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antiquitiesandlabyrinths · 3 years

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Egyptian Astrology and Calendar

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Modern beliefs regarding ancient Egyptian astrology stem mainly from two reliefs - the Dendera zodiac, found on the ceiling of the pronaos of a chapel room dedicated to Osiris within the Dendera temple of Hathor, and a papyrus labelled the Cairo calendar that came from an antiquities collector in 1943.

In order to comprehend how the Cairo calendar and the Dendera zodiac, we need a basic understanding of how Egyptians counted their years.

- They had three seasons, each about 120 days, and each divided into four months of 30 days. Within those months were 10-day weeks called decans. To solve the unevenness of the earth’s tilt, they had five epagomenal days.

The seasons were thus:

• Akhet; Inundation, generally from June to September. It was the flooding season in which the Nile grew in size.

• Proyet; Emergence, which came after the flood.

• Shomu; the Harvest, within which you can assume what they did.

The beginning of Akhet was marked not by a specific date, but by the emergence of the star Sirius, which usually preceded the flooding of the Nile.

Now that that’s out of the way, an important fact to mention about ancient Egyptian horoscopes is that they weren’t especially specific, and the horoscope applied to everyone in that one day, not just a certain one. The options daily consisted “"Favorable", "Mostly Favorable", "Very Favorable", "Adverse," "Mostly Adverse," and "Very Adverse.”” For example, most of the days displayed on the Cairo calendar are marked as “Very Favorable” or “Very Adverse.”

Commonly these titles are affected heavily by what events of mythology happened on that day in the ‘past’. The day in which Horus fought his uncle Seth, and consequently losing one of his eyes, was regarded as a very adverse day. On other days in which there were parties and/or happy peace on heaven and earth, the days were called favorable.

The last part of an ancient Egyptian reading on astrology and horoscopes is essentially telling the person what they should do because of that good or bad luck. On the day Horus fought Set, Egyptians were advised to stay in their homes.

To sum up:

Egyptian astrology contained the classic 12 constellations. These were formed from 36 groups of stars called decans. Each decan had a God to go with it and covered 10 degrees—or ten days—in the calendar. So, the 36 decans each having 10 days made up the 360 day calendar, and once you add the epagomenal days (in which Osiris and his siblings were born), you get 365 days. Fun fact: the epagomenal days were essentially half a week of straight partying.

There are 12 astrological signs, as previously mentioned. They all have Gods or Goddesses that represent them and the people born under the 30-day (or 3 decan) timespan each of them are owed. They show the character, strengths, weaknesses, skills, and behaviors of their people.

Before I get into the signs, I’d like to mention that because we don’t have the full story on Egyptian astrology, and because Egypt’s history spanned such a long era and overwent many changes, there are two different ways of practicing ancient Egyptian astrology. One is to attempt to assign traditional dates based off decans, which is the one I am referring to, and one that filters in the influences from other cultures such as Babylonia and Greece.

Let’s get into the actual signs themselves, now.

Amon-Ra

Dates: Jan 8-21, Feb 1-11

Similar Signs: the Nile, Horus

Colors for men: yellow

Colors for women: orange

People born under Ra tend to be generous and stumble easily open great opportunities for success. They often reassure others and are good at inspiring people. Seldom will your life be mediocre.

Anubis

Dates: May 8-27, Jun 29 - Jul 13

Similar Signs: Bastet and Isis

Colors for women: purple

Colors for men: sienna

Like Anubis himself, people born underneath his sign are intelligent and easily gift compassion, while simultaneously carrying a darker presence of thought within them. This does not make them a bad person—it simply means they understand the inherent darkness in the world, an understanding that can sometimes make them seem fatalistic, or, at times, extremely ambivalent. These people may find it difficult to healthily maintain a happy love life.

Bastet

Dates: Jul 14-28, Sep 23-27, Oct 3-17

Similar Signs: Sekhmet, Horus

Colors for men: yellow

Colors for women: grey

Those born under Bastet assume much of the role that Bastet herself occupies in the Egyptian pantheon of Gods. They seek peace and harmony within themselves and in their relationships with others. Since they care deeply for many things, some have a tendency to overprotect and devote themselves to their loved ones, while forgetting to maintain their own health. They have a great intuition and easily pick out secret enemies within their social groups.

Geb

Dates: Feb 12-29, Aug 20-31

Similar Signs: Seth, Horus

Colors for women: red orange

Colors for men: violet

Geb as a God within the pantheon acted as a sort of mediator, coming in to overlook agreements and pledges to make sure they were of good intentions. With that information it’s not hard to see why he was representative of a guardian of life, a sweet, submissive, and peaceful image. People born in his stead are often writers, administrators, or counselors. They can be highly sensitive and very impressionable. Empathy can run at an all-time high with the way Geb raises those born under his name above the sins of vanity.

Horus

Dates: Apr 20 - May 7, Aug 12-19

Similar signs: Geb, Bastet

Colors for men: carmine red

Colors for women: gold

Those born beneath Horus’ wing have fierce, intense personalities, highlighted by an intelligence that easily attracts people to them. The width and variety of their knowledge can give them an ‘all-knowing’ image to an outsider. In order to reach the full potential of Horus, they must learn to control their rebellious tendencies early on before they get too far ahead of themselves. They may have a special respect or appreciation for mothers and wives.

Isis

Dates: Mar 11-31, Oct 18-29, Dec 19-31

Similar signs: Osiris, Thoth

Colors for women: blue

Colors for men: white

Isis is another Goddess considered a mother Goddess—a protector of innocents. People born under Isis earn her special protection and tend to have an air of hospitality about them. It woild be well advised for these people to seek out positions in life in which you will be able to protect or give life. Judge people fairly and be receptive, but keep your standards.

Mut

Dates: Jan 22-31, Sep 8-22

Similar signs: Ra, Thoth

Colors for men: brown

Colors for women: carmine

People born under the sign of Mut adopt many of the Goddesses’ traits, which can result in a melancholic, sometimes secretive persona. They have a shyness that can create frustration when it comes to their romantic and sexual life. Still, they contain within themselves a rich inner life, and can have lots of wisdom to give. They may find themselves, throughout life, searching for the goodwill of others and the protection of a father figure.

The Nile (mine!)

Dates: Jan 1-7, Jun 19-28, Sept 1-7, Nov 19-26

Similar signs: Ra, Seth

Colors for women: Deep blue

Colors for men: Vivid red

Those born under the Nile are peacemakers and lovers of the finer things in life. They believe they owe it to themselves to live in an awakened and aware state. The Nile watches over all—the resurrection of Osiris, the defeat of Seth, and the forming glory of Horus. People of the Nile are wise from this, tolerant of many different types of people, and have the capability of an extreme tenderness towards others. They want to be free from the bonds of ignorance but, like how the Nile brings both fertile earth and corrosive silt, they can be a victim to the everchanging tides of their emotions.

Osiris

Dates: Mar 1-10, Nov 27 - Dec 18

Similar signs: Isis, Thoth

Colors for men: yellow

Colors for women: green

These people may have two distinct sides of themselves. Despite that, they are kindly prone to generosity towards others. They have a passionate, fiery pull within them, but can simultaneously be quite vulnerable. When faced with a predicament, they may find difficulty in acting in both a quick and wise manner.

Sekhmet

Dates: Jul 29 - Aug 11, Oct 30 - Nov 7

Similar signs: Bastet, Geb

Colors for women: turquoise

Colors for men: green

Those born under Sekhmet are observant, somewhat controlling, and at times, very telepathic. Very rarely do they indulge in their deeper desires. Their sense of right and wrong can be muddled in their head. Despite that they have an intense inner, and often outer, beauty, occupying themselves with an unearthly gracefulness.

Seth

Dates: May 28 - Jun 18, Sep 28 - Oct 2

Similar signs: Geb, the Nile

Colors for men: blue turquoise

Colors for women: black

Seth is a curious God, and despite the inherent darkness surrounding him in most Egyptian mythology, he is not a truly ‘evil’ God. Those born under his sign are free spirits, like Seth, and are wanderers, also like Seth. They search for an innate wholeness and believe they can find that in the surroundings they find themselves in. Oftentimes they must endure hardships and go through many adventures before finding that part of themselves. Once they feel complete, though, they have an intense inner power. They easily learn from their mistakes and possess a strong sense of tenacity.

Thoth

Dates: April 1-19, Nov 8-17

Similar signs: Bastet, Isis

Colors for women: white

Colors for men: pink

Similar to Thoth, those born under his wing are enthusiastic and inventive. Mediocrity in themselves and others can have a tendency to frustrate them. Even with that though, they scorn any type of meanness towards others. They have a tendency to take brave risks that can either harm them or further themselves as people. They abhor losing their sense of the world, and misdoing others.

#ancient egypt #ancient history #egyptian astrology #astrology #egyptian mythology #egyptian gods #ancient egyptian astrology

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regrettablewritings · 3 years

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Modern!Ahkmenrah x Reader Ship Meme (2, 10, 11)

Nobody asked, and that’s precisely why I’m doin’ it!

2. What their love letters look like:

For such a socially awkward guy, Menny can be quite the motormouth. His mind works a mile a minute, and his mouth and hands can really only keep up with so much. As a result, it’s uncommon for you to really receive anything resembling a love letter written by hand: There’s just no way he can properly form the letters and words meant to articulate how much he cares for you and what beauty he sees in you if left to his own manual devices. Typing is faster and thus he’s able to get more out of himself before his intentions disappear into the ether of his mind. More, but not all.

As such, be prepared to receive most of, if not all of your love letters in the form of either texts, emails, printed-out on sheets of paper, etc. Even still, they’ll be on the prosier side and may have a tendency to ramble or babble.

He tries to be poetic about it (he might’ve studied Egyptology at Cambridge, but he still has to make a show out of that education in other ways), referencing and comparing your beauty to things meant to symbolize beauty and goodness in Ancient Egyptian culture. But because this is Ahkmenrah we’re talking about, it can still get weird.

If anybody else read, “I salivate at mere dreams of your beauty, your wittiness like Isis allowing you to do with it as you wish and leave me once again awestruck”, they would be confused, disgusted, and horrified. Spit isn’t sexy, Menny!

And yeah, you’re not discounted from the weirded out crowd, but you’re in an army of your own when you insist it’s actually sweet when you get down to the bones of it. After all, being compared to a goddess who was considered powerful even by Egyptian god standards is pretty flattering. And one that was clever enough to acquire the name of the Sun God? Yeah, you’ll take it, however weird it may be.

10. What TV shows they watch together, and which ones they hide from each other:

This is a Cambridge-educated man, but make no mistake: Ahkmenrah Malek’s a dirty little weeb. Catch him on his days off wearing a My Hero tee, or looking over paperwork while playing the Demon Slayer OST for background noise. What had started off as him ranting about how inaccurate Egypt’s portrayal in Yu-Gi-Oh was grew up into him being a goddang otaku. And you weren’t necessarily against it but . . . Honey, come on, you can’t commit to memory both Egyptian hieroglyphs and the lyrics to the season 1 opening of Death Note!

If you’re not into watching anime with him, though, he completely understands and won’t force you. He may bribe you with Funko Pops or even offering to cook the dinner you’ll eat while watching Toonami together but that’s only if you’re willing. But if you won’t watch anime, you must at least be willing to keep him company while he’s keeping up with The Kardashians. Because of how often he’s huddled up in the museum archives or running around giving presentations, he doesn’t always have time to catch up. So even if watching a pack of Prime First World Drama Queens made your eyes sore from rolling them too much, you could at least appreciate the bonding the two of you could experience as Ahk’s grip on your hand would tighten at an insult being thrown, or him practically leaping into your arms with excitement whilst tea had hit the fan.

When the show came to an end, though, you had to admit that you felt sad. Mostly because it meant your boyfriend was sad, but also because for a moment it felt as though you two had lost Your Show.

But only for a moment, of course. The good news is the both of you agreed to start on something new for the both of you, that way no one felt left behind or clueless as to what was going on. Of course, plenty of people had already known about What We Do in the Shadows but that wasn’t going to stop the both of you from feeling new about it.

11. What their first impression was of each other:

He’s odd, you thought. Of course, you were absolutely correct, but you didn’t know that at the time. Instead, you were mostly basing it off his appearance, as most tend to do. He wasn’t unattractive by any means whatsoever, but the young man your friend insisted you had to meet also wasn’t common-looking. Perhaps it was just the juxtaposition of that tasty complexion, blended with such striking eyes? Or how you frankly weren’t expecting such an accent to come pouring out of such an adorably awkward smile?

