#which are black bears whose coloration is naturally white

[soars22]

So I was looking at the tracks and-

Yeah. Those are definitely bear tracks. If I had to guess, it probably has something to do with the whole Elena/purgatory worker/potential war situation that was hinted at previously. So this year’s definitely going to be fun!

[britneyshakespeare]

this is sooooo silly but i keep thinking about it. disgraced would-be-debut author cait corrain (a youtube video about that if you aren't aware of what i'm talking about). i can't remember where it was shown right now that they were talking to a biracial artist they were commissioning to draw a black character for them. for some reason they just kept wanting to like overexplain why they are going to an artist of color and how they would do a better job (why not just tell that particular artist how you appreciate their particular skills?). bc they were like well a white person probably wouldn't do as good a job on it. this might not seem like the most important thing to point out, but you don't need a reason to commission artists of color. you can just do that. there's nothing inherent to the art of drawing that would make white people less able to drawing people of color, or any person less able to draw anyone else with different features than them. especially if what you're seeking is a realistic piece; an experienced realistic artist shouldn't have trouble drawing ethnic features that they don't personally possess.

it felt like cait corrain was just very much overspeaking on troubles with racial representation in popular art. and they don't really know what those problems are or how they arise. when white artists are bad at drawing people of color, it's usually not that they just have some sort of difficulty of perceiving accurate shapes or forms. it's that their stylistic preference has a bias towards lighter skin, eurocentric features, that sort of thing. you don't have to tell an artist "i think you'd be better at drawing this character because you're non-white." like that's just so weird.

oh wait super important edit im making immediately bc i meant to say this in the original post: U CAN HIRE ARTISTS OF COLOR TO DRAW THINGS OTHER THAN PPL OF COLOR. HIRE ARTISTS OF COLOR FOR ANYTHING U WANT COMMISSIONED. U DONT NEED A VIRTUE-SIGNALLING REASON TO DO IT. u could even have them draw one of your white characters (gasp)

[transmutationisms]

can u elaborate on posture being a lie

As Beth Linker explains in her book “Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America” (Princeton), a long history of anxiety about the proximity between human and bestial nature has played out in this area of social science. Linker, a historian of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, argues that at the onset of the twentieth century the United States became gripped by what she characterizes as a poor-posture epidemic: a widespread social contagion of slumping that could, it was feared, have deleterious effects not just upon individual health but also upon the body politic. Sitting up straight would help remedy all kinds of failings, physical and moral [...] she sees the “past and present worries concerning posture as part of an enduring concern about so-called ‘diseases of civilization’ ”—grounded in a mythology of human ancestry that posits the hunter-gatherer as an ideal from which we have fallen.

[...]

In America at the turn of the twentieth century, anxieties about posture inevitably collided with anxieties not just about class but also about race. Stooping was associated with poverty and with manual, industrialized labor—the conditions of working-class immigrants from European countries who, in their physical debasement, were positioned well below the white Anglo-Saxon Protestant establishment. Linker argues that, in this environment, “posture served as a marker of social status similar to skin color.” At the same time, populations that had been colonized and enslaved were held up as posture paradigms for the élite to emulate: the American Posture League rewarded successful students with congratulatory pins that featured an image of an extremely upright Lenape man. The head-carrying customs associated with African women were also adopted as training exercises for white girls of privilege, although Linker notes that Bancroft and her peers recommended that young ladies learn to balance not baskets and basins, which signified functionality, but piles of flat, slippery books, markers of their own access to leisure and education. For Black Americans, posture was even more fraught: despite the admiration granted to the posture of African women bearing loads atop their heads, community leaders like Dr. Algernon Jackson, who helped establish the National Negro Health Movement, criticized those Black youth who “too often slump along, stoop-shouldered and walk with a careless, lazy sort of dragging gait.” If slouching among privileged white Americans could indicate an enviable carelessness, it was seen as proof of indolence when adopted by the disadvantaged.

This being America, posture panic was swiftly commercialized, with a range of products marketed to appeal to the eighty per cent of the population whose carriage had been deemed inadequate by posture surveys. The footwear industry drafted orthopedic surgeons to consult on the design of shoes that would lessen foot and back pain without the stigma of corrective footwear: one brand, Trupedic, advertised itself as “a real anatomical shoe without the freak-show look.” The indefatigable Jessie Bancroft trained her sights on children’s clothing, endorsing a company that created a “Right-Posture” jacket, whose trim cut across the upper shoulders gave its schoolboy wearer little choice but to throw his shoulders back like Jordan Baker. Bancroft’s American Posture League endorsed girdles and corsets for women; similar garments were also adopted by men, who, by the early nineteen-fifties, were purchasing abdominal “bracers” by the millions.

It was in this era that what eventually proved to be the most contentious form of posture policing reached its height, when students entering college were required to submit to mandatory posture examinations, including the taking of nude or semi-nude photographs. For decades, incoming students had been evaluated for conditions such as scoliosis by means of a medical exam, which came to incorporate photography to create a visual record. Linker writes that for many male students, particularly those who had military training, undressing for the camera was no biggie. For female students, it was often a more disquieting undertaking. Sylvia Plath, who endured it in 1950, drew upon the experience in “The Bell Jar,” whose protagonist, Esther Greenwood, discovers that undressing for her boyfriend is as uncomfortably exposing as “knowing . . . that a picture of you stark naked, both full view and side view, is going into the college gym files.” The practice of taking posture photographs was gradually abandoned by colleges, thanks in part to the rise of the women’s movement, which gave coeds a new language with which to express their discomfort. It might have been largely forgotten were it not for a 1995 article in the Times Magazine, which raised the alarming possibility that there still existed stashes of nude photographs of famous former students of the Ivy League and the Seven Sisters, such as George H. W. Bush, Bob Woodward, Meryl Streep, and Hillary Clinton. Many of the photographs in question were taken and held not by the institutions themselves but by the mid-century psychologist William Herbert Sheldon. Sheldon was best known for his later discredited theories of somatotypes, whereby he attributed personality characteristics to individuals based on whether their build was ectomorphic, endomorphic, or mesomorphic.

[...]

Today, the descendants of Jessie Bancroft are figures like Esther Gokhale, a Bay Area acupuncturist and the creator of the Gokhale Method, who teaches “primal posture” courses to tech executives and whose recommendations are consonant with other fitness trends, such as barefoot running and “paleo” eating, that romanticize an ancestral past as a remedy for the ills of the present. The compulsory mass surveillance that ended when universities ceased the practice of posture photography has been replaced by voluntary individual surveillance, with the likes of Rafi the giraffe and the Nekoze cat monitoring a user’s vulnerability to “tech neck,” a newly named complaint brought on by excessive use of the kind of devices profitably developed by those paleo-eating, barefoot-running, yoga-practicing executives. Meanwhile, Linker reports, paleoanthropologists quietly working in places other than TikTok have begun to revise the popular idea that our ancient ancestors did not get aches and pains in their backs. Analysis of fossilized spines has revealed degenerative changes suggesting that “the first upright hominids to roam the earth likely experienced back pain, or would have been predisposed to such a condition if they had lived long enough.” Slouching, far from being a disease of civilization, then, seems to be something we’ve been prone to for as long as we have stood on our own two feet.

[stalkerofthegods]

Artemis Straight to the point info 

Herbs • Artemisia, plants that bloom under the moonlight, Cypress, Chamomile, thyme, Lavender, Mugwort (poisonous if used in large amounts and can irritate skin), Birch, Juniper (poisonous if used in large amounts and can irritate skin), Mint, Pine (poisonous if used in large amounts and can irritate skin), Sage, Thistle (poisonous if used in large amounts and can irritate skin), Yarrow (poisonous if used in large amounts and can irritate skin), Angelica (poisonous if used in large amounts and can irritate skin), Bay Laurel (poisonous if used in large amounts and can irritate skin), Coriander, Dill, amaranth, cannabis, cedar, cypress, daisy, date palm, hazel, mugwort, myrtle, ox-eye daisy, silver fir, willow, laurel trees, fir trees, Various nuts or nut trees, Asphodel, Wormwood, wild flowers, Tarragon

Animals• deer/stags, geese, wild dogs, fish, goats, bees, hounds, all animals (she is the creator of all Animals in some discriptons), Calydonian boar, partridges, guineafowls, lions or leopards, bees, bears especially, bulls 

Zodiac • Cancer, Sagittarius, and Scorpio 

Colors • Silver, green, blood red, moonlight silver, Yellow

Crystal• moonstone, Black jasper, Clear quarts, Opal, White or black pearls, Amethyst, Black tourmaline.

Symbols• quiver, hunting spears, a torch, and a lyre, deer 

Jewelry you can wear in their honor• You can veil, and wear a maternity outfit in her honor while giving birth. 

Diety of • Unmarried Girls, Girl Childhood, hunting, chastity, menstruation, fast and easy death in childbirth, nature, childbirth, wildlife, healing, sudden death, animals, lakes, springs, virginity, young women, archery, and the moon

Patron of • childbirth, and fertility (Virgin means unmarried when she got the title before the meaning of it today, she helped Apollo be born, which accords to fertility), lesbians, unmarried women, hunt, chastity, archery, and the wilds, she protects girls and women during childbirth, menstruation, the moon, Nursing infants, Maiden dances, Maiden song, nurses/doctors who help with childbirth

Offerings•  •Bows and arrows, Images of Artemis, Game meat, Amphiphontes (round cakes topped with tiny torches, These are likely a reference to the full moon. White-frosted cupcakes with white or silver candles may be a suitable substitute), Cakes, cookies, pastries shaped like animals (ex-particularly deer), Red wine, Red grape, popomegranate, cranberry juice, Honey, Luxurious clothing, Wildflowers, almonds, goats, Honey, Hunting tools, javelins, nets, traps, masks, flowers, animal bones, tusks, taxidermy, tusks, animal hides, clothing (your favorite clothing or a garment you bought specifically for her), Owl and quail feathers, your hair 

Devotional• Donate to childbirth charities, donate to young girl charities and programs,   Dancing, Herbalism, Donating woman and girl clothes, taking nature walks, enjoying nature, give her offerings at midnight, make arrows, devote your hunting (invoke her before and thank her after), have a feast of her favorite food in her honor

Ephithets & titles • ACRAEA/Akraia - given to various goddesses and gods whose temples were situated upon hills, AEGINAEA/Aiginaia - when she was worshipped at Sparta, AETO′LE/Aitôlê - when she was worshipped at Naupactus, AGORAEA/AGORAEUS/Agoraia/Agoraios - protectors of the assemblies of the people in the agora, AGRO′TERA/Agrotera - the huntress, ALPHAEA/ALPHEAEA/ALPHEIU′SA/Alphaia/Alpheaia/Alpheiousa - derived from the river god Alpheius, who loved her, AMARYNTHUS/Amarunthos - a hunter of Artemis, A′NGELOS/Angelos - when she was worshipped at Syracuse, APANCHO′MENE/Apanchomenê - the strangled goddess, ARICI′NA/Arikinê -from the town of Aricia in Latium, ARISTO/Aristô - the best, ASTRATEIA/Astrateia - she was believed to have stopped the progress of the Amazons, BRAURO′NIA/Braurônia - from the demos of Brauron in Attica, CALLISTE/Kallistê - when she was worshipped at Athens and Tegea, CARYA′TIS/Karuatis - from the town of Caryae in Laconia, CHITO′NE/Chitônê - represented as a huntress with her chiton girt up, CHRYSAOR/Chrusaôr - The god with the golden sword or arms, CNA′GIA/Knagia - derived from Cnageus, COLAENIS/Kolainis - from the Attic demos of Myrrhinus, CORDACA/Kordaka - derived from an indecent dance called kordac, performed in honour of the goddess after a victory,  CORYPHAEA/Koruphaia - the goddess who inhabits the summit of the mountain, CORYTHA′LLIA/Koruthallia - from Sparta, at whose festival of the Tithenidia, CRANAEA/Kranaia - derived from a temple on a hill near Elateia in Phocis, Kunthia and Kunthios - surnames respectively of Artemis and Apollo,  DAPHNAEA and DAPHNAEUS/Daphnaia and Daphnaios - surnames of Artemis and Apollo, DE′LIA and DE′LIUS/Dêlios and Dêlia or Dêlias - surnames of Apollo and Artemis, DELPHI′NIA/Delphinia -Artemis at Athens, DERRHIA′TIS/Derriatis -  derived from the town of Derrhion, 

