“I’ll Sing A Lament For You.”

Indie rp blog for my OC occult detective Iain Alasdair Weir from my unfinished novel Seanchai In Black

[seanchaiinblack]

A collection of multiverse based crime/urban fantasy/horror ocs inspired by classic mystery and horror as well as Celtic mythology.

Rules

Iain and Maggie: The Meddling Kid Bards - Main Muses

Johnny: The Isekaied Podcaster

Yuriko: The Science Criminal

Florin-Oscar: The Impossible Heavy

Setting Information

[ofmixedmetal]

" Mama. They came for me, like you said. The bad men. It was my fault. I'm sorry I'm a monster, Mama. I'll avenge us, Mama. I swear it, If it takes all my life. If it takes my death. I swear it, Mama. I swear it."

. 侍

[seanchaiinblack]

“Many have sought recognition for their power. In olden days becoming High King was the ultimate honor and proved that you were the strongest man. It’s all vanity and pomp real strength has no part in it.”

“The Kaiser claims to be chosen by god, but god is simply the randomness of the universe so if you think about the election of the Kaiser is government by chance.”

No matter the universe no one likes monarchs not even elected ones.

[seanchaiinblack]

Continued with @paleobird from here

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m fact checking the story of a man who claims he was attacked by two Mothmen but sadly the difference between Mothman, a parrot, and woodpecker is pretty far removed from the crime beat.” The journalist explained.

[paleobird]

"Yyyyeah, that doesn't sound right at all. Mothmen don't see humans as prey. Maybe if the guy stumbled across a nest, but I'm sure he would have brought that up."

[seanchaiinblack]

“Hmm I wonder if it’s a case of poaching. Would chicks fetch anything as exotic pets? Say someone takes the eggs and tries to rear them himself but gets roughed up instead?” That answer would certainly suit Johnny just fine.

[seanchaiinblack]

Thread with @cursedtraveller as continued from here

The pleading somehow made her look even more pathetic and couldn’t help but wonder what kind of traveler he’d just picked up. Some lost soul or perhaps someone being chased.

“That bar over on the corner has the kind of atmosphere where even you won’t stand out. Name’s Iain Weir, traveling bard and general busybody.” He said after a second to decide whether to give his real name or not.

[seanchaiinblack]

Continued with @paleobird from here

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m fact checking the story of a man who claims he was attacked by two Mothmen but sadly the difference between Mothman, a parrot, and woodpecker is pretty far removed from the crime beat.” The journalist explained.

[seanchaiinblack]

Theme songs for your Muse!

General Theme: Jack Orion (Pentangle version)

Battle Theme: Stirling Brig (The Corries Version)

Boss Theme: Old Matron (Steeleye Span Version)

Emotion Theme: Crazy Man Michael (Fiona Joyce version)

Tagged by @the-unsung-lament

Tagging: steal it

[pmamtraveller]

By Olga Beliaeva

[crescentr0ll]

starting a collection of dreamy shojo princesses

[seanchaiinblack]

“You seem like you see everything around here Miss, do you suppose you might do my a favor? I’m curious if any mysterious strangers arrived by suddenly.” Iain, himself a mysterious stranger, pulled a package of shortbread out of his pocket to bribe the rat.

( @chitterskit liked for a starter)

[seanchaiinblack]

“You’re lucky to get away. Wild places aren’t something to take lightly you never know exactly what’s out there.” Iain didn’t want to scare the little rat with tales of forest spirits since she was safe for the moment.

“Apologies my name’s Iain I’m a traveling bard who sometimes does favors for people and at my last gig I got asked to find woman who had a lot of interests in what you would call eldrich beings… so I had a hunch she might have come here but I guess not.” The young man shrugged.

[chitterskit]

“Oh… well, you could ask Serb’sys. Or you could ask Hazel. She owns the place, and she loves studying eldritch stuff. She gets visitors here asking for lessons and study sessions all the time.” Chitterskit’s ears twitched. “She might be in her office. And Serb’sys is in the garden somewhere. She said something about talking to the crows again.”

