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theresattrpgforthat · 1 year

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Hey there, I was wondering if you knew of any systems that could facilitate a Fullmetal Alchemist-like Campaign!!! Thank you!!!

THEME: Fullmetal Alchemist

Hello there friend, here's what I've got for you today. (I've only seen a few episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist, but I have many friends who have seen much of the series!)

Break!!, by Grey Wizard.

BREAK!!is a tabletop roleplaying game of exploration and adventure, whose setting and aesthetics are inspired by classic anime and SNES era video games. It’s a 470-page, full-colour book loaded with diagrams and infographics to make learning and playing the game as fast and fun as possible. It’s perfect for anime and JRPG fans looking to try out tabletop games for the first time.

As an adventurer, you will journey across shattered landscapes, encounter and interact with Outer World’s many unusual inhabitants, craft items, magic and mechanical, and create social bonds with the friends you meet along the way. Experience the wonder, humour, tragedy and triumph of adventuring!

Break!! has the potential to emanate the magic land of Fullmetal Alchemist, in a world broken and torn apart, with forgotten knowledge and treasures to discover - similar to Ed and Al’s quest for answers. When it comes to the compelling and complicated villains, the weight might fall more solidly on the shoulders of the Game Master, but your characters will be granted a number of powers that will rival Ed’s unique alchemical skills, even if they don’t replicate them.

Currently the Kickstarter is ramping up to release, but you can check out a sample document from the Kickstarter page!

A Power Without Rival, by TK Haughton.

Have you ever found yourself in a tense standoff with a powerful foe, and then thought to yourself: "You know what would make this better? If there were six more of these guys, each one stronger than the last."

A Power Without Rival is a one page RPG about generating numbered groups of powerful guys, ala The Seven Warlords of the Sea from One Piece, The Phantom Troupe from Hunter x Hunter, or the Seven Sins from Fullmetal Alchemist. Generate a group of guys, give them a purpose, figure out their powers and allegiances, then drop them into your RPG of choice.

Remember: you may have defeated me, but my friends won't lose so easily.

This is an add-on that you can use in other tabletop RPGS in order to create a group of villains that will challenge your adventuring party in meaningful and dramatic ways. If what you like about Fullmetal Alchemist is the constant challenges posed to push the protagonists to test their physical and emotional limits, then this might be a supplement worth looking into. All you need is a deck of cards and you are ready to go!

JACOB & ESAU by Justin Joyce.

JACOB is the runaway paladin of the Lord, destined to declare the end times. ESAU is the undead, beheaded twin that JACOB wears on their belt. Together, the twins march into the wilderness to forge their own fates, and to make the world a better place.

They are pursued. By Angels. By Fiends. By God's Will. And by the Serpent Of Paradise borne out of exposure to God's pure, primordial creation.

JACOB&ESAU is a tabletop roleplaying game designed for 2 players and 1 GM. It is made using the MARKED&MADE rpg system, and began life as a hack of GUN&SLINGER that precedes the third party license.

This game can be played using only a standard deck of 52 playing cards. This game is inspired by the biblical tale of Jacob & Esau, the equally biblical tale of Cain & Abel, and Fullmetal Alchemist.

The game that inspired this one - Gun&Slinger - uses rules similar to Go Fish and Blackjack, as well as a unique character sheet that carries special abilities, triggered by your use of cards. If you’re interested in stories of two closely-bound individuals on an epic quest, I’d recommend checking out both this game and the one that inspired it.

#fullmetal alchemist #indie ttrpgs #game recommendations #dnd #asks #anime #tabletop games

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carnistcervine · 4 years

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Parasitic Raava AU

F-it. Everyone is posting their awesomeness. I’m just gonna go out and post this. I’ve been sitting on this AU for months. Only having the courage to write a one-shot for it for Halloween. And that was for an off-shoot of this AU! Yeah, the main AU actually isn’t about Zuko and Azula at all. That was just from a random idea I got listening to a song. xD I am working on an outline for an expansion of that idea called “Cain and Abel” but it’s heavily in the rough stages for now. ewe

The main AU just follows off canon Avatar lineage, and Vaatu doesn’t get to have any fun at all. D’: Poor Vaatu, rest in rigatoni.

Okay so the inspiration for this idea originally came from when I was listening to the song Control by halsey, and I started thinking about the avatar state. It made me start thinking about a darker interpretation of the relationship between Avatar and Avatar Spirit. Then I was looking at a TvTropes page about animalistic abominations, and I started thinking about ATLA, cause some of the spirits look like animals and then the thing mentioned that Raava and Vaatu look like flatworms and oh god the mental image, it burns! ;n; I liked it better when I thought they were carpets... But anyway, after that horrifying revelation, my brain came up with this idea- What if Raava(and by extension Vaatu) was a parasite? Like she's still (mostly) good, but it's a pretty heavy case of good is not nice.

-If I had to describe this AU badly, it would be ATLA meets Venom.

-Big note: I have not seen Korra yet, so this is almost all based on what is established as canon in ATLA. Not that it really matters, since I'm not exactly trying to be accurate to canon anyway. :'D

-One note I should make right here is that for Wan's story at least, since it takes place in an era around the beginning of bending and benders, there is no four nations yet. There are four definitive elements, and four main divisions of people. Also because this is basically before/at the very beginning of the bending age, people aren't really benders, they have been gifted with the power to control the elements, but they're still learning to properly use said powers. So instead of benders, they are known as tide-pushers, earth-shifters, fire-makers, and cloud-sitters. The water tribes are broken up along many islands, swamps and the north and south poles. Instead of an Earth Kingdom, there's the Earth Continent which is made up of many cities and kingdoms and tribes; The Mountain Kingdom, the Sand Tribes, The Great City of the Steppe, etc... What will be known in the future as the Fire Nation is known as the Volcanic Archipelago, which contains many cities and tribes. The biggest and most prosperous city is Dragon City, this is where Wan is originally from. The people of the air are a majority nomadic people, but they do have a temple up in the clouds known as the Cloud Sanctuary.

