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stellae-de-baphometis · 8 months

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An Ultimate Revise: Who Or What Is Satan?

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Okay... So I have a lot to say before I get into this post, because the original blog post I made was extremely problematic and I would like to address it, first and foremost.

My original "Who Or What Is Satan" post that I wrote was meant to be an educational and historical post, but it ended up being far from historically accurate whatsoever. It was full of errors and antisemitism, and I had absolutely no idea what I was talking about.

And so I've decided to completely rewrite and revise the entire post from scratch. It's something I've been wanting to do for a while now, because I really hate how my original post turned out and how antisemitic it was.

So without further ado, here is the revised and rewritten version of my original post, minus all the bullshit lol. Strap in, because this is gonna be a looong post! Full blog post is under the cut. ↓

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So here's a little more info and backstory on the original "Who Or What Is Satan" post, before we get into the revised version;

⚠️ - TRIGGER WARNING: Antisemitism - ⚠️ About a year ago now, I wrote a blog post of the same title under the username of @/thebaphometicforest. At the time of writing that post, I was extremely uneducated and new to Daemonolatry, and I had also been almost fully indoctrinated into a Ne0-Naz1 cult on Reddit without realising it (cough cough the fucking cesspit that is r/DemonolatryPractices cough). The blog post I wrote was full of misinformation and antisemitic propaganda, and I'm really not proud of the fact that I used to hold such antisemitic beliefs surrounding Judaism and cultural appropriation in general. I have since deleted the post, though I believe there are reblogs of it that exist, for those who wish to seek it out for further context, or whatever other reason you may need it.

I would like to take the time to sincerely apologise to the Jewish community for how blatantly ignorant and disrespectful I was in my past. There is no excuse for my antisemitism; I was just stupidly misinformed. I want it to be clear though that I never intended to purposefully discriminate against Jews, I just didn't realise how problematic my views were at the time. I wanted to clarify that distinction; But the bottom line is that the intent doesn't matter. At the end of the day, I was still a dick. It is no excuse and I take full accountability and responsibility for my past actions.

Please know that my past problematic views do not represent me anymore and I have changed and educated myself since then. And with that said, I want it to be my main goal to help dispel antisemitism, ignorance, and bigotry in occult spaces as an ally, as well as advocate for the rights and wellbeing of the Jewish community not only in occult spaces, but overall. 💙

With all of that said, it's time to set the record straight and talk about who and what Satan actually is!

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DISCLAIMER: Please keep in mind that I am not Jewish or Muslim, and therefore cannot speak from those perspectives on this subject. I understand and acknowledge that the concept of Satan originates in Judaism and have no intention to be appropriative. I'm simply just going off research and from what Jewish people in occult spaces on Tumblr have said regarding this subject. I also apologise in advance for any inaccuracies in this post. Please don't hesitate to point them out and I will correct them as soon as I can! Xx

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+: GIF Credit :+

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Satan has evolved to become a very complex character in the modern day. In fact, the very concept and idea of Satan can depend on who you ask, as there are multiple different spiritual paths that interpret Satan differently nowadays. Satan's history has also been muddied quite a lot over the years.

But what are the actual historical origins of Satan, and how did he even come to be?

༺・ The Origins Of Satan ・༻

So, where did Satan even come from?

The origins of Satan can firstly be traced back to Judaism, where Satan refers to an angel (Ha-Satan) that was initially subservient to God. It was only later that he came to be known as "The Devil" in Christianity (sometimes considered synonymous with Lucifer, a bastardised Greco-Roman god) and was referred to as an evil demon, devil, and fallen angel. Later in Islam, he came to be known as an evil spirit who went by the name of Iblis or Ash-Shaytan.

The concept and role of Satan varies drastically between Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and other belief systems which may have similar figures in their mythology. Let's further elaborate on what Satan means when it comes to these three belief systems.

Note: In the Christianity section, I have added a lot of my own interpretations and personal beliefs on the subject as I used to be a Christian as a child. However, I have not done the same with the Judaism or Islam sections as they are closed practices from what I have heard, and I feel that it is not my place to have a UPG on a closed practise, especially if I am not a part of it. Therefore, I will only be including historical info I have gathered from doing research in those parts and nothing more. I wish to remain respectful by not adding my personal input on those parts.

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+: In Judaism :+

There appears to be two main accounts of Satan in Judaism. The most well-know account is that Satan refers to an angel in the Torah named Ha-Satan (literally "The Satan") who is actually subordinate to God, rather than being an opposing force of God. His role was to test the faith of God's followers by tempting them to sin. If they resisted Ha-Satan's temptations, they were proving themselves faithful and loyal to God.

Another account comes from Satanail, the Prince of the Grigori Watcher Angels. The role of the Grigori were to descend to Earth so they could guide humans and teach them. But when they began having sex with humans and producing offspring such as the Nephilim, they were cast out of Heaven and became fallen angels. Some translations suggest that the Nephilim were a type of giants, whereas other translations suggest that they were the hybrid children of fallen angels.

Sometimes the archangel Samael is also equated with Satan, however they don't necessarily have the same functions. Samael was usually tasked with destroying sinners, whereas Ha-Satan was tasked with tempting and testing sinners.

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+: In Christianity :+

Here's where things begin to get muddy. Satan is referred to in multiple different ways in Christianity, and it really just depends on the interpretations and translations of the Christian Bible. Let's have a look at Satan's multiple titles that are mentioned.

~ The Serpent ~

Satan is considered to be synonymous with The Serpent that convinced Eve and Adam to eat fruit from the Tree Of Knowledge. In Genesis 3, the serpent claimed that if you ate the fruit, you could "be like God, knowing good and evil".

+. Genesis 3 .+ ❧ Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman "Did God really say 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" ❧ The woman said to the serpent "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die'." ❧ "You will not certainly die", the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil". ❧ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

In my interpretation, Satan brought liberation, indulgence enlightenment, wisdom, and free will to Adam and Eve through eating the fruit. He showed them that if they open their minds and were willing to learn new things, they could grow and flourish to be wiser than they once were, as well as constantly strive to be the best version of themselves.

It was actually God that brought about consequences for Eve and Adam eating the fruit from the Tree Of Knowledge, not Satan. My interpretation is that if you choose to embrace your true and best self, there are always going to be people who will not like or approve of you; But that doesn't mean that you are doing something bad (as long as you aren't hurting anyone or doing anything immoral of course, lol).

~ The Devil ~

I think everyone is aware that Satan's most well-known title that he goes by is "The Devil". Personally, I don't like to refer to Satan using this title because the word originates from the Ancient Greek word 'diabolos', meaning 'slanderer'. This implies that Satan is a liar and deceiver, which I don't personally believe. In my experience, he has always been a bringer of wisdom and truth.

Satan is said to be the "father of lies" and that he "leads the whole world astray", but I still have yet to see any evidence of him lying or leading anyone astray. The Christian Bible says that he lies, but doesn't show how he is a liar; At least not to my knowledge anyways. However, the God depicted in the Christian Bible seems to have lied about how the fruit on the Tree Of Knowledge would kill Adam and Eve... Because it didn't. It enlightened them and opened their eyes. It helped them to see the truth.

I can't really find any bible verses that suggest Satan actually lies; Only verses accusing him of being a liar. I did, however, find evidence that God lies in the Christian Bible. (Please note that this isn't me trying to be anti-Christian or anything, I'm just trying to make the point that there isn't really any evidence that Satan is deceptive in the Christian Bible. This is mainly to point out the hypocrisy of conservative/extremist forms of Christianity.) Here is an interesting verse that I found which may prove my point that God is deceptive and does in fact lie:

+. Jeremiah 4:10 .+ ❧ Then I said, "Alas, sovereign LORD! How completely you have deceived these people and Jerusalem by saying 'You will have peace', when the sword is at our throats!"

Just something to thing about lol.

~ The Dragon ~

It is when Satan is introduced as The Dragon that the idea of him falling to the Earth (presumably from Heaven) is addressed in Christianity for the first time. In the Christian Bible, Satan is described as taking the form of a giant seven-headed red dragon, donning ten horns as well as seven crowns, one atop each head. It is described that Satan is "hurled down" to the Earth, as well as his angels that serve him.

+. Quotes From Revelation 12 .+ ❧ Then another sign appeared in Heaven; An enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the Earth. ❧ Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in Heaven. ❧ The great dragon was hurled down - That ancient serpent called The Devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the Earth, and his angels with him.

+. Luke 10:18 .+ ❧ He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven".

I personally don't really believe in angels or the Christian God, therefore I don't believe in fallen angels and I don't really buy into the divine simply being split up into "good vs evil". Instead, I believe in metaphorical fallen angels; Deities and spirits that were bastardised by Christian extremism and painted as evil, simply because they were anything other than the Christian God (e.g. Baal and Ashtoreth starting out as Canaanite deities and being demonised into the Goetian daemons that are Bael and Astaroth).

I think the whole thing of Satan being "hurled down" was most likely just a metaphor to symbolise his apparent defeat and that he had no place in Heaven, according to the Christian God.

~ The Morning Star ~

I think this is mainly where the whole idea of fallen angels came from, when Satan was conflated with The Morning Star, better known by the name of Lucifer. Funnily enough, Lucifer is never actually addressed by name in the Christian Bible; At least not that I could find. Rather, he is addressed as "morning star" and "son of the morning".

+. Isaiah 14 .+ ❧ How you have fallen from Heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the Earth, you who once laid low the nations! ❧ You said in your heart, "I will ascend to the Heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the upmost heights of Mount Zaphon. ❧ I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." ❧ But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.

+. 2 Peter 1:19 .+ ❧ We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

These verses seem to paint Lucifer as some sort of fallen angel that was jealous of God and wanted to rise above him. However, what some may not know is that Lucifer didn't even start off as an angel at all. The name "Lucifer" is Latin for light-bearer. The Greek word for this term is "Phosphorus", which is also the name of a Greco-Roman deity!

Phosphorus was the personification of the planet Venus, which appeared as the brightest "star" in the sky at dawn, hence the term "morning star". Phosphorus was the son of Aurora, the Roman goddess of the dawn, hence the term "son of the morning". So technically speaking, Lucifer and Satan may not even be the same entity. At least, not historically. The concept of Satan originated in Judaism, whereas Lucifer seems to have spawned from the bastardisation of a niche Roman god.

However, when it comes to Luciferianism, Lucifer is seen as a guide/teacher, liberator, guardian, beacon of enlightenment/ wisdom/ truth, and even sometimes the "true god" as apposed to the Christian God. I personally differentiate Lucifer from Satan to an extent in my beliefs, but more on that a little later!

IMPORTANT EDIT: A good friend of mine has since informed me that the aforementioned bible verses weren't referring to the Roman god Phosphorus. I was incorrect about this. The term Lucifer was actually a title applied to the King that ruled over Babylon at the time, most likely Nebuchadnezzar (II) the Great. The King of Babylon was compared to the planet Venus because of his power and influence in the world. He was "cast down to the earth" because of his wickedness. In this context, "Lucifer" was a physical human being; Not an angel, nor a god.

It was only until Christianity that these verses were misinterpreted (probably because of mistranslation issues, though I'm not entirely sure) and the story of the King of Babylon was twisted into the tale of an alleged angel that got his arse kicked out of Heaven for "disobeying God" or whatever lol.

You can read more about the backstory in this PDF I found that goes further into detail here.

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+: In Islam :+

The concept of Satan is also found in the Qur'an under the names of Iblis or Eblis, also known as Ash-Shaytan or Al-Shaytan. He was a djinn and the "leader of the devils" in Islam. On some accounts, Iblis actually started off as a high-ranking angel and went by the name of Azazil (not to be confused with Azazel). Iblis was assigned the role by God of eradicating disobedient and destructive inhabitants of Earth, so that they could be replaced with humans who were more obedient. But when Azazil refused to create a successor, he was punished by being cast down to Earth by God, where he then became a shaytan.