Well, whatever the case, you were put off by and also put onto this guy. He seemed like a nerdy dude, not helped by the fact that your friend had hyped him up to you as an Egyptologist working in the MoNH’s archives. It was such an unusual, almost unheard of occupation that part of you kind of just wanted to meet him just to say you’d met one.

He’s got to be interesting. Or, at the very least, very dedicated. Or boring, you had decided. After all, you had never met an Egyptologist before, so it wasn’t as though you had a lot to go off of when your friend insisted that you must meet the new guy working at the museum. She wouldn’t show you a picture of him to your dismay, so chances were her new coworker was a sight to behold -- and likely not in the good way, given how much she hyped up only that “you gotta meet this guy, he’s so . . .” So what? So what!?

As it turned out, he was so very . . . odd. Not in the wrong way but not in a way that you’d have to retract, either. You weren’t sure what you had been expecting, but this Ahkmenrah guy was both it and yet far from it. He wasn’t unattractive by any means, but he also was unlike any man you’d ever seen. He had the geeky physique bit down, but it worked for him. Just like he was making his unconventional appearance work. After all, green eyes may have been pretty but that didn’t mean they were for everybody. They were definitely for hi, though, however large yet tired they seemed. Even the crooked, awkward (or should you say “Ahkward”) smile he offered you upon introduction had its charms.

You still weren’t entirely sure if your initial predictions of him were correct at that point, but by the end of that meeting you at least knew that whatever Ahkmenrah Malek was, it was just plain something.

As for you . . . Well, you were pretty. That was all he really thought of you. Not to be shallow, he just didn’t have much to go off of at that moment: He’d been caught off guard in his little office in the basement, about to tuck in for a delightful lunch of ramen cup and a pack of snacks from a vending machine when one of his coworkers snuck you in and started going on about how “the two of you ought to meet.”

Admittedly, it might’ve been because he wasn’t prepared (or because he was so tired and hungry that the ramen cup actually looked appealing) but Ahk failed to see any real reason the both of you needed to become acquainted -- let alone in that moment. Though in hindsight, maybe they just thought he was lonely? After all, it wasn’t as though he’d accepted a job offer in the US with any friends or family to greet him there. Everyone was back in the UK. And he’d never been especially gifted at making friends, though not for lack of trying per se. More like for lack of connectability. After all, not everyone was into his sense of humor or his intense approach to his interests . . .

It wasn’t quite a first impression, but the thought of why the introduction had been so heavily pressed flitted around in Ahk’s head even hours after it had ended. Like a scarab beetle. It might’ve been optimistic of him to ponder it, but he couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps you wouldn’t be against the idea of being friends . . .

After all, not just anyone could say that they were friends with an Egyptologist, right?

#ahkmenrah #ahkmenrah x reader #natm imagine #natm imagines #natm x reader #ahkmenrah imagine #ahkmenrah imagines #regrettablewritings #character x reader #character ship meme #character ship memes #character ask meme #character ask memes

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honourablejester · 3 years

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Ideas for Deities and Cleric Domains (D&D)

I absolutely love clerics as a class in D&D. They’re up there with warlocks for customisation, it’s fantastic. But clerics, more than many other classes, really seem to be dependent on the setting and worldbuilding, because a huge chunk of their story and background is dependent on their deity. A cleric’s power comes directly from their deity, and they can possibly lose it if the deity disapproves of them or their actions. I know a lot of DMs won’t do this, but in-universe it does make sense that a deity is not going to keep giving power to a servant that is actively acting against their goals. If I’m building a cleric, I do feel a bit of a desire to have their personality and history either fit in with or comment interestingly on their deity’s personality and domains. They’re a class you really have to build in collaboration with the DM, I feel.

So. On that worldbuilding end, going by the cleric domains. Some (admittedly highly biased) thoughts on the associations of each domain, and some ideas for deities and maybe clerics for each. It got LONG (as in, 7000 words long), because I have thoughts apparently. If you want to skip around, the domains are in alphabetical order of:

Arcana

Death

Forge

Grave

Knowledge

Life

Light

Nature

Order

Peace

Tempest

Trickery

Twilight

War

Arcana

This domain feels slightly sticky to me in D&D because of the difference between arcane and divine magic. Like, do wizards view arcana clerics as essentially cheaters? Oh, sure, no study for you, you just get it for free! Arcana gods who were once mortal wizards, do they view clerics as cheaters? Especially given that a lot of the existing arcana gods are also knowledge gods, how do they feel about just granting magic without, so to speak, the effort of acquiring knowledge by your own means? Or do some of them prefer clerics? Gods of magic that are embodiments of magic as a force, do they like that clerics have an intuitive grasp of them and thus magic? Knowledge deities who believe that all knowledge should be available to everyone, they’d be fine with it too, presumably. There are lots of paths to knowledge, and for some people that would be through a teacher, in this case the deity. If knowledge and magic should be shared, then the path of the cleric is just as valid as the path of independent study.

And then there’s deities for whom magic, arcana, is a secondary domain, in service to their primary one, who’re happy for their cleric to use any power at their disposal to enhance their service (for example, deities whose primary domain is war or forge or death might not care how their arcana domain servant gets their power, provided they use it for the right causes).

Arcana is an interesting and slightly sticky domain for me. But. Some other domains it combines interestingly with, for deities with different views:

Knowledge. The most obvious. Fits well for a wizard-type deity, magic as study, but maybe also a more … theoretical physicist sort of deity? Deities who like people who just appreciate the raw wonder and intrigue of magic on an emotional level, a vast and beautiful unknown that needs to be interacted with and both studied and experienced. You know those people who just want to babble about their field of study, and you don’t even have to understand, though it would be great if you did, they just want you to come up and look at the cool thing? Deities like that.

War, Forge, Death. Like I said above, these would be big domains for gods who view magic as a fundamental tool to serve other causes. War, the destruction or defense of things. Forge, the making of things. Death, the breaching of the walls between states. Trickery could also go here, for sneaky deities who view magic as an obvious tool-kit. In worlds with magic, it’s such an obvious factor to deal with when it comes to their primary domains that these deities have sort of been forced to acquire the expertise, and sometimes they might want servants who specialise in supplying that tool-kit for the cause. Forge might also lean a bit in Knowledge’s direction as well, your ‘tinkerer with the universe’ sort of deity. Trickery also works because Arcana clerics get a few nice scout-and-secrecy type spells, like Arcane Eye, Nystul’s Magic Aura, and Leomund’s Secret Chest, so a trickery deity having an ‘agent’ cleric with a disguise as a pious scholar and a toolkit for spying and smuggling feels like a fun idea.

Order, Twilight, Life. These also work as primary domains for deities who view Arcana as a toolbox domain to supplement their primary one. With features like Planar Abjuration, Spell Breaker and several of the abjuration, divination and conjuration spell options, arcana clerics feel like they could be good ‘civil defender’ sort of agents. The sort of magic civil servants for deities of civilisation, making sure that things stay where they’re put and that the righteous are not influenced unduly by arcane powers.

Death

The necromancy domain, for when you want a divine boost on your path to lichdom. I’m going to say, though, that I do like the disease aspect of this domain. I blame reading The Legend of Huma as a teen, and Morgion’s corruption of a certain knight to the shock and betrayal of all his fellows. On the cleric end, I really, really like this domain as an expression of, not so much malice, as just absolute despair. It’s the necrotic domain, the domain of entropy and rot and decay. Murder, secrecy, death, decay, despair, disease. Miasma. It’s an evocative domain.

Deity-wise, this domain is the four horsemen (or three of them, Death, Pestilence and Famine – pair a War god to add Conquest and War). The walking wasteland. The crawling oblivion. It’s the Black Death, the Red Death, the White Death. It’s a pale figure atop a pale horse. Poison in a cup, rot in a wound. Petyr Baelish, sowing chaos just to see where all the pieces fall. It’s false dawn. The calm shallows of despair. It’s black and white and green. Every Outer God ever, from the crawling chaos to the blind idiot god at the centre of the universe.

I love the disease aspect. Start with plague. Start with fire and drought and famine. The aftermath of war. The fevered, skeletal survivors. Have a voice in the dark make them an offer. A shelter, an assurance, that the worst has already happened, and nothing more can trouble them now. All they have to do is … offer other people the same thing. The fire and the fever and the pain. And then ... the quiet place beyond it, where there is only peace and purpose.

As a domain, Death feels perfectly capable of standing alone. Add Arcana, if you want more a focus on necromancy. Add Trickery, if you want more chaos and entropy, toppling towards annihilation. Add War, that old friend and partner. Add Tempest, the scourging storm, or Light, the searing, radiant fever. Add Life, to pair and partner with Disease, the poison and the antidote in one cup. Add Peace, for the quiet oblivion when all pain and strife has been toppled gently away.

Forge

This is an odd domain for me, because I absolutely love the image of the smith deity, Hephaestus, Wayland, Prometheus, and I love characters like Tony Stark in the MCU, people who forge their way out of captivity and pain by raw force of will and ingenuity. But. A lot of the available deities for the Forge domain feel a bit on the lacklustre side, and I don’t know if that’s because the smith imagery for me is so bound up in image of conflict and captivity, Prometheus, Wayland, Tony Stark? It might just be a case where the domain evokes such specific imagery for me that I’m a bit blinkered by it.

The Forge domain is bound up in imagery of fire and metal, war and craftmanship. As a cleric domain, it’s fairly focused on weapons and armour, rather than the wider applications of the craft, so the clerics will likely be a bit more specialised than the deities. Mythologically, forge deities are often creation deities, civilisation deities, discovery/exploration deities, even healing deities. There’s a lot of ‘whatever the problem, we can build our way out of it’. Which is awesome.

So. Some interesting domain combinations:

War is the obvious one. Forge clerics are pretty clearly designed as front-liners. And on the deity side, war is often a necessity for a forge deity, both as a primary market for their wares, and also because they tend to be prime targets for forces who want to have exclusive access to said wares. There’s a reason I associate the forge with captivity. Going to war because the enemy forced your hand and you had to build your way out of captivity seems to be a typical job hazard for a smith deity. An interesting addendum, put Life with it, for deities of War, Forge and Life, who build prosthesis and solutions to the aftermath of war. A lot of actual RL forge deities do seem to have a ‘mechanical solutions to biological problems’ sort of mindset.

Knowledge is the other immediate aspect. Discovery, invention, civilisation. Tool-makers, more than weapon-makers. Prometheus. Fire and the taming of the natural world. Craft. Trade centres. In more industrialised settings, invention and industry. So, Order and even Nature might be good domain mixes as well, for the civilisation and harvest/nature-tamed end of things. The plough as much as the sword. Forge has some hearth associations, for gods of city, home and protection. On the darker side, Order, forges are also where you make shackles. But then you have my favourite image. Prometheus, Wayland. The chained or hobbled smith god forging his way to freedom. I like chaos in a smith god. Fire and freedom, creation, wringing possibility from the raw material of the universe. Forge, Knowledge, Arcana, Life. Tempest, even Trickery. The smashing of chains.

Grave

I love this domain so much. I’ve always loved psychopomps, guides, and the gentler aspects of death. Hades and Persephone, Isis and Osiris, Hermes guiding souls. Charon the ferryman. Death-the-Gatherer, rather than Death-the-Hunter. I’d love a dual-aspect deity, Life and Grave domains, the Lord/Lady of First and Last Respite. Peace, ease from pain, freedom from slavery.

Grave pairs very well with Twilight. They have the feel of boundary guardians, the liminal deities. Grave’s use of necromancy spells feels very much like something drawing power or essence from the boundary between life and death itself. A border guardian, authorised to open the gates when needed and ensure that they are safely closed again. Twilight sits so well with that.

Life, Knowledge. Medicine. Hermes and his caduceus. Peace. Laying to rest what should not have been disturbed. Nature. The acknowledgement of natural cycles of decay and reinvigoration. Grave lies very much on the ‘slow and steady, all things in their course’ sort of feeling. It really does pair well with Life in a single deity, not a raw striving against death as an enemy, but a more balanced understanding of what to push and how far, before life itself becomes a tyranny of captivity. First and Last Respite. You strive and you strive and you strive, and then you rest.

It also goes well with War in this regard. Again, its partner aspect. Death domain pairs more overtly with War, but Grave also has a place. Poppies in the fields. Last rites. The soldier chaplain. War as necessity, and then the aftermath. A grave domain cleric has a lot to do in a war.

