#lesser flaming

[dota-ccino]

at this point, I’m pretty sure I’m an angel of some sort

@revolutioninwhite

So you've done all your contemplating after lost humanity, huh?

...it's lonely business, ain't it?

[greyborn2]

Once again begging and wishing we knew who the Red Wives of Dagon were/are

[nacrelysis]

on the akasha terminal & the archon quest

i want to point out that the original function of the akasha terminal, per nahida's words, is "to compile people's wisdom in the name of their archon."

wisdom is sacred in sumeru. in that sense, the akasha terminal was sacred not because it was created by rukkhadevata, but because it created an archive of knowledge for everyone to use. because it made wisdom - and the pursuit of it - accessible. because people could voluntarily offer their experiences to the akasha in the hopes that it could help any one person now or in the future.

the sages bastardized that. they turned the akasha from a sacred archive for the common people to a method of dependence, to the point that it was almost too easy for them to abuse it. all it took was any person in power at the akademiya to rewrite the code, and then they had all of sumeru's dreams at their disposal - eventually, they had all of sumeru's people at their disposal. these sages didn't see the common folk as people. they saw them as deposits of knowledge they could farm again and again, down to the last child, as long as they could achieve their hubris.

and here's the thing - i think i recall that eleazar is fairly well-known amongst the population. it's not common, but it's not rare. so the fact that the sages knowingly put people with chronic illness into a mentally strenuous and never-been-done-before time loop for their 'human god' makes it even more vile.

but, like, that's the point, right?

the sages don't see the people as people. they don't see their workers as workers. they don't see their scholars as scholars. the akasha never did anything except provide the means for their greed.

to them, it was only ever the akasha terminal - a tool built by rukkhadevata to help sumeru survive without an archon, yet twisted into a malformed reminder of a dead god and a refusal to move on.

(gee, i wonder what parallel that has in our current reality...what's a technology that could be used for collective good yet abused by people in power, transforming its function into a sorry replacement for the vivid and invaluable fragments of the human experience? a technology useless without its collection of knowledge and art it takes from humans, yet credited as the original source of wisdom? a technology weaponized to dehumanize artists and writers and any form of labor in favor of profit? wow, I WONDER WHAT THAT COULD BE.)

(it starts with a and ends with i)

however, during traveler's fight with shouki no kami, nahida uses the akasha terminal to collect data from all 168 loops of the battle and asking the people of sumeru to help devise a way to defeat the balladeer.

so. the thing is. that she asked.

she didn't brute-force it. she didn't leech the information. she didn't threaten them to sit down and run calculations on how to make the shouki no kami fall on its face.

nahida has all the power to do that - even more than the sages had - and yet she didn't. she used the akasha for what she herself created it for... voluntary compiling of knowledge, with consent from the people, for intent of collective benefit.

the sages first used the akasha terminal to further their own arbitrary, illogical, selfish goals, regardless of the toll it took on the people.

nahida is both the first and last person to use the akasha terminal, and she uses it to secure sumeru's safety. the akasha was only the conduit, just as it was always meant to be...a tool, not a crutch.

shouki no kami wasn't defeated by a god's wisdom, by technology, or by even the traveler alone. that battle belongs to the people of sumeru.

i dunno. i think it's cool that the sumeru archon quest also has an underlying message regarding the use of advanced technology in the process of creation.

and, like, totally not in the light of current events, but i think it's worth remembering that the exploitation of people...is always a choice someone actively makes.

[dragons-library]

Wasn’t violet good with mage lights back in fourth wing??? Why is she struggling with them in iron flame?

Am I crazy?

[horseboned]

miradane specifically went through the meditative process she required to have a halo—the flame neatly resting above her head—rather than an uncontrolled flame that just completely consumes her face and features when her soul is overflowing with divinity. this is the process vivec also went through; its an exercise often done solely for the sake of vanity, so as to appear more controlled and dignified, and to have one's divinity constantly visible (as opposed to only when theyre using Powers), which also functions as a nice headpiece to denote that nobility when applicable. and its because she became more meditative that she also gradually became more introspective and distinguished, contrasting the impulsive and hot-headed person she was known to be. this sort of character development truly does give off the impression that she was becoming perfectly tempered in some ways. this combined with the fact she looks fucking epic post-mantling is propaganda enough for me to believe she should have been the next era's empress ruling alongside emperor martin septim. He's honestly stupid as fuck for dying

[worsehaircut]

let's be clear here, he is going to lose unless he changes his position on Israel's genocide. he could step aside for a different candidate, but that seems unlikely.

telling people to vote for the lesser evil isn't a sufficient platform, let alone telling that to people who have lost family and loved ones to the arms-dealer-in-chief

[mishmashoffandomlessmuses]

tag dump

Mostly characters, couple ship ones

[joycrispy]

Awhile ago @ouidamforeman made this post:

This shot through my brain like a chain of firecrackers, so, without derailing the original post, I have some THOUGHTS to add about why this concept is not only hilarious (because it is), but also...

