#in that I don't actually like 'ancient society invents modern thing!'

[ace-and-ranty]

Saw a post going around about Legend & Lattes, talking about its genre of origin and how skill progression is a staple of it, but then L&L swaps out "You gained the Extra Cool Murder Skill!" with "You gained scones!" and that's why it's so "painfully boring"

No hate to that post, they're having fun nagging and God knows I have fun nagging, which is why I'm doing this on my own post rather than pooping on their fun, LOL

But I gotta say. I think they're underestimating the existence of a crowd that genuinely prefers scones to the Extra Cool Murder Skill. Have they ever heard of Stardew Valley?.

[what-even-is-thiss]

the hilarious thing about the atlantis shit is you really see how much stock people put in the minds of the ancient greeks and romans.

because we all know if it was a non-white culture talking about an ancient city washed away by the sea with no archaeological evidence of having actually existed, those same conspiracy theorists would clown all over it.

these people believe in the myth of atlantis but don't think the ancient egyptians built the pyramids. that makes sense.

As I've pointed out before, the concept of white people didn't exist when Plato wrote the Timaeus and Critias dialogues. People keep projecting their modern notions about race onto ancient societies to try and affirm their own worldviews. To Plato there weren't white people. There were Greeks and Not Greeks. And the Greeks had like... quite a bit of respect for Egypt? They were a very old society with a lot of institutional knowledge and old records that the Greeks didn't have. The two cultures traded and exchanged ideas a lot. Ancient Greece didn't exist in a vacuum. Other cultures influenced it and it influenced other cultures in turn. Racists like to ignore this in favor of the idea that "western" society built itself from the ground up with no outside help. No. Ancient Rome and Ancient China traded with each other. The Ancient Greeks knew about India even if most of them had never been there. They were familiar with the many peoples of North Africa and Western Asia. The world has always been interconnected. People of many different cultures achieved great things with and without outside help. I agree with you fully. If Atlantis had been invented by an Egyptian philosopher they would see it for what it is. A metaphor. But because they can find a way to shoehorn it into their racist worldview it must be real.

[owlbelly]

the extreme likelihood that there are modern-day devotees to the Minoan "snake goddesses" (i mean i think i've even seen replica figures in witchy shops) has me thinking again about the thing that baffles me the most about the vast majority of witchy/woo/spiritual folks i encounter

which is what seems to be this total lack of interest in (or outright avoidance of) doing any kind of critical historical research about whatever it is they're into. people who will ransack the new age section for books about the "ancient wisdom" of Akashic records, but never crack open a history book that might provide context on the Theosophical Society that invented the concept in the late 19th century. i mean you don't even have to read a book, you can use Wikipedia to figure out the provenance of "Akashic" in a matter of minutes! the information is all right there

like. how do you not want to know where things come from? how are you not curious about the cultural creation of the information you're receiving & also the ways that you're receiving it? i understand that not everyone is as suspicious as i am & therefore may not hear a word like "Akashic" & immediately wonder why a Sanskrit word is being used primarily by a bunch of white hippies who seem to have gotten it from white western esotericists (never a good sign) but idk man if i'm really excited about something i want to research it. i want to know as much as possible!

i mean it kind of dovetails with the other thing that baffles me about most of the same people, which is their level of confidence/assertiveness about their cosmology - the spiritual universe is like this, things work this way, these are the rules. i'm a really curious & open-minded person when it comes to the metaphysical/spiritual but i flat-out refuse to subscribe to this kind of Knowing About The Unknown & i'm allergic to people who claim to have it all locked down. i think if you can't be open to the possibility of the actual unknown - that things don't actually work like you think they do, that everything is bigger & weirder & more complex than any system we have to describe it - you probably won't be open to potentially learning that the ancient Minoan snake goddess you worship was the invention of some British guy, so you won't seek more information out. but damn. please at least nurture your curiosity if not your skepticism

[opinated-user]

So Lily released her video about The Mummy movies. And surprise, surprise, she mentioned nothing about the racism in all of the movies. Instead she claims the films are "fun" and basically implies if you don't like it you have a stick up your ass.

Also she complains about movies being dark and gritty, calls vampires and werewolves aristocrats and predators again, and manages to snipe a comment at Christie Golden because she's still pissy about Sylvanas.

But the issues of racism in these movies? Crickets. Even the retelling of The Mummy she presents isn't a deconstruction of the inherent imperialist themes of the film. It's just more boring toothless sapphic fluff. It's all about how hard it was to be two loving lesbians in a cruel homophobic time in ancient Egypt holy shit what the fuck.

