#by invoking an old special interest | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

yamayuandadu · 7 months

Text

1000 followers special: the history of the hakutaku

I recently hit a major milestone. It would appear that over a thousand people apparently want to see more on their dashboards. To celebrate, I decided to go back to the roots of this blog. While I doubt many of you remember it, some of my first posts were complaints about Touhou fanworks failing to account for the fact that the hakutaku was not a boogeyman, but a good luck charm. In this article, I will explain how come, what exactly the role of an "auspicious beast" entailed, and how different people utilized the story of the hakutaku through history. I will also check how does the Touhou portrayal compare to the historical sources - though that's not the only case of modern reception you will be able to learn about. As usual, more under the cut.

The earliest history of the hakutaku As in the case of many other Japanese mythological beings, the history of the hakutaku actually starts in China. The creature was originally known as baize (白澤); hakutaku is simply the Japanese reading. The name can be literally translated as “white marsh”, but how it initially developed is unknown. Donald Harper argues that baize can effectively be considered a deity. For what it’s worth, there is clear evidence that it could be invoked in theophoric names in the first millennium. The first known case is a certain Zhang Zhongkui (張鍾葵; obviously, his old name is related to the well known figure of the demon queller Zhong Kui) from Northern Wei, who was renamed Zhang Baize (張白澤) by emperor Xianwen. Crown prince Xiao Zhangmao of the Southern Qi was nicknamed Baize, too. Multiple other examples are apparently known, but sadly I was unable to track down any information beyond a confirmation they existed. Generally speaking, the baize played an apotropaic role. Bernard Faure argues that the creature effectively fulfilled many of the roles of the fangxiangshi, a class of ancient exorcists. Pictures of it could be hung in houses to ward off malign spirits and misfortune. Textual sources indicate this custom was widespread among various social strata. Images of the baize could also be embroidered on clothes, banners and other items. An interesting practice tied to this is documented in sources pertaining to the life of empress Wei from the Tang dynasty. Reportedly her younger sister Qiyi (七姨) slept on a pillow with a depiction of the baize to ward off malicious spirits.

A typical illustration of various creatures from the Shanhaijing (from Richard E. Strassberg's translation; reproduced here for educational purposes only) While the Tang period is when the belief in baize flourished, the creature was actually older. The first references have been dated to the fourth century. Sometimes even in academic publications you can find claims that it is as old as the Shanhaijing, but this is a mistake. It is true that copies of Shanhaijing which mention the baize exist, but they were only produced in the Ming period and the description was likely sourced from a contemporary encyclopedia, Sancai Tuhui. It is not impossible that the baize ultimately did originate before the Six Dynasties period, but this cannot be proven conclusively. From Baopouzi to Dunhuang manuscripts: Baize, the Yellow Emperor and the Baize Tu The first certain attestation of the baize has been identified in Ge Hong’s Baopuzi, which you might remember from my Ten Desires and Zanmu articles. In the section dedicated to the Yellow Emperor, the author states that in addition to his other famous deeds, this legendary ruler recorded the words of the baize. A more detailed account of this event in preserved in a more recent source, the Yunji Qiqian, specifically in the chapter Xuanyuan benji (軒轅本紀; “Basic annals of Xuanyuan”, ie. the Yellow Emperor). It relays how the Yellow Emperor encountered the baize on Mount Huan (桓山) during a hunting expedition to the eastern frontiers of his kingdom, close to the sea. The creature appeared before him to share esoteric knowledge. It relayed that there are eleven thousand five hundred and twenty types of malign beings, the “spectral prodigies” (精怪, jing guai), in the world, and explained how people could protect themselves from each of them. There’s no real theme to the creatures mentioned: they include animal spirits, spirits of places and objects (for example a stove), as well as various beings which can be broadly described as genius loci. The key to overcoming them was to know their true names. This is not a belief unique to the baize tradition. The Yellow Emperor ordered this to be written down so that this knowledge can be preserved and further disseminated. The compilation of baize’s advice came to be known as the Baize Tu (白澤圖), literally “Diagrams of White Marsh”. This tradition must predate Ge Hong, as he mentions the Baize Tu as a work which can be consulted to gain additional insights when it comes to repelling demons. However, he does not connect it with the Yellow Emperor legend directly. Multiple other sources attest that various variants of this treatise actually existed. Song shi (宋史; “History of the Song”), attributes its composition to a certain Li Chunfeng (李淳風; 602–670). Despite apparently relatively wide circulation, every single version of this work is now lost, save for a ninth or tenth century fragment discovered in Dunhuang, the so-called Baize Jingguai Tu (白澤精怪圖), “White Marsh Diagram of Spectral Prodigies”. It was originally identified by Jao Tsung-i in the 1960s, around 60 years after discovery. The surviving sections describe and depict some of the, well, “spectral prodigies”, as promised by the title, as you can see below:

Illustrations sourced from a recent reprint of Jao Tsung-i's article, via Brill; reproduced here for educational purposes only.

Other manuscripts from Dunhuang mention the baize alongside Zhong Kui in the context of new year celebrations. As both of them were believed to keep nefarious forces at bay through different methods, it presumably felt natural to invoke both at once. The Dunhuang texts discussing the baize do not contain any images of the creature. However, the exact same site did provide us with a depiction of it, most likely:

The supposed baize painting from Dunhuang (British Museum; reproduced here for educational purposes only)

While the enormous creature in painting above was initially interpreted as some sort of longma, according to Donald Harper its distinctly cow-like shape indicates it should be interpreted baize. The human figure is presumably a scribe, which might indicate we’re dealing with a pictorial version of the legend about Yellow Emperor’s encounter with the baize. After all, someone had to be present to write the creature’s advice down, as requested. The string of coins might be there to provide the image with further apotropaic qualities - the use of coins as talismans is a well established part of new year customs dating as far back as the Tang period. That’s actually where the modern custom of giving kids money in red envelopes comes from. While the supposed baize painting is a unique and remarkable work of art from a modern perspective, it was likely not regarded as such when originally made. At some point parts of it have been cut, and a Buddhist woodblock print has been pasted on top of it (obviously they were separated during restoration). Before that it was presumably meant to serve as an ephemeral amulet, discarded after it had served its purpose. This obviously does not diminish its value as a historical source. History is not just just about grand codes of law or royal declarations, as the fact that the study of the culture of some of the oldest states rests largely on the equivalent of receipts and school exercises. I guarantee that in a few hundred years trivial newspaper articles will similarly be the subject of serious inquiries. Buddhist reception of the baize

A Chinese depiction of Manjushri (wikimedia commons) Baize also occurs in Buddhist sources from the Tang period, where the creature is linked to Manjushri. This was rooted in a new development, namely the reinterpretation of this bodhisattva as a figure associated with auspicious signs, rather than his traditional domain, wisdom. Additionally, it was presumably easy to link an at least semi-divine distinctly bovine creature with the custom of referring to certain buddhas and bodhisattvas with the title of “ox king” (牛王). The first source to mention the association between the baize and Manjushri is a text written by the Buddhist monk Kuiji (632-682), a disciple of the famous Xuanzang. He states that a cow giving birth to a baize is one of the signs that the rebirth of Manjushri draws closer, similarly to a feng bird hatching from a chicken egg, a horse giving birth to a qilin, or an elephant with six tusks appearing. As you can see, the baize is in esteemed company here. For instance, the qilin was said to only appear to virtuous rulers, while the six-tusked elephant appears in the traditional account of the historical Buddha’s birth. This tradition is also documented in the Sutra of Manjushri’s Auspicious Signs (文殊吉祥經,Wenshu Jixiang Jing), only known from a small fragment. Here the birth of the baize is actually elevated to the rank of the final omen in the cycle preceding the appearance of the eponymous bodhisattva. The text also alludes to the baize’s apotropaic role as a figure meant to ward off demons. Additionally it states that the creature normally lives in heaven, but can choose to reincarnate on earth, among humans - obviously to foretell the birth of Manjushri. Apparently all of the “auspicious beasts and numinous birds” rejoice when that happens.

