#especially since how many mythical things turn out to be real in aligned

[transingthoseformers]

"How do we stop its energy from affecting us?" die noobs lol

[wisteria-lodge]

lion primary (bird model) + slightly burnt lion secondary

Hi there! I’m a fan of your sorting posts, and of your kind and insightful way of supporting people in finding out more about themselves. So naturally I’d be very interested in your take about my own sorting, if you’re game! :)

I won’t talk much about my Secondary, because now that I’m starting to unburn my Lion seems very clear to me, even when my explosion-prone Badger model still tries to get in the way of that clarity sometimes. The more interesting riddle is my Primary. So far I’m operating under the working theory that I am a Lion with a very strong Bird model - or is it the other way ‘round?

The supposed dichotomy between “thinking” and “feeling” in many of the more binary personality models has always bugged me, so it’s no wonder this is the area where whenever I feel like I’ve decided on who I am (for now) a new question mark pops up (so much fun!).

If ‘thinking’ and ‘feeling’ doesn’t work for you as terminology, it might help to think of Lion as leading with subconscious reasoning, and Bird as leading with conscious reasoning.

Instead of trying to formulate a cohesive text, which would have gotten even longer, I’m putting together an associative list of thoughts and stories that kept turning up while I was trying to figure out my Primary.

A very Lion primary way to solve a problem, not gonna lie ;)

- I think I got my Bird model from my father, who made quite an effort to teach me to look at things from all angles. As a child, whenever I got in a fight with this friend I had, he would sit me down and ask me to put myself in my friend’s shoes. It was hard, because a lot of the time my friend was being unfair to me and I actually could have used some support, someone to tell me that it was not okay to treat me this way. But I’m still immeasurably grateful for my father’s lessons, through which I’ve learned to understand peoples’ motivations and gained an understanding for the complexities of every conflict. He also taught me to doubt, to look closer, to not just believe the first thing I see, or want to see. To this day I still consider my ability to pin down the relevant factors of a situation before I make judgments one of my strengths.

That definitely sounds like a very strong, beloved Bird model.

- Whenever I had to write an essay at school or uni, I first had to come up with some aspect about the subject that I really cared about, even could be passionate about. (I am passionate about many things, so it was usually possible to find some connection to that.) Then I would use the essay to discuss this aspect in great detail, ending with a polemic flourish. I had the time of my life doing that; meanwhile the text would structure itself magically in relation to the issue I had chosen to focus on. Whenever I tried to write without such a focus, I’d get bored, stressed and the text would be of a much lower quality.

- Something similar happened in oral exams at uni: Only when I got the opportunity to bring a discussion paper (a few pointed statements regarding the exam topic) which I could then debate, I was able to recollect all the important details I needed for that. If I just had to report on the topic or answer questions, I often got confused, to the point of drawing a complete blank.

Linking things to emotion and passion - thinking with emotion and passion, basically - is a Lion primary thing. Especially if doing that makes you feel safe & comfortable & effective & happy.

- Even as a teenager I was very interested in philosophy, ethics and moral decision making.

I love teaching philosophy to teenagers. It’s the perfect time for it, they are so into it, and if it were up to me I would absolutely make it a required class.

I picked up certain philosophical ideas and concepts that I liked and integrated them in my belief system (yes, I know how very Bird that sounds).

I had my mind blown by Genealogy of Morals in high school, and I still won’t shut about Eichmann in Jerusalem. But what was so staggering to me in high school was… here are these ways of thinking that are possible and allowed. The fact that here they are in words in front of me made me a great deal more expansive.

Now that I think about it — I don’t remember adjusting my beliefs as in any way traumatic back then. The shift from a belief in the Christian God to Mother Goddess to my very own brand of agnostic paganism was smooth, natural.

Now that I think about it… I would describe myself as a mythic relativist (which is a term I just made up.) Systems of belief are metaphors, and they’re metaphors trying to describe and say something large and beautiful about what it means to be human, and what it means to live a good life. And since we are all human, they are all attempting to describe the same central, indescribable thing in different ways.

I feel this very deeply, but it took me a long while to be able to articulate it.

I constantly reevaluate, and I adapt.

You stop reevaluating and adapting, might as well be dead.

Still, there are some basics I’ve kept with me that just make too much sense to me to give up, and some that perhaps I keep because I just really like them and I’m kind of attached to them.

… somebody’s thinking with Pathos :)

- I’m a constructivist at heart, so that makes it much easier to tweak the content of my beliefs while staying true to the principle that we (socially) construct our reality, and (my take on this): that I choose what kind of world I want to live in, and according to that I make choices which are the most likely to create that world.

- At uni I attended a seminar about the development of moral judgment and action. What I remember most clearly about it is how much it bugged me that the other students didn’t seem to understand that morality always depends on the perspective. Even though I had definite moral convictions that I was ready to fight for, at the same time it seemed obvious to me that theoretically there could be a justification for every kind of moral guideline; it depended on your principles and the world you wanted to live in.

A human after my own heart.

I wanted to understand these different perspectives, not talk about empty categories like “right and wrong” or “good and evil” that meant nothing to me. I still feel that way.

Absolutely. I don’t use alignments when I DM Dungeons & Dragons. I mean, I can list evil *things* but that’s not the same thing as defining *being evil.* I want to know WHY these people did these evil things.

It just seems so impractical and complicated to base a conversation on those broad categories that don’t have any definition people can agree on instead of referring either to defined principles (in order to explain what good/ bad is *for you*) or consequences of certain actions, and whether you want them/ accept them/ don’t want them.

Oh that’s a fun discussion. Asking a highschooler to define “evil.”

(and then they have to figure out what moral systems Jigsaw, Pinhead, the Joker, and Bane all subscribe to.)

- Between “the Revolutionary” and “the Grail Knight”, I would love to be the former, but I’m clearly the latter. I’m someone who questions, not someone who knows.