In another account, God created Iblis from the fires beneath the seventh Earth. Iblis worshipped God for thousands of years, and eventually, he ascended to the surface and continued to rise in rank until he accompanied angels in the seventh heaven.

God then created Adam from the essence of clay and breathed life and a soul into him, and ordered the angels to bow down to Adam. But Iblis refused to bow down; Being a jinn born of the essence of fire, he felt superior to Adam and refused to bow down to someone he considered to be below him. His disobedience to God and efforts to prove humans unworthy led to him being cast out of Heaven, where he earned the position of an eternal enemy of humankind.

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So with all of that said, I would now like to talk about my UPG of Satan and my personal spiritual beliefs surrounding him! :)

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+: GIF Credit :+

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༺・ What Does Satan Mean To Me? ・༻

My personal experience of Satan is that he's a very complex figure made up of many different bits and pieces from other spirits and deities. But mainly, I view Satan as being a triune godhead made up of three different beings/aspects; Lucifer, Sathanus, and Baphomet. It's kind of similar to the "Holy Trinity" in Christianity. He's a diagram I made of the "Satanic Trinity" lol.

In my UPG, I see Lucifer, Sathanus, and Baphomet as their own distinct entities, but I also see them as all being aspects of Satan as well. Think of them as being like a hydra dragon; Three distinct heads that all connect back to the same body. I also believe that other daemons can hold this title as well (Azazel, Belzebuth, Mephistopheles, and possibly many more) but I also see the term 'Satan' as just that; a title.

My best friend @sortiarus-de--naturas--daemonum has a really cool UPG regarding Satan as a title. She believes that Satan can be anyone or anything, and that it can also be a title for people who appose Christian (extremist) values. I actually really love this lol and agree with it quite a lot. ^.^

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In regards to the Satanic Trinity, the number (3) is said to historically be a sacred and magical number, revered across many different cultures and religions.

❧ In Celtic Paganism, the Earth was said to be made up of three realms/parts; Land, Sea, and Sky. ❧ In Alchemy, there were Three Primes (tria prima) that corresponded with the three aspects of human nature; Salt (body), Mercury (mind), and Sulfur (spirit). ❧ In Greco-Roman religion and Neo-Pagan religions such as Wicca, the triple goddess was a triune godhead usually made up of three different goddesses (e.g. Artemis-Selene-Hecate) and was usually also associated with the waxing, full, and waning phases of the Moon.

I view Satan in a very similar way to this. I see Sathanus and Lucifer as being almost like polar opposites, with Baphomet being in the middle of both of them.

❧ If Lucifer is Above and Sathanus is Below, then Baphomet is the middling Within and All Around. ❧ If Lucifer is the Sky (Upperworld) and Sathanus is the Land (Middleworld), then Baphomet is the Sea (Underworld) that meets and connects the two. ❧ If Lucifer is the Radiance of light and Sathanus is the Shadow of darkness, then Baphomet is the grey Quintessence in between. ❧ If Lucifer is the Sun above and Sathanus is the Earth below, then Baphomet is the Moon that middles between the two. ❧ If Lucifer is the Waxing Moon and Sathanus is the Waning Moon, then Baphomet is the Full Moon that connects the two moon phases together.

These are the correspondences I personally associate with Satan. I also have my own UPG about how Satan came to be.

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༺・ So... Who Is Satan Then? ・༻

I believe that Satan came to be through many different deities, spirits, influences, and Christian extremist paranoia throughout history. To an extent, I believe Satan to be a spirit shard of sorts. What's a spirit shard, you ask? Allow me to explain...

+: Spirit Shards :+

❧ A spirit shard is when a piece of a deity or deities breaks off and develops into its own entity that stands alone from its fountainhead deity. This is usually the result of vilifying and demonisation of gods from other religions and belief systems, primarily done by Christian extremists.

A good example of this would be the formerly mentioned Bael and Astaroth; I believe they are both spirit shards of Baal and Ashtoreth that came about because of demonisation by Christian extremists, and eventually those demonisations broke off from the fountainhead deities and became distinct daemons.

I also believe that there was some egregoric influence that aided in the creation of Satan as well. Thus, I feel that he could partly be an egregoric entity too.

+: Egregoric Entities :+

❧ An egregoric entity is a spirit, deity, or other type of entity that arises into existence from the collective thoughts, influences, and energy input of a distinct group of people.

Lord/Lady Baphomet themselves are a perfect example of an egregoric deity that arose from the collective belief in them being falsely conflated with "The Devil" by Christians. But more on their origins a little later. :)

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With all of that said, here is my take on how the three main aspects of Satan that are Lucifer, Sathanus, and Baphomet came to be! Please note that this is just my UPG and isn't meant to be presented as an absolute truth or fact; These are just my personal beliefs.

Note: In my practice, I believe in eight elements rather than just five. I believe in Fire, Air, Water, and Earth. I also believe in Spirit, but I split it into three aspects; Spirit Above (Radiance), Spirit Below (Shadow), and Spirit Within (Quintessence). Finally, I also believe in Void as an eighth element, which is represented by The Self, as you are the ultimate creator of your own personal practice. :)

∙---+ 🜍.~ Lucifer ~.🜍 +---∙

As previously mentioned, Lucifer seems to have originated from the Roman god Phosphorus, a personification of the planet Venus that appears as the brightest "star" in the sky at dawn, called the "morning star". Phosphorus also had a brother named Hesperus, who was basically the same but instead appeared at dusk instead of dawn, and was known as the "evening star". In some accounts, the two gods were later combined into one singular deity.

For whatever reason, this niche Roman god was then dragged into the Christian Bible with the coming of Christianity, thus demonising them and leading to an initial split of Lucifer as a spirit shard from Phosphorus/Hesperus.

Interpretations then spread of Lucifer apparently being some sort of "fallen angel" that was cast out of Heaven for wanting to "rise above God" out of jealousy and pride. They were then conflated with being an evil demon, possibly originating from the benevolent daimon/daemon that was initially a type of guiding spirit that provided wisdom and knowledge, and not actually having anything to do with being evil at all.

Lucifer then started being conflated with The Devil, The Serpent, The Dragon, and the entire concept of Satan in general, thus leading to Lucifer earning their place in the Satanic Trinity.

❧ Lucifer represents higher consciousness, wisdom, enlightenment, knowledge, spiritual liberation and freedom, a guiding light in the dark, expressing/embracing your true self, confidence, standing up for yourself, self-love, rebellion, and always striving to be the best version of yourself.

+: Other Correspondences :+ - Animals: ravens/crows, hawks, swans, tree snakes, doves - Colours: icy blue, sunshine yellow, snowy white, sandstone orange, rich golds/silvers/bronze - Element: Air & Radiance (Spirit Above) - Incense/Scents: sandalwood, lavender, juniper, amber, lily - Metal: Copper & Gold - Planet: Venus & Sol (The Sun)

∙---+ 🜔.~ Sathanus ~.🜔 +---∙

In my UPG, Sathanus is a complex daemon and deity that came into being via multiple sources. I believe that the concept of him spawned in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; However, he later broke off into a spirit shard and egregoric deity, and further developed into his own entity over time.

As Christianity spread and extremist paranoia began to mount throughout the years, more and more deities were demonised and vilified in comparison to the Christian God. Deities such as the Greek Pan, the Celtic Cernunnos, and the Canaanite Moloch were all conflated with "The Devil" and falsely assumed to be demons. Overtime, attributes and pieces of these gods and many other vilified horned deities began to feed into the concept of Satan; And in an egregoric fashion, Sathanus evolved into a daemon and deity of his own.

He even has entries in several demonology grimoires that were written within the past few hundred years (e.g. Livre Des Esperitz and Liber Officiorum Spirituum).

Sathanus is primarily The Serpent, The Devil, and The Dragon. In the Garden Of Eden, he showed Eve that she wasn't bound to follow the rules of God if she didn't want to. He gave her the fruit of the Tree Of Knowledge to open her eyes and show Eve that she had freewill and could be the god of her own life. At least, that's my interpretation of it anyway lol.

Some rumours suggest that The Devil appeared at Witches' Esbats as a "great black goat with a candle between its horns". In this account, he was referred to as "The Witches' Devil".

❧ Sathanus represents worldly pleasures, power through knowledge, self-leadership, ecstasy, strength, confidence, insurgence, finding/embracing the beauty in darkness, finding hidden wisdom, nature, deliverance from limitations, courage, hedonism, and liberation through "sin" and freewill.

+: Other Correspondences :+ - Animals: dragons, snakes, goats, bats, spiders - Colours: blood red, jet black, electric blue, rich golds, rosewood / dark strawberry pink - Element: Fire, Earth, & Shadow (Spirit Below) - Incense/Scents: dragon's blood, rose, cinnamon, black opium, sandalwood - Metal: Lead & Titanium - Planet: Saturn & Terra (The Earth)

∙---+ ☿.~ Baphomet ~.☿ +---∙

A lot of people don't actually believe in Baphomet as an existing daemon or deity, but rather simply as a symbol representing universal balance; However, from my personal experiences, they definitely are a very real entity. But how did they even come into being? Let's have a look at the history of Baphomet, and how they came to be associated with Satan later on.

Baphomet was said to have been a Pagan deity or idol that was allegedly worshipped by the Knights Templar. The name Baphomet first appeared in trial transcripts for the Inquisition of the Knights Templar starting in 1307. However, there doesn't seem to be any evidence that Baphomet was worshipped by the Knights Templar. Furthermore, it has been stated that the name Baphomet was actually a bastardisation of the name Muhammad, the founder of Islam.

It wasn't until the 19th century that the well-known illustration of the "Sabbatic Goat" was drawn by Éliphas Lévi. It was comprised of a number of binary elements in order to symbolise the "equilibrium of opposites"; Half-human and half-animal, male and female, good and evil, light and darkness, above and below, mercy and justice, etc. Lévi's goal was to symbolise his own idea and concept of balance, with Baphomet being an ultimate symbol and personification of "The Absolute".

But what many may not know about Baphomet, is that Éliphas actually drew inspiration from two distinct existing deities to create his Baphomet illustration; The Greek Pan and the Egyptian Banebdjedet. Lévi equates his image with a god that went by the title of "The Goat Of Mendes" (Mendes is the Greek name for the ancient Egyptian city of Djedet). On some accounts, it is said that Pan is The Goat Of Mendes, but it is much more likely that this title referred to Banebdjedet instead, who was mistaken to have been goat-headed instead of sheep-headed.

The chief deities of the city of Mendes were the ram deity Banebdjedet (meaning "Ba of the Lord of Djedet"), who was said to be the Ba of Osiris, as well as his consort Hatmehit, the fish goddess. In my UPG, Baphomet was partially conceived through these two deities, as well as through Éliphas Lévi's illustration.

❧ Baphomet represents ultimate balance, equity, unity of the universe and all its elements, cosmic order, the cycles of life/death/rebirth, queerness, beauty, duality, love and peace, creation, liberating knowledge, embracing/becoming your true and best self, creativity, wisdom, manifestation, and nature itself.

+: Other Correspondences :+ - Animals: sheep, goats, rams, cats, sea snakes - Colours: amethyst purple, sapphire blue, stormy grey, charcoal black, oceany blue-green - Element: Water & Quintessence (Spirit Within) - Incense/Scents: oud, patchouli, sandal rose (sandalwood and rose), frankincense, myrrh - Metal: Mercury & Silver - Planet: Mercury & Luna (The Moon)

+: Divider Border Credit :+

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Please keep in mind that all of the correspondences and associations listed here are brief summaries of my UPG regarding these three deities/daemons. I will be making additional posts going into further detail regarding Satan as a triune godhead, hopefully in the near future! I'm not sure when the posts will be out though lol.

