#also because I just think Corvus neat

[staticymaticyyourlifeisatravesty]

I am genuinely curious, when I made my last post I saw that a couple of us had some OCs that were the offspring of Primarchs. So I gotta ask, How many of you guys have OC children of the Primarchs and which Primarch is it that's giving grandkids to old Big E? For myself, Sanguinius has Lilith that is both greatly loved and the source of so many panic attacks because baby birb's fav uncles are Fulgrim and Leman. Usually ends up dirty with either one; paints with Fulgrim and dirt with Leman.

[grison-in-space]

I'm sorry? Pigeons have to coo to ovulate?

okay, okay, I left this one out in the tags without elaborating the other day and you were not the only person who asked-- @nanavn and @corvus--caurinus were also curious. I did not have a ton of time yesterday when my brain was not leaking out my ears, so here I am today.

First, I apparently misremembered my grad school teachings: the best-documented case study of doves being required to hear their own coo in order to ovulate is that of the ring or Barbary dove (Streptopelia risoria), not the rock dove which gave rise to our domestic pigeons (Columba livia). They look like this:

They're the domestic doves you see sometimes that aren't domestic pigeons.

But yes, I was completely serious: hens need to very specifically hear their own nest coo to ovulate. The way it works is this: these doves have a very specific courtship pattern, where courting males at different stages of the nesting process perform first a "bow" coo, then a nest coo. Then the hen makes a nest coo back, and the pair goes on to build a nest together in which the hen will lay fertile eggs.

If you prevent the hen from producing this coo--and the first paper I've linked does this in several different ways with both neural lesions and also mechanical blocks of the synrinx--she will not ovulate. Then Dr. Cheng tried rescuing the effect for doves who could hear but not produce their own coos by playing back recordings of devocalized doves' own nest coos, recordings of other hen's nest coos, recordings of male nest coos (their own males, I think, for preference?) and no recordings at all. Hen nest coo recordings, especially the recordings of the hens themselves, were enough to rescue ovulation effect... but deafened hens who could, themselves produce nest coos weren't able to make ovulation happen half the time even when the male was right there. The male nest coo and his mating display is really important, because his coo stimulates the female to make her nest coo, and that's where ovulation starts.

In 2003, a little over a decade later, Dr. Cheng wrote a whole book chapter about auditory self-stimulation as a phenomenon in neuroendocrine shifts. It makes for pretty interesting reading! I'm going to really enjoy it this afternoon. Stimulated ovulation is actually a pretty common phenomenon in animals--often it makes more sense to only bother ovulating if you know there's a partner around to use whatever eggs you yield up--but this one is one of the most interesting and elaborate systems out there, and definitely the one that offers the most options to a given female dove to potentially consciously control her reproductive output.

But grison, you might ask, what about the doves outside my window? Is this just a function of this one dove species, or are lots of doves doing this to make ovulation happen? So I went looking to find out whether anyone has checked. The thing is that the heyday of pigeon behavioral research has faded somewhat in the intervening decades since Dr. Cheng's discovery, so there's not as much as I might hope where people sat down to investigate the question. I did, however, find a neat study on Columba livia demonstrating that auditory stimulation is more important to courtship displays and success than visual displays are, although of course the multisensory courtship is stronger than either sensory modality alone. So yeah, the cooing back and forth really loudly is part of a display that is functionally necessary for successfully producing offspring, and the auditory component is important for basically every pigeon that has been studied in this respect (albeit that number is pitifully small).

I also found this really interesting review of known uses of birdsong to set internal emotional states in birds (either for the self or for a partner or flockmates) that I want to look into with more detail, plus this really thoughtful review from Dr. Donna Maney talking about how "incentive salience" can use learning and experience to make certain cues bring up neuroendocrine changes in state over time, which helps individuals control how their endocrine system is reacting to stimuli in the world they've been shaped by. Clearly I have some reading to do...

[proton-wobbler]

Great Backyard Bird Off - Eurasia (poll 2)

Bird Info & Submission Reasons

Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica)

"i see them around pretty often in my area and i love them dearly<3. very silly little guys. looking drop dead gorgeous as they pick at a pigeon carcass"

"They're bold!! they're beautiful!! They're iconic!! They feature in local rhymes and superstitions, and I get happy every time I see a pair ("one for sorrow, two for joy", but I can't possibly imagine getting sad seeing even a single magpie ngl). We're so lucky to have such lovely birds be so common and taken for granted in our area :)"

"my favourite bird <3", "Clever little trickster!! Local friend"

"They're just charming little guys", "Pretty!"

"They're so silly! I love their long tail, and the fact that despite being "black and white" they're actually full of beautiful colours. I keep seeing them near train stations as well. There's a tree near my house I call "magpie tree" because there's often quite a few in there"

"This year there was lots of them in my backyard and every morning i would happily watch them fly and hop. Nothing else i just love magpies. Also they're smart"

"Pretty! corvid! so smart! Also I just learned that you call them pica pica which is hilarious. Pokemon confirmed"

"hes my best friend and i love him", "hes my best friend and i love him"

"They’re beautiful and it always brightened my day to see one in the park when I lived in Europe"

"they're so pretty and they're so cool! there have been a few times where like three magpies have been playing in my garden! (also just learnt their scientific name is Pica pica)"

Hooded Crow (Corvus cornix)

"i love them. the sit on the roof and i throw them peanuts. i named myself after them"

"I love them", "Funny guy", "I think they're neat", "Beautiful baby!"

"I saw lots of them when i was in Germany and i think they are so cute :]"

"remember as a kid being confused why everyone calls crows black when they're clearly grey and black. I was not aware of other species jshsh. I love how they hop"

"They have such a cool look, with their grey and black! They are also quite intelligent and, at least in my experience, less wary of humans than carrion crows. They and carrion crows are often used as an example about where to draw the line between species and subspecies."

