#just how much of a legacy he has? how even centuries after his time people still laud his art & him as some of the most impactful in history

[viperdove-if]

They will sing songs of our legacy, weave tales of the blood we spilled and the hearts we stole. We have carved our names in history, my dove, using the lives of the guilty. And once you are appointed, you too will be marked in legend.

DEMO TBA | CHARACTER POSTS

Genre: dark, crime, romance, gangs

Setting: fictional world of Hera, ancient times

You are the Dove, the heir to one of the most powerful crime families in your country. The grip your family--your father--has on their side of the land is tight, and now that you've reached adulthood it's time for you to be fully absorbed into the machinations of gang warfare. That means opium, mercenaries, assassinations. In this ancient world, blood moves people just as much as money does.

But your family is not the only family with a steel-like grip on Hera. The Dimas family have been your rivals for centuries, a blood feud fueling the anger on both sides. You both fight for territories, for money, terrorize innocent civilians and throw them in a fight they never asked to be part of. Eventually it must end...and eventually it will come down to you and the Viper, the rival heir.

But when murders and kidnappings crop up on both sides of families, the blood feud grows larger. Because there is an even bigger threat coming, and a blood war may be the only way to get out of it.

Viper & Dove is a dark romantic interactive fiction that follows two crime families in a blood feud taking place in ancient times. It is rated 18+ for violence, explicit themes, possible sexual content, and gore.

Customize your heir from name, appearance, gender identity, pronouns, demeanor and more. Customize their approach to their position and how they feel about their family and their responsibilities.

Choose a weapon of choice like a sword, throwing knives, and more.

Choose what kind of heir you want to be, and how far you're willing to go to protect your title from your endless siblings...who are various shades of bloodthirsty.

Indulge in romances that go from a doomed Romeo & Juliet narrative to a bully arranged-marriage romance to a bodyguard romance.

more features to come.

Talon/Thea 'The Viper' Dimas (m/f) : the eldest and heir to your rival family, neither of you can live while the other one breathes. Everyone is waiting with baited breath for the day you two come face to face for a fight to the death to finally bring an end to a century long rivalry...in blood. The day seems to be inching closer, and you wonder if you're prepared.

You are forbidden to see them. Forbidden to speak to them. Romancing them grants a punishment in blood.

Romance: enemies to lovers, forbidden lovers, heirs to rival families, Romeo & Juliet-esque

Alastair (m): your father's advisor, his second-hand man. He is serious, distant, and treats you with neutrality, mostly because of who you are. He oversees everything your father does and your father trusts him with his life. Romancing you would mean certain death for him.

Romance: forbidden romance

Shadow (real name unknown) (m/f): the family's head assassin and lapdog for your father, indebted to him like a prisoner. They have killed many, and their deaths pile up in a way that keeps them quiet and isolated. They do not speak, least of all to you, and you rarely see them underneath their assassins garb.

Romance: forbidden romance

Kalis Dimas (f): the twin of your rival. Even though she is a Dimas, you feel she has no interest in the blood feud. She is too kind, too pure. If anyone were to find you speaking to her--especially her very protective twin--the results could be detrimental to you both.

Romance: forbidden romance

Oren/Odessa (m/f): your betrothed. They are mean, rude, and a bully, and yet you are expected to wed them. After all these years of them bullying you, tormenting you, how could it possibly change?

Romance: bully romance, arranged marriage

Kai/ Kara: (m/f): your childhood best friend. Your guard. The one meant to protect you. They were once an orphan, then found and employed by your father to keep you safe. They take their duty seriously, lest they get thrown out again.

Romance: bodyguard romance, forbidden

Raven/Rome: (m/f) your personal maid/butler, hailing from the servant family that has served yours for generations. They don't look you in the eye and don't dare speak. Some might find their overt politeness endearing.

This is my first interactive-fiction story and I hope you like it. Reblogs are always appreciated, thank you! :)

[heartmii]

TOA 01

✮⋆apollo x male!reader

!warnings!: angst, mentions of blood, anything else anyone sees and is uncomfortable with please let me know!

✮⋆˙ woo chapter two!! I'm excited to release this but also super nervous because I added a twist that I'm not sure everyone will love but I mean, it's a story about mythical beings so I decided to just have fun with it!

✮⋆˙previous

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“What did you do?” Anger seethed through the ex-god, his shaky breath competed with the rapid thump of his heart against his chest. Apollo’s eyes snapped to the now smug smiling emperor, the fury in his chest growing. 

“Oh? Are you not happy with what you see?” Caligula asked, voice laced with fake concern. He clicked his tongue, his eyes surveying his servants in dissatisfaction. “The gods,” he sighed, shaking his head. “So hard to please. You surprise them with the dead love of their life, and still, it’s not enough for them to say thank you. Such egos, it’s a shame, really.”

Apollo swallowed, an attempt at soothing the dryness that was now overtaking his throat. “That’s not possible. It’s an illusion. It has to be…” he faltered, his body deflating as he dropped onto the ground.

 Apollo was a god turned mortal. He was from the mythical world and saw many things, things that one alone could not comprehend, things that don’t make sense, that shouldn’t be able to happen because it went beyond the natural order of the mortal and mythical world. Yet, somehow, you being brought back from the dead was not an acceptance that came easily to him. 

It’d been years, years, since your death, but you lived. Alive in Apollo’s mind. There was not a day, not a century, not even a millennium, that Apollo did not think of you and the bittersweet memories you two shared. Your grace and your beauty, along with the essence of your soul, were immortalized for eternity in his heart, where he could forever nourish your memory and honor your legacy. 

Please… Who was he kidding? Honoring your legacy? Him? Apollo had done nothing but trash on everything you stood behind! If anything, he went against what you fought so desperately for. There was blood on his hands. The blood of many innocent lives he so easily discarded with no regard for their being. The option of others having a choice was previously nonexistent in the ex-god’s mind. He’d force many people to do his bidding and castigate them if they rejected. 

Including those he loved after your time. 

His heart clenched as Daphne’s horrified face filled his mind. Her expression contrasting his hopeful one as he chased her through the forest surrounding mount Olympus. It was Eros who, so full of spite, caused her to hate the mere thought of Apollo’s face. So much so that she begged her father, Peneus, desperate for help. He’d heard her prayers and granted her salvation.

 But even after the last branch formed from Daphne’s outstretched arm and she had fully become a prospering laurel tree, Apollo did not allow her to rest peacefully. He had plucked the leaves from her branches and formed what was now known to be one of his most notable symbols. The laurel reef.

 Daphne didn’t love Apollo. No, she despised him so much that she believed death was better than remaining on earth with him, but even that he had stolen from her. 

Just like you, Daphne was immortalized in the memories and stories of people but met the tragic fate of being forever tied to the very god that she had died escaping, tainting her name with his own and taking away her right to a peaceful death. Apollo may not have been the one that forced her to take her last breath, but it was he who pushed her to such a state of helplessness that she felt there was no other option. 

Perhaps that was why the thought of you being alive was so agonizing to him, because then you would learn about the monster he had become and how all of those promises he made to you under the moonlight had become nothing but empty words he spewed under the drunken spell of love.

 How could he look you in your eyes now? Eyes that always glimmered with determination as you spouted your ideals and all the great you planned to do in the world…how could he look at those same eyes and say that he failed to do what you had dreamed, what you both dreamed. Even if that dream died for Apollo a long time ago. 

Caligula considered Apollo for a moment before grabbing your arm and moving you back into his line of sight. He turned back to the ex god, his smile now wicked and sadistic, vastly enjoying the conflicting grief in his eyes.

“You haven’t taken a proper look at him. As he was once your lover, there’s no doubt in my mind you’ve memorized his body. You should have no trouble deducing if he’s a fake or not.” 

How odd was it that Apollo, who had been literally fighting for his life these past few months and wanted nothing more but to evade conflict, wished he was dodging swinging swords, and running from giant monsters that chased him and his friends instead of being here, simply standing and being forced to stare at the person most precious to him. 

Yet, he had succumbed to the small part of him that was a tad curious if it truly was you. 

His breath staggered, and he stood on wobbly legs, anxiously meeting your stare, only to regret it immediately. 

There they were, those eyes. Hypnotic as they had willed Apollo into your grasp, and enchanted him with an infatuation that ran deep in his blood. The same hunger swirled within them in a way that could only be described as honest passion. The intensity made Apollo’s heart skip a beat, and he trembled under your gaze. 

It was said that one’s eyes were the window into their soul, a quote which honestly was quite dated and overused, but as you searched deep within Apollo, he felt his own soul stir in response. His body had recognized its missing piece and, like a magnet, it fought to connect again.

Your souls were bound to each other. The fates decreed that the moment you two met. There was no way Apollo wouldn’t have known if you were a fake. 

In case he was completely wrong and in over his head, he took action to make sure he was absolute in his observation. It hurt to tear his sight away from your face, but he allowed himself to survey the rest of you, as Caligula suggested. 

His eyes roamed your body with a frown. 

 How strange. You appeared to be… out of this world. 

Your aura, although it had always been charming, was different in a way Apollo could not put his finger on. Something about you filled him with an irresistible sensation he had never felt with you before. 

Could it be Lester’s human hormones could not handle the gorgeous sight of his past lover and therefore appeared to be more appetizing than usual?

No, that couldn’t be it. Yes, mortals could definitely be extremely tempting creatures, but they didn’t hold the same weight and power as they did with gods. Many felt enchanted just by the mere sight of one. It was not a simple task to break away from their inviting aura and fight the urge to give in to their desires. 

Your aura was similar; An inviting force emitting from you. But how? You weren’t a god… were you? 

Apollo gagged internally at the thought, his insides twisting at the possibility of you being a deity. 

Being mortal was the very essence of your existence. It was nauseating how you nurtured the role like it was your life’s purpose, facing no fear towards things such as death or illness, claiming that these tragedies were simply just a part of being human and running from it would do nothing but force you to live in a world of clouds where you’d constantly be lost amongst the fog. 

Becoming a deity would’ve made your death a vain sacrifice for what you believed and enduring an eternity of grief would’ve been for nothing. Days of forcing the sun to shine upon the earth when Apollo himself was lost in the overwhelming darkness of his heart as his guiding light, his sun, was gone. Constantly, he searched for another you because the void left in him hurt too much, but of course, none had come as close to his heart as you did because in the end, all he wanted was you and he caged his heart behind iron bars out of fear of experiencing grief on that level ever again. 

