#evil ruler of the numeric realm

[ghostsandfools]

Hey guys it’s time for me to start evilrulerposting again

Hey so. Have you ever read the book of division? If not, GO DO IT NOW! But if you HAVE, you may have wondered, “huh. Wonder what’s up with that evil ruler.”

WELL YOURE IN LUCK, because the evil ruler of the numeric realm is my secret little interest that I think about constantly, so here’s all the info I have about them ^_^^_^_^_^_^

DISCLAIMER: I’m sick as hell right now, this may end up being completely unreadable BUT I’LL TRY!

Basics:

So. First things first, a basic rundown of the evil ruler before we get into the real juice. The evil ruler of the numeric realm is a currently nameless and faceless being who has only ever been mentioned by the book of division.

Now, that automatically might set off some alarm bells, because the author of the book of division is unreliable as hell! They aren’t even an algebralien! For all we know, they might’ve made that whole book up out of nothing!

However, I’m going to assume for the sake of this post that the evil ruler is real and the book of division is at least somewhat reliable.

The evil ruler’s evil deeds:

So… Why are they called that anyways? What did they do? Well, the evil ruler is most well known for stealing the division symbol. Now, whether this was justified is questionable. Stealing is wrong, but (as the author of the book of division pointed out) it was probably because they felt threatened. Like, the numbers being able to split into a bunch of smaller equally powerful numbers is not a good thing! We see the issues with the division symbol when 14 uses it to get out of jail!

So, taking the division symbol may have been a way to ensure their position of power. Still, they are called the EVIL ruler and they probably wouldn’t need to take the division symbol away if they weren’t worried about the numbers revolting or something. Maybe they did some other terrible awful stuff that the book didn’t talk about.

The evil ruler’s identity:

So, who is this evil ruler? What’s their name? Are they free next Saturday night? Well, we know a couple of things about them.

First of all, this is a picture from the book of division which seemingly depicts them:

Now, is that what they actually look like? Just a black figure with white facial features? Probably not! So this isn’t really helpful, but this is a post with ALL the info about them so I figured I would include it.

So, what else do we know about the evil ruler’s identity? Well, there’s one thing that I haven’t seen addressed ANYWHERE, and that’s that there could possibly be MULTIPLE evil rulers.

Here are two direct quotes from the book of division:

”Those who ruled the numeric realm at the time were not pleased with the existence of the division symbol.”

“While they were asleep, however, the evil ruler of the realm took the division symbol and removed it from its place. It’s a pretty heavy symbol, so I’m amazed a group of people were able to just pick it up like that.”

In both of these excerpts, it’s implied that there are more than one person ruling the numeric realm. However, the ruler is constantly referred to as “ the ruler of the numeric realm” implying only one.

So… What does this mean? Idk. Maybe the evil ruler had multiple personalities??? Maybe they were a system???? But even if they were multiple people sharing a body, the wording “I’m amazed a group of people were able to just pick it up like that” is a bit misleading if it’s just multiple personalities in one body. The author never really addresses this, so… Idk. Maybe one day we’ll know.

A lot is unclear about the ruler’s identity. We don’t even know if they’re an algebralien or not. Then again, there’s a lot of weird stuff going on in this book. We don’t know who the author is either. That might need to be a separate post-

Evil ruler of WHAT realm:

Here’s a question. WHERE is the numeric realm actually at?

It may seem obvious. It’s right here!

Right?

But… We’ve never actually seen anyone that lives there.

A common misconception is that the equation playground is on this number planet, but nope! The equation playground is 100%, without a doubt, on Earth. Nine and Six drive away from the equation playground and then drive through multiple locations we know are in Earth. Four climbs a mountain on Earth to get there. When Six gets punted into space from the playground, they’re spinning around the EARTH.

So, the question is, is the evil ruler’s domain on Earth or the number planet? I can think of a couple explanations.

1 - There’s one ruler on Earth and one on the number planet. Maybe the numbers are trying to set up a colony on Earth or something? That would also explain why there are seemingly multiple rulers.

2 - They rule over the numbers on Earth for unknown reasons.

3 - They rule over the number planet. If they’re actually evil, maybe the equation playground is a place for numbers to escape to? They set it up so they’d be safe from the evil ruler’s grasp maybe.

I personally vibe with number 3 the most. I think it would explain why numbers keep moving to Earth for seemingly no reason. Like, 4 and X are on Earth so they can host, so is 2, and 1 is there so she can sabotage TPOT. The other numbers have no reason to be on Earth at all. It just makes sense to me that they’re running from something.

Closing thoughts:

PLEASEPLASPEOALAOEPSLSLALA JACKNJELLIFY PLEASE GIVE ME MORE EVIL RULER LORE IM STARVING FOR MOREEEEEEE

Seriously, you can’t just introduce the most interesting thing in the entirety of xfohv and then leave me hanging!! I NEED MOREKEIRKEO

[lilacstarryskies]

The Green Queen And A Greener Future

chapter 3

ao3 edition

Alicent carried Aegon on her side, avoiding the significant bump on her front, gazing into his lavender eyes with love. Her baby boy was back and was just a joyful, innocent child, unaware of the underlying tension in Kingslanding.

The Hightower Queen looked aside to her husband, Viserys, rambling on about plans for the upcoming celebrations for Aegon’s second nameday, causing Alicent to smile. Inwardly the conniving beauty was conjuring up ideas, believing that she could continue to build her political presence, gaining additional allies to the Green-side, all in order to save her children from the evil wrath they faced by Rhaenyra’s hubristic arrogance and her Rogue Prince’s disgusting brutality.

Already from the day Alicent Hightower had joined the Royal Family, she had begun consolidating her political power, employing potential allies into her household as Ladies-In-Waiting, and gaining friendship with Small Council members such as Tyland Lannister. With Rose Tyrell, one of her numerous ladies-in-waiting, and now a close friend of hers, once she removed the bitterness she felt regarding the might of House Hightower.

Viserys continued his mindless chatter, Alicent indulging him idly until she heard the man mutter, “Little Aegon’s nameday shall be extravagant, our boy may grow up be a great knight in the future, hunting just as I am to do in his celebration.”

Alicent portrays a joyous face, happy in indulging in conversing about her beautiful baby, while also in actuality intending to innocently bring up the succession crisis, “Viserys, Aegon will be a great knight, our Aegon The Conqueror Reborn!”

The Targaryen Monarch’s face then hardened with rapid anger, inwardly questioning whether Alicent was an innocent girl praising her son or if she was conniving, bent on undermining his choice to keep Rhaenyra as heir. “Alicent, what do you mean by this?”

“Rhaenyra is my heir. And she will be a great ruler, just like Aegon The Conqueror!” He speaks, wanting the discussion of succession to cease, angered extremely as the Small Council and nobility have made numerous mentions regarding Aegon as heir to be an inevitable action, feeling as though they’re intent on undermining his authority as king.

Alicent then raise her eyebrows in false shock, disappointed in Viserys’ continuous defence of his choice, “Of course! I love Rhaenyra,” She states, stammering onwards, “But I just imagined that as you have a firstborn son you would make him heir, after all wasn’t precious little Baelon named heir, ahead of her?”

“Well yes, but..”, He murmurs, before being interrupted.

“And,” She continues, ceasing Viserys’ justifications and presenting genuine articulate retorts to his hypocrisy, “After all, weren’t you picked as heir to the Old King Jaehaerys because Prince Aemon hadn’t had a male heir? Some nobles may then believe that keeping Rhaenyra as heir then illegitimises your reign and makes you a hypocrite to the Realm’s eyes, since it can be said you took Princess Rhaenys’ right.”

With coherent explanations going against his succession Viserys didn’t know what to say, blubbering and stumbling in how to retort back in respons. After all, Alicent had given comprehensive counters to his choice, but regardless of that, guilt lingered in his heart. He couldn’t dare strip Rhaenyra as heir after he mindlessly butchered her mother in pursuit of a son, a son he now has with Alicent. A son who was in the image of his prophetic vision, a powerful, Targaryen-looking King.

“Well enough of this succession business, I’m tired of discussing serious topics, let’s focus on Aegon’s nameday.” King Viserys spoke, clearly sick of dealing with his duties, tired of listening to chatter about succession and also due to the impulsive actions of Daemon and Lord Corlys who have been the unfortunate highlight of most Small Council meetings.

———————————

Tired of having to confront responsibilities, preferring to mindlessly celebrate and indulge himself with feasts.

The Hightower Queen was idly walking through the Royal Gardens, mindlessly in thought, until she noticed Rhaenyra sitting by the Godswood. The place that they both spent their girlhood together, where their bond grew strongest and where they had also destroyed that same bond. Alicent subsequently recalled the numerous arguments which arisen in the area as she had become Queen, with Rhaenyra confronting Alicent regarding Viserys’ shocking engagement with her, and in contrast, Alicent accosting Rhaenyra about her scandalous incident with that rogue of a man, Daemon Targaryen.

She then heard Rhaenyra order the singing bard beside her to repeat the tune he was performing again, showing that she preferred to sequester herself alone with music rather than celebrate her brother’s nameday.

Alicent Hightower stumbled forward, difficulty in her steps due to her swollen stomach, as she finally spoke, “Rhaenyra.”

“The King wishes for you to join us.”

Rhaenyra replied solemnly, “The King has much to celebrate.”

“He does not need me.” Her sad and resentful nature causing Alicent’s guilt to fester, after all Rhaenyra at this point in time was just a young girl, feeling as though her mother and herself had been replaced by Viserys in his pursuit for an son, and she was not the figure Alicent remembered. She wasn’t the maniacal cruel women who wanted to kill Alicent’s family. Yet the Hightower women knew she couldn’t ever allow Rhaenyra to gain the political foothold she had previously, in the case that she grow to be the person Alicent recalled.

“He wants for us all to be together.” Alicent responded, in attempt to get Rhaenyra to reconcile with her, yet knowing deep inside that this wouldn’t work as it didn’t in her previous life. But also aware that this situation could potentially be the turning point, where Rhaenyra would cease any positive interactions with her, and that Alicent could then manipulate these events for the sake of her children.

Stuttering onwards, Alicent continued further, “And perhaps the hunt could be ….. fun.”

“Is that the King’s command?” Rhaenyra snidely retorted, intent on ignoring her duties as Princess of The Realm and simultaneously her family members, her blood.

“Yes, but..” Alicent replied before being interrupted midway.

Princess Rhaenyra snapped harshly, slamming her book and rushing upwards, “Then at once, Your Grace.”

“But it needn’t be, none of it needs be this way. If not for both mine and your father’s sake, then for your brother, your blood.” Falsely pleading, attempting even further to reconcile with the Princess and venturing to drive a wedge of guilt inside Rhaenyra for neglecting Aegon, an innocent infant with no faults of his own at this time.

“Forsake us, I understand.”

“But Aegon is just a babe who has done nothing to offend you!” Speaking harshly, intent on placing a sense of self-repentance inside Rhaenyra, who was ignoring her and hastily running away, whilst also speaking the truth she couldn’t dare utter in the past. As a young girl forced into marrying her friend’s father, wondering why her old friend could not even try to form a familial bond with her own siblings, even if she hated the treacherous circumstances.

Yet it was too late.

Rhaenyra was gone, hastening towards the Royal Carriages, never to give an explanation for the blatant alienation she feels toward her half-siblings.

———————————

The carriage jerked, rumbling back and forth as it strolled forward over the rocky pathway onward to the Royal Hunting Tents for Aegon’s second nameday.

Silence lingered in the carriage, only occasionally interrupted by babbling from Aegon and Viserys’ incessant attempts at conjuring reconciliation between Rhaenyra and Alicent.

“Should you be travelling in this condition?”, Rhaenyra spoke finally, upon witnessing Alicent’s uncomfortable shift as the carriage shook.

Rubbing her stomach in a consoling gesture, The Queen replied, “The Maester said that travelling out in nature would do me and the babe well. Perhaps you’ll understand when you have a babe.”

“You should hold your brother, to gain some motherly experience. And you can strengthen your sibling bond.” Alicent suggested, a falsified pleading tone in her voice as Rhaenyra grew angry, face hardening at being told to finally interact with the brother she resented, as Alicent instructed the maid holding Aegon to pass him over to Rhaenyra.