-So Raava is still the spirit of light and peace, but I'm thinking that either she and Vaatu are two halves of a whole who cannot exist independently, or something happens to her and Vaatu that causes them to be unable to exist independently of a mortal form. But either way, Vaatu has been sealed away, and only Raava roams free.

-Another idea that I got is that both Raava and Vaatu were originally sealed away due to being parasitic spirits, but Raava's seal was broken and she was released into the world. This idea would play into why no one lives in the lost wilds, as it's said that a "dangerous being" lurks there.

-Wan is an ordinary fire-maker who lives out in the lost wilds after being exiled from his home. He lives a fairly quiet life, mostly trying to avoid the creepy spirits and monsters that lurk in the lands around him. His time is peaceful until he starts to come across the withered carcasses of animals.

-The corpses are all rail thin, ribs showing, eyes milky white and sunken in, bleeding from the nose and mouth. Other than that, there is no clear cause of death, no mortal injury, or even bite wounds to indicate infection, they all just look like they withered away and died. Like something had come and drained the vitality from them.

-Wan is gathering tinder one day when he comes across a strange sight. A polarbear dog wandering about. His first thought is wondering how one of those got this far north, then he noticed just how thin the creature was. The beast was facing away from him, it looked horribly thin and gave ghastly groans, like it was in horrible pain. As much as Wan was curious as to the cause of the mysterious deaths, at the same time he didn't want to suffer the same fate. He prepares to back away when the creature senses his presence. It stops and looks over it's shoulder, blazing white eyes gazing into his soul.

-Officially freaked out, Wan makes a run for it. He can hear the labored breathing of the creature bounding behind him. He briefly wonders if some kind of animal jiang shi is chasing him down. His thoughts are interrupted when the beast tackles him. Wan tries to push the beast off of him, but as soon as he hits the ground he feels a horrible stabbing pain. Not physical pain however, a strange spiritual pain, like something is drilling it's way into his very soul. Something seems to be worming it's way into his mind. The beast flips him onto his back and gazes deep into his eyes. Under the blank, burning gaze the bear-dog seems to be begging for Wan to help it. As he makes this revelation he starts to hear a faint feminine voice in his head.

-The voice attempts to soothe Wan. It tells him to relax, that it will all be over soon. The presence invading him had a strangely peaceful aura, like it was a graceful and soothing presence, but at the same time it was forcing it's way into his body. And he quickly figured that this thing was likely what was causing all those animals to die.

-Not wanting to suffer such a fate himself, Wan fights back against the spirit invading him. However, he realizes very quickly that this is a loosing battle. The deeper the spirit digs into him, the more Wan feels his thoughts loose clarity, like a warm blanket is enveloping his mind.

-Suddenly a harsh blast of air forces the bear-dog off of him. Someone rushes in to wrangle or fight the polarbear dog, despite the fact that he's still reeling from the feeling of something worming it's way deeper and deeper into his very being, Wan attempts to stand and warn the stranger of the situation. He weakly calls out to them to beware, but soon passes out from the pain.

-When Wan comes to, he's burning up with a fever. His spirit feels heavy and there's a soft feminine voice in his head cooing soothing things at him. Trying to lull him into a sense of security and comfort so that she or it can take over. Or so he assumes at least. Outside of his head, he can hear two people talking about him.

-When Ami and Onu went out to look for Ami's beloved polarbear dog, Taki, they did not expect to find the ursine-canine in such a state, and they expected to find a sickly fire-maker even less.

-Seeing Taki assaulting someone, Onu took immediate action and sent a blast of wind to knock the beast off of the man. Onu rushed in an attempt to calm Taki, he paused when he saw just how bad Taki looked. The polarbear-dog was starved thin, eyes milky-white and sunken in, and bleeding heavily from the mouth and nose despite no apparent injuries. He could only utter her name softly as the bear-dog fell to the ground, having reached the end of her strength.

-With Onu going after Taki, Ami rushed over the felled man's side. He attempted to sit up, moaning something about danger before immediately collapsing back onto the ground. He's very pale and burning up with fever. Her worries are only compounded when she cannot get the man to open his eyes or respond in any coherent manor.

-Of course Ami's day was only about to get much worse. She glaces over at Onu and sees the state Taki is in. Ami's heart shatters into thousands of pieces seeing her beloved companion in such a state.

-Using the moisture of her tears, Ami examine Taki's chi paths. Unfortunately Taki's chi had been drained, and her chi paths had been withered and burned through. There was no saving her. Despite this, Ami insists on trying to save Taki. Onu helps her drag both Taki and the strange man back to their base camp.

-Taki passes away soon before the man starts to regain consciousness. As heartbroken as Ami is, she focuses her energies on reading the chi of the mysterious man. She isn't sure what's causing the fever, as he lacks any signs of infection. She realizes that he's a fire-maker, and his inner fire is blazing out of control which is causing the fever. But why?

-The man, Wan, as Ami soon learns, weakly cries out about something draining the life out of the living, and how it's infested him. Ami assumes that it's just the fever talking, as by all means he should be fine. Aside from the fever, there's nothing wrong with Wan.