Image Sources: magpie (Alexis Lours), crow (Edgar Joly)

[apologetic-artist]

Another batch of refs!!

Alrighty! Time for design explanations (which will be under the cut) No need to read it, I just write it for fun :]

Corvus: I leaned more towards a very humanized look because I wasn't sure how to translate the whole coffin body to just a head. Honestly, I feel like it was the best choice not to make it look uncanny. Anyway, as for the wings, I think of how crows are usually related to death, so I also thought it might fit into the whole death thing. Also, I had an old OC named Corvus who was also a crow who was the grim reaper working alongside Coffin, but I decided to scrap the character for a different project and rename Coffin to Corvus and mix them together. And something I always live by, if you can't add a tail, add wings, lol. He has another outfit more based on the grim reaper, also has a scythe, but I haven't gotten around to drawing it yet.

Ellie: My personal favorite side teacher! So, in return, I had to give her a design I thought would be fun. I decided to mix in design elements from the Carehound itself, but they are both still different entities. I wanted to give her a, well, caring look that's soft and approachable since I view her as a motherly figure, making sure everyone is okay. Also, I feel like all the teachers need therapy, so it's probably for the best if I give them a therapist. I mean, in cannon, she is basically a therapist. She does have another more "human" form, but, again, I haven't gotten around to drawing it yet. I just love her.

Mean Steve: I tried to make him look like the biggest asshole that's full of himself, and that's it. I leaned towards thicker and bigger clothing to make him look more "intimidating" when, in reality, he's just insecure with everything. All I can really say, in truth, is that he cares way too much about his looks. Sure, he is a villain in my AU, but his weak. I don't like him, but his outfit is kinda killer if I'm being honest. It gets destroyed, though.

Electracey: They're cool :D. I just wanted to give them a cooler look since I enjoy drawing small details, and Tracey, in cannon, has genuinely one of the coolest designs. All the teachers, in their own ways, have neat designs, but I really enjoy all the little bolts and wiring on Trace. Also, they just seem like a person to go above and beyond with their outfits. It takes a while to draw all the details, but it's so worth it.

Sorry if these are a bit incomprehensible, I'm not really sure how to word things. But, in short, I thought design look cool so I draw it

[youkaigakkou-tl]

Breakdown of the newest G-Fantasy cover

RARRRRRR IM SO INSANE ABT THIS I NEED TO SEAR THIS ART INTO MY EYEBALLS THERE SSO MUCH TO IT!!!! AUGHGHGHH ITS SO PRETTY!!! THE ASTRONOMY OF IT ALL!!!! ok had to get that out of my system im normal now lets get on with it

Starting with the most immediately obvious parts....

Bellflowers

GRARRR ITS BELLFLOWERS!!!! ITS BELLFLOWERS!!!!

Chinese Bellflowers, called "kikyou" in Japanese, are associated with and somewhat symbols of Abe no Seimei because of the pentagram shape, and Seimei's pentagram is also sometimes called "Seimei kikyou"

In other words, AAAAA BELLFLOWERS!!!!!!

Libra

This is Libra!! Not a whole lot to say about it, but there's a neat detail that the tippy point of the triangle (Beta Librae) is the brightest star in the constellation, and it's also represented by a more defined 4-pointed star here!

Cancer and Crux

Not much to say about Cancer, so lumping it in with Crux.

Crux, also known as the southern cross, is an asterism of four of the brightest stars in the southern hemisphere, and used for navigation similar to the north star.

There is also a northern cross (that's the "body" of Cygnus), but you can tell this is specifically the southern cross because the northern one has a star in the middle

Ursa Major

You can tell this is Ursa Major by the paw stars and the back leg! This is also the constellation that the big dipper is part of, which you may know from a previous rambles to be a big thing in Taoism and also associated with Abe no Seimei.

While we're on the topic of dippers...

There's this constellation that's covered by the G-Fantasy logo (that I didn't want to draw any definitive lines for) but I'm almost certain is the little dipper

What's the deal with the dippers anyway

Hey guys. remember when i lost my mind over the big/little dipper in my kyoto arc essay. still havent gotten over that.

So likeeee... the big dipper is the one classically associated with Taoism and Seimei. The little dipper doesn't really have much of an association with anything in that area, at most you could say its an extension of Polaris, the Big Boy North Star

Note the way the handles bend, the handle of the big dipper hooks down at the end. It's not as if this looks particularly different in different parts of the world, and you can see that every depiction of it irl is the way it is.

But consistently. Consistently. Sensei draws it with the handle bent the other way, aka looking more like the little dipper

Now there's a cute idea here that maybe the big dipper represents Seimei and the little dipper represents Haru. That's so cute! Unfortunately also just an idea. Because as you can see the little dipper is also there in Seimei's magic circle. So.

(Side tangent I swear at one point someone pointed out a principal art where its super clear that the mark on his face is Seimei's magic circle??? But now I can't find which art it is)

The Shichiseiken

Tangent-ception! I recently found out about the shichiseiken (seven star sword), named after the big dipper engraved on it. Originating in Chinese Taoism, it's said to drive away evil. There's been replicas and other versions afterwards, but the major one seems to be the one that had been reforged by Abe no Seimei after being destroyed.

(Though, none of these would be the one Ranmaru has, since his is double-edged and all these japanese swords are single-edged. And besides his just looks like a chinese sword anyway)

Couldn't identify these

too few identifying features on these two constellations sadly... they both Kinda look like they could be corvus.

Well. If it is corvus, and it represents Ranmaru, thats kinda cute. In that line of logic, cancer would be Sano, and libra could be either Hijita, Beniko or Renren (or all 3 lmao?)

Ok thats all i have for now i think. its 6am i gotta sleep i just had to write this right now

[aria-bun]

I wanna know if you wanna be growing old with me

In which Corvus analyzes Soren a bit too closely. Co-written and edited by the lovely lovely @sorinethemastermind I write the Corvus POV's, they write the Soren POVs. Also on Ao3 and it has a playlist!