The decline of baize in China It seems that after the Tang period, the popularity of the baize declined in China, mostly at the expense of Zhong Kui. It was not a complete disappearance, but while the early baize largely belonged in the domain of popular belief, later on most attestations reflect courtly and scholarly interests only. For unknown reasons at some point baize’s iconography was reinvented, with the ox-like form replaced by one with leonine features. The Southern Song encyclopedia Gujin Hebi Shilei Beiyao outright suggests baize is simply a term referring to lions. In a source from the Yuan period, a banner depicting the baize as a creature with “tiger head, red hair with horns, dragon body” is mentioned, though, so evidently not everyone accepted this rationalization. Some references to the baize can still be found in texts from the Qing period. One example is a poem by a Tiantai Buddhist monk, Zhang Hengwu (張亨梧; 1633–1708), based on the well established Yellow Emperor narrative. In his version, the legendary ruler specifically seeks the baize while traveling to the east. Japanese reception of the baize

The baize/hakutaku, as depicted by Gusukuma Seihō (wikimedia commons)

Baize’s illustrious career was not limited to one country. At some point, the creature was also introduced to Japan. Most likely it reached the archipelago either through Buddhist sources or Sa Shouzhen’s (薩守真) treatise Tiandi Ruixiang Zhi (天地瑞祥志; “Treatise on auspicious signs in heaven and earth”). The latter was transmitted to Japan as early as in the ninth century, and it is possible the baize - or rather the hakutaku, following the Japanese reading of the name - was already recognized as an apotropaic creature in Japan at this time. By the 1200s, the belief in its auspicious power was well established. Tachibana no Narisue states in Kokon Chomonjū (1254) that in the private chambers of the emperor (Seiryōden) there was an “oni room” (鬼の間, oni no ma) in which a painting of hakutaku repelling demons was displayed. Japanese art did not adopt the younger Chinese convention of portraying the creature as leonine. It was not entirely unknown, with the best known example being an illustration from the Edo period encyclopedia Wakan Sansai Zue, but it never became popular. The ox-like shape remained the norm. The iconography of the hakutaku is thus pretty consistent: the body of a white ox, the head of an old man with a vertical third eye and sometimes a pair of horns, plus additional eyes and horns on the flanks. The human head might be a Japanese innovation, reflecting the ability of human speech ascribed to the creature. Probably the single best known Japanese depiction of the hakutaku is that painted by Gusukuma Seihō (1614-1644). He was the official painter of the royal court of Ryukyu and somewhat of an international celebrity in his times, considering his work was renowned not just in his homeland, but also among Chinese envoys to Ryukyu and by the Tokugawa court. Sadly, this is his only surviving painting, unless there are more in private collections inaccessible to historians (this is not impossible, and reportedly a second hakutaku painting attributed to him belonged to a private Okinawan collector in the 1920s at the very least). As noted by Bernard Faure, hakutaku was effectively a visual reversal of Gozu Tenno, who could be portrayed as a man with a bull’s head, and often played a similar apotropaic role. Additionally, through the title of “ox king”, which recurs in Japanese sources, hakutaku can be indirectly linked to many other major figures of esoteric Buddhism, including Daiitoku Myōō, Ishana and Yama. If you really want to stretch it you can even make a case for parallels with Matarajin, considering both his demon-repelling properties and his association with oxen.

Hakutaku and baku

The baku, as depicted by Hokusai (wikimedia commons)

As mentioned by the sixteenth century author Naotomo Isshiki (一色直朝), in addition to warding off demons hakutaku was also believed to eat bad dreams. This indicates confusion or conflation with the baku. The two are also treated as synonymous in Gen’i Nagoya’s (名古屋玄医; 1628-1696) Minkan Saijiki (民間歲時記 ; “Everyman’s record of the year and seasons”), which is about a century younger. He pretty clearly describes the hakutaku rather than the baku, since the “diagrams” known from Chinese sources and the Yellow Emperor legend are both mentioned. The original tradition must have been well known at least among

“King baku” (Gohyaku Rakanji website; reproduced here for educational purposes only) By far the best example of this phenomenon of conflationg baku and hakutaku a statue from Gohyaku Rakanji (“Temple of the Five Hundred Arhats”) which depicts a hakutaku, but is referred to as “king baku” (獏王) today. It was originally sculpted by the monk Shōun (松雲; 1648 - 1710) in the late seventeenth century, much like the rest of the still displayed statuary. I actually first learned about the hakutaku in 2012 or so from the baku article on Zack Davidsson’s blog Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, which mentions the Gohyaku Rakanji statue and the conflation between the two creatures. Lafcadio Hearn also asserted hakutaku is simply another name for baku.

Hakutaku in the Edo period For unknown reasons the popularity of hakutaku increased in the Edo period, especially over the course of the eighteenth century. Sekien Toriyama included it in one of his compilations of yokai illustrations. He also refers to the hakutaku (or rather to baize, as the note is in Chinese) in his description of the narigama (a type of tsukomogami), stating that the way to get rid of this creature’s forerunner renjo was shared with humans by the auspicious beast.

The norigama illustration in mention (wikimedia commons)

Most importantly, amulets depicting hakutaku were used for protection while traveling and to ward off illness and misfortune. This custom relied on a Chinese source, the twelfth century treatise Sheshi lu (涉世錄), literally “Record of Experiencing the World” which prescribed hanging an image of the baize at home to prevent misfortune. This work is now lost and the relevant passage, known from quotations in Japanese sources, is its longest surviving section. The increase in apotropaic usage of hakutaku images lead to the creation of the so-called White Marsh Diagram to Repel Ominous Prodigies (白澤避怪圖, Hakutaku Hikai Zu). This term refers to talismans consisting of a painting of the creature and a short version of the already discussed Yellow Emperor legend. It culminates in a scene with no Chinese forerunner, in which the hakutaku announces to the emperor that hanging an image representing it in a house protects from, well, “ominous prodigies”. A list of some of them was also provided. The Zen monk Hakuin (白隱; 1686–1768) already describes the hakutaku talismans as popular, though he stresses neither he nor the people using them were aware of their origin. The precise history of their development remains unknown to researchers too. Seemingly they couldn’t be older than the seventeenth century at the earliest. Why did apotropaic images of hakutaku aimed at general population resurface in Japan centuries after their use ceased in China is unknown. Their spread might have been tied with the practices of the shugenja, as many of them were distributed among pilgrims visiting Mt. Togakushi, a well known center of the Shugendo tradition.

The most famous apotropaic depiction of hakutaku (wikimedia commons)

A well known example of the White Marsh Diagram to Repel Ominous Prodigies, presently in the collection of the British Museum, was painted by Gogaku Fukuhara, with the text provided by the Buddhist monk Bansen (盤旋). Based on the colophon of their work, it was completed on October 30, 1785. It’s worth highlighting that it situates the creature in Buddhist context (if that was not clear enough from the involvement of a monk), as the structure on its head is pretty clearly a wish-fulfilling jewel. To my best knowledge, this has no forerunners among Chinese depictions. This specific work of art has been characterized as a “deluxe” example of a talisman, painted and calligraphed by hand, presumably made with a connoisseur in mind. Most people relied on cheap woodblock prints instead for their hakutaku needs. These were obviously perishable, so few of them survive, though two of the woodblocks used to make them, both from Togakushi, have been preserved. Notably, hakutaku talismans were employed during the cholera epidemic of 1858. Reportedly in Tokyo people placed them on their headrests before going to sleep. I sadly did not find any source explaining whether this was a conscious revival of the Tang custom discussed earlier, or if the similarity is entirely accidental. Hakutaku talismans were also utilized by travelers. this custom is documented in an Edo period book which can be considered an early example of a travel guide, Ryokō yōjinshū (旅行用心集; “Precautions for travelers”) by Yasumi Roan (八隅蘆菴). It was published in 1810 as part of what can be described as an early case of a domestic tourism boom resulting in the flourishing of travel literature. Much of the advice is surprisingly timeless, for example to abstain from leaving graffiti and stickers at landmarks such as temples and shrines, but also trees and sufficiently big rocks. I have to say the suggestion that a halberd is too heavy to carry around while on a trip is pretty solid too. Roan has many other great suggestions, but ultimately this is not an article about him, so they have to wait for another time. When it comes to the hakutaku, he states that travelers should equip themselves with images of this creature and the five great mountains of China (gogaku) to ward off spirits, but also wild animals and mundane accidents. Last thing which needs to be discussed here is that in addition to the apotropaic paintings, hakutaku was also sometimes portrayed in the form of a netsuke. However, such depictions are apparently not common.

A hakutaku netsuke from the British Museum (photo proided by my friend Li)

The modern reception of the hakutaku It remains unclear when apotropaic depictions of the hakutaku ceased to be made. It seems to me that it can be plausibly assumed it occurred in the Meiji period, but I have no solid evidence. However, the hakutaku was not entirely forgotten.

