#alignment isnt important

[robobee]

actually i have more to say. some things that are regular innocuous parts of fandom/shipping culture with white characters NEED to be considered very carefully before theyre imposed into characters of color. sure making the slightly homophobic but ostentatious white man a secret yas queen gay works if it's a white man, but if it's specifically an Asian man you're using in the background to propel your identical white Blond and Brunette male love interests closer together in solidarity of How Much They Ha(y/t)e Him like. Think Carefully About It

[dickgreyson]

i know this sounds pedantic but i really wouldnt be worried about a trump swing, this is a get out the vote problem

[butchtoads]

Important ! My tag for suggestive/mature content has changed! The old tag was "suggestive cw", the new tag is just "suggestive". This covers anything from mildly suggestive content to discussions of adult content/activities. Ultimately this is still my personal account and these are topics that are important to me as a part of my human experience. These are only occasional but will pop up here. This change is to avoid confusing around having extra stuff added onto tags that folks might have in their blocklist to avoid people seeing stuff they don't want to.

[catcze]

#WRIOTHESLEY — Butterflies

Reblogs are greatly appreciated !!

[ Typing… ] I will be so honest rn... if you don't like sappy lovesick shit you are going to cringe but if you DO like sappy lovesick shit 👀 say no more. He might be ooc but i do not care because i love him and I want him to love me 2 <3

“Hey Wrio?”

“Yes, my love?”

You’re not even sure if he’s fully awake. You don’t blame him if he isnt— it’s probably two-something in the morning and the both of you are neck-deep in the sheets of your bed. If anything, it’s a wonder why you’re still up.

“Nothing important, sorry,” you mumble, face buried in his chest. “Just… wondering about some things.”

“Like?”

Wriothesley’s hand rests on the expanse of your back, drawing slow, soothing shapes into your skin. When you glance up, his soft and sleepy expression greets you.

“Like… Like if you also get butterflies in your stomach and all that when you see me like... the way it is when I see you,” you admit quietly, snuggling closer, hoping to hide the expression on your face from his keen eyes.

There's a pause, and for a moment you wonder if you offended him somehow. An apology is hastily on the tip of your tongue, thinking that you'd crossed some unspoken line and had jeopardized everything.

But Wriothesley pulls you up and up before you can speak— far up enough on the pillow that you're now seeing him eye-to-eye instead of hiding in his chest. There's no anger or apprehension in his face, only a gentle fondness and the sweetest smile.

One of his hands cups your cheek and the other wraps around you, keeping you flush against him. His hands are so warm against you— so at odds with the alignment of his vision. Even his cool blue eyes are warm and soft when they connect with yours, enraptured by the sight before him.

Wriothesley's voice is a low murmur when he speaks, softened by affection. "My love, every time I see you, even in passing, it feels like my heart will beat right out of my chest. It's like the whole room just lights up and I can't see anything else but you, you know? You're in every one of my thoughts, every crevice of my heart, you wonderful thing. I take one look at you and I can never get enough."

He presses a kiss to each eyelid. His words are sweet like honey as he holds your face so gently in his palm. "I'm so devoted to you, darling. I could stare into these eyes for the rest of my life, and I would know the meaning of peace."

With one hand, he twines his fingers with yours, lifting your joined hands to his lips with reverence, and placing a kiss on the back of your hand. "Whenever I feel you under my palms, no matter how fleeting, I feel every single part of me come alive— as if you've sent sparks to me through your very finger tips."

Wriothesley's hand untangles from yours then, just so that he can guide it to rest on his chest, right above his heart. Even through the cotton of his sleep shirt, you can feel it racing under your palm. You glance up, and nearly buckle at the expression on his face. He is so, so in love with you— in every definition of the world, in every way that one person can fall in love. He smiles.

"My whole heart is yours. It beats and it sings and it aches all for you. Whenever you're nearby, I feel like I can't breathe and I can't think. All I want is to make you happy and to make sure that you are loved, and to offer you the world, should you ask me of it."

"So to answer your question—" With a grin, he ends with a peck on your lips, and his forehead pressed against yours. Under your palm, you can feel his heart skip a beat.

"Yes, honey. I do, in fact, get 'butterflies and all that' whenever I see you."

Taglist registration [ ! ]

[ehlihr]

Hi!! Do you have any advice on drawing ears and how they are positioned on the face? I noticed that the way you draw ears is quite varied compared to other artists, even with different types of pointy ears like on your OCs or on Falin! I really love looking at your artwork and it was a detail that caught my attention!

Really quickly roughed this out for you but i have to say i actually consider ears to be a serious weakpoint of mine so this isnt really a reference so much as things i keep in mind — i basically have to adjust them every time i draw anything to get a feel for them! Ears are a part of a character’s design so i adjust pointiness and shape to match the character’s vibe.

I feel like the biggest pet peeve i have is that people forget perspective is a thing! Ears are aligned to the brow ridge and where the nose connects to the upper lip, yes, but a character facing any direction other than profile’s ears will recede in perspective and appear to align more with like, the cheekbone or the eye, depending.