It. It kind of fucks. Severely.

And in a delightfully Pratchett-y way, I'd dare to suggest.

I'll explain:

As inferred above, both Crowley AND Aziraphale have canonical Biblical counterparts. Not by name, no, but by function.

Crowley, of course, is the serpent of Eden.

(note on the serpent of Eden: In Genesis 3:1-15, at least, the serpent is not identified as anything other than a serpent, albeit one that can talk. Later, it will be variously interpreted as a traitorous agent of Hell, as a demon, as a guise of Satan himself, etc. In Good Omens --as a slinky ginger who walks funny)

Lesser known, at least so far as I can tell, is the flaming sword. It, too, appears in Genesis 3, in the very last line:

"So he drove out the man; and placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." --Genesis 3:24, KJV

Thanks to translation ambiguity, there is some debate concerning the nature of the flaming sword --is it a divine weapon given unto one of the Cherubim (if so, why only one)? Or is it an independent entity, which takes the form of a sword (as other angelic beings take the form of wheels and such)? For our purposes, I don't think the distinction matters. The guard at the gate of Eden, whether an angel wielding the sword or an angel who IS the sword, is Aziraphale.

(note on the flaming sword: in some traditions --Eastern Orthodox, for example-- it is held that upon Christ's death and resurrection, the flaming sword gave up it's post and vanished from Eden for good. By these sensibilities, the removal of the sword signifies the redemption and salvation of man.

...Put a pin in that. We're coming back to it.)

So, we have our pair. The Serpent and the Sword, introduced at the beginning and the end (ha) of the very same chapter of Genesis.

But here's the important bit, the bit that's not immediately obvious, the bit that nonetheless encapsulates one of the central themes, if not THE central theme, of Good Omens:

The Sword was never intended to guard Eden while Adam and Eve were still in it.

Do you understand?

The Sword's function was never to protect them. It doesn't even appear until after they've already fallen. No... it was to usher Adam and Eve from the garden, and then keep them out. It was a threat. It was a punishment.

The flaming sword was given to be used against them.

So. Again. We have our pair. The Serpent and the Sword: the inception and the consequence of original sin, personified. They are the one-two punch that launches mankind from paradise, after Hell lures it to destruction and Heaven condemns it for being destroyed. Which is to say that despite being, supposedly, hereditary enemies on two different sides of a celestial cold war, they are actually unified by one purpose, one pivotal role to play in the Divine Plan: completely fucking humanity over.

That's how it's supposed to go. It is written.

...But, in Good Omens, they're not just the Serpent and the Sword.

They're Crowley and Aziraphale.

(author begins to go insane from emotion under the cut)

In Good Omens, humanity is handed it's salvation (pin!) scarcely half an hour after losing it. Instead of looming over God's empty garden, the sword protects a very sad, very scared and very pregnant girl. And no, not because a blameless martyr suffered and died for the privilege, either.

It was just that she'd had such a bad day. And there were vicious animals out there. And Aziraphale worried she would be cold.

...I need to impress upon you how much this is NOT just a matter of being careless with company property. With this one act of kindness, Aziraphale is undermining the whole entire POINT of the expulsion from Eden. God Herself confronts him about it, and he lies. To God.

And the Serpent--

(Crowley, that is, who wonders what's so bad about knowing the difference between good and evil anyway; who thinks that maybe he did a GOOD thing when he tempted Eve with the apple; who objects that God is over-reacting to a first offense; who knows what it is to fall but not what it is to be comforted after the fact...)

--just goes ahead and falls in love with him about it.

As for Crowley --I barely need to explain him, right? People have been making the 'didn't the serpent actually do us a solid?' argument for centuries. But if I'm going to quote one of them, it may as well be the one Neil Gaiman wrote ficlet about:

"If the account given in Genesis is really true, ought we not, after all, to thank this serpent? He was the first schoolmaster, the first advocate of learning, the first enemy of ignorance, the first to whisper in human ears the sacred word liberty, the creator of ambition, the author of modesty, of inquiry, of doubt, of investigation, of progress and of civilization." --Robert G. Ingersoll

The first to ask questions.