To my best knowledge, the single highest profile portrayal of a hakutaku in modern fiction is still Keine from Imperishable Night. What little spotlight she received paints an image remarkably close to the genuine accounts: as we learn from her bio, “she loves humans and always tries to help them” and she is pretty consistently portrayed as a staunch protector of the villagers and Mokou. The fact she’s not fully human doesn’t seem to be a mystery in-universe, and she is evidently accepted nonetheless. This doesn’t seem to be universally acknowledged in fanworks which is puzzling to me. There are dozens of yokai which are little more than boogeymen, but there are very few distinctly auspicious ones, and I prefer the canon approach of emphasizing that Keine and the village community mutually like each other. Keine’s role as a teacher presumably is meant to be a nod to the lecture about malign spirits the baize delivered to the Yellow Emperor. I am a huge fan of specifying the school she teaches at is a terakoya; whether ZUN was aware of it or not, hakutaku talismans and temple schools are both expressions of Edo popular culture, so the theme does more or less fit together. What little we learn about hakutaku in Touhou in general from Perfect Memento in Strict Sense also draws from historical sources. I will however note that as far as I can tell that revealing that a new ruler is going to be virtuous is a role assigned of various “auspicious beasts” like qilin, longma and so on in general rather than exclusively to the baize/hakutaku. There are also no legends about a hakutaku meeting with any Japanese rulers, even though most of Keine’s spellcards reference the imperial family (or attempts at overthrowing it; is she an anti-monarchist?). The rest of Keine's character seems to be ZUN’s invention. The only account of the hakutaku (well, baize’s) origin makes it clear the creature is a type of supernatural cattle, not a human, and there is obviously no such a thing as a “were-hakutaku”. I presume this was meant to highlight her human side and tie her more closely to the moon theme of Imperishable Night, though I think her character would still work perfectly fine without that. At the same time, I won’t deny I wouldn’t mind getting some more insights into Keine’s backstory in the future. Nothing major, just something similar to the Ran hints we just got in Unfinished Dream of All Living Ghost. There is also no strong connection between the hakutaku and recording history, though you can probably make a case that as a mainstay of chronicles and encyclopedias it does have a distinctly historical theme. I personally like this innovation, and especially how it is described in PMiSS.Touhou aside, it’s worth mentioning that a resurgence in the interest in hakutaku occurred in the early months of the covid pandemic. This is an example of a broader surge in interest in various apotropaic disease-repelling mythical and folkloric figures in response to the rise of the novel coronavirus (as you might remember, the amabie fad in particular even managed to cross language barriers). It probably helped that a statue representing the hakutaku was rediscovered in the Tennō-ji in Osaka recently.

The Tennō-ji hakutaku (Asahi Shimbun; source contains more photos and a video. Reproduced here for educational purposes only) Some of the articles covering the brief hakutaku resurgence seemingly confuse it with the kutabe (kudan), but these are actually two separate creatures. The source of confusion is probably Shigeru Mizuki, who did depict kutabe as notably hakutaku-like, since he believed the it was a local adaptation of the standard hakutaku narrative.

Shigeru Mizuki’s kutabe (reproduced here for educational purposes only) Mizuki’s portrayal in turn influenced figures of kutabe made by local craftsmen from Takaoka in 2020. The English edition of Asahi Shimbun covered this in some more detail here, though ultimately it is beyond the scope of this article. As far as I know the connection, while plausible, does not permit full conflation, and in particular kutabe never attained the sort of religious significance hakutaku once had. Bibliography

Bernard Faure, Rage and Ravage (Gods of Medieval Japan vol. 3)

Donald Harper, 'Hakutaku hi kai zu' 白澤避怪図 (White Marsh Diagram to Repel Ominous Prodigies)

Donald Harper, Pictures of Baize / Hakutaku 白澤 (White Marsh): Ephemera and Popular Culture in Tang China and Edo Japan (not accessible online but there is a digital lecture version on youtube)

Jao Tsung-i, Postface to the Two Dunhuang Manuscript Fragments of the Baize jingguai tu 白澤精怪圖 (White Marsh’s Diagrams of Spectral Prodigies; P.2682, S.6261)

Richard E. Strassberg, A Chinese Bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways Through Mountains and Seas

Kathryn Tanaka, Amabie as a Play in Kansai

Constantine N. Vaporis, Caveat Viator. Advice to Travelers in the Edo Period

#touhou #keine kamishirasawa

108 notes · View notes

pawborough · 2 months

Text

Howdy everyone!

Happy Valentine's day folks! We have the long awaited contest results in this update, as well as some small updates to fauna, and a new system for accessories.

Contest Winner

We previously held a sweepstakes to win a Design An Accessory Tier (1st place) and Monarch Tier (2nd place) and we can now announce the winners!

(We want to apologize for the low quality of the video; we wanted to crop out the advertisements on the website we used)

Over 580 people entered!

youtube

Congratulations to our winners Emma and Erika!

Thank you to everyone who entered!

Fauna Updates

As previously seen with the Featherbeau, Kintsune, and Javasqueak, we have been updating all the fauna art to match the new style overhaul.

Here is a comparison to the old artwork.

Toshi has very minimal changes. There are some minor color and shadow touch-ups, but as this was our most in-style original fauna, very little change was necessary.

Here is the new and old art.

Like the Featherbeau and Kintsune, the Phantowl has a full overhaul. With a more dynamic pose and better detail, we hope to invoke spookiness in the new design.

The new and old designs are below.

Accessories + Dye system

Speaking of designing accessories, we've finally begun production on our accessories! Here is a preview of what we are working on, showing illustrations of the original Gilded Helm and Iridescent Trail!

Our focus is on adapting challenging items. For example, the Helm, and similar helmet items, provide unique challenges when on fluffy breeds.

Here are a few previews of our solutions so far:

And here is a preview of our first backer-sponsored design!

Lastly, we’re very excited to announce a system we've been workshopping.

Accessory dyes!

PawBorough is built by the players, and it is in our interest as players to have as much quality customizability as possible. We want expansive options! All the recolors!

Accessory dyes will allow users to craft any accessory on the site into a different color.

The system we are designing incorporates “standard” and “special” dyes.

Standard dyes are a set number of colors which will be compatible with all accessories, meaning all accessory items get a blanket number of recolors.

“Special” dyes will only be compatible with certain items, and will include alternative colorings such as rainbow, pastel colors, gradients, patterns, etc!

The benefit of such a system means all items will get a set number of varieties, and it lets us expand upon certain pieces to include alternative or unique colorings. But it doesn’t commit us to an undoable recolor demand.

We’re still working out the kinks and pain points, such as easy to see information on what takes a special dye and what doesn’t, but we hope this will prevent item bloat, give users more creative control, and overall improve the gameplay!

Site Themes

We’ve started workshopping the Borough themes with our completed assets. Take a look at these previews!

Zenith

Luna

Pawprints

Next let’s look at a cute feature we have on the backburner.

Ever imagine your cat has polydactyly? While we can’t break lineart, we do have a fun new feature for rare cat collectors. Every cat will have their very own paw print on their profile, with a very very small chance of having a sixth toe!

There are 55 unique pawprints!

Have fun trying for cats with silly paws ~

Stonehide texture

We’ve upgraded our asset technology! The rainbow sheen seen here on the scales of the Stonehide was a breakthrough in our coloring limitations. This texture will be applied to mystic breeds in the future and bring further quality to our assets!

Great stuff!

On the backend, we've not done many notable new things this month, but we're continuing through as we prepare for a dedicated alpha. Longhairs were stuck with file processing complications, but we're working them out and working in tandem!

Speaking of alpha, we're looking at opening free applications for alpha and transitioning from solely an internal to a semi-external volunteer test. More information on this as we grow closer.

To Summarize: We showed updated Beta, Toshi, Phantowl and accessory assets, the dying system, two new site themes, a cute pawprint feature, and a new texture for mystic breeds.

What to expect next month: Further accessory assets, potential alpha update, and asset and software updates.

Note for Tumblr users: Something went wrong on our end, and while this update got posted to Kickstarter, it somehow did not got posted to Tumblr. We have re-uploaded it now for proper record keeping. Our sincerest apologies.

#kickstarter update

29 notes · View notes

growwithmeastrology · 3 months

Text

Friday, February 9th 2024 Sun in Aquarius ♒️💨 Moon in Aquarius ♒️💨

We’ve reached an interesting time in history. What ever we begin now, are working on or are even thinking about will be part of our transformation over the next 20 years.

We have a new moon in Aquarius today. That’s when the sun and the moon meet up in the sky. This particular one is special because it’s the first new moon in our lifetime where Pluto is present. Mercury is in on this party too and together they are invoking transformation in our mind, emotional body and basic sense of self. What are you doing right now? What are you creating and who are the people you are surrounding yourself with? More importantly, do you see yourself in the current environment you find yourself in over the next two decades? If you’re not where you’d like to be, that’s ok. Today, you also get the chance to envision and manifest the path you’d like to be on.

This new moon will not only have very strong transformational energies attached to it but also abrupt change. Uranus in Taurus is tensely squaring the sun and moon in Aquarius. It’s an environment that can bring in immediate success or have you changing your mind for good, leaving old frustrations behind. With Uranus and Pluto involved it also creates massive changes on a global scale so what we all personally manifest, whether intentional or not can impact society as a whole. The current events are especially worth noting.

New pathways are opening up. Are you ready to take a leap of faith and create your ideal future? If your subconscious is in the driver’s seat, I promise, the universe will do it for you. Align yourself with your most authentic self today. Our future depends on it!

If you enjoy my daily forecasts please like, comment, share and consider a gratitude tip in support. 🅿️ PayPal, Venmo or CashApp - @NaliniFlor

Learn more about your personal energies and how the daily forecast affects you! Comment below⬇️ or DM me for a consultation.