There was only one who had been close to unlocking his heart again after you. His dear Hyacinthus. Oh, how the boy had reminded Apollo of you in so, so, many ways. The both of you were graceful, heads held high as you smiled at all that you loved. Adored by many as anyone who came to meet you was always enthralled by your allure and hearts of gold. But alas, love was never in Apollo’s favor, and his precious Hyacinthus met a tragic fate when he was murdered by the conniving and envious wind god, Zephyrus. 

It was almost comical how similar your deaths were. A sadistic joke played on Apollo. All hope he ever had for another love as great as you and Hyacinthus went out the window and following that was a now numb and manipulative god who allowed himself to know his lovers but never allowed them to know him. 

All of that guilt he felt for abusing his authority and refusing to see his lover’s as equals, all the shame for not living up to par with what you wanted, would’ve been for nothing. Along with the stab of knowing that you didn’t choose HIM over your ideals when he would’ve burned the world for you, was all too much. No, you couldn’t be a deity because then Apollo would never forgive you. 

He could not bear these thoughts and, for once, Apollo was glad when Caligula spoke to him as he had distracted him from the fogginess building up in his eyes.

Caligula waved his hand in the ex-god’s face, surveying him. “I’ll take the dumb look on your already idiotic face as confirmation that you’ve recognized that this is the real deal.” He turned to you, “I know how, uh… different…Apollo must look to you. Surely, it must be traumatic to come back from the dead and your once powerful and radiant lover is now pathetic, weak, and ugly. Do you believe this to be the god you once loved?”

Apollo huffed, once because he could not deny that Lester’s face was, in fact, idiotic and again because of Caligula’s question. Your eyes were good, but they weren’t that good. Unfortunately, you hadn’t been blessed with seeing beyond the mist, a trait that could’ve saved your life.                  

“You ask him a question he cannot answer. He would not recognize me in such a body—“ 

“Yes.” You cut him off and stepped closer. Apollo sucked in his bottom lip as your hands had come up to run your fingers through his hair. Oh, how he missed your touch. The way you handled him like he was a piece of glass. Then you spoke again, your voice being in that delicious and melodic tone that made heat travel up Apollo’s neck to the tips of his ears. Damn this body. 

“Although in a different body, your scent remains the same… how bizarre. Might it be your soul I smell?” You muttered, your fingers dragging down Apollo’s cheek. 

Apollo shuttered at your touch, the coolness of your finger soothing his warm face. But as much as he wanted to allow you to continue your exploration of his body, he could not shake off what you had said. “My scent—- What does that mean? — How is your nose even that good?—“

“Bravo! It appears love truly conquers all!” Caligula clapped, pulling you away from Apollo and making the ex-god frown. Something wasn’t right about you, besides being a walking corpse. Death was not his domain, but as far as Apollo was aware, coming back from the dead did not include the nose of a hellhound. 

“What did you do to him?” He asked Caligula, pinning his arms to his side as they had once again trembled. 

Caligula stared at Apollo questioningly. “What did I do?” He laughed. “You are funny, dear. This fiasco was not my idea. All I want from you is to squeeze out the final essence of godhood that’s left in that lanky vessel. If you were smart, you would’ve directed your attention to the only witch in the room.” 

Apollo’s eyes swiftly met Medea’s sadistic ones. She had silently been watching the previous conversation from the side. Gods, he was so caught up in the sight of you he had forgotten all about the Wicked Witch of the East.

“How rude of you to put me on the spot. I haven’t prepared my speech.” Medea purrs and approaches, circling around you before landing her hands on your shoulders. “On the contrary, love does not, in fact, conquer all.” She said, referring to Caligula’s earlier comment. 

“Instead, it leads people to their doom. It makes them think with their hearts and not their heads. The most powerful beings,” Apollo cursed himself for flinching after she had eyed him with a knowing look. “Have been brought down onto their knees in the name of love. As you all know, I, myself, have been a victim of this. After Jason betrayed me.” 

“I don’t understand.” Apollo interjected. “I had nothing to do with Jason’s betrayal against you.” 

“Oh, I am aware. But that is not why I brought him up.”

“You see, my heart had never bled as much as it did when I was in love. I yearned to serve Jason. To become half of his soul as his life, his goals, had become my own. I was high on that feeling. A feeling you must know well, yes?” The smile on her face was one Apollo did indeed recognize. 

A smile that did not reach one’s eyes, that was all for show to hide your true misery. He hated sympathizing with the witch, but he knew exactly what she meant. 

It seemed his face wasn’t so good at hiding his feelings either, as Madea had nodded to herself in what seemed to be satisfaction. “I needed something against you, Apollo. But what was something that would hold such great power over an ex-Olympian God? It couldn't be physical, no, that would be too merciful. I needed something, or someone, that could cause such turmoil within you that the thought of even fighting against it would cause you great sorrow.” 

“Well, isn’t that thoughtful? Putting in all that effort into destroying little ol’me.” 

She sneered, her eyes narrowing. “I studied you. Studied how I could control you, and imagine my surprise when I found out about an unclaimed lover of yours.” Her hands go to you, caressing your arms and making Apollo livid. “It seems not everything made it into the history books.”

Grime stained Apollo’s face, becoming one with the hot tears sliding down his cheeks. His hands ached as he pulled apart dirt from the ground with none other than his fingers. He could’ve called someone and ordered them to do the laboring task on their own. But he refused. He had to do this alone. He had to bury you himself. 

 No one should be able to see you, to touch you, to be around you. Not anymore. You were too sacred, too precious for this cursed world. But Apollo was selfish. He took you away from the earth, took you away from the rest of your family, just to have you rest under his domain. 

The god’s choked cries turned into loud sobs as his fingers dug deeper into the sacred dirt of Delos, shimmering gold tainting the soil. He welcomed the blood seeping from his hand; the pain was deserved. It was nothing compared to what you must’ve felt when his father had struck you down, but he needed to feel something. Anything that would compensate for the agony you went through before drawing your final breath. 

Delos, where he and Artemis were born. The land that had once been his aunt, Asteria, who had transformed herself into a floating island to get away from the advances of Zeus.  Where she provided sanctuary for his mother as she ran from the wrath of Hera on earth. This is where Apollo would bury you, a place that would now provide you sanctuary as it did for his family. A place where you could rest unbothered by the world. 

The hole was deep enough now, and Apollo had pulled himself out of it. A coffin waited for him and he involuntarily walked towards it, dragging his hand against it. The coffin had been turned from a simple block of stone to a grand piece of imagery. All along its sides had Apollo carved into it, creating depictions of milestones in your relationship. The first time you met, along with the time he revealed to you he was a god followed by the countless times he’d let you play on his lyre and of course, the first ‘I love you.’ Amongst many more. 

He was gentle with the coffin when he picked it up, moving slowly when he brought it over to the open ground. Apollo bit his lip, holding back his weeping so that he could focus on lowering you into the hole. 

It was done. You were really gone, and Apollo would never be yours again. 

“What are you doing here?” Apollo asked, his voice hoarse and his eyes bleak. He was sitting on the ground, painting a gravestone. 

Grass crunched behind him as someone approached. “You’re burying him here?” 

Apollo’s wrist kept moving, his brush creating faces on the gravestone. Still, he answered, “Cut the crap, Artemis.”

Artemis crossed her arms, frowning at her brother’s words. “I was born here too, Apollo. I have just as much right to be here as you do.” 

“You knew, didn’t you?” Apollo snapped, the brush falling from his fingers. 

“Knew what?” Artemis asked. 

“Don’t lie to me Artemis.” Apollo stood, finally facing his twin. “You knew father would kill him!” 

Artemis flinched as she caught wind of Apollo’s face, the puffiness under his eyes red and throbbing. Yet she recovered quickly, shaking Apollo’s arm away. “Don’t touch me.”

He placed his hands back onto her, gripping her in more of a desperate plea than before. “Please, sister, tell me the truth. Did you know that father would kill him?”

. “I…” she started, her chest growing heavy as she felt Apollo’s fingers shake against her. Swallowing carefully, she moved her eyes to your grave. “Yes, I knew… we all did.”

Apollo’s grip on her tightened, his eyes becoming glassy at the revelation. “Why didn’t you tell me? Were you sworn to secrecy? Is that why you didn’t tell me? Father is frightening. I understand if he forced you to swear on the River Styx—”

“He didn’t force me to do anything.” 

“What…?” 

“Oath did not bind me to not say anything to you. I simply chose not to.” Artemis stated, throwing Apollo off of her once again. Her head held high as she watched for his reaction. 

Apollo stared at her, his eyes widening in disbelief. He shook his head. “You knew how much I loved him, you knew father was going to kill him and you didn’t tell me! I don’t understand, Artemis. You are my sister, my twin, my blood. How… how could you?”

“That is exactly why! Apollo, you are my other half. We are two sides of the same coin. We might be related to the others, but their bond is not like ours. That boy was leading you to your demise. I have nothing against him, but you are who I care about most. I didn’t want to see him dead, but I didn’t want to see my brother subjected to an eternal punishment, either.” Artemis finished, her own resolve fading as she too shook at the thought of Apollo being hurt. 

Apollo’s jaw clenched. “Well, sister,” he started, malice seeping into his voice, “It seems you’ve failed anyway because a life without him is the worst punishment I could ever endure.” 

“Demigods!” Medea yelled out, bringing awareness to Meg and Jason’s presence in the room. They couldn’t speak anyway, not while they were stuck in the wind tornadoes Medea had stuck them in. “This is important. Pay attention.” 

“Delphi was a known city-state of ancient Greece. A city state where you, Apollo, were the patron god of. But the Delphi that lives in myths, the one that we know, is not the Delphi that has always been.” 

Through the corner of his eye, Apollo watched as both Meg and Jason’s expressions formed into one of confusion. 

“Once upon a time ago, Apollo betrayed Zeus. However, that’s not a surprise, that is a story that still lives. What didn’t make it, though, was the entire punishment your father had you experience. The gods said you were forced to build the gates of Troy alongside Poseidon. But what they failed to mention was the part where Zeus took everything from you. Your lover and your city. Isn’t that right?”

Apollo opened his mouth to speak, eager to defend his story. He knew where this was going and dread filled his stomach.  

Medea spoke before he could. “Oh, but that’s not even the best part! The original Delphi had its own royal family, a family that your boy-toy had been born to.” She comes to your side, raising your hand up. “Here stands the last prince of Delphi before its initial destruction. After a few years, Apollo rebuilt Delphi and got rid of all the evidence of its history. But thanks to my digging, I could uncover all of this.” 

