#if i knew how to draw or write i could fix this soooo easily i swear

[kyaruun]

i am once again consumed by enstars thoughts and unable to fall asleep

[starbudspresents]

DGM 231 - Panthaleia’s Translation Notes

Hello, dear friends and fellow fans! We return to the rubble of Tumblr you with DGM 231, the first chapter of this new year. Thanks for sticking with us!

Please see below the cut for my translation notes and reactions, as per usual. If you have any questions, do feel free to come say hi on Discord at Panthaleia#9705. :3

The Novel I'm Not Writing About DGM & Buddhism

Oooooookay, first things first! The four bubbles across Allen's collar on the cover page say 生々流転 seiseiruten. When spelled 生生流転 (homophonous), it simply means "ever-changing," but when spelled the way it is here (fantastic catch, thank you so much @togaochi​ ♥), it's defined as "all things being in flux through the endless circle of birth, death, and rebirth; the circle of transmigration​."

That concept is much more succinctly described by the Sanskrit term saṃsāra. Now, to preclude confusion: yes, if you look up "samsara" in a Japanese dictionary, you'll get 輪廻 rin'ne rather than this. That said, this term is if anything more specific and descriptive than that one. See also 生死輪廻 seishirin'ne, which has the exact same definition as seiseiruten; think "cell" vs. “cellular phone” vs "mobile telephone." All words for the same thing, with varying degrees of descriptiveness. 

The concept of samsara shows up in several religions (notably Buddhism, Hindu, and Jainism). The one most relevant to DGM by far is Buddhism, and this is far from the first time I've run into it in search of answers.

Crash course on some Buddhist jargon for those of you who aren't familiar:

The word samsara, meaning "continuous flow," describes the beginningless and potentially endless cycle of life and existence, through birth and living and death to re-birth and so on. It could also easily be pictured as a helix, if you'd prefer, and that could in fact make some of DGM a little easier to understand.

(If I may take a moment to get super self-indulgent here: a very related philosophical concept is panta rhei, "everything flows", which is what my "panthaleia" handle is mostly based on. This chapter very nearly literally has my name written on it. IT'S A SIGN. Of.... something. Not sure what, exactly, but IT'S A SIGN.)

Every living thing is trapped within this cycle by its attachments and its ignorance of the truth, which causes great suffering and generates karma, which then affects the shape of one's next life. (Yes, Alma's second name is that for a reason.)

There are a number of branching denominations of Buddhism, much as there are of Christianity, and while they mostly share certain core tenets such as the Eightfold Path, they vary widely in ideals and practice. The influences I see on DGM mostly come from a Japanese variant called Shingon ("True Words") and its predecessors: Shingon is a descendant of Tibetan Vajrayana, which is in turn sometimes considered to be part of the broader East Asian Mahayana umbrella.  

I've talked a little bit about Shingon before, because all the chanted spells used throughout the series follow the pattern of Shingon mantras and Kanda's tattoo is written in Siddhaṃ (theorized to be the predecessor of both modern kana systems, by the way).

Shingon shares its overarching goal with its predecessors: rather than seeking to break the cycle just for one's own self and achieve individual escape from suffering (as in Theravada, for example), one should seek to become an enlightened being — a bodhisattva — and willingly continue to subject oneself to the cycle in order to help those who are struggling and thereby bring the whole world closer to moksha ("liberation") and subsequent/synonymous nirvana one step at a time.

Obviously, reincarnation and transmigration play a massive role in DGM. Let me list just a few of the ways in which this particular concept is a running theme throughout the story:

The Noah fragments being reincarnated into new bodies without also reincarnating the human souls they previously coexisted with;

The Earl's victims having their souls transmigrated in the bodies of their loved ones to rebirth them as Akuma;

The Third Exorcists, also transmigrated into new bodies to bring them back (Helix magic in general, really, including the Atuuda);

Nea's transmigration into Allen (not a rebirth, but an avoidance of death while waiting for a chance at rebirth), as well as Allen's regression to childhood via de-aging and memory loss;

The original Earl (Adam in my theories, fyi, in case I reference that later) deliberately rebirthing himself in smaller pieces for goals as yet unknown;

The Bookmen keeping records of each iteration of the repeating narrative, ever-changing but eternal themselves;

Even fukkin Komlin, lmao, constantly destroyed and improved and remade.