[seanchaiinblack]

“This Hazel person is in charge? Hmm well I might as well say hello. With you by my side I probably won’t be treated as anyone suspicious. I mean unlike the guy who broke in to cause trouble I’m just a jolly minstrel.” The strange Scotsman seemed to have an all together odd view of himself.

[archonaed]

 Ookami Ryouko from Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi (Ookami-san and Her Seven Companions)

This turned out quite well. Background is too plain tho

[orphanedwolfandfriends]

{Self Promo!}

~Rules and about ~Meet Cayla ~Meet her pack! ~AUs! ~Discord Server

I was once alone No place to call home And I had lost my way

With this heart I hold I was on my own, Wandering endlessly

But I found a way to continue on, Now there’s no place too far

[seitan-haku]

Ryo 009

[seanchaiinblack]

Everyone’s Home Dimensions: (technically threads can be done in any of these locations)

All my muses live in pocket dimensions in other words tiny parts of the multiverse that exist between ‘real dimensions’ most of these worlds are settled by humans from our world being spirited away.

The Belt (Iain and Maggie’s home)

The Belt is a land of forests and glens where people from Scotland and Ireland have ended up over the course of hundreds of years. The Belt nominally functions under Gaelic clan rules with nobles bearing the title Chief Of Name who command private armies and rule petty kingdoms but the arrival of people from more modern times introduced a major hippie scene who won limited democratic reforms.

Magna Suburbia (Johnny’s current home)

Magna Suburbia is a twisted world built by Americans who imported 1950s suburban culture (and all its evils) to a world with limited resources. The result is a world of great class inequality but great advances in green technology and environmental protection. The elites are called Classicalists and are distinguished by assumed Greek or Roman names regardless of ethnicity.

The Shadow Country (Yuriko’s home)

The Shadow Country is a world that functions according to the rules of German expressionist cinema. The world is strangely surreal Bavarian bureaucracy that looks like a cross between the alps and Gotham city except that many of the residents aren’t actually German and simply have to put up with living there. Contact with The Belt also imported a decent amount of hippies.

All of these worlds have supernatural things happen there more or less on the regular so you’ll never know what you’ll want into.

[star--nymph]

When people are critical of the last unicorn they always seem to focus on the aspect that she fell in heteronormative love with a human man and ignore exactly what that means in the greater narrative, in the same way they ignore what was being said in the original little mermaid

These aren't stories about romance, you're labeling them that because there is romantic love in it and because it's about two women, but these stories are about identity and what the transformation from immortal being to mortal actually means, that neither of them could have ever returned to what they were because to be human is to change, to evolve, to feel and to be immortal is to remain stagnant and removed. The fleeting humanity they had as these humans were more powerful than what they were as immortals and the weight of that lead to death in both senses

But sure heterosexual romance is what the original point was here I guess

[queencalicoanne]

I feel like they're foils for one another. Some girls grow up and embrace womanhood and find freedom, others are horrified when they lose their innocence. The mermaid craved to be human, the unicorn was horrified by it. The mermaid found the freedom to chase what she wanted and the unicorn nearly lost herself in her humanity. We change, we become women, and the world wants things from us. Sometimes we can embrace it, other times we just don't have what it's asking us to give. We don't go through life unchanged, whether it be for the better or for worse.

[queencalicoanne]

Actually I'm not done comparing the Little Mermaid and the Last Unicorn, because their stories are actually a lot more similar than people realize. I'm going to talk about the Hans Christian Anderson version for this, because as much as I love the Disney version, it drops the theme of the second transformation.

See, the Little Mermaid does not die in the original story. If you don't believe me, go back and reread it.

"Speak you to the daughters of air?" was the answer. "The mermaid has no immortal soul, and can only acquire that heavenly gift by winning the love of one of the sons of men; her union depends upon union with man. Neither do the daughters of air possess immortal souls, but they can acquire them by their own good deeds. We fly to hot countries, where children of earth are sinking under sultry pestilential breezes- our fresh cooling breath revives them. We diffuse ourselves through the atmosphere; we perfume it with the delicious fragrance of flowers; and thus spread delight and health over the earth. By doing good in this manner for three hundred years, we win immortality, and receive a share of the eternal bliss of human beings. And thou, poor little mermaid! who, following the impulse of thine own heart, hast done and suffered so much, thou art now raised to the airy world of spirits, that by performing deeds of kindness for three hundred years, thou mayest acquire an immortal soul."

