#i’m making this canon in nomadic faith

[fleurdelait]

a story in 4 parts 🫶

[night-at-the-musian]

The Official Heavenverse Rundown

With heaven’s canon complete, I thought I’d make this post for those who are discovering it for the first time.

Part One: Description

i’m afraid i’ll go to heaven is a series I made between 27 November 2022 and 5 April 2023 for the Night at the Museum fandom. In it, Jedediah and Octavius die in Pompeii and undergo a spiritual journey while the living members mourn.

The Heavenverse is the universe that the series takes place in. Here, death is inevitable, and only the beginning of a spiritual dissection of what truly matters to you.

The characters affected by the Tablet’s magic, no matter their faith, are subject to the Ancient Egyptian judgement process.

Themes include religious trauma, body horror, dedication, faith, and choosing humanity over divinity. While the majority of it is non-explicit, one chapter is, and a proper warning is given beforehand.

Part Two: Reading Order

Part One - i don’t want to live forever Part Two - whatever’s waiting on the other side Part Three - i think that me and mine will be alright Part Four - i don’t wanna go to heaven mournful camaraderie [This story takes place between Part Four and the Epilogue.] heaven side stories [These stories take place in the same universe, but their canonicity is up to interpretation.]

Part Three: Spoilers and FAQ's

Hidden under a readmore for those who haven't finished the series, and for those who don't want a clogged dash. This section will occasionally be updated as readers ask questions!

Why the name Psychopomp?

The name isn't gibberish - it's a real thing. A psychopomp is a guide of the recently deceased that shows up in belief systems throughout history. The specifics of the figure differ with culture and time - the Reaper has a scythe and is generally horrifying, while Hermes likely was not as scary of a figure. Sy, as a character, embodies the job of the psychopomp, ferrying the dead from all cultures.

What's with the changing forms?

Though they are the same person underneath the illusion, Sy's perceived form is dependent on the viewer's personal faith. It's why Jedediah, a Protestant, sees the Reaper; and Octavius, an Ancient Roman Polytheist, sees Mercury. In mournful camaraderie, I had to do a bit of research on how they would be perceived by the others. Larry and Nick are Jewish, and like many things in Judaism, there's debate on what the specifics are. In folklore, the angel of death is Samael, so I used that form. Attila, according to the Romans, worshiped "the sword of Mars", which is why that was seen on their patch during the Arcadia segment. The Huns likely worshiped Tengri, a personification of the universe cultivated by the Steppe peoples and the nomadic cultures of Eurasia.

Is [side story] canon?

If you want it to be.

Which ones are canon to you, the author?

An Ode to the Trilobites and fear not, little one, it will be all right.

Why does [character] show up in [fic]?

I have a lot of friends in this fandom, and I let them use my characters, because it's more fun that way. Psychopomp shows up in theegargoyle's Dead Temperatures and riv_styx's promise a future i can come back to (implied); Javier is a central character in bmoshh's Nuestros Caminos Entrelazados (which I help proofread!); and Septimius and Trajan cameo in EwokRae22's Against the World, being silly and stupid as usual. If you want to use my morons, feel free to shoot me a message about it! I will eat your fic up like fresh ramen.

Is there a playlist available?

Yes - two, even! Youtube has the full playlist, at 7.5 hours long. Spotify has a pared down playlist, due to Kirby's music not being available on that platform.

[bl00dsuckingbradybunch]

It's Been A Long, Long Time (David x Reader)

Key:

[NAME] - Your Name

[LAST NAME] - Your Last Name

[COLOR] - Your Hair/Eye Color

Requested By @gloom-patrol: I've had this idea in my head for a fic (you can make it a series or a one shot) But basically the reader is a witch who knew David before he turned and she got pregnant with his baby. And then years later reader and her son move to Santa Carla and heard her son made new friends (the boys) the son would be around the same age as the boys bc he's a half witch so he ages differently. And the readers around the same age bc she's immortal. But slight angsty reunion with David but ending with major fluff 🥺

Reader Gender: Female

Summary: You and David were going to get married and start a family in your little town— and then he disappeared. For weeks and months you waited for him, but he never came back. Years down the line, after a while of living a nomadic life with your son, something strange calls you to settle down in Santa Carla, California. Your son quickly finds kindred spirits in a group of boys that stalk the pier, and one of them wears a familiar face...

Warnings: angst, mentions of death and poor treatment of women, like just really shit people in general, very vague hints at a bad childhood for david, slightly ooc david, pre-emerson au, a backstory thats v different from canon, mentions of pregnancy and childbirth, cursing, max is a dick, it’s got a bittersweet ending, i think that’s it.

A/n: ha ha ouchie, this one was kinda painful. how did i manage to write something this long without even giving david a last name? idk. probably should’ve made this like a series or somethin.

also this is sorta based on that song it’s been a long, long time, so feel free to listen to it!

Word Count: 2.7k +

As night falls over your small town, the crickets coming out and filling the cooling air with their song, David is getting ready to leave. You sit in the kitchen-living room of your shared home, rocking nervously on his grandmother’s old rocking chair and wringing your hands in your nightgown; he’s doing too many things at once, trying to sift through his wallet and pull on his pants at the same time.

“Are you sure about this?” You ask for what must be the umpenteenth time.

The blond turns to you and nods with a smile. “I’m sure.”

He’s being incredibly patient, especially for him, but he knows you have reason to worry. The townspeople have been treating you both terribly since you arrived in the first place, but, now that you’re both living together, still so young and only engaged with a baby on the way, they’ve started being particularly hostile. It was one thing when he left to work everyday, leaving at night to go meet someone in town was entirely another.

You sigh. “Just be safe. Please.”

“Always am.”

David has the audacity to grin at you and you can’t help but narrow your eyes. He knows you love his smile.

“You worry too much.” He teases, crossing the room to kiss you on the forehead.

“I think I worry the right amount, thank you very much.”

He laughs softly, a beautiful sound, and finally does his belt up.

“Who are you even going into town for at this hour?”

“A potential business associate, dear [NAME].” He smooths his hair back. “He saw me working today and wants to discuss a job offer.”

Your hesitance must be evident in your face because he’s soon leaning down in front of you again, tucking a [COLOR] hair behind your ear.

“I have faith in this, doll. It could be our one way ticket out of this hellhole.”

His hand comes to rest on your protruding stomach, thumb rubbing in a circular motion.

“I want our kid to have more than we ever did, baby.” He whispers, sounding like he’s talking to himself more than anything. “And I want to get you a ring.”

Even if you were still worried silly, you knew that it meant a lot to him and there was no stopping him now. You press a few quick, soft kisses to his lips and cheeks, getting up to follow him to the door.

He tugs on his shoes haphazardly.

“Don’t stay up, okay? You need your sleep.” David whispers after kissing you once more.

“I won’t.” It’s a lie, you will.

The sound of the car starting is loud and sharp in contrast, cutting harshly through nature’s nighttime melody, and it continues to drown out everything all the way down the dirt road.

As jarring as it was, you miss it and him as soon as it’s gone.

When you can no longer see the shadowy figure of the vehicle you slink back inside the house, sitting on the couch and watching the clock turn until you unwillingly fall asleep.

David never returns.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The next day a short, round man with a bulbous nose and barely any hair wakes you up by showing up at your door. He introduces himself as Mr. Brown, the ‘business associate’ your fiancé mentioned the previous night, and he asks to see David, stating the younger man never showed up and he wants to know why.

He hesitantly pats your back as you sit on the porch chair and cry.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

You file a police report, but that hardly does anything; they abandon the search within a few weeks.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

A month after he disappears you give birth to a (healthy) seven pound, six ounce baby boy. You and David never really discussed names, relying on the idea that one would just come to you as soon as you saw the kid, but now that he’s in your arms you just can’t think of one.

“What about Nathan?” Barbara, the town nurse, suggests as they pack up their tools.

“Nathan…” You repeat, smiling down at your boy and loving the way it sounds.

“Nathan [LAST NAME]” Dr. Johnson is quick to remind you.

Your shoulders deflate under the man’s sharp gaze. He rattles off some condescending medical nonsense and gives you his number in case of emergency before he leaves, but you never look up at him.

He doesn’t know the house’s phone barely works, and now you and Nathan are on your own.

“It’s just me and you little guy…” You whisper.

Nathan, in all of his cherubic newborn glory, only gurgles in response.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months and David is still gone. You try everything, sifting through dozens of your mothers spells trying to locate him and always coming up short.

One day, four months after the disappearance, David’s father, Jesse, comes by and tells you to leave.

“I was only letting you stay because David was paying me.” He says.

You try to explain that you could get a job if he and his wife would watch their grandson, but he just won’t listen. He won’t even look at Nathan.

The man who was meant to be your father-in-law gives you three days to pack anything that belongs to you or your son.

On the first day, you pack away the few things you truly own.

On the second, you call your mother and ask her for a place to stay. She says yes, of course, but you were never worried about that.

And on the third you sit on the porch until sunset, mourning a life you never got to have with your baby in your arms. You tell your son about his first home, and how much he would’ve loved it there, and silently wish that, by some miracle, David would randomly return.

You catch the latest bus back to your childhood home and Nathan cries the entire ride.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Years and years go by and your little boy grows into your face. He has your [COLOR] hair and your smile; he talks like you and walks like you and he even stopped aging at the same age you did. But his eyes are all David.

Sometimes it’s hard to look at him, but you love him so damn much.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Nathan asks about David a lot as he grows, you tell him all that you can remember. Stories of you two, of how you met and of the future you were going to live; when he asks where his dad went, you can only tell him something bad happened and that you’ll tell him the specifics when he’s older. You don’t want him to think he was abandoned, and you don’t want to accept the reality that you might be.

He still doesn’t get the full picture when he’s older.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Life can be quite boring when you never really age past a certain point, so you and your son have made the most of it. After a few years in Utah, it was a unanimous decision that a change of scenery was desperately needed.

However, he didn’t seem too keen on Santa Carla when you finally arrived.

“‘Murder capital of the world’ oh, that’s rich mom-” Nathan says, turned around in the passenger seat.

You furrow your brows, glancing in the rear view mirror. Sure enough, the pretty sign that had welcomed you also bore the ominous message in bright orange graffiti.

“It can’t be that bad…” Your sentence tapers off, attention turning back to the road.

Your son huffs.

“You’re basically immortal, Nate. I’m sure you’re going to be fine.”

“And if I’m not?”

“Well, then you’ll discover where the nickname comes from.”

Nathan sticks his tongue out at you for teasing him and makes the music louder as you laugh.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Magic certainly makes moving easier. All you have to do is whisper a few words and your boxes start to unpack themselves, and, between the two of you, everything gets settled before nightfall.

You’re setting up a few protective wards, the message from that sign echoing through your mind, when he emerges from his bedroom, dressed to go out. You watch in silent confusion as he tugs on some boots.

“Hey, mom, can I go check out the boardwalk?”

It was almost amusing how he already knew you’d let him go. By the time you finish giving him your permission, he’s shouting ‘love you, mom!’ on his way out the door; you respond ‘love you too, be careful!’, your voice competing with the motor of the stupid motorbike he begged you to buy.

When he’s gone, you snort and shake your head.

Even if he doesn’t look like him, there’s an uncanny resemblance between David and Nathan.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

He doesn’t get back in until late, and you ask him about it the next morning at breakfast.

“I met these really cool guys, mom!” He says excitedly, chowing down on some sugary cereal. “They're just— they’re bitchin’!”

Nathan breaks out into the tale of his night, talking at lightning speed all about motorcycles and pretty girls and his crazy new friends. There’s a Paul (a blonde who apparently ate a whole ice cream cone in two bites), a Marko (who dared Paul to eat the ice cream that way), a Dwayne (a brunette who held disappointment in his face but did nothing to stop it), and a David (who kept watching him weirdly through the night.)

You hide the way your gut twists at the name in a smile over the rim of your mug. “They sound like a fun time, Hun.”

Nathan nods exuberantly, his [COLOR] hair flopping about as he does.

“They are, mom. I’m gonna go hang with them again tonight— if you don’t mind, that is.”

You laugh a little.

“As long as you’re careful and don’t burn yourself out. I’d rather not have to drag you back from the beach after you passed out.”

Nathan puffs and waves a hand dismissively. “You worry too much, mom.”

Cocking a brow as he gets up and puts his dish in the sink, you’re quick to bite back.

“I worry just the right amount, thank you very much!”