Interestingly, with the likes of Hermes, and even Isis to an extent, there’s also a Trickery association. Thieves on the boundary line. Stealing knowledge or wealth or time past the line of death. People who have seen things that were never meant to be seen. Truth behind illusion. Journeys, exploration, knowledge. Outcasts. Death is the great equaliser, after all. It welcomes all, even the most wretched. There’s the interesting balance for a thief god, ‘you can’t take it with you when you die’, but maybe you can? Or a thief who will not be stolen from, and that includes their life, the one possession everyone should have the right to defend. Trickery and Grave have some interesting mixes, and a grave cleric with a criminal background would be fascinating to me.

Knowledge

Again, I adore this domain with all my heart. Knowledge domain is the seeker archetype, both in deities and clerics. A shared wellspring of knowledge, and a mission to perpetually add to it, to ask questions and then go and find the answer.

A thing I find with deities for this domain, they can have an oddly static feel. Like the sum of all knowledge already exists, is already stored in some library somewhere, and no knowledge deity ever needs to discover anything themselves. It’s a danger to get stuck in the static ‘archivist’ image of a knowledge god, even though the collection and processing and classification and archiving of information is a whole dynamic activity in itself. Knowledge changes, is always changing. Knowledge is about seeking, archiving, analysing, understanding, drawing linkages. Disseminating, teaching, sharing. Though there are and should be gods who focus on recording information, because that’s a right and necessary thing we like to do with knowledge, there’s a lot more to the domain than that.

On that note. I feel like Knowledge and Trickery are a very nice pair of domains for a deity. What’s that quote about the basis of trickery being knowing one extra fact? Plus. Espionage is a whole industry based on, essentially, the theft and dissemination of protected knowledge. And the flipside, that to protect knowledge, you have to know how people will try to steal it. A lot of the knowledge domain’s abilities and spells lend well to spying. Even your static ‘archivist’ god, with his library and his scrolls, has probably seen just about every idiot seeking forbidden knowledge, and was possibly the cause of what happened to quite a few of them. Heh.

With that in mind, War is also a potential partner domain as well. Finding information that your enemy doesn’t want you to know is a huge part of warfare, and messengers and couriers are also vital during wartime. If you wanted to make a god of espionage, Knowledge, Trickery, War and maybe Arcana would be a good mix of domains.

Knowledge also just goes well with a lot of the civilisation-focused domains. Order, Life, Arcana, Forge, even Nature. And with more chaotic areas as well. Knowledge is about exploration, discovery, invention. Maybe even Tempest can fit alongside, especially combined with Forge as well, for that ‘lightning strike of inspiration’ idea. Knowledge over tradition. The heretical pursuit of truth in the face of order. The defiance of demanding answers to questions people don’t want asked. Prometheus, after all, is one of the archetypal deities of knowledge.

Knowledge is just … about seeking. The pursuit of knowledge. Knowledge clerics are seekers, especially in the adventurer mould. The explorer, the archaeologist, the pilgrim, the messenger, the spy, the broker, the medium (Knowledge pairs well with Grave too). The teacher, the protector. If a god of knowledge wants a mortal pair of hands, it’s to find, protect or spread knowledge. Or to use it for a specific purpose. Ideas can be the levers on which a world turns, after all. Not all knowledge deities might be neutral …

Life

The bog-standard domain of the jobbing cleric. The domain people maybe feel they get saddled with if the party needs a healer. But I like the Life domain a lot, although for some reason it’s locked on to orcs and half-orcs in my head (every life cleric I’ve ever built has been one or the other). I like the feeling of striving and equality you get with the Life domain. The endless fight against evil, destruction and even just normal decay. Life is the bulwark domain. Life is the stubborn domain (which, actually, might be why I associate orcs with it). And I like a lot of the existing life deities.

Life is about preservation. It doesn’t create, but it preserves. Life holds the line. It’s considered the bog-standard domain, and to be fair it does fit most anywhere. You can tack the life domain on to the portfolio of nearly any deity you please, and it’ll probably fit.

And! It doesn’t have to always be good. I don’t even just mean that you can have a racial life deity for an ‘evil’ race, like Luthic for the orcs (which is a whole other thing, racial pantheons are … a tricky thing), but Life itself can be an enemy. If you’ve ever read the fairytale ‘The Soldier and Death’, you’ll know what I mean. And, for a more recent example, the Many-Faced God in Game of Thrones is an example of a death-as-mercy deity that moved towards punishing and/or preventative medicine later down the line. Life without cease can be a hell without escape. Life is as much a force that needs to be tempered and balanced as any other. You have options with Life deities.

So. Domain combinations. I LOVE the Life/Grave duality. I said it above with Grave, and I’ll say it again down here. Pair the two. They work beautifully together.

Life has the obvious solar association, so Light is a common pair for it. Twilight actually works very well as well. Life is the bulwark. The preserving line that enemy forces founder against. Pair it with a domain that ventures protectively into the darkness, or with one that vengefully shatters it. Life, Light, and Twilight are a nice mix of domains.

Peace and Order are an interesting set, in that they can edge Life over into its darker aspects if left unchecked. The rigid, tyrannical end of lawful. Stepford smilers. Whatever happens, we can fix you right up! So just smile, and take whatever happens. Life is a torturer’s dream domain. You can go dark, dark places with it if you want to, and these two are a good pair of domains to set alongside that journey. Make a deity of Order, Life and Peace that would put the greatest Archdevil of Tyranny to absolute shame! Though you can take them gently too. You can take them as they were intended. Make bulwark deities. Protectors against the dark. Holding the line.

I also love Life, the same as Grave, as an equality domain. This is more on the cleric end, but I love outcast characters who take up the mantle of a healer god because the deity just accepted them. I do like Ilmater for this, for example. Life as the healer domain knows all about what people do when they’re in pain, and it works to heal rather than punish that. The ideal of a medic who heals regardless of nationality or creed. Dr McCoy from Star Trek, because I adore him. Make an angry healer, an outcast who works to help other outcasts, who struggles with the ethics of helping even evil people, because if you ignore pain when you see it, what does that make you? But if you cause untold pain with an act of mercy, what does that make you? There’s a lot you can work with here. Life is more than just a jobbing domain.

Light

The spear of god, the lance of the heavens. Light is the glorious, radiant, blinding, burning domain. The domain for when you want to smite people and set the world on fire. There’s also a vigilance, eyesight, ever-burning, all-seeing sort of association. The lantern ever-burning in the dark, the eye in the sky that sees all. So it has a sort of a, a half-and-half sort of feeling. Light will wait for all eternity, as patient as the sun, for their enemies to move. And as soon as they do, Light will smite them with fire from on high. Light is a distinctly decisive sort of domain. You can’t take back a fireball once you’ve launched it, so be sure you know where you’re aiming it first.

Light is honestly such a fun domain. It pairs well with a lot of things. Life. Tempest. War. Knowledge. I love a lot of RL mythological figures here. Helios Panoptes. Light and Knowledge are such a good mix. Light is knowledge as in surveillance. The big staring eyeball in the sky. The sniper’s little red dot on your forehead. I see you. Light is the crusader deity. ‘I’m going to see what’s happening, and then I’m going to act on it’. Add War in, sure. Tempest. The lightning bolt from on high. If any deity is going to have combat celestials to throw around as well, it’ll be Light domain deities. It’s a very smitey domain.

Light does have a gentler aspect. Light clerics tend to be blasters, mobile artillery, but they still have the standard cleric options. And light is the dawn of life. So. Life. Nature. It has a preservatory feeling against the forces of darkness and decay. Stand in my radiance and I will shelter you. And a sower of life feeling. Show me your grain and I will ripen it. Energy is epitomised by light. So you could pair Twilight as well, a deity with twin aspects, the light and the twilight. The spear and the shield. A deity who will venture out watchfully into darkness, keeping faith with it, until crisis point is reached and they bring the sudden dawn instead.

Nature

Gods of the natural world. I’ll be honest, while it makes absolute sense that you would have nature deities, as a cleric domain it feels slightly superfluous and like it’s stepping on the druid’s toes a bit. But. On the deity side, lots to work with.

With raw elemental might mostly given to Tempest, the Nature domain focuses on plants, animals, the land, the waters. Nature in its neutral state. There’s also a bit of an emphasis on survival, with things like heavy armour and Dampen Elements. Nature is very much about working with the land and creatures around you to survive. It can lean towards the wilder end, unspoiled nature, or the tamer end, the gods of harvest and field. You have things like your gods of the hunt, your gods of the wood, your gods of the field. Hearth, home. Freedom. Travel.

If you want to lean towards the wilder side, Nature combines well with Tempest, Trickery and War. These are your gods of the hunt, gods of the storm, gods of the jungle, the defenders of nature unspoiled. But you can also combine with Life and Light here as well, for the raw majesty and vibrancy of the wilderness, and with Twilight and Peace, for the shadowed forests and wilds.

On the tamer end, the gods of field and harvest, of fertility, Nature combines with Order, Life, Light, Knowledge and even Forge. Order, for the rolling fields of agriculture that feed the cities. Life, Light, for the sun that ripens the fields, the harvest that feeds the world. Knowledge and Forge, for the craft and the tools that tame the land, the knowledge of plant and soil and properties that provide food, medicine, systems of produce. Also, a deity of Nature, Trickery and Knowledge as a god of trade, of travel and produce and negotiation and knowledge. I like that.

Trickery combines well with either end as well. On the wilderness side, for nature’s more fey aspects, the gods of travel and wilderness and getting lost, the trickster deities of echoes in the mountains and lights in the swamp that lead people astray and protect their secrets. On the tamer side, I love Trickery and Nature (and Life) for a god of hospitality, the arcane rules and soft power that prevent violence by alternate means. And, I mean, if you want Hotel California, the little god of the vanishing inn, try some combination of Nature, Trickery, Life, Death and Twilight. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave … I actually really love the idea of a Nature deity that defends the wilds just by luring and trapping intruders under the guise of civilised hospitality. The liminal deity of the boundary between the fields and the wilds.

On the deity end, Nature is actually a really versatile and lovely domain. Add it to everything. Heh.

Order

Apparently, I tend towards neutral or chaotic, because I kneejerk don’t like the Order domain. For much the same reason I’m not too fond of the enchantment school of magic. It’s by nature on the far end of lawful, and the focus is on control and conformity before free will. It’s a hard domain to balance. Gods of Order are going to be on the hard lawful edge, deities of law and cities and justice. Justice is the better end of the domain, but the spells and features … This domain leans a bit dystopian, yes? Law by compulsion. It’s ridiculously easy to slant towards evil.

But. Let’s try and get past the kneejerk. At its best, Order is the domain of cities and civilisation, centralised law, law by consensus. It’s a domain focused on discipline, on justice, at least in the sense of rigid adherence to the law. At it’s worst, it’s the domain of empire and tyrant and dystopia. Zealotry. The slaver domain. Deities with Order in their portfolio will lean in one of those directions. Justice and discipline, or conquest and control. Either way, there’s a focus on civilisation, on the polis, on centralised authority.

The natural domain pairing is War, for the conquest end, and Peace, for the civilisation end. Peace is very much the gentler, more consensual partner to Order, enabling willing communal links, while Order enforces unwilling ones. Peace encourages people to act together, Order forces them to act correctly. There’s an interesting tension there. On War’s end, I feel a deity with both Order and War domains will prioritise Order, viewing War as a tool to extend the reach far enough to ensure control, but the reverse is also possible, viewing Order as a way to maintain a strong enough army to feed War. You can sit anywhere on the lawful end of the alignment chart with any of these. A crusader for justice all the way down to a tyrannical despot.

On the polis end, civilisation, Arcana and Knowledge both sit well with Order, as well as Forge. A Knowledge and Order deity will be one of those ‘gods of lists’. Everything in its place. Arcana will be a toolbox, less a focus on the exploration and experimentation of magic. Though you could have an interesting tension of a deity of Order and Arcana trying to fully map and thereby control magic as a force. That is an arcana deity who will very much not like magic’s more chaotic expressions, which could go interesting places. If you want a theological war on certain types of magic (especially sorcery), that could be an idea.

Order as a domain feels very overbearing. It’ll dominate any domain mix its part of. You could put it with Light, with Nature, with Life, and it will bend and shape the other domains around it. It even goes with Trickery, which feels like it should be a chaos domain, because again, espionage is a fundamental part of warfare and control, and a domain that doesn’t balk at enchantment won’t balk at illusion either. Tools in the toolbox.

The one domain that doesn’t feel like it pairs well with Order is Tempest. Tempest does feel too rawly chaotic to sit nicely alongside Order. If you want a pair of gods to set in opposition, try Order vs Tempest. The city vs the sea, the storm vs the doldrums, raw force vs overbearing will.