So many others? Soooo many others.

The eureka moment (for me): this chapter is subtitled "Curtain Rise," as in the beginning of a stage play when the curtain goes up. If you'll think all the way back to the very first chapters of the series, you may remember that the Earl's Scenario is meant to bring about curtain fall... on humanity.

Looking at that in the context of samsara, that whole thing suddenly looks very different. Our heroes assumed that the Earl's victory would result in the destruction of the world, the destruction of humanity, but I've never bought that idea from the very start. When the curtains finally close on samsara, the cycle of death and rebirth, humanity will not be "dead" in the tragic sense, but free. Nirvana =/= death. Nirvana is the peace of being one with all, knowing all, loving and being loved by all without the need for suffering. It isn't "heaven" in the Christian sense, but it is an end to suffering, without also being an end to existence.

Tragedy and suffering are the consequences of remaining bound to the cycle. Directly using the energy of them in order to break the cycle creating them, as the Earl claims to be doing with the Akuma, is a very very Vajrayana idea, and fits seamlessly into my existing suppositions as to what the Earl is doing and why. Here, have a relevant quote:

Negative mental factors such as desire, hatred, greed, pride are not rejected as in non-Tantric Buddhism, but are used as part of the path. As noted by French Indologist Madeleine Biardeau, tantric doctrine is "an attempt to place kama, desire, in every meaning of the word, in the service of liberation."

 And another, from the Hevajra tantra:

Those things by which evil men are bound, others turn into means and gain thereby release from the bonds of existence. By passion the world is bound, by passion too it is released.

One more, same source:

One knowing the nature of poison may dispel poison with poison.

Bluntly put, I think the (original) Earl was an enlightened soul — a bodhisattva — who voluntarily returned to the cycle via deliberate rebirth into multiple ignorant beings in order to help heal the struggling world of its suffering via bringing about enlightenment viiiaaaa SUFFERING HARDER. Good Plan™?

Here are a few more related meta posts from a few years ago, just so I can find them again when I inevitably decide to delve deeper into this:

Helix magic will be the key to the plot

It's all happened before

Destroyer of Time

2.) I'm so delighted to see Mana as he was when Allen knew him before, genteel and whimsical and delighted with Allen's existence. It's easy to understand why Allen would become so attached to him.

3.) Raws for the "Therefore I write many of them, as if God can see me doing so. / As if He might find me" lines: こうして神さまに見えるように沢��書くんです　／　見つけてもらえるように  These don’t sit well with me, so I’ll probably change them in the future. The gist is that he’s drawing them in order to draw God’s attention to him.

Raws for "Here I am": 私はここにいる。@togaochi and I concur that he uses watashi here instead of his own preferred boku because he's teaching it to Allen, and means it as a more general "I."

Anyway: hooooo boy, here's some more evidence for the Two Gods theory. And how!

It seems pretty safe to assume he's not calling out to the Order's God, since that god would pretty happily wipe him off the face of the earth. The Noah have called that god "false," though, and expressed their intent and desire to kill it, while still referring to a "God" entity of their own whom they regard as being on their side (or perhaps, they're on its side).

Mana calling out to the Noah god to come find him, without remembering why he wants that, is very interesting. I wonder if and how anyone answered him.

4.) I have a strong hunch that Mana's "secret alphabet" is also related to Siddhaṃ, but that language is written in such a complex way that it's actually impossible for me to be sure without just... learning it. Which! To be clear! I fucking well might. WATCH ME.