Even beyond flattering literary interpretation, we know that Crowley is, so often, discreetly running damage control on the machinations of Heaven and Hell. When he can get away with it. Occasionally, when he can't (1827).

And Aziraphale loves him for it, too. Loves him back.

And so this romance plays out over millennia, where they fall in love with each other but also the world, because of each other and because of the world. But it begins in Eden. Where, instead of acting as the first Earthly example of Divine/Diabolical collusion and callousness--

(other examples --the flood; the bet with Satan; the back channels; the exchange of Holy Water and Hellfire; and on and on...)

--they refuse. Without even necessarily knowing they're doing it, they just refuse. Refuse to trivialize human life, and refuse to hate each other.

To write a story about the Serpent and the Sword falling in love is to write a story about transgression.

Not just in the sense that they are a demon and an angel, and it's ~forbidden. That's part of it, yeah, but the greater part of it is that they are THIS demon and angel, in particular. From The Real Bible's Book of Genesis, in the chapter where man falls.

It's the sort of thing you write and laugh. And then you look at it. And you think. And then you frown, and you sit up a little straighter. And you think.

And then you keep writing.

And what emerges hits you like a goddamn truck.

(...A lot of Pratchett reads that way. I believe Gaiman when he says Pratchett would have been happy with the romance, by the way. I really really do).

It's a story about transgression, about love as transgression. They break the rules by loving each other, by loving creation, and by rejecting the hatred and hypocrisy that would have triangulated them as a unified blow against humanity, before humanity had even really got started. And yeah, hell, it's a queer romance too, just to really drive the point home (oh, that!!! THAT!!!)

...I could spend a long time wildly gesturing at this and never be satisfied. Instead of watching me do that (I'll spare you), please look at this gif:

I love this shot so much.

Look at Eve and Crowley moving, at the same time in the same direction, towards their respective wielders of the flaming sword. Adam reaches out and takes her hand; Aziraphale reaches out and covers him with a wing.

You know what a shot like that establishes? Likeness. Commonality. Kinship.

"Our side" was never just Crowley and Aziraphale. Crowley says as much at the end of season 1 ("--all of us against all of them."). From the beginning, "our side" was Crowley, Aziraphale, and every single human being. Lately that's around 8 billion, but once upon a time it was just two other people. Another couple. The primeval mother and father.

But Adam and Eve die, eventually. Humanity grows without them. It's Crowley and Aziraphale who remain, and who protect it. Who...oversee it's upbringing.

Godfathers. Sort of.

[ravewing]

THANK YOU ANON THANK UOU ANON THANK YOU ANON

This fandom is actually so horrible when it comes to the multiple abuse victims in the series, because most of them are viscerally hated by the fandom for really stupid shit.

Winter is constantly labeled as a toxic abuser and like. I can understand not liking how he treated Moon, or any of the jade winglet in early arc 2 for that matter. What I do not understand is people ignoring that he is actively bettering himself just so they can keep hating him, or even just ignoring why he's like that to begin with. He's not mean because he likes being a jackass, he's mean because he's been taught that showing any care for other dragons, ESPECIALLY dragons of other tribes, is considered weak. It's something he has been trying to fix, but people would rather just keep calling him an abuser than acknowledge he is changing

Peril gets called an insane psychopath who doesn't deserve love which, first of all that's GOTTA be some form of ableism. Second of all, no fucking shit she is the way she is, the dragon who raised her manipulated her to believe she's a monster who will never be loved by other dragons. No fucking shit she got attached to the one dragon her age that showed her kindness, she thought that wasn't possible!! Also another case of the fandom chooses to ignore her healing just so they have a reason to keep hating her. "She's toxic and obsessed with Clay!!" It literally says in the god damn book she's so used to having a dragon to control her, and she is actively trying to stamp that habit out, why do we keep ignoring this

Boa is by far the worst victim of this because the fandom treats like scum of the earth not because of who she is, but because of one fucking decision she made. A decision she made in a state of panic. A decision she made because fuck, why SHOULD dragons have such power that can be used for evil so easily? Boa's entire EXISTENCE is an example of a dragon misusing their magic, why are we surprised she thinks the world is better off without it? She's not a bitch who thinks she knows better than everyone else, she's a terrified abuse victim who genuinely believed animus magic would bring the destruction of dragonkind. And look. I get the decision to remove animus magic was a stupid one. But can we please just acknowledge Tui was the one who made that stupid decision instead of pretending Boa is this awful person and the worst character in the series. Because she isn't. She's not an asshole. She's not a bitch. She made one bad decision and the fandom acts like she's satan incarnate

Im sure there may be more examples, these are just the biggest that come to mind

.