The déjà vu of the situation sticks with you all day.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

It becomes routine.

Nathan goes out at the same time, he parties with these strange boys all night, and comes home in the wee hours of the morning with crazy stories to tell. A part of you starts to grow fond of these boys, but a bigger part is still consumed by the fear that he’s going to get into trouble.

But that’s stupid. He comes back every day.

Until he doesn’t.

At first, you shove your panic deep down inside of you, hoping that maybe one of his friends saw it was late and offered him a place to sleep.

But then the day flashes by and it’s nighttime and he’s still not home. Your heart is going so fast you fear you might faint and every number you call, every spell you try, falls short; you can’t find Nathan, and you start to spiral.

You don’t remember getting into the car. You don’t feel it come to life as you turn the key and you don’t recognize the road beneath you; like a robot following a track, you make your way down to the boardwalk.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Like a chicken without a head, you run up and down the boardwalk searching for Nathan. People look at you like you’re insane, brushing you off and cursing at you as you push through the droves. You run down past the rides, past restaurants and stores, to a darker part of the walk; there’s barrels of fire and motorcycles and people in leather.

It’s then you lay eyes on him, your son, your idiot son, and he’s perfectly fine.

He’s down by the end, fooling around with two blonds and a brunet you recognize from the stories. They’re laughing and goofing, just like any other kids. Nathan is fine, he’s alive and breathing— you didn’t lose him.

You sort of double over with relief, breathing heavily and holding a hand over your heart. You know people are probably staring, but you don’t care, even when a shadow moves in your peripheral.

“He looks just like you, [NAME].”

You quickly turn to face the familiar sounding stranger and lose all ability to breathe when you see him.

There’s Nathan’s friend David. Your David. Pushing himself off a pillar, a cigarette hanging loosely from his lips and a long coat hugging his figure; his golden locks have been bleached, spiked up into a mullet, and his skin looks grey in the moonlight.

“He, uh, has your eyes, though.” You say, voice crackling as your eyes drink him in.

“He does.” He’s standing in front of you now, tall stature consuming your space.

The dam in your mind breaks and you can breathe again, tears burning your eyes and blurring your vision.

“Oh…” You, unable to form words, reach up and cup his face in your hands. He leans into your touch. “It’s really you...”

His gloved hand comes up to rest on one of yours and his jaw clenches, those beautiful blue eyes shutting tightly.

“How are you—?” What did you want to say? ‘Still alive?’, ‘still young?’

“I could ask you the same.” He opens his now misty eyes, blue intensely staring into [COLOR].

That’s fair. You always had the intention of telling him about your mother and somehow breaking off a piece of your immortality to give it to him, but you never really got to form a solid plan.

Was he always this defensive?

“I went back to the house.” He says, effectively changing the subject. “But by then you were gone. Both of you were.”

Guilt twists in your gut as a warm tear slips down his cold cheek. You wipe it away and drop your arms, opting to hold his hands in yours.

“I promise I waited for a few months after Nate was born, but your father all but chased me off— wouldn’t listen to me when I told him I couldn’t work yet.”

David’s lip momentarily pulls back into a scowl, a far off look in his eyes as he thinks about his father. He glances over at your son as he plays around.

“If I’d have known you were alive— that you were like this— I would’ve told Jesse to go fuck himself and waited forever.” You promise, turning his face back to you gently.

He snorts a little bit.

“Hey…”

Even if he looked so different, he was still the boy you once knew deep down inside; his shoulders deflate a bit, but he keeps that hard look in his eye.

“I missed you.” He admits very softly.

“I missed you, too.”

David’s hands hesitantly come up to hold your face in the way you held his, and his eyes flicker all over your face.

“Can I?...”

You nod and he presses his lips against yours.

The sensation of his lips on yours sends a current through every one of your nerves, awakening parts of your body and soul that you were forced to put to sleep when you left him in your past. Your heart beats rapidly against your ribs as if to say finally, finally, finally…

If you could’ve, you would’ve let yourself drown in this kiss, not minding the suffocation so long as he is the one doing it, but he’s forced to pull away when one of the boys calls his attention.

“Hey, David!” The blond with wild, untamed hair points to his wrist as if he were wearing a watch. “Time to go, man!”

David rolls his eyes a bit, albeit fondly, and turns back to you.

“Come back to the cave with us, we have a lot to discuss.”

It’s not a question, it’s a command, but you don’t mind. Your hand slips into his easily.

If he noticed any of it, Nathan says nothing. He’s already leaving with the others on the bike he begged you to buy him when David gets on his.

As you swing your leg over the other side of the vehicle and wrap your arms against his waist, you feel him stiffen.

“It’s been a long, long time, princess.”

Yes, it has been— but it never will be again.

[black-rose-writings]

Origins of the Saints’ faith and other related headcanons

I’ve come across a few posts about this, though I’ve not read any of tehm thoroughly, so these are my mostly original thoughts on this:

The Saints’ religion, as we’re shown it in the books, is a clusterfuck of several different IRL religions, mostly Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, with a dash of paganism put in for some quirky flavor.

The way I see it, the easiest way to make the religion make sense in universe is by also making it a mash-up of several previous and largely forgotten religions within the Grishaverse as well.

The three systems that merged would be:

Original Ravkan religion (Ravkan Paganism)

Original Suli religion (Suli Paganism)

Grisha philosophy

This is going to be long and I’m very sorry, but first, I need to put in my headcanons on the origins of the Suli, because it’s relevant to this whole thing.

Suli origins

The Suli originally came from somewhere in modern day Shu Han (similarly to how the Romani people, one of the biggest IRL influences on the Suli, came from regions of India), before the country was unified.

I will also say that this original Suli culture was pacifist, since some level of pacifism is seen in the modern day Suli culture as well, and that they were a settled culture.

However, during the unification of Shu Han, they were forced out of their homes and into a nomadic lifestyle, possibly because they were simply too different or refused to assimilate to the dominant Shu culture. (There would be plenty of examples of similar things happening IRL).

Ravkan Paganism

This religion would be largely based on IRL Slavic paganism with a mix of christianity, with many different deities.

They would be the originators of the idea of Saints as faithful humans, who function as intercessors betweed humans and the gods. Because these were largely settled communities, they would also be the ones to first build churches and monasteries, permanent places of worship and groups of people, who dedicate their lives to serving the gods.

Suli Paganism

This religion would be lagrely based on Hinduism, with influences of other asian religions, with many different gods.

While they also had a belief in people with god-like gifts, their belief would be closer to the concept of avatars in Hinduism. Because of their nomadic nature, they didn’t build any permanent temples or monasteries.

The Suli would also later be responsible for spreading the religion beyond Ravka, but that’s for later.

Grisha Philosophy

I’m not calling this one a religion, because it really is more of a philosophy - much of it is what we see in Alina’s Grisha Theory lessons - specifically with the Making at the Heart of the World.

They also had “Saints”, though they were viewed as teachers rather than religious figures (since we now know most of the Saints were Grisha), and the stories, though slightly mythologized, were used to explain Grisha powers and what powerful Grisha can do.

They would also be originators of some of the beliefs in modern Ravkan faith, notably the belief in the power of Saints’ bones, through misunderstanding of amplifiers (This specific part could easily be canon, given how much those things paralel each other).

The Merging

Eventually, the Suli and Grisha concepts merged - I’m saying it started with those two, because both groups were outcasts from the “mainstream” settled Ravkans and they were nomadic (or at least partially nomadic, in the case of the Grisha), so they would probably mingle more with each other than with the settled Otkazat’sya.

This merged religion would spread through the lower tiers of society, eventually reaching the rulers (sort of like Christianity did IRL). One specific ruler was a pre-unification Lantsov.

This is slightly off-topic, but I’ve seen some people ask why Os Alta, being placed where it is would be the country capital and not some other city - My headcanon on this is that Os Alta was the original capital of the Lantsov’s lands, before they became kings of Ravka. And since it was easily defendable, they chose to stay there, even if it was a bit impractical in other ways.

Now, during the unification of Ravka, the Lantsovs would try to force-convert the rest of Ravka to their faith (again, sort of like medieval kings did with Christianity), at which point, the faith shifted again, conflating the idea of Saints with the pagan deities of the original faith.

So, the Saints became something half-way between deities themselves and merely faithful humans. If there is a godhead figure in this faith (presumably the Making at the Heart of the World) it has largely been pushed into the background in favor of the more easily understandable Saints.

Spread

As I’ve mentioned above, I believe that the early Lantsovs force-converted majority of Ravka to the modern(ish) version of the Saints’ faith. However, we also know it is spread all through-out the world.

Thsi is where the Suli come in. Being nomadic, they’re the perfect candidates for it.

And because they’re also generally speaking peaceful and easygoing people, they would be the perfect group to make others convert. Sort of “Look how happy and content these people are, despite being dirt poor. That religion of theirs seems great.”

Other related headcanons:

Early Grisha communities would often mask themselves as religious communities, starting many of the modern-day Orders of the Saints.

Though this isn’t public knowledge, many of these orders align themselves with the Second Army to this day, and allow Grisha spies to use their order as a cover, and also help smuggle Grisha (especially children) out of countries where they would be in danger.

Grisha are in-universe seen as being largely atheist, and that is one way to look at it. However, since modern Grisha theory is largely based on the original Grisha philosophy, some argue that they are all in fact heavily religious and that using their powers is, in fact, an act of worship. However, because Grisha philosophies don’t prescribe any explicit moral code, the Grisha are widely seen as lacking any sort of morality, only furthering their ostracisation from the Otkazat’sya.

The Apparat isn’t just a single creepy guy - instead, it’s a religious position/title, similar to the Pope (I think this is pretty widely accepted idea/actually canon, but I still wanted to put it out there). Once an Apparat is elected, he is expected to forsake his original name as a sign of faith and only use the title to identify himself, and will serve until he dies, at which point a new Apparat is elected by other highly placed priests (or possibly selected by the King). Only people in the religion with a higher position than the Apparat are Living Saints.

Historically, the Grisha have been considered witches going against the Saints in Ravka (similarly to how Jews were/are treated by Christians), and while this belief is no longer part of official church doctrine and witch hunts are no longer sanctioned by the church, the belief still persists within the culture. (Again, this is basically canon, but I wanted to put it out there).

The concepts of angels and demons is a remnant of the older paganistic religions, where angels were minor good deities, while demons were minor evil deities.

[therealvinelle]

Carlisle and theology

So, there are a lot of thoughts in this fandom on Carlisle’s brand of faith, and Carlisle seeing vampirism as inherent sin, and it’s time for this Christian philosophy nerd to butt in, featuring all the quotes.

First of, let me do my usual disclaimer - the Carlisle of the books is not the Carlisle of the movies. Carlisle of the movies believes he’s damned, because while the movie does mostly quote the conversation from the books, they cut him off halfway through, completely changing the meaning. Book Carlisle is making an argument, and his conclusion is the opposite: vampires have souls.

"Edward's with me up to a point. God and heaven exist… and so does hell. But he doesn't believe there is an afterlife for our kind." Carlisle's voice was very soft; he stared out the big window over the sink, into the darkness. "You see, he thinks we've lost our souls." (New Moon, page 20)

Later in the same book when Edward believes he has died and gone to heaven, his first words are: “Carlisle was right.”

So, book Carlisle doesn’t believe they’re all damned. If he did, creating others would be to damn them. If he had doubts about their souls and decided to risk it anyway, his “I made vampires” angst would be about their souls. It’s not:

"(Choosing to turn others) is the one part I can never be sure of. I think, in most other ways, that I've done the best I could with what I had to work with. But was it right to doom the others to this life? I can't decide." (New Moon, page 21)

was it right to doom the others to this life.

He says nothing about their souls. His issue is the life they’re now living because of him: “was it right to turn others into bloodsucking demons, all of whom have a body count?”

Which is a very fair question, I’d be wondering that too. Edward, Emmett, Esme, and Rosalie are all murderers, they live in the constant pain of bloodlust, they must live in this very particular way or be nomads, and they’re not truly immortal, for sooner or later death will come in the brutal form of being torn apart and burned. Not to mention both Edward and Rosalie have very ambivalent feelings about what they became.

Carlisle wondering if turning them was the right call appears to have nothing to do with religion, and everything to do with the pragmatic reality of what it means to have created a vampire.

But if Carlisle doesn’t believe vampires are damned, what does he think then?

His backstory, admittedly told through Edward (who projects a lot onto Carlisle), is helpful.