5.) This entire scene is so much to me. How furious they both are that the other won't just let themselves be saved/protected. Allen wanted to leave Kanda behind so he and the others would be safe from everything that's hunting him. Kanda wants Allen to stay put so they can save him from what he can't fight alone. All that rage and frustration, because they care.

Quick note: in the first draft we initially posted on Imgur via our Discord server, I had the subject wrong for one of Kanda's lines here, which I caught and fixed. Sorry for any confusion that may have caused!

5.5) ETA: Forgot to mention that I’m fairly sure the beautiful Grecian-style temple they’re hanging out in is referenced from St. Bernard’s Well, again in Edinburgh. Excuse me, “Edinston.”

Thanks to an enterprising anon, we have a much better match for that structure: the Dugald Stewart Monument! 

6.) "maybe I'll go sucker-hunting" CARD SHARK ALLEN LIIIIIVES, where's Tyki when you need him (to lose his shirt again)

7.) fjkldjlkagd the turnaround where Allen finally cracks and is like "fine!! you want in?? IN YOU GET. no take-backsies! happy now???" and Kanda's like "yep, here I am" and neither of them have ANY IDEA how to deal with ANY OF IT. Kanda struggling to pull Allen's story out of him without throwing up his hands and quitting. Allen baffled and twice as guarded as before, put off by Kanda's uncharacteristic interest.

So beautiful, it brings a tear to my eye. (Actually, many tears. So... so many tears.)

8.) That apology, which I never thought I'd get, for Allen having seen what Kanda would never have consented to show him. It wasn't his fault, and they both know that, but the fact still remains that it was a violation, and I've always always wished for that to be addressed somehow and HERE IT IS. RIGHT HERE.

I want to tattoo that look on Kanda's face onto my brain.

9.) And then they're FUCKING INTERRUPTED, AGAIN

But Allen's "ask me again when we're done dealing with this" was such a promise of trust that I can't even be that mad, augh.

Onward to the bitter end, I guess!! Haha!!!! · ͜͜  · - 

Thank you all so much for reading and following along! I’d like to tip my hat to Kougeki Scans, who love this series too and are helping us spoil the fandom rotten. :P  Again, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to either find us on Discord HERE, find me on Discord at Panthaleia#9705, or use the comment box on MangaDex! I’m always happy to geek out with fellow fans. <3

[wizardsnwookies]

Campaign Diary- FOC101217

The evening crowd at Zahn’s Cantina had just started to roll in, and the “Kessel Five” sat at their small booth in the back digesting the job information Charmer had just unloaded on them.

“Soooo, what are we doing about the droid job? I mean, didn’t we kill two of them?” Rugor started down at the bowl of protein in front of him, pushing lumps to the side with his spoon.

“Three, actually.” Vrssl nodded turning over the small holo projector in his hand. It was the only piece of physical information they would get on the jobs, and even that was born out of necessity. Holo images beat physical descriptions any day of the week.

“The female has my frequency though. So, maybe she’ll contact us?”

“Maybe, as for the others, I wonder if we can call Nileen and see if someone on Siskeen can pick up the scraps for us.”

“Weren’t they wanted functional?” Rugor raised the collection of scar-tissue that was his eye brow.

“Sure, but they didn’t specify the level of functionality did they?” Vrssl smiled. Vagueries and semantics made their job all the easier. “Speaking of which, I have something I want to run by you guys.”

Kara and Graalbar, who had up until that point been focusing on their meal and drinks raised their attentions.

“I want to put heuristic processors in the battle droids.”

Kara smiled at this, gently nodding. She had been working with droids for a long time, but she had been observing Vrssl and his work on the battle droids since Siskeen and she had to admit she was impressed with his work.

“Ok, I don’t know what that is.” Rugor shrugged.

