#one day i should just write a lore bible

[punemy-spotted]

If anyone wants to know what dealing with me and my insane worldbuilding practices, just ask @brandycranby about my unhinged explanations of alternate timelines and how much I enjoy warping science as an act of violence against your brain.

[cherubispunk]

NEPHILIM: THE FALLEN - Jackson-era!Joel Miller x AFAB!Reader

summary: fallen or damned? who's to tell when it's joel miller?

a note from Lucy: DONT HATE ME I KNOW ITS BEEN A LONG TIME!! Not entirely happy with this but it's been sitting in my docs for months now and i had to get it out there to give me some peace of mind so please be aware it may well be riddle with grammatical mistakes and typos galore. as always like, comment and reblog to save a sinners sanity!

playlist | moodboard + poem

wc: 2755

Warnings: 18+ MDNI DARK CONTENT! Jackson era!post outbreak!Joel, no use of y/n, reader is referred to as ‘Bambi’, verbally constipated Joel Miller, brief gore descriptions, heavy religious imagery and references to the bible, biblical lore, yearning, idiots in love, angst angst angst!!!!!!, bombastic age gap!!! yahhhhh! (reader is in her 20’s/ Joel is in his late 50’s), smut, oral sex (m! receiving), rough oral sex, possessive!joel, dom!joel/sub!reader dynamic, you know the drill with my writing, there’s probably some form of cannibalism as a metaphor, or brutal violence as a metaphor, religious imagery as a metaphor, etc. (aka, fancy word vomit) - Lucy crying over a bloody google doc :)

series masterlist | m.list

Ephesians 2:3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

The sky was bruised. It was like God– or whatever resided up there– knew. The grey clouds, and the garish yellow of the setting sun, and the deep blue that ebbed into purple…they all knew. Your heart ached too. Bruised. It seemed to crack a little more each day. What started as nothing more than a hairline fracture had split into a gaping, weeping slice. Why? Because Joel was always quiet. For such a large man he had a ghostly habit of creeping into a room without notice. Creeping into your heart too through your hollow ribs. You could feel him behind you now though. His breath thick on the nape of your neck and it cooled the thin sheen of sweat on your skin. Soothed your burning flesh while saving it from the inferno. The tension became bearable. These little spaces of empty matter between all else. That slight awkwardness about his usual stoic yet confident demeanour…it was endearing now.

You were easing into the silence, content with watching the bruise darken from purple to midnight blue. The sky would turn on its bright little stars, and the moon would slice through sapphire as the early evening aged. The sun was going to rest now, the greying moon taking its post to watch over the town. You should follow the sun’s direction. Close your eyes so as to not have to witness his all too soon departure.

His fingers, so gentle, so strong, gently traced the curve and divot of your hip under the covers. It was strange to think just moments prior they had been inside you. Making you feel boneless in bed.

“Bambi?” He asked, tentative and uncharacteristically uncertain. He loathed it; the change in him.

“Mhm?” You hummed lazily, your hands tucked under the pillow to keep them warm, knees curled up to your chest. But no answer nor following question came. You knew what it was. He was cramming something back down his throat before he had the chance to say it for fear of being out of line. One day it shall choke him blue. He was strung so tightly. Tension in his shoulders that made them rise uncomfortably. And you noticed this when you turned to face him. Neither of you spoke for a moment, as if you were fooling yourself into believing he might continue. Your heart cracked a little more when he turned to face the wall,

“Never mind. It’s nothin’.” He had no reason to be weary of you. However in the past few weeks, coming up to a month, there was subtle, almost imperceptible unease that lingered. And festered. Palpable. Tangible. You could feel it when you reached out to touch his skin. So warm and gorgeous. Golden like ichor in this setting sunlight. You dared to press your lips to the wing of a shoulder blade, skin mangled with scar tissue where you liked to imagine wings once resided, and felt him flinch under your featherlight kiss. “Don’t, Bambi.”

“Joel-“

“I said: No.” His voice was firm, and didn’t give much leeway for convincing. “It’s not somethin’ you know how to fix.” But you were stubborn now. You’d found your feet. You stood your ground more, imitated behaviour. Before he could turn away again you reached to right him, set him flat on his back upon the mattress and splay your hand over his soft stomach under the covers. His throat tightened when your hand ventured timidly south. Then his breath tangled in his throat when it wrapped loosely around his half hard cock. Gently stroking it until it stood to attention in your palm. “Let me help…the way I know how.” You whispered into his ear, running your tongue under his earlobe to bring it between your teeth. Voice like honey, so sweet, and smooth, and slow pouring enough to get stuck in. Jesus Fucking Christ, he hated himself for even entertaining the idea of letting you do this for him. For being the one to help you find your feet. For being the man who tarnished innocence. It seemed all he did these days was ruin what little good there was left in the world. He’d taken an entire inkpot to a pristine sheet of paper, splattered black all over it without a care in the world until now. He felt like the space between you was stygian and reeked of his own sin. It simmered and spat and writhed and any moment now I would boil over the second you came to terms with the fact you were too good for him.

His nostrils flared with the thought but with a twist of your wrist he melted. Because at the base of it all, the very depth of his humanity, he was a selfish, selfish man. You watched a swallow pass down the thick column of his throat and rested your head on his shoulder while your hand dragged up his thick, full shaft, thumb smearing a bead of precome over the delicate flushed skin of its head. Joel watched the ceiling and wallowed in pathetic self pity as you kissed your way down his navel, lips moving in a mumbling of words he couldn't quite hear. He let out a breathy moan when you wrapped your lips around the tip, pressing your tongue flat to the underside to let the taste seep onto your tongue. He then closed his eyes trying to imagine anyone other than you between his legs. Another mouth. Another tongue. Someone else's voice.

It was no use because it seemed your eyes, the shade, the shape, were printed to the back of his lids. He gave up. He was too old to try to partake in sisyphean tasks.

Joel sat up and you moved between his legs as he threw the covers off to watch you. His back to the headboard, your warm mouth inviting him deeper, he hesitated to press a hand to the crown of your head, but when you pulled off to lick a flat tongued strip from base to tip, he found himself taking a fist of your hair and righting you over the head completely, pushing down so he slipped into your mouth. Muscle memory had the twitch of a smirk forming at the corner of his lips. The sight of you was enough to have his hips begging to buck, chasing the back of your throat, attempting to find that reaction again.

What you couldn't take of him you wrapped loosely in one hand and the other cupped his balls, adding the slightest pressure that had a dirty cuss passing his chapped lips. Deep inhales billowed in his nose, nostrils flared slightly as he dragged your open, salivating mouth up and down on his length. What he would never understand is how much you hungered for this every time. There was a pain in wanting him like no other, and a reward this great sowed the seed of pleading. You didn’t mind yearning for him because, to you, being hungry was quite a satisfying feeling. It feels nice to want something. To yearn. To have a purpose. You imagined he felt quite the same with the way he could hardly keep his hands from your cunt or your mouth when you passed his front door’s threshold.

“Look at me, Bambi.” He grunted, and your eyes fluttered slightly before the hue of them locked on his through your tear clumped lashes. “I’d like this mouth a whole lot more if it didn’t say such pretty things to me.” He almost lamented, and you felt a tug at your heartstrings. “Makin’ a man hope again.”

Joel sighed, eyes closing for the briefest second. His large hand was still pushing your head with the gentlest of force back down, then his fingers gripped at your hair, dragging you again so the warm, silken touch of your lips and tongue made the fire in his belly start to burn. It was aching, and deep rooted, and had a slow simmer to it. One he begged to hurry along. Joel wanted nothing more than his release so he could set you free again. Set the bird free of its cage. So he threw caution to the wind, and soon you felt the tip of his thick cock reach the back of your mouth again, your throat constricting. “Why won’t you hate me, huh Bambi? What did I do to deserve this?” He asked. If you knew no better you’d have thought his tone implied he hated it. His teeth gritted, words seethed between them. He spat it out in a way that made him seem unworthy of your attention— or the very taste of the thought disgusted him and made his stomach pull up in a wretch. Joel bit down so violently on nothing he swore his molars might turn to dust and clag in spit with the way he was salivating over the sight of you; Puffy lips, bloodshot watering eyes, messy hair. Bent over him and sucking on his cock like it was your only goddamned purpose in life.

You wanted to reply, splutter out the words, but he silenced you. The tip of his cock brushing the back of your throat, and causing your stomach to recoil, tensing as you gagged. Retching slightly as he grimaced at the sound. “You know I can’t love y–” he stopped mid sentence as the ache bloomed into a deep burn. You were oh so grateful because it meant you wouldn’t have to hear what you yearned not to. What you buried deep beneath your stomach and above your diaphragm— that slow, blooming ache. The feeling would never see the light of day. You’d rather die than come to terms with the fact that Joel would not be yours. He belonged to the world. The mass of nature that befell you. That which kept you human and incompetent. He was large, untamable, and oh so delectable in all ways other than matters of love. Joel Miller could not love you.

“Fuck- gonna come, Bambi.” He choked out, head falling back. You looked up at the sight of him through your lashes, lips parted, his brows creased gently in the space between them. Just as you yearned for him to love you, you yearned to be destroyed by him. Coated in him, broken down to pieces by him. Joel Miller could quite literally break you in half, then half again, and again— to the point where nothing was discernible— and you'd get on your knees to thank him for it all. Maybe loving him and being destroyed by him were two in the same?