“Exactly. Rhaenyra, you will be with your own child sooner than late, and make me a proud grandsire! You should hold little Aegon!”, Viserys spoke jubilantly, unaware of the growing pain his daughter has in facing her childbirthing duties.

“No!”

“Why I should I care for my half-brother?” Rhaenyra screams in a loud retort, resulting in the maids within to side-eye each other, looking at the Princess in a perturbed mood, as she pushed away Aegon’s hand while the maid carrying him rushed back down to her fellow co-worker.

“Rhaenyra! He’s your blood, cease these complaints! Why can’t you care for your brother?” Viserys roared, anger shocking everyone inside the carriage.

Rhaenyra replies with a softened tone, unable to articulate her anger outwardly due to shock in her father’s unexpected eruption, “I find it discomforting. To deal with children and hunting today is too excessive for me.”

“You are the Crown Princess, you have duties. You cannot be avoiding your responsibilities if you are truly to be Queen!” King Viserys bellowed.

“As I am ceaselessly reminded.” She retorts quietly under her breath.

“Im sorry?” Viserys spoke, unable to hear her snide retort.

“As I am ceaselessly reminded!” She responded harshly in tone.

“You wouldn’t need to be reminded if you ever attended to them.”

“No ones here for me.” She spoke quietly, partly ashamed that she’s speaking aloud her personal thoughts of abandonment and her feeling of resentment regarding Aegon.

The King countered her words, viewing them to be selfish, “Rhaenyra, you have everyday. Today is Aegon’s celebration.”

“If this was Baelon’s day, you wouldn’t complain, you just hate my child!” Alicent finally spoke, interrupting the father-daughter argument to speak her mind.

The carriage stopped, as silence echoed inside.

They had arrived to the Royal celebratory tents.

Shame erupted in both Rhaenyra and Viserys. The Princess ashamed at the blatant proclamation of her prejudice between her full-siblings compared to the living half-brother she has. Viserys saddened and guilt-filled just from the mention of his “Heir of a day.” that he butchered his beloved wife for.

As the Royal family and their servants exited outside onto the grass excluding Rhaenyra, bows in respect following their footsteps, loudly heard was the declarative words of Lord Hobert Hightower, “Hail, hail Aegon, the Conqueror-Babe, Second of His Name!”

“Here’s to His Grace on his second name day!”

Alicent silently smirking, as her uncle essentially proclaimed in front of the numerous important Lords and Ladies, that Aegon deserved to be heir.

Standing in the extravagant tents, Alicent tempered herself, preparing to gain allies to her side.

Her Aegon’s side.

All in the name of her children, the Hightower women knew that she had to consolidate power for herself and gain allies, that of which she did not previously have, and also to strengthen the bond the Greens had previously acquired.

Looking forward, she noticed her Ladies-In-Waiting have arrived, both her cousins Margarey and Delena Redwyne, and Rose Tyrell, her closest friend as of late. Yet she knew that obtaining more influential Ladies to join would be essential to forward Aegon’s succession to King.

She walked forward to them, carrying Aegon by her side, as they bowed in admiration and greeted her warmly. Happiness arose in Alicent’s figure, having true friends that were not only allies gave her much joy in life.

After listening to their idle chit-chat, Alicent spotted her older brother Ser Gwayne Hightower and glanced over to him, discreetly instructing the copper-haired Knight to come over and join his sister, along with her Ladies.

“Gwayne it’s been so long! Aegon’s grown so big while you’ve been away!” Alicent joyously spoke, while recalling how her brother arrived from Oldtown six moons or so ago, upon wanting to meet his young nephew and see how Alicent was faring in the beginning of her second pregnancy. During this time Alicent had also instructed her older brother to befriend Ser Criston Cole while partaking in his knightly duties, and sword-practice.

As she and Gwayne had greeted each other, Alicent had noticed a certain Lady-In-Waiting of hers blushing and staying particularly quiet, in shyness. intent on avoiding the Hightower knight’s gaze.

“Ah, Gwayne I haven’t introduced you to my Ladies.”

Continuing in her introduction, Alicent resumed, “Of course you know our cousins, Delena and Margarey, but there is also my dear friend, the Lady Rose Tyrell.”

“I know of her. We have met during my time in Highgarden when I was en-route to Oldtown.” The Hightower man replied, causing Alicent to grin inside, intent on matchmaking her beloved brother with her friend, who was also the daughter of their Liege Lord, Mathis Tyrell.

“My Queen, your brother is too humble. He saved both myself and my entourage from bandits!”, Rose Tyrell spoke hastily in response, admiration heavy in her tone.

Alicent upon sensing the potential of romance between two people she cared for heavily, was intent on giving them the chance to have a beautiful love, unlike the troublesome dynamic of a marriage that Alicent currently is stuck in with King Viserys.

However, the Green Queen also had plans for Gwayne during this hunt, and could not let this momentous occasion slip away from her hands.

Breaking the idle discussion between this gathering of Ladies and Lord, Alicent interrupted with a falsified shock, “Oh Gwayne! I had just recalled, our father needs to speak to you and I.”

The Queen then instructed her Ladies-In-Waiting calmly, yet in an authoritative tone that she had to leave them for a moment.

As the siblings then sequestered away from the multitude of gatherings within the Royal Tents, Alicent abruptly spoke to Gwayne, “I need you to follow Ser Criston and the Princess, brother.”

Replying in a confused manner, the Hightower knight spoke, “Why?”

“I have reason to believe that Rhaenyra will run away from her duties and yet be confronted by the infamous White Hart everybody is searching for.” Alicent softly said, knowing that her insider information would seem nonsensical to anybody unaware of her awareness of events occuring in her past-future. However she was also aware that as her beloved brother, she had trust in that he would follow her instructions, believing she had worthy cause to do so.

As he answered in response, “Alright Alicent, I understand.”

“However, we must make haste and converse with nobles now before the hunt begins, so we can gain allies, defending us against Viserys’ nonsensical choice in keeping Rhaenyra as heir.”

The sibling partnership then returned into the area congregated with nobles full of political discussion, and contrastingly, mindless discussion regarding feasts and celebrations.

The Hightower Queen, while idly conversing with Eleanor Baratheon and Lady Tully, she then noticed the infamous “Bronze Bitch” Lady Rhea Royce, lingering away with Jeyne Aryyn, Rhea of whom she was hellbent on allying with, and saving from the murderous clutches of Daemon Targaryen.

Walking onwards to Lady Rhea, she greeted her warmly, knowing that dealing with Daemon, whose heinous tastes were more suited to children with white hair, was a task that demanded great respect.

Conversing with her about the hunt, Alicent was hopeful in a companion to her political side, as they both suffered under the hands of selfish Targaryens.

As they continued, the Queen then cordially remarked that perhaps Rhea Royce should join her party during the midday hunting, as an attempt to get acquainted with her further.

Alicent dawdled for a while as she left the Ladies, stewing in contentment, believing she had perhaps gained more allies onto her side than ever before.

As she entered the grand royal tent, filled with the best political colleagues for her to gain, Alicent was filled with emotions encompassing her mind. This was the perfect time to acquire allies, more than what the Greens had gathered during Alicent’s past life.

Immediately she was bombarded by a young girl bowing at her and greeting her in bold admiration,” My Queen! It’s ever so wonderful to meet you.”

“And you as well, Lady..?” Alicent spoke kindly, yet intent in uncovering who this girl was exactly, as Alicent clearly didn’t remember her, thus she must not have been a politically-minded woman in the future.

“Lady Bethany Bracken, I am. And..oh! I was wondering whether I could be a lady-in-waiting of yours?”, The maiden retorted, daring and audacious in her forward action of confronting her Queen.

The Hightower Queen, reminded of her old friend Rhaenyra’s temperament, responded softly with a melancholic smile,“Well, I admire your courage. You seem like a great girl, thus I will grant you your wish, if you ask your lord father.”

As the willful girl ran off joyously in pursuit of his father, Alicent decided to seat herself in the presence of the gathering surrounding her sharp-tongued yet lovable grandmother, Lady Redwyne.

Upon greeting her grandmother, ladies-in-waiting, and the other ladies present, Alicent then subsequently noticed the young Lady Baratheon, anxious and forlorn as she stood nearby yet unwilling to take the initiative to interact.

“Lady Baratheon! How wonderful it is to see you once more!” The Queen bellowed, intent on bringing joy to this girl, essentially stuck in the same situation of hers. Birthing heirs for a neglectful, disgusting man.

Alicent continued speaking further, wanting to further a bond with the future Lady of House Baratheon, upon Lord Boremund Baratheon’s passing,“I heard you just birthed a girl. So lucky,

I’m hoping my next babe will be a girl, perhaps our children will grow to be friends!”

As Lady Eleanor Baratheon responded, the idle chitchat developed into discussions regarding the fate of poor Lady Johanna Swann.

Rhaenyra, swift on her feet, abandoned the mindless blabber of Jason Lannister, stumbling forward onwards to the large assembly of her Lady Stepmother’s group of nobility.

As she converged closer, words spoken by Lady Redwyne put her in a difficult position.

“Perhaps the Princess.. can give us some insight.”

Alicent smugly remembering inside her mind how Rhaenyra snarkily answered, acting unbefitting of an heiress, all in defence of her troublesome, lecherous uncle.

As Princess Rhaenyra rebutted incessantly back and forth with Alicent’s lady grandmother, she idky watched on. Needing to do nothing, as Rhaenyra was ruining her reputation, portraying herself as an impulsive undutiful heir, without Alicent’s input necessary.

Silence echoed in the room for a moment, as the Targaryen girl blatantly insulted Lady Redwyne with a spiteful remark regarding cake, then storming off as her impulsive emotions got the better of her.

The Hightower Queen then falsely tried to placate the group, “Forgive my step-daughter. She’s still mourning her mother, unable to do her duties but she’s grieving.

The false pleading fooled her cousins, as Margarey Redwyne retorted sharply, “Alicent, I know you love her because of your childhood bond, but I think you’re being too kind. After all you performed your duties and Lady Helene had sadly passed just a moon before Queen Aemma had.”

Continuing further with snide yet truthful insults toward the Crown Princess, Margarey sharply spoke, “Beside, it’s been years, and she hasn’t grown at all! While you have married and have a babe, with another on the way.”

As Lady Margarey spoke, the ladies present, including Lady Jeyne Arryn, were looking incredibly disappointed in the pathetic trajectory of Rhaenyra’s growth or rather, lack thereof, as she hadn’t accepted her duties as heir, or duties as a women of Westeros.

Yet Alicent knew this wouldn’t change.

Rhaenyra would only get worse, becoming a scandalous harlot, akin to Saera Targaryen.

Birthing bastards and sequestering them as true heirs.

Arrogant in her father’s wishes, yet never attempting to gain any allies, choosing to insult the Lords that she is to depend on.

[risalei-nur]

The Words - The Fifteenth  Word - Part 3

THIRD STEP: The heavens’ silence and tranquility, order and serene regularity, and vastness and radiance show that their inhabitants differ from those of the earth: They obey God and do not quarrel or dispute among themselves, for they are innocent, their realm is vast, their nature is pure, and their stations are fixed. This differs from the earth, where opposites exist side by side, evil is mixed with good, and disputes arise, and the result is conflict and suffering. Conscious beings are tested and set to compete, which results in progress or regress. This is so for the following reason:

Humanity is the fruit of the Tree of Creation. The fruit of something is its furthest, most delicate and important part. Thus we are the fruit of the universe; a most comprehensive, wonderful, impotent, weak, and subtle miracle of Power. Given this, the earth, despite its small size and insignificance when compared with the heavens, is the universe’s heart and center with respect to the meaning and art it contains, for it is our cradle and dwelling place. Moreover, it is the place where God’s miracles of Art are exhibited and the manifestations of Divine Names are concentrated. It reflects God’s infinite activity as the Lord (Master, Sustainer, Trainer, and Ruler) of all beings. It also is the center and pivot of the endless Divine creativity displayed in infinite liberality, especially in the numerous small plant and animal species, as well as the place where samples of creatures of the broadest worlds of the Hereafter are shown in small scale. It is the speedily operating workshop for eternal textiles, the fast-changing place of copies of eternal scenes, and the narrow, temporary field and tillage rapidly producing seeds for permanent gardens (in the Hereafter).

