#guest answer

[temixart]

Ooohh So now it's official that Artemis and Doros are dating? I just thought it was one of those, they like each other alot but refuse to tell the other cause insecurity feelings. relationships. Granted most of those relationships don't have the two fucking like horned up rabbits who got into a bottle of viagra. But I just can't see wither of them being able to tell the other how they really feel unless they're LOADED or in the fits of passion.

[ask-yanderemiku]

🎀🐳 (Is it okay to ask for both?)

Even if you’ve never met them before, they seem familiar.

[scriptmyth]

I know you may have gotten this before or get this a lot anyway but how hard is it to create a myth/new religion/god(s)? What is the basis for a religion with mythical beasts and the like? I'm trying to write a story centered around a fictional small religion and am kind of confused when referencing other small religions. Thanks for running this blog btw! It's been an extremely helpful reference~! <3

Hello Nonnie, 

Our answer for this one is courtesy of Dave, a writer and a friend of one of our chorus members:

I’m going to give you an answer that sounds like a complete and utter cop-out, and it sort of is but bear with me. It Depends. And it does. It depends on quite a few things. But it mainly depends on how…let’s say “realistic” you want this religion or mythology to be.

What you can do is just toss out ideas and string them together: the names of gods, what they’re the gods of, whether or not a particular god is a complete dick or not. Boom. Easy. Simple. Boring. Bland. You want to make a fictitious religion or mythology that isn’t that? You’re going to need to ask yourself a few questions.

The first question is “what is the purpose of this mythology?” Back when I was in college (just over a year ago, now; how time flies), I took an elective my final semester: the Anthropology of Religion. It was not quite what I was expecting (I was hoping for more discussion on world religions, an analysis of their tenets and how they relate to the modern world, that sort of thing), but I still found it fascinating. And the one thing that I really took away from it was what the purpose of religion is, anthropologically-speaking: religions exist to make sense of a world that probably doesn’t have any sense to it. That is the purpose of religion, in broad strokes: making a crazy world a little more sane.

But I’m rambling.

I’m not talking about why this mythology exists in-context; when you ask yourself “what is the purpose of this mythology,” you need to think about the meta-context, the context you’ll be using it in. Is it for your tumblr roleplay blog? Are you writing a novel? Coming up with a setting for your D&D campaign you DM on Saturday nights? The reason you’re creating this mythology is going to, in part, determine how much detail (and thusly how much work) you need to put into it. Let’s look at each of the possibilities I mentioned above.

Let’s say you’re creating a tumblr roleplay blog for a character who is, oh… a generic fantasy dwarf. Short, taciturn, unhealthy lust for gold and gems, The Beard, whole nine yards; you want to detail your dwarf’s religious beliefs. In this case, broad strokes might be best; there’s little need to sit down and write out the entire mythology beyond the most general details, at least at first. In this case, you’d have the luxury of time, and you can expand on your basic foundation as you roleplay, adding new elements as time goes on.

If you’re DMing a D&D campaign, you might need to do a little more work. Here, detailing each god in a pantheon and their relationships to each other (and deities outside of that pantheon) are probably more important than in the prior example. You might want to detail the more temporal side of things: how religious rites and ceremonies are conducted, church hierarchies, etc. You still don’t need to write an entire holy text yourself (unless that’s your thing; more power to you if it is), but you should keep in mind that while the broad strokes are fine at first, your players WILL want to know more details, especially if they happen to have a character who is a cleric or a paladin or otherwise has important and deeply-held religious beliefs. I speak from experience here. Luckily, you can get your players to do some of the work for you. Have them make up details, scripture, customs, etc. They’ll get more invested in their character, in your campaign, and in your world.

But suppose you’re an aspiring novelist trying to crank out a best-selling fantasy novel about dwarves and their gods. Well, this is where you really have your work cut out for you. Broad strokes may work best at first, but like the players of a D&D campaign, your readers will want to know more, and unlike in a D&D campaign you can’t get them to fill in the blanks for you. You’re going to need to do all the explaining, all of the details, all of the work here.