Take my archetypes with a grain of salt, they are supposed to describe characters. (Who are different from people - but still useful, because they are attempts to describe us.) I actually want to write more about the differences I see between the way fictional secondaries are written and the way real-life secondaries work.

And just “knowing”... is dangerous. That’s how Exploded Lions happen. 

There are a lot of causes I find worthy to fight for, but I haven’t committed to any one, which so far I’ve attributed to my Burned Secondary (How do I do things?).

Sounds about right.

If I’m honest, though, it feels a bit strange to really, really fight for anything. I’d rather contribute to the cause by keeping an eye on whether we stay aligned to our values on every level of the fight, not by storming sightlessly in front of some army. (I got polemic again, didn’t I? ;))

So after all this Bird talk, why do I think that I’m a Lion?

… that was the Bird segment?

- I trust my intuition. It has never steered me wrong, with one exception: My Primary burned for a time when I first understood the concept of privilege and internalized bias, which was coincidentally at a time when I also went through a lot of changes in my personal life. Like many people unaware of their own privilege, I had thought of myself as “one of the good ones”. I learned that even with the best intentions I could cause great harm without even noticing it. This then also happened to me in a relationship, when I was already confused, hurt and more than a bit burned. It seemed like I couldn’t trust my intuition anymore, but I also couldn’t figure out intellectually what to believe, because I felt mentally overwhelmed by all those new concepts, all of which put my previous convictions into question. Which Primary burned then?

Been there, done that, it’s brutal. It sounds to me like a Lion dramatically changing direction - that’s what I mean when I say that it *hurts* when a Lion changes their mind. Birds see their past selves that thought wrong as almost different people. “I wasn’t aware of my privilege then, now I am, and can take steps doing forward.” But if you’re a lion it’s like… I *should* have been aware, and the fact that I wasn’t says something terrible about my moral/emotional calibration, and THAT has to be put right.

- I felt like everything I had learned about the world and myself didn’t count anymore. My concepts and my strategies didn’t serve me anymore. So I started to rebuild everything from scratch, this time with less pride and more practicality.

Yeah. That’s some Lion recalibration. With a Bird Model, to help.

- Anyway, I trust my intuition. It contains my experiences, instinct and all my accumulated unconscious observations of the situation, and it’s very reliable. Usually I use it as an important source of information which I try to back up with data/ understanding, but when push came to shove and the apparent facts would contradict what my intuition told me, I would be unable to set my gut feeling aside. I wouldn’t follow it blindly, of course. But I would never just go against it either. If the voices of my unconscious and conscious mind don’t align, I keep poking at the issue until they do. If I absolutely cannot come to a satisfying conclusion, I go with my gut. Since I know it usually knows what it’s doing, I’ll find out the reasons for my feelings later. (Weird, says my inner bird who is busy compiling these examples.)

I’LL FIND THE REASON FOR MY FEELINGS LATER. What a perfect way of articulating what is perhaps the central experience of being a Lion primary.

- Probably I’m just both, you know. Some interesting lion/bird-chimaera. I like it.

I read you as a pretty clear Lion Primary, Bird primary model. But as always, the decision is very personal.

- I have a weird way of processing information: I read/ hear it, work to understand it, work to connect it to existing knowledge in my mind, then my beliefs, my existing knowledge and my feelings about it all wind around each other, grow into each other, some dissolve together, becoming a swamp which then nourishes the plants of new ideas and connections that grow from it.

You grok it. And that’s not weird.

I often can’t remember where certain knowledge came from. I can’t take it out of a memory shelf and tell you about it. I usually remember that I’ve read a certain book and whether I liked it / it influenced me, but I won’t exactly remember what was in it, even if it was important to me. Because all that information is already processed/ digested/ transformed into something new. It’s much easier to access my memory swamp intuitively than consciously.

and you seriously had like… any doubt that you were a Lion.

In intellectual discussions I tend to get stuck because I just can’t remember enough of the details (for my satisfaction), just my conclusions about the topic and how I feel about it.

I’m inclined to think that not accessing the details is either a secondary thing, or an entirely unrelated processing thing.

What do you make of all this? I’m very curious!

:)

[On an unrelated note, I’d like to specify the compliment I made at the beginning of this post. I’m really impressed with your ability to pick up on what people need, not just what they say they want. As a counselor this is a skill I try to hone, so I know how difficult it is to not get too distracted by the story people tell and miss the more subtle cues. You have a powerful combination of perceptiveness, insight and so much kindness, which you use to effectively support people who have questions, are in distress or confused. You don’t generalize. You don’t judge. You see the people who talk to you.  I love that you’re a teacher, because I can see you’re using the influence that gives you in a way that contributes to making the world a better place. Fellow Idealist, I’d like to give you a High Five for that, if I may. :)))]

I’m not sure I’ve ever been given a better compliment. Thank you.

[ruffsficstuffplace]

The Keeper of the Grove (Part 56)

As Weiss purified water and made new solutions with them, captured the resulting gases from various chemical reactions, liquified mineral and soil samples, and carefully distilled a new batch of moonshine with gunpowder for plenty of extra kick, she had flashes back to her chemistry classes in Arcturus Academy.

Because of her reluctance to use all but the most basic and unobtrusive of mods like vaccines, she was lumped in with all the other students who had the same philosophy as her, couldn't afford them, or had the misfortune to be afflicted with Egan's Syndrome or other conditions that prevented the use of them, or seriously impaired their effects.

A lot of her classmates who flunked out or got lower grades than they wanted accused her of secretly modding, bribing the proctors and security to sneak in cybernetic or genetic enhancements so she could pass her classes with ease, while avoiding what was essentially real-world work with all the other “transhuman” students.

“Has it ever occurred to you that someone might just naturally be better at some things than others?” Weiss shot back after they had made threats about “busting” her—ones that ultimately had no teeth.

