- Location
- Peterborough, NH, USA
Fortuna. Or, well, a distorted version of the Tarot World we've got.
The God Diversion
- Thread starter Birdsie
- Start date
- Original
Fortuna. Or, well, a distorted version of the Tarot World we've got.
- Location
- not doing my homework
- Pronouns
- He/They
Just to throw my 2 cents (0.000057 cents in USD) I think the best choice would probably be Swords - I am a firm believer in the narrative of turning one's apparent weaknesses into strengths, rather then 'excising' a 'flaw'. There is one fundamental truth about Solomon Lancaster, at least as I see it: he is a man of logic and reason. Recall a few Notable Events ago when Sol explicitly rejected parts of his judgement based on aesthetic value. Further, we have Word of God that Sol is a practical aromantic (in that his understanding of what other people think when they 'desire' him makes it impossible for him to 'desire' them back) - further, he has trouble actively making social connections with others.
Why do I mention this? Because I want to make a few points clear. Point the first - I do not disagree with the first claim, that Specialty | Cups would be a good choice. Far from it! The options it creates for Sol are great, of that there is no doubt (who doesn't like a good Polymorph spell?), and there are notable benefits to taking it.
But point the second - it doesn't really fit Sol's character.
I am a firm believer in story over math (not to say that either is bad [i love dice statistics] nor to claim that the good Fghubyygvb is wrong about their own interpretation). To me, Sol is someone who chaffs at the norm because he can directly perceive the norm's outcomes. He uses shortcuts with people, doesn't really have an emotional connection his age, and is generally non-social. I will be frank and say that doing so (or the opposite) is not an actually bad thing in a vacuum - I frequently eschew human contact in favor of any number of things myself. What I mean is that it would be healthier for Sol to grow in a direction he is comfortable in. I do not think that Cups is suited to our characteristics. Sol's mechanical characteristics, maybe - but in terms of personality no.
Returning to my earlier point about turning a weakness into a strength, I think that would be the most interesting arc for Sol - one of healthy self-betterment. Not changing himself to better suit social norms (/actually get us willpower) but to use the power of Reason to its limits - and even further beyond.
Swords offers many things - increased cognition, more offensive options, command over the electromagnetic spectrum (
Anyways this has been SMBlade's analysis corner. Next time... essays?
Healthy self-improvement can also be in accepting that changes are inevitable and that a person is not a lonely tower closed from all influences, eternal and unchangeable, ready to collapse but not to change his ideals.
So the path of self-improvement of the chalice does not seem to me to be something that is worse than the others.
Shard
One and Many
- Location
- Malaysia
On the CYOA itself, it seems really bulky. And messy. It could really use a lot of trimming down.
Now, as for what I would pick.. well, having to sift through the power lists isn't very fun.. Though I immediately have to ask, does Martyr work with Last Breath? I'll assume we can't avoid Martyr's Drawback in any case. Do different abilities that do the same thing synergize or overlap?
Drawback: Jealous Font (2 Major Arcane Study, 6 Lesser Arcane Studies, and 10 Minor Arcane Studies)
[Minor] Arcane Font: Clubs. Representative of harmony and tranquility.
-[Minor] Last Breath. If you would otherwise die, you survive the attack, though on the verge of death. This only functions if you are not already on the verge of death.
[Lesser] Arcane Font: Diamonds. Representative of curiosity and wonder.
-[Lesser] Crazy Prepared. If you spend an extended time planning(usually an hour), you can simply declare that you've prepared for a tactic or trump card, countering it. You may also do this once per battle for 'free'.
-[Lesser] Healing Water. Water may be used to heal. Physical afflictions are easiest, but mental and even spiritual ones may be lifted with effort.
[Minor] Arcane Font: Spades. Laughter.
-[Minor] Butterfly Wings. You may alter probability to allow your actions up to this point to modestly aid you, even if they were seemingly unrelated. Many smaller actions tend to have more effect than a singular larger one.
[Minor] Arcane Font: Swords. Representative of love.
-[Minor] Pyromancy. Behold the flames of passion! Gain control of flames, up to and including IFF.