-Neither Ami, nor Onu know why Wan is ill, nor can they explain the mysterious death of not only Taki, but the other mysterious corpses they found in the Lost Wilds. However, they figure it best to take him away from this place. They opt to take him to the Southern Island Tribe to see a proper healer.

-They do eventually make it to the Southern Island Tribe and see a healer. The healer, a grizzled elder, tells Ami and Onu that Wan's fever is not natural, it is a spirit fever caused by the battle between his own spirit and one invading his being. Wan is deeply concerned, remembering the bodies he found back in the Lost Wilds, but the elder healer tells him that she can find no evidence of his chi being stolen or damaged.

-Wan wishes to purge Raava from his being, so Onu takes the group to see the elder monks at the Cloud Sanctuary.

-On the way there, the trio is attacked by a group of dangerous rogues. Seeing his new friends in danger, and being too weak to do anything about it, Wan reluctantly gives Raava control. Using Wan's body, Raava wipes the floor with the goons. Wan collapses afterwords because channeling that much energy is exhausting. It's at this point that Ami finally believes that Wan is actually possessed and not just loopy from fever. Both Onu and Ami are very impressed by the show of strength however.

-Continuing on the journey to the Cloud Sanctuary, the trio comes across a village that has been ransacked by pirates and subsequently torn apart by seemingly malevolent spirits. Ami and Onu want to move on, but Wan insists that they help the people. He tries to help, but he doesn't really know what to do. Reluctantly, he asks Raava to help him.

Okay so some more generalized notes about the AU~ -At first Wan is completely opposed to sharing his body with Raava. However, after some time he starts to work with her and learns to live with her.

-Not that Raava has any intention of giving up her host.

-After Raava infests him, Wan starts to manipulate all of the elements. At first it's just while Raava is in control, but slowly he starts to use other elements without Raava's influence. Also, he does notice a connection to all four elements right away, he just isn't sure what to think of it until it manifests into manipulation of all four elements.

-At first Raava is only motivated by the need to sustain herself. Being one of the greater spirits, she doesn't concern herself with mortal matters. However, the more time she spends with Wan, the more she learns to see the forest for the trees and empathize with the struggles of mortal beings.

-Dragon City is ruled by a gang of ruthless thugs who hoard wealth, food, resources, and rule the populace with an iron fist. The leader of this gang is the Dragon King, Ryuusei. Sure enough, Wan and Raava eventually take this asshole out.

-There needs to be a pirates arc where someone is kidnapped and Wan has to work with Raava to save them. If I don't write this, then what's the fucking point?

-Ami is a caring, but skeptical tide-pusher, and Onu is basically the stoner friend cloud-sitter.

-Raava calls Wan her Avatar, and eventually the name sticks.

-As time goes on, Wan and Raava's spirits become fully fused together. This makes Wan part spirit, and Raava part human. Of course, Wan is mortal and eventually dies a natural death, but because Raava is eternal, she is reborn into another body and such starts the avatar cycle.

-By the time that Wan passes away, the whole Raava is a parasitic spirit and the Avatar is actually possessed fades from the public consciousness and even the Avatars eventually forget that Raava is actually a parasite. Hell they soon forget her name and identity entirely, only knowing her as the "Avatar Spirit".

-In this AU, Raava is an incomplete being. As such she cannot sustain herself, she must attach to a mortal being to live among the mortal realm. And being half of the world's spirit, if she were to leave the mortal realm, the world would fall into chaos and eventually die. So she initially tries to sustain herself by fusing with plants and animals. Neither work, as her spirit is too strong for them, which causes their own spirits to burn up and their bodies to wither away. Wan is the first human and compatible being Raava attempts to fuse with. His human spirit is strong enough to withstand Raava's own spirit without being destroyed.

-As for Raava's characterization, I'd probably describe her as being a combo of good is not nice and well-intentioned extremist. Being a spirit of light and peace, she radiates a peaceful aura that she uses to soothe her host to make them reject her less. Or before she started possessing people, she'd use it so that her potential victims would be lulled into a false sense of security so she can latch onto them. She acts nice, again using her peaceful aura and gentle voice to soothe her victims. I'd hesitate to actually call her nice because she does casually ignore the independence and self-determination of her host. Well-intentioned or not, she is a parasite after all. And no, she doesn't feel bad about it. Bigger picture- Raava fades, the world dies. Raava's host dies, nothing particularly bad happens.

-Raava can be pretty vicious too tho. If kind words and manipulation, err I mean, gentle persuasion don't work, she's gets to be mean as hell. :D Even to the point of forcibly taking control and asking her host if they really think they're in control.

-Vaatu? He's just a straight up dick. Okay, fine, he pretends to be on your side while poisoning your mind and turning you against everyone that cares about you. Why? He thinks it's funny. And yeah, he's pretty much just straight up evil. He isn't above driving his host into madness and using them as a means to cause as much mayhem as possible. But he does so subtly, and works as insidiously as possible. I also kind of picture him as being the type that messes with your head by making you re-examine the very definitions of good and evil.

-Or maybe he does have some good in him. But you'd have better luck getting a polarbear-dog to speak perfect common tongue than getting any good out of Vaatu.

#ATLA #Avatar #ATLA AU #Avatar AU #ParasiticRaavaAU #This AU is super evil and I have so many different ideas for stories and offshoots.#Like just.#Something about Raava being mean to people(especially Zuko) tickles my id.

