#medren

[ekeshnan-art]

IT IS DONE

I’m proud of this one, I should practise painting more spaces and environments

[i-am-a-hog]

Just talked to this cambridge prof for an hour about mimesis and music and teaching and the world and im. A new person now. My academic zeal has been restored. I've rarely felt so understood in my entire life

[skeletoninthewaterfilter]

It's literally them.

[meat-loving-meat]

Medren and Stefen using a little bit of insufferable gen z slang when they talk to each other hurts somehow

[desolateburgr]

fetus head lady , unexplained oc lore is what i do!

I think there will be a sect of of the old religion (in the wrld) that have a sisterhood of priestesses, who slowly grow fetuses in their heads for some reason tbc. I think they would be an off shoot of the main cult worshipping the god of the soil and ore (Medren the mazzive spider, the first earthmover) , hence the facial piercings - piercings have a lot of meaning in the story.

[exercise-of-trust]

sighs n shadows is finally done and the last chapter will be coming out on friday!! so to celebrate i am taking votes on which fic i should work on next:

[yuujispinkhair]

!crybaby reader with medren Sukuna ? The mean boy that’s only sweet for you

This is exactly what makes me weak af for him, sweet anon 💗💗 The big, bad guy who is so intimidating to everyone else but treats you so well and is such a gentleman when it comes to you. It makes me SWOON 💗💗

And Sukuna doesn't even see it himself… he always thinks he isn't all that great of a boyfriend and that you would probably be better off with a nicer guy, but in reality, bad boy Sukuna is an amazing boyfie! And to you, he is the best boyfie you could ever imagine 💗😭

[enbyboiwonder]

Kimichika, The Last Herald-Mage (a 2.43×Valdemar AU)

A series set in Valdemar and based off of the Last Herald-Mage trilogy by Mercedes Lackey, although less off actual canon and more off my vague 16-y.o. recollections and misrememberings and the story my brain crafted of what happens later before I actually reread past the first book.

[AO3]

This is a glossary of sorts of the characters and terms that appear in the series, as well as some background on the characters—including what’s different from 2.43 canon, and what’s different from The Last Herald Mage canon.

Characters:

An overview of the characters, in more or less the order their Last Herald-Mage counterparts show up.

Kimichika is Vanyel.  Like Van, he had some idea that he was different growing up, but not that being shay’a’chern (homosexual) was a thing, much less that there was a word for it, much less that it applied to him.  Music is one of his few escapes and he dreamed of becoming a Bard growing up.  His father is Kiminobu, and his mother is Lily, named after his mother in 2.43, since she probably won’t be much like Van’s mother Treesa.  (I also don’t know yet what—if anything—to call the Japanese characters in this since it’s not like canon nonwhite characters are called anything either unless they’re outKingdom.  But their names aren’t in the language of Valdemar, so I feel like I need something…)  He has most all of the Gifts that it is possible for one to have, violently awakened due to the trauma of losing his lifebonded, Yuni, and he grows into the most powerful Herald-Mage that Valdemar may have ever seen, and indeed one of the most powerful Gifted individuals currently alive.

Subaru is Radevel, the one cousin who understands Chika and is on his side, and who later becomes armsmaster of Forst Reach.  Depending on if I give Chika an older sister, he may also more or less play Lissa’s role.

Sae is really just Savil, Van’s paternal aunt, with a Japanese name.  She studied with the Tayledras and is considered a Wingsister by them, and she teachers her trainees (namely, Yuni and Chika) their language as well.  She’s one of the top Herald-Mages and is one of the ones who mainly remains at Haven to instruct trainees.

Ibara and Akito are Donni and Mardic, the lifebonded Herald-Mage trainees studying under Sae with Yuni.  I just wanted these two in here too tbh

Yuni is Tylendel, Chika’s first love and lifebonded, and basically the darling of the Heraldic Academy and the High Court while he’s alive.  Their age difference is no more than a few months more than in 2.43.  Though he had some inkling, he didn’t know he was shay’a’chern until he and Chika figured out their attraction together, though he did know the word as he was also learning the Tayledras language under Sae.  Itoko is his twin with whom he’s shared a bond since birth, and it’s her assassination that makes him half mad with grief and leads to his suicide and Chika coming into his Gifts.