His strength returned and he realized there was an alternative to being the vile monster he feared. Had he not eaten venison in his former life? Over the next months his new philosophy was born. He could exist without being a demon. He found himself again. (Twilight, page 160)

Carlisle had been raised to believe in witches and demons, eternal damnation for the wicked and the whole shebang. He wakes up a vampire and he knows what this means, he is now a senseless monster who kills people. 

Well, turns out this isn’t the case. He doesn’t have to kill people. More, he still has his faith in God, which by protestant doctrine is what you need to enter Heaven. (This right here is one big bone I have to pick with fanon Carlisle. People keep ascribing a very Catholic brand of theology onto him, as he believes existence is sin and one must do penance. He’s Anglican, and Anglicans adopted Protestant doctrine. Protestant salvation comes through faith.)

Now, if his existence doesn’t automatically lead to sin, and if he is still in command of himself, able to believe in God and be devout, who’s to say he’s damned?

The urge to kill people remains present, of course, but humans are tempted to sin too. All of God’s children are tempted. (And yes, he did arrive at the conclusion that vampires are among God’s children. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t believe they had souls.)

Edward specifies that Carlisle created his own philosophy. As in, he didn’t just say “I don’t have to kill people, neat. Being a monster is still horrible, though”, he sat down and went full Zarathustra.

This is where my love for theology comes in.

Christian thought is founded on the relationship between God and Man. How Man is saved, the definition of sin, absolution, all of it - it’s all built on the supposition that Man is human. Well, Carlisle just found out that there’s God, Man, and Vampire - and potentially (Carlisle at this early point in time would still think witches and such were real) others as well.

He also learned that the notion of monsters being bound to sin, or having made deals with Satan, are also wrong. He never met the guy, he has his conscience, and he lives as morally as ever.

This invalidates pretty much everything he ever learned, and Carlisle’s sitting there in the English woods realizing the same thing Nietzsche later would when science challenged religion: he has to figure out Christianity from scratch.

I think Carlisle came up with his very own doctrine.

Edward outright says so: his new philosophy was born. We see Carlisle engage in all sorts of behavior completely contrary to anything a devout 17th century priest would have been doing. He associates with heathens like Aro, Amun, or the Amazonians, allows his family to be non-believers, considers fallen women like the Denali to be wonderful people and respects them as equals, he performs abortions, he allows material luxuries under his roof, he marries a woman who committed suicide.

There’s also the fact that his was a time full of alternate interpretations of Scripture. I won’t get into this part of European history, suffice to say that with Martin Luther’s 97 theses, the Christian world exploded with different sects and branches. Anabaptism, Calvinism, Quakers, Lutherans, the list just keeps going. It wouldn’t have been a foreign concept to Carlisle to sit down and say “Alright, who is God and what does He want from us”

I keep seeing Carlisle written as a Christian parody who cries because once when he was having sex with Esme in the dark some light entered the room and he saw her ankle, and now he thinks they’re both going to hell. And if we’re talking about the movies then sure, that guy seems the type. Book Carlisle is not this, and there’s nothing in canon to indicate as much, quite the contrary. (Yes, Edward is angsty about souls, but that’s not what Carlisle believes at all. It’s made clear over and over these two don’t agree on religion, so the argument that Edward somehow downloaded his religious angst from Carlisle defeats itself.)

It seems to me Carlisle came to the conclusion that sin is to take lives for pleasure, and that vampires are neither damned nor inherently sinful. This is the only action he appears to condemn, to view as sinful. Apart from that, he will kill to defend himself or others (the newborn battle and James), he’s pro-abortion, and he did not oppose Rosalie getting her revenge.

Apart from that I’m not going to extrapolate much, in part because that’d be hard to do when we don’t have a lot to go on and I’m not actually a theologician, and in part because this post is very long now. Feel free to ask if someone wants me putting on my philosophy hat and pretending I’m a vampire with a religious crisis.

(I will say this though: the notion of vampires being inherently sinful is just Original Sin in a hat. If Carlisle believes in it, then he also believes in Original Sin for humans, vice versa if he doesn’t. Doesn’t seem to be the case, but if it is then the vampirism by itself still isn’t any more damned than humanity.)

[ertrunkenerwassergeist]

Heya! I absolutely adore your CorNyx aus and fics, especially HoT. The culture of the Galahkari is fascinating and Lucian's learning about it is my favourite part of your stories. I was wondering what your inspiration is for the world building? Also are there any tips you have for creating authentic feeling cultures?

paefhsldjvb

Thank you Anon! <3

I have tons of fun writing exactly that. XD

You know, those are two very difficult questions for me because I'm never sure how to answer them. But I shall do my best:

Doing worldbuilding for a fanfiction can be harder and simpler than starting from scratch at the same time. On one hand someone already did the groundwork and you can overwrite them how you want. On the other you need to make sure what you do doesn't clash (too much) with the already existing information.

If we look at Galahd, there is hadly any information at all. So we are in the unique position in the fandom to practically start from scratch where Galahd is concerned.

I started the worldbuilding process for Galahd very early. Like during the first half year the game was out early. There was barely anything known about Galahd at the time.

It's a group of islands (location unknown)

It has a river

It looks like it might be a jungle or something like that

Nyx and Libertus are from there

Galahdians (or at least the men) wear tattoos and braids

They aren't well liked in Insomnia

And that was basically it. Not much to go on, right? But with this information - sparce at it might be - you can start asking questions. 'How?' and 'why?' and 'what?' I treat it like a logic puzzle.

Galahd is a group of islands. So it stands to reason they eat a lot of fish and sea fruits. Which means they need fishermen. Those fishermen need boats, so you need people who make them. And those boats are made out of wood, so you need a lot of trees and people who cut them. This checks out because Galahd looks jungl-y in that one pic we have of it.

A lot of information/ideas I drew from fanon. Like that Galahdians are good hunters, or that the braids are important. And then I took these bits of information and started asking questions again.

There is a lot of tweaking involved and it's a very fluid process. I'm sorry if this isn't of much help.

Inspiration wise, I do my best to not draw from one real life culture specifically. One reason being that the only culture I really know is my own, and I don't want to do the others injustice. But I am taking bits and pieces here and there, if they fit with the information I already have.

Like Galahds tradition of oral history. The method how they tell the stories is inspired by the Ancient Greek storytelling tradition. Specifically Homer. Now, I'm no poet, so what I write aren't poems, but I like to think that there's a rythm to the Galahkari stories. I certainly drew the use of epithets from Homer. (I should add that stories like the Odyssey and the Iliad come from a longstanding oral tradition and Homer was simply the one who wrote them down.)

I don't want for this to get too long, so I won't get too deep into the language(s), but here I picked a handful of real life languages and played scrabble with them. Sounds stupid, I know. That is how I got my first few words. Then I started to think about rules for pronounciation and started to inch away from the languages I used in the beginning and it started to become its own thing. (Honestly, this topic could very easily be its own post.)

Moving on:

There isn't a definite answer to how to construct a culture. And certainly only one right answer. Me personally, I start with the location and the topography when worldbuilding. Because this information heavily influences how the culture works. A desert culture is vastly different than on living in a European like climate. This informs how people dress, what they eat, their relationship to things like water and food. Climate and terrain also narrow down what animals there are and which ones humans might use as a food source or as pack animals.

Another big point is how the different cultures play off of each other. How do their rules clash? How might they be similar? How will they influence each other?

Let's take Galahd again.

Solheim is the starting point. It was an Empire spanning (most of) Eos. (Really, how big it was isn't quite clear to me when it comes to canon, but I headcanon that it spanned most of the Lucian continent and a second landmass that got destroyed in the Astral War.) So, it doesn't really matter if it was destroyed during the Astral War or if its destruction was the catalyt for the War. What is important is the fact that the Astrals were the ones who did it. A thing like that will create ripples.

Which is where the whole religion aspect comes in. It stands to reason that most of Eos worshipped the Astrals in one way or another because they are very real god-like beings. So when they destroy the ruling power of a large part of the planet there will be consequences.

Some people might think it's devine retribution, so they will get even more stringent in their faith. Others will lose faith in the beings who destroyed their livelihoods. This creates friction - conflict. One partly will immediately think the other wrong and maybe even blame them for what happened in the first place. (Religious conflicts are ambudand in our history, so there is lots of inspiration to draw from. Though, again, I specifically chose not one specific example.)

The Galahkari were formed from the people who lost their faith in the Astrals, and as a result of that, were persecuted for it. They could not stay in one place for long, so they became nomads. And a some years later the islands of Galahd were discovered and most of the people emmigrated there to be safe.

And this informs the very basis of the Galahdian culture and how they move forward as a people.

You see where this is going? One action snowballing into another. And always there is the question: What are the consequences of this?

I hope this was helpful. Seeing as it went all over the place without much of a structure. If something isn't clear, feel free to ask anytime.

[ladyherenya]

I’ve taken forever to finish this post. Such round-ups are easier when I haven’t read so many books, and when the pandemic isn’t being so distracting.

Also read: A Bride of Convenience by Jody Hedlund, Cutie and the Beast by M.E. Carter and “Dueling Magics” by Stephanie Burgis. 

Total: sixteen novels (including four audiobooks), two novellas, one short story, one graphic novel and one comic volume. 

Cover thoughts: Tarashana is my favourite, followed by A Natural History of Dragons. I altered the covers for the Stevenson trilogy -- I like my versions more! 

Did not finish: The Long Distance Playlist by Tara Eglington. 

Still reading: Love in the Blitz: The Greatest Lost Love Letters of the Second World War by Eileen Alexander. 

Next up: The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho. 

My full reviews are on Dreamwidth and LibraryThing. 

*

A Portrait of Loyalty by Roseanna M. White (narrated by Susan Lyons): Romantic historical mystery, set in London during 1918. Christian fiction. Features characters from the The Number of Love and On Wings of Devotion.

I was surprised by how long it took before I really cared about the characters and their relationships. It was interesting to consider the way dark-room photography could be used -- and manipulated -- in aid of the war effort. 3 ★ 

*

Playing Hearts by W.R. Gingell: Portal fantasy based on Alice in Wonderland. Novella. 

I like retellings and Alice in Wonderland references and Gingell’s storytelling, so I was a bit surprised by how long I took to warm to this. I liked the final section a lot. 3 ★ 

*

Dawnshard: From the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson: Fantasy. Part of the Stormlight Archive, set after Oathbringer. Novella.  

I struggled to focus, distracted dredging up and searching through my memories of this series. But Sanderson is a successful storyteller, and the end of this adventure was satisfying. 3 ★ 

*

Game of Hearts by Cathy Yardley: Contemporary fandom-y romance. Features characters from Level Up and One True Pairing.

The characters’ respective family issues were resolved far too readily, but I find this sort of fluffy romance is acceptable if it comes with fandom references.  

*

Bel Lamington (1961) by D.E. Stevenson (narrated by Patience Tomlinson): Romantic fiction. Features characters from the Dering Family trilogy.

Delightful. A very gentle sort of story, although it’s not just gardening and picturesque scenery and new friendships -- Bel also encounters stressful difficulties at work. I could predict how everything would all ultimately turn out -- but was surprised by some of the turns the story took getting there. 3½ ★   

*

A Bride of Convenience by Jody Hedlund: Historical Christian romance set in 19th century Canada. 

An interesting glimpse into an aspect of history I didn’t know about (bride ships), but neither the pacing nor the tone appealed to me. 2 ★ 

*

Torch by R.J. Anderson: YA-ish fantasy, faeries and shapeshifters. Sequel to Swift and Nomad.

A satisfying conclusion with some surprising developments. I was glad to see things resolve happily for Ivy.  3 ★  

*

The Dering Family trilogy by D.E. Stevenson: Romantic fiction set in England and Scotland. 

Vittoria Cottage (1949) (narrated by Leslie Mackie): Nothing too dramatic happens but it’s a fascinating insight into postwar life in England, still with rationing. I like that Stevenson considers the concerns of a middle-aged widow worthy of this sort of attention -- and of this sort of romance.  3 ★ 

Music in the Hills (1950):  James Dering goes to stay with his aunt and uncle in Scotland, and learn about farming. I knew how James’ romantic endeavours would unfold (from reading Bel Lamington) but even with that foreknowledge to make things extra predictable, I wanted to keep reading. This has such a strong sense of place! And the characters are very likeable.  3½ ★ 

Winter and Rough Weather (1951): Follows on from Music in the Hills.  A vivid insight into how poor roads and poor weather can isolate one from the outside world. I didn’t mind spending time with James and Rhoda’s friends, but they rather became the focus towards the end and maybe I’d have liked this book more if that hadn’t been the case? 3 ★ 

*

“Dueling Magics” by Stephanie Burgis: Short story set after A Most Improper Magick. Children’s fantasy. Verdict: cute. 