[Lesser] Arcane Font: Tears. Representative of depression and resolve.
-[Lesser] Power Leech. May drain energy from your surroundings, be it in general or a specific source like a mystical artifact. Enemy mages count.
-[Lesser] Bad Luck. You may curse others with misfortune. Even extremely unlikely things may occur to stymie the target.
[Lesser] Arcane Font: Storms. Rage and hatred.
-[Lesser] Payback. Any harm you receive in battle is also dealt to your opponent. Social attacks are responded to similarly.
-[Lesser] The Madder I Get. Damage, physical, mental, or spiritual, increases your strength, so long as it lingers. Meaning, you're at your strongest at the brink of defeat.
[Minor] Arcane Font: Mirrors. Selfishness and solipsism.
-[Minor] Photokinesis. You control light, and may generate it at will.
[Minor] Arcane Font: Cups. Representative of self-discovery and enlightenment.
-[Minor] Metamagic. Manipulation of the bounds of your and other's magic, improving it by half a step if your are involved.
Honestly speaking as powerful as Multiple Builds is, I'm just not going to make an entire second build, this CYOA is bulky enough as it is. I already took the 'double fonts' option, after all.
[Lesser] Arcane Font: Wands. Representative of humility and determination.
-[Lesser] Hard Work Works. Tasks are made generally easier.
-[Lesser] Fit As A Fiddle. Your physical attributes are improved one conceptual step.
[Major] Arcane Font: Pentacles. Contemplation and judgement.
-[ ] Destiny. You may designate that something will happen, and how it will happen, granting bonuses to efforts to fulfill this prophecy, and penalties to attempting to prevent it.
-[ ] Foresaw That. Poor outcomes in general are partially safeguarded against.
-[ ] Temporal Flux. You may extend the duration of a spell, or see into the past or future, though the greater the 'distance' the more difficult this becomes.
-[ ] Try Again. You may retry a given event you are participating in, or go back to meddle in a past event. You may only do this once per event(a conversation and a battle that conversation is happening during are considered separate events for this purpose), in order to avoid too many versions of yourself, though different events happening simultaneously are fair game.
Chronomancy/Fate? Need that.
[Minor] Arcane Font: Poppies. Ecstasy and nihilism.
-[Minor] Beneath Notice. Entities which would normally be hostile to you will find themselves forgetting about you for more pressing matters, if they notice you at all.
[Minor] Arcane Font: Stars. Representative of desire and fear.
-[Minor] Star Power. You can draw power from starlight. This works better with the night sky than the Sun's singular light.
[Minor] Arcane Font: Brass. The font of self-expression and honesty.
-[Minor] I Am Me. Everyone else is taken. Attacks on your being are weakened one half-step. Attempts to possess you or overwrite your existence in some fashion are weakened a full step.
[Lesser] Arcane Font: Humanity. The font of dynamism and advancement.
-[Lesser] Mundane. If it is better, you are considered non-magical. This allows you to ignore magic nullifiers.
-[Lesser] Untainted. Corrupting influences, be they mundane or mystical, are degraded one half-step when attempting to find purchase on you.
[Minor] Arcane Font: Crosses. Representative of faith and empathy.
-[Minor] Healing Hands. You can easily bring people from the brink of death to full health. This can also revert superpowered evil sides and the like.
[Lesser] Arcane Font: Constellations. Representative of courage and patience.
-[Lesser] Astral Chart. You always know where you are, the stars tell you, whether you can see them or not.
-[Lesser] Thinking Up Portals. You can make portals between locations at will.
[Minor] Arcane Font: Dice. Flexibility and audacity.
-[Minor] Opportunity Knocks. You have a strong intuition for when 'pulling on a string' will lead to something useful, or at least interesting.
[Major] Arcane Font: Laurels. Ambition and inspiration.
-[ ] No Cheating. You may prevent magic from being used in competitions. This applies to you as well, of course.
-[ ] Exemplars. Your example is supernaturally inspiring. You may not find yourself leading an army of soldiers, but rather an army of heroes.
-[ ] Inevitable Victory. Or at least, your victory in any given endeavor is more likely. This doesn't prevent pyrrhic victories, but it does hedge against outright losses.