(note for everyone: don't watch the video directly. if you want to view the video to critique on your own or know if there's anything more worth commenting, do it through this link that won't give LO any views: https://cinemaphile.com/watch?v=Vf_hUx5y0m8) on top of that, it's also gross that LO would shove a homophobic narrative on a society that, as far records show, was actually a lot more progressive that modern times were. we have records of not only transgender people living during this time period where a strict binary didn't even exist, but gay couples existing freely, living normal lives and even being buried together. if you as much just put "homosexuality in ancient egypt", this is the first result i came out with:

https://hyperallergic.com/742038/could-this-be-the-first-recorded-gay-couple-in-history/

“Niankhumn and Khnumhotep were two male lovers who were buried together in a joint tomb in Saqqara, Egypt,” Manson told Hyperallergic. “Their epigraph reads ‘Joined in life, joined in death.’ I created this piece to capture the love and intimacy the two shared, and show that Black, queer love is as old as time itself.”

Discovered by Egyptologists in 1964, murals on the tomb depict the two men in a pose traditionally reserved for husband and wife. One panel features an embrace with noses touching — a pose of marital intimacy within the lexicon of Egyptian art. Homosexuality was not uncommon in Ancient Egypt, and clearly their relationship was both approved of by the pharaoh and close enough to call for co-burial — though the exact nature of their partnership is debated by historians, who make various cases based on the imagery in the tomb.

but these are men. LO doesn't care about queer men, black or otherwise. luckily for us and anyone who does want to make a better sapphic story with an ancient egypt setting, there's also signs that sapphic women existed back then and could be treated exactly the same as any couple.

this is a thing that many people might be surprised by but homophobia is not the natural state of the world. many ancient societies did not care about such concept, just like they didn't had any interest on a strict binary or keep "traditional roles" as tighly as some people care even today. you'd hope any advocate for LGBT+ rights already knew at least a little bit of it because often LGBT+ people are forced to prove that they always existed, they were always there, and these kind of records are important to prove just that. it helps us to see that all of that (transphobia, the gender binary, homophobia, etc) were all man made and they can be desconstructed, disregarded entirely even and hold no intrinsic value. instead... LO invented homophobic ancient egyptians completely on her own and i find that so weird, because this was one of those rare ocassions in which she could freely play with the idea of a sapphic story where homophobia had no role at all and she just put homophobia anyway.

i know, this is a fantasy story... but it's supposed to be based on a real time period. the least you could do then is do the most bare of minimun research to know what you're talking about.

you clearly didn't care to bring out the overwhelming racism of the original movies (even though that was a common point of critique... in the 90s), so at least could have bothered to paint egypt on a general better light but LO couldn't be bothered to do not even that because it got on the way of her sapphic bland story. besides all of this... her pitch is just boring? there's no action, there's no big stakes, there's... nothing of what she claims she liked about the first movie. there's not even an actual antagonist, it's just a boring attempt at comedy of misunderstandings. there's an idea there but actual story wise, nothing.

[fusionbolts]

Seals (rewritten)

a.k.a., I wrote a magic system for pokémon, what of it?

Seals are an ancient Isshu "science" (magic, they're basically magic) and art form which deal with the manipulation of energy in order to create otherwise impossible (prior to electricity, anyway) effects. Golett and Golurk were crafted using Seals, as an example of where they were used.

Now, here's the thing: since writing this original headcanon goddamn near ten fucking years ago (good GOD), there have been at least two significant pieces of media to come out that serve as EXCEPTIONAL points of reference for what seals actually are: Witch Hat Atelier and The Owl House. If you're familiar with either of those: their respective magic systems are basically what seals are. Headcanon over. (Okay, not really). If not, however, don't worry: I'll explain everything thoroughly and pepper in a few images to help. We'll go over this in two phases: how they function (with help from Witch Hat and Owl House), and their significance in Isshu culture. Let's go!

Functionally speaking, seals are circular (or otherwise looping) patterns drawn on a surface to create a magical effect. A seal contains multiple layers of glyphs, which interact to create various effects. Witch Hat is the closest, functionaly, to how this works:

Many individual symbols are combine together to create effects, and the ways in which they are applied or drawn can create significantly different results. In Witch Hat, for example, a rune drawn too long in one direction may result in a more powerful effect in that particular direction (like creating a fountain of water). HOWEVER, visually, Seals are much closer to those seen in The Owl House:

All elements in a seal must be connected. It has to be a continuous line, enclosed in a loop, otherwise it doesn't work. The principle behind this is the flow of energy; seals were originally invented by an Aura User scholar, who was deeply interested in the way energy moved through objects and a means by which that could be altered or manipulated.