[manikas-whims]

Spoilers Ahead!!!

Okay so i just finished watching Kpop Demon Hunters, which btw I've been very excited about since it's first trailer dropped.

But the movie felt quite underwhelming to me.

Not that it is entirely bad but some scenes felt very hollow..like there could've been more (i heard they removed an Idol Star Athletics scene between Huntrix and Saja Boys 😭)

The fact that all the members of the Saja Boys don't even have proper names annoyed me a bit! Okay, i get that Jinu had a bigger role compared to the other 4 but i really wish we'd gotten some official names, atleast for the sake of all fan content that i (and many other viewers) wanna create.

Secondly, they also gave very little to Mira and Zoey. I wish they had their own mini arcs and issues going on.

(thought this movie would focus more on the girl trio like Totally Spies or Powerpuff Girls, with Saja Boys having lesser but still significant screentime)

Another thing, which probably might not be a big deal to many, is the fact that Saja Boys were never redeemed. The small flame between Rumi and Jinu could barely spark for a faint moment before it got entirely extinguished 😭 My Rujinu heart can't take it! I wanted more of them. (Poor blue tiger and the 3-eyed crow, their children of divorce 😭)

The movie felt very predictable at some points but it's okay because overall it was well-executed, and the original soundtracks are amazing and very catchy.

Anyways we deserved more Saja Boys screentime!!!

(cuz the boys did have a good dynamic. They acted so goofy n boyish together like actual Bouygroups but the fact that none of them had any clue on Jinu's late night disappearances makes the characters feel hollow and under-developed.)

I WANTED MORE OF HUNTRIX X SAJA BOYS SHENANIGANS AT THE AWARDS, INTERVIEWS, FAN MEETS, VARIETY SHOWS, ETC..

just a mini rant..i still enjoyed the movie and might write some RuJinu fics soon ✌️

[dota-ccino]

hello

@revolutioninwhite

Hey, I remember you. You're one of Adam's blessed, right? Good to meet ya.

[opalblade]

𓂀 NEPTUNE AND DAYDREAMS .

THIS IS A REPOST FROM MY OLD ACCOUNT.

i have observed that the house opposite to the house your neptune is in is what you tend to daydream about.

🌀 1H NEPTUNE

relationships and partnerships with people (romantic and platonic). probably believes in the idea of "soulmates" and "twin flames". justice in the law or just day-to-day activities. wishes for harmony amongst people. marriage. ideal partner.

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

🌀 2H NEPTUNE

shared assets with people. blossomed relationships where it's difficult to find where one person ends and the other begins. intense relationships that change both parties. letting go of the physical and material and letting yourself succumb to the spiritual and emotional realm. transforming into another person.

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

🌀 3H NEPTUNE

expanding yourself through education and experiences. travel. long distance journeys. learning about other cultures and languages. higher education. your father, (future) husband or any other male figures. mythology and legends. being successful. good luck and fortune. expanding your spiritual, mental and emotional self. legal matters.

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

🌀 4H NEPTUNE

future job and career. future in general. a family you have built instead of the family you came from. your destiny and "purpose" luxuries and being in power. your dominant parent. building a legacy for yourself. authority. the public. how the public sees you.

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

🌀 5H NEPTUNE

dreams and aspirations. what society could be like. friends. group settings and associations. celebrations. fame. humanitarian causes. a world where people work together.

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

🌀 6H NEPTUNE

your unconscious mind. fantasy worlds that don't exist. what could've been. karma. the sides of people that are hidden. things that are hidden in society as a whole. spirituality.

🌀 7H NEPTUNE

how you are perceived. how you see the world. trying new things. your personality. how you approach things. your looks. individuality. yourself.

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

🌀 8H NEPTUNE

things you own. your self-worth. your face. the physical and material world. things you desire and want. money. things you place value on.

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

🌀 9H NEPTUNE

communication and the mind. words and writings. primary and secondary education. travel. short journeys. your siblings. your cousins. your aunts and uncles. your neighbourhood/city/state/country. spirituality and the occult.

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

🌀 10H NEPTUNE

your roots. the lesser dominant parent. your home. family life. marriage. your roots. your emotions or emotions in general. intuition. your ancestry and ancestors. history. your past. your legacy.

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

🌀 11H NEPTUNE

sex. what motivates and drives you. your hobbies and things that bring joy. performing. creative endeavours. children. short-lived romances and flings. your vitality. self-expression.

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

🌀 12H NEPTUNE

your service to the world. daily life. pets. health and hygiene. being of service to others. your wellbeing. the details in things. the mastery of something. routines.