Ryou is Nevis, though since Yuni didn’t know he was shaych yet, Ryou didn’t break his heart, but rather they were close friends and had a falling-out (and, yeah, maybe broke his heart, even if Yuni didn’t fully recognize it yet).

Starwind and Moondance are the same who appear in TLHM; since the Tayledras have their own naming system, I didn’t want to supplant them.  They’re Tayledras mages who are lifebonded and lovers.  They taught Sae node magic and later teach Chika the same and help him heal and learn to control his Gifts after all the channels of his potential were violently ripped open.  Moondance is not Tayledras by birth, but rather was taken in by them at age 16 after accidentally killing his lover and nearly himself too after being cast out for being shay’a’chern, and he subsequently took on a Tayledras name.  Though Starwind is significantly older than him in TLHM, he’s only a couple years older than him in this (I’m not having any 30-somethings fucking any teenagers, the hell).

Kei (Haikyuu!!) is Medren, Chika’s favorite nephew and his younger brother’s bastard son.  He’s a Bard and is Misao’s roommate for several years at the Collegium.  Unlike Medren, though, he’s shaych (or possibly bi, I haven’t decided—though there isn’t a word for that in-universe because Lackey is/was biphobic), and he and Misao have a short romantic relationship.  They remain best friends even after they break it off.

Misao is Stefen, a Bard with all three Bardic Talents as well as one that allows him to use music to ease his audience’s pain.  He’s Yuni’s reincarnation and was born the day after his death, making him Kei’s age.  His relationship with Chika is rather abrasive at first on both ends before he starts to warm toward and fall for Chika despite Chika’s rather futile efforts not to get close.  They lifebond, though they’re not lovers, and Misao’s the only one whose feelings aren’t purely platonic.

Terms:

Some terms and worldbuilding aspects for those who haven’t read The Heralds of Valdemar or for whom it’s been a while.

Many people are born with Gifts or Talents (and though they seem like magic, only the Mage-Gift is actual magic), which usually become active around the age of about 6-10 or, more often, remain dormant as potential (and can awaken later in life such as through trauma).  Most Gifted people only have one or two Gifts, but Chika has all of them but for the Bardic Gift, and all of those but Healing strong.  The Bardic Gift allows listeners to experience rather than just listen to every word of a ballad sung—one can also use their Gift while speaking to manipulate people, like a silvertongue, but use of one’s Gift is forbidden in the Circle except in certain situations (performance; helping others; Monarch’s orders).  Anyone may be a minstrel, but to become a Bard, one must meet at least two of the three requirements: Gift, Talent (the ability to play), and Creativity (the ability to compose).

Heralds are Gifted individuals who have been Chosen by a Companion and then are trained in their Gifts and combat at the Heraldic Academy in Haven, the capital of Valdemar; they protect as well as rule the Kingdom, and have since its founding.  Herald-Mages are merely those who have the Mage-Gift, and they’re relatively rare.  Bards and Healers don’t usually specifically get Chosen to become Heralds, but those are Gifts that a Herald may have in addition to their other(s).  Bards are also trained in Haven, at the Bardic Collegium, and Healers are trained in Haven as well, though I don’t know what their school is called.  The formal attire of full Heralds is white, Healers green, and Bards red.

One with the Mindspeech Gift may use it only with others who also have it, but Companions may Bespeak anyone they choose to, though as per their own rules, they avoid any unnecessary use of their abilities (otherwise they’d be pretty OP lol).  When using Mindspeech, it is impossible to lie directly, though it is still possible, if difficult, to lie by omission.  Nuance and intention are more easily conveyed through Mindspeech than regular speech, as they color one’s mental voice and sort of impress upon the listener.  (Thus, Chika, being autistic, generally prefers to use Mindspeech when possible.)

Companions are sentient magical beings who look like pure-white horses with eyes of sapphire, and though they may look like horses, they don’t much appreciate being compared to them.  They usually form bonds very similar to lifebonds with their Chosen.  Unlike lifebonds, though, these may be repudiated.  They communicate with each other and their Chosen (and, rarely, others) through Mindspeech.  Yfandes is Chika’s companion; Yuni’s was Gala.