It was always just natural and easy for her, having strong hunches about what proportions her experiments needed for the right results, balancing chemical formulas, even the actions of pouring, stirring, and mixing seemed second nature. About the only times it had failed her was during the Job Gauntlet and her first attempts at processing her produce, but those were the faults of her being a stranger in a strange, strange world, and all the magic unknowingly leaking from her fingers.

Now, it turned out she was almost literally born for it, as a water aligned weaver.

“The claim that your elemental alignment completely decides your personality and skills have long been debunked, however, and there are many records of water weavers who have made terrible alchemists,” Penny explained as they waited for her mediums to cool off, or build up to usable amounts. “No one individual consists almost entirely of one element, and numerous factors affect them beside such as environment, genetics, and how they were raised, to name some.

“However, the correlations between certain personality types and alignment are incredibly strong; stereotypes are based on some grain of truth, after all.”

“What's the one for Water?” Weiss asked.

“Intelligent and adaptable, capable of being both soothing rain or a destructive typhoon as is needed, but also considered the most emotional, either volatile and unpredictable like stormy seas, or antisocial and reserved like ice.”

“Sounds like me, and every other female from my mother's side.”

Penny nodded. “Elemental alignment is hereditary, yes, as with Ruby and all the Keepers being Earth.”

“What's theirs?”

“Amiable and with great integrity and adherence to their values, if either stubborn and irrationally resistant to change like a mountain, or too easily molded such as that of clay.”

“And Fire?”

“Passionate and energetic, but oftentimes overwhelming and even dangerous. Prone to fits of anger and other strong emotions, to the point of burning everything and everyone around them, sometimes even snuffing themselves out like a pyre running out of fuel.”

“Oh yeah, that's grandpa Nick, 100%. And what's for Air?”

“Regal and confident, but sometimes too detached from the world around them—be they aloof and snobbish because of their often very high standards and unrealistic expectations, or moving through the world like a passing breeze, never staying still nor committing to anything for any reasonable period of time.”

“So my father, Blake when we first met, and Abner, with how he's a master escape artist and all.”

Penny nodded. “Ilaya and her descendants' influence have helped make him more 'grounded,' though that can also be attributed to his governor overriding his natural tendency towards flight and distraction, if not the creativity and the unusual, novel ideas that comes from 'having your head in the clouds' most of the time.”

“That is a lot of puns and similes right there,” Weiss said as she began to shut off her equipment, took finished batches off for bottling.

“Whereas Nivian reserves wordplay for literature and creative comparisons, Actaeon uses them for the actual terms,” Penny said as she helped her with the rest.

With the help a special device for funneling her creations into special vials, Weiss had a sizable row of multi-coloured mediums, a decent mix of potency for each element. She loaded the weakest from all four into her gauntlet, her smile growing ever larger as she shot out a dust cloud, set it alight with a fire ball, put it out with a spray of water, before she whisked it out the window with a gust of wind before the smell stayed.

“Shall we go test this out with Myrtenaster at the training grounds?” Penny asked, smiling.

“Let's!” Weiss said as she began to gather them all up in a bag. “Bring the others, too, I feel like showing off...~”

–

Weiss faced the fountain from last night, its ancient stone damp, moldy, and lousy with plants and fungus that grown over the years of disuse.

In one hand was Myrtenaster, and on the other, her gauntlet, the water vials glowing a faint, icy blue. She wore a Water Weaver's coat just delivered from the Terrace, its hood thrown over her head and her usual ponytail tied into a bun for safety. On her face was the specially carved mask that came with it, for protection magic and utility such as an overlay over her vision of how much of each medium she had left, and what Myrtenaster was currently attuned to. The belt Blake had made was around her waist, loaded with spare vials, a few canisters of mana-water, and an anti-magic grenade in case things went horribly awry.

She could feel her power surging all through her body as it was amplified by her runeblade and gauntlet, and sustained and controlled by her armour. It felt wonderful—not a powerful, electrifying jolt like the first time she had touched Myrtenaster, but a constant thrum that made her feel like she could do anything.

The others sat behind a magic barrier, Penny putting her hands on the generator for extra safety. All was silent as Weiss took a long, deep breath, and slowly let it go. Then, she put her hand on Myrtenaster's trigger.

“FIRE~!” Ruby yelled.

Weiss thrust her sword forward, a jet of orange flames pouring out of the tip. The fountain was completely ablaze in an instant, the mold, the fungus, and the plants turning to ash.

“Air!” Qrow cried.

Weiss spun her runeblade in the air, a gust spiraling out from her sword, feeding the flames and taking the smoke and ash deeper into the swamp.

<Earth!> Blake shouted.

Weiss sandblasted the fountain, holding her blade steady with both hands as she suffocated the flames and gave the stone a good polishing.

“WOOF!” Zwei barked.

Weiss slowly raised Myrtenaster, a miniature rain cloud forming above the fountain. She gently tapped the air in front of her, the cloud burst, a deluge of water coming down, and washing away the leftover sand.

The grooves, the reliefs of Fae weavers and the elements, and the basins all sparkled and shined like new.

Weiss turned to the others, pulled off her mask and hood, and bowed.

They all cheered and clapped, Penny putting her hands off the barrier as they came over to hug her and pat her on the back.

“That was awesome, Weiss!” Ruby cried.

“Supur cool!” Blake added, smiling.

“Gotta admit, princess, you've got a real knack for alchemy and elemental weaving,” Qrow said. “Maybe you could even start making bombs and ammo for the rest of us, help us out with our own jobs.

“Just make sure they don't explode until after we pull the pins…”

“It can also help them take on higher risk-reward targets and duties at the Watcher's Roost,” Penny said. “Though there is always an abundance of especially dangerous creatures in the wild, the Council rarely funds the necessary equipment, labour, and munitions until they become an imminent threat to the residents.

“The bounties alone will also go a long way into helping pay off our loan and getting your Eluna plushie back much sooner, not to mention improving security in the Valley—something the Council always appreciates.”