-[ ] Contender. From the opposite end, this ensures that there's always a chance of victory, even if it ought to be hopeless.
[Minor] Arcane Font: Clubs. Representative of harmony and tranquility.
-[Minor] Last Breath. If you would otherwise die, you survive the attack, though on the verge of death. This only functions if you are not already on the verge of death.
[Lesser] Arcane Font: Diamonds. Representative of curiosity and wonder.
-[Lesser] Crazy Prepared. If you spend an extended time planning(usually an hour), you can simply declare that you've prepared for a tactic or trump card, countering it. You may also do this once per battle for 'free'.
-[Lesser] Healing Water. Water may be used to heal. Physical afflictions are easiest, but mental and even spiritual ones may be lifted with effort.
[Minor] Arcane Font: Spades. Laughter.
-[Minor] Butterfly Wings. You may alter probability to allow your actions up to this point to modestly aid you, even if they were seemingly unrelated. Many smaller actions tend to have more effect than a singular larger one.
[Minor] Arcane Font: Swords. Representative of love.
-[Minor] Pyromancy. Behold the flames of passion! Gain control of flames, up to and including IFF.
[Lesser] Arcane Font: Tears. Representative of depression and resolve.
-[Lesser] Power Leech. May drain energy from your surroundings, be it in general or a specific source like a mystical artifact. Enemy mages count.
-[Lesser] Bad Luck. You may curse others with misfortune. Even extremely unlikely things may occur to stymie the target.
[Lesser] Arcane Font: Storms. Rage and hatred.
-[Lesser] Payback. Any harm you receive in battle is also dealt to your opponent. Social attacks are responded to similarly.
-[Lesser] The Madder I Get. Damage, physical, mental, or spiritual, increases your strength, so long as it lingers. Meaning, you're at your strongest at the brink of defeat.
[Minor] Arcane Font: Mirrors. Selfishness and solipsism.
-[Minor] Photokinesis. You control light, and may generate it at will.
[Minor] Arcane Font: Cups. Representative of self-discovery and enlightenment.
-[Minor] Metamagic. Manipulation of the bounds of your and other's magic, improving it by half a step if your are involved.
Honestly speaking as powerful as Multiple Builds is, I'm just not going to make an entire second build, this CYOA is bulky enough as it is. I already took the 'double fonts' option, after all.
[Lesser] Arcane Font: Wands. Representative of humility and determination.
-[Lesser] Hard Work Works. Tasks are made generally easier.
-[Lesser] Fit As A Fiddle. Your physical attributes are improved one conceptual step.
[Major] Arcane Font: Pentacles. Contemplation and judgement.
-[ ] Destiny. You may designate that something will happen, and how it will happen, granting bonuses to efforts to fulfill this prophecy, and penalties to attempting to prevent it.
-[ ] Foresaw That. Poor outcomes in general are partially safeguarded against.
-[ ] Temporal Flux. You may extend the duration of a spell, or see into the past or future, though the greater the 'distance' the more difficult this becomes.
-[ ] Try Again. You may retry a given event you are participating in, or go back to meddle in a past event. You may only do this once per event(a conversation and a battle that conversation is happening during are considered separate events for this purpose), in order to avoid too many versions of yourself, though different events happening simultaneously are fair game.
Chronomancy/Fate? Need that.
[Minor] Arcane Font: Poppies. Ecstasy and nihilism.
-[Minor] Beneath Notice. Entities which would normally be hostile to you will find themselves forgetting about you for more pressing matters, if they notice you at all.
[Minor] Arcane Font: Stars. Representative of desire and fear.
-[Minor] Star Power. You can draw power from starlight. This works better with the night sky than the Sun's singular light.
[Minor] Arcane Font: Brass. The font of self-expression and honesty.
-[Minor] I Am Me. Everyone else is taken. Attacks on your being are weakened one half-step. Attempts to possess you or overwrite your existence in some fashion are weakened a full step.
[Lesser] Arcane Font: Humanity. The font of dynamism and advancement.
-[Lesser] Mundane. If it is better, you are considered non-magical. This allows you to ignore magic nullifiers.
