#ptero writes

[pinkponycult]

hi there, i'm scarlett/ptero, and i'm here to be your one stop shop for chappell content.

i track the #pinkponycult tag, if you want me to see your post (and probably rb it), tag it! if i like a post of yours, that means i've queued it.

I will always write alt text for every image I upload, if you see me miss anything, let me know! I am also always accepting feedback on my captions from actual screenreader users.

- 💗 -

main/personal blog - @pterosounds

- 💗 -

this blog is expressly trans-friendly 🏳️‍⚧️ and pro-Palestine 🇵🇸

[dark-overlord-of-rainbows]

Drawn Oct 7 2024

Your local goth teen who is totally fine, everything's normal. See? they have friends, they're good with tech, and look!! they're dominating ranked matches right now! They're cool, y'know? Always cool, everyone else thinks so. They like their life, and want to be the best. You should always push yourself, right? And they're a good person, so what's wrong with proving it? Letting others know? Letting you know? They like their friends well enough. And you should be sociable! Put yourself out there. If you don't, y'know, you're not gonna have many friends anymore. And isn't it exciting to go out? To be active? Play sports with your friends or even just hang out at the café or take a walk? Indulge in your hobbies? What else are they supposed to do? So it's fiiiiine.... they're not chronically exhausted or anything. They didn't just pass out. Ok well, it does look like they might've but it's not bad, don't worry-- stop worrying about it. Oh, oh! see? They just said they didn't actually pass out! What was that? "Then what actually happened? Will it keep happening?" Pshhh, don't be silly. Like I said! Look, they're doing just fine now. So it's not an issue anymore. Let's move on to talking about the actual drawing, shall we? I haven't really gotten to take the time to write about some of my ocs individually in these... especially some info I've left out in things like the artfight descriptions, so I kinda just spit out what's above as I'm writing this one just before posting these doodles. It's a little relevant to a couple of 'em so might as well put it here. Anyway. Left: Psuedopterosin is a biter. Will bite when angry, when excited, what have you. ...Cheren doesn't actually like Ptero that much. Top Middle: Luciole's a pretty excitable kid, usually flaps his hands and bounces around, but this time she is shaking Cheren around. Luciole is not the first person to do this to Cheren. Middle: Cheren speaks very dryly, and people can't always tell whether they're being sarcastic/joking or not because they use the exact same tone for both. This one would probably get some mixed reactions... Bottom Right/Bottom Middle: Cheren tends to lie on the floor a lot..... There's a lot about this new friend that Luciole made and then promptly adopted into their real household that has been strange and sometimes concerning, but his family slowly learns to accommodate this behaviour (Except the way Cheren eats, that's too far). Top Right: Well. We've been over this not too long ago. They are telling the utmost truth here, obviously.

[thorneyes]

Pinned; Thorneyes

This account is FFXIV focused. You'll find me posting and sharing character writing, ask memes, screenshots, and other RP community related discussions and resources.

Out of Character;

I go by Ptero! I primarily RP in-game with the characters listed below. All characters are based on the Crystal DC, usually Balmung. I'm usually available on weekends, and late evenings EST/EDT. Ask box and DMs are open, if you've any questions.

Tags:

ooc ramblings; personal commentary of my own, and responses to community discussions prompt meme; prompt memes. Responses have their own tag, and are also tagged for the character in question. Feel free to reblog these off of me! others' characters/others' screenshots; for reblogs

In Character;

Rohesia Thorneyes: Brash healer with an Ala Mhigan accent and a chip on her shoulder. My main, so you'll see the most about her. She has a on-again-off-again clinic based out of Mor Dhona

Carrd: Here Tag: thorneyes

Q'ndai Tia: ever-smiling Resistance fighter with a habit of playing with knives and talking around what he means.

Tag: dust devils

Cindrelle Alambertel: Deadpan researcher with an unnerving stare and a habit of saying unusual things. She carries a tome at her side constantly.

