-Fanarts(I consume all three: ♀️♀️, ♂️♀️ and ♂️♂️. Tho mostly ♀️♀️ and ♂️♀️)
-Mythology/Religion OCs e.g. archangels or Annunakis
-I sometimes bring up explicit topics like incest/violence in myths
Also I'm a Christian(would convert to Roman Catholicism in the near future) and I feel my faith doesnt fit neatly into any political camp. Labeling a religion with political terms doesn't seem right to me.
Every poll on this blog is about fictional characters only. This request was sent to us and we made a poll in response to it. Send any Blorbo-related question you want to our inbox and we’ll make a poll on which people can vote with their own Blorbos in minds
There's this story from a 志怪小說(zhiguai) classic 《搜神記》(In Search of the Supernatural)" by 干寶(Gan bao) :
During the Yongchang(永昌) era of Emperor Yuan, there was a man named Ren Gu(任谷) from Jiyang(暨陽, Southern Jiangsu in modern days). One day, while plowing his fields, he rested beneath a tree. Suddenly, a person clad in feathered garments appeared and had sexual intercourse with him. When it was over, the mysterious figure vanished without a trace.
Thereafter, Ren Gu became pregnant. After several months, when the time came for him to give birth, the feather-clad person returned. Using a knife, the stranger cut open the area beneath Ren Gu's genitals, delivering a snake offspring, and then departed.
From that time on, Ren Gu became a eunuch. He went to the imperial court to report what had happened and was subsequently retained to serve in the palace.
There's this story from a 志怪小說(zhiguai) classic 《搜神記》(In Search of the Supernatural)" by 干寶(Gan bao) :
During the Yongchang(永昌) era of Emperor Yuan, there was a man named Ren Gu(任谷) from Jiyang(暨陽, Southern Jiangsu in modern days). One day, while plowing his fields, he rested beneath a tree. Suddenly, a person clad in feathered garments appeared and had sexual intercourse with him. When it was over, the mysterious figure vanished without a trace.
Thereafter, Ren Gu became pregnant. After several months, when the time came for him to give birth, the feather-clad person returned. Using a knife, the stranger cut open the area beneath Ren Gu's genitals, delivering a snake offspring, and then departed.
From that time on, Ren Gu became a eunuch. He went to the imperial court to report what had happened and was subsequently retained to serve in the palace.
A mystic, composer, herbalist, and visionary, St. Hildegard of Bingen was a female legend of history!! She received divine visions from a very young age, & later recorded her revelations in texts and visionary art. She blended theology, cosmology, & natural healing into her writing.
She was a pioneer of sacred music and holistic medicine, and quite ahead of her time. She was canonized and later named a Doctor of the Church.
朕為始皇帝。後世以計數，二世三世至於萬世。
"I shall be the First Emperor. The generations that follow shall be numbered Second, Third, and so on through ten thousand generations."
受命於天，既壽永昌
"Having received the Mandate of Heaven, may there be longevity and prosperity."
- 秦始皇 QinShiHuang ~221BC
In the distant past, all lived under Heaven (天下), united under the great Sovereigns. But the world descended into five centuries of decline and chaos, and the realm of 天下 fractured into seven warring kingdoms. From this crucible emerged the western Kingdom of Qin. Forged by barbarian invasions from the west and enemy kingdoms to the east, the once-backwater land of Qin became a centralized martial state, harnessing the advancements of civilization in the form of crossbows and combining them with the horse traditions of the steppe barbarians. Thus, the state of Qin began its conquest, starting with the Kingdom of Han in 230 BC.
The King of Qin, born Ying Zheng, was trained under the harsh discipline of Legalist philosophy and guided by the merit-seeking reforms of Lü Buwei (呂不韋). When Ying Zheng took the throne, his conquest subdued the Han Kingdom, followed quickly by Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan, and finally Qi. By 221 BC, at 38 years of age, Ying Zheng ascended the ancient mountain of Taishan, where generations before had gone to commune with Heaven. There, he performed the rites of Fengshan and proclaimed a covenant with Heaven, whereby justice, wisdom, and peace throughout this new Empire of Qin would be rewarded through the unification of all under Heaven. This new dynasty was marked by the symbol of the tiger and embodied by the element of water. The Qin kingdom, having previously collected all Nine Ancestral Cauldrons (九鼎), carved this covenant into a seal from the mythical jade pieces of the Three Sovereigns (三皇) and Five Rulers (五帝). Here, Ying Zheng shed his name as a mere king (王) and combined the names of the ancient sovereigns into the new title: Emperor (皇帝), taking the name Qin ShiHuang (秦始皇帝), the First Emperor of Qin.
China (Qin) would no longer be a collection of chaotic and competing kingdoms. Qin ShiHuang centralized the structure across the land, removing borders between the kingdoms and connecting them through standardized roads, weights, measures, coinage, and written language. He carved new infrastructure projects through rivers, creating a connective tissue of canals and waterways that united lands which could not be connected by roads alone. And while Qin Shi Huang broke down the internal borders of the kingdoms, he established new ones along the frontiers in a network of walls and outlooks that would eventually become the Great Wall.