-[Lesser] Untainted. Corrupting influences, be they mundane or mystical, are degraded one half-step when attempting to find purchase on you.
[Minor] Arcane Font: Crosses. Representative of faith and empathy.
-[Minor] Healing Hands. You can easily bring people from the brink of death to full health. This can also revert superpowered evil sides and the like.
[Lesser] Arcane Font: Constellations. Representative of courage and patience.
-[Lesser] Astral Chart. You always know where you are, the stars tell you, whether you can see them or not.
-[Lesser] Thinking Up Portals. You can make portals between locations at will.
[Minor] Arcane Font: Dice. Flexibility and audacity.
-[Minor] Opportunity Knocks. You have a strong intuition for when 'pulling on a string' will lead to something useful, or at least interesting.
[Major] Arcane Font: Laurels. Ambition and inspiration.
-[ ] No Cheating. You may prevent magic from being used in competitions. This applies to you as well, of course.
-[ ] Exemplars. Your example is supernaturally inspiring. You may not find yourself leading an army of soldiers, but rather an army of heroes.
-[ ] Inevitable Victory. Or at least, your victory in any given endeavor is more likely. This doesn't prevent pyrrhic victories, but it does hedge against outright losses.
-[ ] Contender. From the opposite end, this ensures that there's always a chance of victory, even if it ought to be hopeless.
This build is about as safe as I can reasonably get, I think. I doubt it's optimal, but Jealous Font just seems really convenient for this CYOA? I could basically just pick whatever powers I wanted. There's a whole lotta synergies available just from sheer picks.
Last edited:
- Location
- washington
so who else is imagining the ones filling out the cyoas to be isekaid?
- Location
- 1
Ilbgar basically said that's what happens (using the meaning of isekai as 'portal fantasy' and not as 'hit by a truck, and then portal fantasy'), so.
- Location
- Peterborough, NH, USA
Last Breath lets you suvrive Martyr on the brink of death, yes. Great for Alpha Strikes, though you'll definitely want healing if you take it.
- Location
- washington
Birdsie
Sharp Talons Cleave The Worthy
- Location
- Poland
You're minimally over 8.5 at the moment.
- Location
- washington
Huh we only went up 1 sc even with the Cyoa and couple essays people wrote? I assumed at least one of those would be worth great essayism.
Well, the essayism is an in-character action. To Sol, we're just voices in the aether, throwing ideas to the wind in blind hope some of them stick.
- Location
- 1
Sure, but Birdsie did say he'd consider giving some levels of Essayism free if we wrote essays ourselves.
Of course, on the other hand he only said he'd consider it.
- Location
- washington
Uh yeah they did thousand words is an essay it was written like a page ago.
- Location
- 1
I did though
Darkness is at the heart of Gothic Horror. It is the ruined castles and abbeys, murky crypts and fungoid dungeons, clammy cellars, dank passages and stairwells echoing with howls, groans and tapping fingers, dripping charnel houses and ivy-clad monasteries. The fertile soil from which all mysteries sprout. In ancient walls where stone and ivy intertwine, the soaring towers crumble. The tearing down of the old, the unveiling by the rays of Truth from the Tower, the harbinger of darkness.
It is the secret cabinets, the raging storms. The bleak forests and treacherous marshes. Moonlit garden of apparitions stretches through the ruined halls, where spectral dancers glide in concert to the mistress Moon, queen of reflections and refractions. And deeper below, lie cells that ooze with long-suppressed humours, festering fungal fantasies conjured from piles of man's sublimated sins.
Here The Devil holds subterranean court for his bat-winged congregation, while supplicant souls wail blasphemous psalms. Through the lairs, whispered terrors that drip down stony walls and seep into one's very skull. Stairwells resound with an orchestra of shrieks that curdle the blood and reason in equal measure. Here hangs the Hanged Man amidst the charnel houses.
Only in the darkest shadows true enlightenment awaits, should one's taper of courage illuminate the darkness within. Where we may find our greatest truths. In the shadows the transitions between day and night blur. The Moon obscure the lines between reality from illusion, shrouding the world in its pale glow. The lonely winter nights entrenched with melancholy, a shadow cast over the soul.
