#vulcan artifact

[starfleetsxvulcan]

A Hand painted half cat mask, an Enus Tradition to have~From Bluebird ( @mediical-trek )

Spock held the mask quite gently in his hands, sensing that it had some importance despite him not being fully certain of why.

'Fascinating.' He stated after a moment of careful and thoughtful inspection, taking in the finer details whilst also letting his fingertips feel along the paint on the surface of the feline-themed mask. 'I must say, I have not seen anything quite like this. I would be pleased to learn more about it.'

// @mediical-trek

[spiders-notagain]

Vulcans dont have novels; a headcanon

As a planet with few trees, Vulcans had less paper. (Also many of the techniques humans use to make paper use water and Vulcans had less of that too) That doesnt mean they had NO paper. After all they did have some small forests. Aside from writing things on clay and sand tablets, ancient vulcans experimented with several different materials for paper. But eventually settled on two main products. A kind of regional variant of cotton and a type of relatively common brittle rock.

Thus Vulcans didnt really have alot of books and relied primarily on paintings and tablets to store information for future use or even future generations. Paper (and especially books) were seen as a certain sign of luxury and only used for important documents. The common people passed down memories and fictional stories by word of mouth/mind melds through generational lines. And it was very common for clans/families to have important traditional stories. In some families, being given the story was an important rite of passage.

There was alot of poetry though as it could be stored on single sheets of paper or immortalized in tablets. Even for the common people, learning about different types of poetry was a sign you were well educated. As well as other types of art forms but especially the rare written word.

Sometime before the nuclear wars they developed technology that allowed them to store large amounts of information digitally. All but removing the reliance on books to store important data. With that freed up, books were more accesible to the common people. Or rather what we would call middle class. Poor people could still not afford books.

And thus the return of the short story and the long short story/novelette. They were about the same product in thickness, except the short story is usually cut in half lengthwise. While there was a standard size, some bookmakers elected to use custom cuts.

A bookmaker did two things, binding and printing. First by hand, later when a simplified font was created, with letterpressing. Except when they were making journals in which case they would leave it blank.

Empowered by their new avenue for creativity, many simply wrote down the stories that had been passed down to them, some wrote fanfiction of their generational stories that nobody in their family wanted to pass down, some wrote brand new stories, some wrote journal entries about their own life or just detailed their family tree, and some wrote fanfiction of their favorite plays.

Most of the stories written in these formats did not have the 3 act story structure and since they had no audience to pander to, personal stories were self indulgent. They were often left open ended or devoid of context. (And some of it was literally just smut with plot)

Really savvy authors would use this gap of information to their advantage the way some human authors do. Others would make historians cry because for example their story is about this guy being enemies with this other guy because he stole his sister from a respectable family so the girls brother is trying to hunt them down and try and figure out some things about the guy but the author never mentions any of that in the story so you dont find out her name till halfway through, theyre running from an unseen enemy, and you dont even get to find out what happens after the brother finally catches them because the story was about the culture clash they experience being on different social statuses and also the weighing of love vs responsibility, and also kind of a rebuttal to a play the author saw 4 years ago that included a subplot that romanticized young love and they thought the premise was stupid. So they imagine both characters dying at the end at the hands of the brother and none of the aforementioned themes are immediately obvious anyway because their writing style was super poetic and flowy and they handled all their mature themes very subtly.

There wasnt really a book industry for published literature nor libraries as we think of our local ones. That did not mean they didnt have long stories. The closest equivalent were plays or interpretive dance which were around for millions of years, even beyond the earliest days of paper. (A handful of classic dance styles were preserved to modern day, not quite as fervently as martial art styles but respected for the cultural value they possess) They were revered as one of the most popular forms of entertainment and since many saw them as a kind of treat, they were drawn out to increase enjoyment with some of the better ones being 4-5 hours long.

They did eventually start adopting a sort of publishing industry. The earliest version of it was during post-reformation when they improved society as a whole. And the technology they used to store information digitally was more readily available than books. (Partially because pre-reformation it was considered a war technology) So the first industry was scientific articles. Particularly after they started going to space and really started learning things.

Although a few vulcan writers had experimented with common fantastical (re: genres that feature impossibilities) human book genres like sci fi and fantasy and to some extent horror, they didn't actually really delve into it till they met humans and those kinds of book genres became normalized throughout the federation.