“Oooh! Ooh!” Ruby started bouncing in place. “Does this mean I can finally use my scythe's farslinger attachment more?”

“Your what now?” Weiss asked.

“It's the sniper rifle version of a spellslinger,” Qrow explained. “Also takes mediums instead of bullets, but they have to be super potent so they'll actually go that far.”

“You have an attachment for the Keeper's scythe, that also turns into a magical sniper rifle?”

“Mhmm!” Ruby said. “Have to put the blade in the ground when I fire, or else I go flying—and sometimes I do it on purpose because it's so much fun!”

“That sounds incredibly dangerous, and just outright insane.” Weiss said.

Beat.

“What do I have to do make ammo for it?”

“First, you'll have to take out more money from our loan for licensing fees and equipment,” Penny said. “Assuming you pass and your resulting products are even a fraction as powerful as your magic is, it will easily pay for itself within six months to a year.

Weiss laughed. “Never thought I'd end up in munitions manufacturing! But then again, I never really thought I'd end up in… anything like this!”

Qrow smirked. “Eh, to be fair, it's kinda hard to imagine getting abducted by supposedly mythical creatures, living in their society, and them helping you find out you have magical powers.”

Weiss was actually thinking of close friends, a loving home, and a place where she could just be herself, rather than the heiress of the Schnee Power Company.

But, they didn't need to know that.

“We should go celebrate!” Ruby said. “For Weiss finding about her powers, and for her life seriously picking up since she first got here!”

“It might also be good to celebrate while you still can,” Qrow added. “With the Eve coming in just a few days and all the general weirdness yesterday, you can be damned sure you're going to be spending a lot of your time in the Terrace from now.”

“I suggest triple chocolate cake shakes at Fae-orina's!” Penny offered. “It'll be beneficial for both the energy she's expended just now, and for her emotional well-being.”

“Won' say 'No' to that!” Blake said, licking her lips.

Zwei barked happily, picked Weiss up and put her onto his back. He held his heads up high, the others smiled and laughed as they came up to his sides, like they were all in a parade and Weiss was the star attraction.

Weiss had to laugh and shake her head at the ridiculousness of it all, before she grinned, thrust Myrtenaster in the air, and cried,

“Onwards!”

They went off to the Guild, both to readjust their loan and find out just what Weiss needed to do to get licenses for producing large amounts of ammo, high-explosives, and alcohol, and just to go shopping for materials to add some much-needed personalization to Weiss' clothes.

“If I'm going to wear them until they fall apart, I want to actually mourn their loss,” Weiss said.

But first, they were going to buy materials for their Eve of the Ether costumes.

Blake was going as a character from one of her favourite novels, “Ninjas of Love.”

With the help of a jumpsuit and life-like prosthetic hands her creators had given her, Penny was going as an actual mouse mechanic, a character from an Old World holo.

Inspired by Weiss' new mask and weaver's robes, Blake modified her original idea of an “Elven Princess” from more Old World literature, and instead made her costume like the infamous “Keeper's Bride,” one of the rare figures in the legends who survived an encounter with her by becoming her servant/lover.

After the Keeper had massacred the rest of her party, she was relentlessly hunted down and psychologically tortured for a whole week, never given rest nor peace until she went insane, and became an inhuman monster who helped her track down and slaughter her victims as a twisted, gruesome idea of date night.

And after Weiss explained to her how the humans knew and remembered her, Ruby laughed, and laughed hard, so much that they had to move to the side of the street to keep from blocking the rest of the days' shoppers.

“That's what you humans think happened?” she said she wiped tears from her eyes. “That was my great-great-great...” she continued for a while “… grandmother Myala's mate Samaria, and believe me, the relationship was totally consensual and not based on murdering people, and she didn't need to drive her insane first for her to fall in love with her!

“Sammy was always kind of crazy before she came to the Valley.”

“What really happened, then?” Weiss asked.

“She really was the last survivor of the Mystery Busters, and she was there to find proof that The Keeper of the Grove did exist, but the only things chasing her were more animals—Myala and her party were trying to lead her out of the Valley the whole week she was in there, but all whenever they did to scare her off or offer her a way home backfired, and Sammy just kept going deeper and deeper into the Valley every single time.

“Eventually, she managed to attract the attention of a Soul Eater, and even if she was one hell of a badass to survive that long all on her own, she was still human, and Soul Eaters are Soul Eaters. Myala killed before it could kill her, and she was so impressed by the fight she told her,

“'Marry me or kill me. I'll be happy either way.'”

“She did not,” Weiss said. She turned to Penny. “Did she?”

Penny nodded. “One of her party members had a chronicle.”

Weiss turned back to Ruby. “Well what happened to her after that?”

“Well obviously, Myala didn't kill her, though she did say she at least wanted to date her for a while before she decided on whether or not she wanted to marry her. Sammy went on to work for the Watchers, they did eventually get hitched, and then they had kids who married and had their own kids, and eventually we end up here, with me!”

<Samaria was one of the most legendary Watchers who ever lived, too,> Blake said. <Even before she got modded, she had all the senior watchers worrying and making plans to go to the training grounds more often.>

After Penny translated the words Weiss didn't understand and clarified what Blake meant, she asked, “You Fae have gene mods, too?”

Ruby nodded. “We don't really use them as much here in the Fae territories for a lot of reasons, but we have them. Abner can get you some, though it won't be cheap! He doesn't need Shinies, but green goo doesn't grow from trees, either.

“Well, some of it doesn't grow from trees, anyway.”

“Before you ask, 'Green goo' is the slang term for the extremely versatile substance we use for all of our genetic modification,” Penny said.

Weiss nodded, and they resumed shopping.

“Have we gotten everything for our costumes?” Weiss asked. “I don't want us to go over-budget because of me.”

<Yep,> Blake said, holding up some of their bags.

“Our checklist is complete, yes,” Penny added.

“Why doesn't it seem like we didn't get anything for Ruby?” Weiss asked.

