An blog of inspirational media for Scion 2e, a game modern mythology. Main account is @enddaysengine
573 posts
Scionmysteries - Mysteries Of The World - Tumblr Blog
Monkey Nationalism
For the last month and a half my gaming life has revolved around Black Myth: Wukong. I have covered it extensively in my day job, and I urge everyone to check out our exhaustive walkthroughs, which are darn good if I say so myself. Job aside, playing Black Myth has been something of a thought exercise in how I feel about my Chineseness. This is a big, sexy Soulslike and China's first AAA game to win international acclaim, not just from the niche audiences who know what "wuxia" means, but from white people who probably assumed that this was another Japanese game at first. Put another way, mainstream YouTubers are now making lore videos for Black Myth that are explanations of Journey to the West references, and it's wild seeing them talk about Bodhisattva Lingji and why Nezha needs to be in the DLC.
This phenomenon makes me realize that Black Myth: Wukong is one of those rare products that incites pride in my Chinese heritage, despite the fact that in almost all circumstances, I identify as half-Taiwanese instead of Chinese. That's a choice (and a political one), but in spite of these feelings I still wrote a goofy Steam review of this game after my first few hours, exclaiming that it made me "adopt a Beijing accent, speak in 4-character proverbs and sip tea under chrysanthemum trees while composing poetry about the glory of ZHONGGUO."
I was probably inspired to write this review thanks to the excellent Chinese dub, which is indeed full of Mainland accents. (The English dub, for what it's worth, is also very good and full of British accents, which I prefer over American ones for something like this.) Honestly, I found myself surprised that I was so enamored, as I haven't fully read Journey to the West. My one attempt to consume the Arthur Waley translation as a kid failed, and when I listened to the Julia Lovell version via audiobook a few months ago, I found it a bit lacking. (Turns out audio isn't the best way to consume a 16th-century collection of Monster of the Week tales where the moral often boils down to "Buddhism is the best!")
I'm not alone in this regard, though, as most Chinese folks - especially those in the diaspora - probably also experienced Journey to the West via alternate media. In my case, Dragonball was the big property that brought Wukong into my consciouness (albeit via his Japanese name of Goku), and I will perish upon the hill that the first arc of Akira Toriyama's manga is actually a solid interpretation of the story. I was also oddly obsessed with the PS1 games Monkey Magic and Saiyuki: Journey West, and at one point, I attempted to make a game in Klik & Play where I edited a sprite from Conquest of the Crystal Palace into wannabe Wukong. I never made more than this sprite and a makeshift title screen, but my heart was certainly into it for that brief period.
Frankly, you don't need to be familiar with Journey to the West to enjoy Black Myth: Wukong, though some knowledge of the subject matter does help to comprehend the game's plot, which is communicated in the usual Soulslike way. By the time of the game's release, more players were probably attuned to Black Myth's controversies instead of its inspiration, to be honest. There were the mysognistic comments the devs had made, the report by IGN translating these remarks, the limitations on streamers, and the culture war that resulted when chuds decided that legitimate criticism of this game was too "woke." Amidst all of this was the fact that as one of the few Chinese games to obtain global appeal, Black Myth: Wukong naturally became a cornerstone of nationalism. "This game is China's pride and joy! It wasn't made for Westerners with DEI requirements! Blah blah!"
The discourse was deeply disheartening. Frankly, it made me not want to like Black Myth: Wukong. I'd rather support something that isn't embroiled in woman-disparaging rhetoric or tankie apologism, and when it comes to made-in-China games, I'm more partial to anything made-in-Taiwan, like Detention or any of the other great projects made by Red Candle Games.
But those games don't have the big budget and glitz of Black Myth: Wukong. They don't have a hidden ending where the Destined One transforms into a gigantic Stone Monkey and punches Erlang Shen in the face. And they don't quite have this phenomenon that's motivated consumers into mentioning Chinese mythology and culture in the same sentences where they're namedropping Elden Ring. That's something special that makes my heart shine, and once again, we return to the fact that I normally identify as half-Taiwanese.