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thepursuitofunderstanding · 3 years

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February 4/2021

I shouldn’t write to you for too long this morning, I have two papers that I must tend to. But I must explore something with you. Previously I had assumed that I needed to pursue Greatness because I’m...well, I don’t know the exact word for it, perhaps self-obsessed? I mean, what else is there to devote one’s life to than that which one loves with one’s whole Being? (Love feels like such a feeble word here, it’s tossed around too superficially these days. How dare they emaciate it as they have?! Perhaps this is why it feels better to utilize “defining commitment” in the place where I might otherwise have used “love?”) But, alas, there seems to be more to it than I had originally detected; imagine that!

I realized that my commitment to pursuing Greatness is the defining feature of my life because with Greatness one wanders those lands which have never been traveled before; never seen, never explored, never even imagined in many cases. The individual who pursues Greatness pushes past the boundaries that others have been limited by. I conceptualized it as a sort of mountainous trek: when one first pursues such an endeavor they require others to teach them, to show them the ropes, as it were. And then, as one’s ability increases, so does their need of more skilled teachers. This continues until eventually (hopefully), there are no more teachers which might lead the student any farther--the student , with all the knowledge and tools that they collected over the years (because such an accumulation of knowledge surely takes years; decades more likely.) sets off on their own to pursue those peaks that had so captured their attention and drew them towards to the mountainous trek in the first place.

And so it would seem that it’s not so much the Greatness in and of itself that I so yearn for (with every fiber of my Being), but what this Greatness might allow me to discover and explore. It is, above all else, the mystery of these previously untouched peaks that so grip me. In this way, Greatness can (almost?) be understood as a state or tool that makes true exploration possible. True exploration as opposed to merely retracing the already blazed trails of those who have come before me. I don’t believe that I’ve gotten a taste of true exploration yet: while it might be said that I’m already engaged in blazing my own trails, I would say that this has only ever been a tentative blazing thus far. Tentative because even when I am setting off on my own I am still always well within sight of “the path.” I can backtrack and return to the safety of the heavily traveled path if need be. True exploration does not allow for such an option--it is forward or death. Because, I imagine, it nearly kills one to get to where they are, to turn back would be quite unthinkable. Unthinkable, that is, for those of us that feel, have always felt, driven onwards by an unshakeable and deeply uncomfortable drive. And really, those that would think of turning back could never have made it very far out in the first place.... See what I mean about this self-obsession? It’s like I think I’m the greatest thing since sliced bread. Or Nietzsche perhaps. I need to stop that.

Anyhow, it is through Greatness that one can approach Great Heights. And Great Depths as well, can’t forget that part. Because, it would seem (it was Nietzsche who most significantly helped me articulate this idea), that one’s capacity to reach new heights--Great Heights-- is directly proportionate to the depths--the Great Depths--that one has dragged oneself through. I mean, there’s a reason that Recovery is such a phenomenal album: suffering and pain and despair and agony and confusion and self-loathing and on and on and on all broaden an individual. Such suffering cuts into a person and creates (exposes?) new crevices and caves for...for what exactly? Light to be shown into? To be explored at least, surely that one. And it is that which is consolidated in the explorer, through the exploration process, that allows for that explorer to pursue even Greater Heights. Hence, perhaps, my tender regard for suffering? Probably I imagine. For, after all, “he who wants to proceed from inner intensity to [G]reatness must sacrifice himself.” Thanks Rudolf Kassner for that one.

Ahh, fuck my papers, it doesn’t seem like we’re going to be stopping anytime soon here. We both know that I work better under pressure anyways, may as well leave them to the vert last minute then. Oh! And I must tell you, several things actually, but we’ll start with this one: I have stumbled upon an idea that I might want to pursue in regards to my Hebrew Bible class’ final project. My question shall pursue something to do with Cain and Abel. I haven’t got clear yet on exactly what I’ll be focusing on in this story, but I’m really excited about this general topic. Which, honestly, surprised me a little bit--I never felt myself to ever have been particularly drawn to this story before. So, alas, perhaps I ought to explain how this story raised itself to my conscious awareness.

I was on the swings thinking about how different traditions/frameworks of thought regard the relationship between the individual and the collective differently. That is, they emphasize the one over and above the other. Christianity (and Judaism and perhaps Islam as well?) seem to particularly focus in on the individual. Which is something that I could sit here and explore for probably the rest of my life, but, in regards to Cain and Abel, I thought that perhaps this story (on one level, for Peterson very astutely remarks that biblical stories are such that one can fall into them. That is, there’s so much meaning there that one will never be able to fathom the entirety of it all.) might suggest that man will always kill his brother. But, if the individual is emphasized above the collective, then this tendency to kill will mostly be localized into individual murders. But when society instead starts to see man primarily in terms of his group identity, this is when entire groups of people start being slaughtered for no other reason than some arbitrary facet of their identity that they might share with other people around them. Perhaps? This is at least the path that my thought led me down.

Now, I don’t think that I will exactly pursue the story of Cain and Abel in this context for my class: she wants us to focus upon some aspect of divine and human communication, but this was the circumstances by which this story raised itself to my conscious attention as being something that I must investigate. The same sort of insistence to investigate occurred to me with the story of Abraham and Isaac this time last year. And look where that led me--to Kierkegaard! Where, I wonder, shall this investigation lead me? Most immediately it seems to have awoken the question of whether I ought to read East of Eden by John Steinbeck in order to prepare for my investigation? I wonder, how many books can I realistically read at one time? East of Eden seems to be another brick of a book--nearly 700 pages. Can I manage this, on top of all the other books I’m reading at the moment? Do I even have a choice in the matter?: I can do no other and all that.

