#also there was a hunt with horns and dogs and white deer

[freakvampire]

so they're all in Mirkwood, right, and Bombur got river Lethe'd and conked out for a couple days and when he woke up he was like "man, fuck you guys, i was having a great dream about a cool place with a fuck ton of food and singing and a woodland king with a crown of leaves and more fuckin food" and now i'm like a dog scratching at the door going Thranduil? Thranduil? where's Thranduil? do you mean Thranduil? is he here? did you tell him about me? Thranduil? where's that post that says "woah calm down Legolas i'm just trying to fuck your dad"

#sorry that your dad is so sexy legolas. as if it's my fault #Thranduil i Need You. where are you #prince reads the hobbit #also there was a hunt with horns and dogs and white deer #and i really want to know what that was about. it couldn't have been elves could it? why would elves use dogs? #dog hunts seem like a Men thing

[greenwitchcrafts]

October 2023 witch guide

Full moon: October 28th

New moon: October 14th

Sabbats: Samhain

October Hunter's Moon

Known as: Blood moon, drying rice moon, falling leaf moon, freezing moon, migrating moon, moon of the changing seasons, shedding moon, ten colds moon, winterfelleth & windermanoth

Element: Air

Zodiac: Libra & Scorpio

Nature spirits: Frost faeries & Plant faeries

Deities: Apollo, Astarte, Belili, Cernunnos, Demeter, Hathor, Herne, Horned God, Ishtar, Kore, Lakshmi & Mercury

Animals: Elephant, jackal, ram, scorpion & stag

Birds: Crow, heron & robin

Trees: Acacia, apple, cypress & yew

Herbs/Plants: Angelica, apple blossom, burdock, catnip, pennyroyal, sweet Annie, thyme & Uva ursi

Flowers: Calendula, cosmos & marigold

Scents: Apple blossom, cherry & strawberry

Stones: Amethyst, beryl, obsidian, opal, tourmaline & turquoise

Colors: Black, dark blue, Dark greens & purples

Energy: Artistic works, balance, creativity, harmony, inner cleansing, justice, karma, legal matters, mental stimulation, partnerships, reincarnation & uncovering mysteries or secrets

It is believed that this name originates from the fact that it was a signal for hunters to prepare for the upcoming cold winter by going hunting. This is because animals were beginning to fatten up in preparation for the winter season. Moreover, since fields had recently been cleared out under the Harvest Moon, hunters could easily spot deer and other animals that had come out to search for remaining scraps. Additionally, foxes and wolves would also come out to prey on these animals.

The earliest use of the term “Hunter’s Moon,” cited in the Oxford English Dictionary, is from 1710. Some sources suggest that other names for the Hunter’s Moon are the Sanguine or Blood Moon, either associated with the blood from hunting or the color of the changing autumn leaves. 

Samhain

Also known as: All Hallow's Eve,  Ancestor Night, Feast of Apples, Feast of Sam-fuim, Feast of Souls, Feast of the Dead, Geimhreadh, Hallowmass, Martinmass, Old Hallowmas, Pagan New Year, Samana, Samhuinn, Samonios, Shadowfest & Third Harvest

Season: Fall

Symbols: Apples, bats, besom(brooms), black cats, cauldrons, ghosts, gourds, jack-o-lanterns, pumpkins, scarecrows & witches

Colors: Black, gold, orange, silver & white

Oils/incense: Basil, cloves, copal, frankincense, gum mastic, heather, heliotrope, mint, myrrh & nutmeg

Animals: Bat, boar, cat cattle & dogs

Stones: Amber, anatase, black calcite, black obsidian, black tourmaline, brass, carnelian, clear quartz diamond, garnet, gold, granite, hematite, iron, jet, marble, pearl, pyrite, ruby, sandstone, sardonyx, smokey quartz, steel & tektite

Foods: Apples, ale, beef, cider, corm, fruits, garlic, gourds, grains, hazelnuts, herbal teas, mushroom, nettle, nuts, pears, pomegranates, pork, poultry, pumpkin pie, sunflower seeds, thistle, turnips & wine (mulled)

Herbs/plants: Acorn, Allspice, catnip, corn, dittany of Crete, hazel, mandrake, mugwort, mullien, oak leaves, pine, rosemary, sage, straw, tarragon, thistle, wormwood & yellow cedar

Flowers: Calendula, chrysanthemum, deadly nightshade, rue & fumitory

Goddesses: Al-lat, Baba Yaga, Badb, Banba, Bast, Bebhionn, Bronach, Brunhilde, Cailleach, Carlin, Cassandra, Cerridwen, Copper Woman, Crobh Dearg, Devanyani, Dolya, Edda, Elli, Eris, Erishkigal, Fortuna, Frau Holde, Hecate, Hel, Ishtar, Kali, Macha Mania, Morrigan, Nemesis, Nephthys, Nicneven & Rhiannon

Gods: Arawan, Baron Samede, Belenus, Coyote, Cronus, Dagda, Dis, Hades, Loki, Nefertum, Odin, Osiris, Pluto, Woden & Xocatl

Issues Intentions & Powers: Crossroads, darkness, death, divination, honoring ancestors, introspection, the otherworld/underworld, release, visions & wisdom (of the crone)

Spellwork: Divination, fire magick, night magick, shape-shifting, spirit calling & water magick

Related festivals:

• Day of the Dead- (Spanish: Día de Muertos or Día de los Muertos) is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1st and 2nd, though other days, such as October 31 or November 6, may be included depending on the locality. It is widely observed in Mexico, where it largely developed & is also observed in other places, especially by people of Mexican heritage. Although related to the simultaneous Christian remembrances for Hallowtide, it has a much less solemn tone and is portrayed as a holiday of joyful celebration rather than mourning. The multi-day holiday involves family and friends gathering to pay respects and to remember friends and family members who have died. These celebrations can take a humorous tone, as celebrants remember funny events and anecdotes about the departed.

• All Saints Day- is a Christian solemnity celebrated in honor of all the saints & martyrs of the Church, whether they are known or unknown

Activities:

• Dedicate an altar to loved ones who have passed

• Boil a simmer pot to cleanse your space

• Have a silent dinner

• Light a candle for your loved ones & yourself

• Decorate your house and/or altar

• Release negative energy & cleanse your with a ritual bath

• Pull tarot cards to see what may be in store for you ahead

• Cleanse, clean & de-clutter your space

• Leave offerings to the Fae

• Journal & reflect on your accomplishments, challenges & everything you did this year

•Go on a nature walk

• Learn a new form of divination

• Have a bonfire with your friends and/or family

• Carve pumpkins

• Express yourself creatively through art, music, ect

• Visit a cemetery & help clean off areas that need it or to visit a family member/ ancestor & leave an offering

• Hold a seance

• Bake spooky treats & bread as offerings

• Refresh your protection magicks, sigils & rituals

Samhain is a Gaelic festival on 1 November marking the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or "darker half" of the year. Celebrations begin on the evening of 31 October, since the Celtic day began and ended at sunset.

This fire festival is celebrated on October 31st & is considered the Pagan New Year. It is the first Sabbat on the Wheel of the Year, a cross-quarter festival & the third (final) harvest festival of the mundane year. This is the time when the veil between the worlds of the living & those who have passed is the thinnest, which allows greater communication between the two

Some believe this is the time of the Goddess's mourning of the death of the God until his rebirth at Yule. The Goddess's sadness can be seen in the shortening, darkening days & the arrival of cold weather

Sources:

Farmersalmanac .com

Llewellyn's 2023 magical almanac: practical magic for everyday living

Wikipedia

Llewellyn's Complete Book of Correspondences by Sandra Kines

A Witch's Book of Correspondences by Viktorija Briggs

#witchcraft #wheel of the year #sabbat #samhain #fall #hunter's moon #witchblr #wiccablr #paganblr #pagan #wicca #grimoire #spellbook #book of shadows #witches of tumblr #witch tumblr #witch community #moon magic #witch tips #witch guide #beginner witch #traditional witchcraft #all witches #correspondence #witchcore #GreenWitchcrafts #baby witch #beginner witch tips #baby witch tips #witchyvibes

[marsprincess889]

NAKSHATRAS AS GODDESSES

5/27

🌙Mrigashira🦌

DISCLAIMER: This is based solely on my research and the patterns that I saw. I can't promise that I'm gonna be sure in all the coorelations, but I'm going to attribute each nakshatra a goddess that I think fits it the closest. If you're dissapointed, to make up for it, I'm going to list some other deities in the end that I think also fit the nakshatra. Don't come for me if you think I'm wrong, be respectful in the comments if you think so and have fun 🤍

This one is more of a collection of very similar goddesses who are all pretty much well-suited for Mrigashira. I still chose the principal goddess, although it was very hard to focus on only one.

Flidais

Pantheon: Celtic

Name meaning: soft-haired, fair haired.

Associations: Hunting, woodlands, wild animals, cattle, deer.

Symbols: deer

Flidais is a somewhat obscure Celtic goddess of the hunt. She's similar to more famous goddesses: Artemis and Diana, but unlike them, she's not a virgin and her story is different.

The mythology of Mrigashira is about how the seeming perfection of Rohini (the union of sexes) gets shattered. It's the birth of seduction and pursuit between the sexes, this is the place where Eve eats the forbidden fruit and becomes aware that she's separate from the male, not just something to be placed under his submission, as she was in Rohini. In Hindu mythology, when Rohini realizes that she's desired by Brahma, she turns into a doe and flees. Brahma then turns into a deer and chases her, before his head is cut off by God Rudra (God of the next nakshatra_ Ardra), thus, the deers's head being Mrigashira's symbol.

The story of goddess Flidais goes like this: She's unhappily married to a man she dies not love, feeling stuck and not knowing what to do, until another man appears, with whom she shares a deep love. He gets challenged by Flidais's husband, and he wins. As a reward, he gives deer and cattle to Flidais, for her to have something on her own, placing his faith in her. In one myth, she's said to have transformed into a stag.

Flidais has a surname, Foltcháin, meaning "beautiful(soft) hair". Mrigashira belongs to a clan of nakshatras called Pulastya (smooth haired).

Besides Flidais, there are other goddesses that can be coorelated to Mrigashira. One of them is Dali- Georgian goddess of the hunt, deer and other horned wild animals. She's said to have beautiful, long golden hair and is the Goddess that governs the rules of the hunt. Either completely nude or dressed only in white, she frequently mated with humans as she wished, just like the female in Mrigashira awakening to her own sexual power. She was said to be unbelievably beautiful, both irresistible and terrible. Dali was harsh with those who violated her rules. She lived in a cavern in a mountain. Parvati, the goddess that was born under this nakshatra, was the goddess of mountains, among other things.

There is also a story about a celtic maiden named Sadhbh, who refused to accept a Druid's advances and because of that, was cursed to be a doe. After three years, the serving man of that druid took pity on her and said that if she were ever to set foot in the dún (castle, fort) of the Fianna of Ireland, the curse would be lifted. Fianna were small bands of warrior-hunters in Ireland during the Iron age and early middle ages. Sadhbh travelled straight to a house that belonged to a Fionn. She was found by him as a doe when he was out hunting. His dogs didn't harm her since they too had been humans before. When they returned to the house, Sadhbh was once again a beautiful girl. They got married.

After Fionn was called to battle against the Vikings, the druid reached Sadhbh and laid the same curse on her, again. Fionn spent several years searching for his wife, but without success. At the end of those seven years he found a wild boy in the forest who said he was raised by a doe. Fionn looked at his face and recognising his wife's features, he realised that he was looking at their son. The boy was Oisín, a famous figure in Irish mythology.

Another interesting deity is the Albanian goddess Zana- goddess of the mountains. Zana were said to be fairies who lived in the mountains and bathed in waterfalls and river streams in nature. They're said to have a very brave character that was known to all. She's a somewhat obscure goddess given her name comes from the name of a creature, but I thought that she was interesting nontheless.

I want to talk about Mrigashira's ruling deity- the moon god Soma. Soma is also known to be the exilir of immortality. Mrigashira's power is to give fulfillment, so to drink Soma, to eat the forbidden fruit, to attain something not everyone has access to is risky, but it's worth the risk. Mrigashira is also associated with quests, adventures and bravery (just like Bharani, the other Venus-Mars ruled nakshatra). The real life natives of Mrigashira are often daring and inquisitive, always craving something else besides what they have.

The moon god being Mrigashira's deity makes me think that Artemis- Greek goddess of the moon, hunting, deer and other wild animals is a great fit for it, but her virginal nature is not in alignment with Mrigashira. If we think of her virginity as simply her being unmarried and independent, then she definitely can be coorelated to Mrigashira. The same goes for Diana- her Roman equivalent.

Some other deities I coorelated to Mrigashira other than Flidais:

Artemis- Greek goddess of hunting, deer, wild animals, the Moon and virgins.

Diana- The Roman equivalent of Artemis.

Dali- Georgian goddess of hunting, deer and other horned wild animals.

Zana- Albanian fairy goddess of the mountains.

Sadhbh- Irish doe-maiden goddess

Cernnunos- Celtic horned god, the god of wild things.

This is it for Mrigashira. I'm very happy I found the Goddesses whose mythologies were so obviously similar to Mrigashira's. As I said, it was hard to choose just one, but I think that I made the right choice, given that Flidais ticked off the most similarities. I'm consistently fascinated by the coorelations between seemingly unrelated cultures and this one was big. It's also my sun, rahu and saturn placement, so no pressure there lol.

Anyways, let me know what you think. Like COMMENT AND REBLOG, please interact with me if you found this interesting. Love you, and take care 🤍🤍🤍

#mrigashira nakshatra #mrigashira #vedic astrology #astrology #nakshatras #astrology observations #goddesses #astro notes #sidereal astrology #celtic paganism #celtic goddesses #georgian goddess #albanian goddess

[vshouse]

Deerplay Concepts 🦌 @rottenlapdog This is inspired by your post.

Not personally a thing I'm into so I didn't know if there was an audience.

[Minors and ageless blogs will be blocked]

Anyway

Stuff:

Antlers

Smaller stumps during shedding seasons (Vulnerable time for deer since their antlers play as defence.)

Tails and Ears (If none are out there, custom made options can be great/or homemade).

Clothes in Browns and Whites. (Easy access pieces are fantastic for primal feeling more naked even with clothes on)

Collar that doesn't jingle/jingle too loud as to not startle deer or alert predators... unless 👀

If you like makeup that can be incorporated.

Grooming brush that feels good on skin.

Salt lick like @spiraledfaun said but if you don't want salt like that use sugar cubes as a version !!

Deer snacks/Variations of them if general inedible to people/your allergies.

Vibrator harness that keeps it on your deer while theyre in the yard. On and off at random until they bleat to come in and get some attention.

Genral:

Mating season/In Heat/Required Breeding for a farm

Petting, Playing, and Attention for any pet ofc.

Scratches that make them wiggle and make their tail twitch, and massages that make them let out precious little sounds.

Training!! Dont forget to train your deer of course. Help them not be as nervous around certain stimulus. Make sure it always know that even though it goes frolicking the woods, that it belongs to you.

An Example Deer if your poly can really help a younger more inexperienced deer learn how to behave.

Deer Fighting! Winner Tops!! Getting Stuck!!! (Someone finding you guys stuck? That anything?)

Wild Deerplay:

Caught in Deer Fencing in a... compromising position. A little cheesy but a bedframe or a chair also could play this out well and who doesn't like a bit of cheese now and then?

Nursed back to health and deciding to stay. (Fantasy novel style version where you wanna like, become their spouse cause once you're strong enough you have a human form.)

If you're willing to get erotic about a Wildlife Specialist who Drugs and Tags the Deer you can probably make a few good subtype scenarios. (Ex: Drugged them with heat enhancements for deer who are struggling for health reasons and now their presenting to you/trying to mount you like their life depends on it.)

Pet Deerplay:

Pet Deer, maybe pet show style, who gets pampered. bathed and brushed and all dressed up and spoiled for always winning with a good fuck.

Have a short version where the dom is the judge who also has to check fertility. How well can a trained deer stay on their harness while they're checked out for health!! Treats include: A Breeding, Loys of praise, First prize, and a very prowd owner who has lots of treats waiting after show!

Punishments for a home deer: Cuffed Antlers to something, exposed for whatever dom wants/ Boundary based shock collar so not woods time for a day or two. Maybe if there's two or more cuffing their Antlers as a pubishment for petty horn fights? "Wanna lock horns so bad, I'll keep hem that way."

Catmaid? Nope!! slap that maid dress on your local deer now!!

Primal Play:

Predator Animal (Wolf/Cougar/Mountain Lion/Werewolf/Werecat) hunting you down and instead of a killing bite, they leave a different kind of one. This one leaves the deer shaking and dizzy just long enough to be flipped over and explored.

Hunting Season Eroticism is something I've seen before, I think deerplay fits in it's framework. (No real deer will be harmed in the participation of this kink)

That also means threesome with a hunting dog that smells out the deer who maybe doesn't notice them even coming, running around looking for another deer to mate/be mated by... the hunter dog finds them first and by the time the hunter gets there 😳 oh my the dog and the deer are frolicking really close.