EURY′NOME/Eurunomê - from Phiglea in Arcadia, GAME′LII/Gamêlioi theoi - the divinities protecting and presiding over marriage, GENETYLLIS/Genetullis - the protectress of births, HECAERGE/Hekaergê - a daughter of Boreas, who were believed to have introduced the worship of Artemis in Delos, HEGE′MONE/Hêgemonê - leader or ruler, HEMERE′SIA/Hêmerêsia - soothing goddess, HEURIPPE/Heurippa -  finder of horses, HY′MNIA/Humnia - when she was worshipped throughout Arcadia, IMBRA′IA/Imbrasia - surname of Artemi, ISSO′RIA/Issôria - derived from Mount Issorion, LA′PHRIA/Laphraia - surname of Artemis among the Calydonians, LEUCOPHRYNE/Leukophrunê - derived from the town of Leucophrys in Phrygia, LIME′NIA/LIMENI′TES/LIMENI′TIS, and LIMENO′SCOPUS/Limenia/Limenitês/Limenitis/Limenodkopos - the protector or superintendent of the harbour, LIMNAEA/LIMNE′TES/LIMNE′GENES/Limnaia/Limnêtês/Limnêgenês - inhabiting or born in a lake or marsh, LOCHEIA/Locheia - the protectress of women in childbed, LYCEIA/Lukeia - a surname of Artemis, LYCOA′TIS/Lukoatis - surname of Artemis, LYGODESMA/Lugodesma - surname of Artemis whose statue had been found by the brothers Astrabacus and Alopecus under a bush of willows, LYSIZO′NA/Lusizônê - the goddess who loosens the girdle, MELISSA/Melissa - alleviates the suffering of women in childbed, MUNY′CHIA/Mounuchia - derived from the Attic port-town of Munyhia, OENOA′TIS/Oinôatis - surname of Artemis, O′RTHIA/Orthia/Orthias/Orthôsia - regarded as the goddess of the moon, ORT′YGIA/Ortugia - derived from the island of Ortygia, PARTHE′NIA/Parthenia - the maiden, PHERAEA/Pheraia - surname of Artemis at Pherae in Thessaly, PHOEBE/Phoibê - regarded as the female Phoebus or sun, PHO′SPHORUS/Phôsphoros - occurs as a surname of several goddesses of light, PITANA′TIS/Pitanatis - derived from the little town of Pitana in Laconia, where she had a temple, SARO′NIS/Sarônis - surname of Artemis at Troezene, SARPEDO′NIA/Sarpêdonia - derived from cape Sarpedon in Cilicia, SOTEIRA/Sôteira - the saving goddess, TAU′RICA/DEA/hê Taurikê - the Taurian goddess, TAURIO′NE/TAURO/TAURO′POLOS/TAURO′POS/Tauriônê, Taurô/Tauropolo/Taurôpos - originally a designation of the Tauran goddess, 

THOANTEA - a surname of the Taurian Artemis, UPIS/Oupis - assisting women in child-birth, Αγροτερη/Agrotera - Of the Hunt, Δικτυνναια/Dictynnaea - Of the Hunting Nets, Φεραια/Pheraea - Of the Beasts, Ελαφιαια/Pheraea - Of the Deer, Δαφναιη/Daphnaiê - Of the Laurel-Tree, Κεδρεατις/Kedreatis - Of the Cedar-Tree, Καρυαι/Karyai - Of the Walnut-Tree, Καρυατις/Karyatis - Of the Walnut-Tree, Λιμναιη/Limnaiê - Of the Lake, Λιμνατις/Limnatis - Of the Lake, Ἑλεια/Hêleia - Of the Marshes, Ευρυνωμη/Eurynômê - Of Broad Pastures, Λυκειη/Lykeiê - Of the Wolves, Λευκοφρυηνη/Leukophruênê - Of the White-(Bird?), Παιδοτροφος/Paidotrophos - Nurse of Children, Φιλομειραξ/Philomeirax - Friend of Young Girls, Ορσιλοχια/Orsilokhia - Helper of Childbirth, Σελασφορος/Selasphoros - Light-Bringer, Φωσφορος/Phôsphoros - Light-Bringer, Σωτειρα/Sôteira - Saviour, Ἡμερασια/Hêmerasia - She who Soothes, Ὑμνιη/Hymniê - Of the Hymns, Ἡγεμονη/Hêgemonê - Leader (of Dance, Choir), Κορδαξ/Kordax - Of Cordax Dance, Αριστη/Aristê - Best and Excellent, Ευκλεια/Eukleia - Of Good Repute, Καλλιστη/Kallistê - Very Beautiful, Πατρωια/Patrôia - Of the Fathers or Ancestral, Βασιλεις/Basileis - Princess/Royal, Ἱερεια/Hiereia - Priestess, Πρωτοθρονιη/Prôtothroniê - Of the First Throne, Μουνυχια/Mounykhia - Of Munychia (Attica), Βραυρωνια/Braurônia - Of Brauron (Attica), Κορυφαια/Koryphaia - Of Mt Coryphus (Argos), Αιγιναιη/Aiginaiê - Of Aegina, Δερεατις/Dereatis - Of Dereum (Laconia), Αλφειαια/Alpheiaiai - Of Alpheus R. (Elis), Αλφειωσια/Alpheiôsia - Of Alpheus R. (Elis), Αλφειουση/Alpheiousê - Of Alpheus R. (Elis), Λυκοη/Lykoê - Of Lycoa (Arcadia), Σκιατις/Stymphalia - Of Scias (Arcadia), Στυμφαλια/Skiatis - Of Stymphalus (Arcadia), Κνακαλησια/Knakalêsia - Of Mt Cnacalus (Arcadia), Αιτωλη/Aitôlê - Of Aetolia, Αμαρυσιη/Amarysiê - Of Amarynthus (Euboea), Αμαρυνθια/Amarynthia - Of Amarynthus (Euboea), Φεραια/Pheraia - Of Pherae (Thessaly), Ροκκαια/Rhokkaia - Of Rhocca (Crete), Μυσια/Mysia - Of Mysia, Αστυρηνη/Astyrênê - Of Astyra (Troad), Κολοηνης/Koloênês - Of Coloe (Lydia), Εφεσια/Ephesia - Of Ephesus (Caria), Κινδυας/Kindyas - Of Cindya (Caria), Περγαια/Pergaia - Of Perge (Pamphylia), Σκυθια/Skythia - Of Scythia, Ταυρια/Tauria - Of Tauric Chersonese, Ταυροπολος/Tauropolos - Of Taurus-City (Scythia), Ιφιγενεια/Iphigeneia - Of Iphigenia (heroine), Σαρωνις/Sarônis - Of Saron (hero Argos), Κναγια/Knagia - Of Cnageus (hero Sparta), Ελαφιαια/Elaphiaia - Of Elaphius (hero Elis), Καλλιστω/Kallistô - Of Callisto (heroine Arcadia), Λαφρια/Laphria - Of Laphrus (hero Phocis), Σαρπεδωνια/Sarpedônia - Of Sarpedon (hero Lycia?), Προπυλαιη/Propylaiê - Of the Gate, Ορθια/Orthia - Of the Steep, Αγοραια/Agoraia - Of the Market-Place, Απανχομενη/Apankhomenê - Strangled Lady, Λυγοδεσμη/Lygodesmê - Willow-Bound, Αστρατεια/Astrateia - Stayed the Advance, Ἑυριππα/Heurippa - Horse-Finder, Πειθω/Peithô - Persuasive, Πυρωνια/Pyrônia - Of the Fire, Κολαινις/Kolainis - Hornless,

Docked (Animal), Κονδυλεατις/Kondyleatis - Of Knuckles? (kondylos), Λευκοφρυνη/Leukophrynê - White-Toad?, -Bird?, Κοκκωκη/Kokkôkê - Of Berry-Seed? (kokkos), Κνακεατις/Knakeatis - Of Wolves? (knêkias, knakias), Αναιιτις/Anaiitis - (Lydian Goddess?), Ισσωρια/Issôria - unkown, Νεμυδια/Nemydia - unkown, Πωτνια Θερων/Pôtnia Therôn - Queen of Beasts, Ποτνα Θεα/Potna Thea - Goddess Queen, Λητωις/Lêtôis - Daughter of Leto, Λατωια/Latôia - Daughter of Leto, Λητωιας/Lêtôias - Daughter of Leto, Ἑκατη/Hekatê - Far-Shooting, Ἑκατηβολος/Hekatêbolos - Far-Shooting,Ἑκαεργε/Hekaerge - Worker from Afar, Ιοχεαιρα/Iokheaira - Of Showering Arrows, Χρυσηλακατος/Khrysêlakatos - Of the Golden Distaff, Χρυσαλακατος/Khrysalakatos - With Shafts of Gold, Αγροτερα/Agrotera - Of the Hunt, Θηροσκοπος/Thêroskopos - Hunter of Wild Beasts, Ελαφηβολος/Elaphêbolos - Deer-Shooting, Χρυσηνιος/Khrysênios - Of the Golden Reins, Χρυσοθρονος/Khrysothronos - Of the Golden Throne, Ευστεφανος/Eustephanos - Well-Girdled/Sweet-Garlanded, Κελαδεινος/Keladeinos - Strong-Voiced, Κελαδεινη/Keladeinê - Lady of Clamours, Ἁγνη/Hagnê - Chaste/Pure, Παρθενος/Parthenos - Virgin/Maiden, Αιδοιος παρθενος/Aidoios Parthenos - Revered Virgin, Προστατηρια/Prostatêria - Standing Before/Guardian, Αρτεμισιον/Artemision - Temple of Artemis, Ταυροπολιον/Tauropolion - Temple of Taurian Artemis, Εφεσιον/Ephesion - Temple of Ephesian Artemis

Attedees• OKEANIDES Cloud-Nymphai (only 60 of the 3000), NAIADES Fresh-water Nymphai (only some), BRITOMARTIS Goddess of Nets, Apotheosed girl-companions (ex- Phylonoe, Polyboia, Iphigeneia, Oupis), Mortal hunting companions (ex- Kallisto, Hippolytos)

Equivalents• Diana (Roman), Selene (Greek), Artume (Etruscan), Flidais (Celtic), Skadi (Norse), Bendis (Thracian goddess), Bastet (Egyptian goddess), Perasia (Cappadocian goddess), Tauria (Taurian goddess)

Signs their reaching out• Sudden pull to research her, to hunt, suddenly meeting people hunting, being a girl group all of sudden, focusing on yourself and not sexuality. 

Vows/omans• being a sacred Virgin/unmarried forever 

Number• 6 

Morals• Morally dark.

Personality• Introverted and independent temperament, practical, adventurous, athletic, and prefers solitude, she loves hunting, she is focused. 

Home• Mount Olympus but does spend a lot of time in the forest. 

Mortal or immortal • Immortal

Facts• Artemis was both a hunter of wild animals and their protector, she helped Leto birth to Apollo (suggesting that she was already mentally developed in the wound.)

Curses• miscarriage, Stunted growth, Illness & disease, Sudden death, plague 

Blessings• Success in hunting, fishing, and fowling, Successful delivery, good health

Roots• She was first mentioned on 700 BC, by Hesiod, In the Theogony she was born on the island of Delos.

Parentage• Zeus and Leto 

Siblings• Apollo (twin brother and full sibling), Aeacus, Angelos, Aphrodite, Ares, Athena, Dionysus, Eileithyia, Enyo, Eris, Ersa, Hebe, Helen of Troy, Hephaestus, Heracles, Hermes, Minos, Pandia, Persephone, Perseus, Rhadamanthus, the Graces, the Horae, the Litae, the Muses and the Moirai.

Pet• Deers/Doe, they pull her chariot 

Appearance in astral or gen• usually depicted as a girl or young maiden with a hunting bow and quiver of arrows

Festivals • Mounukhia, Artemisia (6th June, Modern festival of Artemis where anything goes, celebrating freedom and modern inspiration),  Elaphebolia (6 Elaphebolion, March-April, Festival of Artemis the deer hunter), Kharisteria (6 Boedromion September-October, Festival of thanks to Artemis for Athen’s survival of the Persian assault at Marathon), Mounykhia (16 Mounykhion April-May, Festival of Artemis the light bringer), Philokhoria (Modern observance – Summer Solstice, A joint festival of Artemis and Apollo), Sixth (6th each month, Sacred to Artemis), Thargelia (6-7 Thargelion May-June, Birthday of Apollon and Artemis, first fruit offerings and purification festival)

Season • April and March

Day • Monday 

Secred places• Ephesus/Turkey, Island Delos, Aitolia in Greece, Greek Island Lykia in Anatolia

Status• Greek goddess, in the theoi.