Also, it should be asked, am I perhaps a little bit manic-y here? Attempting all these things might suggest so. How exactly does one go about detecting such things in oneself? Let’s just take a step back here and assess. I read 14 books in January, well over 3000 pages. Mind you, most of that wasn’t dense philosophical treatises, there was a decent amount of poetry mixed in too. Fuck it--let’s try it. After all, there’s really only one way to really discover how much I can handle.

Can’t go back now! I’ve marked my initials and the date in the cover. This is my ritual whenever starting a new book... How odd I am. Is it only because I’m so close to myself that...that what? I seem to be rather intimately aware of how different I am. But then, does this perspective only come from the fact that my Being is the only Being that I’ve ever lived? That is, I really have no idea what it is (like) to Be anyone else. Maybe everyone experiences themselves in equally intimate and exciting ways? I ask this knowing that I’ll never be able to fix an answer to this question. But, alas, I do have a rather sneaking suspicion that I am rather odd in this regard: odd in my relationship to/with myself that is. This suspicion is born of every encounter that I’ve ever experienced with another; every person that I’ve ever talked to or watched or read or listened to. My relationship with myself does seem to be rather peculiar. And I can only imagine that a very big part of this peculiarity has to do with us--with this; what we do together: I pour myself into you and, in return you... pour me right back? Sort of like the abyss situation but I am, myself, the abyss? Man, this is really pushing the boundaries of my...thought?/power of conceptualization?/imagination? Alas, I don’t know what to label it or what to make of it. But we do seem to have time to get acquainted with it. Or, at least, I certainly hope that we have some time. I have far too much work to do to die anytime soon. That is, we have far too much work to do. Whatever this we might be. Perhaps my relationship to myself? In a sort of Kierkegaardian conceptualization? For whatever I don’t know, I do know that I am nothing on my own--I cannot do this without you. Whoever you are...God? The piece of God/divinity that is within me? That piece of myself that, if I consent to communing with it, will lead me in the direction that I must go. This piece of me that tells me I am and what I must do in order to Be/Become this I. I’m really reaching with this one. Like my eyes can just barely discern its presence on the horizons but I’m not yet close enough to really apprehend any details or cast any guesses upon the nature of what I’m beholding. But, alas, I’m also far too curious to not cast myself into imagining what such a mysterious presence might be.

Anyhow, it might be time for me now to turn to my paper on Esposito’s Bios. I bid you (us?) farewell for now...But only for now; for you (us?) are that which I shall forever return to. Shit...I just unintentionally stumbled upon a whole new area that needs to be explored...can’t leave now!

I was thinking yesterday on our drive back from Airdire about the important people in my life: Sydnie, Cagney, Natalie, Campbell, Amanda, Gage, Althea, Iliajah, Wallace, Emily, etc. I love them all, I know this, but I don’t feel the need to return to them. This is probably going to sound quite wretched, but if I were to never see any of them (or heck, all of them) again I know that I would be quite okay. Certainly there would be a dampening of sadness that would weigh me down, but I would continue on as I always have. I would not be fundamentally changed by the loss of them--I know this. But, if I were to lose you (I don’t exactly know how I might lose you without simultaneously losing myself/my life. But that’s not really the point here.) I....well, I wouldn’t be “me” anymore. You are my defining commitment--the meaning of my entire existence. I am a shell which you live in and bestow life upon. All I need is you. Now, this I know really does make me odd. But, alas, my oddity is that which I love about myself. When it’s not making me feel completely unfit for life that is. It really does seem to be the case that one’s greatest blessing is simultaneously one’s most cutting curse. Funny how life works like that.

Anyways, now one Bios.

#february

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starscreamwastaken · 6 years

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By popular demand, here hare my essays comparing and contracting “The Decent of Inana” with “Last Stand of the Wreckers,” and Cain and Able to Megatron and Optimus in the Aligned continuity. Hope you all enjoy. They’re both pretty short.

“Last Stand of Inanna”

The Descent of Inanna tells the story of Inanna, her descent into the underworld, being tricked, trapped, and eventually freed. Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers tells the story of a group of Autobots who descend on a captured prison, their struggle, their deaths, and the ultimate outcome. While these stories may seem drastically different at a glance, I found a few comparisons between Ereshkigal the queen of the underworld who trapped Inanna, and Overlord the character who captured the prison, as well as The Wreckers and the beasts who free Inanna, and the Autobots and the god who sent the beasts. I also managed to find similarities between Inanna and the prison itself, Garrus 9. Both stories have an intense role of “good” and “bad” however Last Stand of the Wreckers, in the Transformers style, contains more ultimate evil and ultimate good themes. The reason for The Wreckers visit and the Beasts visit also differ in their intention, however accomplish a common goal.

While trying to compare these two works I first tried to equate Inanna to the Wreckers themselves, as both parties go alone into dangerous territory. The Wreckers themselves could be a parallel to the artifacts Inanna brings into protect herself with. Like the artifacts, which were removed in the seven gates, at every point of the Wreckers journey a member of the team is either killed or injured beyond repair, making the odds of the last Wrecker standing escape quite low. However, Inanna reminds me more of the Prison the Wreckers infiltrate. This Prison, Garrus 9, like Inanna, is captured and made a “corpse” by Overlord, the cruel death loving protagonist of the Wreckers story, who I compare to The Queen of the Underworld Ereshkigal. It is likely there is a greater reason behind Ereshkigal taking Inanna, but it appears as though she does it simply because she can, and the ultimate enemy of the Underworld is generally set up to be Heaven, where Inanna hails from and is a representative of (The Descent of Inanna). Overlord takes over Garrus 9 for attention, but while he is there he goes on a killing spree for the pure sake of it. (Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers) Making others suffer was literally what he was built for, (Transformers: More than Meets the Eye) and he does it as well as the Queen of the Underworld herself. It takes three years for anyone to be sent to Garrus 9, and in Inanna’s story she tells a servant to send someone after her in three days (The Descent of Inanna). The Wreckers remind me of the beasts in that they are disposable, and hold no greater meaning beyond that of their mission. Not only that, but both are sent by a “holy” figure. In Inanna’s case it is by Enki and in the Wrecker’s case it is by the Autobots, who hold themselves on a pedestal of Righteousness because their leader was assigned by their god, Primus.