“Because I already have my costume, silly!” Ruby chirped.

“So what, or who are you going as?”

“What else?” she beamed. “Myself, as the Keeper of the Grove!”

Weiss scowled. “Are you serious? You realize you're still very much Avalon's Most Wanted after you 'killed me' on live holovision, right?”

“Well who's going to believe that the actual Keeper of the Grove came to Candela, and is just hanging out at the Eve of the Ether fair with her friends, and not killing and/or scaring people?” Ruby replied. It works all the time for Eluna at conventions and press events.”

Weiss raised a finger, before she slowly put it down. “You have a point...”

<Saves Shinies, too,> Blake said, holding up the bags of materials and accessories they'd already bought.

Weiss nodded. “But what if someone somehow realizes it is actually you?”

Ruby beamed. “That's when I use my human disguise!”

“What does it look like?”

“I'll show you later!” Ruby said. “It kinda ruins the point of a disguise when there's tons of people around seeing you put it on,” she said.

Weiss couldn't argue with that, and they resumed shopping.

[leftpress]

JK Revell | July 9th 2019 | Not a Dead Communist

The word "wight", as D&D books are always eager to remind us, originally just meant "person". It was common enough in this sense in medieval English, and into at least the seventeenth century (Shakespeare uses it, for one). After that, it becomes somewhat old-fashioned, and it's unlikely that anyone much has used the word in this sense for over a hundred years, at least outside of poetry. In 1869, however, a translator used the term "barrow-wight" (literally "tomb-person") to describe a form of undead from Norse legends. This term, of course, was later borrowed by Tolkien in Lord of the Rings. Gygax abbreviated it back to "wight" again for D&D, while retaining the "undead" meaning. It's likely Gygax's coinage that influenced George R.R. Martin when he chose the word to describe his own, more zombie-like, beings. However, in his universe, it's the White Walkers that most closely resemble D&D's wights, although there are a number of clear differences, not least in terms of how they are created. Tolkien's barrow-wight, however, was quite closely based on the undead of Norse myth - named draugr in the original language - and the original D&D version is clearly, in turn, based on that. These mythical "wights" were said to be corpses animated by the souls of their original inhabitants, pulled back from the afterlife, usually to guard their tombs, although they were capable of travelling out at night to take revenge on those who had wronged them, and they often had a range of magical abilities.

1E

The wight in the illustration has unkempt hair and long nails, but is basically just an animated corpse, albeit more intact than the typical zombie. Wights are slightly harder to hit, and can sustain more damage, than ghouls but, like them, don't appear to wear any armour or carry weapons. Much of their resistance, therefore, is, like that of ghouls, probably due to the absence of any blood or vital organs, and perhaps the stronger essence of "negative energy" flowing through them. Unlike ghouls, wights retain their full human intelligence and their "lawful evil" descriptor implies a greater degree of cooperation. They seem to exist in small communities of up to a dozen or so individuals, haunting ancient tombs, although no details of how they organise themselves are given. They are said to hate sunlight, so even though it doesn't physically harm them, it seems unlikely that they travel between tombs, or are likely to be encountered elsewhere. This implies that it must be possible to create them spontaneously, but whether this is by an evil spirit possessing a corpse (as in Tolkien's barrow-wights) or an evil departed soul re-animating its original body isn't stated. In fact, the only way that we are told new wights are made is by contagion, with the souls of those they slay becoming weaker wights under the control of their killer. That this generally happens through the use of energy drain, rather than the use of physical weaponry, probably explains why their bodies look so intact. Presumably, dwarven, halfling, etc., wights exist, although the reliance on tombs might rule out less architecturally inclined races such as, say, nomadic orcs. The 2E version is very similar, but with glowing eyes, and actual claws instead of long fingernails. They - perhaps more plausibly - are solitary, aside from any servitor wights they may have created, and even these are rare.

3E

Compared with some other creatures, wights don't really change much in 3E. In terms of appearance, they are back to having nails instead of claws, and their teeth are now needle-like. The one shown is cadaverous, rather than having the muscular build of the 1E version, but presumably, there has to be variation between individuals, so that may not mean much. They are, once again, more likely to live in packs, apparently being driven by a desire to create more of their kind, although these packs are typically smaller than those in 1E.

Changes in the rule system mean that we now know that wights are slightly stronger and faster than living humans, although this is only by a narrow margin, and they are, in fact, less physically potent than the otherwise easier-to-kill ghouls. They are, however, remarkably quiet when they move (perhaps not breathing helps here, or their movements are steadier) and they also have acute senses.

The Liber Mortis indicates that, while most wights are the former victims of other wights, they do also arise spontaneously from humans, orcs, hobgoblins, and, occasionally, dwarves. The details remain unclear, although the implication is that they are animated by their original soul - unlike Tolkien's barrow-wights. The wights of Pathfinder are, unsurprisingly, similar to the 3E version, but far more visibly decayed, and with the glowing eyes of 2E.