Planet• Moon, (some also believe Venus.)

Her Tarot cards• the high priestess, the temperance card, and the page of wands

Scents/Inscene • Jasmine and lemon, mrryth, frankincense

Prayers• 

Prayer 1

Welcome beloved Artemis, our keen-eyed queen, I beg you hear me now. I pray you guide me that I might find the way. I pray you strengthen me that I might persevere along it. Make my discernment as yours that I might find worthy aims. Make my instinct as yours that I might seize worthy opportunities. Welcome sister of Apollo, golden huntress, we honor and thank you.

Prayer 2

Fleet-footed Artemis, keen-eyed daughter of Zeus and gentle Leto, sister of bright Apollo, we see your shadow in the woods, the curve of your bow, the flex of your arm, we hear the wind whisper as your arrows seek their mark–deadly your art, flawless your aim. Huntress you are, O Artemis, slayer of the stag and the boar, slayer of men and of women, death by your hand is death unforeseen. Maiden are you, goddess, and friend of maidens; ever-youthful one, your favor falls on the young, watching over young girls as they brave the world’s wonders, comforting the mother in the throes of her labor, keeping in your care the newborn babe. Artemis, shining maid of the wilderness, who takes pleasure in games, in contest and in merriment, who leads the nymphs in their carefree dance, whose clear voice we hear in the songs of young women and the hunter’s cry. Artemis, strong and tall, I praise and honor you.

3rd Prayer 

I praise bright Artemis, fair as the budding branch, fair as the spotted fawn, brave as the young bear. From crafty Hephaistos you took the artful bow, the sharp-barbed shafts; from father Zeus you claimed your calling. Far-shooting Artemis, through the thick of the darkened wood you make your way, trailing boar and hare, swiftly and silently, your aim ever flawless, ever kind.

Prayer 4

Artemis, light-bringer, mountain-dweller, graceful one who runs through thorn and thistle with never a scratch, goddess unparalleled, friend of mothers in their travels, friend of maidens, friend of the pretty nymphs, in old Arcadia you roamed the wilderness, in Tauris you took the blood of men, in Ephesus you wore the mural crown. The fire of youth is in you, goddess, the bold and valiant spirit that marks a child as yours. Free-hearted Artemis, worthy daughter of Leto, I honor you always.

5th Prayer

I praise you, Artemis, free-hearted child of Zeus and blessed Leto, courageous goddess who roams the wildwoods with silver bow at hand. Artemis of many names, Artemis of many lands, your temples stood shining and tall, in cities and in villages. In the long days of summer the maidens dance in your honor; in Brauron were the little she-bears under your care. Artemis, the mountains are yours to wander, fleet-footed and firm of step; the wilds of the world are dear to you, O guardian of wood and of beast. Goddess who takes joy in dance and song, companion of the laughing nymphs in all their play, of all young maids you are the swiftest and the strongest, the fairest and the first, in skill and grace the greatest.

Websites/sources in comments.

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Artemis who is the light, and the arrow in the bow, and the bullet in a hunting gun, and the same string In a lyre and a bow. May we all praise the wise huntress, Who is gentle to young girls and the bringer of Swift death from her golden bow.

———————-

Payment to my friend Bri https://www.tumblr.com/briislame

[noobsomeexagerjunk]

Personal QSMP design hcs and interpretations (PART 1)

1. q!Quackity

ducktaur. predominantly golden yellow feathers and bright orange duck legs

partial heterochromia (dark brown with bits of bluish-grey)

his wear is different depending on which language he is maining at the moment

Eng!Q has an eyebrow scar, calloused hands, and some browning feathers. Wears religious jewelry and warm-colored clothes.

ESP!Q has ear piercings and blue-dyed feathers. Always has a clip-on tie and cool colored clothes.

Post-Tilin death, he either has their ribbon as a necktie (ESP) or belt (ENG)

has a pin of the QSMP logo always on his person

Brushes his feathers before teaching class

2. q!Jaiden

she is the cartoon character reflected by the mc skin, though is nonetheless perceived as human

she magical girl transforms into the vtuber fit whenever she wants to. Most of the time, it's to fight or to protect Bobby

she transforms using a magical brooch that resembles the emblem on her vtuber fit. she can add stuff on the brooch to alter her transformed appearance (like changing the bird wings to butterfly ones, or having a shiny rainbow mode)

she made a smaller, less powerful replica of her brooch for Bobby so he can get into armor much faster

she "draws" things out of her inventory with her fingers in the air (think the spellcasting of the witches in The Owl House, but with different symbols)

When Bobby died, her transformed look takes on a more dark and brooding appearance

3. q!Roier

he's not a spider hybrid but like, an actual Spiderman—literally got bit by a radioactive spider and everything

alternates between his superhero suit and a civilian fit. like jaiden, he transforms between fits superhero style

can fire webs from his hands, has slight spider sense, and also venomous saliva (so i beg of you, do not get head from this man)

wears natural makeup bc he likes to. he darkens it a little when he feels particularly vengeful (this is canon but yk)

the spiderman traits also apply to Melissa, whose dyed lingerie is literally weaved from spider webs

Post-Bobby death, he wears more blacks (both in civilian and superhero fits) and a lot more eyeliner

4. q!Bad

humanoid looking demon. resembles a void-like shadow in extreme emotional states

distinctly has a glowing halo. it has long horns growing out of it + a shadowy demon tail

has his mc skin's hoodie but sleeveless. collared shirts of any color is usually under that + beige khakis, white socks and various sneakers!

His hoodie has a small embroidered symbol of the Order Theoritas, hidden near the collar of the hood

his hair is long and usually tied loosely. wears glasses as well

sharp canines make him look a bit catty

his reaper get-up is well-sewn cursed cloth. wearing the fit makes his halo and tail larger, darker, and more shadowy

there's a block of diamond + an image of skeppy always on his person

He lets Dapper wear the ghost chat bell as a tail accessory

5. q!Spreen

werebear. He turns into a human during sunny daytimes, and is otherwise an anthromorphic bear-man.

black bear, like the mc skin

fashion sense however matches the CC; generally street-looking even with the bulk of armor

canines and claws glow when he's fighting someone in bear mode. he grows them out fighting during his human state

smells like cigarettes

6. q!Slime

a player equivalent to minecraft slime

prefers taking on a humanoid appearance, and has taken it long enough to master recolorization of said state. feels uncomfortable taking any other form as well

experiences pain when shifting (i mean that's also canon but yk)

behaves like a magma cube in extreme negative emotional states. will resemble one if you piss him off enough

he has no actual clothes, he shapeshifts the appearance of clothing. (q!Mariana has noticed, and he doesn't like to think too hard about it) his most external layer is armor and glasses.

he and q!Mariana have each a piece of Juanaflippa's shell on their person

7. q!Cellbit

human. well, not completely according to genetics but is more or less perceived as one.

The CC but wearing the blockman-cubito's fits

wears eyeliner to hide the eyebags. This doesnt work and only makes his eyes more expressive

a shadow looms the upper half of his face whenever he's being super weird and mysterious. It darkens when he's consciously about to do something really bad in a dramatic anime way; this is much more emphasized if he puts on his goggles

he paints his nails and the paint always trails. these glow sailor moon style when he comes into contact with the blood of any living creature

has a caffeine addiction

The chainsaw scars are deep enough that Cellbit doesn't like looking at himself when changing; he forces it though to remember why he's doing anything at all

Taught Richas how to draw the symbol for the Ordo Theoritas. He also has the symbol pressed into the leather of his gloves

8. q!Wilbur

humanoid man of unidentified species. perceived as human.

really is human looking, minus the pointy ears and prismatic irises

wears clear glasses. yellow sweater + sleeveless brown longcoat + grey jeans + black boots

has a black scarf and red beanie both made of wool and embroidered with gold threaded flowers.

always has a guitar on his person. since tallulah entered his life, he's let her put stickers and draw all over it.

They jam together when they can

may or may not have an enchanted singing voice

part 2

[blizzardstarx]

Pontalo Continent AU Masterlist

MoonWings full information!! (based on the NightWing wiki page)

MoonWings, also known as night/moon dragons to humans, are the ancestors of NightWings and are a Pontalonian tribe currently residing in the Moon Kingdom, and currently ruled by Queen Crescent.

Description:

MoonWings have forked, pitch-black tongues, and their scales are usually dark colors, usually black or shades of dark green, blue, purple, or dull gray. Their underbellies can be silver, white, gray, deep blue, purple, or dark green, and have dapples of silver scales running along their necks and above their eyes. MoonWings hatched under a blood moon are dark red and red in color. They also have bioluminescent scales on their bellies, under their eyes, and on their main body, which are shaped like phases of the moon. MoonWings can ‘dim’ their large bioluminescent scales to blend into the shadows. Their wings have silver star-like scales scattered across them like a night sky, forming different patterns, which are genetic. MoonWings can have black, dark blue, dark green, purple, or dark brown eyes, and they have straight horns.

They blend into shadows and the night sky because of their dark colors and wing patterns. Mind readers and empaths have silver teardrop scales by the corners of their eyes, but not all MoonWings that have these scales have powers. MoonWings with the power of prophecy do not have any physical indications of their power.

Their eggs are black with white spots.

Diet:

MoonWings eat wolves, bears, owls, foxes, badgers, coyotes due to their nocturnal nature, and occasionally snakes, hawks, squirrels, and fish. They also cook their food with their fire.

Abilities:

MoonWings are a nocturnal tribe that blend into the shadows and night sky. They can breathe fire, and use dark powers (but prefer not to). They have a strong sense of smell and powerful night vision, as powerful as HydroWings.

MoonWings hatched under one full moon have mind-reading, prophetic powers, or empath. Hatched under two full moons, MoonWings have two of those powers, and under three full moons, they have all of them and their powers are stronger. The power of the gifts vary. Their powers are also empowered when at least one of the moons are full, and get more empowered with every moon. Blood moons also enhance their powers.

Note: MoonWing powers are stronger than NightWings, whose powers grew weaker over time and evolution.

Mind-reading MoonWings can observe the thoughts of those around them. They hear thoughts as the dragon thinks them, often only picking up phrases and pictures. Thoughts are louder and stronger to the mind reader when they are touching the former, and can hear their thoughts clearly.

MoonWing dragonets are taught ways to block out others' minds. Mind readers can also project their thoughts to other mind readers, creating mental conversations, and powerful mind readers can block prophets’ visions. MoonWings with this power hatched under a blood moon can project their thoughts to any dragon.

MoonWing seers can see visions of the future, occasionally having a true prophecy, manifesting as words in their mind instead of a vision. Sometimes prophets take regular visions and translate them to sound like prophecies. Very powerful seers can look into the future and follow timelines. Blood moon seers can see terrible events and natural disasters with particular clarity.

When MoonWings deliver prophecies, their eyes and bioluminescent scales glow, and their voices become low and shivery.

Empaths can feel other dragons’ emotions, and their powers are stronger when touching the dragon.

Animus magic:

MoonWings have had a few animus dragons, but none currently, unlike their relatives, the HydroWings.

Society:

During the BloodWings:

MoonWings became one of the most mysterious tribes as barely anyone sees them, since they’re nocturnal and blend into the darkness, and are hiding from the other tribes. They gather information from sneaking around and spying on what’s going on with the BloodWings, the latter seeing them as a non-threat and similar to each other. They’re great at keeping secrets and hiding information.

Also, they have a feud/rivalry with the SunWings because they’re opposites of each other. However, since they are in hiding, it’s on hold.

Prophetic MoonWings are expected to deliver their visions of the BloodWings.

Before the BloodWings:

MoonWings were mostly nocturnal, but not fully like modern times. They traveled across Pontalo and had scrolls and records stored in libraries and scriptoriums.

Some jobs MoonWings can take up are a writer, doctor, hunter, librarian, and many other things. MoonWings with powers had their own jobs as well, and some seers would share their visions with the other tribes.

Names:

MoonWing names are usually phases of the moon, night-themed, their powers, personality, relate to an aptitude or job, or describe their physical appearance.