They got back to travelling the next morning, on the last leg of the journey, Corvus guessed.

Mainly because of how weird the scenery was getting. The trees were growing with more curved shapes to their trunks and branches, the leaves were more vibrant and in an array of hues, and the animals looked a lot different from what he was used to.

Some of the birds had four legs and seemed more akin to small dogs with wings and beaks than… well, normal birds.

It was all very interesting, but his gaze kept going back to the small bow on his wrist from the splint. It was very neat and tidy, almost more decorative looking than functional. But it held up quite well, and it made it feel less… serious than it actually was. 

It was comforting.

Up ahead, Rayla was leading the group, with Callum walking in step with her. Runaan was behind them, and he and Soren were holding up the back in silence. He couldn’t make out what any of them were saying,  and frankly, he wasn’t really trying to. If it was something important, Corvus knew that they’d make sure that he was aware.

He hoped so, at least.

It’s what he would do.

It’s also what Soren would do. Part of his brain thought as he glanced over at Soren. He seemed equally in his thoughts, observing their surroundings. His left hand was rested on the hilt of his sword idly, fingers tapping against it in a rhythmic tap, tap tap.

He seemed to do that a lot when he was bored, just tapping on things randomly. Tables, walls, his sword, people.

It was interesting. His hands always needed to be active doing something. It was more apparent when he was talking, as he would gesture randomly, seemingly in an attempt to help get his point across.

And usually, it worked quite well.

“Did you see that squirrel?” Corvus looked to make eye contact with Soren, keeping in stride with him.

“The one with the three tails?” He clarified.

“Yeah. I’m not fully sure, but I think it’s the same one I saw yesterday.” He pointed at it scurrying along the branches. “It had the same stripes.”

Corvus tilted his head slightly, watching the squirrel. It had a stripe going around its ears, as well as one going down its back to its tails. “Maybe.”

He felt Soren tap his shoulder a few times before pointing at a second squirrel, which didn’t have stripes. “Not all of them have the same stripes. It might be the same one!”

“Maybe.” Corvus gave Soren a small smile, though it went unnoticed due to Soren still looking at the two squirrels.

He didn’t mind it, though. He liked watching Soren.

Not in a creepy way. 

Definitely not in a creepy way.

He shook his head lightly, blinking the thought away.

The group continued through the woods, and as they went, more and more things continued to pop up through the landscape.

Flowers with iridescent petals.

Beetles with horns.

Hanging vines that glowed in different colors.

Mushrooms.

Corvus found his gaze lingering on the mushrooms the most. Some of them glowed, some of them had small drips coming off of them (he was careful to avoid those ones, considering the one’s he was used to that had drips were very poisonous), and some of them grew in small clusters.

The ones that seemed to catch his eye the most were a few that grew on the trees. They were a soft white with red spots, and had a subtle glow to them, looking like small steps leading up the tree.

Corvus felt Soren tap him again, but it felt less of a tap to get someone’s attention and more of an idle tap. It was on the side of his forearm rather than his shoulder, and seemed to have a small rhythm to it.

Tap. Tap Tap.

Tap-Tap Tap.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Taptaptap.

He remembered the last time Soren had done this to him. It was during one of the council meetings in the palace, before everything had happened.

He had been softly drumming his fingers against the side of Corvus’ wrist while Opeli was giving a report to King Ezran.

Corvus hadn’t thought much of it then, but he was now.

How long had Soren been doing that?

What did it mean?

Corvus wasn’t sure. He didn’t think he’d ever be sure.

But with another look at Soren, who was still admiring the scenery around them, absent-mindedly tapping away at Corvus’ arm, he realized that it didn’t really matter.

Maybe things would be okay if they stayed right here for a while.

[dragon-susceptible]

TDP Rewatch S2 E2: Half Moon Lies

Claudia does the intro voice this time.

I really do love Soren. He's given the chance to kill Rayla and he can't take it, because she's not awake to fight back. The other assassins were different because they were attacking too. And this is before his arc of losing faith and becoming a better person.

Rayla driving Soren back at first was a neat touch, because he seems actually impressed by her skills. He gets excited to fight with her because she's matching him beat for beat, but he starts giving her tips when she does what he thinks is stupid shit. And admittedly, "sweep the leg" actually would be stupid shit if she weren't incredibly strong for her size and his stance was better in that moment.

Soren and Rayla having the same moment of disgust when Claudia and Callum start flirting in front of them is fantastic. The first moment of solidarity that blooms into a great friendship later on.

I love Gren so much. This poor man. Okay yes he can sit down, for sure. I thought I remembered that but good.

Soren heard about something called "Moonshadow madness" at camp, and honestly, he's so damn cute.

We talk a lot about how different Soren is than his family, but actually, I think his lie about Harrow missing the boys is very much like Viren. The plan they had didn't work (just ask the boys to come home/cremate Harrow's body before anyone asks questions). Claudia throws it on him to figure out what to do next (Opeli noticed the boys were missing). He didn't plan for this. He's grasping for what they want to hear. He says the first thing that comes to mind (Your dad is alive, and misses you/the princes are dead). It's going to backfire on him, but it gets him the result he wants in the moment. It's just that where Viren went to escalate, Soren gets undermined instead.

Claudia straight up preying on Callum's trust and affection was part of what made me very much dislike her even from the beginning. She makes my skin crawl.