But the intensity and focus with which Qin Shi Huang stitched together his new empire became the very weight that would so quickly tear it apart. In his pursuit of immortality, Qin Shi Huang died in 210 BC at the mere age of 49. In his wake remained an unforgiving system of Legalism, which demanded absolute obedience and dedication, and those who failed to meet its standards were subjected to severe punishment. Several rebellions ignited in response to forced labor, excessively strict laws and punishments, and harsh taxation. Within a mere fifteen years, the grand unification project of China fractured once again, and all under Heaven was plunged back into violence and chaos.
A dynasty may rise and fall just as the river swells and recedes, carving valleys where none existed before. Tigers who once ruled the lowlands may one day disappear, and ancient cauldrons, once so precious, may vanish into legend. Even the grandest armies of one hundred thousand may one day crumble, for these are the things of the earth that come and go. But the dream of Heaven that was lifted that day upon Mount Taishan endures forever. And for the next 2000 years of Chinese Civilization, the path carved by Qin ShiHuang was developed and followed.
The example of the First Emperor's dynasty was clear: as quickly as Heaven can grant its blessings, they can just as swiftly be taken away. To rule Tianxia was never about power, class, wealth, or lineage; it was to bear the weight of Heaven itself, and anyone willing to carry that Mandate can unite the realm. The title of Emperor would be grasped by peasants, warriors, kings, beggars, men and women alike. Just as the timeless words engraved upon that ancient seal once said:
受命於天，既壽永昌 "Having received the Mandate of Heaven, may there be longevity and prosperity."
Sources:
Records of the Grand Historian; Sima Qian
The First Emperor of China; Jonathan Clements
To Rule All Under Heaven; Andrew Meyer
“Duration: momentary. Nature: changeable. Perception: dim. Condition of Body: decaying. Soul: Incomprehensible. Fortune: unpredictable. Lasting Fame: meaningless.
The body and its parts are a river, the soul is just a dream and mist. Life is warfare, a journey far from home. And after life...is oblivion."
-Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations.
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus: the last of the Five Good Emperors, the great Philosopher-King. At least, that is how his legacy is remembered 2000 years on. Behind the peace and stability of his rule lies a reign defined as much by catastrophe and loss as by wisdom. Marcus Aurelius’ early rule coincided with one of the most devastating crises of the Roman world: the Antonine Plague
The plague entered the Roman Empire around 165AD, it spread rapidly along trade routes and through densely populated cities within the Roman world. Contemporary accounts, like the physician Galen describes high fevers, skin eruptions, and death on a previously unfathonable scale. Millions within the Roman borders died, with some regions losing a quarter of their population. The pandemic weakened the empire’s economy, depleted its manpower, and undermined it's military at a time when Rome faced increasing pressure along its frontiers.
It was in this environment of disease, war, and uncertainty that Marcus Aurelius ruled. The Pax Romana was not the image of stability and tranquility we often like to believe. Instead it was a peace maintained through constant warfare and personal sacrifice. Marcus spent most of his reign with the legions campaigning along the Danube borderlands. In this environment of war and plague, we received the most intimate window into Marcus Aurelius’ inner life. Here, he penned his private journals, later compiled as "The Meditations". These fragmented, repetitive, and intensely personal notes written to himself for himself were never intended for any eyes other than his own. In them, we glimpse the private thoughts of the most powerful man of the second century as he struggled to reconcile the philosophy of his youth with the relentless realities of the world.
Understanding the context of Marcus Aurelius' life as the first great pandemic of the Roman era is crucial in understanding the full depth of his writings. He and his wife, Faustina, had at least 13 children, yet only one son, the infamous Commodus, survived to adulthood. Us later generations often ask how Marcus Aurelius, after a lifetime of disciplined and principled rule, could leave the empire to a successor so ill-suited to the task. The answer may be more plainly understood than we wish to see. In The Meditations, we hear the voice of a man acutely aware of impermanence, duty, and the limits of his own power. A voice of a father who has outlived most of his children.
What we find amongst the inner monologue of Marcus Aurelia are measured, thoughtful, and often sobering reminders on how to live well: to act according to nature, to remain humble, and to accept death. Yet the circumstances under which these maxims were written should never be forgotten. When Marcus addresses “you” in the Meditations, he is addressing himself. These are not commands given to students, but reminders to himself to buttress against his most critical and personal weaknesses: exhaustion, grief, and doubt.
Marcus Aurelius was human, and more sentimental than he wished to be. He knew death, loss, and sorrow not as abstractions, but as daily companions. By the end of his life, worn down by illness and years of campaigning, he returned to nature as he had long counseled, expressing the quiet hope that even his name would one day fade. And yet, nearly two thousand years later, his private reminders endure. Written amid pandemic, war, and personal tragedy, Marcus Aurelius’ words are an unintended inheritance to us—one that, that if listened to with the same level of humility and acceptance of one’s own weaknesses, as Marcus did, can still yet offer wisdom.
Sources:
The Meditations; Marcus Aurelius 170AD - 180AD
The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease and the End of an Empire; Kyle Harper
Not playing Tf2 nor in the fandom anymore, but a Heavy/Medic fic on Ao3 named Of Sound Mind still has a special place in my mind 5 years after I finished it.
Uhhh I wanna practice digital art... but my eyes easily become sore for staring at the screen for too long after I entered adulthood, I can't use them for hours like playing l4d2 on my PC when I was in middle school