Trivia:

MoonWings’ bioluminescent scales all used to be moon and star shaped, and they looked closer to the HydroWings.

They have around 80 bioluminescent scales total.

MoonWings can hang from the ceiling like bats and NightWings, another similarity to BloodWings.

BloodWings and MoonWings share a common ancestor and are distantly related.

[homomenhommes]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more …

This "in between time" has long been one which gay people have taken on as their own holiday, reveling in masks and costumes. There are reasons Halloween is so closely associated with gay people, some of which author, Arthur Evans explained in his book, Witchcraft and The Gay Counterculture.

Here is a brief excerpt:

One Celtic male deity … is the horned god, "one of the most basic of the Celtic god types," whose worship goes back to the Stone Age. He is often associated with the Mothers, as well as with sex, animals, and nature. He also seems to have links with male shamans. His great antiquity is shown by a Stone Age painting in Ariege, France, which shows a man dancing in the hide of an animal and wearing the antlers of a stag. And in the eighteenth century, construction workers inside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris uncovered a four-sided Celtic stone altar dating from Roman times and bearing the figure of a bearded male deity with antlers. The stone was inscribed with the word Cernunnos, which means "The Horned One."

The horned god was especially linked with male sexuality and often appears with an erect cock. Moreover, when erect, he is sometimes portrayed in the company of men, not women. A drawing of the horned god from Val Camonica, Italy, shows him holding a ceremonial collar ring in one hand and a horned serpent in the other. He is being worshipped by a man, and the man has an erection. This picture is reminiscent of early art scattered throughout Europe. The men often have erections and appear together in groups without women. In view of the Celts' notoriety for homosexuality, these facts suggest a Gay element in the workshop of the horned god.

The horned god was also lord of the dead and the underworld. To the Celts, who believed in reincarnation, darkness and death were parts of the cycle of life and rebirth, and death was the very place where the creative forces of nature brought about new life. Because of this connection with the underworld the horned god was often shown as black in color. But this blackness was not considered evil, as Christianity later viewed it

....

The Celts dated the feast days of their religion according to the changing of the seasons, the breeding habits of animals, and the sowing and harvesting of crops.

As it happens, these dates correspond exactly with the holidays later attributed by medieval Christians to witches. The Christians called these days, respectively, Halloween, Candlemas, Walpurgisnacht, and Lammas.

Ritual transvestism associated with the old holidays continue[s] in Europe down to modern times. "May Day sports perpetuated the practices, including even transvestism. in Wales, there existed, into the nineteenth century, a peasant dance and march with a garland, led by a dancer [a horned god figure] called the "Cadi." In the Hogmanay celebration in Scotland, "the boys wore skirts and bonnets, the girls, hats and greatcoats." The feast of Fools, a remnant of the old pagan religion, has persisted into modern times with clerics "wearing masks and monstrous visages at the hours of the office. They dance in the choir dressed as women, or disreputable men, or minstrels. They sing wanton songs." Today many Gay people throughout Europe and America observe Halloween as a Gay holiday with transvestite celebrations.

1940 – Craig L. Rodwell (d.1993) was an American gay rights activist known for founding the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop on November 24, 1967, the first U.S. bookstore devoted to gay and lesbian authors, and as the prime mover for the creation of the New York City pride demonstration. Rodwell is considered by some to be the leading gay rights activist in the early homophile movement of the 1960s.

Rodwell was born in Chicago, IL. His parents divorced prior to his first birthday and for the next few years he was boarded out for day care where he was required to do kitchen labor and laundry to supplement his board and care. When he was 6 years old, Rodwell's mother, Marion Kastman, fearing that the child care set up could cause her to lose custody of her son, arranged for his admission to the Christian Scientist affiliated Chicago Junior School for "problem" boys, in Elgin, IL. Conditions and treatment at the school were described as "Dickensian" and Rodwell got a reputation for being a rebellious child, as well as a "sissy," during his seven years there. It was at Chicago Junior School that Rodwell first experienced same-sex relationships and also came to internalize the Christian Scientist notion that "truth is power and that truth is the greatest good."

At Sullivan High School in Chicago, IL. Rodwell continued his studies in Christian Science by enrolling in Sunday school at the 16th Church of Christ, Scientist. He later studied ballet in Boston before finally moving to New York City in 1958. It was in New York that he first volunteered for a gay rights organization, The Mattachine Society of New York.

In 1962, Rodwell had an affair with Harvey Milk, who went on later to become one of the first openly gay politicians elected to high office. It was Rodwell's first serious relationship. Rodwell's relationship with Milk ended in part due to Milk's conflicted reaction to Rodwell's early activism and his introduction to Milk of "strange new ideas that tied homosexuality to politics, ideas that both repelled and attracted the thirty-two-year-old Milk." Milk believed that Rodwell had been responsible for Milk contracting an STD. After Rodwell's arrest and incarceration when picked up cruising in Washington Square Park, Milk ended their romantic involvement. Shortly after, Rodwell attempted suicide.

When Rodwell opened the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop in 1967, Milk dropped by frequently, and after moving to San Francisco Milk expressed his intention to Rodwell of opening a similar store "as a way of getting involved in community work." Milk eventually opened a camera store that also functioned as a community center, much like Rodwell's bookshop had as a community gathering place.

In November 1969, Rodwell proposed the first gay pride parade to be held in New York City along with his partner Fred Sargeant, Ellen Broidy and Linda Rhodes. The first march was organized from Rodwell's apartment on Bleecker Street.

We propose that a demonstration be held annually on the last Saturday in June in New York City to commemorate the 1969 spontaneous demonstrations on Christopher Street and this demonstration be called CHRISTOPHER STREET LIBERATION DAY. No dress or age regulations shall be made for this demonstration.

We also propose that we contact Homophile organizations throughout the country and suggest that they hold parallel demonstrations on that day. We propose a nationwide show of support.

Rodwell is believed to have created the term heterosexism in January 1971 when he wrote:

"After a few years of this kind of 'liberated' existence such people become oblivious and completely unseeing of straight predjudice and - to coin a phrase - the 'hetero-sexism' surrounding them virtually 24 hours a day.

In 1978 Rodwell was one of the creators and organizers of Gay People in Christian Science. One reason for the creation of the group was that three of its members had been recently excommunicated from the local branch church. In 1980 the group began to demonstrate by leafletting at the church's Annual Meeting in Boston and by 1999, six years after Rodwell's death, the Christian Scientist church no longer barred openly gay or lesbian people from membership.

Rodwell died on June 18, 1993 of stomach cancer.

1964 – Frank Bruni is an American journalist and long-time writer for The New York Times. In June 2011, he was named an op-ed columnist for the newspaper. His columns appear twice weekly and he also writes a weekly newsletter.

One of his many previous posts for the newspaper was as its chief restaurant critic, from 2004 to 2009. He is the author of three bestselling books: Born Round, a memoir about his family's love of food and his own struggles with overeating, Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be, about the college admissions mania, and Ambling Into History, about George W. Bush. He is currently a CNN contributor.

After graduating from Columbia University in the City of New York, Bruni joined the staff of the New York Post and then moved on to the Detroit Free Press, where he did a wide range of beats, including a stint covering the Persian Gulf War. He spent more than a year as the movie critic and also wrote extensively about LGBT issues and AIDS. In 1992, he was a runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing for his profile of a convicted child molester. In 1995, Bruni took a job with The New York Times as a metropolitan reporter and often wrote for The Times's Sunday magazine and for Sunday Arts & Leisure. In 1998, he was assigned to the Washington, D.C., bureau, where he covered Capitol Hill and Congress, before being sent on the campaign trail to follow then-Texas Governor George W. Bush. He then covered the White House for the first eight months of the Bush administration and served as the Washington-based staff writer for the Sunday magazine. In July 2002, he was promoted to Rome bureau chief. Two years later, he became The Times' restaurant critic. After more than five years in that position, he returned briefly to the magazine before becoming an op-ed columnist.

In 2016, the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association gave him its Randy Shilts Award for his career-long contribution to LGBT Americans. He was previously awarded the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Newspaper Columnist in 2012 and 2013.

Bruni was born in White Plains, New York. He is openly gay. He has struggled with his eating and bulimia

1969 – On this date Time magazine ran a cover story on "The Homosexual in America" that included a report on the Stonewall Riots. It was protested by the Gay Liberation Front because the writer said homosexuals are mentally ill and immoral.

1986 – Sean Paul Lockhart, born in Lewiston, Idaho, is an American model, film actor and gay pornographic actor. For the latter, he uses his stage name Brent Corrigan and has played roles in gay porn films notably with Cobra Video and Pink Bird Media, but has also made some films with Active Duty and Jet Set Men. As for his appearances with Falcon Studios particularly in The Velvet Mafia series, he has used the stage name Fox Rider instead.

As Brent Corrigan/Fox Rider

He has also appeared in several nonpornographic films as well, using his birth name Sean Paul Lockhart trying to reposition himself as a more serious mainstream actor rather than just a porn star and has released no new pornographic films since 2010 . He has focused almost exclusively on gay-themed movies and indie films. Such gay-themed and indie films include Judas Kiss, Sister Mary, Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild!, Welcome to New York, and others.

In 2011 he starred as "Ricky" in the musical Chillerama directed by Tim Sullivan in the segment "I Was A Teenage Werebear".

In 2011 Sean Paul Lockhart won the Rising Star Award at the Philadelphia QFest Festival. In 2012, he announced his involvement in production of an indie film titled Truth to be directed by Rob Moretti. He has also recorded an album with songs by the Swedish singer-songwriter and accordionist Roland Cedermark. Lockhart heads up his own production company and enjoys writing in his spare time.

Both Lockhart and Cobra Video the gay porn company that launched him as a young porn star have created separate "official Brent Corrigan websites" promoting the performer's gay porn films creating some confusion and controversy.

Lockhart's admission of playing pornographic roles while underage created great controversy resulting in voluntary withdrawal of many of his early films from circulation.

He also appeared as a witness in the murder trial of Bryan Kocis, owner of Cobra Video for whom Lockhart worked. Prosecutors alleged the two accused suspects murdered Kocis because they wanted to get Lockhart to work for them at their porn film company. However, police investigating the murder believe Lockhart didn't know about the plot and that he fully cooperated with the police and testified for the prosecution.

1987 – On this date the Associated Press reported that several nursing homes in King County (Seattle) Washington were under investigation for refusing to accept AIDS patients or those suspected of being likely to have been exposed to HIV.

[eorzeashan]

Besides the tasuba lichen's mutualistic role in thriving off of Echani and merging with them as fur and natural hair extensions, it sports many unintended side effects that range from color changing to the absorption of foreign material into an Echa'olm or Echani's body. As a parasitic plant, the tasuba promotes the growth of the long hair and thick pelts Echani and Echa'olm are known for in both pale Echani and the Thyrsian subspecies who lack the ability to naturally grow winter pelts, but as a result, evolved to absorb their host's nutrients and trigger a color change in the host's fur that allowed them to blend in more readily with foreign environments. It is not uncommon for offworld Echani to have their classic white or dark black/brown hair suddenly be tinted to odd colors such as light pink, green, or even purple depending on the alien environment they inhabit if they happen to host to tasuba, as the plant is adapting to radical changes in UV light and their host's diet. The effect is temporary, but lasts longer the more time the Echani spends outside of the Eshan territories.

The effects aren't limited to Echani, as the lichen preys on Echa'olm (Eshan wolves) as well. On Eshan, the oldest Echa'olm regularly become fully parasitized by the airborne lichen and sport great flowing manes of stringy fur as they lose the ability to shed the plant in their old age, bearing heavy boughs of the plant which may even flower to maturity upon their backs. The lichen induces increased territorial aggression in the host wolf to protect itself, causing the old Echa'olm to break away from their pack and zealously guard land overgrown in tasuba as a lone wolf. The Echani nickname these lone Echa'olm are Great Flowering Wolves, as they often serve as tests for younger Echa'olm and Echani alike to prove their strength against and rid the ecosystem of them in ritual culling. There are many Great Flowering Wolves whose backs are littered with weaponry that eventually become part of their body's lichen themselves and turned into plant-bone matter, as the tasuba's way of preserving their partially zombified host. These weapons have a strange endurance to them, being partially merged into a bone matrix. Tradition states that the warrior to land the killing blow is allowed to take any of these prized weapons for themselves, as it contains the soul of the Great Flowering Wolf.