Well thats not entirely true. Vulcans did have horror in the form of ghost stories. Not that they always included ghosts but urban legends, scary campfire stories and the kind of stories you tell your kids to scare them into behaving. Those had all been around for centuries but no one really wrote them down before the popularity of books so theres a lot of missing context from the various stories that just mutated or merged with other stories over time. Urban legend history is a category almost no vulcan wants to get into. Not necessarily because its full of the distasteful fantastical but because of how 'pointless' and low-payoff it is to comb through artifacts and old texts for hints about what might be relevant to that one story about the mystery le'matya where some texts only describe it as a shadowy unerving figure that doesnt do anything but seriously freak you out. But some texts describe it as three times the size of a normal le'matya and having knife sharp claws and pure white eyes and can kill a grown man with two slashes. One for the neck and one for the poison. And then while youre paralyzed it eats your guts out. If you hear it coming, it means youre already a goner.

But like, that shares a bunch of characteristics with this other nightmare creature so they think at some point someone merged the two stories to make it scarier. But they're not sure because most of the texts they have concerning the terrifying deadly le'matya were written before the ones they have about the mysterious unnerving le'matya. Except there's also this one poem that could be about the other nightmare creature or it could be about the deadly le'matya because the contents sorta fit both. But it does have an extra detail that they used to time date it so if they could figure out which one the poem is about then it would solve that earlier question.

[vulcanhello]

[pearleds]

＠pearleds tags!

[jhsharman]

Nelson revealed

Yes. The John Vulcan Scandal. Seen earlier in this digest, as the editor ties unrelated stories into the same narrative universe. I don't think you need to know anything about John Vulcan and his sordid affairs, but just as a refresher -- or introduction -- here is how that whole sordid affair was resolved.

And I guess Archie walks in right after that and meets up with Veronica now. Thanks to Nelson for the clarification.

Wait. Nelson. So that's who This is. An editor for digests, whose work is marked by a conspicuous typecast redone dialogue that forces a tying in of divergent stories. And who I now suspect was doodling himself into empty spaces.

[femmefatalelf]

Star Trek’s whole Pon’thaar thing or however you spell it is wild to me because it implies that Vulcans don’t know about masturbation

[open-hearth-rpg]

RPGCovers Week Twelve Star Trek Lower Decks (2023) Eva Lara

So this is potentially a dumb one, but I love the choices made for this campaign guide. Obviously I dig seeing the quartet of Lower Decks’ characters headlining. I enjoy the way the cartoony art is given a dust of realism with the lighting and the haze. But what I really dig is the way it references the other Star Trek Adventures releases, remixing the core book with perhaps a little nod to the Division sourcebooks. 

While Boimler, Tendi, Mariner, and Rutherford don’t exactly replicate the figures from the core cover, they echo them. We have the same sense of collapse and devastation happening in the background. Tandi’s excited as opposed to the dour, serious expression on the Vulcan science officer from the main book. Rutherford’s examining the same weird coffin artifact that the angry Andorian is, and Boimler’s less about gallant protection than utter panic. Mariner’s the new figure in the set, but the posing is just right– looking like the strange action-fashion model stances of the figures on those division books. 

There’s a lot of ways you could have done this cover, but like the show it emulates, it tries to integrate these characters into the real world of the setting (i.e. game) as it has been presented to us before

[indeedcaptain]

Spirktober 2023, day 29: Promotion

Happy NaNoWriMo :) I'm on a writing trip with some friends so I've had lots of time to think about finishing these prompts, and I think I'm going to wrap them up in a multi-chapter fake married adventure :)

Also posted on AO3 here!

☆☆☆

Kirk pulled his hands behind his back and accepted the call in his ready room. “Admiral April,” he said, smiling. “What can I do for you?” 

April frowned at him, no niceties present. “You can stop blocking Spock’s promotion.” 

Kirk’s stomach dropped away from him as he swayed on his feet. Spock? Promotion? Blocking? Spock’s leaving? He heard a rushing in his ears as he said, “I’m sorry, Admiral--- I’m not sure what you’re referring to. Spock’s…?” 

“Yes, Kirk. Your first officer? The only man to turn down acceptance to the VSA? Who has been following you around and cleaning up your messes for years? Does that ring a bell?”

“I know who Spock is, Admiral. His… promotion?” 

“With the retirement of Captain Bergara, he’s the obvious choice. We haven’t been able to get a hold of him at all, Ambassador Grayson is giving us the cold shoulder, and your padd has been bouncing back all messages referring to Spock from admin for two weeks.” 

“My padd?” Kirk was not following this conversation at all, and not only because he was blindsided by the idea that Spock might leave. As far as he knew, he hadn’t received any personal messages from the admin at HQ in months. 

“Stupid doesn’t suit you, Kirk. I know you rely on him, and Lord knows you might be the only human being in the universe that he actually likes, but he’s too talented to be a first officer forever.” 

Kirk blinked, rapidly trying to clear his head and only somewhat succeeding. “Admiral April, I swear--- this is the first I’m hearing of this. I haven’t received any messages about Spock being promoted.”