*

Fangirl: the manga, vol. 1 by Rainbow Rowell (story adapted by Sam Maggs and illustrated by Gabi Nam):  First installment in the manga adaptation of a young-adult novel about a fangirl going off to college.

A lovely way to revisit Fangirl! Judging from my memory of the novel, this is a remarkably -- and satisfyingly -- faithful adaptation. I really liked the artwork. 3½ ★ 

*

The Tuyo series by Rachel Neumeier:  Fantasy. 

Nikoles: A prequel side-story about a minor character from Tuyo. A thoughtful look at what causes a conflict between two peoples to escalate -- or to be resolved -- through the eyes of a likeable protagonist.  3 ★ 

Tarashana:  A direct sequel to Tuyo. I loved it. It’s a journey into the unknown, full of difficulties and danger in that way that good fantasy quests so often are. Very tense!  I was also impressed with the way this story explores the challenges of justly judging people, and how this gives Ryo a more nuanced perspective, but the events of the novel thematic cohesion. 4 ★ 

*

The Long Distance Playlist by Tara Eglinton:  Epistolary Australian YA. Unfinished.

Two teenagers reconnect through email and share Spotify recommendations for dealing with breakups. I didn't finish this before my loan expired -- maybe I'll read more when it becomes available again.

*

Second First Impressions by Sally Thorne: Contemporary romance between two 20-something employees at a retirement village.

Thorne has a gift for vividly capturing the quirky personalities of two people and capturing the different ways in which they like each other. There were a few small-ish things in this story I didn’t personally like. Mixed feelings, I have them.  3 ★ 

*

Copper Mountain by Rachel Neumeier:  Urban fantasy. Part of the Black Dog series, set after Shadow Twin and Black Dog Stories III.

Dimilioc deals with demons. I was reminded that I do care about these characters. This wouldn’t have been so tense if I wasn’t so invested! 3½ ★ 

*

The Year’s Midnight by Rachel Neumeier: Death’s Lady, book one. Portal world fantasy.

Compelling. I really like how, even though Dr Daniel Dodson doesn’t believe his patient Tenai is from another world, this doesn’t actually undermine his ability to help her. Because he believes that Tenai fully believes her story and that it’s important for understanding her anger.  3½ ★ 

*

A Natural History of Dragons: a memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan (narrated by Kate Reading): Fantasy. Isabella tells of her childhood obsession with dragons, and how, aged nineteen, she joined an expedition to Vystrana.

Such a novel and interesting approach to dragons. Isabella’s adventures are eventful, and her observations are astute and often delightfully expressed.  But  I came away feeling unsure if I found the ending satisfying, because as a reader, I’m HERE for the emotions. 3½ ★ 

*

The Murderbot Diaries: Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells: Science-fiction. Set between Exit Strategy and Network Effect. Novella.

A less intense installment. On the other hand, I would happily read about Murderbot solving any number of mysteries. ANY NUMBER. It was interesting to see Murderbot working under a different set of restrictions.  3½ ★ 

*

Cutie and the Beast by M.E. Carter:  Contemporary romance, single-parent co-coworkers, roommates-to-lovers.

I finished it but it wasn't really my thing.

*

Runaways: Canon Fodder (volume 5) by Rainbow Rowell (illustrated by Andres Genolet): Marvel superhero comics.

The previous volume had more scenes which stood out to me as memorable or quotable, but this volume had a strong, complete story arc and that was really satisfying! As is the rather pointed commentary about being a superhero. 3½ ★

[iamahugegeeknicetomeetyou]

okay lemme just sprinkle some yueki into your feed real quick

let’s ignore the fact I’m about to change so much of the canon plot

anyway so

let’s say as in book one they arrive at the northern water tribe like usual sokka has his schoolboy crush on yue and as in canon she is engaged to another man

but on the moonlit meeting instead of just confessing she is married to another man she confides in sokka that she actually also is doing it to cover up the fact she likes girls

The Southern water tribe is very small and I can imagine them being very excepting of different sexualities as they are very close and tightly knit so they are probably very supportive and caring

however we’ve seen how the Northern water tribe is much larger on formalities and with a casual sexism ingrained in their society I can imagine that homosexual relationships are probably disapproved of

therefore being royalty in the Northern water tribe she probably decides that for political power and presentation it will be best just to cover up and marry a man

however ever sokka has been so sweet to her ever since he arrived and coming from a place that she’s heard is more excepting she takes a leap of faith and confesses her true motives for not being with him

and sokka being sokka is just immediately cool and completely supports her so instead of being there as a lover he is there as a friend to distract and support her while she has what looks like a bleak life in front of her of pretending to be someone she’s not

but then comes the fire nation attack and zhao being an absolute piece of trash and kills one of the water spirits and yue has to sacrifice herself 

but just imagine as she does this but the spirit only take some of her life force and allows her to live as well almost as a thanks for her sacrifice

and she is overjoyed because she’s allowed to live however now it’s time for the avatar and sokka to move on and she suddenly gets this horrible feeling of being isolated and alone her entire life because sokka was the first real friend she’s ever had and she’s been able to confide so much in him

so she says the fuck it and decided she’s going to escape from the northern water leaving a message for her father admitting the truth about who she is and travel secretly with the avatar among the nations helping them in any way she can

obviously being a royal she doesn’t know that much about the outside world or about combat fighting however with sokka as her teacher and actually knowing a lot about political powers in the outside world I can imagine that she would be a useful ally to the gaang 

skipping forward to book 2 episode 12 we finally see suki again but this time yue is there

they first see her when they’re trying to enter ba sing se and right off the bat yue is so into her however here comes the problem that so is sokka and she obviously does not want to hurt him in anyway so she kind of just pretend her feelings don’t exist as she usually does

but it’s actually really hard to see one of the first girls she’s ever felt feelings for and can now be open about them she still has to hide them for fear of hurting her friends

regardless this is the last time she sees or hears of Suki until they invade the fire nation until the day of the black sun when azula mentions she has been arrested and put in prison

then obviously they have to escape the fire nation and take refuge in an air nomad temple but yue hasn’t stopped thinking about Suki ever since she met her let alone now she knows she’s in fire nation custody

and when sokka confides in her that he plans to break her out of prison yue, with her new training decides to tag along on the mission with zuko and sokka because even if she can’t be with Suki romantically like hell she’ll just let her rot in a fire nation prison

the boiling rock episodes go more or less the same where she pretends to be a guard like sokka and helps with the prison break although it’s kind of uncomfortable for her the entire time because she has these feelings for Suki that she has to hide

nonetheless they break her out and she is now free and comes back to the air temple with them

now they have quite a bit of time where they’re just at the temple with aang learning fire bending and waiting until they can attack again

and during this time she actually gets really close to Suki as a friend

at first it’s kind of awkward because they don’t know each other that well and they only met once but gradually as the others train suki notices that yue has dramatically less experience even if she is a diligently strong fighter

so she offeres to help and teach her some of the kyoshi moves

yue absolutely loves this idea until she realises how intimate training can be and how much Suki ends up touching her even if it’s just slightly change her position or adjust her stance she realises that training was probably one of the worst idea she’s ever had because the entire time she’s having the biggest lesbian panic

but aside from training they also begin to become close friends, yue opening up about how much she misses home even though they forced her to be something she’s not and Suki opening up about how much she misses the kyoshi warriors as they are like family to her

but then I can imagine that sometime in the air temple Suki and sokka kind of agree that they just work better as friends and that their romantic relationship was lovely but they just work better in a platonic way

and I head canon that yue absolutely loves to look up at the moon because it reminds her of home but also how she got here and the connections she has to water bending and the spirits so I can imagine while the rest of the gaang sleeps she always sneaks out and just stares at the moon for hours on end

but imagine Suki starts to notice this behaviour and instead of calling her out on it just joins her occasionally and watches the moon silently with her and that they have these quiet intimate moments they have every now and again

however one night Suki seems kind of down when she joins her and yue has noticed that her visits are getting more and more frequent and Suki only really comes out there when she is struggling to sleep herself so she asks what’s up and Suki confesses that her and sokka broke up

anyway even though she’s really into Suki her first priority making sure her friends are okay

 Suki explains that it was a mutual decision and she’s not heartbroken in anyway because her and sokka both decided that they work better as friends and their relationship is better when it’s platonic but nonetheless she did really like him and it’s still a shame

and yue is just here listening on the edge of her seat because her crush is finally single

but she also feels really awkward because it’s her best friends ex and also a presumably straight girl so she just decides to pretend once again have feelings do not exist

but from then on every night Suki joins her even if its only for a 10-20 minutes it’s an everyday sort of thing and sometimes they sit for hours at a time in a comfortable silence or talking quietly about things and gradually their relationship grows more and more intimate

until one night they’re just sitting in the moonlight and yue accidentally starts staring at Suki and she doesn’t mean to but she can’t help but admire her beauty so Suki jokingly says “see something you like?” upon noticing yue’s gaze

and yue just lesbian panics so hard and it’s just like “no no just looking at the moon” and Suki starts teasing her jokingly of course but yue actually finds it really hard because she’s trying to deny these feelings and her being all cute about it is not helping 

but trying to defuse the awkwardness Suki confesses that she finds yue very pretty too and yue just kind of sits there gobsmacked and Suki goes on to say all of these wonderful things about her about how she’s not just pretty but she’s also kind and caring and sensitive but is also an amazing person with a forgiving heart

and yue is just kind of sitting there in shock because it started out as teasing and now she’s going on this huge tangent about what an amazing person she is and yue swears she’s never been more in love with anyone in her entire life

and the entire time Suki has been staring at this moon must suddenly after she finishes her tangent about how amazing yue is and as she turns to look at her yue realises that in this moment she doesn’t care about anything else but her

so she kisses her

and Suki at first is kind of shocked but she doesn’t pull away until after a few seconds and in those few seconds she stares at back at yue are the most terrifying of yue’s life because she thinks she’s made the most terrible mistake ever and completely misread every signal she gave her and thought that she had a horrible misunderstanding

but then Suki suddenly just kisses yue and her brain just completely collapses in on itself because she has no idea how to deal with all these feelings but they end up kissing for awhile under the moonlight and after some time Suki gently pulls away and rest her forehead against yue’s and just says so delicately “i’ve been wanting to do that for a long time”

and yue just shuts off because this is too much because she just kissed the girl of her dreams and found out that the feelings she feels are not one-sided 

but after that they have a long talk about their relationship and about how they both obviously feel more than platonic feelings and about Suki being bisexual and realise that dating is actually something that really love to do but of course with sokka they don’t want to hurt him they decide to secretly date and just go slow for awhile

and it all goes well but yue is a terrible liar and feels horrible from concealing this from sokka so while the rest of the gang are out and the three of them are left at the temple they decide that they should tell him

and they are completely terrified he’s going to be really horrible about it but they sit him down and confesses that they are dating and sokka is just like “took you guys long enough” 

and they just sit there opened mouth because they thought that they’ve been so good at hiding their feelings for each other that no one in the group suspected they’re dating

but sokka says he could tell from the beginning yue had feelings for Suki but didn’t wanna push so just left them in peace but then once him and Suki agreed they worked better as friends he was basically just waiting for them to end up telling him that they’ve gotten together

and they are both just so shocked he isn’t mad but he confesses that he is also bisexual and has feelings for zuko that he’s been repressing for awhile and isn’t going to face any time soon but has nonetheless and that he completely support and loves their relationship

and they’re both so relieved and so happy

and yeah from there they go into finally defeat the fire nation and win the war and afterwards yue returns home to her people and she is so overwhelmed by the amount of love and support she receives when she returns home and her father confessing he never meant to make her feel like an outcast but just wanted what was best for her and the water tribe

but yue isn’t ready to come home yet so she continues to travel with Suki for awhile and the avatar as they continue postwar to do whatever is necessary to make peace

but later on she’s called back home as it’s time for her to take the position as chief and she feels she’s going to have to leave all of her friends behind however with zuko as the fire lord and the fire nation as a close ally and the avatar needing to protect all places in the world she’s actually still really close to everyone

and on top of that Suki decides to move to the Southern water tribe with her and she works as a bodyguard and also bring some of her kyoshi warrior friends as well as training some non-benders in the Northen water tribe some martial arts while there

and yeah they are just like bad ass wives in the Northam water tribe together

sorry this is so long but I just felt that this had to be said because like c’mon guys it’s yueki 🤲😩 also if you wanna see any good you yueki edits go onto @/s4ppos page on instagram she has a couple of them I think and they are the most beautiful things I have ever seen 