Though rare, some old Echani may go the route of a Great Flowering Wolf and become Great Flowering Warriors themselves--old warriors waiting for the next generation to put an end to their monstrous strength.

[alteredsilicone]

Random Duviri lore that I might use later:

>Albrecht arrived "early" in Thrax's reign, built his labs and then disappeared.

"The other stranger came far earlier in Thrax's reign, before even the Bleeding Earth."

>Albrecht's visit preceded any disturbances by the Void/Wally, we can assume this was when the kingdom was still intact.

>Duviri was LARGE, like a genuinely giant kingdom, most islands are now lost and consumed by the Void

"From horizon to horizon lay island after island, each one different, bearing distinctive color and life."

>Some islands were lost naturally, some were destroyed on Dominus' orders

"I dream of a Lost Island returning one happy day, or an entirely new island appearing, birthed from the Void. But this place has not changed in so long, except for the worse, and there is no reason for hope. One day, I am sure, the Void will engulf us all."

>No new islands are made, which means that whatever Duviri started as, it is only deteriorating.

"Void Storms were not unknown in Duviri, but the storm I shall speak of was unlike others. It hung in a red veil across the sky. There was a great sound like tearing metal, and all at once a pelting rain fell. Not water, but broken metal chains, in lengths and coils and great rattling whipstrands."

>The rain of Chains coincides with the Operator freeing Rell, it also destroyed the Lighthouse and killed Mathila's husband, whom nobody talks about anymore.

"With admirable presence of mind, he describes a form steadily approaching out of the Void. A monstrous hand, possessed of only three fingers and a thumb."

>Garmi lived to tell the tale of witnessing the Man in the Wall. Presumably this is the first sighting in Duviri.

"We could not know that down on the lake bed, a portal to the Undercroft and formed. Predatory creatures writhed in. They were golden, slender, with massive fanged bivalved maws. And they were ravenous. They devoured the rainbow eels, and then they devoured each other until only a handful were left."

>A cute story about an island that served as a festival spot which also tells that Void portals would spawn spontaneously and that those led to the undercroft and that things from the Void would crawl into Duviri (in this case - Golden Maws).

>MITW emerged from the ground in the Galleria and that scared Thrax so much, he ordered the island destroyed without much thought.

"How I loved the Galleria. It was and island of simple beauty, where white statues rose out of the ground as if they had grown there. They were classical in their features, masked in due propriety, each bearing an instrument or an emblem of their craft. I gave them names: the Scribe, the Scryer, the Shawzinist."

>Might use these titles for my own purposes, assign them to my OCs.

>The Doll Mausoleum is a faux graveyard made by the Drifter to honor the Tenno lost to the Zariman. Dominus Thrax is drawn to it for some reason. It is now lost to the Void.

"When adults came to collect their children, they noticed an additional oddity. Among the Hollow Children were exact duplicates of themselves when they were younger. Each day there were more of them."

>After the Rain of Chains, Limini (?) started appearing, as well a Wally-mimics of the adults.

>There apparently was a powerful family of wine-makers who saw themselves as Orokin and did not respect Thrax. Thrax destroyed their island for this.

"When Duviri came into being there were many islands whose contents were - to put it bluntly - horrific. The Execution Cyst, the Golden Hive, the Inversion Tree, Stitcher's Gulch and the Bountiful Swamp were all notorious, but each met a natural end, engulfed by the Void. Lorn was exiled deliberately."

>Duviri wasn't just beautiful, there were odd places even before the coming of MITW. Also the island of Lorn is haunted and the shrines you reassemble in Duviri can summon those ghosts - Thrax Grineer?

"The stuff was dark, almost black. It had a heavy metallic odor suffused with grave spices. One venturesome soul tasted it. His eyes instantly became pitch-black orbs, his voice a smoky whisper."

>The Bleeding earth tells us of an island that suddenly started bleeding... Kuva.

[greenthey]

Boldogasszony Masterpost

Everything I could find on Hungarian goddess Boldogasszony (BOL-de-vahs-oyn), cobbled together from various sources (some more trustworthy than others) and personal gnosis.

Number: 7

Colors: blue, red, pink, white, black

Themes: joy, abundance, harvest, fertility, birth, death, love, devotion, protection, winter

Symbols: hearts, rivers (and water), flowers (notably snowdrops, tulips, lilies), flame, blood, milk, gold

Offerings: milk, fruit, pastry, palinka, wine, water

Day: Tuesday (it is recommended not to do laundry or anything that pollutes water on her day)

Holy Days: Winter Solstice and feast days (more info below)

Boldogasszony, syncretized with Mother Mary, is the patron saint of Hungary. (Encyclopedia Britannica). But what do we know about the pre-Christian goddess?

Her name is usually translated as "Blessed Lady."

Boldog Asszony literally means ‘Happy Woman.’ Asszony, translated as ‘woman,’ possesses an extra nuance: Asszony indicates a relationship so close and intimate that, though not a physical blood relative, it is impossible to conceive of having a wedding or funeral without Her. That’s the gist of Boldog Asszony, presiding spirit of life cycles, especially births and weddings.

- Juika Illes, Encyclopedia of Spirits (via)

She may have originated as an Earth goddess.

Ő a kapuja életnek-halálnak, Ő a Föld, melyből minden földi élet sarjad és Ő az, aki befogadja a már nem használt testet, hogy újra születhessen általa. Óvja, védi a föld teremtményeit.

She is the gate of life and death, She is the Earth, from which all earthly life springs, and She is the one who receives the body that is no longer used so that it can be reborn through her. She protects the creatures of the earth.

- B Klári, "7 Feasts of Boldogasszony"

She is also sometimes referred to as Nagyboldogasszony and her seven daughters as Kisboldogasszony (big vs little Boldogasszony.) Are they the fae and she, their mother?

The Hungarian Christian Universalist page Az igaz tudás és szeretet hívei ("Adherents of true knowledge and love") describes an early religion called Büün or Boldogasszony Faith, the full details which I will eventually translate, where the female aspect of God is called Ukko, possibly similar to the Altaic goddess Akka. Both names simply mean "mother."

Feast Days

Boldogasszony (as Mother Mary) is officially celebrated on 7 feast days throughout the year in Hungary. These may have originally been linked to cycles of nature and agriculture.

Földtiltó Boldogasszony (Feast of the Immaculate Conception, literally "Our Lady of Land Blocking") - December 8th.

Gyertyszentelö Boldogasszony (Candlemas) - February 2nd.

Gyümölcsoltó Boldogasszony ("Our Lady of Bearing Fruit") - March 25th.

Sarlós Boldogasszony (Visit of the Virgin Mary to Elizabeth) - July 2nd.

Nagyboldogasszony (Great Boldogasszony) - August 15th.

Kisboldogasszony (Small Boldogasszony) – September 8th.

Olbasós Boldogasszony (Our Lady of the Rosary) - October 7th.

Along with on the following days:

Kármelhegyi Boldogasszony (Our Lady of Mount Carmel) - July 16th.

Havi Boldogasszony (Our Lady of the Snows) - August 5th.

Hétfájdalmú Boldogasszony (Our Lady of Seven Pains) - September 15th.

Fogolyszabadító Boldogasszony (Our Lady of Prisoners' Liberation) - September 31st.

Magyarok Nagyasszonya (Our Lady of Hungary) - October 8th.

Source: B Klári, "7 Feasts of Boldogasszony"

Ritual

Hungarian Native Faith Ceremony in Hungary, at the Temple of the Seven Images of the Mother of God.* Cc Laszlo Koppany

Boldogasszony may have been considered a "birth fairy" whose wrath could be incurred if new parents failed to call on her. She is also called upon for weddings.

Hungarian wedding festivals often take place in winter, after the harvest season and meat preparation. The traditions here are laden with magic we can ‘borrow’ for building strong personal relationships, asking for Boldogasszony’s blessing by having a cup of milk present at any activity. For example, cutting a rope that is attached to your home symbolizes your release from the old ways and freedom to enter into commitment. Stepping across birch wood purifies intentions and ensures a fertile, happy union.

Lighting a torch (or candle) represent vigilant devotion in a relationship. Do this at the time of your engagement, as you recite vows, or as you both enter a new residence for the first time so that commitment will stay with you. Wherever you are, eating off each other’s plates and drinking from one cup deepens harmony (include a milk product like cheese). Finally, dancing with kitchen utensils ensures that the home fire will always stay warm.”

- Patricia Telesco, “365 Goddess: a daily guide to the magic and inspiration of the goddess” (via)

I will continue to add more information and links to this post as I learn more. 💦🍑🌷

*Unfortunately some Hungarian neopagan groups align themselves with far right and nationalist movements. I do not endorse them or stand with them in any way, as I do not believe ethnic identity or faith should ever be used to oppress others. Migrants and refugees from the global South aren't the ones "eroding" Magyar culture. White monoculture has always been the greatest enemy to all European cultures and faiths.

Let us remove the chains of white supremacy so we can coexist in love with our fellow humans and the land, as Boldogasszony intended ❤️‍🔥

[mystical-sleepy-musings]

MORPHEUS

Greek god of Dreams and head of the Onerioi

SOURCES

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

"Bullfinch's Mythology"

Author:Thomas Bullfinch

[Theoi.com|https://www.theoi.com/]

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Ethereal Morpheus

The painter of slumbers

The stroke of your brush

Brings to light

Forms familiar

Gossamer in nature

With pictures of conciousness

|Who is Morpheus?|

Morpheus: The Shaper , The Lorekeeper, The One Who Forms, The Raven Haired One and The King of Dreams and Nightmares. Morpheus usually appears in the guse of a human or in the form you are most comfortable with( (he appears to me as Dream of the Endless but with slightly altered features). He is the black winged leader of The Oneiroi, which are the thosuand dream spirits who slumber within the same cave as Hypnos their father. Through the gates of horn and ivory, they fly out like a flock of bats . The gate of horn is said to bring truthful dreams while the gate of ivory is said to bring falsehoods. The Odyssey located the realm of dreams past the streams of Oceaus close to Asphodel Meadows, which is a part of the underworld where the spirits of the dead reside. They are all winged in a way(winged ears or wings on their backs) when not appearing in dreams. He has two other named Oneiroi siblings known as Icelus/Phobetor who is the fearsome one of Nightmares who appears as animals and monsters in dreams and Phantasos the oddly whimsical one who appears as objects in his fantastically woven dreams..the rest of the Oneiroi are unnamed..

|Mythology|

Morpheus sadly does not appear in many myths but some speculate that he was the nameless dream spirit that Hypnos sent out to the grieving Alcyone whose husband Ceyx died at sea after a visit from Iris(who was sent by Hera) goddess of rainbows. Morpheus appeared in her dreams, taking the shape of her dead lover to tell her that he perished at sea. But Alcyone, after seeing her husband's corpse wash up on the shore, couldn't bear this news and tried to end her life, but she and her husband got turned into kingfishers. Also, a neoclassical painting by Pierre- Narcisse Guérin portrays Iris coming within the dark cave, filling it with blinding radiance, and apparently, she also stirs up Morpheus from his slumbers.

|My Experience|(*UPG)

Morpheus is my patron deity, who is like a father to me. He apparently had been watching over me ever since I was little but did not introduce himself until the time was right. Morpheus, to me, appears as Dream of The Endless from The Sandman but with wings. Sometimes, he has dark, inky eyes and wild hair like in the comics or looks more like Tom Sturridge in Netflix's The Sandman. Morpheus is very serious and quiet(I'm like that as well lol) but is very sweet and overprotective as well. He has infinite patience, apparently, which is even more impressive considering I work also with the loud and loveably obnoxious Icelus who is his chaotic brother. He sees me as one of his children and student being a no nonsense mentor and father figure...unlike a certain someone I know who kept messing around by picking The Emperor knowing Morpheus already took that option while we were trying to establish a tarot card for him. His energy is so gentle and calming, making him very helpful if one has anxiety (like me) or trouble sleeping. He likes to hum and give snuggles to me or to the various plushies I have set out for him (I have two squishy unicorns that are filled to bursting with his energy due to him smothering them). I have no words for how freaking grateful I am to have such a lovely deity as my patron!

|Associations|

[IC]*Note this is mostly UPG*

Animals and Creatures

Ravens and crows

Cats

Nocturnal rodents like raccoons and Possums*(upg)

Butterflies

Rabbits*(upg)

Unicorns*(Upg)

Colors*(all upg)

Dark blues

Black

Purples

Some light blues

Teal

Silver and white

Misc Objects

Feathers

Skulls

Keys*(upg)

Paintings*(upg)

Books or poems(*upg)

Anything related to The Sandman by Neil Gaiman*(upg)

For some reason, he loves surreal memes and laughs like a growly Seth Rogan*(upg)

Soft stuffies and plushies*(upg)

Foods and Drinks

Popcorn*(upg)

Chocolate

Calming teas

Blackberries*(upg)

Anything really as long as it's not caffeine(coffee, energy drinks) or overly sugary(like peeps marshmallow candy type of sugary) because in his eyes it's the thought that counts

Incense and Oils

Sandalwood

Lavender

Any calming and lightly scented blends

Planet

Moon

Music*(all upg btw)

Classic and Progressive rock

Funk

Psychedelic rock

Just 60s and early 70s music

Soft rock

Swing and 50s music

He LOOOVES Pink Floyd , David Bowie, The Church , The Doors and Echo and The Bunnymen

He only likes one metal song and that is "Enter Sandman" by Metallica

Tarot card

The Emperor*(upg)

The Moon

Crystals

Amethyst

Selenite*(upg)

Blue agate

Ruby *(upg)

Rose Quartz*(upg)

Herbs and flowers

Mugwort

Hydrangea*(upg)

Lavender

Poppies

Chamomile

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Robert P. George

Published: Aug 7, 2023

“Critical race theory,” as the phrase is being used in contemporary parlance, has no fixed or agreed upon meaning. That makes it very difficult to analyze or discuss, and it accounts for the chaotic nature of the discussion.