Last note is when i say “suggest don’t tell” that’s really advice for anything — sometimes suggesting a structure is more important than getting it exactly right. It’s also jarring for a viewer to see one hyper detailed area of focus when the rest of the image doesnt have that and it’s not on purpose — is the ear more detailed because the artist wants you to notice it, the character is listening hard, etc? Or is it detailed because the artist was unconfident about which details to include and unintentionally gave a tell as to a weak area of their work? I feel like i can always tell when an artist used an Abnormal Amount of Reference for a spot of a drawing because they lacked confidence, correctly went to get reference, but then failed to pare down the detail to match the image. Ears can be a tell for me in my work anyway. And people facing away from the camera.

Hopefully this helps but i really dont know how to draw ears well i feel really unconfident about them lmfao.

Anyway thanks for the message!! This is very unstructured but hopefully its some decent insight into how i think when drawing ykwim

[wiltyrose]

hey so lesboys and male lesbians aren't valid btw. if youre a man youre not a lesbian. period no conversation. the fact that there even has to be conversation over something so common sense just shows me the lack of critical thinking done in this community.

"im ftm" so youre still a man, or male aligned, and you aren't a lesbian if youre a man/male aligned. its okay to be straight, or pan, or bi, or anything else. you know that right.

either youre not a man and using the ftm label wrong , or youre not a lesbian. you dont get both, that isnt how it works.

are people just afraid to call themselves straight.

if you want inclusion make your own fucking label. nobody is saying you cant exist. nobody is saying you cant be how you are. we're just saying you're using the wrong labels and youre too self absorbed and rude to listen.

"but im nonbinary" so youre not a man, this post isnt about you.

"my pronouns are he/him but im a lesbian" pronouns dont equal gender this isnt about you.

"I identify as a lesbian" and you can identify as a toaster if you want. doesnt make you a toaster. for lack of a better blunt example.

im not even claiming that it hurts the community or that im bothered by it. it just makes you look stupid.

sincerely a gay trans man who has lesbian mothers and lives constantly surrounded by the REAL LIFE lesbian community. we're all looking at you like you have two heads and its not a compliment. just use a different label. either youre not a man, or youre not a lesbian. do you even know what lesbian means. if so then get a reality check and stop being weird.

and honestly yeah it kind of does hurt the community. youre like the endos of the osdd/did community, you make people look stupid. you open the gateways to male invasion in a women's safespace. make. your. own. label. stop calling yourself lesbian.

and dont even get my started on the misandry some people throw around.

"misandry isnt a problem" oh really. so you dehumanize men because you believe men aren't as important as you or dont experience hate while youre actively being a bully to them. how about take away the gender separation and just focus on the fact that hate as a whole is a problem.

"men's mental health month isnt important, its pride month" how about we stop separating it by gender and just focus on the fact that mental health is important PERIOD.

[safety-pin-punk]

What’s your biggest advice for baby/puppy punks or someone who’s just now looking into it?

Easy. Such an easy answer that it usually escapes people. My answer isnt music or bands or a specific life philosophy that you need to dedicate yourself to. No this one is much more simple.

Learn how to think critically about EVERYTHING

Start small if you have to. For example, WHY did you buy *insert item here*? Was it worth the price? Was there a reason you bought it from that store? Who benefits monetarily from the purchase? Does it make you happy?

Then go bigger. What did that politician say? Whats their stance on that topic? Why is that their stance? Who does their stance hurt? Who does their stance benefits? What could be the implications of that stance going into affect? Could that be easily reversed? How do you feel about that stance? Do the pros out weight the cons? Are any choices completely good? Do you need to sacrifice one thing for something else? Is that sacrifice justifiable? Why?

My point is, you shouldnt just follow and do what others say. You shouldnt jump on a bandwagon just because something is popular. Dont vote for someone just because it seems to be the popular choice in the circles youre in. Vote for someone because you’ve taken the time to think about their stances and their opponents stances and you’ve decided thats who you align with most.

Just. Think about your decisions. Think about what impacts they could have. Think about who you are and what you support. And most importantly think about WHY you support it.

And I realize this may be easier said than done. But I honest to god believe that this is SO SO SO important for people to learn how to do

[falsettos-confessions]

I don't hate the revival but I think the OBC is very important and that you kinda need to watch it. Not trying to sound pretentious at all, honestly I'm not. But I notice a lot of mischaracterizations come from Revival fans who have only watched the revival. (Even me... I had some bad takes lol now im an OBC truther and probably still have them but shhhhhhhhhh)

This isnt even about "twink" Whizzer (I saw a take that said whizzer is whatever the actor portrays him as in that particular production and thats what I align with because actors will make a character their own when they play them and its valid)

But the people who swear up and down that Mendel is evil incarnate, Whizzer is a poor baby who did no wrong, etc...