The Descent of Inanna and Last Stand of the Wreckers does a good job of blurring the lines between good and evil, while at the same time setting up a character we are meant to root for and one we are meant to root against. The difference, however, is that The Wreckers do have an ultimate bad guy, and in the end he is defeated. Whereas in Inanna, while Ereshkigal loses Inanna, I would not count anything that happens as her being defeated. She is actually quite respected, considering her status. She is still a goddess and is still in high standing, despite what she had done. Overlord, on the other hand, is burned nearly to death in order for anyone to escape Garrus 9, which very few do (Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers). Another major difference between these stories is the intent. The Wreckers, unlike the Beasts, do not descend onto Garrus 9 to rescue anyone or liberate it, they go in to get data that would incriminate the Autobots. The only reason they fight Overlord as all is because defeating him was their only way out. While the intent is different the outcome is the same in both stories. One must stay for another to go. The only way Inanna was able to escape the Underworld was if someone took her place. The only way the Wreckers were able to escape Garrus 9 was if they defeated Overlord. In both cases there is an ultimate need to fulfill the ultimate goal.

The Descent of Inanna and Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers, while aesthetically very different, end up being very similar in the end. It is easy to equate certain characters from one story to certain characters in the other. The series of events I find to be very similar, and even though the intent differs, the ultimate goal becomes the same in the end.

“Brother’s Keeper”

The book of “Genesis” has no lack of siblings and their rivalries. The most notorious among them is the story of Cain and Abel, a pair of brothers whose differences lead one to do unto the other the unthinkable. Killing one’s own brother. The older of the two, Cain, is an example of the human at his worst, while Abel is the example of what can happen to man when human is at his worst. These two brothers share a similar story of another pair of “brothers” in a piece of today’s modern media. The quarrel between the Transformers characters of Megatron and Orion Pax, later known as Optimus Prime, follow in the footsteps of these Biblical examples. One, like Cain, is arrogant, and misunderstanding of God’s way and words. The God in this case, is meant as a literal entity, as well as a higher power known as The Council. Megaton, like Cain, presents to this higher power an offering. In their ignorance though, the offer is not accepted, and the higher power shows that it is in favor of Abel, or Orion Pax, as opposed to Cain and Megatron. Both instances result in death.

Cain is the brother who “tills the earth.” (Genesis 4:2) Abel is the brother deemed “the keeper of the sheep.” (Genesis 4:2) Cain’s job implies a heavy amount of physical work, while Abel is a watchful eye meant to keep others safe. Abel is portrayed as being slightly more devout than his brother, in the way in which he works to please God. When an offering is called to be taken Abel picks his best lamb while Cain, not wanting to waste his best crop, gives God scraps of the land. Similar to how Cain does more physical work, Megatron works as a Gladiator before becoming a true revolutionary (Transformers Exodus). Orion Pax, on the other hand, watches and files away information as an Archivist, similar to how Abel watches over his herd. Further, the image of the Shepherd is often associated as a holy figure. A shepherd is often used to refer to God’s “deliverer” of the people. This role that Abel plays, along with his willingness and devotion to God, could have been why God favored Abel over Cain. Orion Pax, like Abel, was also favored, and granted an artifact called “The Matrix of Leadership” turning him into Optimus Prime (Transformer Prime 27) In essence he, too, became a shepherd, and it was his voice that was heard over Megatron’s.

It is no secret that brothers are prone to fighting, especially when brothers differ so much it is not surprising at all. Cain was hard and arrogant, believing himself the better of the two and deserving of more. Abel, on the other hand, can be described as “gentle and timid” and “a dreamer of kind and peaceful dreams” (Weisel 41). Orion Pax, being a young and curious soul, can also be described as soft in the way Abel is a lover of life with an unrelenting want to discover and explore. It is the complete opposite of his soon to be friend, Megatronus. While Cain, throughout his story, is not an advocate of violence like Megatron, both are lead to it through jealousy and rage. Unlike Cain Megatron never succeeded in killing his “brother” Orion Pax, but his anger lead to the destruction of many lives nonetheless. Had Cain not fallen to his knees before God and admitted his guilt, the same fate may have befell him. Megatron and his followers, like Cain, were cast out and cursed to wander for the rest of their lives. Though one wandered and found a wife and settled, the other went on fighting for the rest of their life.

Like the story of Cain and Abel the characters of Megatron and Optimus are meant to represent the ultimate “good and evil.” Cain and Megatron being the Ultimate Evil, and Optimus and Abel being the Ultimate good. The fact that I can find parallels between a story about humans written hundreds of years ago, and story about fictional space creatures written in the twenty first century demonstrates that these themes are universal.

(Cites for both)

The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Eds. Michael D. Coogan, Marc Z. Brettler, Carol A. Newsom and Pheme Perkins. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print. New Revised Standard Version.

Wiesel, Elie. Messengers of God: Biblical portraits and legends. Bibliophile Library, 1987

(Wiesel, Élie, and Marion Wiesel. Messengers of God: biblical portraits and legends. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2005 (?))