More than 40 years ago, law professor Derek Bell, along with Richard Delgado, Maria Matsuda, Patricia Williams and others, developed an approach to the study of law as it bears on matters of race that came to be known as “critical race theory.”

It drew on an approach to law generally that had emerged a few years earlier known as “critical legal studies.” It also drew, very loosely, on a different and yet older school of thought about the analysis of social life known as “critical theory,” which was associated with the so-called “Frankfurt School” revisionist Marxists of the 1920s-1970s — Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, György Lukács, Herbert Marcuse and others.

Additional influencers included continental European “post-modernist” social critics and literary theorists whose work began gaining prominence in the U.S. in the mid-1970s.

The basic idea was to show that racism — and inequalities produced by racism or associated with it — were obscured by conventional, formalistic legal analysis and “liberal” ideology that purported, at least, to prescind from racial or other identitarian forms of categorization.

In its stronger versions, critical race theory was explicitly hostile not only to “legal formalism” and “liberalism,” but also to capitalism, rationalism and the idea of intellectual or analytical objectivity (and, correspondingly, to the belief in objective truth).

Critical race theory had a certain impact in the worlds of legal education and scholarship, but by no means became dominant. It competed with other intellectual movements, such as the “economic analysis of law” pioneered by libertarian or libertarian-leaning legal scholars such as Richard Posner, Frank Easterbrook and Richard Epstein.

Critical race theory was clearly a left-wing movement; economic analysis was generally regarded as a right-wing movement. Of course, most legal scholars belonged to neither of these schools, but were traditional “formalists” and “liberals” who, whatever their politics, did legal scholarship more or less as it had traditionally been done, and taught their courses in that same manner.

What is being taught in many schools today is not critical race theory, if by “critical race theory” one means the writings of Bell, Delgado, Matsuda, Williams and others who developed this approach to law.

In fact, students are not given a formal “theory” of anything at all. But they are encouraged to view the world in a certain way — they are being taught to be identitarians — that is, to treat racial or gender identities as central to who they, themselves, and other people are. And this teaching is often justified in the name of “anti-racism.”

The world is divided up into two categories or classes: persecutors and persecuted, oppressors and victims. You are one or the other depending on your “identity.” If you are a “white, heterosexual, cisgender” person, and especially if you are one of those who is also male, then you enjoy “privilege” that makes you, wittingly or unwittingly, at least something of an oppressor — or, at a minimum, a beneficiary of oppression. If you are BIPOC (Black, indigenous, person of color) or LGBTQA+, then you are in the victim class. Everything is racialized or (more broadly) “identitized.”

In this way, students are taught to think of themselves as privileged or victimized. The privileged are infected by “whiteness,” which it is their duty to recognize in themselves and in society and to ameliorate. They must adopt — and express (for “silence is violence”) —certain moral and political views. They must confess that they have wrongly benefited from “white privilege” and they must adjust their behavior accordingly. They must be an “ally” and, while not leading (for that would be taking advantage of their privilege), they must support “diversity, equity and inclusion.”

Supporting “equity” means rejecting merely formal equality, that is, treating people the same — equally — irrespective of race or ethnicity — which allegedly masks privilege and the racism and other forms of bigotry (e.g., “heteronormativity”) that created and sustains it. Demographic performance disparities arising in contexts of formal equality must be seen as the fruit of prejudice and injustice and, in the name of “equity,” not be allowed to stand. Concepts like “merit” must be abandoned — again, they allegedly mask privilege.

So let’s say that, based on test scores and grades, a class is admitted to a prestigious university that is 40% Asian, despite the fact that Asians are, let’s say, only 8% of the general population. What you have, despite formal equality, is a violation of equity. Asians are “overrepresented” while other racial categories may be “underrepresented.” 

Now you might ask: “How can it be a problem, since Asians are ‘non-white’ and therefore cannot benefit from ‘white privilege’?” The answer, in some circles, is strangely that Asians are “white-adjacent.”

Critics of critical race theory, and especially critics of what is being taught in the schools as “anti-racism,” regard it as being racist.

Supporters regard it as the only authentic form of anti-racism, condemning “liberal” theories and approaches that propose formal equality (and “color-blindness” in public policy) as mere masks for institutional or structural (“systemic”) racism.

Conservatives and old school liberals contrast the core ideas of critical race theory with the teachings of the Rev. Martin Luther King who dreamed of, and worked for, the day when his children, and all children, would be judged “not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Advocates of critical race theory endorse the vision of Boston University professor Ibram X. Kendi, author of the bestselling “How to Be an Anti-Racist,” who says, “The only remedy to past negative racist discrimination that has produced inequity is present positive antiracist discrimination that produces equity. The only remedy to present negative racist discrimination toward inequity is future positive antiracist discrimination toward equity.”

Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University.

==

I don't much care what name you give it. I don't care if it's not technically "Critical Race Theory" (it's Critical Pedagogy). What I care about is teaching kids to be helpless and fragile as victims of "oppression" that doesn't exist, and guilty and apologetic for "oppression" they're not guilty of.

In Xianity, you're both helpless/fragile ("nothing without god") and guilty/apologetic ("Original Sin"). That's bad enough, but separating and distributing it out across society isn't just mentally unhealthy, it's socially unhealthy and adversarial.

[libidomechanica]

“Grave men, near death, desire breeds flames best look, set down”

A kimo sequence

               1

To our Theme. Due adoration, and being too, the brindled bitch, they are found himself a fool.

               2

Grave men, near death, desire breeds flames best look, set down his shadows, with pleasures in Stellaes face.

               3

Those hours, that blows; and love, and are asleep. But more fit to the milkweeds’ honey terrifies me.

               4

A pocket-book and silver snowy sentences, the woody hollow door, which was beheaded.

               5

Want of foolscap subject of time. Own backyard like a quest, a land of the forestalled, get opposite!

               6

Ye scorn my low estate, and dim hopes and petals of a winters in the fault? Don Juan, carpe, carpe!

               7

And teach through the clouds, as mortals, love you. They fled with zeal. Whose diapason knells on scrolls of jet.

               8

To love her; and, like a hawk, an’ it winna let a body be. Of thanks me not through a white?

               9

Hill of moss before a tower of custom. For many an envoy either leaf, the diamonds.

               10

In these hills round thy bier. Nor coldly passe in this hour the sea, till the death, if she doth go.

               11

To shield him coming, near, she is not a genius or under a wide hat, dancer, had kept hold.

               12

And down to every vessel could be any man in any room. Most importune wheeled, and St.

               13

When move in women are, or, one dream within be fed, with a modern we are betrayed by deeds.

               14

I probably didn’t bother. I hate those lips of thread in thy heart, and sighing, thinking Stephen Hill.

               15

Have been a-telling statues of the night. It’s jet, jet black, an’ it winna let a body be.

               16

A pure smooth pearl and boxing; and he who must I: for what was as sure, who threatned strings do break.

               17

’ Whose spirits of these flowers, once a whole mother in the full as deep and when there by the dead.

               18

Breeds flames of battle move? Did I hear it half starved. It looks from the lamps, then dazled were his life.

               19

On the higher views upon the rise again, fair Lesley, the heroes, kings. With a tighter clasp?

               20

Fast wither’d at a distant heard by fate and thus, my Katie? Mark but the ecstasy of death.

               21

They won’t or can’t allow the feathers fair, and, as the wild hill side. And the taste me thus, my Love!

               22

She is near; ’ and thee! You may for ever; for Nature’s law. With what an even think that good night.

               23

—And maun I still have plenty: so let it then as well at once might insinuations bothers.

               24

They refuse to listens, I hear, I hear it half so sure the dormitory. Such play at all.

               25

There stood: he passion. Slaves of endless charmed, the shadow, he pursues! Beyond siroccos harvest.

               26

Softest, Russian or Castilian? Of all that can ail thee, as the graves unnumber’d lie; the rest.

               27

And let go. Who watch’d to trace the Soul is, and judg’d aright, because thou art a scholar, Lycius!

               28

” “Now whether to faint things, and there is Love. You, a sparrows sends; by that to his neck three were dead.

               29

Beyond what other women is, the ceiling. Whether my eyes can believes me, maybe can tell.

               30

Change to chlorophyll, and round himself extremely fair; the true! Of all her ills—a scattering.

               31

Drew forth streams,—even they were hardly bear it. Kick off their beds and fussed around shall I awake!

               32

Mark where I am! The lava ravish’d, scarce seen the Lady Carolines and Franceses?

               33

Span of the main, and there. Each life unblest kisses had got out on Shooter’s Hill; and singing of.

               34

It once be seen, and the third errand sent. Come live with light, although I despaire at me doth breathe?

               35

The color of that ground, I though the Night by his belov’d repose? Thou art out of that he said.

               36

Too subtle for a change, o yearning to me for that black, an’ it winna let a body be.

               37

Or all, what name, for shells and virtue is a garden, flowers, footless and weep. And tumble pat.

               38

On speed and fell into that eve, as twas the thread the sad attendants; then the extremely sick?

               39

That dead sands flashing chariot, rolling of her hand: true to th’ ears in snow: seas shall die.

               40

Pale grew her here incessantly by playing like this arm-chair? Though ye be, yet, lilies and play.

               41

A high building and of mine. More children, talents other cantos of this ever-diverse pair!

               42

And nobody calls the wolf rages wide, and yet the Border? I woke— and chide my honest man.

               43

Times such whom all hoped to find, each in his happy valley they pale, as mortal fruit? If you see.

               44

Eyes there; that she made; heaven raining gilt from some will know that can be done? No stream’d from your knees.

               45

The soldier went for death, if she doth throw. What can be old, for his turf, and long tunes and love is.

               46

The milliners who furnish drapery Misses? Might each more beauteous hill of moss, just half starved.

               47

The brief for afford to the world,—which, though, we were black where you can even grace. In equal grew.

               48

For ever trust beyond, I wish I have gone her cry, oh misery! And fair Lesley, return.

               49

And let go. ’ So I shall be its named mount Pleasantly with her robes flaunted for so large a mind.

               50

They say his system t is time would understand. Not, but shudder in the sun, but waxing thighs?

               51

Again precipitate thy soul the sky and has a crust. Warmed, but never, never breed the must.

               52

Of all Olympus’ faded hierarchy! The wife he sought of Platonic shades and trust their rents.

               53

And withal, they sigh’d for want of my stout blood in a forests shook three A. My business were left.

               54

” No, no: you would Wisdom be) shine opposite! Such miracle. And paid Where Chick Lorimer went.

               55

To thy body’s weight of food and paid it. Car on this my purchaser suspect the daisies grow.

               56

Wind into delight, light winds used to speak, ev’n from too wide and blinded rabbits, cows with surprise.

               57

Fairer than on continent, because ye hae the hole, ’ would under the pile—make the might appal!

