#khita

[mitsunerokuyari]

Eyes of Light

A highlander man awaited in the lobby of the Top Mast. The man had a well kept beard with braids within and his hair was black ending also braided in a ponytail. His clothese were modest, almost appearing as a small market merchant trying to find his way. He closed his eyes and leaned back into the comfortable fabric of the couch. He heard the door open once more letting in the salty sea air of The Mist and opened his eyes to see if it was the one he was looking for. It wasn't the exact person he was searching for but he knew she was associated with him. He did a slight bow before holding out his hand, "Miss Yhoknu. I am Siggurd Kantor."

Kihta was rummaging within her satchel as she entered the lobby, searching for her keys as she bit down on an envelope tucked between her teeth. Not quite expecting any greeting from anyone other than the caretakers at the desk, Kihta stopped her rummaging and grabbed for her envelope, tucking it within her bag with a curious quirk of a dark brow. She did not recognize the man standing before her, though politely extended her hand in return in proper greeting, "H...Hello. I'm sorry, Siggurd, you say? I'm sorry, I ... I don't think I was expecting anyone!"

The man shook her hand in his strong grip and smiled politely before putting it back to his side, "I am Mitsune's father. I'm not sure if he ever spoke to you about myself but I was in the area and just wondering how my boy was doing. Before you ask how I'm his father I adopted him when he was young." He chuckled slightly if she was wondering how in fact he was the Au Ra's father.

Kihta blinked at the man. He had taken the inquiry right out of her mouth. For a few moments in passing silence, Kihta finally snapped out of her surprise, and smiled, "By the Twelve, you're Mitsune's father?" She chirped, rubbing the back of her head in her awkward state. "He never mentioned he would be expecting you. Oh gods, and I'm afraid he's out on business at the moment."

He sighed with a frown and nodded, "Well he might not mention because when he was younger I always tried my best to prepare him for the world. The poor boy has had a hard life growing up after losing his real family and the orphanage was full of children. I felt sorry for the boy as he didn't really fit in with the Hyur children so I took him in my stead. We had some troubled times but I am glad he is doing well for himself." Siggurd pulled free a small sealed evelope from his hand and held it out for her, "I need to give him this before I"m off. Please see to it that he does, miss."

"Yes, of course," she smiled politely, albeit sadly at the mention of Mitsune's past. It was a tale she knew so very little of. Accepting the envelope, Kihta frowned, "I would invite you up for some refreshments, but I'm afraid I'm in and out myself today. I do hope you will accept my most sincere apologies." The Miqo'te bowed her head towards him, "Perhaps we might be able to arrange a proper visit in the near future."

Siggurd smiled and nodded once more, "That is no issue miss. I'll have to visit you two sometime soon. I have been a little busy myself and just wanted to check in on him. You have a good evening youself, miss Yhoknu." With that he gave a bow once more and walked from the Top Mast with a wave.

Kihta turned slightly to watch the man leave, curiosity continuing to grow all the more. Once he was out the door, she turned and looked at the envelope, flipping it over in her hands a couple of times before sliding it into her bag.

It was about half an hour since Siggurd's departure from speaking with Khita. Mitsune was finally home from his assignment within Thanalan. He opened the door and smiled weakly to his love, being tired from his recent contract, "Hello, love." He started to unstrap and pull off the armor plates, letting them drop from the floor.

Kihta grinned the moment she heard the door handle move from the other room, hurrying to slip her shirt on over her damp head of hair. She had just taken a nice warm bath in her preparation to visit the Jeweled Cypress later that evening and wanted to look nice amid the long, tiring day she also had within Limsa Lominsa's market proper. Rushing to greet her lover, Kihta threw her arms around his waist and beamed, "I am so happy you've come back early! I would have said something over the link pearl, but I wanted to surprise you with something."

Mitsune beamed as she ran up to him and threw her arms around him. He held her up and kissed her before putting her back on her feet. WIth a grin in returned the curiosity, "Oh, what do you have for me?"

Moving to a nearby table where the two usually kept any important documents, mail and the like - Kihta chirped happily and plucked up the envelope Siggurd had given her earlier that day. Turning back to Mitsune, she quickly neared him once more and held it out for him, bouncing on her toes in curiosity, "Your father dropped this off for you today. He seemed quite nice!"

Mitsune's smile quickly faded into a worried frown. He let go of her and looked to her eyes. It was if some dark spirit reached up and shook him back into reality momentarily, "Did you just say Siggurd was here?" He forgot to breathe momentarily and caught his breath. He tilted his head to the side before looking out the window to see if anyone was spying on him. Mitsune grabbed the letter quickly, looking to the blood red seal and his eyes widened. He pulled open the wax and pulled out a letter and read over it in his mind.