“I know. Because they’re blocked on your padd. As I said.” 

Kirk spluttered as April continued, “Your reputation as a computer genius precedes you, Kirk--- don’t play dumb with me. Read my messages. Talk to Spock. Convince him to do what’s logical and take his own captaincy. April out.” 

April broke the connection and Kirk was faced with his own reflection on the black screen. Dumbfounded, he stared at the console as he played over the conversation in his head. The admiralty wanted Spock to be a starship captain. That made sense. Kirk had thought for years that Spock was sometimes a better strategist than he was. But he hadn’t received any messages about it, and Spock was playing hard to get, and apparently even Amanda was refusing the calls from her home planet about it. 

“Computer, where is Mr. Spock?” 

“Mr. Spock is currently in his quarters.” 

Kirk killed the lights on his way out and headed there immediately.

☆☆☆

Kirk knocked on Spock’s door after only a few minutes of agonizing about what to say. As he had strode down the long hallway from the turbolift to Spock’s door, he had realized that, though he might be a whiz with computers himself, Spock’s knowledge far outpaced his own. If Amanda was neglecting her duty as an ambassador from Earth to Vulcan, she would likely have a damn good reason. And Spock himself was playing coy with the admiralty.

The door opened and Kirk stepped inside. Spock’s room was warm--- he always set it hotter than the rest of the ship--- and smelled like his meditation incense. God, the idea that, soon, there would be no more Vulcan incense filling their bathroom and the hallway with its smoky sweetness made his heart ache. The Enterprise without Spock?

“Captain,” Spock said, standing next to his desk. “With what can I assist you?”

“Mr. Spock,” he said, entering the room. The lights had been dimmed, and the sweet smoke of the incense floated from a recently extinguished firepot. Spock’s Vulcan instruments hung from the walls, and the shelves were filled with both Vulcan artifacts and the other accoutrement he had collected on their travels. “Can I speak with you for a moment?”

“Certainly, captain,” Spock said, and he clasped his hands behind his back. His face was perfectly impassive. Whoever said Vulcans couldn’t lie had never known one for more than a few days--- or never knew one who had spent significant time with humans. 

“Have you heard from the admiralty recently?”

“No, sir,” Spock said. He held Kirk’s gaze, and then Kirk knew he was hiding something.

“Is that because they haven’t reached out, or because you personally haven’t seen the messages?” 

Spock closed his mouth, and Kirk knew that he had him. He walked further into the room and set himself halfway on Spock’s desk, crossing one leg over his knee. 

“Did you hack my padd?” 

“Not yours specifically, captain.” 

“Will you tell me what you did?” 

Spock’s eyes flashed in the dim light, but Kirk held his position. He had to at least know what Spock had done and what he wanted before he could make any further decisions. Finding out that the admiralty wanted Spock on his own ship without Kirk had thrown him off-guard, but the knowledge that Spock had been avoiding the request soothed the sting. He would make his peace if Spock wanted to leave. But if Spock didn’t, and the upper brass was trying to force him out… well, Kirk had gone to war with them before for less. To keep Spock? He would do anything. 

“I would apologize if my actions have put you into a difficult position, captain.” 

“I don’t care if you broke my padd or hacked the ship. But I just got off a call with Admiral April, asking me why I was blocking your promotion. The promotion I didn’t know about.” 

“Captain, I---” 

“Spock. What’s going on?”

Spock sighed, and his posture slumped minutely, and he braced himself against his desk with one long-fingered hand. “The admiralty has requested that I leave my position as first officer and take command elsewhere.” 

“But you’ve been avoiding their calls. And your mother has too.” 

“I am not interested in talking to them. And my mother knows what I intended for my career,” Spock said. 

“So you don’t want to leave.” The fist of tension that had clenched Kirk’s heart since April’s call was slowly releasing its grip. 

For the first time, Kirk saw shock in the set of Spock’s face. He squared his shoulders, facing Kirk, and said, “No, captain. I do not want to leave.” 

Kirk slumped on Spock’s desk, bracing his hands against his knees, and smiled at his first officer. “That was all I needed to know.” 

“You will not… discipline me? For interfering with the ship’s messaging system?”

“Oh, is that how you did it? No, Mr. Spock. I wish you had told me first, but I’m not going to court-martial you. I had just feared…” He trailed off. “I was afraid that you wanted to leave but did not want to tell me.” 

“I did not want you to endure any hardship or disciplinary action on my behalf. I thought that if I prevented you from having to respond to the admiralty, you would not feel obligated to obey their commands.” 

Kirk gaped at him. Spock’s eyes were trained on the ground by his feet, his hands clasped behind his back, and his face revealed nothing. “Obligated? Spock, if you did not want to leave, the admiralty would have to take you off the ship over my dead body.”