Lifebonds are rare, and they’re essentially soulmates; the lifebond forms after the two have forged a deep connection.  Pairs who share a lifebond or similar can “feel” each other, communicate, and share energy/power through the link.  When one dies, the other is usually not long behind, whether driven to suicide or simply pining away from the grief of having lost a part of oneself.  After the bond is formed, on some deep level, they are one: two separate beings who share the same soul.  I think in-universe, lifebonds are exclusively romantic, but eh

The Tayledras (known in Valdemar as the Hawkbrothers) are a silver-haired, blue-eyed people who live in the lands west of Valdemar.  Their mages specialize in node magic, while the majority of Valdemarian mages can’t even sense nodes, much less use them.  It is due to all Tayledras’ close relationship with the nodes and their power that their hair and eyes are virtually colorless; anyone who uses the nodes eventually has their hair and eyes bleached as well, and the more they use it the faster it happens, like Moondance, Sae, and Chika, who all go completely white within a couple decades.  The Tayledras’ priority is the land and its health, and they rarely allow in outsiders or venture outside their territory.  Sae and Chika are among those rare few.  “Shay’a’chern” is the Tayledras word for for “homosexual,” and as the Valdemarian tongue doesn’t have a word for it, it eventually makes its way into the language as the slang word “shaych.”  “Ke’chara” and “ashke” are both Tayledras words translating to “beloved,” though “ashke” seems to be reserved for lovers while “ke’chara” is platonic.  “Shay’kreth’ashke” is their word for “lifebonded.”  (”Shay” means “self.”)

Sovvan seems to align with Halloween and Día de los Muertos; it also marks the new year, or at least the end of the current year (it could be that spring marks the new year, like how on old Earth calendars, there were no months during winter; it was just nothing).  Sovvan-night is a night of celebrating the harvest and remembering the dead of the year past, and many traditions hold that the Otherworld is closer on this night than any other.

[ekeshnan-art]

WIP Aldren, the equivalent of the olympus of my world

I’m making an interactive tour, for now only of this hall, controlled like a videogame, on unreal engine. Also with main menu and a paused menu. This is for the main menu’s background

[crookedgentlemencoffee]

¿Precisa un descalcificador de agua? Señales de advertencia de agua dura

El suministro de agua en los Estados Unidos es de clase mundial. Desde que el Congreso aprobó la Ley de Agua Potable Segura (SDWA, por sus siglas en inglés) en 1974, esta necesidad de salud pública está consagrada en la ley. La regulación de los sistemas públicos de agua los transforma en algunos de los más seguros y fiables del mundo.

Pese a esto, es posible que experimente restos de jabón, máculas, acumulación de minerales e inclusive piel seca. Esto podría apuntar que tienes agua dura. Prosiga leyendo para conocer todas las señales de advertencia del agua dura y de qué manera tratarla profesionalmente.

Signos de agua dura

La calificación de dureza de su agua se fundamenta en el contenido mineral del agua. El índice de dureza varía de una zona a otra. En Valencia, por poner un ejemplo, la calificación en general se considera durísima.

La dureza del agua es causada por minerales disueltos en el agua. La mayoría del contenido mineral es carbonato de calcio que se ha disuelto en el agua al atravesar las rocas. El inconveniente es que el carbonato de calcio no se disuelve y se forma como un depósito sólido dentro de su sistema de agua.

Manchas de agua

Es posible que vea evidencia de agua dura en forma de máculas y máculas en su baño y cocina. Adondequiera que se deja que el agua se evapore sobre una superficie, deja minerales disueltos. Si hay una alta concentración de estos minerales aparecerán como una mácula o mancha.

Estos depósitos pueden aparecer en su lavabo, ducha y bañera. En tu cocina, puedes apreciar máculas en vasos, utensilios de cocina y en las baldosas de cerámica.

Acumulación de cal

Tras un tiempo, los depósitos minerales que empiezan como manchas pueden acumularse. Los electrodomésticos que están continuamente expuestos al agua dura pueden acumular depósitos de cal. Los lugares más evidentes son los grifos y las duchas. El agua puede descansar acá a menudo y persistente, lo que deja que medren los depósitos minerales.

