A Mother of Learning Collection

A collection of MoL analysis, rants, memes, shit posts, writing, and art

[nokjurang]

Odd shower thought but every now and again I consider the implications of being stuck in a time loop for a decade (several decades for Zach iirc) and realize that ZZ were basically going through puberty the entire time (?)

Imagine never having a fully developed pre-frontal cortex (among other important parts of the brain) for like 50 years. Just. Biologically it sounds like a nightmare to have to reconcile the gap between the accumulated experiences of the mind and the stagnant, unchanging physical body.

[sleepymopmicah]

More MoL doodles but these are from last month

[sleepymopmicah]

Guardian Angel Zach AU-

I wanna draw comics-

[ersetu-gazette]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Well, after ten thousand years!!!! I finally finished the 2nd chapter of my mol x naruto crossover. Come on and check it out! It's a mess of scenes and snapshots jumping between a lot of plot points! Bone apple teeth

[oronthor]

I think the funniest fic idea ive never had reason to write is a Zach befriending and cozying up to Zorians family. Like not dating Zorian, just best friending so hard your invited to family dinner. They make a room in the house assuming your visiting on Christmas and Thanksgiving.

Like obviously hes still there for his Bestie, but home cooked meals? A parents hugs?Zach might even get overwhelmed with experiencing family dynamics agian. Best friend and sudo family.

[ersetu-gazette]

I think it's so funny that in the background of MoL's narrative, Ersetu is a dungeon-crawler world.

While Zorian and Zach are doing politics and mystery and journeys of self-discovery and research into the nature of magic, in the background there are whole ecosystems and economies designed by a mad OSR god.

There's just a snippet where Zorian brings up how there's an entire mini-town in the first layer of the dungeon with its own culture and kind of identity as "adventurers" separate from the "civilian" town above, and he completely blows them off because he doesn't give a shit. Death doesn't matter and they don't have the juicy magic secrets he really wants.

Hilarious.

[magewithasylveon]

There is a lot going on in the background of Mother of Learning

Want a Fantasy Concert of Europe style politicking (though the goal was to prepare for the next war rather then prevent it)? One of the reasons the invasion could succeed was that Eldemar will be besieged by all sides enemies DnD style adventures? Damien is described as fantasy Indiana Jones

Ryaine, Kael, Rea and a few others all have good personal stories that aren't about great feats of magic. I'm not saying Mother of Learning is a masterpiece on worldbuilding, but rather one of its greatest strengths is that there really is a lot in the world. Even a timelooper could only gleam a fraction of it

[goatituptown]

there's something narratively satisfying about ending a power fantasy story with the main characters not being the strongest in the whole world. while yes zorian and zack are Extremely strong, strong enough to be looked on in fear they arnt even the strongest or oldest magicians in their world. and i think thats neat.

[ersetu-gazette]

Idea: Godbound in Ersetu . . .

But Zach and Zorian are not Godbound.

Let me explain: Godbound is a ttrpg for new gods ascending to power. In most cases, any magic, gifts, or miracles from a god can outstrip any power from a mortal source. Mortals have to be the best of the best to be considered "worthy" and even have a realistic chance of resisting.

So I thought it'd be funny if some of the people Zorian and Zach completely outstripped of power had the power dynamics reversed.

For fun let's imagine it's Kirielle, Nochka, and Novelty. (If you want to make it less comedy focused we could do Taiven and Kael, but this is a tumblr post so we're going with the gremlins.)

I imagine the Words (Divine domains basically) are Kirielle having Artifice, Music, and Sorcery, Nochka having Beast, Luck, and Deception, and Novelty having Psychic, Knowledge, and Journeying.

Now they go from potential apprentices when they grow older, to actual powerhouses that Zach and Zorian can't stop. Kirielle can make Golems that Zorian can't keep up with, Nochka has information gathering abilities and ways to hide that makes any containment or control impossible for ZZ duo together, and Novelty is now better at mind magic than Zorian once again and can get access to basically any information or place.

Only through the sheer stress of having to manage two divine little girls and one excitable spider, do Zorian and Zach actually get invested in pursuing power just to prevent the continuous dunking on them by their enemies.

[ersetu-gazette]

I think it's so funny that in the background of MoL's narrative, Ersetu is a dungeon-crawler world.

While Zorian and Zach are doing politics and mystery and journeys of self-discovery and research into the nature of magic, in the background there are whole ecosystems and economies designed by a mad OSR god.

There's just a snippet where Zorian brings up how there's an entire mini-town in the first layer of the dungeon with its own culture and kind of identity as "adventurers" separate from the "civilian" town above, and he completely blows them off because he doesn't give a shit. Death doesn't matter and they don't have the juicy magic secrets he really wants.

Hilarious.

[jennymas289]

Sketchpage made for caelus_001 on Instagram

[pox-0i]

zorian scowling

[ersetu-gazette]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

LIVING RUINS: You come to with an ache that suffuses your entire being, like your body is only able to not collapse into dust through sheer willpower. And when you open your eyes, you find your location in a similar state. STONESHAPE: [Easy Success] You’re stronger than both the burning buildings and the spells that set them ablaze. ENHANCEMENT: [Trivial Success] You know This City, its shape and chaotic collapse is so familiar. But you’ve never seen it with the sun up.

This is for the disco elysium fans (but mostly for me)

Day 1: Fear

[motheroflearning-events]

Hey everyone! If you lost track of time, IT'S PROMPT WEEK. Above are the prompts that you can expect, and here is the collection you can expect them to be posted in: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/MoLPromptWeek25

HAPPY PROMPT WEEK!!!!

[ersetu-gazette]

I'm fine and normal about my writing why do you ask.

[its-toki-anmei]

Art for my fic (https://archiveofourown.org/works/70286051)

[radiantworm]

zach is pink, zorian is gold

[motheroflearning-events]

GIFT EXCHANGE MATCH-UPS

The match-ups form for the Gift Exchange is now up!

Here is the Match-ups form: https://forms.gle/D3SuaMw7Sb1yKC4w9

And here are the prompts from which to choose: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OUZsPcxjDL7T2Xk1wdXtFmZVz1wBGdv1PuVLgawyCa0/edit?usp=sharing

Once all the gift exchange participants (5 this year) have answered (or on September 10th) the match-ups form will close and each participant will privately receive the name, prompts and dislikes of their giftee by DM. If a participant does not fill the form before Sept 10th they will be given a random giftee. If you do not think you'll be able to finish your gift before the exchange (February 10th) please let us know asap so that we can find a back-up to make the gift instead!