Okay, and here, again, when she meets Lujanne. She physically grabs her face and starts pulling at it, examining her like some sort of toy. "Are you real?" Claudia asks, and then ignores the confirmation to grab at the woman anyway, and keeps chattering about how realistic the illusion is. The thing is, I don't think she didn't hear. I think she knew perfectly well that Lujanne was real, but by rambling about an illusion she got to indulge her own racism without upsetting Callum, because she knew he'd pass it off as just her being distracted. Let's not forget that Claudia's the one who looked at Runaan and reacted as if he was just a collection of spell parts, or how she literally burns Rayla's braid - a culturally important gesture of affection - for a dark magic spell. Elves are not people to her, not yet. (Honestly, I'm not convinced she ever changes her mind about that, even with Terry, but I'll get into that when that comes around.)

I would also like to know what all the runes we see on the walls in the butterfly house are.

I don't remember if they ever talk about how Soren definitely did try to kill Ezran. Kind of. and lost his nerve.

Just like Viren always does.

I think it's interesting what an emphasis Rayla - and really, Moonshadow culture as a group - place on truth and honesty, when their arcanum revolves around illusions. But then, that's kinda what Lujanne talks about to Callum, isn't it? Reality and truth are just what you perceive about the world around you, and perceptions can be changed by perspectives - by light, by information, and then that's your reality. Your revised truth.

Corvus has been down in that damn village for like five days now and just now somebody told him the kids fled up the Cursed Caldera.

I forgot to comment on it while I was watching the episode but just realized I didn't add my roasting of Viren in here this time either. This dude really just threw a temper tantrum and destroyed all his stuff in the room with the mirror because he didn't see an instant result when he looked at it. First of all, can you just have a singular OUNCE of patience, you bitch, the spell DID work, it just took a damn second. Calm down. Second, that's very telling for the kind of person that Viren is, isn't it? It's not the only example, either. When he gets angry, he loses his temper, he turns violent. He stomps on the floor and strikes the air in front of Harrow. He strikes Gren when Amaya makes him angry. He destroys his tools when they don't give him the result he wants. How often did Soren hear that same speech we just got from Viren's reflection? "I thought you would be something special", spat as an insult. Soren panics at the mere thought of disappointing him. Just . . . what happened to that kid when Viren lost his temper with him?

[pa-pa-plasma]

The Difference Between Eurasian Magpies (aka corvid) & Australian Magpies (aka not corvid)

I keep seeing people very confidently call Australian Magpies corvids, or imply that they're the same species as Eurasian Magpies, using them interchangeably even when they seemingly know a lot about animals or birds, &, as someone who has accidentally gained a hyperfixation surrounding corvid magpies specifically over the last 4 or so years (iykyk), this bothers me. mostly because it's not hard to tell them apart. I do not claim to be an expert, but I know enough to tell the difference at a glance or by sound.

Starting off by comparing them side by side (Eurasian Magpie, specifically Black-Billed, on the left, Australian Magpie on the right) so you can see the difference:

Quick differences:

Eurasian Magpies are iridescent (their feathers shine blue, purple, & green). Australian Magpies are solid black & white. As babies, Eurasian Magpies have adult colouration & Australian Magpies are more of a dark brown.

Eurasian Magpies have very long, diamond-shaped tails, about the same length as their body. Australian Magpies have shorter, rounded, fan-shaped tails.

Eurasian Magpies beaks are slimmer & recognizable as a typical corvid beak. Australian Magpies beaks are thicker & are partially white.

Eurasian Magpies have white on their chest, shoulders, & on their primaries. Australian Magpies have white on the back of the neck, coverts (non-flight arm feathers), tail, & sometimes the back.

Eurasian Magpies have black eyes as adults. Australian Magpies have brown/red eyes as adults.

The most effective way to tell what kind of bird you're looking at is your location. Are you in Australia? Then it's an Australian Magpie. Are you in Eurasia or North America? Then it's a Eurasian Magpie, baby!

Second most effective way (besides lookin) is their calls. Magpies sound like higher pitched crows. They can also mimic pretty well. (this magpie, Pie, was rescued as a baby & is unreleasable, kept by an experienced couple with access to veterinary care & socialization in Canada, the Black-billed Magpie's native habitat. All of their birds would have been euthanized if not taken in). More examples of magpie sounds & Pie talking.

Australian Magpies sound like this. Sorry, idk how to describe that. I saw someone comment they sound like a rusty gate & I think that's pretty accurate. They also sound more like songbirds.

Eurasian Magpies don't have a swooping season. You'll usually see them messing with other animals, like pulling tails & standing on other birds while they're flying. When they are seriously attacking something, they're usually mobbing, as corvids do.

Australian Magpies are pretty famous for their swooping. 'Nough said. Don't go near their nests.

Both species can be befriended & trained, but this can basically be said about any bird. These particular ones seem very suitable for this, though.

While both birds are considered highly intelligent, Eurasian Magpies are apart of Corvus, along with Crows, Ravens, Bluejays, & a bunch of other birds well known for their super high intelligence. They're the guys passing the mirror test & understanding water displacement & talking to you in an oddly human voice.

To be honest, I'm not sure how intelligent Australian Magpies are, as people tend to mix them up with Eurasian Magpies. What one does is attributed to the other so often I can't find sources that is specifically about one or the other on a quick search.

This is the thing that has been bothering me. They're very different, unique birds. I don't doubt Australian Magpie intelligence, but it would be neat for it to be easier to find sources that isn't just another author mistaking them for Eurasian Magpies.

Anyways, that's my quick (messy) guide to magpies! Just like the lovely mountain chicken, just because it's named that doesn't mean it is one. Australian Magpies are their own thing separate from corvids, & Eurasian Magpies are not just pests that exist to eat your crops, they are highly intelligent, social animals that have thrived despite everything. The coyotes of birds, if you will.

Oh, also, not getting into other magpies as that is a whole shitshow I don't wanna talk about. If you have 20 minutes, a quick runthrough of the entire crow family tree can be found here by Clint's Reptiles.

[moonfurthetemmie]

Aster (he/she)

Healer, cook, and martial artist. Also a little ball of anxiety 80% of the time. 