Espuma de jabon

Cuando el agua dura y el jabón se mezclan, se unen y crean una escoria. Esta substancia pegajosa es difícil de quitar y puede transformarse en un residuo poco atrayente en los grifos. Se adhiere a otras superficies y platos, lo que hace que tengas que utilizar aún más jabón para quitarlo.

El aumento de jabón y escoria se puede formar en los desagües. Esto puede causar obstrucciones y ralentizar el movimiento de las aguas residuales. El jabón extra que se necesita para crear una espuma eficaz para lavar la ropa y los platos también es un gasto auxiliar.

Piel y Cabello Secos

Los minerales del agua dura asimismo pueden afectar la piel y el pelo. Se forma espuma de jabón en las superficies de su hogar, la reacción del jabón y el agua dura afecta su cabello. Se forma una película sobre tu pelo impidiendo su hidratación natural.

Posiblemente sienta la tentación de lavarse el cabello con más frecuencia. Esto aumenta el grosor del depósito en tu pelo y causa más daño. Chequea aquí El resultado es un pelo seco, retorcido y dañado.

Los colorantes para el cabello se ven perjudicados por los depósitos minerales en el pelo. Pueden hacer que el pelo responda menos a la coloración. Probablemente el color se desvanezca más rápido, especialmente si lo lava con más frecuencia en un intento de contrarrestar el agua dura.

Existe un vínculo comprobado entre el agua dura y el eccema. Hay una reacción entre el agua dura, el jabón y las proteínas en la piel de los pacientes con eccema que les causa daños en la piel. El resultado es piel inflamada y seca y, en ocasiones, infecciones secundarias.

Daños en el calentador de agua

Los depósitos de cal en los elementos internos de su sistema de calentamiento de agua dismuyen su eficiencia. Se precisa más energía para calentar el agua cuando la cal inhibe el calentador de agua. Tener que trabajar más duro quiere decir que es más probable que el sistema se estropee.

Lo mismo ocurre con cualquier aparato que calienta el agua. Los lavavajillas, las lavadoras y las cafeteras pueden acumular minerales. Entonces deben trabajar más duro para calentar el agua y tienen una vida útil más corta y son más propensos a descomponerse.

Tuberías Obstruidas y Baja Presión

Se ven depósitos de cal en grifos y bañeras. Los depósitos de cal dentro de su sistema de plomería son invisibles pero no menos perjudiciales.

Los depósitos minerales dentro de las tuberías complican el paso del agua a través de la cañería. Esto reduce la presión del agua, lo que hace que y su familia dejen correr el agua a lo largo de más tiempo para compensar la caída de la presión.

Facturas altas

Una menor presión de agua conduce a un mayor consumo de agua. Esto se traduce en un incremento en las facturas de agua.

Una menor eficiencia en calentadores de agua, lavadoras y lavavajillas significa un mayor uso de energía. El resultado son mayores costos de energía.

¿Qué puedes hacer?

Si tiene problemas con el agua dura, la solución obvia es mudar a agua blanda. Esto podría ser más simple de hacer de lo que piensas.

Debe iniciar por comunicarse con un servicio de plomería fiable que tenga experiencia en sistemas de descalcificacion de agua. Solicite una consulta de plomería y agua en el hogar. No confíe solo en una prueba de muestra de agua.

Una consulta en el hogar incluirá una prueba de agua que incluye dureza del agua, cloro y una prueba de TDS. Una prueba de TDS valora los sólidos disueltos totales en el agua. Esta prueba determina la calidad del agua.

Una consulta en el hogar asimismo incluirá una prueba de la presión del agua y la condición del sistema de plomería. Una propuesta personalizada para una solución de descalcificacion del agua tendrá en cuenta las condiciones locales y de su hogar.

Si lo desea, puede conservar un suministro de agua dura para cocinar y tomar. A ciertas personas les gusta el sabor y también hay algún beneficio para la salud. Es muy sencillo desviar el agua potable alén del descalcificador de agua.

Descalcificador de agua

Si tiene signos de agua dura, puede beneficiarse de un descalcificador de agua. Pronto podría notar beneficios financieros y de salud, así como un sistema de plomería y calefacción de agua más eficiente.