5E

The 5E version of the wight has undergone much more drastic changes, to the point that it's hard to imagine scholars within the world would consider them truly the same kind of entity. Having said which, some of the changes are relatively minor. For instance, while prior versions of the wight seem to be physically intact, albeit with an extreme bloodless pallor, the one in the illustration appears to suffer from some slight degree of bodily decay, in that's its nose has apparently rotted off... but it's hardly comparable with a zombie. Wights are also now weakened and near-blinded by sunlight, but then, they always avoided it anyway. Wights in 5E also wear armour and carry weapons, while all previous versions were dressed in funereal clothing and attacked with fists or claws. However, since wights are of fully human intelligence, there was presumably nothing to stop them doing this before, especially if they happened to belong to a culture that buries their dead warriors alongside the tools of their trade, as many real-world peoples have. It's a difference in attitude on the part of the wight, but not a change in their essential nature. In a more significant change from 3E, wights are now physically stronger than ghouls, as well as more intelligent and strong-willed. There's also a trade-off in terms of their physical resilience - an unarmoured wight is no longer any harder to hit than a regular human, but mundane weapons inflict less damage (in 1E, though, they had both innate armour and complete immunity to mundane weapons...) In addition, it's clear now that they can speak, in whatever language they knew in life; this wasn't explicitly stated before in the core rulebooks, although Liber Mortis mentioned it. The most dramatic change, however, is how new wights are created. Previously, most wights were the creation of other wights, who were, in fact, psychologically compelled to make more of their own kind - now, they have lost that ability entirely. Instead, all wights are spontaneously created, differing from ghouls in that they make an active choice to enter the ranks of the undead at the point of their physical death. (We're told this doesn't always work, presumably to stop PCs trying it). This means that they are, as in 2E, more likely to be solitary, but that they explicitly serve evil deities rather than being independent operators. They have switched from lawful to neutral evil, which sort of makes sense for a being selfish enough to choose wight-hood over their deity's afterlife.

As wilful corporeal undead, wights face many of the same biological issues as ghouls. The most significant are the two related questions of how their energy drain ability works and how and why people rise again as wights, as opposed to some other kind of undead. Energy drain is the signature attack of wights, and, in 1E, they are the weakest form of undead to possess this ability. As described in that edition, it is a terrifyingly powerful ability for something with so few hit dice - permanent loss of a level is about the worst thing one can do to a character in D&D without killing them - and it's noteworthy that the effect is progressively tuned down in later editions. It also fades more rapidly, so that, by 5E, the effect, such as it is by that edition, is entirely cured by a good night's sleep. We're told that the energy drain works because of the strong aura of "negative energy" that animates the wight. However, its effect is so tightly bound with the rules mechanics of D&D that it's hard to explain exactly what it's doing, from the perspective of somebody living in that universe. It doesn't induce lethargy or physical weakness, or obviously cloud the mind, but it does render the victim less effective at fighting, and, in earlier editions, at spellcasting, too. Somehow, it affects skill and experience, without also causing loss of the memories that go along with them. In 5E, however, perhaps it can be justified as weakening the bonds between the soul and the body, draining away the victim's "will to live" as the darkness rises inside them. When this ability entirely overwhelms someone, they die (brain death, presumably, with the rest of the body following). In most editions, they then become undead themselves, and some, probably most, wights are created this way. Some versions state that they retain their original soul when this happens, although, given that they always shift alignment to lawful evil, that may not really mean very much. Perhaps it's more like an evil spirit possessing the corpse and being able to access the original's memories. But, even so, some must arise spontaneously, and only 5E provides an explanation as to how this might happen. That version, however, doesn't seem to fit with what we know of wights from earlier editions, leaving the question open; perhaps a combination of events is required.

Because the signature power of ghouls is so tightly bound to the D&D mechanics, there is often no direct counterpart in other systems that use widely variant rules. The basic concept of moderately intelligent, active undead may certainly exist, but without the energy drain, they are arguably closer to D&D ghouls than to wights. With that proviso, the closest examples would be barrow-wights in directly Tolkien inspired games, or anything based on the draugr of Norse myth from which Tolkien drew his own inspiration. For the same reason, trying to more directly simulate an original-style D&D wight in a system that doesn't use levels can be tricky. They are typically somewhat stronger and more combat capable than regular humans, and, in the earlier editions are resilient to damage, probably because they don't bleed or have vital organs. But the energy drain is problematic. Each drain reduces the victim's skills by 5% or the nearest system-equivalent, but the nature of any other penalties may be difficult to carry over meaningfully, and, will, in any case, vary a fair bit depending on how the system works. As a result, it's probably best to avoid trying to stick too closely to the original concept. Fortunately, though, simulating the 5E version of energy drain is not as complicated as that of earlier editions. While it's not what described as happening - that is, not what an observer in the universe would see - game mechanically, a wight's energy drain attack in 5E simply gives the victim a wound that cannot be healed until the effect wears off (which takes a single night, in the standard version). That's easily enough simulated, although, in many systems, it will mean that a wight is significantly more powerful than it's intended to be in 5E, if it normally doesn't take many blows to kill someone...

[Read More On LeftPress.org]

[animeride-blog]

5 Themes In One Piece You Should Know About https://animeride.com/blogs/7083/5-themes-in-one-piece-you-should-know-about/

New Post has been published on https://animeride.com/blogs/7083/5-themes-in-one-piece-you-should-know-about/

5 Themes In One Piece You Should Know About

One Piece explores many themes like Slavery, Racism, Bonds, Inheritance, just to name a few, to tell it’s majestic story. It’s almost like a religious message with the cover up of shounen to make the holy book of One Piece seem more interesting to read in order for as many as possible to become better human being by learning from things the story tells us we shouldn’t do. It could be possible, he is Goda after all. Whatever may be the case, those themes are always fun to see in our favorite anime. With that, i am King, and here are 5 themes in one piece you should know about.

Number 5

Roger Pirates and Strawhats.

  Let’s first get the obvious one out of the way which is the parrarels and themes both of these crew has. Both the crews value friendship and their friends over anything and their captains especially have shown to be gone to ridiculous lengths if someone dares say something bad about them. The captains of both crews had a similar ability – Voice Of All Things -, they forced their fitst mate to join them, their first mate is a Swordsman and more then likely to be revealed in the future both first mates specialize in Armament Haki and have Conquerors Haki. Roger got his ship – Oro jackson – made by Tom of Water 7 and we know Luffy also got his ship from Water 7 and that too from Tom’s apprentice.