I've only ever seen be revival fans??? Maybe thats because the revival is most popular on TikTok, though. Lol (I love TikTok but also some ppl on there have the media comprehension of a goldfish)

I feel like a part of it comes with how vastly different the obc and revival are.

The actors all have different ways they play their characters (which is fine)

BUT

Thats why its important to watch the OBC!!!!!! (in my opinion)

Sorry if this makes zero sense I just got off work and tired 🥀

~~~

[ladyiristheenchantress]

Morals and Ethics

Hello Friends!! to preface: This post is not here to police anyone on what is the 'correct' way to practice. My aim on this post is to be culturally and magically informed, so this isnt going to be a take down of any belief or path line. Instead this post is offered up as a way to not only build your own moral frame work, but get you thinking about where you stand magically and enhance how you practice! Our moral frameworks are all unique, something that would be a faux pas in your practice might be something thats culturally common in others, so lets throw on our thinking caps and get started!

What is building an ethical and moral framework?

Building an ethical background in witchcraft involves establishing a set of principles, values, and guidelines that guide your magical and spiritual practices! In essence It helps ensure that your actions align with your moral compass (Wherever it may lie). This background can help you make informed decisions, cultivate energy, and maintain a respectful and balanced relationship with both you and your magic.

Some religions and paths have their own moral and ethical framework, for example lyma is this idea of "something to be washed away" and is a big deal when practicing within Hellenic Spaces! It would be immoral to approach an altar without washing your hands if they were dirty, but on the flip side some cultures actively encourage dirty hands like people who worship earth within their gardens. Depending on your path you might have a specific framework.

Another aspect is moral frameworks change and that is ok!! Its important we aren't stagnate and its ok to change your mind and feel like you want to change things up. That is totally reasonable and people do it all the time like with politics, religious affiliations, jobs, and more! Ethical and Moral compasses can change just like we do.

How to build an ethical framework

Self-Reflection: Start by exploring your own values, beliefs, and moral code. Reflect on what is important to you, what you stand for, and how these values relate to your magical practices. Also now would be the time to decolonize your beliefs and explore your biases. Its ok to acknowledge your bias, as long as you are working through it. If you dont know what decolonizing your beliefs is I left a helpful video above, just click 'decolonize your beliefs'

Research and Study: Deep dive into different ethical systems and philosophies. Familiarize yourself with various witchcraft traditions, such as New age spirituality, Pagan magical systems, and country/area specific + their associated ethical guidelines. Read books and articles about ethics in witchcraft whether you agree or disagree. During this time you are simply collecting as many perspectives as possible and comparing them to how you feel, don't feel pressured to follow something if you don't feel it applies to you.

Connect with a Mentor or Community: If possible, seek guidance from an experienced witch or spiritual space who can share their ethical insights and offer advice on building your own ethical framework. The best part is, different spaces will produce their own ethical codes of conduct. For example some spaces don't allow love spell discussion for example, which is an ethical guideline.

Create Your Own Code: Based on your self-reflection, research, and guidance, create your own personal code of ethics. This code should reflect your values and guide your magical practices. It might include principles like harm none, respect nature, work for the greater good, or take no shit. Wherever you feel you sit, walk with it. Whatever comes natural to you explore it. Write down what you believe as a symbol, but do so in pencil so you can change it as needed!

Regularly Reevaluate: As you gain experience and your understanding of ethics evolves, revisit and update your ethical code. It's important to grow as your spiritual journey progresses like I mentioned above. You are not a static person, allow yourself to experience your moral compass and how to bends. Allow yourself to be fluid and honest. Not everyone is 'love and light' or 'fuck authority' your allowed to be who you need to be!

Different Types of Ethics in Witchcraft:

Note: This is not every type of ethics, but rather a couple examples of the ethics you may see in your research and which group it belongs too. This area is not meant to endorse or critique an ethical guideline but instead showcase the many that do exist.

The Wiccan Rede: "An it harm none, do what ye will." This is a central ethical guideline in Wicca, emphasizing the avoidance of harm to others as a core principle. Another one is The Threefold Law, this law suggests that the energy you send out, whether positive or negative, will return to you threefold (three times what you sent out). This encourages practitioners to be mindful of their actions.

Green Witch Ethics: Green witches emphasize their connection to nature and the importance of nurturing and protecting the environment. Their ethical background often centers around conservation, sustainability, and working with the Earth's energies respectfully.

Personal Responsibility: Some witches adhere to a more individualistic code of ethics, focusing on personal responsibility and accountability for their actions.

Balancing Left hand and Right hand: For some, ethical considerations involve finding a balance between Right and Left hand magic, and acknowledging the potential consequences of working with both, one, or neither. The right and left hand path are types of magical systems that involve different attitudes towards magic, the right hand emphasizing healing and selflessness, and the left hand emphasizing individuality and shadow aspects.