“It’s the difference between a Protocol droid and a GNK unit. These are early issue Trade Federation designs that were worked on a hive mind server. With a heuristic processor they’ll be able to think for themselves, give them the ability to problem solve if there’s an obstacle between them and their goal.”

“What about the arm cannons?” Kara let Vrssl do his thing usually, but she couldn’t help but speak up on this issue. “Someone sees those and we’re slagged.”

“I’ll rig them to deploy from inside the exoskeleton.”

“Ok, but these are still clone war era assassin droids. They’re going to draw some attention. How do we get by that?”

Vrssl thought for a moment, she raised a decent point. There was a difference between walking around with pistol openly strapped to your hip and casually strolling around with a mortar gun on your back.

“We’ll write a shell program. Something that will run on top of their default systems. We can make one a protocol droid and the other...I dunno, an analytics bot?”

“Sounds good to me. Let’s do it.”

---

“Aw slag.” Rugor swore and set the data pad down on the table in front of them, spinning it around so everyone on the other side could see as he read aloud. “Shailian Heights is the peak of comfort of luxury for even the most discerning traveler. The favored apartment complex for imperial officers and storm troopers planet-side, our facility boasts many fine amenities and blah blah blah...”

GROOOOOWRK. Rugor still hand’t learned to speak Shriwook, but he could tell the wookie next to him shared his frustration just by the inflection. This “simple repossession” was turning out to be a bigger pain than he anticipated.

Local scumbag dealer sold a luxury air-speeder a few days ago. Now he has someone who is willing to pay twice for it, and instead of buying it back from the current owner he figures he’ll double his profit by arranging a theft. Just an average day on Smuggler’s Moon. Just one problem. The current owner, is Numb Nibn, academy graduate and “honest imperial” some are calling the unconfirmed third candidate in the race for planetary representative.

“If we get into the security room we can probably make things easier on us. Pose as a maintenance team maybe?” Vrssl pushed back the datapad and Rugor immediately scooped it up and began tapping.

“Maybe if we’re lucky the blueprints will be stored on the Hall of Records cloud server.” Another frown indicated that was not the case.

“Try searching for imperial properties in the area.” Vrssl leaned forward, his brow furrowing in sudden realization. “If he’s here, it’s got to be in an official capacity somehow. If he graduated the academy, I doubt he’s pulling stormtrooper duty at the outpost.”

“Got it. Some kind of Academy remote Office. Enlistment and registrars offices mostly.”

GRAWR ROOOOWK!

“Probably a good idea.” Vrssl nodded before looking over at Kara. “Can you get us a speeder for the day? Something non-descript, sounds like we’re going on a stake-out.”

---

Graalbar grumbled in the back seat of the speeder, his knees up against his chin. Obviously they weren’t likely to get something large enough for wookies, but he’d at least appreciate the front seat where he could have a little more leg room. He understood of course, he was the muscle, not the brains nor the pilot. Still, though.

GROOOOWK.

“Sorry, but there’s nothing nearby that wouldn’t be inconspicuous. Until he moves, we’re stuck in the speeder.” Vrssl gazed lazily out the window. He knew how Graalbar felt. The cafe across from the apartment building was far more comfortable for a stakeout. They managed to arrive early enough to have a decent breakfast before Numb returned from his morning jog around the block and disappeared into the lobby.

After what they could only assume was a trip to the refresher and a change of clothes a sparkling white speeder pulled out of the parking hanger half-way up the building and turned into the morning traffic. From then on, the four of them had been crammed in the speeder rental Kara had procured for them. They had followed him to the Academy Offices in the metropolitan center of Shail where he handed off his speeder to the valet on the roof before disappearing to the turbolifts. That was roughly 8 hours ago, since then they had only seen him once more around noon to grab a small bite from a street vendor before heading back inside.

“Hey. There he is.” Rugor straightened up in the pilot’s seat and turned on the repulsers, pointing to the familiar figure walking to the valet booth with ticket in hand.