#astrology #growwithme #zodiac #horoscope #daily energies #daily horoscope #moon in aquarius #pluto in aquarius #aquarius season #mercury in aquarius #sun in aquarius #new moon in aquarius #new moon

42 notes · View notes

milo-hypno · 8 months

Text

Rating Hermits by their Skins of Undress

My judgement is based on the following:

1 - the subject's enthusiasm 2 - the level of undress, and 3 - my own personal bias. A lot of Bias. Do not take this as any form of an official ranking.

I also am very sure that I haven't seen all the skins that might apply to this criteria, and... maybe if there's a lot of people interested, I'd run a formal tournament. Maybe. But for now, here's a ranking that's sat in my notes app for over a year!

7 - WormMan

Viscerally unpleasant. It may be a skin-tight suit with the ass missing, but- well actually, that's the entire sentence. That's all I have to say on this.

6 - RenTheDog

While, browsing NameMc, I have found multiple instances of Ren wearing less-than-clothed skins. They mostly seem to be plastered to the comical extremes, with bulging muscles and colorful garb, almost akin to a blow-up-muscle suit. While I commend the enthusiasm (... and haven't seen the context) it feels a bit comical. It may be delightful, but it is playing up the state of undress for humor.

Ren has committed to a bit, but unfortunately, it is not just the bit I'm looking for right now.

5 - Mumbo

While Mumbo was adventurous, his state of undress was less a matter of will and more of a matter of poverty. He sold his suit for 64 diamonds, and therefore isn't in this competition for the right reasons. His general disposition seemed slightly more embarrassed during this, the state of undress only transactional.

Mumbo simply looks uncomfortable like this. It invokes the feeling of needing to give him a spare robe, and a warm cup of coca. Have all my diamonds, little man, your heart's not into this.

4 - Bdubs

An old classic. Bdubs is IN the zone. His shirt is off and he is living life to the fullest. It's not the most skin shown, but he makes up for it with wearing it well, and confidence.

3 - Scar

While Scar is enthusiastic with his states of undress, often taking off his chestplate to show off, it is not the most extreme example. He manages to strike the balance of enthusiasm and undress in a way that is winning my heart, but not my top spot.

(side note: I tried to find the original creator of the pro-scitties meme, but due to time and it being reposted so often, I could not. My apologies.)

2 - Docm77

Doc has been baring his chest for years, and has no plans of stopping. His state of undress is almost never brought to light, and is instead in an admirable state of casualty that warms the heart. He's worn more scantily clad skins - but I've chosen this one for its classic nature, and also the labcoat that is parted tastefully. It says, "I could show more, but why should I?" Keep on, Doc. Keep on.

1 - ImpulseSV

Impulse literally co-hosts a game called Naked and Scared that has run for twenty-six seasons. Not only is he seemingly enthusiastic about his state of undress, but he's extreme in it, wearing only a pair of tighty-whities. His undress is a special event, but it is also a frequent and common one. I believe with my entire heart he has earned his top place.

Bonus: Skizzleman

While Skizz isn't an official Hermit, I feel he deserves to share the top spot with his homiebuddeh. He is In the zone. There is no shame in his eyes. He hasn't showered in 5 years by self-attestation and he owns it perhaps too proudly.

#milo's rambles #hermitcraft #suggestive #<- not really but to be safe LMAO #i've had this brewing for so long and i finally went “okay okay fine i'll do it”

43 notes · View notes

yharnam-is-a-fuck · 1 year

Text

Bolt Paper and Fire Paper

Let's start with Fire Paper. As you can see from this image, it appears to be a strip of something that is on fire. Obviously. But you can see that it isnt just magic paper. There's clearly some sparks creating the fire and it isnt actually paper, but some kind of leather strip. The in game description doesn't give much, but it was created in the Healing Church workshop sometime AFTER the burning of Old Yharnam, or at least became popular during that time.

Let's move on to The Cooler Paper.

Looking at those two closely, you can already see many differences between these icons. The Bolt Paper clearly has some kind of fur on the larger end, which the sparks are causing to stand on end. This is already hinting towards its orgin, but i'll explain it in detail. Bolt Paper and the Tonitri (Tonitruses?) were created by Archibald. This Archibald fellow was an absolute lunatic of a Church Hunter. Unlike his other inventions, Hunters actually used this one, especially if they had never seen Darkbeasts. This is probably because if had associated the power of lightning with a Beast, it would be seen similar to Irreverent Izzys creations of Beast Roar and Claw. Anyways, Archibalds story starts in Ailing Loran, possible origin of the beast plague and home to many powerful beasts. This Chalice Dungeon is where we fight a lot of beasts. Beast Patients and Werewolves mostly, but the bosses are something special. The Loran Silverbeast, Abhorrent Beast, and Loran Darkbeast all have something in common besides being Beasts. They naturally generate bolt within their fur. Like Miyazakis little demented pokemon, they increase in size and electricity production as you go up, with Darkbeasts at the top of the food chain in Loran. On one dungeon run, Archibald must have seen a Darkbeast sparking with power and thought "thats cool as fuck" and sought to recreate the bolt... and succeded.

So that's it for the origin of the two. But what about the symbolism? Well the first part is obvious enough. As with all sets of two in Bloodborne, they represent the opposition of Laurence and Willem. Insight and Beasthood. Red and Blue. Cummmfpk Chalice and Pig Fisting. Fire for Beasts, and Bolt for despicable blobby things.

Relating it more specifically than that, it is quite obvious in the game that while Laurences obsession with the Blood and Willems obsession with Insight both royally fucked up, the Blood has caused more destruction across Bloodborne as a whole. So why do powerful Beasts use Bolt? More than just a evolutionary or biological defense mechanism, I think that Bolt using Beasts were created to hunt down and kill Kin, and possibly even Great Ones. It is heavily hinted that Oedon created the Plague of the Beast or Ashen Blood and that they are the result of an eldrich laison to seek to a surrogate child. Oedon could be sabotaging the work of more sympathetic Great Ones like Ebrietas or Kos by causing Beasts to destroy the Kin experiments of the Church and the School of Mensis. In a Bloodborne Comic, a deranged man sees visions of several bosses and things in Yharnam, but one of the coolest visuals is that of a Darkbeast, presumable Paarl, fighting The One Reborn. While the One Reborn is both a failed Great One and not considered Kin, the image of a Beast literally ripping the magnum opus of Yahar'Gul to shreds invokes quite a feeling. I know the comics arn't canon but they do seem to have a good understand of Bloodborne lore. Plus the art there is cool as hell.

So, that's my thoughts on Bolt vs Fire. Bolt Paper isn't the true path to godhood or anything but I think the "anti-kin beasts" theory is interesting and i've never seen anything about it.

#bloodborne #bloodborne lore #theory

69 notes · View notes

vase · 10 months

Text

Writing Tip #1: Getting Started, Part One - The Three Pillars

Getting started with a writing project can be intimidating, especially when one is self-taught or has no formal writing training. Not to fear, I've created this writing tip series to help out! Without further ado... let's get started!

In this entry, I'm going to cover what I believe to be the absolute basics of tackling a story. These pillars are commonly accepted to be: character, plot, setting.

Characters are, simply, the "characters" of a story (like defining the word "the", there's no better way to put it other than that it's... "the"). Characters are any living or personified being that move the plot and inhabit the setting. In essence, a character can be anything. For examples of non-human characters leading narratives, see the Warrior Cats series or Watership Down. There are also examples of non-living beings like towns being characters in a story (the names of these stories escape me).

A protagonist of a story is the character that the story is about. Usually, the protagonist of the story will also double as the narrator or something adjacent to it, but there are exceptions to this. For example, in The Great Gatsby, Nick is the narrator but Gatsby is the protagonist. Although we follow Nick through the story as he recounts the events of the story, the events focus around Gatsby, his life, and his choices. As presented here, a narrator is a character of whom the reader sees the events of the story through. A story can have multiple narrators (called colloquially "multiple POVs") or none at all (within the Third Person Omniscient point of view, which will be discussed next issue).

An antagonist is a character that opposes the goals or views of the protagonist. Base level media criticism harps on this fact (because base level media critics know nothing else about writing), but hero is not synonymous with protagonist, and villain is not synonymous with antagonist. While this is often the case, it isn't always. If a villain were the main character of a story, then the villain would be the protagonist and the hero would be the antagonist. Deuteragonists are the characters who are the second most important, second to the protagonist. Secondary and tertiary characters are characters that play varying degrees of supporting roles other than that of protagonist or antagonist, which generally becomes semantic to dictate beyond the secondary zone.