Within these landscapes, the inner world harbors dread. Dark psyches mirror the outer gloom, paranoid and unhinged as those forewarned of the Tower's fall. Repressed emotions writhe and fester within, monstrous like Death's knell intimating life's end. As the Sun sinks below the horizon and the seasons change, external and internal forces coalesce into a tableau of horrors, where even illumination offers no solace.
The Night has drawn her darkness close, the mist her spreading shroud. No netherworldly or celestial ray can pierce this pall. It is the veil of the secrets of the High Priestess. A place where our deepest fears and desires manifest, and where the sacred and the profane intertwine.
Disruption, change and revelation of concealed truths.. Themes embodied by the Major Arcana of the Tarot as it guides one's journey through life's trials towards enlightenment. In Gothic tales as in the Tarot, darkness cradles mysteries that, once confronted, bring transformation. Darkness is also linked to the concept of the absurd, as the condition created by impotent minds seeking meaning in a meaningless universe.
Darkness and in its manifold are entrenched in the mystic arts. In Christianity it signifies the Devil's dominion defying the Logos embodied by our staid Hierophant - the forces of order and control, the world of reason, law, and tradition. The forces of chaos and disorder that threaten to overthrow the Logos, the raw, untamed power of nature and the human psyche.
The Kabbalah tells us in understanding darkness we come to comprehend the nature of divinity itself. The place where divinity itself first took shape, in the abyss anteceding all manifestation. And in the mirror of night reflected, we glimpse that which gestated before the first stirrings of creation.
In Hindu scriptures, darkness is aligned with Kal - Time, personified by the final arbiter, Death. Kaali, She who is Black. Persian doctrines liken it to Ahriman's deceits - the Lord of Lies, mirroring the murk of intent veiled by The Moon. In Islam, darkness is associated with both good and evil. It is a time for contemplation and prayer, but also a time when the Devil's temptation is strong. It is a time for rest and renewal, but it is also a time when secrets are revealed.
Darkness is the shadow realm of man, the receptacle of all things dreaded and disowned by consciousness. In Jungian psychoanalysis it is described as the repository of emotions that civilized and enlightened society shuns. The baser instincts, lack of clarity and order, the pervasive sense of fear and the fate of unrelieved sorrow. Surfacing in monstrous forms akin to those tempting from The Devil's hidden recesses. Fettered energies struggling for expression incubated, analogous to the chaotic forces drawn to light by the Tower's collapse.
The more hermetically such dark abysses are confined, the more potently their pressures proliferate - as if our encircling World resists. The darkness is a natural part of the order, and thus can never be completely suppressed. Try as we may, the pressure will build until it inevitably erupts. Like for Dr. Jekyll, Hyde was not denied. Though often dismissed as regressive, darkness cradles untapped potential, like the life-granting powers of the Empress when acknowledged on her terms.
Even where logic reigns and knowledge holds court, darker doctrines may dwell. It is illuminated ignorance. In the moonlit realm of the unconscious, phantasmagoric philosophies dance the primal passions - intuition and imagination, wisdom that is beyond the reach of the rigid mind. Away from rationality's pale reign and the frigid formulas of primer learning. Only for those souls who seek knowledge beneath Luna's mute tutelage.
The Tarot acts as a map for the soul's pilgrimage, teaching that both shadows and light are requisite for our evolution. In dusk's depths, we confront inner adversities and face phantoms of the psyche. Yet it is also amid murk that we uncover buried blessings and glean gnosis. Often maligned, even the Devil harbors occult omniscience for the initiate to decode.
It signifies our shadow's seething forces - those energies denied and disowned, yet key to wholeness should we embrace the shadow selves. The Magician wields potentials latent, yet to unleash arcane arts demands darkness's dominion be braved. Only after navigating night's realms does the Magician gain mastery, weaving incantations from lessons learned in the absence of light to envision his World.