Respect for Spirits and Deities: Many witches emphasize the importance of showing respect and gratitude to the spirits, deities, and entities they work with, recognizing their agency and autonomy.

Are there any absolutes that I should be aware of?

Absolutes are ethical things that you do need to make sure you are integrating! These are really important things to note when you are learning, because if you do choose to disregard these you could contribute to some really bad concepts that intrinsically cause harm to real people

Respect - Cultural awareness, avoiding appropriation, and looking out for other people can be important. Its important that you fully evaluate a moral system before indulging in it. For example: In the love spell discussion and lot of cultural practioners voices are left out of the discussion, same with baneful discussions. Its important to listen to many groups of people and take stances that dont turn peoples cultures into a monolith, demonize them, or silence them.

Hate groups and cults - Its important that you check where a belief comes from and see if it matches with any hate groups or cult rhetoric. These groups create really flashy and easy to digest claims to try and push an agenda kind of like a salesmen. Their whole job is to try and push you into their group so they can get money, power, fame, and in some cases carry out atrocities. This corresponds with that decolonization conversation from earlier, because it can help keep you and other witchy friends safe!

Nuance - Its important to keep nuance in the conversation. Don't take extremely black and white stances if you aren't knowledgeable on the subject. I think even advanced practioners need to remember to keep nuance in their opinions and keep an open mind when presented with new information or moral ideals. Keep an open dialogue when you are having conversations, and remember to keep asking yourself why you believe the things you do.

Remember that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to building an ethical background in witchcraft. Your ethical code should be a reflection of your personal beliefs and values. It's essential to be true to yourself and to strive for a harmonious practice that aligns with your own spiritual journey! Enjoy the ride :)

Tip Jar

[malewifesband]

it was not a shock to me that ppl shipped kabru and mithrun (toxic yaois great, plenty of ppl like antagonistic dynamics and wanting to see two characters who were at odds become close and align in their goals) what was a shock was that ppl didnt even see their relationship as antagonistic

like they didnt notice that kabru had been shackled and tied up. they didnt notice that once he loses his binds and rejoins the others fighting in support of laios, he does not go back to check on mithrun or his canaries. he only visits them again because laios wanted to ask mithrun for help, and kabru offered to negotiate for him if he was nervous. he gets mithrun back on his feet, but he isnt the one to make mithrun find value in being alive again--senshi does that. kabru doesnt talk to mithrun again, at least not in a capacity kui deems important for us to see. he spends his time at laios' table in the chapter cover, next to his own party early in the feast, and with toshiro on the last day; again, not with mithrun. kui suggests in a q&a that they probably eat together again, but its nothing like the way kabru is living with yaad, marcille, and laios and working with them in the post-canon; and in a lot of supplemental material hes choosing to spend time with rin and the rest of his party or with toshiro and laios

this isnt to say extra-canon and post-canon materials are the be-all-end-all, but they should inform the way we see the relationships in canon, how they develop and which ones the characters most cherish and which ones kui wanted us to focus on

theres nothing kabru does for mithrun that indicates kabru sees him as a friend and theres little to suggest mithrun sees him as much of a person, let alone a friend. pattadol is the one caretaking for mithrun in the post-canon, and shes the one whos there when he waxes about how he and marcille are lucky bc their loved ones can fill the gap the demon left them

and do not tell me about how mithrun trusted kabru at the end of 62, because that isnt what happens. mithrun had been asking him about laios since kabru threatened to kill them both, trying to locate the next prospective lord of the dungeon, and he sees an opportunity and seizes it. the next time we see kabru, hes shackled, and the canaries are moving in to interrogate laios and co. all kabru asked for was a chance to speak to laios, and that was specifically denied him until every canary was dead, incapacitated, or too busy fighting izutsumi to stop him. he was not being trusted--he was being used

[prlite]

the importance of self-trust, society's obsession with humbling others & why shifting doesnt need to be "proven" for it to be real — a very messy midnight rant.

i feel like every shifter has their first antishifter encounter and instantly feel like theyre insane. youre shouting about your dr and how you heard your s/o whilst trying to shift & someone shows up and goes "🤓 ackshually you have psychosis, DID, schizophrenia, maladaptive daydreaming disorder, npd, aspd, spiritual psychosis...youre a freak, you shouldnt exist here...what a weirdo" and you instantly feel like shit because you were super excited and someone came, threw a bunch of bricks at you and ran off giggling — happy that theyve "humbled" you because you're "weird".

youve never actually talked to this person or even if you have, youve never done anything to them...and your shifting journey and what you believe doesnt do anything to them either...yet theyre so hellbent and focused on humbling you.

why?

ego. well, thats the blanket answer obviously some of these people are just dicks but id argue 99% of the time its an ego thing. seeing someone so happy over something so small, something you dont have to believe in or dont even believe in, seeing them so happy...is wrong because in this world and in this day & age, its not normal and its almost unfair...how can you be free and happy and thriving over silly things instead of suffering like everyone else. once you hit a certain age, youre expected to stomach and simply deal with the way the world is...you cannot change it. why? because youre nobody. you need to simply deal with it, thats the "real world".