Behind him, the Pandai were ready to lunge forward and capture Apollo as he had taken on a defensive stance against Medea. “Who told you this? The only person who knew about where I buried him was my sister.” 

Medea scoffed. “Oh, please, if you want to hide the body of your dead lover, do it somewhere that’s not your famous birthplace that everyone knows about. It was the first place I checked.” 

Apollo’s eyes ripped away from hers as blood rushed to his head. She was right, and he was an idiot to think that if someone wanted to find your body, they wouldn’t look on Delos. In his defense, it had been four thousand years since your death. 

Medea smirked at the red dusting Apollo’s cheeks. 

“Everything fell into place for me after that. You preserved his body well, I expected dust only to find that his body was enchanted to stay in good shape. It was perfect for my plan. I needed to bring him back from the dead without actually bringing him back, as I did not want to deal with Hades. He needed to be undead. I looked for spells beyond Ancient Greece and came upon the perfect solution within the dark arts—

“I’ve had enough of your talking,” Apollo sneered, glaring at the witch. “What have you turned him into?” 

“Patience.” She hissed, “I sacrificed my rarest properties along with human blood to create an elixir that would wake up this sleeping beauty. It took days to restore him to full health. But finally, when he did wake, he was radiant. No longer was he a meek mortal. His senses had heightened as he was now strong and blessed with speed, his ears picked up on sounds from miles away, and a nose made for hunting. There’s more, I'm sure of it, but he is still fresh and needs time to develop. So what did I turn him into, you ask?”

Medea sent Apollo one last wicked smile before dropping information that made the ex-god wish he was dead. 

“I have turned the long-lost Prince of Delphi into a vampire.” 

[starlightshadowsworld]

I hate the Percy Jason rivalry, I find it just a poor attempt to rehash the Percy Thalia rivalry.

But man does it have potential in exploring the differences between them and their respective camps. Such as theme of hard work vs natural talent.

Percy is naturally gifted.

He used his powers unknowingly without even knowing he was anything but human. He's never had an issue with his powers, able to perform incredible feats with little effort.

He accidentally vaporised his pre-algebra the first time he ever held a weapon.

He beat Luke in a swordfight in his first ever swordfighting lesson. A great feat considering Luke is called out for being the best swordfighter in Camp Half Blood in a century.

In Camp Half Blood it seems like parentage is everything. The Aphrodite kids are looked down upon because of their mother. The Athena kids are highly regarded because of their mother.

To be a child of the Big 3 is like being royalty itself.

I mean everyone is told to bow when Percy gets claimed by his father. Thalia's the legendary daughter of Zeus and Nico is isolated for a long while for being a son of Hades.

That doesn't seem to be the case at Camp Jupiter. Hazel's not so much looked down upon for being a daughter of Pluto, but for being part of the 5th cohort.

Jason's looked up too but it's not because he's the son of Jupiter. And clearly not cared about enough for people to actually look for him.

It's never said but I imagine he spent a long time being looked down upon for being of the 5th cohort.

Parentage holds weight but it doesn't matter in the same way as it does in Camp Half Blood. I mean Camp Jupiter allows legacies to join. And most of those aren't even demigods themselves, like Octavian.

Legacies aren't seen as lesser. Hell Frank had his life force tied to a stick by Juno because he was deemed too powerful by being both a demigod and a legacy.

Jason has been at Camp Jupiter since he was two years old. He had to survive the wolf house, countless quests and battles and than lead his camp to war. To which he fought Krios and won.

Presumably with no aid from the Olympians.

The first rule of the Wolf House is self reliance. Imagine having that taught to you at 2 years old? After being abandoned by your mother to the wolves.

And these experiences shape people and the sheer culture shock these two should've faced when they were switched.

Wolves who would've killed Jason had he ever shown fear or failed their tests.

And I'm not saying that Percy hasn't ever had work hard. That Jason's has a worse life than him, because that's not true. I'm saying in terms of their skills one comes across as naturally gifted while the other does not.

Percy who suddenly has no one to help him for the first time in his life. He's alone, he's forced to rely on himself and only himself. He's always stuck out but never more so than now.

Its one thing to diss the Olympians to their faces, it's been a long time since his own peers looked down on him. It's like he's back in school all over again, everyone knows what to do and he's failing.

Everything he took for granted before is gone. His talent is all he can rely on and he doesn't even know how that's happening.

Jason is suddenly looked up too and revered because of his parentage. People have a perception of what he should be because of his father, because of his sister.

Both of whom he barely knows, hell he never met Jupiter in the entire series. And he's failing to meet these new expectations. He's the kid who was abandoned forced into the family reunion.

Neither of them feel like they belong and have different ways of trying to cope. Jason doubles down and tries to meet these expectations, while Percy is defiantly himself.

Tld:dr These two should've been like Neji vs Naruto, Gaara vs Rock Lee at the Shunin exams. They are so different and highlighting those differences would've been cool to see.

[sunderwight]

In the theme of "just ignoring whatever the people behind the show say", I have disregarded the idea that the people of KL don't cheer to see Meleys' head because they've somehow forgotten that she killed a bunch of them just a short while ago and are thus somehow mourning her.

I think reactions are muddled because they just really don't know how to take this.

The last time a dragon was killed and anyone other than the riders involved saw it would have been when Maegor slew his nephew Aegon and Aegon's dragon Silverwing. And even Maegor didn't parade the dragon through the streets. Because Maegor presumably understood that his control over the populace was reliant upon the image of dragons (and Targaryens, by association) as closer to gods than to mortal things. That image is diminished by reminders that dragons can not only be killed, but are reduced to the same rotting animal parts as anything else after the fact.

So this is strange. It's doubly strange due to Cole's decision to try and call Meleys a "traitor dragon", which was a bad idea and almost certainly went against previously established notions and precedents.

To go back to Maegor again, the guy was such a widely unpopular king that he is still wielded as an example to discredit other Targaryens. Otto warns that Daemon is too like Maegor. Anti-Rhaenyra statements often slander her as "Maegor with teats". Being like Maegor is shorthand for "person technically in the line of succession who should never inherit because the people and gods would not support their rule".

Maegor, however, flew Balerion. The Black Dread. Aegon the Conqueror's dragon. The dragon. The same dragon that Viserys I claimed. The fabled "last living creature to see Valyria before the Doom" that still lives large in the cultural legacies of Westeros even by the time of Robert's rule.

Dragons can live for centuries, and they don't seem to give much of a shit about political allegiances when accepting or rejecting riders. While it's certainly a feather in the cap of any Targaryen that can tame a powerful dragon, you cannot hinge much on the dragon's "opinion". You can call Rhaenys a traitor but not Meleys, because ideally if they'd killed Rhaenys and not Meleys then one day one of Aegon II's own descendants might have claimed and ridden Meleys.

Cole, I think, has made this decision because he finds the idea of dragons as beatable animals reassuring in the wake of watching the battle at Rook's Rest. He's trying to take control, to treat this as a victory. He's not registering the unease and questions he's introduced into the minds of the even the least transgressive common folk by putting a dragon on the level of an animal, or the fact that this undermines certain ideas that bolster Aegon's right to rule as much as Rhaenyra's. After all, the people of King's Landing haven't come back from witnessing a battle where the dragons unleashed their terrible might.

I think this fits well into the impending uprising that is going to result in Certain Events at the dragon pit, too. No cheering. Just unease.

[serialadoptersbracket]

Round 4, Match 8: Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu vs. Xie Lian

Submitted kids:

Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu: Zhang Chengling, Gu Xiang, Liang Jiuxiao, arguably also Cao Weining and Gao Xiaolian

Xie Lian: Ban Yue, Pei Xiu, Lang Ying, Lian Qianqiu, Gu Zi, Lang Ying

Propaganda under the cut!

Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu:

1: “Wen Kexing- the man has his entire life planned around an evil revenge plot yet somehow while becoming the Ghost Valley Chief he manages to take Gu Xiang (who must of been a young girl at that point) under his wing. Sure the woman in the unfaithful manor probably helped him out with her, but still she manages to come out of the Ghost Valley probably the least messed up out of anyone. Also he goes total protective dad the second Cao Weining starts courting her, literally nitpicks everything the man does, yet in the end he gives them his support in the marriage and even holds it on his turf, opening up the Ghost Valley to normal (warrior/cultivating) people for their wedding. His positive interactions with Zhang Chengling are to a less extent, especially as the boy is so embroiled in his revenge scheme, but none the less he teaches him and treats him decently especially as the spend more time with each other.

ZZS- He gets tangled up in WKX’s whole revenge plot because he promises to protect and escort the boy, Zhang Chengling, to the safety of one of his martial uncles, and yet before we even hit the halfway point in episodes (at least I think it is) he’s taken the boy under his wing as what is essentially a disciple, even though he is the last member of his sect and was ready to let it die with him. Not to mention the fact that his whole plan was to waste away mostly unnoticed and yet he somehow gets dragged into the biggest drama of the decade and repeatedly puts himself in harms way to save the kid! And he planned on passing over the legacy of his sect to him! His relationship with Gu Xiang is less intense, but if I had to describe how they act it’s a constant back and forth, he annoys teases her and she gets all frustrated. She spends the first couple episodes literally thinking he’s a weird old man, cause their whole relationship is just like that. He’s also much more sympathetic to Cao Weining’s continuous courting struggle though that’s not to say he doesn’t pull a fast one or few on him.”

Link to the rest here!

Xie Lian:

1. “a several centuries old disgraced god who keeps somehow getting mixed up in things that have nothing to do with him and taking in random kids in the process. Got dragged into being a soldier in a war between kingdoms he's not even from? suddenly single dad to these two random kids caught up in between. dealing with a malicious ghost who has been killing brides? boom, now he has a ghost son whose previous guardian was killed by the malicious ghost. psychotic ghost cousin posses the body of a man with a young son and continues being a piece of shit? well i guess your taking care of that kid too now (i know guzi is technically qi rong's kid since he's the one possessing his actual dad but if it weren't for xie lian intervening when he did the kid would be dead so he kinda counts too)”

2. “Xie Lian saves a young LQQ from being kidnapped, returns him home and end up becoming the/his grand tutor(which was NOT his original plan at all). He literally teaches the boy everything for years, raising him to become the best ruler he could ever be. The XL ends up accused for killing his family (because of a lot of different things) what is important is that he was not the perpetrator but he did kill LQQ’s father in an act to save the boy from making a horrible decision/outcome and also dealt with the actual perpetrators but kept it a secret cause he knew it would break LQQ’s heart to learn his dear friend planned to kill him and his entire family. LQQ took this betrayal by XL so hard he buried him after staking him through the heart when he was still alive. 300 years later when XL returns/is revealed LQQ is still not over it to the point he wants a FAIR duel to settle the score. FAIR with the man he still thinks killed his entire family!