Did you get all that? These are creatures that live in the element of air, that like mermaids do not inherently have souls (so they're not ghosts) and have their own society and mission. She undergoes another transformation into a completely different elemental creature, which can be taken as a metaphor for an afterlife, but in text is not one.

Coincidentally, she can earn her soul after three hundred years of service, which happens to be the natural lifespan of a mermaid.

The Last Unicorn also undergoes two transformations. The first time is to escape the Red Bull, whom she cannot fight against as she is, and is doomed to become his final victim cast into the sea if she remained unchanged.

As a human, the unicorn does have her ill-fated romance with the prince like the mermaid does, and she learns some very important lessons from this. Love, grief, regret and rage.

It took a unicorn with the emotions of a human to actually stand up and fight against the Red Bull, something no unicorn has ever done.

The mermaid and the unicorn both undergo a second transformation. They have lost who they once were and can't go back, but they both change into something new that achieves what they originally wanted while they were their original selves.

They change. They live. Coming of age and finding romance are fine and dandy, but that's not what happens when we lock in and find out who we are.

[seanchaiinblack]

The muses on this blog especially Iain and Yuriko are modelled on 1930s pulp characters much more than superheroes proper but I think the superhero post still stands.

[andyboops]

"The best thing we can do with power is give it away" - On the leftist critique of superhero narratives as authoritarian power fantasies:

The ongoing "Jason Todd is a cop" debate has reminded me of a brilliant brief image essay by Joey deVilla. So here it is, images first and the full essay text below:

"A common leftist critique of superhero comics is that they are inherently anti-collectivist, being about small groups of individuals who hold all the power, and the wisdom to wield that power. I don’t disagree with this reading. I don’t think it’s inaccurate. Superheroes are their own ruling class, the concept of the übermensch writ large. But it’s a sterile reading. It examines superhero comics as a cold text, and ignores something that I believe in fundamental, especially to superhero storytelling: the way people engage with text. Not what it says, but how it is read. The average comic reader doesn’t fantasize about being a civilian in a world of superheroes, they fantasize about being a superhero. One could charitably chalk this up to a lust for power, except for one fact… The fantasy is almost always the act of helping people. Helping the vulnerable, with no reward promised in return. Being a century into the genre, we’ve seen countless subversions and deconstructions of the story. But at its core, the superhero myth is about using the gifts you’ve been given to enrich the people around you, never asking for payment, never advancing an ulterior motive. We should (and do) spend time nitpicking these fantasies, examining their unintended consequences, their hypocrisies. But it’s worth acknowledging that the most eduring childhood fantasy of the last hundred years hasn’t been to become rich. Superheroes come from every class (don’t let the MCU fool you). The most enduring fantasy is to become powerful enough to take the weak under your own wing. To give, without needing to take. So yes, the superhero myth, as a text, isn’t collectivist. But that’s not why we keep coming back to it. That’s not why children read it. We keep coming back to it to learn one simple lesson… The best thing we can do with power IS GIVE IT AWAY." - Joey deVilla, 2021 https://www.joeydevilla.com/2021/07/04/happy-independence-day-superhero-style/

[generallemarc]

Kids don't want to be Batman because he's rich, they want to be him because he's got tons of cool gadgets he invented himself, is a badass martial artist, is a genius on par with Lex Luthor, and uses all this to be on the same level as Superman despite having zero actual superpowers. They see the little boy who lost both his parents, decided nobody else should ever have to live through that, and want to be like that.

Kids don't want to be Superman because he's superior to humans(he isn't, that's always been a core part of his character that he rejects that outlook and it's always just Lex projecting his view of Superman onto Superman himself), they wanna be able to deflect bullets and shoot lasers from their eyes because Superman uses all that to show the best side of humanity, to show how humanity isn't even tied to actually being human but to how you act towards other people.