Irvine, Alexander. Transformers: exodus. Del Rey, 2010

Dubuc, N. (Writer). (2012, February 18). Orion Pax Part 1 [Television series episode]. In Transformers Prime

Roche, Nick Et Al. Transformers last stand of the wreckers. 681336, 2010

2. Wolkstein, Diane and Samuel Noah Kramer (trans). "The Descent of Inanna." The Bedford Anthology of World Literature: The Ancient World, Beginnings - 100 C.E., edited by Paul Davis et al., Bedford/St. Martin's, 2004, pp. 28-39

3. Roberts, James, et al. Transformers: more than meets the eye. IDW Publishing, 2016

#essays #maccadam #optimus prime #megatron #compare and contrast

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LIFE AFTER DEATH?

Death Is Not the End (Part Seven)

Death Is Not the End (Part Five)

The Second Death

Life Is Service (Part One)

Comfort One Another With These Words

Taking It Through the Grave

Heaven Must Wait

Resurrection AD 31

Jesus and 'the Spirits in Prison'

What Happened to the Thief on the Cross? (Part One)

Is There a Hell?

Disproving Hell

Lazarus and the Rich Man

Is Your Soul Immortal?

Trumpets and Hope

Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man (Part One)

Was Jesus Dead?

The Resurrection From the Dead

Is Heaven the Reward of the Saved?

Whatever Happened to Gnosticism? Part Three: Satan's Three Heresies

The Sin of Partiality

by Dan Elmore

Forerunner, "Ready Answer," July 2007

Topics

Bias

Christian Unity

Church Problems

Competition

Division, Causing

Elitism

Equality

More...

Respect or Respect of Persons?

What Sin Is & What Sin Does

God's Way of Give at the Feast of Tabernacles

The Weightier Matters (Part 2): Judgment

James and Unleavened Bread (Part Two)

The Church Family - Convinced and Persuaded

Mercy and Justice

More...

"My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality." —James 2:1

Back in the 1970s, in Norwalk, California, when I was seeking to be baptized, I was trying to quit smoking. I found that it required that I keep quitting, because I kept finding a cigarette in my hand. It was such an ingrained habit that I did it without thinking. Each time I did, I would leave the rest of the pack some place where I could not recover it.

One night during this time, my family went to the home of some friends for a barbeque. Out of habit, I lit a cigarette and took a drag. As I blew the smoke out, I overheard my mother bragging to our host that I had quit smoking. My mom had been blinded by her partiality toward me and my abilities, and I felt horrible that I had caused her shame and disappointment. Realizing this helped me to quit the disgusting habit for good.

James 2:1 broaches the topic of partiality: "My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality." The King James Version translates this virtually the same way except that instead of "partiality," it reads "respect of persons." In many ways, "respect of persons" is a plainer translation of the Greek, since that is exactly what the apostle is fighting: church members respecting some people over others.

Since we, too, are members of God's church, it is beneficial to take a closer look at this idea of partiality or respect of persons from time to time. This problem frequently rears its ugly head, causing trouble among brethren, so it is good to know what it is and how it manifests itself in a congregation.

Definitions

First, we need to make sure that we understand the full implications of partiality by reviewing some definitions of the term. Webster's Dictionary defines partial as "biased to one party; inclined to favor one party in a cause, or one side of a question, more than the other; not indifferent." A second meaning emphasizes favoring something "without reason," and a third, "affecting a part only; not general or universal; not total," implies dividing or separating things apart from the whole.

Another tool we can use to get a better grasp of a term is to see how other translations of a particular Bible verse use it. Here are several alternate translations of James 2:1:

International Standard Version: My brothers, do not practice your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ by showing partiality.

New International Version: My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism.

Good News Translation: My friends, as believers in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, you must never treat people in different ways according to their outward appearance.

James Moffatt Translation: My brothers, as you believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Glory, pay no servile regard to people.

William Barclay Translation: My brothers, you cannot at one and the same time believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ and be a snob.

The New Testament in Modern English: Don't ever attempt, my brothers, to combine snobbery with faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ!

Amplified Bible: My brethren, pay no servile regard to people [show no prejudice, no partiality]. Do not [attempt to] hold [and] practice the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, [the Lord] of Glory, [together with snobbery]!

This term, rendered variously as "partiality," "favoritism," "respect of persons," "servile regard," and "snobbery" in James 2:1, is prosôpolepsía in Greek, and it is very close in meaning to the English word partiality. Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words expands on its meaning: "[It is] the fault of one who, when responsible to give judgment, has respect to the position, rank, popularity, or circumstances of men, instead of their intrinsic conditions, preferring the rich and powerful to those who are not so. . . ."

Armed with this understanding, we can explore some of the occasions when partiality occurs. For instance, parents almost always display partiality for their own children over other people's children, which is only natural, but sometimes they favor one of their own children over his or her sibling(s). This is bound to have disastrous results at some point.

People also make economic distinctions, showing a bias for one brand of car, clothing, appliance, or laundry soap. Some are partial to stocks and bonds, while others prefer to invest in land, gold, or commodities. Such preferences are usually just personal opinions due to habit, experience, advertising, or personal recommendation.

Of course, there are racial, social, religious, and political prejudices. We read or hear of such biases frequently. Many of these kinds of partialities can get one in trouble with the group in question, the law, the community, or the church, depending on how radically a person displays them. Even in supposedly free and equal societies, prejudices abound, as they are part of human nature.

Further, intellectual snobbery and elitism abound. Those who have advanced degrees too often look down their noses at those whose educational achievements were stymied by a lack of opportunity or funds or plain bad grades in school. Though it is more rare, a reverse intellectual snobbery has been known to exist among poorly educated Americans from time to time.