Spock’s eyes flicked to him, covertly, hopefully. But then he broke eye contact and pointed them towards the wall over Kirk’s shoulder. “I hope it will not come to that, captain.” 

“I would prefer that as well.” Kirk laughed. “But I’m serious, Spock. You can tell them no. There are other captains. I’m not going to let them take you if you don’t want to go.” 

Spock inhaled through his nose, closing his eyes, and for the first time Kirk registered the stress in the lines of his shoulders. He reached out, closing his hand around Spock’s upper arm. 

“We’re a team,” he said, as Spock’s eyes opened again. “I don’t want you to leave either. We’ll figure out something. They can’t take you if you don’t want to go.” 

“I wish I shared your faith, captain,” Spock said, but he gestured to their abandoned chessboard from a few nights previous and, when they sat to complete the game, a little of the tension had left his posture. 

Spock wiped the floor with him, but Kirk couldn’t complain. He would let Spock win every game they played for the next three years if it meant he wouldn’t leave. 

☆☆☆

“I’m sorry, but I’m breaking up the band. We need him on this science vessel, and you can have anyone else you want for first officer.” 

“I don’t want anyone else,” Kirk said, trying very hard to keep the child-like petulance from his voice. He kept his hands clasped behind his back to prevent them from shaking on-camera. “And First Officer Spock doesn’t want to leave.”

“It’s not about what you want. It’s about what Starfleet needs.” 

“He told you. He doesn’t want a captaincy. He doesn’t want command. That attitude does not exactly make for a stellar captain. You’re going to make him do it anyway?” 

April glared at him, and even over the hundreds of thousands of lightyears between them Kirk felt his disapproval. The other admirals behind him avoided Kirk’s eyes. “Change his mind, Kirk. Or we’re sending someone out for him. April out.” 

The screen between them went black and Kirk slumped back against his desk. He had thought--- after April’s first call--- that Spock saying no would have been the end of it. But Spock wanted to stay, and Kirk wanted him to stay, and he was going to lose him anyway. 

He dropped his head into his hands, running his fingers through his hair as he thought desperately for a way to make this work in their favor. Then his padd dinged. 

>CPike: I don’t envy the position you’re in. I would have felt the same way. 

>CPike: How well do you know Fleet regs?

>JTK: As well as any captain. Why?

>CPike: [Attachment: StarfleetRegulationManual.pdf] 

>CPike: You’d do anything to keep him?

>JTK: Yes

>CPike: I don’t mean to make any assumptions. But take a look at the regs about who can and can’t be separated. 

>JTK: I’ll take a look. Thank you, Chris.

As the hint of an idea percolated in the back of his mind, Kirk tapped on the attachment and the familiar document opened on his padd. He scrolled past all the introductory monologues about the values of Starfleet and searched for “separation.” 

He flipped past all the entries about being fired, losing limbs, and getting lost in space, until he landed on the entries about crew fraternization and inter-crew relationships. 

The next entry that came up in his search read: 

Married Partnerships; on ships, on starbases, at the Academy. 

Starfleet regulations prohibit the separation of legally bonded couples while serving on the same ship, starbase, or at the Academy or Headquarters. 

Kirk read the simple paragraph three times. He chewed on his lip as he re-read “legally bonded couples.” If they were married, they could not be separated. He thought about marrying Spock so that they could not be separated. He thought about them being able to serve together for the rest of their careers, regardless of who was placed where. He thought about not being able to marry anyone else for him and Spock to pull this off. 

"Computer, where is Mr. Spock?"

[chiropterancreed]

headcanon mainly for me: sarek has a collection of reproductions of human art. just little things amanda picked out for him. mostly ancient statues he keeps in a glass case with his collection of artifacts from vulcan and other cultures. i feel like it would make sense for an ambassador to keep the gifts that delegates of other planets have given him, vulcan or not. it isn't sentimental to keep gifts! it would be discourteous to reject them!! but his favorite, the one that has pride of place, is a reproduction of the venus of willendorf. he finds her soft little curves appealing, the obvious human origins are intriguing to him.

[kanekocribs]

KANEKO’S CRIB NOTES LXIV: KANEKO’S BIZARRE CRIBS

Our most monochromatic volume yet! Hirohiko Araki and his magnum opus Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure have achieved critical levels of popularity and cultural cachet worldwide and the demand is only going to get frothier thanks to the smooth animation of David Production and seamless distribution from Netflix. Kazuma Kaneko? Obviously a hip cat like him was into Jojo before it was cool. So like how David Production and Netflix keep killing it, you could say the same for Megaten; only Kaneko drew all these before Doi murdered him with an ORA ORA ORA from Amon’s horrible arms.