Now, you may notice that these two pieces of media (if you are familiar) have some slightly different interpretations on how these are applied. Notably: in Witch Hat, the magic takes effect as soon as the circle is completed. In Owl House, we've seen that you can just sort of store them and "activate" them later by touching them or slapping them on an object, etc. So, which applies to seals? Both!

It depends on the seal, really; by default, it follows Witch Hat Rules, where it takes effect immediately upon completion of the circle. However, there are particular glyphs that can be added that allow them to be stored, preserved, applied to an object, etc., in the way we see in the Owl House. The latter are considered "aura activated".

Now, a person can basically use a combination of various glyphs to do just about anything. Both Witch Hat and Owl House includes basic runes based in elements (water, earth, ice, fire, light, etc.). Isshu seals largely follow this same concept, but there are some additional elements thanks to Pokémon existing. These elements are: Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Electric, Light (arguably fairy-type energy), Force (aura or fighting-type energy) and Mind (psychic-type energy). There were also "positive" and "negative" versions of each. No, I am NOT going to draw them all. .........Yet. Basically, you can do just about any effect with some combination of those particular runes, given enough complexity. And boy howdy, do they get complex. The order in which the runes are linked, the patterns, the size and shape, etc., all heavily influence what comes out at the end of the day.

Now, with the basic functionality out of the way, let's move on to their usage and cultural significance!

Seals and Culture

At the time of Isshu's height, seals were an integral part of their society and culture. They helped to supply clean, running water (and heated water), provided functions similar to modern electric stovetops, light—basically every "modern" convenience you can think of. (Again, much of this is demonstrated in Witch Hat's magic items.) In addition, seals were used on important buildings and tools to make them more durable, resistant to wear, and so on.

Seals were a large part of why Isshu culture was so advanced, and also a large part of the reason they were very isolated from other regions. Knowing this knowledge was very easily abused, they were hesitant to share any sort of knowledge about seals. They would occasionally trade sealed items with other regions, but the method of their creation was kept a pretty tightly guarded secret. (Again. Witch Hat being an amazing point of reference.)

Now, because of how difficult sealing was to learn and master, after the Fall of Isshu, a lot of it was almost completely lost. This was a large, large part of why the conditions in pre-Unova were kind of shit. There was a dwindling number of resources that could be preserved from the past and even fewer people with enough expertise to maintain that. With no centralized structure for anything, sealing very quickly became a lost art.

This isn't to say that it was completely dead; there was a contingent of Isshu culture who worked hard to preserve what they knew of seals and sealing. Now, sealing did survive beyond Isshu as well, in some limited capacities. It can be argued that the earliest forms of pokéballs are based on seals! And, of course, Golett were produced and recreated around the world, especially in Kalos. The full scope of what used to be possible was never really achieved again, however.

The most significant use of seals, post-Isshu, was on the dragon stones. Yknow how the dragons were inside rocks and could only be awakened by their Heroes? Yep! Seals.

[qworflordking]

Hey! Just to tell you I loved your critique against that Achilles Song book and I agree with you that I hate how Greek (and at lesser or more degree Roman or Egyptian) classics are changed in a nonsense way just to please the modern reader and give them a progressive agenda to the characters.

Just for curiosity, what do you think about fantasy media that is inspired in ancient Greek myths and legends like Percy Jackson books or Saint Seiya?

Dunno, those were my faves when I was a kid (but I have not checked them since at least 10 years ago, lol), but, seeing how the Percy Jackson fans try to portrait themselves as all knowing about Greek culture, while actually not engaging in the classics and refusing to know about Ancient Greek history and culture. The Saint Seiya guys seem more normal, but I'm not sure if Greek people just saw the anime as a gross cultural appropiation like Hercules from Disney or they actually did not mind it.

An interesting ask to receive, thanks! And hm... I don't really know? I haven't read Percy Jackson or Saint Seiya so I can't comment. It all depends on the media in question - it's nice to see so many people like it, but our ancient legacy is kind of all Greece has right now. The economic depression, the ecological impact on the islands that's been happening, the fact that it's mainly considered a tourist destination for wealthier Europeans and the bitter state of the modern Greek youth - and yet we have this legacy we feel so connected to despite all the years between, lmao.