Banyue and Pei Su are connected. XL took BY under his wing while he was a soldier in the army. He did his best to protect her and get her fed as she had pretty much no one. He also talked with her about his younger selfs dreams for the future which was so inspiring to her that not only did she remember it over a century later when they meet again in very different circumstances but she also apologized for essentially not being able to live up to the ideals he had accidentally passed on to her. While he didn’t have as much direct contact with Pei Su, the boy was BY’s only friend and so while XL was around he did also interact with the boy. However this all came to an end when in an attempt to save BY (which succeeded) he through himself in between two armies and was trampled when they began to fight. When they meet again (as I previously mentioned) XL takes BY under his safety until he is not safe and then sends her off to a safe place where she reunites with PS, who for all XL doesn’t give the same amount of attention to, XL does actually approve of some of him (not all his actions) and seems to find it cute that PS is courting BY.

XL meets Lang Ying first when he helps the boy burry his proxy sister, LY ends up running off after XL reacted with shock to LY’s uncovered face, but XL keeps a constant search for him. XL next saves him from getting beat up by ghosts and ends up taking him to live with him in the shrine he lives in. He does his best to take care of both LY and Gu Zi at the shrine and keeps his good treatment up even knowing LY’s a ghost it only ends when (spoilers for non book people, feel free to look up if you want to know).

XL takes in GZ mostly as his ghost cousin (whom he arrested) has taken over the body of the boy’s father. While I’m not sure how much this one counts, especially since by the end his cousin ends up caring for GZ, but he still does the best he can to feed and care for the boy as his entire life changes.”

[idyllic-affections]

if i am the wind, fleeting and transient, you are the steady and constant earth upon which i stand.

summary. kaedehara kazuha's older sibling is a geo-aligned mirror of himself.

trigger & content warnings. references to tomo's death and mentions of sensory overload.

tropes, pairings, fic length, & other notes. fluff, hurt/comfort. kazuha & older sibling!reader, slight beidou x reader. 0.7k words. they/them pronouns for reader. reader has a geo vision.

author's thoughts. this was an old draft that i decided to finish bc tbh? kazuha >>> lately i'm finishing and posting old drafts? i think it's because i'm realizing that they aren't even half as bad as i originally thought.

imagine being kazuha's geo bearing older sibling.

kaedehara kazuha is, for the most part, a gentle gale. fleeting, transient, evanescent.

kaedehara [name] is his polar opposite—they are the firm earth. lasting, enduring, permanent.

they were easily one of the raiden shogun's most vocal opposers during the vision hunt decree. how dare she treat her people with such lack of care? the people she should have loved? the people that she had once promised a dream to? where was all that love when she decided to cruelly rip her citizens' visions from them in spite of all the terrible effects such force had? where was all that love?

(even after the decree gets repealed, they would still be a little bitter. they're expected to forgive her, just like that? no. their forgiveness is a thing to be earned; hell, they may simply choose to never forgive her, and after all the pain she caused them and their brother? it would be justified. they do not care if she is an archon.)

"eternity is not complacency in a stasis-like state," they once told kazuha, "but rather, it is the endurance of a legacy for centuries to come. that is eternity."

they stayed back in inazuma, holding off the shogunate while kazuha ran away after tomo's death.

he cried when he had to part from them, but at their command, he ultimately did obey. as much as it hurt him to abandon them, not knowing if they'd somehow manage to escape on their own, he knew they would hate it if he refused to leave. so he did.

thankfully, the resistance took them in. they stayed with kokomi and gorou the majority of the time, helping them push back against the electro archon's tyranny.

kazuha definitely adores his older sibling!! he will literally never say a single bad thing about them to anyone. never. no slander will come from his lips.

when beidou first got to meet them, she was absolutely overjoyed; she can see where kazuha gets his attitude from! they also thanked her profusely for taking such good care of him when they could not. the two got on very well! kazuha was so happy to see some of his favorite people getting along <3

beidou loves them. genuinely.

she always encourages them to come on the alcor. there is always a place for them with her crew! sometimes they do take her up on her offer and they travel teyvat for a while. once their family affairs are settled, they'll start traveling full-time, occassionally returning to inazuma to visit their friends.

she also gets so excited when she knows they'll be on board—beidou likes exchanging stories with them and just... talking. she loves that.

someone had to teach kazuha how to play music on leaves, you know. it was definitely [name].

kazu and his sibling would compliment one another really well in battle. they'd be able to predict one another's next moves based on muscle twitches, changes in stance... it's like they can read each other's minds! they can't. they just know one another inside and out.

sometimes they'll cup their hands over his ears to protect him in situations where he cannot avoid a storm or similar thing that might hurt his ears. this gesture is greatly appreciated. kazuha does what he can to reciprocate that—if they're overwhelmed or overstimulated? his first priority is to get them somewhere calmer. they protect him in his moments of sensitivity, so it's only fair for him to do the same.

i like to think kazuha and his sibling sit and admire scenery together. maybe they point out shapes in the clouds. maybe they take note of interesting sounds they hear in the bushes. however the two spend their time admiring the world, it is always an enjoyable time.

i also think the two would play in the rain, as long as it isn't too heavy <3 dancing in the rain together, taking walks in the rain together... it'a comforting.

sometimes kazuha will lay his head on their lap as if he were some kind of cat, and he'll just fall asleep. a mid-afternoon nap on his older sibling.

on top of all of that, kazuha speaks his mind to his sibling, and he hopes they'll do the same. he wants them to always be honest about what they're thinking and how they're feeling.

he knows that, as the eldest, they may have had to carry heavy burdens all throughout his childhood, while he got the privilege of existing without a care in the world.

the heavy burdens will be no more.

he is old enough to help shoulder the weight, and help shoulder the weight he will.

please consider reblogging, it helps me out quite a lot!

[blackflash9]

Unwavering Faith: Aveline and the Colonial Assassins (Analysis)

Over the years, I've come to notice a dual parallel and theme between the premise of AC Rogue and the side title, Liberation:

The loss of faith. Despite its intentionally ambiguous portrayal of the Assassins, Liberation compellingly explores their flaws, contradictions, and hidden layers through characters like Agate and François Mackandal respectively. This, in turn, profoundly impacts Aveline's mental state and her faith in her sect of the Colonial Assassins and their Creed.

Mackendal, in particular, was a very fascinating character not just in the historical context, but in what he encompassed for the ideals and values of the Assassins when pressed to their logical extreme in using their Creed as a policy for aggression, violence, and unrestrained use of power. An example of this is how he aimed to poison the colonists in Saint-Dominique.

The Mackandal Rebellion (1750-1758) | Haitian Revolution (1791-1804)

What's interesting is that despite his atrocities, Mackandal didn't think he was a traitor of any kind to the Brotherhood or what it preached. Much Like Altair who didn't believe so when he killed his Mentor. Neither did Pierre Bellec when he killed Mirabeau in Unity. Mackandal, in fact, firmly believed he was an Assassin, even truer than the Colonials themselves. From his perspective, he didn't kill "innocents." He just didn't see any of the "white masters" at the time as remotely innocent. Clearly, he was wrong from any other point of view, but it doesn't make him less of an Assassin. After all, the Creed does allow it if you want it to.

In some regards, he shares a sharp contrast with Adewale himself. Both men are shaped by their brutal experiences as slaves, embodying contrasting conclusions with the Assassin's Creed. Mackandal, corrupted by deep-seated anger, employs ruthless and indiscriminate methods such as poisonings, reflecting a radical approach that often causes collateral damage that ultimately catches up to him destroying himself and his Brotherhood. In contrast, Adewale, motivated by a strong sense of justice and compassion, remains steadfast in his convictions and humanity for himself and others. As a result, Mackandal's legacy is often treated as a cautionary tale, while Adewale retaining his morals and principles through the Creed is still remembered and admired by even individuals like Evie Frye an entire century later. This duality between them underscores the larger internal struggle that individuals within the Brotherhood face in response to both oppression and their endless fight for and to preserve freedom. This era of the Assassins, especially, is faced with this dilemma where the very freedom that they fight for is often short-lived, imperfect, nuanced, and bittersweet. 'Laid to Rest' Transcript

Connor: "My father is dead. Charles Lee now leads the Templar Order in his place. I see now why ours is an eternal war. For each piece taken from the board, another is placed upon it. Back and forth we go. Across the world. Across the ages. Some days, mine feels an impossible task, but I cannot afford to be consumed with doubt. The people need me. Now, more than ever. I must stop the Templars. I will kill Charles Lee." Connor's Forsaken Epilogue Soliloquy Connor: "So many voices, each demanding something else… It has been hard at times, but never harder than today to see all I worked for; perverted, discarded, forgotten!"

This brings us to the inner turmoil and duality that Aveline struggles with over the course of her story. Who is she really? Why does she fight? Is it even worth the effort to fight at all in such an unjust world?

"I trust my own hands," I believe, is Connor expressing his adherence to individualism above all else. For him, it signifies the realization that even the people and institutions you serve can be flawed or have misguided intentions, and you must trust your own judgment. This mindset makes Connor an embodiment of the Creed and its ideals—an approach that Aveline also adopts. Her persistent fight for choice and freedom, despite the hypocrisy, corruption, and fallibility within her own order, makes her dedication as an Assassin truly compelling. Because Aveline is more than just an Assassin. She is a liberator.

[mickstart]

Hi! I don’t know if you still take Formula 1 asks but I was wondering after watching the Senna documentary, WHY ON EARTH everyone deems Senna better than Schumacher?!

Everyone always talks about Senna as the greatest, but he can’t be better than Michael Schumacher right? Or better than Fangio or Vettel, and definitely Hamilton.

Which I know Verstappen always says you can’t compare different eras but I can’t understand the hype around Senna,

I mean, personally, I prefer Prost because of how Jenson Button describes his driving style.

But I would like to understand though. I always like your input, so that’s why I’m asking. Thank you!

Have a lovely week!

Hey! yeah F1 will always be a part of my life so I'm always down for F1 asks. Fdfsjfdsghjds as for this it's a... complicated question. There's a lot of stuff going on.

So fair warning, this is going to be a long fucking answer.