. *     .     　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　　    ˚ . *     .     　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　

© 2025 opalblade. do not copy, repost, or translate my works to any other platforms.

[neckromantics]

We don't talk enough about how absolutely devastating and romantic and hot the idea is that Astarion would know the scent of your blood anywhere.

How quickly he would notice when you've even the slightest of nics? When, no matter how focused on anything else he might be at the time, he always comes to check it out?

You'll be peeling a piece of apple with your pocket knife when it slips in your grip. The sharp edge of the blade slices a shallow cut into the meat of your thumb, and you inhale sharply through your nose even though it barely hurts at all. Instinct has you sucking your injured digit into your mouth with a soft curse– the sweet juice of the fruit you were snacking on quickly overpowered by the metallic twang of blood.

You nearly jump out of your skin when he appears over you not a moment later. He makes some offhand comment about how careless you are. Takes hold of your injured hand and tuts like he intends to tease, but he isn't fooling anyone.

He stands so close, jaw ticking as he clenches his teeth, a tension in his shoulders that tells you he's doing everything in his power to keep composure. Your blood calls to him like a moth to a flame, and as funny as you find it in the moment, you don't have the heart to tease him for it. It's actually kind of endearing.

He'd only get quicker in noticing as time passes.

Especially after you've been traveling together for a few years, and he's come to know your scent better than his own. Which only makes sense considering how often he's got his nose pressed to some part of you. (He thinks you smell good.)

At this point, when you get injured in battle, he often catches the fragrance before you've even processed that you've been hit.

He'd suck in a sharp breath through his teeth– a hiss so loud that it catches your attention just enough for you to spare him a glance as you fight.

It's all you need to see just how blown his pupils are from where you're standing, mostly because his gaze is laser locked onto you to second you search for him. His movements turn faster. Deadlier, as he scans the field before you. Determined. Hungry. Angry. He's searching for the sorry wretch that dared to get the best of you– that dared spill even a drop of his beloved's precious blood upon the soil.

You've already taken them down, of course. Poor sap might have gotten a good dig in at your shoulder, but ultimately didn't stand a chance once he properly pissed you off.

Astarion's eyes go heavy.

Half-lidded in that special way of his and only darkening further as he appraises you. You can practically feel it as he follows the line of your throat, zeroes in on your pulse point for a moment, before settling to watch the warm crimson that's beginning to soak into the sleeve of your tunic.

You see a bit of concern in those eyes, but then he sees your smile and– A flash of hot, honeyed desire catches you by surprise.

You suddenly can't tell if it's just the blood loss making you woozy or if he's about to make you swoon like a maiden from an old romance novel. You try (and fail) to keep a straight face when he sinks his dagger into his final opponent's neck without so much as a glance their way.

There's a splash of red against pale white skin, and a lifeless body dropping to the grass by his feet. Your heart stutters in your chest, and he all but moans in response to the sound of it. A mere four paces and he's on you– hands and teeth and tongue exploring every inch of your exposed skin, ripping open parts of your armor to gain better access, like you're not stood in a field of gore and ruin and freshly spilled blood.

You cling to him like a lifeline.

Before he drags you away to camp– to a warm tent and a soft bedroll where he can have his way with you for as long as you and your mortal body will allow him– he has you down a potion of healing or two.

And it's a good thing one of you has a Lesser Restoration spell handy somehow, cause you're most definitely gonna need it.

[val-of-the-north]

The "Hornsent deserved it" sentiments make me lose my goddamn mind

Short answer: No they didn't.

Long answer: Oh my gooooooooooood can we NOT do this shit, please???

There are two underlying sentiments to this line of thinking.

The Hornsent hurt Marika's people, thus Marika did nothing wrong, therefore they deserved to die badly

The Hornsent hurt Marika's people + Midra and some others, Marika is still evil, but the Hornsent deserved to be destroyed

Both may even come to the extreme of "Messmer wasn't cruel enough" or some other nonsense in the same vein.

-

Number 1

To tackle number one, we need to remember a little thing called Elden Ring's base game. The Hornsent's jar ritual is undoubtedly abhorrent, that much is true. But I urge you to remember the things that happened during Marika's reign. She:

Murdered all of the Fire Giants but one, subjecting him to a fate similar to hers but worse, forced into labor confined on the mountain among the remains of his people and culture. She mocked him, to boot. All of this because they might have burnt the Erdtree.

Enslaved the Misbegotten from birth "or worse" because their species just so happened to have made contact with the Crucible.

Rewarded her own loyal Crucible Knights with scorn because of it too, as they didn't fit her current society that they fought to establish.