Tag: cinders

[punsify1]

200+ Roarsome Dinosaur Christmas Puns To Make Your Holidays Dino-mite

Get ready to stomp into the holiday season with laughter! These dinosaur-themed Christmas puns will bring a prehistoric twist to your celebrations. Whether you’re crafting holiday cards, decorating, or just sharing laughs with family, these puns will add a dino-mite touch to your festivities. From T-Rex to Triceratops, there's a pun for every dino lover. Let’s make this Christmas roar-some!

Read More: 200+ Roarsome Dinosaur Christmas Puns To Make Your Holidays Dino-mite

Unwrap a Prehistoric Holiday with Dino-Themed Fun

Dinosaur Christmas puns are a delightful way to bring extra joy to your holiday traditions. They’re perfect for kids and adults alike, sparking laughter and creating memories. Whether you’re writing Christmas cards, planning a themed party, or just looking to spread some cheer, these puns will be the highlight of your celebrations.

Why Choose Dinosaur Puns for Christmas?

Dinosaur puns combine the timeless appeal of prehistoric creatures with the festive cheer of Christmas. They’re a fun and creative way to add humor and uniqueness to your holiday messages.

Great for kids and adults: Everyone loves a good dino joke.

Unique holiday greetings: Make your cards stand out.

Perfect for social media: Share festive fun online.

Ideas for Using Dinosaur Puns

These puns are versatile and can be used in various ways throughout the holiday season. From gift tags to party themes, they’ll make your Christmas unforgettable.

Holiday cards and greetings

Social media captions

Party decor and games

Dino-mite Dinosaur Christmas Puns

Hope your Christmas is T-Rex-ellent!

Dino-snore no more, it’s Christmas time!

Have a dino-lightful holiday season!

Don’t be a Scrooge-o-saurus this Christmas.

Unwrap a Tricera-top Christmas surprise!

Yule always be my favorite dino-mite friend.

Ptero-fly into the holiday spirit!

Make this Christmas Jurassic-ly awesome!

Fossil-fuel your holidays with joy and laughter.

Veloci-wrap those presents for a roar-some surprise!

200+ Roarsome Dinosaur Christmas Puns To Make Your Holidays Dino-mite

These puns will bring laughter and prehistoric charm to your Christmas. Share them with loved ones and make your holiday season truly dino-mite!

[tetsuro-wulf]

The Wulf's Eye: RP Journal #139 | Behemoth Brawl

Now that I've given my ribs a few days of rest and.. plenty of behemoth and ptero meat, I'm allowed to write without flinching or wincing in pain, thanks to the wife.

Now where in the fresh hell do I even start? This hunt has made me feel near-dead and alive at the same time, how does one explain this? These behemoths were no joke, as expected. And I'm so thankful for the team we gathered, otherwise I'd fear the outcome a little more. Alongside Scilla, Ryuu, Faern, and Zihji'li-- we planned to ambush them from above, thanks to the massive cliff right beside their den. They were guarding their babies fiercely, mother and father. Ryuu started off by distracting them to lure them away from their babies whilst Faern focused on nabbing the children. Scilla would be our support and healers from the peak of the cliff while Zhiji'li Ryuu and I would handle the beasts.

Of course, the father's focus fell on the intruders while the mother was dashing for her babies. Many things happened so quickly, I can't exactly tell you the details outside of.. let's see.. suddenly and nearly getting sucked into Fae's MASSIVE black hole he summoned??? Sure, we got a SPLIT SECOND warning, but it still feels like a damn fever dream! Of course, Ryuu was left and right-- I could've sworn I saw SIX of her at once SOMEHOW. What a terrifying thought, I hope that remains in combat only. That and of course, blowing things up. Their damn tails are such a pain in the ass. One blow from that thing and it shatters your ribs, I think I got trampled once or twice. Though the winds were really easy to have in this hunt-- somehow, some way, a chaotic and partially stable tornado was easy to manage in adding to the havoc of defeating our hunts. It's the fact that those things summoned a meteor not once, not twice, but three damn times. Thankfully, we managed and brought home two behemoths worth of meat after draining ourselves. Pretty sure two or three out of five of us collapsed by the end. I would.. totally hunt them again to be honest.