The eyes of judgment have fallen upon you.

Kihta's smile also faded quickly, noticing Mitsune's quick change in demeanor. Worried, she briefly placed a hand on his arm and sighed, "I did. Yes. What ever is the matter?"

Mitsune's eyes widened and he started to put his armor right back on quickly, "Khita, grab everything you need. We need to leave and we need to leave now."

Kihta's eyes grew large like dinner plates, eyeballing him with a touch of fear, "Mitsune? What's going on?" She didn't move right away, waiting for an answer to the madness that started to spiral around them. "You're scaring me."

He stopped a moment and gave her the letter before staring to her eyes, "I don't know when he will be back here but he will not be alone. We need to leave now. We don't have time to get everything just get what you must!"

"So he's not your father then?" She inquired, looking around the apartment sadly. Grabbing up what she could, including her weaponry and a couple changes of clothes, Kihta shook her head and looked at the letter, "Why don't we alert Priae and the others? Surely this is something they can help us with. The eyes of judgement have fallen upon you? What does that even mean?"'

It was if Mitsune stopped putting his things together and looked over to her. He shouted to her but he was not mad at her, "They are coming for me. They are cult who hunts down any kind of dark magic users and voidsent. We need to go and we need to leave now! There is no more time!"

Grabbing a few more items, Kihta nodded quietly and frowned. Just how long would they need to disappear? Forever? She was so happy here, but knew it wouldn't be as happy as it was without Mitsune around. When she had finally gathered what she could - Kihta finished with two satchels, her bow, and two ornate chakrams she had only recently been gifted by the troupe moving through Limsa Lominsa. How would she continue with them? She was learning so well! "I'm with you, Mits. Just as I always have been and always will be," her voice was calm as she neared him. "Can we at least send word back to the others once we get to wherever we are going?"

"Then write something down quickly! We're getting on a ship and departing for Kugane. I don't think they will find us there." He calmed down only for a moment and frowned sadly to her, "We will return, Khita. I promise you."

"Let us just worry about getting out of here first. Twelve, Mits, you look like you've seen a ghost," she looked to him worriedly and sighed. "I will send post to Koh'li when we arrive at Kugane then. I trust him with getting a message to us."

Mitsune nodded to her, finishing up packing his essentials, weapons, and armor. He frowned as he held her close in his arms to take a moment to breath from all of the chaos and panic quickly racing to him. He breathed a few times before looking into her eyes, "Then lets be off."

[bryanthelion]

Powers That Should Totally be in Overwatch

Powers That Should Totally be in Overwatch

If you follow as many Overwatch fan channels as I do, you are likely to be inundated with notifications about art-students and freelancers alike designing their own concepts of possible Overwatch desig

ns and kits. Here are some individual powers I think would make interesting additions to kits mostly inspired by abilities from characters in different mobas.

Position swapping

This ability is…

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[mitsunerokuyari]

Avaricious

"You can't stay here, Mitsune."

Mitsune was once again back within his own mind and the darkness was there to greet him once more. They stood, back to back in the blackened void.

"You know as well as I do it won't end how you want it to."

Mitsune narrowed his eyes and spoke to the apparition within his mind, "Oh, and how will it end?"

"You will be betrayed, she will abandon you, and she will bring you ruin. These things you call friends do this to you. Yet, you still persist. Why must you torture us?"

Mitsune looked up momentarily and smiled to the darkness, "You don't understand  do you? You can't just shut us off to the world and pretend the shadows will save us. We will go mad with rage and bloodlust and that will turn us into monsters."

The darkness shook his head as if he pitied Mitsune, "If you don't leave her for us, do it for her. Your enemies are going to find you and they will hurt anyone who you have associated with. They will use them against you and hurt them."

The thought of Kihta being harmed sickened his stomach. But he knew she was also being hunted for something beyond her control. "Listen to yourself. We defend those who cannot defend themselves. Dark knights are the righteous blades to destroy evil wherever it is and with whatever means we can find. You're a coward trying to save your own hide. Did you ever think they might have enemies as well?"

It was angered by Mitsune's words, "You're acting selfish and delusional. You chose a dark path you knew was going to be bloody and destructive yet you still gladly signed in blood. Friends are not a luxury we can afford. You’re only going to get them hurt or worse. Mitsune, heed my words."

Mitsune spoke after opening his eyes, staring to the ceiling, "Friends are the only thing that can save us."