A waiting predator fattening you up after winter by eating deer competing for resources/bringing you stuff while asleep so hunting you in fall will be more rewarding

#deerplay #primal play #pet pl4y #hunting k1nk #nsft #queer nsft #unsure what else to tag this #poly nsft #nsft deer #←getting that tag going now #join me #vschat

[cheapsweets]

The Recondite Haesorog

My response to this week’s BestiaryPosting challenge from @maniculum

Now, I actually have a suspicion what this creature might be - I wasn't deliberately trying to work it out, but when I was throwing around concepts for the drawing, something clicked... If it is what I think it is, it's at the same time a really cool description, with some bits which are wildly out... I didn't pursue that particular line of thinking with my piece this week, but I'm going to be interested to see what this one turns out to be :D

Jinhao shark fountain pen with a fine, hooded nib, with Monteverde Raven Noir ink, over initial pencil sketch. I'm going to do some experimenting with the brush pen and the fude-nib in future pictures again; I appreciate the consistency of the lines that this pen is giving me, but I suspect those other pens would give a little more character to the lines.

As an aside, I'd genuinely encourage anyone looking at these challenges to give it a try; its given me a bit of focus to get back into something I used to enjoy, without too much pressure (both in terms of the time and also this mostly being about fun!)

As ever, reasoning under the cut…

"Ethiopia is the home of a creature called the Haesorog, as large as an ox, with the footprints of an ibis, branching horns, the head of a stag, the colouring of a bear and the same thick coat."

Okay! For such a short description, we've actually got a fairly good amount of detail. Of course, some of it doesn't really make sense together - bird feet with horns and a bear's thick coat? What could be going on here?

I figured that, rather than trying to work out something realistic, I'd actually treat the description at face value as much as possible. As such, we have an ox-sized, deer-headed creature with long, bird legs and feet, covered in shaggy hair! I actually tried to put a bit of deer anatomy into the legs, but they were primarily referenced from ibis photos - I'd set myself on that particular pose, but it was impossible to find a front-facing picture of an ibis with its leg raised (not perfect, but turned out better than I was fearing!)

The horns gave me cause for thought - horns don't tend to branch, but they're very distinct from antlers (antlers being bone, and shed yearly, while horns are covered in a keratin sheath which is not generally shed). In the end, and given the description of it having a deer's head, I went with antlers, specifically taking inspiration from the wapiti (American/Asian elk) and red deer for the grand, branching antlers rather than palmate antlers of the fallow deer I'm most familiar with. I did give them a little texture, as a nod to the horn though.

Charles Knight's Animal drawing was really useful here - the short essays in that book made me consider more carefully some aspects that I wouldn't have just looking at the drawings, including things like ear position, and the general vibe of the animals I was referencing.

Still experimenting with plants and trees for the background - some came out better than others, but I've learned a few more things from this about what does and doesn't work well!

I'm now kinda wishing I'd drawn a fuzzy horned dinosaur for this, but I'm still happy with the directionI went 😅🦖

"It is said that the Haesorog changes its appearance when it is afraid and, when it hides itself, takes on the likeness of whatever is near — a white stone or a green bush or whatever other shape it prefers."

Well, this is cool; an ox-sized animal that is also a master of disguise. You can see my nod to this in the background where a hunting party (plus dog) are walking straight past a Haesorog disguised as a tree...

I did a little look into medieval costume (and dog breeds) from Ethiopia; I know that this is a bit of a catchall term for Sub-Saharan Africa, but it gave me a place to start. Turns out that the figures were too tiny to put in any detail of the clothing (or to make the Ethiopian Highland Dog) distinct, but the history there is fascinating (including Ethiopian delegates to Florence in 1441 being frustrated about the Europeans constantly referring to their kind as 'Prester John' 😆

This seeming magical power of disguise also gave me a couple of extra influences in the style - the forest god from Princess Mononoke, and the goats from that film and from the Nausicaä manga. Not sure how much it came across!

#Haesorog #maniculum bestiaryposting #bestiaryposting #my art

[warsawmountain]

Importance of Future Excursion

I. Early travel in the Southwest. The centre of the white continent barefooted, saint and man on one side,

God & Day the monkey on the other. Slow buffalo passing not-making cloven horns. By 7-11 all must go away, driven away by their need for extinction & the need of humans to offer someone else something to live for.

Yellow tomahawk made of braided steel that ready-made dust winter fires rust in my front hall.

Deep wounds out of ice & ashes, daughters lost to sick orcas.

Empire lives on ice towers & sunken deeps, And what was human fathers become different to, something still the hunt of instincts inside their chip and teeth.

Men & generals named battles before the term became around, creating ceremonies of thumb wiping for anniversaries as dancing brush, tepid tempests promising war of deeds. II.

Ancient scrolls in my computer, sailed asspiral past his pictures so yellowed as to lose memory: his likeness to a falling plum in a late spring.

All he learned I sought & took for growing, as fat as spent grapes, but blossomed upon trees few notice only themselves hovering & tasting delights unknown to me

With salt sprouting out of sight I think so also. And indeed I would, much sooner, be homeward-bound: to pay for myself said to reproach all others, and indeed if I did not always wish

that to beg for friends I could not ask but nor face those fewer moments of danger than stabby forest dogs armed for high-pointing rabbits & well hidden catfish. III.

Balanced justice, says the preacher, as self-made deer shit streams out each day, for the rich least mated war from those lacking wealth.

It stands, here & now, in adversity in blight & fire, a variety-soft surmur of livelifes seeking richer pastures which just mean the term breeders are sad monkeys, riding in on torrents through desert canyons, rushing to muddy rivers, where floating water hurts their wolf fur & warmth bleaches their paths.

Talking to echoes & blades, to all distractions & illusions, making every school match by subtle embroidery & hidden color, and written poets proclaiming the beat of brides' hides, & cruel silk, until despite startling wars that split it forever into two (like bed-pans & towels), still is the promise of many teeming millions.

[tarotbee]

hi! could you do diana? and if you can, could you please tell me how to start worshipping, i'm a new witch and im really lost

Offerings and ways of Worshipping Lady Diana

(In mt experience the best way to begin worshipping a deity is to first establish communication, this can be through throwing together a quick pendulum board and using a paper clip on a bit of string or using a tarot app (I recommend golden thread tarot) if you don't own a deck of your own. Establishing contact is an important first step, it can tell you why the deity is there and give you an insight into what they may be seeking from you in return. (I suggest biddy tarot for card meanings. Next what you'll wanna do is create a devotional space for them, this can be anywhere, outside, a desk, a bedside table, in a small box, wherever you can fit one. This space will be where you put offerings, candles and incense. (Of its in a box use electric candles or remove the candle from the box when you light it. Once you've made an offering commune with them Once more, see if they liked it (I do this through pyromancy but other divination works just as well), find out your deities sacred day(s), or honestly whenever you have free time and use that time to set offerings (I do mine weekly or whenever feels necessary.) Proceed as feels correct (or ask for help from fellow practitioners)

Incorporate elements of worship for Latona and Apollo into your practice with Lady Diana, in ancient Rome she was most commonly worshipped alongside her brother and mother

Aid pregnant people and animals however you can

Study midwifery

If you hunt, do so ethically

Diana is the goddess of the wild, children, providence, abundance, harvest woodlands, the hunt, fertility and domestic animals, and in Italy, the sun but she became associated with the Moon when people equated her with Artemis (and later, Selene, Luna and Hekate) so anything moon shaped would be an acceptable offering for her

Moon cakes

Sun or moon water

Items found in the forest, this can be leaves, flowers, sticks, rocks or even interesting trinkets you may find

Leave (decomposable) offerings by a lake or body of water

Bow and arrow imagery

Practice archery or knife throwing

Arrowheads

Things in threes (Diana was sometimes called Threefold Diana Trivia, this was one of her earliest Epithet)

Learn about her epithets, such as Trivia, Diana Lucifera, Diana Triformis, Diana Tifatina and Diana Nemorensis

associated scents for candles and incense: jasmine, frankincense, lemon, aloe, ginseng, verbena, camphor, rose and sandalwood

associated plants: apple, rue, balm, beech, vervain, jasmine, mugwort, lavender, walnuts, willow, Oak, aloe, cedar, tarragon, wormwood, lemon, anemones, flowering almond, Hazel, ranunculus, honeysuckle, passionflower, thistle, laurel, fir tree

associated gems and metals: amethyst, emerald, moonstone, pearl, quartz, crystal, silver, turquoise, iron, aluminium, moss agate and diamond

Associated animals: Dogs, deer, goats!, guinea fowl, horses, bear, dove, and bees

Dog teeth (ethically sourced)

Dog fur (ethically sourced)

Honey

Deer antler (ethically sourced)

Goat horns (ethically sourced)

Candles of silver, white, red, purple, green and turquoise

Celebrate August 13th (Diana was worshiped at a festival called Nemoralia, or the Festival of Torches, beginning on August 13 each year. After washing their hair and dressing it with flowers, Diana’s followers would proceed around the sacred Lake Nemi) and 15th (her feast day, now the Catholic day of Mary's assumption into heaven)

A statue of her! Or her two dogs

Just spend time outside under the sky (Diana's name derives from the word sky/daybreak)

Fresh fruit (particularly apples)

A mirror or mirrors on her altar or shrine

Bread

Clay figurines

Foster dogs

Feed stray dogs

Leave dog biscuits and meat offerings for her hounds

You can also refer to my posts or other sources about the worship of Lady Artemis from the Greek Pantheon if you need more inspiration for worship and offering ideas but keep in mind they are different deities

#pagan #paganism #omnist #omnism #deity #deity worship #paganblr #witch #witch community #witch blog #witchblr #diana #diana deity #roman deities #roman mythology #deity devotion #deity work

[undead-merman]

Yandere wendigo beelzebub headcanons please

Interesting combo. 

❄Wendigo Beelzebub❄ as a Yandere GN- Reader SFW

(tw: wendigo themes such as cannibalism, gore)

Appearance 

As a terrible Beast of the cold and cannibalism his body is large standing well over ten feet tall. His arms are long, much longer than a human’s almost dragging on the ground, starting at his elbows they are covered in thick orange fur frosted with freezing white. Long fingernails like claws grow from his hands and the skin on his palms and wrist where the fur parts are darkened like he has frostbite.

His legs are deer-like, bending at the joints like deer and even having hooves with tufts of more frosted fur and more painful looking skin. Though his legs are much shorter looking then the rest of his body, though that’s only because of his larger arms. 

Unlike most Wendigo that are frail, thin and starved looking, Beel is built with solid muscle and looks unmovable, unbreakable though his ribs still show under his bare and scarred covered chest. A frosted mane-like plume of fur sprouts from his shoulders and wrap around the back of his neck. 

His face is surprisingly human, but not fully there. It’s at the point just before uncanny. His teeth are jagged and large, almost too big for his mouth, and they're as sharp as broken glass. Every time he breathes cold frosty mist spills from his mouth. A pair of twisted looking antlers, though they look more like burnt trees. His eyes are dark and have heavy bags under it. His hair stands out in the snow but if he gets angry his hair shifts to a white color and his eyes look frosted over with blue ice.  

The Cold and Hunger

He hates the heat in the form of flames and can’t stand it, even if it’s as small as a match he gets freaked out. Despite how cold and frostbitten some of his skin looks he’s perfectly comfortable even in the coldest of weather. He sometimes prefers hunting in blizzard-like conditions. 

He’s ever wandering about for weaker and starving travelers, or sick animals. Whenever he finds them he scares them. Getting their blood pumping from fear as he mimics the voices and sounds of cats or screams that aren’t completely similar, there's always something wrong with his calls. When he catches his prey he just leans his body weight on their skulls with one hand and crushes them and eats them right there on the spot not even leaving a blood stain in the snow with how hungerly he devours his prey. 

He can go mad without at least one meal a day. Normally he waits for his prey to be alone but when he’s desperate he’ll simply attack them no matter what defenses or numbers they may have and eat them all in a fit of destruction. If he’s driven mad enough he can ignore fire or heat for a few moments, willing to burn as long as he can eat. His hunger takes first priority over everything. He can leave a whole town in ruins if he’s starved enough.  

Spending Time with You 

Just as he was trailing a few miles from a small village when he spotted you and but before he started hunting you he noticed the strange look in your eyes. Wild and teeming with feral sharpness as you turned and noticed him. You smelled very very faintly of the village and your clothes were torn and covered in blood that wasn’t your own. The only thing he could think of is you had been thrown out for some reason or another. But the one thing he knew for sure was the hunger that was radiating off you. Suddenly instead of wanting to eat you he wanted to feed you. He picked you up by the scruff of your jacket and took you along. 

He doesn’t speak much but he offers you different types of food, rabbits, foxes, deer, bear, but never human’s even though you are sure he hunts and devours them. He watches you closely like an owner who is watching their cat leave the kennel for the first time. He watches and figures out your interests seeing what you eat and don’t and brings you more of what you choose to eat and he makes strange unnatural giggling noises that clearly belong to other people. 

If you still cook your meals he refuses to come near the cave and instead watches you from outside. After the fire goes out he’s right back in his cave investigating what you did. He’s bewildered by cooked meat and tries some if you offer but his face scrunches up but he eats it hungerly. 

He often brings you the clothes of humans he’s devoured to keep you warm. It almost always has some sort of blood on it but Beelzebub will lick it clean if it bothers you. He tenderly dresses you or fills a nest of clothes for you to sleep in to keep you warm. 

Beelzebub doesn’t know how to speak, he can only mimic sounds back that he hears with chilling undertones of reverb and sometimes radio static. But he does understand you. He will repeat back phrases that can be used to respond to you or call out to you.  

His Dark Tendencies 

The true reason he brought you back was he could tell you had the beginnings or the potential to turn into one of his kind and simply wanted to be part of that. He wants to see how you would look but at the same time he likes you just the way you are. Small and weak compared to him. He just can’t take his eyes off of how fragile you are compared to the truly wild creatures, no fangs, claws, or even fur to keep you warm and yet you're still so resilient. Your ingenuity and wit keeping you alive verus strength. He wanted to keep watching that… It was cute.

Despite if you bite, kick, or scream, or lean into it and smile he’ll poke and prod at your squishy warm skin. He likes watching your reaction to it, positive or negative, and he does it as he pleases. 

He won’t let any creature near you besides him. He’ll devour anything even close to the cave, though not many ventures close due to the taint Beelzebub brings to the area, sucking the life out of everything. After a while he’ll actively start hunting people in your village and bringing you their coats, jackets, and belongings. He’ll stand there and make noises to convince you to praise him for hunting down those disgusting ones as revenge for you. 

Hate them? Want them gone and punished for what they drove you to? He’ll help you enact it and strike terror into them and devour every single one of them for you just tell him where to start. 

He doesn’t let you leave his sight unless he’s hunting for you so he has just the thing to keep you in the cave when he’s gone. A hole he dug out just for you with a large rock to keep you from calling out or anything being able to crawl in to get you. He’s always quick to come back with more gifts for you, apologizing for keeping you in the dark like that.   

Misc Stuff

He absolutely loves having his head stroked despite how freezing his strands of hair can be. He loves feeling your warm hands rub his scalp and horns. He makes song bird noises when you pet him. He makes the same noises if you feed him too. You guess, he makes that noise when happy even though it’s terrifying and unnatural sounding from his mouth. 

He has a small ball, old and it’s color long faded that he likes to push around with his oversized claws carefully not to pop it. He’s protective over it too. Sometimes he acts a little too suspiciously like a dog; he even begs for a bite of your food like one too. 

He lays like a deer and sleep curled up like one too. He'll sleep around the nest he built for you and he nuzzles his face right into a blanket. He also drools a lot on said blanket. He’s always quick to wake up though so it's a rare sight but if you sleep too long for his tastes he makes annoying noises at you he has mimicked alarms, loud animals, and even weird old sounding radio broadcasts.

#obey me #obey me beelzebub #obey me monster headcanons #beelzebub x reader #yandere beelzebub #tw: blood #tw: cannibalism #tw: gore

[makapatag]

Balay Karunongan

For all your Fire Emblem Three Houses/RWBY/Harry Potter/Naruto/Persona needs. This is written with Gubat Banwa in mind, does not have strict game mechanics.

In the 199th Year of the Skysea War, in the hinterlands of the Lakanate’s land borders, where it touches the hunting grounds of Bayi, five siyak came together to establish a mistake.

They called it Balay Karunongan, the House of Wisdom. With the help of Datu Padakar, a Datu under the Kaponoan of Bayi, they managed to create a grand Balay that opened its doors to the children of Datu across the entirety of Kitatak.

It was a house that taught how to kill.

Over time, it grew in size. The original five-floored dakbalay gained annexes that went all the way down the mountain it was built upon. Behind it arose a bamboo pagoda, attached to the giant nunuk that anointed the area as a sacred place.

Princes and Princesses of Datu, even if they be binukot, usually from 16 harvests and beyond are put in here for a total of 5 years. They are taught in the ways of war, combat, battle, tactics, strategy, and, if they have the talent for it, offensive magic and sorcery.

The students are assigned a particularly colored saob-saob, an open gown, to denote their year. They can wear almost anything underneath. Jewelry is encouraged. Fashionable takes on the saob-saob and clothing is encouraged due to the cutthroat student culture of the House of Wisdom, wherein social standing among nobles is fought over.