Peace

I’m calling this the Hufflepuff domain, and like a good badger, it has the potential to be absolutely terrifying. Peace is one of those domains that you really, really don’t want in an enemy. This is the siege domain, the tank-generating domain. Come and have a go, dear, because you are guaranteed not hard enough. Put this with Life and then Order or Light or War, and you are dealing with an absolutely terrifying unified force that won’t go down. If you don’t like the Hufflepuff comparison, you can also try Starfleet. Walk softly in the sure knowledge that you are carrying the bigger stick.

An evil peace deity is such a fantastically terrifying thought. A long, calm walk into night, hand in hand, carrying each other when we falter. I want this domain for a post-apocalyptic setting so much. William Hope Hodgson’s Night Land. Dying Earth. A philosophical debate between two deities of peace, whether it is better to be the last bulwark standing firm against the darkness, or if true peace is found in gently letting go together. Put one with Life, put the other with Grave, and debate in a world of horror and darkness and madness and despair which one of them is ‘good’ and which one of them is ‘evil’.

But. Even normally, in non-dying settings. Peace is an exciting domain that can go in some interesting directions. The line between good and evil for this one will be what we’re willing to do to have peace, and what we’re defining as ‘forces that prevent peace’. Obviously if you’re going for a Peace/Order evil combination, ‘freedom’ is a thing that could prevent peace. If you’re going with Peace/Grave/Death, life is a thing that could prevent peace. It all depends on how you want to play it. But you can go gentler as well. Peace with Life, with Nature, with Grave, as a genuine, gentle attempt to help as many people as possible find a life free from pain or fear. Peace with Order as a good-aligned hope for civilisation and diplomacy triumphing over fear and war.

It’s just very fun for me personally to imagine the darker aspects here. An evil peace cleric as a cult leader. ‘Stand with me, help each other, stand together, and no one can stand against us’. All the worst aspects of group-think. Genuine loyalty, genuine camaraderie, and just a complete lack of actual morals. It would be terrible and fantastic. Hang an evil party around a peace cleric and have your loving, psychotically loyal bunch of clowns go to town on the rest of the world.

Tempest

The first D&D character I ever made was a high elven Tempest cleric, ex-slave, ex-city official. Looking back up at my thoughts on the Order domain will probably give you an idea why. Tempest is just a gorgeous domain for me. Distilled chaos, and all its tricky balances. Where’s the line between raw destruction and needful freedom?

It helps that I’m from an island nation and strongly associate Tempest with the sea. In the absence of an actual Ocean domain, Tempest is where that part of me gravitates. So Tempest gets all the associations of freedom and power and terror and awe that the ocean gets from me. The volcano and earthquake aspects aren’t as fun for me, though elemental storm very much is. Air and water and lightning and sky.

Tempest isn’t a kind domain. It doesn’t really feel nurturing or safe. At its worst, it’s raw destruction, power pitted against all comers. At its best, it’s freedom for those strong enough, a storm to break the oppressive swelter of summer, a sea wave to smash through walls. Like Order can sit at any end of the lawful spectrum, Tempest can sit at any end of the chaotic spectrum.

Tempest deities will probably lean towards one end or the other. Destructive and overbearing, or fierce opponents of tyranny. It pairs fantastically with Light, as the celestial realms’ shock troopers, with lightning as a nice conceptual bridge between them. Tempest probably lacks Light’s more patient aspects, though. Although maybe not. The sea is always power held in potential, after all. The promise of the storm is always there, even when it’s calm. So. Light is a good mix. War and probably Forge will work just as well too, though for Forge you will want the more volcanic/seismic end of Tempest.

Tempest is an interesting mix with Trickery. Whatever else Tempest is, it doesn’t tend to be subtle. But misdirection is as much an aspect of trickery as disguises are. Sound and noise, signifying nothing. Until the right moment. If you want Tempest to match Light’s patient aspects, pairing the two of them with Trickery would be a very interesting mix. Add War, and you have a deity with a full martial suite of domains, from the espionage and information gathering stages all the way through to shock troops and invasion. Or go Tempest, Trickery, Knowledge, to emphasise the secrets of the ocean depths, and the powerful forces that protect them.

On the gentler end, Tempest pairs naturally with, well, Nature. Wildfires and ocean storms serve their purposes too, clearing ground to help systems rebuild and refresh. Rainstorms to break droughts. It’ll still be a bit on the survivalist end of nature, cruel to be kind, but it can be much gentler than its more destructive outbursts imply. You can have a deity of Life, Nature and Tempest quite easily.

Trickery

The domain of illusion, secrecy, misdirection, stealth. Okay. So. I adore this domain in terms of deities. Adore it. Anyone who knows me will tell you I love trickster deities with a passion. I will say that cleric-wise, this domain feels oddly blinkered, purely focused on stealth and misdirection, though the spell list does add some more fun, chaotic things. But in terms of deities, oh, I’m gonna have fun here.

On a base level, trickery is about accomplishing your goals by indirect, unexpected or subtle means. It’s about stealth, misdirection, leverage, diplomacy, theft, murder, guile. It’s about breaking the rules, taking the unexpected path. It isn’t necessarily chaotic, you can do an unexpected thing that is purely within the rules of the game, and for certain stripes of trickery deities I would suggest valuing exactly that, a matter of pride in pushing the rules to breaking point and highlighting all their absurdities in the process. White hat hackers. A lawful good trickery deity whose sole purpose is to test the bounds of law and tradition and show where it can be improved.

It also doesn’t have to be evil. It seems to come up a bit, that Trickery is added as a domain to an evil god’s portfolio simply to emphasise that they’re a liar. Which is … valid, fine, but it’s just … Lying is not all that Trickery is. You can do more with it.

I’m also not fully certain of the association with luck for Trickery. I feel it’s because 5e doesn’t yet have an actual chaos domain, so Trickery is used as a stand in for anything on the more chaotic end of concepts, but the thing with luck is that it’s random. The Dice Gods are the gods of fate, destiny and chaos. I’d give them … Order domain, Chaos domain, Balance domain, something like that. If you want good luck and bad luck, I’d give them the Life and Death domains, positive and negative energy, creation and entropy. But Trickery … implies more intent than luck allows. You have to set out to trick someone. Trickery is to accomplish goals. A roll of the dice, outcome uncertain, feels like something a trickery deity would go out of their way to avoid where possible. Tricksters try to play with loaded dice. I feel like they don’t like to rely on luck.

But. Moving on. Trickery deities are your gods of subtlety or change. Your thief gods, your spy gods, your gods of revolution, your gods of motion and change. Your gods you send out to accomplish things that other gods can’t. Your gods of desperation, your gods of last resort, your gods of hope. And, yes, also your gods of lies, of deceit, of hidden things. Your gods of manipulation and planning. Your gods of murder in the dark.

In terms of domains, Trickery goes with everything. Seriously everything. There is nothing you can’t put with Trickery, because it’s all about your methods, not your goals. In that sense it’s a bit of a toolbox domain, like Arcana or Knowledge. There are so many ways to go.

Trickery, Knowledge, Order, War. Your god of spies and espionage. Trickery and Light, your god of surveillance. Trickery and Knowledge and Arcana, your god of hidden, illusory and experimental magic. Trickery and Grave, your thief psychopomp. Trickery and Twilight, all in on illusion and hidden things, the god thieves pray to for protection and silence in the dark. Trickery and Nature, hospitality, trade and soft power. Trickery and Peace, diplomacy in all its forms. Trickery and Tempest, the god of sound and fury who knows how to level it strategically. Trickery and Life is a god that’s going to help and heal by whatever means prove necessary. Forge and Trickery is Prometheus and all my other beloved tricky smiths. Trickery and Death is your chaos-sower, your force of subtle entropy, your silver-tongued dark messiah.

Honestly, you can never give Trickery to too many deities! Add it everywhere! Well, no, you do need a contrast to it, deities who are genuinely honest and straightforward or blunt as the face of a hammer, but it is a versatile domain. You can do a lot with it.

Twilight

This is such an incredibly gorgeous domain. Twilight, dusk, shadows, borders, liminality. The quiet secret spaces. Flight. Second star to the right and straight on til morning. There is nothing I do not love about this domain. Here is the gentle end of Peace, the balm of Grave, the sheltering arm of Life, the watchful care of Light. Here is the darkness made gentle, a shelter, neither pitch black nor blindingly bright. The borderland, the crossing point, where all are treated equal, where the thief finds as much shelter as the righteous man. Good gods, I love this domain.

Like I said. Life, Light, Peace, Grave. All of them are natural combinations with Twilight. Grave, for the borderlands. Peace, for a peaceful crossing. Light, for the vigilance against the dark. Life, for the shelter and solace there. And Trickery, too, for those who live in shadows and draw their comfort there. A deity of Trickery, Grave and Twilight, the thief god with the hooded lantern who guides souls to their rest. A deity of Life, Light and Twilight, the hermit, the patient watcher, who shields travellers under their cloak and stares unblinking out into the night, standing guard until dawn. A deity of Trickery, Arcana and Twilight, the god of dreams. A deity of Nature, Twilight and Peace, the god of the twilight woods, of still pools, of unicorns.

This domain feels like magic to me. I mean the wonder of magic. The feeling you had as a kid watching The Last Unicorn for the first time. I can’t be analytical or eloquent about this. This is the bus stop at 4am domain. The silence in the desert at night domain. The domain of flying dreams, where a god or a fairy touches you in your sleep and tugs you out the window to walk on air. Here are illusions, here are secret truths, here are fairytales.

It’s a good domain. Make me some gods who evoke the quiet wonder of it. Please, I love you.

War

Ending on a bit of a blunt note, really, in that War is arguably one of the simpler thematic domains. To quote Fallout: ‘War. War never changes.’ Maybe not, though. There are a fair few dualities and contradictions bound up in the domain.

There’s your obvious, Athena vs Ares, intellectual vs physical war, strategy vs combat, civilisation vs barbarism. There’s your theological, Augustine of Hippo and Thomas of Aquinas and the concept of ‘just war’, the surgeon vs the soldier, under what circumstances and in defense of what ideals does violence become justified. War for conquest vs war for defense, and the boundary where one becomes the other. Ideological crusades. The honesty of violence vs the hypocrisy of honour. War as ritual, war as necessity, war as a vehicle for personal advancement.

All right. So maybe War is not a simple domain at all. You have a lot of options of what other domains to pair War with in a deity’s portfolio to put a different slant on them. War with Life or Peace, war for defense of values. War with Order, war for conquest and crusade. War with Death, war of annihilation. War with Tempest, blitzkrieg, lightning war, war of force and sudden might. War with Grave, the god of warriors, who cares for war’s people. War with Light or Twilight, guardian against invasions from beyond. War with Knowledge or Trickery, the wars of states and nations and intelligence, wars of trade, black ops, espionage. War with Forge or Arcana, strategic, toolbox thinkers, getting the tools to do the job.

War is one of those domains that works just fine alone, but you can also add it on to any other domain that someone would have to fight for. Now, granted, War is organised fighting, large-scale fighting, so it’s not just picking a fight in a bar, but even then, War gods who value warriors who strive to prove their might at any provocation can still pay attention. But you have a lot of potential variety with war. You could have one war deity in your pantheon, or have six or seven who at least dabble in the domain. There isn’t a single other domain that you couldn’t add War onto. Nature is probably where it strains most, because War is usually the opposite of helpful for fixing problems Nature might be having, but even Nature has her champions. Even Peace, which you think would be the opposite of War, can happily stand alongside as the end goal, and War the means.

And as a stand-alone domain, you have a LOT of philosophical room for argument with War. Fittingly enough. Heh.

