrown into the mix on my grandfather's side. My grandmother was English through-and-through. So this Italian ancestry claim felt like it came out of left field.

It gnawed at me so much that I eventually took one of those DNA ancestry tests to get to the bottom of the alleged Mediterranean mystery. And holy mother of insane twists, the results blew the lid off a bombshell scandal: my "aunt" wasn't even a full blood relative! She was some kind of half aunt.

Obviously I felt completely betrayed by the deception, but maybe I shouldn't have been that shocked. Turns out my prim-and-proper grandmother was running a reasonable amount of game on the side back in her day. So "aunt" was likely the byproduct of one of those indiscretions verdantly growing on the family tree's outermost, easiest-to-prune branches.

As rattling as it's been to learn grandma was low-key freaky, I keep arriving at the same core realization: As unpleasant as truth can sometimes be, it's always better than living a lie. That's really all any of us want from our families in the end - just a solid foundation of honesty we can build our own identities on top of. With this situation finally dragged into the light, I can start doing just that again.

[nealrover]

A Family Ancestry Story with a Beautiful Ending

LOVE HISTORY? Enjoy this enthralling Family History story BOOK LINK: https://bit.ly/bookneal #history #findmypast #ancestry #dnastory #lancashire #military #ww2 #familyhistory #memoirs

Please Enjoy my Travel Books on Amazon – FREE on Kindle Unlimited https://bit.ly/bookneal This is our Family history story and I hope you enjoy the twists and turns and find inspiration to check out your family tree. CLICK ON IMAGE TO ORDER on AMAZON or read on KINDLE Ancestry and Genealogy are so popular today and this is an inspiring story stretching over 200 years from a military…