White/Undyed Saob-saob are given to first years.

Brown saob-saob are given to second years.

Black saob-saob are given to third years.

Indigo saob-saob are given to fourth years.

Crimson saob-saob are given to fifth years, and is a sign of graduation.

The colder climate in the mountains has allowed for more elaborate and layered outfits from the nobles, much to their delight, which has allowed them to create elaborate fashion.

A Concordance

In the 212th Year of the Skysea War, the Balay was assaulted by the Lakanate. The five Grand Siyak managed to repel the invasion attempt with the help of their friends from Bayi, as well as the well-taught and disciplined students of the balay, which has begun to incorporate foreign martial techniques into their studies as well.

Impressed, Huwan Rekno promised to stop assault attempts if the Siyak will accept nobles from the Lakanate. Seeing this as a compromise to keep the balay alive, they agreed. Thus, the Balay has become a household for Datu and nobles from the Lakanate to bring their children there to make them even more skilled and powerful, to secure their lineages and royalty.

The Balay Karunongan, while officially not following any particular polity, is now under being afforded gifts and hosted feasts by all across the archipelago, in hopes of gaining the balay’s allegiance. Both Bayi and the Lakanate know however that the Balay will not give its allegiance to anyone not them, since they are in a particularly difficult position to not choose from either of them.

Cut Throats

The students are taught in all forms of warfare, not only in its physical aspect, but also in its social and mental aspects. Manipulating the enemy, forcing a raid, attacking during the morning, retreating when you’ve gotten what you need. This has caused an internal political mandala within the Balay, exacerbated only by the Five Clan allegiances established by the Siyak themselves.

Mimicking their parents, each class has a Datu, who has his own gang of right-hand men that is the Sandig. It is, however, a simplified version of the political composition of the outside world. Each Datu has an Attendant, their closest secretary and ally, as well as their steward. Along with the Attendant, their Sandig is made up of a Sword, that is a sort of sheriff. A Warhorn, that is the one that gives news to the rest of the class. Finally a Staff that gives counsel and wisdom to the Datu.

Those in the class are thus treated as freedmen would be treated in the outside world, despite being noble born themselves.

Each class, across all the five years, regularly war against each other. Each Year has an overlord that reins in and keeps order among the Datu in their Year. Similarly to the outside world’s society, these are called Kaponoan. The Datu follow after the Kaponoan as a freedman would follow after a Datu.

Every end of the year, the Kaponoan for the next year is determined by an Interclass Tournament known as the Paligsahan ng Hari (Competition of Kings). There five of the best fighters from each of the five classes within a year compete to be the next Kaponoan. This is usually the Datu of each class, but doesn’t always have to be.

This is almost always held in front of the Gubat Nunuk, the war pagoda tree, that is sacred to the entire house. The Paligsahan is constantly considered to not only be a tournament, but also a worship ritual as well as a divination ritual. Whoever comes out on top is almost always uncontested, even if they used underhanded means to mean.

The ancestors always know.

Outcasts

There are times when an actual timawa or even an oripun might make it into the school. Usually, due to their inability to wear rich finery and jewelry, they will be cast out. One way or another, their non-nobleness is found out. These students are known as patapon, or trash. The patapon usually must work harder to become Datu, but becoming a Datu is usually something decided among the freedmen within a class, so the only real chance in power that a patapon has is through the Paligsahan.

Limang-Talulot, The Five Clans

Limang Talulot, translated to Five Petals, are the five clans within the house established by the Five Grand Siyak. These were established by the siyak to encourage competition as well as help students find like-minded friends. The Five Clans are organized according to their specialty in war. Each of the five clans are modeled after a specific Balaanghayop, or Holy Beast.

Additionally, the Clan that you end up in will influence the classes you take beginning from the second year up to the fifth, as these are more or less considered as specializations in war.

During the first year, there are things called Clan Jams, wherein the five clans try their best to entice new students to join them. This usually ends up with a couple of deaths, much to the teacher’s chagrin. The Aso are prone to showcasing duels to the death. The Uwak is prone to summoning untold powers from realms unknown. The Salindayaw lets themselves be possessed by diwata in a blasphemous paganitu. The Banoy hosts drunken revelries where everyone is treated as royalty. The Musang is prone to kidnapping students and bringing them to their booths, where they are given nice gifts actually.

Aso ni Dakim

The clan that follows the martial tenets of Siyak Dakim, with an emblem that is the head of a hunting dog. The Aso, with their motto of “Rip and tear until the sky is broken!” are often called “Fucking dogs” derogatorily, especially by those of the Kuwago ni Pitukil. Those that end up in the Aso ni Dakim are usually those that prize martial ability above all else, and seek to overpower all the other clans by sheer skill in violence and fighting.

Siyak Dakim is the Eskrimador sa Daghang Armas, “The Eskrimador of Myriad Weapons”, so called due to his skill in turning anything he touches into weapons.

Those in the Aso ni Dakim are mandated to always carry an implement to kill.

Uwak ni Itomsiga

The clan that follows the occult and sorcerous tenets of Siyak Itomsiga, with an emblem that is a crow picking on its own feathers. The Uwak, with their motto of “Know what should not be known.” are often derogatorily referred to as “magna”. Which is a shortened version of “magnanakaw”, which means thief or stealer. Most Uwak are not actual thieves, but they are known to always get what they want, even it be from other people. hose that end up in Uwak ni Itomsuga are those enraptured by the thought of impossibility, and have an unholy thirst for knowledge, even if it be forbidden.

Siyak Itomsiga is known as the Mambabarang sa Lawom nga Sulad, “Sorcerer of Deep Hell”, so called due to her skill in knowing seemingly forbidden spells and using it upon those that invoke her ire.

Those in the Uwak ni Itomsiga are mandated to always carry a trinket with a bamboo bark. Upon it is a mentala, which they can utter to instantly cast a protective spell. Once used, it burns up, and they must create another before the next morning.

Salindayaw ni Hilomng Kabai Balaang Alaag

The clan that follows the spiritual and pious tenets of Siyak Hilomng Kaba Balaang Alaag, usually just referred to Alaag. Their emblem is that of a deer with horns that rotate to form undulating mandalas. The Salindayaw, with their motto of “Until all are one under the same sky,” are often derogatorily referred to as “Boang sungay”, which means crazy horns. Believed due to the initial impression of them being peaceful flower-smellers who think harmony can be achieved simply with words. Of course, they themselves know this is not true. Those that end up in the Salindayaw are usually those that hold nature to a high esteem, or see fighting simply as a mean to peace, instead of being something to strive for itself. They value harmony, and almost always side with the decision that would cause the least amount of disharmony with nature.

Siyak Hilomng Kabai Balaang Alaag is known as the Mapasipalahong Manluluwas, “Blasphemous Savior” due to their ability to heal even those that seem to have been killed or have died, and once doomed an entire island to Di Hiyang due to the act of resurrecting an entire haop of more than a thousand households.

Those in the Salindayaw ni Alaag always bring with them a wreath of mulawin flowers, santan, gumamela, waling-waling, and sampaguita, to remind them of their responsibility and duty to nature.

Banoy ni Sri Bayisaalak

The clan that follows the royalty of Sri Bayisaalak, otherwise known as The Bayi or the Wine Maiden. Their emblem is that of a crowned Philippine eagle. The Banoy, with their motto “To ascend past heaven!” are often derogatorily referred to as “Datu-Datuhan”, which means “playing Datu”. At first glance, those of the Banoy are prone to power tripping and issuing orders. Those that end up in the Banoy are usuall those that take upon themselves the hard responsibility of leading or guiding, and are taught a great number of philosophies.

Siyak Sri Bayisaalak is known as the Hubog nga Emperadora, “Drunk Empress”. It is not a secret that Sri Bayisaalak is actually a diwata, one of Ang Daghan. Specifically, she is one of the many minor Langitnon. She is the Langitnon of Royalty, who cloaked upon herself mortality so that she may teach royalty, leadership, and civilization for the rest of the world. Unfortunately, she also has a penchant for alcohol. She is the lesser known wife of the God of Civilization Munsad Buralakaw.

Those in the Banoy are required to bring around a porcelain jarlet filled with wine and taselled with a banoy’s feather.

Musang ni Aninong Kislap

The clan that follows the subterfuge and informational tenets of Siyak Aninong Kislap. Their emblem is a shadowed musang. The Musang, with their motto, “The sun casts shadows,” they are derogatorily termed “Ay giatay--” due to their predecessor’s penchant to appear and disappear unexpectedly. Those that end up in the Musang are usually those that do the hard jobs of subterfuge, surveillance, and infiltration, which is a well sought after skill in Kitatak’s valuing of raids and ambushes when it comes to war.

Siyak Aninong Kislap is well known as, well, Aninong Kislap, “The Shadowy Spark”. None know his true name. He is often wrapped in robes and saob-saob. None see his true face, his true hands. Many say that he is also one of Ang Daghan: a Suladnon of Many Faces. None can confirm this.

Those in the Musang are given shawls that can be worn around the head as a hood, the neck as a scarf, or the waist as a sarong.

If people are interested I’d follow this up with another post that details a few more school activities, a school calendar, and a table for staff and students.

#gubat banwa #filipino #precolonial #fantasy #mythology #folklore #writing

[chnqin]

My Epic MDZS/The Untamed Daemon AU

I’m sure other people have already done Daemon AUs, but this idea wouldn’t leave me alone. I have been working on this for like three weeks now.

I just wrote down my first instinctive thought for most characters, and then researched* further into subspecies etc. What I found for a lot of the animals made me agree with my first opinion even more, although all of these are obviously just my own opinions. I also decided to stick to non-mythological animals. (some characters have been given a lot more consideration than others, I’m sorry)

Wei Wuxian: beech marten Beech martens are quick and clever. The are nocturnal, omnivores, and skilled swimmers. They move through paths made by larger animals such as hares in the snow. {further notes under read more}

Lan Wangji: white hare More solitary animals. They have an association with the moon, which I tend to associate LWJ with. {f/n}

Jiang Cheng: osprey Aquatic birds; good hunters. {f/n}

Lan Xichen: white stag {f/n}

Jiang Yanli: asian black bear {explained in detail under the read more}

Jin Zixuan: lion Ngl it’s probably because the Persian pokemon reminds me of him

Jin Guangyao: domestic cat {f/n}

Nie Huiasang: pangolin {f/n}

Nie Mingju: wolf {f/n}

Wen Qing: Chinese sparrowhawk {f/n}

Wen Ning: black Formosan mountain dog (tuguo) {f/n}

Lan Sizhui: Xiasi Quan dog or red panda or badger {f/n}

Jin Ling: lion {f/n}

Lan Jingi: monkey They’re respected animals but also have a mischievous side

Ouyen Zihzen: capybara No, they’re not native to China, but this is what I imagined him as and I couldn’t get it out of my head or find a perfect substitute

Xiao Xinchen: swan He just gives me major swan vibes, possibly something to do with Swan Lake (as do some Lans but they’re not graceful in the same way or tragic in the same way)

Song Lan: oriental hobby falcon or black horse He struck me as some sort of raptor, but I also liked a horse for him 

Luo Qingyang/Mianmian: lynx

Lan Qiren: sheep Symbolise filial piety. Also follow other people without question (*cough* the Lan Sect elders)

Jiang Fengiman: otter Spends a lot of time around the water, just what popped into my head

Yu Ziyuan: snake Because Zidian

The Jiang Sect favour animals who live near or on the water, some even possessing daemons which are fully aquatic, and thus are unable to leave Lotus Pier

The Lan Sect usually have herbivore animals for daemons and favour swift, elegant animals.

The Jins tend towards lions and panthers, but also flashy, rich birds like pheasants and peacocks (which makes WWX’s nickname for JZX even more funny).

The Nies often have pack or herd animals. Wolves and mountain lions are very common, but also a lot of horned animals like oxen, mountain goats and sheep (bighorn sheep and ibex are common), and also wild boar.

The Wens were typically birds of prey (the Dire Owl becomes Wen Chao’s daemon) or mountain cats.

The Yus often have daemons which take reptile form. Wildcats also common.  I quite like the idea that the Yus are a sect which has cultivated the ability to separate themselves from their daemons.

~Further notes on why I picked these animals, Daemon settling, angsty AUs of my AU, and research disclaimer under the cut~

Story & Research Notes:

(I’m going with the idea that trauma can make a daemon settle into a particular form)

WWX A marten was the first thing to come to mind for WWX, I have no idea why, but the more I thought about it the more I liked it. They’re really inquisitive, playful, and cute, but are also predators and will fuck you up if necessary.  A crow was another obvious choice because they’re curious and inventive, but with a bit of a dark connotation. However, in my version at least (I’m not great on His Dark Materials canon), Daemons usually settle in the early teens, and at that point WWX really didn’t have as much darkness in him as he develops later. 

I think WWX was one of those people whose daemon changed with every thought and feeling of his, whose daemon changed so rapidly and so repeatedly that people would complain of motion sickness watching it. His daemon’s most common forms were a martin, a magpie, an otter (which drove Madam Yu nuts), and (after JYL’s settled) very occasionally a bear.

When WWX comes back most people don’t realise anything is wrong because Mo Xuanyu always hid his daemon (I think it was probably something like a field mouse although how funny would it be if Little Apple was actually his daemon and WWX unknowingly inherited her along with the body), so they just think his has settled into something too big to hide now. However, his beech martin is the other reason Lan Wangji knows who Wei Wuxian is (WWX’s daemon hides from Jiang Cheng at Dafan Mountain, so JC only suspects it’s WWX). (Angsty AU further down)

LWJ I know that arctic hares aren’t native to China, but I want you to pretend that something like that does exist because I need lwj to have a white hare daemon. They are also bigger than other hares and cuter (they look slightly less cursed than some hares do). I’m imagining a lot of the daemons being slightly bigger than their real-life animal counterparts would be, so imagine the ears coming up to a normal person’s hip-height when the daemon is sitting. Rabbits can also apparently symbolise hope, and that suits someone who is known to go where the chaos is, bringing hope and light in the darkness. 

As a child, LWJ’s daemon was expressive in a way he never could be. It liked to take snow leopard form a lot, which was seen as excessively violent to the Lan sect, who preferred non-carnivorous animals, and often snarled at people. His daemon always took snow leopard form when visiting his mother so it could curl up with her tiger daemon. 

LWJ’s daemon settled exceptionally early, shortly after his mother’s death, into an acceptable hare form. Lan Xichen always wondered if LWJ himself made his daemon settle, if she was not supposed to have been a snow leopard all along, and so always looks upon LWJ’s daemon with a bit of sadness because he feels like it was LWJ stifling - almost killing off - a part of his personality (spoiler: it was) in order to fit into the Lan sect.

(More on that in an angsty AU below)

JC Ngl, I wanted to make Jiang Cheng a goose because they’re always angry but I didn’t. Jiang Cheng shifted mostly between a hunting dog and a mouse as a child, both of which infuriated Yu Ziyuan (honestly what she wanted her children’s daemons to be even I don’t know). Jiang Cheng’s daemon settled very late (another thing his mother wasn’t happy with). In fact, it didn’t settle till the attack on Lotus Pier and the death of his parents, when it took the shape of an osprey (because he wanted to be able to fly away and pretend none of it ever happened). 

Even more angsty: One Chinese poem has the Osprey as a symbol of marital harmony and fidelity. Upon seeing his parents death, finally united in a way they hadn’t been in life, JC’s constant wish for his parents to love each other (and, by extension, him) physically manifests itself in his daemon.

JYL I know what you’re thinking. Why the hell did you give Jiang Yanli a bear of all people. Well I’ll tell you. For two reasons: one, because I can do what I want, and two, because I would say one of JYL’s most central characteristics is her wish to look after people. She’s not physically strong in the way most other cultivators are, however, and she’s always having to keep the peace at home - and so I can see her daemon becoming a physical manifestation of that need to protect (bears are known to be protective, particularly mothers), and a physical example of her inner strength which is so often overlooked.

Yanli shifted between a dove, a crane, and a maritime striped squirrel for most of her childhood. She favoured the squirrel and dove (incredibly mild animals) over the crane, which disappointed Madam Yu.  It’s one of the reasons Jin Zixuan never saw her as a potential match, her daemon too small and docile to match his almost constant lion daemon.

When Jiang Yanli was around fourteen Madam Yu took things with Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng too far one day, and Yanli saw it. Her daemon suddenly shifted into a bear, a form it had never taken up to that point, and jumped on Yu Ziyuan’s snake daemon. WWX and JC always remembered Yanli standing in the doorway, her expression placid while her huge bear daemon growled with absolute fury and menace. Everyone expected Yanli’s daemon to go back to its usual squirrel or dove form, but it never did. It remained a bear, and remained the biggest daemon of pretty much anyone in any of the sects.

I had already picked a crane as one of JYL’s potential daemons because of its connection to water and positive symbolism in China. Upon further (hopefully accurate) research, I saw that cranes depicted with lotuses in Chinese art symbolise purity and longevity, and I liked making her daemon a bear even more, because her daemon took that form to protect WWX and JC - years after her death, they both wondered if, had her daemon had taken crane form, maybe she wouldn’t have died. From what I found, “crane” is also a homophone for 合 hé “peace, harmony”, which is a quality Jiang Yanli had much of, and tried to inspire in others.