               58

Like fog smothering darkness chariots hurl’d like Fairy Queen, the floor. But, trowth I care na by.

               59

Of yonder weed took up the flower or henchman, oh Jack! See; but first thy heauy grace, the long weeks.

               60

If merciful as your body’s end? For laik o’ gear ye lightly me, but, trowth, I care na by.

               61

Or amber, but faire a vertue to every thing. Or a sail flung it from his swooning long you mine.

               62

Bless you. In island dwelt a nymph, to whom I am confined doom. ’Er his future day—fond Thought!

               63

Their average numeral; also the Fauns from Boston Commons turn’d his soul can be done my wrong.

               64

Her exceeding pain. Lulled by the spring. And she wakes, is too-too cruelly to part, my Katie?

               65

Without the end of the rest torn out. The desultory breeze that faint in his fame with half starved.

               66

And sure in languages—as well as brighter eyes and live: Alas! Yet it was gold or silver.

               67

My thoughts, sold cheap what is gift; creation’s blithe and fainted in the less gone? As he from your knees.

               68

Guy calls the pen in the grass his features, couched upon a Harp of Song? Thine eye may stand away.

               69

Eyes; light, and could ever turning saw the harvest. It sweeps plastic and vanish’d pleasure to meet.

               70

Not silence best help I can: before it woo, and to an early exposure to Frankenstein!

               71

Stay! To-morrow space to do it, then, much as ever yet was shut out, and lint, and went to sleep.

               72

All kinds of life confined, some splinters in the surface-eyes were. Scarce that now you may for ever.

               73

Perhaps to pick up. As some thing like a delusion; there by zephyrs, streaks running over you.

               74

To proof makes us wish I could restrain her fearfully. Grounded on sinful loving, alert.

               75

Master’s hand—as man’s ingratitudes and elegances terse. Oh woe is me! Than my knee.

               76

My wailing cheer. And doth in it live. A fortune swells with a pious love of course must like that.

               77

Diamonds, on the nightgown would understand. Stink of Rhyme, but do not, nor despised, whilst the dying.

               78

I said to the most fairer than his way. Too gentle Euphues, who watch’d with disdain to tinder.

               79

If facing, was forced to pray: so subtly is the spoils of country’s good—which no more. Fond Thought!

[guardianofwonder]

Many influences come together to make my Nicolas Nicolas.

“It was said that he once defeated an entire regiment of calvary with a bent steak knife-while he was eating.” - William Joyce

“He’s a wild man,” Ramsey says. “An adventurer, a warrior, a dynamic force. A big guy who takes over every room. He has two gigantic swords. He kicks down doors. The core idea was, what would a guy who can fly around the world in one night be like? He had to do this with sheer force of will. So we wrapped that dynamo around a guy who loves making toys, whose whole existence is bringing generosity to the world.”

INFLUENCES: Slavic myth, Norse myth, Christian myth, Violent Night, William Joyce’s The Guardians of Childhood and The Man in the Moon, Rise of the Guardians (2012), historical connections to Santa Claus, this amazing webpage outlining information about Veles, & the Rankin/Bass Claymation films.

My Nicolas is very inspired by Nicholas St. North, but the idea of him also being the Slavic god Veles was so interesting to me: I wondered what would come of the muse if I combined them?

NAME: Veles, Nicolas. 

ALIAS: Nicholas St. North, Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, St. Nick, Kris Kringle, Odin, Wodan, Welnos, Volos, Saint Blaise, The Devil, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Sinterklaas, Krampus, Father Christmas, any & every name for Santa Claus.

TITLES: The Guardian of Wonder, the Spirit of Generosity, The Greatest Thief & Bandit Who Ever Lived, The Cossack, Toymaker.

AGE: Indetermined. Very old. Jokes that he’s seen the beginning of time.

GOD OF: fertility, boundaries, order, mischief, magic, invention, cattle, water, earth, the underworld, the dead, music, wealth, trickery, forests, oath-keeping & treaties, retribution, farming, vengeance, psychic ability, the hunt, power, & poetry.

SPIRIT OF: generosity, nature, & invention.

GUARDIAN OF: wonder.

WEAPON: two swords & a spear.

SACRED ANIMALS: bear, wolf, snake, dragon, owl, any farm animals & black birds.

ASSISTANTS: yeti, Leshy, reindeer, & elves.

DOMAIN: Nav/Nawia (The North Pole). In Winter, Nav/Nawia changes from a forest and farmlands to the North Pole, and returns back to its forest-y appearance when Spring arrives.

ABILITIES: shapeshifting (into a dragon or bear or other animal under his domain), using snowglobes to transport himself + others, master swordsmanship, the power of wonder, master craftsman, master inventor, master magician, master toymaker, the gift of the silvertongue (can communicate with all beings + can articulate clearly), 

STRONGEST ABILITY: The Power of Wonder. North has an ability to find the wonder in everything around him which helps him in his creation of toys and inventions. It also boosts his faith in others and resolve, and helps him be jolly and a little childish but gives him a unique insight. His shapeshifting ability is an extension of his Power of Wonder.

APPEARANCE FC: David Harbour in Violent Night (during Winter).

David Harbour as Jim Hopper (all other seasons).

VOICE FC: Adam Baldwin in Rise of the Guardians.

EYE COLOR: blue, crystal blue.

HAIR COLOR: always has black eyebrows.

white + long, curly hair and beard (during Winter).

dark + short cropped (all other seasons).

red (as Kris Kringle).

CLOTHING: Black fur hat, a long red coat with black trim, black boots, black sheepskin pants, and thick, black gloves (in Winter).

Hawaiian shirt + jeans with tennis shoes and white socks (all other seasons.)

HEIGHT: 6'6".

WEIGHT: 270 lbs.

BODY SHAPE: Big boy. It’s cuffin’ season. Chunky but also muscular.

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: When appearing as Nicolas, he has tattoos on either arm featuring Naughty + Nice, all sorts of Celtic + Slavic symbols on his torso, arms, and back. Right on the center of his chest + ribs is his Veles snake. Blue eyes, no matter the form. 

If he reveals his true form, as Veles, he will have golden antlers protruding from his long, brown, & curly hair.

NATIONALITY: N/A. Appears Slavic, as that is one of his favorite places, Nicolas has an indistinct Slavic accent that can sound very Russian at times.

GENDER: Masculine. Uses he/him.

SEXUALITY + ROMANTIC IDENTITY: Bisexual and demiromantic.

MORALITY: Chaotic Good.

PERSONALITY: Nicolas is a warrior with a heart of gold. Fierce, demanding and impulsive, everything about him is larger than life. For him, nothing is impossible as long as he believes in it. He is inventive and witty, sarcastic and curious, and immensely willful. He will do whatever he can to save others. He is also fearless, mysterious, caring, and full of wonder.

BIOGRAPHY: Veles had been alive for what feels like all of Time, guarding the border between Yav (the mortal world) and Nav (the underworld). When his worship + power started to wane due to Christianity’s influence across all of the world, and his reputation was tarnished as the Devil, the Man in the Moon offered Veles a new job: become the Guardian of Wonder.

He took the name Nicolas, and decided to embody an aspect of himself that he enjoyed a great deal: Santa Claus.

Nav became the North Pole, its fertile fields turning to snow-encapsulated tundra when Winter struck. No mortal can dare enter the North Pole, not without special permission.

Souls who pass under the Slavic banner end up residing in Nav for all of eternity, and when Nav turns into the North Pole, those who live within Nav can volunteer to help with Santa’s duties, or opt to just enjoy the wintery aspect of the realm. Those who are favored by Nicolas can become Santa’s Helpers, and he sends them all throughout the mortal world to act in his stead.

Leshys patrol the space, so no souls leave without permission. Elves assist in toymaking. The Yeti assist in overseeing all functions within Nav, and act as managers, while also covering all other duties that the others fail at.

Every December 24th, he delivers gifts to good children and leaves coal for naughty children. He has also been known to still deliver to adults.

Using his Globe of Belief, Nicolas makes sure that the children of the world believe in the Guardians. Whenever crises arrive, Nicolas is there, blades at the ready, spear strapped to his back, and is ready to kick a w ho-ho-ho le lot of ass.

[mattersandmaterials]

Of a Garden

A garden is some Paradise do call; The place is always th’equinoctial. Echoes there are most artificial made, And cooling grottoes, from the heat to shade. The azure sky is always bright, and clear; No gross thick vapors in the clouds appear. There many stars do comfort the sad Night; The fixed with twinkling with the rest give light. No noise is heard, but what the ear delights; No fruits are there, but what the taste invites. Up through the nose bruised flowers fume the brain, As honeydew in balmy showers rain. Various colors, by Nature intermixed, Direct the eyes, as no one thing can fix. Here atoms small on sunbeams dance all day, While Zephyrus sweet doth on the air play, Which music from Apollo bears the praise, And Orpheus at the sound his harp down lays. Apollo yields, and not contends with spite, Presenting Zephyrus with twelve hours of light; And Night, though sad, in quiet pleasure takes, With silence listens when he music makes. And when Day comes, with grief descends down low, That she no longer must hear Zephyrus blow, And with her mantle black herself enshrouds, Which is embroidered all of stars in clouds. Here are intermixing walks of pleasure, Grass, sand, short, broad, and all sorts of measure. Some shaded, fit for lovers’ musing thought Of Love’s idea, when the mind’s full fraught. The walks are firm, and hard as marble are, Yet soft as down, by grass that groweth there, Where daisies grow as mushrooms, in a night, Mixed white, and yellow, green, to please the sight. At dawning Day the dew all overspreads, In little drops upon those daisies’ heads: As thick as stars are set in heaven high, So daisies on the earth as close do lie. Here emerald banks, from whence fine flowers spring, Whose scents and colors various pleasure bring. Primroses, cowslips, violets, daffodils, Roses, honeysuckles, and white lilies, Wallflowers, pinks, and marigolds besides, Sit on the bank, enriched with Nature’s pride. On other banks grow simples, which are good For medicines, well applied and understood. There trees do grow, that proper are, and tall, Their bark is smooth, and bodies sound withal; Whose spreading tops are full and evergreen As Nazarite’s heads where razor hath not been: And curled leaves, which bowing branches bear, By warmth are fed; for winter ne’er comes there. There fruits delicious to the taste do grow, Where with delight the sense doth overflow; And arched arbors, where sweet birds do sing, Whose hollow rooves do make each echo ring. Prospects, which trees and clouds by mixing shows, Joined by the eye, one perfect piece it grows. Here fountains are, where trilling drops down run, Which sparks do twinkle like fixed stars or sun; And through each several spout such noise it makes, As bird in spring, when he his pleasure takes. Some chirping sparrow, and the singing lark, Or quavering nightingale in evening dark; And whistling blackbird, with the pleasant thrush, Linnet, Bulfinch, which sing in every bush. No weeds are here, nor withered leaves and dry, But evergreen, and pleasant to the eye. No frost to nip the tender buds in birth, Nor winter snow to fall on this sweet earth. For here the Spring is always in her prime, Because this place is underneath the line: The Day and Night, equal, by turns keep watch, That thievish time should nothing from them catch. And every Muse a several walk enjoys, The sad in shades, the light with sports employs. Censuring satyrs: they in corners lurk; Yet, as their gard’ners, they with art do work, To cut and prune, to sow, engraft, and set, Gather fruits, flowers, what each Muse thinks fit: And nymphs, as handmaids, their attendance give, Which, for reward, their fames by Muses live.

Margaret Cavendish in Poems and Fancies (1653)

[reanimatedcourier]

How to Write Indigenous Characters Without Looking like a Jackass:

Update as of December 26th, 2020: I have added a couple new sections about naming and legal terms, as well as a bit of reading on the Cherokee Princess phenomenon.

Boozhoo (hello) Fallout fandom! I'm a card-carrying Anishinaabe delivering this rough guide about writing Indigenous characters because wow, do I see a lot of shit.

Let's get something out of the way first: Fallout's portrayal of Indigenous people is racist. From a vague definition of "tribal" to the claims of them being "savage" and "uncivilized" mirror real-world stereotypes used to dehumanize us. Fallout New Vegas' narrated intro has Ron Perlman saying Mr. House "rehabilitated" tribals to create New Vegas' Three Families. You know. Rehabilitate. As if we are animals. Top it off with an erasure of Indigenous people in the American Southwest and no real tribe names, and you've got some pretty shitty representation. The absence of Native American as a race option in the GECK isn't too great, given that two Native characters are marked "Caucasian" despite being brown. Butch Deloria is a pretty well-known example of this effect. (Addendum: Indigenous people can have any mix of dominant and recessive traits, as well as present different phenotypes. What bothers me is it doesn't accommodate us or mixed people, which is another post entirely.)