For me personally, I totally agree with the argument that you really cannot compare different eras. Like, Max for example having more wins per season means Nothing when there are statistically more races per season. But then does this mean Fangio's statistic of winning the highest percentage of races per season is the real meaningful record, and it means he's better? Well, not in a way you can meaningfully prove, because fewer races per season means fewer chances to lose, or to have a mechanical problem, or a freak accident.

So you see really quickly how comparing different eras is like. Almost meaningless, because the skills needed in each era varied so much. It's not like a lot of other sports where the rules and structure were already consistent more than a hundred years ago and so it's easier to compare across a few decades. The physical demand an F1 race places on the body today would have been absolutely unthinkable to those drivers in the mid 20th century, even in the late 80s. They'd think it was a different sport entirely.

Like to me, The Greatest in F1 is about how they impact you personally. Michael is The Greatest and I don't feel any need to justify that by comparing his stats to others. It's about what he makes me feel in my chest, not his numbers.

And I think that's the crux of the issue w/ Senna. LOTS has been written about his driving style, his accomplishments, his determination. When Michael was peaking people were doing NASA level calculations to explain why Senna would actually always be better than Michael in numbers still. But I think some of that is people's personal attachment to both of them. Michael is a godlike figure to the tifosi and in German motorsport, and Senna is arguably an even more religious figure to Brazilians. Like I don't even feel right explaining here how much Senna means to some Brazilians because I know it is that deep of an emotion he brings out. He was a big donator to charities, he was a public figure representing Brazil on a global stage at a time the country was recovering from various crises. His funeral was enormous because he was arguably the biggest celebrity in the country.

And that mythical status spreads into motorsport as a whole. First of all because of his success, then because of how he himself weaved his religion into his racing - allegedly talking to god during the race and claiming God chose him to be a racer - then because of his rivalry with Prost, and then, finally, because of the impact a champion dying in an F1 race had on safety in F1 and across motorsport as a whole. Today we don't really appreciate how insane it was that F1 went from the death toll it had before Senna's death, to immediately going 20 years without a grand prix race killing a driver.

(Sidenote but I wish Ratzenberger's death didn't go ignored so often in this legacy and I can't talk about it without mentioning him for the sake of not letting his name go unsaid. Imola as a whole sparked change, not just Senna. It was too much tragedy in too short a timeframe for them to ignore it.)

Senna being "the last death" for such a long time only made his mythical status bigger. The religious wording he'd used about his own career, the way F1 (Brundle) tends to 'valorize' risk and danger, his popularity in Brazil, the mourning his death produced, it all pulled together to create something that's more legend than man. It became less a historical record of a real racer with numbers to his name and more a story about a doomed hero who died too young. When I was watching F1 as a kid - before Jules' death - Senna to me had this image of a martyr now guarding the racers in death and protecting them. That was sort of the 'vibe', I guess, that F1 liked to push.

(There's really something to be said about how Ferrari and Brazil and Italy and Catholicism shaped F1 into a religion with saints of its own I guess.)

Like, I wasn't alive when Senna was racing. I don't consider myself a spiritual person. I don't really even care about Senna, and frankly I know his personal life includes essentially an arranged marriage to an underage girl. But still, I hate it when we go racing at Imola. The whole track feels eerie to me, like it should be left alone, like we're disturbing something. I know that IS superstitious and I never let that feeling out, but it's in the back of my head. That's how strongly F1 has pushed Senna on the fans as a legend beyond questioning, and how it effects even someone who doesn't consider him the greatest and never has.

This ties back into people comparing him to Michael, I promise. I think a lot of the reason people do that, is actually that they're mourning that they never got a definitive answer to the question "Which one is better?" because Senna was killed before the championship could be settled. They try to find other ways to give an answer, to prove it, so they can feel satisfied, so they feel there WAS some sort of resolution to the question and it was just hidden.

But death isn't neat and tidy like hypothetical answers. It just happens. That's natural, and so is resisting the truth of it and the questions it leaves unanswered, or the gaps it leaves in our lives. Senna is framed like a story - F1 is framed like a story - and human nature is to give a story a conclusion with meaning that answers all of our questions - Senna was the best, Michael was the best, Lewis is the best, Fangio is the best, etc - not... nothingness. Not a sudden and abrupt ending to a young life that had nothing to do with the story he was carving out. So Senna's death becomes the turning point for safety in F1, the answer to the question of 'the greatest' becomes something that has already been given, and we create whatever proof we needed to simplify these things down.

In reality, F1 went 20 years without a death from a grand prix because of luck, swift action, and the tireless work of many, many individuals. Stewart, Watkins, Lauda, the drivers who reformed the GPDA after Senna's death and had it up and running by the next race, the people who redesigned Imola to be safer, the FIA circuit grading system, the track marshalls, the medical staff, and hundreds more.

In reality, there is no definitive greatest, and if there is, if we can somehow prove it via mathematics, very few statistics are on Senna's side.

But like. For all that we live in reality, that doesn't inform how we perceive it. When Michael equalled one of Senna's records he broke down crying, and for the rest of his career he always said Senna was the greatest without pause. I'm pretty sure Lewis himself still holds Senna up as the greatest. Because at the end of the day that title isn't something that can be 'proven' to some people, me included. It's not actually about records or statistics or proof. It's about who makes you feel like an awed little kid watching a very brave man in a very fast car.

People don't like to admit that though. People like to be right, and they like it even more when the thing they're right about makes them part of a group. (Senna Fans, Schumi Fans, Hamilton Fans.)

For me personally though, I never like to argue or debate about who is the 'best'. I know nobody will ever change my mind about Schumi, and frankly I don't want to change anyone else's mind about who the 'best' is, and as soon as the conversation starts it always ends up becoming about doing one of those things. I don't see the appeal of it. If someone out there is convinced Maldonado would be a 10 time WDC if he had been in a good car then fine, fuck, sure. You keep believing that.

Sorry. I've rambled a lot and this became more a general treatise on What It Means To Be The Greatest and How Sport Becomes Folklore than an answer to your question. I just didn't feel I could answer without Getting Into It. I hope I've kept this respectful to the drivers of the sport, and it hasn't felt like me lecturing you when I just got super carried away with my theories sfdghfsdhg

TL;DR - I don't think Senna is the greatest, but I think it's purely because of his legacy and myth.

[iwriteoccasionalli]

Concepts for relationships I think would fit the Sans’. Pardon any typos.

Nightmare:

I feel he would more so be materialistic rather than physical.

Physical items are what is left behind once someone finally passes, it leaves behind their legacy for years maybe even centuries give or take.

While the emotions and actions of someone can leave huge impacts later on, they are destined to be forgotten. A fading memory no matter what they’ve done. Eventually everyone will forget you. Eventually there will be less and less people to trickle down your story to generations to come.

Material possessions leave your mark on the world, it ensures that people will know that you lived, that you breathed, that you loved. Even if not by name.

Even if Nightmare wouldn’t be a good partner mentally or physically, I feel if he truly cared for someone he would showcase it in gifts. There is virtually next to no emotional or physical availability, he’s busy all the time. He has no time to spare.

Even so I believe he would try, if only to ensure that you will not be forgotten.

That his love for you will not be forgotten

Dream:

Dream is the exact opposite however.

Unlike Nightmare, Dream has a less strained relationship with those he does love.

He prefers to keep them close. He values time over the lasting impression left.

You don’t even have to accept any confessions. He might not even make you aware with it out of his own nervousness of rejection. He will love you regardless.

He is far more appreciative of time that he is able to have with you. He knows that lives can not last forever like him, he wants whoever he does love to know how much he appreciates them no matter how much time they have.

He also hopes that no matter what happens after death that if you were to ever look back on your memories. That maybe, just maybe, you would only have fond memories to think about from your life lived.

Ink:

I cannot see him thriving in a romantic relationship.

He might think it would be something interesting to try, when he was unsure of his emotions that is.

Not to say he wouldn’t try to keep up a loving and fulfilling relationship with someone, it just feels as if it would be forced. He will try and get gifts, spend nights together, etc. he may even seem to be someone who is entirely committed to a relationship. Of course he has his faults with his flighty memory, as well as his… eccentric personality. But overall a very caring and “loving” relationship.

But he just can’t.

He has seen so many examples of what love truly is, that whenever he does try to showcase such things it comes across as entirely false. Or at the very least that is how it would feel to him.

Not to say he doesn’t LOVE people, he loves his friends very dearly and will act as such. But he can never truly fall in love in the way you wish him to.

Time to go back into hibernation

[gabessquishytum]

Water spirit Dream anon here. Just wanna say Im LOVING the yes anding on that one it feels amazing like when people love your dish at a potluck. Anyway Ive just had the most Week of all time punctuated by my period coming and I would like to wallow so lemme just sneak in here.

After Hob's return to the Dream Pool or whatever, he's like holy shit I have children! And a spouse? And they live fucking outside!!!! I haven't cooked one meal!! Haven't changed a single diaper!! Haven't rubbed even a single sore foot! I'm a terrible husband and provider ;-; he's so upset bc he's basically by his own definition a deadbeat and he always wanted to be the BEST dad and husband. And Dream is like I am a spirit. Your children are half spirit. We are literally nature elementals. We belong outside. We do not eat meals as such. And as for bad husband, well. Coming home to fuck and then fucking off to do your thing is kind of the divine relationship norm. And Hob is like well theyre also half human so we need a HOUSE. And good luck getting rid of me now bc I'm not leaving for the rest of forever, I'm gonna make up for lost time with my babies. What are their names.

So Hob builds a small house to live in near Dream and enjoys very much his new family. The kids are indeed half spirit, so they grow faster and a little stranger than Hob's used to with Human kids, but they're his, and he loves them. He's also absolutely smitten with Dream, now that he's actually gotten to know him. His little house expands into a large temple built into the mountainside, with a large courtyard and Dream's pool in the center of it. Eventually Dream asks Hob if he really meant what he said about staying forever. He could share his divinity with him and tie him to Dream's pool, only able to drink from there and nowhere else. He'd live forever, with Dream. And of course that sounds wonderful :)

Long after their progeny are grown and out upholding their fathers' legacies, Hob stays as the priest and caretaker of Dream's temple. They fuck happily for forever after.

Ahhh water spirit anon! So glad you've been enjoying all the shenanigans <3

I looove Hob being a stand up dude, a provider, a Good Dad. I think that's very sexy of him. So of course he's upset and worried when he finds out that he's got kids and he hasn't contributed anything to their lives except his stinky human dna!! He feels terrible because if his kids are half human then surely they need someone to help them learn human things, and he hasn't even started doing that! Dream is amused and rather confused by Hob’s stress but tries to soothe him as best he can. There's plenty of time to teach the children. They're still basically babies, they don't need to learn how to light fires or anything yet.