It is because of this greatness of the earth with respect to its meaning and its importance in regard to art, the wise Qur’an puts it on a par with the heavens, although it is like a tiny fruit of a huge tree when compared with the heavens. It places the earth in one pan of a pair of scales and the heavens in the other, and repeatedly mentions them together, saying, the “Lord of the heavens and the earth.”67

[mythomusings]

The Gods and Goddess of Greek Mythology

(Family tree of the Greek Gods and Goddess, Google Images).

The Gods came into being through Kronos and Rhea and then were completed through the many children that Zeus had.

Zeus

Zeus is the youngest of his brothers and sisters.

The supreme ruler of the Greek Gods. Zeus is the God of the sky after him and his brothers drew lots to share the universe. Other names for Zeus included Rain-god and the Cloud-gatherer. He is the wielded of the thunderbolt he used to take down his father Kronos. Zeus believes that his is the most powerful and therefore nobody can best him. But many times he is duped by the other gods like Poseidon, his brother and Hera, his wife.

Zeus is also known for his many many infidelities that result in numerous children that he tries to hide from his wife Hera. Supposedly this believe of his conquest of women came from the fact that as the religion of the Gods spread throughout Greece Zeus was merged with whichever ruling God was in that area and therefore the wife was then given to Zeus. But the later Greeks did not care for these love affairs of Zeus.

Zeus was known to the Greeks through the aegis on his breastplate. The Eagle was his scared animal and many prayed and sacrificed to him for help and guidance. Zeus's oracle was Dodona, home to his scared Oak tree. The word of Zeus was heard in the rustling of the Oak tree by the priests that reside at Dodona.

Poseidon

Poseidon is the second eldest son of Kronos.

He is the ruler of the sea as decide by the lot he choose when him and his brothers split the universe between themselves. Poseidon is considered the second most powerful God with only Zeus as his superior. The Greek civilization honored Poseidon with many prays and sacrifices due them being a seafaring culture. The sea was hugely important to the Greeks and therefore Poseidon was an honored God.

Poseidon was always depicted with his weapon, the trident. He was also commonly known as the Earth-shaker; created with the creation of Earthquakes. He is also known as the Father of Horses that he gifted to mankind. He was also associated with bulls, but so many other Gods are too.

Poseidon was married to Amphitrite, a granddaughter of the Titan of the Ocean. Poseidon created for him and his wife a magnificent palace under the sea, but Poseidon was found most often on Olympus; the home of the Gods.

Hades

Hades was the oldest brother of Poseidon and Zeus.

He is the ruler of the Underworld after splitting the universe up between himself and his brothers. He ruled over the dead in his realm of the dark from which he rarely ever left. He never really went to Olympus, never urged to go and was not wanted. He was an unpitying, inexorable, but he was not an evil god.

He was always depicted with he Helm that when wore would make the person invisible.

He was married to Persephone, the Goddess of Spring and daughter of the Goddess Demeter. He kidnapped Persephone and carried her to the Underworld were she became Queen.

He was God of the Dead, not death. The God of death was Thanatos.

Hera

Hera is the wife and sister of Zeus.

She is the protector of Marriage and woman (not a protector to the women that Zeus defiled). On Olympus she was revere and honored the same as Zeus.

She is known throughout much of mythology as the punisher of the many women that her husband Zeus slept with, even though the women were tricked and deceived into sleeping with Zeus. Her anger of punishing these women even continued on to their children over the fact that Hera never forgot.

She was venerated in every home of Greece and many woman pray to her for help in their marriage. Hera's daughter Ilithyia or Eileithyia helped women during childbirth.

The course of the Trojan War could have ended in peace with neither nation conquering the other if Hera's beauty hadn't been slighted by Paris, a Trojan Prince. Her anger only ended with the fall of Troy.

In only one story Hera was the protector of Heroes. In the quest of the Golden Fleece she protected the heroes and inspired heroic deeds. This was the only story though where she protected heroes.

For Hera the cow and peacock were her scared animals and she was a patron to the Greek city of Argos, her favorite city.

Athena

Athena was the daughter of Zeus after she sprang from his head, full grown and wearing armor. She was also the favorite of Zeus over all his children.

She is known to be a ruthless and fierce battle goddess in the Iliad, but everywhere else is depicted as war-like in defending the state and home from enemies. She is seen as the goddess of the City, protector of civilized life, crafts. She invented the bridle that helped men tame horses. Later she is the embodiment of wisdom, reason, and purity.

She was favored by Zeus and he trusted her to carry the aegis shield, which displayed the head of Medusa, and she even carried her father's thunderbolt.

Another name for Athena was Pallas Athena and she was commonly called gray-eyed, having cold gray eyes. She is one of the three virgin goddesses, called the Maiden.

She became the patron goddess of the city Athens, which was named for her. She had argument with Poseidon on who would be the patron of the city. She gives the city the Olive tree, which became her scared tree. The Owl became her symbol and scared animal.

Apollo

Phoebus Apollo was the son of Leto and Zeus and the twin brother of the Goddess Artemis.

He was born on the island of Delos. He is known as "the most Greek of all the Gods." In Greek poetry he is always depicted as a beautiful figure, mayhaps because he is the god of poetry. He is a master musician that delights the Gods on Olympus by playing his golden lyre. He is also an archer-god with his silver bow; known as the far-shooter.

He also was a healing god and taught man that art of healing. He is also the God of light and therefore the God of Truth, since he had no darkness in himself.

Delphi at the bottom of Mount Parnassus sat the Oracle of Apollo. Where heroes and other figures of mythology would go to seek help from the God of Truth. Castalia was his scared spring. Cephissus is scared river. It was believed to be the center of the world and became a pilgrimage site for those in and outside of Greece. The truth was spoke through a priestess who would go into a trance while she spoke. The trance was caused by the vapor rising from a deep cleft in the rock over which the priestess sat her legged stool, the tripod.

The Oracle of Delphi allowed for a direct link between Gods and Man. It worked as a way for men to be guided, learn divine will, and showing men how to make peace with the gods. It also allowed men to be purified to cleanse themselves even for those who have killed their kin.

Other names of Apollo include Delian because of his birth on Delos and Pythian for his slaying of the mighty python (Serpent, a large snake). The python lived in a cave in Mount Parnassus and was a very severe contest for Apollo.

The name Phoebus means brilliant or shining over the fact he was known as a Sun-god, although the Sun-god was Helios the child of the Titan Hyperion.

Some tales depicted Apollo as being cruel and pitiless, but there is very little of that left in him. He is more the beautiful and poetic God.

His sacred tree was the laurel tree. He had many scared animals the chief ones being the dolphin and crow.

Artemis

Artemis is the daughter of Leto and Zeus, the twin sister of Apollo.

She is one of the three maiden or virgin goddesses.

She is known as the Huntress, due to her love of the woods and wild.

Artemis was also a protector of the youth; Maidens.

In the myth of the Trojan War, Artemis held the Greek fleet from sailing because one of her prized animals was killed. She asked for the sacrifice of a maiden. At the last minute she whisked the girl away and replaced her with an animal.

If a woman died a painless death, they were said to have been shot by one of Artemis's silver arrows.

In early Greek Mythology she was a moon goddess, taking the place of the Titan Selene, sister of Helios.

In later years she was known as the goddess of three forms. Those forms being Selene; the sky, Artemis; the earth, Hecate; the lower world, darkness, crossroads, evil magic, awful divinity.

Artemis was the example of uncertainty between good and evil.

Her sacred items are the Cypress tree, wild animals, most commonly the Deer.

Aphordite

The goddess of Love and Beauty.

The laughter-loving goddess; mocking or sweetly.

The birth of Aphrodite is different depending on the source.

In the Iliad by Homer, she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione.

Homer paints her as being a weak, meek, soft goddess

In another version she sprung from ocean sea foam. Aphors is the Greek word for foam.

She also goes by other names, Cytherea, Cyprian; due to Cythera and Cyprus being sacred to her where she washed up after her birth; mentioned in the Homeric Hymns.

Later she is depicted as treacherous and malicious to men.

She is the wife of the god Hephaestus, but has love affairs with the god Ares.

Her sacred items are the Myrtle and birds, mainly the Dove, but also the Sparrow and Swan.

Hermes

The son of Zeus and Maia, the daughter of the Titan Atlas.

Hermes is depicted as the most human looking god.

He is graceful and swift. His easy to identify due to his winged sandals, low crowned hat and is staff known as the Caduceus.

If a god has wings then it is Hermes.

He is the messenger of the Gods, due to his swiftness.

Hermes is the shrewdest, cunning god. He is also a Master Thief.

When Hermes was just a day old her stole the cattle of Apollo. To appease Apollo Hermes invented the Lyre out of a tortoise shell and gave it to Apollo.

Hermes is the god of thieves, commerce, market, protector of traders, and the guide of the dead; the Divine Herald. He is the only god other than Hades who can travel to and from the Underworld. He leads the souls to the Underworld.

Hermes appears the most in myths.

Ares

The God of War.

Ares is the son of Zeus and Hera, who both detested him.

He is hated throughout the Iliad, often only rejoiced during times of winning or for escaping his ruthless nature. Homer describes him as ruthless and murderous, a bloodstained incarnate curse of mortals.

Homer also describes him as a coward; bellows in pain and runs away when wounded.

But, he has many attendants on the battlefield to inspire anyone for battle.

Eris, the sister of Ares and the goddess discord and her son Strife.

Enyo, Goddess of War walks beside him.

Followed by Terror, Trembling and Panic, whose groaning causes the earth to stream with blood as the move throughout the battle.

He is the lover of Aphordite.

He is very lustful for women, but is also a protector to mistreated women. Women often pray to him when they are treated badly.

His thirst for bloodshed and war made many dislike him.

He is a symbol of War and has little to do with myths.

He was mainly worshiped in Sparta

He is believed to have come from Thrace; the home to a rude and fierce people in Northeast Greece.

His sacred animal is the Vulture and Dog.

Hephaestus

The God of Fire.

The son of Zeus and Hera. (Sometimes just Hera in her retaliation of Athena's birth).

His appearance is stated as ugly and he was lame. The deformity comes from the fact he was thrown from Mount Olympus by Hera because he was ugly. Others say it was Zeus because Hephaestus defended Hera.

He is highly honored by the gods due to his abilities as a blacksmith. He created their weapons, armor, and furnishings.

He also created helpers out of gold to run his workshops.

His forges were located under volcanoes.

Hephaestus is the husband of Aphordite.

He is a kind and peace-loving god that is popular to mortals and city life.

He is the patron of the Arts, handicrafts. and a Protector of the Smiths.

Hestia

A sister of Zeus.

She is a maiden or virgin goddess.

Has no part in the myths.

She is the goddess of the Hearth, symbol of Home.

Every meal began and ended with an offering to her.

Each city had a sacred Hearth to her. The fire was never allowed to go out.

When a colony of a city was founded coals were taken from the hearth of the mother-city and brought to the kindle the fire of the new city.

Demeter

A Daughter of Cronus and Rhea.

Goddess of Agriculture and the Harvest, Sacred law and the cycle of life and death.

Is the mother of Persephone, the goddess of Spring.

Demeter and her grieve and depression of her daughter having to go to live in the Underworld once a year is the reason we have winter. In her anger she kills mortal crops until her daughter reunites with her.

She gave man the knowledge of growing and using corn,

A fertility festival, Thesmophoria was held every year to honor Demeter. Only women attended.

Dionysus

The God of Wine, wine making, fertility, dance, and pleasure. Was known as the bringer of civilization because of his wine making.

Is the son of Zeus and Semele.

Carried an ivy covered wand, Thyrsus.

He had the ability to drive mortals insane.

He is depicted as a young man with long hair.

He married a mortal Ariadne.

Had cults dedicated to him often characterized by madness.

He is usually depicted with exotic creatures like leopards and panthers.

Had many followers like satyrs, and frenzied female worshipers called Maenads.

Athens held a festival every year for Dionysus, where poets came to perform Greek tragedies and comedies some of the most well-known pieces of ancient literature were performed here.

[ahgastayverse]

SHUMA-GORATH

STRAY KIDS “S-CLASS” MV THEORY

Shuma-Gorath is an evil deity and a villain from the Marvel universe, and is one of the Many-Angled Ones. He is an ancient alien deity who demands blood sacrifice, most commonly serving as an enemy to Doctor Strange, the Fantastic Four, and the Guardians of the Galaxy. His goal is to conquer all dimensions.

