#While both are distinct

[loneliestcelebration]

Inu-tsuki, Inu-tsuki! Speak like a human, die like a dog!

[paintedcrows]

Trying to work out how I see these kids aging! (With some Grunkles for reference)

[elodieunderglass]

And one amang, an Iyrysch man,

Uppone his hoby swyftly ran…

WAIT HANG ON - slamming the brakes on drawing this stupid picture - do you nerds even KNOW the etymology of the word “hobby”? The thing you do for pleasure? The thing you have too many of? The thing you spend too much money on and share with your friends? The thing tumblr probably is to you? Those hobbies?

It comes from a now-kind-of-extinct breed of Irish pony-horse. It was called the Irish Hobby. Supposedly the hobby got its name from the Gaelic word obann, or swift. They definitely were. They’d obann your pants clean off.

Fast tough little bastards, built for rough terrain and renowned for their speed and stamina, hobby horses belonged to the Celts, and their highly annoying style of mounted warfare. but their conquerors liked hobby horses a lot, kept them, used them for themselves, and found them useful enough, despite the fact that they also had famously useful things like mounted knights or horse archers. A lightweight Irish warrior, mounted on a hobby horse, was called a hobelar.

Reportedly and in depictions, hobelars rode without stirrups. Or saddles. Or bridles. Or - well - this is all sounding very improbable, because the hobelars COULDNT have just been charging around basically bare-assed on naked ponies, screaming, and somehow in the process undoing the composure of actual mounted armoured knights. Knights who, I remind you, had stirrups. Stirrups are useful! It’s quite likely the hobelars had some gear. And clothes. and weapons. And the ponies probably had some tack - I am picturing a bellyband that you could at least hang a saddlebag on, and a neck rope for catching the bloody thing, even if not a saddle. But the overall impression, somehow created by people on darling little ponies, was apparently quite striking and fearful.

I mean. God Forbid People Have Hobbies.

Anyway after a while, whatever people became the British had eventually conquered all of the rough terrain that hobbies were best at, and horse archers just got sexier, and mounted knights became aristos, and all the bog and forest people had been subdued, so it was time to sunset the hobelars. but WAIT! Hobby horses are still tremendously fun and appealing! They’re so fast! and you can ride them without a saddle! Sure, they’re not up to the weight of a mounted knight, or indeed a lot of guys… but surely we can still find a use for a hobby or two? In the back garden? Somewhere?

At which point an English king decided to keep hobby horses just for fun. No military application. No further development of the technology. Not for fun. Just as expensive, pleasurable, pets. Just for the joy of the thing.

And that is how hobby (activity done purely for pleasure) comes from hobby horse (small horse) possibly from obann (swift.) they’re very interesting and you should look all this up for yourself! because it sure sounds like Elodie doing a bit, doesn’t it?

Today, Irish Hobbies are functionally nonexistent. References for drawing include the Kerry Bog Pony, the Connemara, and (I personally think) Dartmoors and Exmoors. They’re said to have lent their speed to the Irish Hunter/Sport Horse and from there to the Thoroughbred, but every damn horse in the world claims relation to the Thoroughbred, and they can’t be THAT thoroughly bred.

At any rate - you can never have enough hobbies. Just be glad that yours aren’t expensive beasts with minds of their own, eating their heads off in the pasture! …Unless they are. In which case, you’re part of a proud tradition.

[borgialucrezia]

hot take but juan would never have allowed lucrezia to be maritally raped in front of others while he watched. given how impulsive and reckless he is especially when any man outside his family is near his mother or sister (let alone when a man demands public humiliation of his sister), he might even kill the king of naples the moment he utters lucrezia's name with zero regard for "the good of the family." despite his concern for status and his obsession with meeting expectations to gain his father's approval, he would never tolerate such a violation of his sister's honor. because the situation isn’t just a petty insult to lucrezia but it's also a deeply personal insult to him. juan prioritizes personal honor and would react violently and immediately to any perceived slight against his family, disregarding political consequences (including his father's wishes.)