To identify as Taiwanese is to forever be in the shadow of Mainland China, a nation that forces the name "Chinese Taipei" upon an island that it says it will claim by force if necessary. To be Taiwanese American, in my case, is to constantly be assaulted by US media harping on about cross-strait relations, and rolling my eyes at "China Watchers" who play wargames where they move pieces around a board to simulate a hostile takeover of Formosa.
Yet, political pain aside, Taiwan does have a connected lineage with its larger neighbor. And Journey to the West is one of those shared mythologies, with Wukong not only capturing the imaginations of the denizens of China and Greater China, but also the mind of just about everyone in East and Southeast Asia. There's something about a Monkey King springing from a rock that makes people temporarily unite, and I admit that at the end of 105 hours, I am one of those persons.
I had to devote a lot of time to Black Myth: Wukong because of work. But even if I hadn't been paid to play it, I'd still consider it very good. It's embroiled in kaka almost as bitter as the vehemence that spans the Taiwan Strait, but it's a fine game, say what you will about separating art from the artist - or in this case, politics from the monkey and his quest to recover Buddhist scriptures. I hope that the discourse doesn't repeat itself in time for the inevitable sequel, and I hope the devs learn from their errors and stop being shits to women.
Nezha can also show up in the DLC too, if they like.
Bluebirds
"The shift from the Afro-Caribbean zombie to the U.S. zombie is clear: in Caribbean folklore, people are scared of becoming zombies, whereas in U.S. narratives people are scared of zombies. This shift is significant because it maps the movement from the zombie as victim (Caribbean) to the zombie as an aggressive and terrifying monster who consumes human flesh (U.S.). In Haitian folklore, for instance, zombies do not physically threaten people; rather, the threat comes from the voduon practice whereby the sorcerer (master) subjugates the individual by robbing the victim of free will, language and cognition. The zombie is enslaved."
— Justin D. Edwards, "Mapping Tropical Gothic in the Americas" in Tropical Gothic in Literature and Culture.
Follow Diary of a Philosopher for more quotes!
Gold cowrie shell bead necklace with pendant of the goddess Sekhmet, Egypt, 26th Dynasty, 570-526 BC
from The Penn Museum
Been reading “The Never Ending Story” for the first time, and came to the chapter of Atreyu finally encountering his pursuer, the planes-walking werewolf Gmork. I remembered seeing the film several years ago, and loving the horror element to their interpretation of the monster, but the scene in the book had so much more impact! Just the emotional vibes of a lost kid in an abandoned, gothic city watching a monster slowing starving to death while it assaults him with bone-chilling existential horror will be burned into my memory for a lifetime!
'Hummingbird Spirit' acrylic on wood 24" x 30"
Aztec Gods: Centeotl - Mixcoatl - Chalchiuhtotolin - Xiuhtecuhtli
I've been sooooooo artblocked lately, it's awful. So I drew my ttrpg OCs from all over the place in fancy (or not) outfits referenced from Pinterest
And then I proceeded to forget to post it. Yay.
Short overview of folk here, from left to right:
- Claude from Wraith: the Oblivion. He led quite a miserable life and ended up in the Legion of Paupers, but not before spending some time as a thrall. He had only recently caught some semblance of a break. Yeah.
- Ruben, son of Aphrodite from Scion: becoming as gods ttrpg. He is pretty grim, despite his looks and heritage, but not without a reason. He's also aroace.
- Sharla, my Promethean: the Created girlie. Made by her creator to serve as a protector, she still fulfills her role – just in another group of people.
- Adlar, King of Summer in my Changeling: the Lost freehold. He hasn't actually been to Arcadia, but because he is a son of mortal woman and banished Gentry (so-called Charlatan) (a fact Adlar abhors and hides to the best of his ability) he is still technically a Changeling stuck in this whole changeling business
- Arcuvol, my good drow™ from DnD, because whenever I see some sort of evil faction I have to make a non-evil OC for it. (I'm never showing my Warhammer OCs to the world... Okay, they are still kinda evil when they should be). I was trying to make my own setting with DnD mechanics, but it's kinda dead now, so I don't know what to say.
thundershirt
Fox in the Village by Alexander Nikitinsky
Detail of the inner coffin / cartonnage of Nehemsu, from head to chest. A falcon with the head of a green ram spreads its wings over her chest. On the left side, Duamutef and Hapy face Wadjet (I'm guessing -- the columns for their names have been left empty.) I took this photo at the Discovering Ancient Egypt exhibition at the National Museum of Australia.