Number 4

The Theme of 3

One of the most apparent and active themes in One Piece is the Trifecta of various things. To start off, you have the Marine Admirals, The Powerhouses of the Marine, which are 3 in number. When you have a look at the powers of the 3 originally introduced Admirals in the story, they all had a Devil Fruit which was Logia in type. Talking about Devil Fruits, there are types of Devil Fruits we have been told exist. Paramecia, Zoan and Logia. A number of 3. When we move over in the Haki department, we can also see this theme as we have 3 types of Haki which are Observations, Armament, and Conquerors. Apart from of these, we have 3 Ancient Weapons, The 3 Great Powers – Marines, Shicibukai and Yonkous – 3 main commanders for a Yonkou, a monster trio for the Strawhats and so on.

 Moreover there are 3 main trees in the world of One Piece with significance. Those being The Treasure Tree Adam. Tree Of Knowledge and Sunlight Tree Eve. Some predict the former 2 have been inspired from the trees in heaven according to Bible and since there were 3 trees in heaven, there could be another important tree yet to be revealed to complete the trifecta of the holy trees, so to speak. There is even theories out there that Blackbeard might get 3 Devil Fruits since his Jolly Roger has 3 skulls, adding on to this theme.

Number 3

Theme of Yonkous

  Moving over to Yonkous now, each of them have a specific theme which defines their crew and what type of powers you can expect from them.

Kaido

Starting with Kaido, he seems to have a “Card” based theme to his crew where his underlings seem to be named based on the cards. Drake who is his underling is the ten in the card. Joker one is self explanatory. And there are leaks from Oda’s office which suggest his calamities – Commanders – also follow this route. We already have Jack, based of the Jack in Card Game. And the leaks suggest there will be a Queen, King and Kaido above all of them. His crew also has the beast and Zoan theme to it so you can expect most of his, especially commaders to be Zoan based users who have an intimidating appearance.

Big Mom

Big Mom follows a Theme of “Sweets” in which majority of her crew has powers relating to sweets. Her 3 commanders, Her Eldest Son and Tottoland being some examples of it. Along with which, her crew also follows a theme of “paramecia” based devil fruit users.

Blackbeard

Blackbeard’s theme isn’t much apparent as of yet but it seems to be heavily Devil Fruit based as his crew is actively looking for strong Devil Fruits, which is what we saw in Dressrosa. A likely guess would be that the theme of his crew would be that of Versatile Devil Fruit users lile that of the old crew he was part of, Whitebeard Pirates.

Shanks

This one is very obvious. Shanks has himself heavily implied that he doesn’t accepts Devil Fruit users in his crew. And we can see it since whenever we see his crew in a fight, they use weapons of some sort. Benn Beckman and Lucky Roo use a Gun while Yasoop uses projectile weapons. Shanks himself is considered to be a Haki Master and since his crew doesn’t seem to be having Devil Fruits, a “Haki” theme for his crew seems very plausible where his crew basically relies on Overpowered Haki to rival the monsters in the New World.

Number 2

Unity Is The Key

  One of the best things about One Piece is how two parties or multiple ones maybe at odds with each other but willingly or unwillingly, they end up working as a cohesive unit to work towards a common goal and achieve it eventual after a great struggle. And the best part about it is it doesn’t comes of as forced or cheesy like Fairy-Friendship or Talk-No-Jutsu. One of the best examples of this could be found in the Dressrosa arc. The pirates and other parties involved in the tournament were against Luffy, or had antagonistic personalities. But when they were trapped by Doflamingo in the Toy Factory Underground and freed by Ussop afterwards, they forcefully aligned themselves with Luffy to take down Doflamingo. This was necessary as Strawhats were overmatched with only half of the their crew present so Colosseum fighters were used in to help them and done so in such in efficient way that it felt natural as they come. Hell even Luffy didn’t want any of it but that’s what made it work and most of the Alliances Luffy has been in situations similar to this.

And Number 1

History Repeats Itself

  Something that happened in the past will happen again is one of the consistent messages Oda gives us through his manga for a sense of realism as it could also happen in the real life.

First you can have a look at the commonly known or some of the many commonly known parallels between the Alabasta and Dressrsa arc. A Shichibukai trying to take over/takes over a kingdom. The female subordinate of the Shichibukai which is a princess betrays him and tries to overthrow him out of power. Luffy meets his brother, there is a rebel organization in both arcs and we get new crew members/subordinates at the end of the arc. Except the parrarels, Dressrosa in some ways is also a progressions of things from Alabasta in a sense. l. Not just this arc, there are parallels between other arcs as well which i think you may have noticed like non talking things, talking in WHI, which is what we also saw in Thriller Bark. A strawhat leaves the crew – Zou Arc and Water 7 – and is rescued in the following arc – Ennies Lobby and WHI -.

Excluding the parallels, we have what you could call homages to previous arcs or events of One Piece to better tell that history repeats itself in which events repeat themselves in exact fashion.

In their travel to Nami’s Village, Strawhats encounter a Seaking, Luffy one shots him, tames him after which it takes them to the village, Seaking turns out to be the villains pet and is prdered to attack the Strawhats which it reduses to do.

In their travel to Fishman Island, Strawhats encounter a sea creature called Krakken, Luffy One Shots Him then tames him after which they reach Fishman Island with the help of the Krakken and it also turns out to be the villains pet. It’s ordered to attack the Strawhats and it also refuses to do so.

  In Fishman Island arc, we have the arc’s female lead, Shirahosi, asking Luffy to help her while crying and in Arlong Park Arc, Nami also asks Luffy for help while crying. Shirohoshi’s mother was killed by Hody by a gun and when we go back, Nami’s mother was also killed by a gun by a fishman who was the main antagonist of the arc.

Other include such as Luffy being attcked by a mythical creature in Punk Hazzard like he was in Little Garden. Zoro cutting a Dragon’s head in Punk Hazzard and the Samurai Ryuma from the Thriller Bark arc had also done the same thing in his past. Numerous Strawhats being chased out of their hometowns after they join the crew and many, MANY MORE.

And That’s my list! Comment down any of the themes that you like since there are so many in One Piece.