As an ancient force of chaos, ruler of over a hundred alternate universes, he is capable of energy projection, shapeshifting, teleportation, levitation, altering reality, and sympathetic magic among many other feats. He is described as being vastly more powerful than other mighty demonic enemies such as Satannish and Mephisto, and is capable of automatically destroying multiple galaxies through aura-pressure alone. Shuma-Gorath also has the ability to destroy realities by using all of his tentacles to create a ball of energy which he fires at the reality.

Sometimes stated to be omnipotent, he is considered to be one of the primal power of Chaos. He was stated to be the greatest of the Old Ones. In his native dimension he is virtually unstoppable, and given his past reformations, it is unknown if he can ever truly be killed.

His skin is rubbery and armored, making him difficult to damage except by the most powerful magics. Though he often appears as a scaly being with six to eight tentacles and a great, central eye, during the Hyborean Age he was also seen to have numerous pincers, claws, and insectoid limbs, in addition to a large, fanged maw. Similarly, he has been depicted as either greenish or purple in color. It is stated by The Vision that Shuma-Gorath exists on many planes and thus his true form cannot be seen by humans. Presumably, he can alter the form people see him as to his will. According to Shuma-Gorath himself, he is nothing except his power and his form is merely a shell that contains it.

Shuma-Gorath's name is often invoked across many dimensions by beings seeking dark power.

POWERS AND ABILITIES

Shuma-Gorath's power level is far beyond human comprehension. He is virtually indestructible and powerful, so he can regenerate completely, also being able to change his own form.

He generates energy within himself and can also absorb energy, which he easily manipulates to create several forms of attacks.

He is capable of teleportation, levitation and phasing, being also able to travel through dimensions at will.

He can communicate telepathically and mind-controlling others, even from other dimensions.

He can create and direct powerful blasts of mystical energy, and affect transmutations on a planetary scale.

His strength levels has no known upper limits.

SCALING

Attack Potency: Multiverse level+ (Far superior to entities such as Dormammu, Slorioth and The Trinity of Ashes.

Speed: Immeasurable, Omnipresent within its realm

Lifting Strength: Unknown

Striking Strength: Unknown

Durability: Multiverse level+, possibly Low Complex Multiverse level

Stamina: Unknown

Range: Multiversal+, possibly Low Complex Multiversal

Marvel Wiki

[deaddovestellnotales]

stolen from @serpentoflolth ... this makes two of us xD

What kind of Elf you are?

Drow Elf

Feared and reviled throughout the realm, the drow (or dark elves) are perhaps the most numerous, powerful, and wide-spread of the elven civilisations. Dark elf city-states lie below the ground in deep caves, often unbeknownst to those who live above them. The rulers of some drow cities prefer to leave the surface races alone and turn their attention toward gaining power through the endless scheming and feuding of the noble houses. Others, however, view the surface lands as theirs to pillage and plunder wherever they choose.

Abilities - Shadowbending (A/N: And as a by-product: invisibility) - Blindness to light - Night Vision - Echolocation

Society 7d255a9356bd1c5c7176b3f3c9670262 The majority of the dark elves live in city-states ruled by various noble Houses. Each House commands its own small army of fearless Drow soldiers, cunning wizards, and zealous priestesses, as well as large contingents of slave soldiers, such as bugbears, ogres, and minotaurs. In fact, half to two-thirds of any drow city's population consists of humanoid slaves and rabble, all of whom are subject to the cruelty and whims of any passing dark elf.

Personality You've always viewed the world from a more logical point of view. You recognise the fact that good and evil are mere constructs of the human imagination, that the world isn't as black and white as everyone likes to think. It is perpetuated by the greys that surround us. While you may still boast a strong moral compass, you aren't afraid to bend the rules slightly even to benefit you or the ones you care about. You aren't inherently a bad person, on the contrary, you are simply willing to pay greater attention to the gory details that most people would prefer to ignore. This logical standpoint of yours is what makes you so unique. You are able to see past tradition and societal standards and recognise immoral or unjust practices, I do hope you put this gift to good use in a world filled with bigotry and subjugation. 

[razzberrydazz]

Brainstorming oc storylines with my partner PG (peanut gallery) and ooooo we cookiiiiing with GAS!!!

Giving my fairy court story more love because it's sorely neglected compared to how much mental space I give to Tiff, and boy, it's got antics.

Said antics under the cut

Naive traumatized teen JJ/Cress trying to heal after escaping her horrific abusive ex-archfey father (Jorster my beloathed) with her oldest sister Johanna, meets her half-brother Dante and his mom Delarosa, the Unseelie Queen, the Queen of Shadows and ruler of the Shadowfell, and instead of being scared and on edge about meeting miss stereotypically Maleficent looking evil archfey and her angry murderous son, Cress likes Dela, and wants to befriend her and her brother Dante. Cress is more scared of her own mother - Lady, the peacemaker ambassador between the Seelie and Unseelie - than of the Shadow Queen. She Should be scared of Dela, and Dela WANTS her to fear her, but this stubborn child refuses, and continues being a spunky ray of sunshine in the wake of Dante and Dela's drab shadows.

Dela from the get go tells Cress to fear her, that she should be afraid of her, that she's dangerous, encourages Cress to go back to her mother and Stay Out Of The Shadowfell, but Cress takes Dela's honesty at wanting to elicit that fear response as genuine, endearing, and honesty is a trait she's sorely missed; anything is better than dealing with her father again.

Dela straight up tries to poison Cress on numerous occasions, using peppers and plants from within the shadowfell, to discover Cress seems to be immune to the shadowfell poisons. Denizens in the shadowfell have to be very careful what they eat, because most plants grown in that land are toxic, to the point that even a shadowfell-grown bell pepper is deadly poisonous. So most people who live in the shadowfell long term have zero spice tolerance when trying foods from outside their realm that Don't pose the poison risk. Shadowfell plants taken out of the shadowfell continue to be toxic. And Cress? Well she's not native to the shadowfell, she's just a fleeting visitor, and her naivity and aura of fey wild whimsy acts as a soothing balm on her spirit to protect her from the effects of native shadowfell poisons while within this realm.

Dante, the prince of shadow, has wild anger issues, and attempts to kill Cress on numerous occasions, failing miserably every time all while not managing to land even a scratch on his half-sister. She thought they were just playing a game the whole time, rough housing, unaware of his murderous intent.

Somehow Cress found her way to a dungeon gauntlet within the belly of Dela's palace, and she thought it was just a fun obstacle course instead of the deadly booby trapped adventurer killing gauntlet that it was.

Dela was frustrated with all the failed attempts to kill or even mildly injure this child, who continued to be playful and frank and nice to Dela, despite all of Dela's efforts to scare her away, and the fey Queen of Shadow admits the kid was growing on her. She was starting to Like Cress's company. Smiled at her visits. Enjoyed her presence. This child was endearing, truly, and somehow brought a glimmer of color into the shadowfell around her. She seemed immune to its effects. Immune to Dela's cursed darkness. Maybe she could help...

Maybe Cress could help Dela with her curse, that filled her soul with an all-consuming void of fear and despair. Dela can't tell people directly the nature of her curse, part of the curse itself makes sure of that. The soul gem imbedded in her forehead is cracked, telling of the curse that's befallen her. There's a nexus of despairing darkness in the Shadowfell, and she's tied to it, bound by her soul. Seeing Cress defy the nature of this realm, it gives Dela hope that there may be a way to break her curse, so that she doesn't have to scare everyone away for her own and their own safety.

And then Lady came for a routine diplomatic visit and walked in to see the middle of one of Dante's murderous outbursts of him chucking weapons off the wall at Cress and her dodging all of them and laughing. Oh boy was Lady mad. That's Her Baby and you will Not Harm Her, especially if you don't want war on your hands, Delarosa. And then Dante admits he had snuck shadowfell bell peppers into Cress's food - they're toxic here - an admission of trying to poison Cress.

The self-built illusion of safety finally popped for Cress. The veneer of fun faded. Now, she felt a glimmer of fear, and betrayal, towards Dela and Dante. And just when Dela was about to ask Cress for help on something, too.

Cress stopped visiting Dela in the shadowfell after that. She couldn't look at all the gifts Dela had given her over the months, books and baubles and drab clothing that had been drained of all color from being made within the shadowfell, now painful reminders that her brother wanted her dead. Starts to have nightmares about Dela appearing out of the shadows, because Cress found out she was seen as important. Her illusion of safety banked on that she wasn't important to Dela, just a pleasant nuisance. But no, she was important to Dela, so much so that Dela stopped trying to kill her and saw her almost as her own child. Not wholly her child, but close enough. Someone to cherish.

You wanted people afraid of you, Delarosa. You got your wish. The self fulfilling prophecy wins again - alone, for you have scared everyone away who could have helped or loved you. It's safer being alone, after all, in a self inflicted quarantine caused by hurting the first one you loved so severely. The trophy of that hurt sits mocking you above your throne - the wings of the Seelie Queen, Inanna, mounted on the wall after being unfairly torn off. A grim reminder of the hurt you've wrought.

Thinking of that old parable - the scorpion and the frog. Delarosa is the scorpion. Cressidae is the frog. And it breaks Dela's heart that she's ended up hurting the frog - Cress - by her very nature. She warned the frog. She tried.

But is it Dela's very nature that causes her to hurt others? Or something else, hurting her, warping her into its despair? The curse that cracked her gem? Could she break away from it, free herself from that cruel nature?

(I write most of the characters in this story save for Cress and Lady (and Lady's family) who are written by my Partner, and boy the Antics are Anticing)

[ryin-silverfish]

TBH, I'm a bit vexed by the usage of Mogui. Not that it's wrong, just...odd.

Though there are a few rare occasions of "Mogui" being used to refer to Mo in old Chinese sources and Buddhist scriptures, more often than not, it's just "Mo" or "Mowang/Mojun" (Demon King), and if you say "Mogui" in modern Chinese, people will probably think of the devil/demons in the western sense.

And tho Mo can be a generic term for "bad supernatural entities", in the materials I'm most familiar with (various folklore compendiums and vernacular novels), the specific subtype of "Heavenly Demons" is more prominent.

Essentially, they are sent by the Celestial Realm to Fuck Shit Up in the mortal realm as retribution for the collective evil behaviors of men. The 108 bandits of Water Margin are classified as such "Heavenly Demons", same for Wu Zetian in Flower in the Mirrors (she's a Lunar Mansion incarnate).

In the stricter Buddhist sense, Mo is a transliteration of Mara. Aside from, well, a name for Mara and his groups of devas, Mo also embodies the desires that obstruct people from reaching Enlightenment.

Oh, and much like Mo, the word "Gui" can also encompasses supernatural entities other than ghosts. Sometimes they are lumped in with yaoguais, sometimes Yakshas and Rakshas also have the character "Gui" attached to their name.

Personally, I'd refer to Mr. Cheng (and the other creepy chanting guys trying to pull Riverfork into the Underworld) as Guiwang——"Ghost Kings".

Unlike the literal meaning, these Ghost Kings are far from the rulers of the Underworld and are pretty numerous, with various ghostly soldiers and subordinates under their command. I always think of them as the ghost equivalent of bandit kings or garrison commanders.

One notable Ghost King, the "Burning Face Ghost King", appears first as a preta king warning Ananda in a translated Buddhist text explaining the practice of leaving out offerngs for hungry ghosts.

Later, in folk Buddhism, he is re-interpreted as a manifestation of Guanyin or her subordinate, known as Mianran Dashi/Dashi Ye, and giant paper effigies of the figure are still burned during the Ghost Month in modern SEA Chinese communities.

