#how many tags does empires have for the love of god

[paeliae-occasionally]

hi pae pae!!!

what is your process of designing your maps? and how do you approach lore? how does that brilliant mind of your work to create such fascinating history and complex worldbuilding?

je would like to know the trade secrets pretty pls

p.s. how far along are you on xaeren? if it’s not far enough, im afraid i’m going to have to start protesting soon… 😔

p.p.s. before you say school is taking up your time—understandable. have a great day. keep being brilliant. i just really want more xaeren content.

p.p.p.s. in my head, i imagine xaeren as so mighty fine that there’s an occult in some middle school of a suburban neighborhood with an old classroom turned into a shrine for his feral fangirls to host club meetings simping over him

that’s it’s. that’s all the pspspsppsss i have. miss you! have a great day! cheerios!

Hello Naveena! Lots of questions! We will go through them one at a time.

What is your process of designing your maps?

So with maps I will start by just noting down the history and current function of the city which gives me an idea of style and layout e.g. all of the cities that were part of the Laith’Edrels have lots of circular designs whereas a modern altic city may have more typical alleyways and rectangular buildings Next I plot in the districts of the city, like where the upper class live, where the high streets are etc. I also add any key buildings at this time, like a plot relevant church or a mages tower. Lastly I go back in and draw boxes and house shapes for 2 hours.

How do you approach lore?

A lot of my lore is just a set of stories where I look at a place on the map, or a group of people and go ‘what could have happened here?’ The bigger worldbuilding points like the dissolution came from me wanting to have magical decay from fewer more powerful beings to more less powerful beings, so I needed gods. However it always frustrates me when there are canonically gods in a world who just sit back and ignore the world crashing and burning as one frustrated hero has to fix the problem, so I made a reason for them to be gone

History and worldbuilding

Honestly a lot of my history writing was based off of the large amounts of real life history I read in my free time. Studying how cities and empires develop then putting my own spin on them because magic would change some things. Worldbuilding comes from my maps really. I will label different cultures on the map then come up with myths and legends for that culture, magic specific to them or their ancestors, wars and internal conflict. Then that spirals into pages of notes on the socioeconomic background for Onkairel. It is lots of fun.

“would like to know the trade secrets” she says after writing a whole book with detailed political lore and plenty of depth to the world.

You know the secrets. You also know the secrets to actually writing the book too.

So about Xaeren…

I will be writing the scene where he meets Kell soon so I will tag you in it when I do, but you are right about the school work :( so it may take a little while.

“an occult in some middle school of a suburban neighborhood with an old classroom turned into a shrine for his feral fangirls to host club meetings simping over him”

So you say that jokingly… No, to be fair he isn’t known for his an appearance but he is quite well known in Zairel as an assassin and member of house Hiresias. He is terrifying and intriguing to many because of his unique magic that Lysandri can’t explain so I would not be surprised if there was discussion of him in the lower ranks of Lysandri and Hiresias.

I will write some Xaeren soon. Have a lovely day <3

[insane-thoughts-oftheday]

I'm so happy with this picrew, the line is so cute and satisfying, also fat bodies which is hard to find in one of these ☝🏾!!

I made my some of favorite couples from empires smp!!

I had to edit a strand of joel's hair but the artist allows edits so I'm even happier

credits to : @/elenaillustrate on twitter

I also made one of my most beloved ocs

[syn4k]

(re: our last reblog)

i think at this point i'm not expecting a concrete set in stone Copper King comeback or even a canon confirmation from Pixl that he's alive or dead or the archaeologist from s2, but it's so fucking amazing to know that he's doing this at all and dropping some more hints on what happened in the past after the s1 finale

i'm not sure if part of this is Pix trying to give some more leads on what happened to Pixandria since his s1 ending ended so abruptly and unexpectedly, even for him, or something else, or if he'll even give leads, but whatever happens i'll be fine with it.

i've had an interest in history and anthropology for a while now, even before really getting into pixl's s2, but this just puts the icing on the cake. even better is knowing that empires s2 will not end the same way as empires s1 did! like! this ticks all the right boxes!

i'm definitely gonna leave this as a comment on his next empires episode later but can we all get a collective "thank you pixlriffs" for. well. everything really but Specifically making an effort to tie up some loose ends while letting us as a fandom theorize to our hearts' content?

he really knows what the people want! huh, it's kind of like he was on Tumblr during its fandom heyday in 2014...

[blessedarethebinarybreakers]

Not sure if this is the right place to ask this but I gotta start somewhere. I've been learning a lot about indigenous history and activism as I work on deconstruction, and a sentiment I come across a lot is bitterness towards Christianity. I cannot emphasize enough how much I fully understand. The rough bit is that sometimes when I read their work, I get the implication that there's nothing worth saving in the Church/Christianity- that to hold on to it is to hold on to all the colonialism and white supremacy and yuck.

As a disabled trans Christian, I get that, but it still hurts. I love God and am a Christian despite everything. I want to be an ally to indigenous people, but I want to follow God this way too. I know those aren't mutually exclusive, but it feels that way sometimes. Do you have any insight for me to find peace in this regard?

Thank you.

Hey there, thanks for the question, sorry for the delay!

This is something I've also wrestled with — a question I ask myself over and over, and probably always will. I cannot offer you peace, because as Jeremiah 6:14 says, "There is no peace!" — not while our faith continues to be wielded as a weapon against so many peoples. What I can offer you are some of the thoughts that have allowed me to continue to be Christian with hope that this faith can be better than what it's long been misused for, and the resolve to do my part to make it so.

First, that Christianity isn't unique in being co-opted by colonialist powers.

Any belief system can be twisted for violence, and many have been. If Christianity didn't exist, white supremacy still would — colonialist powers would have found a different belief system to twist into justifying their evils.

That absolutely does not absolve us from reckoning with the evils that have been done in Christianity's name! This isn't about shutting down critiques of Christianity with "uh well it could have been any religion" — as things played out, Christianity is the religion responsible for so much harm, and we need to acknowledge that and listen to groups who tell us how we can make some form of reparations.

But for me at least, there is some comfort in understanding that Christianity isn't, like, inherently evil or something. Recognizing that it isn't unique even in its flaws helps me look at the problem with clearer eyes, rather than wallowing in guilt and shame, if that makes sense.

Next, that there are Indigenous Christians, and Black Christians, and other Christians of color — that oppressed peoples have found things worth cultivating within Christianity! If they can find something worthwhile in this faith, it would be arrogance for me to deny it.

For instance, even when white slaveholders edited Bibles to remove too much discussion of liberation, even when white preachers emphasized verses about slaves being obedient to their masters, many enslaved people recognized how Christian faith actually affirms their equality and the holiness of their desire for liberation.

Black Theologian Howard Thurman opens his 1949 book Jesus and the Disinherited with a question asked to him by a Hindu man who knew the harms white Christianity had done to both their peoples: “How can you, a black man, be Christian?” The long and short of Thurman’s answer is that, in spite of the pain and exploitation too often inflicted by Christians in positions of power, the oppressed have always been able to see past that misuse of the Christian message to the true message lived out by Jesus Christ: a message of liberation for all.

For more thoughts on why and how to keep being Christian in spite, in spite, in spite...I invite you to look through my #why we stay tag.