OCELOTL: Also known just as Ocelot, this is one of the jaguars that ate the giants of the First World in Aztec myth; being a cat, Kaneko molded the design around a then more contemporary former feline (who loves Yoshikage Kira): Stray Cat.

BS RECONSTRUCTION SOLDIER VULCAN: These ne’er-do-wells from Maken X’s London stage don’t just borrow Stroheim’s chest-gun: when they fire it in the game, they pose like him, too!

ACHERI: This obscure Indian ghost of a little girl follows quite literally in the footsteps of Alessi and his shadowy Stand, Sethan!

IXTAB (PROTOTYPE): Seen in Devil Summoner World Guidance, this male design for Maya suicide goddess Ixtab went unused for being too blunt a depiction of the subject, despite wearing the Stone Mask of vampiric immortality. The latter artifact was likely chosen as an accessory because of its origin from the proximate Aztec culture.

+PLUS: Our previous Jojo crib featuring Thanatos and Okuyasu’s father! & Special thanks to @dijeh for assistance with this volume!

[mahleb]

The conditions for the return of Vulcan in the style of "collect a few artifacts and get a Primarch" have always caused me only one association XD

[bumblingbabooshka]

Tuvok/T'Pel Moments from 'Seize the Fire'

Image 1, Compilation: She turned back towards the door that led to the exterior corridor, not wishing to disturb his meditations. She paused on the threshold when she heard his voice. “Please remain, my wife.”

“You may continue your meditations undisturbed, my husband,” she said. “There are child-care duties I can perform while you complete them.” “Your presence is no disturbance, T’Pel.”

_

“And if you end up just like White-Blue?” Ra-Havreii said with a scowl. “In that event, please inform T’Pel that I merely did what logic demanded,” Tuvok said. “And that my last thoughts were of her.”

_

“No, Captain,” the mate of Tuvok said, interrupting. “I understand his mission.”

Rry’kurr [Riker]’s brow wrinkled. “Funny. I don’t recall seeing you at the briefing.”

“Vulcans share a telepathic bond with their mates. Ours is particularly strong.”

_

“Tuvok has succeeded,” said T’Pel, who had somehow glided back over to [Riker’s] command chair without his having noticed her approach. He almost did a double take when he noticed a single tear rolling down her cheek. “The effort has been costly, but he has rendered the Brahma-Shiva artifact benign.”

_

T’Pel was right, [Riker] thought. Though he shared a similar link with his Imzadi, he wished he could feel as much certainty about the success of Deanna’s mission, or at least her well-being. Then he recalled the tear he had seen on T’Pel’s cheek. Her bond with Tuvok must have been powerful indeed to provoke such an intense emotional reaction in a Vulcan; perhaps having such an intimate connection could be a mixed blessing. Image 2:

T’Pel maintained her patient vigil at her husband's bedside, just as she had done for the entirety of the three previous days and the four previous nights.

A soft voice spoke from directly behind her. “You need to eat or drink something, T’Pel.”

T’Pel turned to face Counselor Troi. “Thank you, Counselor. But I am not experiencing any difficulties at the moment.”

T’Pel suddenly noticed a change on the overhead bio monitor. Her husband’s life signs had abruptly strengthened.

“She is correct, my wife,” Tuvok said, his voice sounding dry as Vulcan’s Forge, his eyes still closed. “You must take better care of yourself.”

Image 3:

“Do not be concerned about me, my husband. You should concentrate instead upon your recovery.” “Pulse, respiration, EEG,” Ogawa said. “All life signs have strengthened. But they are also growing less stable.”

“Twenty ccs inaprovaline,” Ree said.

Ogawa nodded, then picked up a hypospray and began to set it.

“I prefer the…traditional Vulcan method of regaining consciousness,” Tuvok said, his eyes still tightly closed. “My wife, please attend me.”

Ogawa and Ree exchanged confused looks for a moment, then stepped aside to clear a path for T’Pel.

T’Pel silently crossed to the biobed, pulled Tuvok’s shoulders until he had reached a slouched sitting position, and then methodically, unemotionally began to deliver a series of hard slaps across his face. Forehand. Backhand.

[...]

Suddenly both his inner and outer eyelids opened, and his combat trained hands moved swiftly to immobilize T’Pel’s. 

She remained at his side, gazing into his dark eyes as Ree and Ogawa scanned him. Her right index and middle fingers became her only point of physical contact with him, touching the same two fingers on Tuvok’s left hand.

[that-cunning-witch]

Know any good sources on Celtic (specifically Gaulish practices)? I know it’s not your area, but you seem like someone who might know some people who dabble in that sort of stuff. The area I live in has some celtic archeological sites, but sadly not much is known about the local religion or culture. I am trying to put together a Romano-Celtic hearth cult, but it’s difficult finding practices and deities that feel right.