[rosaguard]

❀ . ━  ❛ ON AERIS’ DESI IDENTITY.

for the sake of making this question easier to answer, I’ll be breaking it up into parts ( yes, i tend to ramble about other things before fully getting to my overall point ). as always, i’m black - not south asian - but i do my best to research before speaking about a culture i do not belong to.

verumking asked : some questions about brown aeris because i'm. forever heart eyes tbh. // you've drawn a lot of parallels between hinduism and the cycle of life on gaia, and also the conflict between aeris' human desires and her duties as a cetra. is her desi identity something she specifically attributes to her cetra heritage? does she begin to embrace it in her day-to-day life at all-- i.e. making and wearing henna, cooking traditional food, etc? how do her views on her identity change with each incarnation? 

          this is a somewhat difficult question to answer simply because fin.al fa.ntasy often picks and chooses which game is going to be the one™ where the culture and identity of the people within the game actually matters and when it does not ( on a side note: the series in general has a bad habit of using real locations with brown people as inspiration for settings in the game and not reflecting the real people and culture of those locations within the games. half of xii’s party being white people from a desert region literally inspired by the middle east is a glaring example of this ). anyway, i would say vii itself easily places itself within the category of there not being any real sense of culture - or at least nothing of any real substance in my opinion. by that i mean things like how the sector 5 and 7 slums are essentially the same in the remake ( outside of the former being ‘greenier’ ) even though it doesn’t make sense for the equivalent of two mini-cities that are kind of semi-lawless / mostly left to fend for themselves by shinra to not have more of a difference regarding their identities: how they operate, how the people act within them, etc.

         there’s also the fact that one of the most well known locations within the game is a christian-styled church within the sector five slums...and yet no religion is ever mentioned within the game’s worldbuilding. the church’s very existence could be seen as ironic if there was actual commentary on humans ( unknowingly ) building a false religion over time as a result of the void created after their ancestors willing choose to abandon their connection to the planet but there isn’t any. humanity, at least within the context of this universe, are essentially treated as the equivalent of atheists that don’t ‘believe’ in the planet being a living organism that deserves to be respected. meanwhile the cetra, the closest thing the game has to a religious group, don’t really seem to follow any specific tenets of a faith outside of protecting the planet and cultivating life on it. basically, i find it weird that a human-made structure and the symbolism that comes with it is imprinted onto aeris of all characters. 

        on one hand i get the logic behind it: she’s easily the most ‘spiritual’ character of the group ( if not the whole game ) and is canonically white / ’western’ inspired as nom.ura put it so western concepts of what is pure / holy is going to be applied to her from a pure aesthetic standpoint alone. from the church, to her somewhat overused prayer pose™, and her own final limit break which has white angels taken straight out of christian art descend from the heavens in its animation sequence, this specific imagery is given to her a lot - even if it doesn’t make sense from an in-universe perspective. the reason i even bring any of this up is that i think how culture is used and applied to certain characters is already inconsistent which is worth pointing out. aeris’ own identity already clashes with itself in canon - some of it being fully intentional and a part of her arc ( her desires as an individual vs her duty as a cetra ) while some of it ( basically everything stated above ) is...definitely not? 

✿ : is her desi identity something she specifically attributes to her cetra heritage?

        yes and no. however, before i fully elaborate on why, i have to touch on how i view the cetra as a whole. i’ve always saw them as people who, while nomadic, still have individual ‘tribes’ they belong to / travel with and it would’ve been common for members of one group to branch off and intermingle / travel with another ( or even just travel on their own for a while ). the more the cetra travel and expand their ‘network’ across the entire planet, it’s only natural that groups are going to start forming their own unique differences, whether it’s with looks, how they speak, and their culture, with their bond to the planet and their duty being what ties them all together. the cetra being separated into specific tribes is also directly supported within canon: 

ifalna: 2000 years ago, our ancestors, the cetra, heard the cries of the planet. the first ones to discover the planet's wound were the cetra at the knowlespole*. 

ifalna: then, just as it had at the knowlespole. it approached other cetra clans...... infecting them with... the virus.

while the cetra capital, the city of the ancients, is in knowlespole ( the modern equivalent of the region that the icicle inn and the northern crater is ), ifalna confirms that other clans beyond it exist. although the details around jenova’s arrival and defeat are unclear, from ifalna’s retelling of what happened ( and her distraught response while doing so ) it seems as if all of the cetra that first encountered jenova were either killed or infected before jenova moved on to do the same to other clans. this more than likely results in entire sub-cultures and histories lost before jenova is sealed away by the cetra aeris descends from ( which would explain why there’s not much recorded information on the cetra within the universe ). 

      one also has to remember the groups of cetra that branched away from the others and become humans. although they abandoned their duties, it’s very likely that they still retained aspects of cetra culture and it just changed / adapted over a period of two thousand years. with the cetra mostly wiped out and forgotten about, i don’t find it realistic for aeris, at least at the beginning of the game, to really know which ‘parts’ of herself come from where; especially since there would realistically be desi-coded humans that haven’t had ties to the cetra in thousands of years. although i headcanon both her mother and father as brown / desi, aeris doesn’t know who her father, professor gast, even is and the years she spent with her mother were in complete captivity. based on aeris’ ignorance about the white materia ( ex. her thinking it was useless originally ) and the cetra in general, one would assume that ifalna wasn’t able to teach aeris much due to not wanting to reveal anything to shinra since they were likely under constant surveillance. there’s also the fact that aeris outright rejects being a cetra as a child and tries ( yet fails ) to assimilate into ‘human’ culture:

“well…” kyrie replied. “there’s a crumbling church in the slums, where we played together. we did things like pretending to hold wedding ceremonies. aeris was always in the church, taking care of the flowers on her own. sometimes we talked about it. one day, aeris told me to go home quickly. i thought she was being mean because i stepped on her flowers.”

“when i got home in a bad mood, my parent’s bodies were being carried to the house. i heard it from my grandmother. about the lifestream and the ancients. i thought it was just a fairytale at the time, but after that— i figured aeris was an ancient. ...hey, what do you think i said when i met aeris after that? i said ‘you creep me out’.” - kyrie revealing her relationship with aeris after learning of her death in the kids are alright novel.

     i guess the real world equivalent of what i’m trying to say would be similar to how i’m black / african american but do i really associate myself and my identity with africa beyond a surface level? the answer is no. how could i when i don’t know anything of my ancestors, african americans are generally robbed of learning about our history, and i don’t even know what ‘part’ of africa i come from. navigating your identity, your culture, and your heritage is extremely complicated and i don’t really see it being any different for aeris. she doesn’t have any way to truly ‘discover’ and connect with her cultural identity - even if she wasn’t actively rejecting it. 

✿ : does she begin to embrace it in her day-to-day life at all? i.e. making and wearing henna, cooking traditional food, etc?

      she does - although it’s a gradual process that doesn’t start until she leaves midgar. canonically, it’s not even until cosmos canyon that aeris finally begins to ‘connect’ to her heritage and fully understand what it means to be a cetra:

aeris: i learned a lot. the elders taught me many things. about the cetra... and the promised land...i'm...... alone... i'm all alone now... 

however, in between chasing sephiroth, almost dying, and then saving the world, she doesn’t have much time to come to terms with everything that she learned there. in my blog canon, she does eventually leave edge a few years after its built to begin traveling on her own and eventually finds herself back in cosmos canyon. realistically, the elders there don’t have all the answers for her but her simply studying there is an important stepping stone to reclaiming a part of herself that she never got to know - or really accepted ( her parents also studied and met there so her life would be coming full circle in a way ). 

      so with all that said, i see aeris’ ‘embracing’ her desi heritage the most with fashion at first since she technically already does - regardless of whether she realizes it or not. the ultimania for the remake includes concept art for the cetra ( which can be viewed fully here ) and they’re specifically said to have been designed to have similarities to aeris - meaning that aeris’ current style of clothing is meant to embody her ancestors. highlighting a cetra design that looks weirdly similar to aeris herself, this cetra’s outfit - at least to me - feels similar to clothing popular in india and other parts of south asia: 

if the dress was taken out and a few alterations was made to her top and half-skirt, it could easily resemble how a lehenga choli piece is worn. the top piece of her half-skirt also resembles the look of an oddiyanam, a type of waist ornament that women in south india wear.

there are other cetra’ accessories that resemble jewelry common in india as well: the armlet on the unnamed cetra resembles a bajuband ( a similar one can be found here ) and bangles similar to a kangan or churi, commonly worn by women across south asia, are prominent in both aeris and the cetra’s overall designs too. 

     with mehndi / henna, i definitely see her wearing it across her hands and feet but it’s mostly similar to whenever she wears traditional dresses: it’s reserved for special occasions / celebrations. with that said, that’s more so when she’s grown accustomed to applying henna herself without messing up or someone else is doing it for her. it wouldn’t be uncommon to see aeris’ hands decorated with different patterns every few months: a direct result of using her own body as practice when first learning how to draw designs ( if you want to get full fantasy with it, the designs glowing against her skin when she uses magic would be neat ). as a side note: for those who don’t know, there is a short story about aeris’ time in the shinra labs. it contains a drawing by her, which is also in the remake, that has more designs for the cetra ( you can see the unedited version here ):

     also aeris cooking? l o l. joking aside, in my three years of writing aeris i’ve never really put much thought into her style of cooking, what type of food she specifically likes to eat, etc. outside of the fact that i don’t think she is much of a cooker at all ( probably because i’m not one either ). however, i cannot let a question go answered so! i’m probably going to sound redundant mentioning cosmos canyon again at this point but it really is due to the fact that it’s specifically the source of her connecting to who she is. the drawing she drew in a trance as a child even includes a location that is more than likely cosmos canyon ( and yes, i checked to compare ). the most notable npcs there are all brown and i do see them all being people of color that have come from different parts of the planet to share knowledge and learn amongst each other. although her main purpose of living in cosmos canyon the years she’s there is to study her people and record her own knowledge ( i’ll touch on this later ), it also provides her with an opportunity to connect with other people that are desi-coded like her on a more personal-level. 

     am i basically saying she probably tasted some type of chaat ( dahi vada specifically ) for the first time after leaving midgar and never looked back? yes. it’s not until aeris leaves midgar that she gets to experience trying out various food from her own culture as well as food from cultures outside of it in general ( not that these foods didn’t exist in midgar but she’s poor and doesn’t really have the means / opportunity to try them before ). aeris definitely becomes a fan of dishes that are savory with gravy, can be eaten with sauces like chutney ( she likes red chili, spicy coconut and mango chutney the most ), or dishes based around vegetables ( although if there’s spinach it, don’t tell her because ew ), fish or lamb. dishes such as rajma, samosas, sambar, biryani ( it’s probably one of the first desi dishes she would cook on her own ), pakora ( she’s definitely eaten chili pepper pakoras without a sweat ), etc. are all up her alley. aeris admittedly also has a sweet tooth so snacks like kozhukkattai, gulab jamun served with ice cream, etc. also appeals to her greatly™.

    the process of eating these dishes when they’re made by other people vs actually introducing them into her day to day eating habits are two different things though. not to say that she wouldn’t make an effort to try - she definitely will but learning how to cook these dishes takes time ( especially if you’re already not much of a cook. ). incorporating them into her daily lifestyle wouldn’t be an instant process but it will happen eventually.