In the months you’d known him you’d grown to learn that this was as close to a purpose as you’d get. The world robbed you of one, so you searched for it. Selfish enough to keep digging to find one. Only it had no purpose. It has a pattern now, and patterns trick and deceive people into believing in divine intervention. Joel was your divine right. Your purpose. That was what you believed. What you thought about each night. What you thought about now as you took his cock down to the base, the head of him brushing the back of your throat and folds soaked– drenched in the essence of your own arousal. All of which was emphasised by the ache you felt between your thighs that ebbed a little deeper with wanting. A ghost of the pleasure you felt when he was inside you. You entertained it with two fingers slipping between your thighs, teasing your clit. “God— Bambi…” He groaned, eyes rolling back in his head as he let go. Hot ropes of his release flooding your mouth with their heady, salty taste.

You pulled off his shaft, now wet and slick in your own saliva, swallowing a mouthful of his release. His eyes never left you, honing in on the ripple of your delicate throat as you swallowed his come down. Joel couldn't help but hook a thumb into your mouth to unhinge your jaw— to see if anything was left. Nothing was. There never was. Like him, you were too selfish to leave anything.

He should have known better. You never disappoint. “Bambi, you’re too damn good for me.” he panted, skin sweat slick and flushed.

“I promise I'm not.” you whispered to the skin of his lips before he wrapped a large, steadying hand around your arm and pulled you up to his chest. His face met yours and when you looked into those hickory eyes you could have melted on the spot; For the hue of them was nothing like you'd ever seen before, and could command nations to their knees. And if not nations then it could certainly do so to you. “I’m just as damaged as you.`’

The words had his gut in knots because they were akin to holding up a mirror to his visage. And holding his head in place. Holding it still so he was forced to look himself in the eyes and reflect. Reflecting on the monster he’d become. The monster he would always be.

“I’m not asking you to love me, Joel.” You spoke, your voice quiet, slight and timid. Uncertain of his reaction. The way your eyes met his was proof of that. Wide like a foal, wide enough to register the unjust curl of a lip. “ I’m just asking you to stay…”

The words had been burning the tip of your tongue red raw. Each night as he lay beside you, the same questions— words made up of nothing but consonants that had a profound effect on you– would hardly let you rest in his arms. They tortured you instead; Mocked you. It was the equivalent of hanging. You could feel the ghost of a noose around your neck. It might as well have been His hands. It was as rough as them after all.

What is wrong with you? What is so repulsive about you that warrants his departure? Was it the curve of your hips– their dips? Or even the bump on your nose– how dare it not have the perfect influxing curve! The slant of your eyes? The jagged stretch marks on the inside of your thighs! Not only had they the nerve to exist in their silver, shining mockery, posing as a diamond, but they had the fucking nerve to sit where others could see. Fuck them entirely and their very existance. Were those very thighs plump enough? Too plump? Why was there no gap between? Was there too much of a sag to your breasts? The colour of your nipples– why did they have to be that colour? Were the lines on your forehead marring your skin? What on you– about you– detested him? Because if you knew you'd cut it off. You'd change it. You take a knife to your nose and cut it off even if it was just to spite your own face. Now, laying here with him, you wish to be anyone but yourself. Yourself was the woman that disgusted you. It would always be the woman that disgusted you if he didn’t fall in love.

“That's jus’ the thing, Bambi.” He sighed, his mouth moving in a slow hushed mumble. His wind chapped, weathered lips grazed the shell of your ear, “I already do.” Followed by silence, and then: “An’ I ain’t no good at it, I’m afraid.”

That was the problem. Joel thought it had to be a life lived in an entirety of carolling laughter for you. A warm, joyous time. The kind of peace the world seldom granted anyone anymore. Not bound to him by the twine of his selfish nature. In the wrong man’s bed. If the world had told him anything before it was that he deserved to be alone. First Sarah. Then Tess. Ellie too. It was only a matter of time before you left too. He had no clue that what you wanted was just to be held. To be kept. He didn’t have to carve out a hole in himself to accommodate you. Nor give an arm or a limb. He just had to stay. Exactly where he was now. Exactly as he is. But selfish men believe in selfish things. And Joel Miller was a selfish man.

Maybe he wasn't. Humans are, after all, selfish creatures. If we are innately selfish does that make us selfish, or just human. Regardless– Joel was selfish. Yes. But more importantly: He was the damned, the scrutinised, the beggar. All of the above.

Joel Miller was, and forever will be, the fallen.

[hareofhrair]

How Would YOU Like to Read Fanfic About YOUR OC's? That YOU Didn't Have to Write?!

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Want nice character profiles for your character select page but don't want to write them? Want to immortalize a really cool scene from a DND game in prose? Have elaborate worldbuilding ideas for your custom setting you want organized into something readable? Have an amazing idea for a fic but don't have the time/energy/skill to write it? I'm your guy!

My rates are $.03 a word.

For reference, a good fic chapter would be about 1500 to 2000 words, so about $45 to $60. A character profile or backstory might be around 300 to 500 words, or $9 to $15. For long works, such as multi chapter fics, I'll write an outline first which is paid for separately.

Work under 1000 words can generally be delivered same-day, or within the week if I'm busy, with allowance for needing to go back and forth with you discussing details. Full chapters may take a week to two weeks depending on my work schedule.

"What if I don't know word count/how long something will be?"

I'll work with you to help you come to a rough estimate of what the word count should be, no worries!

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Working together with you to come up with ideas is one of my favorite parts of the job! We can hash out most of the details together before I start writing, or if you don't want to work that hard, you can just see what I do with your concept on my own! Planning can be as detailed or as loose as you want it to be.

Things I Will Write:

character backstories

lore bibles

full chapters

multi chapter fics

fanfic of canon characters, including self-insert!

fluff, angst, slice of life, hurt comfort or any other genre!

scripts for fansims or fanventures!

poetry!

basically anything! Ask if you're not sure!

Things I Will Not Write:

Incest

Minor/adult romance*

Hate speech

Fanfic for works I'm not familiar with/interested in (I'm primarily a homestuck person, but feel free to ask about other properties!)

Anything involving a third party's characters unless I've received explicit permission from the third party

Smut/NSFW**

*I'm fine writing about underaged characters in age-appropriate romantic scenarios, ie teens dating or children with crushes, though I will obviously not write NSFW with minors.

**Steamy romance is fine, but I prefer to fade to black before things cross into explicit territory. This is because NSFW is more difficult and time consuming for me. HOWEVER, I am more than capable of writing smut, so if you really want a nsfw scene I'm open to discuss it, with an upcharge and the understanding that it will take longer.

I reserve the right to refuse any work I'm not personally comfortable with. I will fully refund previously paid for work that I've determined I can't complete, and partially refund work the client withdraws after writing has already begun. I prefer to be paid ahead of starting the work, but I'm fine with payment in installments for larger projects. I take paypal and cashapp.

For examples of my work, check out my AO3! I have original works posted there as well as canon fanfic and an ongoing fanventure. Warning for nsfw content.

[altneuland]

It's Hanukkah in a few days, which means.. it's time to talk about Hanukkah lore.

first, I want you to erase everything you know about hanukah.

Days Of Hanukkah

Hanukkah is known to be the celebration of light, happiness and victory.

But in reality, the story of hanukkah is much darker.

Kingdom of Hashmonai 

Human name: Daniel Ben Yosef

Human age: 18

religion: Cohenity Judaism (early Judaism)

National languages: Hebrew, Aramic, Greek

Independent: 104 BC - 63 AC (but actually 77 years)*

PROLOGUE 

Greek takeover 

When Ancient Greece took over the area, they brought with them Hellenism, which already influenced Daniel. Daniel’s opinion about Hellenism was neutral. Most Jews didn’t mind Hellenism, as long as it peacefully coexisted with Judaism, and it did. 

Cohenity take over 

The Greek empire owed a lot of money to Rome, and the great Cohen’s brother back then, he knew. He offered the king of the areal Hellenic kingdom a lot of money in exchange for making him the Cohen. 

Judaism is highly against such a thing. Since then people noticed that they could buy the great Cohen’s seat and started paying more and more, which led to inside-wars between Cohens, Levians and activists. 

The Cohens who kept taking over the seats happened to be pro-Hellenism, which made Hellenism look bad in the eyes of the radical activists. It didn’t change Daniel’s opinion, though. But he did lose his trust towards his Cohens. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Act i: Hanukkah 

The Hellenic oppression 

The internal wars inside Judea made them not pay taxes to Greece, which made the king very mad. He came to Judea and demanded the Jews to do very sinful things such as eat pig or work on Shabbat, as well as change their names and such things. 

Daniel was mad, and started a revolution. The revolution started from inside, against the current Cohen who brought that on him. 

Maccabee 

Maccabee is a Jewish movement that started at those days, their goal was to liberate the Jews from Hellenic oppression. Hashmonai Family, a well known family of activists, started it. They led the revolution, but it mostly failed. 

Independence 

When the Hashmonai family realized that the revolution failed, one of the members of this family physically went to the king and begged for liberation. The king got convinced and let the Jews have their own country. 