A dynamic character describes a character who changes throughout the course of the story (usually as a result of a character arc, but not always) and a static character is a character that doesn't change throughout the course of the story. Just because a character is static does not make them worse, both characters have a place in their respective stories or single story. Static characters often perform a certain niche or invoke change in other characters in them or their environment. Dynamic characters make for interesting and engaging stories that make it easier for a reader to like them over watching them struggle over long periods of time (unlike static characters, who are sometimes likable right off the bat).

When getting started writing characters, especially with no idea in mind, I heavily suggest using character forms. Forms like these, while sometimes heavily specialized to certains genres or fandoms, help exercise both general and specific details of a character. When creating characters for a story, it is important to consider how certain character archetypes and individuals will play into the message or type of story you're aiming for. For example, a protagonist in their mid-20s may not be best for a story about the firsthand horrors of old age. On the flipside, an elderly character may not be best for a high stakes action adventure. These could both be subverted ideas, but in general, throughout these tips, I'm going to preach the concept of learning the rules before they are subverted.

For fleshing out characters, writing character exercises is a good way to get to know the character that you will--most likely--end up writing a lot for a full fledged story. Putting your character in different situations and writing how specifically those situations are handled can help a character be uniquely understood beyond the confines of a form.

Plot is the events of the story in the order they are laid out to the viewer. "Plot" and "story" are stressed differently here, as plot refers specifically to how the story is relayed to the audience. Where the story is the complete list of all relevant events, the plot is what we as the reader are shown (for example, bathroom breaks are part of the story, because we're aware that they happen, but they aren't actually verbalized to the reader, so they're not plot). Plot also dictates the order in which events appear. Some stories have events appear in non-chronological order. In this case, the story would be all of the events in their chronological order, and plot would be the order in which they appear to the reader.

The most important element of plot taught in elementary school classrooms is Freytag's pyramid, attached below.

Exposition is the introduction to the foreign world that the reader is being introduced to--in terms of this post, exposition is when the reader is introduced to the characters and the setting. The inciting incident is a single event in which something of this world is tipped askew, leading to the events and conflict of the rest of the story. In the rising action, we are building up and up in conflict until the climax, in which all of the built up tension is released. In a fantasy story, this will be your final battle. In a romance story, this will be your first kiss. In a thriller, your killer is finally revealed. The falling action deals with the fallout of the climax and settles the story for the resolution. In Freytag's pyramid, the rising and falling dictates the level of conflict or tension arising from a story. It is important to note that it is absolutely possible to throw Freytag's pyramid to the wind. In smaller examples, a series of stories may skip the resolution in the end of its first book and will skip the exposition of the following books, because the story is not yet resolved and later books need no introduction to a world we were just in (however, series sometimes go to the exposition phase just in case, whether we were just with them or not, like in event of a time jump). In larger examples, stories may end with the climax or hack off different parts of Freytag's pyramid freely. Your story is yours to amalgamate, but again, learn the rules before you break them.

For more in depth ways of starting a plot, the 27 chapter method is a bit of a more fleshed out Freytag's pyramid that's easier to follow. The 27 chapter method, however, is meant to be used more as a "general guide" rather than a gospel.

Lastly, and frankly, often toted as least, is setting. Setting is simply the time and place that a story is taking place in. For now, I'm going to store away the topics of actually building a world (ie, Worldbuilding) for another day, and focus here specifically on the active role the setting plays in a story.

A story can be set anywhere, but just like the conversation of what characters best fit a story, choosing a good setting could better enhance a story. Any story written anywhere other than a believable place that humans could be is often referred to as a fantasy book, as creating this in-depth world often means that the protagonists will be exploring it, hence, "fantasy"-- ie. not real. It is theoretically possible to create a story in a fantasy world that does not harp on its existence in a fantasy world at all, but this would be... questionable, and probably not a good use of setting. Fantasy stories taking place in fantasy worlds are often called high fantasy, whereas fantasy stories taking place in our modern world is called low fantasy. On the topic of time, stories set before the piece was written are called historical fiction.

Setting builds the characters in our story, as our characters are all defined by their relationship to their setting. If a character grew up in the setting created, the setting itself will have an impact on who they are. If your character is an outsider to this world, then a lot of this character's personal conflicts may deal with being at odds with the strange world they've been put into. The setting also informs not only the genre and characters, but the status quo. In exposition, we are often being introduced to the ins and outs of the way this world works, as it will either inform the plot and characters throughout the story, or will be broken by the end of the story.

When starting a story, setting is not often what authors start with. Instead of giving places to start, like with plot and characters, I will instead advise the author to start with their characters or plot and work backwards. Looking at this character I've created, what kind of world would they come from? Looking at this plot I've created, what world would it take place in? I'm going to go more into worldbuilding in another issue, but for now, I will leave it at that.

Thank you for reading this far! I really hope this was helpful and enjoyable. I don't consider myself an expert but I do really like writing, and I want to share that love with everyone here. I'm going to keep this section brief because I've been typing up a storm, but thank you for all of your support. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep this up as a longer series.

#characters #setting #plot #narrators #character archetypes #dynamic vs static #plot vs story #exposition #high vs low fantasy #for sorting purposes

35 notes · View notes

mask131 · 2 years

Text

The evolution of Wednesday Addams (2)

I saw in a few big articles online people write about how the Wednesday from the 1960s sitcom was “changed” from Chas Addams’ original concept, and how the 90s movies returned to the “true roots” of the character. To that I will disagree heavily: Wednesday Addams, as played by Lisa Loring is actually a more fitting adaptation of the original Wednesday.

In the sitcom, the character of Wednesday was designed to play fully on the idea of a “creepy child”. She is creepy because she has morbid and unnerving interests: she keeps a beheaded doll named Marie-Antoinette in honor of the French Revolution (that her grandma told her about) and likes to bury her in the graveyard ; she likes raising spiders as pets, her favorite one being named Homer ; she plays with explosives just like the other member of the family (and in fact gets into trouble for using her uncle’s explosives instead of her own)...

But she is also a “child”. She is a full six-year old girl, with all the “six year old-girlishness” it implies. She is sweet-natured, friendly, gleeful. She is a ballerina who likes to dance (in a black tutu, of course), and she is innocent enough to not understand that a “family tree” is not an actual tree. This contrast is what makes her character: she is this cute little girl who plays with dolls... if only to recreate a version of Little Red Riding Hood where Little Red gets eaten by the wolf and dies. [Which in itself is actually, ironically, the original version - but Americans back in the 60s still had their dreams].

Kept from the original cartoon too, beyond her quiet cheerful nature, is her sensitivity. She is an artistic child who likes to paint and write poems (even though they are quite disturbing ones), and she is very sensible when it comes to all sorts of child-beliefs and child-content. When she heard from a neighbor that witches weren’t real, she became really scared, until her family held a séance to invoke the ghost of their old aunt who was a witch ; and when she first discovered Grimm’s fairytales, where dragons were killed by knights, she ran crying into her room ; and there is an entire Christmas episode dedicated to making her believe in Santa Claus again.

But one should not underestimate Wednesday Addams, because her sensibility makes her as much distressed and sad as it can make her fierce and angry. When a boy insulted her family, it was she who punched him in the eye (and not Pugsley as everybody believed), and she is deceptively strong as she can use martial arts to bring to the ground her own father. Let’s just say she is one tough little girl.

What else to say about Wednesday Addams? The sitcom identifies her middle name as “Friday”. She has a particular kinship with Lurch the butler, that she usually treats more as a friend than anything (she notably convinced him to dance ballet with her). The sitcom removed the occasional “bullying” of Pugsley so that the two are now siblings going along perfectly with each other (well... can the actions of the original Pugsley be even considered “bullying”? Since from Morticia’s point of view, it is clearly Wednesday who acts in an abnormal way for not attacking back...). And it was the first adaptation to have Wednesday’s hair be in braids (as I pointed out, in the original cartoon Wednesday’s hair isn’t braided). But beyond that I don’t have much to add, because in truth Wednesday was a secondary character of the series, which was much more focused on Gomez, Morticia and Uncle Fester.

The only thing I could add comes from “Halloween with the New Addams Family”. It is definitively a... weird piece of media, but I have to bring it up as it is the special designe to conclude the original sitcom and that gathered back almost all of the original actors. And it is the only canon answer we have (for the 60s sitcom chronology) about the future of a grown-up Wednesday. Wednesday, now between 17 and 19 years old, is shown to be a student at a music academy, where she trains to master the piccolo (and she masters it well enough so that each sound she plays out of it breaks the glasses around). Her musical ear is also what later helps her family when she notices coded sound-messages being sent to her for help. Wednesday is still wearing a bigger model of her childhood dress but, in a fascinating way, the switch to color in this special makes it so that you can actually now see the actual colors of Wednesday. As in, in the sitcom her hair and dress seemed black due to the grey palette - but in the special, her dress is revealed to be blue and her hair brown. And she also still carries her beheaded Marie doll around as a young woman! Which is either cute or disturbing depending on how you see it...