[theworldofmycreations]

Here is the twenty-first and second-to-last of my Power Rangers OCs (for now, anyway).

-

Maeve Elodie Jones

Age: 8

DOB: June 27th, 2013

Occupation: Third Grader, Purple Dino Fury Ranger

Pronouns: She/Her

Friends: Claire (Best Friend), Zayto, Ollie, Amelia, Izzy, Javi, Aiyon

Family: Joseph (Dad, Pharmacist), Jodi (Mom, Office Worker), Wesley and Grayson (Older Twin Brothers, 25, Business Entrepreneurs), Popo (Pet Yorkshire Piglet)

Likes: Writing Stories, Making Up Stories, Archery, Playing the Piccolo, Riding her Bike, Tulips, Red-Eyed Tree Frogs, Old Cowboy Movies

Favorite Color: Purple

Favorite Food: Blackberries

Skin Color: Medium Almond

Hair Color: Light Golden Brown

Eye Color: Light Gray

Appearance: She wears a purple t-shirt with a rose on it, brown shorts, pale blue leg warmers, and pink shoes. Her hair is also in space buns supported by orange hair ties.

Facts

-Popo was a gift given to her by her grandfather after his mother rejected him

-Maeve is her parent’s rainbow child born seventeen years after her older twin brothers

-She wants to be an author when she grows up

-Her sword is a purple Ptero Talon Zord

-She’s a champion archer and has been in archery lessons since she was six

-Her fascination with red-eyed tree frogs began when she was four and she took a field trip to the zoo with her playgroup and she got to hold one during a reptile demonstration

-

Created via Adobe Illustrator.

[northropi]

For clarity when I say "I have three sonas now" yes I know I can just have non-sona OCs. I just made like seven the other day I'm not new to this. Let me explain why these characters kinda needed to be elevated to Sona status.

As I've worked on the worldbuilding process I've been doing to keep myself sane over the past however long it has been now, I'd occasionally just... Latch onto things. Become a bit possessive of them, I guess. Sometimes this was more top-down, making "rules" to accommodate something I already like that further tilt it in my direction. Certain intersections of concepts I had written in a while ago come up and next thing you know I've just kinda built a character that I impulsively imprint on.

It's kind of the beauty of the setting I've made that I can kind of build race/class/stat combos like an RPG. Obviously no real math has gone into actually fucking *balancing* it yet but hey it'd be a fun place to take it. These parts of a character kinda have a character all their own, with suggestions for personality quirks and such. It's allowed me to sort of rapidly put together character concepts from what are in essence off-the-shelf parts- maybe too rapidly...

Ptero-Northy and her gradual change into a Dragon were sort of on-demand creations, but the other two were spurned by writing on topics that would form their foundations combined with a little bit of well-timed exposure to bits of media that egged me on. Now I have a rotor-wing robot with avian neural templates and a Dwarven vampire armed with an arquebus-bardiche hybrid and the ability to turn into a swarm of bat-like parasites because those just happened to scream "oh, this is me." My attempts to streamline my concepts by designing other characters honestly have just exposed me to more of this.

It sort of fits because a big theme in the setting is Design- evolution of organisms, research of magic, and development of technology yielding power through physical innovation and change, versus conservative monumentality, a sort of false beauty. Wow political but yeah basically I hate superheroes and this is a story where I explain the fuck why. And with a giant fucking monster, an actual fucking aircraft, and a gayass fucking vampire in my pocket as sonas I think I actually have a stable representation of that message now. Hopefully I don't change everything next month again.