The Maccabees came back to Jerusalem and cleaned the holy temple from all the dirt and sins that the hellenics did. It made them and Daniel so happy they celebrated for 8 days, which is also the same 8 days of Hanukkah. 

Daniel felt like things are getting back to order, he's independent again. but the little he knew about what’s going to happen. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Act ii: Hashmonai 

The civil war continues 

Hashmonai is now an independent kingdom, but the Hashmonai family decided to make Cohenity one with the royal family, the citizens of Hashmonai hate this decision, and revolt once again. 

Daniel started to rethink his own religion, and new groups of new religions started to pop, as an alternative to the current Cohenity Judaism. Christianity is one of them. Groups are starting to rewrite some books and write new books, the Talmud and  the Mishna. 

Daniel thought this situation is just temporary, and Levi soon will get his power in the temple again. But as soon as he thought so, Hashmonai massacred everyone who attempted to stop the royal family, including levians. Levi, the last tribe to exist as a tribe of Israel was killed, and it officially ended Daniel’s hope for the temple, his nation and his religion. 

The changes in Judaism

When Levi Died, Daniel realized he won’t be able to continue in the same path anymore. A group of all groups, called haPrushim, were the leading group of the new Judaism. They believed that all Jews should be able to read, write and own their own Bible copy. Since then only a Levian could, but Levi is now dead. This is temporary, until a new alternative to Levi or if there are still Levians alive somewhere, they could take back their place once they can. 

Daniel preferred this alternative over the others, which helped this one become the main Judaism branch today. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Act iii: Roman Empire 

Roman Empire stepping in

Now Rome is in charge, Rome doesn’t mind most of the wars inside Hashmonai, but when it becomes too brutal they step in. Rome wants quiet in their territory, that’s their strategy. They cross most leaders (Jesus is one of them), and it escalates as the Jews fight back more. 

Daniel wants this to end, so he goes to Rome and asks him to Assassinate the Hashmonai family. Rome is happy to do so, and he does. Hashmonai loses independence as it happens. 

Rome was mad with Daniel for being such a pain in the ass, so he started forcing him to do such things as eat pig and work on Shabbat, again. But this time Daniel was tired. He didn’t revolt.

Bar kochva revolt

Bar Kochva is a radical guy that Daniel, as well as most of the nation, didn't agree with. He worked alone. He required a small army and tried to fight the Romans. Daniel joined him; he thought he had nothing to lose anyways. But his mistake escalated everything really fast. 

End of ancient Israel

As a punishment Rome cut Daniel’s hair. He knew how much Daniel cares about it. He destroyed the temple, and then kicked Daniel away from Judea to Europe, he changed Judea’s name after a nation in the Bible which is Hebrew means “Invaders”. The name that Daniel used to call other ancient nations as a mockery is now against him. Also, Rome stole a lot of things from the temple, including the great menorah. 

The days of Daniel as ancient Israel (before the kingdom of Israel to the after kingdom of Hashmonai) is now officially over. Daniel now started his Exile era, and after the exile era, the Modern era. 

[queen-of-weird-girl-nation]

Brithism - fictional religion because I'm silly- (kinda a sect of Christianity bc I need something to work with people). I am not trying to disrespect any religious practices,you do you as long as your not a bigot. This is just me seeing stuff and being like you could make a religion out of this and then doing it. Tw for:religious themes and religion in general, cult like behaviour.

Religion lore:

Ok, so basically, if god is the father and Jesus the son, then there needs to be some kind of avatar for the Holy Spirit. Now, you might be saying, Florence, you silly goose, the holy spirit is meant to exist as a spirit, not as an actual person, also Jesus isnt an avatar for god, thisisnt the magnus Archive. But I went to bible school, and I attended bible camp. I know what I'm on about. I know that the Holy Spirit isn't actually meant to be sent down, and I know that Jesus wasn't meant to be the avatar of God. But Thomas Nicholas, born in 1821, claimed to be sent by god to complete the trinity. It is said that he is the Holy Spirit made flesh, as Jesus was God made flesh. He is 100 per cent spirit and 100 per cent man. How does that work? I spent 13 years of my life in the Pentecostal Church and I couldn't tell you. But back to Thomas, who is claiming to be the holy spirit in the flesh. It is said he could heal, preform miracles. He gained a small following, which spread around the US.

Thomas Backstory, accorxing to Brithism-

Thomas Nicholas grew up in (place yo be decided, drop hints down below) with his mother and father. His parents were not very wealthy but raised him a good, god-fearing Christian man. But he always felt different, always k ew too much and did much more. He always felt that strange connection to the divine. He was absorbed with the Bible, but would often find himself writing in strange symbols, which only he could understand. One word would always stay there, one he could only slightly decipher. Brith.

Strange happenings occurred around him, almost miraculous, and he heard strange voices in his sleep. His mother told him he was destined for greatness, that she knew one day the Lord, his father, would help him. His father said nothing. There were whispers that he was the second coming of christ, but he was also very humble. Even then he knew that he was not to eb that. Not yet.

He had scrounged up enough money to try and go to university and become a man of learning, for he was a smart young man, wise beyond his years. One day in his dorm, he felt compelled to walk outside, and he saw an angel, the Angel Gabriel.

Excerpt from the Brithic Testament-

Oriol, 2:73:1

And before him stood an angel, bathed in golden light with wings that stretched up to the moon. The angel kneeled down before Thomas.

'Hail the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost. Hail the Spirit who moves through men and blesses them. Hail the completion. Hail the Brith,'

End excerpt.

Basically, Thomas was the completion of the trinity. He immediately realised this and felt all of his holiness seep . him, fully realised. He was the Brith, which, according to Brithism,means completion in Angel Speak, which, since he was the literal holy spirit made man, he could interpret.

Gabriel gives him a book, and tells him to spread the word everywhere, that there is more to the story of the Bible, that Thomas is the completion and that people should follow his teachings. So he did.

Thomas moved back to his hometown and preached the books, which was called the Brithic Testament. And soem called him a heretic and a fool and the devil, but to many that only backed up his claims, didn't they say the same about Jesus Chrizt.

Him and his followers set up communities, and flourished. He continued the book, adding on to to the translations with his own revelations. He also altered parts of the Bible based on his holy vibes. That is how the Brithic Testament was born.

He was then killed.

At the age of 45. Which made him a maytr. Especially when he came back from the dead. He was so incredibly similar to Jesus Christ, coming back after 3 days, then apparently ascending to heaven. His religion was now quite strong and many churches had been set up The churches spread out, and soon, Brithism was quite large. Now in 2024, in the story it has around 900,000 followers around the world.

What actually happened

Time to debunk lore. That I wrote.

Thomas was most likely a charismatic leader with a creative writing talent, who was able to lie a lot, set up a lot of churches, have very loyal allies and fake his own death as well as amass a lot of wealth.

So yeah . I can write more.

@auroraofthesun1

[variousqueerthings]

She enjoyed that way too much.

OH NO CLARA DIED. I knew that was going to happen, I have seen it all on the tumbls. but how did she die? I genuinely couldn't remember (all I had was the toymaker going "killed by a... bird?") and yeah that's what I was thinking too. a bird? really? alright then

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 10/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 6/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 5/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 9/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 6/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 9/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 8/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 8/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 6/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 6/10

FULL RATING: 73/100 (if I can count….)

alright so we're on Big Episodes Time. technically Face The Raven is the first of three episodes but it very much stands alone in Vibe, so let us look at it

OBJECTIFICATION: seriously, we're pretty good on this by now. almost like one doesn't have to make a million jokes about women's appearances or sexually harass them to write a story

PLOT-POINT: okay first contentious rating, because the whole thing about Clara in this episode is that she figures out she is Gonna Die, which is all about her emotions isn't it?

I mean... a bit. but I think it highlights two things 1. "Maybe this is what I wanted. Maybe this is it. Maybe this is why I kept running. Maybe this is why I kept taking all those stupid risks. Kept pushing it" <- this is Clara being like "ah fuck I'm gonna die, but who knows maybe that's what my whole story and self was about" and I'm scratching my head a bit, going... was it? is that... the core of Clara? do the writers know the core of Clara? Or is this just her comforting the Doctor which is my second point 2. sooo much of this death is about Clara comforting the Doctor and telling the Doctor to not get revenge and to be okay with her dying. my love, you are about to die, why are we not getting more on you?

if this story had, say, echoed way back to early days Clara (s7) who was coming to terms with the fact that she was going to die over and over again, but then is rescued from that fate in one reality (I mean, it didn't quite nail that premise, but there's cool ideas within it), and this reality of Clara being afraid of death, but wanting to engage with the fun of life instead, to the point that maybe she forgot death was even an option... there's certainly some things you can use to read this into her, but it's not textual, it's not -- I would even say -- deliberate

Clara just kinda bounced about in the story a lot of the time, as if the writers had forgotten to do a simple character bible or something to that effect with her, so that in this moment when she dies... I'm not sure how it echoes back to how she lived. "Be brave" can mean anything, it's not a Clara-based mantra that relates to anything about her before. it doesn't relate to the idea that she's died before in a bunch of different lifetimes, or that her partner died to save her -- even though she mentions that death, but it's in the context of how she should also be brave and face it, and I'm like. no! aside from how I feel like Danny Pink's narrative was written, he at the very least canonically died so that Clara would not, it seems kind of not how that was framed to go "ah well, he could do it, so can I," he would be Upset at this idea surely???

we reach the seeming end of her life and I understand how it affects the Doctor -- hell how it affects Me and Rigsy -- more than how it affects her

I didn't rate this point lower, because I do think there's some emotional throughline in the episode itself, the problem is that it feels like it didn't relate to the entire rest of her run

COMPLEXITY: there's a Plot. who did the Plot? we don't know yet. we will find out! that's fine, this is the season finale one of three, we don't need to know everything yet

Me was hired to do the plot, and she did so in... kind of a complicated roundabout way. I kind of wish she'd targeted Clara to begin with, because why would she think Rigsy could get in contact with the Doctor? I really like Rigsy, I'm happy to see him again, and he's clearly doing well, but it's a bit ooh and then this plottwist happens, except I wasn't quite following why it needed to be twisted like that in the first place + I mean the fuckn. bit at the end when Me realises what's happened with Clara feels like it's doing so much heavy lifting "I didn't know she'd do something so stupid" really? I didn't realise it was stupid, because it's just inventing stuff as it goes along

I like a lot of the stuff around the plot, but that's another point!