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Welp, that's pretty much it for this post! Holy shit this took me so long to write. 😭 I hope this has helped you learn more about Satan origins, and Satan as a concept as well as an entity!

I wish you well on your spiritual path. :)

༺⋆✦. Ave Satanas .✦⋆༻

-Korv

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storyswept · 7 months

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Finished The Running Grave the other day. Spoilers for the whole series below the cut.

Robin's last chapters undercover had me on the edge of my seat, I was so stressed for her.

Once again didn't realise whodunnit until Strike laid out the facts. I was in the “Daiyu is still alive” camp. After we learned that Mazu originally claimed that Alexander Graves was Daiyu's father, I thought the title of the book was a clue to her still being alive but… nope XD

Then again, the only character we met that could have been her was Becca, but she didn't quite fit the bill, did she? As Abigail said, “’Er sister an’ bruvver would’ve known she wasn’ Becca! ’Er muvver would’ve known! (...)” And it didn't explain the role of the hatchet or the burned rope.

One thing I wasn't surprised by was Charlotte's suicide, though I expected it to happen later on in the book.

Some background: after the first sample came out, I'd found out through some research that Dream of the Red Chamber (or The Story of the Stone), a novel in which one of the main protagonists is called Daiyu, had been adapted in a English-language opera in 2016. One of the changes in the opera version was that Daiyu kills herself by drowning into a lake after the man she loves marries someone else. In the novel, Daiyu succumbs to chronic illness before the marriage takes place.

Considering Tannhäuser turned out to parallel Strike's love life in The Ink Black Heart pretty closely (for an in-depth explanation, see this series of posts on The Strike & Ellacott Files Blog), I did wonder if Daiyu's suicide in the opera and/or other plot points of Dream of the Red Chamber would play a role in The Running Grave. A synopsis of the opera is available here.

Of all recurring Strike characters, Charlotte seemed the most likely to commit suicide. She has attempted it in the past. Plus, some aspects of her character seemed similar to Dream of the Red Chamber's Lin Daiyu:

[Daiyu] is an icon of spirituality and intelligence: beautiful, sentimental, sarcastic, self-assured, an accomplished poet, but subject to fits of jealousy. - Dream of the Red Chamber, Wikipedia

I couldn't see (or didn't want to see :P) a Strike/Robin marriage being followed by him becoming a monk though.

Hindsight is 20/20, as they say. In the end, here's how The Running Grave parallels the opera adaptation of Dream of the Red Chamber:

In both stories, Daiyu only drowns in the retelling (the opera / the story what was spread by the UHC).

Daiyu and Charlotte are tragic characters, who both had been “unwell for a long time” (to quote Strike).

Daiyu / Charlotte kills herself because she can't handle the love of her life being with someone else. However, Charlotte doesn't drown, though she dies in a bath. Robin is the one who almost drowns.

Baoyu turns to religion after Daiyu's death / Strike visits a religious building (a church) after Charlotte's death.

After Robin escapes the cult, the story takes a very different turn, concluding with Strike's sort of confession. At first I was worried that Murphy was going to propose to Robin (since Daiyu's murder at Abigail's hands was clearly supposed to mirror the siblicide of The Cuckoo's Calling), but this was much better.

Who knows what awaits our heroes in Book 8 though… Hopefully not more (un)intended consequences of Strike's fling with Bijou. She said it wasn't his but she could be lying (or, more likely, have no idea who the father is).

P.S. Special mention to Pat who, along with her husband Dennis, was amazing in this book.

#the running grave #cormoran strike #robin ellacott #charlotte campbell #pat chauncey #dream of the red chamber #just read #spoliers

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god-usopps-preacher · 4 months

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Thank you for the honesty of the 5% on the cat pole, you've been spared with a read more 🙏🏼

Now for the other 95%, here's my AU on One Piece where half the characters are cats.

My favourite hobby over the last 2 years has been making AU's for stories I like where the characters are cats either in a Modern world cat cafe or their own world, and with my One Piece phase coming back into full swing let me tell you I am having a blast making this cat version of One Piece.

And an additional rule for this AU, if something here doesn't seem logical for cats to do just don't think about it too much. It's like how Zoro can be human but lift 10x his weight, just don't think about it and have fun.

Here are the main story points and history so far:

- The Strawcat Pirates are a group of cats that live and travel on a pirate ship belonging to Captain Merry. In this AU, Merry is a human and the Captain of a pirate crew, and each of her crewmates is a personified version of a different part of the og ship.

- Cats in this world were worshipped immensely and even seen as Gods in old times in this world (like real life tbh), and at some point around the time of the WG coming into power these beliefs died down.

- Gol D.Roger is a big cat, who was the 'pet' of the most wealthy, famed and powerful pirate crew of the time. To set an example and to lure out the crew members by using him as bait, they set up a public execution for him (unknown to them, this big cat was actually the captain of that crew).

- Haki in this world also sometimes has the ability to allow cats to communicate with humans in various ways. Mostly in a telepathic sense. Gol D. Roger had this ability, and in his final speech he used it to make sure the people could hear his last words alongside the cats. Believing a devil fruit was being used, the marines were ordered to go forth with the execution instead of keeping the animal as bait, since keeping him alive was becoming dangerous.

- The cats that gathered by the execution stand where the first to race away en masse, understanding Rogers final words immediately. The people didn't move at first, unsure where what they heard came from and if they really heard it. After the first few people started dashing to the ships upon realisation and not risking losing this chance to being skeptical, the rest of the crowd followed and the golden age of piracy began.

- Because of the incident at Logue Town, and based on some old history in this world, a lot of pirates believe that cats are the key to finding where the One Piece is buried. So, a lot of pirates searching for the great treasure will have a few determined cats on board in order to aid their search. Some pirates believe any cat will do, but the pirates that do the best know it takes a determined cat with a great passion for Adventure.

- While a lot of pirates are sailing in search of the One Piece, it's mostly cats that make up the most determined of the searchers. So finding a few cats for your ship isn't as hard, but it can be tricky to convince them to join since its the cat that chooses the ship/crew that it wants to aid them in their own journey.

- The Pirate cats and Pirate people are co-dependant on eachother. The cats wanting to sail as pirates to find the One Piece/accomplish their dreams but being unable to do a lot of ship maintenance and sailing because of their cat bodies, the people wanting to find the One Piece/explore the grandline but needing the luck and mysterious qualities that Cats uniquely have in this world to aid them on their journey.

So that's the history. Not every character in this AU will be a cat either. Most main characters will be cats and all of the strawhats will be cats, but I'm mainly deciding the species based on:

1) What I think would fit with the new changes for this version of One Piece

2) What I find funny

I'm gonna make a post each on the arcs and how they go in the catverse, so far the next post is gonna be on the Romance Dawn trio so it'll be about them from the start up until just before Syrup village. Let's see how many arcs I can get through.

#One Piece: Cat verse #one piece #cats #monkey d. luffy #roronoa zoro #nami #usopp #sanji #nico Robin #Chopper #Franky #Brook #jinbe #koby #strawhat pirates #strawhats

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lucy-and-rebecca · 1 year

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Why I think it's high time Natsu and Lucy got together

One of the first post I made on this blog was two years ago when NaLu made it into tumblr's top 100 ships that year. I made another post last year when they made the list. Now after another year I'm making this post because they didn't make it into the list this year.

Now I understand that whether a ship makes it into the top 100 on a platform like Tumblr says absolutely nothing about the ship, but it does say something about the fandom around that ship. When NaLu did make it into the list it felt good, not because it meant the ship was somewhat popular but rather it meant the fandom was active. It meant people still cared.

And I understand that there are still a lot of talented people making art or doing analysis or just sharing their thoughts on NaLu but there is very little to talk about. The fandom is tired and frustrated, rightfully so. NaLu not making it into the top 100 is a reflection of that.

Seeing that list come out made me realise that it has been two years since I because active in the fandom, which was around the time I started reading 100 years quest. Two years.... of absolutely nothing.

Let me make one thing clear, I don't doubt Natsu and Lucy will end up together. You have to misunderstand so much of fairy tail to think they might not end up together. I'm not worried about if it will happen, I'm worried about when and how.

100 years quest has given NaLu fans scraps. It has given us one or two good moments and a few panels of Lucy saying Natsu's name with a worried expression on her face and a sea full of fanservice and absolute nonsense. Now I love slow burn, I really do but NaLu is something beyond that.

Male dominated fandom spaces like the fandom for a shonen manga have a tendency to look down on romance and shipping. Shipping is seen as something awful and sheer act of shipping two characters together means taking something vital away from those characters and reducing then to nothing. If you have been in shipping fandoms for a while I'm sure you would have come across posts or comments like these.

But the simple truth is, romance is part of fairy tail. It Always has been. It is part of the story and it is part of the characters' lives. Even though Gruvia also deserves more screen time I absolutely love the incredible positive influence Grey and Juvia had on each other. Seeing Grey slowly turn into someone who can be open about his feelings for Juvia felt great to wach. Gruvia fans have also written some of the best analysis of the characters in fairy tail that I've ever read. Romance has been unarguably vital part of both of these characters and both of them would be worse version of themselves without it.

Gruvia scenes also make a bit jealous. Because that's what NaLu is missing. Natsu as a character doesn't change that much. We learn more things about him but he rarely grows as a person. Whatever growth he had in the series is tied to Lucy. Natsu's effect on Lucy is a lot more clear but I think that's because it's easier to notice Lucy becoming more agressive than Natsu controlling himself.

The lack of romance has been detrimental to both Natsu and Lucy as a character. Romance and romantic relationship are part of most people's life and neither of them had the opportunity to properly experience that. They are the main characters of the series and for them to truly grow as characters they need to make progress in their relationship.

Romantic relationships takes time and effort and having the main protagonist go through all of that as they are on the 100 years quest can make for a really compelling narrative. But we aren't getting that because NaLu is reserved for last. I'm afraid they will get together in the final chapter and live "happily ever after" but there is no such thing as a happily ever after. Two people officially getting together is not the end of the relationship. Figuring out how to make a proper romantic relationship work will also help them grow as people. If they got together in the last chapter we will miss out on that.

If Natsu and Lucy only get together in the last chapter, their stories, their growth will feel incomplete. A romantic relationship will be good for them and it needs to happen as soon as possible.

#fairy tail #nalu #lucy heartfilia #natsu dragneel #ft #fairy tail 100 yq #fairy tail 100 years quest #hiro mashima

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do-you-know-this-play · 5 months

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Troy Story - essentially a kids version of the iliad. i'm submitting it because of all 7 primary school plays i was forced to be in, this was the only one i enjoyed. i dont really know when a play becomes a musical, so sorry if this one isnt applicable - i'm sure this had a few songs in it, because at one point the teachers realised that the only person in our year who could sing was playing a character who was a) dead and b) on stage for the main solo, so their solution was to cover him in a sheet and have him sing lying on the floor, while another boy essentially lip-synced (fooling absolutely nobody).

other fun memories of this production include: -our teacher changing the word "backside" to "outside" because she thought it was rude -all of us singing the verses the wrong way round in one of the songs (so instead of "we're leaving troy - we're sailing on the sea - we've arrived home!" it became "we're leaving troy - we've arrived home! - we're sailing on the sea") -me (greek hero 4) hitting a boy i didn't like (trojan 2) so hard that my cardboard sword broke. -drama in my friendship group because friend #1 was initially going to play aphrodite but during the rehearsals our teacher (who was frankly a prick) kept yelling at her for messing up words and eventually replaced her with friend #2 which nobody was happy about -re: the above point, i got pissy with a boy playing one of the gods at the start, because he consistently pronounced caterwauling as cartwheeling yet the teacher never once got angry with him. -achilles and hector forgot their elaborate fight routine and ended up running around in circles -sneaking friend#1 into the greek hero group after she'd been unofficially cast out of the production - essentially 60 kids is too many characters for a play, so there'd be mass ensemble roles, this time "greek heroes" and "trojan soldiers" made up of shy kids or kids the teachers simply forgot about. they forgot about us so hard they didnt notice when greek hero 9 appeared out of nowhere. -incidentally this was the first speaking role i'd ever had, having been part of mass ensembles for every previous play. four days before the production i was asked if i would be okay with someone else saying my line instead, and in response i said "alright miss" and immediately burst into tears. they let me keep it lol.