___

How I wish that Christianity had never gotten tangled up in Empire! but it did, and it still is, and because for good or ill I cannot help that my spirit is stubbornly drawn towards the Triune understanding of the Divine, the best I can do is to use my privilege and what small influence I have within Christian institutions to move us towards decolonization. What some of that's looked like on the level of my personal beliefs:

I am firmly against any form of proselytizing. I don't support evangelism financially, I speak out against it, I don't platform it. (If someone wants to hear about my faith, they'll come to me — I don't run after them. And if someone does want to have that conversation, I aim to make it a dialogue, where we are learning from each other.)

I continuously work to recognize and uproot Christian supremacy within myself — the beliefs I didn't even realize where there until I started digging. That has included challenging any inkling within myself that Christianity is the "best" or "most right" religion. (One book that's helped a lot with that is Holy Envy by Barbara Brown Taylor.)

I seek wisdom from and relationship with Christians of color. Their insights are vital to our faith, and I try to use what small influence I have to uplift them.

On that last note, here are some resources I recommend as you continue to explore these questions:

This First Nations Version of the Christian Bible is gorgeously written, and a great way to explore scripture through a Native lens.

Native by Kaitlin B. Curtice is a lovely poetic memoir that explores how one person has sought to hold both her Christian faith and Potawatomi identity within herself. (She also has a new book out that I haven't read yet but really want to!)

God is Red: A Native View of Religion by Vine Deloria Jr.

Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys by Richard Twiss

I haven't read any of these 4 books but they look good too

This video with advice to non-Indigenous Christians

If anyone has any resources to add, please do!

[fromthenortheast]

OC Open Tag Questionaire

tagged by @48lexr, thank you very much! (this is also open tag for everyone!)

Doing this with my four main OC's: Marilag, Raem, Agapito and Dayang.

1. What's your favorite restaurant? If you don't have one, what's your favorite food?

Marilag, playwright: Ooh, I love specifically the restaurant by the seaside, they sell ricecakes, my favorite. Riceckes are great whenever you have a hectic work and can't go outside, such as making scripts and other endeavors such as fixing costumes for the plays.

Raem, fisherman: Same with Marilag, but I hated ricecakes. Would prefer sinigang and other soup over anything. I go there especially when the evening strikes before I go out fishing in the sea.

Agapito, healer: O-oh...I don't have one, I am not allowed outside. But I love pastries and bread with meat fillings inside. I always eat them whenever I can, though not always...it isn't in the right diet for healers, as the Church would say.

Dayang, Imperial Princess: A favorite of mine is the restaurant by the capital, near the Church. It is called 'Southern Delicacies'. It is where many noblemen would flock over for other business meetings, but I would say that the view is much more better than the food or the people there.

2. How many languages do you speak? Do you speak English? How many forms of those languages do you speak?

Marilag, playwright: Hmm, I speak three of them. Golangi-La is my main language, a language of the moon eaters (bakunawa) and a form of a language of the fae. However it is banned in the empire so I speak the human tongue. I also speak English, though very broken. I have some audiences from the northern empires who speak those languages...

Raem, fisherman: I speak only two. Butlong was my main language, until I got swept by the capital and so I began to speak the human tongue. You cannot speak the language of the tree dwellers to mortals, you know? And also, English? What's that?

Agapito, healer: Around five. First is the human tongue; then the language of the fae (I speak its two forms) and the sirens. I also speak foreign languages such as English and the language of the eastern empires. It is important to do so the Church is diverse in its followers.

Dayang, Imperial Princess: I speak six languages. I spoke the human tongue; two forms of Uslok, a language of the tree dwellers; English and two foreign languages. I was heavily taught by scholars and the Empress (unfortunately) in order to understand the diplomats that always dwell in our court.

3. What does magic mean for you?

Marilag, playwright: Magic is art. Plain and simple. It is an art of life, a gift of the gods for us to use in the good of everyone and to showcase the beauty of life in every form.

Raem, fisherman: Pretty poetic, sister. Anyways, magic for me is something of an advantage, mostly. It can slap you in the face if you even try to use it for evil, I've seen it. And its entertaining.

Agapito, healer: Well, magic is sort of life itself. A component, you see.

Dayang, Imperial Princess: Magic by definition of the Shamans is a component of life aside from soil, water and air. It is a dangerous weapon, while also a beautiful form of art, as Marilag have said.

*when they say human tongue they do not mean the general human tongue but rather their main language in the empire that humans speak.

*these are my characters in my wip, butchered tongue

Tagging @dreambigdreamz + @writing-mechanical-monsters + open tag! Answer these questions below:

Who is the person they would go to for advice when it comes to either romance or other problems in life?

What kind of music do they listen to or like to listen to in the distance if ever?

What would be the first thing they do if danger suddenly comes to them? Do they run? Do they freeze in panic? Do they use their magic?

[commander-krios]

OC Interaction Tag

Rules: describe an OC and pair how they would interact with the given OCs from the people who tagged you!

Tagged by @writernopal & @daisywalletchains

Tagging (no pressure- also if you do decide to do this, feel free to use only one of my girls. Or both. Your choice): @my-favourite-zhent, @eluvisen, @aroserinosman, @barbwillbrb, @dutifullylazybread, and @darkurgetrash

First up is @writernopal!

Your OC:

Wilkes Evos Sikthax-Seymour of Tlanxla, otherwise known as The Son of the Moon, is the current quartermaster of Mirage, Fay's husband, and an old war veteran/hero of The Holtep Empire. In terms of appearance, he's a red-eyed, albino Lizardfolk, standing at 7ft tall, with two sloped horns on his head and ruby mounted into his forehead. He prides himself on his sense of valor and righteousness and on being impeccably dressed, often sporting many bracelets, necklaces, rings, horn and tail ornaments, and dresses in incredibly expensive embroidered silks despite being a pirate to flaunt their destruction and quick replacement in the face of those who would look down on him for his profession. He is incredibly loyal and allows himself (read: enjoys) to be used as an instrument of destruction by those closest to him. He's covertly manipulative, despite coming off as stoic and reserved, especially if he perceives someone is advantageous to him or those he cares about. This makes getting to the "real" aspects of him is basically impossible but if you do get there, you'll find he's pretty soft and pathetic.

My OC:

Alyril'fryn. She a drow, understands completely what it feels like to be seen for what you are or do and not who you are. She's rough, not entirely nice most days unless she absolutely trusts you, and she has a thing against magic thanks to some past trauma. She's an assassin, a thief, a mercenary, and actually enjoys killing when she has to do it. She has no qualms about the things she does and can be pretty ruthless when necessary. She has a soft side, but only if you are one of the few people she trusts.

Honestly, I feel like these two would either get on amazingly or want to murder each other immediately. No middle ground lol I guess it would depend on when and how they met, if they were working together or against each other, and other circumstances, but the two of them as friends would be absolutely lethal, I'm sure of it.

And for @daisywalletchains!

Your OC:

The Meadowlark of Baldur's Gate, or just Lark to her friends. Lark is half wood elf on her father's side, not that it ever meant anything to her. Having spent all over her life so far living in cities and only deigning to look at a forest if she had to pass by one in her travels, all that heritage granted her was a lovely mossy hue to her skin. She wears only the highest fashions, but doesn't care overly much for jewelry, preferring silk scarves and fancy belts. Lark is a bard, and a damned good one too. She plays a mean fiddle (and by all the gods she would challenge a devil to a contest to prove it.) She's revels in the attention of course, as any good bard should. The tricky thing about Lark is that while she's got a head-in-the-clouds romantic mask on, she's actually got quite a mean streak and a terrible distaste for commitment. She has, rightfully, been accused of being both a manipulator and a homewrecker. She has also been accused of being a black widow but those allegations haven't been proven. He was simply very old, that he left her his vast fortune in his very recently updated will is nobody's business but her own.