Made sure the Albinaurics were seen as lesser just because they were graceless, which influenced the way they were treated. She even had her Inquisition, run by Rykard, torture them in needlessly cruel manners, as they appear to be their main victims.

Just in general, she allowed Rykard to run a sadistic Inquisition to torture heretics to the Golden Order in the first place, and she saw nothing wrong with it or their practices.

She entombed the entire Great Caravan over a false rumor, which is the sole reason why the Flame of Frenzy was even a problem during her reign. This has also scarred the remainder of their people greatly.

Made the lives of all Omen a living hell either by cutting their horns just as they were born which often kills them, hunting them down in as cruel a way as possible by using their trauma and body parts against them, or throwing them in a sewer to fester with evil spirits hidden from view. She also used to shackle them, including her two children, just to make extra sure they wouldn't crawl out.

Shunned anyone who saw a vision of the Erdtree burning, regardless of who it was, and chased them away from their homes.

Literally allowed the belief that shorter people are somehow lesser, for apparently no reason at all (her most random discrimination decision tbh). This forces them to band together and take up honorless jobs just to get by, and in turn, people start to spread rumors of their inhuman practices, which are likely all untrue.

Had people literally work as slaves for the nobility just by virtue of "being born into obscurity", whatever that means. As well as other accounts of slavery like the Fallen Hawks (likely tied to the defeated soldiers of ancient Stormveil).

Likely endorsed viewing anyone without Grace as inferior beings, which includes the Tarnished that only exist because she divested them of it. She has done nothing to ease their discrimination (despite potentially seeing them as a future asset of sorts), as even the members of the Crusade are more than ready to kill us, like Fire Knight Queelign.

All of this was done in service to HER religion and order. Killing all the Fire Giants and burying the Nomadic Merchants alive? Oh, they could have ruined her age with those pesky flames of theirs.

Systematically oppressing Omen, Misbegotten, Albinaurics and the likes? Oh, they are impure creatures, unlike her people, blessed with the Grace of Gold, elevated from the rest. (Which is the exact same line of thinking as the Hornsent and their horns for crying out loud).

"Oh but the Hornsent stuffed her people into jars" yeah, and I am not arguing the contrary! It was a cruel, deranged practice, born of simple superstition that their victims would be reborn as "good people". But Marika's answer if you don't fit her vision of the world is to either get rid of you and your people through extermination, by literally hounding you from your rightful home, or by enslaving you.

Both sides are genuinely awful... but there's only one side that people are justifying, and it sure as hell isn't the Hornsent.

Marika's backstory is meant to make her less a god, which is all we have ever known her to be before the DLC, and more a human, which is what she once was. It gives her complexity as a character, it's meant to be the catalyst from which we learn why she took the path that she took. It is absolutely not meant to make us go "holy shit guys, Marika was the good guy all along???", because what she brought upon this world through her burning desire for vengeance has ruined it irreparably, and ruined the lives of most of the creatures who inhabit it.

This includes her ruthless, honorless, pointless Crusade against the Hornsent. Sure, it was her own son that started it, but it was for her sake. It was her who allowed him to wage it, he had her full support... until the thing turned to such a slaughter-fest that even she could not associate with it anymore due to how appalling it all was. And what better way to do that than to seal her own son away to wage war endlessly? And not just because his actions made her look bad, but also for the same crippling fear and prejudice that saw her kill all Fire Giants but one and scar the Great Caravan.

Gratuitous violence across the board, and for what?

(I want to make it absolutely clear that I don't mean you can't like Marika now. In fact, I'd say the DLC made her much more of an interesting character to me as well. I just cannot fathom seeing the entirety of Elden Ring and coming out thinking "wow Marika was the good guy" because she isn't. Heck, coming out thinking that she'd be disgusted with what her grandson Godrick is doing with grafting as if she isn't the queen of having zero empathy for those who are graceless or aren't her family, which the Tarnished he grafts are neither. She'd probably be very proud if anything. Marika is a monster. She became one the moment she obtained godhood, because no milestone would quell her. She did all the wrongs, so take this whole section as a refresher in case you had forgotten)

-

Number 2

Now, to tackle number 2... this one seemingly has more nuance, but falls for the tried and true pitfall of "the many must pay for the crimes of the few" which is exactly where it rots and collapses onto itself.

Apparently, because of the perpetrators of the Jar Rituals, ALL Hornsent, INDISCRIMINATELY, deserve to be destroyed. They all, each and every single one, deserve the Crusade and the absolute pointless ruin that it brought them. From the children, to the ones who were friends with people with no horns, to the ones who found their own practices grotesque, to the ones that weren't even tied to the Tower's religion and were just simply living their lives.