#wednesday addams #television series #sitcom #60s #the addams family #lisa loring

72 notes · View notes

summitclan-chronicles · 5 months

Note

would you ever consider a design prompt for kits? or will kit players be able to make some minor tweaks to designs at all? Just trying to understand this a bit more, sorry if it's a bit repetitive! :0 I'm used to a more collaborative way of litters being done, via a secret litter channel that has the nesting parents + the chosen kit players or the previously stated design prompts. Again, sorry if you've answered all these questions before! The randomness is a very new system to me im interested to learn more about it ^o^

Hi-hi!

Let's get something more minor out first: the more times a question is asked, the more people are likely to see & know the answer. When followers get notifs, and new friends scroll the blog, they get this info repeated to them - and repetition is EVERYTHING. The more we ask, the better we know!

Alright, onward to the real question 🤺

I want to make it absolutely clear that the systems I put in place are not new or different because the old & traditional ways are inferior or flawed. I don't consider my methods improvements, only different methods.

That being said, the whole point of this new system is that noone actually knows what they look like when they're born. Noone can choose their nose, their eyes, their ears - noone knows they have those things at first. Nor can parents eat certain foods or drink certain teas to ensure their child grows over 6'4 or has green eyes, or go to a special land where they pluck features. Because of this, there's an element of gift-recieving when a new person arrives: he has your nose! she's got auntie's smile! she sounds just like her daddy! wow your sister looks just like you! you really grew up to look like grandpa!

In every single other roleplay, everything can be fully decided by the person experiencing it, and modify the situation into which their character is born via discussion with parents. My aim with a system where everything is pre-decided for you* is to invoke new feelings of excitement, surprise, connection and intrigue. Something to look forward to, get butterflies about, and celebrate.

*well in advance! kittens don't get players nor gain real sapience until they're 1 month old. your character already experienced 4 weeks of events they won't ever remember, but may have already affected them fundamentally.

Now that you know the why, I will answer your question: no, members will not be able to tweak or change their character's appearance should they be born ingame. they will always be based on genetics & designed by me, a surprise first when the litter is born and second when the new player arrives!

& as a reminder, joining as an already living individual does allow you to fully decide the design of your character regardless of how young they happen to be, as long as their genetics check out with known kin.

#ask #thanks for writing in!#i know these systems are new and different and people want to explore them thoroughly #its like introducing a little kid to a new playground #patience and attention will get you places #if i get frustrated you might be scared of me. fear teaches nothing but to be afraid!

7 notes · View notes

littlest-bugz · 3 months

Note

current hyperfixation? (feel free to infodump!!)

YIPPEEE!!! This made my day FR!! Thank you, mutual <3

ANYWAYS

This is kind of embarrassing, but I’ve been deeply invested by my own OCverse for going on 8 years now. Its my Special Interest, which sucks because,,, im the only one who can make content of these stinkies,,,,,

I really find it hard to hyperfixate on anything else because of the fact Ive been invested for so long (except for Web Design and coding, which I wont infodump about, since its literally all for these stories, deadass).

It is not fun at times because 1) all the characters live rent free in my head and criticize how I write them in my novels [that DID life] and 2) its SO hard to make new projects and get attached to them. Ive been trying for 2 years to make a horror project out of one concept but I seriously cant get fully invested and it SUCKS. Let me make my silly little horror web series damnit!!!!! (@ my brain)

I have 3 novels and one fantasy series im working on so,,,, Infodump time >:3c

TWs: Terminal Illness + brief mentions of (mental institute) hospitalization, murder, war, and some others that I’m not 110% sure the exact tags for them (basically kind of cannibalism, but between nonhuman species). Other than terminal illness, they’re super brief mentions, but still proceed with caution.

Right now, I’m working on one of the books I’ve been writing for nearly my whole time writing. Ive been only working on it since feb 1st (it’s, like, the THIRD draft tho).

Blurb about book

Melissa is a bassist in a rock band she formed with her high school friends. Just as her, and her friends’, career begins takes off, she gets diagnosed with a terminal illness. With a month left to live, and a shit ton of unfinished business, she invokes her best friend’s patron deity who is capable of miracles, Flip. Melissa and Flip make a pact to keep her alive until her business is over, but oh no! Melissa has caught the eyes of another god, and a pretty shitty one at that. How is she going to make her last months peaceful if she’s being hunted down by a god?

The working title is called “Ensuring Your Spot In Hell” because Flip is, essentially, a demon in the universe (rules an infernal ring of hell- it means I would have to explain the worldbuilding around hell and its A LOT), but titles are!!! So hard for me!!!

A list of random facts about the book™️ because I don’t want to write full paragraphs bc I can go on forever if u ask me to:

Flip’s name is a shortened version of his actual name, Fli’pyek. Furthermore, the domain Flip rules over is that of Wrath and Violence

Trinity (Melissa’s childhood bestie, and the friend that worship’s Flip) is a hereditary witch and pagan. Her family has been worshipping Flip and practicing witchcraft for several generations! They literally have their own holy book (generational BoS/Grimoire/whatever u want to call it).

Melissa had been sick with the disease™️ since she was 16. She just neglected the shit out of her own health (me too bestie, me too). It easily could have been prevented if she went to the doctor back when she was, at least, 18 years old, max 24.

At the time Melissa is diagnosed with her terminal illness, she’s 26. By the time she was supposed to die, she would’ve been freshly 27. Has anyone heard of the 27 club theory before? Or is it just an obscure reference I made LMAO

Melissa has extended biological family that worships Flip! It gets super awkward when Melissa visits them with Flip lol

The other primordial god that Melissa finds herself in a predicament with is named Ama, the god of Cruelty and Torture. Not a swell guy to get mixed up with, that’s for sure!

Melissa has an orange and white cat named Cheddar!

Flip always smells like whiskey and freshly cut tobacco. At all times. It’s bc his blood smells like it (and tastes like it too, but why are you tasting it? /j)

Any other facts might be getting into spoiler territory, BUT!! Thats the one Im working on rn, in February. In January I worked on another book, but that one honest to gods might be too triggering for this acc for an indepth thingy like the book I just did. It’s being rewritten to not be so triggering, but bc it’s a throw up of some of our trauma, it’s not an easy task to censor it.

REGARDLESS, Here’s a rundown of ALL of my main novels (minus the one I already talked about)

The Case of Twin Woods [mystery, drama, crime] (the one i worked on January)

Chastity hates her life. She hates her shitty job, she hates her shitty friends, and she hates her shitty family. After opening up too much to an online friend about her chronic suicidality, Chastity gets taken to Twin Woods Mental Institute, the state’s mental institution. There she befriends an eccentric group of patients, then finding out something terrible might be going on with the head warden, Leon Bellamy. She takes it upon herself to find out and solve the mystery, but she may have bitten off more than she can chew.

Untitled One (but leaning towards the name of ‘Jealousy’ or somethin idk) [drama, romance, crime]

Mia has a quiet life. She works at a library, she fosters cats, and by all means, has what could be considered a ‘boring life’. One day, she gets laid off from her job under the excuse of “cutting costs”, leaving her without a job and severance. While scrambling for a job, she finds one at a local cafe, the most frequented one in the city. There she befriends one of the regulars, a cold, quiet man named Zander, and after she unknowingly helps Zander’s brother, she becomes significantly closer to him. However, her boss, a bitter ex of Zander’s, hears about their ensuing closeness and decides she doesn’t like what’s going on. One failed dinner party and murder attempt later, Mia is left scrambling to hide that she killed Angelina in self defense. Will she be successful in hiding the murder? Or will the justice system make quick work of her?

Untitled Fantasy Series (has about 2 actual novels and 3 novellas… a possible third novel too) [drama, romance]

book one

Since his birth, King Sunshine has known his fate. He is to be sacrificed for the greater good of the realm he resides, killing his oppressive father, but losing his life in the process. It’s a prophecy that has been laid out since the beginning of Racktokian history, one King Sunshine was never able to escape due to his father’s unspoken rage at his own murder. After meeting a Vurtock for the first time, a species his father only used as cattle, Sunshine finds himself quickly entangled in a plot to overthrow his own father to liberate the Vurtockian race. He knows what he has to do, but it isn’t easy.

book two

The great war tore apart the country King Sunshine called home. His father left no stone unturned from his rage, and public opinions split the people. In the rubble of his home, he builds a new country founded on the importance of the civilians, only to be elected as a King in place of his father. Living in the palace he always called home, but had tried to escape, he finds that his father keeps sending assassins to make attempts on his life. One assassin, a vurtock with nothing to lose, hits a soft spot in Sunshines heart. After deescalating the attempt on his life, he offers the vurtock to stay in his castle until they’re able to find the proper resources to help him build a life in the new country. Far away from the oppressive dictatorship of his father. Yet, as his guest begins to stay for longer than intended, he sees that yet another step in the prophecy will begin.

Despite how the second book blurb is written, it’s more from the vurtock’s point of view than Sunshine’s. I just had a total brain fart.