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: I mean yeah, Clara dies and the Doctor is transported... sooomewhere. (actually when I was watching Heaven Sent I hadn't realised it was this transporter that sent him into the Confession Dial, it took me until now)

Me is running a safe haven -- again, a compelling idea that isn't really explored a lot -- and is working for sooomeone to fuck with the Doctor. villain

so yeah, big stuff. Confession Dial now out of the Doctor's hands

COMPANIONS MATTER: second contentious rating perhaps, but Clara makes one big decision in this episode, and it's a huuuge mistake and gets her killed -- the fact that everything around that mistake was kind of silly aside, it's kind of a symptom of one of the main things that frustrated me for a lot of Clara's run (and Amy's for that matter) which was that M*ffat couldn't seem to figure out how to make them make decisions without the Doctor holding their hand, and the second she does in this episode, she literally dies

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: the Doctor goes on a bit of a murder mystery romp in this one, and that's quite fun. again, I think Clara's death was more about him and how he might react to it, than about her, but on the whole there's nothing else egregious in this

also we get the return of the flashcards, I do enjoy the flashcards!

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: Mmm there's not much in this one. obviously the Time Lords are about to arrive bit by bit, but on the whole -- apart from showing some various aliens...

“SEXINESS”: Clara mentions Jane Austen as "a great kisser" in this episode, and it's... the second? third hint? that she's not quite straight. I know it's baaaasically canon at this point, but I think generally Clara being bi was handled pretty terribly, in that it wasn't

INTERNAL WORLD: there's that secret world of aliens, which mimics a bit the Zygons outside. I kind of think this deserves more than what it gets, but it's not really about it, it's just a bit of set dressing

still, some cool concepts within it. I do wonder if I sometimes am unfair about when I think something is well-developed or not -- after all, Rings of Akhaten was also an alien culture briefly shown but not too dwelled on. I think that episode really did show bits of how that space worked, and crucially the religious festival aspect of it, whereas with this you get a sense of a kind of fucked up underlying politics, but it's not important to what's happening -- heck, we discover that Me pretended to kill someone and framed someone for that fake murder, so that she could lure the Doctor there, and it's confirmed that the law is so strict that just "assuming" someone committed that murder is enough to condemn them to death without trial or chance for defence

but we don't really understand how this affects the people in this supposedly safe haven, we don't really care about any of them, and Me's "plot" is never discovered or important to the running of this place (and the next time we meet Me is in the final episode at the very very end of the Universe so whatever this place was, it's gone now, it's just some random time she spent doing this thing)

I kind of wish there was an episode that was actually about this place

POLITICS: so we've got the refugee/secret society of aliens on earth, which is... somewhat thinly depicted. and the structure of this society is veeery not-good/vicious. but I guess it's mainly just that none of this really matters to the story of the episode

I like that we showed Rigsy again and that he has a kid and seems to be doing well for himself, I think having him specifically as a recurring character was a good choice

FULL RATING: 73/100 (if I can count….)

this is the highest-rated episode of the season actually, and I do enjoy a fair bit of it. some of this rating though comes from it being a Very Big Episode that sets up various things. I realise in structure it's got a bit in common with Utopia leading into that season's two-part finale (although of course, very different finales). straggler society that's holding on, Doctor arrives and is hoping to fix things only to get hit by a curveball in the last few minutes

I think that this is where the stuff that I do like about s9 comes up against the stuff that I knew wasn't going to land for me -- things like how Me is written into the lore feeling kind of clumsy to me, Clara not being as developed as I'd want her to be, and this season having a certain "and now suddenly something really important happens that came outta nowhere" style of writing

but it's a sweet little episode on its own, with some cool worldbuilding, and Rigsy is there!

also the post-credits Rigsy graffiti'ing the Tardis was beautiful. now we head into the. Final Episodes!

*

I'm not gonna lie -- this is not fair to the episode but oohhhh seeing Letitia Wright was transphobia jumpscare! she wasn't super transphobic and anti-vaxx back then either, it's just. yeah, jumpscare, as my friend and I call it whenever we don't expect sudden casual transphobia reminders

[authortobenamedlater]

Oh, and even tho I know nothing about b5, Half baked B5Halo has me INTRIGUED.

(Hey @infinityactual you might find this interesting re: our conversation this morning.)

Send me WIP asks.

So. This got LONG. Sorry not sorry.

This not-story has the working title “For Such a Time As This” owing to a scene in my head where Delenn says “Perhaps the universe has brought us all together for such a time as this.”Appropriating Bible verses for the Minbari, oh yeah.

Right now this document is just a collection of ideas about how these universes might interact, and a few scenes/ideas. Such as:

- Infinity’s communications officer falls and breaks her nose when they crash out of slipspace. Lasky is shoving gauze at her when Babylon 5 makes contact. He shows up on the station with blood all over his uniform and his first conversation with Sheridan is something like “Do you have laundry around here? Also, what year is it?”

-Garibaldi and Palmer have to chase Halsey around the station. They bond over a shared love for Loony Toons. Palmer is a Roadrunner and Coyote girl, change my mind.

- Franklin is utterly furious when he finds out about the Spartan program. And that’s just the IVs. He doesn’t even know about the IIs.

- Lasky is insanely envious that B5’s computer can turn the attitude OFF and that cryo is not widely used in their world.

- Ivanova and Palmer become besties and give their respective captains a few headaches.

- Garibaldi wants to keep the Spartans because WOW are they useful for security.

- Various Halo characters grappling with the “who are you/what do you want” questions (I have ideas about this I will save for another post).

- What a fight with the Shadows might look like with Infinity in the mix. Seeing as Infinity is more powerful than anything in the B5 world. Sheridan and Lasky would make a fascinating team, too.

- How the Shadows would end up using Halsey, because even she couldn’t outwit them, and the trouble she could make in another universe.

- Lasky muses at some point how Babylon 5 gives him hope that one day humans and aliens can all work together peacefully; maybe the UEG should give something like this a shot. Palmer tells him, “You know they’d want you to run it” and Lasky is like F—- NO.

Now, all my reasons for why this epic will never make it out of my head:

Altering the B5 storyline (namely having to scrap the tensions with Earth for simplicity’s sake) would feel to me like sacking the Jerusalem temple.

I’d need to know even MORE about B5 lore than I already do, not like I’d have a problem with that research project, and a whole lot more about Halo than I do. On that last point, I am married to a walking Halopedia who would gladly tell me everything and then some.

There’s also the matter of having to make several OCs for the Halo side. Aside from Lasky, Palmer, and Roland, we don’t meet many of the Infinity crew. Does Lasky even have a first officer? I mean, he obviously does, but does he ever talk to this person? We got through all of Spartan Ops and Halo 5 with nary an XO in sight.

Finally, silly as this may sound, I’m no Straczynski and don’t trust myself with his characters and universe. I have no problem taking a sledgehammer to Halo because it’s great and fun and sometimes just mind-bogglingly stupid. But B5 is so brilliant I can’t bring myself to touch it. I would be scared of incurring the wrath of my fellow fans and also probably feel like I had to write JMS a letter of apology.

—

I WAS going to post a snippet from this mess of an AU but I’ll put it in a reblog later to keep this post from getting even longer.

[eldifusor]

Get to know me- yes, it is a tag game!

I was tagged (with no obligations) by @pleiadianwitch and I am choosing to actually do it.

1. Were you named after anyone?

So my irl name's lore is: mother took it from the bible, father also chose the same but from a secular detective book so they surprised each other when they discussed how to name me. Bible name is confirmed. I have never been able to confirm name was actual read on a secular detective book: because father can't recall the title of said book. I do like this story a lot so I chose to believe that it is true.

2. When was the last time you cried?

I cry internally everyday more than once. Actual tears flowing from my eyes you ask? Well, like a week ago at time of writing this.

3. Do you have kids?

No.

And you did not ask but I will volunteer this:

I don't want kids "of my own" but I think "kids" don't belong to anyone and as a society we must take care of every single one of them.

4. What sports do you play/have you played?

Back in the day I used to play a lot of basketball. Loved it. And actually played enough to try out for a pro team in Puerto Rico but failed miserably because I was not that great. Also never disciplined which was the real problem.