He’s very sweet, but his social skills are ass. Blue is not helpful, and Temp and Glaze used to pick on him when they were kids. They are mostly doing it affectionately, but it didn’t feel like it. He’s closest to Wren because Wren was the only one who tried to stop them. Nowadays they all get along a little better, buuut…

Aster had 0 reason to help everyone, but he ended up learning about Corvus and Orion along with the other clones, and decided he wanted to help. He tried to get Blue to teach him to fight, but Blue was like “,,,,aster i get nauseous at the sight of blood. Do you think i know how to fight.” Blue did however help them find ways to learn how to fight. 

Aster learned Vadakkan Kalari, which is one of many styles of Kalaripayattu. Enjoy the wiki link. Anyways, she also learned healing magic, and uses her flexibility from her Kalari training to weave between and around enemies to heal the others in a fight. It took a while for her to figure out quick battle healing, but she managed. She’s an invaluable part of the team.

Of his combat skills, Aster favors a dagger, but he also can use a sword and a spear, and can take down opponents bare-handed. Oddly enough, when he starts fighting, most of his anxiety seems to go away.

Blue

He was really not ready to take care of a kid, and he knew it. He tried his best, though, even if wasn’t great.

In trying his best not to be anything like his brother, he was often overly lenient with kid Aster, until his better judgment overrode those worries and he’d suddenly be like ‘ok no, no more of that.’ He told her that he just didn’t realize just how bad an idea it was, Aster became rather afraid to try things. And very unsure of when something that was ok at one point would suddenly Not Be Okay.

When he was older Blue did explain the actual reason and sort of apologized for being the source of most of his anxiety.

Like I said with Temp and Glaze, it’s probably a good thing he had the others’ help, or Aster could’ve wound up much worse. He’s very glad they invited him.

He did his best to teach her things he knew, though. Cooking, fibercraft, yoga. The yoga helped Aster work on his flexibility a lot, which is the main reason Blue was suggested it. He may have offered earlier on, but he wasn’t going to make her learn. Once they decided to pursue Kalari, though, he was like ‘yknow, yoga could give you some extra flexibility exercises, if you wanted to try it.’ He still didn’t make her, it was just more of a ‘this might help’ than ‘do you want to do this’ then.

Other Stuff

Aster's alignment is Neutral Good

Aster isn’t strawberry blonde it’s just dye. he wants to be but alas, he is the clone of someone with a much less interesting hair color

The scar on Aster’s face was gotten during her lessons. She’s actually very proud of it. 

Fun thing about Kalari, straight from the wiki: "...it is stated that the cardinal principle of Kalaripayattu was that knowledge of the art be used to further worthy causes, and not for the advancement of one's own selfish interests." which is,,,,pretty much exactly Aster's reason for learning to fight. go see the link to read the whole thing it's neat

[soraka-in-warhammer40k]

Shadows of Treachery (HH Vol. 22)

Another anthology of short stories. But Honstly? Until now I have not been a fan of those. It's always a coin-toss in these stories, with the range being "neat" and "absolute boredom". Luckily, the average on this book was a lot better than the previous ones.

Story #1 "The Blood Red Fist" was more on the boring side, mostly because it is essentially loyalists fighting and getting absolutely wrecked. I do not remember a single named character aside from Peturabo, but the main takaway here is the absolute fuckery of chaos. Rogal Dorn's order for the fleet to return to terra came in the wrongest moment. If it had come before the fight, they would have run and made it home safely with some luck. After the fight, it would have been useful as a rally point for the survivors - even if there would barely be any as Peturabo would totally shred them. But it broke through right in the middle of the maneuver, completly ruining any chances they might have had. Don't get me wrong, they wouldn't have won, but they would have dealt a devastating blow to the Iron Warrior fleet

Overall pretty lame, but I guess that's loyalists for you.

Story #2 "The Dark King" meanwhile tunes us in to what will later be the highlight of the book, mostly focussing on the Night Lords and Curze in specific. Let's just say thet Curze already murdered Astartes before the Heresy even began. Rogal Dorn and Fulgrim attempted to contain his madness, but they did not stop the man from LITERALLY BLOWING UP HIS HOMEWORLD BECAUSE HE DEEMED IT UNWORTHY. Curze at max. level insanity, so a pretty good read.

Story #3 "The Lightning Tower" meanwhile is also a lot more interesting. Also a loyalist tale, this is essentially just a conversation between Rogal Dorn and his first captain (I think). Also it directly references the first story from Dorn's perspective, which is pretty neat. Also it once again hammers home just how much Dorn hated his job for fortifying the palance.

Story #4 "The Kaban Machine" mostly is Mars being weird, and telling people the Dark Mechanicum exists? We got a confirmation that they are working on a functional AI, but that's not very shocking really. For anyone who has read "Mechanicum" it is absolute filler material.

Story #5 "Flight of the Raven" is also not very interesting - it takes place before Corvus' book and that one sorta spoils the ending. Mostly how the Raven Guard and their Primarch made it out after the Dropsite Massacre. No relevant information was gained, aside from establishing Corvus' supernatural perceptive abilities. Also pretty boring.

Story #6 "Death of a Silversmith" is also filler-material, but so, SO much better at its job. It's essentially a civillian's perspective on the whole thing, an artisan working under the Lunar Wolves right before the heresy who got murdered by a heretic and the pages are essentially his last thoughts as the life is bleeding out of him. What makes this so good is how short it is. The author had an idea, put it down, executed it well, but never overstayed his welcome. THIS is how you write filler!

But now, to the actual star of the book - not a short story, but a novella in lenght, story #6 "The Crow Prince" which was my first introduction to the Night Lords character Sevatar - who is in equal parts a new favourite of mine and also an absolute bastard. You see, he sees himself at very rational, efficient, and all that, but is also the prime exampe for "if you want to be REALLY stupid you need to be smart first, because the dumb person will never rationalize the truly stupid decisions or in fact never realize they coud make them".