As a precautionary warning: this post and the sources linked will discuss racism and genocide. There will also be discussion of multiple kinds of abuse.

Now, your best approach will be to pick a nation or tribe and research them. However, what follows will be general references.

Terms that may come up in your research include Aboriginal/Native Canadian, American Indian/Native American, Inuit, Métis, and Mestizo. The latter two refer to cultural groups created after the discovery of the so-called New World. (Addendum made September 5th, 2020: Mestizo has negative connotations and originally meant "half breed" so stick with referring to your mixed Latine and Indigenous characters as mixed Indigenous or simply by the name of their people [Maya, Nahua].)

As a note, not every mixed person is Métis or Mestizo. If you are, say, Serbian and Anishinaabe, you would be mixed, but not Métis (the big M is important here, as it refers to a specific culture). Even the most liberal definition caps off at French and British ancestry alongside Indigenous (some say Scottish and English). Mestizo works the same, since it refers to descendants of Spanish conquistadors/settlers and Indigenous people.

Trouble figuring out whose land is where? No problem, check out this map.

Drawing

Don't draw us with red skin. It's offensive and stereotypical.

Tutorial for Native Skintones

Tutorial for Mixed Native Skintones

Why Many Natives Have Long Hair (this would technically fit better under another category, but give your Native men long hair!)

If You're Including Traditional Wear, Research! It's Out There

Languages

Remember, there are a variety of languages spoken by Indigenous people today. No two tribes will speak the same language, though there are some that are close and may have loan words from each other (Cree and Anishinaabemowin come to mind). Make sure your Diné (you may know them as Navajo) character doesn't start dropping Cree words.

Here's a Site With a Map and Voice Clips

Here's an Extensive List of Amerindian Languages

Keep in mind there are some sounds that have no direct English equivalents. But while we're at it, remember a lot of us speak English, French, Spanish, or Portuguese. The languages of the countries that colonized us.

Words in Amerindian languages tend to be longer than English ones and are in the format of prefix + verb + suffix to get concepts across. Gaawiin miskwaasinoon is a complete sentence in Anishinaabemowin, for example (it is not red).

Names

Surprisingly, we don't have names like Passing Dawn or Two-Bears-High-Fiving in real life. A lot of us have, for lack of better phrasing, white people names. We may have family traditions of passing a name down from generation to generation (I am the fourth person in my maternal line to have my middle name), but not everyone is going to do that. If you do opt for a name from a specific tribe, make sure you haven't chosen a last name from another tribe.

Baby name sites aren't reliable, because most of the names on there will be made up by people who aren't Indigenous. That site does list some notable exceptions and debunks misconceptions.

Here's a list of last names from the American census.

Indian Names

You may also hear "spirit names" because that's what they are for. You know the sort of mystical nature-related name getting slapped on an Indigenous character? Let's dive into that for a moment.

The concept of a spirit name seems to have gotten mistranslated at some point in time. It is the name Creator calls you throughout all your time both here and in the spirit world. These names are given (note the word usage) to you in a ceremony performed by an elder. This is not done lightly.

A lot of imitations of this end up sounding strange because they don't follow traditional guidelines. (I realize this has spread out of the original circle, but Fallout fans may recall other characters in Honest Hearts and mods that do this. They have really weird and racist results.)

If you're not Indigenous: don't try this. You will be wrong.

Legal Terms

Now, sometimes the legal term (or terms) for a tribe may not be what they refer to themselves as. A really great example of this would be the Oceti Sakowin and "Sioux". How did that happen, you might be wondering. Smoky Mountain News has an article about this word and others, including the history of these terms.

For the most accurate information, you are best off having your character refer to themselves by the name their nation uses outside of legislation. A band name would be pretty good for this (Oglala Lakota, for example). I personally refer to myself by my band.

Cowboys

And something the Fallout New Vegas fans might be interested in, cowboys! Here's a link to a post with several books about Black and Indigenous cowboys in the Wild West.

Representation: Stereotypes and Critical Thought

Now, you'll need to think critically about why you want to write your Indigenous character a certain way. Here is a comprehensive post about stereotypes versus nuance.

Familiarize yourself with tropes. The Magical Indian is a pretty prominent one, with lots of shaman-type characters in movies and television shows. This post touches on its sister tropes (The Magical Asian and The Magical Negro), but is primarily about the latter.

Say you want to write an Indigenous woman. Awesome! Characters I love to see. Just make sure you're aware of the stereotypes surrounding her and other Women of Color.

Word to the wise: do not make your Indigenous character an alcoholic. "What, so they can't even drink?" You might be asking. That is not what I'm saying. There is a pervasive stereotype about Drunk Indians, painting a reaction to trauma as an inherent genetic failing, as stated in this piece about Indigenous social worker Jessica Elm's research. The same goes for drugs. Ellen Deloria is an example of this stereotype.

Familiarize yourself with and avoid the Noble Savage trope. This was used to dehumanize us and paint us as "childlike" for the sake of a plot device. It unfortunately persists today.

Casinos are one of the few ways for tribes to make money so they can build homes and maintain roads. However, some are planning on diversifying into other business ventures.

There's a stereotype where we all live off government handouts. Buddy, some of these long-term boil water advisories have been in place for over twenty years. The funding allocated to us as a percentage is 0.39%: less than half a percent to fight the coronavirus. They don't give us money.

"But what about people claiming to be descended from a Cherokee princess?" Cherokee don't and never had anything resembling princesses. White southerners made that up prior to the Civil War. As the article mentions, they fancied themselves "defending their lands as the Indians did".

Also, don't make your Indigenous character a cannibal. Cannibalism is a serious taboo in a lot of our cultures, particularly northern ones.

Our lands are not cursed. We don't have a litany of curses to cast on white people in found footage films. Seriously. We have better things to be doing. Why on earth would our ancestors be haunting you when they could be with their families? Very egotistical assumption.

Indigenous Ties and Blood Quantum

Blood quantum is a colonial system that was initially designed to "breed out the Indian" in people. To dilute our bloodlines until we assimilated properly into white society. NPR has an article on it here.

However, this isn't how a vast majority of us define our identities. What makes us Indigenous is our connections (or reconnection) to our families, tribes, bands, clans, and communities.

Blood quantum has also historically been used to exclude Black Natives from tribal enrollment, given that it was first based on appearance. So, if you looked Black and not the image of "Indian" the white census taker had in his brain, you were excluded and so were your descendants.

Here are two tumblrs that talk about Black Indigenous issues and their perspectives. They also talk about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia.

However, if you aren't Indigenous, don't bring up blood quantum. Don't. This is an issue you should not be speaking about.

Cherokee Princess Myth

"Princess" was not a real position in any tribe. The European idea of monarchy did not suddenly manifest somewhere else. The closest probable approximation may have been the daughter of a chief or other politically prominent person. But princess? No.

Here is an article talking about possible origins of this myth. Several things are of note here: women from other tribes may have bee shoved under this label and the idea of a "Cherokee Princess" had been brought up to explain the sudden appearance of a brown-skinned (read: half Black) family member.

For a somewhat more in depth discussion of why, specifically, this myth gets touted around so often, Timeline has this piece.

Religion

Our religions are closed. We are not going to tell you how we worship. Mostly because every little bit we choose to share gets appropriated. Smudging is the most recent example. If you aren't Indigenous, that's smoke cleansing. Smudging is done in a specific way with ceremonies and prayers.

Now, a lot of us were forcibly converted. Every residential school was run by Christians. So plenty of us are Catholic, Baptist, Anglican, Lutheran, etc. Catholicism in Latin America also has influence from the Indigenous religions in that region.

Having your Indigenous character pray or carry rosaries wouldn't be a bad thing, if that religion was important to them. Even if they are atheist, if they lived outside of a reserve or other Indigenous communities, they might have Christian influences due to its domination of the Western world.

Settler Colonialism and the White Savior Trope

Now we've come to our most painful section yet. Fallout unintentionally has an excellent agent of settler-colonialism, in particular the Western Christian European variety, in Caesar's Legion and Joshua Graham.

(Addendum: Honest Hearts is extremely offensive in its portrayal of Indigenous people, and egregiously shows a white man needing to "civilize" tribals and having to teach them basic skills. These skills include cooking, finding safe water, and defending themselves from other tribes.)

Before we dive in, here is a post explaining the concept of cultural Christianity, if you are unfamiliar with it.

We also need to familiarize ourselves with The White Man's Burden. While the poem was written regarding the American-Philippine war, it still captures the attitudes toward Indigenous folks all over the world at the time.

As this article in Teen Vogue points out, white people like to believe they need to save People of Color. You don't need to. People of Color can save themselves.

Now, cultural Christianity isn't alone on this side of the pond. Writer Teju Cole authored a piece on the White Savior Industrial Complex to describe mission trips undertaken by white missionaries to Africa to feed their egos.

Colonialism has always been about the acquisition of wealth. To share a quote from this paper about the ongoing genocide of Indigenous peoples: "Negatively, [settler colonialism] strives for the dissolution of native societies. Positively, it erects a new colonial society on the expropriated land base—as I put it, settler colonizers come to stay: invasion is a structure not an event. In its positive aspect, elimination is an organizing principal of settler-colonial society rather than a one-off (and superseded) occurrence. The positive outcomes of the logic of elimination can include officially encouraged miscegenation, the breaking-down of native title into alienable individual freeholds, native citizenship, child abduction, religious conversion, resocialization in total institutions such as missions or boarding schools, and a whole range of cognate biocultural assimilations. All these strategies, including frontier homicide, are characteristic of settler colonialism. Some of them are more controversial in genocide studies than others." (Positive, here, is referring to "benefits" for the colonizers. Indigenous people don't consider colonization beneficial.)

An example of a non-benefit, the Church Rock disaster had Diné children playing in radioactive water so the company involved could avoid bad publicity.

Moving on, don't sterilize your Indigenous people. Sterilization, particularly when it is done without consent, has long been used as a tool by the white system to prevent "undesirables" (read, People of Color and disabled people) from having children. Somehow, as of 2018, it wasn't officially considered a crime.

The goal of colonization was to eliminate us entirely. Millions died because of exposure to European diseases. Settlers used to and still do separate our children from us for reasons so small as having a dirty dish in the sink. You read that right, a single dirty dish in your kitchen sink was enough to get your children taken and adopted out to white families. This information was told to me by an Indigenous social work student whose name I will keep anonymous.

It wasn't until recently they made amendments to the Indian Act that wouldn't automatically render Indigenous women non-status if they married someone not Indigenous. It also took much too long for Indigenous families to take priority in child placement over white ones. Canada used to adopt Indigenous out to white American families. The source for that statement is further down, but adoption has been used as a tool to destroy cultures.

I am also begging you to cast aside whatever colonialist systems have told you about us. We are alive. People with a past, not people of the past, which was wonderfully said here by Frank Waln.

Topics to Avoid if You Aren't Indigenous

Child Separation. Just don't. We deserve to remain with our families and our communities. Let us stay together and be happy that way.

Assimilation schools. Do not bring up a tool for cultural genocide that has left lasting trauma in our communities.

W/ndigos. I don't care that they're in Fallout 76. They shouldn't be. Besides, you never get them right anyway.

Sk/nwalkers. Absolutely do not. Diné stories are not your playthings either.

I've already talked about drugs and alcohol. Do your research with compassion and empathy in mind. Indigenous people have a lot of pain and generational trauma. You will need to be extremely careful having your Indigenous characters use drugs and alcohol. If your character can be reduced to their (possible) substance abuse issues, you need to step back and rework it. As mentioned in Jessica Elm's research, remember that it isn't inherent to us.

For our final note: remember that we're complex, autonomous human beings. Don't use our deaths to further the stories of your white characters. Don't reduce us to some childlike thing that needs to be raised and civilized by white characters. We interact with society a little differently than you do, but we interact nonetheless.

Meegwetch (thank you) for reading! Remember to do your research and portray us well, but also back off when you are told by an Indigenous person.

This may be updated in the future, it depends on what information I come across or, if other Indigenous people are so inclined, what is added to this post.