(this got... way longer than i intended. i haven't thought about this production in years lmao this has resurfaced old memories. your bio says you love hearing stories and um. this is a story i guess?? anyway yeah love this blog thank you for running it)

this is. fucking hilarious. i love this.

i want to post this so bad but unfortunately it is a msuical so not fit for this blog. thank you SO much for this story though i will cherish it forever

#not a poll #asks

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picathartidae · 3 months

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random OC ask: does your OC have any significant relationships that have defined them, for better or for worse? what do those relationship(s) look like, and have they changed over the course of your OC’s story?

oooooo! Love this question! My answer will involve heavy spoilers, though. Probably also going to be a long one, too.

Pre-amnesia;

The most important people in Alassane's early life was his foster family, which I made a whole thing, and it's all very tied up in his name and his sense of identity. Essentially, this couple that took him in gave him a version of a traditional family name, as a way of showing him that he was their son, in every way that mattered, and he always would be, even after they had a biological child of their own. This meant literally everything to young innocent baby child Alassane, who was always a little traumatised by the fact that he had been abandoned by his "real" family. Consequently, the name "Alassane Erendse" is deeply, deeply important to him. It's so important to him that he still clings to it long after his foster family met their bloody end. He even keeps using it after the events of the game, despite it having come to represent the monstrous past that he's desperately trying to escape from.

Their death was the one thing that Alassane ever truly regretted in the depths of his Dark Urge murder fun time era, and continued to haunt him for the rest of his life.

The other important relationship in his life prior to losing his memories is of course Bhaal. The fact that he was just abandoned on the streets as an infant haunted Alassane for his entire childhood, sowing the seeds of a deep unspoken insecurity and desire to please. Alassane was obsessed with the idea of earning Father's affection and being the favourite, making it so he wouldn't be abandoned again.

Bhaal turned Alassane into a monster that was so utterly beyond redemption it was almost comical, and made it absolutely clear that Father Dearest was the only one who would ever love him. Eventually, it got to the point where Bhaal didn't have to do anything, because Alassane simply sabotaged his own budding relationships in order to appease Him.

This relationship obviously changed drastically, as Alassane was abruptly removed from the situation, and lost all memory of it. When faced with his past, he realised just how insanely abusive this dynamic was, told his dad to shove it, and was promptly spectacularly disowned for his insolence.

Post-amnesia;

Unsurprisingly, his most important relationships after the memory loss is our usual main cast of colourful characters. However, the three main stand-outs are Astarion, Karlach, and Jaheira.

Astarion;

They're both terrible people who somehow, against all odds, manage to actually bring out the best in each other. Ultimately it's through their relationship that either of them actually succeed in becoming better people by the end. They have a similar journey of self-acceptance and healing from trauma and having to figure out who they are. They repeatedly butt heads and argue maybe more than they should, but it's because they actually matter to each other.

Their relationship changed quite a lot over the course of the game. It started out as somewhat cold, vague mutual dislike. Then Astarion figured the emotionally fragile amnesiac who's convinced he's losing his mind was probably the best and easiest person to manipulate, and Alassane completely fell for it because, you know, he's an emotionally fragile amnesiac who's convinced he's losing his mind. Then, whoops, feelings happened. Alassane realised that he cared about Astarion during the kill your love interest scene in Act II, surprising himself with just how ardently he fought against it. Astarion also immediately had a crisis after this, as he realised that he did actually care about Alassane, and genuinely was more worried about him and his well being rather than his own. Things got awkward, and they decided to try being in a real relationship maybe.

They're extremely messy in Act III. Both have feelings while being allergic to having feelings and they both lash out a bit. Somehow they work it out. They're still together six months later and they seem happy.

Karlach;

Basically Alassane's best friend, and arguably the person he trusts the most out of everyone.

They quickly bond in Act I, and grow to be very close in Act II, as Alassane accepts Karlach’s preference to die in the Material Plane rather than return to Avernus.

By the time Act III rolls around, they're basically inseparable, but then Karlach reacts extremely badly to the idea that Alassane and Gortash actually were close friends, and the revelation that Alassane had been the original mastermind behind the entire Cult of the Absolute. I like the idea of them having a harder falling out than the others at this point, so they have to struggle to rebuild their friendship from before. Alassane finds this absolutely devastating, as he had no idea of his part in the overarching evil plan, or his previous friendship with Gortash. They manage to make up, obviously. I don’t think Karlach was ever actually mad at Alassane (not as she knows him, anyway), but more the situation, and Gortash. She’s also grieving her own life.

In the end, when they're faced with the fact that one of them has to become a mind flayer after they've freed Orpheus, Alassane completely breaks down, realising that he's the one who should pay the price, and needs to face the consequences of his actions. Karlach stops him and becomes a mind flayer herself, and that utterly destroys Alassane, knowing that her soul is gone and "Karlach" is effectively dead.

I just really enjoy the devastating emotional gut-punch.

Jaheira;

Initially tense, but they come to like each other over the course of Act II, and develop a very amicable relationship by Act III. Jaheira is the self-appointed parent of the group, and semi-adopts Alassane in particular.

Jaheira puts together Alassane’s true nature as a Bhaalspawn at some point in Act II. She’s incredibly wary, but warms up to him and sort of becomes something of a mentor to him through his prolonged mental breakdown about it.

Alassane is very comfortable with her, and feels safe enough that he allows more of his original personality to surface. I think Jaheira is the reason Alassane has his moment of understanding that the problem is not in who he is. As such, Alassane is comfortable needling and pushing back against Jaheira. Alassane appreciates the almost sort of maternal affection, though tends to play up the annoyed teenager act, pretending to hate her calling him ‘cub’ when he secretly kind of loves it.

I'm just in love with Jaheira's dynamic with Dark Urge. It's neat!

Hoo boy that was an essay! I hope you enjoyed my nonsense!

#character asks #oc: alassane erendse

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fateinthestars · 6 months

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Right bear with me, it's 'A Promise of Infinity' time.

I'm gonna blank out whose is whose in the collage versions below and then reveal them from most blessed to most forbidden under the cut, with maybe some thoughts about the path. Spoiler warning, obviously.

There'll be comparisons to their Main Story result (My post on those is here), their Sequel Story result (My post on those is here), and their Musing On Love result (My post on those is here) where applicable.

This time I'm gonna go back to the way I tried to work rankings out in the sequel post and add these to them and see what the definitive list comes out like.

Plus a major thing I want to cover here is whether MC ended the route as Human or Goddess and whether I agree with it or not.

Right that's way too much rambling, let's get on with it. And by it, I mean way more rambling. 🤣

1. Aigonorus

Position in Main Story: Equal 8th with Karno

Position in Sequel Story: Equal 3rd with Partheno

MC at the end of route is: Human

Agree/Disagree: I think agree (with caveats)

I wonder whether any of you saw this coming? *squishes Aigo tightly like a marshmallow*

Aigo is just soo sweet.

Thinking about it there's two Infinity stories that deal with the idea of the death of MC but this one does it way way better than the other one. Probably because Aigonorus has grown so much.

It's nice that Huedhaut offered to help him prove that he would be alright after MC was gone but geez what a mess. And Hue seems so focussed on making sure it's not affecting MC negatively that Aigo's own suffering isn't fully realised until too late (though I can't fully blame him when Ai kept insisting to MC that it was just Heaven's Rift affecting him and not to bother the others).

I don't recall the becoming a Goddess thing ever coming up at all here but from Aigo's determination to prove to MC that he'd be alright I don't think he would have ever wanted to follow that path. A mention might not have gone amiss though.

Poor Aigo - sleep has actually become a necessity to him and now he can't because of a horrible nightmare. At least it all worked out in the end.

2. Ichthys

Position in Main Story: Equal 1st with Hue

Position in Sequel Story: Equal 7th with Leon, Teorus, and Scorpio

Position in Musings on Love Story: Equal 6th with Hue

MC at the end of route is: Goddess

Agree/Disagree: AGREE

That's more like it! This is more like what I recall my feelings of Ichthys' route being.

But this story my word my heart 😭

Ichthys knows how much her human life means. He enjoys sharing the Earth experience with her. Rather than tell her what is going on he tries to make memories for right now and have a really great time and as per usual ignore what is looming upon him.

He might have been able to pass through the rift without incident if he'd just rested like Zyglavis had told him to but as per usual he didn't want anyone else - least of all MC - to worry about him.

He couldn't even bring himself to even ask MC about becoming a Goddess until right at the last moment. He just isn't that selfish. He doesn't want her friends and family to forget about her.

But of course she does it for him. And finally, finally Ichthys' mortality is no longer a problem.

I'm a little frustrated at him at the very end for implying she was causing problems with her powers already but honestly? That ending is just so Ichthys *hugs him tightly*

(... Please tell me I wasn't the only one wondering whether Ikky was still alive at the end of Scorpio's route...)

=. Partheno

Position in Main Story: Equal 5th with Krioff and Teorus

Position in Sequel Story: Equal 3rd with Aigonorus

MC at the end of the route is: Goddess

Agree/Disagree: I think I agree but... more for the universe's sake than theirs.

So Partheno has gone from equal 5th, to equal 3rd, to equal 2nd? Well his main story may not be the clearest measurement when as I said in his section there I felt more like I was picking what I thought was the right thing to pick than my gut reactions... it wasn't the case with his later stuff.

I like how he hasn't fully realised his Godhood yet and that there is still an unease up in the heavens but that it's not coming from within the departments any more.

He's as perveted as always but he's also really sweet too and I think genuinely so at this point, and it's nice that his power realisation is what helps MC in the end.

MC becoming a Goddess in this route? I dunno... Partheno himself is pretty new to the Heavens and the Heavens are still unsettled. On the other hand when you look at it from a wider view point I can see why the King allowed it as long as he could understand family love. It's like the other Zodiac Gods were worrying - MC keeps him on the right path. She's what keeps him grounded. Who knows what could happen if she ever left him alone. So it kinda seems necessary in this one, much as Partheno himself might have been torn about her doing this.

Partheno would probably rank higher overall as a character for me if there were some slight tweaks to his Main Story. The demon thing I don't have a problem with, but by making him not only a demon but the Dark King's Son, and the one who was actually orchastrating everything in the second prologue events, and wanting to destroy the heavens...

I can't see how MC can really stay with him after that. Making him see he could fit in, that he could have people who care about him, sure, but...

Look. He was upset and alone in a destroyed under realm... he was placed and pretty much abandoned in the Heavens where everyone grew to distrust him and stay away from him.

I do still sympathise with him but I just wish at the very least his plan had been to destroy everything from the start - including the Dark King - rather than to decide to do that near the end on impulse. They put him a little too close to the action. Which is a shame because overall he has a very nice redemption arc and his Promise of Infinity is arguably one of the nicest ones.

=. Teorus

Position in Main Story: Equal 6th with Partheno

Position in Sequel Story: Equal 7th with Ichthys, Leon, and Scorpio

Position in Musings on Love Story: Equal 2nd with Scorpio

MC at the end of this route is: Human

Agree/Disagree: Disagree. Or at tne very least I disagree that it was never discussed.

If Aigo's is a mature look at dealing with death and remembering a passed on loved one, Teo's is the immature look at it. Neither reaction is wrong, it's just...

Look, King of the Heavens, you interfere in other routes, iirc you even offered it to MC in Ichthys' route as a way to make sure he would always be around and you definitely forced her to do it in Scorpio's route cos you wanted to use her to save the Earth, and don't get me started on Hue's route...

