#and basic power structures

[greensaplinggrace]

"You can say 'all are welcome' but if wolves and sheep are both welcome you're only going to get wolves" is a quote that I think maybe end of season two alina needs to hear at some point tbh

[garlicgravy]

I know Kai x Cole are known as lava, and Cole x Geo are known as geode, and Cole x Geo x Kai are known as Molten shipping... But what about Kai x Geo with their ship name,, hmm..

[sysig]

Do not separate them /threatening (Patreon)

[subway-boss-jericho]

So how did ingo evolve in the Combee au after you know they got separated

Long and complicated answer! Welcome to The Plot!

After Ingo and Emmet are separated, Ingo tumbles into Hisui and is generally pretty worse for wear. He has to relearn how to fly (alone and unbalanced) and figure out how to Survive.

Thankfully for him, he manages to make some friends :] Mainly in the form of a slightly greener Laventon, fresh on the scene in Hisui and substantially newer to the field of research- A hurt combee, while still a Pokemon, is a lot easier for one man to handle and approach on his own. He takes Ingo back to his office at Jubilife and nurses him back to health- And while he sleeps one night as Laventon is burning the midnight oil, the little bee beegins to take on a glow. It encircles him like a halo, and when the light clears, he has a little red marking in the shape of a triangle on his chin.

Laventon gets to witness the first Hisuian Combee, Ingo himself rather clueless to the whole thing.

His evolution comes a lot later, after Laventon reintroduces him to the wild; Laventon takes Ingo to the Combee colony living in the Heartwood and makes sure he acclimates well enough/isn't rejected before falling back to leave him bee.

I haven't decided exactly what happens and when, but in the time Laventon spends away, Ingo evolves in an attempt to protect the colony from some kind of danger. When Laventon finds him again he's nearly unrecognizable- An alpha- A noble by right, first of his kind and dignified guard to the field's Combee.

He recognizes Ingo not by appearance but by his behavior alone- Treating Laventon with familiarity and hospitality. He's exceptionally gentle for his size and strength, and continues to get along with humans shockingly well. (As a pokemon from the future, we've seen they are broadly more domesticated.)

Is this a ramble! Yes! It is! There was no quick answer to the question :> I hope you enjoy the elevator pitch plot points. I love the bees so fuckin much man....... Why does Arceus bless Ingo? Great question. I just think he should be gods favorite. As a treat. And also it's a super awesome story device that I haven't seen many other people use- the origins of Hisuian Pokemon.

Thank you for the ask!!

Combee AU Masterpost

[serpentface]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[fiapple]

i'm getting towards the end of the skypeia arc, & i'd like to say just how much i adore the way the female strawhats have been treated.

just... every aspect of how the way their characters have been previously contextualized influences the story-line is treated with a masterful amount of consideration. we're given so many layers to both of them that enrich not only their characters specifically, but the arc, and the one piece world as a whole. without nami & robin having their specific skills, and their specific values, without those being built upon, the story would have come to a halt.

you could not have skypeia without nami & robin being who they are as individuals. not just because they never would've gotten there without nami, but also because the way these women think is itself foundational to the machinations of the arc as a whole.

to be totally upfront, if you think any other strawhats were more central to the skypeia arc than nami & robin were you are full-on fucking lying to yourself.

[hidey-writes]

six sentence sunday

Under Gu Yiran’s hands, the chicken van bumps along the uneven road like a living thing, and he tightens his grip against it. Beside him in the passenger seat, Zheng Bei stares out the side window in silence. Gu Yiran had made Zhao Xiaoguang show him the map, during one of the endless waiting afternoons in the hospital when Zheng Bei wasn’t there. He’d reached out to trace the circled spots, all three, the sleeve of his hospital shirt catching against the edge of the paper as Zhao Xiaoguang said, Ge wanted us to check all of them, even though he was pretty sure you could only be here, pointing. A cluster of rectangles marking the abandoned crematory buildings north of Halan. Zhao Xiaoguang had left a fingerprint smear of grease along the entry road, right where it ran along the train tracks.

another snippet from the start of ch5! it feels so weird to be back to down drafting now that ch1-4 have shifted the story so far from the original final chapter outline that literally none of the draft material is appropriate anymore lol but it's really enjoyable to just sit and type the most medium sentences in the world without having to do any higher-level thinking about pacing or subtext or anything :) brain off drafting my beloved :)