I also coached some little league basketball on my barrio.

5. Do you use sarcasm?

Me?? NEVER.....

(yes, that "joke" is the most puerile and obvious way of trying to convey that I used it, love it etc.

BUT as I grow older, I am using it less and less because I think sometimes people don't know how to sarcasm properly or use sarcasm as an excuse to just being petty horrible people and I think that is fucking lame).

6. What is the first thing you notice about people?

Eyes. I am obsessed with looking at eyes discreetly when someone is talking. Love seeing someone smiling with their eyes: the most endearing human quality that makes me feel good about humanity and that we might still have a chance of being not as horrible as we are.

7. What is your eye color?

Boring but Trusty Brown

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

You know what? I appreciate a good scary movie but I don't seek them. Maybe I should do more.

And I do think well earned happy endings are cool and all BUT what I really like are sad tragic endings.

But for this questions I will say: a sad tragic ending disguised as a happy ending. That's the REAL THING!!!

9. Any talents?

Public speaking-- for better or worst. :-D

10. Where were you born?

Bayamón, Puerto Rico

11. What are your hobbies?

I have a myriad of obsessions that I do sometimes simultaneously or some other that are seasonal, others dies and come back...obsessing over the intersection of politics, media, pop culture, meta-narratives, writing, storytelling, games...I mishmash everything...in other words: what TUMBLR represents in the virtual spaces, is basically what I would call my "hobbies". Does that make sense? No? EXACTLY.

12. Pets?

No more. Had a lot in the past. Loved them dearly. Suffered too much when they parted. Decided to stop that. But love to see other's pets and respect a responsible pet owner forever.

13. How tall are you?

6'1 mostly...6'2 other times

14. Favorite subject in school?

Spanish, History, Science, Social Studies

15. Dream job?

I had it. It became a nightmare. I still get to do some dream like thing on jobs and just appreciate when that happens.

*** I will tag (with no obligation to do it of course!): *** @peligrosapop @lierdumoa @raynitamusic @lydighed @holdinghorizons @poetessinthepit @james3neal

[livums]

Happy STS, Liv! For any story: If you were to write another book focusing on a supporting character from the story, which character would that be? Why? Sending good ☆☆ vibes ☆☆ and good luck to ya! - 💫 (@enchanted-lightning-aes)

Hi Enchant!!! what a fun question! Especially because both of my main WIPs are already multi-POV stories, I get to thinkkkk a little bit outside the box I guess! as a treat :)

I think for Demigods I will have to reluctantly say Irial because he's the only one of the four main-ish characters whose POV isn't written from in the actual story 😵 damn that's crazy.

BUT I think because he's someone who is just kind of just hanging around being a fuckboy (/lh) it might be interesting to write about someone who actually feels somewhat positively towards the Sonnelic Church... and it might be funny to write from a man's POV while being somewhat oblivious about institutional sexism (so the reader can pick up on it while he does not). just as a funny. y'know? we should kill him with hammers

For The Marking Blood, it's gottttta be Dove! I mean first of all she's adorable . And secondly--she's the supporting character who is most involved with the actual plot (aside from the antagonists). And, in a way, a few of the other characters (and most of the town) also consider her to be an antagonist. But she's just like, around :)

I also think Dove is (even in the normal story itself) a great way to introduce the reader to some lore of the world, particularly the Guild and the way it operates.

In my wildest dreams, I desire to maybe one day write a novella from Dove's POV... set either during or after the main story. maybe before? Anyway it's gonna be called The Hunter's Bible so . one day!

ty for the ask!

[notesofarichlycolorednight]

s2ep2 prime queen

shit we're two for two so far for release order

i also remember this episode specifically being one of the episodes i absolutely despised.

i made a post about it on my ml sideblog i think (or my main), but basically i just found it profoundly uncomfortable that the writers even came up with this idea and green lit it.

i've also mentioned this before, but bc we, the audience, know that chat noir and ladybug are high schoolers/teens, but the rest of the paris doesn't, it can get the writers into trouble. and what i meant by that was exactly what happened in prime queen. prime queen is what i was thinking about when i made that comment.

bc maybe it's a little harmless to the parisians within this world. but to the audience, anyone older than like 22 (i hope) would understand how uncomfortable it is to watch a grown woman harass two teens into confessing their love for each other in front of millions (or thousands at least, i'm bad at estimating).

like i can and can't believe that the writers would write something like this to, idk, fuel love square shipping disc horse, but the only way they could think to do it was have this grown-ass woman harass two teenagers. like even if they'd had this bare bones idea for nadia to be akumatized trying to a get a prime-time tv show, they could have done it a different way. there are other adults in the show. and there are other celebrity adults in the show she could have tried to embarrass/humiliate.

they haven't evolved, nor have they become better writers since the first season. tho i'm not surprised, given when s2 came out, i was just as disappointed with s2 as i was with s1. except now that i'm older and looking at it more critically, i'm realizing just how bad the writing is lmao. and also better able to articulate it (at times; i should stop doing this at night before bed lol)

and maybe i wouldn't be so mad about the way chat noir acts in this episode, again, if adrien was actually treated as a true duexteragonist, rather than a side-character who just happens to be there. and only on occasion actually helps ladybug in a meaningful way.

and this was yet another example of him not helping. bc not only did he keep wanting to kiss ladybug when she had already told him no! but from a writing standpoint, his cataclysm also was useless. there was no point in him using it on the door bc ladybug's miraculous ladybug power would've taken care of it. the writers really couldn't come up with a better way to have him use it? i don't know why i'm surprised anymore that they can't.

finally, of course, marinette being punished for existing. the fact that tikki scolds marinette for treating being ladybug like a celebrity, and then of course, the interview goes badly. so she changes her tune and relays to chat noir that they shouldn't have gotten caught up in appearing on television since they're superheroes. when that wasn't even marinette's intention in the first place!!

small things: how did nadia even ask them? do the people of paris just announce that they're getting ladybug and chat noir to come and these teens have to somehow figure out they're being called on. the person just has to hope they'll show up? like what kind of insane logic is that? and also alya commenting that ladybug has never given her an exclusive interview when. SHE LITERALLY HAS. MARINETTE AS LADYBUG GAVE ALYA AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW FOR HER BLOG WHEN SHE ACCIDENTALLY DELETED THE VIDEO OF LADYBUG ACKNOWLEDGING ALYA LAST SEASON.

like listen, i don't keep a lore bible, so i'm not really one to talk (only kinda). but at least i reread my shit to remember what i've already put down.

final comment: hawkmoth's fucking lair at different times of the day is more dynamic than whatever it is the writers are doing with this show.

[newagesurvivalist]

We don't really know anything

I read somewhere saying that it is a mystery to "just write". But when you think about it, it really isn't so hard. The hard part is to write cleverly, in the sense that you don't just write random crap, but really realize yourself. The things that occur in this sense are valid, but insane; still, there is a semblance of sensibleness in the contours of obliterating necessity; and so, we do the best we can to secure wisdom. I was thinking today: what turns us into consistent readers of philosophy? Of theory? Well, I suppose theory ain't so difficult: the problem is ideology. I mean, any idiot can read Marx. A sensible idiot he may have to be, but an idiot nonetheless. That doesn't mean we should find reading Marx reproachable. But we must admit that there are tons of ideas in the world that may nourish our independent action: this is why so many people are avid readers of philosophy, in a way. You know, they used to refer to Plato as "The Divine Plato". I woke up the other day thinking of my old supervisor at the callcenter, an Asian-blooded girl, who in my stupor also seemed semi-Divine, or something. I really wanted some kind of psychical-sexual unity with her. We might say we find something divine in the mundane; however, we also find something divine in the things we see all around us, in the things - artless and commonplace, perhaps, unremarkable at best - that define our lives. In the things that are done by the workers of the world, the builders, the executives. You know, Bertrand Russell, that vigorous defender of the work of the mind, said that philosophy was starting with the most implausible propositions and keep reasoning until it seemed eminently plausible. I cherish that statement, because it shows us what makes us like philosophy: but where do we find it? Is there such a thing as a fun philosophy book? Bertrand Russell also said: there is a great pleasure in accrueing lots of useless facts. Any fan of Elder Scrolls lore can confirm that. Imagine, for the sake of argument, reading Immanuel Kant. That just doesn't seem very edifying to me; why, one might also read the Quran: that has at least the promise of an eternal reward. On the contrary, we are stuck in this rat's trap of logic; and Kant certainly seems logical, but how logical exactly?