Yet here, Teo causes utter chaos by letting go of his grasp on time due to being in such a grieved state about the idea of death. He's clearly never thought about it before. The Earth's in chaos due to the day and night cycles being wrong, and it even messes with time in the heavens...

Why does no one suggest MC become a Goddess in this one? I'm not saying that doing so would have been the correct ending to this - perhaps Teorus needed to come to terms with the idea of death in order to grow as a person - but this was nearly an utter disaster.

And pretending that he's gonna wed his friend? Thinking about it he's lucky he didn't cause turmoil in MC and cause even more problems, considering the adverse affect her mood had on the weather in another route.

5. Tauxolouve

Position in Main Story: Equal 3rd with Zyglavis

Position in Sequel Story: Equal 11th with Krioff

MC at the end of this route is: Human

Agree/Disagree: Agree (with caveats)

Well Lou's back up a bit more to where I would expect (I'm seriously wondering whether I replayed a bit of his sequel and changed the meter a little).

I like how this one plays on his ability to see death, and how determined he is to change it even if it could mean losing himself along the way.

But... he mentions the change to the others (seems either at this point or at some point leading up to it he told the others about his extra power) yet no one suggests MC becoming a Goddess?

Like... I don't think it's the actual answer. As the King himself said, they make a good bridge betwen Heaven and Earth because of Lou being a Demigod. But I can't help but feel that it at least should have been mentioned.

Huedhaut's so sweet in this path. Lou originally doesn't tell him about the broach because it's a forbidden art, but Hue's clearly concerned about his friend.

He's also concerned about the idea of making sure that their love remwins strong enough though, cos he tried to warn MC off taking the other half.

Can you tell why I decided in my latest fic that Hue could also be a part of this relationship without contradicting anything in the storyline?

=. Karno

Position in Main Story: Equal 8th with Aigo and Leon

Position in Sequel Story: 2nd

MC at the end of this route is: Human

Agree/Disagree: Agree, and it's not like they had time to do anything else either!

Oh good grief. I see why quite a few people seem to ship Leon with Karno because sheeeeesh. Way to go way overboard.

Do you think if MC had actually forgotten when you erased part of her memory and got Teo to turn time back a bit that Karno would ever have forgiven you for this?

If you're simply worried about the fact MC's life is finite then tell him that instead of stubbonly acting as though you are as important as they are.

Karno would never agree to MC becoming a Goddess anyway. Especially after playing more sub stories and stuff, Karno's more likely to throw away his Godhood. He seems to actually prefer the Earth. Mind you I'm not that surprised when he has to deal with this kind of thing!

=. Krioff

Position in Main Story: Equal 5th with Partheno and Teo

Position in Sequel Story: Equal 11th with Tauxolouve

MC At the end of this route is: Human

Agree/Disagree: What does it matter? Krioff's Dad can just make her a Goddess later if they really wanted. But they do at least mention the other way - Krioff becoming human and MC wants him to remain the way he is.

I still don't have much to say about the silent but gentle Krioff. I think this is the one route where they didn't even need to mention Goddesses though. MC is likely still a little wary having actually experienced what people forgetting her would be like without even mentally preparing herself, and Krioff is still unsettled by some of the Heavens thinking of him as the God of destruction.

Focussing on his powers in this one rather than anything relationship wise probably made sense - they'd done enough of the former in his sequel. This just isn't the most interesting route.

I will say though, whilst there's not much to back it up anywhere else, I kinda don't mind that Krioff's route introduced a way to raise someome to Godhood other than the King doing it. Maybe there's the potential there for MC to become a Goddess later on in some routes.

8. Zyglavis

Position in Main Story: Equal 3rd with Tauxolouve

Position in Sequel Story: Equal 5th with Hue

Position in Musings On Love Story: Equal 4th with Leon

MC at the end of this is: Human

Agree/Disagree: I'm torn on this one.

Oh Zig. Zig, Zig, Zig. You burying your feelings for what you think is for the good of the balance really causes a mess here. If you had just talked properly (and MC trying to be considerate doesn't help matters much either) you could have avoided yet another trial.

Here's where I'm torn though. Zyglavis is very by the books but is also the one second most likely (after Hue) to do thorough research. Now we know Zig was the last to leave Earth and maybe he doesn't even feel it's his place to ask MC about leaving that behind and becoming a Goddess... but the idea isn't even thought about let alone mentioned at any point - not even in his His POV story.

Yes an Earth marriage was one way around it... though it clearly didn't fufill his desires enough.

That said, Zyglavis' thought process when it comes to MC seems to get a little muddled. He's still battling with himself rather and maybe he really did need this shove from his shadow to realise what he truly wanted.

Overall they probably would have stayed God and Human no matter what happened here, but I do worry with him being Minister of Punishments and the uproar that has already been caused in this path what will happen in the future*.

Still though, he was so crushed when even his loophole of getting married on Earth was getting pulled away from him. Give poor Zig some chocolate ganache.

*: Yes, I know, Hue, it's no more my job to predict the future than it was the courts. Thanks for having their backs. (And Zig? Divulge stuff to Hue more often. You're a good team).

=. Dui

Position in main story: 11th

Position in Sequel Story: 1st

Position in Musings on Love: 1st

MC at the end of this is: Human

Agree/Disagree: Agree. They didn't really have time to discuss anything else. And Dui was hardly going to ask her to abandon her Human life after the first attempt failed.

Yes, I clearly have trouble in the storylines that focus on Shadow Dui, but I think this was the right move here. The idea of him worrying that he's technically two different people to the extent tthat he nearly loses a part of himself entirely...

This just shows how much Shadow Dui cares about the both of them. For his more agressive side he's actually very sweet deep down.

The story might have been very focussed on Dui as a person as opposed to so much their relationship, but it was a nice change of pace for that to be the only focus now that he is more at peace with his friend's death.

10. Scorpio

Position in Main Story: 12th (Forbidden)

Position in Sequel Story: Equal 7th with Ichthys, Leon, and Teorus

Position in Musings on Love: Equal 2nd with Teorus

MC at the end of this route is: A Goddess

Agree/Disagree: Agree but it's not like they had much choice!

The King reaaalllly hates her being wih Scorpio doesn't he? I kinda get the impression he's not happy with Huedhaut linking back up with her either when it was him that caused MCs existence, but here it's more like he's angry that Scorpio has changed. The King is as bad as Leon was in Karno's route, just in a different way.

Fancy implying he'd allow their marriage if she was a Goddess but telljng Scorpio in no uncertain terms what he thought of the idea. Now they're both troubled for different reasons and it's tearing them apart.

It's not just them though. I get why the King did it this way to make sure they had a way to save the Earth without anyone getting into any arguing before it was way too late to come up with a different plan but... my heart... Hue's reaction when he wonders whether it might kill her again 😭

Overall I don't think I'd change anything about Scorpio's Infinity story, it's so intense and action packed. It might actually be one of my favourites.

I wouldn't have minded a little addedum at the end though when MC finally wakes up millenia later. Maybe it's just me but I wanna know how the other Gods are doing.

*MC surrounded by flowers and a relieved Scorpio as she comes round and they have a wonderful emotional reunion.*

My Brain *whispering*: ... but millenia has passed. Did they solve Ichthys mortality in this route?

=. Leon

Position in Main Story: Equal 8th with Aigo and Karno

Position in Sequel Story: Equal 7th with Ichthys, Teorus, and Scorpio

Musings on Love: Equal 4th with Zyglavis

MC at the end of this is: human no that's not quite right a goddess no that's definitely not right. She's immortal but still very much a human.

Agree/Disagree: Look Leon's just taken the rulebook and ripped it to pieces! There's no agree or disagree here! She still has everything she had before but now she'll never leave him. It's the best of both worlds. But then, as Leon's the King by the end of his route, maybe both worlds are going to change a lot anyway. There's a reason the rift picked him.

Talk about action packed. From the King's attempts to drive him and MC apart, to Leon's trying to protect you from the others backfiring because the thing he summoned to protect MC is the thing MC almost destroys herself with...

And yet... I thrive more for some of his comments about Zyglavis in this one.

Clearly under the King's control because Minister Ponytail would rather drown himself in his own reflecting pool indeed. 🤣

Ahem, more seriously the ending of this one with all the Gods fussing round MC and an actual public ceremony is nice. It doesn't feel as though it cuts off as abruptly as some of the others because of that. (Leon's, Scorpio's, and Partheno's are probably the ones with the most rounded end. They're also the three where she's immortal).

Oh... oh dear. I've got one left to talk about and I'm actually not looking forward to this...

12. Huedhaut

Postion in Main Story: Equal 1st with Ichthys

Position in Sequel Story: Equal 5th with Zyglavis

Position in Musings of Love: Equal 6th with Ichthys

MC at the end of this is: Human... eventually.

Agree/Disagree: Urrrrrrghhhhhh.... it's not so much agree or disagree but fuck the King. Look I know she has memories of her previous life in this path but that's no reason to do the raising up as erasing her completely and reinstating Clotho.

Poor Hue! He can never catch a break. Seemingly fated to always be together, but always seeming to lurch from one disaster to the next.

I've been thinking on this and I really wish after MC had experienced some time actually as Clotho and saved Hue in the past in his Musings on Love story that it had been made 100% clear then that Hue absolutely sees her as another person. That he cares about her as much as he once did Clotho.

And that once did is the important distinction I'm making here. The King is taking advantage of Hue's sin to get the Goddess of Fate - who should have been lost to save the Earth - back, but in doing so he's making Hue lose the woman he loves. Again. I almost feel like he's still punishing him, and some of the side stories I've played the past few days or so just add to that feeling.

Clotho chose saving the Earth over Hue's love, Hue knows Clotho would do that again in a heartbeat. I'm not convinced he'd even want to be with Clotho anymore even if this transformation had worked.

'You can't be a God because you don't value the life of the Earth over your own' oh screw you, King. I think when I played this I was feeling somewhat uneasy because of the Clotho stuff, and Hue trying to use the rest of his stars yet again but at the time I had no context to how the raising to Goddess worked, so that bit didn't bother me as much...

Until I read Ichthys' story.

Now it's possible the raising of MC as Clotho is somehow the only thing that can happen because she has her memories in this route, but I don't really see why. There's nothing implied that that was the only option.

Also in Hue's Sequel they proved he and MC were stronger together, that by not letting her step through that door alone this time, they saved the world together without harm to each other.

I'm really pissed off at this. The MC should have known Hue didn't want or need Clotho back, but the King should never have damn well done this in the first place.

Musings of Love could have rounded off the past and this could have instead focussed on the future but noo... Clotho just had to be involved again.

... I think I'm beginning to see why so far I've put MC with Zyglavis if it is set after she's married. At this point in Hue's route I feel as distressed as he does!

Hue, you deserve better. I want your sarcastic snark and banter with the MC, I want to see your actual smile...

... And now I'm imaging an AU where he looked into the future and saw the fountain reject their proposal as his Promise of Infinity Story instead. Hmm... I wonder...