and then there's cesare, who is more tender and caring toward lucrezia than juan ever was. but he prefers careful planning over recklessness. as much as he desired to cut out the king of naples' heart, he ultimately prioritized his ambition to remain in his father's good graces hoping to gain control of the papal army even at the cost of his sister's public humiliation. he suppressed his feelings, stood by his father and allowed lucrezia to be humiliated while witnessing it as a form of self punishment while silently grappling with guilt for not standing up for her. lucrezia felt betrayed by the person she trusted most because she believed that cesare owed her the rage and protectiveness she desperately desired against the man who had made her feel violated. yet he left the situation unresolved and traveled to france to get married without taking action even though he could have avenged her by plotting the king of naples' death. instead, lucrezia took matters into her own hands by giving micheletto her approval to act.

and no this post isn't about who loved and cared for lucrezia more (since both brothers failed her in different ways). instead it's about how juan has always been an unstable fuck up who's destined to fall short of the family's expectations. his impulsiveness in situations where the family faces personal harm or humiliation could ruin everything for rodrigo. unlike cesare who aligns with their father's expectations and ambitions, juan lacks strategy and consistent awareness of their surroundings. it's why cesare is essentially their father's ideal protégé because he embodies everything their father ever desired in a son.

in juan's case, his actions have always been driven by a desire for his family's acknowledgment and love but he always uses flawed methods to protect them. methods rooted in his fixation on their honor rather than in fulfilling the family's ideals. this is why almost every attempt he makes has a tragic outcome and why he doesn't conform to their father's expectations and ambitions in the same way cesare does.

[skcirthinq]

Mix and Match by @alicat54cwriting and @amevello-blue answers the eternal, age-old question of 'what would happen if we fused characters together, Steven Universe style?' (for the turtle cast of the Chessboard series)

The answer is. Uh. Shenanigans, cool character designs, and like. A smidge- a little dollop!- of emotional repercussions and surfacing trauma!

It might be a little more than a smidge honestly

[laugtherhyena]

Ngl I don't like the Red/White Ena nearly as much as i adore the Blue/Yellow one, but i absolutely loved Dream BBQ and it's shaping up to be a game I'll play a shit ton it seems

[crow-quet]

been seeing these little design challenges on twitter re: warrior cats so i decided to try my hand at it with the tigerclones !!! :3

[serpentface]

Do psychotropic drugs and/or ritual play a role in any of the blightseed cultures? A pretty broad question, lol

Yeah that’s a very broad question, the answer is about as much as it tends to play roles in real history. Alcohol is pretty ubiquitous (outside of cultures that abstain from intoxicants) and used for a variety of purposes, opioids are commonly used in some parts for pain relief or recreational purposes, stimulants (usually in mild, natural forms) are used to provide extra energy, and hallucinogens are most commonly used as part of a larger religious framework (rather than for recreational purposes). Any more elaborate answer kinda has to be case by case in a certain culture or part of the setting.

I'll just take this as an opportunity to talk about the one established sect that pretty much REVOLVES around psychoactive use. This is the Scholarly Order of the Root, which is a sort of mystery religion + elite community of scholars who currently occupy the Ur-Tree and its forest in the far southern Lowlands (southeast of Imperial Wardin, on the same land mass).

The Ur-Tree is the obligatory Huge Fucking Fantasy Tree (and its surrounding forest). It’s a mass of vegetation about a mile tall and almost as old as Plant Life Itself, its upper branches are primeval plants, which become more modern the nearer they get to the ground (and each 'level' holds tiny ecosystems, some containing descendants of LONG-extinct arthropods/other small animals). Its lowest branches and the surrounding forest are contemporary plant life, and all is connected and protected by an incomparably MASSIVE fungal mycelium network (which is itself a living god).