The man is beyond reckless, both in combat and social situations. Also I love how he just takes absolutely no shit from his Primarch, and Curze is also delightfully insane in this story as well.

Not going to spoil much but I sure hope there will be more Sevatar in the future, mostly because I definetly want to see where this high-functioning-absolute-idiot will end up.

The next book will be Angelus Exterminatus, and I am excited for I heard a lot of good stuff about this one...

[moved-to-void-kissed]

id just like you to know that ive loved hearing about your dqix s/i, and your crush on pavo !! I'd love to hear more !!!!! dq has been my favourite franchise for like a decade now and 9 is one of my fave games ever haha ^_^ (corvus was my fave character ever for the whole of my teens mfhdkshslshsh—)

aaaaah bee you don’t know how happy this made me feel to see this, thank you so much for sending this ask!!! I always worry I’m kind of just talking to an empty room when it comes to my selfships in series that others don’t also selfship in (Void speaking into a void, or something, there’s a pun in there somewhere). I notice it more when I talk about Luna too. But, to know there are people who also know of and are also passionate about the same series that I am really does make me happy!!!! (You are super valid about liking Corvus, he is pretty cool, haha)

When it comes to Pavo, the reason I realised I had a crush on her was because I was playing a lot of DQIX recently for an AU I had for my XC2 selfships, making a party out of Sapphire, Vandham, Pyra and Perun where Pyra (or technically actually Mythra) was the Celestrian in the group. It just kind of stemmed from the fact that Pavo is really cool and I wish she had more presence in the game, though I’m in the process of unlocking the quest which involves her and Aquila so that will be neat. Also when I looked her up on the wiki and saw her actual official artwork, then saw she was in some other game where she has an awesome finisher move and an incredibly pretty new artwork (as well as a pretty cool voice!), the feelings just sort of kept avalanching .w.

As for my self-insert, Ardea, I’m still not completely settled on how I want to play her. I was thinking maybe an armamentalist with a bow, but I’m not actually very good at playing support like that (I find it way too tedious constantly re-buffing everyone after Disruptive Waves and would rather leave that to the AI) and also if I were to make a stand-in for Pavo so that I get to travel around with her, I think I would make her either a ranger or sage (with heavy strength investment and cool spell access) with a bow, because she uses a bow in her finisher from another game. Possibly I might make Ardea a martial artist with claws, just to make her nice and fast and really able to deal lots of damage which is always fun? I’ve not really played as that before either. Currently the rest of the party is Avalon as a warrior with a spear (since I just really like bringing him into different series with me apparently) and Iris, a luminary with a fan, since again I’ve never really used either of those classes before.

I have played a lot of DQIX in my time, I even have a bit of detail about the three other party members I always end up using (who are, I think, recreations of the first ever randomly-generated party members I got on an early playthrough!!) It’s one of those games where I have no idea where I got it from, but I’m so glad to have played it so much, especially more recently since I have a save editor that lets me access all the extra DLC-unlocked quests from years back that I haven’t ever really seen before!

I’m.. still very tired so I’m sorry I can’t think of much else more to say, and I wrote this in a lot of bits and pieces so it probably doesn’t flow very well, but seriously, thank you so so much again for this, Bee - it really means a lot, and if ever you want to talk about DQIX or the other games in the series, (do you have any self-inserts??) I’m always more than happy to listen and talk with you!!~

[ellewords]

Hi elle! How are you today? Take care of yourself.

Okay; Corvus and Gemini, atair and proxima centauri, moon and comet.

Have a nice day, dear!!

i’m doing alright !! hope you have a nice day as well <33

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corvus : what are 5 things you appreciate about yourself?

— it’s the way i had so much difficulty answering this question. uh i guess that i like how i make a conscious effort to be kind to everyone. i know this is very bare minimum, but a lot of people don’t even have the decency to do that. um i like that i try to make sure that the skincare and makeup that i use are cruelty free (bec animal testing just makes me 😡). i like my hair, it’s pretty wavy which is nice (though very hard to care for and maintain). i am actually running out of things?? my handwriting is decent when my professor isn’t talking at the speed of light. and i like that i can read relatively fast considering that it comes in handy for my degree.

gemini : which character (fictional or not) is your spirit animal?

hmm i assume this means which character i identify with most? if so probably yachi from hq or amy from b99. though i would just love to exude elle woods, hermione granger, or robin from stranger things energy.

though a little note on using the term “spirit animal”

atair : why is your favourite book, well, your favourite? do you have a favourite quote from it?

— paulo coelho’s the alchemist (which i’m rereading rn) !! just a lovely story about listening to one’s heart, following dreams, and just so so well written. i have so many favorite quotes i can’t just choose one !!!

“One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.” — 🥺

“So, I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you.” — so who’s gonna tell me this huh :<<

“Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.”

“Don't give in to your fears. If you do, you won't be able to talk to your heart.”

“We are travelers on a cosmic journey,stardust,swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share. This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity.”

proxima centauri : if you would have the chance to travel the world, which places or countries would you like to see?

— i really just want to go to a field of tulips in holland 😔 also maybe italy so i can put all these italian language classes to good use 🤧

moon : “A man is made of memories. It is all we are.“ (Lawrence) what do you think this means? Do you agree?

— the way this question sent me into my comparative literature classes. to an extent, i suppose i agree. memories play a role in who we are as people; the places we go to, the people we encounter and share them with, how we interact with these things all contribute in some way to our view of the world and of ourselves. and every single day we make different memories, also opening up the idea of growth and change based on the things we learn from these experience. but i don’t know, part of me likes to think that there’s more to us than that?

comet : you have the chance to undo one thing or decision in your life, would you take it? If you are comfortable sharing: what did you change?