Schopenhauer, Kant's follower, said that we should stop reading at some point, because it was insipid to cling abjectly to another man's brain. This is a thing that is weirdly reflected in the history of the world. Certainly, we might read the Bible and this may make us happy; certainly, we might write our own Bible somehow - like the Mormons. Or we may simple keep an open mind and appreciate the metaphysical truth inherent in theistic religion: a perennial philosophy. What are words worth? We must be appreciative of Schopenhauer's thought. But is it the only system? Obviously, the true philosopher is not tied to any system, but his professionalism must stem from wisdom, not from mere craft. This is a common grievance I have with philosophers from all around the world. University education should provide us with a good basis for real life, a set of skills that we may use, but in the humanities there are many cabals that send us desperately crashing into performativity. The same could be said I suppose about the sciences. Be that as it may, I had some good teachers at the university. I really learned how to generate knowledge, how to glean dialectic out of screens of text. That is a neat trick, why, it is essential for life in the modern world I'd say - to steer us towards wisdom. Nevertheless, it remains just school. They say education is the best provision for old age; perhaps we can accordingly say that religion is the best provision for equanimity, by which I do not mean peace of mind, but rather a unruffledness and robustness. Why, perhaps a single moment of equanimity is better than a hundred years of vexation. Whatever we see might be intrusive, but obnoxious, but vague: and in the movement of life we observe a tendency to think and to follow, to rumour and to rescind. But we are dreamers of a distinct kind, Lord. Why, we may see many things, but always be strangers in our own country, simply because we do not feel the need to celebrate, which may even do us credit.

The truth is that we can read anything. A good thing, a good project, is certainly history. You can read anything out of a purely historical interest. This is always a sensible outlook. In the totality of science, however, it will be mostly tiresome, just like a career as a classical composer might be; why, we live in a humanistic world divided between money on the one hand and religious/philosophical economics on the other hand. You know, of course, how Wittgenstein staged philosophy as a kind of therapy: why, his angle was in principle that we do philosophy unwillingly, and we'd be better off engaging in less trivial thinking procedures - in which I say the promise of art, academia and politics. I guess this is why I was attracted to History over Philosophy at the university when I went to college. History is more academic than philosophy, although at the academic level I suppose philosophy teaches a highly historical approach to students. Why, I don't even know if I really like to read. Why, I have always been very inclined towards base acquaintance and improvisation, not verily that competent style of life that tries to dazzle the senses of the masses and the peers.

You can read any old random book: it gives you something to do. You could read Confucius, although then you are still pandering to your horrid superstition, or whatever it is. The Chinese philosophers are remarkable for their earnest a priori reasoning. Or is it really a priori? Let me just say that they state many things categorically, which is the reason they are so authoritative in the East (or at least in China). Daoism is there actually something akin to Catholicism. Just like there are many saints in Catholicism, so there are tons of folk superstitions; holy heroes; in Daoism, and people who don't really believe, but are somehow clever enough to generate pious discourse get the furthest: we see that there is something like indulgence too, perhaps, because there is a living sacrificial culture, and people go forth in endless self-flagellating enterprises, which make someone seem more honourable perhaps, but also make him entirely miserable in some clear way. But what I find most Catholic about Daoism is the way in which they exult their religious practice, which is clearly united under the motto of "From remaining silent one does not become wise" which the ancient Vikings said. We talk about the fullness of the Christian religion; in the same way we can talk about the fullness of the Daoistic religion, which is of course in the supposed writings of Zhuangzi, who will supposedly teach one to feel the Dao, as one, say, feels The Force in Star Wars: and verily, Star Wars has done much to internationalize, liberalize Chinese thought in the world. Above all things, though, it is clear that Daoism is in many ways a professional clique of priests, of men who want to make people happy, just like the Catholic priests: why, one might say Protestantism inherits an attitude from Confucianism, in the sense that it seeks to stop saying frivolous, or perhaps one should say baroque, things to placate the masses. Why, we see Daoism as a very individualistic culture, but in practice we see that this is not the case, for people believe that the Daodejing can cure disease and whatnot, why they really explore the limits of people's gullibility, why, it is not the philosophical culture of the Confucians, but we see that there is a constant, mandarinic substrate in these histories, that truly persists in everything and makes one truly recognize the hardness of humanistic culture, which is actually probably why communism became so incredibly strong in China, because all these different religions duke it out for control over the hearts of the men, but in the end it is all postulated on Yin-Yang dualism, and we see that this cannot hold without as Voltaire said taking a side in the metaphysical debate, in the quest for human happiness. However, people want a solution to human suffering and they find this in some ways in the entirely harmless, feckless discipline of priesthood: and this is verily very interesting, but philosophy will always persist more saliently in the human breast, simply because philosophy always supports the status quo more aggressively, which is why most men are in fact philosophers rather than spirituals; why, we see that people really do like to read et cetera, but ah, they are stuck in repetition and childish ways and it just doesn't make sense: why, it is not the priests who rule over the spiritual lives of the people, but rather the intellectuals, but there are no intellectuals, only authorities, senators. Policemen. Why, it is a scary world. However, a wise man once spoke, indeed, about the Will-to-power. God is one.

[grandhotelabyss]

Wait wasn't logo allways against Nietsche? What makes this rant unique? (Don't use twitter anymore so cant check it for myself) Still, I kinda get his position, there is that very anti-human bend of modern "nietschians", that allways have this misanthropic and mechanistic outlook, with everyone being just stupid and evil, which justifies their cruelty to them. And, because I am simmilar to logo, with being at the same time very emotioanl/moralistic while ironically being very logical, I just take the spite out in doing the whole "yes, and" thing from standup and turning the logic of nietsche back on the nietschieans - Aren't they the real last men? Just crying about the loss of traditions they only care for some abstract pragmatic value, allways whinning about the hypocrisy of the true alpha predator of the gendergoblin class of real overmen who actually are beyond morals - using them actually cynically to enforce their will of power - basically what I mean is that "the cold truth" is what exposes the absurdity of nietschianism - the aphex predator, the strong or better said "fit" isnt some homo-erotic ayan fantasy, some Aragorn photoshoped with blond hair blue eyes and sonnenrad on his shield, but the same "cockroaches" that they despise - as they are the only once surviving meteors and nuclear blasts that kills both the mighty dinosaurs and caesars, so are the "dysgenic woketards" the once that seize the day, the once that live like they would if they had to live again (cause thats the most optimised way to get power lol) Anyways, prolly should just put this all in my comic as a heavy handed illustrated didactic parabell, but till I get till that, this will do (or due? idk I cant spell in my mother tongue so english - no chance) Ofcourse, I know this is more than a vulgar way of making a charicature of nietsche, but maybe that is not so bad - cause that lets one get, what one means when they say "Nietsche is bad/stupid/midwit/propoganda". Still I will apreciate Nietsche for shitting on universitys, cause I felt so "validated" feeling the same while studying, one could really see how I was some loser with a tumblr account who writes questions anonomyosly on the off chance somebody will track this down lol

Yes, Nietzsche has to be read against himself, because all the biological stuff about eugenics that's in e.g. Twilight of the Idols is at odds with the other material about the shaping power of language in discourse and art (in "Truth and Lie" or The Birth of Tragedy), with the two strains confronting each other directly in The Genealogy of Morals, which I've recommended reading exactly backwards, so that the Jews and Christians are its heroes. Then there's also the very different Thus Spoke Zarathustra, which seems to me to lead to spiritual discipline and something like Jungian psychology. He's a suggestive, poetic writer interestingly and poignantly at war with himself, not a guide to life to be swallowed whole. His greatest legacy is the major modern writers he inspired. This is why I suggest thinking about him in a literary rather than philosophical lineage, alongside Goethe and Emerson and Joyce. But even he shrewdly warned his readers against going around calling themselves supermen and denouncing everybody else as last men in Zarathustra. He predicted how his own work would become for a certain type of alienated male its own bible of ressentiment.

Logo probably was always anti-Nietzschean, because, if I recall his "lore" properly, he's been under the influence of Groys and Kojève since his undergraduate days. Those men, however, are/were capable of confronting the heat-death of post-historical culture with a beatific bodhisattva smile. They would even be the types to welcome Nietzsche as the needed negative moment in the historical dialectic they so calmly diagnose and submit themselves to. I think. But I don't really care enough about philosophy to know for sure.

[booksandwords]

James Hardy Vaux’s 1819 Dictionary of Criminal Slang and Other Impolite Terms as Used by the Convicts of the British Colonies of Australia with Additional True Stories, Remarkable Facts and Illustrations by Simon Barnard

OMG this is such a long title...

Read time: 1 Day Rating: 3/5

The quote: But attempting to silence convicts was futile. Informal language was a vital form of expression—approximately half of all convicts were illiterate. Sung, shouted, screamed and whispered, slang was also scrawled into bibles, stippled onto coins, scratched into cell walls and pricked into convicts' skin. — Simon Barnard

Okay so yes I did just read a dictionary almost cover to cover. I like colonial Australia, I like language and linguistics and I've read Barnard's other book on Australia as a penal colony. His writing is usually readable and well contextualised. Unlike his others which are aimed at younger audiences this one is aimed at adults, not researchers or academics (though they may get some aid from it) but more those that are interested in the period, the people and the language. It is well worth a read/browse even if just to see the origins of the Australian dialect.

What is interesting is how many of these words are still used in Australian English some 200 years later. Not just Australian English general criminal slang. Words like bolt, chiv, cleaned out, fence, nix, plant, out-and-out and yarn. Boned is kinda still used though possibly through a regain in popularity. Other words are still used but their meanings have changed. Even in this dictionary, you see the beginnings of dialect in the cant with the amount of the words for a single thing, ie watch Though watch is a homophone with the guard form and the timepiece of equal importance. Surprisingly or not quite a few of the words are derived from or are Romani/ Romany. They were called gypsies (viewed as a racial slur) while they were at the time and remain a global culture the Romani here are likely to be British. They like so many other cultures were ostracised at the time for their otherness and their unwillingness to conform. They are still treated poorly.