Gaul is a larger Celtic area of Western Europe (modern-day France and parts of modern-day Belgium, Germany, and Northern Italy). I say this because the Celts, when invaded by Rome, took in a lot of Roman religion including Hellenic and (rarely) Kemetic beliefs as well. When the Celts did this, so did the Gauls.

If it helps at all, the specifics you're looking into is called Gallo-Roman, which is part of the larger Romano-Celtic area.

This selective acculturation manifested in several ways. One of the main ways we see this is with the melding of Greco-Roman deities with Gaulish (Celtic) deities. Gaulish epithets for Roman gods (Jupiter Poeninus) and Roman epithets for Gaulish gods (Lenus Mars). Roman gods were given Gaulish god partners (Mercury and Rosmerta & Apollo and Sirona). Towards the east of the Gauls, many mysteries were formed, including one for the Greek hero Orpheus, the Iranian (or Persian) god Mithras, and the Egyptian goddess Isis. In other words, a whole lot of syncretism.

When it came to the Gauls (and the Celts overall) a main part of their belief system was the heavy use of animal imagery. More specifically, zoomorphic deities. However, we see a lot more human-looking representations of the gods because the Romans (and Greeks) weren't too keen on the idea (see Greco-Egyptian).

As for specifically Gallo-Roman hearth religious beliefs, the Lares (Lar singular) is a good place to start. They're the equivalent of Agathos Daimon in Greek religion (Hellenism). Essentially, they're personal household deities that are connected to the hearth.

A majority of the information we have about the Gaelic culture and the eventual melding of the Gallo-Roman culture stems from two sources: artifacts and Julius Ceasar, who wrote all about in what we now call the "Commentarii de Bello Gallico". The gods that he mentions the Gauls worship (like Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, and Minerva) aren't really the Roman gods that the Gauls are worshipping at that time but rather the closest thing Ceasar can connect. For example, Caesar may say that the Gauls worshipped Mars, when in reality they were worshipping Lenus, a healing god that quickly became associated with Mars because of Caesar and the Roman Empire. However, not all of them were caught. Gobannus is the most well-known example we have, with him being the equivalent to the Roman god Vulcan or the Greek god Hephaestus and yet Caesar makes no comment on the Gaulish god.

One other thing, the specific time we are taking a look at was prior to the overtaking by the Anglos, Saxons, and Jutes (aka pre-Anglo-Saxon times). Because of this, Germanic (Norse) gods weren't known to these people yet. Odin, Thor, and Freyja were unknown to them at this point in time.

Other than that, the last thing I can give to you are articles and books that I stumbled upon that may pique your interest. I do recommend a couple of Wikipedia links, but just know that I recommend using Wikipedia as a jumping-off point. Hope this helps! :^)

Becoming Roman: the origins of provincial civilization in Gaul -- Greg Woolf https://archive.org/details/becomingromanori0000wool

The gods of the Celts -- Miranda Green https://archive.org/details/godsofceltsar00mira

Gallo-Roman Religious Sculptures -- A.N. Newell https://www.jstor.org/stable/640758

Fifth-Century Gaul: A Crisis of Identity? -- John Drinkwater & Elton Hugh https://www.loc.gov/catdir/samples/cam031/91018375.pdf

Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War: literally translated -- Frederick Holland Dewey, A.B. https://archive.org/details/caesarscommentar07caes

Category:Gaulish gods -- Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Gaulish_gods

Category:Gaulish goddesses -- Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Gaulish_goddesses

sources: https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/1999/1999.10.34/ http://www.deomercurio.be/en/dii.html https://www.britannica.com/topic/Celtic-religion/The-Celtic-gods https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lares https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lar-Roman-deities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallo-Roman_culture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallo-Roman_religion

[milkywayes]

Pspsps roll me something from the non mass effect side of the wip folder pls? [chinhands] maybe one you're super attached to or excited about!!

damn I really didn't anticipate that anyone would care but sure! Yeah! Thanks!

The one I'm most attached to and determined to actually goddamn finish one day is a Kirk/Bones Star Trek AOS fic I started in like 2019. It's called "the gossamer thread, flung" which is also the best title I've ever come up with that isn't a song lyric. It modifies the Walt Whitman poem a noiseless, patient spider.

It's supposed to have 3 acts and I got as far as the end of act 1.