One last fun fact: Zhong Kui is often called a Ghost King in folk literature and art too!

what's up Chinese mythology gang, today's topic: Mr. Cheng from Jentry Chau vs the Underworld

(long spoilers and whatnot below)

Mr. Cheng, the primary antagonist for most of the show, is said to be a mogui (魔鬼), which roughly translates to demon

beings translated to be "demons" in Chinese mythology, often called yaoguai (妖怪), are very different from their Christian counterparts, they are not inherently evil

yaoguai (妖怪), while typically translated as "demon," can really refer to many different monsters and supernatural creatures, not even necessarily creatures from the underworld, and again, are not necessarily inherently evil

mogui (魔鬼) are a bit more specific, while in JCVTU gugu refers to Cheng as a "demon king," mogui really refers to any properly evil demons, like specifically evil yaoguai much more similar to Christian demons, and I believe is also how people refer to Christian demons in the Chinese language

the term gui (鬼) translates to "ghost" or a "spirit" of the dead, however the term has also been used interchangeably with demons and the like

this thing is referred to as the mogui, rather than Cheng himself, but does not resemble any mogui I have ever heard of

I tried to find a better, more specific fit for this mogui in Chinese folklore, I started with the egui (饿鬼), more or less pronounced uh-guay, translates to hungry ghost and seems to explain the parasitic nature of the mogui from Jentry Chau, I similarly thought of the taotie (饕餮), one of the four perils (四凶) and another mythological creature associated with gluttony, but neither of these really fit

it was clearly beyond my knowledge of mythology, so I did some digging, and then some more digging, and some more digging, and some more, etc. etc.

then I found Chiyou (蚩尤), a demonic deity that waged war against the Yellow Emperor himself, but the pieces still didn't fit

and then finally, it hit me, I was looking at this all wrong, I had simply assumed not only that Mr. Cheng had an inspiration to begin with, but also that he was based off of another mythological figure

after many months of deliberation, I have officially come to the conclusion that Mr. Cheng was inspired by the infamous Venom, a Marvel character that stars in their own comics and films, and serves as a supervillain to the Amazing Spider-Man himself

I didn't think we'd end up here either, but here we are

sentient talking black parasite - check

human host that receives demonic transformation - check

weird shape shifting black tendrils - check

fluid amorphous ooze that can turn into weapons and shape shift - check

unsettling face mask - check

villain status - check

takes on abilities of parasite's host - check

not from our world - check

look, it's not perfect, but I really couldn't find an actual singular Chinese mythological inspiration for Mr. Cheng

if you know one, please tell me I must know

or you know, he could just be completely original... probably that one, oh well, I spent all this time on this so you must suffer too now

sorry to disappoint you at the end of all this reading, I tried, but the mythology, if it's out there, is beyond me, but at least you learned a little about mogui

[wowieweirdwarlock]

Best Bosses: Abbhadanayla, Fiend Lord of Rakshasas

Source: Tome of Beasts 3

Image source: Tome of beasts 3, pg. 183.

“This imperious Archfiend has five heads- that of a mustachioed, blue-skinned fiend, a tiger, a crocodile, a vulture, and ape. With six arms ending in backward-facing paws, he is dressed in finest silk and seated on an ornate throne.”

In a magnificent and ornate palace perched at the top of a mountain range lives the Rakshasa Maharajah, Abbhadanayla. He has been reincarnated countless times, growing his dark power in every lifetime. He is both worshipped and reviled by other Rakshasas as the mightiest of their kind.

Gathering of Evils. Once a year, Abbhadanayla gathers all his Rakshasa servants to his lair for a massive banquet. Here, he dictates the roles his subjects will play in his plans across the multiverse, where they will steer events in his favor. After this plotting, this meeting culminates in a bloody feast for the Lord and his entourage, where dozens of mortal sacrifices are consumed.

Scheming Magician. Abbhadanayla is a master of all sorts of illusions and enchantments, and has discovered many secrets of dark Rakshasa magic through his lifetimes of poring over ancient times and dark rituals. He rarely ever leaves his sanctuary, opting instead to have his agents act as his claws out in the Great Beyond. He has eyes and ears everywhere, steering the hands of rulers and eliminating any who stand in the Rakshasa Maharajah’s way.

Hatred of Monkeys. Over many centuries, Abbhadanayla has clashed many times with the Monkey King, whom he considers his nemesis for meddling in the Lord’s plans. The first conflict between the two occurred when the Monkey King stopped an attacking army under the control of Abbhadanayla, and later the Monkey King set fire to the Lord’s palace after being captured. The Rakshasa Lord’s hatred for the a Monkey King is so great that it extends to all monkeys, and he often uses magic and trickery to depict simians suffering in any way.

Abbhadanayla’s Lair:

The Rakshasa Maharajah resides within the Sky Peak Palace, a massive citadel built directly into a mountainside, and constructed of marble, gold, and jade. He rarely leaves, and is often attended by numerous Rakshasa servants. The trail leading up to his palace is cloaked in thick snow that hides its danger, with monsters and traps plaguing the area surrounding His lair.

Occasionally, a strangely sweet vapor fills the halls of his realm, clouding the mind and making victims more vulnerable to enchantments and illusions. He can also cause psychedelic, twisting patterns to appear in the air, confusing and hypnotizing those who look upon them.

Abbhadanayla can also summon clouds of thick fog to blind those in his domain, and blizzards are often whipped up in the area around his castle. There are also clever traps hidden around the Palace, cloaked by illusions so they are harder to detect.

Some of the Maharajah’s most dramatic abilities reflect his hatred of monkeys— when he is faced with an attack, he can conjure a withered, tormented monkey that absorbs any damage dealt to him. In addition, he can conjure a massive storm of burning monkey spirits to distract and blind his enemies.

Ideas to use Abbhadanayla in your campaign:

The Party has been invited to Abbhadanayla’s annual banquet, with dozens of Rakshasas flocking to gain the Archfiend’s favor. When they get there, they discover that The Lord has a sinister request to make of them. If they refuse, they are now faces against an army of Rakshasas intent on making them dinner.

A Rakshasa keeps popping up on the Party’s radar, constantly causing to rumble for the characters. Each time it is killed, it just comes back quickly to continue its work. The party discovers that the Rakshasa is actually an agent of Abbhadanayla, who is constantly recreating it to meddle with the party and hamper their success.

A member of the party has become the owner of Abbhadanayla’s Serpent Bow, a powerful artifact that poisons anyone struck by it. Abbhadanayla is hellbent on retrieving it, sending out his agents to kill the character wielding it.

I’m not the biggest fan of Rakshasas, to be honest. They start their existences as mortals, and undergo rituals to bind their souls to the material plane, giving them the name Earthbound Evils.

Rakshasas are selfish, debauched, and hedonistic. They care only for their own desires and whims, and Abbhadanayla is the worst of them.

The Rakshasa Maharajah has lived through so many lifetimes of vile deeds, he has reached a height of power unheard of except for in the Rakshasa Immortals, the absolute height of Rakshasa-kind.

The Immortals are a story for another day, though. The Archfiend Abbhadanayla is bad enough, but if he actually obtained the immortality he desired? He’d be the one of the biggest nuisances in the Great Beyond.

Thankfully, he mostly concerns himself with decadent feasts and tormenting monkeys.

- A Weird Warlock.

[dailyadventureprompts]

Villain: The Alchemist Priests of Sulgriv, and the Hollowing Scream

When the forces of good defeat a great evil, its common practice to burn the bones and to scatter the ashes, in the hopes that it will never rise again. When the forces of evil defeat a rival evil, It’s just good sense they store it away for later in hopes that they can make use of it in the future

..Which is why in this drow settlement there’s a temple built around the corpse of a giant, mummified bat shrouded in talismans and chains.

Ugul’nst-vaer was a monstrosity born from the deepest depths of the world below. The spawn of some primeval titan or the embodiment of a dark god’s displeasure, its screech was said to herald the death of any cavern settlement that heard it, and thus it earned the name “ the hollowing scream”.

The great bat was only able to be defeated by the schemes of a  circle of master alchemists, the Sulgriv, who took advantage of a desperate despot’s resources and the beast’s habit of gorging on the fallen to poison it with the most vile of venoms, dosing hundreds of slaves and staking them out to be devoured alive by the bat, all to ensure its body absorbed a lethal dose of their impossible poison.

This travesty elevated the Sulgriv a place of honour in the despot’s court, an occasion they marked by building a grand temple/monument to their own success and hanging the mummified kaiju corpse from it for all the underdark to see. Since then their influence and noxious schemes have only grown, all but supplanting the despot’s progeny in the operation of their domain.

Hooks:

Possessing great knowledge of both spirit and body,  the Sulgriv are regrettably one of the best choices in the lightness realms for those in need of healing. Seeking a cure for the wasting sickness that has claimed her son, a great orcish warlord now raids settlements and ruins looking to use the loot to pay for the exorbitant cures the alchemists promise her. Her marauding draws the attention of the party to the despot’s realm, who might try rescuing some of their loved ones or treasures that were stolen away into the underdark’s markets. 

As their reputation and hubris have grown over the centuries, the Sulgriv have settled on a new project: refitting the titanic bat’s body as a war machine and reanimating it A city killer to use against any state that would stand against their puppet ruler.  Among the numerous modifications, a kings ransom In mithril has been grafted to the corpse as both armour and a means of shoring up its desiccated frame, a tempting prize for heroes who might use the metal to outfit their arsenal…or a group of underdark miscreants foolhardy enough to try heisting the tower and selling off a few of the plates to start their life of crime.

Despite all their skill and general boasting about mastering the secrets of alchemy, the Sulgriv can’t actually bring the bat to any semblance of animation, having managed barely more than a spasmodic wiggle in over two hundred years of attempts. Their working theory is that since the bat was at least semi divine in origin, they need some necromantic genius or saint of undeath to act as a catalyst to get their magnum opus flying again. Queue a bunch of darkelf agents swooping in to  blackbag the party’s wraithwielding nemesis just as the heroes are closing in, only to discover their old rival many levels later kept captive in the sunless lands.

When Ugul’nst-vaer takes flight (and it will, I’m a firm beleiver in chekov’s kaiju) it will be a force to be rekoned with, sailing on silent wings to scour caverns of life and reducing fortresses to rubble with its claws. Immune to most mortal weaponry and able to undo spellcraft with a click of it’s jaws, there’s very little in the heroes traditional arsenal that will be able to stand against it.  That said, the beast does possess a few weaknesses, if the party is daring enough to exploit them.

Though they are well versed in many forms of magic, the Sulgriv are alchemists first and foremost, and thus used their alchemy to create a novel, if disgusting means of controlling their war beast: A blobby, wagonsized homunculis that lairs where the brat’s brain used to be, occupying a resealable vault in the back of the beast’s head and interfacing with its body through a series of tendrils extruded down through the spinal collumb. If one were brave to the point of idiocy, one could climb onto the kaiju and attempt to crack the vaultlike door. Without the homunculis the hollowing scream will retain none of it’s former coordination or awareness, crashing to the earth and twitching randomly, less an avatar of flying doom and more a half-broken umbrella capable of knocking over buildings.

If mortal weapons can’t slay the beast, then perhaps the party needs to find an immortal one. Ever since the beast was freed from its chains there’s been talk of a brilliant portal opening in the depths, which corresponds with ancient tales of a vault containing a worldsaving weapon. 

If you can’t ground the bat, go for its lair. If the party can infiltrate the Sulgriv temple and slay the alchemists, the Hollowing Scream will be directionless, completing its most recent raids and flying back to a no-longer occupied temple for repairs. Such an infiltration will however be impossible unless the despot’s forces are drawn away, so the party will have to rally their allies and devise a means of assaulting an underdark citystate while they sneak past enemy lines. If they’re feeling extra diplomatic, perhaps a certain ill-treated warlord could be convinced to accept her son’s enfeeblement and turn her forces against those who offered her false hope.

[mr-buisson-bosquet]

Am I the only one who thinks that Kouen (Enma)‘s treatment in the second movie was quite messed up ?

I mean- The kid was assigned as king but his second in command legit locked him up and asked him for resignation because he thought that he wasn’t worthy of his title. I know that kouen could easily escaped from it but you can’t deny that it’s not fucked up.

And ngl, Zazel feels like a character that can’t cope with the loss of his previous lord.

Absolutely not ! You're not the only one, I also think Kouen's treatment was just... absolutely messed up in the second movie ! Not only was he completely mistreated, but Zazel also made it ten times worse...

There's a lot to talk about as far as they are concerned, but I tried to keep it as short as I could ! I apologize in advance for any mistakes or if it is overdevelopped ! Also don't hesitate to send me any other questions about Yokai Watch !

I feel like the end of the second movie does not answer the issue their story wanted to tackle.

The whole point was to help Zazel moving on from his trauma of losing Ancient Enma from very probably a disease (which is even more cruel considering it must have been killing him since numerous years), and finaly enabling him to move on and accepting Koen as the new ruler of the Yomakai. Sadly, instead of actually showing us that even if he appears as evil, he remains a father figure deeply caring for Koen, a litteral child ! By admitting his faults and showing affection towards him... they prefered to show us that in the attitude of Koen, Zazel still saw Ancient Enma in him, as shown below.