The next question you should consider is that of your setting. What sort of world are you creating this mythology for? If it’s a fantasy setting, chances are you’re going to want a detailed mythology as religion is a prominent element of many fantasy settings (even the lower-fantasy ones; look at how important religion is the George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire”).

Is it Earth, perhaps a modern-fantasy setting akin to “The Dresden Files” or “American Gods”? You may want to be careful with creating a new mythology with a setting like that, as you’ll have to account for why all these other religious beliefs are (presumably) false and yours is (presumably) correct (unless they’re ALL true, but that’s a different matter entirely). Not to mention you have to consider why your mythology is (probably) not the dominant one on Earth.

Is it a science-fiction setting? That seems like a curious choice, but consider Frank Herbert’s “Dune”. It is, at its heart, a sci-fi epic, and religion plays a major part in it. Indeed, I would say that “Dune” is probably the best example as to how to write a believable fictional religion.

The setting you’re writing a mythology for and the purpose behind your creation of this mythology are both important factors that decide the level of detail you’re going to want to use. And you get these details by adding myths to that mythology. Mythologies are made up of myths. Crazy, right? And all myths really are, are stories. Lemminkäinen drowning in the river of Tuonela. God parting the Red Sea so the children of Israel could cross it. Zeus turning himself into a swan and seducing Leda (as a swan; I swear I’m not making this up). That one time that Mjölnir was stolen by the giant Þrymr, so Thor had to disguise himself as Freyja to recover it and almost married Þrymr (I’m not making this up either). Brahma beginning in nothingness and, by thought alone, creating waters, into which he deposited his semen, which created a golden egg which Brahma was born from (This one takes the freakin’ cake).

Myths are stories that explain the world from a culture’s viewpoint, stories that explain a culture’s customs and beliefs. Consider the Þrymskviða, that aforementioned story about Thor crossdressing and reclaiming his stolen hammer. It reveals that Norse culture was violent (the story ends with Thor getting his hands on Mjölnir and killing Þrymr and everyone else at the wedding), their sense of humor (nobody realizes that “Freyja” is obviously a man), their value of community and cooperation (the entire plan is Loki’s idea in the first place and his continued aid is the only thing that allows it to succeed) and the Norse idea of justice (Þrymr stole Mjölnir, so he has to die). It is not enough to simply know that two gods in a pantheon hate each other; there has to be a reason why, a reason that reveals something about the people who believe this mythology to be true.

This is a fairly nuanced and intricate topic, but that’s the long and short of it. Is it hard to create a mythology? Not particularly, really. But creating one that is believable, one that makes sense no matter how outlandish or bizarre it might be? That takes thought and effort. Like so many other things in life, what you get out of such a project is what you put into it.

But hey, that’s just my opinion.

-Super Special Guest Dave

[ask-pastelpunk]

Any baby pictures?

Eren: Here, we pulled these out of some old albums!

((last guest answer! Thank it was fun! :D))

[ask-yanderemiku]

🐳 for that parent meme lemme see that Miku papa 👀

They’ll probably be more conversational with people they know.

You can continue to send symbols to ask for them.

[ask-yanderemiku]

🎀 "Is there anything I can help with, since I'm here?"

[temixart]

What is Doros's favourite hot drink, alcoholic drink and soda?

“When you’re mostly technically unemployed and don’t have many friends you have a lot of time to settle into your habits.  I’m a big fan of black tea with milk and sugar.  Usually the robust, blended Breakfast teas, though my older sister keeps trying to get me to drink green teas.  She’s also into yoga though.”

“My poison of choice at night is whiskey.  Usually an Irish whiskey like Bushmills or Tullamore Dew.  My friend bought me a bottle of Redbreast that’s older than my girlfriend…I don’t remember what happened to it, actually.  That same friend also likes to get me wasted off of some old family recipe that smells tastes like cherries and sadness and goes down like a wildfire.”

“Bubbly stuff I go with cream soda.  Make of that what you will.“

[ask-yanderemiku]

🎀 How would you rate your cooking?