#d&d #worldbuilding #deities #clerics #cleric domains #mythology #building pantheons #concept associations

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notsolong-pause · 3 years

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ship requests

“Hey 👋 . Can I get a male HP ship (from both eras if possible) pls . Thank u so much ! . So I m a Gryffindor (with a bit of Slytherin ) . In my free time , I would love to read fantasy or sci-fic novels or facts maybe , listen to music , research about anything I want to , do something my parents denied me off maybe . If my friends are available , I'll also go downstairs with them and play . I m not as such interested in sport but I love to play cricket and badminton . My hobbies are dancing , horseriding , reading , researching , cyber and swordfighting (I haven't done it yet tho). I love the trope of fake relationship or enemies to lovers

Next is my personality . Well , I can be shy if I m not comfortable with the person , but if I am then I am very talkative . I don't trust ppl at the beginning until they prove themselves . I m very reliable and trustworthy but I tend to hide my emotions . I like my privacy, I don't even share that with my bestie sometimes . I come off as a rebel and I can get annoyed very easily . I love to organise a room . Everyone comes to me for advice . I also have a very good sense of humour which comes out in front of ppl I'm comfortable (they say I never used to fail to surprise them with my hidden qualities) . I m also quite modest . I m a risk-taker and I always stand up to my friends , I also have their back sometimes . I can also be a bully to my enemies or my friend's enemies but only if they start it first . Idk what is it , but ppl tell me I carry a powerful aura and many boys get attracted to me . Also , the popular ones used to attract to me a lot because I could be seen as a quiet nerdy girl . I come off as very unique at first meeting . I m practical with my decisions but as said , I hide my emotions or else the emotions would have led me. I m also a human lie detector , or that's what my family tells me . The thing that stands out in me isy dressing style . I am very curious. I m also very much mysterious . I m loyal to a fault . Now my flaws are that sometimes I don't believe my friends at all and it hurts them since they ask me to be honest and I tell them the truth . I can be blunt and cold without realising it but I don't mean to . I am an extrovert so keeping me from doing something can make me insecure . I m sensitive to criticism . I can be super suspicious, like a looott . I hate when ppl try to control me, even my parents so I end up going against them or I follow their instructions half-heartedly . I can be very very stubborn . I also get many intuitions but I ignore them . I hate when ppl are unreliable , everyone's lazy but atleast they should do their work after some rest . I also hate arrogant boastful PPL . I hate when someone disrespects me and I immediately cut them off from my life . I hate lame excuses given by the ppl whom I expect something to do and they didn't. I am very patient but once they cross their lines , they wish they hadn't . I guess this is too much ? (Lol sorry but excited ) Thank u so much for ur time dear 💗”

a/n: Hi! Thank you for so many details!! It’s lovely. You also asked for TMR ship, so I’ve decided to do a HP form one era and one for TMR. Hopefully, you are okay with that:)

p.s.: sorry for being a Draco slaughter. i’m also doing all the other requests, thank you for them!! they are going to be trade in a day or two. sending love <3

Harry Potter:

I ship you with Fred Weasley

(so badly, you’re a perfect match)

First of all... being stubborn and taking risks is something that you probable have in common, which is going to create a perfect enemies to lovers dynamic. Maybe academic/prancing rivalry?

You constantly mocking each other, but not meaning any harm or anything, even though others might think that you hate one another

Him always helping you to break the rules if needed, but still making sure that everything is alright, and everyone is safe. And you would keep an eye on him back, supporting him when he doesn’t know what to do

He would be surprised when you started to open up, and crack jokes, but would love them so badly. And he definitely is very grateful whenever (and if) you chose to tell him something private, and wouldn’t tell anyone else even if he was tortured

You would always give amazing ideas for the shop products. And he would be like: “Where do you know that from?” “Don’t know, just thought it was interesting and decided to investigate”

You were walking in the dull lights of a corridor from the late detention in the Snape’s dungeons. You got this one for arguing with a certain Weasley. This was entirely his fault, though, but he didn’t get caught, and you could still see the stupid smirk on his stupid face when you were assigned to come down here after classes. The Slytherin do was just nearby, and you heard a couple of voices around the corner. You were hopping these were some of your friends from Slytherin, but as you listen closely you herald none other than Malfoy. “These Weaslebeeys are ignorant trash just like their father. Who’s would willingly study what muggles’ life’s are like? That’s just dumb”you didn’t know whether he was just showing off in front of his friends or if he was being serious, but you were furious at the moment.

“Malfoy!” - you energetically approached the group.

“Another gryffindor”, - he smirked. “Why don’t you spend an evening at your dorm or some other lame place?”

“Cut it. Take it back” - you face was almost stone cold. Eyes glimmering dangerously in the flickering light.

“Are you defending the Weaslebees?” - he grimaced, being so proud of himself for no reason.

“It’s not their name, and they don’t need any defense. You’re being an arrogant prick towards my friends, and I’m not going to tolerate that.” - you were stiff, your fists clenched in order to hold back the anger. How dared he speak in such diminishing manner about people 100 times better than him!

“What are you going to about it?” He replied cheekily, stepping forward.

“Well... I don’t know, how about TheLocomotor Wibbly!” - you were gripping tightly onto your wand, and Draco suddenly fell to the floor. His legs turned to jelly.

“You little...” one of his friends pointed your wand towards you, opening his mouth to jinx you back. Suddenly there was a loud bang, everything was covered with the thick smoke, and you were pulled to the corner. You instinctively pointed a wand on the person in front of you, still unable to see anything.

“Easy, lady” you recognized the voice. “Fred? What are doing here?” you were genuinely surprised, and started wondering how much has he heard. “Came to rescue you from the Snape’s claws” he smirked. “Why?” you didn’t understand a thing. “No fun being brilliant if you can’t see that and get jealous” - he cocked his eyebrows. You huffed back. “Well, thank you, I suppose.” “Oh good, I thought I’d never hear that”. You surprised a smile. “Let’s move already”.

“By the way”, he stopped you, “did I hear you calling me a friend?” You nudged his shoulder. “Don’t think too much of it, Weasley”.

The maze runner:

I ship you with Gally

He’s the one to understand you not opening up fully and immediately and keeping things to yourself for 110%. He’s mysterious himself, and he can give you every time in the world (sorry, i’m love him sm)

Again... the enemies to lovers dynamic, ESPECIALLY considering the whole thing with him killing Chuck (still hurts, though).

He can be very protective from time to time, so you can have “Because I care for you!!” arguments when you’re being reckless and decide to risk in order to save him.

He's honestly the sassy king of the show. Taking your sense of humour in account, I belive that he would really appreciate that you have it and can back him up. So you would exchange jokes back and forth

He's also absolutely giving you every freedom in the world not even attempting to control you or tell you what to do, he would only give out advices. And as far as he realises you're sensitive to crticizm, he starts to control himself in order not to hurt you.

"Please, never do that again". You and Gally were walking around the Last City, back to the shelter.

"Do what?" You asked, raising your head to the boy slightly ahead of you.

"You know what I'm talikng about". He turned his head to you, and stopped in the shaddow of the narrow street between the houses. His gaze was pretty serious, and both of you were extremely tired after yet another mission in attempt to undermine the existing regime.

"I don't think I do". You looked up at him with the confusion in your eyes.

"What you did back there was very risky, and you could have not make it. Don't risk like that ever again".

"But the cranks would've gotten you then". You protested. In your opinion, what you did was the only option.

"I appreciate the concern, but I could I handle it". He was starting to get stubborn, while you were getting angry.

"That's not true. One of them was hanging on your throat. That's not something people cal 'I handle it'". You threw your arms in the air, gesturing.

"I'm not letting them take me instead of you!" Gally was almost shouting at this point.

"Well, I'm not letting them take you either!"

"Great!"

You both went silent and were walking angrily towards your shelter, turning, sneaking, and hiding.

"Gally". You called in a few minutes. "It's just that I really care about you".

"I know". He told you, looking back again. "Just promise me, you're going to be careful".

"You know I really can't promise, but at least I'll try".

#ship requests #reader #reader insert #x reader #y/n #the maze runner #tmr #gally #gally x reader #the death cure #hp #harry potter #fred weasley x reader #fread weasley #weasley twins #fred and goerge weasley #golden era #hp x reader #submission

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kaibacorpintern · 3 years

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writing tag game

@emblematik thanks for the tag!!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

In total, 25; for Yugioh, 9!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

(i’m limiting the pool to yugioh stuff because this is all i care about)

for yugioh, 212,448 words; additionally, there's some ~33,000 written but unpublished. all of this since mid-2018, which feels like... SO much lol

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

some beast will find you by name, my ygo/pacrim flareship AU that i desperately miss writing and can’t wait to return to because she is my dream girl

amuse-bouche, my one-shot collection of various ships and scenarios, a crowd-pleaser

wish you were here!, my post-DSOD prideship “stranded on a tropical island” fic and is the fic where i like to “experiment" i.e. go absolutely batshit in the google doc

save point, which i wrote in a fugue state in five days but it turned out exactly how i wanted it to

lotus eater - post-DSOD prideship with kaiba in aaru, convincing atem to return home with him. a sleeper hit?! i fought this one uphill both ways the entire time.

4. Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

yes! just to say thank you and let the commenter know that i appreciate the time they took to write a comment; if they mention something specific about the fic i’ll add something about what i was thinking there when i wrote it.

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

an unposted one-shot death fic that i wrote for a different fandom just to *itachi voice* test my abilities see if i could write death fic bc all the cool kids were doing it but ultimately I do not enjoy writing death fic.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

the one-shots in amuse bouche generally have happy endings!

7. Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

hahaha i wrote a kaiba/hermione fic for my beloved @dxmichelle called “scientific method” where they go to a bookstore in hogsmeade and argue about science and magic and it’s still one of my favorite things i’ve ever written. It's just FUN.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

LOL yes but not in like 8 years. I still love em-dashes. the haters will never change me

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

yes, tender-as-hell rated M stuff.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

no. but i know a few of my posts on this blog have been used for fics and if that happens, all i ask is that 1) ask me permission first or 2) i get some credit somewhere. i take my jokes very seriously.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

nope! i do want to practice my spanish and translate my own fics, but lol who has the time!!

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

not for yugioh... YET

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

kaiba and his SHORT KING (OF GAMES / OF ANCIENT EGYPT) lmao i mean pride and rival are always duking it out for the #1 top spot in my brain, but the rival brainworms have been particularly active this summer because i’ve spent all summer writing a rivalfic. however: it’s pride season now.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

hrrrrrrrr i dont want to think about this. none WIP. i have three chaptered WIPs i absolutely have to finish, and i WILL.

15. What are your writing strengths?

Discipline - almost no off days. A strong sense for what is or isn’t “working” and why, and the patience to try multiple angles of attack on the same idea/scene. I like my characterization a lot - especially Kaiba-boy. Having fun when I write, even when it’s frustrating - that way it never gets so frustrating I quit.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

PLOTTING LOL..... also I’ve been trying lately to not be so decorative with my prose and leave some moments simply as they are, undecorated, unadorned. Not everything needs a really sexy turn of phrase or beautification through metaphor; some things just need to be.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

yes, if the plot or the story calls for it!! I have an ancient trustship fic where kaiba and isis switch between four different languages until she corners him using ancient Egyptian, which he can understand but does not speak.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

yoog

19. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

i waffled on this for a few minutes because i like everything i’ve written, but it’s “some beast will find you by name.” it’s rough in some parts chapter 6 i am looking at you but it was also the first fic i published after four years of not posting a single word, and i love the whole thing for what it is! when it slaps, it slaps!!!

I tag @dxmichelle @atembomb @kuriboh-i-choose-you >3

#ty <3 #intern memo #writing notes

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bealusith · 2 years

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@nussmixmussnix

I appreciate it and love how you give your writing so much depth 💜 S7 made everyone seem so flat as characters sometimes, even though there was so much set up and many new things were merely touched upon... I love how you do research beforehand, connect the loose strings and also include different time layers of the characters‘ lives 💙 I read somewhere that when entering the Cem house, you become a genderless soul. I didn’t watch the documentary above yet, but maybe they mention it, too?

Thank you, this is very kind!

I feel obliged to say that I was being a little facetious; I don’t seriously think that the writers didn’t do any research, but I have a habit of making fun of them, much like the rest of the fandom. All I did was read several websites, one and a half academic articles, watch this documentary, and several shorter clips on yt. I can’t take that much credit.

What you’re saying reminds me of this part from a website of the British Alevi Federation: “Alevis call each other ‘Can’ (soul), which is a gender-neutral name. As a result of this understanding, the position of women in Alevism is equal to that of men.“ The documentary did not mention this!

It was my impression, watching and reading, that even if women and men are equal, and the dance is an expression of the individual to God, or the universe, the individuals participate as men and women. There is a suggestion of harmony, or balance, a combination of the opposites. But I don’t know. It is much easier to write about a specific person’s specific experiences, which do not have to be representative of an entire faith, than it is to speak as a random person on the Internet about this. I feel like I reached the limit of what I could say in the fic.

As far as the writing is concerned, I wanted to avoid suggesting that becoming more involved in the community would solve all Isi’s problems, because that seemed too easy. On the other hand, I didn’t want to suggest that the solution would be to reject it as too traditional and oppressive in contrast with the more progressive and liberal German society. I wanted to depict the community as important to Isi, but not less complicated than other parts of their life. It does come off as a little idyllic, because Isi’s memories of it are childhood memories.

re: including different time layers of characters’ lives - it’s not a very conscious choice; I do it because I came up with a lot of details I don’t get to use, and because it allows the scenes to breathe a little, it provides space between lines of dialogue. I’m happy that it adds to the story instead of distracting from it!