The Sun is life's raptures in fullness of sparkling symphony of rays, but its radiance resonates more deeply for those who have known the pall of night. Solely through shadows traversed does one feel sunlight's true splendors. After peering into night's nadir is one duly appreciative of its donation to the gift of dawn. Thus the Kabbalist's Tarot cautions dual dependence - on gleam and gloom alike do we rely for fulfillment. Only by interfacing night and noon are we made perfect, having plundered boons in each realm along our journey for the truth.
Mystery and misstep alike draw us into darkness' depths. The Fool signifies our first footfalls into ignorance's abyss, launched by innocence and inquisitiveness into Life's unlit vale. Upright, this card depicts wonder's wide-eyed advent into realms unseen. But inversed, it bears foreboding - a prophet of perils when naivete runs naked, unshielded by sagacity. Reckless curiosity can lead the unwary overcliff to calamity. For folly and fanciful whimsy propel our initiations into obscurity, where formative trials temper spirit in night's forge.
There lies hubris in The Tower when pride bids its hero ignore the signs, too proud to heed their portents of limits nearing. Likewise does curious transgression tempt Faustian accords, motivating mortals to monger the Magician's occult arts whilst merrily mortgaging their mortal souls to damnation.
Of Bluebeard's bride who from innocent curiosity dared glimpse that is forbidden. Of Faust's hunger for knowledge. Mirroring humanity's willingness to brazen boundaries and learn life's dark lessons through disobedience. In defiance to the hidden truths we bind ourselves to the baleful arcane. Plunging into darkness, courting ruination by wayward rebellion. In the stygian realm might we attain fruit if our spirit proves stern enough to withstand night's scouring.
Our descent into darkness mirrors innately our psyche's desire to transcend the mundane. As Poe wrote, there is an abnormal allure to death and the forbidden. Through our spirit of contumacy we linger at Death's edge on the threshold of Libra's scales lured as moths to flames.
Delving into the deep, we behold the Abyss occluded from Judgement's eyes, our vision blurring yet remaining rapt as those who don Death's cloak to the liminal realms. We are, drawn to the chasms that lie beyond the boundaries of our understanding despite the danger that lurks there. There the psyche shreds the last vestments of orthodoxy to wander like a wraith upon dusk's dreamscape.
The Tarot chronicles humanity's pilgrimage into the shadows, understanding of the meaning of life. The Moon reveals the fantasies, illusion's root in untamed passions, while The Star sustains hope amidst harrowing horrors. Though terror lurks where Devil holds dominion, with The Hermit's lantern one may traverse the night, whole. Cultivating gnosis by grappling with the ghouls that inhabit this inner abyss.
While curiosity and folly may prompt our descent, darkness holds promise of rebirth for those with eyes to see. Within ruin's ashes lies the seed of transformation, should we cultivate receptive hearts to receive life's mysteries quietly unveiled in shadow's shroud. For where there is destruction, a dawn may also rise - if we lend ears to night's whispers and glean the gleams of intuition from the depths.
Veils lift to reveal truths hidden from the vulgar. Under the light of the Moon pride is cast aside, and wisdom wells up in watchfulness over worldly ways. Seeing clearly that which glances askance under the ken of common. Her brilliance burns within black bough and barren battlement, for those cultivating clairvoyant hearts to hold heaven's light against enveloping dark. Hers is the hand that guides our faltering steps, kindling our consciousness to commune with the dark.
It is the secret cabinets, the raging storms. The bleak forests and treacherous marshes. Moonlit garden of apparitions stretches through the ruined halls, where spectral dancers glide in concert to the mistress Moon, queen of reflections and refractions. And deeper below, lie cells that ooze with long-suppressed humours, festering fungal fantasies conjured from piles of man's sublimated sins.
Here The Devil holds subterranean court for his bat-winged congregation, while supplicant souls wail blasphemous psalms. Through the lairs, whispered terrors that drip down stony walls and seep into one's very skull. Stairwells resound with an orchestra of shrieks that curdle the blood and reason in equal measure. Here hangs the Hanged Man amidst the charnel houses.
Only in the darkest shadows true enlightenment awaits, should one's taper of courage illuminate the darkness within. Where we may find our greatest truths. In the shadows the transitions between day and night blur. The Moon obscure the lines between reality from illusion, shrouding the world in its pale glow. The lonely winter nights entrenched with melancholy, a shadow cast over the soul.
