#imaginary worlds

[abrighterspark]

in my imagination, i am seated criss-crossed in the depths... layers of silken satin blue flowing overhead

in my dream, i am sinking inside of myself the cello-echo strings resounding a mirror, turned to melt

i am settled, now shadows drip-dripping from my hands i am solid, now a stone weighted to the sand

[thoughtportal]

Episode 296: Sinners Gives Hoodoo Its Due — Imaginary Worlds

Sinners got a historic 16 Academy Award nominations, which was remarkable for a film with vampires. But the film is also a rich exploration

Sinners got a historic 16 Academy Award nominations, which was remarkable for a film with vampires. But the film is also a rich exploration of race, religion, culture and music in 1930s Mississippi. Professor Yvonne Chireau played a key role behind the scenes. She’s a historian of the spiritual tradition of hoodoo. Since hoodoo and voodoo have long been reduced to horror tropes, she was brought on as a consultant. She also worked with actress Wunmi Mosaku, who earned an Academy Award nomination for playing the character Annie, a conjure practitioner in the story. I also talk with Professor Kinitra Brooks, who is writing a book on conjure women. She explains why Annie’s wisdom, bravery and romance felt validating for her – partly because Kinitra’s great-grandmother was a conjure woman.   

[lingthusiasm]

Bonus 101: Why sci-fi gestures live long and prosper - Crossover with Imaginary Worlds | Lingthusiasm

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Bonus 101: Why sci-fi gestures live long and prosper - Crossover with Imaginary Worlds

If you're inventing a new world, why not invent a new gesture to go with it?

In this episode, Lauren gets enthusiastic about fictional gestures with Eric Molinsky, host of Imaginary Worlds, a podcast about sci-fi, fantasy and other genres of speculative fiction. We talk about the Vulcan salute from Star Trek, the Wakanda Forever salute from Black Panther, and the three-finger Hunger Games salute, and how all three have crossed over with additional symbolism into the real world. We also talk about gestures that have crossed over in the other direction, from the real-world origins of the Vulcan salute in a Jewish blessing, the two-finger blessing in the Foundation tv series from classical Latin and Greek oratory via Christian traditions, as well as religious gesture in the Penric and Desdemona series, smiles and shrugs in A Memory Called Empire, and more.

Listen to this episode about fictional gestures, and get access to many more bonus episodes by supporting Lingthusiasm on Patreon.

[thelaurenshippen]

genuinely had SUCH a good time going on imaginary worlds - I talked in depth about a lot of stuff I haven't talked about that much and it was so fun!

[forgottenlunarium]

Quick one hour sketch of a newly discovered locale in our Pathfinder campaign- the Screaming Dunes!

Far below the golden lands of Aurínellir, within the dream-tangled morass of the Deep Abyss, the Screaming Dunes lie at the heart of the Realm of Dust. Taking up the entirety of a single titanic cavern, dunes of arcane sand slowly churn like waves at sea, whipped along by hurricane force winds. Sandstorms- fast enough to shred steel and flense flesh from bone- roil in predictable patterns through the cavern, each successive storm changing the dunes forever. However, life in the Abyss is nothing if not adaptable. The aethapirs, masters of engineering and light magic, have forged aetheric flotillas of light-powered ships, sailing above the blazing heats of the sands, forever evading the storms. Though these fleets often fall prey to monstrous wyverns which nest in the gloom of the cavern's roof, the aethapirs see such adversity as nothing less than a divine challenge- to survive in a place as inhospitable as the Screaming Dunes is to find spiritual peace. The Fire Trolls, formed from the volcanic blood of Firequeen Volsfyrsamar, have also found a home in the dunes, hunting the titanic beasts that dwell beneath the sands. In Fire Troll culture, after all, an individual's value is measured in the trophies of the beasts the individual has hunted- and so it is that glory hunters flock to hunt the deadly sand sharks and bore worms of the Dunes. Rumours abound that something more than mere sword-toothed monsters dwell beneath the sand. Fleeting sightings of stoneworks spotted in the shadowed nadirs of the tallest dunes arouse curiosity across the Abyss, as storytellers speak of forgotten vestiges of an era of light and abundance. Even now, in this time of prophecy, there are many who brave the Dunes in search of fabled treasure, heeding not the warnings of the skybound aethapirs- to disturb what lies beneath the sands is to invite doom on all...

[darkmagica-0]

[random-thought-depository]

The description of this piece by @o-craven-canto does a wonderful job creating an evocative atmosphere.

It's set in an imaginary version of early Tertiary Antarctica, but when I first read it I didn't know that and I thought it was set in an alternate Mesozoic where a sapient dinosaur species evolved and Kulla-Tag was the giant desert in the middle of Pangaea.