GRONK ROWWR. Rugor couldn’t be sure, but he guessed Graalbar had said something of the likes of “about time.”

Carefully, their own pale green speeder pulled into traffic a few paces behind the white luxury model and followed. With the sun setting between skyrises, traffic began to build around them. Rush hour on Smuggler’s Moon. They pushed deeper into the metropolitain area before Numb began to descend once again to ground level and pulling towards what appeared to be a restaurant with a glowing red sign that read “23.”

“Subtle.” Vrssl scoffed as Rugor slowed to find an inconspicuous spot across the street.

“What?”

“A human’s only restaurant.”

“How can you tell?”

“23, the number of chromosome pairs in the human species.”

“That son of a bitch.” Rugor was not commenting about the exclusivity of the clientele. He nodded his head toward the white luxury speeder as it pulled into a spot marked for the disabled, placing an Imperial Priority parking tag on the inside dash before exiting.

“Alright, that’s it.” Vrssl unbuckled himself from the seat in back. “I’m doing this right here. Keep the speeder running and be ready just in case things go south. Graalbar, think you can give me a distraction?”

Graalbar grinned.

---

“I AM HUNGRY.”

“I’m sure you are, but you can’t eat here. Okay?” The doorman at 23 was obviously flustered, not only did he never expect to see a full grown wookie in person, he never dreamed one would come strolling up to the human’s only establishment and demand to be let in.

“I AM HUNGRY.” Graalbar put on his best look of confusion and continued to press the buttons on his voxbox. The tinny voice had no tone or inflection to it, but he could up the level of irritation by pressing in as quick succession as he could. “I NEED ASSISTANCE. I AM HUNGRY.”

“I...No. You have to leave. Now.” He was getting frustrated now, desperately trying to wave his arms in such a manner as to communicate what he was saying as universally as possible. He was used to not being able to speak alien languages, but usually they would understand basic well enough.

“I NEED ASSISTANCE. I AM HUNGRY.”

Vrssl allowed himself a satisfied smile before creeping through the forming crowd. The commotion at the door was starting to gain attention from both in and outside the restaurant. A hostess was brought out to help the doorman, but from the look on her face she was just as baffled as to what to do as he was.

With the distraction in place, Vrssl reached the luxury speeder easily. Despite his short stature he managed to strain on his toes just enough to slide his slender fingers between the weather stripping and transparasteel window on the driver’s side. Slowly he added pressure downward, as evenly as he could. He wasn’t worried about breaking the window, but the-

SNAP!

The window disappeared inside the door and Vrssl nearly fell over. While the window was made of transparasteel, the gear mechanism that slid it up and down into place was not obviously. Oh well, easy fix. He’ll worry about it later. Reaching inside he opened the door and slid underneath the dash, pulling off the access panel and plunging his hands wrist deep in wires. It had been a while since he had hot-wired something, but you know what they say, it’s like riding a speeder bike...

“You hear that? The troopers are on their way. You need to leave or you’ll be in big trouble.” The female was far more firm in tone, and Vrssl could hear her from inside the car. Better hurry.

“Hey, friend.” Graalbar felt a hand on his arm and looked over to see a small Gand speaking in perfect Shriwook. “Do you understand basic? That place is human’s only. They called the imperials on you, you need to leave.”

“What do you mean ‘human’s only?’“ Graalbar paused long enough to cast his eyes towards the luxury speeder. Still parked. He needed to drag this out as long as he can. “That’s an outrage! That’s discrimination!!!”

RAWR GRAAAAAAGH ROOOOOOOOOORK

While the Gand and Vrssl and anyone who spoke Shriwook heard a very spirited, if not a little rambling, speech on species equality the rest of the crowd simply saw a rather enraged looking meter tall wookie stomping in place and waving his powerful arms. From inside the restaurants human faces were now pressed up against the windows looking rather worried, and some even passed by the retreating hostess and doorman as they made their escape outside. One of which was Numb Nibn.