My OC:

Juniper, my beloved Juni. She is also a bard, but a wild magic sorcerer as well. A tiefling made from a deal made with a devil (so funny about the fiddle thing) and she's genuinely kind, loving, helpful. Tries to do the right thing even if her luck is bad. She loves romantic flings, doesn't tend to get tied down, travels quite a bit for her job. She's silly, people immediately thinks she's a bit stupid by the way she acts, but she's actually intelligent, persuasive, perhaps lacks a bit of wisdom at times, but she's not stupid. Loves pranks and music and good food. Overall, a good person.

These two are so funny because I think they would make a good team for like a heist or something. If they wanted to gain something, or steal something, the two of them would be impossible to stop. Well, as long as the wild magic doesn't do something to fuck it up lmao I can see them getting along as coworkers or co-conspirators, but maybe not exactly friends. Maybe a brief stint as lovers.

[nerdragenewvegas]

Fallout fics I've gone and done

Outing myself as Cantique the Ao3 gremlin here I guess. These all contain smut.

A Well Timed Scandal - Cooper Howard/Female Reader. Pre war (will go into the post-war timeline.) No current content warnings but I'll be tagging as I go. Will be multi chapter. Johnny places his cigarette in the carved out groove of the ash tray, leaning in and resting his elbows on the desk, like he’s leveling with you. “You wanna know why we cast Gilda in Empire on the Nile?” He asks. “Because there was one too many rumors about Keith McKinney being a fan of ‘Greek stuff’ for us to contend with. Now, originally, we just wanted them seeing each other,” he admits, “but I’m not gonna complain with the results.”

“So you want me to marry Cooper Howard?”

He shakes his head, laughing under his breath. “Marry? No, no, lets play that by ear,” he seemingly assures you. “What we want — need — you two to do is make it look like you’ve been having an affair.” You must look like you’ve seen a ghost. This is insane. “Explains his divorce, gets people talking about you two as a pair, gets eyes on this movie you’re filming together — now, don’t go outright saying it, of course. We just wanna’ make people read between the lines, get them curious enough to get them into the theater to see the chemistry on the screen.” 

--- Kinda Like a Cowboy - The Ghoul/Lucy, contains spoilers, porn with plot. Please read the tags for CNs but there are definitely CNs. Unhinged stuff involving guns. Currently two chapters but I'm cooking a third.

"I’d be real careful with that line o’ thinkin’,” he warns, raising an arm and bringing it to brace against the wall beside her head, all but pinning her to it. They may not be physically touching, but they’re so close to it and he’s looking at her like she’s a meal (which should be concerning because she knows he literally eats people) and she really, really wishes they were touching right now. “Because I can be nice. Real nice.” His free hand reaches up to her face, and she’s so focused on watching his expression and how close his face is to hers that she doesn’t even realize until his thumb brushes over the barely-healing split in her lip. “…But I don’t think nice is what ya’ want, is it?” More under the cut, they're New Vegas fics fyi~

----

Doctrine & Covenants - Joshua Graham/Female Courier with some Vulpes/Female Courier and Boone/Female Courier. Extremely longform (48 chapters, 286,349 words and still going) fic that I've been working on since 2022. It's imperative you read the tags and heed the content warnings as it does contain some noncon. First chapter is a little rough and I'll rework it one day but the rest is fine. Tells the story of Courier Six confronting her own trauma when she visits Zion in Honest Hearts thanks to Joshua not so much teaching her about God (although he tries) but teaching her about forgiveness and love despite sin. Lowkey a bit of a personal one for me as I'm an ex-mormon myself and it's been a nice avenue for me to kinda work through my own feelings while deconstructing.

“I will not judge you – I understand better than anyone else what it’s like to be willing to do anything to escape your own history,” he explains, “but you are a good neighbor to us. The tribe cares for you, Follows-Chalk and Waking Cloud care for you, and I care for you.” He holds her gaze as he says this, speaking firmly, as though there’s no room to budge on his statement. “And as someone who cares for you, I want to let you know that this is something we can help with if you wish.”

Six doesn’t say anything, her jaw tense as she casts her eyes downwards, and Joshua worries that he’s lost her.

“And as for whatever has happened before you came to us,” he says, “I want you to know that it is forgiven in Zion.”

Six shifts uncomfortably, her eyes glancing up at him, but only momentarily. “I’m not religious, Joshua,” she says. “That’s sweet, but I’m sorry.”

“I know,” he says plainly. “I’m not speaking for God, though. I am speaking for myself.”

“But you don’t even know what I’ve done.”

“I don’t need to. All I need is to know who you are now.” ---

Raze It, Raze It - Joshua Graham/Female Courier. Oneshot, there's smut in here. Honest Hearts bad ending but the Courier is an enabler and basically encourages Joshua to keep going until he's started a holy war. Make sure to read the tags for CNs.

“Bring me Vulpes Inculta alive and I will give you a child.”

He gazes up at her when she says this, in awe of her naked form as she takes him so well, his fingers digging into her supple thighs, the light that pours in through the seams of their tent illuminating her from behind. She is divine. Remarkable. A miracle. And she offers him a child, an opportunity to have the eternal family he had been sure he had lost all right to. At first, he had thought they would go without. He has two decades on her at even his most conservative of guesses, and she is so young and healthy compared to him that if not sent to him directly by God, he’d be sure this was perverse.

But despite his age and despite his burns and past and all that he is, here she is; the most feminine of all forms, joined with him at the flesh, offering to grow and bare his child. All of her, this perfect creature, here, for him and only him.

“Anything,” he finally says. He reaches a hand up to cup her face and she nestles into it, her cheek so soft against his own burnt and scarred palm as she rides him. Oh, she’s so beautiful. He watches her on the battlefield, striking down Legionary after Legionary, a true Holy Host. If Joshua is the sword, she is the arrow.

[katie-delaney]

For the WIPs tag game: I Wanna be your Endgame, would love to know how much plot you initially had planned for the series compared to what it has grown into? Also will we get any Steve POV in this sequel? Don’t get me wrong I absolutely love Bucky POV I’m just curious and think it could be interesting to see inside Steve’s head!

If there was anything that you were hoping to get a chance to talk about with your WIPs feel free to use this ask as an excuse to!! Would love any and all thoughts on what you have cooking or how certain stories have evolved or where you get inspo from. Thanks for writing and sharing with us 🥰

Hey!

He Ate My Heart/I Wanna Be Your Endgame - so I had no plan at all to make He Ate My Heart as long as it ended up or to have that much plot, it was initially just meant to be three/four chapters, and I was planning to end it about after the chapter where Steve fucks Bucky in his apartment, but as quite often happens with my writing more ideas started growing and it got its hooks into me. Around then though I planned out the whole thing in one go and then wrote it from there. I was thinking I might put a bit of Steve's pov into the Endgame sequel, but wasn't entirely sure as I worry about continuity and tone and stuff. I've put that one on hold as it's going to be a bit of a rougher ride in terms of Bucky's recovery, and I felt like I needed to write something a bit lighter at the time.