I'll probably cycle them seasonally. Robot during Summer, going on to Dragon in the Fall switching to Vampire on Halloween night who gets the talking stick through Winter. That sounds like a fun gimmick.

[twilightzoneptero-r]

[Ptero grabs the pot and pan and places them on the stove turning it on, walking back to grab the food it prepared placing the meat on the pan and the vegetables in the pot one by one letting each one cook enough before adding the next. Abyss glances back at the sprout, Chip, mentally facepalming. It knew his name started with a C, it really needs to write this stuff down instead of overhearing shit then forgetting an hour later.]

"Chip huh? Maybe i shoal-d call you Ship instead!"

[Ptero lets out a slightly forced laugh, loud and startling but abyss sounds tired.]

"Im just making some curry, simple, warm and filling, what more could i ask for these days. But yeah of course i prepare my food, i like my meat cooked personally but you cant always afford that when you live like i do Ship."

[Ptero turns the burner under the pan off, the meat cooked enough for it, moving to the pot before grumbling. Abyss forgot the fucking water. It grabs a kettle and places it on the island, looking over to Chip]

"Hey chum you mind filling that with water?"

[You hear clinking before a loud bang comes from the vents along with something breathing quickly]

@twilightzoneptero-r

The evening crowd had come and gone, leaving Chip by his lonesome once again. He was just doing his finale wipe down of the kitchen for the night. He was relived the voices in his had been quiet for the evening. The dinner had gone well! He caught up with a few regulars, and generally his mood was better than it was before.

When he lays the wash rag by the sink for the light, he genuinely thinks his day is going to go without any more interruptions. He passes off the clinking as just general kitchen sounds.

That was, until a loud BANG made itself known. Chip flinches, and for a second he’s back bellow Gardenview being hunted by those beasts. It’s irrational- it’s probably just a pan shifting in its place in a cupboard, no twisteds come up to the main sections of gardenview anymore. Still, Chip has to remain vigilant.

He inhaled slowly, trying to soothe his heart fluttering in his chest. The vent. It came from the vent- which was close to the oven and stove. One of his hands drifted over to the knife block, grabbing the largest and sharpest knife it could find. He lets it, even if he isn’t entirely sure if he’s just imagining a threat, it felt better to be armed.

…

Oh.

Oh that’s breathing.

Chip doesn’t move, remaining as perfectly still as he could. Things shouldn’t be breathing that fast in the vent. He remains as still and as quiet as he can, trying to convince himself that he was just being paranoid.

[writingpteropod]

Chapters: 1/4 Fandom: 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Relationships: Luò Bīnghé/Shěn Yuán | Shěn Qīngqiū Characters: Shěn Yuán | Shěn Qīngqiū, Luò Bīnghé, Yuè Qīngyuán, Liǔ Qīnggē, Mù Qīngfāng, Qí Qīngqī, Mòběi-jūn, Lǎo Gōngzhǔ | Old Palace Master, Original Shěn Qīngqiū Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Fae, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Mix of European and Chinese Fantasy Elements, fae, minor political intrigue Summary:

Shen Qingqiu, Lord of the Spring and high official of the Seelie Court, has a secret: he is not the true Shen Qingqiu. Compelled by a fae bargain to stand in the place of that Lord, Shen Yuan must hold his place among the Seelie Court, despite facing enemies on all sides, an uncertain truce with the Unseelie Court, and a student with a mysterious past...

-

The first chapter of my @mxtxbigbang fic! A huge thanks to @kdramasandbox for coming up with the original AU, and making so much amazing art for the story!

[ptarmiganlettercarrier]

it won’t grow back

just a lil ficlet based on one of my headcanons for Remus’s moon related injuries! a Lie Low at Lupin’s setting.

-

Remus tensed when Sirius took up his hand.

"Does it hurt?" Sirius asked. He didn't let go, but he let Remus curl the hand into a loose fist, tucking the fingers out of view.