but the second you defy that, the second you go against that, the second you decide to change things or believe in things that arent conventional...that arent the "status quote" — youre the crazy one. in a world where water is put behind a price tag and people go into debt for injuries, whats considered crazy and abnormal is simply...you. why arent you sad? why arent you stomaching it like everyone else? why arent you following everyone else? you cant just believe in what you want based on yourself, thats selfishness...you must be selfless but not the selfless where you help others, the selfless where you put down yourself so others feel better.

people love to humble others, because you put down others to put yourself up. you see someone believe in astrology...what a freak, so you go out of your way to bully them...why? because thats just how the world is.

thats the "real world", thats how everyone is...except its not, thats just how these people defend this. people's egos make them feel entitled to other people suffering...because theyve suffered too. "if i have to be treated awfully, so do you! thats how the world works!"

you put so much trust in these people, believing them when they say shifting isnt real...even though theyre just a random person in a sea of billions of other people. that level of trust, should be put in yourself.

there is no stronger weapon than self-trust. the ability to simply know your strengths and proudly show them, not allowing others to push you down so they can be elevated.

you deserve to shift, you deserve everything positive & everything that is aligned with your desires. if others say you dont, would you instantly crumble down & believe them? if so, why?

why are they the spokesperson of your life? who appointed that position?

those who are stuck in the grasps of negativity, drowning themselves in selfhate, will always try to throw others down as they try to pull themselves up...yet youve let someone like that be the spokesperson of your life...the narrator to your story.

this fear of regret, embarrassment, shame...of being wrong...of being the freak and the weirdo...this fear of self-trust...it will do nothing but shackle you to the very place youre trying to leave. its okay to be wrong or make missteps, thats natural...thats human. you dont need to be humbled, or treat yourself like youre this crazy person. all you need is the ability to trust yourself...to trust that youll move forward and continue to go to where you desire; that you know what you want because noone knows you better than you do.

if shifting is real to you...if it feels real...if youve shifted...then you should trust that it is real. someone who doesnt have a degree cannot diagnose you (you cannot daydream asleep, you cannot luciddream awake, you cannot trigger yourself into psychosis, if you were to shift & it was you simply interacting with people here because you were hallucinating and making it all up and youre so "crazy" and "insane"...people would notice & there would be videos spreading of people doing this...like thousands of videos by now — a lot of antishifter stuff is just fancy words being snowballed at you) & someone you dont know shouldnt be the narrator and the voice of reason over what you do with your life.

dont let people who are desperately trying to make others as miserable as them drag you down to the hole that theyre in. trust yourself, they will never know nor understand you. shift & live for yourself, even if its "selfish" & "weird".

prl ✶⋆.˚

[youkaigakkou-tl]

(sorry in advance for the long ask) i feel silly for not noticing earlier but i realized that "Sano Mikoto" follows the same "__ no mikoto" name pattern that several japanese gods have. but that also made me wonder: if the 佐 from sano's name means "help" then his whole name sounds like "the god of help/assistance". but based on how that doesn't align with his yakubyougami nature and how ebisu reacts to hearing the name in ch 53 (his reaction is a bit more clear in the jpn raws) (1/2)

佐 doesn't really mean "help" on its own, it only somewhat means that when it's part of the word 補佐 "hosa" , which means "assistant" (in an organizational structure to a chief or leader) rather than like "helping people". Most of the time 佐 is just used as a kanji to represent the sound "sa", which is somewhat frequently the case for the on-readings (similar to chinese pronunciation) of kanji.

This is particularly prevalent when it comes to ancient literature like the creation myths and stories around gods, where the stories originally only existed in verbal form, and when japan adopted the chinese writing system some 1500 years ago, they applied certain chinese characters to the sounds that existed in japanese (the 50 or so hiragana that exist now) in order to put the stories into writing.

(and then over time 50 or so kanji got simplified into hiragana for normal use but thats neither here nor there. but names got to keep their kanji, which is why creation myth gods often have stupid long names that are 1 kanji per syllable, and the kanji used dont mean much of anything by themselves)

(theres also that often the kanji chosen will have been positive words, stuff like "fast" or "wise" or "powerful", in addition to the chinese word sounding like the japanese syllable (which was the more important part). Its unclear whether all these attributes were all applicable to the god named, its just as possible people afterwards applied those attributes to them in future retellings of the stories because the kanji was in the name. sort of a chicken and egg problem. and anyway, does it really matter what the one "true" interpretation of a story is, if one exists at all? it's a very modern sensibility to demand one, when for much of history stories only existed in the air between a storyteller and a listener. im getting off track here)