Inspiration wise, I'm never sure how much things are influencing/inspiring me but @sarahowritesostucky and @pandafishao3 are two of my favourite writers in Omegaverse, and you'll definitely see that in my fics I think. Omegaverse wise I think there's Ass-ets For Use and Test Run that are some of my favourites that definitely inspired some fics. There's also Voxofthevoid who and @possumwoodpie who I love both their writing that definitely has an influence on it. When I'm writing Asset Bucky in I Wanna Be Your Endgame I have to be really carefully I'm not just sliding into Possum's 'The Asset Does Not Want' Bucky. Mostly cos it's just amazing. The other thing at the moment is the Dark Stucky Discord server that I'm in, where they are all amazing and we bounce a lot of ideas around which is great for idea generating and creating.

Unfortunately my head is a very productive idea factory, and quite often I'm trying really hard to write a series and finish it and something will come and completely derail it - like Footsteps, Empire, and Pushing the Envelope. I'm trying to finish up some of the ones that just need one chapter doing to finish them at the moment, like Empire State of Mind, The Officers Tent, and Who's Afraid of Little Old Me, but Vanity Fair has completely taken over my brain at the moment. I have a Pintrest board and playlist and everything. I do feel bad that I've parked New Gods for the moment, as I was really enjoying writing that, that's probably going to be the one I go back to and finish first big series wise as I have so many big plans for it and how it's going to end, before I then go back to Endgame as I haven't fully plotted that out yet. I also have this idea for more Taylor Swift titles as I mentioned in a previous port around Style/Cruel Summer which I'm also hoping to do, but that's only gonna be a few chapters, so I might do that in between one of the longer series :D

<3

[ramblingsofafanatic]

I want so badly to ask about all your kalluzeb WIPs, but ima pick three so I don't overwhelm-

Adoption Fic

Autistic!Kallus

&

Are you okay?

Oooo, those are a good three choices, okay. We'll go down the list: Adoption fic: As the title may suggest, its about Zeb and Kallus looking into adopting some kits after retiring to Lira San. Kallus is overly stressed and worried as the date of their appointment at the adoption agency gets closer, Zeb is trying to calm him down while being equally worried about his own ability to care for children. But they both just need reminders that like, they did in fact talk this through and plan everything at length and they just need to relax a little.

"What if I mess up? What if-" Kallus starts again before being cut off. "Of course you'll mess up, I'll mess up too. Think that's part of being a parent. But we're here, we're gonna try and most importantly we're gonna love that kit like no tomorrow." Zeb says. He had this talk with Hera already when she was expecting Jacen and was worried about being a single mother, especially to a child that may end up force sensitive like his father.

Autistic!Kallus:

Okay so this one is about Kallus struggling a bit from loosing structure and rules the empire provided and having to deal with the new chaos (i also still have a note here at the top of the file about you wanting to be tagged in it when it's done and posted)

I enjoy a lot of content that has military-esque set-ups and so i tend to think about how nice those structured environments must be - I mean the strict schedule, the exact rules for social engagement, the same plain food everyday? Sounds absolutely wonderful to my autistic little heart.

Despite how much Kallus hated it, he does miss some things about the Empire. He would never return of course, he doesn’t regret his decision to become fulcrum and definitely doesn’t regret his decision to leave after he was found out. But that doesn’t stop him from missing certain aspects of it. The routine, the guidelines, the uniform, he misses those aspects of it. There was even a literal rulebook for socialization! All these things put Kallus at ease and it was an environment that he did really well in. The rebellion work is stressful on it’s own for the average rebel, but most of them are still able to thrive in the chaos. Kallus likes the work part of it, the intelligence work on base is the perfect mix of interesting, engaging and challenging. Life on base, however, is where Kallus starts to struggle a bit.  Well, Kallus thinks he is coping well enough - he tries to keep some sort of day to day routine, and at least no one blinks an eye at him wearing the same two to three outfits over and over again since the rebellion isn’t really a place where one can have an extensive wardrobe. He’s also lucky enough to not have any roommates here on base.

are you okay? Guilty as charged, this is another sick fic (i don't know how many i have posted but my god do i have so many wips and ideas about sick fics). So Zeb is away on mission and Kallus is at home, Zeb calls him to check up and Kallus sounds absolutely miserable and audibly sick over the phone and Zeb starts to worry about him like the loving Husband he is.

Kallus picks up the call after 3 pings, “Garazeb?” “Are you ok? You sound like you’ve been gargling glass.” “Hello to you too.” Kallus says, before Zeb can hear coughing.

[narkinafive]

ahshowka breakdown! tagged #ahsoka spoilers and #ahshowka

the good:

when i tell you i almost stood up and cheered during the memorial ceremony. i could feel the great cosmic energy surging through my VEINS, senator jai kell and clancy brown and UGH. thank GOD

relatedly, i really liked having hera be the first person to say his name. idk. it felt nice and in character that she still thinks of her crewmember-cum-son-and-boy

i, for one, am really, really really digging the slow, deliberate pacing. time will tell if it ends up more plodding than contemplative, but i love having the space to breathe and observe... almost like a jedi? lol, but mostly i'm happy not to be taken on a roller coaster

kiner bros putting their whole pussy into the soundtrack

EMAN ESFANDI ON THE RECORDING WHEN HE DOES THE LITTLE HEADSCRATCH i was like yes. yes. this man understands

showing sabine's helmet in the foreground and having her twice avoid it to pull out other stuff from under the table. i have so many thoughts

man i love that they're all kind of bitches to each other. i support unlikable women

huyang: man you suck ass at this whole force thing, huh

the... less good:

ignore the makeup ignore the makeup ignore the makeup

i'm interested to see the show tackle the idea of how to transition from empire to republic, and i think it can be a salient critique of capitalism to have the republic essentially absorbing the imperial workforce so as not to stop production, but i am, as always, skeptical, since LF has uh... not been great about this before (i mean narratively, not even like getting into unfortunate implications lmao)

utterly bored with we-have-asajj-ventress-at-home and the other dude (rip ray stevenson tho, what a phenomenal talent) but i'm hopeful that will change!

dreading thrawn just bc i hate thrawn but that is entirely personal and not at all a critique of the show 😂

seated and watching:

i am extraordinarily interested in the sabine/ahsoka dynamic, and i am dying to know more, because it really is reading like a nasty lesbian breakup. which i am totally okay with

i am less... concerned? wary? of sabine as ahsoka's apprentice than i was before we started. idk, given all the visual emphasis on sabine avoiding these two "opposed" poles (avoiding the jedi by not going to ezra's memorial, avoiding the mandalorian by shoving her armor away under the table) i am curious to see how this plays out. it feels like a natural evolution from her rebels arc of choosing her new family in the ghost crew, but inverted? which i'm interested in. idk. feeling hopeful, tho

there's an interesting motif of seeing things through (and failing to do so) in these first two episodes. obviously ezra says that to sabine almost verbatim, but there's also ahsoka walking away from both anakin and sabine before training was completed, there's the new republic failing to fully eradicate imperial sympathies (sometimes deliberately so), and there's something there too, i think, about failing to confirm thrawn's death. or account for his return? anyway. i'm interested

but truly, highlight of the premiere is huyang being like good god you are bad at this

[toxic-ship-tournament]

ROUND 1 / SIDE B / POLL 2

Esmeralda Poofenplotz x Alice Luoja ( @cantdanceflynn ) vs Pash x Illoma ( @floralprintshirts )

lyrics by The Amazing Devil (Battle Cries)

who makes up your ship?:

Esmeralda Poofenplotz(Canon Phineas and Ferb character(although I draw her differently from canon)) and Alice Luoja(Background character turned Phineas and Ferb oc)

why does your ship deserve to be considered the most toxic?:

THEY BASICALLY STARTED OUT AS TWO DUMBASS TOXIC AF TEENAGERS GOING TO EVIL SCIENCE HIGH SCHOOL TOGETHER AND BEING THE TERRORS OF THE SCHOOL(POOFENPLOTZ BC SHES BIG ON BEAUTY AND WOULD BASICALLY DESTROY EVERYONE'S SELF ESTEEM AND ALICE BC. SHES WILLING TO KILL ANYONE WHO RLY FUCKS W HER), AND WHILE THEY ORIGINALLY HAD A RIVALRY IT GOT A LIL TOO HOMOEROTIC VERY QUICKLY AND THEY DON'T RLY KNOW HOW BUT THEY ENDED UP DATING. THEY ENDED UP, SURPRISE SURPRISE, RUINING EACH OTHER EVEN FURTHER THEN THE TWO OF THEM WERE ALREADY TRAUMATIZED!!!! A TYPICAL INTERACTION BETWEEN EM PRETTY MUCH WENT ALONG THE LINES OF POOFENPLOTZ POKING FUN AT SOMETHING ABOUT ALICES BODY OR PERSONALITY SHE KNEW WOULD TICK ALICE OFF("YOU KNOW, I'M NOT SAYING YOU NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT, BUT THROWING UP YOUR LUNCH LATER COULDN'T HURT"), ALICE GETTING PISSED OFF AND PULLING A KNIFE ON HER("YOU KNOW, MAYBE THIS TIME I'LL CHOP OFF YOUR TONGUE, STOP THAT HORRIBLE NOISE YOU CALL A VOICE"), AND THEN SOMETHING WOULD HAPPEN OR ONE OF THEM WOULD FUMBLE OR FLIRT AND THEY'D JUST GO BACK TO NORMAL BANTER AND TERRORIZING PEOPLE. THEY DID CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER, AND WHATEVER THEY WERE EXPERIENCING CERTAINLY FIT SOMEWHERE WITHIN THE STRANGE AND NEBULOUS RANGE OF ROMANTIC LOVE, LIKE THEY DEFINITELY LIKED EACH OTHER, THEY WERE JUST TOXIC AS SHIT AND HAVING THEIR BEHAVIORS EXPANDED UPON OR REINFORCED BY THEIR ENVIRONMENT. EVENTUALLY ALICES OBSESSION W GODHOOD AND HER IDEA OF PERFECTION (ONE THAT HAD ALWAYS BEEN THERE, EVEN IF POOFENPLOTZ MADE IT MORE PHYSICAL) ENDED UP DRIVING THE TWO APART, WITH HOW HORRIBLE ALICES DECLINE WAS, AND POOFENPLOTZ ENDED UP BASICALLY LEAVING AND IGNORING HER AS A DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO SNAP HER OUT OF HER DECLINE BUT ONLY PULLED HER FURTHER IN. AS IT STANDS NOW IN THE PRESENT, THEIR RELATIONSHIP IS A COMPLICATED SPIRAL OF "POOFENPLOTZ ACTUALLY HEALED AND REALIZED HOW AWFUL SHE WAS BEING AND WHILE SHE STILL HAD A DEGREE IN EVIL SCIENCE SHE HAD TO USE SO SHE MIGHT AS WELL GET A JOB DOING THAT, SHES ALSO RLY TRYING TO FIGURE OUT EVERYTHING W THE CAST AND HELP THEM, ESPECIALLY MILLIE AND PINKY, WHILE ALSO DEALING W " WHOOPS YOUR EX IS BACK IN TOWN AND SHES NOW BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR MORE DEATHS THEN MOST FULL ON TERRORISM COMBINED, BUT SHE IS ALSO STILL KINDA HOT SO *NONCOMMITTAL HAND GESTURE*, YA KNOW?", MEANWHILE ALICE IS "OH RIGHT. SHE QUALIFIES FOR LOVEMUFFIN TOO. IM ALLOWED TO DENY ON HER ON TERMS OF HER BEING MY EX, RIGHT? BUT ALSO IM STILL GONNA INVITE HER TO OUR MEETINGS AND ALSO OFFER TO LET HER " LEAD" THE CULT IVE MADE THAT CONSISTS BASICALLY JUST OF MY VERY ABUSED OWN SON AND A VERY ABUSED TEENAGER WITH ME BC IF I CAN CHANGE HER MIND I CAN CHANGE ANYONES!"

ship tags/playlists/pinterest boards?:

Esmeralice, https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnP0Xop8gS5VdFNCP4Uetvq2pM5A9NZTe <- BAD PLAYLIST BY MY STANDARDS OF USUALLY A HUNDRED SONGS AT LEAST BUT ITLL DO FOR NOW

****

who makes up your ship?:

My ocs Pash and Illoma!!

why does your ship deserve to be considered the most toxic?:

OKAY SO theyre blorbos from a book a plan to write and basically the premise is that the main character, Illoma, is tasked with assassinating Pash. Theyre both from different families that have control over dragons and are both dragon riders in their own right. Illoma is from the 2nd most powerful house right after the royal family, which Pash is a part of. Their empire is ruled by an immortal god-king who has had many children over the course of his long life. Pash is one of his many descendants, but highest in the line of succession after her father (which is meaningless since the king is immortal). Basically, Illoma's mother believes that Pash's parents are going to try to find a way to kill their emperor and put her on the throne. This would be a terrible outcome for everyone because Pash is a hedonistic party girl who seems to have no regard for her own life or the lives of other people. She shows up to important meetings drunk/high, has a reputation for sleeping around with women, and is overall just an undisciplined mess. Illoma is a dutiful daughter who follows the rules of society, so when her mother tells her that she needs to kill Pash for the good of the empire, Illoma does what she says. It’s easy to emotionally disconnect herself from the action at first because Illoma doesn’t know Pash at all and doesn’t particularly like her. So she tries to poison Pash. When it fails the first time, she tries again, and again, and again. None of the poisons she’s been given are working. So Illoma is left with no choice but to get closer to Pash so she can try to kill her more effectively. The twist ends up being that Pash is basically a hommuculus created for the sole purpose of dying in some blood ritual that will kill the immortal god-king. She has a year left before this happens, but until then, he body has the regenerative properties of Wolverine. So with what little time she has left, she’s decided to keep herself entertained by fucking with Illoma. At one point, she makes a toast in Illoma’s honor to praise her tenacity and drinks the goblet Illoma poisoned while making direct eye contact with her. It only gets worse from there. As they grow closer, Illoma finds that she has more and more trouble keeping her gay thoughts in check. She is a super repressed lesbian and Pash is a very much not repressed lesbian. Illoma resents Pash quite a bit for being able to break all the rules without any consequences but genuinely has fun when they go out on excursions together. Lots of projection on Illoma’s part and gaslighting on Pash’s (“haha what do you mean you stabbed me last night, Im sitting right here at breakfast!”) Halfway through the story they start boning. Illoma is still actively trying to figure out a way to kill Pash and Pash is both aware of this and aroused by some of her more intimate attempts. They have an actual connection and like each other as people, but they have opposing goals and lots of underlying animosity to work out. In the meantime, they’ll be making out about it.

ship tags/playlists/pinterest boards?:

I use the tag "dragon horse girl story" on my sideblog to vaguepost about them!! :D

[blessedarethebinarybreakers]

I’m trying to come back to Christianity after deconstructing and your blog has been a great help to me, but I still struggle with the phrase “Jesus died for our sins.” I feel like it places undue responsibility on people who had nothing to do with his death. How is it possible that he died for my sins when I didn’t even exist 2,000 years ago?? Or am I taking the phrase too literally?