✿ : how do her views on her identity change with each incarnation? 

     as the embodiment of the lifestream, aeris is constantly consuming information between each reincarnation. the lifestream houses memories and knowledge since the planet’s very inception so she literally has thousands of years of information to sort through and process between each new ‘life’. the different cetra clans that were mentioned earlier? aeris would technically have the ability to trace back the memories of her entire lineage and discover which clan she’s from if she wanted to. with every incarnation, she’s learning a little more about her people, where she comes from, etc. and being a cetra starts to feel like less of a burden to her and a role she starts to embrace / actively take pride in. while there will come a time where she’s not the ‘last cetra’ anymore, aeris essentially becomes an eternal record keeper for her people.

once she begins working with the WRO, it’s actually her idea to start an annual celebration event ( or festival ) during the anniversary of meteorfall. despite her people being nomadic and spread out, the cetra had a capital city and it’s not far fetched to assume that it was used as a place for the cetra to converge during important events, celebrations, etc. through aeris, aspects of their culture begin to live on in new ways such as the meteorfall festival which becomes a celebration of life and the planet itself. while the festival isn’t intended to have any real world parallel, i do think the symbolism of the diwali festival is fitting for the events of sephiroth’s defeat / lifestream and holy destroying meteor:

 diwali symbolizes the spiritual victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance.

overall, no matter how many times she reincarnates, aeris always returns to cosmos canyon to record everything she knows, whether its her own life experiences, the memory of her people, or their culture, so that her children, her grandchildren, and so on can always have knowledge of their history and identity in a way that she wasn’t able to.

✿ : brown aeris says thanks for reading!

i hope this was a satisfying answer to your questions! i try to do my best with honoring the cultures i’m talking about and not treating them in a haphazardly and/or lazy way. i wanted to explain her journey of being someone not really connected to their heritage at all and explaining the process she goes through in a realistic way without..making it surface level? hopefully i achieved that!

[danieyells]

Thanks for answering my questions! I know it was a lot lmao but I Am Have Questions and very few people informed enough to discuss them with xD

I suppose it is possible they Oniwaka and Co. were being rent from their exceptions and not to Tokyo itself, but I thought the way it worked was that MC rent their connection to Tokyo itself and overwrote it with their own! I hadn't considered your angle before; something to think about haha

If I remember right though, Sitri's wings, and with them his powers, only grew in recently right? Like, a little while before the first Valentine's Event? That's why he had so much trouble controlling them if I recall correctly! But sustaining himself on that energy is one thing that can be explained (though! It's possible that part of Sitri's deep desire for chocolate in general, but valentine's chocolate especially, is the love that gets put into them? Not to say he sustains himself solely on it or anything, but it might explain the strength of his desires ahaha)

Wait. Do those character quests mean that collisions can literally send people into the pasts of other worlds?? Like fr?? And also, does that mean collisions are like, direct overlaps with other worlds and not just illusory versions?

Part of why I'm trying to sort this all out is because I want to write a TAS fic, but I needed a better understanding of how, exactly, the system works, and was basically about to throw my hands in the air and say that actually nobody goes home at all until they've fulfilled their contracts ever and that's that xD I've finished all the story content btw! Including chapter 11 and most of the translated events, except for the Canaan one (gotta get on that, pray I get myself a Dagon 5★)

Does that mean that we contracts are *unfulfillable*? Like MC's connection with Agyo was basically like "I want friend lmao" and then they got their friend, but does that mean that Agyo is trapped in Tokyo until MC decides that they don't want to be friends with him anymore?

Also, do you think that if a Stray Transient does eventually run out of energy to sustain themselves in Tokyo, they get booted back to their world permanently, or do you think they just recover their strength in their home world and then get pulled back over?

Thanks again for answering my questions! I hope that this is proving as interesting to explore to you as it is to me hahaha

I don't mind that it's a lot at all! Lol it was just a surprise. I'm honored to be approached about this kind of thing, and I find it very interesting, yeah! 'u' I love worldbuilding and characterization so thinking about/sharing my thoughts on it for things I like is always a pleasure.

I mean it's possible they're rending their connection to Tokyo, but I feel like that wouldn't take the exception away? Because it came from an interaction they had, not Tokyo itself. I figured they were torn from the exception and the exception and fighting robbed them of all their energy in the proccess of making them a. . .screaming, mindless fighting machine lmao. Like rending a familiar from someone? But that familiar is inside them? If that makes sense? I don't remember if this was explained to begin with let alone how lol I should reread it lol

Sitri's wings did come in pretty recently, and they're implied to be a puberty thing. The problem is that he says they came in "the other day"--which doesn't necessarily mean "two days ago" as convenient as that'd be. The Japanese is even more vague, just saying "When I was taking a bath" without giving a timeframe. But I kinda figured that, until the wings popped in, love from his family was enough to sustain him. Because Bathym doesn't have a family here, really, he has his fans and the guild. But also since his family knew about the wings, saying they were a sign he was growing up, maybe they have a similar power that pops in during puberty and thus were able to feed him others' feelings. But yeah they were new which is why he couldn't control them.

As for the pasts in other worlds. . .time doesn't flow in other worlds the same as it does in Tokyo necessarily. El Dorado isn't even around anymore, time in Shangri-La flows slower than in Tokyo, etc--but these places still participate in the Game despite that. So worlds and timelines aren't entirely stable--after all time's been reset over and over. Also, we have time travelers from Utopia(which is the future???) so if they were forced to conform to a single space-time path that'd be kind of difficult? So, yeah, time and space and memories aren't necessarily stable in collisions. I mean, if a world collided based on memories, who's to say those places are still exactly as remembered? It works for the jungle in Shangri-La because it's a jungle and how much will that change--but the collided oceans are connected to towns in other worlds? Dagon connected islands from various worlds into one, too--those can't all be his own memories or from the same timeframe. Collisions are pretty unstable by definition so it doesn't surprise me that time can get screwed up along the way.

But yeah collisions seem to be actual overlaps of some sort--since Macan remembered that he heard MC's voice that happened in the collision, Xolotl met and saw himself in the collision, etc. And those things had effects that brought them to Tokyo to begin with.

Oh, there's also Nomad's character story where MC was invisible to everyone but Nomad--Nomad could feel them too--because the worlds were unstable under Ikebukuro Coliseum and they reminded Nomad of the prison he was in, causing the Collision.

MC could travel the collision/memory without Nomad around and get accurate information about its layout to help him escape.

If the collision doesn't alter the actual past then there's no way they'd know without Nomad physically with them. . .and there's no way Nomad would know where to go to escape the prison if MC weren't able to get actual information.

Then MC breaks the lights--only Nomad can see them, but they can affect reality/the past in a way that influenced everyone in it. And they're able to escape thanks to information MC gathered about and influence MC had on the world that Nomad would have no means whatsoever of getting/doing on his own.

Then they saw present Nomad who said MC was his, MC tried to reassure past!Nomad that it was okay, they were the same person, and past!Nomad felt betrayed.

Past Nomad sees MC through the transient light and chases after them, bringing him to Tokyo in continued pursuit of revenge.

. . .and present Nomad, now home with Mc and having had resolved the collision, remembered that he'd been chasing MC through the transient light but had travelled to Tokyo to find them--but had not travelled to them. He'd likely forgotten who he was looking for because he was kind of out of his mind at the time and thought he was chasing after his own hallucination to begin with.

Now that he remembers he wanted to kill MC for leaving him but also knows that he's the one who MC left him for, he deems them half a traitor for only betraying the him of the past not the him of the present and lets them off the hook for now.

(nice kabedon--DAMN THE TEN IMAGE LIMIT.)

MC was the one he wanted venegence against when he left Utopia, although he still has to get revenge against the people who turned him into a tiger. But he went to Tokyo to get revenege against MC and made a contract with them without remembering they were the target. He says he won't kill them for now but someday, when his other revenge is done, he'll come after them for betraying him. Until then they're his assistant and they'll be helping him get revenge. If they betray him again--betray him "one and a half times"--they'll become the new priority and he'll kill them first.

But even he said that he thinks that he's crazed for revenge is stupid so MC figured out that he wants them to keep him in check. (He calls them 'traitor' fondly(? He smiles while doing it, I think it's pretty fond) and I wish he kept doing that but it'd probably reveal more to people than Nomad is comfortable revealing lol so he calls you by name instead.)

Also, canonness note, he declares them his detective assistant when he declares them his accomplice--and in the Beach House Andvari he reiterates that's your relationship too. Which means that his character quest is canon across events. And if events are canon--whether through your choices or not(at one point in the story you know Gyobu but you only met him in events until that point???) that means Mc making pacts with everyone could be canon too.

. . .but yeah collisions are just time and space freaking out. Maybe they're past resets of sorts.

And oooh fanfics are exciting 'u' I'll give it a read if you link it! And congrats on reading everything! *U* I've gotta do that myself lol and good luck getting 5★Dagon!! I wanted 5★Tangaroa(someone I have added has him and. . .holy shit he heals himself, he heals allies around him, he's practically invincible) but I ran out of transient stones and I'm poor irl 8'D The Canaan event is fun and also chaotic and will probably give you even MORE questions about how the fuck timelines and collisions work. Because it kinda introduces a new mechanic into the mix. So uh brace yourself?

The problem with "nobody goes home until they've fulfilled their contracts" is that some people just don't have contracts. And their own desires only seem to cause gates to open and take them, not actually bind them--someone from Tokyo(or in Tokyo in MC's case) needs to be their binding agent if they're not like. A World Rep or someone similarly powerful enough to stay on their own(this is a guess--they're probably sustained by being the System and thus stand on the faith of all their people from their world. Alternatively they're bound to Tokyo via MC as the trophy.) Otherwise they wouldn't note that transients disappear eventually if unbound by a contract.

Gullinbursti isn't attached to MC by contract anymore not because MC said "I don't want us to be friends" or anything but because MC refused to make a proper contract with him because he'd misinterpret it. But he's still hanging out, so. It's not immediate. But, yeah, there are probably unfulfillable contracts that can only be broken by death or declaration. Agyo is stuck with MC until MC says he can go lol--I mean they're friends now but it'd defeat the purpose of the pact if they went away as soon as that happened. Because MC wants more and more companions they'll never truly have their desire to have friends fulfilled probably. So anyone summoned that way gets to stay in Tokyo until MC is no longer in it or maybe until MC decides "I don't want people around me anymore/I don't want to see anyone ever again" and truly means it--which will declare their contracts fulfilled and send them home, if they have a home/life to return to.

As for if Stray Transients go back permanently, yes and no. I think they go back and recuperate their energy and they stay home if they don't have an outstanding pact(whether they're aware or not)--however if they were just there because they went into the light and had nothing binding them to the land but that energy/will that brought them, they'd go home without bwing sent back unless they really wanted it again. Thus they can be resummoned, intentionally or otherwise. If MC one day dismisses everyone, regrets it, and says they want their friends back, everyone would come back. But if they didn't ask for everyone to return they'd stay home(disregarding that they'd probably all go NO WE WANNA GO BACK TAKE US TO MC and the transient light would bring them back to Tokyo again lmao.)

So. Yeah, they'll stay home until summoned again, even after they get their energy back, I think. If they don't have a home to go back to maybe they float in the void for a while, kinda like how MC just kinda existed as the Exiles without a home or like how Robinson says they can't stay anywhere forever because they're Wanderers.

(Somewhat related, Shiro mentions in the Apprentice Santa event that it must be hard to import turkey to Tokyo. . .import it from where? Tokyo is closed off on all sides INCLUDING THE OCEAN. That means someone's bringing turkey from other worlds into Tokyo--a business-like summoning contract lol. "Come to Tokyo, bring goods from other worlds, and you can go back until I need more" basically. Using another world like a manufacturing plant lol. . .little things like that make me consider that you can go and come back at the will of a summoner, assuming you donct have an artifact or ability that allows you to traverse worlds as you please.)

Another thing for you to consider if you wanna be a bit more puzzled: remember how much belief plays a part in how things work in Tokyo. Consider. . .if someone claims they're not a stray transient when they actually are and everyone around them believes that they have a contract or guild or something keeping them there even though it's not true. . .are they bound to Tokyo by that belief as long as they're around more people who think they're bound to somebody? Will they disappear if people stop believing them or they're around people who believe they're a stray? Consiquentially if people believe a stray will disappear sooner than later does their timer run out faster? If Ose somehow ran around telling people that transients won't disappear with his ability to make people believe everything he says, do they stop disappearing because no one thinks they will? I suppose he can't lie to nature, but can those beliefs sustain people? I mean belief can cause Oni to be hurt by beans, can cause Behemoth to regain his sense of taste, can cause people from worlds that've been destroyed to become demons because the Angels invading will it to be so. So where does belief's power end and the power of the System kick in? Does the game end if MC puts on Ose's crown and tells the Representaives it's over and they all lost? Or would the alternation of belief on a mass scale cause an Exception by clashing with something more powerful than it? What, since they so value Systems and the Faith that sustains them, to the point that losing Faith in your System causes a full on collapse of the world it holds together(see:Canaan), is more powerful in this game than the power of belief?