Still, Hob essentially stays up for 24 hours to build a house. And Dream has admit that it's nice and cozy, while still being close enough to the water for his comfort. Hob makes tables and chairs and a bed (Dream is very interested in this) and toys for the little ones, and becomes a very happy stay at home dad. The kids are weird and beautiful but very much Hob’s kids (they drive Dream mad with their stubbornness and knack for getting into trouble). And they are also so loved.

Hob is more in love with Dream than ever by the time they get around to getting officially "married" - Hob gets the immortality and the responsibility of taking care of Dream’s temple, which he was doing anyway. He still can't believe that Dream chose him. Occasionally they relive the first time by fucking in the pool, and Hob will bounce Dream on his cock and praise every aspect of him: mind, body, soul. Sometimes Dream pretends like he's a human and they go to bed in the house Hob built. Dream wants to wait a couple of centuries before he bears more children, and Hob will wait patiently - next time, he'll be there to watch Dream’s pregnancy. Probably a good thing he's immortal now, because seeing Dream full of his baby(s) might be enough to kill him <3

[theminecraftbox]

i didn't quite like it the final lore of c!quackity, it's wasn't bad but i think it should have showed what he did after him losing cslime friendship and a live. Like for me it wasn't quite a good end for all his lore

strongly agree / agree / ambivalent / disagree / strongly disagree / don't care whatsoever

I'd agree that LN5 was the weakest of the Las Nevadas series, but I kinda disagree with you as to why. I do not think, for instance, that seeing more of Quackity's aftermath following his death at Slime's hands would have assisted in justifying the conclusion we ultimately got: because the conclusion we are shown onscreen is that Quackity has declined his call to redemption! he sends a few people a youtuber apology and then doubles right back down into the same old shit. Las Nevadas does not fall. Quackity has decided that's his legacy: the country he built on sand with bloody hands. He says he's planning to put the factory to use and make sure Las Nevadas sticks around for centuries to come: which is, yknow, a complete rejection of whatever lesson his death might have otherwise taught.

Which is like... par for the course? In terms of motivation's c!Quackity's got and the remorse he's shown for various actions, he's done quite a lot of bad things for very selfish reasons and without evidence of regret whatsoever. In terms of the people who Quackity has directly hurt... Slime isn't actually one of them! Slime is not Foolish. Slime is not Dream! Slime isn't even Purpled. Rather, Slime is an observer, a victim of circumstance who, once given the opportunity, was able to accurately perceive that even though Quackity treated him well, a) he treated others decidedly poorly, and b) his ideas about power and legacy were both cruel and paranoid.

This is fine as a send-up. This isn't half-bad as catharsis. However, I would argue that it feels a little strange in the context that Slime doesn't know shit about some of the worst things Quackity has done, namely, the entire prison arc.

At the risk of being a pandorolo again, the prison arc is central to Quackity's moral spiral into hell. Which is why it's a bit strange that it was massively underutililized in LN5, and, I'd argue, mis-utilized in LN4.

The point here isn't to say that Dream should have gotten to kill Quackity or whatever. I don't really think that would have been better; in fact I adore the facts of what we got, namely Dream being forced to panic and flee. But just take a moment and compare what we got with Dream and Sam with what we got with Dream and Quackity. I'm not even talking about how much longer Daedalus was than the brief scene we got in LN5; I'm talking about how the conversation in Daedalus was specifically designed for me, kat theminecraftbox to force Sam to confront the moral and practical and emotional ramifications of what he's done and then to decide whether to reject or accept those implications. How does Quackity answer Dream showing up on his lawn? With a couple of lines about how Dream deserved it that Dream doesn't have the time or inclination to respond to, followed by the chaos making any sort of resolution totally impossible.

It's hard for me to conceive of a LN finale that's less coupled to those acts that constitute some of Quackity's most significant actions on the server wrt his moral development. Which kinda sucks when you're doing a denouement of an arc purportedly meant to deal with those ramifications.

[black-arcana]

NIGHTWISH Releases New Single 'The Day Of...' From Upcoming 'Yesterwynde' Album

Symphonic metal veterans NIGHTWISH have released "The Day Of...", the second single from their upcoming album, "Yesterwynde", due on September 20, 2024 via Nuclear Blast. It marks the band's tenth studio LP, following on from the release of "Human. :II: Nature." in 2020.

NIGHTWISH keyboardist and main songwriter Tuomas Holopainen told Kerrang! magazine about the first single from "Yesterwynde", a song called "Perfume Of The Timeless": "When we had the first meeting with Nuclear Blast, talking about the new album and singles, I told them the first single will be a song called 'Perfume Of The Timeless' and it's eight and a half minutes long and the chorus comes in at 3:30. And they were, like, 'Perfect!' I think that has to do with the fact that we have a long legacy. You know, we can do whatever we want, and I do, but it says something that we can do that, when I heard that for Spotify it's good to have the vocals start after 15 seconds, or people skip it; they don't have the attention span anymore."

Asked if he had to adjust his writing style because "Yesterwynde" marks NIGHTWISH's first album since 2002's "Century Child" without bassist/vocalist Marko Hietala, Tuomas said: "No, it doesn't really change anything, except that now we had two voices instead of three, only Floor [Jansen, lead singer] and Troy. But that's it — it really didn't change much at all. And Jukka [Koskinen], the new bass player, is such a grounding personality that it's so easy to work with him. And his bass playing skills are tremendous, quite different from how Marko played the bass, which also brought a new spice into the music. So nothing but positive things to say about it all.

"There are many bands in the world that don't have a single original member anymore," he continued. "And I think it comes down to the fact that if the music is good, then that’s all that matters, in the end. Maybe for some people, certain bands are so holy that they can stand if they don't have certain members in it, even though the music would be good, but I don't really think like that. I just listen to the music, not the personnel behind it. That's all that matters to me."

Holopainen also addressed the fact that NIGHTWISH has no plans yet to tour in support of "Yesterwynde". The band previously explained that the reasons for the touring break were "personal" but unrelated to Jansen's then-pregnancy. (Jansen gave birth to her second child in October 2023.) Asked if it feels weird to be talking about an album that, for the first time, he won't be supporting on the road, Tuomas said: "No, it doesn't feel weird. It just feels right. But people shouldn't get worried. It's not the end of the band. We just signed a multi-record deal with Nuclear Blast, so there will be more music coming, definitely. But as far as shows, we're just gonna have a long breather now and see what happens. That's all I can say at the moment. We got our fair share in 2022 and 2023 when we did a lot of shows. So that helped."

"Yesterwynde" track listing:

01. Yesterwynde 02. An Ocean Of Strange Islands 03. The Antikythera Mechanism 04. The Day Of... 05. Perfume Of The Timeless 06. Sway 07. The Children Of 'Ata 08. Something Whispered Follow Me 09. Spider Silk 10. Hiraeth 11. The Weave 12. Lanternlight

In a press release, Holopainen stated about "Perfume Of The Timeless": "You are the result of an unbroken chain of millions of ancestors and their loves. 'Perfume Of The Timeless' reminds us all of this amazing fact. And if you're not amazed, listen to it again, because it's important."

In January, NIGHTWISH drummer Kai Hahto spoke about the band's upcoming follow-up to 2020's "Human. :II: Nature." album in an interview with Laureline Tilkin of Tuonela Magazine. He said: "At least it's not gonna be the same as 'Human. :II: Nature.', so… Probably, let's say that we go back to more heavy, heavier things on the new album, but also there's a lot of, again, new winds to blow, so to speak. So, different new elements. But, of course, it's still NIGHTWISH, but, of course, we brought back the big symphony orchestra again to the new upcoming tenth album. Yeah, it's gonna be exciting. And quite challenging music to play as well."

Earlier in January, Hahto told Chaoszine that "it look[ed] like" NIGHTWISH wouldn't play any shows in the next two or three years.

In December 2022, Holopainen said NIGHTWISH's upcoming follow-up to "Human. :II: Nature." would be the third part of a trilogy that began with 2015's "Endless Forms Most Beautiful" album. He told Metal Hammer: "I immediately knew after getting that album ['Endless Forms Most Beautiful'] done that, 'Okay, we have to do more songs about this, because there's so much more to explore and tell the world. We're not done with this.' And the same thing happened after 'Human. :II: Nature.'; we're still not done. So let's do one more. At least one more.

"In a way, [the next album] is the third part of a trilogy, which started with 'Endless Forms…' and then 'Human. :II: Nature.' There are some major surprises there again, but it feels like a natural continuation to 'Human. :II: Nature.'"

In September 2022, Tuomas was asked if NIGHTWISH's upcoming LP will once again be an exploration of evolutionary science, as was the case with the previous two releases. Tuomas said: "Yes and no. It sails on the same waters, but there's some new surprises there as well."

In August 2022, Tuomas told Rock Sverige that he spent "about a year" working on the music and lyrics for the next NIGHTWISH album.

Asked if he got any kind of inspiration from the pandemic, Tuomas said: "Yeah, lyrically there's a couple of things that reflects the pandemic, but not in the way you would expect."

"Human. :II: Nature." was released in April 2020. The follow-up to 2015's "Endless Forms Most Beautiful" was a double album containing nine tracks on the main CD and one long track, divided into eight chapters, on CD 2.

In August 2022, NIGHTWISH announced the addition of Jukka Koskinen (WINTERSUN) as an official member of the band. Koskinen, who made his live debut with NIGHTWISH in May 2021 at the band's two interactive experiences, had spent the previous year touring with NIGHTWISH as a session musician.

In November 2022, Jansen revealed that she was "cancer free" after undergoing surgery to have a tumor removed following a breast cancer diagnosis.

Photo credit: Tim Tronckoe (courtesy of Nuclear Blast)

[herharmonyenemy]

ACOTAR Headcanons

Rhys: 

Has had a skincare routine since he was a teenager. His mother taught him. 

And hair care (gels n everything)

Has like 15 university diplomas. 

Waxes. 

Has the highest bodycount. Everyone wanted to sleep with the crown prince (then highlord), and being as arrogant as he was, knew he had the females (and males) head over heels for him.

Plays piano because he’s a rich spoiled old money kid

To this day he sometimes blurts out some unchecked spoiled comment without realizing it. Cassian punches him as part of the deal. Once the archerons caught on, they also take turns. 