— hmm, i don’t think i have any huge ~regrets~ in life. mostly because i really do try to think things through carefully. though i guess i wish i was more open and extroverted, esp before the entire world was put in pause; said yes to more opportunities, accepted more invitations to nag out, and just not let my anxiety get the better of me ://

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neat space asks !!! 🪐

[ironxkid]

for headcanon topics: her favorite stars/constellations, birds, and/or what kind of music she listens to!

Favorite stars/constellations

her two most favorite constellations are Cetus and Corvus! Corvus because, well, it’s a raven (despite corvus meaning crow fdsgjsgfdj), and Cetus because it was one of the first constellations she learned about! Ironically enough, Cetus is known as the whale, sea monster, or leviathan, and it’s still a favorite of her despite hating the ocean fdsghjsd

her favorite star, currently, is SMSS J2003-1142 because that star is the root of the recent discovery of magnetorotational hypernovas!

Favorite bird(s)

corvids! Specifically ravens and crows, and I usually say her favorite in particular is the white-necked raven because I took a daemon quiz for her years ago and that was one of the results! Unfortunately the specific quiz I took is no longer available rip

tbh, she just thinks they’re neat! But they’re also incredibly intelligent, which she finds fascinating and may or may not have tried to get one to befriend her at uni

Kinds of music

tbh, Carter listens to just about everything! But, she draws a pretty hard line at country music dsgfjhdsfghj

now, she doesn't hate all country songs! But overall, she... absolutely doesn't care for most of it lol - it's the twang that tends to grate on her, and she doesn't like how nearly every song that's popular is a white man singing about beer, trucks, God, girls, se/x, and how Ame/rica's the best

her favorite genres, though, tend to be pop, folk, indie, and a mix of the three! 

[nemrut]

Epic 7 - 27.05.21 update

So, big update coming tomorrow and a lot of good stuff for beginners, but mainly gonna focus on the units though.

For one, the ML selector stuff. Am lucky enough to already own 4 of the 6 heroes, so for me, it is a decision between Ruele and Dark Corvus (or a second arby in order to build 2 different arbys but I am ashamed enough of owning one arby already). For most people, it would make sense to get an Arby if you don't have one, but I do respect people who hate Arby and stick to their guns on that one. Unfortunately, I was not strong enough in character for that and went for the good character who made my PVP and farming life easier.

Personally, I am gonna go for Ruele. I know that Ruele might be in the next mystic rotation or the one after the next new mystic hero, since she is getting a skin in RTA, and they need to run her again in mystics before that, but honestly, not really interested in Dark Corvus. And I am hoping for a good, exiting new mystic 5 star. Maybe ML Cermia or ML Celine?

Then there is ML Kawerik. I know people are ragging on him, but honestly, he seems pretty solid. He has a really good S3, a decent S1 and a weird S2. But his S3 alone makes him worthwhile using. While he might not be bad, it is however undeniable that he is boring. He looks bland and his skills are nothing new and do not introduce a new mechanic or do some crazy thing. He cleanses, gives ATK buff and immunity. That is very respectable and useful, in both, PVP and PVE. But we have similar heroes. Personally, I just recently built DJ Basar, and I am not looking to replace him. Sure, he has no atk buff, but he grants some healing and CR push instead. It is a skip for me, but not because he is bad.

Besides, he might get a buff in the coming months, transforming him into a monster, but you can't really count on that.

Now, coming to Ilynav. She seems pretty cool. Her S3 is an aoe attack, giving herself immunity and everyone on her team increased crit dmg. Her dmg is also based on her own health. Now, that seems decent. Even if her modifiers turn out to be bad and that her dmg is subpar, it should still be decent dmg and crit dmg buff can be useful, depending on the team. The one thing to keep in mind though, is that crit dmg cannot exceed 350%, so on certain characters, it might be wasted.

Her S2 inflicts injury, also does dmg based on her health, gives herself a health buff and can be triggered by her S1. Her S1 just does dmg based on her health and can trigger her S2. It also says that dual attack is the only condition which may not trigger the S2, so counter set seems viable there.

She also has a crit chance imprint.

So, overall, if her dmg modifiers are low, I guess she could be underwhelming but I do feel like there is room to use her. And who knows, maybe she will have actually great modifiers and hit like a truck.

Lastly, Ml Khwazu. He just seems strong. His S1 burns, and has a higher chance to inflict burns if he has vigor. Also inflicts one additional burn then. His S2 is insane, as it can cleanse himself after being hit by an aoe. It also grants him vigor, recovers his health based on his own atk value and gives himself a 20% CR push. His S3 hits one enemy, strips all buffs, inflicts two burns and detonates all burns on the target. Ignores ER if he has vigor. Also only has a 3 turn cd. So, it is a single target warrior who can delete a lot of units with his s3 and can't be shut down by aoe control. Individual units with no aoe attacks could ruin his days but this still makes him fairly strong on paper.

That said, I am not going to roll for him since he is an ML 4 star, so there is no guaranteed pity on him. If I get him, I will build him, but if I don't, not going to get sad about it.

So yeah, neat units all around.

That said, as everyone knows, collab and summer units are on the horizon, so it is a time to not waste too many resources. I really shouldn't roll for Ilynav but I think I am gonna, mainly because I have enough BMs to get her without touching my skystones. Hopefully, she won't require me to use up all my BMs like the last knight did.

[yeocult]

Hii~ ursa minor, corvus, orion, gemini, betelgeuse, deneb, spica, proxima centauri, mimosa, star cluster, moon, comet, delta iv heavy, heavy falcon, soyuz, RCS, RD-270, raptor? (so sorry it's a lot of questions 😅)

*cracks knuckles* it’s time to get ready to overshare !! thank you for sending so much in!! it was fun hehe

ursa minor: do you have hobbies or interests that no one knows about?

hmm sports, writing, and editing? i enjoy watching sports matches and being nerdy about analyzing the players and game lol, mostly basketball and volleyball! i hate playing sports though lol. writing and editing are just for fun! (irl ppl don’t know much so i guess it’s a secret). i’d like to pursue editing to something more serious though!

corvus: what are 5 things you appreciate about yourself?