LXC I think its LXC’s hairpiece which always makes me think of deer antlers (even though it’s a dragon?), so that’s probably why I immediately thought of a stag for him. But stags are also very noble and refined looking animals which don’t tend towards violence, but also have horns for a reason. Obviously, like with LWJ, it’s a white stag because aesthetique. Upon further research, I discovered a (hopefully correct) source which says 鹿 lù (deer) is a homonym with 璐 lù (precious jade), and the character for deer is used within the character 丽 lì ‘beautiful; elegant’ - both fit LXC very well.

JGY Cats are sneaky little fuckers (I say this with love). The ultimate predator in small unassuming form. Many of the main Jin family have big cat daemons so this is kind of another smack in the face for JGY - so close to being a real part of the Jin family, but still kept apart from them - and something people like to bring up along with his mother. However, many Jins are also birds (including JGS), and cats prey on birds.

NHS I thought a fox was a bit on the nose. Also I like the way pangolin’s just drop and curl up in defence - it’s a viable form of protection, but to the outside appears cowardly. However, their scales are sharp and can cut predators who come after them. Also I didn’t want him to fit into any of his sect’s typical animals. Also also imagine how cute it would look being carried around everywhere by NHS because it’s too lazy to walk, absolutely adorable.

NMJ A wolf was what immediately came to mind for Nie Mingjue. Wolves are apparently sometimes associated with greed, self-interest, and lechery, but I think the pack elements and the carnivore/hunting nature of the wolf really suits NMJ and the Nie clan in general, so I decided to overlook that aspect (although I did briefly consider making JGS a wolf, but I like them as animals too much in real life to do that to them and also he doesn’t have a soul, so he doesn’t get a daemon).

WQ I always saw Wen Qing as some sort of hawk, I just think it suits her very well. The Chinese sparrowhawk is quite small and very beautiful. It has white, red and grey colours. They are good hunters and swift flyers. 

WN I knew I wanted Wen Ning to be some sort of dog because he’s very loyal, and also (angsty) when the Jins call the Wens dogs I wanted that to hurt even more. He’s very unusual for a Wen, none of the main sect have dog daemons - it is very much a thing that is specific to their branch of the Wen family. The mountain dog I picked for him is an endangered breed, which I also felt fitted WN well. From what I found, dogs symbolise watchful wisdom, honesty, and loyalty, which all fit Wen Ning. 

This was all perfect till I remembered WWX’s all-consuming fear of dogs. I decided to get round this by cheating and saying that for some reason daemons are different and he’s not scared of them (because they represent a part of someone’s soul, rather than being a real animal? I guess?? Please do not look too hard at this delicately constructed card tower) 

Angsty version: when Wen Ning becomes a fierce corpse he loses his daemon, another reason people are unsettled by him and another thing WWX feels guilty about.

LSZ I think Lan Sizhui was the hardest to pick. I couldn’t decide which way to go: should he follow a “Lan approved” daemon pattern; should he have a bird like Wen Qing and a lot of other Wens? Then I saw the Xiasi Quan and it’s white and fluffy and cute but it was also a hunting and a guard dog, which seemed right for him. And I liked that it gave LSZ and WN this one very tangible connection. It is also endangered.  However, I also liked a red panda and a badger for Lan Sizhui too. I really couldn’t decide between the three. I like them all, why is he the hardest to choose for? (I’m still not 100% happy with this, let me know if you have any alternative suggestions)

Again, please suspend your disbelief at the fact that WWX’s child has a dog daemon and he’s fine with this (it would have looked so cute as a little puppy running around the Burial Mounds though).

When he was younger his daemon liked to take on the forms of those closest to him. So you’d often see a bby marten running after WWX’s daemon, a tiny bird perched with Wen Qing’s sparrow-hawk, a puppy following Wen Ning’s dog around, and a tiny bby rabbit in Cloud Recesses. As he got older it shifted between the dog, a red panda, and a badger. (maybe I’ll just say his hasn’t settled yet and that’s why I can’t decide)

JL Jin Ling definitely also had a daemon which shifted because of a) his loved ones and b) his mood, and he hated it. As if his own explosive temper didn’t give him away enough, his daemon always showed his exact feelings. When he wanted nothing more than his mother to be there it would be a bear. When he was feeling defensive about his parents it would turn into a lion (this happens when he and WWX first meet and any time people talk about his parents’ deaths). When he was younger his daemon spent a lot of time as a cat and a bird, although different types to what his uncles had. 

Jin Ling’s daemon still hasn’t settled when WWX is resurrected, and he is absolutely mortified the one time it decides to turn into a beech marten like WWX’s. Eventually it will settle into a lion, and WWX will pretend to be grumpy that it didn’t choose a bear instead.

Angsty AUs:

Daemons are linked to golden cores Jiang Cheng loses his daemon along with his core. When Wei Wuxian’s core is removed it’s more like when daemons and humans are separated in the books. His daemon stays with him, but can move about freely - this is part of what causes WWX to rapidly destabilise, not just resentful energy. Jiang Cheng always feels weirdly aware of WWX’s daemon after that but doesn’t know why. WWX’s daemon is technically connected to JC too, and also finds this weird. JC also can’t work out why his daemon never came back with his golden core, and that loss is part of why he’s so angry and isolated.

The effect of trauma on Daemons Another angsty au is based on the idea that, if trauma can make your daemon settle early, then trauma can also make it change.

When Wei Wuxian is thrown into the Burial Mounds, he wishes so hard to be able to fly that his beech marten turns into a crow (because I do love a crow for him too). I kind of like the idea that after the Burial Mounds WWX’s daemon almost un-settles itself, and can change between a marten and a crow. This really freaks people out and is another reason people say he’s dangerous.

Similarly, after Wei Ying’s death and the Lan sect’s punishment, Lan Wangji wakes up to find his daemon has shifted from its hare to snow leopard form. In his soul, LWJ feels like if he had been less passive and actually stood with WWX then his soulmate would still be alive. His daemon changes from a more passive hare to the more aggressive snow leopard.

He’s criticised by the elders for it, but they shut up when his daemon flattens theirs, while LWJ’s face remains an impassive mask but his eyes promise murder. WWX is really sad when he comes back to see LWJ’s hare gone and blames himself for causing LWJ so much trauma his daemon changed. (personally if I were writing a Daemon AU this is what I would have happen, because I love LWJ with a snow leopard daemon - they symbolise bravery and martial ferocity, while rabbits are virtue and gentleness, and I feel like these two both accurately represent the two sides of LWJ. I really feel like LWJ has a huge shift in himself after WWX’s death which would be represented in his daemon. It also is, in a way, a return of a core part of himself which was lost after his mother’s death)

Sword/Instrument substitute Mixing Daemons with sword sprits - the animal becomes a physical representation of the spiritual tool. Some people could therefore have more than one daemon (for example, LWJ could have Bichen - his rabbit sword daemon - and Wangji - his snow leopard guqin daemon)

Angsty version: WWX actually does die in the burial mounds and Suibian, his beech martin, dies/changes into Chenqing, a raven/crow.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.  .·。.·゜✭·.·✫·゜·。..・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. 

If you are reading this you have made it to the end of this post, well done.

 I wanted to make it shorter but I had too many ideas and wanted to explain my reasoning for my choices and decided just to put it all in one post rather than lots of little ones.

*Disclaimer: I know only the smallest amount of Chinese, and have taken all my information about imagery, word meanings, and homophones etc from web-sources, and so it is very possible I have made mistakes. Though I have, to the best of my abilities, attempted to check on the cultural/artistic meaning, if any, that certain animals have in Chinese culture, the internet lies and I can’t get any decent books on it atm as the libraries are closed, so I’m really sorry if there are errors and I hope people will forgive any mistakes or blunders I might have made. 

#mdzs #the untamed #cql #daemon au #mdzs daemon au #mine #guys i have spent a stupid amount of time on this #myau

[the-great-middle-earth-read]

Chapter Eight: Flies and Spiders

And so we have reached my favourite chapter! Grab your swords everyone. Here we go!

• Bilbo spots the boat on the other side of the river and no dwarf disputes it’s existence. In fact, they only ask how far away it is and appreciate how sharp his eyes are. Bilbo’s place in the Company has not only been accepted but he now takes on a much more active role. This is shown again when the dwarves pull the boat across the river. While Bilbo doesn’t pull he does keep an eye on the proceedings and steps in to help grab hold when the others fall over.

• Remember back in the first chapter how I pointed out the social hierarchy of the group, especially in relation to Bilbo and Thorin? They have come a long way since then. When discussing who would go across the river first Thorin decides to take Balin, Fili and Bilbo with him. That is, the king and leader of this company, his first heir, his cousin and confidant and the burglar. It could be argued that he left Kili behind just in case the boat capsized but in that case he should have left both Fili and Kili. Instead it appears he has chosen three people who he trusts and relies on for help.

• The deer that startles the Company is one of many fairy references Tolkien makes in this chapter. While the hart isn’t given a lot of description in the book, in the film they used a white stag which, in folklore was a sign of the nearby fae or that you had crossed a fairy border. Tolkien has used fairy and elf interchangeably earlier in the book which means that the Company have just potentially crossed over into the elves territory. To linger on this point, as soon as the Company have crossed the river they hear the sounds of a great hunt - horns blowing and dogs barking which honestly made me think of the Wild Hunt.

• After killing the spider Bilbo feels “much fiercer and bolder” and begins to search the forest for his friends. In the previous chapter there was much said about how wild and queer the forest was and, of course, they were also warned to stay on the path and not wander off into the forest. Having stepped off the path Bilbo finds something fierce and almost wild about himself as he draws his sword and goes to save his friends. The forest has changed Bilbo and now the hobbit who left the path is gone.

• After the battle with the spiders the dwarves turn to Bilbo for guidance. This respect got Bilbo has grown beyond what any of them expected and they now turn to him to lead them through the dark. It’s made even more interesting by the fact that they turned to Bilbo to lead them before they had realised Thorin was gone. The rest of the Company have decided, it seems, that Bilbo is to be awarded the same respect and position of authority within their Company as Thorin himself.

• The descriptions of Thranduil aren’t particularly kind. In fact, though the narrator goes to great lengths to assure us that the elves are “Good People”, Thranduil rather sounds like a dragon himself. There is a great focus on his love for treasure and his hoard of silver and white gems.

Other things to note:

It wasn’t just spiders watching them in the forest

They found the elves feasting three times

Bilbo used to throw stones at small animals

Bilbo can cook

#the hobbit #flies and spiders #tolkien #bilbo baggins #thorin oakenshield #the company #thranduil #chapter notes #the great middle earth read

[butterflies-dragons]

The quote you can read in the image is from Sansa III - A Game of Thrones. Who else could be better at telling us about stories and songs than the fairy tale princess of ASOIAF?    

Well then, let’s talk about magical beasts and the true knights that do them no harm. Or, why I believe, among many other reasons, that Jon Snow is Sansa Stark’s wished/dreamed knight (*).  

A WHITE HART IN THE KINGSWOOD

(Art credit: A New King by Dani-Owergoor)

First, a bit of background about the possible inspirations GRRM has used for the very rare and magical white hart: 

‘Hart’ is an archaic word for a mature stag.   

A stag is an adult male deer.

Deer were the only animals held sacred to the Greek goddess of the hunt Artemis herself. On seeing a deer larger than a bull with horns shining, she fell in love with these creatures and held them sacred. 

The Celtic people considered them to be messengers from the otherworld.

Arthurian legend states that the creature has a perennial ability to evade capture, and that the pursuit of the animal represents mankind's spiritual quest. 

The white stag is also prevalent in Hungarian mythology; it was believed that a white stag led the brothers Hunor and Magor to Scythia, an action which preceded the formation of the Hun and Magyar people.

In a French legend, anyone who killed a white hart was cursed with the pain of unrequited love. I didn’t find a better source for this one, but in the French/German movie La Belle et la Bête (2014), the Prince killed a deer and he was transformed into a beast in punishment. 

In English Folklore, the white hart is associated with Herne the Hunter. Herne the Hunter is a ghost associated with Windsor Forest and Great Park in the English county of Berkshire.

Thanks to the legend of King David I of Scotland with a white hart, the animal became a symbol for christianity.

The White Hart was the personal badge of King Richard II of England. Richard's White Hart is recumbent and wears a gold crown as a collar, attached to a long gold chain. 

Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Scouting movement, spoke these words about the white stag: “The White Stag has a message for you. Hunters of old pursued the miraculous stag, not because they expected to kill it, but because it led them in the joy of the chase to new and fresh adventures, and so to capture happiness.” 

The Chapter 17 of C. S. Lewis’ book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, is called ‘The Hunting of the White Stag’: One day, Mr. Tumnus brings them news that a magic White Stag has been seen in the woods in the West. Anyone who catches the Stag is granted wishes, so the Kings and Queens go out to hunt for him.  

As we can see, along the history, the white hart has been a sacred creature, blessed by gods, a messenger between worlds, an emblem for kings, a symbol for religions, and the guide of humanity in the greatest quests.

Now, let’s analyze its meaning inside the ASOIAF world. 

A war galley of the royal fleet in service to the Iron Throne was called the White Hart. 

During the events of A Game of Thrones, a white hart appeared in the kingswood and Robert Baratheon wanted to hunt it:   

A white hart had been sighted in the kingswood, and Lord Renly and Ser Barristan had joined the king to hunt it, along with Prince Joffrey, Sandor Clegane, Balon Swann, and half the court. So Ned must needs sit the Iron Throne in his absence.

—A Game of Thrones - Eddard XI

The Baratheon sigil is a crowned black stag on a field of gold, so basically, King Robert wanted to hunt the rare white magical version of the animal symbol of his House. Robert Baratheon and his hunting crew, Joffrey included, are not true knight material.

After a time living in Kings Landing and knowing her betrothed a bit better,  Sansa knew that Joffrey was not true knight material; deep down she knew about his killing/harming tendencies, yet she tried to accommodate Joff as someone that, at least, would never harm/kill innocent people:   

“I had a dream that Joffrey would be the one to take the white hart,” she said. It had been more of a wish, actually, but it sounded better to call it a dream. Everyone knew that dreams were prophetic. White harts were supposed to be very rare and magical, and in her heart she knew her gallant prince was worthier than his drunken father.

“A dream? Truly? Did Prince Joffrey just go up to it and touch it with his bare hand and do it no harm?”

“No,” Sansa said. “He shot it with a golden arrow and brought it back for me.” In the songs, the knights never killed magical beasts, they just went up to them and touched them and did them no harm, but she knew Joffrey liked hunting, especially the killing part. Only animals, though. Sansa was certain her prince had no part in murdering Jory and those other poor men; that had been his wicked uncle, the Kingslayer. She knew her father was still angry about that, but it wasn’t fair to blame Joff. That would be like blaming her for something that Arya had done.

—A Game of Thrones - Sansa III

But even knowing that Joffrey likes the killing part of hunting, Sansa doesn’t use the word “kill” at all. She says: “Joffrey would be the one to take the white hart” / “her gallant prince was worthier than his drunken father.” / “He shot it with a golden arrow and brought it back for me.” As if she was trying to say that Joffrey only captured the magical beast to bring it back for her, as a gift. Not its skin for a cloak, not its meat for a feast, but the rare animal itself would be the gift. And at this, I can only think that Sansa was remembering her late Lady. I will expand on this point later.      

As you can see, Sansa elaborates a new song about Joffrey, her gallant prince, shooting the white hart with a golden arrow and bringing the magical beast back for her, as a gift. Now, the presence of the white hart and the addition of the golden arrow in Sansa’s retelling of the old songs, make me think about Artemis and her presence in a lot of fairy tales.

As I mentioned before, deer were the only animals held sacred to Artemis herself. And, another symbols of the Greek goddess are her bow and arrows, that happen to be golden. That’s why I think Sansa, in her innocence, imagines her prince shooting the white hart with a golden arrow, because the magic weapon from the gods themselves could wound the beast without killing it, allowing its capture saving Joffrey of punishment for the transgression of hunting a sacred animal.  And I also think that GRRM has used Artemis and the legends around her in the events that followed the appearance of the white hart.            

This version of Joffrey shooting the white hart with a golden arrow sounds pretty similar to the depiction of the Prince in the 2014 Franco-German film “La Belle et la Bête”:

At night, Belle has a vivid dream, revealing the backstory of the Prince: he enjoys hunting, but often ignores the Princess who loves him but is lonely. The Prince is after an elusive golden deer, and when the Princess asks him to stop hunting the deer, he promises to do so if she will give him a son. (...) Belle has one final dream about how the Prince broke his promise and killed the golden deer. While dying, the deer transformed into the Princess, revealing she was the Nymph of the Forest who became human because she wanted to experience love. She begged her father, the God of the Forest, to spare the Prince from his wrath. But he transformed the Prince into a beast, changed the hunting dogs into Tadums, and his friends into statues. The God of the Forest proclaimed that only the love of a woman would break the Beast's eternal curse.

This Prince that likes hunting and the ignored and lonely Princess, also remind me, differences aside, of King Robert and Queen Cersei.  