A lot of the Scholars' more secretive practices revolve around experimentation with substance use with the goal of expanding the Mind and transcending the body to fully connect to the Dreamlands, and they have a supply chain of traders and mercenaries called Rootrunners who traffic substances into the Lowlands. Most of their psychoactive use is in a very intentional capacity and not just like, for fun, but a LOT of them are just straight up addicted to cocaine (in the form of alchemically refined bruljenum, which is used for practical purposes of its stimulant effect during long hours of work).

All known psychoactives are desirable for experimentation (particularly hallucinogens), with each having properties that either allow expansion of the Mind, transcendence of the body, or outright divine communion. Their effects are logged in great detail and interpreted to form the basis of the Scholars' understanding of the natural world and reality itself.

The most important substance is Ur-Root, which is root matter from subterranean levels of the Ur-Tree that have both their own intrinsic psychoactive substances and a very, very high concentration of living god mycelium. The tree root contains DMT and the mycelium has its own wholly unique effects (being an actual living god). They alchemically refine it into a purer, more potent form, and use it to expand beyond the body and directly commune with the Giants, a group of entities they have identified as the only true gods.

An Ur-Root trip starts off with minor visual distortion, which turns into shifting fractals that slowly obscure the vision. Eventually the senses are entirely taken over by a 'tunnel' of rapidly shifting fractals and geometries. In a complete trip, the experiencer gets a sense that they have been pushed through a membrane and entered another realm, finding themselves in a distinct experiential Space.

At this point they may encounter entities which communicate to them in a language impossible to describe but wholly understood. These beings are understood to be the Giants, or at least aspects of the Giants that mortals are capable of comprehending (they often take familiar tutelary forms of the Mantis or the Snake, or appear resembling the same type of sophont that the experiencer is, all composed of ever-shifting geometries). The experiencer often feels a sense of unconditional and endless love from these beings, though the Giants may be more hostile and may appear in the form of the Trickster (usually a cultural figure regarded as malicious, be it an animal or otherwise) in a bad trip.

(^Up until this point, this has mostly just been a DMT 'breakthrough' experience ft. 'machine elves' and the like).

They are then removed from this space and returned to something that feels like the real world, but is nearly unrecognizable. They have a sense of rapidly moving through time, and will usually see 'the spires' towards the beginning, which just so happen to look like this:

(source + some context via Implication- the spires are exactly what this art is depicting)

The experiencer continues to move across an unfathomable amount of time, occasionally 'seeing' other such flashes of unfamiliar landscapes and creatures, and yet also being devoid of all their senses, the 'seeing' is pure, unfiltered experience. There is a sense of interconnectedness with all life, and that one has become the forest (or even Life) itself. The sense of time is wildly distorted, the trip lasts only about 5 minutes but feels like an eternity and is understood as literal hundreds of millions of years.

The experiencer has usually lost any remaining sense of Self and individual consciousness during this phase (in which case this time distortion is usually a neutral or even peaceful experience), but some retain a fraction of their identity, and find themselves trapped and conscious while experiencing what feels like eternity (which can be LIFE-CHANGINGLY distressing, even after the fact).

(^This latter part of the trip is the effects of the Ur-Tree fungus).

The trip ends with a sense of rushing through the ground and back up into one's body, at which point they will abruptly return to their senses and consciousness. The details are then immediately retrieved via interview and recorded in immense detail. The whole experience is understood as having been full comprehension of the Dreamlands, communion with the Giants, and then a tour through the act of creation.

This is done as part of the initiatory practice into the inner mystery-religion of the scholars, and as needed for study by high scholar-priests. It is not taken lightly, both as it is absolute communion with the gods and reality, and in that it can be a very, very difficult experience. People who have gone through this often walk away with a permanently shifted perspective, often in a positive and/or comforting way- a sense of interconnectedness with all life, a peace with the concept of death, seeing less of a point in individual ego and the concept of Self, and comfort in the sense of divine love they (may have) experienced. This heavily influences the philosophy of the Scholars and has had effects by proxy in the religious worldviews of the region.