1. neatness and i’m organized! / 2. i only surround myself with good people, if there’s something off about a person i immediately cut them off (idk if this is me running away from everything bad or that i respect myself lol) / 3. how easily inspired i am / 4. chill? (is that the right word?) sometimes i just can’t bring myself to care that much abt certain things lol / 5. fashion sense i think

orion: what element would you like to be able to bend?

i convinced myself i was a waterbender when i was younger lmao but i’d like to bend fire! no reasons, i just think it’s cool hehe

gemini: which character (fictional or not) is your spirit animal?

shizuku from whisper of the heart and ursula from kiki’s delivery service...they are just so comforting!! having a lil studio in the forest is such a dream!

betelgeuse: which video games gives you nostalgia for a place you have never been to?

ah i don’t play any video games :-(

deneb: you can turn one book into a movie,tv show or video game. which one are you picking?

omg this is a hard one! i’ll probably think about this more but rn i’m completely stuck >///<

spica: when do you consider a movie “good”?

no plotholes, it’s consistent, and not so cliche. the texture, not bland, and good writing is important too. soundtrack that evokes emotions is kinda important to me as well. not so much necessary but i like it when a movie has an open ending! i look forward to the cinematography a lot too :D but honestly, everything needs to work well together, the writers, actors, and production team.

proxima centauri: if you would have the chance to travel the world, which places or countries would you like to see?

ooooh i want to visit china, germany, dublin, singapore, hanoi, japan, s.korea, and new york! so many places >///<

mimosa: what do you associate with your favourite colour?

beige - comfort, coffee, home, silence, sundays, fresh sheets, and cookie dough :DD

star cluster: what is something you have gained, something you have lost and something you let go of during the past year?

gained - interest in filmography, writing, and editing / lost - activeness ?? lmao ever since quarantine I've gotten so lazy / let go of - a close friend of 5 years

moon: “A man is made of memories. It is all we are.“ (Lawrence) what do you think this means? Do you agree?

kind of! how we act and behave was all from our childhood—memories. it shapes us how we are today. we think a lot, we experience a lot, so it think this is what the quote means...? hopefully i don’t sound stupid lol

comet: you have the chance to undo one thing or decision in your life, would you take it? If you are comfortable sharing: what did you change?

yes! i would taken more opportunity and put myself out there more often even if i’ll get hurt—i think it’s a learning experience that i’ll never get back

delta iv heavy: what is your favourite thing about your degree course?

ah i’m not there yet (i’m assuming this is for uni/college). but, i’d like to study fashion design or something in the art department hehe

heavy falcon: what is a subject you are highly interested in but you would never study yourself?

english, biochem, interior design, history, ohmygod i have a lot. but the thing with me is that i’m very interested in anything, i’m curious, but i’ll never commit to anything that isn’t art because i’m simply just not passionate enough. there’s a difference with being interested/curious and passionate for me...? (not to mention i suck at anything else lol)

soyuz: language(s) you would like to learn?

chinese!! i’ve actually started learning 2 years ago but never continued with it because it’s just too hard !!! >:( i also can’t even speak my mother tongue fluently so i need to get that first before learning another one. the tones...are soooo !!! difficult !!!!! i’ve also learned french for 7 years but i sound embarrassing sigh

RCS: how do you stay focused and productive?

sigh...i’m the worst student ever. i just kinda guilt trip myself into studying like “you’re a burden if you don’t do good on xyz” or like just slap myself and get it over with yk? it’s not the best lmaoooooo

RD-270: Do you need silence to study? or do you like to listen to music? if so, what is your go-to study-playlist?

rarely, i like to listen to music 99% of the time. it’s either a random khh/krnb playlist with new songs i’ve never listened to, lofi, or piano music! sometimes i’ll listen to my own playlists but it’s distracting with songs i know lol

Raptor: do you study at home or do you prefer to study at the library/in cafés?

sigh, i hate studying outside. maybe that’ll change for me in the future. i’ve tried studying in the library and i got nothing good done. i’ve also never went to a cafe to study. although i do love the vibes, it’s usually too loud for me. i like being in the comfort of my own room :))

send me a space asks!

[musubiki]

May I hear more about Murda's not-a-coattail brother? He seems neat.

oh yeah!!!! 

his name is corvus, his sister calls him corv. hes about 2 years older than murda (24 after the timeskip), and hes the only one she trusts to be in her guild!! 

because of this, he has his work cut out for him. i wanna say hes like lime, but even limes stress doesnt come close because at least mochi is manageable for lime to handle. 

murda is just a pain in the ass. shes a bitter loner who puts up with people because she has to, and is kind of like Eeyore if eeyore had ager issues and a superiority complex. but corvus puts up with it because he loves his sister and she would actually be hopeless without him LOL

they live in a rainy mining town called Ardov’s Quarry. Corvus works in the mines and brings back gemstones that Murda fashions into jewelry and charms to sell (its kind of like mochis shop where she puts spells on her merchandise. im thinking it’ll be like those energy stones thing. “This quartz necklace will make bring you healing” or something)

his cursed item is his mining gloves, and their power bears a STRIKING resemblance to kyanites favorite weapon form - he can gather rocks/stones around his hands and use them to fight. powerful punches. except his is different from kyanites in the sense that kya needs materials AROUND her to gather from, whereas corvus’ gloves can manifest material to recharge.

hes cool, compared to his sister. can be pretty emotionless, most of the time. hes the sensible one. he is the leash that stops his angry sister from doing stupid things. also murdas crow familiar prefers to perch on his shoulder instead of hers because hes taller. he takes good care of her though, since they really only have each other now.