[our-legacy-rp-blog]

PHRYXUS DORAN SIXTH PUREBLOOD RAVENCLAW

HISTORY

The name Doran once held great meaning in the wizarding world. An old family from Ireland, the Doran’s had been one of the most accomplished and well-respected pureblood families in the twentieth century. With ties to the Ministry, as well as in aid of the muggle world and its government, the Doran’s had had a long-standing reputation of being good-hearted and morally-upstanding people. They were honest in their dealings with other witches and wizards, but were helpful when acting as a conduit between the wizarding and muggle worlds. Their wealth and reputation secured them a place at every function, and most families wished to be tied to the Doran’s in some way - through marriage or in business dealings. Acting as guides to the muggle Irish government in their relations with the wizarding world, the Doran’s held a lot of political sway and influence, especially with the Ministry. The then-Minister was always in talks with the Doran’s on how best to govern the wizarding world, and how they could improve the ties with the muggle world too. But when the Minister died and tensions with werewolves heated, the Doran’s picked the opposing side: they stood with the supernatural creatures of the wizarding world, and they paid the price.

Shavonne and Tadhg Doran - a young couple who were following in the footsteps etched by the Doran family - got caught up in the political drama. Having been betrothed since Hogwarts, the two were learning to fall in love with one another by the time their twins Phryxus and Helle were born. Their marriage - a political alliance between reigning Irish pureblood families, was to the benefit of everyone, while the birth of their twins was also much celebrated; a sign of the good to come. But Phryxus and Helle were barely learning to walk and speak when the Doran’s aligned themselves with the supernatural creatures of the wizarding world, promoting themselves as champions of equality between the races of human and non-human. Shavonne and Tadhg were scared for their new family. Seeing the way things escalated - a family member attacked and silenced here, a protest turned ugly there - they organised to escape from Ireland and the UK entirely. They dreamed of heading somewhere warm with their twins and building a life for themselves away from the fighting - but the London attack in 2014 occurred before their dream could come to fruition.

Tadhg had followed his father to the city that day, seeking him out to tell him that he was leaving with his wife and children the very next day when the carnage broke out. Shavonne, hearing of the attacks, left her twins with a neighbour to go find Tadhg - but in the end, neither would ever make it back home. Shavonne and Tadhg were murdered by werewolves in London that day, leaving Phryxus and Helle as orphans of a rapidly unpopular and decimated family. In fact, that day, the Doran’s lost seven family members to werewolves despite being there to protest on behalf of their rights, and from that day, the Doran family has learned its lesson.

Phryxus and Helle were raised by an uncle that was distantly related. In an old house full of memories of parents that the twins would never know, Phryxus grew up knowing only hatred for werewolves and chastisement for the bad choices his family had made. His guardian was nothing but an alcoholic who spent each day drinking the bottomless family fortune, leaving Phryxus and his sister to their own devices. The house was run by house elves who also became responsible for the twins’ upbringing, education, and maintenance. But it was his sister that Phryxus relied on most - she was his only family and only comfort when things seemed difficult. Though their childhood was largely self-governed, the twins were never bored. All manner of toys, books, and trinkets were purchased with their family’s money, with the twins particularly gravitating to the darker objects as they got older. Phryxus in particular found a love of old books - textbooks, illustrated in great deal, about creatures, both real and mythical. It sparked in him an interest in studying creatures: what made them work, and especially, what made them stop working.

Their days together were often interrupted by extended family members coming for money or to deliver invitations. Phryxus - as heir of the Doran family - was in charge of the fortune and affairs of the family as a whole; the deaths in London had made him the sole heir and patriarch of the family. But there were a plethora of uncles and cousins all looking for a piece of what they thought they deserved, and a barrage of people were always visiting the house or owling the twins, seeking money or hoping to court the children’s favour. But Phryxus was a stern and wise boy, even when young, and gave no one even a single knut - he knew that once the coffers opened, people would never stop taking. He deftly replied to owls with refusals, and politely - but with force - rejected visitors. The time of the Doran family was over, he would write, and it was with grace that they should likewise give up. For Phryxus, his family’s foolish alliance had cost them all, and he wasn’t interested in continuing to make errors in the name of Doran - better instead to simply go about their lives, away from politics.

When the twins went to Hogwarts, Phryxus walked in with his head held high but with no false allusions about what he would face when there. He knew that other pureblood children from powerful families would scorn the name Doran and see them as traitors to their own blood and people. Phryxus didn’t care - in fact, the words and opinions of others didn’t phase him in the slightest. His interest and attention instead went to the library, his studies, and what came to be a great passion, potions. His sorting to Ravenclaw was well-placed, and he found for himself a house and people who were just as dedicated to their education as he was. For Phryxus, studying was a novelty: with only house elves and a library for learning, there was much about his own world that he didn’t know and was eager to understand. High marks soon followed, but it was in potions that Phryxus found a challenge and an interest. Mixing and experimentation captured his curiosity, and he came to spend hours in the dungeons, pouring over advanced textbooks and trying out different ingredients to see the effect.

Though many purebloods had problems with Phryxus, and though family still pestered him for money and a return to the name of Doran, Phryxus is every inch his own person and will not budge to make someone else happy. Often so entrenched in his own world and mind, Phryxus is someone who cares only for his twin, the handful of friends he’s made, and creating potions that can potentially improve the quality of life people lead. But in the back of his mind, through all the experimenting, he knows that he’s searching for a way to undo everything that a werewolf is - to reverse the curse of the moon, and perhaps save someone from the same fate that he and Helle have suffered since that day in London. But Phryxus’ pride and stubborn indifference prohibit him from every outwardly saying so, but his twin can read him like a book, and the two of them can keep a secret better than anyone.

NOW

Up to player

DETAILS

BIRTHDAY: up to player. FACECLAIM SUGGESTIONS: Stephan James, Justice Smith, Kelvin Harrison Jr. WAND: up to player. POSITION: up to player. CONNECTIONS: Phryxus has a twin sister, Helle Doran.

STATUS: OPEN