[cobraonthecob]

Stop Holding Each Other Back, Dang It! - Part 1

Another messy anti-Kataa/ng essay no one asked for but this has been on my mind for two hours so I’m writing it anyways.

Narratively speaking, Kataa/ng makes zero sense. No symbolism that fits the themes of the show is probably my biggest strike against K/ataang, but there’s another part: How they hold each other back, specifically, how Ka.tara (intentionally or not) holds Aan/g back. 

Part 1 is going to be about how K.atara holds Aa/ng’s development, Part 2 is going to be how Aan/g and K/ataang overshadowed Katara and just...well, y’all know how LoK and the comics went.

(this is all going to be from memory so if I miss an episode...rip) 

And now on with the messily thrown together meta! :D

Let’s start with the Southern Air Temple. She covers up the Fire Nation helmet in an attempt to spare his feelings, and this brutally backfires on her when Momo leads Aa.ng to Gyatso’s skeleton and goes into the Avatar State in order to process his grief and shock. 

The next major episode is The Storm, when Kat.ara tells Aan.g that his running away issue is not a bad problem. Yes and no, on that statement. On one hand, it let him survive the Air Nomad Genocide, but on the other hand, he still ran away. I wouldn’t have had a big problem with this had it not been continually rewarded (something I might’ve mentioned in my Bumbleby and K.ataang contrast meta). 

After these two episodes, the show shows in little ways on how much faith Ka.tara puts onto Aa.ng on him being the last hope for the world and also increases her motherly drive to protect him. This especially pops up in Bitter Work.

With a new teacher comes a new teaching style, and Top.h does not pull her punches. Where Katar.a is gentle, T.oph is tough, where Kat.ara coddles, To.ph essentially throws A.ang onto his face. Top.h is critical and almost brutal at times, whereas Kata.ra encourages and gently corrects, which probably stems from The Waterbending Scroll, where the one time Ka.tara does get to snap at A.ang, Aa/ng nearly cries and she freaks out and apologizes for being frustrated (I remember someone talking about Kata.ra’s reaction being “I’m the worst mom ever” lol, if I find it I’ll reblog it). Kat.ara, already having abandonment issues/unable to hurt Aang’s feelings in a way that would lead to character growth with Aang (running away in The Storm, nearly crying when she snaps at him in The Waterbending Scroll) already shows Kata.ra and A.ang’s incompatibility. Sure, it’s nice that your partner encourages you, but not to the point where they blind themselves to your faults. Other people have written metas that better articulate this point.

I could say Bitter Work foreshadows K.atara unknowingly holding Aan/g back, as later in the season in The Guru, A.ang gives up mastering the Avatar State in favor of rescuing Ka/tara (because apparently being a minute away from mastering the AS is a problem? He was ready to give it all up until he saw that Kata.ra was in trouble, and if he mastered the AS, he’d really be able to save her so???? I need to make another meta about this oh dear) Kat.ara coddles him, strokes his ego, and kisses his boo-boos, along with looking to him as the pinnacle of hope and peace. To a 12-year-old, this looks like the ideal girlfriend, and I don’t exactly fault him for thinking that given that he’s twelve and this is his first full-on crush (and then the narrative goes on to reward him with her. Ew. *shudders*)

However, A.ang’s growth suffers because of Kat.ara’s mothering/overprotectiveness (Katara treats him vastly different than Top.h and Sok.ka, let’s be real, she goes through T.oph’s stuff in The Runaway and gives Sokk.a a piece of her mind) - sure, he does deserve encouragement, but sometimes, you got to give someone a shove or a kick in the pants to make them do something. Kata.ra soothing A.ang’s ego didn’t really help him earthbend at all, all it did was get him to understand that learning to earthbend was not going to be a walk in the park learning waterbending was. I might be confusing fanon with canon bc sometimes fics are just that good, but other instances in the show has Kata/ra being gentle with A.ang or never having them address the issue. honestly i would kill to see a convo between them about why Aa.ng didn’t master the Avatar State before coming to rescue Ka.tara but that’s a fic for another time

TL;DR: Kataa/ng is on really shaky foundation once you get past the lack of symbolism and inability to tie in with the show’s themes, and is further hit due to K/atara being way too protective of Aan.g to see his faults properly. There’s a lot of baggage to unpack that deserves a meta or a fix-it fic (as if I didn’t have like ten of those sitting around my drive already) of its own to expand on. Past meta have also talked about the one-sidedness of Katara and Aang’s relationship in how much the emotional support goes to and how poorly they communicate what they actually want. 

[konohagakureship]

Deidara and Sasori d&d au!  Two more members of the Akatsuki Fellowship!! They are travelling around Khorvaire, in the world of Eberron!

au! Akatsuki D&D

Headcanons:

All the info related to places and clans is from the canonic lore of Eberron, or from interpretations that i’ve found here and there, and also a bit of my own homebrew lore. I’m gathering all the info and sources in my WorldAnvil page so you can check it out if you want :)

And this is the map with notes so you can pin all the locations.

This time I chose to put only the info relevant to the characters to make the post shorter. But still, this will be a LONG post so be prepared xD

Founding of the Akatsuki Fellowship

All the members of the party met in Sharn, the biggest city of the continent of Khorvaire. They were there for different reasons but ended up travelling together across the world.

Sasori the poison master

Sasori’s mother was a Talenta halfling. She and her family travelled to Gatherhold often to commerce with other tribes and foreigners.

There she met Sasori’s father, a medic from House Jorasco who was serving in a hospital in Gatherhold. They got married and months after Sasori was born.

Gatherhold is the biggest city in the Talenta Plains and the main enclave of the nomadic Talenta tribes, but halflings from all Khorvaire gather and make business there.

Sasori was born into the Jorasco House but was raised by his maternal family in Gatherhold. He learned the ways of the Talenta halflings and was given a  Swindlespitter in his rite of passage, who he named Hiruko.

Swindlespitters are small sized dinosaurs with poisonous spit, that steal and eat other dinosaurs’ eggs. Talenta halflings craft masks to represent their bond with their mount, and they believe their spirits unite when they wear them. Sasori carved his mask in wood as it was typical from his tribe.

Short after bonding with Hiruko, his Mark of Healing appeared and Sasori was sent to Vedykar (Karrnath), the main enclave of House Jorasco, to learn medicine and alchemy. There he was tutored by his paternal grandmother Chiyo.

Sasori had a strong connection with his Mark of Healing, which made him a quick learner and proficient student in various medical fields. Even though he was doing great academically, Sasori was lonely and missed his parents, so Chiyo taught him the art of poison-making in an attempt to bond with her grandkid.

But Sasori’s loneliness took a toll on him and soon his feelings for House Jorasco and its medical monopoly began to sour. This made him start looking for new approaches to medicine.

Karrnath employs undead soldiers controlled by the Blood of Vol necromancers. And even though now this religion is looked down upon the Five Nations, Karrnath remains the stronghold of their faith and practitioners of its dark magic are seen in the streets of Vedykar.

Sasori encountered some Blood of Vol Seekers and quickly took interest in necromancy, their dark arts and the promise of immortality.

With this new reprehensible interest mixed up with his animosity towards House Jorasco, Sasori was distrusted amongst his peers and he ultimately left Vedykar.

Atur is a city of culture and arts, and has the largest worship site of the Blood of Vol in Khorvaire. In this city, the living and dead coexist in a daily basis.

Sasori settled in Atur for a while. There he studied the secrets of necromancy, even though he never showed interest in the Blood of Vol faith, and developed his medical skills to the point of becoming a master in poisons and drugs.

During one of his experiments he lost his right leg, and travelled to Korth to obtain a mystical engineered prosthesis from House Cannith. There he met the Warforged and got interested in their technology.

In the Last War, House Cannith produced the Warforged, mindless automatons made of wood and steel, but the use of magic turned them into fully sentient soldiers that can feel pain and emotion. Now they are considered people and have free will.

Back in Atur, he began to research about the Warforged to see if he could implement a similar technology to the dead and the living to make them more efficient. This lead him to apply to The True Shapers to study the art of woodcraft and forging.

The True Shapers is House Thuranni academy of crafts. This school rivals with House Phiarlan’s The Shapers, but The True Shapers is considered the best of its kind. (See Itachi and Kisame’s post for more info about the elven houses rivalry)

Sasori studied in The True Shapers for some time. But using necromancy and dark magic for crafting theater props was not of the like of his instructors, so he was invited to leave the academy and search a place where he could make a better use of his artistic skills.

He then travelled to Sharn, where he worked briefly for House Jorasco in the upper city hospital facilities before starting his own business.

He opened an atelier named The Puppeteer, in the Callestan district. He worked closely with the halfling Boromar clan, crafting poisons and artifacts for the cartel on demand, but he was also open to any other independent customers and criminal organizations.

Sasori became a great asset for all those who wanted to make deals with the Boromar or the Jorasco but were on their black list, like the smugglers and bounty hunters of House Tarkanan, or for those who just wanted to acquire a flask of dreamlily (drug).

With his many connections to important organisations, Sasori had eyes and ears in every House of Sharn yet he often visited The Shadowkeeper (who he well knew was a safe house for Thuranni spies and assassins) to catch up with what was going on outside of the city, and particularly in Atur.

Deidara the firecracker

Deidara's parents lived in a small village of Thrane. His birth was influenced by infernal powers and so he was born a Fernia planetouched tiefling.

Fernian tieflings’ abilities are tied to fire, their skin is fiery red or orange and warm to the touch, and when they grow angry the ambient temperature rises. Fernian tieflings are fiery and passionate, with an innate love for seeing things destroyed by flame.

His poor human parents, scared of their newborn child turned to The Church to seek help. The Church of the Silver Flame is the most extended religious community in Khorvaire and has its capital in Flamekeep (Thrane). 

Though they believe in compassion and charity, the goal of the Church is to destroy all evil in the world and for that they employ any means they deem necessary, such as extermination. 

The Church sees tieflings as potential threats if their power is not properly tamed, and so they established the tiefling community of Rellekor. Rellekor is a haven for planetouched tieflings where they are raised and taught to control their magic, but also a place to keep them away from the regular population.

When human families give birth to a tiefling, they will usually deliver them to The Church, who in turn will send them to Rellekor. That’s what happened to Deidara.

Deidara never met his parents, haven been raised and trained in Rellekor since he can remember, and was too boisterous for anyone to want to take him under their wing. So he never had anyone to look up to.

As a Fernian tiefling it was really hard for him to follow the path of light of the Silver Flame, and so he was constantly being grounded and chased around by the Templars for making things combust. 

He was a mischievous kid with too much passion for fire and explosions, and so they named him "Firecracker Deidara".

But growing up, he took a liking for crafts and so he started studying pottery. His tutors were relieved to see that he had found a hobby that wasn't potentially destructive... until Deidara found a way to mix his sculptures with his fiery magic and called it art.

Thanks to his new explosive art, Deidara’s tutors reprimended him even more often, and this, far from making him embrace the path of light, made him see Rellekor's authorities with disdain and his behavior worsened.

Feeling trapped in the tiefling city, he decided to travel to Thaliost where he enrolled in The Shapers, House Phiarlan’s academy of crafts. He saw The Shapers as a way to escape from his life in Rellekor and maybe purchase the artistic career he dreamed of.

Deidara avidly studied the art of pottery in The Shapers, and even though he was a great potter, his artistic approach was too revolutionary for the academy and he was given the option to leave his explosions or leave The Shapers. 

He then travelled to Atur in an attempt to enroll in The True Shapers, but received the same recommendation from his previous academy and thus his application was denied when he refused to abandon his fiery art.

Forever mad at the Thuranni for refusing him without giving his art an opportunity, Deidara left Atur in a hurry after burning down the reception hall of The True Shapers. 

Being rejected from the best craftmanship academies and not wanting to return to Rellekor’s suffocating system, he wandered through many cities and villages of Khorvaire until he arrived in Sharn.

In Sharn he tried to make art for a living but few people were interested in his unstable creations. This, and his multiple altercations with the law and the cartels, pushed him to the lower levels of the city and ended up in the lawless Callestan district.

There he rented the tiny garret of The Shadowkeeper and made it his home and workshop... without knowing that the tavern was run by Thuranni elves.

-------------

We have the first four members of the party!! Now i need the other four to show up too ;)

[syrena-of-the-lake]

Favorite Female Characters Meme

Rules: name your top 10 favorite female characters from different fandoms, then tag 10 people. (Anyone who wants to play: tag, you’re it!)