The novellas for the fantasy book follow the POV of other important characters, such as the ruler of the Vurtockian rebellion, the POV of other rulers. For a while I wanted to write one from Raphaël’s POV, but I decided it wouldn’t be worth writing a whole book about a piece of shit finding joy in the pain he causes. Like, no thanks, ill pass.

Theres a possible 3rd book that would essentially be an extended epilogue, since the prophecy doesn’t stop at Sunshine’s death. I just haven’t thought as far as the 2 books and 3 novellas, in terms of outlining the books and stuff.

I honestly could give TONS more info on the fantasy books because that part of my universe has been around nearly the whole time Ive been writing. I have maps of the world, maps of countries, maps of even just cities, house and castle layouts, moodboards, art. Visual references galore. Not to mention the playlists for each character + each book. I also made a document called “The Remian Bible” because it has everything about the world in it, including the alphabets of the languages, grammar structures for said languages and literally 5 holy books for the religions even tho they wont evEN BE TALKED ABOUT IN ENOUGH DEPTH (why did i do that to myself /lh j/. It doesn’t help that I still want the write the holy books in their native languages… oo,,, and imagine writing the actual novels in the native languages,,,,). It’s honestly kind of,,, surreal how much time Ive put into this world 🧍 Like??? Damn,,,,

BUT YEAH!!! Those are all the books that take place in my ocverse + some other info!!! The things that are my hyperfixation,,,, My own books and world LMAO— The books don’t include half of the ocs in my ocverse tho, so thats where the website im coding comes in. It’ll have short stories based on the backstories of various characters on it, and Yes, even the background characters will be on it bc Im fucking bonkers and fleshed them out, even though some of them are in one scene for 2 minutes.

That being said, if anyone, or u mutual (if u read this wall of text), found any of this interesting, or wants to read even just the prologue of any of these, DM me!! I’m always looking for beta readers!! Or people to talk to about it too, that’d be fantastic. I really need beta readers, so seriously. DM me if u want to read my cringey stories!! I can give better in depth tws too!!!

EDIT: I need to mention that I go through spurts of hyperfixating on only one book or series. Thats why its both my hyper fixation AND my Special Interest

#i also have art of 90% of the ocs bc im an artist #littlest_bugz og #original characters #original writing #book writing #creative writing #writing #what tags would I even use dawg?? idk idk

6 notes · View notes

dreaminginthedeepsouth · 3 months

Text

Matt. Wuerker

* * * *

Trump's NATO comments reverberate across Europe.

February 13, 2024

ROBERT B. HUBBELL

Trump's anti-NATO comments over the weekend have focused attention on US foreign policy commitments. At a meeting of the EU on Monday, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski reminded a reporter that the NATO treaty’s “mutual defense” provision has been invoked only once—to assist the United States after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. As reported in Politico,

Referring directly to Trump's comments, Sikorski underlined that “the [NATO] alliance is not a security agency,” stressing that NATO allies came to America's aid after the September 11 attacks and that Poland fought alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan. “We didn't send the bill to Washington,” he said.

Dozens of readers posted Comments and sent emails noting that it is beyond hypocritical for Trump to pretend that timely payment of bills is grounds for abandoning an ally. Trump famously stiffs every lawyer, contractor, service provider, and vendor possible, leaving a string of unpaid debts and collection lawsuits in his wake.

Many major media outlets continued coverage of Trump's statement, notably the NYTimes, which ran a front-page “news analysis” titled, “Trump Steps Up, Helping Biden Just When the President Needs Him,” and a second story highlighting Trump's attack on Nikki Haley’s husband, Major Mike Haley, “Defending Troops, Haley Says Golf Course Is Closest Trump Has Come to Combat.”

The thesis of the Times coverage is that Trump consistently draws attention away from Biden’s age by injecting Trump's recklessness into the political equation. Per the Times news analysis,

The stunner from Mr. Trump over the weekend not only drew attention away from the president’s memory problems, as detailed in a special counsel report, but also provided a convenient way for Mr. Biden’s defenders to reframe the issue: Yes, they could now say, the incumbent may be an old man who sometimes forgets things, but his challenger is both aging and dangerously reckless. It was not the first time, nor likely will it be the last, that Mr. Trump has stepped up when an adversary was in trouble to provide an escape route with an ill-considered howler of his own. Mr. Trump’s lifelong appetite for attention has often collided with his evident best interest.

For Mr. Biden, that may be the key to this year’s campaign, banking on his opponent’s inability to stay silent at critical moments and hoping that he keeps reminding voters why they rejected him in 2020.

But Trump's dangerous views on foreign policy are not mere campaign fodder. They have infected his party, which is looking for a way to kill aid for Ukraine.

As the Senate moves closer to a final vote on supplemental funding for Ukraine and Israel, Speaker Mike Johnson preemptively rejected the bill because—wait for it—the foreign aid bill does not include US immigration reform and border security provisions!! See The Hill, Speaker Johnson fires warning shot as Senate prepares to vote on Ukraine aid

In case you have forgotten, Trump ordered congressional Republicans to kill a prior version of the aid bill that included immigration reform and border security provisions. Because of Trump's opposition to immigration reform and enhanced border security, GOP Senators voted down the combined bill.

Now that the Senate is sending a bill with foreign aid only, Speaker Mike Johnson is playing the legislative version of the “rope-a-dope” gambit where the American people and Ukraine are the victims of a bad-faith delaying strategy.

While foreign policy rarely plays a decisive role in US presidential campaigns, Trump's threat to abandon NATO and encourage Russian aggression deserves the attention of every American who values global stability. If Ukrainian soldiers cannot contain Russia’s expansionism, the next country in Putin’s sights will be Poland—a NATO member.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

#Robert B. Hubbell #Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter #NATO #war in Ukraine #NATO allies #MAGA Gop

3 notes · View notes

nitrosodiumfmp · 3 months

Text

The Aesthetic, Part 3

Last time I covered the metropolitan, dieselpunk elements in Part 1, and the psychedelic, surreal elements in Part 2. However, there's another aspect to how I want Sinister City to look (assuming I even choose that one), and it's not something I can easily put into words. However, it relates to Team Fortress 2. Even when it's not Halloween, that game has some charmingly spooky elements, like the Ghostly Gibus hat and the health pickups turning to cauldrons and jack-o-lanterns on a full moon. The levels themselves are interesting too. Most TF2 maps are industrial facilities, and there's a certain look to them that's hard to describe.

Primarily made of wood, but still very industrial. Rickety and almost cobbled-together in some places. Mostly inaccessible. I guess they mostly resemble American mining complexes built at the turn of the century - the look is consistent with some of Kingpin, which takes place in the 30s, and TF2 takes place in the 60s and 70s, so this building style had to have been popular before that.

This is an old copper mining complex in Alaska. It absolutely fits the look. It was obviously built in the industrial era, but it retains that crookedness you'd expect in an old cottage. It's almost timeless in that aspect, an anachronism that could've really only existed at the whiplash of the Industrial Revolution. This really comes into play when you look at the Halloween TF2 maps.

With a more ghoulish light level and slight modifications to some geometry, every level looks like a stereotypical haunted house. You may not be able to enter all of them in full detail, but it's the look that counts. The way that I described Kingpin of buildings appearing stacked on top of one another really comes into the light here, this indescribable crooked abstractness to all of it. I really can't find the words for it, but it's distinctly Halloweeny.

Here is a screenshot from Shoot Your Nightmare: Halloween Special.

Here is a stock image of a haunted house. This is definitely a look. I've decided to call it the 2fort-Yharnam Spectrum, patent pending, and it's something I'd like to invoke in Sinister City, while adding onto that with the grim industrial vibes of dieselpunk. I mean, this is all if I end up doing Sinister City. I could do the Dark Fantasy one or the Zombies one. But I'd like to properly flesh out all my choices before I pick. It'd be unfair to skim over an idea because I'm not feeling it right at the present moment, and then take a liking to it later but I can't because I spent all my time planning for another thing, and... you get the idea. It's the Doubt, basically.

#devlog #gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev #nitrosodium #indie dev #indie game #indie game dev #indie games

4 notes · View notes

foxgloveinspace · 11 months

Note

wow those are really interesting! The smell one almost reminds me of synesthesia, or a olfactory hallucination. For the first one, like a signal in the brain getting tied to a different signal. a floral smell for them sounds so sweet. they feel comforting to me like floral.

the vessel figure is wild. the fact that you saw a hooded figure with his mouth exposed. I know there's kinda archetypal figures people tend to see in various brain things, like dreams, or drug trips, or I'd expect its the same with migraine auras. A general cloaked figure sounds universal enough, but one with a mouth exposed is so specific.

it's SO interesting that you mention ADHD though because almost every single Sleep Token fan I've talked to is neurodivergent or could plausibly be. Specifically autism or ADHD. Could just be that we all hyperfixate, and that makes us superfans of things we love. But idk it feels special, like we're drawn to it. I have ADHD myself.

another commonality is sleep problems, odly enough. and finding Sleep Token calming and helping one sleep.