So, if we follow the legends and songs, whoever killed the white hart would be punished by the gods. But in the end, neither Robert nor Joffrey killed the magical beast:

They found the white hart, it seems… or rather, what remained of it. Some wolves found it first, and left His Grace scarcely more than a hoof and a horn. Robert was in a fury, until he heard talk of some monstrous boar deeper in the forest. Then nothing would do but he must have it.

—A Game of Thrones - Eddard XII

In this passage, Littlefinger was updating Ned about King Robert’s hunting adventures in the kingswood.  The wording here is very telling, it’s like Littlefinger was actually telling us the truth about King Robert’s hunting and his upcoming death. 

It is possible that the white hart was only used to lure King Robert’s attention, taking him into the kingswood, lessening his protection, so the attempt of killing him would be easier.  We know that Cersei plotted to kill Robert and after his death and Ned’s rejection of vowing for Joffrey, the Starks were framed as Robert’s killers, just like Littlefinger said the wolves killed the white hart. But the lions were the real kingslayers, with the complicity of the boar.  

Again, the presence of the boar reminds me of Artemis: 

The boar is one of the favorite animals of the hunters, and also hard to tame. In honor of Artemis' skill, they sacrificed it to her. Oineus and Adonis were both killed by Artemis' boar [x].

In some versions of the story of Adonis, Artemis sent a wild boar to kill Adonis as punishment for his hubristic boast that he was a better hunter than her [x].

Since Oineus had made sacrifices yearly to all the gods during the harvest ceremonies, but had omitted to honor Artemis, in anger she sent a boar of immense size to lay waste the district of Calydon [x]. 

As you can see, King Robert’s death seems like a recreation of Adonis or King Oienus myths, with the “monstrous boar” sent to kill him as punishment for his desire to hunt the white hart.  

And please take note how very well crafted is the symbolism of King Robert’s and Ned Stark’s deaths, with the use of the animals of their sigils killing each other and how the true killers, the lions, are hidden:

A direwolf dead in the snow, a broken antler in its throat = Ned Stark’s death: 

Catelyn wished she could share his joy. But she had heard the talk in the yards; a direwolf dead in the snow, a broken antler in its throat. Dread coiled within her like a snake, but she forced herself to smile at this man she loved, this man who put no faith in signs. "I knew that would please you," she said. "We should send word to your brother on the Wall."

—A Game of Thrones - Catelyn I

Ned shook his head, refusing to believe. "Robert would never harm me or any of mine. We were closer than brothers. He loves me. If I refuse him, he will roar and curse and bluster, and in a week we will laugh about it together. I know the man!"

"You knew the man," she said. "The king is a stranger to you." Catelyn remembered the direwolf dead in the snow, the broken antler lodged deep in her throat. She had to make him see. "Pride is everything to a king, my lord. Robert came all this way to see you, to bring you these great honors, you cannot throw them back in his face."

—A Game of Thrones - Catelyn II

But Ned’s killer was a fake stag, Joffrey, who was truly a lion...

A white hart dead in the kingswood, the wolves left just a hoof and a horn = King Robert Baratheon’s death:

They found the white hart, it seems… or rather, what remained of it. Some wolves found it first, and left His Grace scarcely more than a hoof and a horn. Robert was in a fury, until he heard talk of some monstrous boar deeper in the forest. Then nothing would do but he must have it.

—A Game of Thrones - Eddard XII

But King Robert’s killers were the lions, Cersei and Lancel... 

And talking about lions, let’s go to our next magical beast:

HRAKKAR, THE WHITE LION OF THE DOTHRAKI SEA

(Art credit: White Lion and Full Moon by deskridge)

‘Hrakkar’ are a breed of white lion native to the Dothraki sea.

I’m not sure if the hrakkar is rare and magical and subject of legends like the the white hart, but it seems like its hunt and capture is important for the Dothraki: 

"This day I will go to the grass and hunt, woman wife," he announced as he shrugged into a painted vest and buckled on a wide belt with heavy medallions of silver, gold, and bronze.

"Yes, my sun-and-stars," Dany said. Drogo would take his bloodriders and ride in search of hrakkar, the great white lion of the plains. If they returned triumphant, her lord husband's joy would be fierce, and he might be willing to hear her out.

(...)

The brazier was cold again by the time Khal Drogo returned. Cohollo was leading a packhorse behind him, with the carcass of a great white lion slung across its back. Above, the stars were coming out. The khal laughed as he swung down off his stallion and showed her the scars on his leg where the hrakkar had raked him through his leggings. "I shall make you a cloak of its skin, moon of my life," he swore.

—A Game of Thrones - Daenerys VI

Then, after Drogo’s death, Dany wears the pelt of the hrakkar as a way to remember her late husband:  

Her hair had burned away in Drogo's pyre, so her handmaids garbed her in the skin of the hrakkar Drogo had slain, the white lion of the Dothraki sea. Its fearsome head made a hood to cover her naked scalp, its pelt a cloak that flowed across her shoulders and down her back. The cream-colored dragon sunk sharp black claws into the lion's mane and coiled its tail around her arm, while Ser Jorah took his accustomed place by her side.

—A Clash of Kings - Daenerys I

It was Drogo who had given her the pelt she wore, the head and hide of a hrakkar, the white lion of the Dothraki sea. It was too big for her and had a musty smell, but it made her feel as if her sun-and-stars was still near her

—A Dance with Dragons - Daenerys I

Also, during her visit to the House of the Undying, Daenerys has a series of visions, one of them was the hrakkar: 

Faster and faster the visions came, one after the other (...) A white lion ran through grass taller than a man (...)

—A Clash of Kings - Daenerys IV

I have no more to say about the hrakkar, but it’s very interesting the parallels between Robert, Cersei and the white hart, with Drogo, Daenerys and the hrakkar:

King Robert Baratheon pursued to kill the white hart. 

Khal Drogo killed the hrakkar. 

King Robert Baratheon’s wife, Cersei Lannister, willingly plotted to kill him with the help of Lancel Lannister and the fortunate intervention of a monstrous boar.  

Khal Drogo’s wife, Daenerys Targaryen, unwillingly participated in Drogo’s death by requesting Mirri Maz Duur to attend a wound in Drogo’s chest, and later, requesting that the maegi practice blood magic to save Drogo’s life. As a result, Khal Drogo got catatonic and Daenerys killed her husband smothering him with a pillow.

Cersei Lannister later framed Ned Stark as the traitor that plotted King Robert’s downfall and death. Ned Stark was beheaded for treason. 

Daenerys Targaryen later blamed Mirri Maz Duur for Drogo’s downfall and death. Mirri Maz Duur was burned alive for treason.

As I said before, it’s very interesting that King Robert and Drogo (Cersei’s and Dany’s husbands) went to hunt these beasts: the white hart and the hrakkar, and later both men died, killed by their own wives. As if the gods really punish the ones that kill or pursue to kill the magical white beasts...     

But there is a white magical beast that was found by someone that, despite not being a proper knight, embodied all those vows and acted like a true knight in a song: 

GHOST, THE ALBINO DIREWOLF

(Art credit: White Wolf by  Kay-Ra )

A PACK OF DIREWOLVES FOUND IN THE SUMMER SNOWS

As we already know, everything started with The Starks, GRRM’s favorite House:

Jen Louise says: Have you got a favourite House?

Probably the Starks. After all, it all began with the Starks.

—GRRM Empire Webchat Transcript 2012

RS: You’ve talked before about the original glimpse of the story you had for what became A Song of Ice and Fire: a spontaneous vision in your mind of a boy witnessing a beheading, then finding direwolves in the snow. That’s an interesting genesis.

GRRM: It was the summer of 1991. I was still involved in Hollywood. My agent was trying to get me meetings to pitch my ideas, but I didn’t have anything to do in May and June. It had been years since I wrote a novel. I had an idea for a science-fiction novel called Avalon. I started work on it and it was going pretty good, when suddenly it just came to me, this scene, from what would ultimately be the first chapter of A Game of Thrones. It’s from Bran’s viewpoint; they see a man beheaded and they find some direwolf pups in the snow. It just came to me so strongly and vividly that I knew I had to write it. I sat down to write, and in, like, three days it just came right out of me, almost in the form you’ve read.

—Rolling Stone 2014

The finding of the direwolves in the summer snows is a very important event of the story, part of the start point of the whole series. 

The fact that this generation of Stark kids got a direwolf for each of them is very significant and extraordinaire. The direwolves are connected to the Old Gods of the North and the Children of the Forest:

"Only one man in a thousand is born a skinchanger," Lord Brynden said one day, after Bran had learned to fly, "and only one skinchanger in a thousand can be a greenseer."

"I thought the greenseers were the wizards of the children," Bran said. "The singers, I mean."

"In a sense. Those you call the children of the forest have eyes as golden as the sun, but once in a great while one is born amongst them with eyes as red as blood, or green as the moss on a tree in the heart of the forest. By these signs do the gods mark those they have chosen to receive the gift. The chosen ones are not robust, and their quick years upon the earth are few, for every song must have its balance. But once inside the wood they linger long indeed. A thousand eyes, a hundred skins, wisdom deep as the roots of ancient trees. Greenseers."

—A Dance with Dragons - Bran III

As you can see, the eyes’s colors of the Children of the Forest match the eyes’s colors of the Stark kid’s direwolves: Grey Wind, Lady, Nymeria and Summer have golden eyes. Ghost has red eyes and Shaggydog has green eyes.

And we all know that the six Stark kids are skinchanger or wargs: 

Are all the Stark children wargs/skin changers with their wolves?

To a greater or lesser degree, yes, but the amount of control varies widely.

[Source]

Oh, George said all the Stark children of this generation were full Wargs. I thought they were like one shot Wargs and were only bonded to their wolves but no they can warg into just about anything. Bran is just the only one working on it.

[Source]

GRRM has also reminded us time after time that each of the direwolves is a part of their masters: 

They were all staring at him, but it was Sansa's look that cut. "She is of the north. She deserves better than a butcher."

He left the room with his eyes burning and his daughter's wails echoing in his ears, and found the direwolf pup where they chained her. Ned sat beside her for a while. "Lady," he said, tasting the name. He had never paid much attention to the names the children had picked, but looking at her now, he knew that Sansa had chosen well. She was the smallest of the litter, the prettiest, the most gentle and trusting. She looked at him with bright golden eyes, and he ruffled her thick grey fur.

Shortly, Jory brought him Ice.

When it was over, he said, "Choose four men and have them take the body north. Bury her at Winterfell."

"All that way?" Jory said, astonished.

"All that way," Ned affirmed. "The Lannister woman shall never have this skin."

—A Game of Thrones - Eddard III

"A hall is no place for a wolf. He gets restless, you've seen. Growling and snapping. I should never have taken him into battle with me. He's killed too many men to fear them now. Jeyne's anxious around him, and he terrifies her mother."

And there's the heart of it, Catelyn thought. "He is part of you, Robb. To fear him is to fear you."

"I am not a wolf, no matter what they call me." Robb sounded cross. "Grey Wind killed a man at the Crag, another at Ashemark, and six or seven at Oxcross. If you had seen—"

"I saw Bran's wolf tear out a man's throat at Winterfell," she said sharply, "and loved him for it."

—A Storm of Swords - Catelyn II

When he finally put the quill down, the room was dim and chilly, and he could feel its walls closing in. Perched above the window, the Old Bear's raven peered down at him with shrewd black eyes. My last friend, Jon thought ruefully. And I had best outlive you, or you'll eat my face as well. Ghost did not count. Ghost was closer than a friend. Ghost was part of him.

—A Dance with Dragons - Jon III

Catelyn and Ned reflected about the importance of the direwolves and how it was probable that the old gods have sent the magical beasts for their children: 

She put a finger to his lips. "Let me tell it all, my love. It will go faster that way. Listen."

So he listened, and she told it all, from the fire in the library tower to Varys and the guardsmen and Littlefinger. And when she was done, Eddard Stark sat dazed beside the table, the dagger in his hand. Bran's wolf had saved the boy's life, he thought dully. What was it that Jon had said when they found the pups in the snow? Your children were meant to have these pups, my lord. And he had killed Sansa's, and for what? Was it guilt he was feeling? Or fear? If the gods had sent these wolves, what folly had he done?

—A Game of Thrones - Eddard IV

She showed Brienne her palms, her fingers. "These scars . . . they sent a man to cut Bran's throat as he lay sleeping. He would have died then, and me with him, but Bran's wolf tore out the man's throat." That gave her a moment's pause. "I suppose Theon killed the wolves too. He must have, elsewise . . . I was certain the boys would be safe so long as the direwolves were with them. Like Robb with his Grey Wind. But my daughters have no wolves now."

—A Clash of Kings - Catelyn VII

"Any man Grey Wind mislikes is a man I do not want close to you. These wolves are more than wolves, Robb. You must know that. I think perhaps the gods sent them to us. Your father's gods, the old gods of the north. Five wolf pups, Robb, five for five Stark children."

"Six," said Robb. "There was a wolf for Jon as well. I found them, remember? I know how many there were and where they came from. I used to think the same as you, that the wolves were our guardians, our protectors, until . . ."

"Until?" she prompted.

Robb's mouth tightened. ". . . .until they told me that Theon had murdered Bran and Rickon. Small good their wolves did them. I am no longer a boy, Mother. I'm a king, and I can protect myself." He sighed. "I will find some duty for Ser Rolph, some pretext to send him away. Not because of his smell, but to ease your mind. You have suffered enough."

—A Storm of Swords - Catelyn II

And there is also the fact that three Stark men have died after saying the direwolves’s names:

Robb died after pronouncing his direwolf’s name: Grey Wind.

"Yes. Robb, get up. Get up and walk out, please, please. Save yourself . . . if not for me, for Jeyne." "Jeyne?" Robb grabbed the edge of the table and forced himself to stand. "Mother," he said, "Grey Wind . . ." "Go to him. Now. Robb, walk out of here."

—A Storm of Swords - Catelyn VII

Jon died after pronouncing his direwolf’s name: Ghost.

Jon fell to his knees. He found the dagger's hilt and wrenched it free. In the cold night air the wound was smoking. "Ghost," he whispered. Pain washed over him. Stick them with the pointy end. When the third dagger took him between the shoulder blades, he gave a grunt and fell face-first into the snow. He never felt the fourth knife. Only the cold …

—A Dance with Dragons - Jon XIII

Ned pronounced Sansa’s direwolf name: Lady, before killing the pup. And later he was executed after confessing treason as a way to save Sansa’s life:  

He left the room with his eyes burning and his daughter's wails echoing in his ears, and found the direwolf pup where they chained her. Ned sat beside her for a while. "Lady," he said, tasting the name. He had never paid much attention to the names the children had picked, but looking at her now, he knew that Sansa had chosen well. She was the smallest of the litter, the prettiest, the most gentle and trusting. She looked at him with bright golden eyes, and he ruffled her thick grey fur.

—A Game of Thrones - Eddard III

"If I did, my word would be as hollow as an empty suit of armor. My life is not so precious to me as that."

"Pity." The eunuch stood. "And your daughter's life, my lord? How precious is that?"

A chill pierced Ned's heart. "My daughter …"

"Surely you did not think I'd forgotten about your sweet innocent, my lord? The queen most certainly has not."

"No," Ned pleaded, his voice cracking. "Varys, gods have mercy, do as you like with me, but leave my daughter out of your schemes. Sansa's no more than a child."

—A Game of Thrones - Eddard XV

Ned’s case is different, because he didn’t die immediately after saying Lady’s name, but he said Lady’s name just before he killed the direwolf. Later though, Ned died while hearing Sansa’s screams and hysterical sobbing.  

By killing Lady, Ned killed a part of Sansa, his own daughter, so he not only killed a magical beast, but this could also be considered kinslaying, both crimes forbidden and punished by the gods.  

So, the pack of direwolves found in the summer snows are magical creatures probably sent to this generation of Stark kids by the Old Gods. The direwolves sound like the rare and magical beasts from the songs that Sansa mentioned in AGOT when she knew about the white hart sighted in the kingswood.

While listing the possible inspirations that GRRM has used for the white hart, I found out that along the history, the white hart has been a sacred creature, blessed by gods, a messenger between worlds, an emblem for kings, a symbol for religions, and the guide of humanity in the greatest quests.  And the direwolves fit every criteria of that list: they are sacred creatures, blessed by the Old Gods of the North, messengers, guardians and protectors for the Stark kids, the sigil of House Stark and the old Kings of Winter, symbols of the Old Gods and the guide of the Stark kids for their greatest quest: The Long Night and the Battle for the Dawn.   

Now let’s talk about a particular direwolf, Ghost: 

IN THE SONGS, THE KNIGHTS NEVER KILLED MAGICAL BEASTS, THEY JUST WENT UP TO THEM AND TOUCHED THEM AND DID THEM NO HARM

Earlier in this post I mentioned that even knowing that Joffrey likes the killing part of hunting, Sansa doesn’t use the word “kill” at all, when she told Jeyne about her dream of Joffrey “taking the white hart and bringing it back to her”. 