My family is from Sparta - a small rural village just outside it, actually - and so when the movie 300 came out the hype was unreal. Like King Leonidas is a cultural hero, there's still a monument to him in Sparta - they were making a movie about our guy! I saw it with twenty Greeks, all Spartans... and they hated it. They were yelling at the screen, they were so upset, and none of them knew what a Frank Miller comic book was. I recently tried to rewatch it and had to turn it off at the scene with the ephors and the oracle. Don't get me started on Troy, lol.

Otoh, I recently enjoyed Hades (the game) though I avoided it for a while. It's bright and colorful, the gods are strange and erratic, and it's tons of fun. Demeter grief-stricken at the loss of her daughter, Persephone avoiding Hades and Hades being angry and bitter - that was great. (I could go into a whole tangent about how people are actually erasing the voices and pain of ancient women when they woke-ify Hades and Persephone, but.)

The essential thing is this: the ancient Greeks were capable of criticizing their own culture. We invented philosophy: the art of sitting around talking about what's wrong with society and how we might fix it. They wrote plays - plays that won awards, that were preserved unto this day! - that served as a feminist critique of their classic heroic myths. Going back to the 300 film, while it's true oracles were often sexually abused, they noticed that was a problem and made changes to prevent that. There's this attitude people take to ancient cultures a lot where they think people were just... stupid, and wholly swallowed everything, and then they're gonna write their critique of their problematic beliefs without considering the humanity and knowledge of people who lived thousands of years ago.

You don't need to completely change the themes and meaning and significance of our stories, but what you can do is humanize them. Rather than hole them up in some white-walled Ivory Tower of Academia bring them out as they were - intended to be funny, intended to make you think - while preserving the historical context. I have dreams of making an Odyssey film (that some EU arts fund needs to give me a billion dollars to make. also, i am a legendary respected filmmaker in this fantasy) that would bring economic prosperity to the Greek islands and also make it /funny/, showing that Odysseus was a trickster figure who fit ancient heroic definitions of being a wild celebrity figure rather than a Hollywood Hero. Making it clear that his wife was just as smart as him and they were a love-match and making Athena buff as hell and swapping into a man's body, even making Odysseus black - none of that would be modernizing the story to suit our woke tastes. It would piss the hell off a lot of supposed "Classics" fans.

Ultimately, though, having fun with the mythos isn't actually harmful. What is harmful, what genuinely upsets me on a fundamental level, is how Le Classics have been incorporated into this great ideal of Western Civilization and then been appropriated by white supremacists. Here's a great blog doing the good work going into it in detail, but twisting ancient culture to fit your own modern ideals is just.... not good for anyone, lol.

EDIT: ...In my last post I was like "why is tumblr recommending me eurofash propaganda" and I just realized. Liking ancient greek culture and the classics is probably why 0__0

[flimsy-roost]

Run-on Review Anthology: Algernon Blackwood

Wake up besties, new fave early 20th century horror/weird fiction short story writer just dropped~

~Algernon Blackwood~

Fig. 1) This guy right here

As someone who was introduced to the genre via HP Lovecraft, here are several reasons why the work of our boy Algernon could be considered better than his contemporary and/or worth your time to read:

-Runs the literary gamut between truly horrifying and joyfully awe-inspiring. Scary not your thing? Al's got you covered!

-Writes in many different formats: short stories, longer novels, even plays! Entertainment for every occasion! (In this post I'll be focusing on short stories because that's my favorite format, but I'll be reading some of his novels in the future!)

-No commitment that I've seen to far to an internally consistent world (a la the Lovecraft Cinematic Universe), allowing him to explore many different themes, settings, and source material

-Absolutely gorgeous and immersive descriptions of place and vibe

-Actually usually describes things very well, instead of leaning on the cosmic horror trope of "oH nooOo it'S TOOo indescrIBAble"

-As far as I can tell so far, is not particularly racist or xenophobic for the time, especially when compared to HP "Hyper-pRacist" Lovecraft

(sidebar; I don't think it's correct to write off the works of long-dead authors due to things that are considered problematic today; however, it's hard to get around that some things are just plain uncomfortable to read with modern eyes. I think that providing context and disclaimers is important, but given that these people are too dead to profit from their work, I don't generally feel bad discussing, recommending, or purchasing their writing)