#nussmixmussnix #replies

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beastcpu · 3 years

Note

have you ever heard of the witches of benevento? they were a (medieval folkloric?) coven of witches in Benevento, Italy, who allegedly used to gather beneath a great walnut tree and anoint their breasts with an ungulent in order to fly. but by all accounts, it’s thought that they were a cult dedicated to the triple goddesses/trifecta isis, diana and hekate (especially as they were in a place in the mediterranean where it’s likely that egyptian, roman and greek religions/mythology would have mixed). on that note, i know it’s personal but in what ways to you stay connected to Hekate in your practices?

I'd never heard of them before but I'll definitely look into them since those are the three goddesses and traditions I've always been drawn to, thank you for telling me about them!

I like to stay connected to Hekate by giving her small offerings regularly rather than just during ritual or in return for a favor, writing her poems and prayers, making art, keeping a journal to appreciate and make sense of all she encompasses and using her colors and symbols in decorations and accessories. Also, because she's such a multifaceted goddess, I see her in everything. I often find myself thinking about her or dedicating small acts to her, wearing, recreating or otherwise using her imagery without actively choosing to. I still love the things I've always loved, only now I have a name and her many epithets and correspondences to better understand and address them, as well as seeing how they're all connected or the same.

She's darkness and light, land, sea and sky. She's perfect balance and constant change. What else is there? When you look at the moon, the seasons, the tides, every constant cycle of growth and decay, you're looking at her. I feel her presence in all of it and I know she's much bigger than this world, but at its core it's the same. A torch lighting up a dark path is not so different from the sun within the endless universe. She is both the light and the darkness that came before it, and her light reaches as far as it needs to. She holds the key to the necessary change to return to balance and is willing to light the way for you. Trusting her to guide your path is a healing experience. Being aware of this process is being connected to her, and I try to find it in everything around me

I used to struggle being fully devoted to something (in general but also in regards to permanent offerings, art, altars, etc) but finding her has felt like coming home. It's easy to give a part of yourself when you feel like an extension of who you're giving it to. The things I do are more small acts of appreciation of her presence and influence, being connected to her is effortless

(I just spent 50 minutes on an answer starting at 3 AM bc I knew I'd forget what I wanted to say if I waited till morning and right as I went to reread tumblr decided to erase the whole thing. Even though this is a lot less nuanced, I hope it's still helpful)

#ask #hekate #i should probably mention this is from a perspective of her as World Soul #then again there's a reason she's seen this way and i think anyone who really delves into her mythology can see it #im rambling about the nature of the divine at 4 am again #i hope this all makes sense

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akindofmagictoo · 3 years

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manuscript search tag game

I got my sticky hands on an open tag from @zmlorenz! and I will finish my scene right after I do this. I will. really.

my words are repeat, roll, rude, rock, rope

repeat (Dragonsong)

They spent a few more minutes silent, hoods up and heads down against the drizzling rain, until Robin broke it. “You’re really not going to turn me in?”

“Unless you intend to repeat Sector Three, then yes.”

“What?”

“Three or four years ago—you’d have been a trainee then, I think. A mage got into Sector Three and tried to make it to the castle to hurt the king. They didn’t manage it, but they blew up half the sector instead.”

“Oh. That. I can understand how that might look bad for you.”

roll (Dragonsong) (still love protective Sierra... reversing the roles a bit)

“Shit, what did they do to you?” asked Sierra. She strode towards the door like she might attack the guards who’d brought Isi in.

“Sierra, no…” Isi grabbed the bars of the cell door to keep herself from falling over. “Don’t.”

Sierra paused and made eye contact with Isi. And stopped.

Isi held her gaze until both doors had shut and the guards had left the room. “I don’t want you to get hurt as well.” Her legs gave out under her and she slumped to the floor. She gasped.

“Oh, fuck, you’re bleeding. What did they do?” Sierra tore a strip off her sleeve, rolled it up, and pressed it firmly against Isi’s side.

Black spots danced at the edges of Isi’s vision. She tipped her head back against the bars and closed her eyes.

rude (Dragonsong) (as much as I do like SB... I also like Isi not taking any of his crap. while still being nice when circumstances allow.)

Isi frowned. “You’ve made it very clear you’re jealous. We get it. But all your snide comments make it out to be Robin’s problem, which it isn’t. If you want to travel with us, that’s fine. But I think we’d both appreciate it if you kept this to yourself, and found something nice to say once in a while.”

SB looked as stung as if she’d slapped him.

Isi took no pleasure in harsh words, but she wouldn’t stand by and let SB be rude, either. Robin was dealing with his own complicated feelings. He didn’t need to be responsible for SB’s problems as well. She took at the pack horse’s reins from SB and turned to keep walking.

rock (Dragonsong) (ooh a new bit!)

An arrow whizzed past Isi’s shoulder. Robin’s fletching. She smiled, though he wouldn’t see it. Off to her other side, a ball of crackling green fire arced through the air and knocked a knight flat on their back.

She frowned and risked a glance over her shoulder. SB tossed a rock up and flicked his wrist, catching the stone in another ball of fire. Another flick of his wrist, and the rock flew into the fray, leaving a trail of green sparks. Its target collapsed in a heap, just a few sword-lengths from Isi.

SB grinned and mouthed, “Pay attention.”

She turned back to the fight.

rope (Hurricane)

Blasted fog. It had crept up on the Firebird and encircled it slowly but surely. In fact, it had taken her the better part of an hour or two to actually notice it. Either way, she knew she’d better go find Tempest. She made it halfway down the mast, and reached for another rope, which was half-obscured by fog. The rope wasn’t there. She grabbed at empty air, and fell.

It was only a foot or two, but she landed on her shoulder, sending a sharp stab of pain through the point of it. She rolled to her feet with a grunt, and staggered towards the helm.

“No point working the rowers if we can’t see where we’re going,” Tempest was saying. “We’ll go with the wind for a bit—”

“Even though the wind’s bad,” said Aella, rubbing her sore shoulder.

“At least there is wind,” said Tempest, barely ruffled by Aella’s sudden appearance. Actually, come to think of it, she’d probably heard her hit the deck. “Are you alright?”

Her theory must be correct. “Yes. Missed a rope, that’s all. Didn’t fall too far.”

I will tag @josephinegerardywriter @ninazeniks @lottieiswriting and @ellatholmes to find fret, finish, fling, flare

#tag game #manuscript search tag #wip dragonsong #dragonsong excerpt #wip hurricane #hurricane excerpt

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peppersonironi · 4 years

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Batfam/Avengers Crossover Chapter Four: Growing Suspicions

Tagging (Let me know if you want to be tagged): @the-fair-maiden-of-fandom

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Category: Gen

Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types

Relationships: Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne, Natasha Romanov & Damian Wayne, Clint Barton & Cassandra Cain, Tim Drake & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tim Drake & Duke Thomas, Pamela Isley/Harleen Quinzel, Tim Drake/Kon-El | Conner Kent, Dick Grayson/Wally West, Roy Harper/Koriand'r/Jason Todd,

Characters: Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle, Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown, Barbara Gordon, Justice League (DCU), Alfred Pennyworth, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Clint Barton, Thor (Marvel), Bruce Banner, Peter Parker, Alfred the Cat (DCU), Bat-Cow (DCU), Goliath (DCU), Selina Kyle’s Cat Isis, Kate Kane (DCU), Duke Thomas,

Additional Tags: Batbrothers (DCU), Avengers Meet The Batfam, MCU/Batfam crossover, Crossover, no beta we die like robins, rated T for Jason’s language, I bleeped it out though. Just to be safe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, canon? What’s canon?, Deaf Clint Barton,Deaf Character, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Happy Batfamily (DCU), Birdflash and joyfire are implied/referenced,

Summary: After some questionable comments from Jason regarding murder, some of the Avengers are (understandably) freaked out and untrusting towards the bats. They decide to research their hosts.

Natasha stood to the side as Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown finished sparring. Everyone else was either watching or warming up. Natasha was part of the former.

Their skill was undeniable. She had no doubt that if it came to a real fight, she might not win. They had fought hard for almost five minutes, though Nat could tell it was all in good fun. Their looks of concentration did not hide the easy-going eyes and smiles.

Natasha was honestly unsure of who would win, but then Stephanie pulled out of a flip a split second early and delivered a kick to Tim’s chest. A moment later she had used his off-balance to bring him to the floor. He quickly surrendered when she sat on him with her forearm to his throat.

“That was an interesting kick,” Tim said as Stephanie helped him up. “I wonder who you learned it from.” He glanced over his shoulder to glare at a smirking Damian.

“I’m sorry Drake, is there a problem? Aren’t we all supposed to help each other improve our technique?” Damian was smirking even more at that point.

Tim snorted then walked off to get some water, grumbling as he went.

Stephanie laughed. “Sore loser!” She high fived Damian.

“Could I perhaps have a turn,” Natasha asked when no one seemed to be ready immediately to fight.

Steve stepped forward. “Shall we?”

Natasha groaned inside. Steve was a decent fighter, especially with his shield, but she had been looking forward to a challenge.

Natasha nodded. “Sure, I’d like a warm-up.” This got some chuckles from the teens.

They faced each other and started to circle for a few seconds. When Nat grew bored, she darted forward and struck his shoulder. He twisted and she used it to strike the back of his knee. She delivered a kick to the back of his head and he was on the ground a moment later.

There were several appreciative claps and laughs from the kids. The rest of the Avengers just nodded. They were used to Natasha beating them up.

“Someone needs a better opponent,” Bruce Wayne said. He didn’t smile, but there was a slight upturn on the corner of his mouth. “Damian, why don’t you take a turn. I know you’ve been itching for a fight.”

The boy smiled dangerously, and several of the Avengers laughed. They underestimated him - most likely due to his incredibly short stature - unlike Natasha. There was something strange about him, She had sensed it from the moment she’d laid eyes on him. And she hadn’t forgotten that he was dangerous.

Damian strolled forward and took his position. Natasha followed suit. A moment later Dick gave the mark to start.

Damian was fast . He sprinted forward in an instant and struck Nat’s gut. She barely managed to block, and wasn’t able to dodge the next blow, this time to her shin. She darted out with a counterblow, but he stepped out with his back leg, bringing his arm up to block. A split second later his back leg darted out to land a blow on the back of Natasha’s knee, bringing her down. He smoothly transitioned into bringing a knee up and jumping into a spinning kick landing at Natasha’s head.

Natasha was on the ground for a moment before she rose and resumed her atack. Damian flipped away before advancing once again. He unleashed a sequence of torso blows followed by a front handspring finished with a double kick. Natasha spun to the side and attacked him with multiple strikes across his shoulders and head.

She could tell his style easily. He stuck with torso and leg strikes due to his height, and only used roundabout kicks, which utilized his leg strength. But he was also holding back. Some of his blows were clearly designed to kill, but had been modified to be non life threatening. Perhaps what had been implied earlier was true: the kid had killed.

The fight dragged on, and Natasha couldn’t find an opening. Damian was ruthless in his attacks, and his form impeccable. There were times when Natasha was clearly losing, but she managed to pull back from the brink and keep going. She managed to get a decent combo in before Damian swiped at her head mid flip. She dodged to the side: a pivotal mistake. In the blink of an eye, Damian was at her. He brought her into a headlock, and Nat had no choice but to accept defeat.

They rose together, to the astonished faces of the Avengers. Tony was especially shocked. Apparently, none of them had ever considered that Natasha could be beaten. Let alone by an eleven year old.

“Great Job, both of you.” Dick said. “I haven’t seen anyone stand that long against Damian in a while.”

Damian smiled at her smugly.

Natasha smiled right back. The fight had been invigorating, and she hadn't had to work that hard before. But for the same reason, it was worrying. The kid taught with skill that would have taken years to develop. Damian had clearly been trained from a very young age, which brought a shiver down Natasha's spine. She had flashbacks to the Red Room. The bloody horror that has been her childhood.

No one should have to face that.

*****

They trained for a few more hours, and the mood gradually returned to whatever could be considered normal. The bats - Damian specifically - had declared the Avengers to be woefully under trained when it came to fighting. They did admit that Natasha was good, and Clint decent, however. They had everynight standards.

Everyone - even Banner, much to his dismay - had been roped into a basic hand to hand combat training routine, modified to fit each person's skill level. Natasha had enjoyed her's very much, but after three hard hours, she was grateful for the shower.

They had rejoined in the kitchen after everyone had a chance to bathe and chat for lunch. Natasha had found more clothes placed in her room, this time black ripped jeans and tank top. Nat wondered who they belonged to, they clearly didn't come from Cassandra, Barbara, or Stephanie.

Nat didn’t worry too much about it though. She just wanted food. Pretty much everyone was there, though Tony was behind her in the hallway. Natasha came and sat down on one of the stools, along with Tim and Cass.