Within these landscapes, the inner world harbors dread. Dark psyches mirror the outer gloom, paranoid and unhinged as those forewarned of the Tower's fall. Repressed emotions writhe and fester within, monstrous like Death's knell intimating life's end. As the Sun sinks below the horizon and the seasons change, external and internal forces coalesce into a tableau of horrors, where even illumination offers no solace.
The Night has drawn her darkness close, the mist her spreading shroud. No netherworldly or celestial ray can pierce this pall. It is the veil of the secrets of the High Priestess. A place where our deepest fears and desires manifest, and where the sacred and the profane intertwine.
Disruption, change and revelation of concealed truths.. Themes embodied by the Major Arcana of the Tarot as it guides one's journey through life's trials towards enlightenment. In Gothic tales as in the Tarot, darkness cradles mysteries that, once confronted, bring transformation. Darkness is also linked to the concept of the absurd, as the condition created by impotent minds seeking meaning in a meaningless universe.
Darkness and in its manifold are entrenched in the mystic arts. In Christianity it signifies the Devil's dominion defying the Logos embodied by our staid Hierophant - the forces of order and control, the world of reason, law, and tradition. The forces of chaos and disorder that threaten to overthrow the Logos, the raw, untamed power of nature and the human psyche.
The Kabbalah tells us in understanding darkness we come to comprehend the nature of divinity itself. The place where divinity itself first took shape, in the abyss anteceding all manifestation. And in the mirror of night reflected, we glimpse that which gestated before the first stirrings of creation.
In Hindu scriptures, darkness is aligned with Kal - Time, personified by the final arbiter, Death. Kaali, She who is Black. Persian doctrines liken it to Ahriman's deceits - the Lord of Lies, mirroring the murk of intent veiled by The Moon. In Islam, darkness is associated with both good and evil. It is a time for contemplation and prayer, but also a time when the Devil's temptation is strong. It is a time for rest and renewal, but it is also a time when secrets are revealed.
Darkness is the shadow realm of man, the receptacle of all things dreaded and disowned by consciousness. In Jungian psychoanalysis it is described as the repository of emotions that civilized and enlightened society shuns. The baser instincts, lack of clarity and order, the pervasive sense of fear and the fate of unrelieved sorrow. Surfacing in monstrous forms akin to those tempting from The Devil's hidden recesses. Fettered energies struggling for expression incubated, analogous to the chaotic forces drawn to light by the Tower's collapse.
The more hermetically such dark abysses are confined, the more potently their pressures proliferate - as if our encircling World resists. The darkness is a natural part of the order, and thus can never be completely suppressed. Try as we may, the pressure will build until it inevitably erupts. Like for Dr. Jekyll, Hyde was not denied. Though often dismissed as regressive, darkness cradles untapped potential, like the life-granting powers of the Empress when acknowledged on her terms.
Even where logic reigns and knowledge holds court, darker doctrines may dwell. It is illuminated ignorance. In the moonlit realm of the unconscious, phantasmagoric philosophies dance the primal passions - intuition and imagination, wisdom that is beyond the reach of the rigid mind. Away from rationality's pale reign and the frigid formulas of primer learning. Only for those souls who seek knowledge beneath Luna's mute tutelage.
The Tarot acts as a map for the soul's pilgrimage, teaching that both shadows and light are requisite for our evolution. In dusk's depths, we confront inner adversities and face phantoms of the psyche. Yet it is also amid murk that we uncover buried blessings and glean gnosis. Often maligned, even the Devil harbors occult omniscience for the initiate to decode.
It signifies our shadow's seething forces - those energies denied and disowned, yet key to wholeness should we embrace the shadow selves. The Magician wields potentials latent, yet to unleash arcane arts demands darkness's dominion be braved. Only after navigating night's realms does the Magician gain mastery, weaving incantations from lessons learned in the absence of light to envision his World.