Barnard's paragraphs of facts and stories help modern readers to understand antiquated definitions. Conceptually none of them are difficult but there are nuances perhaps between the similar definitions. Anecdotes always help stories be told and understood. His cartoons add character to the book. They balance out well in what is in some cases some truly grim goings-on. References are made to some of the big names in Australian convict history/lore. Captain Moonlit (look I need to do more research on him, but damn that is walking a close line to labelling him queer), Kate Kelly, William Brodie (the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde), Robert Callaghan and Thomas Jefferies.

The convict I had never heard of but might look into more because her story is young Mary Wade. Transported at 11 (or 13 stories differ) she is considered one of the colony's founding mothers. Some of these are people I think should be spoken about more. Like the roles convicts played in colonisation and our strong women. The entries remind me of why I love female convicts so much. There is a theory that the reason that Australians are the way they are as a culture, especially women, is that we come from those women like Ann Graham, Mary Wade and Mary Smith. Those convict women who worked hard, held their families together and gave birth in some of the worst situations. From convict women to convict brides to free settlers. Only amplified by those immigrants in the 20th century from matriarchal cultures.

I consider this book four of Simon Barnard's Tasmanian convict non-series. By age level Goalbird (a picture storybook, the biography of William Swallow), A–Z of Convicts in Van Diemen's Land (an illustrated encyclopedia for tweens), Convict Tattoos (cataloguing what tattoos convicts had, their significance and who some of them were, for high school students) and this one feels very much like it is for adults. There is some complexity in this that isn't in the others not least of all the language used by James Hardy Vaux. I have read and enjoyed all of them but one of my personal interests is transportation and convict life if it is a topic that appeals they won't disappoint.

[annebelle93]

Obey me boys react to an MC with a Th.D

You just finished your Th.D (Theology and religious studies Doctorate), younger of the class and now you’ve been struggling a bit to decide on what to write. Lucky you, you wake up in devildom, surrounded by all of the figures you’ve been reading about for the last years.

Lucifer

Is a bit impressed at first. You’re so young and already speak Latin? Maybe this exchange won’t be a total waste of time

Then he is annoyed

You just ask SO. MANY. QUESTIONS.

“MC, I swear to Diavolo, if you ask me one more time to teach you Sumeric I’ll lock you in your room!”

After you pester him over and over again with questions, he secretly asks Barbatos to find him a copy of your thesis

It’s about him. 300 pages of him.

The man is intrigued.

“Did you really spent three years writing about me?”

“Yeah, man” you shrug “the history f***ed you up. I always thought you were a much more complex character then described in the Bible”

He will teach you Sumeric now. And ancient Latin. And whatever dead language you ask him.

Honestly, he will marry you if you ask him nicely enough

Mammon

He doesn’t like you very much at first

Why do you use so many big words? It’s confusing

Very disappointed on how little you know about him compared to his brothers

“What do ya mean not enough lore?”

“I’ll show ya lore”

Lucifer may or may not have to “rescue” you from field trips to the fourth circle

Levi

Snake boy is flustered

You know him?

You actually like his stories?

You are i-i-interested in the g-great admiral?

“Why should I share my stories with a normie like you?”

Is very confused by you and he doesn’t like to be confused, so he keeps his distance

Until you slide a copy of an article you wrote about “Leviathan through cultures: similarities and idiosyncrasy”

You are a big obsessed nerd like him, only he likes video games and you books (don’t get me wrong, you like playing too, you just suck at it)

“I’m your Ruri-chan” he whispers after reading it

“Come with me! I’ll tell you every thing you need to know!” *anime pose*

Satan

HE. LOVES. YOU.

Finally someone who understands the beauty of spending hours reading in a library

At first was a bit bothered to always find someone else using the library

But you are very quiet when you concentrate

And you concentrate. For hours.

Very different from your overall hyper and impulsive behavior

Will happily explain to you all the inconsistencies in human literature

His memory is amazing, so he remembers every single event

Is very eager to explain why Satanás is far superior in literature and not at all the same character as Lucifer

“Why the humans always get it confused? It’s not that hard” procedes to give a very hard explanation

By the end of the program your research is so detailed and refined you can’t even publish it. No one will believe THAT level of details.

Asmo

Like Mammon, doesn’t like you at first.

Goes batshit crazy when you ask him why he doesn’t have three heads

“You appear one time to one human as an ugly beast after loosing a bet and then suddenly everyone thinks you are ugly!”

Demands you write at least one article proving to the humans he is beautiful

Will send you 7728372 selfies for you to use on the article

Likes to braid your hair and do your nails while you study, because “by Diavolo, you can be quiet when you focus!”

Is constantly worried about you because you don’t stop studying to drink water, eat or exercise

“Who is going to spread my beauty to the humans if you die?”

Secretly he just worries about you, nothing to do with spreading his beauty

Beel

Is VERY confused by you.

He didn’t ever remember he was once a god after he fell, how do you?

“What do you mean Mammon is seen as a part of me? Mammon is Mammon, I’m Beel”

Eventually he begins to enjoy listening to you talk about your research. You are very passionate about it and he enjoys when people like his brothers

Was upset when you reminded him about the god thing, because he recalled humans used to give him food offerings all of the time and now they don’t

You walk around with food on your pockets now

Belphie

Doesn’t like you. Doesn’t dislike you. You are just there.

Thinks you’re weird for writing 300 pages about Lucifer. Who would want to know that much about him?

Eventually he finds out you like to cuddle when you read in bed and “whatever, you are warm, I’m sleepy. I’ll indulge you”

He is like a big cat around your legs while you read

One day he peaks at what you are writing now

It’s about Lilith and how much of a power figure she is through history

You don’t see her as a fragile little girl

He will hide his face, he can’t let you see him emotional after all

But he’s is much more affectionate. He’ll even let you run your fingers through his hair now

Will tell you everything about his sister

And I mean EVERYTHING.

The rest of the boys are here now!

[the-chosen-none]

I think I’ve come to a realization about what Arroyo really is...

Even though it wasn’t founded that long ago in the grand scheme of things, what little we do know about its inner workings is that they have a polytheistic belief system and their own rituals and myths, including venerating their founder the Vault Dweller to an almost godlike-level, that don’t seem to have anything to do with any common religions practiced in the U.S. It’s vaguely pagan mixed with a very generalized idea of what Native American culture was supposed to be like pre-colonization.

Detailed religions like that don’t spring up out of nowhere across only a few generations, the founders of Arroyo would have had to make that shit up. It’s not like one of those belief systems where all the lore stuff is purely metaphorical to them, no- people like Hakunin GENUINELY believe their gods, whatever they may be, are real, which would especially be the case for those born into it.

The Fallout Bible confirmed that Arroyo’s tribalism came about from the former vault dwellers’ rejection of the Vaults and the technology that led to everything bad currently happening. Therefore, their quick isolation from the outside world besides trading and getting back to nature or whatever is by design from the founders.

Arroyo doesn’t seem to forbid the study of modern science, medicine, engineering, etc. outright since the Chosen One can specialize in those things and also somehow know how to drive a car, but by and large the villagers are ignorant of these things, treating objects like the GECK as magic.

A religion pulled out of their asses, a worship of their original founder, a purposeful isolationism... guys, I think Arroyo is a cult.

Maybe not a malicious one, and I don’t think the writers intended it to be one, but it’s motivations for being founded are suspect. It rubs me the wrong way how it’s a kind of cultural appropriation of indigenous Americans that’s not even based off of any specific culture, as if the founders were like “we need to connect with nature again, but how do we do that? Hmm... I guess the Indians were one with nature, we should act like them!” So they just slapped together some stereotypical imagery and myths and called it a day.

I highly doubt the writers were doing some kind of biting satire about how a lot of Americans like to idealize indigenous iconography without really contending with the realities of colonization, and that Arroyo was supposed to be the logical extreme of that. Besides having the option to poke fun at their beliefs sometimes, none of these themes are confronted.

What we’re left with is that in-universe, there is a most likely unintentional implication that the founders of Arroyo manipulated those born into the village to believe in a fake religion built on a shaky foundation out of bits and pieces of cultures that are not theirs purely out of spite for the outside world, and out-of-universe, Arroyo is an example of a group of white dudes trying to write a quirky group that’s “other” from what most gamers are familiar with.

We don’t know much about what became of Arroyo after they reunited with the remaining Vault 13 dwellers besides that they grew very prosperous. Hopefully someday they abandoned all that baggage.

If any of the Fallout 2 writers have ever acknowledged these issues, I don’t know about it, so feel free to tell me about it.

Oh, well. Good thing the Fallout writers never, EVER did anything like that again but even worse, RIGHT? RIGHT??? THAT WOULD BE SILLY. THEY WOULDN’T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE AGAIN OVER TEN YEARS LATER, WOULD THEY????

[meirmakesstuff]

1/2 Hi Meir! I saw your answer on WWC, and since you mentioned you're professionals, I figured I'd ask directly: I'm writing a second world fantasy with a jewish coded people. I want to be clear in the coding but avoid the "if there's no egypt, how can there be passover?" so I called them Canaanites. I thought I was being clever by hinting in the naming that the whole region does exist, but I've since read that it might've been a slur in fact? Do you have any advice on this?