"No," Remus muttered. He wasn't looking up from his parchment, and his brow was furrowed with concentration as he maneuvered his quill awkwardly with his right hand to scratch out a note, then grumbled as he smudged the ink.

Sirius curled his fingers around Remus's hand. The bandage was rough against his palm, held together with tape. "I could give healing it another try," he said, watching as Remus blotted at his ink.

Remus flicked his index and middle fingers into Sirius's palm. He didn't even wince when the movement jarred the fingers. Sirius rubbed his thumb along the ridge of Remus's knuckles before letting him go. "I'm fine, Sirius." Remus blotted again. "I need to finish this today."

"You need to take a pain potion." Remus sighed, sharply, through his nose. "I'm fine. I've worked through worse." There were heavy bags under his eyes, ones that Sirius knows are mirrored under his own. He'd walked for days straight to reach Remus's cottage, but he'd still been a day late for the moon. When he'd entered, it had been to find Moony twisting himself into awkward shapes to bandage a wound on the back of his shoulder. Sirius opened his mouth to protest, then closed it again. Thirteen years, it had been. Remus probably has worked through worse, in that time. He'd had new scars when Sirius gave up trying to work with Remus's wand (the thing had never agreed with him) in favor of antiseptic and gauze. "Won't grow back," he muttered, glaring down at the table. Remus had covered it with the usual detritus of his work, and Sirius shuffled through it all, turning spare rolls of parchment and ink caps over in his hands, rather than looking at Remus's expression. "It's your wand hand, Moony. What're you going to do if you can't pick up your wand?" "No, Padfoot. It won't grow back." Remus sounded so tired. Sirius scrubbed at the edges of the ink cap, then scrubbed his inky fingers off on the parchment. The red of the ink was too bright to look like blood. "It won't grow back," Remus repeated, quietly. "But it'll heal. And I'll learn it again." Sirius's eyes burned, with all the staring he was doing at the red ink he'd finger-painted onto the parchment. It looked like a hippogriff, maybe. Remus's bandaged hand rested over his. When Sirius looked up, there was a smile on his face, small and sad. "It's not the end of the world." "No," Sirius said gruffly. "Guess it's not." It took Remus two fumbling tries with his right hand to get the scourgio right, and he left Sirius feeling rather like a layer of skin had been peeled away. But in the end, it did clean away the ink.

[pterodach]

I have to do my homework but instead i do what i do so some dbh doodles!!

[nyarados]

Prompt : Pokémon klance AU. Das it - pterodactyl

it was my every intention to finish the rest of the drabble prompts from that time but I’ve been swamped in hw and lost my motivation again but I needed to answer this bc how DARE you think I’ve never wanted to write a pokemon au how dare you think that I, emily saltenecker, avid pokemon fan, have never dreamed of writing a pokemon au how DAR

[batfossil-fr]

I heard it’s fav dragons time??? how am I supposed to choose

so many favorites. I love all my tarnish/obsidians, they’re my pride and joy and easily my fav color combo. Juuna and Molossus are gonna be big lore kiddos once I actually write them something.

Seo and Ptero! Both fun, both weird, Seo a little moreso than Ptero but they’re gonna be funky.

Janus is probably my current fav, just hitting my current color fixation right on the head. Mothoclaser version 3.0 is gonna be around for a looong time, the multigaze, the blend....wohohoho.

Of course, Jovian makes an appearance, because she kicks ass. Surono is also really pretty and I just love algae.

[phemonoi]

Philosophy | Divine Madness

Plato's Phaedrus.

I wanted to start with this dialogue because even if it comes kind of late in history of antiquity, it really describes a very important part of greek tradition that influenced later philosophy and was very much present in romantic poetry and art. It's also a very pretty dialogue and one of my favorites. The Phaedrus of Plato was written in his midlife, around the 370 B.C. It presents his famous allegory of the Chariot, where he states that the soul has “wings” and explains how it becomes material, but mainly the dialogue is about love and the Madness of the Gods, which will be my specific focus here. This dialogue has been wrongly treated as mainly aesthetic, but the truth it's a theological dialogue with many spiritual additions, because love was for Plato a spiritual thing, not just an art or a satisfaction.