The Sun is life's raptures in fullness of sparkling symphony of rays, but its radiance resonates more deeply for those who have known the pall of night. Solely through shadows traversed does one feel sunlight's true splendors. After peering into night's nadir is one duly appreciative of its donation to the gift of dawn. Thus the Kabbalist's Tarot cautions dual dependence - on gleam and gloom alike do we rely for fulfillment. Only by interfacing night and noon are we made perfect, having plundered boons in each realm along our journey for the truth.
Mystery and misstep alike draw us into darkness' depths. The Fool signifies our first footfalls into ignorance's abyss, launched by innocence and inquisitiveness into Life's unlit vale. Upright, this card depicts wonder's wide-eyed advent into realms unseen. But inversed, it bears foreboding - a prophet of perils when naivete runs naked, unshielded by sagacity. Reckless curiosity can lead the unwary overcliff to calamity. For folly and fanciful whimsy propel our initiations into obscurity, where formative trials temper spirit in night's forge.
There lies hubris in The Tower when pride bids its hero ignore the signs, too proud to heed their portents of limits nearing. Likewise does curious transgression tempt Faustian accords, motivating mortals to monger the Magician's occult arts whilst merrily mortgaging their mortal souls to damnation.
Of Bluebeard's bride who from innocent curiosity dared glimpse that is forbidden. Of Faust's hunger for knowledge. Mirroring humanity's willingness to brazen boundaries and learn life's dark lessons through disobedience. In defiance to the hidden truths we bind ourselves to the baleful arcane. Plunging into darkness, courting ruination by wayward rebellion. In the stygian realm might we attain fruit if our spirit proves stern enough to withstand night's scouring.
Our descent into darkness mirrors innately our psyche's desire to transcend the mundane. As Poe wrote, there is an abnormal allure to death and the forbidden. Through our spirit of contumacy we linger at Death's edge on the threshold of Libra's scales lured as moths to flames.
Delving into the deep, we behold the Abyss occluded from Judgement's eyes, our vision blurring yet remaining rapt as those who don Death's cloak to the liminal realms. We are, drawn to the chasms that lie beyond the boundaries of our understanding despite the danger that lurks there. There the psyche shreds the last vestments of orthodoxy to wander like a wraith upon dusk's dreamscape.
The Tarot chronicles humanity's pilgrimage into the shadows, understanding of the meaning of life. The Moon reveals the fantasies, illusion's root in untamed passions, while The Star sustains hope amidst harrowing horrors. Though terror lurks where Devil holds dominion, with The Hermit's lantern one may traverse the night, whole. Cultivating gnosis by grappling with the ghouls that inhabit this inner abyss.
While curiosity and folly may prompt our descent, darkness holds promise of rebirth for those with eyes to see. Within ruin's ashes lies the seed of transformation, should we cultivate receptive hearts to receive life's mysteries quietly unveiled in shadow's shroud. For where there is destruction, a dawn may also rise - if we lend ears to night's whispers and glean the gleams of intuition from the depths.
Veils lift to reveal truths hidden from the vulgar. Under the light of the Moon pride is cast aside, and wisdom wells up in watchfulness over worldly ways. Seeing clearly that which glances askance under the ken of common. Her brilliance burns within black bough and barren battlement, for those cultivating clairvoyant hearts to hold heaven's light against enveloping dark. Hers is the hand that guides our faltering steps, kindling our consciousness to commune with the dark.
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Hmm in the interest of getting more sc I doubt this will do anything. But I'll give a free vote marker for anything to anyone who makes an essay from this point forward. Cause we aren't even close I don't think to the needed sc for the cool adventure.
I'd like to visit this line of the discussion again.. What are the characters from Gothic Horror and its extended-verse do you guys think falls under Magician? I was fixating on the Three Witches but they felt more and more like they'd fall under the High Priestess's domain.
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The occultist.
Well, I gave my opinion about how Gypsy and Magician are closely related. Thinking on more, Van Helsing could also have some similarities, mentor character possessing exotic knowledge and utilizing wide range of semi-mystical tools.
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Fairly sure Gypsy would likely be in a different class.
I feel like a Medium (is that the name?) or something similar purely because they connect the spiritual with the material by speaking to ghosts