Sansa told to Jeyne: “Joffrey would be the one to take the white hart” / “her gallant prince was worthier than his drunken father.” / “He shot it with a golden arrow and brought it back for me.” As if she was trying to say that Joffrey only captured the magical beast to bring it back for her, as a gift. And when I read that I thought that Sansa was remembering Lady. Why, you may ask? Because her brothers have actually found magical beasts in the summer snows: 

“A wolf,” Robb told him. “A freak,” Greyjoy said. “Look at the size of it.” (...) “It’s no freak,” Jon said calmly. “That’s a direwolf. They grow larger than the other kind.” Theon Greyjoy said, “There’s not been a direwolf sighted south of the Wall in two hundred years.” “I see one now,” Jon replied. Bran tore his eyes away from the monster. That was when he noticed the bundle in Robb’s arms. He gave a cry of delight and moved closer. The pup was a tiny ball of grey-black fur, its eyes still closed. It nuzzled blindly against Robb’s chest as he cradled it, searching for milk among his leathers, making a sad little whimpery sound. Bran reached out hesitantly. “Go on,” Robb told him. “You can touch him.” Bran gave the pup a quick nervous stroke, then turned as Jon said, “Here you go.” His half brother put a second pup into his arms. “There are five of them.” Bran sat down in the snow and hugged the wolf pup to his face. Its fur was soft and warm against his cheek.

—A Game of Thrones - Bran I

First thing to note is that the Stark kids: Jon, Robb and Bran are true knight material = In the songs, the knights never killed magical beasts, they just went up to them and touched them and did them no harm. But the rest of the Stark crew... not so much:

“No matter,” said Hullen. “They be dead soon enough too.”

Bran gave a wordless cry of dismay.

“The sooner the better,” Theon Greyjoy agreed. He drew his sword. “Give the beast here, Bran.”

The little thing squirmed against him, as if it heard and understood. “No!” Bran cried out fiercely. “It’s mine.”

“Put away your sword, Greyjoy,” Robb said. For a moment he sounded as commanding as their father, like the lord he would someday be. “We will keep these pups.”

—A Game of Thrones - Bran I

But while Robb and Bran were fiercely defending the pups against Theon’s attempt to kill them, Jon Snow was thinking for a better and lasting solution:  

“Lord Stark,” Jon said. It was strange to hear him call Father that, so formal. Bran looked at him with desperate hope. “There are five pups,” he told Father. “Three male, two female.”

“What of it, Jon?”

“You have five trueborn children,” Jon said. “Three sons, two daughters. The direwolf is the sigil of your House. Your children were meant to have these pups, my lord.”

Bran saw his father’s face change, saw the other men exchange glances. He loved Jon with all his heart at that moment. Even at seven, Bran understood what his brother had done. The count had come right only because Jon had omitted himself. He had included the girls, included even Rickon, the baby, but not the bastard who bore the surname Snow, the name that custom decreed be given to all those in the north unlucky enough to be born with no name of their own.

Their father understood as well. “You want no pup for yourself, Jon?” he asked softly.

“The direwolf graces the banners of House Stark,” Jon pointed out. “I am no Stark, Father.”

—A Game of Thrones - Bran I

Jon Snow saved the direwolf pups! He sacrificed himself so his siblings/cousins could keep them. And he was rewarded for it. He got a very special direwolf pup for himself.

Yes! Within the significant scene of the elder Stark boys finding the first five direwolves, Jon Snow finding the sixth one, Ghost, the albino direwolf, is the one that stands out:

Halfway across the bridge, Jon pulled up suddenly.

“What is it, Jon?” their lord father asked.

“Can’t you hear it?”

Bran could hear the wind in the trees, the clatter of their hooves on the ironwood planks, the whimpering of his hungry pup, but Jon was listening to something else.

"There," Jon said. He swung his horse around and galloped back across the bridge. They watched him dismount where the direwolf lay dead in the snow, watched him kneel. A moment later he was riding back to them, smiling.

"He must have crawled away from the others," Jon said.

"Or been driven away," their father said, looking at the sixth pup. His fur was white, where the rest of the litter was grey. His eyes were as red as the blood of the ragged man who had died that morning. Bran thought it curious that this pup alone would have opened his eyes while the others were still blind.

"An albino," Theon Greyjoy said with wry amusement. "This one will die even faster than the others."

Jon Snow gave his father's ward a long, chilling look. "I think not, Greyjoy," he said. "This one belongs to me."

—A Game of Thrones - Bran I

GRRM didn’t give us Sansa, Arya and Rickon reaction to the direwolves from their POV, we just got this bit from Catelyn’s:

He lifted his head to look at her. "Catelyn," he said. His voice was distant and formal. "Where are the children?"

He would always ask her that. "In the kitchen, arguing about names for the wolf pups." She spread her cloak on the forest floor and sat beside the pool, her back to the weirwood. She could feel the eyes watching her, but she did her best to ignore them. "Arya is already in love, and Sansa is charmed and gracious, but Rickon is not quite sure."

"Is he afraid?" Ned asked.

"A little," she admitted. "He is only three."

Ned frowned. "He must learn to face his fears. He will not be three forever. And winter is coming."

—A Game of Thrones - Catelyn I

But knowing Sansa, grand connaisseur of songs and stories, I can clearly imagine her reaction at the tale told by her brothers of how they found the six pups in the summer snows, very similar to this one:

The pale pink light of dawn sparkled on branch and leaf and stone. Every blade of grass was carved from emerald, every drip of water turned to diamond. Flowers and mushrooms alike wore coats of glass. Even the mud puddles had a bright brown sheen. Through the shimmering greenery, the black tents of his brothers were encased in a fine glaze of ice.

So there is magic beyond the Wall after all. He found himself thinking of his sisters, perhaps because he'd dreamed of them last night. Sansa would call this an enchantment, and tears would fill her eyes at the wonder of it, but Arya would run out laughing and shouting, wanting to touch it all.

—A Clash of Kings - Jon III

Sansa would have called the tale a song, she would have declared the direwolves magical beasts, and she would have proclaimed her brothers true knights.    

And I bet she would have been particularly fascinated by Ghost, the albino one, the rarest of the pack due to his coloring and being mute.  And Ghost was only found at the end by Jon alone. And I still wonder how could Jon hear the little pup when we all know Ghost is mute.  

See? Jon Snow is literally Sansa Stark’s wished/dreamed knight from the songs, he found, protected and saved the magical white beast, so different to Joffrey and the rest of false knights and butchers she has encountered so far.    

And I thought Ghost would be of great importance not only for Jon but also for Sansa in the future Books.

Ghost is the third magical white beast presented in ASOIAF, next to the white hart and the hrakkar.

Ghost is also the third albino creature presented in ASOIAF, next to Bloodraven and the Ghost of High Heart, a rumored Children of the Forest. 

Ghost also shared its colors with the weirwood tree:

WHITE AS BONE, RED AS BLOOD

Have you ever stopped to think about how Ghost is always described as the weirwood tree?

The weirwood is a species of deciduous trees found in Westeros, now found most commonly in the north and beyond the Wall.

The five-pointed leaves and the sap of weirwoods are blood-red, while the smooth bark on their wide trunks and wood are bone white. Most weirwoods have faces carved into their trunks. This was done by the children of the forest in ancient days, and is now done by the free folk as well as other descendants of the First Men, such as followers of the old gods in the Seven Kingdoms praying to heart trees in godswoods. In some cases sap has collected in the crevices of the carved faces, giving the trees red eyes which have been known to drip sap as if the trees were weeping. A weirwood will live forever if undisturbed.

Weirwoods are considered sacred to the followers of the old gods, and children of the forest believe weirwoods are the gods. [x]

The weirwood tree is also called the heart tree:

At the center of the grove an ancient weirwood brooded over a small pool where the waters were black and cold. "The heart tree," Ned called it.  The weirwood's bark was white as bone, its leaves dark red, like a thousand bloodstained hands. A face had been carved in the trunk of the great tree, its features long and melancholy, the deep-cut eyes red with dried sap and strangely watchful. They were old, those eyes; older than Winterfell itself. They had seen Brandon the Builder set the first stone, if the tales were true; they had watched the castle's granite walls rise around them. It was said that the children of the forest had carved the faces in the trees during the dawn centuries before the coming of the First Men across the narrow sea.

—A Game of Thrones - Catelyn I

Now, let’s see how Ghost is described:

"He must have crawled away from the others," Jon said.

"Or been driven away," their father said, looking at the sixth pup. His fur was white, where the rest of the litter was grey. His eyes were as red as the blood of the ragged man who had died that morning. Bran thought it curious that this pup alone would have opened his eyes while the others were still blind.

—A Game of Thrones - Bran I

And suddenly Ghost was back, stalking softly between two weirwoods. White fur and red eyes, Jon realized, disquieted. Like the trees …

—A Game of Thrones - Jon VI

Red eyes, Jon realized, but not like Melisandre’s. He had a weirwood’s eyes. Red eyes, red mouth, white fur. Blood and bone, like a heart tree. He belongs to the old gods, this one.

—A Storm of Swords - Jon XII

The most famous weirwood tree in Westeros is the one in the godswood of Winterfell:

When Jon closed his eyes he saw the heart tree, with its pale limbs, red leaves, and solemn face. The weirwood was the heart of Winterfell, Lord Eddard always said … but to save the castle Jon would have to tear that heart up by its ancient roots, and feed it to the red woman’s hungry fire god. I have no right, he thought. Winterfell belongs to the old gods.

—A Storm of Swords - Jon XII

As the weirwood is called the heart of Winterfell, Ghost is also part of Jon:

When he finally put the quill down, the room was dim and chilly, and he could feel its walls closing in. Perched above the window, the Old Bear's raven peered down at him with shrewd black eyes. My last friend, Jon thought ruefully. And I had best outlive you, or you'll eat my face as well. Ghost did not count. Ghost was closer than a friend. Ghost was part of him.

—A Dance with Dragons - Jon III

So, in Ghost, we have a symbol of the weirwood tree, and the children of the forest believe that the weirwoods are the old gods themselves.

As I already said in other metas, Ghost and Lady are presented in the Books, as complementary and shared very interesting parallels and contrasts: [x] [x]. 

Indeed, with Jon’s death and the previous death of Lady, we have two Stark kids incomplete. Throughout the books we have read many times that the direwolves are part of the Stark kids. Sansa lost her direwolf and then Ghost lost its master. So, after that, I think that Sansa and Jon will be a great complement for each other’s lost part. 

And I think George has hinted at that with this passage:

When Sansa opened her eyes again, she was on her knees. She did not remember falling. It seemed to her that the sky was a lighter shade of grey. Dawn, she thought. Another day. Another new day. It was the old days she hungered for. Prayed for. But who could she pray to? The garden had been meant for a godswood once, she knew, but the soil was too thin and stony for a weirwood to take root. A godswood without gods, as empty as me.

—A Storm of Swords - Sansa VII

After leaving Winterfell, Sansa lived in the Red Keep and in the Eyrie, both castles without a weirwood: The heart tree of the Red Keep’s godswood was a great oak and the Eyrie’s godswood has no heart tree at all.  Sansa lost Lady, Sansa lost part of her, Sansa lost the weirwood of her her godswood. A role that Ghost could easily play for her.

To sum it up:

The weirwood tree is called a heart tree, and Winterfell’s weirwood tree in particular is called the heart of Winterfell.

The weirwood is a part of Winterfell (its heart) and Ghost is also part of Jon.

Ghost is a symbol of the weirwood tree, and the children of the forest believe that the weirwoods are the old gods themselves.

Sansa lost Lady, her direwolf and part of her. 

Sansa, after leaving Winterfell, has lived in castles with godswoods without gods (without a weirwood).  

Sansa felt as empty as a godswood without gods (without a weirwood).

Ghost could be the missed weirwood for Sansa’s empty godswood.

Jon and Sansa sharing Ghost, a symbol of the weirwood tree (heart tree), would be as if they share the same heart.

Jon and Sansa sharing Ghost would be like a recreation of the song called “Two Hearts that beat as one”. They would be two souls sharing the same heart. 

I would call this song: “One heart that beat for two souls”. Which reminds me of my favorite e.e. cummings’ poem: i carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart). Which is also the title of a larger “unfinished” meta of mine where I vastly explore Jon and Sansa’s connections with Winterfell and the heart tree (I put parts of it in this post).     

So there you have it. Jon Snow finding a magical white beast in the summer snows, coming for it, touching it and doing it no harm, could be the beginning of a great song about two souls sharing the same heart. 

“In the songs, the knights never killed magical beasts, they just went up to them and touched them and did them no harm”

“There is a song about the Queen in the North and the White Wolf, it is a story about two souls sharing the same heart “

(*) I dedicate this post to @shieldofrohan​; because, as she loves to say, she bullied me and annoyed me so much and for so long, that I ended up finishing this meta.  She has promised to keep being an annoying bully to me until I finish all my “unfinished” metas.  

#Sansa Stark #Jon Snow #Sansa x Jon #Jon x Sansa #jonsa

[appleandelder]

The Longest Night and Winter’s Solstice in the Northeast Kingdom

It’s here! On the homestead, we celebrate the dark times and the solar victory with a mix of pagan practices, American customs, and personal traditions. Becuase of this amalgamation, I don’t call what we celebrate Yule, or Christmas, but simply The Winter’s Solstice.

What we are really celebrating is a solar holiday. Looking to the sky we can see the reasons behind why this time is scared across so many cultures. The sky tells a dramatic story: The sun has finally reached its southern most position, and in doing so it must pause. This pause, or solstice, means the longest night is upon us in the north. It is said that the sun will pause in its southernly position for three days, and on the morning of the fourth, it starts its journey north. (and while I can’t find the most credible source for the “three day” pause, I definitely don’t mind using it as an excuse to prolong solstice celebrations to the traditional christmas date) So we take this pivotal week to celebrate and be merry, because we know the hardest parts of winter are just ahead, but we are reassured by the Sun’s return.

Since Halloween we’ve notice the dramatic change in daylight, now only having sun for barely nine hours. But we honor this scared time and notice the importance of the darkness that comes before the light. We have to revel in the darkness. We enjoy the early sunsets and take advantage of the rest it offers and take advantage of the longer nights.

The dark times leading up to the winter solstice are some of my favorite times of the year. As a big fan of gothic literature and scary stories, especially those from New England, the darkness and winter play a crucial role to crafting creepy tales. I thrive this time of year when not stressed by chores of the farm and garden. I feel inspired to write, make crafts, create, and I also feel quite connected to my spirtual practices. I find my self working more with all the plants I have grown and collected during warmer weather, I have more time for meditation and introspection, I dedicate the dark hours to magic and spirit work. This is the time of the dead and dormant, the spirits active in the winter differ much from those in the summer. Winter weather has much to teach and there are many lessons to learn from the resilient winter energies.

From the midautmn cross to midwinter in February, we focus on the inward spiral. During winter solstice and especially with the new year ahead, we use this slow time to reflect, review the year past and ponder the year next, set intentions, make goals and resolutions. We focus on our dreams and discerning what truly brings happiness, and we recognize our nightmares and downfalls in order to find the path for the seasons ahead. We honor the slow time the winter and the dark season brings. We stay cozy by our fire, watching the snow rise and temperature fall. We notice the dormancy in nature around us. We count the hours of the shortening day until its crescendo of the longest night!

This season, we are greatful for the evergreens. The mighty conifers that keep their green all year give us hope and remind us of the lushness of the forest. We bring in a wind-felled tree and decorate it for the season instead of cutting down a live one. We also make wreaths from all natural materials to bring some more life and beauty.

Surviving the longest night is one main focus of celebrating the Winter Solstice. We remember our ancestors and the especially times before artificial light, so we make sure to spend some time enjoying the longest night in its true form, in darkness only lit by fire. The rest of the longest night is spent feasting.... and when I say feasting I mean non stop eating from sunset until we go to bed. It’s a meal fit to survive everlasting winter, just in case the sun doesn’t decide to turn back north. We enjoy hardy stews, roasted vegetables, and home-raised meats. And the highlight, of course, is the sweets! Pies, cookies, and other treats galore keep us happy and fill us with warming energy. We leave offerings of food and sweets to the household spirits and deliver sacrifice to the woods for the creatures trying to survive the longest night with us.

The longest night is a great time for ritual flying, as it tends to be a common motif this time of year. With Santa and flying reindeer or Odin’s Wild Hunt, the skies these nights are filled with spirits. One may anoint themselves with oils of artemisia, amanita, or other baneful plants and let their spirit wander the dark night. By the warmth of the fire: ”yule” log burning, accompanied by furs of hare and rabbit, horns of deer, lit candles, and evergreens, with incense of cedar and frankincense burning, I honor this sacred night with special ritual.

As we prepare for bed on the longest night we rummage through our woodpile to find our “yule” log. In reflecting old traditions, we pick out the largest log that will fit our woodstove and adorn it with evergreens, birch bark, berries, cones, feathers, mushrooms and most importantly hopes and wishes for the upcoming year. Right before turning in, we put this decorated log into the fire and let it keep us warm as we sleep through the longest night.

In the morning we celebrate the sun’s return and our survival with a feast of eggs as a sign of the sun, exchanging gifts, and collecting ash from our Yule log to add to the collection from years past and kept as a protective charm. We are greatful for the day that will be getting longer but we also prepare for the coldest parts of winter that are on their way.