---

Run On Reviews of Algernon Blackwood Short Stories

The Touch of Pan (originally read in The Moons At Your Door, pdf version linked here): Really really love this one, first one I read by him in a multi-author anthology, it's a comfort read that I keep coming back to, definitely on the joyful/awe end of the spectrum, does refer to idiocy/lunacy but in a way that vibes with me personally neurodivergently and spins it as a neutral-positive thing misunderstood by society at large, lovely lovely lovely, 10/10

The Empty House (originally read in The Algernon Blackwood Collection, it's the first story in the linked pdf): Very solid and intimate ghost story, told through the emotional state of the characters as much as the actually environment and goings-on, spooky but not extremely scary, 7/10

The Damned (originally read in the ABC, pdf link): Excellent haunted house/something's real weird around here story, ever so gradually increases the tension and unsettling feel of the place in inventive modes of discovery, the ending peters out a bit for me but all in all a good read, 8.5/10

The Willows (og ABC, linked): Holy shit yeah this is what I'm fucking TALKING ABOUT this is atmospheric horror done so so right, moody and isolating and creepy and scary, this is the one with the gay subtext you may have heard about, there's a good reason this one is included in so many anthologies, if you can only read one read this one, 10/10

The Wendigo (og ABC, linked): Closest to a "classic" wilderness monster story I'm reviewing here, it's the longest read but well worth it, you can see where it's going pretty early on but it somehow still gets creepier and weirder and worse and oh god kill it, you'll either love it or hate it if you've binged creepypastas and greentext horror stories like I have, this one does have some problematic racial language (reference to an "N-word bar" in describing a black bar, referring to the native american character as "red" and in some "noble savage"-esque ways), as well as colonial-ish "ahaha we're men going on an adventure to unspoiled land pip pip cheerio," but if you can stomach that it's a truly unnerving story that will make you never want to camping ever again in your life, 9/10

Ancient Sorceries (originally read in the Ancient Sorceries anthology, pdf linked): I so badly wanted to like this one more, the setting is absolutely magical and the buildup is excellent, but it kind of runs out of steam for me with the reveal (which isn't super fair bc this story predates all the works that make the reveal a tired trope in my mind), still would recommend a gander, 10/10 up until part IV, 6/10 after, overall 8/10

The Listener (og AS, linked here): If there's one to skip in this whole list it'd be this one, another ghost story but not as good as others mentioned here, I think I may be missing historical context that would add weight to the horror (I wont spoil, but if you read it and know more about the subject of the reveal, please enlighten me), still a nice little mystery with some interesting characters and a creepy ghost, 5/10

The Sea Fit (og AS, linked here): Finishing out somewhat strong, extremely compact yet very dense, no wasted words, but paints extremely clear characters, setting, and events, somebody please make this a short film I will throw money at the kickstarter, spooky and unsettling but slightly more on the awe-inspiring end of the spectrum, 9/10

[traceofexistence]

I looked at twitter to she the response of the legalization of equal marriage in my country.

so the quotes on the generic BBC article, really surprised me in a weird way

the country being Greece has people confused somehow

don't get me wrong the reactions are entertaining as fuck

but like

"return to tradition" is a very good one that never crossed my mind ever, because modern greece hasn't followed any ancient tradition since the christians forced conversion and slaughter everyone who wouldn't convert. (count at the very least 1600 years of that)

"why did it take them so long, the practically invented being gay" guys, my fellas, my darlings, modern greece, is a fucking theocratic country orthodox christianity has been the plague of my country.

"lesbos will be happy" hmm debatable, at some point people of lesbos went to the EU court to demand the word "lesbian" to not mean homosexual women.

I spend my day yesterday listening to the parliament members and party leaders, having words about the new law.

and the opposition consisting of the christofascists, far right, neon*zis, and the communist party, and they spawn bile unlike any. it was extremely upsetting, and I was yelling at my screen a lot. the orthodox church of course been calling people abominations etc you know how the church is, and I dont wanna repeat their bullshit.

so yea

this is an extremely vital win, for the society to go forwards. it is not perfect, it still doesn't allow for surrogacy for gay couples. but it recognizes it if it happens overseas.

the surrogacy thing is harder to convince because it is a paid service, and it's hard to convince people that it's not going to be corrupted.

this government that brought it in is conservative, but the prime minister himself and few others are more liberal and progressive. and that's why it could actually happen.

[nagasakidivision]

Monster AU: an Unnecessarily In-Depth Explanation (Haruto Edition)

Hi. I have a monster AU for the guys that I spent way too much time on and I need to talk about it somewhere so here we go.