Which is totaly the opposite of what the meaning of this story was supposed to be ! By this action, Zazel doesn't only shows us that he still is not ready to move on, but even worse ! He is still trying to cling to the last remainings of his beloved king that he sees through Enma.

Which would also explain a lot of things about him. For example, why he chose a sickness over every other ways to restrain Koen without it appearing suspiscious. The same sickness that took away Ancient Enma. Another example would be how he quite litteraly locks up Enma in his own palace to make him fill up paperwork. And apart from his obvious hatred of humans, it could also be interpreted as a desperate need for control. To be able to protect at all cost the "New body of Ancient Enma", while shape-shifting it to his heart's content in order to make him act exactly like his predecessor.

And obviously, such an unhealthy relationship couldn't bring any good to a young and manipulable child such as Koen.

Firstly, he was assigned as king in his early childhood, very probably because of the chaotic situation surrounding the aftermath of his birth, as seen in Forever Friends, which burdened him with way too much responsabilities and duties.

This very probably is an element explaining his quite rebellious personality, especially towards authority.

But as if it wasn't enough to mess him up, he could not even be comforted and guided by his only parental figure left after Ancient Enma passed away ! No wonder he purposefully stayed trapped by Nurari to beat him right after with absolute rage. He simply doesn't know how to respond to stress and his emotions in general other than through anger.

Furthermore, he could not even express his personality, as Zazel would not give him any chance. This could also be the answer as to why he runs away to the human realm so often in order to finally express himself. All he did was trying his best to keep up with all the standards he had set up for himself, while begging for guidance, and acting like the child he is.

[ghostsandfools]

I wonder what happened to the Algebralien’s evil ruler(s) (if they were actually real.) Like… Are they still in power? Or did the Algebraliens like unionize or something??????? I think it would be funny if they radicalized against the government

[mask131]

Deadly fall: Hades

HADES

Category: Greek mythology

In Greek mythology, Hades was the god of the dead, and the ruler of the underworld (which bore the same name as him, “Hades”). According to the legend, Hades was one of the six children of the Titan rulers Cronos and Rhea, and when it came time for the gods to rule over the world, he and his two brothers Poseidon and Zeus split the universe in equal parts: Zeus received ownership of the sky, Poseidon ruled over the sea, and Hades was offered the underworld with all the dead souls in it (well rather “shades”, as the Greeks believed that when you died you became a sort of sentient shadow). Due to Hades presiding over the dead, and death being one of the biggest fears and dislike of the Greek, they had a superstition rejection of Hades’ very name, and preferred to use for him the nickname “Plouton”, which means “wealthy”. Indeed, out of all the gods, Hades was considered to be the wealthiest, as all the riches (ranging from grains that would make fertile crops to gems and metals) came from the underground, aka his domain. He was also given numerous other nicknames and epithets, such as the “Chthonian Zeus” (aka Zeus of the Underworld), Agelastus (the melancholic one), Agesilaus (he who attracts everyone to his realm) or Ophieus (the blind god – a Messenian nicknames, as these people dedicated some augurs since their birth to the service of Hades by blinding them as babies).

Despite being an object of fear and dread for the Ancient Greeks, who considered his realm to be a dark, gloomy and unpleasant place, Hades itself was not seen as “evil” or as a “negative” entity: he was rather a cold and stern god keeping an immutable order, a god who applied the same law to everyone with no exception, and even quite a passive deity who barely left his realm and got little myths to himself. The Greeks simply wanted to avoid attracting his attention or his wrath, as they avoided anything that was associated with death. His most notorious myth is the one about how he got his wife, Persephone, queen of the Underworld: daughter of Zeus and Demeter, one day Hades fell madly in love with her and snatched her away from the world of the living, dragging her from the surface to the bowels of the earth. While Zeus had agreed to this union, Demeter had not, and in anger the goddess of crops and harvests let all the plants die, causing a widespread famine through the world: she only agreed to feed again the mortals if Hades agreed to release her daughter. But Hades, who had Zeus’ consent to marry her, threatened to open up the doors of the underworld and release all the dead upon the living if he couldn’t keep her (which would be something awful as in Greek belief the dead are terrifying to look at and only cause horror upon the living). Ultimately Demeter got the upper hand, but before returning to the surface Persephone ate some pomegranate seeds – and the law of Hades is that anyone who eats the food of the underworld is doomed to stay there forever. This led to a new divine quarrel who resulted in Persephone being legally forced to spend half of the year with her mother among the living (it is the fertile summer season when plants grow) and the other half with her husband among the dead (it is the cold wintery season when all plants die). And in a surprising twist, unlike his two brothers who were well-known philanderers despite having official brides and legal queens, Hades stayed faithful to his wife and seemed to never have loved anyone else beyond Persephone – he was given a few legends about love affairs with Nymphs, but it was by the Romans, not by the Greeks.

The only other myths involving Hades are those in which he punishes the humans who dare break the order of life and death. For example, king Sisyphus tricked death twice – first by imprisoning Thanatos, the embodiment of death, who was coming for him; then, by tricking Persephone into allowing him to return to Earth. When he was finally captured again, he was given a terrible punishment (see my post about Thanatos). Other mortals who felt the wrath of Hades were Theseus and Pirithous: in their arrogance, the two heroes decided they would descend into the Underworld and snatch away from it famous souls to be their wives. Theseus wanted to snatch with him the soul of Helen, the most beautiful woman Greece ever knew, while Pirithous, even more arrogant, wanted to take away Persephone herself to make her his wife. When the two heroes entered the realm of the dead, Hades offered them a banquet and treated them as honored guests, but as soon as they sat down, snakes coiled around their limbs to prevent them from moving, and they forgot everything about their previous life – for these chairs were chairs of oblivion. Theseus later got rescued by his friend Herakles when the latter entered the Underworld, but despite all of Herakles’ plea Pirithous could never be released, for he had attempted to steal Hades’ wife, and the ruler of the dead would never forgive him for that. Hades also got involved in the myth of Asclepios: the later was the greatest healer Greece ever knew, to the point that he managed to find a cure able to resurrect the dead. Hades, enraged upon seeing his subjects flee his realm, sought Zeus and angrily warned him that Asclepios was upsetting the order of the world by erasing the very existence of death itself – so Zeus killed Asclepios with a thunderbolt.

Rare are the mortals who could simply “visit” the Underworld and leave – for Hades conceived his realm as a prison locked away from the rest of the world, from which no dead could escape and in which no living could enter. Only two managed to do so, and their exploits are still remembered today. One was Heracles, who was tasked to tame and bring to the world of the living Cerberus, Hades’ own guard-dog. Cerberus wasn’t just any dog: he was a massive monster with three heads and a mane of snakes, who managed to kill any living man trying to enter the underworld, and who made sure no dead would leave his master’s realm. Heracles asked Hades the permission to take away his dog, and Hades agreed by two conditions: that he would tame Cerberus with his bare hands, without any tools, and that he would not cause any harm to the hound. Heracles managed to do so, and brought the monstrous dog to the world of the living – but then he was quickly returned to the underworld, because no human in their right mind wanted to live next to such a terrible beast (well, some writers say the one who had asked for Cerberus in the first place ordered it to be brought back upon seeing the beast in person, other poets rather claim Cerberus managed to escape and return to his own in the underworld). The other hero who managed to leave Hades’ realm was Orpheus, a magical musician whose songs and poetry was so beautiful it could charm anyone and everything: after the death of his lover Eurydice, Orpheus went to the Underworld, appeasing Cerberus with his music, convincing Charon to drive him across the Styx through his songs, and finally pleading his cause to Hades and Persephone with such beautiful sounds that even the cold-hearted god was touched. Hades allowed Orpheus to bring back Eurydice to the land of the living, on one condition: that Orpheus would make the journey with Eurydice behind him, not touching her, not speaking to her, and not looking at her. Orpheus agreed and made the long trip back to the world of the living, but as soon as he saw the exit way leading to the surface of the world, Orpheus looked back at Eurydice, and she immediately disappeared. He returned to Hades to plead his cause again, but this time the god of the dead was unforgivable and refused to give him anything. Why did Orpheus look back? Many interpretations and variations exist… Some say Orpheus was too eager to see the living world, and was careless in his joy ; others say he was filled with doubt and thought Hades had tricked him ; some yet said he was too impatient to see his Eurydice again and could not resist trying to gaze at her beauty again…

In art, Hades usually appeared as a stern and mature man with a black beard and a throne of ebony, with Cerberus by his side (though some depictions of the abduction of Persephone depict Hades as a young chariot-driver). His common attributes include a bident (like a trident but with two spikes instead of three), roosters/chickens (no idea why), a chariot pulled by black horses (on which he took Persephone), cypress (the funeral tree), snakes (the underground beast by definition), a key (to show that he had controlled over the locked doors of the underworld) and the cornucopia (aka the Horn of Abundance, the symbol of prosperity reflecting the wealth of the underworld). Hades was also frequently seen with a helmet: when the gods waged a war against the titans during the early days of the world, the three divine brothers (Zeus, Poseidon and Hades) each received a magical tool crafted by the cyclops. Zeus got his thunderbolt, Poseidon got his trident to shake the earth, and Hades received a magical helmet that would make him invisible when he wore it. (Some say this helmet might have been the “cap of invisibility” offered to the hero Perseus when he needed to kill Medusa the Gorgon).

- - - - - - - -

As I said before, in Ancient Greece, Hades was an object of fear and loathing, because he embodied the inescapable nature of mortality and the certainty of death: his name caused fright among people, so he was given various nicknames, often positive ones to avoid his wrath and try to flatter him (Clymenus, the famous one ; Polydegmon, the host of many guests/he who receives many, Eubulus, of good counsel). People avoided making oaths by his name, because it meant that it would be a deadly one ; and when they sacrificed to him, they avoided looking at his statue. All of this led to many modern medias (especially Americans, *glances at Disney*) interpreting Hades as an “evil god”, as a “villain” of mythology or as the Greek version of the devil – but in truth, Hades was never seen as an evil god. In fact, he was just, he was a keeper of the cosmic order, and you could negotiate with him (see Heracles and Orpheus) – but he was also without pity, with a stone-hard heart, and a gloomy manifestation of the creepy and dark realm of the dead.

When sacrifices were done in his name, it was sacrifices of black animals (especially black sheep), whose blood was thrown on the ground; and when people prayed to him, they did so by placing their head on the same ground, so that the god would hear them.

And as I said, something that might surprise people, is that “Hades” is both the name of the god ruling the Underworld, and of the Greek Underworld itself – so people could “go into the Hades” or “be sent to the Hades”.

[lacrimosathedark]

Who'd like some good old fashioned name analysis?

Okay, so, I been doing so much research for Resident Evil stuff and learning shit about fairy tales and timelines and genome editing and searching for impossible Romanian poetry I got overwhelmed and went, fuck it. Why not just look at their names? Maybe I'll learn something there.

So, here I have done it. Name meanings for characters of the Mold Saga so far aka 7 and 8 aka Biohazard and Village.

(Sorry I'm on mobile I'll put a cut here when I can)

Ethan: Firm, enduring, strong, impetuous, long-lived. An incredibly consistently common and popular name. E name just like Eveline, so could be a successor of sorts to the mold.

Mia: Derivative of numerous other names of many possibilities. Mia as a word means “mine” in Italian and Spanish. Mamma Mia is a well known Italian phrase, particularly due to the ABBA song and musical of the same name, and it being the catchphrase of the Nintendo character Mario. The phrase means “my mom”.

Winters: First and last season of the year where everything becomes dormant and cold and either dies or sleeps.

Eveline: Contains “Eve”, as in both the biblical first woman. Also means a night before an event, and the game takes place in the span of one night. The name Eve means “ life”, “living one”, “mother of life”, or “giver of life”. Another possible name origin is as a variant of Aveline, which is a diminutive of Ava, which is the same pronunciation as the name Eva as pronounced in Village.

Baker: Occupational surname. In older times consider an upper-middle class job, much like the family. Also adds the emphasis of the “food” and also how they essentially make more molded.

Jack: God is gracious, supplanter. A nickname for John and other related names, but also a name in itself. It is also a word with a couple meanings, including a heavy lifting tool, to steal something, to take control of something, or an everyman.