If you'd like to read a snippet I'm all too happy to oblige:

Spock casts one long look at Jim’s stretched-out form, then rises back to his full height. “DRS, I presume, stands for ‘Delayed Radiation Sickness’?” “The one, the only.” “Given that you are the crew’s highest-qualified medical professional—” Leonard can’t listen to this. “Prolonged exposure is a risk I’m taking and one that I am, in fact, expected to take. No reason to let it get both of us.” He sighs. He doesn’t know what to make of this new trend of having to explain things that Spock is already perfectly aware of. Concern, again, probably. Can’t expect a Vulcan to know what to do with that. “Can’t we chuck the artifact downhill if you can’t beam with it? That would be a balm to my soul right now.” A short pause. Leonard glances up only to find himself on the receiving end of a head tilt. Slowly, Spock says, “Not unless you prefer Jim having gone through this, as he would say, ‘for nothing.’” “Damn him,” says Leonard lowly. The breeze that sweeps over the red hills laid out at their feet catches in the strands of hair sticking to Jim’s forehead, and the motion somehow makes him look even less alive: a body left out for the elements, still and uncaring of their touch. “Fine,” he says, his eyes on the shallow rise and fall of Jim’s chest. His voice sounds flat even to his own ears. “I’ll bring it. Don’t leave us down here too long—we needed that shuttle yesterday.”  If he expected Spock to argue about the logic of that sentence, he is sorely disappointed. All he says is, “Understood.” Footsteps leading away, slightly off-balance in the deep sand, and then: the clack of a communicator being opened. It’s a while until the beep that signals a successful-enough connection to subspace.  Leonard does not know he’s going to speak until his mouth is already open. He can’t bring himself to look away from Jim’s chest. “Spock, I’ll…” He doesn’t know, really. It could be: I’ll look after Jim. Could be: I’ll bring him home. Most likely, and most honestly, it’s: I’ll try. Low voices, and the comm snaps back shut. Spock catches alight in the corner of his eye, the Enterprise’s transporters working their dubious magic. His voice is already half-whisked away when he says, “I would not expect any differently, Leonard.” And then they’re alone.

[ezrisdax-archive]

fic ideas I had for things but never finished or started properly (also a lot of these I came up with with other people):

b7

fake dating au

accidentally got married au

 mutual pining whoops we're sleeping together anyway

ace attorney au

 seven as the one in shattered instead of chakotay au with maquis!b'elanna in janeways spot

future fic from naomi point of view about her gay aunts

dragon age au with warden!b'elanna and morrigan!seven

kes stays and is sick of them flirting and locks them in a closet au

 the coffee shop au I never finished which became a whole world anyway

 help desk support b'elanna dealing with ext 709 on the phone every day

hades game au

stuck on the holodeck and have to act the parts out to get out

utena au

xena au

troisha

expanding on the au I had where alternate reality tasha ended up in prime timeline instead of going to the past

xena au

roommates at starfleet au which I think I may have also done? so like...a different better one

 tasha didn’t die but ended up in some limbo form and deanna keeps seeing her as a ghost

kiradax (either dax)

reverse au with ezri as the dax host before jadzia and jadzia in season seven

mass effect au with asari!jadzia and human!kira

dragon age au with hawke!jadzia and mage!kira

au where kira stays on ds9 at the end of season six and is able to get to jadzia in time to save her but jadzia has to leave for trill for healing for a while and they write each other

chlodine

time loop au where they're looking for atlantis and whoops its got a funky artifact that has nadine looping

au where they meet much much sooner

office au where nadine is night security and chloe works late and keeps forgetting her badge and breaking in

wilenko

the au where one of them gets the beacon instead of shep

winter soldier cerberus au where they show up instead of sheps clone in ME3 or take kai lengs place in ME3

tim hortons vs starbucks au in niagra falls listen I'm canadian

stargate au

grissom academy instructor kaidan but ash on the normandy still

 pacific rim au

star wars au with clone soldier ash and jedi kaidan

vetryder

never went to andromeda au and ryders dig site needs supplies and she finds vetra

the typical au where sara isn't the pathfinder but calls dibs when she wakes up and meets vetra anyway

were dating pre andromeda but vetra thought ryder died when the hyperion didn't show up

misc star trek

seven/ezri where seven ends up on ds9 by the borg attacking the defiant and them getting seven from it look it wasn't fully fleshed out

divided we fall rewrite (ezri/lenara)

on an away mission together leading to fake dating (joann/keyla)

the kes stays on voyager, tom leaves au with kes, harry, b’elanna, and seven shenanigans (gen)

ezri and harry bffs serving on captain geordi's ship (gen)

misc

 ichiban time loop au (yakuza, gen)

au where korra doesn't fully get her memory back in season two but thinks her and asami are dating (lok, korrasami)

seong-hui keeps texting saeko and this leads to a relationship (yakuza, seong-hui/saeko)

tifa finds aerith at shinra hq where she’s been locked up for a while (ffvii, aerith/tifa)

tifa dead all along based on the latest trailer and technically a ghost but aerith drags her back to living anyway (ffvii, aerith/tifa)

rei begs susato to dress up again to get out of dating other guys (ace attorney, susahao)

franmaya star trek au with romulan/vulcan fran and trill maya (ace attorney, franmaya)