When: Third Intermediate Period, 22nd Dynasty
Where: Rijkmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden
Waterfall Troll - Detkef
I know I usually start with a quote from the movie the character is from, but I can't really write instrumental here sooo...hi? 😅
Anyway, I'm back with more Centaurettes custom dolls from Disney's Fantasia (1940)
This time, we move from blue to pink! I wanted to give her more of an aloof expression, but she ended uo actually kinda dreamy, I guess 👀
Oh well, I love her either way (and the blue one is lowkey crushing on her rn)
I'm obsessed with that segment of the movie, and every creature there is sooo pretty and pastelly and fluffy and UGH THE CUTENESS!!
Anyway, I hope you like her 💖
What, the forest-dwelling entities with imperfect human mimicry who insinuate themselves into groups of hikers? Yeah, we had one of those. Clocked it immediately, of course. Honestly it kind of fell in that so-inept-it's-kind-of-charming range. We just played along until it'd had it's fill of marshmallows and shambled back into the treeline. We might have been violating some kind of killjoy wildlife contact best practices but what the hell, can't plan around every little thing. Why, what happened to you guys
Happy International Museums Day to the following people:
The guy who called me the Whore of Babylon for teaching kids about Ancient Egypt as I stood there and nodded.
The woman who was deeply incensed that staff wouldn't open the cases so she could touch the organic objects.
The one guy who made me translate hieroglyphs on a stele for him, then was mad because it didn't say what he wanted it to say, and reported me for 'lying' to the public.
The parents who objected to the taxidermied animals having taxidermied genitalia because it was unseemly.
Those kids on a school trip who got on the floor in front of a mummy and started chanting 'we worship Ra' as their teacher desperately tried to get them to leave.
That one guy who...uh...really liked geodes. No, they were not a special interest. He really, really liked geodes.
The mighty ghost hunter! Who probably also tipped over the cloche and set the ghostie free! In my shop
AFRICAN GODS SKETCHES More details on BEHANCE: https://www.behance.net/gallery/193959725/AFRICAN-GODS-SKETCHES TUMBLR: http://oliviersilven.tumblr.com/ Sketch+Cintiq+Photoshop. All Artwork Copyright Olivier SILVEN.
Here's a terrific stela with a pantheistic Bes. He wears the double-feather crown, and his grimacing face is surrounded by little heads. His whole body is covered in eyes, and his erect penis ends in what looks like a dog's head. He has four arms; two hands hold a bundle of weapons and dangerous animals, one holds an ankh, one a was-sceptre. He has four wings and a falcon's tail. His feet are jackal heads. He stands on top of an oval ouroboros which contains dangerous animals including a hippo, a snake, and a turtle.
And this is a similar figure from Lanzone's Dizionario Volume 2, a statuette with the many heads, the eyes, rearing snakes on the feet, four arms and four wings and a falcon's tail. The base is oval with an ouroboros round the top, and a jackal on the back. (The Dizionario is hand-written in Italian, so extracting any information about this figurine defeats me.)
my favorite insect fact ever is that nocturnal dung beetles can actually see the milky way and even use it in order to navigate! i think thats so crazy to think about!!
dung beetles are my favorite beetles ever, but i dont really share that because people think theyre gross. i hope this allows other people to see how cool they actually are! i also love seeing them fly theyre so sick and rad.
I love yokai so much
Was thinking about if Satan was employed similarity to Vasariah in an office/ “human” setting… suffice to say he prefers presenting more as a woman
Siegfried Plunges His Sword Into Fafnir’s Throat by Franz Stassen (1914)
Two lovers have reincarnated throughout history, destined to find each other and fall in love all over again. There’s also this third guy that reincarnates alongside them… we don’t really know what he does.