Margueritte: Pearl. French name for ox-eyed daisy. Derived from Margaret. Sounds like maggot.

Lucas: Light. Derived from Lucius which means “the bright one” or “the one born at dawn”. Luke is also an Apostle of Jesus and was a physician.

Zoe: Life. Came from the name Eve. Fitting as Zoe was practically pushed out of the family after Eveline’s arrival, replaced as the daughter of the family.

Joe: He will add. Was added as DLC. Short for Joseph. Joseph is the name of multiple biblical figures. One is a child of Jacob and Rachel and Jacob’s favorite son in Genesis (note: Jack is a nickname for Jacob) who was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, but rose to become vizier, the most powerful position nest to the Pharoah, and forgave his family and brought them to Egypt. One is the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who loved and raised a child he knew was not his against social norms. Another is a disciple known as Joseph of Arimathea who notably took Jesus down from the cross for his burial and testified when he revived and was gone. 

Rosemary: Dew of the sea. Combination of Rose and Mary or the plant rosemary. Roses as a plant vary in meaning depending on color. Mary and its variations have many differing meanings, among them being, “beloved”, “love”, “bitter”, “rebellious”, “wished-for child”, and “drop of the sea”. There are also the allusions to Mary, mother of Jesus as she is sometimes worshipped with roses, and you say Hail Marys on your rosary which is only two letters from her name. In regards to the plant, it is relatively resistant to drought and cold, though some breeds are susceptible to frost and they don’t like too much water. They have fibrous roots, so they spread and fan out like we see with the mold. They thrive in more alkaline soils and seem to have been named by a taxonomist named Carl  Linnaeus. In stories, folklore, and tradition, the plants or flowers are often used for remembrance, specifically for the dead. It’s also been used as a spice and in medicine.

Miranda: Worthy of admiration. Latin in origin. Character in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and whether she is a strong female character or not is highly debated, as she frequently defies men like her father, but often when they expect and/or want her to. She is otherwise compassionate and naive. The titular character of a Polish novel in which everyone is a mage and Miranda is a medium connected to another character, Damayanti, who is portrayed as the ideal woman and has a romance with the male protagonist, yet sacrifices her body so her spirit can experience a higher state of consciousness. Miranda can contact her soul, and disappears when she dies. Miranda in the US refers to the required practice by police of reading suspects their rights before interrogation.

Eva: Latin form of “Eve” and meaning “life”, “mother of life”, or “giver of life”.

Duke: A ruler of a duchy. A title bestowed by royalty or passed through family, often given to royalty or nobility, but can be given to anyone. In France,  the peerage system was abolished in 1789 (vive la révolution), brought back in 1814, and finally perma-abolished in 1848. 

(Note: While the wife of a duke becomes a duchess, the husband of a duchess does not become a duke. At least, from what I gather. This shit is confusing.)

Alcina: Strong-willed. Greek origin. There are two operas using the same story about a sorceress named Alcina who lives on an island with her sister Morgana and seduces every knight who comes to the island, but turns them into plants, animals, or stones when she bores of them. When the source of her power is destroyed, she, her sister, and their palace crumble to dust. The Hungarian name for Alțâna, a commune in Sibiu County, Romania in the historical region of Transylvania.

Bela: Bela Lugosi was an actor who famously portrayed Dracula. His name is Hungarian and meant to be spelled Béla meaning “heart”, “insides”, or “intestines”, roughly translating to “having heart” or “having guts” in modern terminology, as in being brave. However it is considered a male name and as Bela is female there is also the possibility of the influence of the name Bella short an l, Bella an Italian name meaning “beautiful”.

Cassandra: The one who shines and excels over men. Name of a Trojan princess and priestess in Greek mythology. She was given her gift of prophecy by the god Apollo but, in most versions of the tale, he asks for sexual favors in return, and she initially agrees but then rejects him once she’s gotten her gift. In anger he cursed her to always tell true prophecies that no one would believe and was thus thought a madwoman. She served a temple of Athena, goddess of wisdom, handicraft, and warfare. When Cassandra was assaulted and possibly raped in Athena’s temple and dragged out while desperately clinging to Athena’s statue, Athena was so enraged by the damage done to her temple and/or her priestess that she enlisted the help of both Zeus and Poseiden to exact revenge on the Greeks for failing to punish the man who attacked Cassandra and caused the resulting damage. Zeus gave her one of his own bolts of lightning and she struck them down at sea. While Cassandra was never believed, she was always right.

Daniela: God is my judge. Feminine form of Daniel. Daniela is also a genus of moth with only one species in the genus, Daniela viridis. It is also another name for the Italian wine grape Prè blanc.

Dimitrescu: Child of Dimitri. -escu suffixes in Romanian are like -son suffixes in English, it derives from parentage (ex. Jackson is Jack’s son, Dimitrescu is Dimitri’s child). Dimitri means “devoted to Demeter”. Demeter is the Greek goddess of the harvest, agriculture, sacred law (i.e. cycle of life and death), fertility, and the earth. Like many Greek myths, she is repeatedly wronged, and rather severely, by multiple male figures. Demeter in particular is a mother who has her daughter Kore, later known as Persephone, stolen away from her and goes on a rampage searching for her and those responsible.

(Note: Considering the founders had these names it’s a bit dumb seeing as this trend of parentage -escu names supposedly came about mid 19th century (1800s for those who find that confusing cuz I do), long after the Village was founded)

Donna: Lady or lady of the home. Italian name and a title of respect. Derives from the Latin term Dominus. The Romanian form of the word (not the name) is Doamnã. The Atropa belladonna aka deadly nightshade have berries and foliage that contain tropane alkaloids including atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscyamine which are extremely toxic and can cause hallucinations and delirium, but are also used in pharmaceutical anticholinergics. Throughout history people cluelessly used the berry juice as eye drops to cosmetically dilate their pupils, giving them a seductive doll-eyed appearance. Symptoms of belladonna poisoning are dilated pupils, sensitivity to light, blurred vision, tachycardia, loss of balance, staggering, headache, rash, flushing, severely dry mouth and throat, slurred speech, urinary retention, constipation, confusion, hallucinations, delirium, and convulsions. The plant's deadly symptoms are in atropine’s ability to disrupt the parasympathetic nervous system’s involuntary regulation like sweating, breathing, and heartbeat.

Angie: Diminutive of many names containing “angel”. Angels are messengers and warriors of Heaven, a realm souls go after death. Angel statues are also common grave markers. Children are also often told they have guardian angels, a being watching over them to protect them.

Claudia: No sure meaning has been found, but some think it comes from claudus, meaning “lame”, “limping”, or “crippled”, or clausus, which means “shut” or “closed”.

Beneviento: Good wind. Neapolitan spelling of Benevento, the name of both a province and its capital city, located in the Campania region of Italy.

Salvatore: Savior. Italian name. In the movie version (I specify as I have not read the book and the movie synopsis has more on the characters) of The Name of the Rose, the character Salvatore is hunch-backed and twisted, and has a history of not-really-acceptable religious beliefs. He was also tortured and falsely accused of witchcraft. He dies when a library is set on fire.

Moreau: Moorish, dark-skinned. French surname. Titular doctor in The Island of Doctor Moreau, in which said doctor performs disturbing and torturous experiments on people and animals, especially through vivisection, to make beastial humanoid creatures.

Karl: Free man, strong man, manly. Werner Karl Heisenberg was a German theoretical physicist who made notably important contributions to hydrodynamics, ferromagnetism, cosmic rays, and subatomic particles. Karl Marx was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, and socialist revolutionary who believed societies develop through class conflict, and in a capitalist society this is the “ruling” class (the bosses) having power over the working class. He believed people should have equal footing and should and would inevitably fight for it. Karl Jaspers was a German existentialist philosopher and psychiatrist. His humanist ideals had him dissatisfied with the medical community’s approach to mental health and worked to improve it, and philosophizing on it after.

(IMPORTANT NOTE: Since I’ve seen accusations of the RE character and his influences being so, I feel I must state it here. Karl Heisenberg is NOT a Nazi. Both Heisenberg and Jaspers lived through World War II and neither were Nazis. Jaspers was blackwalled because of his Jewish wife. Heisenberg was forcibly drafted into the Army Weapons Bureau, but pre-war he had been repeatedly slandered as a “white Jew” and his career held back, and post-war became more political, worked against traditional primacy in the education system, and actively protested the government considering equipping the army with American nuclear weapons. Capcom reps have also stated that Karl Heisenberg has nothing to do with Nazis.)

Heisenberg: Calling mountain (could not find a specific definition, “heisen” means “to call” and “berg” means “mountain or hill”). Reference to Werner Karl Heisenberg, (explained above). Likely unrelated, but another well-known (in the US at least) name thief of Heisenberg comes from the popular TV show Breaking Bad as the alias/street name for the main character Walter White who takes the name and starts selling drugs when he is unable to afford medical care for his in-need child, but grows more twisted throughout the series. Also place name.

Berengario: Italian form of Berengar, which is derived from Germanic root words meaning “bear” and “spear”.

Cesare: Italian form of the Latin word Caesar, which is an imperial title like an emperor or empress. The word Caesar itself may come from caesaries meaning “hairy”. 

Guglielmo: Italian form of the Germanic William, meaning “vehement protector” or “desired helmet”

Nichola: Anglicized form of the Greek Nikolaos meaning “victory of the people”. Also a variant of Nicholas (Considered a female variant but fuck gender roles and the description says he.). This character is also referred to as Father like a priest I looked into saints and while I found no notable Saint Nichola (meaning on Wikipedia) there are multiple Saint Nicholases, most notably Saint Nicholas of Myra, also known as the Wonderworker and the model of Santa Claus. Stories of him include gifting gold coins through a window of a home for three nights to prevent three girls from being forced into prostitution, calming a storm at sea, saving three soldiers from execution, and chopping down a possessed tree. More connected to where his treasure is found, there is also a tale of him resurrecting three children who had been murdered by a butcher who had had intended to sell their meat as “pork” during the famine.

*BONUS TIME*

By that I mean these are less important so I did slightly less research and/or didn’t  feel like typing all the research so there’s less info, but it’s still relevant, so here you go!

Chris: A rare name in its own right, often a shortened version of names like Christopher, meaning “Christ-bearer”, and Christian, as in the religion.

Redfield: Literally red field. Fitting for the trail of blood in his wake because have mercy on any of his enemies, but regrettably including many of his friends and allies (rip in peace Piers Nivans). 

Elena: Shining light. Greek origin.

Leonardo: Strong as a lion. Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese version of Leonard.

Lupu: Wolf. Romanian surname. Fitting as the surname of the man we saw become a lycan before our eyes. 

Luiza: Renowned warrior. Polish, Portuguese, and Romanian name.

Iulian: Romanian name from the Greek iulius meaning “youthful” or “juvenile”, or ioulos meaning “downy-bearded”.

Vasile: Romanian name from the Greek basileus meaning ”king”. Vasile Voiculescu wrote a poem called Schimnicul, The Recluse in English, about varcolacul.

(Note: For those who don’t recall or didn’t notice his name in Ethan’s diary, this is Luiza’s husband.)

Rolando: Famous throughout the land. Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese variant of Roland.

Elba: Spanish form of Alba, which can mean “dawn”, “white”, or “elf”, depending on origin.

Dion: Shorter form of Greek Dionysios meaning “of Zeus”.

Wilson: Lineage surname, “Will’s son”. Very common surname in English.

Charlie: A name in itself but often a nickname for names like Charles meaning “man” or “warrior”

Graham: Gravelly homestead. Habitational surname, apparently derived from Grantham in Lincolnshire, England.

John: God is gracious. The most common name ever with the most variations.

Perlman: Ashkenazi Jewish surname. Also literal, “perl” possibly meaning “pearl” thus being an occupational name, or Perl being a woman’s name making it mean “husband of Perl”.

Emily: Rival. Latin name. 

Berkoff: Could be Jewish, Dutch, or German surname. Definition not quite certain, but likely related to birch trees.

Josef: German, Czech, and Scandinavian version of Joseph.  

Simon: He has heard. From Hebrew Shim’on.

Roxana: Bright, dawn. Latin form of Greek Rhoxane and Persian Roshanak.

Anton: Priceless, praiseworthy, flower.