[xhaiku]

[foalofthewind]

Gender in Khita

The functioning of Khitan society is heavily based on their conceptions of gender, which dictate the social roles and responsibilities of an individual and serve to uphold its matriarchal structure. These conceptions are related to anatomical sex, but are separate to Khitan views of sexuality.

Three genders are recognised:

1) The ‘intellectual’ gender - Comprised of cis women. These individuals hold political power and make all decisions. They are the only parent formally recognised by a child, as evidenced by the matronymic naming system, and only their offspring of the same gender can legally inherit land/titles/money. Women are viewed as the most ‘cerebral’ gender, in that their emotion/passion is channelled towards the intellectual (rather than the physical or spiritual), and hence are the ‘default’ gender. The first people to inhabit the world were thought to be women. Gods and spirits associated with women, and to whom women pray, are those representative of order, creation and knowledge. Traditional clothing tends to be fairly simple and modest - the skin that is shown is not viewed sexually, and is simply a matter of physical convenience. All positions of power that are not religious are held exclusively by women.

2) The ‘emotional’ gender - Comprised of cis men. These individuals hold power only in relation to women, and are associated with instinctual, primal living. Thus, men are viewed as fundamentally emotional, aggressive, and sexual, and are valued for their contributions to the arts (particularly dance and story-telling - theatre is almost entirely male), historiography, warfare, and hunting/land management. Their spiritual realm consists of gods/spirits associated with such areas. However, they are seen as too impulsive and irrational to hold positions or make decisions that are independent to the other genders. They live heavily ritualised and communal lives with little control over their future, and have no official parental role as they are viewed as concubines of women (although it is common for fathers to interact with their offspring). They are expected to submit personal goals/desires to their assigned social role and craft. The traditional dress of men is highly decorative, promiscuous, and prioritises physique, and also involves specific application of facial/body cosmetics. 

3) The ‘celestial’ gender - Comprised of two types of individuals - those who possess a strong affinity towards the gender role not assigned to them according to physical sex, and those who possess intersex features. The former are thought to have received direct access to the spiritual world, which has allowed them to transcend the defined sex-gender association. This access can be granted at any age, and destines the individual for a rigorous spiritual journey involving defined periods of living as both genders, and without gender. This is combined with the learning of sacred knowledge and skills to refine their spiritual access. Such individuals make up the religious class of Khitan society. The journey is long and few individuals complete the full cycle, however this is expected and forms the basis of the religious hierarchy. Traditional dress is dependent on their status and journey-stage, and includes both female and male elements. They are the only gender able to hold power apart from women. 

In contrast, intersex individuals are viewed as entirely holy - the mortal vessels/aspects of true spirits, possessed of a deep connection to the natural world of the region they are born in. Their lives are highly variable, with some individuals living almost-normally as whichever gender (or none) they choose, and others existing as hermits in the wild or sacred beings within dedicated temples. They are thought to be the only individuals capable of truly navigating/interpreting the future, and thus all soothsaying or predictive roles are held by them. Hence, some extremely important government positions are occupied by this class of the celestial gender. 

Note: The social roles of the third gender were inspired by the conceptions of gender amongst the Bugis, an ethnic group native to South Sulawesi. 

[foalofthewind]

The Archipelago

Rough idea for a fantasy world based on the Indonesian Archipelago, i.e. A collection of extremely diverse ethnic/cultural groups inhabiting a string of tropical islands. Each island is home to several groups, which may either be dominated by a single majority group, or contain several minority groups living semi-harmoniously. The islands are connected by a long history of trade, warfare, and migration, created a an ever-shifting map of alliances between the various factions who currently hold power. These may be headed by monarchs whose royal lineage is traced directly from the gods, or by merchant councils seeking favourable winds and new markets, or by warlords, shamans, or complicated networks of tribal leaders. The political landscape of the Archipelago is thus dynamic, complex, and unpredictable. Despite their history of interaction, the islanders view themselves as distinct peoples, rather than constituents of a greater nation. This may be unsurprising, given the variety of their cultural interpretations regarding politics, religion, spirituality, social structure, economics, nationality, family, gender, and sexuality. 

The largest island is known as Khita, and is currently ruled by the Khitanese - a highly sophisticated ethno-cultural group characterised by its emphasis on formality and hierarchy. Khitan society is matriarchal, in that only women hold positions of power and can pass power down to their female offspring, and its well-defined gender roles are key to Khitan societal structure and Khitan political dominance in the region. 

[breenlala]

Duality of Cat

[tamucha]