Man I need to calm down. Right then, ranking thingy... quick comparison again first:

Main Path Rankings

1st: Huedhaut, Ichthys

3rd: Zyglavis, Tauxolouve

5th: Krioff, Partheno, Teorus

8th: Aigo, Karno, Leon

11th: Dui

12th: Scorpio

Sequel Path Rankings

1st: Dui (+10)

2nd: Karno (+6)

3rd: Aigo (+5), Partheno (+2)

5th: Huedhaut (-4), Zyglavis (-2)

7th: Ichthys (-6), Leon (+1), Teorus (-2), Scorpio (+5)

11th: Krioff (-6), Tauxolouve (-8)

Promise of Infinity Rankings

1st: Aigonorus (+7/+2)

2nd: Ichthys (-1/+5), Partheno (+3/+1), Teorus (+3/+5)

5th: Tauxolouve (-3/+6), Karno (+3/-3), Krioff (-/+6)

8th: Zyglavis (-5/-3), Dui (+3/-7)

10th: Scorpio (+2/-3), Leon (-3/-4)

12th: Huedhaut (-11/-7)

I'm not really sure this tells us anything to be fair, but if I take the average of their three positions it'd put the Gods in this order (averages in brackets):

1st: Partheno (3.33)

2nd: Ichthys (3.67)

3rd: Aigonorus (4)

4th: Teorus (4.66)

5th: Karno (5)

6th: Zyglavis (5.33)

7th: Huedhaut (6)

8th: Tauxolouve (6.33)

9th: Dui (6.66)

10th: Krioff (7)

11th: Leon (8.33)

12th: Scorpio (9.66)

Well... no, I don't think that's the order I'd put them in, but then I didn't play Partheno's main story quite the same way.

One thing of note is if I'd used my replay data above for Hue (which wasn't even a full replay, I think it might even only have been the chapter before) for Promise of Infinity he'd be equal 8th with Zig and Dui which would give him an average of 4.66 and leap him up to equal 4th with Teo.

#star crossed myth #scm #Star crossed myth spoilers #Star crossed myth review/character rambling #scm ramble #scm leon #scm karno #scm huedhaut #scm teorus #scm tauxolouve #scm aigonorus #scm zyglavis #scm scorpio #scm dui #scm ichthys #scm krioff #scm partheno

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arunneronthird · 1 year

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Hi, this is the Bruce and Jason anon again and you're completely right! Tim and Kon's situation is very different from Bruce and Jason's because Tim was like...literally trying to engineer a perfect replacement for someone he lost ON PURPOSE. Which is just completely fucking crazy from start to end. Especially when Kon, as a clone himself, struggled in the past with the idea of being created in a lab explicity to perfectly replace another person, then ending up not being identical/perfect enough to do that and having to learn to become his own person instead, not just superman 2.0. Like Tim was actually insane to still try and clone him while actively KNOWING all of this about his best friend and still deciding to go ahead and become the cadmus/lex luthor in this poor clone's story.

Also with the benefit of being able to actually know what happened while Jason was dead, how Bruce grieved, the whole messy process of how Tim actually became Robin, etc. through the comics, I agree that Bruce wasn't necessarily wrong. What I was mainly talking about was Jason coming back from the dead without any knowledge of how much of a wreck Bruce was when he was gone and seeing the product of that grief without any of the context.

Like Jason checks back in on his dad after maybe a year or two (idk comic timelines) and there is just a full ass new child (around the age jason was when he died no less) living in Jason's house, swinging round Gotham in Jason's old suit colours using Jason's vigilante name (the suit he died in, the name that he died for). He even LOOKS like Jason with his black hair a blue eyes. And because of the severe lack of context Talia provides, from the outside it's exactly as if Jason has been replaced, not grieved. Like when TV shows recast one of their main actors and the story continues on without stopping to acknowledge that anything is out of the ordinary. As if this new person has been here the entire time and the old one never existed at all.

Jason was also having problems with Bruce before he died so seeing this shiny new Robin take his place (and actually be good at it) is just so heartbreaking. Again, without knowing anything about Bruce and Tim's relationship, to Jason it'd seem like Bruce just got a shiny new sidekick that was Robin in all the ways B wanted and valued, all the ways Jason wasn't. It's worse when Dick, who Jason had a pretty strained relationship with, is all over the new guy in a way he never was with him. It mirrors what you were saying about Tim making the version of Kon that loved him in the way original-Kon didn't. Obviously not what happened to Bruce and Tim but WE know that not Jason

The third part doesn't really fit them so much, the only thing I can think of is Jason coming to the realisation that Bruce didn't actually care about him, or Dick, that he probably didn't even care about the new kid either. Like Tim and his clones, Robins all eventually get discarded and thrown away when they don't meet B's standards, when they're not perfect enough. It's what Bruce and Dick used to fight about all the time too, before Jason died. Has Steph been Robin yet by the time Jason comes back? Idk. It would certainly add to that idea. Child after child, in the middle of gun fight after gun fight. What kind of a monster does that? So Jason decides to put it to the test. How much does Bruce actually care about Robin? He certainly didn't seem to care when Jason died, but maybe that's too small of a sample size. There needs to be multiple test trials. If Batman thinks so little of his sidekicks, if he's really going to be so careless with them, then he should to be prepared to lose a few.

Sorry for how long this is, I was typing and completely lost the run of myself.

i... had like a page typed out and then the whole building lost power so i think thats a sign for me to stop answering while at work, i wont listen though

honestly im really glad that tumblr now shortens posts, but never apologize for length, i thought this was a great read and i love getting peoples opinions on things!

i agree with all this, really, i think jason, pumped full of green pit rage water, would come back and see himself replaced and completely snap, it works really well and i love that narrative

i dont think jason feels bad for losing robin, it wasnt his to lose, he wore dicks suit while tim wore a new one out of respect for him, i think he felt replaced in a... deeper level

he came back to see that someone was occupying the space the grief and pain would have been in, someone else was pushing his ghost away, living his life, being loved by his father, being cared for by his brother, someone better at his job than he ever was, cold and smart where he was rash and angry, he came back to see that he was not only replaced, him being dead made things better

ofc, this wasnt true, his death nearly destroyed bruce, and it took a lot of effort to get him to feel human again cause he had lost his son, but jason didnt know that, as u said

meanwhile, i love the new 52 tim, i think hes tragic in a visceral way, and i love how his pain is so easy to feel, but in a way im glad we dont really talk about that era too much and usually act like its not relevant to the canon cause... its hard to justify tim being a good person in the new comics after reading the 2015s one

like, tim failing to clone kon doesnt justify him actually trying to replace his dead best friend who struggled with his place in the world, and i think the writers recently realized if they want tim to be a dark but brave hero they cant also make him morally corrupt at best and absolutely insane, theres a difference between red robin desperately trying to find batman and being a rude mess in the process and red robin basically experimenting with lives

#that was a fun read! thank u! i hope im making sense im rewriting this and kinda exhausted

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wuekka · 6 months

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Twisted tales anthology reading

Sadly to my surprise, I was disappointed by first two of the stories..

Cast out

Snow White's characterization was cute.

Was not expecting magic mirror to be an ally to her.

Made me laugh with stopping villain's knife-mage-fight with main character with a pie growing legs and leaving.

Sadly I was disappointed in it, maybe I expected more, wasn't expecting "same just with snow-white having magic and not biting apple".

A First mission

Again, was hyped for this and ready to like this story, but was disappointed 😞

I do love the idea of Mulan struggling with becoming emperor's advisor.

Chi fu being villain, yes.

But *siiigh* was expecting more happening. It felt corny even though I have read YA literature and twisted tales before.

The envelope

What I expected before reading: Anastasia going to Cinderella's wedding and falling in love. What I got: Anastasia finding lore about her father and doing something! By herself! (Believe or not, a simple thing like that can be refreshing when there's plots where characters get thrown around) Leaving for his hometown with cute boy becoming her escort because woman travelling alone wouldn't be proper. (I love Disney things taking note of the time period.)

Was about to cry for this.

I am weak for villains becoming villains because of love or love lost and implying lady Tremaine was that is 👌.

The ending! Was so sweet and implying things!

A new dawn

"What if Mufasa survived the attack?" Would have been better name..

"Nala placed her paw on his back" That's not how lions work in lion king, that just feels too much of thinking writing humans and just replacing "hand" with paw. It happens too much. :'D

I feel this needed a slight flashback or something to show how this Simba became so dutiful.

Chuckling at one lioness being named "Kuume" because same word means "fever" in finnish.

Overall, nice story.

Rattle the stars

Aaaa~ Treasure planet~! Disney's often rejected but freaking fun movie getting one is awesome!

...I need to take a picture because it's too much...

I was afraid story would do bait and switch with Jim choosing to betray the pirates after all, but nope, yay.

A royal game of chess

"inbreeding among royalty had cost them all a bit more than they realised." Things I didn't expect to read in a Disney book. 😂

Sir Hiss thinking about other snakes who have to deal with "warm-blooded European invaders" because of the Crusades...So are snakes/lizards persian 🤔 (now I want art of human versions Robin Hood characters)

I haven't gotten further, skipped ratatouille one, but I will keep updating this post. :D

#Twisted tales #Disney #twisted tales anthology #random ramble

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spoopy-action-at-distance · 10 months

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Dealing with your dead parent's financial mess sure is An Experience. It's 50% stress, 50% complex collaborative problem-solving, and 50% feeling like you're in the audience of a convoluted and absurd comedy skit that keeps throwing up punchline after punchline.

In six months, I went from someone who had a reasonably well-to-do parent who I was estranged from for the sake of my wellbeing, and whose inheritance I was thinking of refusing to spare myself the family infighting, to being the one who has to juggle several debtors, thousands of euros' worth of someone else's debts, several institutions who don't communicate with each other half the time, and the additional surprise paperwork generated by everyone else involved having signed themselves the fuck out of this mess. I wasn't prepared for how complicated the bureaucratic aftermath of a death would be on a good day, and I certainly wasn't prepared for the bureaucratic bog that is the death of someone whose main response to financial problems had apparently been "I'm not paying for that" for several years.

Thank heavens that debt isn't automatically inheritable in my country, and thank fuck there was nothing substantial to inherit there. At the moment I'm basically an unpaid case manager who will not become personally responsible for his case's liabilities as long as he does everything by the book. Also the book was written by someone who didn't quite realise that a case like this could happen. The standard assumption within the public system seems to be that an estate will have some debt and some funds, and likely end up on the black side of the ledger. No one tells you that sometimes you will get a bit of a clown car parade instead.

Someone suggested that once I'm done, I ought to write How To Deal With The Indebted Estate You Inherited When You're Fucking Broke And Everyone Else Has Fucked Off: The Authoritative Blog Post. I said that I doubt I have a comprehensive understanding of the issue. "You think someone does?" they countered. They work within public bureaucracy, so I'm inclined to believe they know what they're on about.

If I do write that blog post, it's gonna come with a soundtrack of a techno Can Can version of Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld, the musical staple of Very Stupid Drama of the Week Explained in a Tumblr Video, with the following caption: "for full immersive experience, imagine that the manic bass beat is a hammer swinging wildly in the immediate vicinity of your head. You're entirely fine because it hasn't hit you. Yet."

#parental death #this is me right now #I'm living a disconcerting stand-up skit that has so many layers that it has gone the full circle via unfunny to being funny again #this ride has an expiration date but until it arrives my choices are basically to keep dodging and to either cry or bitch or laugh about it #or sometimes when a friend asks for an update to make a dying whale noise and scare an old lady standing behind us in the checkout line #seriously people if you have a financially unstable parent and the option to legally renounce any and all inheritance is available to you #do give it some Grave and Careful Consideration even before they die #trying to protect family honour isn't worth it because NO ONE'S gonna come out of this kinda thing without looking like a bit of an idiot #and the clown car ride might sometimes be funny but it might also give you brand new stress-related diseases

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chaosintheavenue · 1 year

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On the origin of Trin

The first tentative concept Picrew of the character that would become Trin was saved to my laptop on April 16th 2022, and I made a note to myself at the time that the vague concept of the character had been around for about a month at that point. So, we'll consider today, March 16th, to be Trin's first anniversary of existing!

To mark the occasion, I've decided on a total whim to lay out the timeline of Trin's development from the first idea I had, to the character she is today.

Beginnings

Fittingly, Trin technically started her 'life' as three people- triplets, to be exact. I decided that I wanted two of my VB peeps (a Cipher and a BoS guy) to have a child to continue the Ciphers arc into the post-NV era in my convoluted Fallout headcanon universe. I wanted to make a trigonometry reference, and so for the sake of that, the one child quickly became three. I'm not the most mathematically-minded or original, so of course these triplets were intended to be named Sine, Cosine and Tangent.