Natasha had no doubt.

Wayne was wearing dressy casual slacks and a cashmere sweater, as was Damian. They truly looked identical. Everyone else was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, or some variation thereof.

“I have prepared a meal for you, do tell me if it is unsatisfactory,” Alfred the butler said as he set some food on the table. Everyone thanked the old man, who only smiled.

Natasha ate in peace, not ignoring anyone, but not partaking in conversation either. Then she heard Jason raise his voice.

“Come on Replacement, you know I’m about as dangerous as a butterfly.” He was speaking sarcastically, though Tim didn’t seem to notice.

“Tell that to Black Mask’s henchmen,” he muttered, taking a bite of salad.

Jason snorted. “That was a long time ago, and in my defense, it was his mother’s f***ing fault!”

Damian sat straight upright. “How dare you-”

“You know it's true Dami,” Dick said. “She is malicious, even for an assassin.”

“Can we not talk about Talia over lunch?” Wayne asked, his hands on his temples.

Damian made his t-t sound once again, and continued to eat. Jason shrugged and launched back into a conversation with Tim.

Nat glanced over at Tony and Steve, who were frowning, most likely due to the mention of Damian’s assassin mother. They would be talking about this later, no doubt.

*****

“Did you hear how casually they mentioned it?!” Steve was saying. He had gathered Tony, Nat and Clint with him in one of the libraries, desperate to talk about their hosts.

Tony was nodding while he replied. “This place seems more dangerous than we first thought. I’m not sure if we can trust these … bats .”

Clint frowned. “But they have not actually done anything to harm us. Sure, their methods are questionable, but they are our only way home.”

“The least we can do is gather information,” Tony said. “But be careful. If they really do kill, then they might harm us for questioning them.”

“But what behavior have we seen that would suggest they would do something like that?” Clint insisted. “Sure Jason swears a lot and carries guns, and Damian sharpened his katana quite threateningly, but that is not cause for mistrust!”

“They mentioned assassins! The kid’s mother is an assassin !” Steve said. “That in and of itself is cause for mistrust .”

Natasha chuckled lightly, and Steve’s eyes widened. The three men slowly turned to their resident ex-assassin.

“I’m sorry, Tash,” Steve said. “I didn’t mean you , of course. You’re plenty trustworthy!” Tony couldn’t help but chuckle.

“But that’s exactly what you said,” Cint snapped, growing defensive.

“Steve,” Nat said, sighing. “I understand your worry, I really do. But I’m honestly not worried about us.”

Steve blinked. “Why not?”

“Because when I fought with Damian I could tell his style. He had clearly been trained to kill,” This gained an outraged ‘ahah’ from both Steve and Tony, to which Natahsa shook her head. “He had been trained to kill, yes, but his style was adapted. It was like he was unlearning everything he’d been taught. And I know how that is.”

Clint nodded his head, remembering when he had found Nat, and the months afterward when she had been taken in.

“You’re worried about the kids.” Clint stated.

It wasn’t really a question, but Nat nodded anyway. “He would have had to have been trained for years to be that skilled. And he’s only eleven …” Natasha shook her head. “They mentioned the mother in a way that leads me to believe she isn’t really in his life anymore. If I were to hazard a guess, I’d say she’s the one that trained him, not Bruce Wayne.”

“So he probably isn't abusing the kid, that’s great,” Tony said sarcastically, though Natasha could still direct the relief in his voice. “But what about Jason and Cassandra? I wouldn’t put it past Jason to kill us, honestly. But Cassandra, I don’t know.”

“He mentioned something like manipulation while questioning Thor, so maybe he didn’t mean to?” Clint shook his head. “But he still talked about it so flippantly. I’m not sure about him.”

Natasha nodded. “I agree. Jason seems the most volatile. As for Cassandra, I am honestly not sure. I haven’t seen her fight, nor do anything violent. But the way she moves … in some ways I think she’s the most dangerous of them all.”

Everyone was silent for a moment, thinking. Natasha sat back, having done her piece. After a while, Tony spoke.

“I think we should do our own research. With a team this large, surely there will be plenty of information.”

*****

There was not, in fact, plenty of information. Tony had found a free computer on one of the desks in the library that was most likely meant for public use - it had a sticky note with the password (IAmTheNight) on it - and quickly set up a search.

They had started with the basics: Batman, Gotham Vigilantes. But there really hadn’t been much. The most they could gather was that Batman had been an urban legend up until he joined the Justice League. There had been sightings going back almost 15 years, which Meant Bruce had started when he was in his early twenties.

Robin had come in a few years later, and was clearly not Damian Wayne. But beyond that, there wasn’t much. Sometimes Robin wore pants, sometimes not. Sometimes Robin was even a girl. Tony could never find anything defininite. There were countless vigilantes mentioned, some nameless, others not. Some showed up for a few weeks, then disappeared.

Finally they found something.

“Ahah!” Tony said as he clicked on an article about Red Hood. “This should be worth our

time.” Tony pulled up the first paragraph, and began reading.

“It is well known to everyone in Gotham that Crime Alley is one of the most dangerous places in our already dangerous city. What is also well known is its protector: The Red Hood. The Red Hood has had a somewhat rocky past with Gotham, but unlike the other vigilantes that haunt the rooftops, it is relatively easy to follow.

Red Hood first came on the scene a few years ago and quickly made a splash. Hood quickly took over most if not all of Gotham’s crime organizations, and began to make immediate changes.

It is reported that all the drug syndicates halted dealing near schools or children. All human trafficking sceeced. Crime was managed, to a point that not even Batman had achieved.

Red Hood enacted a strict law: he only killed rapists, murderers, abusers, and drug dealers - only those who sell to kids.

But we can’t forget about the dark knight. Batman was seriously against Red Hood in the beginning, and there are several documented fights to prove it. Red Hood became the only major criminal to stay active with the bat’s knowledge, and not be defeated.

After a while, though, Red Hood left Gotham. No one is quite sure why, as he had built himself quite an empire. Later on - no one is sure of the specifics - he returned. Details are foggy around this time, but Red Hood started to appear again, back to patrolling Crime Alley. One thing was different though. This time he wore a red bat on his armor, effectively announcing his allegiance.

According to many Gothamites, Red Hood has not killed anyone since his return, and has given up his crime lord status. Some say he protects Crime Alley, and occasionally teams up with the other vigilantes of Gotham. Many eye witness reports say that Hood has a somewhat amicable relationship with the bats, and is clearly one of them. There are also notes of him using rubber bullets, proving even more that he has sided with the bats. Though this is uncertain, as others report he still uses lead, and has even continued killing.

At this point Hood is considered a hero by most of Gotham, with the minority calling him a plague upon the city. The Police themselves have even stopped actively searching for the red helmeted hero - whether this is due to their inability to catch him, or as a sign of friendship, it is unclear. Police Commissioner Gordan has not commented on the matter beyond a vague statement of Hood appearing with the bats when the bat signal is deployed.”

“Bat signal?” Clint asked.

Tony typed furiously for a moment before retrieving the answer. “Apparently the police have an industrial spotlight on their roof with the silhouette of a bat on it which they shine when in need of the vigilantes.”

Natasha smirked. “Overkill much?”

Tony shrugged. “Hey, apparently it works.”

“That’s beside the point,” Steve interjected. “We found barely anything on Jason. Sure it says he doesn’t kill anymore, but that doesn’t mean they can be trusted.”

Clint groaned again. “Let me guess, you want us to investigate the family personally?”

Steve nodded. “Nat, I want you to start, you are the intelligence expert after all.”

Natasha nodded, though inside she was in turmoil. She wanted to trust these people. She didn’t know why, but she felt connected somehow. Like they were similar in some core way.

Steve nodded right back. “Good. Meet back here in a few hours. See what you can find.”

#Avengers meet batfam #dc/marvel crossover #batfam #avengers #batfamily shenanigans #bruce wayne #alfred pennyworth #dick grayson #jason todd #tim drake #damian wayne #duke thomas #stephanie brown #cassandra cain #steve rogers #tony stark #clint barton #natasha romonova

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twoidiotwriters1 · 3 years

Text

Pure Blood 30 (Sirius Black x F!Oc)

A/N: okay, this is the thing, the school is killing me and that's why it took me so long to upload chapter, but here we are. I may also be late for the next one, but this story continues.

Words: 2,081

Masterlist:

Chapter 29 // Chapter 31

"You screwed up,” says Juno leaning against my door frame.

I groan as I put more things in my suitcase.

“I've had enough of you.”

"I don't think so,” She smiles and walks up to my side. "It's never enough, little sister.”

I shiver, she reminds me of Isis a little, when she still lived in the house.

“You've always had that… talent, to get in trouble. Especially with Sirius. Our parents saw it as funny and innocent. They never punished you, I thought it was silly because you’re the youngest,” She didn't even bother to help me, she just stared at my suitcase. "But it's all over…” She claps once. "And now neither of our parents can stand you.”

"And that's why you smile like you've never done in your life?”

“Come on, it's not that bad, after all. What if your parents hate you? Sirius has been through it as well, now you’re the same,” She jokes.

I grit my teeth, putting my things in the suitcase and then turning and facing her.

"You can say what you want about me, I don't care, but don't you dare take it out on Sirius.”

"Oh, now you defend him? After what he did to you?" She raises an eyebrow.

"You are standing on very thin ice, Juno.”

"Please, little sister, stop this cheesy nonsense, it’s useless.”

“Not because you didn't have the courage to even speak to Remus, does it mean that we should all be cowards."

My words hurt her, but she recovers quickly and returns to her bitch face.

“It doesn't matter anymore, I don't need that school-kids nonsense. I deserve a good man. Mother has found me an excellent suitor.”

She expects some reaction from me, she wants me to ask her everything about it, but I go back to packing. I don't want to know anything about her commitment or someone else's. Never again. I'm sick of all that circus.

Juno sighs and like a little girl, she huffs and then leaves my room. I roll my eyes. I really need to go back to my true home.

***

My spirits haven't changed, not even while at the station. Somehow, thinking about my friends is not enough to be happy.

It's my last year, and after this, what's next?

My mother is the only one accompanying me to the platform this year, and says goodbye coldly, barely nodding. I get on the train and quickly enter a compartment with unknown people. Two girls from second grade with another boy from third grade, all three excited for their new year, they don't even bother about acknowledging my presence, which I appreciate.

I take the opportunity to get some sleep and prepare for what my new school year has in store.

Upon reaching a new wave of punishment, I take my time to reach the large dining room. Just when I get to the doors I feel a body crash against mine, but instead of falling, her arms go around my neck and she pulls me against her in a big hug. It takes me a few seconds to react, but I recognize my best friend's blonde hair and I circle her waist, feeling the warmth of her hug.

“Hi, Jenna”

"Never in my short life had I felt so much concern," She says when we part. "I'm already sounding like my mother and it's all because of you!”

I smile at her drama.

"Why weren't you on the train with us? I looked for you, but in the end Marlene said that maybe you wanted your space. Since when do you need to have space without me?” She puts her hands on her waist.

“I knew you would be upset, but your girlfriend is right. I just needed time…”

She looks at me worried.

"I'm fine now... I think. Can we have something for dinner?"

"Sure, let's go to the table, you've been alone for some time, now it's your turn to be with your best friend!”

“Okay,” I smile.

We both sat and ate dinner after the sorting ceremony.

"I find it very strange that you didn't even turn to the other table," says Jenna, pointing to the table behind me.

My body tenses.

“I-I… I just want to be with you," I stutter.

I don't understand very well why I don't want to hear from the others, I just don't want to face everything at once.

"Honey, bad excuse. Are you sure you’re alright?"

"I don't know, Jenna, everything that's happened is- it's too much and I don't want to deal with questions or more worried people…”

"Okay, relax. Anyway, the marauders are not there.”

"What?" I ask turning to see the table to realize that it’s true. "Where are they? They’re fine? Is it Remus? Is anyone hurt? Where’s Sirius?"

"Ok, that was my fault,” She sighs. "I shouldn't have said it so lightly…”

“Jenna!"

“Everyone's fine, P. Don’t panic, we’ll take you to them,” She says grabbing her things. "At least it lasted until I finished dinner…”

Jenna guides me through the hallways and I recognize the path.

"Why are we going to the infirmary?" I ask, my heart races.

"I told you they’re all fine, but maybe one of them needs a routine checkup…” She says with a grimace.

We arrive at the infirmary at the same time that James, Remus and Peter leave, almost colliding with us.

"Boys? What's going on?"

"Hello, Persephone,” says James.

"Is Sirius inside? What happened?" He frowns and looks at Remus for help.