Numb paid his bill and grabbed one last bite of his meal before exiting the 23. The hairy alien outside had turned his appetite, and from the looks of things the troopers would be coming for him soon enough. If he didn’t leave now, he would be held up making witness statements for the next hour or so. Let the bucketheads deal with the carpet, that’s their job. He had more important things to do.

He brushed past the crowd outside that had started to thin as soon as the mention of imperials were made. Reaching for his fob he paused at the door and furrowed his brow.

“Did I leave the window open?” He couldn’t remember. It had been a long day of paperwork. His placement was not quite finalized so here he was stuck on this ball with a pen in his hand. Top of his class, he should be out cleaning up the Empire from the abusers like the Moff. Corruption like that was why the Empire rose to power to begin with. If they were no better than the Old Republic, than what was the point?

Shaking his head clear he slipped inside and closed the door. Just as he noticed the bundle of wires dangling by his shins, he felt cold steel against the back of his head.

“Don’t move, and don’t say a word.” Vrssl gave his voice a bit gravel to it to make himself more imposing. His species weren’t that naturally intimidating after all. “Put your hands on the wheel, slowly.”

Numb obeyed, fuming. He could see the troopers arriving outside now. The wookie had disappeared, as did most of the crowd. He though of taking the chance and screaming for help, but only for a moment.

“Don’t even think about it. Now, start driving.”

“You are making a very big mistake. Do you even know-”

“I said no talking!” Vrssl gave Numb a hard rap on the back of the head with the pistol butt. “Get moving.”

---

“Ok, now what?” Numb let his hands fall from the wheel as he guided the speeder into a gentle hover in between two buildings. The thug behind him made sure he stopped in the shadow cast in the setting sun so they wouldn’t be seen. A second speeder pulled up slowly beside them with it’s lights off, and looking over Numb cursed as he saw the large wookie sitting in the front seat. That was the last thing he saw however, as some fabric found itself wrapped around his eyes and secured into tape with distinctive sound of mesh tape.

“Shut up, open the door.”

Numb did as he was told, but kept his seat belt securely fastened.

“Lose the belt.”

“What? What are you-”

“No talking! Just do it.”

As he pushed the button on the buckled Numb felt the speeder shift as slightly and felt hairy paws feeling their way around his ankles. He recognized the cool zing of cable as it was tied being tied securely in place. He didn’t like where this was going. He had heard stories of Smuggler’s Moon, but had hoped they were just that, stories. His beloved Empire couldn’t possibly allow a place like this to exist. A place so utterly lacking in order and justice. It seems he was wrong, and if he was going to do anything about it, he would need to get out of here alive.

Taking a deep breath Numb grabbed the steering wheel and jammed his bound feet down on the accelerator. The speeder lurched forward and a loud whine from the engines filled his ears before everything went numb. His head suddenly felt like he had just jumped into the Academy pool, accompanied by a sharp pain in the back of his head. By the time he regained feeling in his extremities, his head felt much heavier than before and the cable tied to his ankles was digging into his flesh. He heard a crash and the animal yell of the wookie somewhere far above him.

Talking now, and a slight swaying sensation. He was being moved somewhere. The weight in his head shifted as the cable gave way and he felt himself falling into something wet, soft, but emitting an ungodly odor.

“You ok?” A voice with just the hint of an accent, Naboo maybe.

“Yeah, looks like we have some dings to buff out before we make the delivery though.” Another voice, sounding vaguely like the one who had taken him hostage, but different at the same time. “A dumpster, nice touch. But I think we can do better.”

When he was eventually found in the morning, Numb had been stripped down to his underclothes and the words “Rebel Sympathiser” had been tagged onto his chest with spray paint. He was tired. He was utterly humiliated. He smelled worse than he imagined a Hutt would. He could already hear the stifled laughter at the academy offices. It was almost too much for him to bare.