The triplets got very limited character development, especially since in the one (1) scene I ever pictured them in, they were about two years old. I didn't decide genders or much personality-wise, but I did set out that Sine and Cosine were identical 'twins', Tangent was not identical to them, and that reflected in their personality as they felt conflicted identity-wise and tried to strike out on their own. The main thing I did determine was some details of their physical appearances, with Tangent having short black hair and the other two having longer blonde hair.

Three Become One

At some point after creating the trigonometry triplets, I realised that adding three new interlinked main characters and trying to follow their arcs in the meticulous detail I always do would be simply too much to keep up with. I'd secretly started to favour Tangent and they'd already received a bit more development than the others, so I decided to focus on them and have Sine and Cosine occasionally crop up as background characters.

Soon after this, for reasons I don't entirely remember, I decided to do away with the triplet idea altogether, just have one BoS/Cipher character, and renamed the concept of what had been Tangent to Trinity (bonus fact: it's now canon in-universe that Trin was almost named Tangent as a baby). Still no gender or characterisation yet, and I still only pictured the character as a young child.

First Sightings

And so now we come to April 16th 2022. The first ever image of Trin:

(link to the Picrew)

This was also the very first time I envisioned Trin as an adult. I wasn't really getting any strong gender vibes, and had an inkling that the character would turn out to be some variation on the theme of nonbinary.

I continued adding small details and rotating Trin, as I now began to call them, in my brain for a while, and to my mild surprise she soon informed me that she's a cis woman (honestly, that still sometimes surprises me lol).

On May 29th came the first instance of Trinposting! I posted this mysterious drawing of a new character I'd been developing.

To Appalachia

I've always struggled to create new characters on demand for a particular purpose (which is why a lot of my player character OCs start out with a 'placeholder' version, and some unknown length of time later suddenly get more development). The creation of Trin happened to come at a convenient time for me, as I'd been contemplating attempting a new playthrough of Fallout 76 for several months. One day in June, the inspiration suddenly struck me hard to get this playthrough on the road now, and my mind happeend to be thoroughly immersed in Trin at the time, so naturally I decided to play as her. I originally considered just using an AU version of her due to 76 being set so early in the timeline, but I'm no stranger to altering canon for my own needs, and so in-universe, Trin arrived in West Virginia in 2295.

In-game, this was one of her first nights above ground. In-universe, I consider this the earliest canon screenshot of Trin, taken on her very first night in Appalachia (all the Vault stuff had to go considering her amended origin)

When I first started the playthrough, Trin was very much still primarily a blank slate of a character. She had an established backstory, but not a lot in the way of personality, talents, opinoins, and the likes. After I'd been playing for a week or so, had got to grips with the game mechanics and was no longer solely focused on survival, she really began to show herself through the in-game choices I was making.

On Sexuality

I don't remember at what point I decided/was 'told' by Trin that she was aroace, but I do know that I never much thought about her orientation prior to that and would never have considered anything else to fit her. Getting personal for a second: Looking back, it feels very coincidental that this took place not long before I myself finally figured out I'm aro as well as ace, and I feel like my exploration of aromantic-ness (aromanticism?) through the lens of Trin played a bigger role in my discovery of that than I've ever previously really acknowledged.

Becoming Crunchy

By August, she was much more developed and had become thoroughly enmeshed in the 76 world, and I, being the same plague-obsessed Chaos as always, decided it was high time to Scorch her.

From here, a lot happened plot-wise, but the basic characterisation of Trin has remained more or less constant. She left Appalachia for around a year in-universe to focus on trying to recover, eventually came back with a friend and some new scars across her face, built a mini settlement, entangled herself further in WV and its factions, made yet more friends and re-encountered some old ones, aaand most recently cut her hair.

Trin as she is now:

I'm still thoroughly obsessed with Trin, and don't foresee that changing in the near future! She's very quickly overtaken all of my other OCs to have the highest populated tag on my blog, and that will probably continue for Some Time lol. I just wish I could kick myself into gear to write up more of her story hgfdfgf.

#Trin #random detailed meta #I originally called the last section 'Assuming Her Final Form' but who knows if this *is* her final form lol

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lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks · 2 years

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What are your thoughts of The Batman? Please go in as much detail as you'd like.

I'll try to avoid spoilers but generally I think it's better than all previous live action movies in tone and style

they really embraced Batman as a detective which I feel like wasn't done this well in the other movies, the main villain being the Riddler made this a perfect angle to work with

speaking of

the Riddler is diet Jigsaw, like straight up, he puts people into Saw traps, if this movie were just the slightest bit more gutsy this could have been a horror film and I would 100% have been on board

and when he's unmasked he doesn't look like what you'd expect but at the same time you aren't exactly surprised, like he definitely looks like the kind of guy who would be obsessed with Riddles, he has 'guy who loves the movie Fight Club for all the wrong reasons' energy

Robert Pattinson is the Best Batman

I have never 100% liked any of the previous Batmen because they could never quite get both Bruce Wayne AND Batman quite right

Pattinson nails the interpretation of Bruce Wayne they went with for this movie, everyone making posts about this sad emo boy is absolutely on point, it's kinda edgy without being cringy, this character could be so easy to fuck up but he plays it in a very understated way, it's all in his performance rather than his dialogue, he really SHOWS us who Bruce Wayne is without needing to tell us

this is the first Bruce Wayne I've looked at and thought "yes this is a man who would deal with his problems by dressing up as a bat and punching people"

I would like to see what direction they take his character in for future movies, this feels like the first step of a character development journey, it doesn't feel like a 'this is what Batman is' vibe it feels like a 'this is how Batman started' vibe, like my guess is that they plan on emotionally developing Bruce Wayne in future

I also really like that he doesn't do the Christian Bale Batman voice, he doesn't growl, he doesn't sound gritty, he speaks very softly, almost whispering the whole time, this version of Batman is intimidating because he's quiet, focused, always thinking, he scares the shit out of people just by being in the room, during a crime scene you can see the cogs turning in his head as he looks around the room, taking in details, just quietly observing before saying something, and he keeps his words simple and to the point

I was actually not expecting Pattinson to be able to pull it off because I really didn't think he had the stature for it, he's never looked intimidating in any of his previous roles

but once he has the suit on, he really makes it work, the armour builds his frame up, makes his shoulders look broader, he has thick ass soles in his boots, when this motherfucker steps out of a dark corner and just quietly stares people down, he has a hell of a presence

at the moment his Bruce Wayne and Batman personas feel like very much the same person, like he hasn't quite separated his identities yet, he hasn't cultivated the Bruce Wayne mask because he's an antisocial shut in that nobody ever sees

I'm very keen to see if that changes

what I personally want for future movies is for Dick Grayson to enter the picture, and be the one who helps Bruce develop into a more stable person, I want this absolute mess of a man to impulsively adopt a child, realise 'wait fuck I dunno how to raise a kid' and then be forced to actually become a functional human being

I want Dick to call him out on being a wreck, I want this kid to drag him out into the sunshine because he wants to go get ice cream, I want Bruce to be thrown into the deep end of parenthood, I want it so bad

so yeah, 10/10, fucking awesome movie, very much doing its own seperate thing from the previous movies, this isn't an action blockbuster superhero film, this is a detective noir crime thriller

#asks #the batman

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earlgreymon · 3 years

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sunkissed love; a taiora playlist for lovers who love each other like the sun radiates the earth. (youtube / spotify)

01. wonder - shawn mendes i wonder what it's like to be loved by you 02. used to you - mxmtoon say your feelings to me so i won't overthink mine 03. you're the best thing about me - u2 i'm the kind of the trouble that you enjoy 04. beautiful to me - olly murs you're so amazing, don't you know? 05. thunder - boys like girls your voice was the soundtrack of my summer; so bring on the rain and bring on the thunder 06. she is love (full band version) - parachute i've been beaten down, i've been kicked around, but she takes it all for me 07. built to last - mêlée 'cause you are the sun in my universe 08. best friend - rex orange county i still wanna be your favorite boy 09. give me a try - the wombats we could be gigantic, this could be worth the risk bonus track: i love you - billie eilish you didn't mean to say "i love you"; i don't want to, but i love you...

part 3 of lovers in japan series track-by-track commentaries;

IT'S TAIORA TIMEEEEE!!

honestly i want to keep this on my draft a little longer (*cough* maybe i can save it for taiora week *cough*), but @dutchforstrangers gave me some encouragement to let this out a bit faster... so here it is.

remember when i said on my koukari mixtape that my playlists are gonna be messy in terms of the storyline? well, this is the messiest. i think i kind of overthink this playlist because i want it to be perfect. it's my ultimate otp after all. i really hope this turns good.

two of the songs are already included in @patamonn's mixtape post, which you should all check it because bree's works are awesome. aside lynn, i want to dedicate this playlist to my sora sister @sorasfishing! i hope you keep thriving in anything you do and don't forget to get some rest :D (although this playlist is more up to beat and not really suitable for leisure time lmao) (well, taiora's the kind of couple who's full of spirit anyway)

01. wonder - shawn mendes

i was struggling to find a way to start this playlist. most songs i had gathered somehow would sound better if i put them in the middle. this song suddenly appeared on my suggestions and i remembered the first time this was released, i... didn't really like it lmao.

but now i love it so much. the music is majestic and very... taichi-like, if i can put it that way. the last beat of the drums sounds adventurous and seems like a good prologue for a journey ahead.

and yeah, what better way to start other than our main guy wondering what it's like to be loved by the beautiful lady who owns the sky?

02. used to you - mxmtoons

i was thinking of two mxmtoons songs for the playlist: either this song, or falling for u. although falling for u sounds more fitted to the theme of "realising you have feelings for your best friend but too afraid to tell him" (you should totally listen and check the lyrics here), i settled on used to you because of two reasons. first, the music of falling for u is too cozy for this rather rock playlist.

second, for me, used to you has a more... personal touch? i mean i can put falling for u for a takari playlist and it'll still be a good fit, but used to you is more of a taiora song. in the official commentary, the song is told to be about the turbulence of a new relationship. but in my point of view, this could be about how sora became too used to taichi's presence.

the first verse is somewhat a description of sora's insecurity. as she grew up, she wanted to become a better part of society (that was why she turned to tennis, dressing more femininely...). this kind of thought is a bit overwhelming, and knowing sora, of course she would overthink them. since 02 did taiora very dirty we never knew how taichi really felt about these changes and i am pretty sure that sora actually wanted to know his opinion because he knew her the best.

move on to the chorus: "i've been spending all my time, sitting by the phone just waiting for a call. i used to wanna be alone 'til your name was in my phone, now i'm getting kinda used to you." look, i still believe that sora's an introvert. but if taichi called her, she'd be there in a heart beat. (also, think about that scene in tri where she got so stressed with taichi informing his soccer game a little too late. bet she'd been waiting for him to invite her from the very beginning.)

03. you're the best thing about me - u2

this is just a general love song, but the line "i'm the kind of trouble that you enjoy" is very cheeky i can imagine taichi saying it to sora with so much confidence.

04. beautiful to me - olly murs

if you're listening to this playlist on spotify, i will kindly suggest you to switch momentarily to youtube because for this specific song, you have to watch the music video so you can get a more taiora vibe.

the video is about two childhood friends that always there for each other but never really talks about the feeling until one of them is almost getting married. get it? (although yeah, the girl is more of a badass than sora and the boy is too aloof as taichi's counterpart.)

the song itself is just the singer trying to convince the girl that she is beautiful no matter what. i always feel like sora has a lack of confidence about herself, so this is taichi pulling her into a realisation.

05. thunder - boys like girls

this is a tribute to our war game (a.k.a. THE PEAK OF TAIORA CINEMATIC UNIVERSE), especially the dub version with that "you say you love thunderstorm." i think when you look at the chorus of this song, you'll get it why i put the song here.