this is a lot of words to say, what is significant about the 佐 in "sano", is that it's the same one as in susanoo-no-mikoto. susanoo, notable for being associated with storms and disaster, for being exiled from heaven after causing some sort of destruction, and for being a child of izanagi and izanami and born after their first child hiruko (or rather, ebisu).

the thing about the yakubyougami thing, as with every other youkai and everything about folklore, is that at the end of the day, it's a story. youkai are just a set of attributes and circumstances that are wrapped up as a story, and in turn given a name and a face. a kamaitachi is just the occurrence of "wind whipping up suddenly and dust and leaves cutting someone" wrapped up as a story of "what if an imperceptibly fast weasel with knives did it?!"

it's why there can be so many different versions of stories for the same youkai, with behaviors and appearance differing from place to place, or the same "story" being given a different "name" in different places

(relevant to the latest chapter, i sort of suspect this is why theres like 10 different monkey youkai whose lore is just "this monkey is a FREAK")

what im getting at is, this isnt really like scientific taxonomy classifications, where theres genes you can sequence or criteria you can check to see if something is the right species. (and even then, there's birds stranded on isolated islands, fish sealed in caves, microorganisms in general, etc etc) there's not like a "youkai auditor" that goes around auditing if you're Really the youkai you say you are.

nor is it like you intrinsically know what youkai you are and all the lore about it and what behaviors youre supposed to have and what powers you have etc. you're told that by your parents, and in cases where that isnt possible, you figure it out somehow. like with beniko (popped out of a house and raised by humans), they looked it up and people have come up with a name for the phenomenon, which was called "zashiki warashi". or in cases like odawara where you really do just come to life alone, i imagine you either make a name for yourself, or humans who come across you will make a name for you.

which is a lot of words to say, sano can call himself whatever the hell he wants to make his life easier and not have to explain his backstory or have classmates make guesses at his backstory, as long as his traits somewhat fit. especially since recently he's often in the same scenes as kurahashi, who is now confirmed to straight up not be who or what he says he is.

[tnttime1]

ASPECT ASSOCIATIONS, HEART

TODAYS ASPECT IS THE ONE OF HEART AND SOUL. THE ASPECT, THE TOPIC, THE CONCEPT OF HEART!!!

though before i get into my ideas on heart i should probably explain what this series of posts and mindmap is about. its a conceptual map, expanding and describing every part of an aspect by relating it to multiple ideas or how its a direct synonym or phrase of the aspect, like to put your heart and soul into something or to have a heart/ soul. these phrases or saying describe something about the idea of heart that isnt just having the literal organ called a heart, heart in those contexts meaning emotion or passion or soul.

the mind map can help show WHY someone would consider heart to relate to roleplay or introspection, without me just having to trust them on it. i would like to see their reasoning or how they got to that idea, and i assume some others would like this too which is why i made this sort of simplified mind map. no concept here has a sentence or paragraph explaining it, but through connections and associations you can figure out how something is connected, and if you disagree with one area of the reasoning, like you disagree that heart is about identity, then youll might have a better chance at understanding WHY you dont thin heart relates to role play. if you question why identities would relate to roles, you can possibly talk with another about it, leave a comment below or even search up online the synonyms or associations with identities and roles.

this mind map should give shape to the mental connections we make in our heads, and allow us to explain or share why we think certain ideas fit to an aspect, like how chaos would relate to rage and what ideas or reasons its connected to (chaos could connect to rage because it is something someone who hates on stuff can cause, or maybe it can be connected to rage due to how madness and instability is seen AS chaos). AND IF THIS IS DONE WELL WE CAN EVEN SEE WHAT POSSIBLE REASONS OR IDEAS ANDREW HUSSIE COULD HAVE ASSOCIATED WITH THE ASPECTS, like finding out why luck would relate to light. we basically rediscover the systems meanings and associations from the ground up

since i want this mind map to show how everyone mentally associates ideas to an aspect I WOULD LIKE EVERYONES COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS TO HELP EXPAND THIS MIND MAP OF ASSOCIATIONS. whether you send it to my discord tnttime1, my tumblr, my reddit or in the comments below

what i find most interesting about the concepts connecting to heart is the "subjective experience" and how it lead to solipsism which is the philosophical idea of only you yourself existing for certain, which can give ideas on your persepctive being the only one, the only real one, the most important one. its an idea i havent thought about but seeing how it relates to yourself and can give focus to yourself as the only persepctive you know matters. i wonder how such a person or character would be, and if being so self focused can somehow not be destructive or isolating.

also when making the connections to the idea of heart i actually noticed how the topic was so internal, i didnt find much to heart that you can describe objects with unless it relates to a person. i would like to find a perspective of heart without needing a person though that maybe asking for something contradictory to heart. the best thing ive found to that so far is theater, specifically the roleplaying and emotion filled part of theater