☀️ Synthesis

So let’s establish a little bit of context. The dialogue takes place in the countryside, and its actors are Socrates, as usual, Phaedrus, and Lysias (although he’s just mentioned). Lysias is a famous sophist, meaning he’s a speaker, and Phaedrus has a copy of one of Lysias’ most recent speeches, that after a lot of teasing and insistance, he ends up reading to Socrates. The speech verses about how it’s best to establish erotic relationships with a loveless person, rather than do it with a passionate lover. What Lysias says is that the loveless person won’t end up attaching to you, and the relationship won’t create gossip, involve jealousy, and it will much certainly allow for a larger selection of other lovers. Socrates is actually very sarcastic so he replies to this conclusion that Lysias should’ve written about the benefits of being the lover of an older or poorer man rather than a younger and richer one, and his words would be a good cause for the whole city. However, Socrates demostrates why he disagrees with Lysias, pointing precisely at the divine nature of passionate love. So in a very, very beautiful manner Socrates discusses why it's more beneficial to be loyal rather than a hoe lol. The dialogue treats the knowledge of the Gods and the nature of passion, how it comes to our souls through Eros, and helps us get closer to the divine and experience Them. This speech of Socrates is called the palinode.

☀️ The immortality of the Soul

First of all Socrates points at the immortality of the soul. To prove the existence of the Soul —of course, with the scientific knowledge available to them in their time—, Socrates points out movement. Things move because of a force, or because of will. For him, the sole observation that the Cosmos is full of movement and it's constantly advancing is enough proof for the existence of will and force, and thus the Soul. It's as easy as follows: things that move because of an external agent move by force and lack a soul, like stones, for example, or leaves. Things that move because of will have a soul and are bound to excercice it. For Socrates, the sun seems to move by will so it's evident that he has a soul, a much more complete soul than ours, bigger, and that makes him divine. The being that moves by will won't stop living, he says, because his movement must be continuous; if we move by will, but we die, then there's a part of us that doesn't die; our souls are divine and immortal. The body is a receptor of the soul, since movement by its own is the escence of the soul, and drive by force the escence of the body. So basically Socrates is saying you have soul because you can choose, you can think, you can move by will, and things that don't have a soul are less complex and can't do all of this. A body moved by will is animate, a body moved by force is inanimate.

Socrates then explains that the Universal Soul rules over the inanimate matter, and makes its evolution through the cosmos, manifesting itself under a million different forms. He speaks also of the wings of the Soul, that carry with them what is heavy (the material body) to the superior regions, where the Gods reside. This means that the Soul participates in divinity, through vibration. To explain it with a more modern concept: low vibes get you closer to matter, high vibes get you closer to the Gods. He also mentions that the Gods can't be defined by reason because reason is a human thing; nature lacks it, the universe lacks it, it's ours, and it's entirely theoretical.

Socrates also speaks of Himeros, God of desire and love; the feeling of exaltation that comes from him elevates the soul and helps it recover its wings. Socrates says:

“This affection, love, mortals know as Eros, the winged God; but the immortals know him as Pteros, the giver of wings.”

☀️ Theia Mania —the madness of the Gods

Remember what Socrates said about reason being unable to define the Gods? In Phadrus, Socrates exchange human intelligence for something greater and more beneficial: divine madness.

I know this is supposed to be our main topic, but really: Plato doesn't really say much about it. However, according to Thomas Taylor (who you should definitely read if you ever wonder about Plato, because he was an expert on the matter and openly pagan), Plato was usually exalted and inspired by divine madness when writing, specially dialogues like this one¹.