[whovianwatchingstartrek]

A Whovian Watches Star Trek for the First Time: Part 082 - The Ritual

Star Trek: Enterprise - Season 4 Episode 8 - Awakening

We open at Soval's trial after his mind-melding, and his position at Vulcan command has been terminated. Apparently, the council has also found that the member of command that planted the bomb was also a Syrrannite. Strange that the Syrrannites would plan false DNA of Syrrannites, so something fishy is going on with Vulcan Command.

After the intro, we return to T'Pol and Archer, who have been Captured by the Syrrannites. Of course, they have no idea that T'Pau's DNA was planted. Apparently Arev from last episode was their leader, and his real name is Syrran.

While in his jail cell, Archer has a vision, of civil war on Vulcan. A vision of the time of Surak. Apparently, it's now his responsibility to restore Surak's teachings to Vulcan. Apparently, when Syrran died he transferred the "katra of Surak", basically Surak's soul, to him. T'Pau mind melds with Archer, and confirms that it is the case.

Meanwhile, the Vulcan Command are plotting to bomb the Syrrannite sanctuary. Can I just say, I love the set design on the Vulcan council's room? The colours and the artwork on the walls are just so vivid, I love it.

The Syrranites prepare a ritual to take Surak's soul out of Archer, but it doesn't work. In fact, while it's happening, Archer received another vision of Surrak, this time warning that Vulcans are repeating history. Archer, T'Pol and T'pau then go into a cave to find an ancient artifact that was important to Surak, while the rest of the Syrranites prepare to evacuate from the bombardment.

Enterprise tries to send a shuttle down to Vulcan to find Archer, but the shuttle is spotted, leaving a beautifully tense situation between Trip and the Vulcan command. The command give Trip an Ultimatum to leave orbit immediately, but trip stands his ground, and a firefight breaks out between the Vulcans and Enterprise.

Archer and Co do manage to get the artefact, the bombing begins as they make their escape. The Syrranites didn't manage to evacuate in time, and a lot of them are dead. We get a genuinely sad scene as T'Pol holds her dying mother.

Towards the end of the episode, we find out the key difference between the main Vulcan religion and the Syrranites: and that entirely is that the Syrranites are Pacifists, but and are opposed to the command's plans for war against the Andorians. We leave off on the Cliffhanger of setting course to Andoria to warn them

The worldbuilding around the Vulcan religion in this episode is fun, and I like that's really playing with various concepts the show's brought up in relation to the Vulcans, Surak, their history of how they embraced emotional repression and Logic, and the mind-melding stuff. I still would have preferred a focus on the political intrigue with the council, but I have a feeling that's going to happen next time.

Comparing my Enjoyment of this Episode with a Doctor Who Universe Story of the Same Title

Doctor Who - Season 21 Serial 2 - The Awakening

It's been a while since one of these comparison segments has just let me use the main show! This time it's The Awakening from 1984. The Awakening isn't a story that people in Doctor Who fandom really focus one, it's a Fifth Doctor, Tegan and Turlough story set in the, at the time, present day.

Basically, during an overly-zealous English Civil War re-enactment game, people from the actual English Civil War end up being displaced through time to the Re-enactment, all as part of a ritual to free an ancient, alien psychic weapon called the Malus lurking underneath the village, exerting it's influence to free itself. There's a bit more to it, but in the interests of keeping this section brief, I'm skipping over a more detailed plot summary.

The Awakening is a nice short serial, and it serves as criticism of the themeparkification of history, the cutting out of the bad bits to make things more palatable for modern audiences, which is a bit deeper of theme than the Fifth Doctor Era usually went for.

Outside of it's themes however, there it's fairly average. It's setting isn't really anything new for Doctor Who, the 3rd Doctor Era did sleepy modern day English Villages a lot, The Malus as a villain has a striking design, but there isn't really anything to separate it from any of the other ancient evil entities in the Whoniverse. It's not a bad serial, it's just very played out as far as Who goes. As a serial it kinda has the feel that it's trying to be a 3rd Doctor story. I enjoyed it a lot, but the general rut of Early-80's who is very much present. Really good themes, kinda average execution, still a lot better than most of the 5th Doctor era.

Choosing between Enterprise's Awakening and Doctor Who's The Awakening is fairly difficult, but I think I'm gonna hand it to Star Trek's because I really enjoyed the worldbuilding. The Vulcans have been kicking about in Enterprise for a while, and we haven't had much worldbuilding focussed on them since season 2.