"Didn't anyone tell you?" He asks. Remus shakes his head and takes my hand, pulling me away from the others.

"Just tell me, Remus,” I say on the verge of crying.

"Breathe and relax, Percy. I just found out that the letters we all tried to send you weren't read. This…” He scratches the back of his neck. “This is complicated, but I think Sirius has to explain it to you. Madame Pomfrey is changing the bandages…”

"Bandages?" I screech.

Before he could get into the infirmary, the door opens and Sirius comes out as he adjusts his sweater.

"Thank you, Madame Pomfrey!" He yells and shuts the door. "Remus, can you help me out–? Oh…” He stops when he sees me.

He has some bruises on his neck and a cut that seems to be healing. But that's not what surprises me the most. His damn smile is what breaks me.

"Hey, pretty lady,” He says, but I stretch out my arm to stop him. "What's going on?"

I frown.

"What's going on?" I repeat angry.

"We'd better go…” James says.

"I'm in trouble?" Sirius asks when everyone leaves, scratching the back of his neck.

I can't help but hit his shoulder and he complains.

“I barely get to school and I don't see you at the Gryffindor table, then they bring me to the infirmary because YOU are hurt and now that I'm in front of you, you just- you just smile!?”

My reaction makes him more nervous.

"Okay, I can explain everything, but first you have to relax–”

My hands clench into fists, I walk towards him causing him to recoil until he hits the wall.

“Tell me again to relax and I swear I'll leave another bruise on your eye, Sirius Orion Black!"

"I'm scared," He replies barely above a whisper.

***

"Did I tell you today how beautiful you are?" Sirius says as we sit on the bench in front of the gardens.

"You have ten seconds if you don't want to end up bald.”

"Beautiful inside and out,” He smiles like a little boy, but then sighs and shakes his head. “It's not simple and uh… already had a good time, sorry, maybe I forgot that you did not know…”

I feel a pressure on my chest, and the anger fades a bit. Maybe I was not in his thoughts during the holidays as I thought.

"You forgot?"

“It's not that I didn't think of you, of course I did! But, uh- this is harder than I thought…” He wipes his hands on his pants. “After Avery, when my mother took us home, everything was chaos, more than usual,” His expression makes me nervous. “She cursed, she blamed me for everything. My parents completely lost their minds. I tried to defend myself, but this time I had no other way out, Percy…”

"What happened?" I hold his hand.

“I ran away from home,” He looks down and focuses on our hands. “I took my things and ran away from that stupid mansion. My mother was quite clear in saying that I am no longer her son.”

“But…” he raises his head. "Where have you been all this time?"

His smile returns.

“With the Potters,” Sirius’ gaze softens. “They’ve always been there in every holiday that I’ve been able to share with James,” He gets closer to me. “They treat me as if I were their son, and when I left home, they didn’t hesitate to help me again.”

We were silent for a few minutes. I process everything. I know that Walburga is a woman of character, but I also know that family is something important to her, even though she has horrible parenting methods. She cares what others in her lineage say, as does my family. But is her heart so cold that she didn't care that her first child no longer with them?

“Are you safe? Didn't your parents try to do something?"

"I haven't heard from them since I left, not even from Regulus.”

I try to understand him, he was never happy in the Black mansion, a part of me wants to make him go back, but the other part stops me. The Potters, James has taken care of him, while I couldn't even leave my house. Sirius was hurt and I wasn't with him. My eyes water at the thought.

"I-" The lump in my throat won't let me speak. “They hurt you and I- I couldn't do anything to help you Sirius, I'm sorry…”

"Hey, no, no, no…” His hands cup my face. "It's not your fault, love. Don't cry!” His thumb wipes a tear. “We tried to tell you, but we never got a reply.”

"My family burned all my letters,” I wipe my nose with the sleeve of my sweater.

"I know, my uncle warned us,” He takes a lock of my hair and plays with it. "Everything went very fast. Euphemia, James's mother, helped me with my injuries. The Potters have helped me a lot and I’m sorry that I reacted like this when I left the infirmary, it's just that, I don't know, I think that by not having the pressure of the wedding or even my family, everything has calmed down. I'm sorry…” His arms go around my waist and he draws me to him in a hug.

I hide my face in his neck. Having him so close relaxes me and it is as if I finally breathe again.

"I missed you…” I whisper.

"Me too, Percy.”

I look at his beautiful grey eyes and I notice something different, a small flash, something that had not been there before.

“Alphard told me that you didn't go out at all, are you okay? Shit, sorry, surely you had hell at home and I was an idiot just thinking about my own things. I'm the worst boyfriend in the world. Say it, it's fine, I accept it.”

My eyes widen when I hear one word in particular.

"Boyfriend?"

"Uh, yeah? I am, aren’t I? I thought… you know, after everything that's happened… You don't want to? I don’t know how this works…”

I laugh at his rambling.

“I didn't think we had any labels, I just thought we were… together. But…” I smile feeling my cheeks blush. "Being my boyfriend doesn't sound so bad, does it?”

He laughs and leans down to bring his lips against mine in a tender kiss. He puts his hand on the back of my neck to deepen it. It feels so good to kiss him after so long…

"I don't want to ruin this moment, but…” He says when we part. "Do you want to talk about what happened at your house? You know you can tell me anything.”

I shake my head.

“I just want to be with you and our friends. I want peace."

“Agree."

Taglist

@treestarrrrrrrr @siriuslysirius1107 @thagreenmoon @madmaiden2890 @ren-ela @avipshamitra @auroraawrites @findzelda @lizlil @siriusmuch @chloe-geoghegan1 @reverse-hxlland @may-rapp @the-specific-oceans @eveft

@xkonpinkx

@bloodorangemoonlight

@littledeadgirlwalking

@yunloyal

#pure blood #Sirius Black #Sirius black x reader #james potter #Remus lupin #Harry Potter #Lily Evans #twoidiots writing

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atheistforhumanity · 3 years

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Hi. Sorry if this is a bit long, I would totally understand if you don't want to respond to this. So, I live in a very religious country, questions are immoral and we must follow said religion dearly or else. I have only recently begun reading about atheism and so far I feel my beliefs in religion are falling apart. I am no longer convinced of the religion, I am not sure sure if there is a god but i no longer care. However, there is one argument for religion that I just can't seem to respond to that is how do we get a sense of purpose and have a (objective) value system without religion. Without religion, we start lacking purpose because life doesn't matter and when we die nothing happens, so what's the point? With religion however, there is a sense that we were created by a god, who created us for an important reason and it's our purpose to discover that destiny and fulfill it. And without religion, we have no objective set of values, we merely rely on a subject ever changing world view. Like say with lgbt rights. I could say that everyone should do what they want as long as they are not harming others or themselves and that's why I believe that lgbt people should do whatever they want. But, someone might view it as harmful to others or the people in said relationships. So our values are subjective. With religion however, we can just refer to the rule book and that's it. While multiple religions have different set of values, they can still help communities agree on their values. So my question, in a world that lacks religion, how can we have consistent morals and identify our sense of purpose and reason for existence. Thank you.

Anon, thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts with me. I appreciate when anyone seeks my opinion. Thank you.

You’ve brought up some important topics that many people struggle with. As you have said, I’ve heard many people say that confusion in these areas are most responsible for them being unsure of what they believe. Hopefully after this post you’ll gain some clarity and be able to make a new assessment.

What is Our Purpose?

I often hear from people that a sense of purpose is their main reason for sticking with religion, even when they have doubts. The religious often flaunt their idea of purpose as an unmatched quality only they can provide. So here is a different way of approaching this question.

When a religious person asks me how to know their purpose, I first point out that they are assuming that we are meant to have a purpose or that an objective purpose is a requirement of life. Many people try to figure out life through the lens of what is meant to happen, but I believe this is misguided. We think this way because our minds seek order and finite understanding of the world around us. Therefore, we assume that we must be meant to do something.

However, I submit the cold reality of our existence. We are the results of millions of years of evolutionary change on 1 planet out of many, many trillions. Our form of life does not have any objective purpose, because our creation was not planned or orchestrated. This is an idea religious people have a hard time grasping. That what exists was not crafted, constructed, or produced from a greater mind. All evidence points the fact that we are the result of trillions of random occurrences over billions of years.

If you let go of the assumption that we were purposefully created, then you can let go of the idea that we require an objective purpose. After all, the idea that were created by an intelligent force has no evidence to support that view. There is no evidence to support the existence of a god. There is no evidence to support the idea that we innately have purpose.

This is not a bad thing. Many people often dive immediately into the lake of hopelessness, saying that nothing matters without purpose. I reject this idea entirely. It is short sighted to say that if my life is not eternal then nothing I do matters. A nihilist says this while existing in a world wide society of billions of people where we see, feel, and know pain and happiness by our actions and the actions of others. We are all aware of well documented history where single figures have had profound world changing effects for good and evil. To put it simply, every action has a consequence, and regardless of how you feel about that consequence, since it undeniably miniscule to profound effects on others that live, it cannot be said that it does not matter. Not when we are creatures of wants, needs, and desires. No, to say that our actions don’t matter is an absurdity.

Where Do We Get Our Values?

I say that your actions matter for the fact that they have consequence. But how do we know what is right and wrong, or what those terms even mean without an objective guide?

I have a few things to say on this topic. The first is that the Bible or Quran do not actually set objective morals. Without getting into too much detail, we must recognize major contradictions in the holy books. Rules are set, such as thou shall not kill, but the rules are also broken very quickly and without remorse. Both God/Allah kills and murders on a whim, and on a mass scale. Both God/Allah instruct their followers to kill and slaughter. The morals given by these holy books are purely subjective because they only apply when they say they apply. For instance, rules against not enslaving your neighbors meant exactly that, don’t enslave other Jews, but you can enslave others.

More importantly, these morals change and progress over time as society challenges the old ideas and ushers in new thinking. No Christians or Muslims live under the exact moral law as set down at the dawn of the religions. ISIS is an example of an attempt to do so. So these religious morals are not actually accepted as objective by the people.

Second, religion only claims that their morals are object and cannot prove this claim. It takes very little critical thinking to know that one would rather live in America under secular law than any location in 12th Century Europe when religion controlled laws and morals virtually 100%. Every religion has a different set of morals that they claim is objective, yet none can show themselves to be better than another. More importantly, none can show themselves to be as moral as what secular philosophy has produced, which gives the Western world freedom and liberty like the world has never seen.

As for the idea that it would be easier to follow a “rule book” whether that be the Bible, the Quran, or the teaching of Buddha the same could be said for any other moral philosophy. Society would be simple if we committed ourselves to Utilitarianism completely, but we cannot say it would be better. Our experience across the globe has bore out the simple truth that adopting eclectic laws in an environment where they can always be challenged and improved on is the best model the world has ever seen. There are still theocracies in the world and millions of people from around the globe do not flood to immigrate there.

Not All Opinions Are Equal

Once we remove the idea of objective morality, people often go straight to the idea that nothing can be determined because there will always be differences of opinion. They think that without objectivity set by a higher power that no idea can be proven wrong. This is just not true. There is a universal prohibition against murder. Regardless of the fact that some people find it acceptable, by virtue of intellect and practical application it is undeniable that forbidding murder is the best choice for all societies.

Here we take our first steps toward a new idea of objectivity. Ideas are not objective because of their source, but rather by their merit and application. Universal agreement is not required for an idea to be objectively true. For instance, many people believe the world is flat, but this is objectively false. Morals work the same way. Murder is objectively wrong, but there are still criminals that take it up for sport or work. The fact that someone is too ignorant to see a truth does not mean it is not true.

Let’s look at the issue of lgbtq people specifically. I wrote another post explaining why the American medical community ended its stance that homosexuality was a mental illness. For much of the 20th century in America, homosexuality was considered to be an illness and a moral wrong. This changed when the American Psychological Association actually started researching homosexuality and could not show any evidence that it caused harm of any kind.

What if someone says that being gay is harmful to the person? Well, since we’ve found no justification for this, such a person is left with this argument. Homosexuality is bad, and therefore homosexuality is harmful because it’s bad, and it’s bad because it’s harmful. This is a perfect example of circular reasoning.

While it is not always easy to tell who is right or wrong in a debate, we have developed knowledge of faulty arguments such as circular reasoning, and we know objectively that they are not valid. No matter how many people do not understand this or refuse to accept this is irrelevant. Circular reasoning will never prove anything, no matter how emotionally charge people are over the issue.

Conclusion

I hope that you take some time to think about these ideas and apply them to the questions you’re wondering about. In short, I believe that religion attempts to create a false need in the mind of society to confirm itself as the answer. We are fully capable of living full, productive, and moral lives without religion in our life or society in anyway.

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