Details of this experience are closely guarded, and initiates are given absolutely no prior knowledge and expectations for their trip. This is seen as a necessity- their naivety will allow for a true, unfiltered experience, and can be used to gauge whether they should or should not be accepted. Those that have a distinctly bad trip upon initiation may be assumed to have been 'rejected' by the giants and thus denied full priesthood, though this largely depends on How they interpret their distressing trip- those who identify this as a test and harsh lesson in a journey to enlightenment may be accepted (as this is how fully initiated scholar-priests interpret and handle their bad trips).

This inner priesthood is only a small fraction of the Scholarly Order, and its greater function is as a hub of education and repository of knowledge, and Scholar-trained doctors can provide some of the best medical care available in the setting ('best medical care in this setting' only means so much but it's pretty solid, relatively speaking). Only a chosen few Scholars ever get to commune with the Ur-Root, and most of the divine secrets revealed in the process are kept hidden (though they indirectly influence the politics and worldview of the entire order).

[touteytout]

updated refsheets!!!!!

while i do think that mbti types are a bit silly it is the easiest way for me to break down/explain their personalities. "[ISTP] is not a type who is inclined to socialize beyond what is necessary as they try to accomplish their goals." couldnt have said it better myself

[absolutely-not-my-main-blog]

Hot take 😭

[winepresswrath]

seeing nicki get dragged through the mud on account of fandom drama that isn't even about him honestly feels right. very armand core.

[slasherflicks999]

I think of AU: replacing Bill, Junko with Ben Drowned since I study how pure evil Ben Drowned was. I might write the AU series where Ben Drowned as main antagonist of things. I might replace Ghost Face as well since Ghost Face and Ben are both like to play games. Hold up- Ben in Ghost Face costume would be fitting! I hope this creepypasta gets a lot of attention since Sonic.EXE is “king” of video game creepypastas. I also like idea of Hellraiser-like AU where Ben Drowned is like Pinhead since he’s a literal mastermind of torment. I’m not sure if I made idea so well. TwT

you are like reading my mind a little bit bc i see ANY antagonist i like and i automatically like insert BEN into their place LMAOO

like omg ghost face BEN i could weep /pos i might actually need to draw that…. i love scream and i LOOOVE BEN so it’s a wonder i haven’t already drawn that yet actually :o

like yes let’s just let him be super evil sometimes im so down with that :3 like is he NECESSARILY evil in my au? no but like… i love when he is :33 i love evil BEN i cant help it……

[adelaidedrubman]

hacks is better + more important bi rep than most shows pull off for several reasons including the bi protag getting into a relationship with an m/f married couple that is treated as just as meaningful as every other Love Interest Of The Season but also specifically for the fact the protag explained this by saying “i’m actually seeing this boy/girl couple right now” like i’m incorporating the phrase “boy/girl couple” into my vocabulary right now immediately don’t expect me to say m/f ever again

[wizisbored]

squinting at netherborne trying to figure out lydias understanding of gender

[tecnestheim962]

Okay guys, I’m no artist, nor will I ever claim to be, but I was given a pouch to paint and my mind screamed Rosegarden, so I looked up both Oscar and Ruby’s emblems together and this was what I came up with (unfortunately, when I looked it up, Oscar’s emblem is the same as Ozpin’s but just to be clear, I do NOT ship Ozpin and Ruby cause that’s just yikes).

If there’s a new emblem for Oscar (I think I saw a fan made one with a pine cone which I think is cool!) that’s official, I will gladly flip this over and do a new one on the back!

Anywho, I tried to make it more obviously Oscar by doing the golden vines along with the silver roses across the whole thing.

Just thought I’d share! It brings me great happiness to have a physical reminder of my wholesome beans in my life.

[nhaneh]

Miqo'March 13, Colour

The most challenging aspect of the photo-aether-ographic tomestone had been a question of colour - how to best depict the many shades and nuances in a way that made sense even to eyes that no longer saw light, but aether.

(bonus larger shot of the image they're looking at below the cut!)