06. she is love - parachute

i have to choose the full band version because the og version is too slow. the title seems to be... a description of sora? i mean she IS love, right? :p but yeah, i think this song is an illustration on how sora will still take taichi despite his recklessness.

spoiler alert: one of my digiweek submission will be taiora with this song :p

07. built to last - mêlée

i was in doubt whether i had to put this song on this playlist, but the line "you are the sun in my universe" convinced me. also, "all of our friends saw from the start, so why didn't we believe it too?"!? gee. everyone saw it, you two. you are meant to last indeed.

08. best friend - rex orange county

okay, this is the part where everything gets a bit... bittersweet.

picture this: sora gets a boyfriend. idc who the boyfriend is, but it's definitely not taichi. this is the perfect song because taichi will surely regret why he didn't confess to sora earlier. still, he wants to be her favourite boy no matter what. even the part when the singer says "but i still wanna break your heart and make you cry" is just taichi's way of joking.

09. give me a try - the wombats

this is actually my favourite song on the playlist and funnily, i found this song accidentally when i first built this mixtape. we can ignore a rather "miserable side" of this song and just take this song as taichi's way of convincing sora that they could be such a fantastic pair together.

also, on a separate note, there's a long distance relationship theme implied in this song. i never really explore this theme, but i always wonder how married!taiora will make their marriage work because taichi will surely travel a lot with his job as diplomat.

bonus tracks: i love you - billie eilish

it took a long time for me to finally decide to put this song. i want the closure to be very slow and solemn, because most of the songs in this playlist have been very upbeat. i realised that most songs are in taichi's pov, so i thought about searching a song from sora's pov.

i was thinking about gabrielle aplin's please don't say you love me. however, the tempo was still too fast somehow, and i got the impression that the girl in the song wouldn't let the relationship between her and this particular man to be more than just friends. and there's no way i let this playlist to end like that. enough with taiora not being canon.

this billie eilish song should be listen as a company to two other songs, and if you listen to all of them together, it's actually a pretty depressing storyline (maybe triggering, so i suggest not to google if you don't feel comfortable). however, if you listen to i love you as a stand-alone song, i think it can still be a good fit.

quoting from one source, this is a song about "something that happened near the beginning of a romantic relationship, but a little bit after a friendship." i think this song can be interpreted as sora's reaction when taichi finally CAME TO HIS SENSE confessed to her. her first thought would be he was joking ("maybe won't you take it back? say you were tryna make me laugh"). sora's the type who concealed her emotion, so to hear the words as blatant as "i love you" would make her very vulnerable.

yet the song ends with a realisation that she also loved him. and that is why i put an ellipsis on the lyrics above: i want to leave my playlist for an open ending!

(but if it were up to me, i'll surely put a happy ending for them ;>)

#digimon #by me #digimusic #digiloversinjapan #don't forget to check the koukari and mimato version!#man i really can't hold it back when it comes to taiora #taichi yagami #sora takenouchi #taiora #thank god for taiora

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sanctus-ingenium · 2 years

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Heya! Your last few pieces have been incredible as always! I wanted to ask: how long have you been working on this current project? I've been a fan for a long time but with varying times of activity and so I recognize oc names I'm just curious if they've always been a part of this current plot or if they've been inserted into different settings throughout the years. Feel free to answer this privately or not at all if its too personal!

hiiiiii (u caught me scrolling tumblr mid-lecture, don't tell my prof)

for the last few pieces.. the reason i'm able to do a bunch of big illustrations is because i'm already finished with the setting. i wrote the 3 inver books over the course of roughly a year and tbh all of the content in them was new for the books and didn't have any recycled content aside from some minor details. the main 3 characters were from a dnd oneshot in 2019 but i didn't do much with them until i decided to write about them in an original fantasy setting in may-june of 2020. last book was finished in june of 2021. unlike a lot of my previous stuff, this story had a distinct end. all the character arcs are done, the plot is finished. it was a big deal for me because i usually never wrap up stories lmao

however

in the last like 10 chapters of more than 100 total i introduced pascal, who is literally a clone who had to kill & replace god just to survive his original self (félix) turning human again. then the books ended. and i realised that because this guy was immortal, he was going to persist and have a much longer life, so his story wasn't all wrapped up neatly like everyone else's - he didn't want to become immortal, he just wanted to not disappear, and now he's stuck like This while the happy ending he wanted so much was handed to a different version of him who got to become human and get married and so on. he didn't get those choices - it was either stop existing or become the boss púca and be cut off from humanity forever. and while he did maintain a friendship with a lot of the human characters after the 1860s (post-canon), human lifespans are short. everyone he knew died and left him alone, and in his otherworld barrow he would have no one to interact with but himself.

i haven't written any structured prose about him BUT i do have the beginnings of a story set in the 21st century that picks up with him, mostly about a corruption arc/his descent into becoming the worst version of himself as a result of isolation making him massively self-centered... so i guess it's more like a bad end au for félix (the actual main character of the inver books), only because of the clone situation i get to write him both good and bad endings. so basically i've been working on that for about a month but as a character he's less than a year old

anyway. for "inserted into different settings over the years" well!!!!! yeah i do that. all the inver characters are new for their setting but the mez characters certainly aren't... i wanted to focus on worldbuilding and mechs and engine stuff and didn't have any characters to populate it all, so i just yoinked them from my very first writing project - a book series i started in 2008. that's why those characters are familiar. oddly enough it makes them harder to insert into a closed story because i have to go through every version of them to pick and choose wtf i'm keeping and what i'm discarding. but also one of the characters from that 2008-era setting is john who you may be familiar with (lol). john's twin brother, invented for dnd, is félix. and pascal is félix 2. so in answer to your question: yes but also no? but also yes and no.

ftr my favourite character of all time is also félix and pascal is just him again but minus the humanity so that's also why i have dedicated a lot of time to thinking about him. also he is easy to draw

#sorry i take so long to get to the point i am literally obsessed with talking about this subject

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gaybarbiegirl · 2 years

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top 5 ships of all times? and if you don't want to answer that because sometimes it's hard when it's not a specific fandom, top 5 violetta boys please!!

I'm gonna answer to both because I have nothing but time here 😅

Top 5 ships of all times

This one is a little though - not because I can't think of any, but because it's hard for me to choose between them and put them in order - so I'm just gonna go with what I'm feeling right now, but keep in mind that if I had to write this again tomorrow the order would probably be different

5 - Catradora

She-ra mention on main, I know, I know. But yeah, even if I'm not as into this show and this ship as I was back when it was still airing, these two still hold a very special place in my heart. They're funny, they're sweet, they're complex, they're angsty, and they just have pretty much every dynamic I like in a ship. Also, I'll never forget the feeling of watching She-ra for the first time and thinking "this looks kinda gay" and then it actually was gay and canon and they kissed and-

Maybe that's just because most of the shows I watch don't have a lot of representation, but still, it was very nice to see. These two were the epic sapphic romance I was craving at the time and I'll always cherish them.

4 - Ludmi/Naty/Cami

My favorite chaotic girlfriends ❤

Finding this ship was for sure the best part of my Violetta rewatch last year, and I'd be lying if I didn't say that they are a big part of why I love this show as much as I do today. I've already made quite a few posts listing off things that I love about them, so I'll just keep this short and say that they own my heart. They're three top notch ship dynamics condensed into one and the result is something even better. Not something you see every day.

3 - Simbar

A straight ship? In my top 5? It's more likely than you think.

But in all seriousness, I am in love with these two. Their bond is absolutely beautiful and it's all so natural and well developed and just so amazing to watch. I love the way they complement each other and how both of them brought the other one exactly what they needed in their life. To me, this ship is pretty much the embodiment of people being loved in the exact way that they need to be loved and becoming the best versions of themselves for it, and it's the type of thing that gets me craving love too, which is so rare that I don't even know how they did it (a theme for these top 3, really). They mean everything to me ❤

2 - Damie

Something that you might not have noticed from my blog is that I'm a huge sucker for good horrors and thrillers. This is more of a children's media oriented blog so that's why, but when it comes to adult media, these are really my favorites. So you can imagine how amazing it was for me to go watch Bly Manor after the absolute banger that was Hill House, and end up finding not only an even better banger, but one that has one of the sweetest most beautiful ships I've ever seen in my life. These two are everything, and no joke they got me believing in love again. Plus, they also get me actually craving emotional intimacy, which like I said before is rare as hell. And the lack of a happy ending, tied with message that "even if it ends painfully, love is still worth it" resonated so much with me, and it made this ship even more meaningful in my eyes. Now I'm already regretting not placing them first on this list, but oh well, I told you I'd have a hard time ranking these.

1 - Liana/Alexa

Now here's a ship that I have history with. It was not only my first ever sapphic ship (and the ship in this list that's been in my life the longest), but also one of the pieces that made me realise that I'm sapphic myself. I've had so many feelings about them since I was a kid, and they're the type of ship that only gets better the more you think about it - like, I'm always realising new things about their relationship that make me love them more. But to me the core of what makes them so great is just how devoted they are to each other, how both of them know and admit with no fear that they're the best parts of each other's lives. They're perfect, really, and I have so many analysis posts about their relationship just sitting inside my brain waiting to be written. And I will say that this is the only ship in this list that gets me craving proper romance. Like, the last two get me craving love, sure, but it doesn't necessarily have to be romantic love (though I wouldn't be complaining if I got that). But every time I watch this movie, I spend the whole time thinking "where is my girlfriend and our demon dogs and our cottage in a flower field 🥺?"

These two really own me and honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Top 5 Violetta boys

Just a note, since you asked for boys I'm only counting the teenage characters, but if you had asked for just men in general Gregorio and Beto would for sure be here.

5 - Marco

He's just a very sweet boy, ok? He's caring and wholesome and only ever tries to do the right thing. He did lose some points with me with how he behaved in late s2 - overwhelming Fran with flowers was crossing some boundaries, I think - but it's the type of well meaning mistake that I can forgive pretty easily. Just yeah, very good boy, deserved better, should have been a proper part of s3.

4 - Diego

Moving on to Marco's boyfriend, Diego. I think most of the fandom agrees that he's like, an universal guilty pleasure character. Objectively he's a feral racoon of a man roaming through the garbage bin outside, but he's charismatic and funny and interesting, so we all decided to bring him inside and adopt him, and I'm glad we did. He made the show a lot better and I really enjoy most of his plotlines.

3 - León

And now we've reached Diego's boyfriend, León. Honestly, I didn't care that much about him when I first watched the show (which probably had something to do with the army of sixth graders demanding that I had a crush on either him or Tomás), but on my rewatch, he really won me over. He's very chaotic and fun, but also surprisingly mature in a way that always impresses me. He hits a nice balance between wild and down to earth, and I overall really like him as a character.

2 - Maxi

Very good very nice boy. He's just a very wholesome and chill guy, and I like how he's pretty much friends with everyone because of how open and kind he is. I wish he got developed more, but overall he's a joy to have onscreen. He's the voice of reason of the group, he's friendly and playful, and yeah, just a very nice endearing guy. Deserves the best.

1 - Federico

He's a chaotic diva man and also funny as hell, so what else could I ask for? Also, I really love the impact that he has on the show whenever he shows up. Like, for some reason, every season only feels like it's reaching its full potential once he gets there. He adds such a breath of fresh air to the group and really improves every dynamic that he's a part of - the studio kids, the boyband, Violetta's family, etc. He's just so fun that it's contagious, you know? Whenever he arrives, everyone around him gets more fun too, and I love him for it.

Thank you so much for your asks! I had a really good time answering these 😁

#asks #violetta #soy luna #barbie #she-ra apparently #and the haunting of bly manor even more surprisingly #never thought these shows would be popping up on this blog lol #though don't get me wrong i do love them

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