They ALL, EQUALLY deserve to be burned, to have their cities destroyed, to have their lives ruined. All of them. Ok.

Number 2 works with the assumption that the Hornsent are some sort of hive mind. Some sort of all-encompassing religious order who believes in their superiority. But that's just the Tower's religion. Hornsent are a people. And people are individuals, with their own opinions, their own lives. In fact, from the perspective of the average Hornsent citizen, they were attacked out of nowhere as they were living in peace, which likely means they weren't even at war with Marika before this event.

People also have the assumption that all of the Hornsent were benefiting from their society, which is blatantly false. In fact, outside the treatment of the Shamans, the people that we know the Hornsent have hurt the most are their fellow Hornsent. We know of quite a few of them suffering at the hands of their kin BECAUSE of their religious and cultural practices.

Being Hornsent isn't a "free from mistreatment" card. If anything, the large Gaols where they were imprisoned were built specifically to house them. The main prisoners we find in large numbers are commoners, the same types as the ones scavenging the ruins of their ravaged towns. They are often seen eating maggots off the floor and cowering in fear. All of them were Hornsent too, locked away for who knows what crime. Could have been big and important, small and insignificant, or even just a failure to do something properly (there's precedent), point is, it's clear the Hornsent weren't having a good time in there.

The jar rituals were used mainly as punishment for the imprisoned Hornsent themselves, as a way to have them become "good people". This was just as horrifying for the Hornsent prisoners as it was for the Shamans I assume. Look how terrified this Hornsent seemed at the prospect of sharing that fate. This is the reason why they chopped up Shamans in the first place, as ritual ingredients for a punishment meant primarily for their kin.

And there were more Hornsent who suffered because of the leading ideology. Curseblades were once shunned because they failed to become tutelary deities, and so they were thrown in the Jar Gaols. They were only let out so they could use their expertise and flowing movements to defend their homeland when Messmer invaded, otherwise they'd be rotting with the Innard Shamans and the other Hornsent prisoners the way Labirith is.

It's also worth pointing out that Midra's Mense was filled with Hornsent attendants who sided with their sagely master regardless of his lack of horns and what the Inquisition believed of him. If we were to operate with reasoning number 2, they too would deserve to be murdered in the Crusade because they just so happened to be Hornsent. Because ALL Hornsent deserve extermination for what happened to the Shamans.

And we also know that the Hornsent can find what happens in Bonny Village revolting. In fact, we know that from someone who was born and raised there.

This sounds nothing like someone who thought any of that was ok. So who is to say other Hornsent weren't like this too, especially those who DIDN'T live in Bonny Village? Those who risked being stuffed into those same jars themselves? We make waaaay too many assumptions about an entire race, and that in itself is foolish enough.

If there's someone to blame, it's the Tower's Inquisition. They are the religious order that governs the Hornsent. They have all the power in their society... and yet, would you look at that? Enir-Ilim, their sanctum, the one place where those calling the shots reside, is completely untouched. And what about Bonny, the most structurally fine Hornsent settlement, when you'd expect it to be a black stain of char by now. But nope, no sign of Messmer activity and the Greater Potentates are just running around naked, doing their thing as usual.

The Crusade isn't even a good tool of vengeance, the only ones suffering are the civilians who were likely the ones with a higher risk of ritual jar punishment anyway. If this isn't proof enough that the Crusade is a completely petty, useless revenge war that accomplishes nothing I don't know what else to say. I'll just leave with what the people taking part in it were taking pride in doing.

These are people who, without a shadow of a doubt, would have chopped up most of the oppressed groups described earlier and stuffed them into jars if Marika had told them to do so. (Heck, something like this was being done to the Albinaurics already, as we have seen previously...)

They have zero moral superiority, their deranged zealotry is the only reason they act in the first place. Not to mention that they have no connection to Marika's struggles or past, nor were they informed of them I bet. It's likely only Messmer truly knows the reason for the Crusade, and that's only because he is her child and shoulders all the blame onto himself.

"Those stripped of the Grace of Gold shall all meet death" is LITERALLY their motto. Do you really think they stopped at the Hornsent? They were just their main target, but judging by the way all of Messmer's soldiers, including Queelign and the other Fire Knights, and even HE HIMSELF, attack us on sight for the simple fact we are Tarnished and lack Grace in our eyes, I have no doubt in my mind these people were just rounding up and killing anyone who didn't conform with the Golden Order.

THESE are the people who should be allowed to play judge, jury and executioner with the entire Hornsent race. And people will genuinely, with a straight face, tell you "That's right".