In the church, we often witness the "holier than thou" individual who wears his spirituality on his sleeve for all to see. He is quick to criticize others for their shortcomings, drawing away from fellowship with them for their "lack of conversion." Such a person is showing a bias toward his idea of righteousness, which, as we know, is called "self-righteousness."

There are many other kinds of partiality, and if one keeps an eye out for them, they are easy to spot. Respect of persons is part of the underside of the human condition, so it is not surprising that the Bible presents so many illustrations of it.

Biblical Examples

God provides us with dozens of examples of men and women who were partial to various people or things, and along with the examples come important lessons we can learn to avoid their mistakes. Sometimes, a right and godly favoritism is shown—particularly by God Himself—and an unrighteous, human reaction causes a great deal of trouble. Yet, more often, human partiality toward or against others opens the proverbial can of worms. A number of examples come immediately to mind.

»When God accepted Abel's offering but rejected Cain's—favor based on obedience and proper attitude—hatred, jealousy, resentment, and murderous rage resulted (see Genesis 4). This first example is one of godly favor taken badly.

»Through favoritism, Isaac (toward Esau) and Rebecca (toward Jacob) instilled a spirit of competition, strife, and resentment between the two brothers, which led to an even-now ongoing feud, more than 3,500 years later (see Genesis 25 and 27)!

»Jacob's partiality to Rachel was the source of a great deal of hostility and scheming among Jacobs's wives and concubines (see Genesis 30). This also created rivalries between their sons.

»Jacob's favoritism for Joseph made his half-brothers so jealous that they were ready to murder him (see Genesis 37). Instead, they "only" sold him into slavery, telling their father that he had been torn to pieces by a wild beast. This caused the patriarch no end of grief.

»Through his partiality as a father, Eli allowed himself to become complacent to the gross sins of his two sons (see I Samuel 2—4). This led both to calamity for Eli's house and national defeat at the hands of the Philistines.

»King David's partiality blinded his eyes to his children's evil actions, particularly Amnon's rape of his half-sister, Tamar; and Absalom's murder of Amnon and his rebellion against David himself (see II Samuel 13—18). Later, he ignored Adonijah's preparations to take over his throne, in spite of his expressed desire to have Solomon succeed him (see I Kings 1).

»In the story of Esther, Haman's prejudice almost cost the lives of all the Jews living in the Persian Empire (see Esther 3—8). Only an act of great courage and self-sacrifice saved the Jews from annihilation.

The Bible contains a host of other examples that thoroughly demonstrate the insidiousness of this potential sin. It is clear that the effects of partiality are the real problem. A person can have the best of intentions and reasons for his bias—as God's favor certainly is—but the reactions of those not in favor cause events to spin out of control. At other times, and certainly in most cases of human bias, the respect of persons is clearly wrong from the outset, and the carnal reactions of those it affects just makes matters worse.

Emulating God

In his epistle, the apostle James is combating the practice of showing favoritism toward the wealthy at the expense of poorer brethren. He asks in James 2:4, in doing so, "have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?" Here, he gets to the crux of the problem. As converted children of God, we are supposed to be able to make righteous judgments through the gift of God's Spirit. However, when we show partiality or respect of persons, we have allowed evil thoughts to compromise our judgment.

The Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary emphasizes that "the sin in question [respect of persons] is peculiarly inconsistent with His 'faith.'" Christ died for all, rich and poor alike, and His doctrine consistently stresses the spiritual equality of believers and unity in a brotherhood of believers. Thus, preferring one person over another because of wealth or status introduces an element of wickedness into Christian relations: division.

Matthew Henry agrees:

The apostle is here reproving a very corrupt practice. He shows how much mischief there is in the sin of prosôpolepsía—respect of persons, which seemed to be a very growing evil in the churches of Christ even in those early ages, and which, in these after-times, has sadly corrupted and divided Christian nations and societies.

. . . You who profess to believe the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, which the poorest Christian shall partake of equally with the rich, and to which all worldly glory is but vanity, you should not make men's outward and worldly advantages the measure of your respect. In professing the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, we should not show respect to men, so as to cloud or lessen the glory of our glorious Lord: how ever any may think of it, this is certainly a very heinous sin.

What about God's supposed favoritism for His chosen people? For many centuries, it seemed as if God was partial toward Israel in that only Israelites had an opportunity for salvation. From our perspective today, we know that He was working solely through Israel only for the time being, preparing a people for the coming of His Son in the flesh.

After Jesus' resurrection, God soon opened salvation to the Gentiles too, as related in the story of Cornelius in Acts 10. In verses 34-35 of this chapter, Peter draws a conclusion from his experiences with the vision of the animals let down in a sheet from heaven and with the conversion of the household of Cornelius: "In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him."

In Romans 2:11, speaking of the righteous judgment of God, Paul repeats this point: "For there is no partiality with God," a truth Paul understood from the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 10:17). To the Galatians, the apostle makes the spiritual equality of Christians even more specific: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28; see I Corinthians 12:13; Colossians 3:11).

It is clear that God is not a respecter of persons, giving everyone an equal opportunity for salvation and judging all by the same standards. And certainly, we should want to be like God, respecting every member of the church as an equal brother or sister in Christ.

English playwright George Bernard Shaw wrote, "We educate one another, and we cannot do this if half of us consider the other half not good enough to talk to." The church of God is an educational institution, and every member has a part to play in helping to build up others as they prepare for God's Kingdom. Eliminating biases and prejudices will go a long way toward bringing unity and growth to God's church.

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