I was tagged by @klaineharmony - thank you for the walk down memory lane! Now I have more old favorites to revisit... ☺️ I don’t have pretty pictures, so have some anecdotes instead:

1. Leia Organa, Star Wars: the start of my Star Wars obsession, fearless princess and compassionate general, sharp-witted and sharp-tongued and kind-hearted.

2. Mara Jade, Star Wars Legends (hey, it counts!): Mara was the first character I encountered dipping my toes into the EU, and remains my favorite. She may be the stuff of Legends (har) but sue will always be canon to me.

3. Lucy and Susan Pevensie, Chronicles of Narnia: Don’t make me pick just one. When I was little, I wanted to be like Susan — clever and quiet and competent — and my love for and understanding of her had only grown and deepens with time. But Lucy is faith and light and fierceness and wonder and who wouldn’t follow her anywhere? And now, I want to be more like Lucy.

4. Captain Kathryn Janeway, Star Trek Voyager: Scientist and leader, strong and compassionate, and oh how I wanted to be her, growing up! And now I finally appreciate her deep and abiding love for coffee, so maybe I have finally attained some level of Janewaness.

5. Belle, Beauty & the Beast: The first Disney princess I saw and recognized myself in. She walked around with her nose in a book, just like me! She dreamed of far-off places, just like me! Maybe the origin of my adoration for female characters who are intelligent and brave and stubborn and have loving hearts as big as the sky.

6. Hermione Granger, Harry Potter: I don’t know any girl my age who doesn’t like Hermione. “Books and cleverness” and a deep desire to make the world better, and abiding loyalty. A little bossy for my taste, but it makes her so real.

7. Eowyn, The Lord of the Rings: Shieldmaiden of Rohan, Wraith-slayer, fearing only a cage and refusing to be kept in one! I have always loved Eowyn, and on my first read I remember thinking she belonged with Aragorn... until she met Faramir.

8. Phryne Fisher, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries: Who can describe Miss Fisher? She is so much fun, and a force of nature. Our Lady of Lockpicks. I never get tired of these shows, and her banter with Jack, and her outlandish... everything. Heaven help whoever stands in her way!

9. Firekeeper, the wolf woman protagonist of the Firekeeper series by Jane Lindskold: Literally raised by wolves, Firekeeper thinks as a wolf does, and she is one of the most fascinating characters I’ve ever read. I love how she holds onto her wolfishness when trying to learn to move among the “two-leggers,” and her unique way of seeing the world is a treat to read.

10. Amelia Peabody, the Amelia Peabody mysteries by Elizabeth Peters: Amelia is simply superlative. She is like a Victorian Miss Fisher, in a way — so headstrong and over the top that it’s funny, but you can’t help but be pulled along for the ride. And any woman who can master the dual, duelling passions of archaeological fever and detectival fever is one to be admired.

Honorable mentions, because I have too many favorites:

11. Rey, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy: The only reason Rey is down this far is because I had too many Star Wars ladies already. I love her character, and her relentless hope touched me deeply.

12. Cimorene, Enchanted Forest Chronicles: The most practical princess! Friend to dragons, banisher of wizards, common sense personified. She is a wonder and a joy.

13. Tess Sorenson, protagonist of the Novels of the Jaran by Katie Elliott: Tess has a wonderful character arc, growing out of her insecurities to carve a place for herself in a primitive, nomadic culture on an alien world.

14. Luna Lovegood, Harry Potter: I simply adore Luna, her oddball but insightful way of seeing the world, her unflinching compassion for others.

15. Miss Bianca, the Rescuers: So elegant, so classy, so blithe in the face of danger!

16. ... does Raptor Red count? (Raptor Red by Robert Bakker) Of course she does, she’s a Utahraptor — I’m hardly going to be the one to say no!

[lochroma]

Some Concepts bc I'm feelin a little creative tonight:

The dragons of the fire emblem series + their culture draws parallels to that of Islam, less in means of the core faith— since with the divine dragons i wouldn't be sure if they'd lean towards monotheistic or polytheistic beliefs— but more the likes of dress and tradition surrounding it, heavily inspired from muslims if that makes sense? It starts closer to one unified belief/culture/common dress of the divine dragon tribes, and branches out into different variations between the different "lower" tribes. At least, I've always assumed the divine dragon tribe had a sort of superiority in class as opposed to say, earth or ice dragons ((vague shrugging motion @ that tho))

On that note, i think it should be clarified if the dragons do have a religion? Because ninian was an oracle— it mentions a few times, like in her heroes description, that she is such and that her dances are "divine tribute". Whether that's an ice dragon-specific thing, or an all around, idk! I'd like to believe that the dragons' religion could be evidenced from fe7's buffing rings, i.e. ninis/thor/filla/set. Once again though! Not much to go off of canonically-speaking, unfortunately.

More fe7 tho: Ilia is a twist on Inuit cultures and customs, hunting as the main source of food and clothing due to the cold, icy climate. Sacae is a parallel to Mongolia, as well, with nomadic lifestyles and yurts as a shelter (as evidenced in canon!)

Tellius takes most of its influences from slavic backgrounds, culture included. This one's kinda reinforced by the fe:h love abounds tellius alts, but I'd like to believe it goes deeper than just the dress, and one group of people. Therefore, it still has different sections across the continent (like east slav, west slav, etc etc) but maintains an overall common culture status despite regional separation. Tho i do think beorcs = slavic, and laguz = [to be determined bc im gonna be real it's been a long ass time since I've played 9 or 10 and idk what I'd wanna hc it as.]

Boy this is gettin kinda lengthy oops. Feel free to add on your own personal hcs tho!!

[miqojak]

34 & 39 :D

40 OC Development Questions(Tagging @rinrin-rinalys since you also asked 34!)34. What would someone blackmail your oc with? Would they be successful in getting what they wanted? 

Oh boy. UH. She’s got irons in a few fires. They could try to get her on Yakuza stuff/gang activity, but she’s got the organization behind her to pull legal strings and keep her safe from most anything connected with that. The only thing that she doesn’t have a recourse for would probably be the murders she’s guilty of, since she’s been struggling with her magic. They weren’t sanctioned by her organization, and only a select few know about them, and why they happened. They have been “...extremely wicked, shockingly evil and vile,” to steal a line from the Ted Bundy case/movie, and would probably be great blackmail. I’m not sure what kind of threat would cow her, though? It depends on what’s leveraged. She’s too proud to truly humiliate herself over a handful of murders, however - her ego is powerful. She’d be more inclined to ask someone to murder the blackmailer for her - then at least maybe they won’t see it coming. (Also depends on who the blackmailer is, I suppose!)39. How superstitious is your oc? Do they end up following them ‘just in case’? Or are superstitions incredibly important to your oc? What are some that they believe? What about the ones they don’t?

Mostly ‘no’, though she’s open-minded and has had some weird experiences. She puts her faith in the Jackal, mostly a figure of trickery, cunning, and death; guardian of all those who live their lives on the move, who live every day for survival, those who make the most of having little more than a scavenger’s intuition - thieves, nomads, rogues, survivalists. (There’s also HEAVY Anubis vibes in my canon.) The only real ritualistic or ‘superstitious’ thing she might do is set up a small altar to the Jackal somewhere secluded. This is a little...conical? ‘pyramid’ of bones. 

Similar, but not quite the same as these piles - though in the desert it’s a collection of bones and skulls, almost set like a marker, before they move on to their next camp. It’s how you knew the J tribe was around...but these days she has no need of one, since she’s not hunting food. Though, she’s contemplating taking keepsakes from her uh...well, new form of hunting. So...if she’s superstitious at all, it’s mostly to do with the Jackal. That’s equal parts faith and superstition though.

(She HAS had an encounter with tarot card reading that’s shook her up, considering she figured all that was just garbage. So, she’s...not actively superstitious, until something shakes up her paradigm.)

[royaltealovingkookiness]

Notes on my lost airbenders fic

So there has been a lot of interesting back-and-forth going around on the lost airbenders theories, and it just wouldn’t leave my head. 

Here are some of the themes that the story is exploring that I thought would have been great for a Book 4 if ATLA ever got one.

(Don’t mind me, I’m on a long ramble)

The story picks up after The Great Eggspedition, which tells the story of Zuko and Druk which to me is also a story of creating something new on the ashes of past hurt, and also how Zuko and Azula start healing the rift between them. It’s a slow and difficult process, and especially Azula has to go through a lot to find her place in the new world order. These themes continue in the second fic.

In The Things We Lost in the Fog I wanted to bring in also some new themes:

1. Aang’s character arc

For me one of the disappointments of Book 3 was that it fell a bit flat on Aang’s character arc, especially when it comes to examining his own culture and beliefs and to process the loss of his people. I know that he was supposed to let go of his guilt over running away in the Guru - but I don’t think that he fully processed it. As the war ends, the questions would inevitably come up - what happens to the air temples? Is there anything to rescue from a lost culture? His friends all have their roles, their homes, but Avatar is a vague job description and Balance is something difficult to quantify. Aang would have to start asking himself the questions “where do I go from here?” Gyatso was such an important influence in Aang’s life, so I’m curious to explore more about their relationships and how his teachings help Aang find his way.

2. Aang’s coming of age

The story is set about 2 years after the end of the war and Aang is turning a  teenager. I like the idea of exploring a coming of age for Aang, whose canon story is mostly holding onto his child self. But change is the nature of things and Avatar or no, he would have to go through it and come out on the other side more mature, but keeping his signature joy and kindness (I intensely hate the idea of making him a never-changing child-man). So he's mostly still a sunshine boy, but he's also gotta go through those hormonal, everything sucks in my life feelings. And who better to accompany him on this journey than Zuko, who’s grown from angry teenage edgeboy to an empathic young man? Zuko of course is a good person to recognize Aang’s gloomy moods, but not so great dealing with them. So he does "pat-pat" and here, have some cake and a proverb salad (hmmm, sounds like the Iroh-method). But still, considering how many times he screwed up, he’s well suited to understand where Aang is coming from.

3. The lost airbenders

Ok, so I have a hard time believing that Sozin managed to wipe out with one single strike all existing air-bender genes. I can certainly understand that they would have lost their connection to the element and their bending, but with balance returning, these things should start slowly returning too. 

But other than physical bending, it’s more interesting that these benders would have been raised culturally not as Air Nomads, but as Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom and possibly Water Tribe (though with the WT being so insular, this one is still a bit of a question mark). Aang’s challenge would be to re-evaluate the teachings of his culture and try to accomodate people in it who were raised differently than him. It’s a daunting task to build something from scratch that is unlikely to look EXACTLY like his lost world. At the same time, it’s a beautiful opportunity to build something new, that is still based on the most important values of his culture. 

4. Fire Nation history / Kuzon’s backstory

Post-war, the Fire Nation will have to do a lot of soul-searching as they re-evaluate their history - taught as glorious conquest to bring light to inferior people to what it was, a bloody, violent conquest and a genocide. It starts with taking down the statues of former heroes, not restamped war criminals, re-writing history books, changing the most offensive symbols of colonialism, paying restitution, issueing apologies. Zuko has his heart in the right place and he goes in full steam, like always, to make reforms. 

The thing is, people don’t want to be told that they are the bad guys, they hate when racist festivals are abolished (because they grew up with them), they want to hold on to their privilege, to their feeling of old glory. The entire country resents Zuko, or that’s what it feels like on most days. They don’t want to change. 

But it’s difficult to believe that the Fire Nation went bad from one day to the other, the day Sozin’s comet appeared. There had to be dissenters, people who didn’t want to march to Sozin’s tune. But they have been blotted out of history by the regime which had tight control over the mind of its population. I think it’s important to unearth these people who risked or sacrificed their lives to stop Sozin’s violence, to mitigate the damage or to just stand up and scream that this is wrong. And I think this would be a healing journey for Zuko to regain faith in his own people, to see that there were always good people, and even if they failed they tried. They represent the capacity of the Fire Nation for good. 

5. Zuko and Aang’s friendship

OK, who am I kidding? History and world-building is fun, but I love these two boys together, and for all their karmic, life-long friendship, there is so little content about them together, figuring out the new world and being supportive in their opposite challanges, and just having fun. 

I loved the theme in canon how they appeared in each other’s dreams, how they were always meant to be important in each other’s story. So I love the idea that the pieces to solve the puzzle are basically inside them - to understand who they are and where they come from.