-

To conclude... I think I actually hate reasoning 2 more than reasoning 1 lol, despite not liking either at all. At least 1 is understandable. Marika is a very interesting character, one that we have known for a few years now. We have an attachment to her, heck, sentiments of her being some sort of misunderstood/rebellious figure were already there before the DLC. In that regard, I understand the emotional response, even though I still think it's a wrong mindset to have. I have at least some hope that it is purely in the realm of fiction because it's a beloved character, nothing more...

Reasoning 2, on the other hand, attempts to be nuanced, or at least pretends to be. In reality, all it peddles is the "an eye for an eye" mentality which is much too common irl as well. Not only that, but it deals in monoliths. All people belonging to a group or race are equally responsible for stuff they didn't even commit, stuff that could have even harmed them, because their leaders decided to commit crimes against another set of people. And don't get me wrong, there will be even commoners from that group or race that will agree with and celebrate that bad deed, but just as many will not, but will be either scared, powerless, already being punished for speaking up through physical violence or elaborate shunning, or currently protesting and doing something to hopefully ignite a change.

But that reasoning only exists to perpetuate cycles; of war, violence, and hate for the most part. And sadly, this mindset is very prevalent, a lot of people fail to see the issue with wanton violence as long as it's to stroke that lust for vengeance. And vengeance is a theme that Elden Ring criticizes multiple times in a row, even beyond the obvious horror of the Crusade.

[novelistwriter]

Little Bird of the Phantoms

DP x DC Prompt

Danny isn't a Halfa, just an Extremely Liminal Human that has had a Ghost possess him, but neither he nor the Ghost knew until Danny accepted the Crown of Flames and the Ring of Rage. That's when he and the Ghost split due to the power the Crown and Ring provided. But it wasn't just any ghost that was Danny's other half. It was the Ancient of Space, who has been altered by his time with Danny. Before, the Ancient was a bit of an asshole, flaunting his power to the lesser Ghosts and constantly bickering with the other Ancients, other than Clockwork, who set up the entire thing to reform the Ancient.

Danny and Phantom (The Ancient wanted to keep the name that Danny had given him and not use his previous name) share the title of 'Ghost King', with Phantom keeping his title of 'Ancient of Space' and Danny gaining a new title, 'Space's Chosen'. Danny and Phantom have been getting closer and closer to each other, eventually they have become a couple.

One day, when Danny and Phantom are exploring the Infinite Realms, they come across a newly formed Ghost, one dressed in what looks like a Traffic Light Hero suit. Phantom immediately rushes to the Ghostling and dots on him, having already adopted the Ghostling as his son, Danny is more along the lines of getting to know the Ghost better then forming a parental bond.

Jason was the name of the Ghostling that Phantom and Danny found, and he's a Sidekick of a Hero in another dimension, but that's all he remembers, he doesn't remember the name of his family, or what he was doing before he died. Danny and Phantom are going to love and care for Jason, their Little Birdy, for as long as they remain.

That is, until Jason's revival, it happened during one of the family's outings in Amity, Jason was meeting Danny's living family and friends, a year after the Ghostling formed, with his Parents having accepted Danny's Ghost Half turned Boyfriend, when Jason is forcibly dragged into a mystical portal. Danny and Phantom went to Clockwork to see what has happened to their Ghostling. They are surprised to learn that he was revived by a Reality Warping event.

Danny and Phantom are going to Jason's dimension to find him and continue their little family life. Jason on the other hand, has been alive for awhile in his dimension, having mostly accepted his family again, he tolerates Bruce and is protective of his siblings, but he feels like he's forgotten something, or rather, someone's, maybe it's the two people he's having dreams about

[otiksimr]

"It's often debated on whether or not Lesser Havaes Dragon should even be classified with 'True Dragons.' They have the build of the average dragon yet they lack the intelligence and pride that is apparent among all dragon and dragon adjacent species. Even their cousin species, 'Havaes Fire Dragon' have those two qualities, with a practically extreme excess of pride.

Lesser Havaes also do not have a proper flame organ- or the organs needed to properly utilize a flame organ. They are capable of producing fire to some degree they just are incapable of 'breathing' flame like many other dragons.

They have a plethora of ways to expel heat, heat vents at the sides of their necks, a little gap behind their head that allows for flame to spill out of and many others. Yet even with that they are susceptible to internal burns. With their flame becoming so fierce that it enters areas that it shouldn't go, I.E their heads. Sometimes burning up their retinas leaving them blind.

That is to say to any adventures passing through Lesser Havaes territory don't stress out the lizards if you're not on a hunting mission."