oh and one more comment, i assume many who read this assume you need to align with the topics to be considered heart bound, but you can also connect or relate to it in an other way. someone who hates love, identity, romance and expression would still have the topic of heart but would be described as a hater of heart, or i guess in classpecting terms, possibly someone who wants to destroy heart or remove love, identity, romance and expression. another way to possibly relate to a topic, maybe you help others find their identity or love or help others experience romance. im not sure of all the ways to interact with topics, though maybe thats more a class thing. let me know what you think about this

oh and for those who want to see these images in a better quality, or want to see the most up to date version of the mind maps, you can check the google drive folder here

i made them all in this app called obsidian, so if you put the files in the project folder i think thatll let you edit them yourself, and id love to see those edits so tag me if you make any

[maud-lin]

its cooler in ur inbox im just gonna hang out here until the temperature cools down outside, ok

while im here. how important is a soul to alias? theres many varieties of soulless life (constructs, the occasional barovian npc), and the exact IMPORTANCE of a soul to a person isnt clearly defined. its hotly debated, but not DEFINED. clearly life and personality can persist without a soul, but is a soul necessary for a "full" life? is it a liability, because it opens up avenues for uncounterable influence and corruption (a god influencing your soul which then forces personality changes regardlesd of the victims wishes)?

does a soul contribute something valuable and irreplacable but unnecessary?

obviously these are hard worldbuilding questions but answering them through the viewpoint of a character for whom theyre exceptionally relevant is more fun in my experience

okay have fun with the existentialism :)

OHHHHhhkay. I've actually thought a lot about this—it's more of a worldbuilding question than it is an Alias question but it DOES pertain to her (and other Bhaalspawn).

(putting this under a cut because it's pretty long)

Souls vs Spirits

A spirit is one's life force: it allows things to breathe, eat, move, speak, etc. It might retain some semblance of awareness, but is otherwise non-sentient. Spirits are corporeal.

A soul is one's willpower: their memories, personality, voice, alignment (or lack thereof), etc. Souls ARE sentience. Souls are non-corporeal.

All living things have spirits, but not all living things have souls. Plants are alive, but don't have opinions or feelings about things... most of the time (are Treants plants?)

The soul can exist independently from the spirit. Ghosts ARE souls, just disconnected from their spirit (or life force) and corporeal bodies.

The spirit acts as a conduit of the soul. The soul (i.e. the willpower of a living being) channels the spirit through its body or host and controls its actions. This is why (...most) plants are immobile and have limited awareness. Their responses to stimuli are thoughtless and involuntary.

Spirits need fuel. All living things need to consume other livings things (plants, animals, etc) in order to fuel their own life force (i.e. spirit). That's the circle of life, baby.

note: The terms "soul" and "spirit" are sometimes used interchangeably in-universe, but I chalk this up to common misconception/linguistics. For the sake of answering your question and explaining my own worldbuilding, I'm treating these two terms as seperate things.

Vampires drink blood to siphon the life force (i.e. spirit) out of living creatures because they lack their own—they won't DIE from lack of blood (because they're already "dead") but rather lose control of their bodies and their hunger because their soul no longer has that spirit (life force) to fuel their bodies. Some vampires like Strahd take it a step further by ALSO consuming the soul. The soulless Barovians in Curse of Strahd are clearly alive, but they have no will. They have no personality, no feelings, no alignment—their spirits retain their base instincts and fragments of their former selves, but otherwise they just... exist.

Devils, on the other hand, want SOULS because it gives you complete control over a person: whether by having them serve you in life (like Mizora does to Wyll), or in the Hells upon death (like Raphael does to his debtors). This is why Devils use Soul Coins as currency—which is also the reason I believe letting Karlach eat any soul coins is a ridiculously evil decision, especially because souls stuck in soul coins CAN be freed relatively easily, citing what Decent into Avernus has to say about them:

If you have control over someone's SOUL, you have control over THE PERSON (which pertains to Alias in a significant away that I'll get to in a second).

By the time BG3 rolls around, Alias is intimately familiar with the metaphysics of souls, their value, and function in her world, so they're mostly just another facet of nature to her—but how the metaphysical function of souls impacts Alias is far more interesting.

When Gorion's Ward gets their soul stripped from their by Irenicus, Bhaal involuntarily turns their body into the Slayer. Their soul is the only thing that protects them from becoming a thrall to Bhaal's whims because the soul is connected to one's autonomy. The moment their soul is outside of their own control, they are thrown into a constant mental battle between them and Bhaal for dominance over their mind and body, too.

Blood acts as a potent retainer of life force, hence why vampires drink it, you need it to make constructs like homunculi, etc. When the games refer to Bhaal's "divine essence" I believe they're actually referring to his life force (i.e. spirit); by housing fragments of his spirit in mortal spawn (which could not all be contained in one mortal vessel at once), it could exist in a living host while Bhaal's avatar was dead, before it eventually returned to a new avatar for him to inhabit. The Bhaalspawn's OWN souls—their will, their power of choice—is what ultimately separated and protected them from Bhaal. But because Alias does not HAVE that protection from Bhaal due to the way she was created and the power he has post-resurrection, he is able to control her *all the time* (until the tadpole interfers with that connection a la Astarion with Cazador and Bhaal severs that connection completely on his own accord before Withers resurrects her).

[izzyshandz]