He once got a face piercing (nose/lips) just to spite his father. He got punished but kept it until he became highlord. 

Did a lot of things to spite his father actually. Including but not limited to: growing his hair out, dying his hair, getting a diploma in something not very legacy/bloodline like (sports medicine?), painted his nails (black ofc), got drunk in poor people bars like Nesta (when she learns about this…), and started wearing his shirts open to show his chest (which stuck until present day). 

Does in fact read smut. The best way for him to learn is by reading, so teenage rhys decided to read about sex to be better. It worked, but he got an interest in smut and still reads from time to time. Nesta never lets him live it down for the rest of their lives. 

Is the kind of person to correct your spelling and grammar. However, someone once did it to feyre and he responded that as the person to teach her to read, he is the one to correct her. 

Gift giving is his love language. 

Would watch game of thrones in modern and criticize every move. 

Doesn’t know how to do any chores. Feyre forces him to learn 

Doesn’t like animals only because he formed a bond with a dog when he was younger and when something happened (died/ran away) he cried and his dad told him to man up and it’s only a dog 

Out of all the highlords, he’s the worst at controlling his beast once it’s out but he’s the best at keeping it in 

Knows other languages (as hofas proved)

Is actually religious. 

Is a clean freak. Doesn’t even sit on the bed with his everyday work clothes unless sheet are already going to be changed. 

Had a stuffed animals that he brought to the Illyrian camps when he was 8. Cas learned and threw it off a cliff. Cas gave another stuffie for rhys’s 18 birthday, which was put on a shelf for the next 5 centuries. Nyx now plays with it. 

Picky about food. Feyre jokes that it’s a red flag. Once Rhys learn human slang and what a red flag is, he fixes it. Although Feyre laughs when he makes a face at the brussels sprouts.

Gets his fashion sense from his father, who also likes high quality pieces. 

Also gets his eyes from his father. 

Has toxic dating history that az and cas disapprove and hate 

He was like Simon from Bridgerton as a child: He learned to speak very late, which is why his father was borderline abusive and didn’t pay attention to him. He didn’t learn to speak until right before he went to the camps. Only amren knows, but rhys told feyre after nyx was born. 

Actually the nerd of the group but he hides it 

Wins the prize for best mouth action

Insecure about his ears since he grew up around Illyrians 

The first to learn how to tie shoes, so he was the designated shoe tie-er. Many jokes were made about the crown prince on his knees, mainly through Cas.

Az:

least body count - but he could actually hold a relationship for longer then one night.

As we already know, the kindest bat boy

Trims. 

Also got piercings with rhys so he wouldn’t be alone. 

Writes in all caps 

Doodles when he’s doing something on autopilot 

Knows hand placement 

Drinks way too much coffee

Had the most pimples as a teenager. 

He was the most romantic out of the three. While cas and rhys were going through their “never getting married, forever the bachelor life” phase, az was still after romance. 

Loves bread 

Loves loves loves traveling 

Is good at gymnastics 

Very good at winged eyeliner. When it’s eyeliner time, everyone goes to either az or feyre

Wins the price for best downstairs action

Likes watching the sunset

Always wins the scavenger hunts cas organizes 

Cas: 

once had a buzz cut. Happened because of a dare but he ended up being fine with it. 

Au natural

Has worst handwriting but doesn’t care. Rhys complains that it’s so bad he can’t read it (he can) 

Wears a chain necklace from time to time. After mating, he doesn’t take it off. (Nesta likes when it swings in her face) 

Out of the three, has the highest rice purity score. Az is kinky, and rhys is up for anything. 

Makes the most dad jokes 

LOVES fruits. And veggies. Eats the healthiest out of the three. 

Morning person. He used to wake up rhys and az at the crack of dawn to go hiking. 

He has a hair care routine - more complicated than rhys. Those locks aren’t just magically there. He oils his hair at least once a week. 

Wins the prize for best hand action 

Insecure about his nose 

Best at making scavenger hunts 

Has slow metabolism so whenever he eats really fast he falls asleep right after the energy high

Once used az’s toothbrush to annoy him, ended up using rhys’s. Being the clean freak he is, this started a war among them. 

100% takes dramatic showers like those scenes in movies

All three: 

on the camp, there was another trio that was everything they weren’t (pure blood illyrians from a noble line, got favored). The day comes when those three meet the archerons and the girls think they just want to be friends and the boys get jealoussss

Rhys takes them shopping. He’s up on the mini stage getting measured and tailored and cas is drinking on a couch. This is their gossip and complain time. 

They all speak Illyrian when they want to speak secretly. They never taught mor no matter how many times she asked because “it is a boys club” thing 

The archerons catch on and they eventually learn with help from bat boys, who then momentarily regret it because they don’t have a secret language anymore, but it’s the archerons who know crack the dirtiest jokes in Illyrian. 

When they were younger, they would share notes via this charmed journal that would winnow to whichever one wanted to write in it. Centuries later one of the archerons finds it and the boys jump over each other to get it from the girls cause it’s filled with teenaged thoughts (another headcanon)

They have a synchronized dance 

They used to have beach days but gradually stopped. They started again once the sisters said they have never been to the beach

They used to share a bed when they were younger. It was a hard fit, but rhys slept in the middle since he can disappear his wings. 

Cas and az didn’t leave rhys alone the first week he was highlord. Even in moments of silence. One of them was always within arms reach

They slap each others butt. At first it was a joke, but it became a competition of who could surprise slap the hardest. 

Once, az’s ex made moves on rhys, and rhys took the chance. This lead to the biggest fight between the two (up until the elain situation) until cas asked if they were going to let a girl get in between them. They made up and the next day rhys found out she was only with him for the power. Az comforted him when he cried. 

Engaged in locker room talk. Shared tips on sex. 

Rhys and az wear eyeliner/kohl on special but informal parties. Cas always smudges it so he’s quit. 

[sleepyburito]

My thoughts on Visions

Every time I hear a new theory about Visions, the first thing I do is apply it to the archons in question. So here’s my take on the vision theory 

Anemo: Desire freedom and the ability to overcome loss in their lives. Their ambition in life usually related to breaking free of chains of some kind whether it be literal or metaphorical. 

For example: Xiao was freed from the chains of his old master and now works hard to protect Liyue and grant freedom to the people.

Venti helped Mondstat overcome their chains and strives to let them continue their free lifestyles. He overcame the loss of his friend despite still mourning after all these centuries.

Hydro: Those who have high expectations on them from uncontrollable circumstances or those who have dedicated themselves to a craft 

For example: Barbra has high expectations from her family name to the point she has seemingly abandoned it and she has dedicated herself to healing and the church 

Furina has expectations she tries to live up to as the hydro archon and her craft of choice appears to be acting. Even Focalor had high expectations being Egeria's successor

Dendro: Those who strive to learn and grow beyond socially expectations and to do so through unconventional means.

For Example: Tighnari grew beyond what he would have if he had become a sage

Nahida had societal expectations from the sages and is now growing into new expectations she’s set for herself as an archon. 

Pyro: Those who strive to be the best of something or those who have a family legacy to live up to or preserve.

For Example: Amber, strives to be a great outrider despite being the only one and is trying to ensure her grandfathers legacy lives on with her. 

As we have not met the Pyro archon, I’m not sure how much of this applies so this one may change

Cyro: Overcoming isolation and a conflict of beliefs. Their ambition in life relates to their desire to find a home or relates to their conflicting belief in a unique way.

For example: Diona is a bartenter who hates alcohol and has a blessing to create amazing drinks. Her ambition is to take down the Mondstat wine industry. 

The Tsaritsa, from what we can tell, isolated herself after the destruction of Khanriah and seems to have a belief she needs to take down Celestia despite being a creation of Celestia

Geo: Those who shoulder a metaphorical or literal weight to help those around them and often they take promises or ‘contracts’ seriously. 

For example: Noelle seems to take on a lot of the heavy lifting literally for the knights, she carries crates and takes down larger, harder to defeat enemies. 

Zhongli ruled and cared for Liyue for Millennia, seemingly putting their safety and lives before his own needs. His retirement is him ending his contract. 

Electro: Those who don’t ‘belong’ in the traditional sense, the ones who are outcasted for who they are or the ones who don’t truly fall in line with society 

For Example: Fischl is caught in her daydream, her ‘reality’ is different to everyone else's. Even her own parents didn’t accept her

Ei and Makoto were the only twin archons, they shared the title but not the same duties. They were immediate stand outs with the archons and yet they hid that individuality from the rest of the world

this is all just my thoughts I've gather from too much free time and ADHD nonsense

Edit: 9/12/2023 because I forgot Electro-

[golvio]

I’ve been digesting the video essay Orientalism & the Gerudo over the past couple of days. The first half of the video is a basic, consolidated summary of arguments I’ve seen people make about SWANA representation and Black representation regarding the Gerudo that also includes more academic sources to try to explain to newcomers or people unfamiliar with the term “Orientalism” where these points came from. I’m hoping this opens up some discussions across the wider fandom.

My only criticism is that, sometimes, the points can meander a bit between each other without clear boundaries between which talking point is which, leading to occasional moments of “Huh? How did we get here?” or “Wait, what about that other point you just made?” However, I think that’s a symptom of there being just so much to talk about regarding the broader umbrella topic that this video is trying to cover that it’s hard to know when/how to fit stuff in. You could make a whole essay about only how Arab men are depicted as aggressively misogynistic threats menacing Arab women to justify modern imperialist invasions of the Middle East by Western powers and how that ties in to the way Nintendo refuses to show Ganon having a more humanized, complex relationship with his own people. Even after a whole hour it feels like we’ve only just scratched the surface.

However, I also don’t think this “meandering” is necessarily negative because it sometimes ended up leading to great points that I hadn’t considered before. For example, I was initially confused about why the essay started focusing on Rauru and the plot of TotK after the halfway point, but it ended up not just being a useful example of how Japan reproduces Western tropes from pop cultural influences for fans who weren’t quite convinced about the essay’s arguments in the first half because they assumed Japan was in a cultural vacuum where racism doesn’t exist, but also gave me a totally new perspective about Rauru’s character beyond my initial Shintoist reading of his role as a divine ancestor that legitimized the royal family’s rule.