Sebastian: From the Latin name Sebastianus which meant “from Sebaste”. Sebaste is a town in Asia Minor and comes from the Greek word sebastos meaning “venerable”.

Eugen: Well-born.Romanian form of Eugene. From the Greek name Eugenios. 

(Note: This is the man who lived in the house with the red chimney.)

Ernest: Serious. Germanic name.

(Note: This man is noted to be missing in a letter to Luiza and his diary is found with the Cannibal’s Plunder in Otto’s Mill.)

[mybg3notebook]

Lore: The Netherese in 1492 DR

Disclaimer Game Version: All these analyses were written up to the game version v4.1.104.3536 (Early access). As long as new content is added, and as long as I have free time for that, I will try to keep updating this information. Written in June 2021. Detail: BG3 takes place in 1492 DR.

To understand what's the context around "Netherese magic" and, let's hope, its nature, I think it's of vital importance to know a bit about Netheril and what happened in recent years.

The game does a good job in showing us what happened with their fall at Karsus' hands. I explained in the post of "Well-known Characters" a good amount of information about him. His desire for godhood was a bit more complex than just wanting to be a god, even though the game shows it as blind arrogance and ambition: so far we know, it was Mystra who commanded her priests to spread this version of Karsus' Folly, as if he only wanted power alone. 

After Karsus' folly, all the floating cities of Netheril fell to the ground, destroying their population with them. However, only three cities were saved since they were too high in the air: their fall gave enough time for Mystra to be reborn in minutes and saved them. A fourth enclave, ruled by Telamont Tanthul—also called Lord Shadow—was teleported to the Shadow Plane (now called Shadowfell) days before the catastrophe. This was possible because Shadow Lord had been experimenting with the Shadow plane energies for a while. When he returned to Faerûn to see the aftermath of Karsus' folly, he recognised the need to stay in the other plane and gather strength to rebuild Netheril. After 1700 years, he started his plan for the return of his Civilisation in 1372 DR.

This is the context in which the trilogy of The Return of the Archwizards is set. This also belongs to 4e, which is one of the concepts that have annoyed more players, since this return made the Shadovars the Big Bad Evil everywhere. Maybe WotC wants to clean this aspect in the game. Maybe not. We don't know for sure. But we may suspect that Netherese people are returning in BG3: many details ingame keep giving context about them: Gale's explanation about Karsus' Folly, Excavation of the Enclave of Nhalloth (book), The Approachable East: Vol5 (book), and then the presence of Netherese magic not only in Gale's "orb" but in the tadpoles. 

I think it's worth checking the ingame book called “Excavation of the Enclave of Nhalloth”. Nhalloth was a Netherese city floating above the Sea of Fallen Stars in Faerûn. After Karsus' folly, it sank into the sea, claiming for some underwater creatures. As a consequence of the Spellplague, the geography changed, the waters lowered, and allowed a bit of exploration. Little was found, and explorers reported odd feelings and ghosts around it.

What do we know about the Return of Netheril in 1372?

These new Netherese people started to spread their influence in Faerûn, looking for Netherese old artefacts and spying on people and places that could possibly hinder their ultimate goal of creating a new Netheril in their image. But, were these people truly Netherese? The question comes from the fact that living creatures can't stay in the Plane of Shadow (currently merged with the Plane of negative energy which transformed it into the Shadowfell) without being affected by it. So, in an attempt to be short but still provide important facts I will numerate vital details of them that may become handy in BG3:

This floating city used to be called Thultanthar, and after its return, it's more commonly referred as the City of Shade.

Somehow, the Netherese people survived, and became more united and secretive.

Over 1700 years, each generation of these netherese people become more and more attuned to the shadow plane, some of them even turning into Shades: twisted, dark, humanoid creatures with longer lifespan than humans. Lord Shadow was still the main ruler of the City of Shade because he is now a Shade.

A big percentage of their population are worshippers of Shar.

The archwizards (ruling class) in the highest ranks are called Shadovars. Not every Netherese or Shade person is a Shadovar. Despite this, most folk refer to all Netherese as Shadovar nonetheless.

Most Shadovars are followers of Shar.

Shadovars are masters of Shadow Magic. It's a common mistake to think that Shadow magic is the same as Shadow Weave magic. Shadow Magic is magic using the energies of the Plane of Shadow. This can be done using Weave or Shadow Weave. Since most shadow casters are evil-aligned, Shar tried to offer them the Shadow Weave as a means to cast their magic without using the Weave (an element of a neutral-good aligned deity). This is related to the effect of worshipping without consent: Using the Weave is always a way to worship Mystra even if the caster wants it or not. This always gives power to Mystra. Shar created the Shadow Weave as a way to divert all those evil-aligned casters into her own worshipping. More details in the post of "Mystra and her Chosen ones"

With the return of the Shadovars, they tried to corrupt the recently recovered Weave and turn it into Shadow Weave. 

In 1487DR, Lord Shadow tried to gain the power of the Mythal of Myth Drannor, but Elminster killed him and the City of Shade fell upon Myth Drannor, destroying both cities.

However, this was not the end of the Shadovar. We may have some information about how they are in 1490s DR (let's remember BG3 is during 1492 DR):

Lord Shadow may be part of the Weave now (I have no idea why Ed said this. Lord Shadow was not a Chosen of Mystra, why would he be a weaveghost now?)

Two of his daughters and a Netherese arcanist survived: The sisters Lelavdra and Manarlume and the arcanist Gwelt have been calling themselves "The Three".

The Three have been collecting Netherese and others loyal to the Shade Empire from the ruins of the Citadel of the Raven in the western Moonsea region since late 1487 DR. They had collected at least 60 low level arcanists and 20 low born Netherese within a short period of time.

Gwelt was leading the hunt for others calling their group "The Court of the Three."

Their goals were supposedly to collect other Netherese, make allies, identify foes, take command of the remaining floating Netherese cities, and find a remote location to regroup and plan their re-emergence. It is unknown how far they have come.

Why all of this may be important?

Because part of this canon material may or may not be part of the story of BG3.

It's true that Larian has already changed some very consistent canon facts, such as the spell of the Hag eye (Ethel justifies her spell as a very personal customised one) or—the most impressive change—the Ceremorphosis process: Gale explains that the normal process removes the personality of the person in the sixth day after the infection, when in Forgotten Realms canon it should happen few hours after the infection. So my expectations for them to follow all canon material are not blind. They will change canon concepts as they think suitable, which is how DnD works. Still yet, it seems reasonable to read about all this in order to have a better context of what we will see, since the canon context is undeniably there.

Personally I always saw the presence of Netherese/Shadow Magic in the tadpoles as the intervention of Shar, but I never could find a group of mortals who would do that work and have such specific knowledge. We know that, with the exception of Mystra, contact with mortals is forbidden to all gods; therefore, Shar could not be the one to have approached these Mind Flayers. Now, the presence of the Court of the Three, working alongside or co-opting The Three Dead's plan seems a more reasonable possibility for me.

So far, what we know is that 

Shadow Magic is equivalent to Netherese Magic ( EA,  Ethel's words)

Shadow Magic is magic related to the plane of Shadows. This plane was altered by Shar when she merged the negative energy plane with it, causing the Shadowfell. The Shadowfell was Shar's realm for a while.

Shar was a great loser in the last edition. She could not change the Weave into Shadow Weave and become the greatest deity of magic as she planned. So she may want to counter-attack now.

Shadovars—who tried to help Shar in turning her into the Goddess of Magic—are masters of Shadow Magic and Shadow Weave magic.

The Shadow Weave was not destroyed, it's recovering at a similar pace to the Weave. 

The tadpole can't turn the host into a mind flayer because Netherese magic (the dream person) attached to it works as a stasis process. ( EA)

The Netherese magic—aka dream person���seems to restrain the Mind Flayer transformation while having strong connotations of Bhaalspawn essence. ( EA)

These small details may suggest that maybe the Shadovar are returning, or the three dead are using Shadovar's knowledge or vice versa. The possibilities are many and it seems hard to decide which ones are more likely since EA gives little information for such estimation. 

Sources: 

2e: Sea of Fallen Stars 3e: Lost Empires of Faerûn 4e: The Return of the Archwizards, The Herald, Grand History of the Realms Article: After the Fall by Ed. Greenwood: https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/after-fall

Ed Greenwood Twitter

This post was written in June 2021. → For more Gale: Analysis Series Index

[thetimelordbatgirl]

Another owl house inspired AU on stories by me and my friend, @disneyfan50 , with this one being based on disneyfan’s Rewrite The Star’s a little and my Twisted Tale series. 

*Ayesha Weaver- also known as The Yaqal Lady a lot due to her curse, Ayesha is the daughter of the Empress who ended up leaving not only due to her sudden curse, but also because of her mothers treatment of her, but as a result, is often hunted down in present by the empress coven for her wild witch status and has to use the human realm door to get junk to sell so she can survive off the gold, but when a human walks through the door one day, her life changes completely.

*Nova Hawkins- a human from the human realm, Nova swears she tried her best to behave, especially since her brother, Jim, was her legal guardian and she didn’t want to ruin anything else of his after he left the military to look after her, but when it comes to her love for fantasy, she ends up expressing it in many ways....which often resulted in trouble, with the final nail being her book report disaster that resulted in camp to help her straighten out, but instead of going, she ends up in another realm when following a dragon for her book back.

*Xo-Pahk- Ayesha’s roommate, Xo-Pahk is a Injo that Ayesha found while on the run from her mother’s coven and while his origins are unknown, he was still taken home by Ayesha and in present, is known as the terrifying but adorable Injo.

*B.E.N-  the houses security system, B.E.N is the house in some sense and therefore, is capable of travelling throughout the house, but often resides within the door and despite having well meaning intentions, can sometimes come off as creepy.

*Celeste- Ayesha’s palisman she made while on the run, Celeste resembles a Yaqal and when not being used by Ayesha and eventually Nova, Celeste either roams the house or gets human junk for when Ayesha needs it.

*Zasime Tombs- a student in Hexside, Zasime already has issues due to her supposedly cursed magic, but when it comes to her late bloomer status, it only seems to make things worse, especially when she fell out with Alia while the pair were children, and in present, Zasime is close to failing the potions track when things finally change due to a human and she ends up finally on the abomination track while also gaining a new friend.

*Mireille Mercier- a student in Hexside, Mireille is known to be her two dads and moms daughter fully with her doing Beast Track like they did, but she is also known for her love for the human realm and therefore, is happy to befriend a human when Zasime sneaks one into school.

*Alia Vizier- the youngest of the Vizier children, Alia doesn’t really recall her mom and is stuck with her dad only, whom is obsessed with her being perfect to the point she’s often cold and aloof to most, including eventually falling out with childhood friend Zasime and bullying her for failing at the track that Alia succeeded at, aka Potions, but after encountering a human numerous times, she ends up not only slowly changing and mending relationships, but also slowly falling for the human....

*Aziz and Armahni Vizier- the eldest of the Vizier children, the twins are known for their chaos and pranks, especially when they use their spells from the Illusionist Track to do somehow, but when it comes to them and their sister, they vary between getting along and turning nasty if she tells on him.

*Anastasia Forest- a student in Hexside, Anastasia is known as the schools sports star and is known as the childhood friend of Alia, but often targets people a lot in bullying, including Zasime, and is an exceller at the plant track.

*Hope Fitzgerald- a student in Hexside, Hope is a childhood friend of Anastasia’s and is known to be her sidekick a lot in her targeting of people, while also excelling at the Bard Coven.

*Jafar Vizier- the father of Alia and supposed father of Aziz and Armahni, Jafar is known to be harsh and controlling of his children, especially off Alia, as he expects nothing but the best, and runs Vizier Industries while being in the potions coven.

*Empress Azimerate- the ruler of the Isles, Azimerate is known to be a harsh and controlling ruler who ended up pushing her own daughter away in the process, and is known as the creator of the coven system to ensure no one can be more powerful then her, but she has an end goal with the human realm, with it being in the name of the god of evil.

*Thamalu- the empress right hand man, Thamalu is known to be loyal fully to the empress and is willing to do anything for the coven, including clearing up any of his co-workers mistakes, but slowly grows to dislike the Golden Guard when he starts to lose his jobs to her.

*The Golden Guard/Jirsa-  Loyal to the empress, nothing is known about the Golden Guard’s origins.