Hey there, I feel you! I know of so many people who, especially as young children, were made to feel a lot of guilt over the idea that "Jesus died for your sins." And that's a problem, especially seeing as Jesus came to liberate us from our guilt, and to invite us into full and mutual relationship with him.

While the dominant Christianities that exist in our culture/s right now don't like to acknowledge it, there have always been many different ways of understanding what happened on the cross and how salvation "works." So if this phrasing does harm rather than good for you, there are many other ways to understand salvation!

One that resonates most with me is a view of salvation that doesn't focus solely upon what happened on the cross, but instead takes the entire Incarnation into account. In her book Inspired (which is such a fabulous read, especially for folks working to reconnect with Christianity & scripture), Rachel Held Evans sums this idea up well:

Jesus didn’t just “come to die.” Jesus came to live—to teach, to heal, to tell stories, to protest, to turn over tables, to touch people who weren’t supposed to be touched and eat with people who weren’t supposed to be eaten with, to break bread, to pour wine, to wash feet, to face temptation, to tick off the authorities, to fulfill Scripture, to forgive, to announce the start of a brand-new kingdom, to show us what that kingdom is like, to show us what God is like, to love his enemies to the point of death at their hands, and to beat death by rising from the grave. Jesus did not simply die to save us from our sins; Jesus lived to save us from our sins. His life and teachings show us the way to liberation. But you can’t fit all that on a bumper sticker.

For God so loved the world, They took on human flesh. Jesus's whole life was lived in love for us, for you — all the joys and connections that contained, not just the pain and death.

___

Another thing that I always stress, and that you point out in your ask, is that we have to be careful when we discuss who's responsible for Jesus's death. Otherwise we end up with people blaming Jewish people, or scared little kids, or even God for his death.

Ultimately, it was human beings in a very specific context, and imbued with systemic power, who enabled and carried out his execution: Roman soldiers acting on behalf of the Roman Empire. Jesus died because corrupt human powers cannot stand for the Good News of liberation and abundant life for all peoples. He died in ultimate solidarity with all who are similarly oppressed or executed across history.

___

It's reeeally long so sorry in advance, but if you're interested in an exploration of theologies of the cross, I've got a YouTube video on the topic! If you don't have the time or inclination to watch it all, the parts I most recommend for you are:

(13:01 - 21:54) Delores Williams & Historical Consequence — paying attention to real-world impact; don't use cross to justify suffering

(1:21:41 - 1:27:00) Theologies that look at Jesus' whole life, not just death, starting with Jesus as Moral Influence/Exemplar

1:42:54 - 2:00:00) The Cross as Solidarity — Christ becomes one with all who suffer unjust / systemic violence — on the cross, God knows godforsakeness — good news for oppressors as well as oppressed

If you check out the PowerPoint linked in the video notes, you'll also find links and resources in that :)

Finally, you might want to wander through my #crucifixion tag or #sin tag for more related to your question.

Wishing you well on your journey, anon! May the Spirit of Love guide you into healing and wholeness <3

[monstersdownthepath]

Monster Spotlight: Xoveron, Demon Lord of Gargoyles

CR 27

Chaotic Evil Huge Outsider

Adventure Path: Wrath of the Righteous: The Worldwound Incursion, pg. 84-85

Originally a fairly obscure Demon Lord, the death of Aroden and the resulting Age of Lost Omens has seen a surge of humanoid faithful swarming into the Lord of Ruins. Madmen, bandits, destructive villains, and gluttons alike now pay tribute to Xoveron, the abundance of sacrifices and new worship drawing his full attention to Golarion, and for the first time since his birth he’s beginning to make long-term plans. Already having an impressive collection of destroyed cities plucked from all over creation, Xoveron seeks to expand his empire of ruination until it encompasses the entirety of Golarion... even if it means working with Deskari, Baphomet, and--most dangerously--Nocticula to do it. But if he betrays them first, it’ll totally work out, right...?

Due to having a vested interest in destroying the world, he is wisely kept at arms length by all the Demon Lords who wish to conquer it. So far at arms length, in fact, that references to him are completely omitted from the video game translation of the Wrath of the Righteous AP, something I personally find offensive but can understand given how many other Demon Lords of varying levels of obscurity are mentioned by name... But perhaps the biggest kick in the nads is that his role as commander of the gargoyles that frequently run raids and the slavering Nabasu demons are instead attributed to Kabriri. On the other hand, though, Kabriri doesn’t have a statblock and Xoveron does, so who’s the real winner?

Xoveron is one of the more direct Demon Lords we’ve seen, fittingly enough for what is essentially a god of destruction and reckless gluttony. He performs well in the game of rocket tag that high-level Pathfinder becomes, often initiating battles with either his Shockwave or Roar, both of which can spell death for a party the moment initiative is rolled. The former is simple: if the Horned Prince begins a charge in the air and ends it on the ground, he creates a thundering pressure that can potentially knock everything within 30ft of him prone unless a DC 40 Reflex save is made. The latter has some complexity to it, but it makes for a hell of an alpha strike: Once per hour, Xoveron can belt out a devastatingly loud roar that damages all creatures and unattended objects within 60ft of him for 30d10 Sonic damage. All creatures within range can make yet another DC 40 Reflex save to avoid being blown apart and take only half damage, but anyone who fails the save is also stunned for 1d6 rounds!

Off to a good start! And those are just his openers!

You’d expect Xoveron, Lord of Ruins, to have a lot of wide-reaching abilities that cause extreme collateral devastation, and you’d be right! He has both Earthquake and Reverse Gravity available to him 3/day, both of which he cannot be inconvenienced by thanks to his massive size and ability to fly. Everyone else? Well, you all can fly, right? Everyone by this level has SOME ability to fly, right? One that he can’t with his at-will Greater Dispel Magic, hopefully!

While not entirely immune to mind-affecting effects as most endboss monsters are, Xoveron does remain impervious to charm and compulsion effects, as well as death effects, energy drain, Acid and Electricity damage, and--obviously--petrification. The last of those is something he loves handing out, as one may expect; he not only has Quickened Flesh to Stone available to him 3/day, but a sting from his whipping tail (which also deals 1d8+17 damage) transfers a poison that quickly begins to calcify the victims’ tissues. It requires a DC 40 Fortitude save to avoid the poison, and failing it means the victim will have to successfully save three consecutive times to avoid it. If you’re unable to do so, you take 1d6 Dex drain each round for 6 rounds, and falling to 0 Dex petrifies you.

Being petrified around Xoveron is even more dangerous than normal, because not only is it death for the enstoned character, but it’s death for everyone else, too. A strike from any of Xoveron’s nine natural weapons can Shatter Petrification, instantly killing the victim unless they succeed a DC 43 Fortitude save after every blow and scattering razor-sharp rock fragments 10ft in every direction. The Demon Lord himself is unharmed by any of these explosions, but everyone else takes 10d6 slashing damage from the shrapnel. Notably, this effect does not seem to trigger if he destroys the target through damage, accidentally or on purpose, only if they fail the save! So try and get petrified at low health, for the benefit of the party!