I swear if i see one more mf say izzy has been 'redeemed' or needed a 'redemption arc' im literally going to scream into my pillow until i lose my voice.

redeem is such a black and white way of looking at his entire character and dismisses everything hes gone through and yall (izzy haters and others) are just so fucking snob nosed and ignorant to sit there and think hes a villain because of how he acted. theyre fucking pirates. theyre not perfect, none of them are. eds a villain, stedes a villain, if youre doing it like that. ed has killed so many people, stede literally left his wife and kids and also had a hand in killing people; it may be easier for them to change because of the perspective the show gives them and they had love but izzy did not. everyone hated him, ed, his own crew, stedes crew.

normalizing peoples reactions to things as something other than villainy and heroism is so god damn important in a show that's trying to accurately involve our perspectives in this day and age. its a tale as old as time, making someone 'completely in the wrong' because their perspective isnt the one you aligned with as much.

like the rest of the crew izzy had his own bad things hes done, he didnt need this 'redemption' everyones blabbering on about. he needed to be fucking heard, to be seen, and acknowledged-- not thrown aside and abandoned because of a whim. you all can ride up blackbeards ass because oh hes so hot, hes so pretty omg wow; but that wont ever change the fact his character is a fucked up person... youre allowed to love him anyways, why not izzy? we didnt see blackbeard before screen but how hes mentioned it shows he was a shit awful person, the only reason no one cares is because on hes fuckin gay for stede or whatever so the main characters get a free ride. ( i agree they all get a free ride, im just tired of this izzy isolation man )

why does he need to be redeemed in your eyes? just because youve seen what hes done? he was literally a product of his environment in season one he was a product of blackbeard's leadership. only with the loyalty and solidarity of the crew did he really begin to find himself, thats fucking hard to do that late in life. instead of calling it some bullshit black and white redemption arc, lets just celebrate izzy being himself and being fucking loved for once in his god damn life.

hes also way more fucking mature and put together than people give him credit for. love you izzy.

edit: thank you all for the reblogs and insights in every single one, i read them i promise i do. im just so mf heartbroken we have to tag things as discourse when its really just about people not being compassionate. (as a couple people have pointed out) i will said id reblog and comment on every single tag but this is my side </3 EVERYONE PLEASE READ THE REBLOGGED TAGS TOO / / theyre so real ! ive also opened up that ask box thingy i havent been on tumblr in yrs and have 0 clue how any of that works if anyone wants my perspective on anything izzy related. *or otherwise ofmd related

[quinloki]

you've casually ripped my heart out and took a bite so I raise you

Sun God Nika.

ACES brother.

Warrior of LIBERATION.

meeting the very not liberated "s/o" of his brother (and I mean they gave him candy so now they're auto besties )

I imagine him being torn with helping his friend even if he has to fight ace because something is obviously wrong with him.

This isnt the brother luffy remembers.

his ace would never take someone's freedom like this, he couldn't...He could never...right?

Not after all they talked about

...right?....

But he did and luffy is ridiculously emotionally smart so he knows in his gut this is the truth and he has to do something for his new friend who asked for help in getting free.

hes strong enough now.its not like he has to kill anyone to safely get you both away but why does it hurt so much? Your okay and he isn't wounded..so why?why does he feel so...so...betrayed?

..By ace?...

for not being who he looked up to anymore.

he really wants to cry. He wants to excuse his actions but that would make him just as guilty wouldn't it?

At least your free now. Even if its left his heart beating different....

Sorry for spelling mistakes !

No apologies needed, but allow me to make it Worse.

Imagine escaping Ace and ending up on Luffy’s crew - we’re not going to worry about any other surrounding details, but the important bits are that you don’t know they’re brothers.

Luffy doesn’t know the terrifying person you’re running from is his brother. Couldn’t imagine it in a million years.

Maybe it’s post time skip, post Wano even, before you, Ace and Luffy occupy the same space (I am thinking shadow reader vibes, thatch and Ace are alive, etc.)

All through Alabasta the stars just didn’t align, and at Marineford you realize Luffy’s connection to Ace and maybe that’s why you leave with Crocodile again instead of Luffy when everyone’s going their separate ways.

However it works doesn’t matter.

Its just that moment when Ace finds you, he’s relieved and delighted and the others are going to be so happy you’re alive. And for a second Luffy is almost delirious with joy.

His friend and his brother are friends and now they’ve been reunited \o/

But then Luffy looks at you, and he knows.

Your fear is palpable, but more than that he’s putting the pieces of stories he’s heard over two years ago or more together. The emotions. All the details. Your fear is so obvious and strong even the rest of the crew knows without seeing.

Luffy grabs Ace’s wrist and pulls until Ace lets go of you. He doesn’t understand at first, “Luffy what are you doing?”

But the smile fades and the expression on Luffy’s face is a mix of sorrow and despair.

“They’re afraid of you Ace, can’t you see?”

And in those words is so much more. How could you? What did you do? Why is their fear so terrible? Ace - what happen to you to change you so much?

He hasn’t hurt like this since the day he thought Kuma had slaughtered his crew.

And for that to turn into a fight? Yeah, the drums of Liberation will have an almost manic edge to them after that. They cannot be somber, so instead they’ll be a little more wild, a little more free, a little more loud to drown the pain god bears.