For my opinion on witchy stuff, I'm not an expert or anything I know little bits. Like how their logo is a combination of Germanic runes that invoke certain things. There was an old since deleted post by then about it, so it's basically confirmed. Or I heard that the runes corresponding to the Sundowning songs could theoretically be invoked every time the song is played.

also the music just feels magical??

Every person seems to have a different interpretation of the lore and the overarching story, if there is any. Many of them seem to be about love or romance in some way.

My pet headcannon/theory is that Vessel is looking for his soulmate who he knew in a past life. and the runes and any magic is for that purpose.

(First Ask)!!!!!!! Yes!!

Ok I agree with like a lot of your points in this ask, just to say that off the bat, but it’s me so I’m gonna get into it lmao:

So the thing is, I Do Actually have synesthesia, But I Do Not Have Smell/Sound, I have texture/Taste!! So that’s the weird thing about it! It is actually pretty comforting?? I’m trying to figure out what scent it actually, cause it’s just really nice. It might be a perfume that I’ve smelled in the past and started associating it with them (in which cause I think it might be floral marshmallow which is a dupe for some high end perfume). But like I said if it’s ends up being forget-me-nots (which I don’t think so) I’m gonna freak out. But they have a very light scent and I can’t find them anywhere😵‍💫

That’s the weird thing about all of it tho, is that it very well could be all of the things that I have already (migraines, adhd, synesthesia) but it’s like it’s different symptoms that I’ve Never had before??

Like the hooded figure wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but I never see figures!! I only see green and purple flashing splotches, even in my Worst Migraine I’ve Ever had, where I completely Lost My Vision, I only say neon purple and green. So too see, specifically, Hooded Man With Mouth, while listening to The Summoning?? Weird.

And yeah, I have adhd, and honestly?? Yeah. I think it is all of us nero-spicy gals and bois finding a band that itches the static in our brains, lol. They really combine a lot of nerodivergent peoples favorite genres, metal, dark techno/house, lo-fi, piano, rap and sometimes even something that sounds jazzy. It’s legit like they took every music thing I love and shoved it into one, of course my/all of our adhd brains is gonna eat that shit up lmao. It feels really special tho.

Also, yeah I have hella sleeping issues, but I have yet to let myself listen to them while going to sleep (mostly cause I know once I start I won’t be able to go back) BUT!! I have never been a person who can meditate, and I was able to while listening to them!! So that’s a thing lol.

I’m not a big expert on ruins either, but I know most witchcraft is putting your intentions in something. So if he put heavy intentions into the ruins when he first drew them, then yeah it’s doing something. I did vaguely know something about the main logo/ruin, but not much. (I actually don’t know What it’s supposed to invoke?? Just thinking about Sleep/Sleep Token?? Lol) but I think it’s Really Cool that they use real runes sometimes, cause even if they aren’t for magic purposes, just aesthetics, they are still using an old language for something new and I always like stuff like that lmao.

And I love your little headcanon at the end that’s so sweet.

#very much so #sleep token #hi hi!!!#frothingmaw #oops I forgot to tag you in the last ask I’ll go do that in a little while #but yes so much interesting stuff!!#thanks for the ask sorry I got to it late I had a long day yesterday and I just played hollow knight all evening lol.#sorry if anything I said doesn’t make sense and sorry if I’m forgetting anything oop

7 notes · View notes

fireblcd · 4 months

Text

࣪𓏲ּ ֶָ 𝑤𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑠𝒕𝒗 ⁝ francois arnaud, 35, cis male, he / him. announcing the arrival of HELIOS of HOUSE GREYJOY, the LORD HEIR of PYKE. whispers among the court name them to be both LOYAL and MESSY in disposition, and those closest to them speak to their interests in sailing. if we bards could compose a song for them, it might tell stories of curls wrapped around another's fingers , laughing smiles as a drop of wine trickles down a chin , the rage of a stormy sea in his eyes , sea salt crusted on skin , disappointment weighing on shoulders but refusing to show it . the seven whisper to their most devout queen as she sleeps, making her question where their loyalties truly lie. are they right to whisper? for their loyalties truly lie with HOUSE GREYJOY.

i ⸻ general

NICKNAMES : lio ( affectionately ) , hel ( derogatory )

ALLIANCE : house greyjoy & house targaryen

TITLES : lord heir of pyke

MARITAL STATUS : married

CHILDREN : probably has a bunch of bastards woops

PHYSICALITY : brown wavy hair that grows especially curly after being in the ocean , a thin scar from the time someone cut his throat but just didn't press deep enough to kill him , 6′2 , lean but muscular.

ii ⸻ personal

SEXUAL ORIENTATION : bisexual

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION : demiromantic

MORAL ALIGNMENT : chaotic neutral

SINS : lust / gluttony / greed / sloth / wrath / pride / envy

VIRTUES : chastity / temperance / charity / diligence / patience / kindness / humility

iii ⸻ biography

there was joy in the iron islands the day that helios was born. lancion and julienna greyjoy had always taken their duty seriously , knowing that they must provide their lands with an heir to lead them into the future. when helios came into this world screaming , julienna pressed a kiss to his brow and decided that he would be a grand lord one day.

he was raised on the belief that the world was his oyster and the tide changed for him. his mother spoiled him , his father taught him all he knew and yet , the message did not quite sink in the way that they intended for it to.

oh , he was arrogant. told from birth that he was something special to have all that he pleased from life. he would be one of the greatest seafarer's of their generation according to them , and on that point they were at least partially correct. the sea was in his veins , and he travelled far and wide as often as he could. he raided anywhere he pleased , stealing riches and jewels from wherever he could. he often paid the iron price for the things he took , having little regard for the life of those he deemed irrelevant.

he became best friends with a prince of westeros , and it felt almost as though he was untouchable because of such a fact. for who would dare to invoke the wrath of a dragon ? though that is not the reason helios spends so much time in summerhall , instead he often thinks of aehrys as a brother to him.

he began travelling to essos when he was fifteen years old , seeking anything that would keep him entertained. he would always be proud to be ironboy , would always think his own people far superior to others , but he enjoyed getting to know other cities and people all the same. he's most certainly been banned from at least one essosi city probably for sleeping with someone's wife , but helios merely thinks of it as a great story.

his parents hoped that he would settle down and do his duty as the future heir , perhaps finally take an interest in politics , but he never did. instead, lio always figured that he would have advisors for that sort of thing. he had little interest in being stuck to the iron chair all day listening to the nobles bitching about each other. but by the same margin, he wouldn't dream of stepping aside for his sibling to do it. it was his by birth right to rule the islands as he pleased one day.

his parents tried to arrange several betrothals for him only for him to drive them all into ruin. he'd either insult the house or his potential bride, laughing as they left the islands in a huff. he refused to become shackled to someone who wanted him to settle down , spend his time playing at politics and conforming to society's view on him. several years into adulthood and he especially felt the pressure on him to have children , a responsibility that scared him most of all. every time his parents pushed him towards such things , it only made him feel more and more like it was all a trap.

when he'd first met his now wife , she'd just been another body to warm his bed. and then he got to know her better , was charmed by her humour and how she was the opposite of everything society pressed upon him. most importantly , she made his heart fill with love for the very first time. it made all his fears slip away when it came to commitment , and he married her within a year.

he thought that it would appease everyone that he had taken a wife at last , happy to have children to name heirs if it meant he'd have them with her. but they still insisted that he marry a rock wife as if there weren't past instances of the children of salt wives becoming heirs if there was no rock wife. it left a deep unhappiness to settle over him like a storm cloud , the realization that he would never be enough unless he conformed.

it is a difficult thing to now hold such resentment towards his lord father and lady mother. it's even more difficult to ponder the idea that perhaps his life would be far easier if they were not around , especially when his heart still begs him to forgive despite all of the damage they have done to it.

iv ⸻ tidbits

big fan of knives and he has at least five strapped to his body at all times. most of them are stolen , and his favourite has a hilt of silver with a large ruby encrusted at the end that he calls sir pointy.

he's been in four past betrothals and has absolutely ruined them all some way or another. usually through insulting either the person who was betrothed to or their house. has defs made a few enemies that way.

you know the slutty white period shirt ? he wears them constantly , often with so many buttons undone it creates a v neck. also loves being shirtless and will use any excuse to take his shirt off.

he's so unserious , hence why he plans on forming a council in the islands to guide him once he's ruling lord. truthfully man just wants to do all the parts of ruling that include bringing him pride and glory rather than the political crap.

he may have a very complicated relationship with his parents , but he loves his siblings very much. he's allowed to talk shit about them , but anyone else who does is gonna get their face smashed into a table.

v ⸻ wanted connections

all of them

#westeros.intro

2 notes · View notes