Yes, the fact that he has FtS as a Quickened spell means he can just petrify someone and then take a Full-Attack, potentially instantly killing them without any possible response from the rest of the party. Even if they somehow resist make the Fort save against all nine of his attacks in a row, their stoned form is likely gone anyway. The damage on each of his attacks is relatively low, but there’s a lot of them, and all of them critically strike on a 19 or 20 (with Bleeding Critical for extra damage); his four claws deal 1d8+17 damage, four bites dealing 2d6+17 each (and Rending for 2d8+25 if two of them manage to hit the same target in one round), and his aforementioned sting for 1d8+17. The low individual damage does come with the unfortunate downside that if you manage to kite away from the hulking Demon Lord and stay out of his reach (15ft space + 15ft reach is considerable, though), or even just stagger him, his damage flatlines pretty harshly.

But don’t worry too much for him! Because Paizo thought of that! They gave him an even better, built-in version of Greater Vital Strike called Devastating Blow. As a standard action, Xoveron can swing all four of his claws down on a single target at once, and if the attack hits it deals 8d8+68 damage! Any unlucky sucker smashed by this damage has to make a DC 43 Fortitude save or be both knocked prone AND staggered for 1d4 rounds... and he can chain these together as many times as he wants, as Devastating Blow has no cooldown and can be used any round he has his standard action available. DB also has an additional bit of non-combat potential, as it ignores hardness when used, letting Xoveron rip through more or less any barrier that’s not outright invincible. 

While Xoveron may seem like a pure brute plagued by impatience, there’s a strange, bestial cunning within him that may come to take the other Demon Lords he’s allied with by surprise. While he is, statistically, the least Intelligent of all Demon Lords (at 24; still superhuman), he has something none of the others have: the ability to Feed on information. Any other lord can coerce bits and pieces of knowledge from a victim, or utilize Dominate to make them spill their guts, but all Xoveron needs is a full-round action and access to the victim’s corpse. This gruesome, messy feast invigorates the Lord of Ruin’s body and mind, restoring him with a Heal spell and affecting him with Haste... but more importantly, he fully assimilates every memory and ounce of knowledge the victim once had in their mind. It doesn’t matter who or what they once were, this ability has no per-day or alignment restriction, nor does it grant any opportunity to keep a secret from him. It is unambiguous: if he eats your corpse, he knows everything you once did.

Bit by bit, piece by piece, death by death as his scavengers pluck choice corpses and survivors from the devastation left behind by other Demon Lords, Xoveron’s knowledge grows. Every time he devours a fallen rival, he learns. Every time a spy is found in his midst and is stomped to paste, he pieces together better ways to overcome the plans and plots of both enemy and ally. 

Maybe one day, after feasting upon the corpses of other Demon Lords, he’ll figure out a way to join Lamashtu in divinity.

You can read more about him here.

[theonevoice]

15 people, 15 questions

Tagged by @streetcornertwoam (thanks!)

1. Are you named after anyone?

Not a specific person, my parents chose for me and my brother two names of Latin origins, mine from the Roman gens Valeria, after the verb "valere", meaning "to be strong". So how often do you think about the Roman Empire?

2. When was the last time you cried?

I don't cry very often these days, but on July 28 the final episode of Good Omens s2 got me sobbing, unexpectedly, because a couple of years ago I indeed had a "final fifteen" moment (minus the kiss and the hope for a s3), and I swear to god it was so identical, down to certain choices of words, that for several minutes after the ending I had to double check to make sure that I had actually seen it on screen and was not allucinating.

3. Do you have kids?

Nope, and I don't think I will, I don't feel like I could manage that amount of responsibility.

4. What sports do you play/have played?

I used to swim a lot, but now I only hike. Not the athletic type at all!

5. Do you use sarcasm?

Yes, way too often, but I try to restrain myself because it's very easy to hurt someone with sarcasm and the older I get the less willing I am to contribute to the general harshness of human relations. If I met someone who really deserves it, though, I will not hesitate to peel their skin off their face.

6. What's the first thing you notice about people?

Voice. 90% of my initial reaction to any new person is dictated by how much I like their voice.

7. What’s your eye color?

Hazel.

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

Both, as long as they are well written. I strongly believe that fear and hope are both core parts of the human experience, and when they are well translated into fiction I enjoy them equally.

9. Any talents?

Does overthinking counts? For real though, it's a pain in everyday life, but it's a useful trait to have overdeveloped in academic research since it makes you quite the analyst.

10. Where were you born?

Italy, in the happy town of Montefiascone, one of our many "wine cities", but grew up in a little village near Orvieto, another one of our many "wine cities", connected to both Montefiascone and Orvieto via the Alta Tuscia Wine Road. If you are catching a theme, well... cheers!

11. What are your hobbies?

Too many for my non-existent free time. I play the piano and used to sing in a choir that unfortunately doesn't exist anymore (but I still do my voice excercise every now and then); I like sewing my own clothes; I like gardening; I got back into drawing after a solid decade spent not picking up a pencil (thanks to Good Omens); I love reading books and generally consuming fiction, but since this last part overlaps with my job I don't know if it counts as hobby anymore...

12. Do you have any pets?

I have currently 7 cats, most of them were abandoned nearby by shitty people who saw a stretch of countryside and just dropped them (which left some of them with several traumas, like refusing to eat alone for fear that while they're eating we will vanish). Depending on the time of the year, we take care of the unofficial colony that regularly assembles around our house (even more cats, hedgehogs, some badgers, stray dogs - but the dogs we have to report for everyone's safety, including theirs).

13. How tall are you?

Barely 5'1, I could easily play a hobbit in a Tolkien-based show without the vfx team even noticing, I am one of those unfortunate souls who watch the upper shelf in their kitchen with the same longing and desire with which normal people watch the Moon.

14. Favorite subject in school?

My absolute favorites were Literature, Physics and Technical drawing (you can still easily lure me into any trap by dangling a goniometer in front of me).

15. Dream job?

The one I am so lucky to have right now, and that I'm trying to make permanent (which is the hardest part). I am currently a researcher in the field of Comparative Literature with a specialization in Literary Theory, which may sound like something that one would make up in a tumblr bio, but it's actually a thing (unfortunately does not involve formulating theories about stories or characters, it's about looking at a chunk of literary history and trying to understand why certain genres, themes or writing practices rise and fall). I hope I can keep doing this, because I honestly love it, even if the chances are slim.

I don't know who to tag since my social anxiety extends to "oh god I cannot possibly bother those people just because they sometimes like my posts", so I will borrow the Italian tradition of the pending coffee and will leave a pending tag:

@

if you see this and would like to do it, consider yourself tagged!

[wifegideonnav]

I posted 2,574 times in 2022

That's 2,574 more posts than 2021!