For reference: this is set within the Chronicles of Darkness universe which has been one of my long-time obsessions. I did not invent the lore for these species (but I have expanded on bits and pieces of it. Here's looking at you, writers who didn't understand how religious societies form and decided they didn't need to find out and just winging it would be fine and not create an incoherent narrative that confuses players and makes the werewolf sociological groups feel floaty, indistinct, unsympathetic, and uninteresting.)

Also this ended up so damn long I'm going to break it up by character. Werewolf Damien coming soon!

Sorry for all the buzzwords in advance, this is a ridiculously involved universe but it's so much fun to play around in because of that, it does a lot of really interesting things with monster media to make the monsters more complex and interesting.

tl;dr: philosophical anarchist gets a wizard major in Make Things Explode when he could have studied how to change the fabric of reality instead

Haruto

Haruto is among the Awakened, a specific sub-type of magic user. Unlike other magic users, the Awakened gain their innate powers not through research into ancient rituals or otherworldly patrons. Instead, the Awakened are chosen through mysterious and unknown means whisked off to one of the five Supernal Realms, at which point they.........Awaken (ohohoho title drop) to a greater understanding of the true nature of reality, achieving the power to manipulate it to their will...in a limited capacity. No amount of study can make an Awakened, and some mages have a dim view of other magic users who don't have the same level of power and control over reality they do.

(You can also call them mages, that's fine. But only some Awakened are Witches, and none of them are wizards, and they do not like being called wizards.)

Lore note: the Awakened believe that the Supernal Realms are the "true" world before evil mages-turned-gods called the Exarchs broke it to keep magic for themselves. In prehistory the First City, Atlantis, was where all of humanity gathered and where everyone could do Awakened-style magic. Since everyone could just will what they needed into existence it was effectively a Garden-of-Eden style paradise. However, the ten mages who became the Exarchs decided that only certain people were allowed to have it so they broke the Supernal Realms into five pieces and then created a layer of unreality between the Supernal Realms, with us now living beneath that barrier and therefore unable to do magic. This modern state of existence is called The Fallen World by most mages.

It's unclear how true this exact account of history is but the Exarchs are very definitively real and Awakened researchers have found relics and sites they believe may be related to Atlantis.

See, each of the Realms corresponds to a vague force of reality that divides the Awakened up into five different Paths that determine what they can actually control. As such, the Awakened of the current time are incredibly weak compared to what the citizens of Atlantis would be able to do. Haruto is on the Path of the Thaumaturge, Awakened within the Supernal Realm of Aether, beneath the Tower of the Golden Key. Thaumaturges likely inspired human myths of divine prophets and chosen agents of gods as they use their power over Forces (the natural elements of water, wind, lighting, and so on) and Prime (the raw, untamed force of magical energy itself) to be agents of destruction and judgment. They are by a long shot the least subtle of all magic Paths. It helps a lot that they have a connection to and can summon the Cherubim and Seraphim, natives of the realm of Aether. The Tower of the Golden Key tends to draw in people who are arrogant, rigidly moralistic, and stubborn.

Well, that doesn't sound like anyone we know at all. Moving on.

The Paths aren't the only way mages divide themselves up. The Awakened gather into like-minded Orders. Most of them believe that the world needs to return to the state it was in Atlantis, however, Haruto's Order, the Free Council is an exception to that rule. They don't see the Fallen World as innately evil, believe that there is still a form of magic in what humanity has accomplished, and are vehemently opposed to the sorts of rule-by-philosopher-kings that many other mages want to see. This sometimes puts the Free Council at odds with other Orders, and their primary reason for working together with the other Orders is to fight servants of the Exarchs. The Free Council places most of the ills of the world on the machinations of the Exarchs, who they believe keep humans in a state of ignorance, inequality, and forever wars to distract them from the true potential of humanity.

(Yes, some mages will willingly work for the Exarchs, because the Exarchs pay really well. You effectively become wizard middle management and make other people miserable but like, an acceptable measure of miserable to keep them going but also constantly believing that if they keep trying things might get just a little better, with better never actually happening.)

So what is Haruto doing? Well, hanging around with other monsters because he can barely tolerate most other mages and the Free Council does not have a good foothold in Nagasaki, and studying what he thinks might be a fundamental principle driving reality. He's occasionally caught glimpses of peculiar leylines and entities that don't fit into the usual Awakened dichotomies of ghost/spirit/Supernal Entity hiding behind them. Research has convinced him this is some instrument created by the Exarchs and his hope is destroying it (...or at least some of it) might break their hold on the Fallen World.

...but in the meantime, he's getting dragged into ghost adventures.