So as we had discussed in the summary, the dialogue starts with a discussion between Socrates and Phaedrus on Lysias' speech about choosing a non-lover rather than a “mad” lover. Phaedrus agreed that the mad lover will cause problems because he is so drunk in passion, that he cannot control himself: however, the non-lover will be satisfying enough, perhaps a bit cold, but won't cause troubles because he won't be invested in the relationship. As we know, the cause of desire is Eros. But Eros is a God, Socrates says, and Gods cannot be the cause of harm, ever. So the desire that the God has inspired in the mad lover must then be of good nature, beneficial and excellent. This madness of love, then, leads in the end to the highest kind of philosophical cognition.

There is two types of madness: the human type involving an internal state of psychic disharmony, and a divine type, involving possession by a God. Socrates says that the divine type of madness is always good, and we can see it in the Pythia, the priestess of Apollo. He says that when magicians try to read divine symbols or interpret certain phenomena, like the shape of the clouds or the sound of the birds, this is a type of wondering of the future that lacks divine inspiration because it uses human knowledge and it's more possible to fail. However, when the Pythia is possessed and inspire, it has been proven that her prophecies are true, and they do happen; she is actually losing control of her body to let the Divine enter her mind. These prophecies have always been beneficial to humankind, so this madness of the Gods is good and is real.

There is four types of divine madness, Socrates says:

Ecstatic Madness: caused by Apollo and Dionysos. Mantika, the prophetic madness of Apollo, and Telestika, the ritual madness of Dionysos. Then there's Inspirational Madness: caused by the Muses and Aphrodite. Poetika, the artistic madness of the Muses, and Erotika, the passionate madness of Aphrodite and the Erotes.

This madness spontaneously adapts itself to its producing cause, imitating a divine power, and thus necessarily becomes magnificent, vehement, and exuberant: for such are the characteristics of it's source².

Ain't this beautiful? The idea of divine madness will be later developed by neoplatonists and adapted to a set of practices called theurgy, which will presume the aid of achieving such unity with the Gods.

☀️ Observations

When reading on this topic, one must be careful and check the sources. Plato is a philosopher thats has been thoroughly misinterpreted and edited across history by both atheists and christians. Most authors will tell you he was a monotheist, or even an atheist. He wasn't: Plato was the product of his time and his culture, and a polytheist. When he speaks of divine madness and the Gods he does so literally, as he's a faithful and pious philosopher. His metaphysics are pluralistic and this dialogue is an evidence of such.

On another topic, we can see divine madness across many cultures in human history. The possession by a God always leads to a greater benefit and is good and pleasurable. So one can judge many experiences based on this: the possession by a lower spirit wouldn't bring forward the same results, emotions and characteristics that the possession by a Divine agent would.

So I want to know, if you've come this far, what do you think about Plato's approach to Divine Madness? do you have any thoughts on this concept? Please add your comments, I'll be glad to read them!

I hope this post has helped, there will be more ☀️💫🌻 A sidenote: this post and the whole series of Philosophy of the Gods is being made in devotion to Apollo, as he is the God of Philosophy, my patron God as a disciple, and was the God of Socrates.

Sources:

¹ Plato, Phaedrus, spanish edition (Gredos).

² Thomas Taylor, Introduction to Philosophy and Writings of Plato, The Prometheus Trust Edition.

[eregyrn-falls-art]

Another couple of pieces I'd long been wanting to put together to flesh out the background of Pteroworld, a dimension young Portal Ford visited that I've been working on since last summer -- see the tag for previous pieces and information.

Despite some resemblance to pterosaurs, the aliens I designed are just as similar to dragons, really, and I didn't design them with proper real-world flight mechanics in mind.  I liked the idea that Ford could go flying with his ptero friend, "Chris" (not his real name, but close enough in pronunciation); but, explaining how something that size can fly, let alone fly with the weight of a human, is not my strong suit.  