Over the next few days we let celebration flourish as the American Christmas craze takes hold. Since my husband and I both grew up celebrating Christmas, and our families still do, we still celebrate in a secular way. On Christmas Eve we watch holiday movies and my favorite Rankin Bass productions. We leave another offering of sweets for household spirits and fill stockings with goodies and exchange them on Christmas morning with a final breakfast feast. We honor the Sun as it begins it’s journey back to us here in the North.

During this season we celebrate by:

Feasting! Lots and lots of feasting on hardy warming meals and indulgent sweets, drinking warm beverages and alcohol (which is rare for us but when there is homemade hard cider to drink...), revel in darkness, practice flying, divining and other darker working. Sleep a lot, give gifts to each other and to our animals, home and nature, and most importantly cuddle by the fire with our dogs.

The altar is decorated with:

Effigies and preservations of guardian winter spirits: particularly the horned deer and the snowshoe hare. Evergreens, conifer cones, birch twigs, turkey feathers, ashes from previous years “Yule” logs, a white candle for snow and a red candle for the dying sun will be replaced by a green candle after solstice: the sun’s rebirth, and other curiosities and seasonal finds from the forest.

#winter solstice #longest night #homestead #pagan #holiday #winter

[bookofjin]

Peoples of the far north-east

[From Weishu 100]

The state of Wuji is to the north of Gaojuli, it is the old state of Sushen. The towns and family groups each have their own chiefs, they are not collected into one. Their people sturdy and fearless, among the eastern barbarians they exceedingly strong. Their words and speech are unique and unusual. They often make light of the various states of the Doumolou. The various states likewise troubled by them. The distance to Luo is 5 000 li. 200 li north from Helong is Shanyu Mountain. 13 days travel north from the mountain [you] arrive at Qili Mountain. Travelling again north for 7 days [you] arrive at the Luohuan river. The river wide is more than a li wide. Travelling north again for 15 days [you] arrive at the Tailu River. Travelling north-east again from 18 days [you] come to their state.

The state has a great river, 3 li wide, named the Sumo River. Their land is inferior and wet. They build cities and live in caves, their houses resembles the shape of tombs, with opening on their top. They use ladders to set out and enter. Their state has no cattle, they have chariots and horses. When planting, they pair up to plough,when [driving] a chariot, they push it forward on foot. They have foxtail millet, wheat/barley and non-glutinous millet, for vegetables they have mallow. The rivers and air are salty and frozen [?]. Salt form on top of the trees, there likewise are salt ponds. They have many pigs but no sheep. They chew [?] grain to ferment beer, when they drink it they are able to become drunk .

The married women have cloth skirts, the men and children have fur garments of pigs and dogs. At the evening when they begin to be married, the man goes to the woman's house, grasps the woman's breasts, and then stop. Right there it is considered settled, and they carry on as husband and wife.

They are good at shooting and hunting. Their bows are 3 chi long and the arrows 2 cun long. They use stone as arrowheads. When their father or mother dies in spring or autumn, they establish a burial for them, and on top of the tomb they construct a roof, so to not make it rain on it. If it is autumn or winter, they use the corpse to catch marten. The martens eat their flesh, and they get many of them.

Often, in the 7th or 8th Month, they prepare poisonous herbs to spread out on arrow shafts and arrowheads, to shoot birds and beasts. Those hit readily die. During cooking, the vapours from the poisonous herbs are likewise able to kill people.

South of their state is  Tutai Mountain, Wei speaks of it as “Great August [dahuang]”. It has tigers, leopards, brown bears, and wolves that do not harm people. People do not get to urinate or pollute on the mountain. Those who travel by the mountain,  all consider it brimming with things.

The state of Shiwei is 1 000 li north of the Wuji. The distance from Luo is 6 000 li. On the road setting out north from Helong, after 1 000 li [you] enter the state of Qidan. Again travelling north for 10 days, you arrive at Chuo River. Again travelling north for 3 days there is the Gai River. Again travelling north for 3 days there is the Dule Mountain. That mountain is tall and great, its circumference is more than 300 li. Again travelling north for 3 days there is a great river called Quli. Again travelling north for 3 days you arrive at Ren River. Again travelling north for 5 days, you come to their state. There is a great river following north and then comes, 4 li wide, it is called the Ji River.

The state's soil is inferior and wet. Their language is similar to the states of Kumoxi, Qidan and Doumolou. They somewhat have foxtail millet, wheat/barley, and non-glutinous millet. They only eat pigs and fish, but rear cattle and horses. In their customs there also are no sheep. In summer then the cities are settled, in winter they chase water and grass. They likewise have much marten skins. They employ horn bows, their arrow shafts are especially long.

Women when married are restricted from setting out, they make interlaced fingers chignons [?]. In their state there are few stealing thieves. For theft one punishes three [?]. From those who kill people are demanded 300 horses. Men and women are thoroughly dressed in jackets and trousers of white deer skin. They have intricately brewed beer. Their customs are fond of red gems, they are decorations for the married women. They pierce to hang them on their necks, they consider many to be nobke. Girls that do not get these therefore do not reach marriage. When their father or mother dies, the sons and daughters assemble to weep for three years, the corpse is then set up on top of a tree in the forest.

The state of Doumolou is 1 000 li north of the state of Wuji. The distance to Luo is 6 000 li. It is the old north Fuyu. They are to the east of the Shiwei, to the east of them you come to the sea. The area is 2 000 li square. The earth is suitable for the Five Grains, but does not produce the Five Fruits. Their chiefs and nobles are by nature strong and brave, their prudence is substantial and they do not rob or confiscate. Their lords and chiefs all use the Six Livestock to name officials. The towns and family groups have prominent leaders. When drinking and eating they likewise employ trays and cups. They have hemp cloth. The tailoring of the clothes are exalted and gorgeous, and the bands are great. The Great Men of their state use gold and silver to decorate them.

They employ punishment which is strict and quick, those who kill people die, and they take possession of their family members to be male and female slaves. Their customs are excessive, they particularly detest jealous married women. The jealous ones they kill, and the corpses are put on a mountain to the south of their state to rot. If the woman's family wish to get [it], they deliver up cattle and horses, and then they are given her.

Some say it was originally the land of Huimo.

The state of Wuluohou is to the north of the Didouyu. The distance to the Dai capital is 4 500 li. Their soil is inferior and wet. There is much fog and vapours, and it is cold. The people in winter then dig out the earth to make a room. In summer they then follow the uplands with prolific livestock shepherding. They have many pigs, and have grain and wheat/barley. They have no great lords or chiefs, among the section groups there are none where this has not always been the case. Their custom is to praise setting forth [?], they have skin clothes and used gems as ornaments.

The people are of surpassing bravery, they are not deceptive or thieving. For that reason they are slow to hoard or store up in the wilderness, and there are no bandits or thieves. They are fond of hunting and shooting. For music they have harps. [They make] wood troughs with a leather face, and apply nine strings.

To the north-west of their state is the Wan River. It flows north-east to combine into the Nan River. The small rivers of their land all flow into the Nan. To the east it joins into the sea. Again travelling north-west for 20 days there is the Yini Great River, it is spoken of as the Northern Sea.

Shizu's 4th Year of Zhenjun [443 AD], they came to court. They claimed that north-west of their state were the old burial grounds of the House of State's Former Emperors. There was a stone chamber, 90 paces from south to north, and 40 paces east to west, 70 chi tall. In the room were gods and spirits, and the people very much prayed and made requests to them. Shizu dispatched the Attendant Gentleman of the Palace Writers, Li Chang, to make announcements and sacrifice to them. He carved a written supplication into the walls of the chamber and turned back.

[This cave really exists. It was rediscovered by archaeologists in 1980, with Li Chang's inscription.]

#ws100

[mythicallore]

Weird Encounters with humanoids in Texas

There are a lot of strange cases of creatures and entities out there, scattered all across the world. Often these accounts have no clear origin or logical answer to explain what people are seeing, and they seem doomed to flutter about in the periphery of the odd. Strikingly, many of such reports describe entities that are humanoid in nature, and which serve to defy all attempts to truly classify them. The U.S. state of Texas has more than its share of accounts of bizarre humanoid creatures, and here we will look at a selection of some of the stranger.

The first report we will look at here is about as bizarre as they come. Paranormal researcher Albert S. Rosales wrote a series of books called Humanoid Encounters, which focused on alleged sighting of various strange entities corresponding to certain years. In the 1970-1974 edition there is a very odd report from the town of Amarillo, Texas, which supposedly took place in 1970. In the account, the witness claims that he moved into a ranch with his family surrounded by a desolate landscape of sand dunes and very little vegetation. For the first few days at their new home nothing particularly strange happened, but it took a deep right turn into Bizarreville rather quickly.

It started when the grandmother allegedly discovered a den of wolf cubs near the house, but when she brought the grandfather there the next day to show him her discovery it was found that the adult wolves were dead and the cubs were nowhere to be seen. When the wolf carcasses were examined, it seemed as if they had been torn apart by something very large with formidable claws, and this understandably made them a bit wary as to what was roaming around out there in the wilds.

The next evening, the grandfather had a nightmare in which he had a premonition of intense foreboding, and a warning in his head to move away immediately. When he awoke in a cold sweat he went out to the outhouse and as he did so he claimed to have seen a hulking humanoid figure with glowing red eyes, which seemed to be surveying the house from the dark. Interestingly, the witness’ great-grandmother also had a premonition that night, and he would say of what happened next thus:

Earlier in that very night, my great grandmother had a terrible feeling and sent my granduncle, Ray, with his family to check up on his brother. Ray was almost to the house when the car ran out of water. He remembered there was a well nearby and went to get some water. He didn’t get too far when the thing with red eyes came in front of him. He ran back to the car and told his family to run to his brother’s house. He grab his shotgun and Bowie knife so he could buy his family time to get away. Ray made sure the car was between him and creature. The creature charged him quickly. He shot the creature nearly point-blank range several times with no effect. He tried to stab it but almost got slashed by it’s claws. Then, he ran fast as he could to the house. The creature followed but, suddenly stop short of the hill. By then, the entire family was awake and saw it on the hill staring at them. Grandfather told all the girls to get in the bed of the truck and covered them with lots of blankets and other stuff to make a barrier in case the creature jumped into the bed. The men were in the cab of the truck staring at the hulking being. They drove past it praying it didn’t attack them. It’s gaze was on the house. Suddenly it jumped off the hill and began to chase them. It stopped short of the line where the sand ended and grass began.

After this harrowing encounter, they went back the following day to get their things from the house, only to find the ranch owner and numerous police and “military looking” people all over the area. On top of this, it appeared as if the entire first floor of the home had been completely wrecked by something. This was all strange enough, but what really makes it even more surreal and off-the-wall is what happened when a police K-9 unit was released, and the report says of what transpired thus:

A K-9 unit went in to investigate. The first floor was totally destroyed . The second floor was the same as well. The dogs got a scent of something and started to bark at the attic door. The officers opened the door and let the dogs up it. Everybody heard the dogs fighting with something. Suddenly the dogs were thrown out the attic window like rag dolls. They were both skinned alive! The two officers inside went into attic to see what the hell it was. Everybody outside heard lots of gunfire and then saw one the officers being thrown out the window. He was dead before he hit the ground. When everybody looked back up toward the window, they saw the creature clear as day. It looked like a big bald blue-skinned man with big red eyes and sharp claws. The high ranking military man ordered its’ destruction. Everybody opened fire on it and the house. Two guys threw grenades into the attic and it exploded. The house was then set on fire! Grandfather and the family left but later heard that the only body found was that of the other officer. Footprints were found leading away from the house! Nothing of it was ever heard again to their knowledge.

It is all completely and insanely bonkers, and it leaves one wondering just what truth any of it has, and if it does, then what it was they encountered. The problem is that the account has no real sources listed, so it is unverifiable and could very well be fake. Who knows? Speaking of hulking, terrifyingly beastly humanoids, there is another report covered on the site True Horror Stories of Texas, and it involves a witness known only as “Jacqueline.” She claims that she was on her way back to the town of Coldspring, Texas, after visiting her father in Houston, and that as she was passing by Lake Livingston Dam at around 10 PM when some decidedly weird events would unfold, of which she would say:

I was past that light in total darkness with only my headlights shining. I saw something up ahead and slowed down. It was a furry creature on all fours crossing the road. I’ll never forget the way it felt, the hair on my arms are standing up and I get goosebumps just remembering. It looked like the boy from the jungle book crossing the road with the hind part of the body higher than the front.

It stopped just on the other side of my truck passing a few feet in front of my truck. It was dark grey and black and it didn’t seem to have a face or maybe it just had too much hair. It was too big to be a dog or any animal. I still don’t know what it was, all I know is that I drove off speeding away looking back into my rear view mirror hoping it wasn’t following me home. I locked up and stayed close to my rifle the whole night. And to this day driving through that stretch of road I hope I never see that creature again.

What was this thing? Was it, as has been suggested, some kind of werewolf? If it was, then it would not be alone out in the Lone Star State. One of the most well-known of such supposed werewolf reports comes from the town of Converse, Texas, where during the 1800s a rancher moved onto a modest plot of land in the area along with his son. One day the rancher apparently sent his son off on a deer hunting trip, determined to toughen him up, as he was described as a rather frail and nerdy boy who liked to study and read all day rather than go out into the great outdoors.

The boy found himself at a heavily forested area called Skull Crossing, and he disappeared into the woods for several hours. When he returned he was without any kill, and his father was deeply disappointed with him. For his part, the boy claimed that he had been stalked through the woods by some sort of “werewolf,” and that this was one of the reasons he had not been able to hunt, but the father did not believe him. He instead made his son turn right back around and go back to finish the job he had started, despite the boys pleas to not make him go. The young man once again ventured out into the wilderness and his father stood there waiting.

The hours passed and the sun began to set, bathing the woods in darkness, but the boy would not appear from the trees. The father purportedly grew worried, and he decided to call upon some other locals to go out and look for his son, fearful that something may have happened to him out there. As they fanned out into the increasingly murky forest they probably thought that they would find the inexperienced lad out wandering about without a clue, but they would soon find out that something altogether more sinister had transpired.

According to the tale, the search party came upon a monstrous, hairy beast measuring 8 feet tall, which was described as looking like a cross between wolf and man, and which was more disturbingly still crouched down and in the process of eating the dead son of the rancher. The party apparently shot at and chased off the monstrosity, which dispersed with supernatural speed, but the boy was dead, torn to shreds. After this the story becomes a bit hazy, with some versions saying that the rancher went insane and others saying that he locked himself away to wither and die, or that he killed himself. What was this thing, if anything? Was it a real werewolf, a misidentified bear, or something more like a Sasquatch? We will probably never know, and the Converse Werewolf remains little more than a perplexing historical oddity.

Joining werewolves in the wilds of Texas is what has been described as basically a cross between a man and a goat, and which supposedly haunts the picturesque locale of White Rock Lake. For years there have been accounts from the area of being terrorized by a humanoid entity that has a body mostly like that of a man, but with hoofed feet, a horned head, and long fingers with twisted, claw-like fingernails. Whatever it is, the Goatman of White rock Lake has been seen far and wide, and has become entrenched in the local lore. Interestingly, Texas seems to be crawling with Goat Men, as there is another said to haunt the Old Alton Bridge in Denton County, and yet another said to prowl the wilds of Lake Worth. Cryptids, ghosts, interdimensional beings? What in the world are the Goat Men?

Less identifiable is a story shared by Week in Weird, of some sort of creature with glowing eyes that was seen and even photographed at a cemetery in North Houston. In 2013, a paramedic claims that he had been at the Mueschke Cemetery in order to take a rest along with his partner at around 2 AM. As they drifted off to sleep, there was apparently heard something roaming about through the underbrush, and when the pair peered into the dark they were met with the sight of two glowing eyes peering right back at them. The partner apparently had the presence of mind to snap a picture of whatever it was, and this was soon posted to the Internet. The picture is indistinct and pretty mundane mostly, but there are indeed two glowing orbs in the upper left hand corner that look like they could be the eyes of something lurking in the woods. What do you think?

A very surreal, and most certainly paranormal entity reported from Texas and covered by Glenn Harrison, and posted at True Texas Horror Stories, is that of a strange creature known as La Malacosa, or, rather ominously, “The Bad Thing.” The entity was first mentioned in Adventures in the Unknown Interior of America, published in 1542, and begins with the arrival of conquistador Cabeza de Vaca, who during their many adventures came across a Native tribe in the Ozark mountains, who told the Spaniards that they had long been visited by a mysterious bearded stranger, who always appeared as rather indistinct and blurry, as if maintaining jst a tennous hold on reality.

This stranger was said to carry with him some sort of blindingly bright light, a lantern or wand, which he would wave about in front of him and in some cases cause people to faint in fright or under the influence of some arcane force. The appearance of this wandering figure was often accompanied by the discovery of the dead bodies of both animals and humans who appeared to have been surgically operated upon, some of their organs removed, and then the whole thing stitched back together again. Other tribesmen showed scars or disfigurations that they claimed had been inflicted by La Malacosa in the night.