Rauru and Mineru’s designs and backstory borrow visual and literary tropes from depictions of indigenous peoples in American media to legitimize him as “indigenous to Hyrule” and therefore an important founding figure in its revised origin myth, but these tropes reproduced without awareness of their original cultural context also serve to “unperson” him as a character within the story. He’s sequestered into a distant past where he can’t really interact with characters in the present, not even truly “owning” the kingdom he founded, which instead passes to the Hylians, who coopted his legacy of unification for their own ends but completely forgot about him. He and his sister are treated more like “resources” for Link/the player to take advantage of to achieve their goals than characters in their own right. And, emotionally, the Zonai siblings are so distanced from the main cast and each other by being treated more like concepts of “nativeness” than people in their own right that their own descendant feels like a stranger visiting an exotic land instead of long-lost family reconnecting with her roots.

Like…it’s a really clever way to introduce two equally complex points that people should keep in mind when examining the Gerudo. First, that you can’t really treat Japan’s depictions as the exact same as Western depictions, because while Japan isn’t “the West,” it has its own complicated history with racism and imperialism born out of the “pan-Asian” nationalism of the early 20th century. At the same time, Japan doesn’t exist in a hermetically sealed cultural vacuum totally isolated from Western influences that makes Japanese creators incapable of learning about cultural nuances regarding racism, despite what fashy weebs personally invested in the myth of Japan being a magical exotic fairyland where “woke” doesn’t exist want you to believe.

I hope this video essay inspires other people to look into this topic further and maybe contribute their own works to the discussion.

[kchasm]

Ryu Number: Xerxes I

Xerxes I, also known as Xerxes the Great, was the ruler of the Achaemenid Empire from 486 BCE until his assassination in 465 BCE. At the time of his ascension to the throne, the Achaemenid Empire ran from the eastern end what's now Pakistan to the west end of what's now Turkey. You might notice that that's about the same amount of empire in about the same location as Alexander the Great had—that's because Alexander the Great was the guy who took over the Achaemenid Empire and made it not-so-Achaemenid anymore.

It was awful big, is what I'm saying.

But let's be honest: You probably know Xerxes I better as the Bad Guy with the nose ring in that one weird Spartan hagiography Gerald Butler was in. Fugging Miller.

Anyway, Xerxes I almost certainly has a Ryu Number of 2, and definitely not a Ryu Number more than 3, but there's some stuff.

The problem with finding a Ryu Number of Xerxes I is that 5th-century-BCE Persian monarchs don't show up in video games that often, for some reason. He makes a historical appearance in the Assassin's Creed Odyssey DLC Legacy of the First Blade...

...but unfortunately, Odyssey takes place too far after the times of myth and legend for anyone big enough to be a Minecraft skin in Greek-mythology-inspired DLC to show up.

It doesn't help, either, that in Assassin's Creed lore, all the "gods" were just members of a Precursor Race pretending to be gods, a la Stargate. No, that's not "Hera," that's a jerk Precursor Person who's taken on the identity of "Hera," all the better to lead mankind around like a clowder of schmucks. She's pretending to be Norse elsewhere. Don't fall for it.

(There's also A Minotaur, which feels like it ought to connect via that Minecraft skin pack, but if I'm understanding the Odyssey lore correctly—and I very well might not be; holler at me—the minotaur the player encounters isn't actually the Minotaur from the myth we know and love, but some random other guy who subsequently got his hands on the Precursor Technology that turns you into a minotaur. Yeah, everything is Precursor People in Assassin's Creed. It's kind of disappointing.)

Of course, you can still get to Xerxes through Odyssey if you want to—a handful of historical characters who don't have Minecraft skins show up—but you'll need an extra step. And if we're going to have an extra step anyway, I'm going to go for the route that doesn't need Assassin's Creed, partially because I haven't played the games yet but mostly because I'm still really disappointed about the Precursor People thing.

Which means, unfortunately, it's back to Miller.

I'll say this: For all that 300: March to Glory is Not A Very Good Video Game, it left me the impression that someone behind the scenes actually did the bare minimum research into the Greco-Persian Wars. Persian commanders Hydarnes and Mardonius make appearances (if only to provide something unique to hit), and Mardonius even survives the movie-equivalent events of the game until an epilogic, post-movie level that takes place during the Battle of Plataea—which is, indeed, where the historical Mardonius bit it. It's not much, but I had to watch the whole dang thing, so I'll take what I can get. Gets me more names for The Chart, besides.

As for connecting this game to Ryu, you can, of course, count on the Ol' Dependable of Games With Historical Figures:

...Or maybe you're not a fan of Anime And Things That Look Like Anime, in which case, try this, instead:

I'm not sure I can explain how weird Spartan: Total Warrior is—by which I'm referring to its existence more than anything in the game itself, though the content's pretty weird, too. For context, Total War is a series of strategy games featuring a combination of turn-based strategy, resource management, and real-time tactical control (so sayeth Wikipedia). There are a coupla Warhammer entries in the franchise, sure, but the vast majority of the games focus on real, historical campaigns and factions.

Spartan: Total Warrior, on the other hand, is a hack-and-slash that took one look at a history book and immediately took a pair of shears to it. The story starts in 300 BCE: The Roman Empire, led by Emperor Tiberius, has conquered almost the whole of Greece, with only Sparta remaining, and Leonidas leads his men into battle to oppose him. Later, the Romans reveal a superweapon powered by the imprisoned Medusa. Sejanus, Tiberius' right-hand man, is a powerful necromancer who kills and resurrects Castor's brother Pollux. One mission involves protecting Archimedes, leader of the Athenian resistance, from assassination.

To quote someone on Discord, this is a game supposedly set circa 300 BCE that "has one side led by a king who died 200 years before, and the other by an emperor who reigned 300 years after (never mind the fact that Rome was still a senatorial republic)." If you forced a too-serious historian to play this game they'd end up on the floor in a frothing heap of rage and/or despair (actually, someone should totally do that; I want to see the Greco-Roman history version of Jonathan Ferguson having to analyze the firearms of Team Fortress 2).

Oh yeah and Beowulf is there.

At some point you've got to appreciate—no, admire, even—the Xena:-Warrior-Princess-level decision to just Don't Worry About It.

And now that we have finished with the indisputable, let us proceed with the first of the hinky. Which is to say: Let's look at God of War: Chains of Olympus.

Chains of Olympus begins with an attack by the Persian navy on the Greek Attic peninsula (where Athens is, incidentally). The opening sequence features (among a whole lot of faceless Persian mooks) this prone-ish fella, who doesn't quite get to operating a ballista, irresponsibly leaving the work for Kratos instead.

(Credit: Migeman)

Inspecting the body after all the local ruckus is over identifies him as "Eurybiades," the "leader of the Athenian army."

Eurybiades was—according to historical record—a real person, though God of War doesn't exactly nail it on the head. Herodotus (who historians depend on more due to him being one of a Very Small Number of sources rather than anything to do with actual reliability) names Eurybiades as a Spartan who, during the second Persian invasion of Greece, was given command of the Greek navy due to some political whatuppery (the Spartans said that if a Spartan didn't lead it they'd be Awfully Uncooperative).

Following this bit, Kratos confronts the King of Persia (identity unspecified), who is apparently personally leading the invasion himself, which seems dumb but was apparently the norm back in those days. I bet we'd have a lot less wars if we made our Presidents actually serve on the front lines whenever they started feeling belligerent.

(Credit: Ibid.)

Anyway, Kratos kills the King of Persia, because if the King of Persia killed Kratos the game would be a lot shorter. Now, there's no watertight confirmation that this is the second Persian invasion—the first one also featured attempted Persian inroads into Attica, and was recent enough that it's not inconceivable for Eurybiades to have shown up, there, too—but if this is the second Persian invasion, and that is the King of Persia that was King of Persia during the second Persian invasion, then that King of Persia is Xerxes I.

And now, I think, you peer up at me, gaze beseeching. "But KC," you say, anxious and afraid, "Xerxes I didn't die during his invasion of Greece! After Greek victory at the Battle of Salamis, Persian forces were forced to withdraw from Attica, including Xerxes I himself, after which he focused on lavish construction projects until he was assassinated fifteen years later for unrelated reasons! He didn't die in the Greco-Persian Wars at all!"

To which I say: You know who else didn't die in the Greco-Persian Wars? Eurybiades. And you know who definitely didn't die in a fit of paranoid, obsessive overwork in the heart of a monumental statue of Apollo on the isle of Delos?

What I'm saying here is that God of War's relationship with historicality is fleeting at best, so maybe Don't Worry About It here, too.

(Incidentally, if it's the first Persian invasion of Greece that Kratos is mucking around in, then that king is actually Darius the Great, who also didn't die in Greece in real life. Darius is in Civilization V, though, so getting his Ryu Number is a lot easier.)

And speaking of Civilization, I've finally come to the shortest route I've found that, for all its likeliness, isn't as definite as I'd like, which is why I've saved it for last. You know how Civilization works, I think—you play a historical civilization (with a historical leader to match), and go up against other historical civilizations with their leaders. Like Darius, just now—he's your leader if you decide to play as the Persians.

Civilization III is like that...but unfortunately not as much like that as a fellow'd prefer. Sure, it's got its civilizations and leaders...

...But there's the occasional glaring unspecificity that's apparently there to make life difficult for me in particular. Yeah, sure, Montezuma here is most likely the second one—the one everyone knows, the one that had the real bad experience with Spain—but are you sure he isn't the first one instead? Like, absolutely sure? The instruction manual doesn't say, you know. How sure are you? Sure enough to bet a dollar? Two dollars? Fifty dollars? Your firstborn child? Why would I want your firstborn child, anyway? I don't want to look after a child; that's literally more work for me.

The Persian civilization exhibits the same problem here. Yeah, of course that's Xerxes I! If the team behind the game is picking out a historical figure named Xerxes to represent the Persians, it's got to be Xerxes I. But at the same time, there's technically nothing saying this isn't Xerxes II, a separate 5th-century-BCE Persian ruler of the Achaemenid Empire. I mean, it's terribly unlikely, seeing as Xerxes II ruled for 45 days before being killed by his half-brother, who ruled for six months before being killed by his half-brother, making him Not Exactly The Sort Of Individual You'd Put The Spotlight On, but Mahatma Gandhi and Joan of Arc are the leaders of Indian and French civilizations in this game, and that's weird, too. Gandhi was never the Prime Minister of India or anything like that, and Joan of Arc was a military leader, not a monarch.

Still, if you're willing to follow the reasonable assumption that the Xerxes here is Xerxes I, then the path that results is pretty dang optimal:

...If this is how you found out that Mahatma Gandhi is in Minecraft DLC, I'm sorry.