[sam-is-here96]

"And in some ways, Van was absolutely right, in that he couldn't afford close emotional relationships. If he'd been the marble statue he resembled, his isolation would likely have been a good thing. But he wasn't. He was a living human being, and one who would not admit that he was desperately lonely."

Magic's Price, ch. 2

[upennmanuscripts]

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The inimitable Emily Steiner and Aylin Malcom of Penn’s English Department present a 60-second lecture in front of Ben Franklin: “Lost Words: 11 Medieval Words That We Need Right Now” #medievalwords #medren #english #oldenglish #middleenglish @uofpenn @liflode @piersatpenn (at University of Pennsylvania) https://www.instagram.com/p/BnoilCjB9uj/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=bj170p8vjk98

[amphipolitan]

There are no compromises, mind-to-mind. There are no falsehoods; there can’t be. A relationship for me has to be one of absolute equals, freely giving, freely sharing—or nothing. No rape, Father. No unwilling seduction. No lies, no deception. No harm. No one who doesn’t already know what he is. No one who hasn’t made peace with what he is, and accepted it. No innocents, who haven’t learned what they are. No children.

Vanyel, Magic’s Promise by Mercedes Lackey

[emilyjanestuff]

The Last Herald-Mage Series by Mercedes Lackey Magic’s Pawn, Magic’s Promise, and Magic’s Price. So, in the last review I had a look at Magic’s Pawn by Mercedes Lackey first published in 1989.

[tecochet]

Do you have different words for paternal grandparents and maternal grandparents? As some who’s obsessed with languages, that’s pretty neat

i think that’s the case for Cantonese, yea! But in my case, since each side speaks different languages, we just use the word grandpa/ma but from each respective language. So it’s:

Ah kong = grandpa (in Hokkien)Po po = grandma (in Cantonese)

Maktok & Atok = grandma & grandpa (in Malay)

[lilacs-in-space]

So I want to take a moment and talk about the exact reason why I love and study medieval lit, and why it’s so very important to me.

I used to work for a large tech company that really churned through employees like a Dickensian workhouse. It was the kind of place that wanted you to feel privileged just for working there, like every scrap from the master’s table was to be begged for and adored. Two employees - neither of whom I knew well - committed suicide during the two years I was there, and a number more self harmed; especially in the customer service department. It was known, but never talked about.

I won’t go into detail, but one day I realised that if I stayed I would kill myself. I was terrified of the consequences of leaving, but I was more scared of the consequences of staying, so I walked out the door, leaving my badge on my manager’s desk, and I applied to university the same day. I had only a very vague plan when I started in September of that year, just a vague intention of studying French and Politics and maybe getting into tech lobbying. In first year, however, you are required to take additional subjects so I chose to study English too. English in my university starts with Old English, and thus The Wanderer.

When I read The Wanderer for the first time I felt... it’s hard to describe how it made me feel. Not alone, I guess is the only way to put it. Like there was someone, someone I could never meet or touch or know, who would never understand me or my life, but who felt the same. Someone who had not only survived their despair, but who had created something beautiful that had endured so far beyond them.

The Wanderer didn’t fix me, but it allowed a little glowing ember of hope to spark in my chest. This ember was gently taken by another professor in my university who introduced me to Chaucer first, then the Pearl manuscript, then debate poetry. Through him, that spark was fanned into a passionate flame. He was the first person to place a facsimile into my hands; first person to explain rubrication and the process of making ink; first person to show me the work of William Dunbar and Marie de France.

There is literally no way to tell someone that they brought you back from the brink of despair. It’s not a conversation I think the listener or the teller would be comfortable having, but if you are in academia, if you are passionate about what you teach or what you study and you share that with others, know that you too may have fanned a spark of hope or brightened a well of despair, even if just for a little bit.

Don’t get me wrong, I get a lot of satisfaction when my code works or my designs come together, but nothing beats the love I feel when I read a poem for the first time; when I let my eyes run across the ink from a deadman’s quill; when I see a little piece of myself in something from so long ago. Studying medieval manuscripts makes me feel human. It makes me happy. 

It makes me glad to be alive.