[shkspr]

also if you dont think that marginalized men have the power to (and frequently deliberately do) benefit from & perpetuate misogyny you are straight up stupid. shut the fuck up. dont call yourself a feminist or a leftist or any kind of ally bc you are patently failing step one

[curiosity-killed]

Sometimes you see posts on here and it’s like…your argument isn’t entirely logically wrong but it is predicated on a pretty clear lack of understanding of the words you’re using

[aries-temporis]

more of my dumb magical girl concept lol

[wonder-worker]

"The division between the two families [the Woodvilles and the Nevilles] and their allies can be seen in the royal charters that they witnessed. Warwick, Rivers and Archbishop Neville of York, while serving as chancellor and afterwards, were fairly constant witnesses to royal charters and consequently often appeared together. This was not, however, the case for other family members and friends. From 1466 to 1469, if Scales or Woodville associates like Sir John Fogge, John Lord Audley or Humphrey Lord Stafford of Southwick witnessed royal charters, then members of the Neville group, such as John Neville, earl of Northumberland, or John Lord Wenlock would not, and vice versa. Discounting the ubiquitous Warwick, Rivers and Archbishop Neville, of the twenty-four charters issued between February 1466 and June 1469, twelve were witnessed by men associated with the Woodvilles, eight by men associated with the Nevilles and two were witnessed by no member of either group beyond the two earls at their heads and the archbishop; only two charters, both from 1466, featured associates of both families.

Such striking segregation of witnesses suggests that something more than simple convenience or availability was at play. [...] The evidence of these witness lists does show the extent of the split between the two groups from early in Edward's reign and of the need for political society to work with that cleavage in the heart of the Yorkist regime."

— Theron Westervelt, "Royal charter witness lists and the politics of the reign of Edward IV"

*This is specifically applicable for Edward IV's first reign; in contrast, the charters in his second reign displayed a great deal of aristocratic and domestic unity and cohesion.

[anthonycrowley]

i have been thinking for literal weeks about a conversation i had with a liberal in my life (identity withheld) because like the leaps of logic this guy was making is more fascinating to me the longer i think about them. conversation i had was based around politics. always a bad idea. and we got on the subject of why democrats lost. and you guys know i am firmly of the opinion that it was not just down to the candidate, but that this was an election where people wanted change and she was basically promising to be four more years of biden. and like as good as that sounds now obviously that’s clearly not what ANYONE wanted. and it made for an uninspiring candidate. and this guy. this guy still blames young people for not basically getting in line and voting for the party whoever that person may be. oh well say we ran someone like bernie sanders, he would have gotten 15% of the vote in florida. okay. we haven’t won florida in years and won’t again probably! florida is off the motherfucking board! why are we even trying to win florida!!!!!!! meanwhile people said years ago that trump was a joke candidate who would never win a primary and say what you want but the republican party coalesced around him because that’s what the rank and file of the party wanted. democrats are going to lose every presidential election we come to because they are running uninspiring candidates who are trying to persuade the odd moderate to come back to this party rather than coalescing around political figures people are actually excited by. and people STILL want to blame fucking chappell roan et al for losing. insanity. and yes i know this political commentary is months old and we have better things to talk about re trump but i truly think that if biden stepped down and we could have actually picked a candidate that maybe we wouldn’t be living in a hellscape and i’d really like the democrats to realize that before the next election maybe.

[greenbloods]

it’s so funny how the lannisters started doing everything aerys did but twice as unhinged as soon as they grabbed the throne. the wildfire. the incest. the attempted extinguishing of whole bloodlines. im starting to thing we can’t ‘the madness is in the targaryen blood’ our way out of this one boys

[zuzypiia]

by the way would you guys believe me if i told you I am in the process of literally rewriting the Cold War alongside with World War 1&2 and the French Revolution... for a modern royalty au of rivalsduo + dnf centered fanfic?

[shoecrabs]

i honestly don't think anyone will care but I keep brainrotting over the idea of a pjo/rainworld au

I've turned the Seven into funky slimy cats dealing w concepts far beyond their comprehensions lmao

[rustchild]

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