For other reasons (having to do with dramatic visuals), I liked the idea that the creatures of this dimension get an assist into the air from an organ like a fish's swim bladder, except that it provides a lighter-than-air assist.   While the pteros have wings and look like they might be able to fly for real, there are other creatures that do without wings, such as the "eels" seen in the pictures here.  

And that is enough to intrigue Ford and set him to digging further for answers; although, since *I* don't know the answer, I'm not sure he's able to figure it out, either.  (Imagine his frustration to be able to see the organ responsible, but not figure out how it functions!)  I also just liked the idea of Ford performing some field dissection using things like a bowie knife and a stick.  

As well, I’d wanted to firmly illustrate that the ptero-aliens are sentient and tool-using.  As mentioned before, “Chris” here (not a juvenile, but a younger male as indicated by plumage color) is a bit of a nerd, interested in things like archaeological ruins and questions of biology.  He’s eaten many eels before, but hadn’t thought to diagram one’s organs!

Anyway, forgive the messy, unfinished nature of this. It’s an idea I wanted to get out, but that I was having trouble with.  (The "journal" entries are the first I've tried to do, and I don't think I've got Ford's writing voice, yet.  I'm also not super happy with that font for his cursive handwriting, but extensive searching didn't turn up any suggestions for a better one.  I wonder if they created the one used in Journal 3, or customized it from something else?)

[maximusod]

Scanned in, tho did a pretty bad job...I can’t seem to figure out how to scan colored stuff well...anyways, my Vipera dragon species, with markings based on the yellow-blotched palm pitviper.  There’s a big ol’ write up here for those who feel like wiggling thru it.  It’s not everything, just what I can currently remember without my notes lol.

The venom sack in the neck delivers a paralytic venom either via thru fangs in the lower jaw in a bite, or thru the hollow horn on the nose.  There are heat pits in the front of the face, below the nose, and a forked tongue to smell with. The 2 sets of eyes, which can move independently from each other, provide it with a high accuracy when either biting or stabbing.  The spines on the neck are mostly hollow and made of keratin, and will rattle against each other as a warning noise, along with much hissing.

Not shown in the pic is the tail, which has it’s own venom sack and stinger, and can reach much farther than the head (except for targets in front of it).  Thanks to the dual set of eyes, it can focus on 2 targets at once to strike at with either the head or the tail.  They prefer to swallow prey whole if it’s small enough, however their venom is capable of taking down much larger prey.  In this situation, if the prey is too large to swallow (anything roughly 1.5x bigger than their head), they have large, serrated dew claws to be able to cut the meal down to more manageable portions.  The teeth are all needle-like and retractable, and so isn’t capable of chewing or tearing food apart with them.

The wings are long and thin, and is better at gliding than actual power flight.  There’s only one wing webbing for each wing, as the rest of the wing digits are not connected (like a ptero dino).  The claws are fairly dull, including the ones on the feet minus the dew claws.

No real sexual dimorphism in the species, save females get to be slightly larger.  The Vipera don’t care for much of the glittery treasure most dragons like, and instead prefer to horde organic treasures, like hides, ivory, horns, antlers, feathers, and sometimes the bark and branches of rare plants.  They tend to live in heavily forested areas, mostly in humid climates.  They make small lairs, usually underneath a large tree in the root system.  Smaller ones might make lairs up in the branches of large trees, making it out of branches, mud and leaves.

They’re not aggressive or territorial, and would rather take flight over fight in violent situations.  Their main way of hunting is to sit and wait for something to come by, using the speckled camouflage to hide among the shadows cast by the trees.  It will often lay the head down so the vibrant venom sack isn’t noticeable.

While intelligent, they’re not very social, even with their own kind.  The most interaction they tend to do is for mating purposes, or dealing with the occasional adventurer.  The mother will lay between 3-10 eggs, usually up in a hollow of a tall tree to protect them from wandering predators.  When they hatch, the mother provides for them some, but the hatchlings are fairly self sufficient from the start, their venom just as deadly as their parents.

If you read all this...thanks!