282 posts created (11%)

2,292 posts reblogged (89%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@emcapi

@mayasaura

@gideonisms

@saltwaterconfessions

@theriverbeyond

I tagged 2,463 of my posts in 2022

Only 4% of my posts had no tags

#art - 799 posts

#memes - 487 posts

#ntn - 393 posts

#harrow - 324 posts

#griddlehark - 317 posts

#gideon - 291 posts

#vibes - 229 posts

#op - 219 posts

#htn - 162 posts

#meta - 162 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#i’d say something like ‘sorry guys i’ll try to be more active in the future!!1’ but que será será im not actually in control of when or how

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

there’s a post going around like “catholicism is only good for sexy vampire aesthetics” WRONG its primary purpose has always been to instigate a series of events that culminated in tamsyn muir writing gideon the ninth

2,073 notes - Posted November 8, 2022

#4

god I’m just never gonna fucking recover from “harrowhark, I gave you my whole life and you didn’t even want it.” the use of her full name. the agony. the shakespeare-level comedy of errors with the angst turned up to 11 and the comedy turned down to 0. the fucking. tragedy of it all. I’m unwell no fucking talk me rn

2,243 notes - Posted October 3, 2022

#3

every time I think about harrows connection to gideon being so strong that gideons name is the last thing she says before dying despite having literally erased her capacity to comprehend it, I have to go lie down. like tamsyn really said love is so strong that it remains even if you carve out the part of your brain that feels it.

2,301 notes - Posted September 9, 2022

#2

the importance of pov and kiriona gaia as gideon nav’s imperialist aspect

others have already made some really smart posts about how kiriona is gideon when she’s lost everything and everyone that made her who she was, and how even in the first two books, gideon was this terrifically sad creature who was disguised by the fact that she was her own narrator.

but I want to expand on that last bit, because yes. kiriona is a gideon who has lost everything, who has had to make tough decisions to survive, who has had to adapt to being primarily around her father (a manipulative asshole) and ianthe (ianthe). but this is also the first time we’re getting to see gideon from a perspective other than her own.

we’ve always known that gideon is a beautifully unreliable narrator - see her complete understatement of the fight before harrow opened the tomb, where she neglects to tell us that she almost killed harrow with her bare hands - but I think that for a lot of us, the introduction of kiriona was when we first felt that.

now, nona is not an objective narrator either (lmao). and she does actively dislike gideon (which is fascinating, and which I could go on about for several posts). but she does offer an outside perspective on gideon that we have, up to this point, been lacking.

because… yeah. sometimes, like anyone, gideon’s kind of mean. we know she’s a good person - her goodness is in many ways one of the central drivers of the plot - but that doesn’t mean she’s nice all of the time. it’s just that when she’s being mean to crux, or ianthe, or even harrow we can say, well that person deserved that. but the truth is, gideon has lived through the kind of hell that very few people could survive with any kind of goodness and softness left intact. she didn’t live through it, in fact. she’s just kind of… existed through it.

I saw another post point this out, and I want to reiterate: gideon’s goal, her whole life, has been to join the cohort. when we first meet her, we’re like, ok, makes sense, that’s the only ‘out’ available to her. and we kind of forget, even as we learn more about the empire, that what gideon wants to join is this actively and horrifically violent imperialist force. when we get to nona, and we meet hot sauce and her gang and joli and the angel and even the edenites, we expect gideon to have kept up with us somehow, to reject the empire. we want her to be one of the “good guys” (goodness in the tlt universe is another longass post I want to write…).

but gideon doesn’t reject the empire. because, crucially, she IS the empire - she is its heir, never mind the fact that that doesn’t really mean anything when the current emperor is immortal.

what I am trying to say is this: kiriona is gideon when you take everything from her, and then replace it with her father and everything he represents, and then take a step back.

that step back is crucial. it is what allows us to remember how imperialism - and by extension, or by metaphor, cruelty - works. gideon becomes cruel because she is in proximity to cruel people, AND because she is not in proximity to us.

THAT is what Muir is saying with kiriona. even the most kind, good, earnest protagonist can become a tool of evil in the right circumstances: and those circumstances include perspective. gideon, like it or not, is currently actively choosing to be a tool of empire. and if we were in her head, we might be able to - or we might be tricked into - accept her justifications for why she’s doing it.

the perspective shift is what allows us to see gideon as she - currently - truly is. it is no accident that this is when we get the outside pov. Muir allows us nowhere to hide; we have to confront what gideon has become and by extension what she always has been.

gideon nav is a good person, and I fully believe that in alecto we will watch her reject her father; I fully believe she will get to be a hero. but in order for that to happen, she - and we - must first undergo radical change and growth in terms of her worldview and attitudes. kiriona is not gideon’s final form. but in the same way that john is described by harrow as having aspects, kiriona is the aspect or facet of gideon that embraces cruelty, that perpetuates empire.

Muir tells us: even the most beautiful-hearted, trod-on girl in the world can become a tool of empire. but I have no doubt that in alecto she will tell us: this is how that girl can destroy it.

2,922 notes - Posted September 23, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

happy pride to girls who didn’t know that women could be nice to you, inscrutable polycules, straight people in forbidden marriages, body snatchers who kiss their own reflections, poets obsessed with long-dead warriors, predatory cougars, lesbians who are in fact the problem, and girls who are in love with a corpse

7,115 notes - Posted June 1, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[the-kipsabian]

if u don't wanna do this many, that's ok, but 9 thru 19 :D

9. Your favourite "era" in Wrestling? honestly probably the early 2020 to mid 2021. i know thats very specific, but its also very much when they had to get more creative with it, and they could push the limits and do a lots of cool stuff that was different from the regular. im not a fan of really any specific era, everything has its goods or bads but i do like modern wrestling more in a sense that its more accessible and has generally better content imo

10. Best looking title belt? i dont really pay attention to belt designs... but the asia dream tag team titles from gatoh move are gorgeous honestly. must be one of my favorites

11. Worst looking title belt? personally i always hated the first aew womens belt. it looked like a cheap plastic toy in comparison to all the other titles

12. Best "Big Man" style wrestler? (Doesn't have to be a man) idk if i have a favorite big man honestly. was never really my type hmm. i mean. if it doesnt have to be a man, does jade cargill count? she is a big tall strong woman and i'd let her step on me. idk what big man means LMAO

13. Best "Little Man" style wrestler? (Doesn't have to be a man) since hes a high flyer angelico totally counts, right? hes tall but he has a very little man style. again, i have no idea what this actually means ajsndkjasnjk

14. Favourite feud? ..if you know me this answer is sssoooooo obvious but. kip sabian and orange cassidy. the mind games still go on. im eating this whole feud like my life depends on it. its so fucking good

15. Favourite faction? going by whats first in my head, united empire. i probably have others but yeah

16. Favourite authority figure? scott d'amore is the only one i respect tbh

17. Favourite style of Wrestling? (Technical, High Flying, Hardcore, Comedy, Spot Fest, Strong and so on) i dont know if i have a specific style i like the most, honestly. i adore a lot of them for different reasons and in phases, i guess like high flying and comedy will always be my favorites. tho ive been leaning a lot into having an interest in technical wrestling in the past year too, so theres that. but i just like a little bit of everything, im not very picky

18. Favourite gimmick? okay so theres. two answers to this. one you already know im sure lol. cause i goddamn fucking ADORE kip sabian. this man is a creative genius and tho they are heavily downplaying his character atm, knowing how its built and how its supposed to function is so fascinating to me and makes me love it cause its honestly very convoluted and not played straight whatsoever and its. so good. the best goddamn thing and i hate it when people are like "no thats stupid" just cause they dont get it like. theres for once a neat and interesting thing in wrestling and ppl complain cause its not something handholdy. sorry tangent anyways the other answer is the original monday night messiah seth rollins. god complex beyond belief my beloved

19. Favourite match type? royal rumble. forever and always