2/2 I did consider calling the group in question Jewish, but aside from how deeply Judaism is connected to the history of the Israelites, I haven't used any present-day real-world names for any other group, (I did use some historic names like Nubia). I feel like calling only one group of people by their currently used name would be othering rather than inclusive? Or am I overthinking this?

Okay so I want to start out with some disclaimers, first that although WWC recently reblogged an addition of mine to one of their posts, I am not affiliated with @writingwithcolor​, and second that the nature of trying to answer a question like this is “two Jews, three opinions,” so what I have to say about this is my own opinion(s) only. Last disclaimer: this is a hard question to address, so this answer is going to be long. Buckle up.

First, I would say that you’re right to not label the group in question “Jewish” (I’ll get to the exception eventually), and you’re also right in realizing that you should not call them “Canaanites.” In Jewish scripture, Canaanites are the people we fought against, not ourselves, so that wouldn’t feel like representation but like assigning our identity to someone else, which is a particular kind of historical violence Jews continue to experience today. I’ll get back to the specific question of naming in a moment, but because this is my blog and not WWC, and you asked me to speak to this as an educator, we’re going to take a detour into Jewish history and literary structure before we get back to the question you actually asked.

To my mind there are three main ways to have Jews in second-world fantasy and they are:

People who practice in ways similar to modern real-world Jews, despite having developed in a different universe,

People who practice in ways similar to ancient Hebrews, because the things that changed us to modern Jewish practice didn’t occur, and

People who practice in a way that shows how your world would influence the development of a people who started out practicing like ancient Hebrews and have developed according to the world they’re in. 

The first one is what we see in @shiraglassman​‘s Mangoverse series: there is no Egypt yet her characters hold a seder; the country coded Persian seems to bear no relation to their observance of Purim, and there is no indication of exile or diaspora in the fact that Jews exist in multiple countries and cultures, and speak multiple languages including Yiddish, a language that developed through a mixture of Hebrew and German. Her characters’ observance lines up approximately with contemporary Reform Jewish expectations, without the indication of there ever having been a different practice to branch off from. She ignores the entire question of how Jews in her universe became what they are, and her books are lyrical and sweet and allow us to imagine the confidence that could belong to a Jewish people who weren’t always afraid.

Shira is able to pull this off, frankly, because her books are not lore-heavy. I say this without disrespect--Shira often refers to them as “fluffy”--but because the deeper you get into the background of your world and its development, the trickier this is going to be to justify, unless you’re just going to just parallel every historical development in Jewish History, including exile and diaspora across the various nations of your world, including occasional near-equal treatment and frequent persecution, infused with a longing for a homeland lost, or a homeland recently re-established in the absolutely most disappointing of ways.

Without that loss of homeland or a Mangoverse-style handwaving, we have the second and third options. In the second option, you could show your Jewish-coded culture having never been exiled from its homeland, living divided into tribes each with their own territory, still practicing animal, grain, and oil sacrifice at a single central Temple at the center of their nation, overseen by a tribe that lacks territory of their own and being supported by the sacrifices offered by the populace.

If you’re going to do that, research it very carefully. A lot of information about this period is drawn from scriptural and post-scriptural sources or from archaeological record, but there’s also a lot of Christian nonsense out there assigning weird meanings and motivations to it, because the Christian Bible takes place during this period and they chose to cast our practices from this time as evil and corrupt in order to magnify the goodness of their main character. In any portrayal of a Jewish-coded people it’s important to avoid making them corrupt, greedy, bigoted, bloodthirsty, or stubbornly unwilling to see some kind of greater or kinder truth about the world, but especially if you go with this version. 

The last option, my favorite but possibly the hardest to do, is to imagine how the people in the second option would develop given the influences of the world they’re in. Do you know why Chanukah is referred to as a “minor” holiday? The major holidays are the ones for which the Torah specifies that we “do not work:” Rosh Hashannah, Yom Kippur, and the pilgrimage holidays of Sukkot, Passover, and Shavuot. Chanukah developed as a holiday because the central temple, the one we made those pilgrimages to, was desecrated by the invading Assyrian Greeks and we drove them out and were able to re-establish the temple. That time. Eventually, the Temple was razed and we were scattered across the Roman Empire, developing the distinct Jewish cultures we see today. The Greeks and Romans aren’t a semi-mythologized ancient people, the way the Canaanites have been (though there’s increasing amounts of archaeology shedding light on what they actually might have been like), we have historical records about them, from them. The majority of modern Jewish practice developed from the ruins of our ancient practices later than the first century CE. In the timeline of Jewish identity, that’s modern.

The rabbinic period and the Temple period overlap somewhat, but we’re not getting into a full-scale history lesson here. Suffice it to say that it was following the loss of the sacrificial system at the central Temple that Judaism coalesced an identity around verbal prayer services offered at the times of day when we would previously have offered sacrifices, led each community by its own learned individual who became known as a rabbi. We continued to develop in relationship with the rest of the world, making steps toward gender equality in the 1970s and LGBT equality in the 2000s, shifting the meaning of holidays like Tu Bishvat to address climate change, debating rulings on whether one may drive a car on Shabbat for the sake of being with one’s community, and then pivoting to holding prayer services daily via Zoom.

The history of the Jews is the history of the world.  Our iconic Kol Nidrei prayer, the centerpiece of the holiest day of the year, that reduces us to tears every year at its first words, was composed in response to the Spanish Inquisition. The two commentators who inform our understanding of scripture--the ones we couldn’t discuss Torah without referencing even if we tried--wrote in the 11th and 12th centuries in France and Spain/Egypt. Jewish theology and practice schismed into Orthodox and Reform (and later many others) because that’s the kind of discussion people were into in the 19th century. Sephardim light Chanukah candles in an outdoor lamp while Ashkenazim light Chanukah candles in an indoor candelabrum because Sephardim developed their traditions in the Middle East and North Africa and the Ashkenazim developed our traditions in freezing Europe. There are works currently becoming codified into liturgy whose writers died in 2000 and 2011. 

So what are the historical events that would change how your Jewish-coded culture practices, if they don’t involve loss of homeland and cultural unity? What major events have affected your world? If there was an exile that precipitated an abandonment of the sacrificial system, was there a return to their land, or are they still scattered? Priority one for us historically has been maintaining our identity and priority two maintaining our practices, so what have they had to shift or create in order to keep being a distinct group? Is there a major worldwide event in your world? If so, how did this people cope?

If you do go this route, be careful not to fall into tropes of modern or historical antisemitism: don’t have your culture adopt a worldview that has their deity split into mlutiple identities (especially not three). Don’t have an oppressive government that doesn’t represent its people rise up to oppress outsiders within its borders (this is not the first time this has occurred in reality, but because the outside world reacts differently to this political phenomenon when it’s us than when it’s anyone else, it’s a portrayal that makes real-life Jews more vulnerable). And don’t portray the people as having developed into a dark and mysterious cult of ugly, law-citing men and beautiful tearstreaked women, but it doesn’t sound as if you were planning to go there.

So with all that said, it’s time to get back to the question of names. All the above information builds to this: how you name this culture depends on how you’ve handled their practice and identity. 

Part of why Shira Glassman’s handwaving of the question of how modern Jewish practice ended up in Perach works is that she never gives a name to the religion of her characters. Instead, she names the regions they come from. Perach, in particular, the country where most of the action takes place, translates to “Flower.” In this case, her Jewish-coded characters who come from Perach are Perachis, and characters from other places who are also Jewish are described as “they worship as Perachis do despite their different language” or something along those lines (forgive me, Shira, for half-remembering).

So that’s method one: find an attribute of your country that you’d like to highlight, translate it into actual Hebrew, and use that as your name.

Method two is the opposite: find a name that’s been used to identify our people or places (we’ve had a bunch), find out what it means or might mean in English, and then jiggle that around until it sounds right for your setting. You could end up with the nation of the Godfighters, or Children of Praise, The Wanderers (if they’re not localized in a homeland), The Passed-Over, Those From Across The River, or perhaps the people of the City of Peace.

Last, and possibly easiest, pick a physical attribute of their territory and just call them that in English. Are they from a mountainous region? Now they’re the Mountain People. Does their land have a big magical crater in the middle? Craterfolk. Ethereal floating forests of twinkling lights? It’s your world.

The second option is the only one that uses the name to overtly establish Jewish coding. The first option is something Jews might pick up on, especially if they speak Hebrew, but non-Jews would miss. The third avoids the question and puts the weight of conveying that you’re trying to code them as Jewish on their habits and actions.

There’s one other option that can work in certain types of second-world fantasy, and that’s a world that has developed from real-world individuals who went through some kind of portal. That seems to me the only situation in which using a real-world name like Jews, Hebrews, or Israelites would make sense. Jim Butcher does this with the Romans in the Codex Alera series, and Katharine Kerr does it with Celts in the Deverry cycle. That kind of thing has to be baked into the world-building, though, so it probably doesn’t help with this particular situation. 

This is a roundabout route to what I imagine you were hoping would be an easier answer. The tension you identified about how to incorporate Jewishness into a world that doesn’t have the same history is real, and was the topic of a discussion I recently held with a high school age group around issues of Jewish representation in the media they consume and hope to create. Good luck in your work of adding to the discussion.