This stranger was also said to appear at tribal feasts or celebrations, lurking in the shadows of the sidelines to merely watch, never partaking in the opulent meals laid out at such events. According to legend he would never talk to anyone, except to say that he was from a place “from the regions below.” The conquistadors mostly scoffed at such stories, but used it all as a way to try to convert the Natives to Christianity. It is uncertain just what La Malacosa was supposed to be, an ancient spirit, a demon, or even an alien going about performing mutilations, but it is a creepy historical account to be sure.

Perhaps even weirder still are creatures not stalking abut on the land, but rather through the skies above. Another report was covered on the site True Horror Stories of Texas, this time from near Three Rivers, Texas. In 2000, the witness claims that he had been driving along the highway IH37 between San Antonio and Corpus Christi at around 1 AM. He was heading along the interstate, the nighttime scenery flashing by past his headlights, when something odd apparently flew up right out of the night and up over his car. He would describe the weird encounter thus:

A large white humanoid figure with wings. Not a crane, or goose, or swan, or bird of prey…but a humanoid figure with skin wings. I remember doing about 65 mph and it came from the right rear and crossed my driving line at about 45 degrees… overtaking me in speed by maybe 5-10 mph. As it crossed over me it was only 10 or so feet above the roof of my vehicle. Wingspan was probably 6-8 feet and the skin was white. The wings looked to be constructed/shaped more like you would expect to see on a bat or pterodactyl but with a solidly defined human arms on the leading edge. There were definitely human legs trailing behind it and the torso was built like a human. Because it came from behind, I did not see a face. But, looking back I’m glad I didn’t.

Another flying humanoid creature that has had plenty of coverage in Texas is the so-called “Houston Batman.” Sightings began back in the 1950s, when a bat-like humanoid was seen all over the area by numerous witnesses. The first official sighting happened in June of 1953, when three neighbors at the Houston Heights apartment complex saw what they would describe as a “very tall man or manlike figure standing about six and a half feet tall but with bat-like wings attached to his back.” Making it all even stranger was that the entity seemed to be surrounded by an ethereal glow. Ever since then the “Batman” has been seen across the city, often causing witnesses to freeze for no discernible reason, and has never entirely been explained.

What lies out there in the badlands of the state of Texas? What strange creatures and entities call this place home? We are not likely to find any concrete answers any time soon, but such accounts serve to get the imagination going. Are these ghosts, specters, demons, or some sort of interdimensional entities, so called “ultra terrestrials”? The very isolated nature of these reports leaves us scratching our heads. In the end we can only guess at the nature of such beasts, and hope that we do not run across them if we are ever traveling along a dark road in Texas.

#cryptids #creature feature #texas #paranormal #supernatural

[livvywrites]

[I probably would have continued to add on this until it was twice as long as my holidays post, but I wanted to get it up today, so I didn’t. Perhaps one day I’ll come back to it, with all the ideas I’m brewing...] 

Da’lia

The da’lia are a deerlike species native to the Myneran valley. Da’lia are generally golden brown, reddish brown, or white. Male da’lia have white or brown antlers, which come in not long after they begin to lose their spots. The female deer have small, nubby horns that are present from birth (and are what the male’s start out as). They’re a mammalian species, with a gestation period of 8 months. Female da’lia rarely give birth to more than one calf at a time, with a max of twins. Unfortunately, da’lia that have twins rarely survive, due to the strain.

Da’lia are herbivores, primarily feeding off grass. They tend to graze, nibbling here and there. They also enjoy fruits and vegetables, though individual taste varies. They cannot have lettuce, potatoes, hay, or corn. They drink water and can have the occasional bit of milk, though too much can curdle their stomach.

Da’lia are a very gentle species, with a lot of patience. Their natural lifespan is about a century, provided they aren’t eaten by predators or afflicted by illness. Bonding with an Elenai can increase that to two hundred years, or possibly more depending on the strength of the bond.

Despite their gentleness, da’lia are also very stubborn, and rarely listen to anyone other than their rider, once bonded. Unless that bond is broken—usually through the death of the rider. An Elenai (or other person) can only be bonded to one da’lia at a time.

Wild da’lia are rare, but can be found in the plains south of Mynera. These da’lia are leisurely creatures, who spend their days grazing and wandering the fields. However, they scatter easily, taking off like a shot the second someone tries to get too close. Some of them are hunted for sport by local humans, though the local volai generally discourage this. Whether out of respect for the Elenai or their own vegetarianism varies by person.

Vryska

Vryska are a two-legged race native to the Tierani deserts.

They’re a reptilian race, and have been compared to “giant, featherless chickens.” Their backwards bent legs end in three toes, each tipped with a talon. A fourth talon extends off of their ankle, which they lean on while resting. They have two short arms, ending in four fingers, each tipped with a small talon. Their heads are large, with small beady eyes and a great big beak. They have crests that flare out when they’re startled; raise when curious or intrigued; and flatten when scared or angry. They have long, thick tails—and a small place on their back perfect for sitting.

Male vryska generally come in vivid greens and blues, sometimes with yellow or green markings. Female vryska are brown, dull green, or sand colored to blend in with their surroundings. Males are typically quite docile, while females are very tempermental and known to bite at the smallest provocation.

Vryska reproduce by laying eggs, and usually have three eggs per clutch. These eggs are buried in the sand and watched over fiercely by mother vryska, who are brought food by the fathers. Once the eggs are hatched, the mother takes care of them until they’re able to hunt on their own, after which she leaves them to their own devices. Or would, if the vryska hadn’t long been domesticated and used as riding mounts. After this point is when they begin their training.

Vryska are a carnivorous race, primarily living off of rodents, birds, and whatever other creatures they can find living in the desert. They don’t do well with most plants, as it upsets their stomach. They can go up to a week without water and still remain healthy, and survive up to a week and a half, though this is very dangerous.

The average lifespan of a vryska is about two hundred years.

While many have been domesticated, you can still find wild ones roaming the desert. They tend to be solitary creatures, but you can occasionally find groups of three working together. They have somewhat loping, awkward gate that looks like it would be an uncomfortable ride—but riders have said they’re actually quite steady.

Gryphon

The body of a lion, and the head and wings of an eagle. A gryphon is a proud creature, coming in shades of gold, brown, and white. They’re native to mountain peaks in the desert, plains, and arctic areas… and are generally used as mounts by the Knights.

Some gryphons have live births, and others eggs. Warmer weather species typically lay eggs, and generally not more than four. Gryphons from colder climes, on the other hand, have live births. They also don’t have more than four, typically. It takes about two months for a gryphon to learn to fly, and still yet longer than that before they can do it properly. Landing is another matter, which varies by gryphon. Some never do that properly.

They aren’t old enough to ride until they reach about two years, and they can live up to one hundred in the wild. Domesticated, they live for far longer, with some of the oldest said to reach about five hundred years.

Gryphons are primarily carnivores. A meal is typically a deer or other large herbivore, while snacks can range from rodents to snakes, to even birds. Gryphons can be temperamental, but do bond with riders easily. Once they’ve bonded to one, however, they don’t typically take another, even if that rider dies.

Drake

Drake are a draconic species about twice the size of your average horse. Their wingspan is about double their length, and they are capable of flight. Drakes come in dull colors—silver, dull blues, greens, browns, and reds—but have a shimmering look to their scales, often reflecting prisms of light. They have four toes tipped in talons, with a fifth, smaller talon on the back. Their heads are quite large, with expressive eyes. They have long horns, and several smaller spikes dotting down their neck and spine. Their tail ends in a pointed tip.

Drakes produced by laying eggs, though they generally don’t have more than two or three eggs per clutch. These eggs are large, and generally match the color of the dragon inside. Drake mothers are highly protective of their young, and won’t let anyone near them until they’re out of the awkward, gangly stage that comes after birth. Once they’re able to walk, the mothers relax enough to let their fathers and a few other trusted near. Once drakes are capable of hunting on their own, the mother relaxes more, and will even take them with her and the father out on trips. Drakes do not abandon their young unless killed or forced. They also tend to mate for life.

Drakes are carnivores. So long as they’re well-fed, drakes don’t have to feed often. They primarily subsist off of deer, mountain lions, goats, sheep, and pigs—and the particularly brave or foolhardy will try and take on a bear.

There are some drakes who have been domesticated and are used as mounts, typically by knights, rangers, magi, or other daring adventurers. An old, retired drake might get the job of pulling equipment at a farm, though it’s more likely they’ll lounge at a makeshift stable in a knight’s headquarters.

Drake tend to live around 500 years.

There are many wild ones, primarily living in the mountains. They mostly leave humans alone, but will go after livestock if they think they can get away with it. They cannot breathe fire, unless fed a special plant called ‘fireweed,’ or a kind of explosive powder. (The latter is not harmful for them, though not as nutritious as fireweed.)

Drakelings

Despite the name, these are not baby drakes, but rather a smaller subset of the species. Drakelings rarely grow larger than a medium-sized dog, though most stay at the size of a large housecat. They come in similar coloring to their larger counterparts and look very similar to them.

Drakelings typically only have one or two eggs in a clutch, and are just as protective over their young as a drake. Perhaps moreso, as the father is never allowed near the young at all—not until the baby is near fully grown. Drakelings do not mate for life, and outside of mating season, are quite unfriendly towards one another. They’re very territorial, and don’t hesitate to bite or snap at intruders.

Domesticated drakelings serve much the same purpose as a cat, catching mice and other unpleasant intruders. Once domesticated, some can tolerate others of their own kind, but typically prefer not to have them around at all. Drakelings like high places, nesting in the rafters and rooftops. They also like to curl up inside the hearth, preferably while a fire is going. Drakelings cannot breathe fire themselves, however, even with fireweed. Though fireweed works like catnip on them, and so prospective owners like to keep some on hand, just to watch the little creature go nuts.

Drakelings can live up to fifty years.

There are still plenty of drakelings out in the wild—including a breed that lives in the forest. These are more brightly colored, but also far more volatile. While their scales have made many want to have one of their own, they’re far too dangerous for anyone to take in as a pet.

Phoenix

Phoenixes are large, red-orange firebirds native to volcanic areas in the south. They range in size from the same size as a songbird to near-gryphon size. They are capable of lighting themselves on fire on a whim, and can survive temperatures that would melt a person. Perhaps literally. Phoenixes don’t do well in cold climes, however—while they can survive in them, they’re lethargic and slow.

A phoenix will live for about 500 years. After this time, they will begin to grow unhealthy looking—losing feathers left and right, losing weight, drooping. It’s a very sad sight. Then, one day, they will spontaneously burst into flames and burn until there’s nothing left but ash. Not even bone. These ashes will begin the process of forming into a new egg. This process can be disturbed if the ashes are scattered, but phoenixes generally try to make it back to their nests before combustion—which are often impossible for people to reach. After about a century, the phoenix is reborn again and takes flight once more.

A phoenix will lay one new egg in their life time, if they lay that many. The egg is laid in lava, where it incubates for an indeterminate length of time. When it hatches, the bird inside is fully formed and ready to take flight.

Scholars don’t know much about the phoenixes, save that they’re a mischievous race who seem to enjoy thwarting every attempt to learn more about them.

Spinne

Spinne are giant spiders. They can be found in forests and caves. They typically reach the size of an average pony. The forest-type weave webs in the trees, which they use to catch prey—anything from deer to unsuspecting travelers—while the cave type prefer to stalk their prey.

Their venom is a mostly non-lethal paralytic. While an overdose could potentially stop a heart, a small amount (without dilution) is enough to simply hold someone in place. As such, the spinne are hunted frequently for their venom sacks, which are then diluted and sold on black markets. They are used in kidnappings and interrogations.

A spinne will lay several hundred eggs at a time, but not all of these eggs will make it to hatching. When they do hatch, there can still be dozens of survivors—which then descend on an all out free for all, eating each other; their dead siblings; and their former eggs. Of these dozens, only a handful will survive to adulthood. It takes around six months for them to reach full maturity.

Spinne typically live about 20 years, if that.

Kentrios

Kentrios are a giant scorpion race native to the deserts of Eldora. These creatures are about the same height as a horse, but double the length—and then yet again for their giant stingers. They’re covered in a red-black chitin, which is very glossy and shiny under the sun.

Their stingers can spit a deadly acid, which melts through skin and bone. As such, kentrios typically only use it as a last resort, as it doesn’t leave much food left for them to indulge in. They will nearly always use it on approaching people, however, as most of them have learned that it simply isn’t worth the fight.

Their acid, once diluted, is used for a variety of purposes—especially by thieves, who, when lockpicking doesn’t work, will simply melt their way through to what they want. The acid is less effective against metals, however, though it can corrode the weaker ones.

Kentrios will lay several eggs in the sand, though not all of these eggs make it to hatching. Those that do must then survive the deserts on their own. They reach full maturity within six months to a year.

They live about 20 years, if that.

Basilisks

Basilisks are giant snakes, generally colored deep green or blue. They have piercing red eyes. Meeting this gaze is your doom, as it holds prey paralyzed with fear. This allows it to get in close enough to bite down—and as if the giant maw and long fangs weren’t enough, the venom is sure to kill instantly.

The venom is a powerful agent. When diluted, it is capable of slowly slowing a heart down, and is often used in medical procedures—such as surgeries. It can also be used to fake one’s own death. When used in it’s full potency, however, a basilisk’s venom can stop a heart within seconds.

Basilisks are highly territorial creatures. They generally live in mountains or forested areas, building their nests underground. Usually in a cave, but a self-made burrow will do. They generally have about two or three eggs at a time, which then grow up and head off on their own.

Basilisks are known to live about 75 years.

Basilisks feed on the largest prey available—generally bears, deer, and wildcats. They are also not adverse to eating the odd human that wanders through, though they don’t go out of their way to. Basilisks don’t like fire, are deathly afraid of phoenixes, and can be paralyzed at the sight of their own gaze.

Cockatrice

A distant cousin of the basilisk, a cockatrice has the body of a snake and the head of a chicken or rooster. They don’t get nearly as large as their cousins, though they are just as territorial. They come in yellows, reds, and greens. They typically live in forests and mountains, nesting underground. They only have one egg, which they don’t even raise themselves—instead, they deposit it in the nest of a nearby avian species, and when the baby cockatrice hatches, it slaughters its nest.

Cockatrice have the same paralyzing glare that a basilisk does, however, they also have an additional ability—which can turn people to stone. They eat birds, rodents, snakes, and insects. They don’t eat people, but will turn them to stone if they come too near their territories.

A cockatrice can live for about 30 to 50 years.

Hydra

Hydra are a multi-headed draconic species that lives primarily in the Arctic Wastes. There, they compete with their cousins, the dragons, for food. Hydra come in black, white, and silver. They have anywhere from three to eight heads, and four to eight legs.

Unlike their dragon cousins, hydra are not a free-thinking race, and instead live on baser, animalistic insticts. They rarely venture down from the arctic, but when they do, it’s trouble. They can demolish entire cities in a handful of hours, as each head is capable of magic breath (fire, ice, acid, or lightning). Fortunately, the southern lands don’t have much in the way of food for them—but this is all that keeps them confined to the north.

A hydra’s lifespan is not known, though it is believed that they do have an expiration date.

Also unlike their dragon cousins, hydra are not immune to magic. They are resistant to it, and hard to control, but it is entirely possible for a spellcaster to tap into a hydra’s mind and force them to do their bidding.

Tunnelers

Tunnelers are a subterreanean species that resemble a giant worm. They have thick hides that are very hard to pierce. It’s difficult to tell head from torso, though the torso thins out towards the tail—so you can at least tell which way is which. They have no visible eyes—perhaps none at all—and giant, gaping mouths. Inside these mouths are several rows of teeth, perfect for chewing through dirt and stone, creating perfectly round tunnels for them to speed through. And speed through they do, moving up to 60mph.

Tunnelers subsist on Terinavi, a giant mole-like species. They lay many eggs at a time, but these eggs are left forgotten in the dirt. Tunnelers hatch small, but fully formed and ready to start eating. However, the Terinavi can and will eat these eggs and babies if they find them, so there’s a constant give and take between the two races.

Tunnelers are rarely ever seen above ground, and the ones that are rarely have a visible reason to be there. They cause havoc for a bit—usually in the form of earthquakes and sinkholes—before disappearing back beneath the earth. While terrifying, they aren’t a huge issue on Eldora.

Arryth

There is only one arryth.

It lives in an area of ocean called ‘the Dead Sea.’ It rarely, if ever, ventures out of its territory. It resembles a sea serpent in some ways, though it is far larger. It’s a dark, dark blue and more or less blends in with the water around it.

It doesn’t reproduce—instead, every 10,000 years it sinks to the bottom of the ocean and sleeps. During its sleep, the Dead Sea calms. No wind blows. No life swims in that stretch of ocean. Ships cross it, using magic to do so, but find the experience draining enough that most don’t repeat it. (Unless, of course, they’re pirates, because pirates do many things that others do not.) When the arryth is awake, however, the Dead Sea is wracked with storms—and none, not even pirates, dare cross those. Unless they’re the most foolhardy of adventurers, of course.

While the legend of the arryth persists on land, most people dismiss it as simply that—a legend. No one believes that the arryth truly exists. Those of the sea, however, know it does—though they do little to dissuade their land-neighbors of that notion. For the merfolk have their own question: why does the arryth never leave the Dead Sea? What keeps it there? Is it bound by something… or is it protecting something?

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